The cobblestone floor, lined with cracks, was adorned with intricacy of geometry, with lines crossing circles, which overlap with other circles. The dwarf looked upon it, eyes drinking in the symbols, mind coming out of it without comprehension. He looks again at the floor, the illumination provided by the lamp flickers, malevolent shadows flicker across the floor. Chasing diagrams, wolves seeking flesh. The disturbance stops, the wolves retreat into the corner, sated perhaps. The dwarf wiped his finger on one of the lines, the texture was oily: It was indigo. The dwarf sniffed at his finger, and moved it closer to his mouth.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you.” A voice came from behind him.
“Why?” the dwarf’s face twisted into a stupid grin. “Would I get magical powers or something?”
“No, you would die.”
“Wonderful. And I thought everything was rainbows and magic.”
“That’s why you would die.”
The dwarf’s eyebrows furrowed, he grumbled, and wiped his finger on his pants.
“Well then, I suppose that it’s time for you to take off your pants.”
The dwarf disrobed disruptively. Obviously making little difference to either of the creatures in the room, though, had Rarity been there, there would have been more room and potential for disturbance, of course, that does not excuse the fact that Rarity did in fact feel disturbed by some variety of sixth sense that related to the process of undressing disruptively.
Flames leapt from Twilight’s horn, tangerine radiance casted across the diagram. The heat caused the dwarf’s skin to glisten. “Now what?”
There was silence, desolate, hidden underneath the roar of the flame. It was the kind of silence which drove men and dwarves alike to their solitary melancholia, and then to madness. At some points, it was said that it was the silence of the passing which drove the ghosts to return and haunt the dead in the fortress, the silence implicit in failing to honor the dwarf who had died, a tomb, a slab with a name, some kind of memorial to honor the dwarf. Without this minor anchor, the spirit drifted to the same. This silence was worse than that, worse than having the world wretched from you, worse still than being forgotten, it was the silence of impending doom. “You need to be immolated.” Twilight’s voice became a whisper. “It is necessary for the spell. There can be no change without a price, in this case, the fee is steep, it requires the pain of a lifetime, or the life itself, I’m sorry Tholumom. I really am.”
“What about the Elements of Harmony, what of them? They did not take life for life in the city did they?” Tholumom shouted. It did little to help his desperation, but it did cause his vocal cords to become sore.
“They did, they took the pain of the dying, and the essence of the dead to fuel them, they took the energy in the burst gas mains, and all else. They saved the lives of those involved, they even seemed to give them their lives back, but they did take it to begin with.” Twilight sputtered, “How dare you think I am not using the best methods I have for you. I’m only doing this because you asked for it, listened to my story, the one that pertained to my reticence in doing what you asked. Of course I’m doing the best I can for you.”
“That’s not what I meant, I meant that you did not use the pain which I have already, I’m far older than you are; I have hundreds of painful experiences for you to draw on, some that I can’t even accept.” Tholumom said.
He inched closer to Twilight, and wrapped his arm around her. The flame stopped. Her eyes shot open, “You are right.” She whispered. Her right eyelid closed slightly, twitching.
“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m miserable. It would not be so bad to burn for this, but why create new fuel when there is already fuel there to burn?” Her right eyelid lifted up to its normal state.
“So you don’t run out of fuel.” Twilight said as though it were a matter of fact.
“If you burn misery, why would you miss it?” Tholumom smiled.
“Because, you are acutely aware of your pain when the spell acts on you, more so than you already have.” Tholumom’s left eye twitched.
“No, no, that’s fine. Just do it before I change my mind.”
“This is absolutely dreadful! I can’t figure out what’s bothering me!” The wail carried over most of Ponyville. Colgate, who had stopped to buy carrots, suddenly turned towards the sound as it passed over her, though, she did get on with buying carrots soon afterwards.
In the Carousel Boutique, Rarity tore through drawers and shelves, seeking something. Spike went through his mental checklist.
Estrus? No, I can’t smell pheromones.
Undressing? Why would that bother her?
My presence? I hope not.
Gem growth underneath the Carousel Boutique? Probably.
“Rarity, could it be that this could just be another incident of gem growth underneath the building?” Spike suggested.
Rarity’s horn glowed, a giant diamond showed through the floor. Spike thought to himself that it was impressive just how big it was. Also that it looked delicious in the same way that a giant donut sign looked delicious.
“No, that’s the same size as it was yesterday. No, the feeling is a bit like the time that you walked in on us dressing.” Rarity mused.
Spike frowned, thinking cynical things about the state of mind which Rarity must find herself in. “Wow Rarity, that’s a bit strange.”
The horrors of Tholumom’s life flashed before his eyes. That there is no order save what death imposes upon the world. That he was delusional in attempting to order it at all, because, as all things are, he is ultimately mortal. Being a dwarf, this did not daunt him, being a pony, it did. For a moment, he was aware of every single part of him, overwhelming him with knowledge and information. It dissipated with a flash of pain, leaving him only with the inferiority of memory.
