Realms of Existence

by GMBlackjack

II - Divided We Stand

Twilight lit her horn as bright as she could manage and yelled, tearing at the spot in reality the portal had been in moments before. Her purple aura tugged and stretched the space, warping the fabric of existence around her will. She reared back, pulling with all her might, cutting right through with a sickening rip that drove headaches into Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike.

She managed to tear a hole in reality eventually – but it led nowhere, a blackness devoid of anything that rapidly sucked in air from the snowy scene. Twilight closed it quickly. She subsequently stood there, staring, silent.

“Twilight…” Spike said, reaching out a hand.

“They’re gone. Sucked into Celestia knows where. And I brought them here…” She choked on her words. “…I should have just let this be…”

“Don’t be silly Twilight.” Pinkie said, picking up the Seven Sided Chest. “Ignoring a mystery is like receiving an invitation to a party and not going!”

“But-“

“No buts dear.” Rarity said. “While you may have rushed this, all of us agreed to come. There’s always danger in these outings, and we all know it. Now, chin up, and start thinking. How do we get our friends back?”

“How do we…” Twilight pondered this, looking up. “Ahuizotl might have known. He wouldn’t have been here without a reason.

Spike blinked. “Wait, wasn’t he sucked into the thing?”

“Yes.” Twilight said. “But he had to get here somehow. Maybe we can find some clues.” She glanced at the fallen pillar. “…Because frankly I don’t think I can fix that.”

The three mares and young dragon spread out, searching for any signs or clues. They mostly found snow, snow, more snow, and a shadow in the distance that was the Jove. It was really hard to see in the blinding whiteness – were it not for Rarity’s purple frills on her coat, she wouldn’t have been able to even see herself.

About three minutes into the search, Spike got an idea. He began breathing fire to melt the snow around him. He didn’t actually see much for the longest time, but he eventually came upon a large mound of snow a few yards from the temple. He would have missed it had his flames not exposed the wooden tip of something.

“Found a thing!” Spike called. Twilight teleported there in an instant, carefully watching Spike remove the excess snow. Pinkie was somehow already there and Rarity arrived shortly thereafter, the group working to delicately remove the frigid covering. In a matter of minutes they had uncovered a rather large dogsled, in which many coats were placed, wrapped with twine.

“…He had those poor dogs pull him all the way here didn’t he?” Rarity observed. “My…”

“That is pretty brutal, even for dogs.” Spike said.

Pinkie began sifting through the coats like it was Hearth's Warming Eve. “Loot! Loot! Loot! Loot!”

Twilight sighed. “What have you found Pinkie?”

“Let’s see… How to Use a Dogsled… Extra food… Candy canes… Mmmnamffmm…. A self portrait… And a journal.”

Twilight levitated the leather-bound book to herself while Pinkie continued enjoying the candy canes. Most of the book was filled with notes on the Aztrot civilization, the Seven Sided Chest, and a few pages showed diagrams of the temple they were at, labeling the two pillars the portal had formed between ‘the Gateway’

“Hrm…” She said, focusing as much as she could on Ahuizotl’s cryptic handwriting. Most of this was information she had already gleaned from Yearling’s study, but there was at least some new data here. Nothing about her or her friends – thank Celestia – but a lot of mentions of something called ‘The Realms.’

One line in particular stood out to her. They hide in the Realms and have the keys to what I seek… They will hide no longer! Twilight read it aloud.

“So… He was searching for somepony?” Rarity pondered.

“Someone.” Pinkie corrected. “Didn’t know if it was a pony.”

“Yes, well, someone with knowledge or power.”

“Or someone with an ancient artifact of unimaginable doom!” Spike shouted. “What? That’s how the Daring Do books went!”

“Her life was preeeeeeetty weird.” Pinkie noted.

Twilight frowned, continuing to flip through the book. “This doesn’t tell us how to re-open the portal – he was depending on us to put the Chest in. He had no idea who built this place or how it worked… He just knew it was what he needed. A portal to another world. A Realm.” The journal began to tremble in her magic. “So this is useless!”

“Not completely!” Rarity said. “We know more now. Perhaps we can find a way to open our own portals to these Realms – or bring a team in to fix this one. You are a princess Twilight, and this is probably important enough for you to exercise your privilege.”

Twilight looked at Rarity thoughtfully. “You’re right. I just… Feel really bad about all this is all.”

Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. “I already told you to stop that. Something like this was bound to happen eventually. We’re all worried and scared – wondering what, if anything, could have been done differently.”

