//------------------------------// // Something Goes And Raises The Stakes // Story: Nopony Can Do That! // by bigbear //------------------------------// Twilight flew straight up, keeping pace with the rising mountain. “Fluttershy?” she thought. “Yes...” “I’m worried that we didn’t get all of the black crystals.” Twilight scanned the valley, far below. “The rainbow was vaporizing the pieces that fell off, but...” “Oh they’re all here, Twilight, I made sure.” Twilight was surprised. “Did the Elements tell you?” “No, when I caught Rarity, she touched her Element, and suddenly we could both use her special talent,” Fluttershy thought. “I could tell where all the black crystals were, so I made sure I dug up enough rock to get them all.” Twilight’s mind raced. Sharing a special talent suggested an incredibly close bond. Then Twilight had an idea. Ideas made her smile. “Can you still feel where the black crystals are?” “Just a little, enough to know I still have them all.” “Then there’s still a connection,” Twilight said. “Cover your metaphorical ears.” Twilight pushed the magic she had used to contact her Element into the Element of Generosity. Then she projected as loud as she could. “RARITY!” “A true Princess doesn’t need to shout, Twilight,” Rarity replied. “Wait... Twilight... I thought you were up there. And I don’t see you down here. Is this some sort of mind magic?” “We’re all connected through the Elements of Harmony,” Fluttershy thought. “Oh my,” thought Rarity. “Does this mean you can hear my thoughts, become aware of my deepest secrets?” “I know I didn’t ask first, Rarity, but this is an emergency,” Twilight thought. “Think nothing of it, Twilight, glad to be of assistance,” Rarity replied. “It just seems like something we should have talked about and set up some guidelines for is all. We shall all just have to guard our thoughts and make the best of it. How can I help?” “We still don’t know who, or how, or even why all this is happening.” said Twilight. “Princess Celestia had invited us all to go to the Royal Study. There may be some answers there. I need you all to go there and see what you can find.” Because of the evacuation, no ponies were in the castle to keep them away from the closed doors to the Royal Study. Rarity used her magic to try and open the doors. A bolt of lightning erupted from the door handles and shocked her into the corridor wall. Applejack and Spike rushed to Rarity. “That was rude,” Rarity said slowly. “Ooooo, sorry about that,” Twilight said inside her head. “When the castle was attacked, it must have automatically triggered extra defensive wards to lock down the study. I’ve heard rumors of special defenses in important areas of the castle, but Princess Celestia never told me how to disarm them.” “Makes me feel a little bit like a second class Princess.” Twilight mumbled. “So you you’ll just have to break the wards down, Rarity.” “I think you overestimate my magical prowess,” Rarity said. “These doors are likely protected by every powerful ward that a millennia of Princesses and Arch Mage’s could devise.” “True, but I have a friend who can help you,” Twilight beamed. Rarity could feel her smile though the connection. “Meet, the Element of Magic!” Twilight facilitated the connection and introduced two of her best friends. Power and understanding flooded Rarity’s consciousness. She  levitated off the floor. Her eyes went white. “Give her some room,” Applejack said. The girls took a step backwards. Wisps of magic circled around Rarity’s horn. Her own blue. Twilight’s magenta. And a rainbow of other colors. The wisps raced around, faster and faster, thicker and thicker, until her horn was encased in a tornado of mystic colors. The tornado turned into a flat sheet of rainbow and blasted into the study doors. There was a sound like thunder happening a pony-length away. The doors disintegrated. “There goes a thousand years worth of defensive wards,” thought Twilight. The blue returned to Rarity’s eyes, and her hooves settled onto the ground. She shook her head to clear it. “Go on in,” she said to Applejack, Pinkie, Dash, and Spike. “I’ll be right behind you once I clear my head.” They rushed inside. “Twilight,” Rarity thought slowly. “Is that what it’s like to be... you?” “”I’m so sorry...” Twilight apologized. “No. No,” Rarity thought. “I mean, when I looked at all those wards, they were as simple as a dress pattern. And when I cast, I felt my magic go through them like scissors through silk. Is that what it’s like for you and your magic all the time?’ “Not ALL the time...” Twilight thought. Rarity could feel her cheeks blushing through the link. “I have been remiss in my duties and have been wasting a great opportunity,” thought Rarity. “A lady must always strive to improve herself, and I have been best friends with one of the greatest magic users of the ages and never sought her tutelage. Twilight, when this is over, would you be willing to help me improve my magical skills?” “Rarity, it would be an honor,” replied Twilight. Rarity, Twilight, and even Fluttershy, who had been silent during the exchange, all felt infinitely close being linked through the Elements, even though they were physically miles or even hundreds of miles apart. “I think we can take it from here,” Rarity thought. “I’ll “speak up” when we have found something.” Fluttershy, her flying mountain, and Twilight continued their ascent into the sky. “That was very... nice... of you, Twilight,” thought Fluttershy. “Thank you, I’ll bet teaching Rarity will be... interesting... for both of us,” Twilight thought. “How are you doing, Fluttershy?” “Lifting a mountain is surprisingly... inconvenient,” Fluttershy replied. “Not the response I was expecting. Is it tipping? Or falling apart?” “No, the Elements seem to be keeping it together and upright.” “So... inconvenient?” Twilight asked. “The mountain is on my back, so I can’t see where I’m going. All the glowing rainbows make it hard to see where I’ve been. All the rocks make it hard to make full beats with my wings. And the tip of the mountain is starting to dig into my back at the base of my neck,” Fluttershy ranted. Twilight stifled a laugh. She could feel Fluttershy’s annoyed response. “Sorry. Sorry,” Twilight thought. “I was wondering if there might be some kind of danger or emergency. Or that a mountain might be, you know, heavy?” “I said it was inconvenient, not a crises,” Fluttershy replied. “Point taken. It’s just everytime I think my mind has been blown today...” “Something goes and raises the stakes.” “Yeah.” In the Royal Study of Canterlot Castle, four mares and a baby dragon deployed like they had done several times before. They had all been done emergency research before, in libraries in Ponyville, the Crystal Empire, and in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Everyone took a portion of the room, scooped up what papers, scrolls, and books they found, and methodically started going through them. Twilight had even drilled Spike and the girls in some rules for “Combat Studying” to help them make progress faster. Scan all titles and seals for any indications of useful information within. Check books with bookmarks in them first. The bookmarks showed an active interest in a specific passage. Then notes, scrolls, and books, in that order. Within a group, check the more recent volumes before the ancient ones. Anything that was in a language you couldn’t read would get passed to someone who could read it. “An amazing amount of this is government red tape,” Rarity said. “It seems beneath the Princesses to waste their time so. As All Team Organizer and fellow Princess, Twilight simply must work out a way to free them from this minutia.” “Maybe after we get them back from the Sun and the Moon.” Applejack flipped through her pile. “Priorities. Got it.” Rarity resumed her search. Applejack held up two pieces of parchment. “I’ve got two reports about magical energy flows out of Tartarus.” Spike rolled his eyes in remembrance. “Didn’t the letter from Princess Celestia to Twilight mention strange magical energy flows?” “I’ve got a scroll about Tartarus.” “Another book.” “And a note.” “As good a starting place as any,” Rarity said. “Share all the references to Tartarus in the center of the table. Read them all and call out if you spot anything.” References came thick and fast after that. Fluttershy kept flapping and pushing. The mountain kept accelerating into the sky. Twilight kept Fluttershy in view by climbing and keeping pace, a couple of miles to the south. “So what are we going to do with this thing?” Fluttershy asked. “I thought you knew? Twilight replied. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.” “Oh. Okay. Let me think. We can’t just drop it on land, it would make a big crater, and shatter, and scatter evil black crystals everywhere. I wouldn’t even wish that on the Wastelands.” “Can we drop it in the water?” “No, it might cause tidal waves, and ruin the lives of sea ponies and other creatures. And again, shatter and scatter evil black crystals, this time all over the sea bed. I want to meet sea ponies someday. I don’t think bombing them with a mountain of dark magic is a good way to make friends.” ‘Well I can’t just keep pushing it into the sky forever.” Twilight was silent for a moment. “Rarity, if you girls think of some way to safely get rid of this thing, we’re all ears.” In the Royal Study of Canterlot Castle, Dash was tired of studying from books. She was a learn-by-doing kind of mare! Dash shielded her eyes with her wings and peered up and out a massive window in the study. All she could see were rainbow lights, high in the sky, climbing higher every second. The lights were so high, that she couldn’t even see the mountain they were supporting anymore, let alone Fluttershy or Twilight. “We’re gonna lose them in a minute if they keep climbing,” Dash said. “I’ve lost them already,” said Applejack. “I don’t got eyes like a pegasus.” “If only we had a device, especially made for seeing bright objects far away,” Pinkie said. She put her hoof to her chin, and scrunched her muzzle in deep thought. “Oh yeah, we do have one of those. Right there!” She pointed her hoof at the study’s balcony. “The telescope!” everyone