Author's Notes: First fic in a long time. Wow. I've completed a manuscript for a novel since my last fic so YAY! That aside, venturing into a more innocent universe to expand my writing skills. Enjoy.

Cross posted to as well.

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Interesting things don't happen to people that other people would define as normal. You may know of the kind of person that I'm talking about, but in case you don't we will elaborate on this for a moment. These are the kind of people that go about their daily lives on a routine, day in, day out, and only rarely deviate from the path that was chosen for them or that they themselves chose at some point in the past. They never experience things that would be considered taking a risk and they never truly feel the fulfillment that a precious few who live out their lives on the proverbial edge have discovered. They simply exist in the reality they have made for themselves.

Crystal Stone was such person. She rose every day at seven o'clock sharp and slid off the right side of her bed, slipping her feet into a pair of plushy pink slippers. By five after she was in the shower and exactly thirty minutes later had dried, brushed her teeth, sparingly applied some makeup, and exited her bedroom. For breakfast she ate a bowl of cornflakes, a banana, and drank a small glass of orange juice on the side before heading out the door – always being sure to lock it – and walking to the bus station five minutes before the 8:00AM bus would arrive.

On the bus she would sometimes receive compliments on her and though these kinds of compliments were rare, they never went unnoticed by the young woman. Were a witch's mirror to be asked who the fairest in the land was Crystal would appear as one of many blips on a radar, firmly set in the middle of whatever road beauty was measured by. She did, however, take care of herself so as not to appear homely either, keeping her brunette hair in a sassy pixie style of cut to help accentuate her petite features. Her eyes were the same color brown as her hair, and her skin kept a mostly even if somewhat pale tone. She blended right into her society, never deviating, never drawing attention. Absolutely and perfectly normal.

She worked at a Café near the center of downtown Minneapolis that only opened once the lunchtime rush began at 10:00AM. As such it was essential that as part of her shift, Crystal arrived at least an hour before opening to help prep the food that would be served throughout the day and she would arrive ten minutes before nine each day she was scheduled to work, traffic permitting. Just like every other day she ate a salad when her lunch break rolled around, and left work at 4:00PM with enough time to catch the bus home.

Since she had graduated from a local community college with a degree in the Liberal Arts this was what Crystal's life had become. The same routine, day in and day out. Slogging through life just like everyone else around her while doing what little she could to stave of depression and outright boredom. She would buy music to listen to, occasionally have a different meal for lunch, and when she was feeling particularly full of gumption Crystal would log into her favorite online dating site. Though she had yet to go on a date with any of the potential matches. She acted perfectly content in the life she lived.

Than again…

While it was true she lived a perfectly normal routine, in her soul she wished for more. She wished she had the time and money to learn to blow glass or shape vases so she could create something worthwhile to add to this world. She wished she was more brave so she could break from this routine that held her tied to this area. She wised she could even muster the courage to use what savings she had and move somewhere else entirely, maybe even a different state!

But alas, it was not to be. Every time she got the courage to look at jobs in another area she was frightened away by the moving expenses, or when she could move with ease a secure job in the area could not be found. If it was not one thing, than it was another.

And so, Crystal found herself riding the bus home as she usually did, seven days now before she would turn twenty third birthday but feeling none of the joy that would usually be associated with such an occasion. Her father had passed away six months ago now, leaving her an orphan in this big city. Oh sure, she had some cousins in Michigan that she was far removed from but other than her late father there was no one else in the city. Her friends had all married or moved on in life, away from the greater downtown area where she lived and while she served, helped, and talked to hundreds of people a day at work, she was lonely.

Letting out a soft sigh Crystal stared out the window, fighting off the black void depression for the umpteenth time that day. She needed a change, and fortunately for her fate happened to be watching.

Now fate never truly ignores the faithful drones of life who possess the soul of an adventurer, there are simply not enough adventures available for those who would have them. Fate also cannot directly intervene on a persons behalf, all fate does is move the pieces around so that a door that wouldn't normally be available to a person could be presented. It was still up to the person to walk through that door or not. Sometimes it was as simple as causing a flower to grow in an unusual spot, or a letter to be delivered to the wrong address at the right time.

Sometimes it was an old Ford pickup truck T-Boning the bus you were riding.

