Scratch scratch scratch…

Scratchity scratch scratch…

                Spike blinked, his vision blurred by the fact he’d been sleeping mere moments ago. The bedroom was dark save a faint glow emanating from the stairwell leading downstairs. He grumbled as he tried to focus on where the noise that disrupted his dream had come from. The room lay silent. With a final scoff the little dragon slipped his covers back over his head and tried to drift back to sleep.

                                        Scratch scratch

scratchity scratch...

                Spike shot back up, eyes wide open and blood-shot. This time he knew where the sound was coming from. He hopped out of his basket and made for the stairwell, rubbing his eyes before grabbing the hand rail. He could hear the scrawling noises increase as he walked down stairs, grumbling something to himself about how late it was. Spike emerged from the stairwell glaring at his noisy culprit. “Twiiilliiight…” Spike wined pathetically, “You keep waking me up with all your writing.” Twilight Sparkle turned away from the journal she was writing in, her horn glowing a pale violet from levitating her quill. She let the implement drop gently into its ink bottle and gave a sheepish grin.

            “Oh, I’m sorry Spike. I didn’t know you could hear me all the way up stairs. I’m just so excited about what happened today…I really wanted to get it all recorded while it was fresh in my mind.” Twilight said apologetically.

             Spike scratched his head, accepting he’d be losing some sleep tonight. He could tell Twilight wasn’t going to stop writing even if he pleaded with her. He walked over to where the journal was sitting and flipped to the cover. “The Cutie Mark Chronicles, by Twilight Sparkle” Spike read aloud the book’s title. “You’re writing down all those stories of how you and your friends found your marks huh?” Spike asked while looking at Twilight.

              Twilight smiled and blushed, “I know it might seem a bit egotistical, but all those stories today were just so amazing. I just had to write them into a book, if only for my own records.” Twilight explained, “Even if no one else would read it, it can still just be for memories sake.” Spike rolled his eyes with a smirk, knowing how much Twilight loved her friends. It figured she’d want to preserve these memories the only way she knew how. “Mind if I take a look further?” Spike asked while pointing to the pages.

            “Of course you can Spike.” Twilight replied. The baby dragon flipped randomly through the book’s pages, skimming what was already written. Twilight had organized the chapters based on each pony’s story, starting with Applejack. So far she had only written up to Rarity’s tale, but Spike noticed the pattern in each story quickly.

            “That rainbow that happened in each story so far, that wouldn’t have anything to do with Dash would it?” Spike questioned.

             “Very astute of you to notice Spike,” Twilight complimented, “Yes, that rainbow in each story was caused by Rainbow Dash performing the legendary Sonic Rainboom for the first time in her life. We all found out her shock-wave was what sent all of the other gears in motion for our own discoveries about our special talents. In a way, we were all best friends before we even knew one another existed!” Twilight seemed giddy as she recited the details to her scaled companion. Spike flipped the book back to the page Twilight was writing and yawned sleepily.

               “Well, that’s all very nice, but I’m still really tired. Do you think you could do me a favor and try to keep the noise down?” Spike asked as he headed for the stairs.

                “I’ll try not to wake you again. Goodnight Spike.” Twilight said with a giggle.

           Spike stopped and chuckled to himself as a fleeting thought ran past him, Twilight raised a brow in curiosity. “If all that stuff Rainbow did was what helped you all find your marks, can’t imagine what would have happened if she failed huh?” Spike mused aloud as he walked up the stairs, waving a hand in acknowledgement to Twilight’s good-night. Twilight’s mind latched onto Spike’s idea, quickly rolling it over and analyzing it as she often did with new thoughts. Her eyes grew wide with the possibilities growing in her mind. “Hmm…What if indeed…” Twilight muttered to herself. Twilight in hailed and blew, snuffing the light from her candle and plunging the library into darkness.

