Twilight Sparkle visualized the green flame of necromancy, floating in the cosmic void. She turned away from it, and from the lamp of illusion, the crystal of conjuration, and the lidless eye of enchantment. She dug her hooves into the floor, opened her eyes, and focused on the opal bowl.
The bone marrow floated in the suspension of lead-saturated heavy water. She had to focus to push her power through the spell-resistant nullifiers.
“What's she doing now?” Jamal the human asked. He took another bite of the roasted carrot-dog.
“She's still working on the spell,” Spike said. “it's really complicated magic.” He munched some of his own roasted-carrot-in-a-bun.
Twilight Sparkle channeled just enough energy to set the quantum genetic sample on a good fifth-dimensional spin. To the outside observers, it would appear to vibrate while flickering in and out of existence.
“It doesn't look like she's doing anything much. Shouldn't she be murmuring incantations or drawing symbols in chalk?”
Twilight Sparkle imagined the tunnel, existing at a 45 degree angle to everything, and tilted the edge of the bone marrow that she couldn't see into it. Lines of morphic energy radiated out from the tissue. She focused on the one that shone brightest.
Oh Cerberus, Guardian of Tartarus, sentinal of the netherworld and servitor of Luna, grant me entry into your domain.
The spell wavered. For a moment, everything flared green and red as she channeled the Nether Powers and Old Sorcery. She blinked away tears and wiped soot from the corner of her eyes.
“Did you just see that? That was...spooky.”
“She's just tapping into some really serious magic. It can get a bit dark, but as long as she concentrates she should be able to handle it.” Spike sighed with pride. “I'm working for the number one magician in all Equestria, remember?”
Twilight Sparkle pushed the spell forward again.
Remember Fluttershy? I'm her friend.
The unseen beam flickered with dark light as Cereberus hung it on its own infernally-charged life force.
“Anyway, Twilight explained to me that unicorn magic doesn't work with a lot of chants and runes. Most of the real work is stuff you can't see, going on inside the spellcaster's head. It's like the difference between painting a beautiful fresco and smacking the wall with a brush.”
Twilight Sparkle wove the energy line, enhanced by her own magic, and ducked it between the different hellscapes: the Augua demi-demons of winter, Prince Stolas the cruel, and the infinite cocoon wherein the still-living heart of Chernobog was chained. It was a bit like playing horseshoes with a horseshoe made of blasting gel, while you were on fire, but she managed to get past the eternal cage of Tirek with only slight abrasions, and the nightscape of the windegoes offered no resistance at all. Sweat stung her eyes and she suddenly felt a twinge of unseasonal estrus cramps while tasting pickle juice. She'd had bio-magical feedback before, but this was odd. It was exhausting, painful, and so much fun!
“So it's mainly about concentration?”
Twilight's lifeline wavered. She heard the mocking laughter of the goat-lord and felt a thousand needle claws of the child-stealing Nightstalkers. They couldn't harm her, probably, but if they got a hold of it they could sever her energy knot and force her to start the spell all over again.
“Yeah, she needs to focus really really hard.”
Twilight Sparkle's vision of the imaginary tunnel was almost eclipsed by a great flaming eye.
“That's what I'm trying to do!” Twilight hissed through gritted teeth. “Spike, would you please go upstairs and mix the quails egg sauce from the recipe book? The kind that goes with two-legged deer?”
“Right, sorry,” Spike said, finishing off his carrot, giving her a conspiratorial wink and thumbs up before he ran upstairs.
Twilight reinforced her thread of energy. She pushed it through the nine circles until she reached the shifting, polyplanar horrors at the periphery of Tartarus.
“Two-legged deer? I though that ponies were vegetarians?”
“It's a euphamism, and earth ponies are the vegetarians,” Twilight grunted. This part of the spell was a bit like trying to thread a needle, only the thread was six-dimensional, the eye of the needle occupied a vibrating pocket-universe of looped time, and you weren't even allowed to moisten the thread with saliva so it would go through easier.
“So, then, what does it-”
The seventh plane vibrated with thaumic backlash.
“Please, please, please either keep quiet or get out!” Twilight hissed. She had enough to concentrate on without thinking about ripping out the human's tongue and pickling it for later consumption. Maybe she could even check up that recipe for sauteed human tongue with curried-
The energy field wobbled. The planar boundary contracted.
Twilight sighed. As exciting as humans were, magic was more fascinating and had better rewards.
After what felt like a day of channeling and straining, Twilight Sparkle broke through the end of Tartarus. She sealed it after her and hurled through the void, passing by the ever-hungering ones in the dark, plunging down a white hole, and shooting her magic into the swirling cosmos.
