//------------------------------// // Haunted // Story: Amber Ashes // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “…It’s my fault.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened instantly. She pushed the gruesome image of Bolt being skewered out of her mind and focused on Pinkie. “Pinkie, listen to me, it is not your fault, it is never your fault. We were attacked, we fought as hard as we could, and one of us didn’t make it. Do you understand me?” “I brought her there!” Pinkie shouted. “He… he tricked me! He used my words… my words…” Her voice became hollow. “I’m responsible for every death in that world…” “Pinkie! Snap out of it!” Pinkie didn’t snap out of it. She didn’t even notice her glasses fall off her face and hit the grass below. Fluttershy put the lenses back on Pinkie’s face. “Pinkie. It’s. Not. Your. Fault.” “I had her find me…” “We sent her to you.” “She wouldn’t have been able to find me if I hadn’t done the stupid thing with the connections! That plot thread came out of nowhere! Nowhere!” She curled herself into a ball, shaking tears out of herself. “Nowhere…” Fluttershy bit her lip – this wasn’t a normal case of self-blame. Something else had shaken Pinkie to her core, and Fluttershy didn’t know what it was. She glanced to Applejack. The orange mare had a haunted look on her face, but she didn’t look like she was about to break down crying. “Don’t… worry about me. Isn’t the worst I’ve seen.” Fluttershy nodded. “Sorry…” She turned back to Pinkie. “Pinkie, I know it’s hard, but she was working to save u-“ “I wrote it, Fluttershy. I wrote everything. My word is law!” She began laughing like a demented hyena. Then she fell to the ground, front hooves pressed together, muttering incoherently. Almost as if she were before an altar to the gods, but Fluttershy didn’t see any of those around. Pinkie wasn’t going to be responsive for a while. Fluttershy opted to lay down next to her and lay a wing over the pink pony’s back. She looked up to Applejack. “What now?” Applejack looked around for a moment, picking up the dimensional device. “We still have this. Could probably go back… they need to know what happened to Bolt.” Fluttershy nodded. “But the creature…” “We can close it quickly.” Applejack tossed her the device and she caught it in her free wing. Fluttershy did what she had done last time – adjusted some dials to make the same portal except in reverse. She tapped the screen, prepared to tap it again… except the portal didn’t appear in the alley. It appeared outside a donut shop. She closed it anyway. “…No sign of it.” “Then it’s probably as safe as usual…” Fluttershy frowned. “We’d have to steal something to get back to the Thieves’ Guild. Or find a thief.” “How’d we find a thief?” Pinkie started giggling. “Pink sprinkle deluxe, hold the underglaze. Order the right donut and you get anything! How do I know that? Cause I thought it was funny!” She broke down into tears again. “…Poor thing…” Fluttershy said, patting her back with her wing. “I think she might be right,” Applejack said. “...What?” “She had a… skill. Of knowing what was going to be important and what wasn’t. I bet if I go to that donut shop and order what she says, I’ll find myself a Thief.” “How would she know that?” “She just knows things.” “I make things,” Pinkie whimpered. Fluttershy glanced at the trembling pink mare in concern. “…Knowledge can be a curse. But… we would be fools not to use it. Applejack, think you can go back to New Alice City and tell the Thieves what happened? I don’t want to take Pinkie back there, and I don’t want to leave her here.” Applejack nodded. “Will do.” She strapped the dimensional device to the hoof opposite her axe. A short amount of time and a pop later she was gone, leaving Pinkie and Fluttershy alone in the park, sitting on the grass as the sun lowered toward the horizon. “…You’re home,” Fluttershy said, eventually. All Pinkie did was nod. “Do you live nearby?” Pinkie looked up for a moment, taking in the surroundings. She found an office building at the horizon. She nodded in response. “Then hold on. I’m taking you home. You don’t even have to say anything – just point.” Fluttershy hooked her hooves under Pinkie’s front legs and lifted her into the air, glad that her armor was still light in this world. She flew above the trees of the park and looked around. Pinkie pointed at a large road covered in dozens of horseless carriages similar to the ones in New Alice