The tower went clear through the building. From the lower levels, all the way up on the roof. At the top of the tower, a few feet from the roof was a room that looked a lot like a graceful bubble topped with a gently sloping roof. And around one side was a balcony. As they approached Henry looked like a kid at Christmas. Practically bursting with excitement. Jo however looked wary as her hand hovered over her holster in case she needed to make a quick draw.

Standing underneath the balcony, which was several feet above him, Nathan looked up and called out in a loud voice. "HELLO UP THERE!"

Silence reigned before the sound of a door opening reached their ears. Poking out over the railing, they were surprised at the sight of the creature before them. It was small and purple with a ridge of green running down it's back and reptilian emerald eyes.

They sat there staring at each other blankly for several minutes before the creature withdrew it's head and the sound of an opening and closing door sounded before a youthful male voice cried out.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

Once more the door opened and closed. This time the creature was larger and equine in form. With a soft rainbow mane that moved in an invisible breeze. And perched atop it's head was a long horn and crown. Finally it spoke.

"Pardon me but where are we?" They jumped at the polite feminine voice that came from the creature's mouth and gaped at her.

Jo, who'd seen some strange and disturbing things in her time, was the first to recover.

"Well. Things just got interesting."

/

After he was introduced Carter to Princess Luna, one of the sister rulers (at this point Carter basically gave up), Her highness then launched into telling them about how she was in her tower working when suddenly her sister's tower disappeared in a sort crackle of magenta and white electricity. Confused, she'd immediately flew all the way over her hoping Twilight could help.

At her description of what had happened, alarm shot through him. And judging by the looks on his companion's faces they had the same thoughts.

"You're highness.." Carter started after Luna's account.

"Please sir, we are called Luna." She cut him off. "And it would please us if you weren't so formal. Tia and I have never really revealed in formalities."

Carter glanced at Applejack and Rainbow, a little confused at how the alicorn spoke. They, in turn, shot back looks that said 'just roll with it'. Turning back to Luna, he continued.

"well um Luna, we ourselves don't know what's going on ourselves."

"Explain what you can." She answered.

Carter started to answer when a dull thud was felt across the entire square. A crackling sound filled the air as arcs of magenta and white light danced in the air. And for a minute their surroundings became watery and partially see through and for a split second Carter saw Eureka town square instead of Ponyville. Then everything shifted back to normal as the electric light left the air taking Eureka with it.

/

At the same time back at GD after introductions, a thud and the crackle of electricity also filled the air. And as the world went watery, Celestia caught a glimpse of Ponyville before it all vanished.

/

At Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were in the kitchen making a massive cake for their best customer, Pinkie Pie. Then the thud echoed through the building, shaking and knocking down almost everything that wasn't nailed down. Mr. Cake went too support the cake batter while Mrs. Cake immediately rushed upstairs to check on the twins.

As Mr. Cake stood there however, he almost dropped their commercial grade batter bowl at what happened then and there.

/

Back in Eureka at Cafe Diem, Vincent was was busily serving customers when the dull thud followed by the earthquake hit.

"Everyone remain calm." He instantly cried out as people began to panic.

At that moment the odd electricity filled the air and a sense of passing through something chilled him. The building became watery, almost ghostly and Vincent caught a glimpse of non humanoid figures moving around outside. When it finally stopped though, his cafe was VERY different.

The were shelves and tables where he didn't remember the ever being any. And he had a distinct feeling that he had a new floor. As his customers looked around confused, Vincent decided he needed to see if his kitchen was alright.

The kitchen had also been drastically altered. but he was paying any attention to any of these changes. Instead his eyes were locked on the figure just across the room. There, balancing a very large mixing bowl on the counter, was a bright yellow horse with a brown mane and wearing an apron and cap who was staring back at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

/

Back in Equestria Carter, Luna, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been trying to calm the panicked ponies as they rushed here and there in confusion. Mares snatched up their foals as others went searching for friends and family members.

Finally Luna called attention in the chaos using what apparently called 'The Royal Canterlot voice.' Once everypony calmed down considerably, Luna then instructed them to return to their homes. Once everypony had returned to their homes, they then began to wander around looking for anything unusual.

Then they found the most unusual sight of all. Too the ponies, it looked like Sugarcube Corner had been mashed and mixed in with an unfamiliar building. To Carter it looked like Cafe Diem had been combined with a gingerbread house.

