Chapter Three
A Slight Miscalculation
Two long-range teleports got me within a couple of leagues of Nebula's estimated position. When I paused to take another reading from the locator and confirm my course, I realized I was in familiar territory.
The pass through the jagged granite peaks below me was guarded by a little stone tower flying a red banner marked with a black aurock's head. I was at the edge of the territory claimed by the free city of Twilight Town.
Despite the designation and name, it was neither a city nor a town. It had grown substantially in the years since I'd unintentionally founded it, and it was rather too large to reasonably be called a town any longer. Nevertheless, the name stuck because Baroness Buzzy—who was really no more than an elected mayor despite the title—was fond of the alliteration. The term "free city" simply meant it was self-governing and unaffiliated with any larger state.
I quickly took another reading and found that Nebula was either very close to, or actually over the town. It made no sense. The people of the town knew Nebula. I'd visited them on many occasions, and strangers showing up in possession of her would be instantly suspicious. Perhaps the thieves didn't know that, and had merely headed for a refuge with a reputation for lawlessness?
Not that my town was a hive of criminal activity! I would never have countenanced an outright den of iniquity. It's just that the founding of my town was in circumstances that were… unusual, and there is a certain free-spirited culture in the Undiscovered West that can be misunderstood by ponies in more settled lands. Twilight Town was a free-wheeling trading hub, so naturally a significant proportion of its transient population could be considered to be on the less-than-legal side of commercial activity. It was perfectly understandable, and it was going much too far to label the less respectable ponies as thieves, pirates, and smugglers.
Still… I will admit it isn't the sort of place a wise pony walks around with her saddlebag flaps unfastened.
The folk of Twilight Town knew me well, but they knew an aspect of me that was very much at odds with my usual appearance. When I'd founded the place, I'd been under the influence of an appalling amount of dark magic, and I had looked quite... unpleasant. Not the simple dark magic using vagabond that had frightened Flurry as a foal, but an all-out, nightmarish monster.
But to the Twilight Folk, that monster was me. I had once tried to visit appearing as I normally do, and they took me for an imposter. They called me a Canterlot ponce and threw rotten fruit at me, actually. So, if I was going into town to claim my airship, I was going to have to look the part.
I landed on an outcropping out of sight of the guard tower and brought up a dark magic adaptation of Petunia's Polymorph spell. With all the strange and wild magic that was typically used in Twilight Town, a simple illusionary disguise spell wouldn't be suitable. Even if nopony detected the disguise spell, the flow of mana needed to keep it going would be a red flag to any magically sensitive and suspicious ponies… of which, there were more in the town than one might expect.
So I used an actual transformation, physically morphing myself into my "Nightmare Twilight" body. It took a great deal of energy to make the change, but required none to maintain. By any test, I would truly be that terrifying dark alicorn that the Twilight Folk loved so much. The spell worked perfectly, and within minutes, I was on my way again.
I buzzed the pass and called out, "Not sleeping on the job, are you, my little subjects?"[1]
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[1] No, they are not my subjects, and I have never (well, hardly ever) exercised any royal authority over them after I'd managed to rid myself of the corrupt mana. But they still insist that they are my subjects and I am their queen. I indulge them, that's all.
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There came a cheer and shouted greetings from the guard tower. A griffin courier flew up to greet me. "Welcome, Your Majesty! It's so good to see you again! Shall I escort you into town?"
I smiled back at him, not bothering to hide my jagged fangs. Griffins eat meat; they understand. "That would be kind of you," I said. We banked onto a heading for the town and began to slip down into the lower, warmer air. "You haven't seen Nebula recently by any chance, have you?"
"Oh, yes, Majesty!" the griffin chirped happily. "Your crew brought her into town early this morning. There was a bit of a delay getting the gate ready, but Captain Skyla helped out and they ought to be passing through… well, any time now."
"Gate…?" A younger, less experienced me would have wasted precious minutes sputtering and asking futile questions. The older me teleported an instant after suspecting what sort of gate the griffin was talking about.
I appeared over Twilight Town in a flare of light and a burst of dark vapours. It took me a second to orient myself and grasp what it was I was seeing. I was seeing half of Nebula. Her bow had already disappeared into a shimmering surface, framed by jury-rigged metal beams and cables. It was crude and inelegant, but it was undeniably a dimensional portal.
"STOP!" I bellowed. "REVERSE ENGINES RIGHT NOW, AND I'LL SPARE YOUR LIVES!"
