Twilight set the Seven Sided Chest in the central depression of the temple, the relic clicking into place. In a manner almost exactly the same to the one in Yakyakistan, a tremendous rectangular portal was ripped into existence, the otherworldly window rimmed in red energy. It led to a world no one had seen before, a strange, white expanse with nothing in it at all.
“Boring,” Discord said.
In the Realm, an eye materialized out of nothing and looked at them, a psychedelic pattern radiating from it, beginning to mesmerize the ponies.
Twilight grabbed the Chest with her telekinesis and rotated it. The image changed to the world made of all the spheres, the psychic influence having vanished. However, the gravity was so strong that gallons of sand started pouring into the Realm. Strangely, nobody was sucked in.
“Discord-“ Twilight began.
“Yes I’m keeping you down, thank me later. Fluttershy in there?”
Rarity shook her head. “No, but Rainbow, Starlight, and Applejack are. We need to find them first.”
“…Why?”
“Because,” Twilight said. “The longer we leave them in there the less likely they are to… To…”
Pinkie put a hoof around Twilight. “We’ll find them Twilight! Don’t worry!” She turned to Discord. “Fluttershy’s world was a safe one.” She gestured at an explosion in the portal. “And this is nooooooot. So let’s hurry-harry up and search!”
Discord looked ready to let out a long-winded rant, but Trixie stopped him by butting a hoof on his leg. “Please Discord. Let’s get Starlight.”
Guilt crossed his features. “Okay. We find them first.”
“Hold it,” Rarity said. “Some of us need to stay here and watch this place in case there is another attack!”
“Good thinking!” Pinkie grinned, hugging Spike and Rarity close. “We’ll stay!”
Discord snapped his fingers, enchanting the three who were staying behind so the portal wouldn’t pull them in. He turned to Twilight and Trixie. “That leaves us then. Hey Trixiiiiixie!”
“What?”
“Smoke bomb.”
Trixie grinned, tossing a bomb to the ground. When the smoke cleared, Discord, Trixie, and Twilight were no longer in sight.
Spike shrugged. “Those two have a weird friendship.”
“Spike, it’s not nice to judge others.” Rarity admonished.
“Hey, I’m not saying it’s bad, just weird. And that can be very good.” To prove his point he directed Rarity’s gaze towards Pinkie – who was currently patrolling the temple like a guard dog. She was even barking.
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Well, yes, I suppose so.” She shifted her gaze towards the open portal, studying the every-changing field of spheres. It was such a contrasting mix. Such order – every last thing in there was a perfect sphere. But also much chaos, for the explosions and collisions were nonstop.
Wait… was that a donut in there?
She did, in fact, see a donut. She rolled her eyes, quickly putting two and two together. “Can’t you do any shapes besides donuts?”
He didn’t hear her, enjoying the feeling of standing atop a donut like it was a spaceship flying through a danger zone. Twilight and Trixie held on for dear life while he sang.
“It’s a magical donut flying through the sky
On a magical adventure with balls everywhere
Oh who would come up with a thought so divine?
In this crazy world that just doesn’t care.”
“Discord!” Twilight and Trixie yelled.
Then he started rapping.
“That’s right, Discord’s the man
Flying foodstuffs are my game
Pound cake, hamburger, left ear corn
Stuffed puppy, ketchup, right bear horn!”
“Discord just take us to Starlight!” Trixie yelled. “I know you have a point-to-pony teleport!”
Discord blinked. “Oh yeah.” He snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Just to make sure his powers were working he turned every sphere in a mile radius into freshly cooked strips of bacon. “Hrm…” He said. “Odd.”
“Maybe teleports don’t work right here?” Trixie suggested.
Twilight teleported them out of the bacon zone. “No, we’re good.” A mammoth sized sphere of acid appeared inches from their faces, dissolving half the donut. Discord quickly raised a magic shield, vaporizing anything in the immediate area.
“…Did that ball just take a bite out of my donut?”
“Looks like,” Trixie said, biting her lip. “So… If teleports work and we aren’t being taken directly to Starlight, what does that mean?”
Discord said nothing. He didn’t have to.
“Try the others.” Twilight urged. Discord nodded, snapping his fingers twice more, nothing changing.
Twilight began to panic. They weren’t here. She was too late. They were… They were… Tears began to form in her eyes. “N…no…”
Trixie winced. “Trixie… Trixie is… Sorry…” Trixie said, not at all sure what to do in this situation. She was freaking out herself, realizing what this meant about Starlight.
