//------------------------------//
// 4. Return To a Place Never Visited, Part 1 
// Story: The Clockwork Heaven 
// by Leliel 
//------------------------------//

"...Uh...."

"Well. That there's something ya don't see every day."

"I hate myself for saying this: The angels may be jerks, but they know how to make an impression."

The border of the affected area loomed large in the minds of the ponies as they passed the border, and the Golden Beach came into view.

Twilight was a little less dumbstruck by the clock. "I see they have neo-Norikman design in mind. Well, that and a lot of painters. Seriously, who has the time to turn a twenty-story building into a painting?"

"Well, they are creations of the Machine. Perhaps it has 'to Father' written somewhere on it." Rarity squinted at said designs a little more. "And say what you will, but their taste aesthetics is not to be faulted. I'm seeing a lot of love in both that and the theme park proper."

"Assumin' they didn't just hoof off the work to somepony else."

"In which case my compliments to them."

Twilight joined the squint session. "Actually...now that I think of it, the designs on the clock faces look like that they relate to time as well. Day and night cycles are obvious, but the tides go in and out on a regular basis, and the passage of the stars is used to measure large periods of time."

"...Huh. I'll keep that in mind if I ever decide to become a clock-themed supervillain." Rainbow Dash was not impressed.

"Excuse me, but what is with that cube? Looking at it makes my head hurt..."

"Tesseract, Fluttershy. Those are a really new thing in sorcerous physics. See, the engineer adds an extra spatial dimension...."





Stepping out, one of the first things that occurred to the Elements was a general sense of calmness.

Rather than the chaotic environment one would expect of a popular amusement park, the ponies got the idea that everything was...serene. Peaceful. Perhaps even a bit lazy. 

The crowd wasn't in the customer shove-brawl that one normally associated with a public area with lots of foals. Indeed, apart from places where the foals were actually playing, they seemed rather well-behaved. Even the babies.

The plaza itself enforced this-lots of soft blues, soft golds, soft greens....soft everything, really. There was no hard edges where they weren't necessary, the fountain of a sea serpent was sleeping, even the ground tiles were arranged in a gentle, soothing pattern pleasing to the eye.

Given what the Elements knew of who owned and probably designed the park, this came off as waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Okay girls-I say we don't split up. I mean we don't want to lose each other and get ambush....ed by salesponies and not have the moral support to avoid buying an oversized watch, do we?"

"Um...Suuurre Twilight. Wouldn't want to buy photographs while we're searching for something pink, huh?"

"Why, yes, and I have these completely innocuous non-costume clothing of mine to wear?"

"Guys. You're drawin' attention by tryin' to not draw attention."

The crowd of ponies around them simply stared at the sweating ponies.

"...Can we at least wear the disguises I made?"





"So, the friends of the control and the subject have come at last."

"Shall I run tests? I do have this wonderful experiment in mind regarding the Containment Area..."

"Focus on it first. The cyan one seems the most able fighter."





Chapter 4: Return to a Place Never Visited.





"Will you be needing any assistance with your luggage, ma'am?"

"Oh yes. The blue suitcases go to to closets, the red to the bathrooms, the pink ones can be left on the bed, the green..."

While Rarity was beginning to make the Escapement's bellhop really regret his choice in profession, Twilight was examining the interior decor. 

The oddity of the situation was not lost on her, but this was actually for more than just internal aesthetics. 

Twilight Sparkle lacked many qualities, but ability to notice details when focused on something was not one of her lacking traits. Such as the fact that, from what little she saw, Bleak One magic was based on symbolism and mathematical formulas rather than positive emotional states or friendship. And from what she saw on the exterior, it seemed the angels followed their example (or perhaps the other way around). Twilight found it difficult to believe that they wouldn't have prepared the interior as well, even if they didn't plan to enchant it. Plan B and all.

At first glance, nothing. Stone tile floors, wood walls, wood grain, a painting...wait.

Non-artsy wood grain on walls? In a place as posh at this? Particularly when it was in a suspiciously out-of-the-way wall?

Twilight took a closer look. Yes, on closer examination, the grain seemed to be artificially induced. magically discolored from a plain wall. Taking a closer look, she didn't see anything else....up until she looked on the edges of the discoloring.

