Alluvion

by journcy

V - Relate; Contemplate; Portal

+ + +

…

+ + +

“What are you ponies doing?”

Twilight and Princess Luna had come up from the Canterlot Archives looking to share their discovery with their friends (and sibling, in the Princess’s case). They looked in the main rooms of the castle, but were confusingly thwarted. This inspired a longer-term search, which finally resulted with all six ponies being found in, of all places…

…the sewing room.

Rarity sat at the front of the room with what looked like a half-finished dress floating above her. Before her sat the other five ponies, Princess included, holding similar dresses—or at least attempts at similar dresses. Some of them, like in Fluttershy’s case, weren’t half bad. Others…were. All were seated on pink plush cushions of varying size.

Princess Celestia spoke first.

“Your good friend Rarity decided she would be willing to teach us all the basics of sewing, so we made our way here and got to it! I must admit, I am a bit rusty in the subject.”

“But—but—Applejack! Pinkie Pie! Rainbow Dash! Why are you ponies sewing?!” Twilight cried.

“One word, Twilight,” Pinkie said, getting up from her sewing. “Boredom! I mean jeez, we knew you and Princess Luna needed some time to do your bookey stuff, but it’s been weeks! A pony can only explore the castle for so long! And anyway, when we get back home now I can make Gummy a neat little suit! I’ve always thought he could use his very own tux! Don’tcha think?”

Twilight stood next to Princess Luna in the doorway, continuing to stammer unintelligibly.

Princess Celestia walked over to the two. She put a calming hoof on Twilight’s shoulder and smiled at her, and then turned to Princess Luna. “Sister, does your reappearance mean you have discovered something?” Princess Celestia said, her smile falling from her face as her voice took on a more urgent tone.

“It does. Twilight and I believe we have realized the cause, or at the very least, the origin of this unnatural storm. I found a passage in a book on multiverse theory that postulates that the collision of two universes can result in a portal that transfers the ‘unique conditions’ of each onto the other.”

“Jeez, I thought Twilight was the only one who spoke egghead,” Rainbow Dash muttered to Applejack with a smirk.

“Thank you, Rainbow,” Twilight said, having heard the comment and recovered from her earlier shock. “What Princess Luna means is…well…that was actually a pretty reasonable explanation. I don’t know how to explain it more clearly.”

However, Princess Celestia came to the rescue. “What my sister and student are trying to say, my little ponies, is that a magical portal somewhere in Equestria is the source of these rainclouds. I assume you both have a guess as to its location?”

“Well…” Twilight said, glancing at Princess Luna, who nodded at her. “We think it’s somewhere above Canterlot.

+ + +

“I still don’t get what I’m looking for,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well… It’s supposed to be… Um… Ugh! Why is this so hard to explain?” Twilight cried. She and Princess Luna had been trying for a rather obnoxiously long time to illustrate to Dash just what the portal she was looking for would appear as. However, their own lack of any real knowledge was not exactly an aid to their cause.

The three were standing out on one of the many balconies of Canterlot Castle, Rainbow Dash wearing the flight goggles she had arrived with. Around them hung thousands of raindrops, suspended by the time stop. The light from the overcast sky refracted through them all, creating the appearance of what almost looked like a field of stars, brought to earth. However, the weight in Twilight’s stomach told her that there wasn’t time to marvel at the beauty.

It was now or never, it seemed.

Princess Luna broke the momentary silence. “Perhaps, Rainbow Dash, you can simply search for anything that seems…out of the ordinary. While we may not know exactly what this portal is going to look like, it seems highly unlikely that it will appear anything other than abnormal.”

Twilight shifted. “I… Guess that works. Now remember, Rainbow. You go up there, you find the portal, and you come back as—“

“Yeah, yeah, Twilight! As soon as possible, I gotcha.” With that, Dash winked a goggled eye at Twilight and took off, her rainbow contrail looking almost natural amidst the unmoving rain.

+ + +

Pacing up and down the hall just in from the balcony, Twilight considered the situation.

Hopefully Rainbow Dash would find the portal, or whatever it was, quickly. But what then? Presently, she was considering asking Princess Luna to fly her up to whatever it was—maybe they could analyze it then? But how would they go about closing it?

For that matter, what had caused it to open in the first place?