Oneiric valleys stretched before him, beckoning him to run, the mountains behind him served as refuge for something. Whatever they were, they were not what he should seek. Another wind blew, driving him from the forest, to the plain. He resisted, but the wind blew harder, freezing him until he allowed it to work within him. A searing bolt from the heavens stung him, and he saw between the lines, in all their beauty, but there was something missing, something which was obscene and lost within the miserly energy conservation of the universe. A freedom dominated him imitating tyranny. Another dimension opened up to him, and shut before he could make sense of what was inside of it. Memories of his daughter floated in his mind, and her loss impressed itself upon him, fleeting shapes of the dimension lost to him imitated her before resolution could be attempted. His wife called him in shapes and colors which he had names for. Shadows chased him in the visage of goblins after spawning underneath the sparse furniture in the basement. Reality shifted.
The ceiling was higher than it had been. The impossibility of raising himself became apparent as the situation became clear to him; he was already standing.
“I thought I was short before.”
Regardless of the recent weather, or, more correctly, because of it, Rainbow dash swerved through clouds over Las Pegasus. The Pegasus was not entirely certain why the city was known as “Las Pegasus”, but she was sure that it contained more diamond dog prostitutes than Pegasi.
Despite the inevitability of resuscitating in the early hours of the day and discovering that there was indeed such a thing as too much fun, as proved by last night, she had decided to visit anyway. It was the invitation to her father’s wedding to a new mare. She had not heard about this till recently, the fact that her father had been dating at all eluded her, though, it did explain, to some degree, why her mother had shown up to her house and stayed there for a few months, before finding herself a nice “Not Doctor” Whooves, who, on most days, went about the town going by another name, Time Turner. Doctor Whooves has a nicer ring to it, doesn’t it?
The scatterbrained Pegasus quickly realized that there was also something that was new to her; something called getting lost in one’s own thoughts. What a wonderful day this was, not only was her father getting married to some mare he met only a few months ago, but she was discovering more about the possible states of her existence. Regardless of the immanence which Rainbow Dash found pervading her day, she found herself understanding the necessity of concentrating on her current task; clearing out a few clouds.
It was easy to get lost in thought, or so her colleges told her, when clearing cirrus clouds. Stringy, but quite large, and high up, they are not difficult to remove, but require a lot of concentration due to the smaller mass of the cloud and their reluctance to fuse when pushed into each other.
Regardless of their general harmlessness, she was finding them more difficult than she normally did. She began to wonder if she had purposefully sought out the weather department in Las Pegasus in order to avoid her father, and his fiancé. In this state of self-reflection, she finally relented in her pursuit of the obnoxious Cirrus clouds. They never actually carried rain anyways. Someponies just like the clear blue sky. She decided that those ponies would have to just deal with it. She started her way back to her father’s hotel room, she might as well say hello to the stallion. It had been a long time after all.
“Maybe you should just move your hooves-”
“No, no, I got it.”
“I don’t see how, you’re still on the ground.”
“I think I’ve been doing this longer than you have.”
“This all just seems a bit new to you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that it is that different.”
“Your hooves seem to disagree with you.”
“Left forehoof to blue.”
“How am I supposed to do that? Blue is behind me.”
“I don’t know, I’m not the one playing twister.”
“Spike, that isn’t very helpful.”
The room was tense. The multicolor dots taunted Tholumom with their rubbery difficulty. It was a balance between reaching the dots as prescribed by the wheel with the indicated body part, and avoiding touching Twilight in ways which he was not comfortable with. In any case, he was finding himself sprawled out over her, he found himself repulsed by the possibility of knowing her more closely than he already did.
“Spiiike! I still can’t figure it out.” As the wail passed over Ponyville once again, not a single pony turned their head or paid any heed to it. It was just that kind of day. The kind of day when Rarity was making a big deal out of something, something which most were used to, if not resistant to. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of being attracted to the finicky Unicorn was having to listen to their problems. Today, it had the flavor of kibble and lemons.
“Rarity. Please, calm down, intuition can’t possibly be right all the time…” Spike’s voice became a whisper, “unless you’re Pinkie Pie.”
“I know that Spike. I just can’t shake the feeling that somepony is playing Twister-“ she grabbed Spike, “Without me!” she screamed.
“Why would that offend you Rarity?” Spike asked, knowing that Twilight had been playing Twister with another pony that he had not recognized.
“Because, I always win at it.”
“Okay Rainbow Dash.”
“Spike even Rainbow Dash knows that I am the best at Twister, across all of Equestria, I am the best at Twister. If I had not found fashion before that, or mining, or whatever else I live off of, I would have a twister board as a Cutie Mark.” Spike chose to ignore what had just been said. “Okay Rarity, I’ll tell them that they should invite you to play next time.”
