-Chapter VII- Friends in Need

-Canterlot, Equestria

-6th of May, 1008 A.D.

-8:25 A.M.

-Sapphire

"Perhaps there's some sort of magical flux that holds the two dimensions apart," Starswirl pointed out sagely.

I nodded, examining the dense metal as Starswirl followed me around his and the Doctor's creation. I felt the cold material with my hoof, feeling the smooth surface broken only by the bolts welded in to create the massive archway that nearly reached the roof of Doctor Whooves' shop. "Like a rod held out to keep two things to close in on themselves."

"Yes, exactly. If there was only a way to find some sort of path that brought us into the other dimension, rather than bring the other world to us."

"Like a tunnel, of a sort." I said more to myself than to my mentor.

It had been five days since my peculiar vision, and it only proved so far to be that: a vision. Still no one knew about it sans Dusk Shine and Head Start while I did my best to avoid thinking about it. I dismissed it only as dehydration nagging at my mind, seeing as how I had been in the coma for over a month with little to no fluids at a time, and since it hasn't returned. Everything seemed to have returned to the way they had been before the fight with Discord, save for Cornflower, who seemed to be bugged by something, but every time I asked her about it, she only ignored the question, dismissed it as nothing, or avoided the subject. Only once did it seem that she was indecisive as to whether she should tell me or not, but Shining Star happened to come in and she again changed the subject. Meanwhile, just the day before, Starswirl had decided to share with me his creation, which now loomed over my head as I felt its edges, feeling the magic reinforced within it. Despite all of the precautions Starswirl and Doctor Whooves had made for this, their portal did not seem to work. Plenty of magic was stored within the centre, that was no trouble, and it was unlikely for there not to be another dimension to be accessed, according to the Omniverse Theory, which I thought to be true. I backed away from the creation with a pang of pride, knowing that Starswirl had confided in me such an important project. Little to no Equestrians knew of what he was building, and I could see how much he yearned to make a breakthrough. Every time we discussed the portal, I could see a gleam of enjoyment in his eye that told me that he wasn't doing this for himself, or any other Equestrian, but to make history. However, that joy always seemed to dissipate when Princess Celestia came around; it was obvious just how against the project she was. Our discussions always faltered when she came into the room, and Starswirl's words seemed to die away as he watched her trot through, sometimes changing the subject completely to talk to either Starswirl or myself.

"I'm telling you, Starswirl, we need another source of magic," the Doctor called from his workbench on the catwalk above our heads towards the top of the arch, his colourless mane bobbing up and down as he rearranged his tools accordingly by size. I always liked the Doctor's shop. It was so neat and tidy. "This one is just not strong enough."

"What are you using now?" I asked, turning to the grey stallion. Despite the youthfulness that seemed to flow back into his body whenever he researched or was on the verge of a major breakthrough, he seemed more ancient than ever. His eyes were sunken in, his grey mane grown out and ragged, even his beard had grown unusually long to the point that it nearly brushed the ground. Normally he would've shaved it after a day or two, and the longest I had ever seen it was no longer than an inch away from his chin, and more commonly it was nothing more than whiskers, but now he seemed not to care about his physical appearance quite so much. It was almost like he was becoming obsessed with making the magic to enter another realm. This was the main reason why I had accepted his invitation to assist him: I hoped that once we either called it quits or figured it out, he would begin to return to his normal self again, proper and wise.

"Currently we are using...well, that doesn't matter; what's important is that we need something stronger," he answered carefully. What was it he was using?

"Well, perhaps...perhaps..." My mind wandered off, thinking of something we could use to harvest pure energy, rather than magic, and cut out the middlemare. What had that Twilight said she used to travel through time...? The...the powerstream? Lifestream? I shook my head, trying to clear it. How could I even think about that lunatic's crazed explanations?

"Well, I'm plum out of ideas, to be completely honest," Doctor Whooves said in his peculiar accent. I never said anything to him about it, but I always found it almost humourous. It was something different, and some of the things he said rather than typical expressions were even more humourous.

