//------------------------------// // VII - Relational Geometries // Story: Realms of Existence // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “Go fish!” “We’re playing blackjack, darling,” Rarity said, looking up from her cards. “Still don’t know how you’re doing that with just two players,” Spike said from his perch atop the Seven Sided Chest. “Believe me, I have no idea either,” Rarity said, looking a little tired. “Woo hoo!” Pinkie yelled. “Field goal! You win Rarity!” “I… Do? I… See...” Rarity blinked, not quite able to understand this. Desiring to stop the train of thought that was bound to end in further confusion, she turned to Spike. “See anything yet?” “Nothing but sand, pillars, sand, cacti, sand, a portal, sand, two ponies, and sand.” “Business as usual!” Pinkie giggled. The portal hurled another sphere into the desert, this one about the size of a table and made of chalk. It landed in the sand, creating a large dust cloud to form. “I wonder…” Rarity said. “Does Discord’s spell have a timer on it?” “It’ll probably wear off eventually,” Spike said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be back before it dissipates. Probably.” “Encouraging…” Rarity muttered. Pinkie was somehow on top of one of the pillars. “Hey guys?” “What is it Pinkie?” Rarity asked. “Don’t look straight into the sun, it hurts.” Rarity sighed. “Yes Pinkie. Yes it does.” In a flash of white light, Discord, Twilight, and Trixie appeared. “Oh my…” Rarity said, realizing they hadn’t come back with anypony. “…Did you find anything?” “They left the Realm two hours ago,” Twilight said, flying up to the pedestal to grab the chest with her magic. “We need to get to the Realm of Magic. Look for a place with purple fog and crystals.” She rotated the Chest, and the portal changed to display a Realm filled with geometric shapes - cubes, pyramids, prisms, icosahedrons – all floating above a green plane against a dark blue backdrop. “Nope.” Twilight said, twisting the Chest again, this time selecting a place that fit the description. An ominous softly glowing purple fog flowed out of the portal, through which a cloudy realm could be seen, swirling softly with magic winds. Shards of crystal floated amongst the mist, refracting the purple glow with sharp glares. “That’s it!” Trixie said. Discord rubbed his hands. “Let’s get this over with, we’ve got a Fluttershy to save! Eventually.” They drifted into the cloudy Realm, Trixie held by Twilight’s magic. They quickly realized there was no gravity whatsoever within the purple fog, so they began to drift through space. Twilight cast a protection spell on the three left behind, just in case. The last the she hard them say before she drifted out of audio range was a “Wanna play again Rarity?” from Pinkie. “This place feels… Empowering.” Trixie said, touching the clouds with her hoof. “I feel it too,” Twilight said. “Magic, dense magic, everywhere, almost completely uniform… So much energy…” Twilight realized her horn was glowing slightly, even though she wasn’t using it. “Odd.” “Aaaaa!” Trixie panicked. “Why is it on? This place is messing with my horn! Aaaaa-“ “Calm down, nothing bad is happening. No freak sparks, no explosions-“ An arc of purple lightning flashed in front of them. “Okay, so maybe it isn’t perfectly safe, but better than where we just were by far.” Trixie calmed down from the shock of the lighting bold. “Okay… Just magic… Lots of it… Maybe I can use it!” She lit her horn and her wizard hat started changing colors. She grinned. “Nice.” Discord pointed a finger, cutting a miles long tunnel through the magic cloud. “Wow,” he said. “Barely broke a sweat on that. Hrm… Maybe I can finally make that tap dancing plant here…” “Take us to Starlight first,” Trixie pleaded. “Please.” Discord grinned, raising his hand and snapping his fingers – and once again nothing happened. “You know, this is starting to get really annoying. Hold on a sec, I need to call tech support.” He created a banana and put it to his ear. “Hm, yes, is this tech support?” The banana made a sound like someone talking from the other end of a receiver. “Well that wasn’t my fault! Anyway, this has nothing to do with that whole debacle. The find-a-pony spell isn’t working.” More mumbling. “Yes, I tried turning it off and on again, what kind of idiot do you think I am?” Rapid syllabic talking. “The question was rhetorical. How do I fix it?” Two words. “Please hold?” He made the banana explode. “Well that was no help.” Trixie rolled her eyes. “No kidding.” “The intense magic could be jamming scans,” Twilight said. “I know it’s overloading my short range detection.” “Inferior magic,” Discord smirked. “I’m better than you-u!” “Maybe…” Twilight