She saw the birth of a blue sun, and the death of a giant, blood-red star. Tiny dots swirled in her vision, and she passed what looked almost like a giant pony before zeroing in on some matter in the void.
With a scream like a colt getting gelded, Twilight Sparkle finished the spell and yanked back her prize through the ether.
“Ta-dah!”
She waved at the opal container of heavy-water. The bone marrow was gone.
“So, you zapped away the sample I gave you?” The human sounded disappointed, even annoyed.
“I used it to fuel the spell so I could reach into the inter-planar corridor of energy, and I was able to bring something back from the other side!”
Jamal blinked. “I don't see anything in there.”
“Of course, silly me,” Twilight Sparkle said. She brought up the series of magnifiying lenses and focused them at the right point.
There was a perfectly-visible speck at the center of it.
“What's that?”
“It's something from your universe, a mote of matter about the size of a smoke particle! It might be within a dozen light-years of your home. Isn't that great?”
“Smoke? Light-years?” The human hung its jaw open. It stared at her, then at its bandage, then back at her.
“Sauce is almost ready!” Spike called down.
4798704 By disproving them as a god, thus nullifying their existence? Utilising a Chewbacca Defense may help.
4881758
or just superior fire power and military might. magic is an energy source and like any energy source it has a limit, bullets produce crazy amounts of energy quickly. so i truly hope twilight isnt planning on trying to eat earth humans.
I think Jamal is starting to get an idea of just how deep the kim-chee he's standing in is.
Run man. Just run. She will eat you.
Bone marrow, what bone marrow was that? Not to mention this is sounding horrible for the human race if Twilight uses that to get random humans to appear in their world so they could eat them.
4881758 Maybe. But then again as we see though Chrysalis and even Sombra they are not invisible. A high caliber sniper rifle would finish them. Sure magic is great and all but humans are smart very smart a gun beats magic any day.
4881854 She'd also better not try and eat any humans period, otherwise she'll learn the meaning of a falcon punch to the ovaries. Hint: It involves being falcon punched in the ovaries.
4883058 twilight extracted some of his bone marrow in a previous chapter
4883058
See "Core Sample and Finger Food". Twilight extracted it from the small bones in Jamal's hand.
4884226
I find your impotent rage...rewarding and stimulating.
It means that this story is really affecting you. It means that you are invested in the characters and my words have made an impact.
Follow me on this journey, reader. You shall continue to feel.
4885286
Wow, she actually succeeded in doing that. I didn't think Jamal would let her. Now I have to re-read that chapter to see if he actually agreed to it or it just ended there.
On one hand, Twilight is being completely ridiculous. On the other hand, she proved their universe at least exists. She'll have to get more accurate than a dozen light years though if she wants to reach that delightful planet chock full of sumptuous two legged deer.
4887989
Nopony said that spells to reach through the multiplicity of possible cosmos into one particular comparatively small section of a native world was gonna be easy. Magic takes lots of time and practice!
4885293 < Hasn't actually read the story.
It's more ponies thinking they can get away with doing what they like to best species. After all, we have science, they have puny magic. In the long run, which one will save the universe from ultimate decay: Science or magic?
4888431
Uh, magic? Science still has to bow to the laws of thermodynamics. Magic don't.
4890542 Science will figure out a way around that eventually. Hell in the next thousand years science might develop entropy coolants, thus increasing the time until the heat death of the universe.
Ok now that I've read the whole thing I have 2 questions.
Frist, where the hell is rainbow dash!? (we need rainbow dash! she'll fight off these crazy unicorns!)
second, where is Celestia!? (Alicorns are a combination of all three right? so 2/3 of her should be ok......but that 1/3.....it scares me.)
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5553-40bfc545b4239d2d5f33d9f8f00b00a9.gif
It occurs to me that these humans could start a (2 on 1) race war, just by being there.
4935038
Good questions.
1. Rainbow Dash will be coming in when the plot really gets to a head. She had a short appearance in the HopeStar ceremonies after all, but she doesn't come into play until things heat up.
2. Presumably in canterlot, where she spends most of her time, doing princessy things.
4935428
well I'm glad hear rainbows going to show up again.
I noticed vinyl was mentioned...does that mean Octavia is also going show up?
(please have Octavia show up)
Celestia's a no-show huh? damn, I thought it would have been hilarious if Celestia was trying to nibble on them.......but in a cute way.
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw10086-360693__safe_applejack_solo_animated_hat_eating_artist-colon-mixermike622_nom_x252Bintensifies_intense.gif
like just on the shirt sleeve or pant leg....something forgivable.