“No use dwelling on the past!” Pinkie chimed in. “Focus on the present! It has gifts!”

Twilight nodded. “Of… Of course. Get them back. Spike, ready a letter to Princess Celestia.”

“This is going to be a nightmare to do in gloves…” He muttered, pulling out a quill and scroll from his pockets. “Okay, Ready.”

Twilight cleared her throat.

Dear Princess Celestia

Our venture into Yakyakistan has been met with tragedy. We opened up a tear in reality and were attacked by the being known as Ahuizotl. Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all sucked into the tear before the temple broke from our conflict, preventing us from moving to rescue them.

We need to get them back as soon as possible, the Realm we saw was not a calm place. I do not know what we need to do this, I am still in a state of shell shock, but I do know we need ponies. Scientists, engineers, wizards, workers. We need them to study this place, tear the temple apart looking for answers.

In addition, order every book on Aztrot mythology, relics, and culture you can. I expect it may not be as much help as I hope, but we must leave no stone unturned.

Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Friendship.

Twilight stopped speaking. “And send.”

Spike lit it on fire and it carried away in the breeze, a small puff of green smoke.

“And now we start tearing this place apart before anything even arrives. Pinkie, lets see if we can move the fallen pillar…”

~~~

Infinite spheres of all sizes and materials. The world was filled with them. They ranged from sizes too small to see to tremendous globes that dwarfed the largest of stars. There was no pattern or organization to the spheres – giving the entire realm a look of rainbow static, nothing but the random objects visible in all directions for eternity. In the distance, spheres spontaneously burst into flames, producing all the light the world had.

Without light coming in from the portal, the small amount of light that came from the distant spheres wasn’t much, giving the world a dark ambience that readily flickered. The Realm was colorful – but dulled most of the time, and violent at others.

The combustion of a sphere of purple wood caused Rainbow Dash to stir. She opened her eyes to see the burning globe closing in on the blue one she was laying upon. She yelped in surprise and scrambled out of the way – the fireball missing her by mere inches.

“The heck?” She yelled, disoriented. “Where am I?”

She had to think for a moment… She was sucked into that weird portal and… She didn’t remember much else after that. It was just a bunch of spheres and a headache…

Why was it darker than before?

She didn’t have time to ponder this, for Starlight fell out of the sky at that moment, landing a few meters away with a sickening thud. Rainbow Dash rushed over to her – only to recoil when she saw the unicorn. Half of her face was caved in, pieces of her skull were visible, and blood was pouring down her entire face. Her winter coat was fading, her magic no longer keeping it active.

Miraculously, her horn was still intact – and glowing faintly. A healing spell started to exert its power over her smashed skull, sliding chunks of bone back into place and resetting her jaw. She started screaming as soon as her mouth became functional again. Her skull popped back into shape with a sickening crunch, and her one swollen eye returned to normal.

She was still screaming in pain, even as she managed to stand back up.

“S-Starlight!”

“AAAAAAAAAH!” She yelled, slapping herself across the face. “Ah… Ah… Ah… ha…” She breathed in and out heavily, bringing herself to a calm mental state. “Okay… I’m fine now…” She shuddered. “Do not get crushed by the small ones…”

It was in this moment Applejack fell on top of Starlight, forcing her back onto the ground. “Ow.” Applejack muttered.

Starlight levitated Applejack off, standing back up. She was still somewhat shaky. “So… found Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash was still in shock from seeing her friend’s skull reform itself.

Applejack blinked. “You okay Rainbow?”

“My skull got crushed by a stray sphere.” Starlight said. “The healing process wasn’t… Pleasant. For either of us.”

“No kidding!” Rainbow Dash blurted.

“Well…” Applejack looked up. “We’re stuck here for now.”

Starlight nodded. “At least there’s breathable air here. And a lot of other things…” She looked at the spheres that went on for infinity. “…Okay, I’m going to say it. What is this place!?”

“Ball world.” Rainbow Dash offered.

“Ah’m of the mind that’s not a good name.” Applejack said.

“Why not?” Rainbow Dash said, indignant. “Balls are all there are here! Nothing but balls for miles around!”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Perhaps we should find out how to get out of here rather than argue about what to call it?”

“And how are we going to do that?”

“Well-“ Once again, an interruption occurred. The blue sphere they were standing on just vanished into thin air. They were adrift, drawn slightly towards a tiny brick ball. Otherwise there was no way to orient themselves, no force keeping them on a ground.

Rainbow Dash tried to fly elsewhere, but found that her wings didn’t do so well without a ground of some sort. She bumped into a cork sphere. “Ow. This sucks.”

Applejack glared. “You’re one to talk – you have wings. Ah’m just sitting here, getting dragged along by Starlight.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad.” Starlight said. “This way you don’t have to worry about random balls crushing you, I can keep you away from them!”

The cork ball took this moment to explode violently, singing their coats and ramming them into a newly formed sphere of mossy substance.

“Great job.” Applejack muttered.

Starlight ignored her. “So soft and green… Bliss… Bliss…”

“Get ahold of yourself!” Applejack yelled. ”This place is dangerous! We’ve got to be on guard!”

Starlight shook her head. “Right.” She tied herself to Rainbow Dash with a magic rope. “Take off your coat Applejack, it’s only gong to hinder you.”

Applejack nodded, doing what was asked, while Rainbow Dash tried to tighten the magic rope further.

Starlight smiled. “Alright! Now we won’t be separated!”

A sphere appeared right in the center of the magic rope, severing it cleanly. It then started belching fire in all directions. Starlight teleported all of them to a large, metallic sphere where gravity was half of what they were used to.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What the heck is this place?”