chorused. Dash flew to the balcony and rotated the telescope toward the receding rainbow in the sky. The rest of the girls got there just as Dash focused the telescope. “You know how to work this thing?” Applejack asked. “Sure, I learned watching falling stars with Twilight through her telescope,” Dash replied. “Which is totally awesome, and not eggheaded at all.” The telescope had a screen, so all the girls and Spike gathered around to get a better view. Rainbow slowly rotated a dial with one hoof, to keep their target in view and in focus. The screen was filled with the flying mountain, the great beam of rainbow light that encircled the flat top of the mountain and the brighter glow of Fluttershy, flapping her wings and pushing the mountain ever higher. Twilight flitted around the outside of the rainbow lights, surrounded by her own bubble of magenta magic. “How high are they?” Rarity asked. Pinkie stretched her neck and turned her head at a right angle to see the readings next to the dial Rainbow Dash was using to aim the telescope. “With that angle of inclination, I’d say two hundred and fifty two miles up,” Pinkie said. “Give or take a pony-length.” She bounced up and down and seemed quite pleased with herself. “But, hasn’t Twilight said in the past there is no air up that high?” asked Rarity. “No air? How are they flying?” said Dash. “Probably with a lot of magic,” Pinkie said. Fluttershy and Twilight had flown so high, the sky had turned from blue to black. Though they had considered several options, they had not found a good solution to how to get rid of the mountain of black magic. “Fluttershy? Twilight?” Rarity called out, mind to mind. “Yes?” “We’re here.” “We’ve been watching you both through the telescope and discussing your problem with the mountain,” Rarity thought. “Applejack has a suggestion, and simply demands I pass it on.” “Oh, what does Applejack suggest?” Fluttershy replied. “It’s not the kind of thing that a proper Lady normally says in public.” “You don’t have to say anything if you find it too embarrassing,” Fluttershy nodded to herself. “Thank you my dear, however this is an emergency, so perhaps some loosening of the normal social rules is appropriate...” “If you think so...” “Oh just say it!” Twilight called. Rarity was affronted. “Please?” Twilight added. “Thank you,” Rarity took a moment to compose herself. “Applejack says to... buck it.” There was silence in the connection. “Applejack has reminded me that her exact words were, ‘Have Fluttershy buck it really, really good.’” “Fluttershy’s turning, can you zoom in?” cried Applejack. Rainbow Dash adjusted the telescope. Fluttershy and her brilliant glow filled the screen. She tucked all 4 legs in close to her body and flapped her wings once to rotate until her rump was aimed at the bottom of the mountain. "I recognize that position." Applejack had a huge grin. The rainbow faded from around the mountain until just Fluttershy was glowing. Twilight wrapped a giant funnel shaped magic shield around the mountain, with Fluttershy near the opening at the small end. Fluttershy coiled her body in tight. In an instant, she explosively arched her back, extended her wings, and kicked out with her hind legs. Her golden shod rear hooves slammed into the top of the mountain. And the entire mountain shattered into dust and rocketed into space. “She bucked it!” Applejack cried. “She bucked a mountain! And that was an A Number One buck. Yea Haw! I am inviting Fluttershy to come help out at Sweet Apple Acres next apple bucking season!” “Great job, Fluttershy! I can feel the dark magic receding.” Twilight pumped a hoof. “Every grain of black crystal dust is headed out to space. At the speed they’re going, I don’t think they’re ever coming back.” Twilight's magic funnel shield disappeared with a pop. She kept the shield bubble around herself. Fluttershy made a maximum stretch of her neck, her wings, and all four legs. Then she reached a foreleg back and rubbed the sore area between her wings. It helped. But with the momentary respite, came nagging doubts. Sure, so far nothing she had done had caused a disaster... that she knew of. But it was all so... big. One wrong move, and something really bad could happen. “I wish I was back at my little cottage with my animals.” Fluttershy thought to herself. The emergency over for the moment, Twilight took a minute to catch her breath and look around. The universe had a magenta cast to it because she was looking through the magical bubble she’d conjured to breath and fly above the atmosphere. But even with the interference of the bubble, she could see more stars than she had ever seen before. And she could see something more. She was still joined, at a distance, with the Element of Magic. The Element enhanced her magic, but it also broadened her perceptions. And looking out at the oceans of stars, Twilight saw something she had only seen once before in her life. “Oooooo,” she said, pointing a hoof at the stars. “Pretty!” “The stars are beautiful up here,” Fluttershy replied. “No, not them. I mean, yes the stars are pretty too,” babbled