There, was another bit of wood grain, branching off like black petals. More than that, in the same exact pattern as the larger wood grain. This was a fractal pattern, and a deliberate one at that.

...more like an ecology...

Twilight immediately put the pieces together. If the God-Machine was not a central intelligence and every part was as important and meaningless as the next, then that would mean that it would be a single pattern composed of many smaller patterns. Many identical patterns. At every conceivable level of resolution.

Like a fractal.

Note to self...fractals are holy symbols to Mr. Big, Mean, and Metal. Have to watch out for magical ones...

"Ma'am?"

Twilight was shocked out of her contemplation by a bedraggled-looking bellhop.

"Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry, but there seems to be a no-show."

"Huh?"

"The Princess said there was going to be a party of five checking in, but I only see four. If you wouldn't mind telling me her whereabouts...?"

"Huh? There must be a mistake. I mean, there's me, there's Rarity over there, Applejack over there, I know Fluttershy's trying to talk to your squirrels, and Rainbow Dash was right....there."

The lavender unicorn did, however, possess a tendency to focus on things to the exclusion of all else. A fact she was currently keenly aware of.

"...Where's Rainbow Dash?"





"HEY YOU! YES YOU! GET BACK HERE, RIGHT THIS SECOND!"

Sharpy Palone apparently did not hear, or was very good at ignoring people.

Rainbow Dash was having none of it, though.

"LOOK HERE YOU JERK! SEE THIS BACK LEG? THAT'S PURE ATHLETE LADY, AND I'VE BEEN DYING TO TRY OUT MY KICKS ON A LIVING TARGET, SO EITHER YOU ANSWER MY QUESTIONS OR YOU SERVE AS PRACTICE DUMMY!"

Palone walked faster.

Rainbow tried to move as fast as she could through the sea of staff that had shown up out of nowhere, or at least hover. Not fly, as the angels were apparently racist against pegasi, too-the ceilings were too low for that.

"ALL RIGHT, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!"

Throwing caution to the wind, Rainbow unfurled her wings, accidentally knocking over a bowl of soup on to them. Rainbow winced for a second, then took off.

The security guard was fast, Dash gave her that. Despite her best agility training meaning that she never hit another staffer, Palone managed to put at least a yard between the Wonderbolt prospect and herself at all times. The burn might have had something to do with that, but Rainbow decided that if they became friends after this, she was going to take footrace training from her.

That was the last thing on her mind though as Palone dipped through a pair of double doors leading back into the hotel's customer area.

"HA HA! NOW I HAVE YOU, YOU LITTLE COLTNAPPING...thug..."

The hall was completely deserted. As far as the eye could see, only red carpeting and doors, with a cherry-wood wall.

Groaning, Rainbow went back through the staff door. Next time, she thought. Next time she would get her.

Clutching her wing against her side, Dash trotted down the red carpet.

Wait, red carpet?

She looked up. Yep, same corridor.

Boy, she really did a number on me. Being winded is one thing, but forgetting to go through the door? I'm in worse shape then I thought! I guess sleep really is necessary...to a..

Wait, where did the staff door go?

She double checked. Yep, still no double door, just more guest doors.

...Huh. That was weird.

Thankfully, the ceiling was high enough to allow flight. Since her wing had stopped hurting, Rainbow took off in a flash, reckoning that eventually she would come to an elevator.

Two minutes later, still nothing.

...Okaaayyy....Really long corridor.

Looking at the guest doors, Dash was struck by an idea.

Maybe if I count the room numbers...

Room 7.

Room 8-1

Room 49.

Room VII

Seventh Room

Room G

...Something was definitely wrong here.

....And why was the floor sticky?

She looked down, and had to suppress a scream.

The carpet had suddenly turned to a wet semi-liquid substance that looked unpleasantly like blood.

In fact, now that she looked closer at it, it was blood. Congealed, semi-dry blood stains.

Now, Rainbow Dash was not the smartest athlete in the world, but she was far from dumb. After the shock wore off, and she hovered away from the wall, she had to laugh a bit. Blood? Seriously?

"Ha ha. Very funny, angels. Yeah, no, I dressed as a vampire one year and painted my mouth with the real stuff as a dare. Made my dad freak. Seriously, you're going to have to more than that to scare me."

The sound of an air raid siren rang through the hall, along with a series of explosions and the whistle of dropping bombs.

