Grudgingly, I had to admit she had a point.

“Yeah, okay,” I finally said, raking my eyes over the softly glowing pattern.

“I knew it!” Twilight smiled triumphantly. “This’ll work.”

She was a fast learner, I had to give her that. I never had to repeat myself, she deconstructed my teachings with an ease that left me perturbed… and a little envious. Mary often had to tell me a few times, but this pony never seemed to make a mistake.

Sullenly, I drew in the last of Twilight’s ‘corrections’ into the pattern and checked it again. “Here,” I mumbled, watching the power shift a few more shades to the familiar ultraviolet sheen my father’s castings often had. Another reminder of him. I couldn’t help my thoughts returning to him. Though he was undoubtedly a lone wolf, he always adored us. Family was one of the most precious values he held close. Unexpectedly, a lump formed in my throat as I hastily blinked back a few tears.

There wasn’t any time to feel sorry for myself. I had a duty to protect my father’s legacy.

“Whatever the cost,” I whispered in echo of Ksstha’s maxim.

I glanced over at Twilight who poured over the pattern, wings raised in excitement. The way she casually redesigned what was likely centuries’ worth of work, frightened me. My father was an expert magus, but even he had taken an appreciable time to learn all the relationships between each pattern’s fragment. He was also a talented engineer, so it both irked me and perturbed me that some overly-friendly alien happened to pick it up so easily.

Twilight might not have noticed my disquiet, but Spike did. The little dragon gave me a sympathetic look as he lifted an eyebrow. Seems like I wasn’t the only one that found Twilight’s unending enthusiasm for the scholarly arts disturbing.

“Is she…” I gestured to Twilight. “Always like this?”

Spike watched Twilight for a few moments before breaking into a hapless grin.

“Yeah,” he replied warmly, “but this is special.”

I turned back to Spike in surprise. “What do you mean?”

He gave me a stare as if to say I was the daft one.

“Isn’t that obvious?” he said. “It’s because you’re a friend.”

I didn’t really have an answer to that. I mean who had an answer to something so crazy?

———————

“Last chance,” I said. “You can go back right now.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and Spike even snorted.

“You think after coming all this way we’ll just turn tail and go back?” Twilight shot back.

“Yeah, we’re coming with you,” Spike said.

I grimaced, but resolved to prepare a little something to shift them back to their world. No matter what, no matter how desperate I was, I didn’t want to get innocent creatures get caught up in our conflict. That was what the other side wanted. That we had boundaries was what defined us. Still, I couldn’t force them to leave yet, but I was working on it.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I’m going to go first.”

“Why?” Spike asked.

“Because,” I snapped back, “if we actually end up where we’re supposed to go, then I don’t want friendlies shooting us full of bullets.”

“Bullets?” Spike continued with a frown.

“It’s an old thing from the past,” Twilight explained. “They were once used as effective weapons between Earth ponies, but when the tribes came together and saw that unicorns could block the bullets fairly easily, they went out of favour.” She shrugged. “Such barbaric practices haven’t been around for at least a few millennia.”

“I’m glad you know what we’re talking about,” I said. “Do you think you can block these bullets?”

Twilight laughed. “Of course, after all, they—”

“So two hundred or three hundred a second are not a problem?”

Twilight blinked. “I’m sorry, two hundred to three hundred…?”

I nodded. “You can’t block that many?”

“T-Two hundred to three hundred a second?” she repeated.

“Yes,” I growled, wiping my face with a claw. “You may have stopped developing that technology in your world, but here they’ve been at it for a very long time. Each can shoot at least ten rounds per second and there will be at least twenty or so soldiers there, fully equipped.” I sighed. “But with any luck, there won’t be anyone there after…”

I turned away, staring at the horizon briefly.

“It’s best if I go first,” I continued softly, “there’s less chance of a conflict, and I know my way around there.”

Twilight drew back slightly. “Okay,” she said quietly, “I see what you mean, but if you don’t come back in ten minutes, we’re coming straight after you.”

“Noted,” I commented wryly, then turned to the pattern.

I touched the focal points with the tips of my claws and felt the surge of power shoot through them as the steely ribbons of my mane clashed with the same deep purple spectrum of my casting. Closing my eyes, I felt the sudden shift in perception that jolted through my mind, as if a lightning bolt had etched its way through my neurones.

Feeling like I’d been a towel wrung out in both directions at the same time, I felt a sudden jerk and a twisting in my gut that made me almost loose the contents of my stomach on the hard concrete floor beneath my paws.

Despite the unexpected queasiness that assailed me, I fought my way to a guarded stance and swept around, trying to brace myself for an attack.

Nothing came.

Swaying slightly, I stumbled over to a sink that looked like it’d been there since the turn of the century and upchucked into it. The water didn’t run from the tap, but I figured that was better than on the ground, where anyone could step in it. Immediately I felt better, but I had a sudden appreciation for the Ancestors and their attempt at crafting the Sphere of the Lung.

Whenever I travelled with my father, it felt similar to this, but the nauseating feeling was minor compared to the sledgehammer-like blow to my gut using my own pattern cobbled together with Twilight. It occurred to me that our knowledge of patterns and working with Power might be primitive compared to what the Lung could achieve, but it also made me wonder how it was so easy for them to succumb to the ravages of time and the humans, who had no dealings with Power. Maybe the fact that the humans were immune had given them their edge, but I somehow doubted it. With working like this on the cosmic scale, how could they have been so easily overcome?

That wasn’t important. Time was of the essence, I had to secure the perimeter. Already I was making rookie mistakes. I should have made sure that there wasn’t anyone around first before—

My ears twitched. I thought I heard something.

