//------------------------------// // Ch.14: The Dark Divergence // Story: Tapestry: A World Apart // by Star Scraper //------------------------------// “'Harmony shall sing over creation once more'... What a poor, pathetic creature to herald its return.” Her voice carried genuine sympathy amidst its condescension. Less than an hour after Rarity placed her hoof on the enchanted page, her body lay still on the ice, both ice and fur solid black with soot. Over the fresh corpse, the black smoke parted in a space around a dark purple unicorn speckled with deeper purple patches on her snout. She was shrouded in a large, thick navy blue cloak fringed with a dark blue and purple pattern. “You are definitely the one I was with in the Mittipse. You poor, lost soul... I am tempted to take you home with me...” her voice tapered off in thought. “Yet, you have not proven your worthiness, so I cannot bring you to my home. But I cannot let you truly die, either – not when there is so much more to gain from you.” A magenta glow shone around her horn and Rarity's chest, throat and face. “The slight echoes of life remain in your mind. Though your heart has stopped, and your breath is poisoned, enough is left to save, thanks to your ruby...” Rarity gasped and coughed madly on the ice, yet remained unconscious. The magenta glow faded from her. The robed unicorn looked over her shoulder, then back at Rarity. “Once they talk to you, and I have learned my fill from your mind, your life is in your own hooves once more. But even so, this will remain with you.” Her magic glowed again, this time on the fire ruby. “You're the most interesting thing to happen to this world in a very, very long time. Whatever magic brought you here was powerful and deep, even rivaling the Mittipse, or Staff of Eternities. I could feel it from the warmth of Eternal Refuge. Yet you don't seem to know what can be done with a fire ruby. Odd creature, you are. “But for now...” She plucked a few sooty black hairs from the helpless unicorn's head. “I have a favor to conduct to help the forces of justice in this world.” She lightly chuckled to herself. “Justice, justice... Oh, 'forces of justice', you are the Vanguard, indeed, but not the Vanguard of the Hatten dome, no, you are the Vanguard of the end... 'Yea, even by the fire of their own triumph shall they be burned by the light of their false sun...'” she muttered, and produced a small, gold-chained emerald necklace from a saddlebag under her cloak. As she placed the necklace around Rarity's neck, her form morphed – under the black soot, her white coat changed to a pink hue, her body twitching as magic flowed over it, even her mane and tail shifting in style. She took the gold-chained necklace off, and the illusion vanished. She replaced it again as a quick test, but this time the unconscious unicorn kept looking like her original self. She nodded, took the emerald necklace off Rarity and tucked it back into her hidden saddlebag. “Now, I -” she suddenly froze, her amethyst eyes going wide as she snapped her head around. “Again!?” she breathed. She laughed loudly, then shook her head, grinning. “I cannot believe such fortune! Perhaps this world has something new to offer me, yet?” she wondered. “I shall shadow this, and enjoy it greatly. So for now, dear unicorn, Fate be with you. I bid you adieu.” With a polite bow and in a flash of light, she was gone. The gap in the smoke was immediately filled in again over the unconscious mare's body. They were antsy to save their friend, so sitting around and talking about Equestria to somepony didn't sound all too appealing to them at first. But Twilight's friends trusted her decisions, and the case was compelling. There was no use searching in a huge city trying to kill them when they didn't even know which direction to go looking in, and if she'd even been captured. At one point Applejack had interrupted to ask if they couldn't look with Astilbe's friends, and that's when Astilbe began to explain the depth of just how daunting this world was. There were many things they needed to learn in order to not get shot at, even with an illusion spell to hide Twilight's horn. It was taboo for them to be seen without wearing clothes – but they couldn't wear anything over their head that would hide a horn. Certain things were okay to say, and others weren't, and they needed to carry some kind of papers with them at all times. And if they asked too many questions of the wrong kind, they could get arrested, tortured, and innocent ponies killed. So are we going to go wandering through an entire city, searching every alleyway, basement and closet? While she's even more likely rotting in some dungeon or not even in the city? She couldn't help