The town below me and the area around the improvised gate became a buzz of activity and shouting voices, but the crew aboard Nebula didn't obey. In fact, the slowly spinning props suddenly ramped up to full speed. Nebula was shielded from magical attack in a half-dozen different ways, so trying to grab her or even teleport aboard was futile. I dove for her quarterdeck screaming in outrage.
There was a flash of white to my left and an old friend called out to me. "Majesty! Is this not what you commanded?"
I didn't answer Ao. There was no time. The kirin asked no more questions, but arrowed down alongside me, her aura sizzling.
A blast of magic shot up from Nebula's quarterdeck, startling in its sheer power. Ao dodged left and I dodged right, and we kept on. I would have formed a conic shield in front of us for protection from further blasts, but as I wasn't planning on slowing down before I was on the deck, it would have hit the planks with damaging force. I made do with snap-defence planes against the two shots that came before we crossed over Nebula's stern. They packed such a wallop that I darned near got a chunk of shield energy in my teeth.
If I hadn't been so enraged—or desperate to get on board before Nebula completely disappeared into the portal—I would have recognized the energy signature in those blasts. If I had, I would have been less brutal about taking down the green unicorn mare that had been trying to knock us out of the sky. As it was, I had slammed her into the deck and had one blade pressed against her throat and one against her belly before she could react.
"Order the helmspony to back engines or I'll carve you li—" The shimmering plane of the gate washed over us, and we were twisted through the substrate of the multiverse. "—ke a… Oh stars! Flurry Heart?"
Her kohl rimmed eyes were huge in terror. The green mare had been a disguise spell! My own hooves were still as black as a tax-collector's heart, and I realized that Flurry might not even recognize me in my current form. I got off of her and flipped my blades back into their sheaths. "It's me, Twilight. The owner of this ship."
Her apparent alarm didn't abate much. "Oh… uhm… Aunt Twilight… really? Ah... this isn't what it looks like."
It turned out that it was exactly what it looked like. But we didn't have the luxury to debate about it right then. Nebula's engines jittered and slowed. I looked to the telegraph, but the indicators matched the position of the handles. All four engines should have been at full ahead.
I know how Nebula behaves. Perhaps not quite as well as Fluttershy, but better than any other living creature. Something wasn't right. At full speed she should have run steady and smooth, but she was wallowing and yawing like a hot air balloon.
I shouldered aside the pony at the helm and took the wheel. Slow. Unresponsive. Celestia trample it, my ship was in trouble!
I shoved the helmspony back toward wheel. "Keep her straight and steady!" I snapped, and took my first good look at the world we'd entered.
Over the stern rail was a huge arch of red sandstone, with three deep markings near its apex. It must have been the congruent connection to the portal in Twilight Town, but there was no shimmer of thaumic distortion beneath it. The gate had been closed. Around us was a maze of more arches and pillars of the same sedimentary stone. For an airship unable to maneuver well, we were in a very bad place. Nebula was considerably tougher than she looked, but a collision with a stone bluff, even at moderate speed, would do severe damage.
I grabbed at the ballast controls and began dumping tanks 1 and 4, at the bow and stern, respectively. We began to rise but the tanks went dry long before they should have. If Nebula was short on ballast in her end tanks, the same might be true of her center ones, and I didn't want to take the risk of flying without any ballast at all.
"Ao!" I shouted. "Go forward and see if we're going to clear those cliffs!"
The kirin arrowed up and around the envelope and returned almost immediately. "Nebula will be above it in time, Majesty!" she called out.
I turned to the ponies on the main deck. They were all staring up at me, wide-eyed. "Drop the ground anchors as we top the crest," I ordered. I took hold of the telegraph handles and rang for slow ahead. The engines slowed, sputtered, and almost died. I rang for half ahead, and they steadied, but at a rate that would have barely equaled dead slow.
When I turned back, the crew ponies hadn't moved. "READY THOSE ANCHORS!" I bellowed.
Two of them fainted, and a third fell to the deck, gasping out, "Please don't kill me," over and over. None of them moved to obey.
I didn't have time to roll my eyes or smack my forehead with a hoof, so I reached out with my magic… and got a nasty surprise. I could feel the anchors, but I couldn't lift them. They were barely over a half ton each, but I strained at them like they weighed as much as mountains.
I tried concentrating my levitation field on only one; it didn't budge. I leaped over the wheel and flew across the waist to the fo'c'sle deck and landed beside the capstan. Whatever was affecting my magic, I could still lift relatively light objects, and I was able to loop an anchor cable around the barrel of the capstan. I took up the slack and began to lift the larboard anchor from its place. It took a ridiculous amount of effort and I was sweating in minutes.
