//------------------------------// // Mission of Life and Death // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// "When I had an opportunity to hang out with Mortuana," Rainbow Dash said, leaning against the hull of the Stardust. "She told me about the Harmonic Plains... and that the souls of all living things—after death—are naturally drawn towards the expanding edges of the universe." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you familiar with this?" "But of course," Princess Celestia's voice replied. "It is a fundamental understanding among all alicorn beings. The essence of life—as we know it—returns to the Harmonic Plains that form the edges of the knowable universe. There is... a force of gravity that attracts all living energy imbued with harmony to the spherical horizon. These units of energy are what you might conceivably call 'souls.' Whether or not they bear the consciousness of previously-living beings is a matter of philosophical discourse, because—after all—alicorns are just as much limited by their observational scope as—" "Right. Cool. I get it." Rainobw Dash leanded forward. "But what if there might be something wrong with that force? Like... something that's messing with it? Redirecting it? Like how someone might split off the tributary of a river?" "Please, Rainbow Dash. Mortuana—much like her father, Onyxxus—was an alicorn expert on life, death, and the forces in between. If she had a reason to suspect that there was something wrong with the natural flow of life energy, it would behoove you to tell us." Rainbow shuddered. "She only told me that... during her years of meditation in Wyvern Point as the Seventh Member of the Herald... her senses became attuned to an 'unnatural' shift in the 'migration' of souls." She gulped, glancing at her friends. "And that the same unnatural force... might explain why Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity are all attached to me as we speak." The friends glanced nervously at one another. Celestia thought out loud: "Mortuana presumed... that Urohringr was to blame?" "Possibly. Maybe. I dunno. She just sensed that something was wrong... that all of the forces of dying ponies... dying wyverns... dying griffons and animals and monsters and everything were—like—sinking through the earth... as if something inside the plane was attracting them." Rainbow blinked. "Or perhaps something on the other side." There was some tense silence. Then Celestia spoke: "Axan. Have you—in your aged wisdom—also sensed this?" Remna shook her head. "I can't say that I have, Sun Princess. Magic was never my forte. Nevertheless..." She eventually nodded. "Mortuana did express some of her concerns on the matter to me." Her green eyes narrowed. "And I have since learned to respect the wisdom of the late great alicorn who assisted me with this vessel." "Vessel?" "The body that Axan is using," Rainbow Dash droned. "It doesn't belong to her. A former member of the Herald—Remna—passed away from complicated health issues." "Mortuana graciously provided me with the body," Remna explained. "While the soul of the bounty hunter who previously inhabited the shell 'migrated' to a realm beyond." She exhaled slowly. "Or such was the assumption." "Mortuana was convinced otherwise?" "She had a nagging suspicion, yes." Remna nodded. "Something that consumed her mind and soul consistently." "Of this, I can concurr, yourr majesty," Kepler boldly said. "I was a constant companion to Morrtuana... both intellectually and philosophically." The wyvern sighed as he gripped the rudder-wheel. "I have neverr seen the Mountain Matrron vexxed so terrribly by anything else. She spoke of it constantly—at least... to me. In prrivate. The issue of how to deal with Verrlax—of courrse—dwelled much closerr to the surrface of her meditative vigil." "Did she have any prevailing theories on the matter?" "Chiefly one." Kepler smiled slightly, glancing over at Rainbow Dash. "The arrrival of the Austrraeoh managed to confirrm one or two hypotheses." "Do tell." "The fact that the Rrainbow one's frriends arre still attached to herr essence—at least in spirrit—is morre than a merre confirrmation of the prrophecy of Eljunbyrro and Yaerrfaerrda," Kepler said. "But it could verry well prrove that therre is something in this univerrse morre powerrful than harrmonic enerrgies." "In what way?" "Uh... Princess?" Rainbow trotted towards the center of the swaying deck, speaking over the thunder. "I think Kepler's talking about the whole Urohringr schtick. I mean... think about it." Rainbow gestured. "If alicorn understanding is that all deceased souls migrate to the edges of the universe..." She glanced at her friends. "...then why did Twilight and the rest get anchored to me shortly after their bodies went zappity-zap?" "A question that has gnawed on myself and my sister for months. A similar conundrum is precisely why the Element of Loyalty survived while the rest of the Elements were obliterated." "And what reason have we since discovered for why my Element and my Element alone was 'chosen' to survive?" "... ... ...the forces of Austraeoh." "Right!" Rainbow nodded. "And... uh... when Mortuana was still alive, she led me to believe that the reason Urohringr exists... the reason all Urohringrs are able to exist is because whatever empowers those crazy rings... whatever empowers me is so crazy... so gargantuan powerful and awesome that—like—even the perceivable forces of life and death are totally skewed." She gulped. "Or even manipulated." Pinkie Pie's eyes were already crossed. Twilight merely tapped her chin in deep thought. "That..." Princess Celestia fumbled for words. "...defies all comprehension." "So you don't think it's possible?" "I simply mean to state that it's unfathomable, not impossible," Princess Celestia said. "There are plenty of things in the knowable universe that are stronger than alicorn magic and harmonic energy." "Oh... totally!" Rainbow nodded