The wood in the doors suddenly turned damaged and burnt, like they had recived the brunt of a magical bomb blast. Fresh blood dripped from the various iterations of "Seven". The floor-blood turned the color of rust as rivulets of yellowed pus shot through it, The walls ignited and burnt away in a heatless fire, revealing the metal scaffolding and the concrete walls of a bomb shelter.

And on those walls were carvings. Carvings that looked organic, like a great beast had scratched them in with its bare claws. Carvings of utter horror.

On the closest was a regal-looking human male, tall and handsome with a mighty beard, and even greater fangs. With one of his hands, he tore a skeleton out of another fanged human, and with another hand he fed a skeleton to his mouth. Surrounding him were other skeletons, each with a great bit torn out of them, in a great pile.

On the next closest where more humans, fanged and not, stood under a defaced statue of the bearded one. The seven fanged ones sent seven flaming orbs into the body of a fanged skeleton, and the sockets had stars in them. Blood poured from its heart in a great fountain.

The next scene had the bearded one devouring the star-eyed skeleton, only for his own flesh to burn away in shining light, and his heart was a portal to a starry void. From that void came seven scorpions with seven flaming orbs for eyes, which attacked the fanged humans from the circle, one of which was shoving itself down her throat.

On the farthest scene, the fanged humans from the circle now had starry eyes and were burning a city to the ground. Strewn at their feet were fanged skeletons and normal human corpses, with the one fanged human still with flesh had orb-eyed scorpions swarming over him, one already reaching his mouth.

"...touche." squeaked the cyan pegasus.

The sound of a door being blown off its hinges rang through the corridor. She jerked to face the sound.

Seven flaming orbs took to the air.





The Edimmu remembered darkness, and the sensation of motion. It/They did not remember this place.

This place was...strange. Pleasingly strange, to its seven spirits, the strange of the spirit world the collective still remembered in their/its ancestral memories, the strange of many intelligent wills guiding the world into place, but not the spirit world. This place was too bright for the Shadow it/they remembered, too friendly. This was like home, but not home. 

It was certainly not the unclean, fleshy word its/their ancestors were sealed in as part of the witch's revenge, either. Not only was it too bright and too friendly, there were none of the dead, walking things. None that it/they could smell. It/They would be ecstatic, except that it/they was a skein, a larval body . If it/they could not find a host, it/they would die before it/they could make sure their/its revenge was truly complete, and it/they could not rest in peace.

In fact, shouldn't it/they have been dead by now? It was more than a day...

Then the porcelain one came to them/it. She told it/they of the dead things that inhabited this world, the winged ones. It/They listened well. No matter where the dead things were, each of them would pay in kind for what it had done to it/them. The porcelain one understood. The porcelain one was kind to them/it. She told them/it that she had fed the skein a special spell that prolonged its existence. It/they were grateful, in its/their way. 

She showed them/it to a strange hallway, and pointed out a winged dead one, scared, hovering in the middle of the air. It/they laughed. It/they could fly too, it could not evade them/it. So easy, in fact, that one of them/it, a suspicion-spirit, pressured the other six to ask the porcelain one if this was a trick, if she was working with the winged dead one.

"Of course I'm not working with it. It would be foolish to think anything else."

The Edimmu was pleased with this. It/They was eager to please her, eager to Claim it and become greater, then to trick another dead thing into devouring their/its Essence and souls, and so devour its own soul and release seven/fourty-nine of its children to carry on its/their revenge.

It saw it/them, but it was little matter. It/they flew towards it, mandibles open.





SKREEEE!

Rainbow Dash was barely able to duck quick enough to dodge the thing lunging at her. Internally, she scolded herself for not working on her agility in lieu of raw strength.

Now that it was close enough to see in the dim light of the rusted bulbs above, the pegasus could see that the owner of the orb-eyes did, indeed, look something like a scorpion. A scorpion made of blood-red thread and with a golden, toothy mouth on its stinger, but a scorpion nonetheless. Something about it seemed...half-real though. Almost as if it was made of solid fog, or if it didn't belong in the physical world. It flew by loosening some of its leg-strands to form fin-like wings, though they did not flap.

Seven pupils, each a different cuneiform word, focused on the pegasus. "Sha'an kulzu namakhra inshi, muth luzuk!"

