“Ugh! I KNEW this would happen!” Sketch said in frustration.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” said Lightning. “What happened has happened, so we just need to find a way out of this.”

“Luster,” said Twilight, “Is there a back door we can use?”

“Oh, yes,” he said. “Let me just bring the shades down on these windows so they won’t see you sneaking out the back.”

“Well, that takes care of getting out of here without being jumped,” said Sketch, “but those press ponies are bound to put two and two together and go looking for us. What then?”

“I know a disguise spell that should take care of that for us,” Twilight said. Her horn started to glow, and a white flash filled the room. After the light faded, Lightning Star and Sketch couldn’t recognize themselves, let alone each other.

“Now let’s get out of here,” the princess said, her appearance changed to resemble that of a regular earth pony.

Luster led the three ponies out the back entrance of his store, and once they were free, Twilight led Lightning and Sketch to the Canterlot library.

“Phew, that was close,” said Lightning. “Damn, this place is huge!”

“SHHH!!!” said a nearby librarian.

“Sorry,” whispered the pegasus

“Check it out,” Sketch said, looking out of a nearby window. “I can see some paparazzi looking for us.”

“Well, the section that has the book we’re looking for doesn’t have any windows,” explained Twilight. “Once we get there, I can release the spell.”

The three ponies walked through the Canterlot library, eventually reaching the section that Twilight mentioned. She released the spell, and they all got to looking for the book.

“This section isn’t too big, since knowledge on other universes is relatively limited, so we should find the book easily,” she explained.

“Found it!” Sketch said.

“Okay, maybe that was a little too easy,” she muttered.

Twilight took the book from Sketch and held it in front of her with her magic. She looked through the table of contents for the section of the book on the Dimension Orb, and eventually found it.

“So, what does it say?” asked Lightning.

“Give me a minute,” Twilight said, noticeably annoyed. “Okay, it says here that the Dimension Orb is a spell that transports beings across dimensions.”

“That’s exactly what the book back in your library said,” said the pegasus. “How does that help us? This means that we went through all this trouble for noth-MMMPH!”

Lightning’s rant was silenced by Sketch, who drew a muzzle on him with his magic. “Maybe if you shut the hell up and let her finish, we’ll find something out,” he said, then he turned to Twilight. “Go on, Twi.”

The alicorn nodded her head and continued reading. “It says here that the spell is like an advanced form of a normal teleportation spell,” she explained. “The only difference is that the Dimension Orb spell requires much more magical energy and finesse due to the massive distance between neighboring universes. The farther the distance, the more power required. Only a very powerful pony can cast a spell of this caliber. There's not much else in here that's of any use to us.”

“Well that takes care of the ‘how,’ so now we need to find out the ‘who’ and the ‘why,’” said Sketch.

“Well, doing more reading won’t figure that out for us, so we should probably just head home,” said Twilight.

“Good call,” said Sketch, and he removed the muzzle from Lightning’s snout.

“You’re a dick,” he said.

“I’ve been called worse,” the unicorn retorted.

The three ponies walked through the halls of the library, heading towards the entrance, when they hear two voices coming from a nearby hallway.

“Thanks for coming to help me look for this book,” the first voice said.

“It wasn’t of my own accord sister. You dragged me here against my will,” the second voice remarked.

“You’ve been cooped up in your room for days, Luna. You need some fresh air,” the first voice said, while the second voice simply huffed in annoyance.

“Wait, did that voice just say ‘Luna’?” asked Lighting. Meanwhile, Twilight’s face brightened up instantly.

“Oh, this is perfect!” she squeals. “I’ve wanted to introduce you two to them!”

“Them?” Sketch asked.

“Is that who I think it is?” the first voice called out. Out of the hallway walked two alicorn mares, one taller than the other. The taller one had a white coat with a pale pink tint and a pastel colored mane and tail that both seemed to move on their own. The shorter mare had a dark blue coat, with a mane and tail in two tones of blue that moved in the same fashion as the other mare. The taller alicorn was wearing a causal afternoon dress, while the shorter alicorn wore a dress that was a little more formal.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” Twilight exclaimed. She quickly walked over to the princesses and hugged them tightly.

“It’s good to see you, my faithful student,” said Celestia.

“Who are your friends?” asked Luna.

