//------------------------------// // Chapter Eleven // Story: Chaos Runs Rampant // by RK_Striker_JK_5 //------------------------------// Rocks glided about Megan's head and body in slow loops, sometimes wavering but keeping on-course. She sat cross-legged on the dirt, eyes half-closed in concentration and sweat making her forehead glisten. “All right. I think I've got the basics of telekinesis down. Twilight Wish would be proud, I think.” 'Reflector', Megan's inner voice that had split off to help keep her going, spoke up, sounding through Megan's head. “We gotta show Twilight Sparkle this after. Okay, now let's move onto something a bit more advanced. Look around you, Megan. Concentrate on your eyes, on your mind. Don't just look for the matter. Look for the energy, the magic Discord used to build this place. Can you see it?” Megan's mouth quirked up at the word 'build'. I hope Mike's all right. Her eyes narrowed as she walked up to one of the walls and held a hand out. “I'm not sure. Gimme a minute, all right? I'm still wrapping my head around being able to lift stuff with my mind without my nose bleeding.” She held a hand up. “Pun not intended!” “I wouldn't dream of making such a joke. Never passed through my mind, or our mind, rather.” “Fine, whatever. Now if you'll excuse me?” Megan waited a handful of heartbeats before nodding. “Thank you.” She concentrated once more on the wall, on the wood and what lie beneath and above it. On what was there in every sense of the word. She looked at molecules, atoms, at the waves and particles going between them and– “Ah, no!” Megan screamed, clutching a hand to her eyes and stumbling back. She reached out with her free hand and grabbed the back of a chair, trying and partially succeeding in breaking her fall. “Too much! I can't look at that! I'm not even sure what I'm seeing!” “Whoa, whoa! What happened? What do you mean? Are you all right?” Megan sank to the floor and panted. She sucked in several deep breaths, finally calming down. “What I saw didn't make sense to me. Like, in those books by that Lovecraft fellow, where you look at something and it just feels wrong to you? That's what it was like when I looked at the magic holding this place together.” “Oh, dammit. That's right. You're-we're-still thinking like we're fully human, and even for a magical being like Twilight, it'd still probably cause a migraine. Sorry about that.” Megan lazily waved a hand in the air. “Well, to be fair you're a detached part of my mind talking back to me to get me off my butt with the whole 'magic' thing I've got going, now.” She paused. “And that was a sentence I just said. When did my life get so–” “You know enough when it got weird! Now all right, so magic sight in this environment is a bad idea. Again, sorry about that.” Megan grabbed onto the chair and used it as a brace to rise to her feet. “All right. Well, I think I've got an idea on what to try out, next.” She looked around. “I'm getting bored seeing this place. What say I figure out teleportation, get out of here and help stop Discord?” There was silence from Reflector for almost a minute before she haltingly spoke. “Are you serious? Teleportation? One of the more dangerous and risky spells out there? You'll be lucky not to tele-frag us into a wall or even worse!” “What could be worse than that?” “To quote Twilight on the subject, you don't wanna know. Anyway, you just learned how to levitate water. Now you're gonna poof yourself to... where, even?” Megan rubbed her chin. “Well, Twilight and her friends probably need help. I could find them and see if they need a hand.” She looked around the small room she was in. “And if you're a part of me, you know I can't stay here and do nothing when there's the smallest chance I can help.” “Yeah, yeah. You're right. So, how are we gonna find them, though? This place is probably a worse maze than how Danielle described the Doctor's TARDIS that one time. How can you find her or the others in this place?” Megan's brow furrowed. “Okay, good point. I can't exactly go wandering off.” “Did Discord leave the door ajar?” “I wouldn't be surprised if it was a literal jar.” Megan paced back and forth, looking around. She sighed and wiped her forehead, the palm of her hand going over where her ethereal horn had emerged several times. She paused and brought her thumb over the spot. “Hey, Reflector? You know how I used to use the Rainbow of Light back in Dream Valley?” “I remember you working together with the Rainbow. We both know you wouldn't 'use' the Rainbow. But to answer your question, yes.” Megan half-smiled. “Thank you. So, I used to work with it. Then Discord broke it apart and it got reforged into the Elements of Harmony. And then I worked with Twilight and the others when they used it against Queen Celestia.” She held out her right hand, clenched in a fist, and closed her eyes. “I'm gonna try and see if I can reach out and find it, then teleport there.” “Okay, but what about the problem with the magic sight and Discord's own special brand of insanity?” Megan's fist started glowing. A small circle of energy formed on her forehead and started growing. “I think as long as I keep my eyes closed I'll be all right. I was seeing with my human eyes, not my... my magic eyes? My third eye? My horn? My–” “I get it! I get it! Okay, so go back to when you were a teenager. Remember how the Rainbow of Light felt as it moved around you, through you. Reach out with your senses, the ones you can't see with. Find that feeling again, out there. Then wish yourself there, like what Twilight Wish used to do.” A low wind swirled around Megan, sending her hair fluttering about. “I wish, I wish,” she muttered. The energy growing from her forehead suddenly enveloped her body in a violet sphere of energy. The sphere abruptly broke apart, fading away. When it vanished, Megan was gone.