but remember how Rarity had fought her for the book – how she was so desperate and panicked that she hadn't even stopped long enough to talk. I won't be like that. Let's do things in proper order. Not charging in blindly like she did. If only Rarity had taken the time to talk to me before going through, we could have gone in with her and stayed together. If she hadn't done that, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. I don't want to endanger all of my friends like that. Not again. Not after I'm the reason she knew about the book to begin with. And so they talked. “I was studying magic under Princess Celestia at first -” “Oh yeah, you mentioned Princess Celestia earlier!” Astilbe excitedly cut Twilight off. “She's the ruling princess where we came from.” AJ nodded. “And you said – in your world, this one is just the inside of a book or something?” she asked, trying to make sense of the picture they painted. “Maybe?” Twilight shrugged. “We don't really know. All we know is reading the book took us here. But we seem to agree about some point in history, at least. You recognize Celestia's name. That says something odd.” “And Applejack looks identical to Gold Will.” Astilbe pointed at Applejack, then at Pinkie Pie. “And I'm looking into a mirror every time I look at Pinkie. What's with that? Really that's half the reason I believe you...” “Just don't go using any mirror pools, I learned the hard way that that's a bad idea,” Pinkie warned with a nervous laugh and grin. Astilbe looked back to Pinkie's friends. “And she even says things that are really confusing without context. She really is just like me! Uh, no offense – you and me both do that a lot.” “Eh, none taken.” Pinkie shrugged it off, gritting her teeth for a moment of agony as she realized the motion was not a great idea with her injuries. Astilbe continued to Applejack, “Anyway, do you have any siblings per chance? An older brother? A younger sister?” “Uh – yeah, I got both'a those.” “Well that settles it, then! This is a mirror pool!” Astilbe declared. “I actually have no idea what a 'mirror pool' is, though, but I like the name. Though I guess more like mirror-world or something? At any rate, how would you like to meet your brother and sister in this world, Applejack? Because you died here, and apparently Crimson cried a lot when you did. So I imagine they'd be happy to see you again.” “Wait-what!?” she leaned back. “Whaddya mean I died here?” “Well, your 'reflection' did, at least. Look, take it from me – if somepony asks if you want to see a unicorn, say 'no'. Unless it's me. Or somepony you already know to trust. But you don't just trust any friends. Not until you're like, very best friends and all. Ya'know?” “Why?” Twilight asked, cocking her head. “Well you see, the police like to do this thing where they'll have somepony working for them, just some random farmer pony or something, and you'll know them at your work place, and they'll ask you if you want to see one, or they might even give you some faux copy of 'The Journal of Clover the Clever', or something rebellious like that, and if you don't report them to the police, they'll have you arrested and executed the next day. It's a way to make sure ponies are loyal to them.” “This place just gets worse and worse. It's like the worst,” Pinkie commented. “You said it, sister.” Astilbe nodded. “Now, hold on,” Applejack started, “You're saying that just like you're some 'reflection' of Pinkie Pie, there's some other version of Big Mac and Applebloom out there who've lost their sister – Gold Will – who was this world's version of me? I dunno, this is... Well it already got weird awhile ago, now it's just gettin' weirder an' weirder...” “Also,” the local pony added, “his name is Crimson Fire, her name is Scarlet, and he'll be able to find out if Rarity is still alive or not. He's not with us, though, and he might even be the reason Gold Will was tested and executed in the first place. So however you feel like going about finding out – be sure to be very careful.” “Are you tellin' me I can do the information-gatherin'?” she asked, halfway between a simple clarification and surprise. “Yep. Best one for the job, too, probably. Except – oh nonono, maybe you shouldn't. Yeah, no, please don't? You... Well, depending on how good you are, you may get me killed. So there's always that.” She laughed nervously. “Why are ponies like this here?” Pinkie finally asked. It was a bombshell of a question that left her two Equestrian friends surprised they hadn't asked it already. I guess I just took it for granted since Celestia said the book would do something terrible... “Well,” Astilbe started, “Because the Hatten Vanguard believes the unicorns are responsible for