As they approached the odd building, a shriek was heard and they quickened their pace. Inside it was the same. An odd combination of both Cafe Diem and Sugarcube Corner. Besides the tables and chairs, the room was relatively empty.

Before they could say or even consider anything about the odd sight, another shriek sounded from the kitchen. Dashing in a fast as they could, they found the source of the second shriek was a roundish blue mare with a pink mane and wearing an apron.

The next for they noticed was Vincent as he kept glancing between the mare near him and the stallion on the other side of the room. When they'd entered, he'd looked over the group and for a minute looked like he might collapse into a panic attack. Then his eyes landed on Sheriff Carter and he visibly relaxed.

"Oh Sheriff. Thank goodness. Now, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!"

/

After their initial shock with the strange speaking horse, the group all exploded into activity. Mostly Henry going on about the chances of sentient creatures like this horse and the lizard-like creature from a minute ago. At that point the 'lizard-like creature' came out and indignantly informed them that he wasn't a lizard. He was a "mighty and powerful dragon."

That statement shocked them all and before any could say anything, the horse stepped in and using some sort of golden light that she emitted from her horn she lifted the smaller creature onto onto her back and lept down, using her wings (WINGS!) to slow her descent.

She then introduced herself as Princess Celestia, one of the ruling sisters in her world apparently, and the little 'dragon' as Spike. And just when things couldn't get anymore unbelievable, things got weird.

After the images of the trotting ponies disappeared, Celestia demanded why she saw Ponyville. Henry was more then happy to answer her inquiry. When he finished, she looked at him grimly.

"So you're saying that my world and your's is in danger?" She finally asked to clarify.

"In a rather depressing nutshell." Henry confirmed. Silence reigned before Celestia finally trotted to the stairwell.

"What are you doing?" Alison asked the celestial ruler.

"I'm going to save my world." She answered with finality. She paused as she opened the door. "But I can't do it alone."

They stood there silently. "Well I'm in." Henry finally volunteered.

/

After calming them all down, Mr. and Mrs. Cake went upstairs to stay with their foals. Meanwhile, Vincent and Luna were brought up to speed on what had been going on.

"Sooooo, in basic this is a different world?" Carter nodded confirmation at Vincent's summary. "You know all things considered, that has to be the coolest thing ever." He finally said.

"Glad you're not panicking." Carter sighed.

Vincent didn't seem too hear a word. Instead he was more focused on the newly decorated cafe, now a bakery with the addition of Sugarcube Corner.

"I was considering expanding." He said offhandedly. "The new look seems a bit more welcoming and a little inviting to children. And yet it's still not something wouldn't make an adult feel like he'd much rather die than step in here."

"Vincent!" At the sound of his name being called, Vincent paused his awe. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Vincent looked thoughtful. "Hard to say. It's not really my area of expertise and I don't have access to the proper data, but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say that when the original experiment blew up in your face you basically created a sort of rift between dimensions. Everything that's happened so far is the rift dragging things from one side too the other."

"Can we stop it?" Luna asked.

Vincent scrunched up his face in a very thoughtful look. "Maybe." He finally said. "But if there is a way, I don't know it. Like I said, not my field of expertise." Vincent paused. "But if there's anything I can do, I would be happy to help."

Carter nodded. "Thanks Vincent. For now, just stay here and take care of the Cake's"

/

"How do we fix this?" Fargo asked as they gathered in Nathan's office.

"Do you have any data on the rift?" Celestia asked Henry as she used a wing to lower Spike to the ground.

Henry instantly pulled up the data that he had on the signals. For a time Celestia stared at the feed, her eyes examining every particle intensely.

"A communication spell." She finally said. "And a very clever one at that. It's a little rough around the edges, but from what I can tell it allows the user to cast their image across distances so that they and the pony on the receiving end can speak in real time. Ingenius."

"So basically, video chat." Fargo summed up.

Celestia gave him a questioning look. "I don't know what this 'video chat' is, but I do know that this spell would've revolutionized communications."

"Revolutionized communications? Don't you have phones or anything like that?" Celestia shook her head in answer to Jo's question.

"I'm don't what 'phones' are. In my world we communicate using letters mostly."

At that they all gave her looks of astonishment. "Seriously?" Alison finally asked.

"Our postal system is quite advanced." Celestia said with a nod. "It helps that sometimes magic can send letters in under a minute."