vehemently. "Like Onyx Ellipses!" "... ... ...I beg your pardon?" "Y'know..." Rainbow struggled to gesture. "Those cracks in the surfaces of the Harmonic Plains that open up to a dark, null, all-encompassing void?" "Something Mortuana told you about?" "Uh huh." "The term is 'Onyx Eclipses,' Rainbow Dash." Rainbow blushed hard. "Oh. Eheh... that makes more sense, I guess." "And although I trust that Onyxxus discovered far more than he was capable of letting on before he perished, I myself can safely say that 'Onyx Eclipses' are nothing more than the complete and utter absence of life-sustaining harmony. They are more of a manifestation of a non-force than an actual force, and yet they are no-less required for the ultimate balance of existence just as much as positive energies." "Uhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash rubbed her aching head. "Okaaaay." She gulped. "But... still.. what if there's more to this universe than you and I know, Your Highness?" "A very distinct possibility, my little pony." "And what if... like... someone... somewhere... out there in that huge, enormous, ever-expanding universe stumbled upon a way to—like—cheat the system?" Rainbow blinked. "To manipulate the only force that matters—harmony—and mutate it into something that could act as a boundless well of renewable energy?" "You speak of the architects of Urohringr." "Of course." "What you speak of sounds most malevolent. It's hard to imagine any civilization—much less countless millions—surviving off of a structure that sacrificed their very own life-force in order to exist." "But it doesn't rule-out the possibility that it could function, does it?" Rainbow Dash remarked, blinking. "Especially if Mortuana's absorbed potential evidence of the balance of souls being in jeopardy?" "Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle squeaked. "I think you're looking at it all wrong." Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Hold on a sec, Your Highness. Your egghead's cracking." Twilight rolled her eyes before floating closer to Rainbow. "The reason why this plane—or all of Urohringr for that matter—is in chaos is because what was once whole was sundered, isn't that right?" "Well... yeah." Rainbow Dash nodded. "I know Verlax was full of it—but that doesn't mean she wasn't onto something with all the crazy stuff she gleaned." "So how can we know for sure that the state of things is meant to be?" Twilight gazed at Rainbow, her muzzle agape. "I mean... if you ask me... everything pretty much looks and feels broken." Rainbow Dash blinked. Twilight swallowed. "I'm with my mentor on this one. I don't honestly believe that... that..." She waved a hoof. "...that the creators of Urohringr—singular or plural—ever meant for the structures to perpetuate life at the sacrifice of sustaining it. Maybe they skirted some sacred territory with whatever powerful engines they built. But—from what we can witness so far—they've encouraged you to go on a mission of restoration and healing. With all of the prevailing patterns... I really don't think that this piece of Urohringr constitutes a threat... but rather it's a victim... a victim of something far older than any of us—the alicorns included." "Does my faithful student have some wisdom to impart, Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow nodded. "And how." She glanced skyward. "Maybe whatever powers up the machine world underneath us is responsible for what's happening to the spirits of dead ponies. But all we know about this world is that it's broken... and restoring it is likely bound to restore what... should be natural. Don't you think?" "If I might interrject," Kepler said, interjecting. "The Mountain Matrron did tell me that she obserrved an exponential incrrease in the waywarrd flow of what she deemed to call 'spirritual constituents.'" "Meaning?" "Prrecisely that the shift in spirritual migrration built up a drramatic momentum that she herrself perrsonally obserrved overr the last few decades of dwelling in Wyverrn Point." The wyvern cleared his throat. "If one was to make a chrronological map based on Morrtuana's obserrvations, it would seem as though the 'unnaturral' shift began at a fixated point in time severral millennia ago. I speak of a moment long... long afterr the alleged Sunderring." Rainbow blinked. She turned to Remna. "Did Morty ever tell you about this?" Remna slowly, gravely nodded. Rainbow looked at Twilight. She swallowed a lump down her throat. "Then... then maybe it can't be blamed on the machine world... if the Sundering didn't directly lead to it." "I wouldn't go so farr as to conclude that, necessarrily," Kepler said. "But it is a wise direction to take the hypothetical scenario," Princess Luna's voice suddenly said. Rainbow glanced heavenward. "Princess Luna?" "While there is a great deal that we do not understand about the Urohringrs—sundered or otherwise—we cannot place all blame for cryptic phenomena on one single thing that is abjectly unknowable. Rather... there are many mysteries that abound on the Dark Side, and the only pony who stands to discover any truth to the matter is Rainbow Dash." "Like... what could I possibly discover between here and the Midnight Armory, Your Highness?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Here is my postulation," Princess Luna said. "It is not the dormant energy within the Machine World that is drawing the souls of the deceased through the surface of the plane. But—much rather—it is something positioned on the Dark Side itself that is responsible for disrupting the flow." Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged nervous glances. Applejack merely folded her arms and gazed quizzically into the lightning. "But..." Rainbow Dash fidgeted. "...if the Machine World isn't sucking up all the life from the Light Side... then what is?" For the first time in minutes... nobody spoke. Not pony, not princess, not wyvern... and not dragon.