The Great Winter. They even call it 'The Unicorn's Great Winter', or 'The Great Unicorn Winter'. They were kinda desperate. The domes had gone dark, sunlight was over – it was true, the domes have a limited lifespan, so we had to end the winter, somehow. Only thing is, the winter makes no sense. There's enough records to prove that it didn't used to be this way. Bones of animals and petrified plants all point to the whole world once being like the inside of the domes used to be a few decades ago. Countless records say the winter started about a thousand years ago, around the same time that re-unified Equestria fell apart. Unicorns changed the seasons, so it must be that unicorns create this winter. So they hate the unicorns. “It makes its own kind of sense – kill everypony magic in the world and stop the magic winter, right? Of course, me and other 'Ceruleans' believe in Clover the Clever's Journal, which tells us exactly how to end the winter, but they refuse to believe in Windigos or that harmony is possible, and instead desperately hunt unicorns, hoping they can find whoever is causing the winter and kill them.” “You're right.” Twilight nodded. “Where we come from, harmony defeated the Windigos a long, long time ago. Every year during winter, we have Hearth's Warming – a holiday to celebrate the friendship that defeated the Windigos, and they do cause winter.” “Are you – are you serious?” Astilbe's voice broke, and her eyes watered. She stood up and took a few steps towards Twilight. “You mean... You actually defeated the Windigos – for good – wherever you came from?” she asked in disbelief. “And – and spring and summer and fall happen there?” “Uhm... yeah?” Twilight answered, uncertain at what the pink pony would do next. Astilbe fell at her hooves in a bow, then looked up at her. “You have to take me with you! Wherever you came from. Me and all my friends – we've been risking our lives for this. All the other ponies would only introduce disharmony in your world, but – we've been dying – literally, many of us have died, like Gold Will – for the world you describe!” Twilight backed up uncomfortably. “I – I don't know how to get back yet, I'm sorry. But, I've seen enough of this place to believe you, so when I do -” She took one of Astilbe's forehooves in her own and raised her. “- I'll be absolutely sure you're repaid for the kindness you've shown us.” The rebel pony's eyes were wide and teary, she froze for a few solid seconds, then threw her forelimbs wide and hugged Twilight. “Thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me!” Her voice rode the edge of breaking. I just hope it's actually possible that you can come with us. Surely there's a way for us to leave this book, or this world, whichever it is. But can we take a native with us? The words only appeared and started glowing on the page after Rarity entered, so, I don't think Astilbe is even real... But is she? After some long moments of hugging, Astilbe finally stepped back. “So – you recognize Clover the Clever, then? But – did you never even have the domes?” She shook her head. “I don't even know what kind of dome you're talking about. I mean, domes exist, but they're not some major thing we 'have'...” “Right. You might need to know, then,” she happily kept helping them with everything she thought they'd need to know, given their promise. “The domes keep ponies warm inside – it's a bit nippy out there but believe me it's a lot colder outside the dome. Like, you're gonna need some real specialty heavy coats out there! Also ponies need power to stay alive – to power the sun-lamps in the sun-houses to grow food. The sunstones give power – Starswirl gave them, himself! But we have no idea how he did it and he didn't even claim to have made them, himself...” “Sunstones?” Twilight echoed. “Hmm, no, I don't remember Starswirl's writings having anything about 'sunstones'. But please, keep explaining these domes – so we're in one, now?” “Yep! Every city is in one! Except for the cities up in the mountains! But those are just little towns and such, and only unicorns can live out there, with their magic. Oh, and Bastion.” “So, the three tribes never came together, so you've got eternal winter from the windigos and you live in domes to keep warm?” Twilight tried to summarize. Astilbe excitedly nodded, then paused, thinking for a moment before shaking her head and continuing, “Hmm, well, not exactly, they did get together, they just broke apart afterwards when they couldn't find any alicorns to lead them – but the domes don't just keep us warm, they also keep all the fumes out of the city. They even seem to draw in the glacial ice around them, and when it crosses the barrier, it melts, and it's filtered when