Nathan snorted. Celestia turned to him with a questioning gaze. "Is there something wrong?"

"Sort of." He answered. "It's just the way you're going on about all this I almost believed magic is real."

Silence fell over the room as Celestia and Nathan stared at each other. Nathen with an expression of confidence that bordered on cocky and Celestia with a cool even blank look that showcased her experience with similarly narrow minded politicians. As they stared down, tension filled the air as the rooms other occupants waited for Celestia's response.

"I apologize if I've offended you." Celestia finally said, her voice cool, calm and even. "But with all due respect Mr. Stark, how is it that with all that's happened, it is so strange that my world possesses something unheard of in yours?"

Nathan opened his mouth to respond when Henry cut him off in order to prevent offense. "So you said this spell is a little rough around the edges?" He hastily asked as he drew her attention to the screen. Neither saw Alison smack Nathan upside the head.

"Yes of course." Celestia answered with a nod. "As revolutionary as it is, from what I can tell this spell is what we call 'a test spell.'"

At that an thoughtful look crossed Henry's face. Turning he shot a look at Nathan that expressed his thoughts about this unusual coincidence. Nathan returned it with a look of his own before turning too Celestia who remain oblivious to the silent exchange. Visibly swallowing his pride Mr. Stark finally spoke.

"Ms. Celestia." He started, drawing her attention to him. "If someone...cast this spell...could you tell who."

If Celestia could tell his reluctance she showed no sign. Instead she nodded. "For my kind, be they unicorn, pegasus, earthpony or even alicorn, magic is as individual the being." At her listing, Nathan let out a small sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Celestia ignored him. "Usually it would take a day or two of research to find the pony this magical signature belongs to."

"But...?" Jo asked. Celestia inhaled.

"But I don't need to research." Catching the tone in her voice they all looked at her in curiosity while simultaneously bracing themselves.

"I don't need to research because I know this particular magic signature." She explained. "I've known it for a very long time."

Another long pause before she finally spoke. "The magical signature is that of my own student and dear friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

/

Carter, Rainbow, Applejack and Luna had just arrived at the hospital when Rarity and Zoe rushed up.

"Twi-Twi-" Rarity huffed as she tried to catch her breath.

"Twilight's awake!" Zoe announced.

/

Once they arrived at the hospital room, Fluttershy moved to reveal a now awake Twilight. As Carter approached, the violet alicorn blinked up at him in confusion and Jack could tell she was still medicated.

"Who're you?" She asked, a slight slur in her voice.

"Um, I'm Sheriff Jack Carter and with your permission, I'd like to ask a few questions."

"A Sheriff!" She slurred. "A real Sheriff. You look a little different. Okay. I'll answer your questions."

For a brief moment, Carter felt like he was talking to a drunk before he shook off the feeling and pressed forward.

"Well, I actually want to know what happened that caused that explosion at your house."

Twilight scrunched up her face before wincing in apparent pain. "This morning I sent Spike to Canterlot so we could begin testing long distance for my new spell." She started. "At first it was going great then something happened."

Carter leaned in as Twilight paused. "As near as I could tell," She finally moaned a little quieter. "Some sort of signal I've never seen before interfered with my spell. I lost control and it blew up in my face. The last thing I remember is somepony knocking down my door before I blacked out."

Silence filled the room as Twilight's eyelids drooped before she snapped them open. "S-sorry I couldn't be of better help." She managed slowly before her eyes began to droop again.

Carter shook his head. "Not true. You've given enough info. Now you just need to rest and recover."

The word had barely left his lips before Twilight's dropped to her pillow, already exhausted. Carter inhaled and let out a sigh through his nose as he stood up.

"Well that settles it." He said. "Twilight was connected to what happened at Henry's garage."

/

At this point, back in Eureka, people were going into hysterics. First there was the school. Now Cafe Diem got a makeover that looked suspiciously like another building had been mashed into it. Aside from almost going into full blown panics, many physicists were busy trying to figure out what was going on. All of their calculations ending in String Theory.

Then a rumbling thud was felt throughout and for the second time that day strange buildings appeared alongside (and some even mashed into) familiar buildings. Only this time, they weren't watery barely visibly images. They looked much more solid. And appearing in the street, looking equally disoriented and scared, were odd looking colorful equines.

At that point, panicked hysteria broke out.