Scritch. Scrape.

There it was! Someone was around here. I assumed that since the alarms hadn’t gone off, that there wasn’t anyone around. I tensed, scanning my surroundings to try and find an exit plan, or somewhere to hide, or a tool to help me fend off an assailant. I touched one of the non-lethal patterns on my foreleg as I took in the discarded crates, the strewn garbage and the cracked and grimy windows. Nothing afforded suitable cover in a firefight, but at least I had the edge of the door.

Carefully, I padded across the room towards the left side of the door, where the door would open first. Dragon or human, they would have to crack the doorknob if they wanted to come in stealthily.

The doorknob twitched. I tensed.

It cracked open slowly. The first thing I saw was a black garment that covered the arm of a human, but what caught my full attention was the questing muzzle of a Glock. That was enough. I jerked the arm forward and brought my knee to their abdomen. I heard the surprised ‘whoosh’ of their breath leaving their body and I slammed the door shut to buy me some time. Twisting around, I grappled the man that was doubled over and put him in a half-nelson, twisting the gun out of his grip.

The sight of a dragon grappling a human was probably frightening to onlookers, but I made sure that the man beneath me knew the dimension of danger as I gripped him tightly, the pin pricks of my claws digging into the soft flesh of his neck. One move and I could rip out his throat, if I wanted to.

“Who are you?” I demanded in a rough growl. “Who sent you? How many are with you?”

The man coughed a bit, but I didn’t ease up on the grip, instead listening keenly for any other sounds outside that may indicate that the man had accomplices. It was dead silent, save for the panting and groaning of the man beneath me.

“Dahiric?”

I realised who that voice belonged to. With a gasp, I loosened my grip and let go.

“Doctor Clarke?!”

The ageing doctor struggled to his feet, swaying a little as he placed a hand on his back and winced. “If I were twenty years younger you might not have had an easy time of it,” he commented wryly. He eyed me warily. “Though good to know you’ve been advancing in your father’s masterclasses.”

Relief spilled through my frame. “You don’t know how glad I am to see a familiar face.” I offered the firearm back to him. “Here.”

“Thank you, young lady.” Clarke gave me a gentle smile. “I must admit, you caught me by surprise. I thought…” he trailed off, the unmistakable trace of sadness lacing his words clear as day to my draconic hearing.

I swallowed, squashing my depressive thoughts to the corner of my mind. “It’s been a troubled few days.” I smiled in unbound joy. “But you made it out!”

Clarke snorted. “It wasn’t difficult. I wasn’t really a major figure in the community, and I was less of a threat what with Stefan and Dithra a bigger obstacle than a tired old Vietnam combat medic turned veterinarian turned dragon doctor.” He shrugged. “But your father was very careful, he made sure I knew of the number of safe houses he entrusted to Stefan.”

“Why?” I asked in surprise. I thought these houses were a carefully guarded secret. Not even Dithra knew. I felt bad for pressing, but I had to know. “Why would he trust you so much?”

Clarke sighed, pulling tight the black gloves on his hands that looked a little too worn and a little too large for a man his size. “We’re two sides of the same coin,” he continued quietly. “Hasai knew I wanted the killing to stop, because we’d both seen madness on the other side of the spectrum.” He paused and took a deep breath, his gaze becoming pensive. “And yes, our side, too. Maybe that’s why it had come to this?”

My claws were making small furrows in the concrete below. Since he’d been around, maybe he had some information about how everything had come crashing down around us.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice croaking with barely restrained passion. “Clarke, what do you know?”

Clarke gave me a look of sympathy so total that it banked the simmering rage in my heart. “Dahiric, I don’t know anything. All I know is that someone betrayed your father, and now everything we’ve done is turning to ash.”

I swallowed, but nodded. I was afraid to find out, but I hated not knowing. I almost laughed at myself. You can’t have it both ways you hypocritical lizard.

Clarke took in my grim amusement, but didn’t comment on it. Instead he frowned. “You’re here, but how?”

“I used a world-traversal pattern,” I replied thickly. “Ashadh gave his life to buy me some time.”

Clarke closed his eyes briefly as his lips trembled slightly. “I’m so sorry, Dahiric. I’m so, so, sorry.”

The bricks of willpower I had stacked neatly to contain my grief trembled, and a shuddering gasp with a few tears escaped my control. I couldn’t cry now, I couldn’t mourn his death right now. There was work to be done.

“Thank you,” I croaked back, hating how weak I sounded at the moment.

Clarke didn’t offer me any number of empty platitudes, instead, he drew me into a hug.

“What’s important is that we find our way out of this mess.”

I mumbled my thanks. I had the feeling I was forgetting something, but the quiet snap made me almost groan.

Doctor Clarke gaped at the sudden appearance of a winged unicorn and dragon appearing out of thin air, like creatures stepping right out of a fairytale. Twilight stood regally for a few seconds, before succumbing to her stomach. Spike followed quickly as they emptied the contents of their stomach in the well-used sink.

“Wh-What?”

“Doctor Clarke,” I announced by way of introduction. “May I present Twilight Sparkle the alicorn Princess of Equestria, and Spike the dragon. Friends I picked up from another world.”

Doctor Clarke caught my unamused tone and glanced at his Glock.

“Should I—?”

“No.”

“Right.”

Author's Notes:

Thank Doc-Flareon for reminding me that I had to write an update!

Next Chapter: When three worlds collide.

As always, my statistically skewed readers, thanks for reading!

P.S. Please point out my grammatical mistakes as usual. I'm still self-editing everything.