“What? You would know about somepony playing Twister and not tell me? Spike I’m hurt, I thought you loved me!” tears streamed down her face. “I thought I could trust you, how dare you! Never look at me again!”
Spike backed towards the door and left, not taking his eyes off of the upset Unicorn.
“So I see that you told her about Twister. Never tell Rarity about twister. She’ll forgive you eventually, but don’t let yourself be seen by her in the next month.” Pinkie Pie appeared next to him, and hugged him. “I’m sorry about your relationship with her.”
“I don’t know Pinkie, I think I still have a chance.”
“I’m sure that there is some remote chance of that happening Spike.” The joyous pink pony jumped off into the sunset.
“I guess that it’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.”
The keycard reader made little sense to the rainbow maned Pegasus as she stared at it. It failed to coincide with the general opinion that most ponies had, that technology should be accessible to all of the races of ponies. Unfortunately, this seemed to be one of those places where the Diamond dog prostitutes made money opening doors which most ponies visiting (around two thirds if the general rule of equal numbers holds up). Fortunately, this was not an issue, she could knock; she could fly out onto the balcony. But knocking was the most likely option to work.
She sighed. She had not talked to her father for a long time. It was bad blood. Of course, blood is always thick. The disagreement was never clear to either side of the argument. She did not care for her father. He never cared for her. No matter how much she tried to get respect from her father, he never respected her. Memories of flying with him, his cool expression, as she tried to gain his love. Spinning across the sky, outrunning her father, outmaneuvering him, outsmarting him, even the sonic rainboom did little to impress him. He was a waste of time, an activity which all the time in the universe could not complete. And no amount of questioning could ever resolve what exactly it was that her father wanted from her. A son.
The answer was clear enough. It was the one thing that she could never do for him, be his son. She was fine with that, she knew from the emergence of that knowledge that she was not able to be his son. She didn’t want to. Too much work. Too much change. But, why would he have invited her to this wedding? Perhaps it might be to rub it in her face. It would be no different than before. The same old man, doing the same old thing, nothing will have changed. Maybe a few grey feathers.
She knocked. “One minute.” It was a voice which she could not quite place: The voice of a mare, muffled by the strange material of the door. The door swung open. And she was surprised. “Mom?”
“Hi honey, I’m glad to see that you came.” She said. Her mother smiled like she did when she was a filly. The warm, comfortable smile had returned, alien to these latter years. It was the smile that only existed when her parents loved each other. Another thing alien to these latter years.
“I thought that you were dating Doctor Hooves.”
“Who? You mean Time Turner? He doesn’t go by Doctor Hooves anymore.”
“Mom, the distinction is lost on me.”
“You wouldn’t know, being a young woman as you are, about the importance of titles. Anyway, he never really did achieve any level of doctorate, so it offended him when he came to terms with what he was, a pony who was really good at managing time.”
The rainbow maned Pegasus rolled her eyes. What the hell was a doctorate?
It barely mattered anyway.
“Who’s getting married anyway?”
“Your father and I are remarrying. We finally came to our senses after such a long separation. I think that we can appreciate each other now.”
“What? But Dad is just… Just…”
“Too arrogant? Is that it? Dash.” His mother was moved gently out of the way by a black bodied, red maned Alicorn. He just so happened to have a cutie mark striking some unknown evil in the face, killing it.
“Dad!”
“Dash. I understand that I was wrong. I was wrong in how I treated you, and when I finally extended that to your mother, I was miserable, so were both of you.” He sighed. “I just want to love for the time which I have remaining.”
“Do you mean for the rest of eternity?” Dash barely made out.
“No. the immortality test came back, I’m going to die in four years, three days, eleven hours, six minutes, and twelve seconds. Honestly Dash, I would not recommend getting that test.”
“But then, who will protect Equestria from all of the implausible disaster scenarios which may come up in the future?”
“It’s up to you, Dash. You and your friends. I’m sure that they can handle it just as well as I could, if not better. Just so long as you are a team. Also, I am certain that there will be more people-I mean ponies that like you and your friends than those who like me.”
“Why did it take you this long if you defeated Discord in three minutes without using magic with your hooves tied up?”
“I can’t even imagine a good answer to that question Dash. I’m just unwilling to make myself vulnerable.”
“You know what Dad, you just suck.”
Rainbow Dash decided that it was probably not really necessary to stay for the wedding. Her father had done too much for soft words like those to repair. But inside the Pegasus bristled a sense of self-confidence that surged under the soft words. Somehow, she knew, that her father was not so spectacular after all. Also, perhaps that it might finally be time to don the bandanna and admit her sexuality. Not that the two were innately connected. That is, that they are both causally intertwined in the existence of the other.
As in the freedom from the concerns which he once had are so removed from him that he cannot even begin to think about being concerned again.