/

"This is getting a little out of hand." Nathan commented, trying to not panic as he looked at his new addition to his office.

At that moment, the whole of GD was filled with unidentifiable trees with odd wildlife moving among the new addition. Before anyone could say anything else, a roar filled everyone's ears and before anyone, pony or otherwise, could react a massive lion with the tail of a scorpion lept from the bushes near Fargo. Before anyone could move, the odd lion lifted it's paw and swiped at the accident-prone scientist. At that moment the world seemed to move in slow motion as the paw neared Fargo, who couldn't get out of the way quick enough.

Fargo braced himself for what might be the end, ('gutted by a lion from an alternate world. There are worst ways to go.') when the beast's paw past through his stomach. There was a moment of silence as the lion looked down at his paw in confusion before running out of the room, at which point Fargo released a sigh of relief.

"Hunh." Jo finally said. "I guess your luck is finally turning around."

"Indeed." Celestia agreed, still looking in the direction the creature had gone. "You should consider yourself very fortunate. The claws of a manticore, even a juvenile like like one, are known to inflict some serious damage."

"Well then I guess we should count ourselves lucky that it's not solid yet." Nathan finally said, still shaking off his shock.

"Soon that may not hold true." Celestia said worriedly as she looked at the tree in front of her. At her words they turned their attention to the tree in question.

At first they didn't much unusual about it. It still watery, ghostly and flickered like the rest of the forest. Then they saw it. It was so gradual they almost didn't notice, but it was there. The tree, the entire forest, was gradually becoming more solid.

"Nathan Stark." And the sound of his name, Nathan turned his attention to Celestia. "I suggest you evacuate Global Dynamics."

/

It took an hour or two, but they finally got everyone out of GD, only to find the outside was as wooded.

"It's getting worse." Celestia muttered as she helped lead the GD employees out of the new forest. "I recognize all this as the Everfree forest on the outskirts of Ponyville. If we don't stop this, everything will be torn apart."

"We know what started all this, but we don't know how to fix this." Henry summed up rather melancholy.

At that Celestia paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "What if that's what we need?"

At her question, Henry also paused and shot her a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Celestia trotted forward with renewed vigor with Henry trailing behind. From his position on the Celestial ruler's back, Spike could practically see the gears turning in her head.

A minute later they all exited the flickering forest. As they looked over Eureka, they saw that it was no better. Flickering among the town's buildings was another town. Instantly the GD employees scattered to hunt down family members, leaving Stark, Alison, Jo, Fargo, Spike and Celetia with their view of the flickering town.

Concern etched in her face, Celestia took a step forward. Spike did his best to calm her by patting her on the back. In response Celestia placed a hoof on his claw and gave him a smile before turning back to the group.

Clearing her throat, she began. "This rift was opened when two signals crossed and both lost control, right?"

They nodded confirmation at her summery.

"Well, what if we did the same thing only more controlled?"

Silence reigned at her suggestion. "Um, I'm not sure I follow." Fargo offered.

"I'm getting there." Celestia said. "If we could recreate the experiment under controlled conditions and activated it near the first rift, what do you think would happen?"

"Well, being in close proximity to a second signal, the two rifts would throw each other into a feedback loop." Henry suggested.

"Still not seeing the bright side so far." Fargo informed, a nervous edge creeping into his voice.

"In theory," Henry explained. "A feedback loop would destroy both rifts and quite possibly, separate the two worlds. Hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Jo asked incredulously.

Henry shrugged. "That's the best I've got at the moment."

Jo sighed and shrugged back. "Still the best odds we've had all day."

At that moment Fargo raised his hand. "Okay, I think I'm up to speed with this plan. But from what I can tell this plan relies on cooperation from both sides."

"He's right." Nathan agreed, something that didn't happen very often. "The first rift was created when Henry's transporter signal and this..Twilight Sparkle's spell crossed. From here we can only do one half. How do we get the other half?"

Celestia smiled. "Leave that to me."

/

Carter, Luna and Applejack were trying to calm the panicking citizens when it came. As he tried to calm down a lilac filly, a flash of light in front of his face almost blinded him and sent the scared little foal screaming down the street.

Blinking back the stars in his eyes, Carter turned to where the flash had come from. There, level with his face, was a ball of golden light that was expanding till it was the size of a basketball. Then an image spread across one side of the ball of light and Carter found himself staring at a large white horse with a long horn and a rainbow mane.

