The red eye laughed again - it was definitely mocking, but not horrendously so. It was more of the laugh of a pony after watching her cat fall off a table...
A condescending laugh.
Then Twilence woke up. She wasn't really scared - just a little annoyed. Sleep really was starting to get annoying. Had she been here a week yet? She didn't even remember at this point. The days were kinda bleeding together.
The sun rose over the horizon and Twilence shrugged. "Let's go."
"AFFIRMATIVE. ALL ABOARD."
~~~
"Okay, so, Wolfe, I'm sorry I ignored you. I didn't mean to. It's just that there's a lot of things each import and I'm likely to forget large portions of it. I didn't do it on purpose."
Fluttershy looked at Twilence. "I thought you'd forgotten to talk to some before?"
"Yeah. None got upset about it though."
"Anyway, Fluttershy, Ponygood wants you to know that Robocord's 'threat' wasn't really anything to worry about. It's his job to keep things 'dangerous' from rampaging, at least from what I understand. You passed the test, and I don't think he can reach us anyway."
Fluttershy smiled. Twilence saw the stars of Alderan sparking from out of the corner of her eye, but didn't comment. He'd reveal himself soon enough. "Vriska! Questions for you!"
Vriska chuckled. "Apparently I'm quite the popular girl. Flattering. Ask away. How many of the questions are perverted?"
"Uh... None? I think?"
Vriska blinked. "Ah. Right. 'Humans'." She shrugged.
"Anyway... What's the highest thing you've rolled with your dice?"
"Rolling a straight 8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 basically transforms me into a god for a short time. Other than that, I once rolled a guillotine that decapitated a spider the size of a large hi - house."
Twilence nodded. "I see. Worst thing?"
"A weasel."
"...Okay then. I was told to ask you about 'capatchalogue' and you were supposed to be surprised I didn't know what that was."
She laughed. "Even the carapicians didn't know what capatchalogues were... Regardless, they're a sort of 'inventory system'." She took an 8-ball out of her pocket, smashed it, and suddenly there was a pumpkin in front of them. "Where I was from almost everyone had one way or another of holding things. None of them were very efficient. Course in my travels I've found that almost no one has these things, so I'm the oddball now."
"The more I hear about your world the more interesting it sounds. Another question. Ahem. 'Is your multiverse more or less... screwed up than a multiverse being defined by the fact every universe in it is or will be dragged into a multiversal war'?"
"Depends on what you mean by 'my' multiverse," Vriska answered. "If you mean the self-fulfilling paradoxical fuck-up that was my local multiverse, my home, then yeah, it was about that bad. Only it wasn't so much a war as beings capable of molding universes on a whim kept getting slaughtered left and right and all of reality kinda got shredded by the destruction of a green sun. Not sure exactly how bad it ended up because that was when I got lost, but it had to have been bad. Otherwise..." She shrugged. "The multiverse at large is far, far to big for anything to affect it large scale, besides that Tower thing I still have next to no idea about."
Twilence smirked. "Kinda what I expected."
"Think they're surprised?"
"Maybe."
"Good."
Twilence furrowed her brow. "Well... Maybe not. They've started talking where I can't see them - which I have mixed feelings about, to be honest. They aren't clogging up the feed with unimportant things, but now I know less. I think I'll leave that to their judgment though. The point is, I think they might be getting smarter - like they might be taking things a little bit more seriously."
She cleared her throat. "Anyway, Zen, that's a thought - Maybe this Heildor is the Dark Lord. The position does seem odd, but it's a possibility we should consider. I think we should also consider the possibility Heildor is something else - neither Orchid or the Dark Lord, like Akuma suggested. But then again, we know almost nothing about the Dark Lord..."
"We are going to a mountain of knowledge," Fluttershy reminded them.
Twilence nodded. "And... Ponygood... Er... Okay. Hope you can tell me later. And... Afizah - at least I assume that's you talking - I'm... I'm willing to try and move past the past, okay? It's obvious you have some difficulties in life and I'll try to move past that. You'll have to be more honest and straightforward with me though - explain. Because I don't understand. Creek? If I met G. M. Blackjack, I WOULD ask the reason. It would be one of the first things I asked. But since I can't see him, I'm going to ask the other one responsible for getting me here. Whoever's controlling Alderan."
Alderan's sparkes vanished from the corner of her vision. Twilence smirked. "Mmm... And hold on, let me get out the map..." She held it up, looking at it carefully and scrutinizingly. "They want me to describe it. I don't think they see full pictures of things, not all the time anyway."
