Always so stubborn. Twilight thought. She chuckled under her breath. Once she has an idea... Twilight looked at the sunset, a deep orange-red. ...she’ll get right on it, no matter what time it is. She smiled and shook her head. To each their own.

        She turned to leave along with the rest of her friends, each going their own way, back to their respective homes. As soon as Twilight was away from the others, her thoughts wandered straight from her friends to her duties for that night. Princess Celestia had been assigning her tasks each evening that deviated from her normal studies. These tasks usually consisted of reading specific books, scripts, or scrolls, all of which focus on one subject: inter-dimensional travel. The book she was assigned last night, Tips and Tricks of the Trade: The Travelers Time Saving Textbook for Inter-Dimensional Traveling, had kept her up most of the night with its nine hundred and eighty-six pages. Yet, she read it all, and enjoyed doing it, because, well, that’s what she likes doing.

        What concerned Twilight was that the princess never told her why she needed to read the assigned material, only what she was to read. Sure, Twilight didn’t doubt the princess, however, she was curious as to why she Celestia wanted her to read about inter-dimensional travel. You will know when the time is right, my pupil. Princess Celestia had said in one of her letters. Twilight was bothered about not knowing, but she knew that the princess meant well. She recalled the Nightmare Moon incident. Princess Celestia had given her what she needed to stop Nightmare Moon, she just needed to find it out herself. So she applied that to this incident, and decided that whatever the princess was planning, it would become clear in due time.

        The large library was upon her before Twilight knew it. It loomed over her in the dwindling light, casting a long, eerie shadow over her. The library, which was in fact, built into a tree, was her treasured home here in Ponyville. She enjoyed the fact that it was a tree. It was interesting to look at. The way the windows were worked into many different parts of the tree, the pleasant earth tones that it naturally had, and the large, tree shape just made her feel good about it. She stepped in through the front door and closed it behind her.

        It was dark. “Spike?” Twilight called, calling for her dragon friend. When no response was given, Twilight lit her horn up. The purple light lit up the library with a violet glow, bringing to life shifting shadows all along the walls.

        Twilight trotted over to her desk and lit a candle, dispelling some of the shadows. She noticed an open letter on the desk, along with another, sealed letter. She lifted the open one magically, and read it.

Dear Spike,

It has come to my attention that I am in need of your services. It seems that Princess Luna has been rigorously studying my entire library, and has made quite a mess. After returning from the moon, she has been very ambitious to learn everything she can about the changed world, and is not very eager to clean up after herself. (She hasn’t even showered in days!) She has secluded herself to the library, and continues to read. There are few others here that can properly organize a library, and everypony here is on a tight schedule. I would ask you that you were to come here as soon as you can, it’s getting quite hard to see the floor.

Your Kind Ruler,

Princess Celestia

P.S. My Royal Pegasus Chariot Ponies are coming to pick you up shortly. I’ll need you to get to work tonight, so you will be staying here for the evening.

        Twilight sighed, and set the letter aside, her horn returning to normal. Spike wouldn’t be back until the next day, and he’d probably be tired. Why Celestia decided to have Spike do house cleaning at this time of day didn’t make any sense to Twilight. Perhaps the library was as bad as she said.

        Her attention then turned to the other, unopened letter on the desk. It rose into the air, opened, and floated to Twilight. This one was also from Princess Celestia, but was addressed to her and contained her instructions for tonight.

My faithful student Twilight,

As you have undoubtedly guessed the common nature of all of your recent assignments, I want you to learn to travel to another dimension. (Yay!) Now, I am quite sure you are oh so eager to know why I am assigning you this, but you’ll know when the time is right.

Anyway, I wish you good luck on your travels. Please refer to page 672 in your copy of  Tips and Tricks of the Trade: The Travelers Time Saving Textbook for Inter-Dimensional Traveling (Say that five times fast!) to follow the correct procedure of casting the spell. It is a very powerful incantation, so be prepared. Also, you may know that inter-dimensional travel requires a specific glyph, varying on the dimension. I have provided you with the proper glyph on the back of this letter.

This is just a quick test run for you. There is no specific task for you to complete in the other dimension, so go there, explore for a couple of minutes or so, and return (Returning spell, page 793!). Then I want a full report of your experience, from casting the spells to the sights of the other dimension. And remember, have fun! (And don’t die!)

Your Kind Ruler,

Princess Celestia

P.S. I don’t actually have anything else to say, I just wanted to add a post script to my letter, they’re always so fun!