it comes inside, meaning the domes give us water, too. And all our wastewater can just run through a loop – out and back in, and the nastiness just disappears into the dome's wall.” “Okay – well, you can teleport things, burn them for fuel – all kinds of things, but it doesn't 'just disappear',” Twilight corrected. “As for drawing ice in – ice is a solid. So I don't know how that would work. But the rest just sounds like some really advanced shield magic is all.” “Probably,” Astilbe shrugged. “There's this big thing about ponykind getting the technology to survive the winter without the domes. I guess you can say they feel kinda betrayed by them, even if they still need them to survive. But are they shields? You can walk right through the walls of the domes – now, you'll get gunned down by guards if you do, or choke in all the industrial fumes the dome keeps out if you go out the downwind, but you can, they're not metal or anything. But often they put physical walls over the magic ones to keep anypony from just going in or out.” “You can do just about anything with shield spells. Advanced enough, you could certainly make it so you can walk through it but it keeps fumes out. How many domes are there?” Twilight asked. “Five. We're in the Delphi dome, there's the Hatten dome, Baltimare, Los Pegasus, and Westhaven, though Westhaven completely failed and was abandoned. Oh hey!” She lit up. “I forgot one little detail – you see, the domes used to look like daytime on the inside. Well, during the day, that is. Like, they were little patches of summer in the world. But uh, they all went dark. So there's no sunlight left in the world except for what you make with a sun-lamp.” “Wait – so these magic domes brought sunlight and everything – not only is that going to take a lot of power but that's some really high-level magic, too. Can they not make them any more?” she asked. “Well... they could, probably...” she shuffled her hooves and looked off to the side. “But you see, with the world population as low as it is, there really wouldn't be enough unicorns to power it. Even when they made them there wasn't. So, they had to go a bit further than draining their magic...” Twilight recoiled. “What – no, you don't mean –?” Astilbe, at least, could tell from her expression: She knew what it meant, but didn't want to believe it had been done. Astilbe's tone lost its chipperness as she explained, “Millions died. You might say that's where it all started – where it started to become acceptable to sacrifice a few for the rest to live... But if there was never any need in your world – and yet you recognized Clover the Clever's name –” “And you look just like me, don't forget that!” Pinkie chimed in. “ –then you share that much history, so things must have gone differently?” Astilbe asked. Twilight looked between the two of them again. She almost felt a twinge of worry. If it weren't for the fact that Pinkie's in great pain because... Well, if it weren't for their memories, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell them apart if they wore matching clothes and sat next to each other. “There's definitely more than a few similarities in our worlds... But that would make sense, if the three tribes never came together in peace in your world, that'd explain all the unicorn fear,” she commented. Astilbe waved a hoof. “Well, it's been almost a thousand years since that, so it's not that same deal! There's no way it'd be the same group. There's been a lot of history. The Order of the Hatten Vanguard has only been around for – what, two or three decades? It only really picked up traction when the suns started going out in the domes, and then they invaded after the sun went out here in the Delphi dome, claiming it was to rescue us all from starvation even though Bastion's unicorns were already helping... But wow did re-discovering Westhaven help them out! The dead ashes of an entire dome! What an eerie discovery! Now they say it's because the unicorns betrayed them but they probably faked that evidence – I mean, Bastion proves unicorns can live together with pegasi and earth ponies!” “What is Bastion?” Twilight asked. Astilbe froze as an ear perked up. They heard hoofsteps in the hallway outside the room. “Oh! We'll have to explain that stuff later, but for now, I've got some other ponies to talk to!” She sprang up and skipped out of the room with way too much joy for how dark the conversation had been. “Stay put and I'll be right back!” she called over her shoulder as she left, closing the door behind her. After she was gone, the three Equestrians were left speechless, trying to digest everything they'd been told. They were exhausted, and one of them was already in bed and badly injured. After