Time and Space in Harmony
by Inkspots
Chapter 5
Twilight woke up to find Spike cooking porridge, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie trying to have a fight secretly, and Applejack running a fever.
“Give me a day or two and I’ll buck this fever I bet,” AJ said. Twilight and Jade were having their breakfast with her.
“Considering what could be wrong with you, there’s no way I’m taking that chance,” Twilight said.
Twilight left the obvious things unsaid: AJ was likely bleeding internally.
Applejack sighed. “I’m messing everything up, aren’t I?”
“I would hardly say saving my life is messing up,” Twilight replied. “But enough of that, Jade, what were you saying about the south-eastern part of town?”
“Oh yes, well, look here,” Jade produced a rough, hoof drawn map that she, Rainbow Dash, and Dark Matter had produced after their day of scouting about the town. The river that ran through the center of the city from the northwest split after it passed the palace, isolating a part of the town. There she had found the orchard and the Market of standing stones. “I think this whole area was agricultural, going all the way down to the canyon. The grove that we found was very overgrown, but if we thinned it out and tended the trees, I think it would start producing food in a year or so.”
“You said there were Zap Apple Trees in that grove?” AJ asked.
“Among other things, yes. And I suspect that here, they might produce fruit every year, rather than every few years,” Jade said. “And considering the two rivers nearby, this land could be irrigated easily for growing crops. I’ve got a couple root vegetables and some berries I think we could cultivate on this land, but first we need to see how appetizing-”
Heated voices floated over to their side of the camp.
“This is getting real old,” Applejack said. “Tell them a sick pony’s dying wish is that they’d shut up and come clean.”
“Don’t joke about that,” Jade said.
“You’re right though, things are tense enough,” Twilight stood up. “We can continue this in a bit.”
Twilight stalked across the camp. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were zipped up in their tent, trying to yell at each other quietly. Rarity was sat nearby, drinking silently with a smirk on her face. “Is this your doing?” Twilight asked.
“What do you mean darling? I’m not the one fighting,” Rarity said, then she busied herself sewing up a tear in a saddlebag.
Twilight rolled her eyes then levitated the whole tent up into the air, opened the zipper and dumped both ponies out onto the ground.
“There wouldn’t happen to be anything a good friend could help you two with?” Twilight asked with an icy voice.
“Yes, you could-”
“No, nothing,” Rainbow Dash cut in.
“Really, nothing?” Twilight asked. “Well that’s good, because between AJ being sick and the food we lost in the canyon and the golem stalking the barrier, I would hate to think anypony would be keeping secrets and causing trouble now, of all times.”
“Twilight, please,” Rainbow Dash started.
“Please, what?”
The pegasus let out a sigh. “Fine, fine. But look, I didn’t do this for no reason. We’re all friends. I didn’t want to mess this up.”
“I think I understand, but you need to stop this,” Twilight said.
“How many times do I have to tell you, even if we broke up, I could never stop being friends with you,” Pinkie said.
Two high pitched gasps came from the camp. Spike and Fluttershy were standing with their jaws hung open.
“Really?” Twilight asked. “How did you two not know?”
“Well this is simply wonderful,” Rarity said. “And how fortuitous for me. Oh AJ,” she called out.
Applejack’s voice floated across the camp. “You can pry my bits from my cold, dead hoof.”
“Very well, dear,” Rarity saw Twilight’s look. “Oh just a little wager, I bet her I could get it out of them before the end of the week.”
* * * * * *
After breakfast Dark Matter ordered all the relevant ponies to meet him outside. They headed over to an enormous tree that had toppled over in a storm.
“Will this do for practice?” he asked.
“I’m not sure it’s as heavy, but close enough,” Twilight said.
“Alright ponies, here’s how the operation will go down,” Dark Matter said. “Quick Fix and Pinkie Pie will be stationed at the Eastern Gate House, Quick Fix is going to be pulling the switch to drop the barrier. As soon as she does, Fluttershy, you’re going to be flying the cart holding Applejack. We’re making it as light as possible so you should be able to fly back to Ponyville in one go, understood?”
“Got it,” she replied.
“Then myself, Rainbow Dash, and the Princess will cross the canyon. I will engage the chimera and keep it in place long enough for the Princess to cast the spell on the tree,” he explained.
“Changing the gravity isn’t like levitating it, I won’t be able to keep it still, it’ll just float upwards. But, given how heavy it is, I won’t be able to do it for long,” Twilight explained.
