//------------------------------// // Hey, progress. // Story: Somehow, I'm Twilight Sparkle. // by Full Tome //------------------------------// I managed to get through the room relatively unaffected by that dark spot, thankfully. Unfortunately, even the emergency power was starting to fade. This, giving me very little time to think, was probably a good thing... although I still question why it is I decided it would be a good idea to take a deep breath before throwing an emergency switch for the airlock inner door, exposing me to the vacuum of space. Holding my breath, I got back to my fe- hooves, where the force of the decompression of air in my area threw me a few feet toward the door. Thankfully the life support system had slowed the decompression enough to keep me from being sucked through the doors that were jammed. Gravity was gone, but my wings were a big help, although it took a bit trying to figure out how to work them in reduced friction conditions. Once I got the the pyramid shape I wrapped my forehooves around it, although it only having four sides made pulling it out hard, where I couldn’t get both hooves around a corner to lift. I eventually managed to pry it out from between the doors, which sealed up almost as soon as I pulled the pyramid thing out. Soon after, the air compressed to safe levels again, and the lights came back on, although they seemed rather dim. Oh, and gravity dropped me on my flank. “Not even in my own freakin’ mind...” I said as I got back to my hooves again. I turned and looked at the four sided pyramid shaped thingy. It was black, aside from a glowing red center... I couldn’t bring myself to keep looking at it as it was a little unsettling. I scooped it up onto my back, using my hooves to slide it in place, and my wings to balance it. I wasn’t all that used to being a pegasus, but that was likely to change soon. I may be able to accept being a pony easy, but becoming somepony else was not something that I was okay with. I’d already noticed shifts... “My mane isn’t supposed to be neat cut like it is.” I started to ponder things as I walked down the hall. “How do I slow this down? It’s not right for Twilight to go into this not knowing what she’s taking on...” I thought as I looked back at the shape on my back. “What am I even hiding that I’m so afraid of?” This wasn’t mine. I knew what I was hiding. He knew what I was hiding. But... “why don’t I know what he’s hiding?” This question sat in my head, pounding at it. What could I be hiding from myself? I stopped to stare at the pyramid thing for a moment. “... What are you hiding?” ------ “STUPID FREAKING SLUGS WHAT THE FRICK YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO MOVE SO FAST!” I yelled, praying for some kind of miracle to occur. The dodecahedron was getting kinda hard to roll around at this point. I mean, it wasn’t really hard, but I was kinda... running out of energy. Lucky for me, the lights came back on at that moment. “THANK YOU! OH MY GOSH, THANK YOU!” I yelled, thankful that I could finally see more than three feet in front of me. It didn’t stop the swarm of slugs, but I no longer took four seconds to choose turning left or right. Nor did it stop me from running directly into Twilight. ------ “Ow.” I said, picking myself up off the ground. “Sorry! Run! Slugs! Don’t question!” Asher said as he picked himself up and started pushing around a dodecahedron. “What?” I asked, cocking my head to the side a bit. My answer came in the form of a giant slug crawling around the corner down the passage that Asher came from. “Okay...” That single giant slug was joined by at least a hundred smaller slugs as it opened up its mouth and started crawling towards me with a noteable speed. “Oookay!” I yelled as I started chasing the red bodied pegasus. “I TOLD YOU NOT TO ASK!” “How was I supposed to know you were being chased by giant pony-eating slugs?!” “I was hoping you wouldn’t have to find out!” “Turn right up ahead!” “Right. Just take over rolling this thing for me, alright?” “Why?” “Because my forelegs are starting to hurt, okay?!” He snapped. “This better be important!” As we turned the corner, Asher passed the dodecahedron over to me, and I took up rolling it. It took a moment to figure out how he got it actually rolling, instead of pushing it so that it was bouncing forward. After that, the task became a lot less taxing. “Okay, which way here?” He asked as we started to approach another turn. “Left.” “Alright.” Turning turned out a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I