//------------------------------// // Gates in the Mind // Story: Sunset in the Otherworld // by Impossible Numbers //------------------------------// Big Mac’s red coat cruised ahead. Apple Bloom’s became a blur of yellow as she scampered about his legs. Once more, Sunset couldn’t imagine how they were brother and sister. The one yipped and yapped like a puppy, whereas the other was striding like a champion sheepdog. And yet, as she ventured under the shade of Gravity Woods beside them – feeling like some kind of adopted stray with potential for training – she caught the same warmth from each. Apple Bloom’s speech let it out in spurts and sparks, while Big Mac’s small smile allowed a peek into the forge, but in both cases it was the same living fire. “Here we are! Here we are!” Apple Bloom tripped and rolled along her flanks, but was back up without so much as a break. “Show ‘er, Big Mac! Show ‘er what we do!” All three of them came to a halt. They’d descended a slope to a fork at the bottom, and the embankment loomed like the bow of a boat. On either side, the pathway vanished into darkness. “Don’t even think about it,” rumbled Big Mac. “I was just looking.” Sunset never got over the fact that Big Mac was a head taller than her. At times, she wondered if all her magic combined couldn’t put a dent in him. “What’s down there?” “Trouble,” he said gruffly. At the crossroads, the embankment gaped. Beyond the protruding roots of the tree, something growled. Sunset edged closer to Big Mac. “Is it… dangerous?” “Oh, yes,” said Apple Bloom gleefully. “One time, it sneezed at me, and my bow caught fire, an’ Applejack had to get me out tout de suite. I didn’t go back for ten cycles.” She giggled. “It was the best!” Sunset was now right behind Big Mac. He shook his head at the skewed priorities of his sister, and then dumped his saddlebags. Over his broad back, Sunset couldn’t see what he was doing, but liquid poured and things clinked. When he stepped aside, a bowl of milk lay on the dirt. Big Mac nodded to Apple Bloom, who gambolled over to the hole and – Sunset’s heart leaped into her mouth – stuck her head right in. “Mister Dragon!” The echoes came back with another growl. “Mister Dragon! We got your treat! Don’t gobble us up or nothin’!” A demonic voice echoed: “I was sleeping!” “A dragon!? Apple Bloom!” hissed Sunset. “Shush! Don’t you know what you’re doing!? Even Common Lunar Dragons are the nastiest, most dangerous, evillest…” The demonic yawn shot up a few octaves as the dragon… waddled out. “…tiniest, chubbiest-cheeked, purplest little…” Sunset stared it down. “Things?” And both Apple Bloom and the little dragon burst out laughing. Sunset bit the retort back while they rolled on the floor, clutched their sides, and slapped hoof and tiny talons together with joy. Beside them, Big Mac rolled his eyes. “You tricked me!” Sunset tried not to let her voice shoot up. “You said we were going to stop it eating sheep. He eats sheep?” “Hey, milk! Neat!” The dragon leaped upon the platter and poured the lot down his throat, glugging in his haste. When he’d finished, he added, “Did you bring any cookies?” “Ah got ‘em!” Apple Bloom emptied her saddle bag onto the ground. Both she and the dragon reached down. “His name’s Spike,” said Big Mac while crunching ensued. “We found him out here all alone one Oak Apple Time. O’ course, normally we don’t trust strange critters in these woods.” “But…” Sunset was still struggling against the embarrassment. “Isn’t he… a dragon?” Big Mac gave her a long, searching look. It had flint in it. “Folks in need is folks in need,” he said eventually, as though concluding a philosophical treatise. Sunset had the decency to look away. She looked back. As was his wont, Big Mac stared up the path they’d taken, at the descending white crescent of the moon. “He helps out too, mindin’ the woods and keepin’ the worst things away. Pays to be friends with a dragon, even a li’l one.” “But… that’s a bit cold, isn’t it? It sounds like you’d let him starve if he wasn’t of any use to you.” The fury in Big Mac’s glare could have melted glaciers. “Ah don’t know what it was like where you come from, but that kind of thinkin’ ain’t welcome round here. Understand?” She might have been in university. “Yes, Big McIntosh.” When she met his gaze again, the glare was gone. “Folks help each other. Tides go in an’ out. Ponies are born and ponies die. Moon turns light, then dark, then light again. Things work both ways, Miss Shimmer. It don’t have to be ‘cold’, though.” “That sounds like Janus’ Gate.” At his quizzical stare, she added; “It’s a hypothetical dichotomy. You see, Janus was the symbol of two faces to the ancient pegasi. And his gate held back both sides of every facet of reality –” “All gates do that,” said Big Mac suddenly. “It’s the gates in the mind you gotta be careful of.” Sunset gaped. No matter how many cycles she’d spent with the Apples, there was something… deep about Big Mac. She had the feeling most of him – considerable though his body alone was – must be several miles away. Several miles across, in fact. Even her classmates would have goggled at how quickly he seemed to absorb things around him. “Sunset,” he said, and below him the laughter of the dragon and his sister seemed suddenly far away, “don’t trust every dichotomy that ponies throw at you. Sometimes, the world really ain’t as black-and-white as they think.” The red mist faded away. Sunset woke up. Starry sky. Darkness below the horizon. She stood up. A hooded cloak flapped about her. She didn’t remember putting it on. “Where am I!?” In a place beneath reality. Beyond the heart of the dream world. On the border between life and death. The commanding voice brooked no argument from her: no spluttering incoherence, no shocked exclamations, not even the feeling of shock. It forced her body not to waste time on such useless reactions. Sunset lit up her horn. The stone slabs lead one way. She looked behind her. Blackness. She looked down. She stood on a precipice. Hastily, she backed away from it. “What do I do now?” she said. “How do I find you?” Meet Us at the Crossroads of Fate. There will be a price. You must be ready to face it. Follow the Path. Find the Crossroads. Your reckoning awaits. Groaning, wishing she were fully dead, Sunset walked. No moon shone down. Time had no meaning. Yet on she walked, perhaps for endless years.