Twilight. “I mean the MACHINE.” Fluttershy looked left and right, but saw nothing but stars. “What machine are you talking about?” “The CELESTIAL MACHINE.” Twilight's thoughts were thick with awe. “I saw it once before when all the Princesses gave me their magic so Tirek wouldn't find it. I had to lower the moon and raise the sun. When I did, I saw the machinery that runs the cosmos. The CELESTIAL MACHINE is a series of titanic magical energy rivers and physical forces that flow across the face of the cosmos. Everything, from the largest galaxy to the smallest grain of space dust, is connected through them. Interesting fact, Celestia and Luna don’t actually lift the sun and the moon to move them. They connect their stellar bodies to the flows and trigger the CELESTIAL MACHINE. It moves them across the sky.” Twilight stared and drank in the glory of the machinery of the stars. But even in the face of wonder, Twilight’s mind never stopped working. She turned her head. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “What do you see?” asked Fluttershy. “It’s not moving,” Twilight whispered. “Once the sun is raised, the MACHINE should move it across the sky. But the sun is stopped.” Twilight needed more data to understand what was going on. “Find the moon, we might be able to see it from up here.” “There!” Fluttershy called. She pointed to the farthest edge of the world below them. Far to the east, Twilight  could see the first glimmering of the Moon. It would still be below the horizon in Equestria. But the moon was clearly in position for Luna to raise it, as soon as the Sun was set. Over the years, Twilight had examined the Moon in great detail, both with the naked eye and with her telescope. When she lived in Canterlot, she had studied the Moon to learn more about the Mare in the Moon. After moving to Ponyville, she had studied the Moon to better understand the prison where her friend, Princess Luna, had been banished for a thousand years. She knew every crater and mountain. And something was wrong. “Look at the shadows on the Moon,” Twilight thought. “What do they remind you of?” “A pony-head, with a horn.” Fluttershy was taken aback. “I haven’t seen a shadow on the Moon like that since...” “Since before the return of Nightmare Moon,” said Twilight. Twilight’s mind raced, and she felt her panic rise. “No,” she thought, “figure out what’s going on first. Panic later.” Twilight tripled the magenta shields in front of her, and turned them towards the sun. The shields protected her eyes from the glare. The same shadow was there, on the surface of the sun. Head and horn; an Alicorn. “I think that confirms what happened to the Princesses,” Twilight said. She looked closely at the starry sky. No star, comet, or asteroid moved at all. "And whatever banished them also broke the heavens." “The sun, moon, and all the heavens have stopped.” Twilight thought to Rarity and Fluttershy. “It’s a disaster.” “It’s worse than you think, dear.” Rarity replied. “Worse than breaking the sky? What did you find out?” “Long ago, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna discovered a horrible, but empty, parallel dimension called Tartarus. They turned it into a prison and banished creatures there who were threats to Equestria. Tirek is an example,” Rarity summarized. “The Princesses crafted a spell called the Gates of Tartarus to control access to and from Equestria. Luna recruited Cerberus to guard the location of the Gates.” “The movements of the Sun and the Moon power the the Gates of Tartarus spell. According to recent reports, something weakened the Gate spell, and magical energy, including dark magic, is flowing between the dimensions. If these reports are true, Tartarus is getting ever closer to Equestria and the power coming out of Tartarus is likely what is fueling the black tentacles that attacked the castle and banished the Princesses. And if the Sun and the Moon don’t get back to where they’re supposed to be, the Gates will collapse completely, giving the denizens of Tartarus free access to Equestria.” “It would be like Tirek’s escape, times a thousand,” Rarity cried. Everypony in the link was silent. “I’m sorry, Rarity, but we need you to go to the Gates of Tartarus.” Twilight thought very quietly. “We need to have somepony with their eyes on the Gate. Somepony who can communicate with us through the link. “I was afraid of that,” Rarity replied. “But you are correct.” “Keep Spike out of it,” thought Twilight. “I don’t want him near Tartarus.” “Of course, darling. Leave that to me.” Twilight nodded. They quickly agreed upon their plans. Rarity turned to Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, and Spike. “Twilight has a plan. She needs us to get to the Gates of Tartarus to report on what is going on and intervene if needed.” Pinkie bounced up and yelled, “Road Trip!” “How does Twilight expect us to get to the Gates of Tartarus?” Applejack asked. “Only Dashy here can fly.” “Twilight suggests we talk to Commander Fairweather,” said Rarity. “Let’s go, we’ve got no time to lose.” Dash rocketed out, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake.. They