"A GOOD THOUGHT."
"Okay. The southern and eastern edges of the map are completely covered in ocean. Most of the west is as well, except towards the north where we are now. The Mountain of Knowledge is off the map's northwest corner, and the magical lands we saw north of the Lost Desert do not appear either. The only marks this far north on the map are Mount Pyre, which is directly south of us, and Estur, which is just represented by a big question mark on the map. The Lot Desert takes up most of the northern part of the map, with the only location inside of it being Fosis. Moissan takes up the mountainous northwest, with only a few major cities. Heildor is the capital, with Chrysocholla and Malach a ways to the south, Malach closer to the ocean. Onyx is even further south, on the border of Peran, but south of the Band that separates the Lost Desert from Peran. Acket is right int he middle of the Band. There appears to be a city called Salacia IN the eastern sea, bordering the Band, Lost Desert, and Peran. It's also right next to Kraken Territory, which is almost the entire eastern sea."
She frowned. "...Pebbleton appears to have been drawn on this map as an afterthought, though the Bluemish Forest looks like it belongs. Anyway, bordering Moissan right next to the city of Onyx is the Peran city of Uler. There's a large river that leads out of the Bluemish Forest - the Enroach River - which passes a river city of Overhill and ends at a port city of Adeltam, which is also right next to Kraken Territory. There are several cities south of this river - Eldas, Tena, Fali, Hanusaur, and Tendris on the southern border. The Southeast peninsula has something called "Benrir's Wall" that goes from the east sea to the southern bay, dividing the peninsula. The Peninsula is littered with cities, the largest of which is the Peran capital, Chalak. In the southern sea, there is an archipelago called Troisha and there's nothing else about it here. To the west and south of Troisha is the Ice Shelf, which is also south of Tendris. It extends almost to the bottom of the map, but not quite - at the tip of the Ice Shelf is the Lai Camp, whatever that is. West of that is the Death Sea and a big question mark labeling Frau. And that's it. Well, except a warning at the bottom of the map that says 'HERE BE ICE MONSTERS'."
"Missing anything?" Fluttershy asked Four.
"MULTIPLE CLASSIFIED LOCATIONS AND SMALLER TOWNS. TENA ALSO APPEARS TO BE WHERE THE INVERTED MOUNTAIN IS."
Twilence blinked. "The Inverted Mountain?"
"IT'S A MOUNTAIN-SHAPED HOLE IN THE GROUND."
"Ah."
"I want to go to Death Sea," Vriska said suddenly. "Punch Death in the face."
"That's where Frau is," Twilence said. "So we'll probably end up there one way or another regardless. How much longer Four?"
"AN HOUR."
~~~
One hour later, they were at the foot of the mountain. There was a staircase built into it.
Four paused. "I AM FAR TOO LARGE FOR THAT STAIRCASE."
Twilence smirked and levitated him upward. It wasn't easy - but it was easier than when she'd had a concussion. "How about we all just fly up?"
Vriska shifted into her orange-wings. "Got it."
The four of them flew and floated up the mountain, skipping the staircase entirely. They saw it wrap around the tremendous rocky structure seven times before it stopped.They set themselves down in front of a giant doorway that led into the mountain. They were pretty high up - not so high up that the clouds were below, but they could see the tip of the mountain scraping the clouds. Twilience nodded. "Well... This is it, the Mountain of Knowledge."
She examined the doorway closer - it was so huge Four could walk under it without ducking. There were dozens of ornate designs all over it - mostly of stars. There were a few dragons carved into the pillars - suggesting this was built by ancient dragons, explaining the size. There was no complex technology or magic - all of it was marble or complex glass. Twilence remembered Ember telling her of Dragon glass blowing being an ancient art that went back further than any dragon could remember... It was beautiful. Twilence knew there was no light source inside the doorway, and yet it shone brilliantly by reflecting the sun.
One design froze her in her tracks. A little ways into the doorway a red glass eye could be seen - exactly like the eye she had seen in her dream. She gulped. "That's... That's the eye. The thing I've been seeing in my dreams."
"Hm..." Vriska said. "I wonder..."
Alderan appeared. "The eye is not here. That is merely a depiction."
"Depiction of what?" Twilence asked.