****************

                A single beam of light shone through the window onto Spike’s sleeping basket. His eyes blinked open as the light crept to his face. The little dragon leaned up, stretching his arms and yawning. Smacking his lips Spike hoped out of his basket, glad that Twilight hadn’t woke him up again. He glanced over to his alarm-clock to check the time. “Nine o’clock, time to get working on breakfast!” Spike declared aloud as he made for the stair well. As he descended, his thoughts turned to Twilight. She was probably asleep on her desk; he often found her that way after restless nights. Spike poked his head out from the top of the stairs, surprised that Twilight was not where he thought she’d be. “Huh…if she isn’t up stairs and isn’t down here…where is she?” the dragon asked as he wandered over to the desk. Looking the desk over, Spike noticed that the book Twilight was writing last night had been replaced with a new one. The book was massive and had a dark-blue cover. Spike read the title aloud to himself, “From A to B; a Reference Guide to Trans-dimensional Travel.”

                Spike raised a brow at the book, wondering why Twilight would be reading something like this. Just then he heard a loud bang coming from the basement with a painful yelp right behind. Spike snapped to attention from the cry and ran down the stairs. He threw the door open, prepared to help whoever was down there. The basement was an absolute mess. Machinery, wires, tools and books lay scattered all over in piles. Spike walked over to the big mess, keeping his eyes peeled. Just then a purple hoof shot out from one of the piles and grasped at him. “EEeeeYAAaaa!” Spike nearly fell over from surprise. Twilight’s head popped out from under the books.

                “Stop screaming Spike. It’s just me! I’m…kind of stuck…” Twilight said as she tried to wiggle her way free from the pile of junk. Spike recovered from his scare as he watched Twilight struggle in vain to break free. He couldn’t help but start to chuckle. “Hey! Stop laughing this isn’t funny. C’mon…Help me?” Twilight pleaded as Spike stifled his laugh and helped pull her free.

                “What are you doing down here? This place is a wreck.” Spike asked as he brushed some dust off.

               “Oh, well you see, your comment last night started me thinking.” Twilight began to explain as her horn glowed, levitating a pile of books into a neat stack. “Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom was a major catalyst for all of my friends and I finding our cutie-marks and discovering our true potential. Like you said last night, if not for her we may not have turned out the way we are now.”

               “Riiiight…but what does that have to do with all these machines and junk?” Spike asked, throwing his arms open at the piles.

               “I’m getting to that Spike...So, all last night I was looking for a way to look deeper into this ‘What-if’ situation. I eventually found the book you may have spotted upstairs. As it turns out, there are potentially hundreds of alternate worlds existing along-side our own within the flow of time. Each of these other worlds has something uniquely different about them to some degree. For example, it’s entirely possible that in one of our world’s alternate realities you could have been a king instead of just my little assistant.” Twilight explained as she levitated a large chunk of machinery to its proper position, patting Spike on the head with a hoof.

                Spike smiled after hearing the ‘king’ part of the explanation, “Heh, All hail King Spike. I like the sound of that.”

              Twilight rolled her eyes as she continued, “Anyway, I think I’ve found a way to pin-point one of these realities, the one in which Rainbow Dash failed to perform the rainboom.” Just then, the big guide book floated over Spike’s head and rested in front of Twilight, the pages turning on their own. “Using this book, and these machines, I’m going to take a trip to see this place. It would be amazing to see what would have happened to all of us if something that drastic was to change in our perceived reality wouldn’t it?”

            A look of concern enveloped Spike at this prospect. Twilight turned away from her book and began clearing more space as she levitated a massive platform of metal and wires into the center of the room. Spike took the moment to flip the book around and read the page Twilight was on. Wires magically connected themselves to the base of the platform while wrenches and screwdrivers made minor adjustments to the machine’s mechanisms. Twilight was completely engrossed in her work while Spike read. “Wait Twilight, are you sure this is safe? This book is loaded with warnings and cautions about inter-dimensional travel being both ‘unstable and unpredictable’.” Spike asked meekly as his eyes fell to an entire page full of bullet notes detailing possible dangers. A red “WARNING” stamp was printed on the top of the page.