a moment of silence, she finally spoke up from her bed, “She's a really weird pony.” Both her friends gave her a surprised look. “What?” “Well?” Applejack turned to her alicorn friend. “Well, I'm not sure what to make of all this.” Twilight turned to her friend wearing an expression of worry. “But how do you feel about stepping into the empty shoes of the other version of yourself, here, to get information about Rarity, if it comes down to it?” “We've succeeded with worse plans than that,” she remarked. “To be honest, though, it just seems weird. I guess he's kinda my brother? But takin' advantage of that to get him to tell me guard secrets just...” She glanced at the ground, trying to digest the sheer dishonesty of it. “It just ain't me.” “Well... To tell you the truth, AJ, remember the words on the page in that strange language? I could read what was happening to Rarity – or at least get the feeling of it. It's real enough that I don't want terrible things to happen to us here, but honestly I think everypony else...” her voice quieted to a whisper, “I think everypony else is just a fictional character.” Applejack immediately stood up and bristled, barely keeping her voice from shouting, “Flynn' sakes, Twilight! An' here you just told Astilbe that this was all real! Are you sayin' you just lied to her! After everything she's done for us!? What she's puttin' at risk!? She's stickin' her neck out for us! More literally than I'd care to think about!” “Yes but, she's just -” Twilight struggled with the words, “ – I think she's just like the Mane-iac or her henchponies from Spike's comic book – or the Mirror Pool clones Pinkie made.” “The mirror pool clones didn't have no depth to'em! They just had like one emotion an' that's it! They were clearly just reflections – illusions – not breathin', thinkin' ponies, but this -” she waved a hoof towards the door, “this is a doggone whole pony! Have you been lyin' this whole time about taking her back, too?” “No – I will take her back to Equestria if I can,” she firmly stated, “but I might not be able to. If she's real, and she actually feels anything and isn't just some fictional character, then I should be able to take her back. But if she's not, then what does it matter if I can't keep my promise? But you know who really matters? Rarity. Pinkie Pie. You. Me. So if it comes down to it, will you be willing to go to this world's version of your brother and sister and see what you can learn about Rarity? If worse comes to worst, I should be able to rescue you -” she glanced around the room, “- we'll put something together. Give me your hat and a hair band – that'll be a lot easier to not lose than a hair.” Applejack looked to the side, then turned to Pinkie Pie and looked at her for a long moment. Her breathing was clearly pained and slow. She turned back to Twilight. “Alright, Twi.” She took the hair band out of her mane and gave it and her hat to her friend. “If there's no other way, I'll do it, even against Astilbe's wishes – but only to save Rarity. Not because these ponies aren't real – because they sure as sugar seem real to me – but because I don't want to see Rarity 'hanged' on some stage, or shot an' killed while tryin' to escape, an' I'm getting' mighty tired of sittin' here not bein' able to help with anything. Like you said, we gotta know if she's locked up in some dungeon, an' if this other Big Mac is in the guard, he might know...” Twilight nodded, “Thank you. It means a lot to me, her, and all of us.” She looked up, beyond her friend, and around the room for a bit. “Now, if we do this – it'd be great if you could somehow send a signal if you need help. If there's no way for that, I can always just time with my stopwatch – or you'd need one, too...” “Are you plannin' for somethin' we don't even know we're gonna be doin'?” she asked incredulously. “Well... yeah. What else am I going to do?” She stopped looking around the room to look back at her friend as she asked. Her eyes showed just how exhausted she was. Staying up to an absurd hour of the morning and then going on a lethal adventure and performing a surgery on her friend had taken a toll on her, and it was obvious. “You look like you really need some rest, to be honest. Weren't you stayin' up all night again before you went an' got me an' Pinks?” “Eheheh...” she gave a small nervous laugh. “Well, I'm not going to be getting much sleep with all that's going on...” She shook her head. “I want to at least learn what they heard about Rarity before going to sleep. No way I'm going to fall asleep waiting for that... Oh, I know what I could do! Wait, no, that'd be a tautology, I need two of the same object for that enchantment to work...” she eyed the hairband and