“Which brings us to the difficulty of the whole thing. Dash, you need to hit it with the Rainboom in a narrow window of time and from the right angle to send it into the canyon,” Dark Matter said. “Which is what the practice is for. Alright, places ponies.”
Everyone trotted off , save Twilight.
“Don’t lose that nerve now, Princess, for your friend’s sake,” he said.
Twilight gritted her teeth and walked away.
For the next hour Twilight cast her gravity spell on the tree, and Rainbow Dash sped towards it, though not at full speed. At first she always arrived above it, meaning her explosion would just send it into the ground, but eventually she arrived at the right time and at the side of it. After an hour Twilight was sweating and her vision was blurry, so she called off the practice.
They returned to the camp for lunch, which was meager, given their lack of food supplies. Applejack was laying down, covered in sweat, with Jade at her side. Twilight sat with them for a moment, then went to find Quick Fix. She was in the main hall, dismantling one of the wagons to create a small cart to carry Applejack.
“How’s it coming?” Twilight asked.
“I wish I had a few tools that would make this go quicker, but it’ll hold together just fine.” replied the unicorn. Twilight hovered around for a moment. “Everything alright Twi?”
“Do you have time to come see something?” Twilight asked.
“Sure, I guess,” Quick Fix answered.
“Alright, bring your sensors.”
The pair left the palace and headed through the ruins of the town to the gate where the griffon golem lay in pieces. Twilight directed Quick Fix’s gaze into the body of the golem. She looked around for a moment, then let out a gasp that sent Twilight’s heart plummeting.
“It holds a pony, doesn’t it,” Twilight said.
“I, I just can’t think of any other reason... So the chimera... Twilight we can’t kill it,” Quick Fix said.
“But what else can we do? How do we get a pony out of a golem without getting killed?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t know, Twilight. I’ve never worked with, well, that kind of power source, because I’m not a monster. I knew, in theory it would be possible but-” Quick Fix looked a little queasy, so she stepped away from the golem.
“What’s been keeping the pony alive all these years? I looked at the runes and I didn’t see any designs that I recognized that pointed to sustaining life energies,” Twilight said.
Quick Fix pulled out a curious device that looked like a metal pencil with a cord at the end that attached to a small green screen. The unicorn put the device up to the runes and traced their designs. The screen started flashing up mathematical values. Quick Fix traced the dozen runes inside the golem them looked over the values and grew pale.
“I don’t believe this,” she said. “I didn’t think it could get worse, but there it is.”
Twilight picked up the screen, but she didn’t know what the numbers related to.
“What, what does it mean?” she asked.
“The pony isn’t kept alive, it’s dying. But that moment in time is just...” Quick Fix lost it, she bent over the edge of the gatehouse and vomited. Twilight magically held her mane away from her face as she did so. After a moment Quick Fix was done and Twilight was rubbing her on the back. “Two of the runes are drawing energy from the dying pony, they only take life energy. The other ten are all time magic, just keeping the chamber in temporal stasis will allowing dynamic magical processes.”
“So the pony has been dying for thousands of years?” Twilight asked, horrified.
Quick Fix didn’t reply, she was back to throwing up. After a while she was all empty.
“Buck field work.”
* * * * * *
Twilight and Quick Fix returned to the camp. Everypony was trying to bustle about and be productive, but the coming conflict and Applejack’s condition kept the ponies from making much headway. Twilight spent an hour before lunch just sitting next to Applejack, who was restless. Her fever made her want to toss and turn, but her broken ribs made moving painful, leaving her to weakly flail her hooves around to try and take her mind off the pain.
“You need to kick me, just kick me,” Twilight said.
“We don’t need two broken up ponies,” Applejack said with a smile. After that Twilight had to take a break. She decided she was going to go investigate the magical laboratory in the lower levels. Dark Matter told her not to go down there alone, so she took Rainbow Dash with her.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash descended into the lower levels. Dash got her first look at the grim scene in the kitchen, but kept it together. They moved down the servant’s passage and into the library.
“So, can you read this stuff?” Dash asked, looking at the symbols on the bindings of the books.
“Not a word of it,” Twilight replied.
They entered into the magical laboratory. Twilight looked around with suspicion. If the original wizard who had worked here had created the golems, then he was a thoroughly evil pony, but the lab looked innocuous. Alembics, a few scattered crystals, notes on scraps of paper that had almost dissolved to nothing.
“Uh, Twi, I can read this book,” Dash said with a weird voice.
“It’s written in modern Equestrian?” Twilight walked over.
“Well, more like old-timey Equestrian,” Dash said.