"There will be time for questions later. I expect you'll just ask your Influence what to ask. But for now, 'welcome' to the Mountain of Knowledge. Come on in." He muttered to himself, disgruntled.
"NO THREATS DETECTED," Four announced.
"Yeah, yeah. Just over here." He glanced at Four. "...You are way too big to get into the study."
"Four, stay here and guard the door," Twilence said. "Yell if anything happens. Okay?"
"AFFIRMATIVE."
Twilence walked forth, Vriska and Fluttershy flanking her. They had determined looks on their faces as they followed the intangible blue form of Alderan up the stairs. They may have avoided the initial mountainous staircase - but this one was making sure they made up for lost time. The stairs were marble and slightly too large for Twilence and Fluttershy, though Vriska's longer legs were able to work with them. Alderan was not chatty - he obviously didn't like the fact that he was even in their presence.
Vriska and Twilence were in no mood to talk to him. Fluttershy, however...
"So, Alderan. What's it like here?"
"Boring. I'm glad I can leave."
"Really? I thought that this place had knowledge..."
"A near infinite amount of books, yes. I've read them all and forgotten most of what was in them. Never liked books."
"Uh... That's okay! What do you like?"
"Being in control of my own actions. Which I am not."
"...Who's in charge?"
"Lore Thirst. You'll meet him very soon. He's been expecting you!"
Fluttershy frowned. "...Why do you do what he asks you to?"
"The paradox is that he is the only reason I can leave my Altar at all. So whoop-de-do irony. Done trying to relate to me yet?"
"...No," Fluttershy said.
"Your funeral," Alderan muttered. "Here we are." They were at the top of the staircase, and Alderan opened a door in the ceiling. Sunlight poured in. They walked out to the top of the mountain - which was flat and made of glass on the top. There were six glass pillars around the edge made of different colors and symbols - purple, blue, green, black, red, and white. There was no sign of an altar.
There was a pony. A short pony - he would have been confused for a colt had he not been so well built. His coat was brown, his irises an intelligent purple, and his mane black as night. He looked up from the book he was reading, adjusting his large cushy chair. He put a bookmark between the pages and set it on a stack of dozens of other books. He adjusted his lavender glasses. "Hello," he said.
Twilence nodded. "I am Twilence."
"I heard. And Vriska Serket and Fluttershy. With Four down in the entrance hall."
"So you are the one who's been watching us."
"Alderan has been watching you through my command," he said. Twilience was noticing his voice was oddly warm and inviting. He didn't seem crazy, overbearing, or even all that driven - he was curious, if anything. "I am Lore Thirst. I own the Mountain of Knowledge."
Twilight nodded. "...How and why did you bring me to this time and place?"
"Alderan carried that out - I simply made the order. The story itself is complex, but I can tell it shorthoof. I learned of what Alderan and the other temple spirits helped create - the Hole you wear now - and wanted to see what knowledge it would bestow were it correctly activated. I came across an ancient draconian spell that could summon 'the key that was needed by fate' under any circumstance. I had Alderan go into the lake and cast it, ensuring you would find the Hole. You were just the one the spell thought was needed for the job."
Twilence nodded. "...And why didn't you tell me any of this sooner?"
"I wanted to see what you would do. What would happen. I didn't want to interfere with the Hole's purpose. I must say the results have been interesting."
Vriska narrowed her eyes. "You fuck. You're a mad scientist."
"And you're a mass murderer."
"Yeah? So?"
Twilence stared at Vriska. Fluttershy scooted away at the admission.
Vriska facepalmed. "Oh for the - that was old old OLD me. I'm not like that anymore, shit-face."
Lore Thirst shrugged. "It is something I deduced from Alderan's observations. You at least have it within you. You may only do it if you think it is right or needed, but you can."
Vriska didn't have anything to say to that. She looked like she wanted to gut him, but Twilence held up a hoof. "Where's the altar?"
"You will be taken to it after we are done here, you have my promise," Lore Thirst said. "We will take turns asking questions. I'll ask, you'll ask, until we both have a better understanding. When I am satisfied, then and only then will you be allowed to the altar. You won't be able to find it otherwise."
Twilence growled. "...Fine. I suppose I would like a session of Q and A with you."
"Indubitably."
The Eye began to glow - heralding another import.
Twilence smirked, sitting down. "Hey guys? I think you need to tell me your votes for the next altar now, as well as any questions to ask this Lore Thirst pony. Now's the time."
"Make sure to ask the right questions," Alderan said to the Eye...