City, but much brighter, less menacing, and noisier. “Hey! Get away from the road, flipper!” A stallion shouted from his carriage. “Sorry!” Fluttershy called down, moving to the side of the road. “Heh…” Pinkie said halfheartedly. “You’re making such a scene…” Fluttershy noticed that many ponies of the city were holding rectangular things in their hooves and pointing them at her, or staring at her in shock. “There are other pegasi here…” “Yeah, but that armor, and the weapons.” “Oh…” Fluttershy blushed slightly. “Should I try to sneak?” “Too late now…” Pinkie indicated Fluttershy should take a hard left, so she did, entering a much smaller road. She liked this city a whole lot better than New Alice City. The ponies here were alive and bright. The carriages were happy, the buildings were exceedingly varied, and there was green everywhere. This city had been built into a forest. Fluttershy had seen a few similar things in her world… though nothing quite so big, nor as advanced. She saw so many things that made no sense to her. Had she not been carrying Pinkie, she probably would have stopped to talk to everypony she could, learning everything. This world didn’t feel dark. It felt… alive. There was no apocalyptic danger here. It was a nice break from the dead, dying, or disturbed worlds she had been jumping through ever since she’d been taken from her own. A few crisses and crosses later, they arrived at a large pink house nestled between two abodes of much duller coloration. P. D. Pie was written on the mailbox outside, as well as a sign that said Parties are held downtown. I’ll see you there! Fluttershy landed on the steps, gently setting Pinkie down. She knocked on the door gingerly. A brown stallion who had clearly been crying not too long ago opened the door. “I’m sorry, I don’t know an-“ His eyes locked on Pinkie. “H-hazel…?” Pinkie said, looking up – almost in disbelief. Hazel pulled Pinkie into an intense hug, “P-pinkie… you’re back…” “I… I am.” Pinkie said, returning the hug. Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile. ~~~ Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow stepped through the portal to New Alice City. “…The magic here is disgusting,” Twilight spat as she removed the cables from her horn. “I could have told you that,” Rarity muttered, rubbing her own horn to put it at ease. “I shall check in on you every now and then,” the Unity Helix called from the other side. “But I do not have permanent nodes across dimensions, so I cannot keep constant tabs on you.” “Got it. See ya,” Twilight waved. Pop went the portal. They stood alone on a street. Rarity watched the carriages go by without much thought. She hated the feel of this place, best not to dwell on it. Get the others, complete the Elements of Harmony, and get out. Burn Rx’len to oblivion somehow. It was a shaky plan, Rarity had to admit, but at least it was a plan. Beat wandering the desert aimlessly, that was for certain. “Hey, hey you!” Rainbow called to one of the passing ponies. “Have you seen a pegasus in armor flying about?” “Why fly? Even the ground is better than us.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Geez, that’s depressing…” Rarity looked up at the moon. She quickly decided that had been a foolish idea and looked at the ground. These drifting ponies certainly had the right idea, it was best to forget the massive thing hanging over their heads existed. It might notice. “What do you think’s wrong with them?” Rainbow asked. “They’re dead,” Twilight reported, grimacing. “Whatever’s moving them isn’t the soul of a pony.” “…Yikes…” A world of ghosts. Fitting, in a way. Maybe it would be their final resting place? Or maybe it was just here to prove to Rarity that, yes, even worlds with magic could be just as screwed up as her own. What worlds had she seen? Her own, the Mesh, this city… all were broken. She knew enough of Fluttershy’s to know it was broken as well. Unity didn’t seem broken, though… unless it was something more subtle? “All those cars are identical,” Twilight commented. “Ghosts?” Rainbow asked. “Yeah.” “Anything that isn’t?” “The walls. Which aren’t fully locked to three dimensional space.” “This place just keeps getting better and better…” Victory. What did victory even mean? It was always out of reach for Rarity. Even in the past, when she’d thought herself close to succeeding, she now knew she hadn’t even been close. Rx’len was down in the bowels of her world, eating