Worm/MLP Cross Snippet

Celestia strode into the meeting hall.  Her typical regal posture tainted with worry and anxiety.

Her eyes took in the scene, a room with both of the other princesses, the archmage, and her apprentice, every current high status member of the Equestrian Magical Society.  There were a sporadic few politically inclined characters, notable a lichpony from some foreign land present only for his idle interest in trade with Equestria.  Precious few dukes or barons (or any Equestrian political position) were here.

But it was the odd zebra shaman or griffon witch which finally solidified the connection she drew.

/Everyone here has a non-trivial understanding of advanced magic./

Celestia’s stride continued completely unimpeded by her idle thought.

Her gaze whipped around the room and again before settling on her sister, Luna.  She allowed a small smile to touch her features as she took her place at the head of the table.

She waited just a moment for an introduction or a greeting.  She picked up on the grave atmosphere in the room, and she forgot her expections of pleasantries.

She cut to the chase.

“How dangerous?” she asked simply.

It was a royal astronomer who answered.  Star Bloom, Celestia recalled assigning her to the grand observatory in the ancient mountain range in the north.

“Something hundreds of thousands of miles in the sky.  Something massive.  Completely invisible, and it mucks up most magical sensing methods.  It shrugs off scrying, for instance.”

Another mage spoke up.  A council member.

“All practical divination rituals are virtually useless as well.”

Celestia spoke up.  “Virtually?”

“We can carry out the rituals, and we do get answers, but they are gibberish.  Either we accept results that completely contradict logic, or we are dealing with anti-divination measures unheard of since before the society.  More advanced, even.”

Another council member, male this time.

But that isn’t the only problem.  From what basic probes we were able to carry out, everything points to a creature with little or no innate magic.”

“Moreover, every causal analysis and retroclairvoyant analysis suggests this thing pops up seemingly at random and leaves just as well.”

Celestia’s brow furrowed.  “Star Bloom, you said this thing is massive?”

“Energy flow analysis suggests something bigger than what we see,” she stated, then added: “An illusion, perhaps?

“I don’t see it,” Celestia replied.  “If that were the case, we wouldn’t see anything at all.”

“Taken together, it looks like we’re dealing with something that interacts strangely with most of our magic.  It would seem that we’re dealing with something that is not native to Equis at all.”

Several ponies (and non-ponies) scowled at that.

“Well,” Star Bloom started, “that is consistent with it’s behavior.”

Someone jumped into the conversation.  “But that doesn’t explain the sudden appearance and disappearance.”

It was Luna who spoke up this time.  “I have a theory, but I personally find it quite disturbing.”

“That and this entire ordeal,” some blurted out.  “Go ahead and tell us.  We gain exactly nothing for your reticence."

“From what I understand, we are seeing strange objects which appear to be part of a greater whole,” she paused. “Does this not seem analogous to that of a sea serpent undulating though the water?  I would not be surprised to learn it resembles a cross-section of such a creature as it intersects the surface of the water.”

There was a deeply reflective pause while that sunk in.  Even among the magical elite, the implications were scarcely grasped.

"Dimensionalism," said one, in a tone that could be worry or awe or simply confusion.