ended up tripping over the twelve sided shape and falling on the other side of it. Fortunately we had a good lead on the swarm of parasites, so I got back up and rolled it down the hall. “What took you!?” Asher asked as I caught back up with him at the next intersection. “I tripped!” “Well careful!” “Will you calm down already?!” “Right, right, sorry...” We sat there for a moment catching our breath as we watched behind us for the swarm of slug-leeches. They never showed, strangely. “What’s their problem?” Asher asked as his breathing started to return to normal. ------ Her face. Oh my gosh, her face. That question was definitely worth it for that ONE face. Oh my gosh. The question was stupid yeah, but the bewildered look... Honestly, I think you had to see the face in order to really get it. I couldn’t stop laughing. It hurt to try and stop laughing. Then again, I was laughing so hard that it hurt, so I guess I wouldn’t win with that one. Still worth it. After spending more time than was really necessary rolling on the ground laughing, I finally managed to get back onto my hooves. “Honestly, that was amazing.” I said, trying to once again steady out my breathing. “Oh my GOSH that face...” “Are you done?” She asked, a bit of an edge to her voice. “Yeah, I think so.” I said, still giggling a little. “Good, now we need to get to maintenance.” She said, starting to roll the dodecahedron down the hall. “Why?” I asked, walking alongside Twilight as we continued down the hexagonal corridor. “Ash...er... I really need to think of better things to call you and yourself than your name...” I started laughing at her. “You probably should.” “Right... You’re red... I might call you Ember...” “That... is probably one of the only names I’d be cool with... I mean, ashes, embers... I freakin’ love it.” “So what would you have me call your... other self?” “If that’s what you want to refer to me as.” I “Wait, you’re the sub-lying personality?” “Nope.” “Then what are you saying?” I start to chuckle. “I’m saying I am myself, as is he.” “That... sounds like something he would say.” “That’s because we’re in agreeance there. He is me, I am him, and neither of us are the other.” “How does that work.” “To be honest...” I started, pausing to look like I’m thinking about it. “I have no frickin’ clue.” I say and start laughing. “Right... remind me not to rely on you too much for answers...” “Can do.” I say, still giggling. Twilight stops suddenly, sitting down. “So, what’s this thing about?” She asked, gesturing to the giant semi-spherical shape she’s been rolling for the passed few minutes. I sat there looking at the dodecahedron for a moment. “It’s... a meta-physical representation of repression... That’s... That’s all I’d like to say about it...” I said. “To be honest, I forget how dangerous this thing is sometimes... “I just remember that I need to bring it to myself so he can lock it back up somehow...” I explain, then take a deep breath. “... Do you have one?” “... Yeah... I can’t remember what I put in it though... I just remember that I did it for something I find to be important...” We sat there in silence for a moment, looking at the shape to relax. “What makes you so sure this is his?” “It’s blue.” “So will yours be red?” “Yep.” I said flatly. Twilight let out a sigh. "So, even though this thing is serene, it's really dangerous?" "Manticores are majestic, but they're dangerous as all knows what." I threw out as a comparison. "If that's what you consider majestic..." "I've called weirder cute, sooo." I held the last word for a few seconds before dropping it with a chuckle. "You really don't consider yourself level headed, do you?" "If I was level headed, I wouldn't have stabbed people." "... That... is a reasonable argument..." ------ "Assuming this craft was designed by humans, maintenance would be somewhere low... and the engines somewhere to the back... keeping maintenance close to the engines would put maintenance near the middle of the ship on a lower level..." I reasoned to myself. "Sounds logical..." I said, keeping a steady paced trot as I looked around the spaceship like thing I was on. "I really need to stop talking to myself..." I thought. I wasn't entirely sure at the time, but I thought I heard some strange squishing noises. I didn't like the idea of that, supposedly being in space and all. Picking up my pace, I made my way in the direction opposite of which I thought I heard the noise come from... Where I seen probably the worst omen I’d ever