The sound of squealing tires and breaking glass filled the air, Crystal's aisle seat lurched out from underneath her leaving her momentarily airborne before the driver corrected the vehicle's trajectory, preventing a rollover and in the same split second forcing the seat beneath the girl again before she was thrown bodily into the seat in front of her by momentum.

Pain erupted in her shoulder where she hit the seat in front of her, people were yelling, screaming, some were crying. She could hear sirens coming closer and someone was yelling for everyone to get off the bus. Crystal blinked, unable to move for a moment as her mind tried to process what happened just a moment ago. She didn't know how much time passed while she lay on the bus floor before she was suddenly brought back to reality by a police officer talking to her.

"Are you alright miss? Are you hurt?" he asked, behind him she could take in the scene of other officers and a couple paramedics tending to those who could not help themselves, how long had she been sitting there?

"Are you alright!" He repeated and she finally was able to make herself nod dumbly. What was going on with her, why couldn't she respond or move?

"We need a medic over here!" The officer finally shouted and Crystal's vision began to go out of focus. She stared at the officer as a paramedic hurriedly wove through what was left of the aisle and tried to tell them it was ok. She felt fine! But when she finally spoke it only came out as a 'gurk' before everything went black.

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Sleep is a wonderful thing. Your mind is free to explore endless possibilities that the body and your subconscious can come up with. At that moment Crystal was floating through a vast sea of relaxation and calm. The stars were above her, the sea underneath her, and all was right in the world.

There was, however, an annoying beeping and buzzing sound that would come and go in regular intervals getting louder each time. She squirmed in the darkness wising the infernal racket would simply go away and let her sleep but then a new noise joined in.

"Crystal?"

She squirmed again

"Crystal?"

Her eyes fluttered but remained shut.

"Crystal!"

Her eyes snapped open only to be blinded by something resembling the sun, forcing them shut again. The brightness didn't help the knives that she felt were being driven into her skull at all – her shoulder meanwhile felt like someone had tried to detach it with a front loader and reattached it with a jackhammer.

"Crystal." The voice repeated again, and this time she had enough sense to recognize the speaker behind it.

"Dennis? What are you doing here?...Where is here?" She asked, squinting as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

"You're in the hospital, Crystal. Your bus was hit by a truck." He said. "And I'm here because I work here, remember?"

She blinked a couple times before her brain finally kicked into gear, the memories and people she knew lighting back up in the archives of her mind.

"Right. You're a resident now. Sorry." She said closing her eyes again and rubbing her head. She was surprised to find that there was gauze underneath her hand where skin and hair should be. "What happened to me?"

"Well, again, you were in an accident Miss Stone." He said picking up his clipboard and listing off what happened to her. A dislocated shoulder, which had been reset, and a mild concussion.

"Now you need to stay awake for the next twelve hours because of the concussion, Crystal. We don't want you slipping into a coma in your sleep and a nurse or myself will be coming in to check on you regularly during the night."

"You work the night shift? No wonder I never see you." She said. It was no secret that at one point she had a thing fort he up and coming doctor, but as he progressed further into his career they drifted farther apart. Fortunately they had tried remained friends, though they rarely saw each other.

"Yep, I love the work though, so I can't complain." He smiled down at here as an awkward silence set in. Crystal was forced to contemplate everything that had happened between them and in her life since Dennis had come and gone from it. She was still working at the same dead end job, still single, and even more friendless than she was when the two had first tried a relationship.

"Anyways, once you've been awake for twelve hours you'll be free to go but in the meantime…" He tossed the remote control for the TV onto the bed beside her, "Get comfortable. I'll be back in a bit."

Crystal sighed and turned on the TV, not bothering to see what was on but wanting the background noise so she could think. Flopping back on the un-plushy pillow she wondered how her life had gotten to a point where someone who used to be one of her good friends now had a hard time being in the same room with her. There was no point in crying over the lost friendship since they had not been an item for almost a year now, but it still tugged at part of her heart to see him act that way.

She felt as though the rut in her life had suddenly turned into a gaping ravine and she sitting in a puddle of mud at the bottom. While the imagery made a rueful smile come to her lips she still felt that way, regardless of weather the picture in her head was correct or not. She needed a change, but wasn't sure if she had the wherewithal to make it happen. She was just involved in an accident bad enough to land a hospital stay, maybe that was some sort of a wake up call to her of all the things she wanted to do but hadn't yet.

