The Jove was docked right outside Twilight’s Castle, casting a mildly ominous shadow on the town of Ponyville. Inside the castle’s library, three ponies and a dragon were pouring over dozens of books all sharing a similar topic.
Botany.
“Twilight!” Rarity shouted. “Perhaps this is it?”
Twilight teleported over to Rarity’s book and frowned. “The spines form in patches of twenty-three, not twenty-two.”
“Oh. Sorry, don’t mind me.” She bristled. “Stupid cactuses always look so similar…”
Twilight looked at the faded photo once more. All the cacti were of the same species, though only one was close enough to the camera for any detail to be seen. It was becoming very evident that the idea of a quick plant identification was a lost dream. They had been here for hours…
Spike groaned. “This sucks. We are close to something, we just can’t locate it!”
Pinkie pursed her lips. “Hrm… What we need is some kind of breakthrough…”
A deep amused voice filled the room. “Did someone say breakthrough?”
“Oh no…” Twilight said.
“Oh yes!” Pinkie shouted.
A hole was blasted through a wall in the castle, revealing Discord in a black suit and sunglasses. To everyone’s surprise, Trixie of all ponies was on his shoulder, also wearing a suit and sunglasses.
“Hi Discord! Hi Trixie!” Pinkie waved.
“Why hello there little pink fluff!” Discord said.
Trixie took off her sunglasses. “You find them yet?”
“Sorry…” Twilight drooped. “The Yakyakistan temple is still broken, and we have no idea where this image was taken.”
Discord teleported the image to his eyes. “A desert. Seems obvious.”
“There are over a hundred deserts worldwide, some tremendous in size.” Twilight said. “Just looking at them one at a time would be a pointless waste.”
Trixie shook her head, sighing. “We’re just worried, that’s all. Trixie hasn’t left town for a week…”
“I know.” Twilight said. “And I wish I had better news, but this image is all we-“
“Wha-ha-ha!” Rarity trilled. “Darlings! I found it! The northern giant barrel cactus!”
Twilight teleported over, and everyone else crowded around the small book. Twilight’s eyes lit up. “She’s right! This is it! It says here that they can only be found in the Zahara…”
Twilight facehooed. “The largest desert in the world. Just our-“
Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly the six of them were knee deep in sand, inches away from a northern giant barrel cactus. There was no evidence of a temple anywhere in sight.
“Discord!” Twilight yelled. “We needed to prepare! Pack water! Desert gear! Make plans for the expedition!”
Discord snapped his fingers and everyone was outfitted in sand-proof fabrics from head to toe, and everyone got a canteen. “You were saying?”
“We… We… We still need a plan!”
Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. “Twilight, you can’t honestly tell me we were going to do anything different from just wandering around the desert searching?”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but then shut it, realizing Rarity was right.
“Woohoo!” Pinkie said. “Desert adventure! Let’s go… That direction!”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wait! Do we have the Seven Sided Chest?”
Discord snapped his fingers and it appeared in his hands. “We do now.”
“Draconequus is OP, please nerf.” Pinkie said.
“Oh, like you aren’t.” Discord muttered.
Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, touché.”
Trixie started guzzling her canteen. Twilight was about to chide her on wasting water, but then realized that Discord was here and such worries were pointless. The four mares, Spike, and Discord travelled through the Zahara seeing the sights – which was sand, cacti, and not much else.
Trixie panted. “It’s… So… Hot…”
“Tell me about it…” Rarity said, looking equally as parched.
“We have an infinite supply of water and we’ve only been walking for ten minutes!” Twilight snapped.
“It’s… The heat…” Rarity said.
“Not thirsty…” Trixie continued. “Just… Being fried like an egg…”
Discord snapped his fingers and doused the unicorns in ice water. Trixie let out a sigh of relief while Rarity shrieked. Everyone started laughing. Rarity rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I suppose it is a good way to stay cool isn’t it?”
They continued onward, leaving a miles long trail of their own foot and hoof prints behind them. They wandered the desert for the longest time, the sun beating down on them. The simile Trixie had offered earlier was well suited to the situation.