seen. A dark blue... puddle-being. “... Why are you here?” The puddle remained silent. “...” More silence. “...” By this point, I was pretty sure it was just sitting there to irritate me. “Fine, don’t talk.” I said, cautiously walking around it. “Although you’re going to need to at some point.” I picked up my pace even more... actually, I think I was kinda running at that point. I don’t like when constructs of MY mind don’t talk to me. What worries me most is that thing even had my signature. I never created it though. ------ "Do you really think our magic is being cut off?" "Yes." "Why would it be cut off though? I mean, it's a normal thing for me, right?" Ember asked. "Maybe how you're thinking about it, but the subconscious mind might think otherwise." I started, "You're not exactly the only one who can block it though." “Good point.” he conceded. "I can be straight with you, right?" "Don't see why not." "Just thought I'd check." "Good thing to do. Not everyone wants to hear what you think." "Well, I don't think you're as crazy as you try to make yourself out to be." The constant clacking sound that had been present since Asher and I started moving cut as he suddenly stopped walking. I turned to look at him, only to find him giving me a stare of disbelief. "Did I say something wrong?" "Why would I try to seem like something I'm not? ESPECIALLY if it's a bad thing." "So you feel safe." "That's why I learned how to kill things." "That's not something to joke about." "Yeah, well," He began as he started rolling the dodecahedron again. "Who said I was joking..?" he asked, a grim note in his voice. ------ “... You were cute at first, but you're just getting to be plain creepy now. Would you stop following me?" I asked the blob that had been following me for the passed few corridors. Yet again, the blasted thing answered with silence. "I hate you..." I said as I turned around and ran off down the corridor. It was surprisingly fast, I had to admit. I couldn't shake it. I stopped in the middle of an intersection and turned on it. "Are you going to do anything helpful or are you just going to go follow me around all day?" Suddenly a vent busted open to show a giant slug with teeth, which made a beeline for me. Having been startled by the loud noise, I dropped the pyramid thing I've been carrying since I pulled it out of the airlock. As I scrambled to pick up the shape I'd dropped, the slug was jumped by the blue liquid, which quickly dissolved the thing. I just stared at the blob of apparently sentient acid as it crawled toward the shape I've been carrying. I lifted the shape onto my back before it could get to it. "Right, just... let's not make things worse, okay?" It only shook violently in response. “Hey, progress.” ------ We’d been going up and down corridors for the passed... what, thirty minutes? Daydream time always confused me, always speeding up and slowing down. One minute you’re going five hours to every ten minutes, the next minute you’re going three days to every ten seconds. I don’t know, that might just be my experience with daydreams. Didn’t really help that I couldn’t seem to get out of my head at the time... Still questioning that one. Anyways, the whole time Twilight kept asking me, “What do you mean ‘who said I was joking?’” I never answered her. My answer should have been obvious enough. The trip was pretty uneventful otherwise. We’d finally reached Maintenance though. “Wait, how do we ge-” Twilight started, only to stop when I got the door to open. “After you.” I said with gentlema- would it be gentlecoltly? Whatever, I said it with a polite wave of my hoof. “How did you open the door?” “I dunno, I just kinda, hit the wall like this,” I bumped the wall with with my hoof, making the door close. “and the doors open and close.” I bumped the wall with my hoof again to reopen the door. “That’s odd... The bridge door opened with a button that was around head height...” “I never saw the bridge, so I wouldn’t know.” “Well, I suppose we’re not making any progress standing here talking,” she said, walking into the maintenance bay. “let’s find us some blueprints!” “I’ve always wanted to feel like an engineer.” I said happily, skipping into maintenance. - “Nothing?” I asked the blob of acid as it followed me while I wandered the ship. The silent creature held true to what it had shown thus far. “I should have guessed.” I said as I approached another intersection. I really wished there was a map on the blasted space vessel. The intersection went either straight