“No!” Twilight yelled again, spreading her wings wide, anger rolling through her wings. “No!” She yelled to the heavens, her eyes turning an intense white.
“APPLEJACK!” She yelled, sending her magic out as far as it could possibly reach.
“Twilight…” Discord said.
“RAINBOW DASH!”
“Twilight!” Discord yelled.
“STARLIGHT GLIMMER!”
“Twilight!” Discord grabbed her. “They aren’t here! They can’t year you! Stop wasting your effort!”
Trixie started bawling. “There’s nothing here! Nothing but stupid deadly balls! Why I oughta just… Just… I don’t know…”
Twilight’s eyes returned to normal. She put her face in her hooves. “D-discord… What have I done?”
“Oh really, putting me on the spot?” He lashed out. “Do I look like the kind of guy who knows how to deal with this?”
Twilight just hugged him, and Trixie did the same. For a moment he froze. Then, with sorrow in his ancient eyes, he returned the gesture. They sat there, on the half donut, amongst the spheres for quite some time, wordless.
“Were you the one calling the names?” A male voice asked.
Twilight looked up to the sight of a large grey Pegasus with an orange and red mane. He floated there, not even flapping his wings.
She sniffed. “…Yes.”
He nodded “I have someone who wants to see you.” He spread his wings, generating a disc to carry all of them. “It will take some time to arrive.”
Discord frowned. “Just tell us where it is and I’ll teleport us there. I don’t have all day.”
The Pegasus blinked. Then he pointed. “Several thousand miles in that direction.”
Discord snapped his fingers a few times, initiating tremendous teleport jumps. It took five jumps, but they eventually arrived within sight range of New Mareu, the moving city shifting beneath them.
Twilight, her eyes red from tears, still managed to let out a childlike gasp when she saw the changing city. “I… I… What is this place? How does it work? How do ponies live here? How is it changing? How…”
The Pegasus said nothing. He walked up to a wall and created a doorway, gesturing for them to follow.
“Wh-wh-wha? How!?” Twilight shouted.
“Please stop being so confused. I answered enough questions last time. Overglobe will tell you what you want to know.”
Trixie sneered. “Trixie doesn’t like you.”
“Good.” He said, leading them into a large set of doors, essentially dragging them along with his Power. Twilight quickly recognized the room as Aztrot in design, and assumed the mare on the chair was Overglobe. This was all par for the course.
The fact that Ahuizotl was standing right next to her was not. Twilight yelled. “AHUIZOTL!”
Ahuizotl’s eyes widened. “Oh my-“
He found himself flung into a wall, the force of Twilight's alicorn magic threatening to crush his ribcage. Overglobe lit her own horn and surrounded Twilight’s head in dozens of tiny spheres. Discord created a rocket launcher, directing it at Overglobe.
Nobody moved, save Trixie, who leapt into the hallway to take cover.
“Your friends aren’t dead.” Overglobe said.
Twilgiht’s face softened slightly. “…Really?” She said, not sure she believed it.
“We saw them alive and well two hours ago,” she affirmed. “They just left to another world.”
Twilight nodded, dropping Ahuizotl. The spheres vanished and the rocket launcher was dispelled. Trixie inched back into the room. “Why do you let him near you?” Twilight asked. ”Do you know-“
“Yes, I know,” Overglobe sighed. “All are welcome in New Mareu until they prove themselves to be too much trouble.” She extended a hoof. “Welcome, Twilight Sparkle.”
“How do you-“
“Starlight told me. Let’s see if I can guess you two…” She frowned. “Discord… and… Minuette?”
Trixie facehooved. “The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
“Ah, of course. Now that we’re not threatening to kill each other, and have completed the formalities, I’m sure you have questisons?”
“Where are they now?” Twilight asked.
“The Realm of Magic, we think. According to our source it’s a purple cloudy place with floating crystals. Can’t be sure though.”
“Why’d they leave?”
Ahuizotl looked like he wanted to answer the question, but Overglobe indicated he should stay silent with a look. “We aren’t completely sure. Starlight somehow worked out a spell to travel with, and used it to teleport her friends and a criminal out of this world.”
Trixie blinked. “A… Criminal?”
“One Miss Implode Baskets,” Overglobe said. “A delusional and insane mare who has tried to kill Trekker over there numerous times, and has killed numerous others.”
Twilight took a step back. “Wh… Why would they release somepony like that?”
“She played them,” Trekker said. “Got them to pity her.”