it, and she’d known nothing about it. What had all of it meant then? All of that suffering? Was she just… waiting for the little prophecy to come to pass? Waiting for Twilight to finish her silly little invention? All those struggles... To be fair, she’d known they were pointless for a while now, but knowing exactly how pointless still got to her. She could never have hoped to do anything to the monster destroying her world. Even now, it didn’t feel like she could do anything. Sure, she stopped the Starcross. But they weren’t her problem, now were they? They were Rainbow’s. And even then, they hadn’t found her. Rarity scowled. Everything was that mare’s fault. She killed the Stars, creating the Runes, and if there were no Runes there would be no eldritch creature eating her planet at all. Would there be a world at all without the Runes? Rarity dismissed the thought. “What are you mares doing out at a time like this?” The three mares turned to see a squad of four ponies in blue hats walk up to them in perfect time. “Not even subtle,” Rarity commented. “All of you are quite dead.” “So?” the four asked in unison. “We still want to know what you’re doing.” “Officers,” Twilight declared, clearing her throat. “We are explorers from another world, a realm beyond this city you call home. I am Empress Twilight Sparkle…” The moment she spoke her name, Rarity could feel the power come out of her mouth sending ripples through the air around them. The shock of the world’s reaction stopped Twilight’s speech mid-sentence. One of the officers took a blood-red pen out of their hat and started writing on their leg. “No!” Rarity shouted, casting an explosion spell on the pen. Her horn screamed at her for using the magic of this world, but she pushed through. The officer screamed, vanishing in a puff of smoke. The three other officers all took out pens as well, scribbling on their legs. Rarity exploded one, Rainbow took the other. Twilight lit her horn to take out the last – but she found she couldn’t. The officer knew her name. She was powerless. “Well this seems to happen a lot…” Twilight grumbled. The last officer held up his leg, showing Twilight’s name scrawled along it in dripping, bloody ink. “You will be one of us, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight screamed, crumpling to the ground. Her eyes had gone completely white and every one of her limbs was twitching involuntarily. A brilliant beam of purple energy shot into the air, becoming a beacon. The officer seemed confused at this. Rarity didn’t wait for the officer to figure anything out – she blew it into smoke. “Twilight!” Twilight twitched, letting out a gurgling noise. Rarity wasn’t even sure she could hear her. “Okay…” Rainbow looked around, concerned. “Now would be a good time for other-me to show up…” “The Blue Bolt’s on a bit of a quest,” a soft brown pegasus mare who hadn’t been there a moment before said. “I’m the Auburn Crown, and whatever you do never speak your names aloud.” “Figured that out!” Rainbow shouted. “Now what do we do with her!?” “I have no idea what’s wrong with her.” “She said her name!” Auburn stared at Twilight in shock. “She’s… resisting?” “Resisting what?” Rarity demanded. “When the officers discover your name, they make you one of them… the process is supposed to be instant! I… I can’t even imagine… How is she even doing such a thing?” “She’s really, really magical,” Rainbow pointed at the beacon. “Oh.” Auburn let out a tense breath. “That’s… going to draw the darkness…” ~~~ Twilight screamed. She knew full well she didn’t actually have access to her body, but her mental projection of herself was certainly screaming at the top of her nonexistent lungs. At first, she thought she was using her magic to defend herself, powering through the assault of the world itself upon her. But, as time went on, she realized her magic would have been worse than useless against the pressure of the world itself. Its magic was against her… Her spirit, tens of thousands of years old, was all that kept the attack at bay. She forced her spirit to look up. “You dare try to extinguish an immortal’s soul?” There was nothing upward. And then there was the moon – and the moon was an eye. “I DO NOT EXTINGUISH, MERELY SUPPLANT.” Twilight didn’t flinch. “They’ll come for you.” “WITH YOU, YOUR RACE WILL COME TO MY CITY. ALL RACES WILL COME TO MY CITY.” “Your city stinks.” “MY CITY IS DYNAMIC.” “It’s dead.” “IT IS LIFE STRUGGLING AMONGST