“Oh, right. These are my friends Lightning Star and Sketch,” the young mare said. “They just moved to Ponyville about a week ago.”

“It’s nice to meet you, princesses,” said Lightning.

“Yes, it’s an honor,” said Sketch.

“Ah, I see,” said Celestia. “So what brings you three here all the way to the Canterlot library?”

“Well, we came to see a book that I didn’t have,” Twilight explained nervously. She wasn’t sure if she should tell Celestia and Luna that her two friends were from another universe and that she’s been helping them find some information on how they came to Equestria. She looked back at the two stallions, who quickly realized why she was so hesitant, and they give a nod to her, signaling that it was okay to tell the princesses.

“It was a book called Dimension Spanning Spells,” she said. “You see, these two are… from another universe. They were brought here with the Dimension Orb spell, and the book said that a very powerful pony had to have cast it, but we don’t know who, so we’re just heading home.”

The sisters’ faces show the same expression of shock when they hear the notion of the two stallions before them being from a different universe.

“The Dimension Orb spell, hmm?” pondered Celestia. “I’ve heard of it.”

“Wasn’t it developed by Star Swirl the Bearded?” asked Luna.

“I think the book said that…” answered Twilight. “If only we had a lead on who casted the spell on Lightning and Sketch.”

“I’m afraid to say this to you three,” Celestia said, “but it would be best if you don’t try to find out who cast the spell.”

“What!?” the three young ponies exclaimed.

“Spending so much time trying to find that out on your own would only cause unneeded stress,” she explained. “With that in mind, I will take it upon myself to find out for you.”

“You don’t have to do that, Princess,” said Sketch.

“Besides, you probably have more important things to do,” said Lighting.

“As long as you two are here in Equestria, you are my subjects, and it is my duty as a princess to serve my subjects,” the princess said. “Think of this as a way of upholding that duty.”

“If you insist,” said Sketch. “We really appreciate you doing this for us.”

“No problem,” she said. “In the meantime, why don’t you enjoy your days in Equestria? The more you try to get used to life here, the easier it’ll be for you to remain patient while I figure this out for you.”

“Can we go back to the castle now, sister?” asked Luna. “I sent a friend request to a pony online, and I want to see if I received a response.”

Sketch’s ears perked at what the princess of the night says. On a whim, he decided to ask her what just came to his mind.

“You wouldn’t happen to be Midnight Mistress, would you?” he asked.

The dark princess’s eyes widened. “Why, yes I am?” she replied. “You wouldn’t happen to be Iron_Hooves, would you?”

“That’s me,” the unicorn replied.

Celestia chuckled. “Looks like you’ve met these two before, little sister.”

“Oh, ha, ha, ha,” says the younger sibling.

“Well, it was nice seeing you two,” said Twilight. “I guess we’ll be heading home now.”

“Since you three went through so much trouble getting here, why don’t Luna and I send you back to Ponyville with an instant transportation spell.”

“Really? That would be awesome,” said Lightning.

The two alicorn siblings smiled and began to chant the incantation for the transportation spell. A circle appeared on the ground once the incantation finished, and the princess waved goodbye before the circle transported back to Twilight’s library in an instant.

“Well, that was some adventure…” said Sketch “What time is it?”

“Five PM,” Lightning answered.

“Really?” asked Twilight. “That whole fiasco at the jewelry store really set us back, then.”

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but after all this, I’m thinking about staying home all day tomorrow,” said the unicorn.

“I totally understand,” said the alicorn. “This day has made me feel pretty exhausted, myself.”

“Thanks for everything, Twi. We may not know who brought us here, but we never would’ve found out about the Dimension Orb if you hadn’t helped us out,” said the pegasus.

“It was no trouble at all,” the young princess said. “So what are you two gonna do, now?”

“Well, there’s nothing else to do but wait for Celestia to figure things out for us. We’ll just live our lives in the meantime,” Sketch said.

“You’re not upset or disappointed about it, are you?” she asked.

“Nah, we’ll manage,” he answered.

“Okay, then. See you guys around,” she said.

“Bye,” the two stallions said before leaving Twilight’s house.

When they get home, Lightning pops in a movie while Sketch gets some popcorn ready.

“So I guess we’ll be stuck here for a while,” said the unicorn.

“Yep,” said the pegasus. “So, you gonna call Applejack?”

“Maybe later,” Sketch answered.