Note: Where did all my feedback go? They just vanished! I would insert a sad face here, but that would not really serve any purpose. Give me feedback! If you give me feedback, then I will give you cookies!

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Everfree forest

Time: Ten days after the takeover of Equestria

The Paradox tapped his mask lightly as he looked at a holographic projection in front of him when Pictor strolled up to him.

"How goes the invasion of the Infernal realm?" said the Paradox calmly.

"Well," said Pictor slowly, "We should be expecting a plea of parley from the Grand Devil any day now."

The Paradox nodded. "That is just what we need. I have developed another part of the plan that will need his assistance."

Pictor cocked his head to one side and said, "What? What are you talking about?"

The Paradox waved Pictor down. "It doesn't concern you yet…"

There was a long pause. Finally, the Paradox said, "Pictor… Do you remember the Winniex Empire?"

Pictor laughed. "Led by a man after my own heart. Yes, I do. What about it?"

"Remember the uproar it caused? There hadn't been an infant interdimensional empire since the Barius Empire."

"Yes… but it all went down. After all, Amethyst had a fleet so large, that it could wipe out universes in seconds. They were of no consequence…"

"I know. But what about now? We have the fleets, but we are no longer prepared."

"What do you mean?"

"Pictor look: there is an interdimensionally-travelling probe circling this planet even as we speak." The Paradox pointed nonchalantly to a radar projection that was blinking on the holographic screen.

Pictor leaned in close and shook his head in disbelief. "What… the… hell? Should I destroy it?"

The Paradox shook his head emphatically. "No. You know what this means, right?"

Pictor nodded. "This means that somehow… somewhere… an empire managed to open a portal using inorganic means. We have could be facing an issue of dimensionally-jumping ships, the one thing that the phantom device cannot block."

The Paradox sighed calmly. "Do not be melodramatic, Pictor. They are of no consequence. The only issue is that they have ships. Perhaps a lot of ships. They will never stand a chance against our armadas… but if one should fall into the hands of Doxia… Then he could come here and lay waste to everything."

There was another pause. Finally, the Paradox said, "We need to keep tabs on this. No doubt Doxia will be able to detect what is going, but we must not let the senders of that probe know that we know they are here. However, track the whereabouts of the senders and see if we have any active Dimensional Travelers or Phasetroopers on site. We will use them to assassinate whoever we need. After all, this could either be a hindrance… or a great help."

Pictor nodded. He immediately pulled up a myriad of holographic projections about his face as he began to track the origins of the probe that had so mysteriously appeared in orbit.

"It seems to be coming from multidimensional sector D129," said Pictor slowly, "From the Reset Dimension."

The Paradox's head moved slightly, indicating some small level of surprise. "The Reset Dimension? The one where the alternate dimension of the Harmony Tree Dimension crashed into? The one that nearly killed Dathan Enosson during his journey to find a place to plant the Tree of Harmony?"

Pictor nodded his head stoutly. "They very same one."

The Paradox nodded his head. "It makes sense. That phenomena no doubt gave the natives of that dimension some fairly deep insight into the workings of dimension-jumping. No doubt they have capitalized on it. Nevertheless, I remember placing Phasetrooper nine and Phasetrooper one-billion-and-seven there. Get Phasetrooper nine on the line and hack all the information this little probe has on it and give it to him… I have a job for him."

Dimension: Orbit (Reset Dimension)

Planet: Earth

Specific Location: Warbucks Tower, top floor

Time: Unknown, ten days after the takeover of Equestria

Councilman Kaleb stretched. He was in a good mood, which generally meant people somewhere were losing untold amounts of money. It had been less than a year since they had discovered an anomaly of epic proportions, and it had been less than a month since they had discovered how to open and sustain portals from their dimension to another. Four hours ago, a team sent a probe through their first sustainable portal into another dimension. What they had found was… shocking.

"It seems to be some form of an alternate Equi-3 dimension," said a man in a white lab-coat.

"Of course, I can read, my friend," said Kaleb briskly, "What are the readings?"

"Well, first we thought we saw massive surges of power on the surface, as if there were sentient powerhouses or something on the ground, but after we got a closer look, it seemed to only be interference from multidimensional residue."

"Wonderful. So that place is as useless and defenseless as the Equi-3 planet here? Under-defended and full of little, brightly-colored, ponies?"

"Yes. What are you suggesting?"

"I am suggesting that I pay you to work, not to talk. Get the hell out of here."

The scientist blinked in surprise, but then caught the glance of one of the Federation troopers standing nearby. He then bowed low and strolled out of the room.

