Calcium Echelon looked from Rarity to Rainbow, the slightest hint of annoyance on his face. “Managers of equal rank always make things complicated…”
Rarity sighed. “I am Rari-“
“I know who you are, Dust already told me. What I need you to do is to answer a few questions. We must determine your role in the Mesh.”
Rarity expected Rainbow to blow a gasket and shout something along the lines of ‘we don’t have a role in the Mesh!’ followed by a suitably childish insult. However, Rainbow managed to carry herself with significantly more dignity. “Mr. Echelon, we are from outside the Mesh and we plan to return from where we came. Our purpose, while here, should be to assist in any way we can to catch the thief who has our device.”
“How does that further the upkeep of the Mesh?”
“Well, we get rid of a thief?” Rainbow said. “And… ah, right, we can get you more resources and ponies. No offense, but you seem to be running a tight ship here.”
“…Ship?”
“It’s an expression. A… machine used to transport things!”
Echelon nodded, taking the information as it came.
“And yeah, we can get you things like that, but we need to return home first.”
“What else can you give us?”
Rainbow paused. “Well, let’s see, workers, friends, technology, food, more trees, better living conditions, magic…”
“Magic?”
Rainbow nodded. “In other worlds, there’s this… I guess you could call it a force that’s everywhere. It’s not in the Mesh, but if it were, Fluttershy and I would be able to fly and Rarity here would be able to do all sorts of stuff! Lasers, lift stuff with her mind, barriers… It’s pretty awesome.”
It was at this point Rarity realized she was letting Rainbow do the talking. She chided herself for not getting a single word in edgewise, but also realized that Rainbow was handling it… surprisingly well. Obnoxious behavior was not an integral part of her method of communication, surprisingly. She was answering Echelon’s questions and treating him with respect while putting a positive spin on her own words. Rarity was impressed.
Admittedly, on second thought this shouldn’t be all that surprising. Rainbow was an explorer of many distant worlds, she probably talked to a lot of ponies in charge in one way or another and would naturally gain an understanding of how such conversations went. Stars knew why she didn’t talk to Rarity that way...
“Explain to me how you access these other worlds,” Echelon said.
“Okay… but I’m not a scientist.”
“Scientist?”
“…Mechanic. Not a mechanic. I don’t know how the machine works, I’m not the one who built it, the mechanics back home build it, then they give it to me.”
“Why would you not know about your own device?”
“My job is to explore and undertake dangerous missions, not build devices. Sorry. These two don’t know either, they had no clue other worlds were a thing until yesterday.”
“…Yesterday?”
“I think she means last cycle,” Dust interceded.
Echelon nodded. “Can you tell me what these other worlds are like?”
“Well, there aren’t gears in them for one…” Rainbow furrowed her brow. “I’ll tell you about my home. We live in a world with grass – small, green things that stick up out of the ground – and three kinds of ponies. Yours are called earth ponies, I’m a pegasus, and those like Rarity are unicorns. There are other races, too, things that aren’t ponies – dragons, griffons, kirin, yaks, changelings… all amazing creatures, each of them with their own little kingdoms! Everyone used to be separate and angry at each other, but we’re all united now under Merodi Universalis – the collection of different worlds I represent. There’s a lot of magic in my home, and there is an open, blue sky with a large ball of fire called the sun that gives the world light and heat! And… yeah, sorry, most of this doesn’t mean much to you, does it?”
“Some of it does,” Echelon said. “I find the sun… particularly interesting.”
“Most worlds have them.” She pointed to Fluttershy and Rarity. “Both of theirs has one as well.”
“…Maybe we’re missing our sun?” Dust asked Echelon. “We might need to repair it.”
“We should not jump to conclusions, Dust.”
“Aww…”
Echelon turned back to Rainbow. “Thank you for your time. I believe I have enough information to bring to the other managers. We will make a decision before the cycle is out. One thing I can tell you for certain is that efforts to catch the thief are already underway. We cannot have an unknown running around the Mesh.”
“…So what do we do until then?” Rarity asked.
“Wait here,” Echelon said, trotting up the stairs without another word.
“Sorry, he’s all business!” Dust laughed nervously. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can, okay? We’ll get this sorted out!” She pranced after him.
The three otherworlders were alone again.
“Rainbow! That was… great!” Fluttershy beamed.
Rarity nodded slowly. “I am forced to admit… you handled yourself well.”
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Probably wouldn’t have if you hadn’t knocked me off my high horse.”
“I… what?”
“Expression. You put me in my place? Took me down a peg?”
“Ah.” Rarity smiled coyly. “Glad I could be of assistance.”
Rainbow nodded. “Seriously, thanks. When… when I’m not around my friends, there’s nobody to keep me in check. I owe you for not putting up with my nonsense.” She extended a hoof. “Friends?”
Rarity looked at the hoof for a moment. She still wasn’t sure she liked Rainbow all that much. Even if the pegasus was able to push her arrogance aside for the sake of appearances, she was still a mare with an immense ego and a dismissive attitude.
But could Rarity really blame her? Not many ponies had the strength of the Enchantress.
She decided no, she couldn’t blame Rainbow. She was a product of her world, just as Rarity was a product of the desert.
Rarity touched her hoof to Rainbow’s. “Friends.”
When they tried to shake their hooves slid off each other since there was no magic in the world to hold them together.
Fluttershy giggled, prompting a mild blush from Rarity and a facehoof from Rainbow.
~~~
The moment Temple Brick started going on about “the great Fluttershy,” Pinkie noticed the Red twins excuse themselves, grimaces on their faces. They clearly missed their friend dearly and didn’t want to hear about her while she was still missing.
