Nine Millimeter Vorpal Sword

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 7

Up a castle tower, Raven led Nancy into a room that appeared to be part junk shop and part laboratory. Raven introduced her to a stallion who seemed to have been waiting for them, but still not really prepared. He was a unicorn who wore large glasses and a cape. His name was Sunburst.

“As the royal researcher, it took quite a bit of convincing for Princess Twilight to entrust magical problem solving to me,” Sunburst said. “Before she was Princess, she was quite the researcher herself, and getting her to delegate has been a challenge a lot of us have faced.”

A head of state being personally involved in deciding whether to file charges? Yeah, Nancy could see it.

Raven excused herself and Sunburst invited Nancy deeper into the cluttered workspace. He pulled out a book and spread it open on a table. “This is a journal we can use to communicate with the human world. There’s a pony over there named Sunset Shimmer who has an identical journal, so whatever is written in one appears in the other.”

“There’s a pony in the human world?”

Sunburst waved a hoof. “Long story. I’ll tell it to you later if you want, but Princess Twilight emphasized that you should be returned back to your world as soon as possible.”

“I would appreciate it.”

Sunburst picked up a quill, dabbed some ink, and wrote a line in the journal. “This may take a while for her to reply, if she isn’t nearby.” Though, within ten seconds, new writing appeared on the page. “Ah, excellent.”

“I can’t read this,” Nancy said.

“Oh, they didn’t do some kind of text translation spell? Well, that’s a little more complicated than the speech translation, because if you’re talking to somepony it’s relatively easy to dial in the intent, but you don’t get that with a printed page. It has to do with Starswirl’s…” Sunburst shook his head. “Sorry. Could you please get that green book over by the window while I explain what’s going on to Sunset?”

Nancy walked over and found the book he was talking about. She picked it up, realizing that it was likely some kind of spell book. It was slightly amazing that after a few days in this world, there were still little things like that which made her giddy like a little girl. A magic spellbook.

She brought it back to Sunburst and he flipped it open, browsing through a couple of pages. “Okay, here it is. Give me a few minutes.”

He focused on the page, eyes squinting. His horn lit up. This spell either required a lot of effort, or Sunburst was not a very powerful unicorn. Princess Twilight didn’t seem to exert much effort moving around the sun. Not that Nancy was in any position to be making judgement about unicorn power levels.

“Okay, and…” Sunburst let go of the spell. Nancy did not immediately notice anything different.

He held the journal up to her, and suddenly the text started to change. It was patchy, and only seemed to work exactly at the point her eyes were pointed, but began to resolve into something she recognized.

I’ll be waiting for her.

“We have a portal that connects to the human world,” Sunburst explained, for context to Sunset’s reply. “Due to the...well, you probably don’t care why, it connects from a mirror we have here in the castle to a statue at a school in the other world.”

“Where is this school?”

“It’s in Canterlot, just the alternate universe version.”

“What country is Canterlot in?”

“Pedestria.”

“Come again? I’ve never heard of that.”

Sunburst frowned. “Well, this might be a problem.”

“Maybe it’s just the translation?” Nancy suggested hopefully.

“Well, let’s find out. Are you ready to go?”

“If I’m leaving, I need to grab a few things.”

Nancy put her worries aside for the happier thoughts that she might back back on the right planet shortly. Sunburst accompanied her down to the Guard barracks. Based on the look on his face, Nancy thought he probably didn’t spend much time here.

The room was still empty. Nancy unlocked the footlocker she had been given and pulled out her gear. It took a few minutes to strap on everything. Sunburst eyed the weapons, but had either examined them already while Nancy was incarcerated or had no interest in nonmagical items.

Fully kitted, Nancy stopped by Captain Magnus’ office on the way out. The door was open, but she knocked on the frame. “Sir?”

He looked up, apparently not displeased about being pulled away from the paperwork on his desk. “What is it?”

“Mr. Sunburst here is going to work on sending me home. I wanted to let you know I was leaving and say goodbye, if this might be the last chance I have.”

“Well, good to meet you, however briefly. Best of luck.”

Having descended a tower with Sunburst, Nancy now climbed another. How many did the castle have? They came to a door that had two guards stationed outside. Nancy hadn’t spoken to either of them, but doubtless they knew who she was. They certainly knew who Sunburst was, and at his word, stood aside to open the door. The room beyond seemed to be built around a tall, oval mirror with a horseshoe motif.

“This is powered by the Friendship Journal,” Sunburst said. “Much better now. It used to be that this portal would only open every thirty moons.’

He wrote a quick line in the journal and Sunset replied. She was ready.

“Okay, let me just activate this. When you’re ready, just step through.”

Nancy wasn’t sure what she was expecting. The surface of the mirror might have rippled slightly.

“Um, I probably should have asked earlier, but you said this comes out on the other side at a school?”

“Yes, why?”

Nancy put her hands on her guns. “Uh…”

“Outside a school,” Sunburst clarified. “At any rate, Sunset is waiting with a change of clothes and one of those automobile things.”

“Okay.” Nancy took a breath, unsure what to say. “Well, I’ll be going now. Thanks for everything.”

“No problem. Visit again sometime!” Sunburst waved.

Nancy wasn’t sure if she should take him up on that. Maybe as a way to wiggle out of an AWOL charge. Though, did she really want to change the universe that much by telling all of humanity about a magic pony world on the other side of a portal?

She decided it was better not to think about it here, and stepped towards the mirror. Reaching out, the tips of her fingers passed through, feeling like nothing more than slightly thick air. As her face entered the mirror, there was a burst of color, and then she was through, stumbling out the other side into sunshine.

“Hi. Nancy?” There was a girl with two-toned red and yellow hair and a leather jacket standing there.

“Sunset Shimmer?”

“That’s me.” Sunset shook her hand. “Sounds like you’ve had quite a trip.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” Nancy looked around. Sure enough, it looked like they were in front of a school, standing next to a statue of a horse. “Where are we?”

“Canterlot, just like the one in Equestria. It’s sort of a parallel universe from Equestria.”

“Where is that in relation to the United States?”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Sunset glanced around. “We should probably talk somewhere else. Come on, let’s go.”

Nancy didn’t move. “This is the human world?”

“That’s right.”

Nancy looked around. She didn’t recognize any of the nearby cars. The buildings seemed to have colors that were just a little too saturated. Moreover, all the people within sight, including Sunset, didn’t look like any humans Nancy had ever seen. With the wide variety of colors, colors that should have been impossible, they looked like...ponies.

“I don’t think this is the right human world.”

Comments

[lordelliott]

I half expected her to come out as a pony or something.

[totallynotabrony]

10202664
Well, she didn't have a mirror, so you can picture her Equestria Girls-ified if you want

[A.P.O.N.I.]

Swing and a miss.

[leaderofstars]

10202681
yeah, i really gunna to have another image of the spaghetti monsters in my head

[lordelliott]

10202681
Given Sunset's reaction, it could go either way.

[Velvet-Fresh]

She's on foreign soil, fully armed. I don't know if 'Pedestria' have a 2nd amendment, or does she have a visible ranking insignia on her uniform? Maybe the police won't bother her about her concealed carry if they saw she's military

[Genial Precis]

Best way to get back home is probably to head right back to Equestria, as they have a much deeper magic talent pool. Initially she seemed worried enough that I might have expected her to try to stay lost (for the sake of Equestria not having access to her world), but not at this point. Equestria Girls!Earth seems like a bit of a dead end, but a dead end that can rather easily get her swept up in an adventure.