Trixie groaned. “Trixie hates walking.”
“Oh look, Trixie doesn’t like walking,” Discord muttered. “That remind you of anything? Hrm…?”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you and walking, riot.” She looked at Pinkie. “Trixie envies her energy.”
“Everypony does,” Rarity said. “It’s what makes Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie.”
“How can she be so happy at a time like this?”
Rarity smiled. “It’s her job to spread happiness. She can’t do that if she looks depressed. She is affected, and sad, but she doesn’t let it show most of the time for our sake.”
“Huh,” Trixie said, drooping. “She’s a great pony…”
“Now don’t get all self-pitying here. Not everypony can be Pinkie Pie. In fact I’m pretty sure Pinkie Pie is unique. You don’t have to be happy all the time – sometimes sadness is all you can feel, and it’s perfectly fine.”
Trixie nodded. “…I miss Starlight.”
“Well then, let’s rectify that and find her!”
They continued on through the sand for a few more minutes.
“There has to be a better way to do this.” Twilight said. “We’re not covering much ground. And I think we’re lost.”
Rarity shrugged. “You could scan with your magic.”
“I’ve been doing that. Nothing.”
“Split up?” Spike offered.
Discord and Pinkie facepalmed. “That’s daft!” Discord said.
Trixie spoke up. “What if we have Discord make a plane and we fly over large portions of the desert with all six of us looking out in different directions?”
Twilight blinked. “…That’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Fixated and worrying.” Pinkie said. “You need to loosen up a little.”
“I know… It’s just hard. Discord! Make that plane!”
Suddenly the six of them were inside a glass donut, sailing across the sands at high speeds. “This is your captain speaking, prepare for slight turbulence during our flight. And do keep an eye out for our destination; we seem to have lost it in a gambling accident. In other news, you have your refreshments; now stare out the window! Not like you have much choice in the matter unless you seal your eyes shut!”
“Peanuts for everyone!” Pinkie squealed, tossing peanuts everywhere. Trixie caught one in her mouth. “AGH! Salty!” She yelled, grabbing her neck and rolling onto the floor.
Pinkie just giggled.
They tore their attention from the peanut fun and onto the expansive desert. After about fifteen minutes they realized one thing – the desert was just as boring from above as below.
“There’s nothing here.” Trixie said.
“There was that zebra caravan a while back!” Pinkie reminded her.
“And that was different how? This is Zebrica! It’s where the zebras are!”
“Eh, not as many in the desert.”
Spike let out a cry of jubilation. “I think I se- oh wait. No, that’s just a bunch of cacti.”
“False alarms from Spike: 5,” Discord said. “At this rate he’ll win the competition by a landslide, seeing as no one else has had one yet.”
“H-Hey!” Spike said. “I’m doing just fine…”
“Pfft, you’re far too-“
“There it is!” Rarity yelled pointing a hoof into the distance. “Seven orange pillars, right over there!”
Everyone looked – sure enough, there it was, a temple identical to the one in Yakyakistan, except it was orange and half buried in sand instead of snow.
Discord landed the donut and made it vanish with a quick motion of his hands. Twilight stepped out and held up the picture – it matched perfectly, though the southern giant barrel cactus was much larger now due to decades of growth.
Twilight frowned. Something was eating at her – something about their location. “Hold on… Discord, what’s the closest Zebra settlement?”
Discord extended himself far into the sky and produced a pair of binoculars. “Clopro.” He said. “Several miles that direction.”
Twilight bit her lip. “Clopro… That was where they found A. K. Yearling’s body. We... might be in danger.”
Trixie tensed. “What!? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It didn’t matter until now okay? Discord just swooped us to the Zahara and I didn’t have time to ponder where we were going!”
“Oh, blame this on me?” Discord looked offended. “I got us here faster than any other way, we’ll be able to save Fluttershy nearly instantly. Even if we were in quote-unquote ‘danger,’ whatever it is could not take on the lord of chaos!”