“We don’t know that Trekker. We haven’t gotten to talk to them about it.”
Trekker said nothing.
Discord frowned, looking around. “Well this has been productive…”
Twilight shook her head. “Overglobe, I’m sorry, but we have to go find them. I’d love to return and learn more about your city, and I have many burning questions, but our friends might be in danger. I’ll see what I can do about this Implode if I find her – but I can give no guarantees. I’ve left them alone for too long.”
Overglobe nodded. “Of course. You will be welcomed back. I look forward to some answers to a few questions of mine.”
“As do I,” Twilight said. “Again, sorry, but we have to go. Discord! Teleport!”
The three of them were gone in a flash.
“Didn’t tell them about Sperion.” Ahuizotl observed.
“They didn’t need to know.” Overglobe said.
Ahuizotl grinned. “You are quite the little mastermind aren’t you?”
Overglobe didn’t respond, instead staring at the ancient text on the walls, brow furrowed. There was something important hidden in there… Something world-changing… And she felt like it was happening all around them.
She hated not being able to put her hoof on it.
~~~
Two hours ago…
There was nothing here. An expanse of a flat, reflective material, with only the blank whiteness of the sky to mirror it. It was blank, empty, and eerie.
Then it was no longer empty, as four mares appeared in the realm without so much as a noise.
“…The heck are we?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking down at her reflection in the reflective ground.
“Another Realm, obviously,” Starlight said, looking around. “a rather empty one at that…”
Applejack frowned. “At least nothing’s trying to kill us.”
Implode spoke up. “I might…”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Do you want us to leave you?”
She ignored the question. “Why did you take me with you? Why did you save me?”
“Ask them.” Starlight muttered, scanning the area with her horn. “They talked me into it.”
“Couldn’t just let them execute you, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “That wouldn’t be right.”
“…You really don’t have a clue about me do you?” Implode said.
“Eenope,” she said. “And it don’t matter. Nopony deserves to die.”
“Sombra,” Starlight said without hesitation.
Applejack sighed. “He shouldn’t have died.”
“Just keep telling yourself that.”
Rainbow Dash sat down, the novelty of her reflection having worn off. “Well, this place is boring.”
A rectangular object appeared in front of her, an image of herself on it. But it wasn’t an exact copy of her. “Well, this place is boring.” It said.
Rainbow Dash recoiled. “Woah…”
“Woah…”
“Huh.” Starlight said. “A delayed reflection that speaks. Most interesting.”
She heard her words echo back at her from the distance.
Implode blinked. “So, what, things reflect and repeat here? Where are the explosions?”
“Don’t make any,” Starlight ordered. “It’s fine without them.”
“Fine.” She said, turning away. A mirror shot up beside Starlight, tossing Implode to the side. Implode’s voice came from the mirror. “Maybe I’ll blow something up anyway…”
Implode leaped to her feet, glaring at the mirror, having been too distracted to hear what it said. “Maybe I’ll blow something up anyway…”
Everypony stared at her, jaws agape. “…What? I didn’t do it yet! Don’t have wings anyway…”
Starlight looked around nervously. “The mirror said what you were going to say before you said it. It wasn’t a delayed reaction, it was a-“
“Time distortion.” A mirror reflecting her said.
“-a time distortion, yes… Waitaminute.” She took a step back. “I said that because it said it. How could it-“
A mirror appeared in front of her and said, with her voice, “you can shut up now.”
Suddenly, Starlight and Implode were miles from Applejack and Rainbow Dash, as if the space between them had just inexplicably stretched a hundredfold.
“What the-“ Implode managed to get out before she just flat out vanished before Starlight’s eyes. Starlight took a few steps away from the place she had been moments before. A mirror slid up beside her, displaying Implode. “I’m Implode and I’m okay…”
“Implode!” Starlight yelled. “Can you hear me?”
“No, sorry.” The mirror slid back into the ground. That had been pretty weird.
Starlight turned to look at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, preparing to teleport back to them, but before she cast the spell she noticed something about her two friends. They were walking backwards. Then Implode and another Starlight appeared next ot them, and all four of them continued moving backwards! Starlight shook her head – what kind of time shenanigans were going on?
Then the four ponies in the distance vanished, leaving Starlight alone in the reflective expanse. She cowered, her ears laying flat. She couldn’t deal with this…
Then she saw two other versions of herself on either side of herself.
“Oh,” The one on her left said. “Well then.”
“What?” The one on her right said.
She took a breath and shouted. “The hell!?”