        Twilight set the letter down and pondered for a bit. She knew she could successfully perform the spell, but she was curious as to why Princess Celestia wanted her to. There weren’t many reasons she could think of that would require inter-dimensional travel. And where is she going exactly? She shrugged and set the letter down. Time to begin.

*   *   *

        Trey shut off his computer after an hour of surfing the boards of Ponychan. He sat back in his chair and sighed cheerily. He had a good life. Why? Because he loved ponies, and was proud to love ponies. Sure, people thought of him as a very peculiar person, but he didn’t care. He was a seventeen year old brony and loved every second of it.

        Getting up from his chair, he crossed the room to the back door, stepping outside. That’s another thing he liked: the outdoors. The fresh air, the sunshine, the rain, he loved it all. He even sets up his computer outside once in a while to enjoy ponies and the outdoors at the same time. Ah, what a life. He grinned.

Peering up into the sky, he thought of the pegasus ponies. Man, if I could fly like them, I would never come down. He sighed, then sat down on the porch and surveyed the backyard. The grass was recently cut, courtesy of Trey himself. The wooden fence that surrounded the area was mostly blocked out by various bushes and flowers. There was only one tree in the center of the back yard, an old oak tree, its old branches overlooking the whole of the backyard.

Trey got up and shuffled over to the tree. He put a hand on it, and looked up into its leafy branches. He grew up with the tree, and he recalled many memories of climbing it. Many painful, broken leg, epic faceplant, memories. Ah, childhood.

As Trey was enjoying his reminiscence, a soft, purple glow grew from the bushes behind him. At first, he didn’t notice, but as the light grew brighter, he became aware of its presence. He turned around, confused. And at that instant the light vanished. In its place was a lavender... a lavender... pony.

Trey slapped himself in the face. It was still there. He slapped harder. The force of the impact knocked his head into the tree. Surprised, Trey fell backwards onto the ground. Groaning, he looked up toward the bushes again. It was still there, staring at him with the strangest look on its face, as though it were observing something very strange. Wait. I know that pony. The light purple coat, the dark purple mane with the pink highlight, the sparkly thing on its flank, the horn. Twilight Sparkle.

*   *   *

        Twilight was shocked at what she saw.

        After performing the spell for inter-dimensional travel using the glyph provided by the princess, Twilight was teleported out of her library in an instant. The time of the teleporting in between dimensions was approximately five seconds, as Twilight had noted. When the spell had been completed, she took in her surroundings.

She was standing in a small grouping of bushes. The sky was blue and scattered clouds drifted lazily across it. The sun was setting low in the sky, no different from the one in Equestria. There was a slightly too large house, plants growing against a wooden fence, and... well, something.

        The ...thing... was standing on its back legs. Its front hooves, or whatever, had five appendages sprouting from them. It had very little hair, just a peculiar mane on its head. On its head protruded a very small snout, just above the mouth. It was wearing strange clothing, and what wasn’t covered was bare flesh. Bleh. Twilight thought to herself. It looks so... weird. As strange as it was, it seemed to be thinking the same thing as she noticed it was staring back at her, a funny look upon its face.

        Then it did the oddest thing. It hit itself, smacking its own face with its hoof-thing. Twilight was paralyzed from the shock of everything, or maybe just the weirdness of it. Either way, she stayed where she was and observed.

        And then it hit itself. Again. The force of the blow swung its head into the tree it stood next to. From the looks of it, the thing was not expecting that, and jerked its head away from the tree, subsequently falling to the ground. Alarmed, Twilight took a step back, bumping into the fence behind her.

        The thing looked up at her again, and something crossed its eyes. Familiarity? Recognition? Impossible! Perhaps its just confused. Either way, I should head back, considering I’ve already disturbed the daily life of this... creature, Twilight thought to herself, noting the red mark on the creatures face. Twilight closed her eyes, concentrated, and her horn began to pulsate with a pink light. She stood there, recalling the returning spell, focusing on her magic, when she heard a masculine voice calling out.

“Wait!”

Her control slipped a little, but she bit her lip and ignored the shout.

“Twilight!”

Twilight’s eyes flew open, her concentration diminishing. She saw that the creature was coming towards her, and called her name again. Her spell continued to prepare, albeit slower due to her lack of concentration. Drowning in confusion and the buzz of the spell in her head, Twilight didn’t move. How does it...? Just as the spell was activating, the creature tackled her.

THUD.

The duo crashed into a shelf, spilling books into a heap upon them.

I... it came with me, thought Twilight as she realized where she was, and that she had brought an otherworldly creature into her home. That’s not supposed to happen.

Chapter 1 End.