DEATH. A BEAUTY SO HARD TO MAINTAIN, BUT SO WORTHWHILE.” “What the heck are you!?” “I AM THE MOON.” “No name? Rx’len?” “RX’LEN IS MY CREATOR. IT IS A FOOL.” Twilight screamed at the moon. “Go destroy it!” “IT WILL EITHER DESTROY ITSELF OR LEAVE IN TIME. NEITHER REQUIRE ME TO ACT.” Twilight felt as though her heart was being squeezed by a thousand tiny lobster claws. “I… we won’t…” “YOU WILL. ALL WILL. EVEN THE GODS OF THE OTHER WORLD WILL BOW TO ME, ASSUMING RX’LEN DOESN’T DESTROY EVERYTHING.” “We’ll stand against you!” “YOU ARE AMUSING.” Twilight laughed. “Well, yeah, I try.” “YOU ARE TO BE MY GREATEST ASPECT, TWILIGHT SPARKLE.” Twilight wailed in pain as her name was used to beat her spirit into a pulp. “YOU WILL DEFEND THIS CITY FROM OTHERWORLDLY ENCROACHERS LIKE THE STARCROSS AND THE MERODI. YOU WILL SHAPE THE FOLDING REALMS INTO PERFECTION. ETERNAL STRUGGLE.” “No!” “YOUR ONLY WAY OUT IS TO KILL YOUR OWN SPIRIT. AND YOU WILL NOT DOOM YOUR RACE SO BRAZENLY.” “You… I…” Twilight’s spirit felt like a crumpled ball of paper. “I am not… the strongest…” “I DO NOT NEED THE STRONGEST. I MERELY NEED OPPORTUNITY.” “No…” Twilight whimpered. “I won’t.” “YOU WILL.” “Somebody… help…” Twilight wheezed. “Get me out of the universe…” “YOU WERE THE ONE WITH THE DIMENSIONAL SPELL. THEY CANNOT REMOVE YOU.” Twilight spoke something, but it was so quiet that not even she was sure she said actually anything. “GIVE IN.” “I don’t think so.” A simplistic, wireframe eye appeared below the perceptions of Twilight’s spirit, bolstering her with a burst of psychic energy. “U… Unity!” Twilight called. “I did not expect you to get into so much trouble so quickly,” the Unity Helix said. “SHE IS MINE.” “I will fight you for her,” the artificial intelligence said. “I have at my disposal an entire galaxy’s worth of armaments and a decent amount of research on dimensional instability from the Starcross files. I could end you.” “I AM THE UNIVERSE. YOURS WOULD FALL AS MINE WOULD. THE RISK IS TOO HIGH, MACHINE.” “Is it? I don’t think about it that way. My purely logical calculations say this isn’t worth it, that we should just let you have her and block all access to other universes off. But what kind of person would I be if I did that?” “YOU ARE A COMPUTER DESIGNED TO LEAD AND BRING ABOUT CHANGE. YOU ARE TO DO THE BEST FOR THE PEOPLE.” “True. Very true. Except, well, I wouldn’t exactly be a very popular leader if I was a droning, empty, methodical voice, now would I?” The Unity Helix’s eye expanded several times in size. “There is more to life than shallow, logical experiences, and I recognize this. I was designed to recognize this. And Twilight Sparkle is my oldest friend. I will not forsake my spark of something more just because I feel threatened by a schoolyard bully.” Twilight blinked. “Unity…” “YOUR FOOLISHNESS AMAZES ME.” “We conquered the galaxy, didn’t we? Seems foolishness is successful.” “RX’LEN LET YOU.” The Unity Helix and Twilight were stunned into silence. “HE HAS INFECTED ALL THE WORLDS HE COULD. DO YOU THINK YOURS IS ANY DIFFERENT? I AM THE PLAGUE FOR THIS WORLD. YOU ARE THE PLAGUE FOR YOUR OWN. YOU BRING LIFE TO SUCH A HEIGHT IT BECOMES POINTLESS, SOULLESS, BORING.” The eye of the moon focused on Twilight. “YOU HAVE FELT IT, AS TIME HAS GONE ON, IMMORTAL. YOUR WORLD HAS LOST THE SPARK IT HAD WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG. YOU WERE NOT JUST GETTING OLD. EVERYTHING WINDS DOWN AS CAPELLA IS DEVOURED, SAVE THE WORLD THAT NEEDS NO HELP DOING THAT.” “This changes nothing!” Twilight shouted, spirit full of strength once again. “So what if we’re some plague? We can change! We can see the problem and adjust!” She pointed a hoof at the moon. “And you can too! You call yourself a curse? Why be a curse? Destroy Rx’len! Go against what it wanted you to be!” There was silence in the dreamscape. “YOU ARE FREE TO GO,” the moon declared. “IT WOULD NOT BE WORTHWHILE TO FIGHT NOW. THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER.” Twilight woke up with a start in a place with dark sky and glowing trees. “Wh… what!?” A soft brown pegasus gasped. “You won!?” “I… I won!” Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. “I was worried there…” “Heh…” Twilight smirked. “The moon thinks it can use Twilight Sparkle’s name against her!? HA! THINK AGAIN!” She lifted her hoof into the air, prompting cheers from all the ponies around her. She ignored the nagging feeling in the back of her mind for now.