                “While I don’t expect the trip to go perfectly smooth, I’m sure I can handle it if things get dicey. I am me after all.” Twilight reassured her friend as she stepped onto the platform. “Oh, Spike, run upstairs and get my tiara if you please. I need the gemstone in it.” Spike laid the book down, taking the command as he ran up the steps to the bedroom. Spike made his way to a lone bookshelf near Twilight’s bed, climbing up the edge of the shelves to the very top. He yanked out a lavender book with the title, “A Hidden Truth,” and slid down the shelf with it. After returning downstairs Spike was befuddled to see Twilight now covered with diodes, each of which had a wire connecting it to the platform she stood on. Around her horn was a large sleeve of metal with another wire.

“I really hope you know what you’re doing.” Spike warned as he flipped the book open, revealing Twilight’s tiara embedded in its pages. The star-burst shaped Gemstone of Magic lay safely atop the crown.

“Oh will you relax. I’ve done the research; everything’s going to be fine.” Twilight assured him as she levitated the tiara from its hiding spot. With a jerk of her head she forced the Gemstone of Magic from its casing on top. The jewel glistened with unnatural pale-purple light as it floated down to the base of the platform, sliding into a socket designed to hold it. “Ok…I think that about does it.”

“Wait a minute Twilight. The book warns that to transport an entire being between dimensions takes a tremendous amount of energy. Are you sure you can do this?” Spike asked as he resumed reading the guide-book.

“Spike, stop asking me if I’m sure…If I wasn’t would I have bothered to waist all this time?” Twilight scolded as she checked the connections on her wires.

“But it says right here that unexpected side-effects could occur if—”

“Enough Spike!” Twilight stopped him from continuing. “I’ve run the numbers and know the risks. I’ll be just fine. This is a relatively small experiment to see what might have been. Now if you’re done your pestering, would you mind pulling that red switch on the machinery over there on my mark?” Twilight pointed a hoof toward a red lever near the platform. Spike reluctantly walked over to the switch, awaiting her signal. Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her horn radiated a pale light as she called forth her magic. The wire attached to her horn began to glow too as the energy traveled down to the base of the platform. The glowing shifted to that of a deeper purple as the magic began to swirl in the gemstone below. Twilight continued to feed energy into the jewel as it grew brighter with each passing second. Eventually the entire platform was brimming with magical energy. Twilight appeared to be giving it all she had as she struggled to lift her hoof. She thrust her foreleg toward Spike, signaling him to throw the switch.

The machines all sprung to life as gears buzzed and lights flashed. The magic from the gemstone and platform all began to feed into the machines as Twilight maintained its flow. Spike stepped back in amazement as the energy’s color shifted to ruby-red. The machines started to pump the red magic back into the platform. Glowing energy traveled up the wires and surrounded Twilight’s body. The purple unicorn opened her eyes, looking to her scaled companion with a smile as she slammed her hoof onto a big blue button.

The shockwave was intense. Books, papers and discarded parts all went flying as an insane burst of light and energy exploded from Twilight’s position. Spike was thrown completely against the wall, only catching a glimpse of Twilight as her body burst into millions of particles above the platform. Spike tried to call out, unsure if this was a good or bad thing. Before he could recover another burst of energy flew out from the platform, cementing him against the wall. All he could hear was the rushing of wind as the particles began to swirl together.

SHwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

POP

                Everything in the basement lay still; still and eerily quiet. Spike lifted himself up off the floor, rubbing his head as he coughed from the dust left behind. He looked around the destroyed remains of the machinery. The platform was cracked and singed in places. Spike bent down, yanking the Gemstone of Magic from its ruined socket. The little dragon held a look of utter distress; the gemstone had turned black as pitch. Spike clutched the jewel tightly to his breast, “Oh Twilight…I really hope you know what you’re getting into.”