Fortunately, Ao had a better time persuading Flurry's ponies to tend to their duties and, eventually, four of them took over from me at the bars of the capstan.
I flew forward over the bow and made sure the ground anchor set well, and judged the wind calm enough not to require a second. My wings felt heavy and I began to think there might be something seriously wrong with me. I returned to the quarterdeck, rang the telegraph for All Stop, and turned to face my niece.
"Flurry Heart," I said, in as calm a voice as I could manage, "I am very disappointed in you."
"I just wanted to… to... " She squeezed her eyes shut and turned away from me. "Could you please drop the disguise? You… you're kind of wigging me out."
I almost refused, but as angry as I was with Flurry, I still loved her, and bolstering a righteous lecture with a terrifying visage wasn't fair. I was absolutely certain that the facts of the matter were entirely sufficient condemnation. So I concentrated on the matrix for Petunia's Polymorph and got another unpleasant shock. I could hardly keep the structure stable, let alone power the cursed thing.
I felt the tiniest bit of panic nibbling at the back of my mind, but Flurry's deepening frown of worry focused my concentration. What was happening? I didn't feel bad, just magically weak. What else was wrong? Nebula's engines...
Nebula's engines ran on mana-charged crystals, which is why it took me so long to suspect what had happened, but their control system relied on active thaumic flow. Coupled with my own magical strength seeming to be terribly reduced... "Flurry, shoot a blast of magic at one of those rock spires. Use all the strength you can muster."
She was confused and still skittish, so it was understandable that she hesitated. I repeated my request again, in the softest, most reassuring voice I could manage. "Please, Flurry," I added. "This is important."
She nodded and let loose with a bolt of energy. It should have blasted a big chunk out of the hoodoo, but it spattered off the rock like water.
That pretty much confirmed it.
"What's wrong with my magic?" Flurry asked me. "That should have…" she trailed off, looked back over her shoulder at me, and winced. "Could you please change back now?"
I shook my head, sadly. "I'm sorry, but I tried; I can't. This isn't a simple disguise spell like yours was. It's a true polymorph, and I can't gather enough mana to make the transformation."
"What's happened to us?"
"Oh, we're just fine," I told her, despite it being almost entirely untrue in the general sense of the phrase. "It's this world that's the problem. I'm pretty sure its natural cycles are sparse and not very robust. We're capable of channeling just as much thaumic force as usual, but the substructure of this universe isn't able to provide us with more than a trickle."
"But I researched this world with Sunburst's mirror! I saw unicorns using magic just like they normally do!"
I shrugged. "Typical spells don't require much energy. I can do some tests to determine the exact flow limit, but that doesn't change the essential facts. You, my darling niece, have stranded us on a low-magic world."
= = =
=
...
Well.
This is going to be a trip.
First question: How did Flurry Heart know how to get Nebula into that world?
Second: Why did she want to get Nebula into a different world?
Third: If the alicorns have such limited use of their magic in this world, that means they can't get Nebula moving again, or even if they could, they have zero chance of reopening that portal to get back to Equestria. That's a sticky situation if I've ever seen one, lol.
I hate to say it but everyone got what they deserve right now.
8004294
Answers (mostly) coming soon...
> startling in it's sheer power
its*
8004296 I tend to agree for the most part. Then I remembered the adorable little Kirin that got sucked into this only because of her respect for the alicorn that mentored her before. I don't think Ao deserves to be stranded in a low magic world.
8004325
Fix'd, thanks.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
media1.giphy.com/media/ED9Q2SCsowywU/200_s.gif
Is there by any chance an image of what Nightmare Twilight looks like? I seem to have lost my vision of her from when I was reading The Twilight Enigma.
you know... I SO HOPE this is the world where Twilight sent the Red Queen, just for the case that this situation is not sticky enough
To the human world!!!
I want this to be a movie now. I would watch the ever-loving S*** out of it. MOAR
Whoa man, this is getting intense... (starts rocking in my chair in anticipation).
8004617
I concur.
Well well well... This is quite the situation isn't it Flurry?
Eugh. I hate low magic worlds. Why do those things even exist?
And it's okay, Twi. Just... use a capacitor or something. A magical capacitor.
No, wait, A magical flux capacitor.
Because everyone knows the answer to every problem delivered in technobabble is a flux capacitor.
I really like the fact that Twi is stuck in her Nightmare form.
