//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixty Six, How Low Did She Get?: One-hundred-thousand Feet. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Five minutes later, Airship Mauled, Fluttershy- “Um... is this limbo the same kind of place that Starswirl and the other pillars of Equestria ended up at?” It sounded to me like Jade could use more hugs after her first few days in that place. “Were they aware of any time passing?” She asked and I just shook my head no. “Then it wasn’t likely limbo and more like purgatory, if time stopped for all of them and then restarted the second they came out of there.” “That is the way Somnambula tells it, thousands of years later and missing those of her past and yet happy to meet an old friend.” Sekhet chuckled. I still don’t think her sister Baast liked me very much, but was at least willing to be cordial. My cutie mark still hasn’t signaled the end of my friendship mission, so I think I needed to have a chat with Baast or give Jade my support. “Now where was I?” Asked Jade. “So you were talking about starting to get into the philosophy of tic-tac-toe on the third day and how it might relate to your situation?” Fizzy was listening intently to Jade, it was nice that Jade was back and made her happy. She obviously wasn’t going to miss a single word from someone she missed. “Keep going Jade, I’m interested to hear what happened to you.” “You and the rest of us Fizzle.” Potassium Permanganate stated, everyone that lived here was taking a day off to listen to Jade’s tale. -Limbo, possibly third day, Jade- Over the last few days I watched the peach pit partly buried in the purple sand and was soaking in my blood puddle, I was also trying to enlighten myself on this situation while I was doing this. My clone walked in a single direction for most of that time, leaving behind a solid straight line of paw prints in the sand. Third day or at least I thought it was. Still no need for food, water, sustenance or feeling the need to use the bathroom. I wasn’t particularly bothered by the lack of needing to use the massive amounts of oddly colorful ‘kitty litter’ around me. As soon as I woke up for that given definition of a day, I dropped the magical alchemy sustain and immediately started it up again. My clone was back at my side in an instant and from there we started playing tic-tac-toe. My hydra scale clone apparently has a really good range, when they don’t exhaust your energy for using them for protracted amounts of time. What my clone saw was endless starless sky and nothing purple dunes, no wind or anything to mar all the tracks she left behind. What? Oh… I wanted to grow more peaches in our fruit grove. Had it on me with a few snacks and some other things. It’s surprising that earth ponies can cut the fruit growing time in half just by living near fruit bearing plants. Can I just say that the fruit grove is come along surprisingly well Mr. Refreshment? So I guess Wary Berry actually likes… nope you still apparently hate fruit with a passion. That’s why you’re the best quality control we have. We shall continue our mutual disagreement then. I was stuck with a few things, including my new weapon that would have been more effective than my knife against more problematic targets. Well, I’m mostly afraid to use my collapsible ten foot pole for combat… of course I know how to use it, I just don’t want it to be eaten by a blob monster. You still haven’t given up on that Jacky, really?! You seriously didn’t let go of that, but you forgot to mention knowing that I was still around to anyone outside your crew? Unbelievable. Anyway I didn’t have time to pull my new weapon out when the assassin was coming at me agressively, plus there’s a little bit of setup for it. I was practicing with it while helping Daring out with the dark magic artifacts she needed destroyed. The assassin, Obelus, would have likely knocked it away and then I wouldn’t have had it for later. I had all the time in the world to practice with my weapon now and I would definitely get in that practice. Now let’s get this back on track, I was in the middle of something like my one hundredth game of tic-tac-toe. I was thinking of my situation given there was nothing for miles in every direction, I know because I eventually checked them all and my clone confirmed it. This is where I started to philosophize on why tic-tac-toe couldn’t even be called a game to myself. “It’s not really a game, because it always benefits the person who goes first as they get five moves over the second person’s four by going first. It’s ultimately a time waster and is otherwise impossible to win if both players are too smart, since the game will always end in a draw no matter what.” There I sat with my clone drawing out another tic-tac-toe board in the sand. “The second player can’t win unless the one going first lets them, the first person to go is effectively the only person that can win and basically has the initiative. The game is always entirely on the first person to make a move, they can always decide if the second player wins. It’s the same with chess, the second player will always make less or an equal amount of moves than the one who goes first in a game and will always be reactive to what said person going first does. The only difference between the two is the level of complexity.” “So it’s a pointless endeavor to play tic-tac-toe unless you intend to waste time and we don’t even have that to waste.” Clone Jade was making a good point here, we didn’t have time to waste in the most literal meaning of it. “By the logic I just posed, if I added a column, row or both, then would the tic-tac-toe game actually be complex enough to be more interesting to play or would the results be the same? At least it would add a little complexity, but I can see your point by mentioning chess… the assassin had the initiative, we got our butts handed to us.” “In chess, white always moves first. So they are the aggressors in the situation when you compare it to starting an actual war. Plenty of games tend to involve someone moving first and the second trying to react to the first, football comes to mind. The only difference is that tic-tac-toe isn’t complex enough to be called a game. Speaking of complex, what was it that we used to get here in the first place again?” It was at that point that I had a thought in my mind, I snapped my claw. “That hourglass was some bad dark magic, but it didn’t transport us through time.” “No, it’s more like it transported us outside of time, still don’t honestly know about space or what all this purple sand is about.” Giving it some more thought I eventually came to a conclusion. “So I know how dark magic is said to twist things, what are the chances that a magical artifact made with dark magic twists its purpose?” “About as good as anything else I have to go off of, but we destroyed that and it’s why we ended up