A gigantic beam of energy shot Discord’s head off. He regenerated it with a ‘splat!’ sound effect. Fire burned in his eyes. “Someone is very, very stupid.”
Twilight raised a magic shield, the beams of energy coming at them from all sides. “Where are they?”
“How should we know!?” Trixie screamed. “You’re the alicorn!”
“I’m keeping this shield up!”
“I’ll find them,” Discord said, teleporting high into the sky, seeing instantly the magic source of the multidirectional beams. He appeared at said location and brought a giant hammer down upon the caster. The hammer snapped in half upon impact with its target, a very large pony in a dark desert cloak. The pony had a strange silvery color about them, and a strong stance.
“Oh so you can take a hammer then? How about this?” A torrent of sand launched out of the ground, transforming into candy corn bullets and battering the target dozens of times a second.
The pony in question raised their snout to the sky – creating a giant sphere out of the air which promptly ignited, blasting Discord with a cone of energy. He deflected it with ease, only to see three copies of the pony charging him. He lashed out with his claws, tearing the cloak of one of them. He realized that another one of the cloaks already had a small tear identical to the one he just created…
“Hacks! I call time hacks!” He yelled.
The ponies said nothing, only revealing more copies of them.
“Badger, you’re annoying.” He said. He clapped his hands, transforming every last one of them into oranges – and they somehow changed themselves back. They blasted him with magic beams, riddling his snakelike form with holes that sealed up virtually instantly.
They charged him, and Discord decided he’d had enough. He snapped his fingers and stopped time. They kept moving anyway, creating dozens of spheres and tossing them at him. He even felt a few mental attacks hit him, trying to distract him.
He growled, pointing a finger at the sky. The entire area rippled with chaos energy, the ground transforming into a checkerboard pattern, and gravity becoming a mere suggestion. The ground itself latched onto all the ponies and smashed them into one being, which Discord pummeled with a thousand anvils. “And we’re not done yet!” He lifted the pony into the air and hit them with a baseball bat, making something inside them crack sickeningly. They went flying across the desert, no control over their trajectory. “Hooooome run! And now we hope for the hole in one!” He teleported back to Twilight’s shield, catching the pony before impact. “Score!”
“Did you really have to go full chaos?” Twilight said, finding it hard to stand on the new ground.
“Oh yes, they had a lot of tricks. Now, let’s see who they are…” He ripped the cloak away.
They were… a robot. The limbs were chrome, the eyes a bright yellow. It had both metal wings and a crystal horn, and instead of a cutie mark there was an engraving of a heptagon with a circle inside it.
“Robocorn!” Pinkie said. “So cool!”
Twilight frowned. “What are you?”
The robot said nothing. Twilight wasn’t sure if it could say anything. “Discord, imprison it in Tartarus, we’ll look at-“
Then it was gone, leaving nothing but a depression in the sand. Everyone was silent.
Trixie summed the mood up best.
“The buck!?”
~~~
New Mareu was abuzz with rumors - the ponies just couldn’t stop talking. It had been weird enough when Starlight, her friends, and Ahuizotl showed up, but now there was this Sperion thing as well?
Everypony got the impression that times were changing rapidly and that they needed to prepare for anything.
Overglobe was one of those ponies. Specifically, she prepared by talking to Sperion. A conversation that Starlight really wanted to be privy to, but was politely asked by Overglobe not to be involved in.
Starlight sighed. She hadn’t gotten a moment alone with the spiky ball yet. He was always either talking to somepony else, or in public talking with lots of other ponies and being sociable. She didn’t want to ruin that – judging by what she’d heard, he rarely just talked with ponies. But his time with them was running out, she knew it. She needed to talk to him about his curse – she needed to know what it was.
She sat down at a table Rainbow Dash was eating at. “You got to talk to our visitor on the way back from the outside right? What’s he like?”
“Oh well… He’s friendly. He didn’t get mad at anything anyone said… And Trekker was pretty rude to him almost the entire way back – though that may just have been because of Implode.” She snickered. “Anyway, Sperion… He likes everyone, helped all of us whenever he could, and hunted us down to give us Fluttershy’s message even though he barely knows her! He’s pretty cool!”