stetson as she held them in front of her in her magic, her mind engineering a scheme to keep in touch with her friend soon to be a spy. Twilight had already finished her enchantments and fallen asleep by the time Astilbe got back from talking with the rest of the 'Ceruleans'. They'd not learned enough to know where to look yet, and with the clock ticking on Rarity's life, they finally managed to get Astilbe to concede to letting them go forward with their plan. It was hard, but after Twilight proved her enchanted items worked as intended, and reminded her of their promise to take her back to Equestria with them, she finally conceded to letting Applejack meet Crimson Fire and Scarlet. So in the afternoon rush, when guards were least likely to pull them out of a crowd for a routine check, and Scarlet would be returning home from school, Astilbe set out with Applejack in tow. “Never look confused or lost. Move with purpose. Never loiter,” the pink mare whispered as they'd set out. “That's usually what gets the guards to stop you and ask for ID.” AJ wore both her hairbands, but had left her Stetson and lasso with Twilight. Astilbe knew the streets, when school let out, and how long it took to get around, so she was able to intercept Scarlet walking home. The street was more sparse, but there was still enough traffic that the other world's Applebloom didn't notice them approaching from behind. She glanced over to her companion as they walked, speaking quietly but not whispering, “Okay, AJ. Follow her home, try not to draw too much attention to yourself. I imagine Crimson probably locks the door, so she's got to have a key or something. You'll need her to let you in, otherwise I would've taken you straight there. But now we part. Good luck, remember not to let her make a scene when she notices you, and don't lose that hairband.” “Thankya, for everything,” AJ give a quick, small hug. “I'll report back tonight.” “Seeya – or, I guess, hear you, then.” And they parted ways. As Astilbe was rushing back to the theater, she saw it, fresh and barely posted. The pink pony stopped on the crowded cobblestone street, looking at the poster as her expression fell. “Oh no,” she muttered in horror, resuming a slow walk to try to not draw any attention. But she couldn't take her eyes off the poster. Every so often another pony stopped to look at it as well. Some scoffed, others sounded excited, and others looked at it with fear. “I can't believe they let bring them into the square! Even with all that security...” one pony whispered to another as they walked away. There was no need to give a location. They were always done in central square. Underneath the text was a picture of a bound pony, horn severed, leaving a bloody, bandaged spot on her forehead. In black and white it would be hard for her remaining guests to tell exactly, so she wondered if they would be able to recognize the pony or not. Looking around, she waited for a few minutes, making a lap around the block to not seem too suspicious. Finally she took the poster down and packed it in a saddlebag in a single, swift motion as she passed it. Casually strolling away, she desperately hoped no guards or loyal citizens saw her take the poster. I just left Applejack in a web of spiders for nothing! she thought as she walked. No, what if the unicorn is a fake? But what if they can't find out in time? Should I even tell Twilight and her friends? They'll want to rescue her for sure, but that would be suicide! She paused as she recalled the picture again, a thought passing by her, wait, don't unicorns normally not have wings? Is Twilight some kind of... alicorn? Is that why she's so good at magic? Isn't that what Celestia was? Hah! Her mere existence is proof alicorns exist! She refocused her thoughts, anyways, so there's a risk to telling them. To themselves. But I can't just hold it from them. After all, that's what The Order is doing so terribly, after all. Controlling ponies, killing them. No, Twilight should be free to decide for herself what to do. And maybe she'll even learn if the unicorn is real or not from Crimson Fire. Gold Will seemed to drop some hints that he's in some special unit, so maybe his chances of knowing are better than I thought... Oh, Applejack, why did I let you do this? Oh, right, because of those great enchantments Twilight did and the promise of going to Equestria. At the very least, it'll be nice to have an agent close to some special unit major. As she walked down the cobblestone streets, she gave one last sideways glance at her saddlebag holding the stolen poster. Oh, please don't take this and do something stupid, Twilight... But maybe if anypony can do something so insane as crashing a spectacular, you can.