“Oh that is annoying…” The one on the right said.
“Told you,” The one on her left said.
Then she was standing with two Starlights to her left.
“Oh,” The one on the far left said. “Well then.”
“What?” She yelled, wanting to know what she meant.
“The hell!?” The one next to her yelled, the shouting making Starlight wince.
“Oh that is annoying…” She mumbled, shaking her head.
“Told you.” The one on the far left said.
“Oh,” Starlight said, this time standing with two mares to her right. “Well then.” She blinked, thinking she had it figured out now.
“What?” The far one yelled.
“The hell!?” The close one followed, as expected.
“Oh that is annoying…”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Told you.” Well, she did about five seconds ago… After she had been told… And the one before had been told…
“ARGH!” Starlight screamed, once again standing alone. The heck was going on? Freaky time loops, random teleportation, and freaking mirrors everywhere!
“Freakingmirrors!”
“You can shut up now!” Starlight growled. Then she facehooved. “My Stars…”
“Starlight… Starlight… Starlight… Starlight…” She heard Rainbow Dash call.
“Rainbow!” Starlight yelled. “Where are you?”
“Starlight… Starlight… Starlight… Starlight…”
For the briefest of moments a skeleton appeared in front of Starlight before vanishing. She reared in panic, hearing voices come from nowhere.
“What’s the legend?”
“Two pegasi, two earth ponies, an alicorn, and a unicorn.”
“Two unicorns!” Starlight yelled. “Get it right!” Then she blinked. “Waitaminute…”
A mirror slid into view, showing her an image of a blue unicorn stallion she had never seen before. “The Realm of Echoes gives glances of all times and places. Never forget.”
The blue unicorn physically appeared next to her. “Never forget.” He said.
“Forget what?” She asked.
“It’s different for everypony.” He smiled warmly. “You will make a good successor.” Then he vanished.
She blinked. “Seriously, what the actual hell?”
“We must be better.” Another voice said.
“What’s your deal!?” Seventeen Starlight’s said at once. They all looked at each other in fear. Then there was one again, mind swirling from seventeen memories of the same event. “F… F…Fun…”
Something exploded. She saw robot ponies crawling around. A mechanical alicorn appeared briefly before the entire white expanse was filled with yellow alicorns. Then it started raining Implodes, in the mist of which she could see a mirror displaying Sperion, limbless, motionless. Then with six limbs, moving faster than she thought was possible.
Then everything vanished, the expanse once again becoming empty except for Starlight herself.
“I’m going to go mad here.” She said. “I need to escape…” But what about my friends?"
Another Starlight fell from the sky. She looked bruised and battered. “Ow… Oh look,” She said, looking at Starlight. “Guess this is where this happens.”
“Where what happens?”
“You can control this place,” she said. “Just try it.” She shakily stood up, lit her horn, and in a flash of mirror shards she was gone.
Starlight blinked. “Did I just see my future self?”
“Yes you did!” She heard herself call from the distance. “And you’re hearing a different one now!”
“Why the heck would you say that to me?”
“Because I did earlier and it’s mind bending?”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere. Not here anymore. Bye!”
Then there was silence.
Starlight sighed. She might as well try… She lit her horn – and a mirror instantly appeared in front of her. It showed an image of herself, horn glowing. She frowned, it frowned too. She focused, and the frown disappeared. The Starlight in the mirror dropped her magic, and began to look confused again.
Starlight blinked. She tried looking forward through the mirror. She saw herself stamp a hoof and cause another mirror to appear far away. She stamped her own hoof and the mirror in front of her instantly changed location.
“…The paradoxes…” She said, mind reeling.
She created another mirror, looking into the future again. She saw herself light her horn and create a copy of herself, so she tried it. There were now two Starlights physically at the location. “Weird,” the ones in the mirror said, quickly followed by the ones in reality.
The two heard a voice. “…Don’t bet on sinking ships…”
“This is a bad place,” Starlight A said.
“Yeah. We are not meant to exist in a state of temporal flux,” Starlight B agreed.
“We need to get the others.”
“Well, obviously we can control spacetime here, so why don’t we split up, gather them, and appear right back here?”
“Okay,” Starlight A said, teleporting right to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They blinked.
“Uh… Starlight? Where’s Implode?” Applejack asked.
“Wait, did that just happen? But when did I…” She paused, teleporting away for a moment, then teleporting back.
“Starlight!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Where have you been? It’s been hours! And we just saw a million copies of ourselves!”
“It was deeply unnerving…” Applejack muttered.