“Has he told you anything about himself?”
“That curse of his…”
“Anything else? About other Realms What he is? His history?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “You know, now that you mention it… No. He hasn’t. But he just seems like the mysterious type, y’know?”
Starlight frowned, nodding. “…Still would like to know more.”
“You’ll get your chance Starlight,” Rainbow Dash said. “Then you’ll realize how much you like him!”
Starlight raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on her face.
“Not like that! Yeesh.”
Starlight rolled her eyes, sighing. “I just… it feels like he knows something I might be able to use to get us home…”
“Maybe he does!” Rainbow Dash said. “And you’ll figure it out!”
“You are pretty optimistic Rainbow.”
“I try.” Her ears perked up. “I think he’s coming this way now, actually.”
“For the last time…” They heard Sperion’s synthetic voice echo through the halls. “The answer is no, I tell you nothing.”
The responding growl was that of Ahuizotl. “But you know!”
“My life has been defined by not telling people things. That will not change today, and definitely not for you.”
“This discussion isn’t over.”
“Yes, yes it is,” Sperion finalized, floating into the room. “Rainbow. Starlight. How nice to see you!”
“Sperion!” Starlight said, standing up. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you think I could test your curse to see if I can find a-“
“No, sorry.”
Starlight blinked. “W-Well do you at least know how to help us? Have a spell you can teach us?”
Sperion paused, and Starlight got the impression he was choosing his next words carefully. “No.” He made a synthetic sigh. “Starlight, I will never let myself be experimented on. Ever. I will help you however I can, but you can’t use my curse. Anything but that.”
“It’s okay.” Rainbow Dash said. “We understand.”
“B-but…” Starlight stuttered.
Rainbow Dash glared at Starlight. “I said we understand. We can find another way.”
“Thank you.” Sperion said, stretching his two limbs. “If it makes you feel any better, my curse would not be able to take you back home, even if you could control it.”
Starlight sighed. “…Can I at least ask some questions?”
“Sure, ask away.”
“What are you, really? What is Sperion?”
Sperion was silent for a long while, thinking deeply. “…A flawed being.”
“That doesn’t really answer-“
“It’s all I have.” Sperion stated. “There’s nothing to compare me to. Nothing like me. I am unique. I am alone.”
“Sorry to hear that… Um… Have there been any others like us? Getting lost in the Realms?”
Sperion seemed to choke on something. “Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s how the settlements got started.”
“How many Realms are there?”
“Seven, but you probably know this already.”
Starlight pondered for a second. “…What do you know about an ancient Aztrot myth about the Seven?”
“Absolutely nothing.” Sperion responded instantly. Much too fast. For the first time Starlight was convinced he was outright lying, but she didn’t let it show. She tried to think of another question to ask to expose him, but he cut her off before she could ask again. “I’m afraid I must go, I have an errand to run for Overglobe. It was a pleasure, as always.” He left quickly.
“Well that was odd,” Rainbow Dash said.
“He was lying on the last one for sure,” Starlight said. “He knew something and he didn’t want to tell us. I don’t care if he keeps personal secrets, but lying about something like that? It’s not right.”
“You lie all the time.”
“Yeah, well, I…” Starlight bristled. “Fine. Just… I don’t trust him.”
“You can join Trekker in that club. Speaking of which, I need to go see him. Applejack’s probably already there."
“This about Implode?”
‘Yeah. We want to know who she is.”
“Go on then. Maybe you’ll get some actual answers.”
Rainbow Dash obliged, creating a hole in a nearby wall and blasting through New Mareu at high speeds. She arrived at a particular room seconds before Applejack. “Ha! I’m here first!”
“Not a competition, Rainbow.” The two mares turned to the cell bars before them, two guardians standing at silent attention. Inside was the wingless form of Implode Baskets. She was sleeping, though twitching madly as she did so.