said, looking around. “But I have an idea.” “Hm?” Trixie said. “There’s nothing here.” “There are these crystals,” Twilight said, putting her nose inches from one the size of an apple. “They appear to be solid magic. Maybe we can use them.” Discord snapped his fingers, blowing the clouds away as far as he could. Several dozen yards away to their left, the clouds brushed out of view and revealed a truly tremendous floating crystal. It was the size of a tower, sparkling intensely in the Realm’s glow. It had two sharp points at either rend, brought together by a many-faceted surface. Its voice boomed once again, a shrill noise that was was reminiscent of thousands of glass bells ringing in harmony. Discord pushed Twilight forward. Twilight gulped. “Well… I was planning on sending a cascading spell into one of the crystal matrixes that would pass on indefinitely to other crystals in a chain, therefore finding our friends faster. If you have an issu-“ The giant crystal gave no physical indication that it was the one speaking, the only sign being fluctuating magic levels. “Ah… Oops,” Twilight said. “Can you help us, mister, er…” It paused, as if it had to think about it. Twilight nodded. Discord groaned. “Ugh, why can’t you just tell us? Writing it down is so boring…!” Discord blinked. ”…Do I know you?” Trixie blinked. “Wait, she needs to prepare? How big is this-“ Twilight’s eyes went white and hundreds of thousands of symbols crashed through her consciousness. This was larger than any spell she’d ever attempted – so many links, glyphs, and flows to keep track of… all to just continually clear the dense magic interference out of the Realm. She supposed it’d have to be complicated to see through this much condensed magic, but even then this seemed a bit ridiculous. She spread her wings, increasing her horn’s glow to a stellar intensity. Trixie had to look away from the intensity. Twilight let out a powerful burst of magic, clearing away the mist as far as the eye could see, revealing dozens of crystal patches in the distance, some with crystals much larger than Sham Rock. Discord took the opportunity to snap his fingers – and once again, nothing happened. He growled. “They. Aren’t. Here.” “Why would they be?” A synthetic voice spoke. Before them stood a silvery spike-ball with three limbs. “I just saw them in the Realm of Power hours ago.” Twilight blinked. “Who’re you?” “Sperion.” “Nice to see you too. I still want to know why they aren’t there,” Sperion pressed. “They… left?” Trixie frowned. “That’s what we were told anyway…” “How could they have…” Sperion paused. “She didn’t listen to me.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “I’m cursed with wandering the Realms forever. She thought she could figure out how to travel from scanning me. I told her it was a bad idea.” He let out a synthetic sigh that made Trixie squint at him, uncertain. “But she didn’t listen, apparently. She could be anywhere now.” “Anywhere?” Discord asked. “Anywhere.” Discord smirked. “Sounds like my place.” Twilight looked to Sperion. “…Can you help us find them? We’d be eternally grateful for-“ “Sorry, all I can tell you is that Fluttershy is safe in the Realm of Life and that you should just keep dialing Realms until you find the others.” He made a shaking motion with his body. “Excuse me for my straightforwardness, I am… Preoccupied.” Twilight nodded. “I understand. I… once again have many questions I want to ask, but there is no time.” “I’m sensing a pattern here…” Discord mumbled. “I hope we'll meet again,” Twilight smiled. “I’m sure you know a lot about these mysterious Realms.” “That I do,” Sperion said. “Be careful out there. The Realms can be surprising.” “Thanks. I think we got that.” Twilight lit her horn, focusing her magic. “Thanks anyway, Sham Rock!” Then they were gone. Sperion turned to the crystal. “’Sham Rock?’ Really?” ~~~ Overtop the green plane there was a blue cube. Standing on the floating cube were four mares. Said four mares were staring at a head sized pink diamond that had just asked them who they were. The pink diamond got impatient. "Answer soon." “Uh…” Applejack said. “Ah’m Applejack, that’s Rainbow Dash, this is Starlight, and that’s Implode.” The diamond responded with a calculating, deadpan male voice. “Processing. Inexact speech. Outlier. You four are not from this Realm.” “Er… No,” Starlight said. “How did you arrive?” Starlight looked right at it. “A spell I cooked up recently.” “Deception detected. Not an outright lie, but information is being held back. This is the Realm of Truth; there are no secrets here. Tell the unaltered truth or there will be extraction.” Rainbow Dash blinked. “I don’t want to figure out