"Excuse me?"

"APATU!" The scorpion-thing rushed again, heedless of anything resembling strategy. 

By this point, Dash had seen where the thing was coming from, and thus was a yard away as it blew through the air.

"Look, Mr. Angel. I get they you're trying to help your friends defend the park and all, but seriously-"

Bullrush. Dodge.

"-you kidnapped mine. So be grateful I'm nice, and am only going to beat you to an inch of your life!"

The scorpion-thing charged again, but this time Rainbow charged to meet it.

As they reached striking distance, she extended a back hoof, ready to meet the thing in the eyes.

And kept charging.

And kept charging.

Where'd it-WALL!

crunch

The face of the bearded human was obliterated. As was all feeling in her hoof.





The Edimmu laughed. Stupid dead things. Always attacking ephemeral beings head on.

Phasing out of Twilight, it/they turned to face the writhing winged one, clutching its back leg. It was already recovering, but a few seconds was all it/they needed.

Before it had a chance to get up, the Edimmu grabbed it with its/their thread-claws, looping them around its neck. It struggled, but its/their ancestors had done this a hundred thousand times before, and their memories made its/their struggle about as difficult as moving through tall grass. As a final taunt, it/they made the dead thing face the carving of the First Spawning, so it would understand exactly what was going to happen.

"Zir hulu ghik, uridhim." they/it whispered in its ear, before bringing the mouth-stinger down.

And felt the bloody rhythms of a heartbeat. And in that instant, the Edimmu realized the lie.





"Oh no you don't!"

Dash fell backwards, crushing the scorpion-thing between her back and the floor.

With a shriek, the stinger was torn out of her back, and the threads around her neck loosened.

The pegasus then tore off the scorpion-thing with her wings, throwing it at the floor as fast and as hard as she could.

"Possess me? No. Expel you."

Lost in the fury of battle, Rainbow almost did not hear the last, plaintive cry.

"Lama, wait! The porcelain lied to me/us-"

Almost. 

With her reflexes, Rainbow Dash was able to barely hit the ground with her deathblow instead of the scorpion thing.

"Oh, you speakey Equestriany now, do ya? You have three seconds before I-"

"Speakey..? Never mind! You not blood-foe! You still alive!

Rainbow Dash's thought process did a double-take. "Still alive?"

"Porcelain one told us/me you blood-thief! You not dead that walk!"

"Wait, so another angel lied-?"

"An-gel? No, we/I spirit collective. Edimmu skein. Porcelain say you clan of world's blood-thief. Betray I/us."

And with that, Rainbow Dash's hatred of the angels became even more personal. "Tell me, what does this porcelain-"

"Thank you for your cooperation. You will be returned to your previous locality shortly, and we apologize for any interruption we may have caused."

And the world went white.

When Rainbow Dash blinked the brightness out of her eyes, she was now in front of the staff doors.

"...Buck you, angels."





"Damn it all. She's quicker on her feet than I had predicted. Not to mention the lack of killer instinct, which given her relative skills in fighting I assume would have been triggered."

"Well, look on the bright side brother. It did complete the actual objective we set out to do."

"That is indeed the crux of the matter, isn't it? The skein's bite has indeed transferred the Affliction."





What was this place?

What was this stuff hanging about its thoughts?

Everything seemed so...vibrant. It could reach out with some of itself, but it was not like the vast shallowness it was used to. Whereas that was a placid lake, this was a choppy river, and not the controlled of other rives it had been it. This was wild, untamed, free.

Tentatively, it began to strum the stuff like hitting the surface of the water, attempting to find more of itself using the ripples.

Nothing. It tried again, harder this time.

One response ripple. But that was more than zero.

Soon, the two began to strum messages at each other. It seems the other it had been alone at first, and given the extent of the ripples, that was more than a bit startling. That meant it had to be more than a light-year from other its, more than a month in the future or past, or both. But it had dealt with this before.

Slowly, it began to expand and stretch.





"Ugh..."

Rainbow Dash clutched her head. The dang horror corridor had given her a migraine. Oy.

Muttering to herself about needing to bring headache medicine next time, the pegasus began to follow the white tape Xs to the foyer. That was nice of the stallion upon the stair. Maybe if he wasn't there again today, she could thank him.