And Flurry... Part of me wants to congratulate you on finding a way that might have actually kept a Princess of Equestria from finding you for a bit (if you hadn't been dealing with Twilight F****** Sparkle, of course) and the rest of me wants to slap you for not doing all your homework when it comes to the location of your getaway. I'm willing to forgive the oversight of the low-magic world. It seems you did some research, but the reasons you chose poorly were too far above your planar-knowledge skill to reasonably discover. She probably rolled her check and got a 15 plus bonuses, and thought she had succeeded in finding out all she needed. lolnope. Needed an 18 plus bonuses. Welcome to Adventure, bitch. Don't let the angry goddess smite ya before your angry god-slaying Princess-pirate-aunt can indict ya.
You keep telling me this isn't 'The Flurry Heart Fuck-Up', but so far I'm not seeing it.
Sounds like they will need time to re-align the dilithium crystals..
Liking your story, lookng forward to the next chapter.
Now you get to stare into the face of evil every day for your trouble little filly
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Well, crap.
...And this is why we're going to be stranded here for the next 50+ chapters.
Ha, good job Flurry Heart. You done goofed, and now you're stuck with your scary Aunt in a back water Universe. I'm sure Twilight could engineer some Crystal Engine to build up enough charge to open a gate. Everything is fine, and I'm sure no further complications will arise to make their return any more difficult. Everything will be just peachy.
8004821 Flux equals change or state of change. A capacitor holds a charge.
Flux capacitor = Shape-changing magic in a bottle, or precisely what would make Twilight appear more non-evil and diplomatic.
8008081
Holy carp, that's hilarious!
Someone mentioned that comment reply notifications might not work correctly because I've got a permanent last chapter. I don't know why that should be, but it's possible.
8008090
Wait, I know why. Or rather, I have a theory.
When you reference a comment in the usual way, it only considers comments visible in the same context – i.e. on the last chapter, if commenting from the story root page, or on the chapter page if commenting from the chapter page. If the comment is not found there, the number won’t be translated into the author’s name. This does not affect the generation of the link, so when you click on it, the translation still happens.
It follows that comment reply notification could follow the same rules when deciding whether to send an email or not. The workaround is to always make sure to reply from the chapter page, whichever chapter that is – but you should do that anyway.
Additionally, the notification only runs on comment creation, if you forget the quote button and add it later, it will never notify.
*skullpalm*
Very bad news for the crew and Flurry is going to have to get used to being treated as an idiot by Twilight for a while because (and let's face it here) it's all her fault!
I don't know what Flurry was thinking... No, sorry, I do know - She wasn't thinking at all. She was having a temper tantrum of some sort and was so enamoured by her entirely-exaggerated view of her power, skills, intelligence and maturity that she went charging ahead with wholly-inadequate preparation or even research.
8008250
Makes sense!
8008332
So... typical teenager. Or, rather, typical incredibly magically powerful, heir-to-an-empire, stunningly beautiful, actually-quite-competent-but-not-as-competent-as-she-thinks, teenager. E-yup. No formula for disaster there.
Kidding aside, Flurry Heart was plugged into the Perfect Pretty Princess slot from the moment of her birth. For a talented pony with any sort of appreciation for exploration or adventure (or even self-determination), that's close to a living nightmare. With an aunt like Twilight for an alternative role model (who, no doubt, also gave her the Daring Do novels and similar books as presents)... well...
Yes. In truth it's ALL TWILIGHT'S FAULT!
Blame Zelda... it's to damn awesome.. made me get behind on my commentaries, anyway, time to see how Skyla avoids a trip to Tartarus.. if only to try and hide from her pissed off God-Slayer Aunt.
Yeah, Flurry... Twi really doesn't NEED a ship to get around, it just lets her enjoy the scenery a bit more, and get more loot home. Well not JUST that but... yeah, you aren't going to out distance her, even with a head start.
Awwww, hey, back to these folks. Be interesting to see how they've gotten along over the years.
All of the makes sense, and hey, Twilight can be happy with that at least, even shit she does when royally fucked up on dark magic and out of her mind ends up having long term benefits.
Or want to go see some of the places Auntie Twi has been. Flurry isn't a complete idiot, but is rather inexperienced still, so.. could be a bit of the "Doesn't realize what a stupid idea it is" thing as well.
I love jus how far she's going to try and both deny, and yet still make clear why that reputation exists, just, trying to cast it in the right light... but it does work and all makes sense, it's far from any major powers, left to it's own, would make a good haven.. but isn't Mos Eisly levels of anyone can get away with anything either, there is law and order, it's just.. looser then elsewhere tends to be.
And hopefully you learned your lesson and will remember that lesson after all that and won't do it again. Then again, keep doing it and eventually the word might just run out of dark magic artifacts for you to absorb.... so again, even your screw ups have long term good.