what extraction means.” Starlight sighed. “I stole it from Sperion as he left with a magical scan.” She didn’t like this at all. “Peculiar. The Sperion has rarely let himself close enough for that course of action to be considered.” “You do sound like the sort he’d want to avoid,” Applejack said. “Yes. He does not wish to share knowledge. Such greed is illogical and detrimental, but he sticks to his alien creed.” Implode grunted. “This diamond guy is dull.” “Interest is not a criteria of function.” “I’m going to smash your face in.” “Noted and disregarded.” Implode was a bit taken aback by this response. “What do you want?” Starlight asked. “The truth. Knowledge. Information.” The diamond paused. “We request further questioning sessions from you. In return, we will provide you with a residence, food, and whatever else you require. No harm will come to you and we will not initiate extraction.” Starlight narrowed her eyes. “How do we know we can trust you?” “There are no secrets in the Realm of Truth.” “Oh yeah?” Implode blurted. ”What’s extraction then?” “The process by which a pony’s brain is disassembled while the host is living to absorb all information contained within. Large waste of tablets and resources, but sometimes required with greedy ones.” Rainbow Dash shuddered. “Yep. I didn’t want to know. Shocker.” Starlight frowned. “I don’t know…” “I trust it,” Applejack said. “I just feel it. Seems right.” “Possible inflection of Truth detected. Must be a high concentration to activate this early.” “What?” Applejack wondered. “There is power within some individuals to access the nature of the Realm of Truth, information. Unconfirmed, but evidence suggests you have this inflection.” “Ah… guess that’s nice?” “Irrelevant. Continue forward 7.3 miles, turn left, and travel 4.2 more miles to reach our settlement. We will be waiting.” “Why not just go in a straight line?” Starlight asked. “We do not expect you to calculate the angle of departure precisely and therefore take precautions.” Starlight lit her horn, creating a beam of light shooting out at precisely the right angle. She raised an eyebrow. “This is why we must have further questioning. We were unsure you could do that.” “Who do you use we all the time?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I speak for all here in the Node.” “All right, enough talking for now,” Applejack said. “It’s time to get moving.” The pink diamond said nothing, and Stalright hopped of the cube onto the green plane below. “Strange,” she said, tapping the ground with her hoof. “It seems featureless, but I don’t slip around like it’s ice.” “At this point I’m not surprised it doesn’t make sense,” Rainbow muttered, flying around in loops. “These Realms are just weird.” “It’s not weird!” Implode shouted suddenly. “The Realm of Power is a moving work of art that makes perfect sense should you bother to actually study it!” She huffed. “This place… is just boring!” Rainbow smirked, stretching out a wing and turning a nearby prism into fire. “Better?” Starlight blinked. “Huh. I guess you can still do that outside the Realm of Power.” Applejack frowned, stamping her hoof on the ground. Part of the green ground turned to dirt around her hoof. “Seems lesser for me “ Rainbow grinned. “Ha! I’m better than you!” Implode growled. “If I had my wings I would teach you a lesson about your arrogance.” “You’re one to talk!” “Oh yeah?” “Yeah! You’re stuck up, arrogant, and entitled!” “Why’d you save me if you didn’t like me?” “You didn’t deserve to die!” “I bucking killed ponies Rainbow Dash!” Implode screamed, face strained. “What do you think of that?” There was silence. Implode huffed and walked ahead. “Idiots.” Starlight raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Applejack sighed. “Ah still stand by my position.” “Getting weaker every day,” Starlight hissed. “No time for this,” Applejack chided. The mares walked through the Realm of Truth in silence. They saw geometric shapes of all kinds and colors – red cubes, pink dodecahedrons, silver donuts, purple toruses, white cones, anything imaginable floating above the green plane. Eventually, after much walking, they saw a tall brown rectangular prism in the distance with parts of it cut out. Paths snaked around the prism, ponies walking in and out from all sides. There were bridges composed of dozens of floating shapes leading to other large objects. All of the larger floating ones had also been cut into, giving them the appearance of hives. On the very top of the brown prism there was an object that didn’t belong – a large floating clod of dirt, which had a giant tree on top, glistening with hundreds of pinkish-blue fruit. Starlight saw this and realized