"Maybe it's not the source," I thought out loud.

"What could it be, then?" Starswirl asked with a raised eyebrow, tilting his head to one side.

"What is this structure made of, exactly?"

"Magically reinforced iron, of course," he answered smoothly without a thought.

"Hmm..." I trailed away again, my mind racing for another material capable of breaking magical physics. My mind wandered back to Shining's mane salon, all of those mirrors...

I've got it.

"Have you tried following any sort of folklore, or mythical history of inter-dimensional wormholes?"

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked, trotting down the stairs back onto the ground level. He stopped at my left side, following my gaze to the top of the arch where it curved back down. Starswirl joined me after him, at my right, looking at me, puzzled.

"It is said that mirrors hold another dimension behind them, protecting the delicate balance between our worlds through a simple layer of glass. If that glass is shattered, so is the connection to the other dimension, thus, no longer leaving a reflection, but only whatever was behind it."

"But that is only a fairytale; completely mythical," Starswirl countered.

"Not exactly," I said quickly, "Perhaps it is at least somewhat applicable to what we're trying to accomplish here, connecting worlds together through the Omniverse."

"Are you sure? I mean, like Starswirl said, it's only folklore," Doctor Whooves said coolly. Though he seemed doubtful, I could see a glimmer of curiosity in his eye.

"So is entering another dimension," I pointed out.

I quickly turned to Starswirl, who seemed to be thinking of my proposal. "You may have a point, Sapphire," he said with a hoof to his chin. "I've been thinking myself that perhaps your concept of 'magic through science' doesn't apply everywhere, here being an example."

I proudly nodded, seeing Starswirl acknowledge that the concept was indeed my own. My doubts, though limited, still seemed to cling to the back of my mind no matter how hard I try to ignore them, only returning once I believed them to be gone. "Thank you, Starswirl."

"No," he said quickly with a youthful smile once again returning to his withered, frail face. "Thank you, Sapphire, for helping me so much with this. I know Princess Celestia doesn't agree with our plan, but it means a lot to me that you are willing to help me, and I assure you I will do all in my power to compensate you for you assistance."

I waved a hoof, dismissing the offer. "I appreciate it, sir, but I'm perfectly suffice now as it is. Besides," I continued, "I find pleasure in helping with magic. It's nice to learn all that I can, and see that I am doing good."

His smile grew all the brighter. "I am proud to call you my apprentice. You already know just as much, if not more than I do, in fact!" he exclaimed gladly as he circled the large metal object he and the Doctor created together. He suddenly stopped, and quickly turned back to face me with a glimmer of amusement in his grey eyes. "What had you just called me?"

At first I was confused, but then I realized what he meant. "I appreciate it, Starswirl," I said, returning his amused expression.

"So then a mirror, eh?" Doctor Whooves said, still from beside me. He pondered my words more thoroughly it seemed than Starswirl, as if he doubted my thoughts more than he. I didn't mind if he did; I could get all the criticism that I could, still being an apprentice. "Now that you mention it..." He began to nod, slowly at first, but with each passing moment he seemed to become more sure. "Yeah, I think you're on to something there, Sapphire."

"I have an old mirror back in my home in the Crystal Empire that would quite nicely," Starswirl called from where he was, back on the catwalk beside the Doctor's tool bench.

"That's great!" I exclaimed suddenly. I was proud to see my thoughts seem to make more sense to the Doctor. He disliked magic quite a whole, but he always ignored whenever Starswirl or someone around him mentioned it or went into a heavy discussion about it. To see him willing to accept the properties of magic, even a little, was astonishing.

"Sapphire?" I heard a shy, uneasy voice call out from the entrance of the workshop. I turned around to the source of the voice. If I hadn't known better, I would've assumed the call came from Flower Bud, but it was obvious who the voice belonged to.

Cornflower.