Starlight raised a shield, protecting them from a bullet-like sphere. “A very unstable place where matter and energy are in constant flux…”

“What?”

“Things explode and appear for little to no reason and things like gravity are arbitrary.” Starlight clarified.

At this remark, the gravity of the metal sphere increased tenfold, pressing the three mares to the ground.

Starlight yelled in frustration. “I can’t keep this up!” She teleported them to a pink bouncy ball. It cushioned them from the powerful gravity of the metallic sphere on the other side.

Applejack knew Starlight was telling the truth – she couldn’t keep them safe forever. Her power was being strained to its limit just to keep them alive, and she was going to be completely drained soon enough…

The gravity reversed, tossing them into the air towards a giant ball of fire. Starlight lit her horn, but had her focus broken by a stray concrete sphere that beaned her in the face. She could no longer stop their descent.

Rainbow Dash acted, grabbing the two of them in her hooves and flying away from the ball of fire, using it as the ‘ground’ in her frame of reference. Seconds later, the gravity abated and they were once again adrift. Starlight regained her focus at that moment. “…Thanks Rainbow. I…”

“We’ve got to look out for each other.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Incoming!” Applejack yelled. A red gelatinous sphere impacted the three of them, jiggling as it did so. There was no gravity coming from it, but it was sticky.

“Eech…” Starlight shuddered, removing herself from the depression she made. “Disgustiong…”

Rainbow Dash liked it. “Mm. Cherry.”

“Discord’d be right at home here…” Applejack observed.

“Most certainly.” Ahuizotl said. The three mares looked up in alarm, seeing the doglike being standing on an onyx globe a few yards above them. “He does seem like the sort of person who would enjoy this delicious randomness.”

“Ahuizotl!” Starlight yelled, firing a laser at him. “This is all your fault!”

Ahuizotl leapt to a cloud-like globe, the laser hitting the onyx sphere and vaporizing it. “Ah, yes, this most certainly is my fault. But allow me to point out that we are all stuck here and have our lives threatened.” He smirked. “Perhaps we should consider-“

Rainbow Dash launched at him and socked him right between the eyes. “That’s for threatening my friends!” She bucked him in midair. “That’s for trying to take over the world!” She roared, charging again. “And this is for Daring Do!”

Ahuizotl grabbed her with his tail. “You know, you are just as headstrong as her as well.”

“Let… Go!”

“No. How stupid do you think I am?”

“Pretty Stupid.” Applejack said, landing squarely on Ahuizotl’s head and smashing him into the cloudy ground.

He stood up slowly. “You fools! We will die if we don’t work together!”

Starlight froze him in a magic crystal, her face contorted in rage. “I will die before I work with you!”

Ahuizotl managed to shatter the crystal, revealing some impressive strength. “Fine the-“

Then the cloud sphere vanished and the four of them fell onto a globe made of slime.

“Augh!” Starlight yelled. “Why does it have to be sticky again?”

The others were just as stuck as she was, none of them able to move a significant amount.

“Maybe we should be paying attention to the scenery…” Applejack muttered.

“Oh ho ha.” Rainbow Dash said, struggling wildly. “I’m going to get you Ahuizotl!”

A bright light suddenly shone down on all of them – a burning sphere the size of a castle had appeared above them and was on a collision course.

“Fools!” Ahuizotl yelled. “You’ve doomed us all!”

Starlight lit her horn, preparing a teleport she wasn’t sure she had in her. She was very low on power and couldn’t see her friends very well…

Then something unexpected happened.

Somehow Rainbow Dash tore herself from the sticky ground – snapping it as if it were chalk – and flew into the air. She pushed her hooves forward, yelling. The flaming sphere started to move backwards the moment she made the motion, no longer in danger of crushing them.

“…What?” Applejack said. “Did I just see what a think I saw?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “…Did I do that?”

“You sure did.” Starlight said, staring. “I have no idea how though.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’m just that awesome.”

Starlight finally managed to free herself and float over to Ahuizotl. She glared at his stuck form.

“You need me.” He said.

“No, we don’t.” She summoned a pointed spear. “You’ve hurt so many. Letting you continue would be wrong-“

“What are you doing Starlight!?” Applejack yelled.

“Taking care of him!” She yelled back. “He’s been offered Redemption multiple times- I read those books! He denied it every time!”

“But we don’t do it this way!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Sombra?”

“That was regrettable.” Applejack said. “Ah wouldn’t do it again unless there was no other choice.”

Starlight twitched, getting the impression she wasn’t going to win this argument. “Then what are we going to do with him?”

Ahuizotl looked ready to speak, but Rainbow Dash took the moment to knock him out. “That.”

“Fine.” Starlight said. “But now he’s just another thing that’ll get in the way…”

The slime sphere burst into light, burning all four of them. They would have been goners in a matter of seconds, the intensity far too much for their bodies. But a streak of grey and red shot towards them in the nick of time. With a single motion, the sphere of light vanished, leaving three singed mares and Ahuizotl adrift.

Starlight healed herself again, dipping into the reserves of her power. She breathed heavily, beginning to heal her friends, growing more and more exhausted.

The streak flew into her sight.

It – he – was a grey Pegasus with a red and orange mane. His face was serious and his cutie mark was that of a red cube interlaced with a green sphere.

He spoke in a language none of them understood.

“Oh boy…” Starlight said, lighting her horn for another spell, filling them all with an 'air of translation.' She breathed heavily. “Can… You… Repeat that…?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing out here?”

“Lost.” Starlight said. “Got tossed into this place…” She blinked. “My gosh… How do you survive here…?”

“Who are you?” Applejack asked.

“I am Trekker.” He said. “I live in the nearby settlement.” He raised a wing, and an incoming sphere of tungsten was vaporized. “Come. We can talk where it’s safe for you.”

The mares glanced at each other, all nodding. Not like they had much of a choice.