or branched left. To my pleasant surprise, the left path did what I wanted and went down, instead of staying level, like pretty much three fourths the rest of the ship. “Frick. Yes. Finally!” I rejoiced. ------ “Alright, I found something!” I called to Ember. “Sweet!” He replied before trying to pull his head out of a locker, but somehow managing to pull everything in it out. The loud clattering of everything falling to the floor forced my ears to go down to keep from ringing. “I’m okay!” He said standing up from underneath all the stuff that had fallen on top of him. “Right, well, I found some schematics.” I informed him, pressing the paper in between my hooves in order to move it to the low sitting table. Once we got it there, we opened it up and started looking over it. “What is this?” “A geo-core engine?” Asher asked as if it’s obvious, although the look on his face implied heavy sarcasm. I gave him a flat look. “What? That’s what the title says.” “Well yes, but how does it work?” “I have no idea, it’s sci-fi... half the stuff around here probably wouldn’t work, realistically...” “Then what’s up with the engine?” “I dunno, it’s probably symbolic or something.” “How could this possibly be symbolic?” “The heart of the ship?” “The heart of the ship?” I repeated. “Eh, yeah?” “The heart?” I clarified. He sat still, looking confused for a second before his face lit up with understanding. “OH! Magic is in the heart!” “I don’t think you fully understand how magic works...” “Okay, yeah, it’s different for everypony, but it’s a perception thing, right? Well, perception is determined as much by morality as it is position. Morality is measured in the ‘color of the heart,’ and so, it comes down in root to the heart, right?” He reasoned. “That actually makes sense on why magic sits close to your heart...” I said. “So we’ll figure out where the block is by going from the source out, right?” Asher asked. “That’s a better idea than most.” “Then lets get going.” Asher said, heading toward the door. “OH HOLY FR-!” he yelled, jumping off to the side of the doorway, just before a blue blob flew through the doorway. “Woah woah woah! What did I say about making matters worse?” I heard Asher yell from outside the room. Oddly, the blob seemed to respond to what he said. “Whatever you’re issue is with me, drop it! We’ve got more important things to do.” “Asher, is that you?” I hollered to see if it was him. “Who else would it be?” Ember remarked. The blue Asher stepped in and gave his red counterpart an unamused stare. “You really love joking around, don’t you?” “Well one of us has to have a sense of humor that isn’t dark and depressing.” “Frick you.” “Alright then!” I cut in, hoping to diffuse the tension between the two. “To the engine?” Ember asked. “The engine?” the other Asher asked. “Yes, to the engine.” I answered. “Woah woah woah, can someone please fill me in? I’m missing something.” Ember and I both shared a small laugh. ------ “Okay, that makes sense.” “Right, now that you know why we’re heading to the engine, would you mind telling me about your little attack blob?” “Honestly, I don’t know much about it myself.” All three of us came to a dead stop once we seen the entry to the engine room. Unsurprisingly, there was a mass hoard of the alien leech slugs between us and the engine room. “Right... How’re going to need to get through that unscathed?” “I have an idea...” “Lay it on me.” We all huddled in. “We’ll have little blob guy here cut through the center, Twilight, carrying the pyramid and ball thing.” “Tetrahedron and dodecahedron, respectively.” “Right, whatever, the plan is you follow the blob and jump into the engine room while myself and I split up and, carefully, run through the hoard of shleegs.” “Shleegs, really?” “Well? They’re slugs, and leeches, so...” “That is probably the least creative name I’ve heard from you.” “Whatever, it’s a plan! So, are we rolling with it?” “Hey man, whatever gets us out of our head sooner. I don’t like being stuck in my head.” “Is that why you don’t like dreaming?” “Can we just get moving?!” “Alright, alright... Your call.” “Okay then...” We all got ready, making a three pony line. “Alright, cut!” At the order, the blob made a line through the “Shleegs” to the doorway, with our little rag-tag group of crazies following close behind. Myself and I split apart from each other as Twilight dived in through the doorway to the engines. The plan was crazy. The place was crazy. Heck, the entire thing was crazy. And it was freakin’ amazing.