Chapter 4 – Inter-dimensional Doors

Trixie was elated. The two-month depression she had endured seemed like a distant memory. A thought clicked in

her mind: that gateway. She had to get working faster than ever. Shane was at Fluttershy's, staying the night,

but Trixie had as much time as she wanted. She had nothing but time, actually. Ever since a voice in her head had

started whispering in her ear, she knew exactly everything she needed to do. The voice sounded a bit familiar…

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Shane was fast asleep, having a wonderful dream about Black Mesa and Aperture Science working together.

However, this was interrupted when a familiar black, blue-armored alicorn strode up in the midst of Shane's

surroundings. "Very impressive," she said, looking around. Shane would have blinked if he could. "Nightmare

Moon?" the mare nodded. "Sorry if my approach before was a bit… zealous," she grinned at the last word, fangs

showing. "Apparently I need to work on being softer." Shane was stumped. He remembered well the last time

Nightmare Moon had visited his dreams. "Why are you here?" he asked. "Sit down, Shane Wright," she said. "We

have much to talk about."

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"When I was purged from Princess Luna," she began, her eyes narrowing at the mention of her other self, "I was

a wandering spirit, not entirely dead. I had nothing to look for but one with darkness in her heart." Shane raised

an eyebrow. "Her?" Nightmare Moon looked away. "That particular story is for another time. The point of me

invading your dreams is to inform you that you will need the human Josh in your upcoming endeavors. As will my

new bond." Shane was now thoroughly confused. "Bond? Who's that?" Nightmare Moon smiled. "Let's just say…

one who knows Josh very well."

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Fluttershy was thoroughly worried. The human was tossing and turning in his sleep, and nothing she did would

calm him down. "Oh my – please wake up," she pleaded. Shane was not listening, however. She thought back to

the short time she had spent taking care of Josh. This was nothing like that. This human wasn't as sophisticated

as Josh. "No, that's too mean," Fluttershy thought out loud.

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"Well, I'd best be going. Might I recommend you build that gateway carefully?" she said, walking away. As she

vanished, Shane's brain, dreaming though it was, processed the information. Nightmare had indicated this human

would be important in the future, in turn indicating that she knew of future events. Therefore, her hint about the

gateway might refer to a possible malfunction due to a neglect on Shane's part. And who was her 'bond'? Shane

sighed in his head and went back to his dream, but he just couldn't get it like it was before he was interrupted.

Darn. He decided to wake up.

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Fluttershy was, to say the least, astonished when Shane simply sat up. "Ow," he muttered. Then he looked up.

"Hey, is there something wrong?" Fluttershy nodded. "You were dreaming of a nightmare," she said. Shane

laughed. "You might say that." Fluttershy was confused, but assumed it was a human thing and left it alone.

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Shane considered what he had learned. Nightmare had a new 'bond', who Josh was apparently important to. Half

of Black Mesa's supposed inventions were actually stolen from Aperture, who had already invented them at least

twenty years earlier. Neurotoxin was still deadly in Equestria. How could he factor in to this? He had no idea, but

he had already significantly helped with the portal to the other Earth, so he had done some good.

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Josh was getting rather worried. Sara would probably be more worried than he was. He was tied to a chair, with

a small room with a small window, facing the traffic outside. He was gagged and bound thoroughly. Could he

move? He tried making the chair jump, and it moved about an inch. Josh would have smiled, if he could. He

managed to 'hop' his way over to the window, and gazed outside. Thankfully, the window reached to the floor, so

what Josh had to do would be somewhat less painful.

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Using all his strength, he hurled himself, still bound, through the window, some thirty stories up. He plummeted to

the ground, glass shards raining down around him, and was fortunate enough to land on a car. A small crowd

gathered around him, pointing and whispering. Josh furiously tried to speak through the gag, and finally someone

untied him. He stood up, shook himself off, thanked the person, and ran for his life.

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Sara was worried sick. Josh had been gone for well over a day now, and all efforts to contact whoever had taken

him away had been in vain. The portal's insides were nearly complete, and seeing as that had taken the better

part of the day, she felt a mixture of pride at her work, combined with Josh's informative blueprints, and fear at

what might have happened to him. She bit her knuckle and welded another part onto the round doorway. Then

she made up her mind: She was going with Josh, wherever he went. Life here was boring, and she had barely

anyone who would miss her (although some might think her a bit odd if she went off somewhere without telling

them). She composed an email to Magnus Industries, explaining her official resignation. She made dinner. She

went to bed, exhausted from stress.

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Sara was woken up by a rather sharp banging on the door. Oh no, those men have come back to take me, she

thought. She grabbed a crowbar and went to greet them.

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She opened the door not to reveal more fake authorities, but one very bloodied Josh, who only said "Finally, a

friendly face." Then he collapsed on the ground, and Sara, looking both ways, dragged him inside, putting him to

bed.

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Trixie had a feeling something important was happening, but she couldn't detect what. Her end of the portal was

going smoothly, and she was trying to find a place for it to latch onto as its destination. All she had was the other

apparent portal on that Earth, so she chose that, working on the coordinates she had managed to wrest from

extremely long algorithms and equations. Then she closed down the Enrichment Center, and went to sleep. No

sense meeting Josh without a full night's sleep, she reasoned.

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A/N: We're so close! GO PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON!

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Press it!

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