~~~

Fluttershy was in midair, hovering.

She had been there for the last several minutes, slowly flapping her wings, otherwise motionless.

She was trapped here – here in this foresty area. She couldn’t see very far into it – all around there were dense branches with giant rustling leaves alit by a soft yellow glow that permeated the Realm from all directions. Left, right, forward, back – even up and down were all covered in trees – or perhaps, more accurately, one single tree. She couldn’t see the ground or the sky.

A small butterfly flew past her face – a blue species she wasn’t familiar with. It ignored her presence, moving on without a care in the world. Fluttershy watched it disappear behind a leaf, and once again everything was still.

She had to admit, there were worse places to be trapped. It was calm, peaceful, even pleasant here. Had she been in a happier mood, she probably would have explored the forest.

As it was, she just sat down on the nearest branch, waiting for her friends to reopen the portal. They wouldn’t just leave her here, after all. It’d be a bad idea to move, it’d make it hard for them to find her.

A long time passed – she didn’t know how long. She saw a few animals during her wait – mostly bugs, a snake that looked a lot like a vine, and a three-tailed squirrel. None of them paid her much mind, though the squirrel was spooked when she tried to talk to it.

She heard some birds tweet in the distance – a conversation about finding food and avoiding predators. Nothing unusual, though it confirmed that predators did exist. She’d have to make sure they knew who was boss if any showed up.

She heard a long, deep, droning noise in the distance – she had no idea what animal it was from, but it was the sound of a gentle giant who was a little bored.

Her stomach growled. She was getting hungry… How long had she been waiting here? Hours probably – though the yellow light hadn’t changed in intensity at all. Maybe this world had no night.

She heard a hiss to her left and whipped her head in that direction. A green snake with an orange head at either end was preparing to bite her, fangs ready.

“Stop that.” She ordered.

The double snake stopped instantly, clamping its mouths shut.