"It works." The strange horse said before she turned her attention offscreen. "Thank you again Spike."

"Um." Carter said, not sure what to say.

"You must be Sheriff Carter." The mare continued. "I've heard much about you. My name is Celestia."

"SISTER!" LUna cried out jubilantly, practically plowing Carter's face into the ground. "You are well!"

"Luna! I apologize if I frightened you."

"Nonsense. I am simply glad to see you are alive and whole."

The two might've continued like that if a familiar voice hadn't cut in. "Sorry to cut this little reunion short, but we're in a little bit of a situation so give him the message and lets get ready."

'I know that voice.' Carter thought as he pulled himself up from his spot on the ground. "Nathan?" He said as he looked up at the image floating above him.

Nathan smiled down at him, clearly enjoying Carter's position below him. "Whats up, or should I say down, Sheriff?"

Carter shot a glare at the grinning Nathan. "Real original, Stark." He shot back.

Nathan just grinned back before a hand appeared, smacking him upside the head, after which he dropped out of view and Alison appeared in his place.

"Enough with the jokes Nathan." She was saying as she moved onscreen (?). "We have more important things to do than play games." She then turned to Carter, a dead serious look on her face.

"Pay attention Carter." She commanded. "Cause if we screw this up, two whole worlds are going to die."

/

Half an hour later, both Luna and Carter stood there processing the information they'd learned.

"So the fate of two worlds rests upon our shoulders?" Luna finally asked. Celestia nodded.

"It does indeed, sister."

"And you're sure this is the only way?" Carter asked, still wondering if this plan could either save them or make it worse.

'Personally I doubt it could get any worse than this, but I've been wrong before.'

"As near as we could calculate, this is our best bet to resolve this crisis." Henry offered.

Carter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. There were no words to describe this situation.

"Where is Twilight?" Celestia asked. "You'll need her to perform the spell."

A feeling of awkwardness descended upon Sheriff Jack Carter. "Um, I don't think Twilight will be casting any spells." He finally said.

Celestia cocked her head inquisitively. Then her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her.

"The explosion." Carter nodded. The others on Celestia's end however, were confused.

"What do you mean?" Alison asked.

"When your project exploded back at your garage, you were able to duck for cover." Celestia started. "When unicorns or alicorns lose control of a spell, they don't have that capability."

"There was a crack all the way down the horn." Carter supplied. "It's fixable, but the bottom line is that means Twilight won't be performing any magic for months."

"Is there any other unicorn that that do it?" Jo asked. Celestia shook her head.

"Even before my student became an alicorn, not many unicorns could match her in power or skill. And now that she is an alicorn, there are no unicorns to match her."

"We're dead." Frago declared with such finality that one would say he was already wondering what coffin to buy.

"Now hold on." Celestia interrupted. "I did say no unicorn could perform this spell. But I never said anything about an alicorn." Before anyone could ask, Celestia turned back to her sister Luna whose eyes widened in realization.

"Sister, do you mean me?" She asked.

Celestia nodded. "Besides myself, you are the only one who can take up this task."

"But I would know where to start." Luna gasped, already overwhelmed with the thought that the existence of two worlds depended on her.

Celestia smiled a knowing smile. "You can do it Luna." She encouraged. "And if I know Twilight, she would've kept a record of this spell somewhere at the library."

Luna simply nodded and galloped off down the road. Carter then turned back to the globe of light.

"Right. Now that we've got that sorted, there are other tasks that need to be taken care of."

"Nathan and I will return to the garage and fix my transporter." Henry offered. Carter nodded approval.

"Alright then. Alison. You need to try and calm everyone down." Alison nodded confirmation. "Jo. You go and find that rift. Try the area around Henry's garage."

Jo nodded. "Got it."

"And what about me?" Fargo asked.

"You can...um. Uh." There was a pause as Jack tried to figure out the best place where Fargo's accident prone nature would do the least damage. Going with Jo was out of the question. And helping Henry and Nathan was certainly not an option.

"You could go with Alison." He finally said. At that Fargo looked a little crestfallen.

"Do not despair." Celestia soothed. "You'll have a part to play in this. And calming others fears is not a menial task."

Fargo smiled and Carter's opinion of the celestial monarch rose several notches.

"Well. Lets go save a couple worlds." A day in the life of Jack Carter.