Leaving the TV running Crystal rummaged around the magazine rack that was built into the bed but found only one within the small shelf. It was an older magazine clearly aimed at people who played live action role playing games or something, judging from the badly dressed knights with large glasses on the front cover. The tome like magazine had the name ALIA MUNDOS emblazoned across the front. Whatever that meant. At least she had something to read, so there was that. Even at home she preferred to have her boxy ten year old TV on simply for background noise while she was doing something else.

It took her two hours to skim through the entire magazine, in which time she only found three different things that were interesting. There was an article on Arthurian legend and a team that was trying to prove the legend was real, an article about the state of video games for girls, and the latter section of the magazine which was devoted to various people and shops selling various "artifacts" from fantasy worlds.

Amongst the obvious fakes and trash there was a fairly convincing copy of the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings movies, and a few wands from the set of one of the Harry Potter movies. But there was one ad that seemed to stand apart from the others because of its lack of pictures and simple, flowing text.

FOR SALE: One magical door. When used correctly this door will transport you to a magical realm suited to your needs. It is made of solid, rich mahogany and includes decorative runes along the middle portion of the frame. Magic only activates if the door is entered from within. Watch that first step. Delivery within 24 hours guaranteed.

Call 558-555-3867 for inquiries.

Crystal blinked and reread the ad quickly, trying to decipher the strange tugging sensation in her heart was when the words went through her mind. Other than the lack of pictures and the text this ad was no different than any of the others on the page. So why did she feel so interested in this?

But she already knew the answer to that question. She was interested because it seemed like it was too good to be true, which meant it probably was. Travel to a magical realm on command? Have her needs – which were mostly emotional – filled and be able to feel good about herself? Even if the ad was lying it was something that she felt she needed to at least try, what harm could it do? Worse case scenario she would end up with a non-magic but functional door…or some firewood.

Besides she owned the townhome, she could put a new door in if she wanted to.

Closing her eyes and shaking her head to try and shake off the headache Crystal had to take a minute to get her bearings again before sitting upright, fighting the ever tilting room. Getting out of bed right now would probably end her in an embarrassing position on the floor. Stupid hospital gowns.

Jamming the nurse call button down she was pleased to find a nurse standing in her room not moment later. However Crystal couldn't just tell the nurse that she needed her purse because she wanted to order a magical door from this old magazine she found on the bed. That might end her on a different floor in a strait jacket. Instead Crystal told a very convincing lie about how it was 'that time of the month' and needed some things from her purse. Fortunately the lie worked flawlessly and soon enough a sympathetic nurse left her alone once more, closing the door behind her.

Glancing at the magazine's ad one more time to confirm the number, crystal picked up the phone that was built into the bed – since cell phones wouldn't work in here – and dialed the number.

Bzzzzzzzt! The digital bell tolled in her ear, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe this whole thing was just some sort of joke or trick.

Bzzzzzzzt! Speaking of tricks, maybe this was actually some kind of trap. Maybe it was all part of some elaborate setup to get her alone and take all her money.

Bzzzzzzzt! Maybe she should hang up now, save herself the embarrassment of all of this being recorded and put on national TV or worse, the Internet.

Bzzzzz–

"Hello?" The voice on the other end was a man, but obviously an old man. From the sounds of it, very old. This surprised Crystal though she didn't know why, freezing her brain just long enough that she couldn't make a coherent response come to her lips.

"Is there anyone there?" The voice repeated.

"Err, yes." Crystal stumbled over words in her head, "Hi. Sorry about that, my name is Crystal and I'm calling about an ad I found in this…magazine…about a magical door?"

It all sounded so incredibly foolish when it was said out loud that Crystal assumed the old man would simply laugh at her and hang up. Fortunatly she was in the hospital so when she died of embarrassment they might be able to revive her.

"Oh dear me!" The old man had a hint of excitement in his voice, "I do not believe it. I've ran that ad in Alia Mundos for the last five years and haven't had one peep about it until you called, young lady." He chuckled, "Dear me, what a happy day indeed."

"I'm sorry, what is your name?" Crystal asked, she had already given him her name so it was a fair trade.

"Oh, young lady you may call me Mr. Waddle."

"Alright, Mr. Waddle, I'm curious, is the door still for sale?"

"Oh yes. I still have it up on hinges and everything."

"How much are you asking for it?"