Twilight looked at the book Dash was reading, it was a handwritten journal filled with a flowing elegant script that was almost certainly written by a unicorn, and based on the spelling and slightly different alphabet, it was written in Old Equestrian.
Simulating the electrical discharge without a cloud begins with the acceptance that the cloud isn’t needed to create the lightning bolt, simply the pegasi’s hooves and the innate magic of the pony.
“It’s talking about lightning, right, that’s what you’re getting?” Dash asked.
“Yeah, making lightning without clouds,” Twilight said.
“That’s impossible, right?” Dash asked.
“I would think so, but this person doesn’t,” Twilight replied.
Dash walked over to a bare space of wall. “Kicking the charge out of a cloud usually goes like-”
Dash turned and kicked the wall, creating an audible crackle. Both ponies stared at each other.
“You saw that, right?” they said in unison. After a second both ponies returned to the journal and began reading further.
It is endlessly fascinating that so many of the magical limitations are psychological, but when one peels back the facade of preconception and reveal the mathemagical components of magic, the simple equations expressed in the rhyming meter of classical spell casting, or the infinitely variable data created by mental magic, it makes sense that magic would not be restrained by the race of the pony, simply modified by the manner in which magical energies pool and flow through the pony. The unicorn simply enjoys the advantage of retaining magical power in their horn, allowing spontaneous mental magic, where the Pegasus must work with the magic that resides in the wings and keeps them afloat, and the Earth Pony must channel the magic through their legs and hooves.
“Okay, it lost me,” Dash said. “Is it talking about pegasus magic?”
“It seems so. I mean, it’s known that Earth Ponies and Pegasi have inherent magical qualities, non-aerodynamic flight, promoting plant growth. But this is... it’s talking about active magical effects,” Twilight explained.
They had reached the end of the page. Twilight desperately wanted to read more, but she was afraid to shift the ancient journal and have it crumble to dust. She looked around a found a thin metal piece that was once part of a magical device. She levitated it over and gently slid it between the page she was reading and the next. Then, without a single breath, she gently pushed the page over. It broke free from the binding, but turned over without dissolving.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Twilight!” came Pinkie Pie’s voice.
“Princess!” Dark Matter called.
Twilight and Dash stepped out of the laboratory to see the two ponies rushing through the library towards them, Rarity’s light gems casting a red light ahead of them.
“Princess, we’re going to need to move up the operation,” Dark Matter said.
“Applejack’s getting really sick,” Pinkie Pie said.
“Jade says she needs to be flown out of here tonight, so we need to get rid of that golem this afternoon,” Dark Matter explained.
Twilight cringed. She had wanted more time to think it over, to come to terms with what she was going to do. What she didn’t want to do, didn’t want any part of.
“Princess, time is of the essence,” Dark Matter said.
Twilight huffed and shook herself out. “Okay, let’s move.”
* * * * * *
“How are you holding up?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t like to say it, sugarcube, but I’m not feeling so good,” Applejack replied.
Twilight laughed, but her eyes were stinging with tears. “Okay, I’m going to lift you into the cart.”
Twilight enveloped her friend in her levitation spell and lifted her into the small cart Quick Fix had built. It was just barely wide enough for Applejack, and had ropes and blankets to keep her comfortable, warm, and secure on the flight. Once Applejack was in, Twilight covered her with the blanket.
“I should get roughed up more often,” she said. “This is first class flying.”
“AJ, please, don’t talk,” Twilight said.
“Well color me offended,” Applejack managed.
Fluttershy was harnessing herself up while Rarity tried to foist a scarf and ear muffs and leg warmers onto Applejack, who was weakly trying to fight her off, claiming she was a million degrees already.
“Hush, you’re sick as can be and you’re going to be flying through the night, you need layers,” Rarity said tersely.
Dark Matter flew into the main hall and landed. “Alright, I got the golem to chase me around to the eastern gate, but we need to move quickly before he moves on.”
Twilight nodded. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were armored up, but Dash had forgone any weapons in favor of mobility. Dark Matter’s Night Guard Armor was polished to a fine shine, and he had on blunt striking battle shoes on his hind legs and clawed battle shoes on the front, as well as a fixed lance on his right side.
“Alright everypony, remember the plan and keep your heads together,” Twilight said. “AJ is counting on us”
The team moved out towards the eastern gatehouse. Quick Fix positioned herself near the switch, with Pinkie standing guard in case the golem somehow made it across the canyon. Out beyond the barrier and the canyon the chimera golem roared at the sight of the ponies.
“Ready?” Dark Matter called out.