Kaleb rolled his eyes and sat down at his desk. Suddenly the intercom beeped slightly, and his secretary said, "Sir… You have an appointment with a scientific expert?"

Kaleb scratched the back of his head. "I have an appointment? That's weird. Send them in."

Large, metallic, double-doors slid open and a neatly dressed man strolled in with a large briefcase under his arm.

Kaleb nodded his head. The man sat down and said, "Hello, Councilman Kaleb. Where are the others?"

Kaleb propped his feet on his desk in a very rude manner and said, "I have no idea. But this is my office. Are you here to talk to Councilman Olson, or to me? Councilwoman Caroline will be out of the picture shortly, if you know what I mean."

The man blinked at Kaleb. "You do realize I could be a spy, right? I could go straight to Councilwoman Caroline and warn her."

Kaleb laughed. "I don't think so. All scientists that ever get past my secretary are on dimensional business, and all dimensional-oriented scientists are under the paycheck of me and Olson… so you basically owe me your life."

"You speak presumptuously, Councilman Kaleb," said the man.

"It's not presumptuous if you know it to be damn well true!" snorted Kaleb derisively, "So… what do you want?"

The man glanced at the guards. He then turned back to look at Kaleb and leaned in close and whispered, "I want some privacy."

"You two!" snapped Kaleb to the guards, "Get the hell out of here!"

The guards nodded stoutly and left in a hurry. Kaleb then looked at the man curiously and said, "What is it?"

"You sent the probe, correct?"

"Yes. Based off the information we got from that one place filled with brightly-colored ponies. You know…"

"And you sent the probe to look at the alternate world filled with ponies… right?"

"Right. Why?" Kaleb was starting to feel very uncomfortable, and considered calling the guards back in, but then he decided against the idea.

The man leaned in closer and said, "You detected massive energy surges on the surface as well?"

Kaleb gaped. No one had seen that information other than that one scientist and himself. How did this strange man find out? Was he sent from Olson? Wordlessly, Kaleb nodded.

The man settled back in his chair and chuckled. "Well, my friend, let me tell you that those surges were no residual pieces of interference… they were real."

"Does that mean…" stuttered Kaleb, "Does that mean that there are others like us out there?"

The man nodded sagely. "Yes… That means that your little endeavor has caught the attention or those 'others', and they would like to greet you. One day."

The man suddenly snapped a finger, and Kaleb's spine snapped in two. He fell to the floor, dead.

The man suddenly shimmered and transformed into a hideous Phasetrooper. The Phasetrooper proceeded to pick up the dead body of Kaleb and inspect it closely. After a moment of doing so, he vaporized the corpse using dark matter, then he shimmered again… and transformed into an exact replica of Kaleb.

"Phasetrooper nine to Lord Pictor," said the imposter of Councilman Kaleb over a telepathic link, "I'm in. What is next?"

"They have ships, a fleet of them," said Pictor over the intercom, "We need to ensure that Doxia never gets one. Do what you have to… bring them all here. All of them. We cannot risk Doxia being able to bypass the phantom device."

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Rainbow Dash's Home

Time: Ten days after the takeover of Equestria

Rainbow Dash sat nonchalantly on a fluffy cloud couch, shining her hoofs. Beside her lay a saddle pack full of supplies and money. However, despite the fact that the adventure of her lifetime was on the horizon, she was doing nothing else to prepare for it. Typical Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow slowly began to drift into sleep for a mid-morning nap when a hoof rapped at the door.

Rainbow leapt up, fell over, and scrambled to all fours. She quickly cantered to the door and opened it up a crack. She peeked through and saw Twilight, who was levitating a whole pile of papers and books about her. Rainbow rolled her eyes good-humouredly and opened the door.

"Wow, you certainly have some serious research going there, Twilight," chortled Rainbow as she let Twilight in.

Twilight smiled at her friend, she was in her element. "I do! I was able to look deep into the history of the Alicorn Amulet! You see, back in the pre-classical era…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure it is absolutely amazing, Twilight," interjected Rainbow with a snort, "But I think what I'm looking for is a hoof pointing in the direction that Trixie went."

Twilight blushed. "Oh, yes, sorry. Well…"

Twilight plopped her tons-worth of paper and books on the ground and swiftly sorted through the mess using magic. After a moment, she pulled out a file with the royal Sun and Moon Sisters insignia on it. She levitated it over to the desk via magic and set it down. Rainbow trotted over to it and opened the file up. It was Trixie's intelligence file. There were things like place and time of birth, list of disruptions to the peace, etc. Finally, at the bottom of the third page in the file, big red letters spelled out the word: MISSING.