“Why are you two here?” Trekker asked, walking into the room behind them. “You know I-“
“Exactly why we’re here. Who is she?” Applejack asked.
“My daughter and student.”
“There’s more to it than that.”
“Which is none of your business.”
“You’re training us,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s now our business.”
“Fine. She was powerful but unstable. I denied her early entrance into the academy she was positive she earned. She was a brat about it, proving she was worthless and didn't deserve it. I gave her to Overglobe, washing my hooves of her existence. She was banished later for being an insane threat to society. She hates me for it. There you go.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were taken aback.
“You asked.”
“How… How could you disown your own daughter?” Applejack said. “Even if she was crazy you shoulda still watched out for her…“
“You’re wrong.” He glowered. “I care nothing for her. She’s been a pain in my backside her entire life and I will be glad when she’s executed.”
“W-What?” Rainbow Dash blurted.
“She was still a danger to us in banishment. She cannot be allowed to stay.” He huffed.
Implode Baskets roared, letting everypony know she was awake. “Do you see now!? Do you see who’s training you!?”
“You are my daughter.” Trekker said. She roared – and the other guardians had to subdue her. Trekker left wordlessly.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were speechless. They looked at the prone form of the mare inside the cage and saw a battered and broken little filly… A girl whose father wanted her dead.
It was horrible. Even if she was insane… They felt like they had to do something.
~~~
Fluttershy watched the stallion she had named ‘Browncoat’ sleep. He had been there for several hours, largely unmoving. He was very mangy and wild – the coat was uneven, the mane unkempt, and the hooves cracked from far too much walking. He had many scars – presumably from encounters with predators or just plain dangerous creatures. Yet the scars didn’t seem to bother him whatsoever.
Fluttershy glanced behind her, noticing hundreds of eyes staring over her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at the several dozen animals hovering behind her. “You know, the mansion has plenty of space elsewhere. Browncoat probably would like some privacy.”
The animals nodded and slinked away one at a time, eventually leaving only Lou and Roy behind. Fluttershy didn’t tell them to leave.
Browncoat yawned, stretching his hooves and rising to his full height – slightly taller than Fluttershy. He looked down at her with longing eyes and grunted.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “No, I am not interested.” She said. “Sorry.”
He made a whinnying noise of acknowledgement and proceeded to look out the window.
“What are you looking for?”
He said he was looking for his herd.
“Herd? How many more like you are there?”
Several fours.
“Are they all like you?”
He didn’t understand the question, giving her an odd look.
“Sorry. Do any of them talk like me?”
The response to that was a definite no.
“Oh.” Fluttershy said, sagging. Then a look of determination crossed her face. “You know what? Let’s find your herd. Come on. Lou, Roy, if my friends show up let them know I’ll be back soon. Wave the sign around a lot.”
The twin heads hissed in affirmation.
“Browncoat, I want to introduce you to someone.”
The stallion accepted his name without comment, following her with his mostly blank expression. They went to the top of the mansion, a small wooden spike that poked out of the ‘canopy’ and into a much larger clearing in the Realm of Life – one dozens of kilometers in diameter. Large winged creatures soared across the sky alongside floating serpents and aloof jellyfish. There were hundreds of them visible in the expanse. In the distance, more of the tree could be seen, the slight variations in leaf color visible at such a distance, ranging from blackish-blue to whitish-yellow, all basked in the constant warm glow that came from everywhere.
Floating nearby was a giant manta ray like creature Fluttershy had named Minarette. She was the size of a small boat and loved giving other creatures rides on her back. Browncoat saw her and took a step back.
“Oh it’s okay Browncoat, she won’t bite. She eats the tiny floating animals in the air – not you. She’ll help us find your herd.”
Browncoat agreed, but his pensiveness was still evident. Minarette mentioned that she had seen a herd less than a mile away during her last outing. Perhaps that was the herd?
“It’s worth checking out.” Fluttershy said, climbing onto Minarette and gesturing for Browncoat to follow. He eventually found his way onto the giant ray’s back, twitching nervously. Fluttershy stroked his mane, soothing him. Eventually he calmed down enough that Fluttershy believed he was ready. “Go ahead Minarette.” She said.