here remember?” My clone shrugs to me and looks about as lost as I do. “I’m still trying to figure out what’s powering us in this place or how we’re staying hydrated, with how long you’ve had me out we should be dying from lack of food, energy or potable water. Also as a thing of vague interest, despite losing a lot of blood for the pool down there… our blood has somehow magically replenished itself.” “Yeah, those are some pretty strange side effects of physically being here. Any ideas or further thoughts on that.” I watched as Clone Jade just shrugged at me again. I decided to sing a song to pass the time, since I didn’t know what to do about acknowledging that the hourglass was also a thing that saved my life and involved dark magic. -Break- “See, not all dark magic is evil.” Oleander stated proudly. “It dropped her into a place that likely drove her mad, THAT’S PLENTY EVIL TO ME.” Fred responded. -End Break- “Oh here we go… yeah~!”My clone started it off tapping out a rhythm on her thighs. “Here I am, stuck in a wasteland full of sand~. I can’t get out, I find myself alone again~!” I whined. “What, could I possibly find to do all the way out here~? When I’m so worried about being dimensionally screwed as I fear~!” “My mind is going to break~! Being alone I cannot shake~. Is this my destiny~? To caterwaul brokenly~! I can handle some physical pain, but being here is a mental strain~!” I screamed and clutched my head. “So what can I do, when I have nothing but sand to work with and~…” “Maybe we can make a plan, but come my friend let me think again, there’s got to be something I can think to do-do-do~!” We sang at the same time while raising our clenched fists to the sky. “I can lose my mind~. I only have so much time~. What am I to do, if I can’t keep off all that grime~?” I sat down and stared at my blood pool as my Clone hummed the tune I was thinking of. “I… don’t want to lose being who I am~. Even if I might never come to see my home or family again~!” “My mind is going to flake~! Being alone I cannot take~. Will this get the best of me~? That I caterwaul on key~. I can handle intense amounts of pain, but this place will drain my brain~!” I rubbed at my head trying to come up with a plan. “Where am I going to go from here, when there’s no place to go but down and…” “Come on and think of a plan, I know I just have to think again, but I’ve really got nothing boo hoo-hoo-hoo~!” We intoned while crying in stereo. “So is this it~? Me just throwing a fit~. Can’t believe in myself, I’m feeling like quite a git~!” I propped my head up on hands as I slumped and stared at the pool of red. “What, is there possibly left to explore, when I can’t see the answer to where I’m being stored~?” “I’m in a big scary box~. Covered with at least several locks~. What was my destiny~? I caterwaul hopelessly~!” My clone sang, but then her tone shifted. “If there was one thing to me, I don’t give up so easily~! Now come on and show me what I’m made of to come and see that~…” “This is not the end of me, this cannot and will not be, just wait everyone you will all see-see-see~!” Singing in stereo was a little odd, much less using my clone to work myself up when I didn’t have a plan for once. We move closer to the blood pool and sat down next to each other. “I’m the cat in the box, I can’t think outside of it because there is nothing but empty space beyond. I’m alive when I should be dead and this dimension is actually running with me in it paradoxically to that fact.” My clone sat down with me and started kicking her feet. “Come on now, I’m Jaded ‘Freaking’ La Perm! What do we know about this place and what can we exploit?” “That it’s a flat earthers dream and they would love to live in an endless expanse like this?” The response I received from myself a second later was a loud snort of laughter. -Airship Mauled, Fizzle- I wasn’t the only that snorted or laughed at that. It was a bit funny and I can see why Jade went there, she had to lighten the mood for herself. I actually had people I could talk to and interact with, she was by herself for who knows how long. Jade wasn’t laughing though, Maries and I noticed that almost immediately. We looked to one another, nodded and then moved a bit closer to her. “I descended into madness soon after the first month, but first I had to test the properties of the purple sand with a magical alchemy and learn how to wield my new weapon a little bit better.” So it took a month for Jade to break, especially in a place where there was absolutely nothing to do aside from seek enlightenment apparently. How mentally healthy was Jade exactly at this moment? If it’s anything like me getting desperate to fix my horn… “Since my curiosity couldn’t possibly kill me and death wasn’t a factor or was even there to take me in for doing something idiotic. I got a little creative with things, pain certainly still existed though. Didn’t stop me from doing crazy things.” “Are you going to explain what that weapon is?” Flamberge asked as he snuggled up against Sweetcakes. “Only when it becomes pertinent.” Which didn’t seem to be now to Jade. I at least knew she had her gunbai on her, but that wasn’t it. “Now skipping ahead to when I finally decided to test the sand around me, I had spent most of the month training with the weapon and it was a pretty good distraction. I couldn’t keep practicing with it forever though.” -Approximately a day before spending one entire month in Limbo, Jade- I had a fist full of sand, it was fine and flowed like water. I cast with it and the sand didn’t react, I sustained and still no reaction. I had finally worked up the courage to find out if the sand was special and nothing happened. I let the sand flow out of my fingers and onto the ground, I looked over to my clothing and supplies sitting a fair distance from me just in case the sand decided to explode violently. You never know what could happen with magical alchemy, which is why I had nothing on me. I made my way over to the blood pool and sat next to it to look at the blood soaked peach pit. After a time, I stood up and let out a scream that echoed across the endless sandy sea. Nothing was happening and I was the most interesting thing here, this place was really getting to me. Seeking enlightenment wasn’t helping much, but I did learn a few things about myself. I sat down, inhaled and thought about our trip to the chaos realm, this was basically it’s polar opposite. The chaos realm was interesting and very weird, this was boring and lifeless. I felt like I wanted to snap. I’m not entirely proud of what I did next, but I made sure that my supplies were next to the blood pool, I left them sitting there and then left to go seriously snap mentally. The very first thing I did in my insanity is reproduce the entirety of ‘Hinny in the Hills’, as told by a series of sand sculptures I made using my spit as a binding agent. That took up five months.