"Hey, Cornflower, how are you?" Starswirl called down from the catwalk. She looked up at him and nodded, and gave him a questioning look. He looked to where the metal arch curved away from him, and gave her a little smile before holding a hoof in front of his lips.

She shook the thought off and turned back to me. "May I talk to you, Sapphire?"

I could see a look of desperation in her eyes, worry pungent within her voice. I quickly trotted up to her. "Of course, Cornflower." I looked up to Starswirl for permission, and he gave a nod of understanding.

We trotted out of the Doctor's shop together, side-by-side, and for a moment only silence hung between us. I didn't want to press what it was she wanted to talk to me about. I had been worried about her for the past week, almost. "I'm sorry," she began at last without looking up from her hooves as she continued along the path. "Princess Celestia told me you'd be there."

"It's no trouble, really," I told her calmly. I kept myself slowed somewhat to match her pace. Something was definitely on her mind. "What's the matter?" I asked softly. "You haven't seemed to be yourself these past couple of days."

"Well...it's...my family..." she mumbled, the words practically falling from between her lips. She stopped altogether and closed her eyes tightly, although expecting some large force to crash into her. She took a deep breath, and quickly began again. "I need to ask you a favour."

I was taken aback at first; even her country accent seemed to fade in the sense of seriousness in her voice. I was more than willing to help my friend. "What is it? Anything."

She didn't seem as sure of my answer as I felt. She let the air from her lungs and began to explain. "My family is in debt. Major debt."

"How much in debt?"

She seemed almost unwilling to reply. "One...million bits," she said quietly, closing her eyes in shame.

My eyes widened. One million bits? "How'd you get into so much debt? And with whom, might I ask?"

"Loan sharks," she said uneasily. "About five years ago, my mother was dying. We didn't know what was wrong with her, but she had a large growth on her shoulder. Every doctor we talked to said that it was in her head at first, the pain, and when the growth came up they said it was the work of Tirek er something...my dad tried to work twice as hard on the farm to be able to pay for everything we thought she would need, but in the end, she died."

"Oh my goodness, Cornflower..." I trailed off, at a loss for words.

She took another deep breath before continuing again, "After she died, my dad kinda...lost the will to live, almost. He rarely got up in the mornin', and the farm was almost lost. We were already in debt because of the hospital bills, and with no one keeping up the farm, we only got farther down. We almost lost the farm. But then, realizing we were about to lose everything, began to work again. But when he did, he literally worked himself to death. Fatally ill, his last resort was to talk to a group of loan sharks based in Manehattan. Not even a month later, he died, and everything, the responsibilities of the farm, the debts to be paid, everything went to me, my brother, and my sister. Kernel doesn't know anything about the sharks, but we've done all that we could to pay everything off. Now they want a second million bits for the interest. And they want it in two days."

"Two days?" I asked in disbelief. "How can they expect you to get that much money on only two days?"

"Actually, we had the entirety of the week, but we didn't know who to turn to for help. We knew there was no way of getting the money, so we've been racking our heads nonstop trying to figure out a way out of this."

"That's why you've been so stressed lately..." I muttered softly. A look of regret and shame overcame the yellow mare's face, and she hid behind her leaf-green mane. "What can I do?"

"Well...I was hoping that maybe...you could talk to them or something, maybe try to figure out a way to get us out of this. I mean, you're the smartest Equestrian in Canterlot since you've came here, and well..." she hung her head again. "I don't even know anymore."

I pursed my lips, irritated with how the loan sharks were taking advantage of Cornflower and her family. "I will do all that I can," I promised.

Her gaze turned from heavy fear to great relief. "Thank you Sapphire. You have no idea how much this means to us." But then the fear returned to her large, round green eyes. "But please, no matter what happens, do your best to keep this a secret. No one in Canterlot knows anything about this, and if word got out that my father did this sorta stuff, no one would ever think of him the same way ever again. I couldn't imagine his reputation being tarnished over something he did for his family years ago, especially in such dire times."

"I understand completely, and I promise, I will do all in my power to stop them. I'll keep your secret safe with me, too."