Rainbow nodded. This had been somewhat helpful. At this moment, Twilight trotted over, holding another piece of paper.

"Here was a receipt for a boat-fare made by Trixie, two days before Equestria Intelligence classified her as missing," Twilight explained, giving it to Rainbow.

Rainbow looked it over. The fare was to the Stallion Empire. Rainbow bit her lip, the Stallion Empire was not a close friend to Equestria. For the past thousand years, the massive empire had loomed over Equestria, constantly giving Equestria a difficult time when it came to politics and diplomacy. Of course, it had fallen without a fight to the Paradox like everywhere on the planet, but considering the fact that the Paradox really didn't care about anywhere else other than Equestria, Rainbow was sure that this other-worldly occupation would not stop the Stallion Empire from persecuting someone like her. There had been terrible tales of Equestria citizens going to the Stallion Empire for a visit, and then being arrested. They stories told of beatings, torture, and rape. Not a pretty thing to think about, all things considered.

If Trixie had gone there, there was not too much hope that she was coming out of it. Unfortunately, this was no time for a royal rescue operation. For one, Celestia had made it clear to the citizens of Equestria many years ago that she had to keep her hoofs clean of the despotic leaders of the empire, as to avoid war and bloodshed. Another point was that the Paradox would probably not stand for any form of disturbance, let alone an international war, because it would pose a risk to his plan. It looked like Rainbow was going to have to wing it alone, but actually considering the dangers of the Stallion Empire made her relieved that Twilight was going. If Twilight was arrested or captured in that empire… She would never be able to face Flaming Star.

"Well… I guess I know where my next stop is," said Rainbow Dash nervously.

Twilight looked at Rainbow in concern. "You've heard the tales of that nation. Are you sure you don't want to just give it up? I'm sure there is another way…"

Rainbow shook her head vehemently. "No. This is the only way. What else are we going to do? Ask for charity?"

"Perhaps we could find a way to get another nation to chip in!"

"No! The Paradox has eyes and ears everywhere. Anything on a national scale would undoubtedly become noticeable. And besides, Equestria is the richest country in the world, and what this griffon is charging for weapons is more than a fortune. But he is the only one Sunset said he would trust to deliver all of those powerful weapons to us."

Twilight bit her lip, and her eyes welled up with tears. But then she took a deep, shaking sigh, and nodded her head. "I wish you luck, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow grinned, but it was rather weak. "Heh… yeah."

Twilight quickly sorted through some papers, and then pulled out another file. "I looked into all of your possible travel options."

Rainbow glanced over them: sea and air. "I'll take air," said Rainbow, "And considering the importance of this venture, money is no object. I'm sure I can 'reimburse' myself when we get into the royal treasury."

Twilight raised an eyebrow cynically at Rainbow, who was now genuinely grinning, and said, "Riiiigghhhtttt… Okay. Air it is, first class. I will have your tickets by tonight, with a plane to leave in the morning. Are you ready for that?"

Rainbow nodded her head at her bags. "I am."

Twilight returned the nod. "Good! Now here is a book of the Stallion Empire in present day, and here is a book on the Stallion Empire's history."

With that, Twilight levitated two thick volumes over to where Rainbow stood. Rainbow groaned and facehoofed. "Really Twilight? Really?"

Twilight nodded her head vigorously. "Really! You need to read these books! You must!"

Rainbow pulled a face, but said, "Fine. I'll 'read' those books for you. Maybe…"

Twilight looked at her suspiciously for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Riiigghhhttt… Okay. I am going to get all these traveling things sorted out now. I will be back tonight. You better have the first three chapters of both books read by the time I get back. There is a high possibility for a pop quiz when I return."

Rainbow pulled another face and said, "Twilight, don't you remember the last time you tried to get me to study? Remember the Wonderbolt's history test?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but we have no time to use your method of learning! Just pretend you are reading a Daring Do book and try not to think about all those horrible rumors!"

With that, Twilight levitated all of her other books and pieces of paper around her and trotted out of the house. Grumbling something unintelligible about cupcakes and death, Rainbow Dash sat down and opened one of the thick volumes to chapter one and began to read.

Note: "A Glass Darkly" is out as well, if anyone was interested in knowing. Okay, I have to say I really like Rarity as a Traveler. But what about you guys? What do you all think? Anyone excited to see Trixie coming into the scene? Anyway, don't forget to review!