The book seemed to suggest that it was the result of interdimensional travel, and the present symptoms of Equestria certainly matched those prescribed. But what, or who, would have been traveling from…from another plane of existence? Twilight began to pace faster, her heartbeat picking up ever so slightly. What if this, the rain, was just the first part of some sort of invasion? Sure, the Elements had given them time to work on closing the portal and stopping the rain, but was that really their biggest problem? How would they know if there was something out there? Could it be too late already? Could—

She was stopped in her tracks by a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up. Applejack smiled at her.

“Y’ looked like you could use somepony to talk to, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

Twilight took a deep breath. “I’m just worried that maybe the storm is the least of our problems.”

“Now whaddya mean by that?” Applejack replied.

“If the portal was caused by something coming to Equestria from another dimension… Then what was it? What if we were invaded? What if there’s some horrible monster out there right now—“

“Frozen in place?” Applejack laughed. “Twilight, listen. I know that you’re a pony to do all kinds of plannin’ and whatnot, but I think right now the most important thing for you is to just focus on one thing at a time. Sure, there might be somethin’ out there, but it sure as hay can’t hurt anypony, ‘least not right now. Just keep track of what you’re doin’ in the moment and you’ll be fine.” Applejack looked out the window. “And I think you’re about to have somethin’ new on your plate.”

+ + +

“Okay, so, it was really weird,” Rainbow Dash said. “Like a little sun or something, sitting right in the middle of the sky. And there were a bunch of clouds right around it, looking like they were coming out of it.”

“That does indeed sound like what you are searching for, my faithful student,” Princess Celestia said.

Twilight nodded in agreement and turned to Princess Luna, who stood next to her amidst the small crowd of ponies gathered around Rainbow Dash.

Princess Luna looked back at her and said, “Let us go, Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps we may yet end this predicament.”

Princess Luna walked towards the still-open window, gesturing to Twilight. Twilight climbed—with some difficulty—onto Princess Luna’s back, and together they took off into the still, gray sky.

+ + +

Rainbow Dash hadn’t been kidding when she’d said the portal looked like a miniature sun. It hadn’t been difficult to find—Princess Luna had simply flown above the clouds, and they’d looked around. Twilight figured Dash must’ve sat to marvel, or perhaps just stretched her wings in flight, because there was no way it had actually taken her so long to find the orb of light that hung with so eerie a stillness in the morning sky.

Twilight’s eyes burned from staring at it, but she was unable to tear her gaze from the thing. Something about it was mesmerizing—it felt so peculiarly…familiar. Like she had seen it before, or…

Finally, hearing the voice of Princess Luna, she managed to look away. Twilight turned her eyes to the mane of the Princess on which she sat.

“What was that? Sorry, I…”

“I was merely saying that Rainbow Dash was certainly correct in her assertions. Should I fly closer, that we might investigate?” Princess Luna asked.

“Y-yes. Yes, fly closer. I’ll try some magical readings,” Twilight responded, her voice confusingly shaky.

Complying, Princess Luna angled herself towards the orb, her wings flapping loudly in the stillness of the sky. As they neared the portal, Twilight’s stomach felt like it had decided to jump off the back of Princess Luna and leave Twilight herself behind. Twilight began to sweat, even as she lit her horn and began casting spells.

“Twilight? Are you all right?” Princess Luna asked, feeling the sudden shaking of the unicorn on her back.

“I… I don’t know, Princess,” Twilight said. “I feel terrible all of a sudden. I’m not sure this thing is safe. How about you?”

“I am well, but I am a princess. Perhaps we should not have come here.”

“No, no, I’m sure… I’m sure I’ll be alright. And—Oh! I think I’ve—“ Twilight cut off in the middle of her exclamation. Princess Luna brought herself to a halt, hovering in midair, and twisted her neck around. Twilight sat on her back, staring into the orb, her body still as stone and her eyes massive. Her horn had stopped glowing.

“Twi—“ Princess Luna began. However, she did not have time to finish her sentence, as Twilight’s eyes suddenly contracted with terror, her body jerking violently. Twilight fell from Princess Luna’s back, and began a long descent to the ground.

Just as Princess Luna finished processing the situation, time unfroze.

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[journcy]

In the words of Web of Hope, who is back on editing for this story:

DUN DUN DUUUNNNNN!!

Sorry that this wasn't up by the end of August. But now we get two September chapters! So that's good. Okay, not really, but bleh.
We're nearing the end... Not many chapters left! I hope you're all excited for the big reveal!
I hope there'll be a big reveal!

Optimistic regarding larger-than-normal-uncoverings,
Journcy Out!