Minarette flapped her fins and lazily glided into the air, staying just a few meters from the tree. As they glided across the Realm, birds came to fly alongside them, their luminescent feathers flashing in the warm light. Larger creatures let out deep, droning calls of greeting to them before continuing on their way. Animals seemingly made out of light flashed into existence around them, made some strange geometric shapes, and vanished.
“Isn’t this beautiful Browncoat?” Fluttershy asked. He just stared ahead, face mostly blank, but with hints of concern and fear. She sighed. “Nevermind…” he was just… Different. He needed to be returned to his herd, with those who were like him. She mentally couldn’t handle an animalistic pony.
Minarette announced they’d be arriving soon with a trill. She dove down, through a weak spot in the branches, into a much smaller clearing roughly twelve times her size. The sight they beheld was horrifying.
The entire enclosure was red with blood – some fresh, most not. Bones Fluttershy recognized as pony were strewn about, most picked clean, a few covered in flies. There were dozens of skeletons, all equine in nature, and most brutally tossed aside like nothing.
There was a creature still alive in this carnage, sitting on a pile of the bones. It was red, it was sleeping. It was the largest dragon Fluttershy had ever seen, bigger even than Torch. A few scraps of old and degraded black armor were attached to its body, and a thin trail of smoke blew out from its nose.
Fluttershy’s wings shot out in fear and she trembled, unable to say anything to Minarette or Browncoat. The two of them were nervous as well – big as Minarette was, she was also a delicate creature that was unlikely to survive an encounter with a dragon. However, she was still able to keep her wits about her and she slowly began to back out of the clearing.
It was at this point the scent of Minarette reached the dragon’s nostrils. Its eyes flew open wide, murder in its eyes.
Minarette dropped all attempts at stealth, flapping out of the clearing as hard as she could, launching back into the large clearing. The dragon wasn’t about to let her go – with a flap of its own tremendous wings he launched after her. It opened its maw, preparing to torch them.
“N-No!” Fluttershy yelled at the dragon. “Don’t do this!”
The dragon closed its mouth and growled.
“You’ve had enough to eat…” She shuddered, a few tears falling down her face. “Just don’t. Please. No more.”
The dragon said it was sorry, just protecting established territory.
Fluttershy tried to tell the dragon it was okay, but she choked on the words. Dozens of ponies… Or not-ponies… She didn’t know.. All eaten by this creature… She could barely comprehend it…
Wait. “Why aren’t you talking?”
The dragon was confused by the question.
“But… But you have armor! You’d have to make it…” nothing made sense.
The dragon said he’d had the armor as long as he could remember.
Fluttershy couldn’t think about this right now. “I… I’m sorry. Just go. Far away. I’m sorry.”
The dragon flew directly upwards.
“Take us home,” Fluttershy said, unable to look Browncoat in the eye.
~~~
Sperion came to a sudden stop. “You’re following me.”
Ahuizotl stepped out from a hallway. “Can you blame me? I’m curious. Very curious. You are… Unique. Something I have not factored in or considered. And you know what I want to know.”
“I will not tell you. You know this.”
“Perhaps. But what if I offered you something?”
“Nothing you could-“
“A way out. There are-“
“Out?” Sperion interrupted, turning quickly. “You think I want to go to Central? You really don’t get me. I want choice. I don’t wa-“
Then Sperion as gone, his curse carrying him forward along his path.
Ahuizotl cursed the Stars for the horrible timing, stomping off in a huff. He was no closer to his goals, and who knew when Sperion would return, if ever.
After he left, Starlight removed her invisibility spell. She smirked. She had one perfect magical scan of Sperion’s travel to another Realm. And she was pretty sure she could mimic it.
She felt a little bad for going against his wishes – but she needed to take matters into her own hooves. She’d apologize to him later; offer him some magical insights, a favor, something. She was in his debt now even if he didn’t know it.
She returned to her room in preparation to use her newfound knowledge…