“Not very nice, sneaking up on somepony you’ve never met.” She said.

The heads apologized in unison.

“Thank you. From now on, only hunt what you need to, okay?”

It nodded slowly, heads down.

“Aw… don’t be like that. Here.” She hugged the snake, smiling. “Nopony got hurt, all is forgiven.”

One of the heads smiled. The other didn’t seem happy yet.

“Oh, well, I suppose if you really want to make it up to me you can tell me where I am.”

The heads glanced at each other before hissing.

“The Tree?” She looked around once more. “How big is the Tree?”

The snake hissed again.

“It contains everything?” Fluttershy looked into space – that was certainly something. Assuming the snake was right, the entire world was just one big tree filled with animals and life of all kinds…

“Have you seen any ponies? Like me?”

The question confused the snake. It couldn’t decide – there were creatures like her, but none that felt the same as her. And it didn’t remember the last time it had seen anything like her.

“Hm… Thank you, you two. You’ve helped me a whole lot, really, you have. You can go back to hunting now.” She turned away, staring into space, thinking.

“You’re still here.” She said, several minutes later.

It hissed.

“Fine, you can stay. I have to know what to call you though.”

The heads blinked – the concept of a name was foreign to the snake.

“Can I name you then?”

The heads nodded, not sure what exactly was being asked.

“Then… You are Lou and you are Roy. How’s that?”

Roy liked his name, but Lou wasn’t so sure about his. But they accepted the labels in the end, slithering onto Fluttershy’s back and draping themselves around her neck.

“Now now, no choking.” She said, smiling warmly. Her stomach rumbled. “I really am hungry… I don’t eat meat, know where to find some berries?”

Roy pointed his nose to the left, arcing over Fluttershy’s head. She nodded, spreading her wings and fluttering in that direction. The very next clearing had a berry bush growing out of one of the many branches. The bush in question was filled with white and blue berries. She munched them eagerly, enjoying he minty taste of them... “Pinkie Pie would love these…”

She became sad suddenly. It had been hours – her friends were having difficulty getting to her. While they wouldn’t stop trying, they might have to work for days – weeks even – before they could get to her.

She’d have to live here until then…

While not horrible it would be incredibly lonely…

Lou and Roy nuzzled her – they didn’t know why she was sad but they knew she was. She smiled. Animals were almost always nice. Maybe they weren’t as deep or complex as ponies, but that was why she liked them.

So full of life…

She heard something rustle to her left, setting Lou and Roy on edge. She whipped her head that direction to see something long, black, and huge slithering around them. It was oily, leaving inky splotches on the leaves it touched.

Fluttershy began to shake – that was a huge creature, and it didn’t feel like a nice one.

Suddenly its front shot out of nowhere, revealing it to be a giant worm with many teeth in circular rows. Lou and Roy hissed in panic, and Fluttershy only had the briefest of moments to do anything. So she faced the beast directly and gave it the Stare.

Several things happened at once.

The creature stopped charging.

Its teeth retracted into its mouth.

A strange thing appeared between Fluttershy and the worm – a silvery urchin shaped creature, metallic and slightly smaller than a pony. It floated there, shifting its spikes around as if it were made of a liquid, yet never losing its hard metallic appearance.

The worm fled the moment it saw the urchin creature, yelling in fear.

Fluttershy looked carefully at the spiky thing, unsure of what to do. It had scared off that worm but it hadn’t done anything else…

Five long, winding threads shot out of the thing, wrapping together with each other and forming a single limb. The new limb rotated around for a while, always connected to the main body, but seeming to move independent of it.

“H-Hello?” She said.

It stopped moving the arm. “Oh! Sorry.” It spoke, stopping for a moment. Its voice was male, but didn’t sound right – there was a droning to it, the pitch was odd, and the syllables didn’t seem natural. “I had forgotten about speaking… Haven’t for ages.”

He used his limb to point at himself. “I’m Sperion. How have you managed to get into the Realm of Life, little pegasus?”

Comments

[Cross Lament]

Oooo, a psychoreactive ball-pit and a World-Tree! How delightful!

[GMBlackjack]

7902656

You ain't seen nuttin yet.

-GM, master of sliced pepperoni.

[RP422]

When I saw that cover picture, I swear to god I thought it was a mint Oreo

[ferret]

the real we saw was not a calm place.

“Eech…” starlight shuddered, removing herself from the depression she made. “Disgustiong…”
“Now now, no chocking.” She said, smiling warmly.