I can only imagine what “missing” means in this world of monsters…
“Fluttershy…” Brick paused in the middle of his monologue. “Such an inspiring story. Born with a broken mind that would not, could not let her act in combat, tragically paired with the heart of a hunter. She could never face the monsters…” He gestured at her workshop, adorned with weapons and magic. “As you can see, she found a way to overcome that! She may not be able to fight, but she can assist others in the eternal struggle against the beasts! Even when she is… away, her glorious creations continue to aid us in our struggle!”
“That’s a beautiful story!” Pinkie said.
“It is. For a mare not devoted to any living goddess, it’s even more impressive. …If only she would stop fixating on Saturn, she could receive so many blessings for her determination alone…”
“Saturn?” Twilight asked, suddenly curious.
“The dead goddess of battle, lost in the early age of pony to the king of monsters. She has all but vanished from history; I only know the story due to my position. Only the largest temples have altars to her, and even then only out of respect. There is no power in them.” He looked Twilight up and down. “You do not know of the gods, do you?”
“No, but I certainly wish to…”
“Hold up,” Pinkie said, raising a hoof. “We’re just going to gloss over the fact that this Fluttershy vanished like, a day ago? The same time we all appeared in the desert?”
Twilight glanced to Pinkie. “You… may have a point.”
“Of course I have a point!” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “You followed her magic signature here! She makes enchanted magi-weapon-thingies, of course she’d have a lot of it in her! Fluttershy was in the desert.”
“And she’s probably in the Mesh, now,” Applejack added.
“You know where Fluttershy is?” Brick asked, eyes wide.
“Probably,” Pinkie answered. “We just… can’t get there right now. We were hoping to find some clues here.”
“Do you know anything about dimensional travel?” Twilight asked.
Brick fixed her with a blank look.
“Other worlds? Timelines? Places beyond this realm? No? Never mind then.”
“But I was right!” Pinkie asserted. “Fluttershy is important.”
Twilight groaned. “This isn’t one of your novels, Pinkie, there’s no guarantee she’s important…”
“She’s a world-famous weaponsmith that slays monsters and has a wonderfully dramatic and heartwarming story! That sounds like it’s important to me. And you are an amazing space queen who brought a galaxy together in Unity despite all the odds!”
“What about you and Applejack?” Twilight asked, accusatory. “You’re just normal people in your worlds.”
“Uh…” Pinkie didn’t know what to say to that.
Applejack sighed. “I’m the only pony in the entire Mesh to have grown an apple tree. I am in charge of the Mesh’s only orchard.”
Twilight twitched. “And… she is…”
Pinkie frowned. “Twilight… what’s wrong…?” She walked up to the alicorn, frowning. “I’m just trying to help us figure out what’s going on. Something grabbed us from our different worlds for some purpose.”
“There can’t be a purpose,” Twilight said, dismissively. “It has to be random.”
“Why?”
“Because the entire experiment was a big messed up accident!” Twilight lit her horn, creating a holographic image of an hourglass-like machine. “We were under attack and the dimensional device activated under unknown circumstances, triggering a fissure! There were no controlled variables, no predictive algorithms, and nothing keeping it in check! There shouldn’t be a reason – it shouldn’t even have chosen individual ponies, it was just as likely it’d tear somepony in half!”
Pinkie and Applejack stared at Twilight in shock.
Twilight folded her wings and regained control of herself. “…It’s random. We just got lucky.”
Pinkie frowned. “Twilight…”
“Lucky.” She turned to Brick, frowning. “I’d like to see your temple now. Learn about your pantheon.”
Brick nodded. “Right this way… My assistant, Nod, will prepare the site for us…”
Pinkie held out a hoof to go after Twilight, but Applejack held her back. “She needs time to think.”
Pinkie frowned. “What?”
“She doesn’t see the world… worlds, as one big… Mesh?” Applejack cocked her head. “Sorry, I don’t really have the words.”
“She doesn’t think everything has a purpose, basically?”
“I guess that works,” Applejack said with a nod. “She clearly thinks she has a purpose. ‘Space queen’ and all that nonsense. You were making her think we might not be completely useless.”
Pinkie frowned. “That should be a good thing.”
“For us? Yeah. For her? If she’s as old as she says she is… it gets harder to change your rhythm with age. More painful, too.”
“…I’ll be there for her. When she comes back.”
“You’ve got an innocent heart, Pinkie.” Applejack smiled. “That’s good.”
“Is it? I say a lot of things and mess up a lot of the time…” Pinkie giggled nervously. “Ponies have a hard time taking me seriously in person, you know? I’ve received a lot of letters about ‘hey, P. D. Pie, you sound so thoughtful in your books, why don’t you bring that out to reality’?”
“Why don’t you?”
“I don’t have the foggiest idea!” Pinkie shrugged. “You’d think as well as I know my characters I’d at least gain some understanding of myself, right? Not really. I keep surprising myself. I mean, really, why haven’t I completely lost it yet? I almost got eaten by a giant lizard! Ponies don’t have to deal with that! I just write books and think about stories…”
“And maybe that’s why you’re here.” Applejack adjusted her hat, thinking about the words. “You don’t have a special story. But you know about special stories. You’re the one who can look at a gear and see what direction a gear at the edge of your field of view is going to turn.”
“Huh…” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. “That might be it! Thanks, Applejack!” She pulled her friend into a tight hug.
“Breathing… needed… to… survive…” Applejack gagged.