I looked up at the clock that hung on the wall next to the desk that I currently occupied and sighed tiredly, "Another day wasted looking at stupid posts on Facebook when I could've been working on that essay... Oh well, I've always got tomorrow to get it done. I've still got time before I should really head off to bed tonight; might as well try meditating a bit to clear my mind before I sleep and see where that takes me."

With nothing else to do, I got up from the desk and made my way over to the bedroom. Sure, I could've had the desk in my bedroom, but the guys and I figured that it'd be more fun to have all of our desks connected to each other like they used to have you do whenever there was a group project in elementary school. That way there wasn't a huge hassle whenever we wanted to have a LAN party, and it would be easier to set more people up without much issue. With my destination in mind, I took the dishes that sat on my desk and placed them in the sink after I filled them with water and added a bit of soap to soak overnight. Better to leave them to soak overnight so that all the stuff breaks down over time than to fruitlessly scrub away at the baked on crap.

After turning off the lights and locking the door, as the guys weren't coming back tonight, I walked over to my bed and sat down cross-legged. I closed my eyes and slowly breathed in, and out. I rested my wrists on my knees, and continued the breathing exercise, and eventually I felt myself enter a trance-like state. Moments later, I found myself mentally drifting through some unknown star system that looked absolutely beautiful, and I found myself wishing I could take a picture of it. Then the oddest of things happened, I heard a voice that wasn't my own speak within my own mind.

"Well, what do we have here? It seems someone has managed to take a peek beyond the veil."

What?

"What you see before you is not a star system, but the hub that connects all of the infinite worlds to each other and to itself."

I repeat my earlier statement; what?

"Oh, you have absolutely no idea what you just walked into, my good chap."

Wait a second, I know that voice... You sound exactly like this one actor I know, John De Lancie.

"Well, it is possible that another incarnation of me was born without all the powers of chaos at their disposal, considering there are worlds that contain magic and worlds that don't."

If you have all the powers of chaos and such, why aren't you going insane in the membrane?

The voice chuckled darkly, "What is sanity, but perspective? Now then, I have a proposition for you: you will go to another world that is filled with magic, and I will grant you the ability to use that same power. The inhabitants are a little bit different than you, but I'm not telling you how - it would just ruin the surprise."

Are they sentient?

"Yes. You know, I would've thought that you might put up more of a resistance to this idea than just worrying about the inhabitants' sentience."

Well, I kind of ran out of funding for my tuition for college, and I was planning on just sticking it out until the end of this year, but I'm honestly too interested to see this other world that you've mentioned. Our laws of physics suck anyways.

"Oh, I believe we could become good friends in time."

So what's the deal with this proposition? There's gotta be some sort of catch.

"Oh, there's no catch at all. Just merely exist there, and watch the magic happen," the disembodied voice chuckled out at the end.

So when do I leave, and how?

"Right now, and I'll bring you there myself."

Wait, wh-

I didn't have time to finish my question, as a weird sensation had spread all over my body in a matter of seconds. I was ripped out of my trance state, and I opened my eyes... to see that I was still in my room, but a few of my things were floating around me. I blinked. "Well, at least he was nice enough to let me bring my iPoooooooho-ho-holy shit I hope you're the one that I was talking to a few seconds ago," I said to this weird amalgamation of creatures that had taken a seat upon the ceiling. It waved at me with it's... eagle talon? Huh, cool.

"Yes yes, I'm the one you had the pleasure of talking to. Just one thing; when I bring you, I want you to close your eyes. As much fun as it would be to see a human running around Equestria, all batshit crazy, it wouldn't have the effect I had in mind."

"Equestria?"

He just zipped his mouth shut and held out a sign that read, "Spoilers!" Literally, he closed his mouth with a zipper. This guy's funny, but I bet he must be a royal pain in the ass back where he's from.

I blinked and the zipper disappeared along with the sign. "Now then, close your eyes, and we'll be off."

"Dude, I need my clothes, I can't just go around without having a change of clothes while I do laundry."

He stared at me for a moment, clearly annoyed, and then snapped his... talons, "There, all your clothes are in hammerspace, which you can access from your bag that's behind you. Now, close your eyes so we can get going. The royal sisters are probably already running around like chickens without a head because of how long I've been gone."

Without another word, the being clapped both his appendages together, and I could certainly feel that we were being transported through something. I couldn't help but open my eyes, and the sight I was greeted with looked insanely familiar...

Then it hit me.

"I can see into infinite, and I can hear the feathers' call. I hope she finds them all..."

Then I heard the creature say something unexpected, "If I weren't bound by the rules that I am, I'd just give them all to her and her companion - the real one anyway. No one deserves to suffer as much as they have."

"So if you're bound by rules to not interfere with things, why am I going to this other world then?"

"The world I'm taking you to and your world are within the same plane of reality, whereas that certain group of people come from another. Their journey is through all the different planes, but no one is allowed to influence it from the outside. Besides the point, we're almost there. Hold on."

"Hold on? Hold onto what!?"

"Your pants."

For whatever reason, I tightly gripped my pants with one hand, and my bag with the other. When we crossed into the other world, it felt a little weird for a moment. A couple of seconds later, and I was on solid... floor? This is a carpet. I lifted my head up, only to bash it against what I would assume to be a table.

With the grace of an eagle piloting a blimp, I crawled out from under the table, and stood up to take stock of my surroundings. It seemed I was in someone's home, though my observations were cut short when I heard someone scream. I looked in the direction of the noise, and saw... a bright green unicorn? And a frying pan flying at me. I had time to say only one thing.

"Shit."