Starlight frowned. “We’ve got time problems. Sorry. Come with me.” She lit her horn and teleported them away. Starlight B was already there with Implode. Starlight A and B reconciled their timelines, forming into one…
“Hey Implode,” Starlight B said.
“I’ve been here probably about a day,” Implode said. “I’ve been alone. Going crazier. Hearing voices.” She began to cry. “Watching myself cry…”
Starlight B frowned, unsure about this. “I can fix that, I think.”
“What’s the point? Oh there it is, funny, I was wondering when that happened.” She chuckled. “This place knows Starlight! It knows! It’s gonna get to you!”
Then Starlight B saw an older Starlight and Implode in the distance, talking. The Implode next to her vanished.
“They make a circle…” Implode said. “Make it stop…”
“Okay…” Starlight B agreed. Then teleported them away.
“Oookay…” Starlight said, reeling from the double memory. “Done with that! We’re out of here!”
“Did I just see my future self?”
Starlight sighed. This. “Yes, you did! And you’re hearing a different one now!”
“Why the heck would you say that to me?”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Because I did earlier and it’s mind bending?”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere! Not here anymore! Bye!” She lit her horn, activating the Sperion spell, accelerating the cooldown to nothing. The four of them appeared on a blue cube with a pink pyramid floating above them.
“Finally!” Implode yelled. “Sweet freedom from that place!” She twitched her head, causing several explosions around her face. She basked in the heat of the Power – she didn’t care that it hurt, she just laughed.
Applejack let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I’m not sure I could have lasted many more hours…”
“Hours!?” Implode blurted. “Try a week! That’s torture!”
Starlight realized that for her, it had only been a few minutes in the Realm of Echoes. She shuddered at the thought.
“Who are you?” A monotone voice asked them. They were rather surprised at who the speaker was.
~~~
Fluttershy laid in her bed made of bushes and leaves. Her nose twitched, and she shivered. She tossed and turned, groaning in her sleep.
The dragon bit through a pony’s neck, the head still screaming as it went flying.
Lour and Roy slithered onto her bed, concerned. Why would anyone act like this? Was she sick?
Minarette was burned to a crisp, the sickly smell making Fluttershy’s mouth water.
Fluttershy flailed with a hoof, kicking the twin snake to the ground.
Browncoat was swallowed in one sickening gulp, his neighs still audible as he slid further into the dragon.
The real Browncoat was sleeping soundly a room over, dreaming about eating leaves. How lucky he was not to be burdened with a full awareness.
The dragon turned to Fluttershy and laughed a truly evil laugh.
Fluttershy winced and started to cry
It opened its mouth wide… and chomped.
“AAAAAAAAAAA!” Fluttershy screamed, leaping out of bed. She flew to a window and into the warm yellow light of the Realm, breathing heavily. She looked out at the many animals prowling around, all minding their own business, hardly a care in the world.
But… They didn’t have everything. There weren’t complex and deep relationships. There were no ideas. There was no art. No happiness...
She found herself wondering who got the better slice of life… animals or ponies? Long ago she would have said animals. Recently she would have said ponies. Now… She wasn’t so sure.
She sighed, turning back to the home she had created, filled to the brim with critters of all kinds. They were her little friends that cared for her and kept her company. And yet, she felt horribly lonely. Here she had the power to control life itself, she could fashion just about anything she wanted…
But there wasn’t anypony to talk to. To challenge her. Just the animals.
To imagine that a place like this had once been her dream, a place alone, a place without other ponies to make her feel bad…
Tears fell from her eyes. She just wanted somepony with her. Someone she could share this pain with. Was that so bad?
It sure felt bad…
She slowly flew back to her room. On a whim, she stopped by Browncoat’s enclosure, watching him sleep. His ear twitched and he rolled over, but otherwise gave no indication his sleep wasn't peaceful.
Fluttershy smiled at him. So peaceful, even after the trauma. But she knew he still wanted his herd. He needed ponies as well, others of his kind…
She couldn’t help with that though…
…Or could she?
An idea formed in her mind. She flew out of the house again, aiming for the top. She found Minarette sleeping on the canopy.
“Minarette?” Fluttershy asked the great ray gently. Minarette rose into the air and greeted Fluttershy. “Can you take me back to where we found the dragon?”
Minarette agreed, and they arrived there in short order. Fluttershy dismounted and flew towards one of the mostly full skeletons. She took a deep breath, and spread her wings, feeling the energies of life flow around her…