"Well, originally I was asking five hundred dollars, but that was five years ago – not that the thing depreciates in value or anything it's solid mahogany after all. But I have a feeling about you, young lady, I think you just might be the one meant to have this. How does fifty dollars sound to you?"

Crystal was taken aback momentarily that the old many was willing to give her such a steep discount on the door simply because she had been the only one to inquire about it. It didn't seem fair to her, and she was never one to take advantage of anyone, much less an elderly man who may or may not have some mental issues.

"Um, that seems a little cheap, how about fifty for the door, and I throw in another fifty to help with shipping." She offered.

"Oh dear me." He chuckled, "You are defiantly the right person for this gift. Yes, young lady that sounds absolutely fair. Now don't worry about a thing Crystal – err what was your last name young lady?"

"Stone."

"Alright Crystal Stone, don't worry about a thing for delivery or payment, we have already accepted the terms of the deal so the magic will do the rest. Just remember, to go to the magical world you must enter the door from within. You have a wonderful day now." The old man's jovial laughter began to fade as if he was setting the handset down.

"Wait! But I–

Click.

Crystal stared at the phone wondering what just happened. Perhaps it was a joke after all. Perhaps the old man was simply crazy. Perhaps he had simply escaped his room somewhere at a mental institution and gained access to a phone just in time for her to call. Perhaps she should be in that institution as well.

Placing the phone back on its cradle she laid back onto the lumpy uncomfortable pillows, her head killing her. What was she thinking? Buy a magical door…right. Fortunately the old scammer didn't have the wherewithal to get any of her bank information from her before hanging up. Oh well, his loss. Good lord her head hurt, maybe an orderly would be by soon to check on her and she could get some painkillers.

Grabbing the TV remote with an irritated swipe at the bed Crystal resigned herself to try and find something interesting to watch, knowing it was going to be a long night.

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Luna stared at the endless canopy of the night from the highest balcony of the Canterlot Palace. When no one had shown for the midnight court tonight she simply canceled the useless spectacle for the evening and gone to watch the stars. Something she had surprisingly little time for, being Princess of the night. Usually when she was looking up at her sky it would be to study the stars themselves or test positions for new constellations that she had thought up.

Tonight, however, she was doing none of that. She was simply enjoying the moonlit beauty that she had given the world, content with the fact that so few ever saw it. Those that needed the night sky would find it would always be there for them, and that was enough.

However as she enjoyed the cool night air something caught her attention. In her peripheral she could have sworn one of the stars had wiggled, but when she glanced that direction there was nothing to be seen.

Then, it wiggled again. How could this be? Stars do not wiggle, not unless she tells them to! A quick check of her own recent memories proved that point, no commands sent to the stars. So stop wiggling.

It wiggled a third time.

This simply will not do. Luna thought, You will obey, and stay firmly in your place. She mentally chastised the star, pointing her considerable magic at it and commanding it to be still. But then something incredible happened, not only did her magic bounce off of the star, but the star began to move in slow, concentric circles. On its own!

She narrowed her eyes trying to sense if perhaps this foul twinkling perpetrator was tainted by chaos or any other kind of magic. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the star as it moved across the sky of its own accord, her head slowly following it, horn aglow with magic.

It was not chaos magic but the star defiantly had its own magical signature. Of what though she could not be sure, it was strong but…old. Somehow she sensed that the magic engulfing this star was older than even Celestia and herself and just as quickly as she was able to confirm the magic was there, it faded. Opening her eyes in surprised Luna looked skyward again, almost straight up, to where the star now rested. She glanced back at the horizon where it started and measured with her eyes to its new position and frowned.

Stars do not move 176 degrees across the sky on their own, and certainly when she specifically told the star not to.

"Guards." Her two personal bat like ponies appeared by her side, having been just inside the room behind her. "Wake my sister and bring her to us – err – me. It is urgent."

The guard on the left bowed low and scampered off, leaving the other to return to his post by the door.

Luna on the other hand turned her attention back to the star that had moved itself across the sky just a minute ago. She could still sense the magic emanating from it but it was much more faint, almost dormant. If she hadn't known it was there she may have missed it completely.

She needed another sent of eyes on the star to understand what had just happened, perhaps someone with a non-princess perspective but who was still sensitive to magic.

A piece of parchment and quill came flying to her on command and she began to write to just the pony she knew would be able to help.

Dear Twilight Sparkle…