they had to get their food from somewhere, that tree was probably it. “This is the Nexus, the only settlement in the Realm of Truth.” A pink diamond said from nearby. “Some pegasi will drag an ellipsoid to you, and carry you into the central prism. Stand still while the process is carried out, you will not survive a fall.” “I can fly,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “It would be best if you remained still as well so to not cause confusion.” The pegasi arrived shortly, a brown and a green stallion, both with blank looks on their faces. “Uh… Hi,” Applejack said. They did not respond. They simply pushed the black ellipsoid they had under the four mares and flew it into the Nexus. The Nexus, unlike New Mareu, was… Monotone. Ponies walked around the brown halls without emotion, kept a blank face set at all times, and the few who spoke did so with monotone voices. There were no decorations whatsoever, every last object having a practical use and nothing else. Most places were completely empty, just serving as a way to connect various rooms together for methodically moving ponies. They passed group-sleeping chambers, record rooms, and a dining hall were everyone ate fruit and green bricks. Rainbow Dash shuddered. “Yeah, I don’t like this place. Gives me the heeby-jeebies.” For once Implode had no comment. They were led into a smaller room with a door. The pegasi unceremoniously dumped them inside and left. Applejack stood up and dusted herself off. “Did they ever hear of courtesy?” “Nope,” Starlight said, examining the room. “Let’s see… Desk, bed, bed, bed, bed, table, four plates, four food bricks, and a very open toilet.” She frowned. “Minimalist.” Rainbow Dash looked at the toiled with a blush. “…It’s just there in the wall where everypony can see it!” “Don’t think privacy exists here Rainbow,” Starlight said. “Don’t worry about it, we’re all mares and friends here.” She glared at Implode. “Mostly.” Implode growled. “Pointless ideas.” A familiar voice said from the doorway, the one they had heard from the diamond. It belonged to a tall grey stallion with a pink diamond for a cutie mark. “Questions will begin immediately. I will take you one at a time to the discussion room, where you will cooperate and then return here. After all initial questions have been asked, you will be free to wander the Nexus until such a time as another questioning session is desired. Satisfactory?” Starlight gulped. “…Yes.” “You can’t talk for me,” Implode said. “You want to be cut off from what looks like the only source of food in this place?” “No,” Implode muttered. “Fine, I agree to the terms. But I will not like them.” “Irrelevant. You,” He said, pointing at Rainbow Dash. “Come with me.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well, here I go…” She walked away with him. ~~~ Fluttershy looked out a window at her field. She saw Browncoat grazing. He was surrounded by several dozen other ponies like him, most grazing as well. Some were flying lazily, and a few were lifting rocks with their telekinesis curiously. All of them were herding together and living. None of them could talk. None of them could have the same experience she did. But… That didn’t matter anymore. They were happy out there. Brought back from the brink bones cracking, flesh slashing out in bloody tendrils of death from nothing but skeletons. They all acted like nothing had happened. Everything had been made right. She restored life. She felt good about herself. She flapped her wings and drifted over the field, lazily floating wings, shooting out of the side in a spurt of blood, bones visible through tears over to where Browncoat was grazing. She landed and nuzzled him. He wondered what she wanted. “Nothing. Just checking to see how you’re doing.” She laid down in the grass, looking at all the animalistic ponies around her. They all looked so serene. She closed her eyes squirting, gushing, screaming in fear and whimpered as a sudden rush of loneliness came over her. None of the ponies went to comfort her, Browncoat only giving her a sideways glance. She began to cry. A few of the ponies became concerned, thinking she was hurt, but then just shot each other confused looks when they realized she was perfectly healthy. The animals began to congregate, unsure what to do. Fluttershy wept. It was just too much. She... She… eye squishing into existence from an empty eye socket, the iris staring at her with pain beyond that which could be comprehended She couldn’t talk about what she had seen. She needed her friends. She needed them badly… “Why don’t you come for me!?” She yelled to the Realm, screaming as loud as she could. There was no response but the rustling of leaves.