1. That is hilarious..
2. Ohhhhhh this is going to make one HELL of an impression on Flurry Heart. As if just pissed off Twilight wasn't bad enough for her.
nightmare Night must be a blast in that place.
Yup, yup.. and you definitely do not enjoy that one bit.. nope not at all... all just for their sake.
Ohhh she is smart.. Knew to fake being from Twilight, and got them to set up what I'm guessing is some kind of massive long range portal deal so she could get further away. She planned this all out didn't she? Good.. if you are going to do stupid, illegal, and piss off your family shit.. at least don't half-ass it.
Yeah do love just.. how much Twi has changed in these stories, and how natural it all felt, it's still Twilight, just older and wiser.
Not just a teleport... but actually fleeing to another DIMENSION! Holy shit Skyla.... you are definitely related to Twilight.. when you fuck up, you do NOT mess around!
The obvious answer to that is "no"
Seriously Flurry Heart? You are just making it worse for yourself....
Or that fact that the guard said 'Captain Skyla'. Yeah noticed her not noticing that, but, she was in a bit of a rush.
Hey now.. that's just not fair.. they are just doing their job.
Gee I wonder why? Seriously Flurry, what the buck did you expect Twilight to do?
Love just.. the detail and how much. yeah she would be this in tune with things. Also, berating and scaring Flurry Heart into sense can wait till later, save the ship now. Love that... however, again, didn't Twilight seal their dimension off from all the others?
Seriously, as someone that tends to do this very easily.. and who worked long enough in engine plants to become that attuned.. ti's great how.. simply and directly, and perfectly Twi is in tune with things, able to tell the state of things just from minor little senses, time to empty the tanks, etc... so the question is, what is screwing up the ship.. or is it just physics acting differently here?
Hmmm.. Low mana world where things aren't quite as effective? Or did Flurry just fuck something up on the way here?
Yup, mana light universe... oh what the hell did you do Flurry Heart?
You kind of deserve that! Plus... given just how much detail went into talking about how it took power to do, none to maintain, and went out of it's way to explain this... I'm guessing not enough magic to undo it.
Ohhh boy... this is going to be fun.
She's taking that fairy well. Then again, after all she's been through, this is hardly a big deal.. plus Celestia knows about the ship, eventually they will find where it went, find out about the gate, and figure a way to come get you. But... good way to explain why they don't just head right home. I lie this set up story.. also, keeps Twi's Story breaker level power in check without relying on her just doing something stupid to make HER the problem again.. very nice. Of course, now she's stuck here with an inexperienced crew, a crippled ship, low on magic ability... ohh this is going to be on hell of a fun trip. And again damn this is a great, natural, and well done set up
8004294 well mostly guessing but
1.She said she viewed the world in Sunburst's Mirror, so guessing they either repurposed, or created another of Starswirl's mirror portals that they can use to scan other dimensions. Skyla just picked this one for reasons.
2. because she knew there was no way she's stay ahead of her aunt in Equestria Prime and fleeing to another world was the only chance she'd have of having a full adventure.
3.Yup.
8004576 Don't think so, pretty sure they said they sent her to a world with NO magic, not just low magic.
8004821
Well, one of three answers, either that, "Reversing the polarity of the Neutron Flow" or 'Multi-modal Reflection Sorting" Also, more like she took ten on the check and assumed that would be enough.
8009147 1. Hey I mentioned the reply thing last chapter ..... but yeah wierd bug in the site
2. Damnit Twilight..... at this point... some pony stubbing their hoof is likely Twi's fault too.. everything is her fault. And it is glorious.
Flurry, you're gonna wish you went to Tartarus when you get home, because your mom and dad are going to ground you.
Possibly involving sticking you in the actual ground for grounding.
Ah ha ha ha. Oh man, I am SO looking forward to the rest of this. Flurry Heart + "Nightmare" Twilight, stuck in an alternate Equestria with hardly any magic? This is going to be GOOD!
Ms. Nightshade
8017261 hoo boy, yes: I am quite excited.
8147560
Sheep....
I haven't said this in years, but you're one of my favorite authors, and I'm only a few chapters into this one.
And mind you, that's not something I say or think often.
...
You're worthy of the follow.
¡Flurry Heart done bucked up!
TwilightTown, with its Nordic —— ¡Not Swedish! —— Model sounds like a great place to live.
oh, a line from "order of the stick" came to mind:
"my daddy was a fisherman. he taught me a lot. i'm telling you this so that you KNOW, that when i say that if you take one more step i will gut you like a trout, it is NOT hyperbole!"
slightly paraphrased, but i think it's still funny.
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