ran, flew, bounced, and galloped out of the study and down to the garden where Commander Fairweather was directing the Royal Guard. “Hi Commander!” Pinkie called. “Twilight said you might be able to help us get to Tartarus, toute suite!” “Pinkie, where did you-all learn to speak Fancy?” “Partying in Prance!” “Ladies!” the Commander barked, to get their attention. “Tartarus?” “Documents in the Royal Study pinpoint The Gates of Tartarus as the likely source of our woes.” Rarity stood up tall, like a lady. “Princess Twilight told us to ask you about swift transportation.” “She also told us to break into the Royal Study,” Dash said. “Rarity kinda blew up the door, so you might want to get a couple of guards up there to protect anything, you know, secret.” Commander Fairweather looked in surprise at Rarity. She nodded her head, like she’d seen Princess Celestia do many times before to acknowledge her “little ponies”. The commander’s eyes flicked back and forth over the group. He mumbled, “Hero work... right.” “After Tirek’s escape, we established an outpost of the Royal Guards that watches over the Gates of Tartarus, alert for anything escaping.” Commander Fairweather addressed the group. “We built a Unicorn Circle into the outpost, so the guards could teleport away with any information in case of emergency.” “Is there a matching circle here?” asked Rarity. “In the outer garden,” replied the Commander. "But it only goes one way, from the outpost to here. and it will only transport four ponies before recharging." "Show us the circle." Rarity sighed. "We may have a friend who can help." Rarity had read that Unicorn Circles were a recent mystic innovation. They allowed long distance teleportation between fixed points. Two identical circles would be constructed in separate points, and then mystically linked. Unicorns would charge the circles with magic, and then anypony could use the circle to teleport from one circle to the other. She knew they were fiendishly difficult to build, requiring rare and expensive components and the services of many powerful unicorns working together to enchant. The Unicorn Circle in the Royal Garden was a beautiful construction, three pony lengths in diameter. The floor was a tiled mosaic of gems and rare stones in runic patterns. A trio of trilithons, also adorned with runic mosaics, formed the outside of the circle. The circle whispered magic to those sensitive enough to hear, and random sparkles, like fireflies, glistened in the shadows. “Twilight, we are at the Unicorn Circle,” Rarity thought. “It is connected to it’s sister near Tartarus, but only goes from there to here. Is it possible that your friend could help?” “Gladly, Rarity” Twilight replied. She connected Rarity to the Element of Magic again. Rarity’s eyes went white and she rose a stride-length into the air. Everypony else took a step back. The magic in the circle suddenly looked simple, trivial for Rarity to understand. The unicorns who had enchanted the circle had been formidable, but... uninformed. The connections between the circle and the natural mystic flows, the ley lines beneath Canterlot, had been created to be symmetrical, rather than connecting harmoniously. Natural flows were seldom symmetrical. It was either lack of understanding, or unicorn hubris by the enchanters, that lead them to try to force symmetry on nature rather than working in harmony. Their mistake limited the circle to one way travel. But their mistake could be repaired. Rarity floated into the center of the Unicorn Circle. A glowing ball of rainbow light formed at the tip of her horn. She pointed her head and horn down at the base of the northernmost pillar of one of the trilithons. A beam of magic sprang from the rainbow ball, and bathed the pillar. The runes in the floor and the pillar glowed. Rarity rotated in a circle slow, moving her head and horn to bath every rune with magic. Runes to the north and east were bathed in orange and yellow, to the south in blue and gold, and to the west in magenta and pink. When Rarity finished her revolution, the entire circle lit up in white, so bright that everypony had to look away. When the radiance died down, Rarity was standing in the center of the Unicorn Circle. Her eyes were normal again. The circle was so full of magic that it was humming, and the firefly sparkles were racing around the outside of the circle, visible even in the sunlight. Rarity took in a big breath and huffed it out. “Spike, you stay here and coordinate with Commander Fairweather. We will send messages through the circle if we have news.” “Got it Rarity!” Spike called back. “Girls, we have a date with a gate.” Rarity extended a hoof and invited them into the circle. Applejack entered the circle wearily. “Awful lot of trouble to get to someplace no sane pony wants to go to.” Pinkie bounced in. “Just more crazy fun time!” “Was that supposed to be ironic?” Dash landed in the circle. “Please tell me it was ironic.” Pinkie smiled and zipped her lips. Rarity shook her head, lit her horn, and the four of them disappeared in a blue flash of magic.