The ponies yelled back in the affirmative and Dark Matter gestured at Quick Fix. She flipped the switch and the green barrier dissolved. As soon as it was gone Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the air. The golem let out a growl and began backing up to leap the canyon, but Dark Matter and Twilight flew across to meet it.
Dark Matter flew over the chimera’s right shoulder at full speed and latched onto its tail, causing the massive golem to actually slide back a few paces. Twilight landed and peered up into the dim sky. Fluttershy was rapidly disappeared over the Everfree Forest. She looked up to see where Rainbow Dash was. She was just reaching her peak and turning for the dive. Twilight turned back to the golem to see Dark Matter kick the serpent tail away from himself and fly up. He turned and hit the chimera lance first in the neck. Twilight hoped the pony trapped inside couldn’t feel any of this.
She closed her eyes and began weaving the gravity spell. The approaches to gravity spells are generally restricted to two methods: firstly, the pony can create a field, within which gravity’s effects are modified in some way. This method is increasingly difficult as the size of the field increases, but allows for finely tuned effects. Twilight couldn’t use this method, because the field would cause Rainbow Dash to slow down at the critical moment when she approached the golem. The second method involves wrapping an individual object in a field that reacts to gravity’s forces in some way. This method was significantly less precise, given the degrees of separation from the desired effect, but Twilight had used this spell to climb Sombra’s magical staircase.
In front of her the golem was bathed in a purple glow and began floating up. It flailed helplessly, trying to latch on to the ground, but it was too late. Twilight focused on the basics of mental magic: keep breathing, keep your eyes open, don’t clench your teeth. Don’t ignore the spell.
Dark Matter dodged the swipes of the rising golem then began flying away from the blast zone. Twilight knew she was closer to the golem than was safe, but she couldn’t move now, she had to focus on the spell. She wanted to look away, to look and see where Rainbow Dash was, but she knew it would ruin the spell. The golem was so heavy, gravity was fighting against her field of magic.
She couldn’t look up, but she could hear the the dull sound of Rainbow Dash hurtling through the air. The golem turned to her and roared in anger, and for a moment she almost lost the spell. Then it happened. It happened so quickly she had to piece it together later, but Dash entered her vision. She was aimed too low. Twilight’s spell dissolved and Rainbow Dash pulled up feet from the ground. The Sonic Rainboom erupted under the golem, sending it high into the air, rather than hurtling towards the canyon. Twilight’s eyes were blinding by the seven colored light, then the shock wave knocked her off her feet and sent her sliding across the ground.
A few moments later she could see again, though her ears were ringing. She looked around. Where was the golem, where was Dash, Dark Matter? She looked across the canyon. The golem was clinging onto the far edge of the canyon, It was covered in cracks, and its front right leg was missing entirely. Twilight watched as Pinkie Pie charged from the cover of the gatehouse. She turned at the last moment and kicked the golem in the face. The golem struggled to hold on, but started sliding off the ledge. Then Twilight watched in horror as the cliff began to collapse under the the weight of the golem. With a loud crack the cliff crumbled, sending Pinkie and the golem into the canyon. Twilight yelled out, then she saw Rainbow Dash, still moving so fast that a rainbow erupted in her wake, hurtling down into the canyon. After a few seconds she appeared again, clutching Pinkie in her grasp, and Twilight collapsed from relief. She sat there breathing, and then she was crying.
She was happy it was dead, and she didn’t want to be happy, not about that.
* * * * * *
That night Twilight didn’t eat. She sat at the campfire in silence, then got up and headed into the lower levels. Dark Matter said nothing this time. She found her way into the laboratory. It was easily the most well preserved room they had found so far.
After a moment she began destroying it. She swiped the dusty magical instruments off the tables and toppled the stone bookshelves. She didn’t feel any better, she still hurt in a place she couldn’t reach, so she levitated the massive stone table that ran through the center of the room and threw it at the far wall.
Surprisingly it didn’t stop, but crashed through the wall to reveal a room beyond. Twilight wiped at her eyes and looked into the newly revealed chamber. She cast a ball of light into the room, which was about the same size as the laboratory, but it was dominated by a single, massive magical device. At the center was a clear glass tube, and within it swam a black vapor. Twilight walked towards it. The device was a bizarre combination of stone, steel, and crystals, looking like it had been built by several ponies who only vaguely knew the other’s designs. She wondered what it did, she wondered if it had been used to create the golems, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw the stone table into it. A faint light emitted from the crystals, and as far as she could tell, the device was functioning. She peered into the black vapor of the central tube, until a face appeared and stared back at her.
“Good evening.”