//------------------------------// // Outer Join // Story: The Outsiders // by Arania //------------------------------// Twilight looked around in fascination as Celestia guided her down the hallway leading from Gate Three. She shivered, feeling out of place in the sterile off-blue hallway, as though the walls themselves were somehow unnatural. "What's wrong with this place?" she whispered, voice wavering. "What do you mean?" Celestia replied, stopping to give Twilight a look of concern. "I don't know," she admitted. "It just... feels wrong, somehow." Celestia looked around, studying the featureless metal walls for a moment before turning back to Twilight. "I'm afraid I don't know to what you refer, my dear Twilight." "It's... nothing," Twilight concluded, trying to shake the feeling. "Probably just shock." Celestia smiled reassuringly, resuming her slow trot down the hall. "Who built this place?" Twilight asked, her natural curiosity managing to suppress her unease. "I've never seen material like this." "Nopony really knows," Celestia admitted. "There are many theories, but without evidence it's impossible to say for sure." "Wait... You mean..." "The Exterior is unimaginably old. Far older than any of the ponies that inhabit it by far. Legends say that the first pony to find their way here found it devoid of all life, yet seemingly immaculately maintained." "What about records? Books?" "Nothing at all. We found libraries with naught but empty shelves. Piles of scrolls devoid of all markings. No writings, no explanations, nothing." "But I've seen writing! That room I arrived in before, it had warning labels all over the place!" "Those were added after we arrived, after much trial and experimentation. Strangely, most of the markings you see were placed upon plates that seemed to be specifically designed for them." "So... assumedly somepony designed and built this place?" "That is a popular theory, yes." "But... that makes no sense! Who would build something this big, only to leave no clue as to its purpose or function?" "And that is the obvious problem with that theory." Twilight snorted. The questions were building up faster than they were being answered. "No. There must have been writing somewhere. You called this place 'The Exterior'! Where does that name come from?" “Where does the name ‘Equestria’ come from?” Celestia challenged, levelly. “It’s a mutation of the ancient equestrian ‘Equestris’,” Twilight answered snappily. “Which is in turn a derivation of the word ‘Equus’. Before that, it’s debated, since ancient equestrian seems to derive from multiple different pre-classical language sources, from Cobbian heyratic all the way to Jackkadian poneiform.” Celestia paused, glancing at Twilight with a curious gaze. “That was supposed to be a rhetorical question,” Celestia admitted. “Oh…” Twilight dropped her gaze, embarrassed. “Sorry, Princess.” “Twilight…” “Sorry. Celestia,” Twilight corrected herself, unable to meet Celestia’s gaze. “Old habits.” “To be truthful, I wasn’t expecting such a verbose answer,” Celestia continued, turning down an intersection marked with a plethora of navigational markers. “The mistake is mine, thinking that you would not have an appropriate answer ready for such a basic question of history.” Twilight followed her, unconsciously trying to hide in the shadow of the not-princess. “If I’m honest, I don’t really know the specific origin of the term,” Celestia explained. “Much like ‘Equestria’, no Outsider has been able to discover to true origin of the word. There is a functional significance to it, but I’m afraid I am hardly the best qualified to explain it. You would be better served, I dare say, by asking one of the Librarians.” “Librarian?” Twilight perked up, interest piqued. “Librarian implies library. You have a library?” “We have many libraries, in fact,” Celestia chuckled. “There are many small libraries scattered throughout the inhabited areas of the Exterior, some devoted to speciality subjects, others collected by particularly devoted individuals. I curate one such collection near Operations that has somewhere near twenty million books within it.” “What?” Twilight choked. “I know,” Celestia sighed. “It’s paltry. Bravo’s collection at Analysis is almost double that size, it’s a source of… considerable rivalry between the two of us.” “Twenty million books is not small!” Twilight shrieked, cutting in front of Celestia. “The Canterlot Royal Library barely has a fifth that many books!” “Forgive me, I keep forgetting that this is all new to you.” “Wait, wait a moment. If twenty million is small, then you must have something that it’s small in comparison to,” Twilight surmised. “You have a library somewhere with enough books to make twenty million books look small.” “Yes.” “Can I see it?” Twilight asked excitedly, barely able to keep herself still. “I don’t see why not.” “Now?” “No.” Twilight pouted, visibly deflating. “Why not?” “Because you have no idea where it is,” Celestia pointed out. “And I still need to show you to your quarters.” “I don’t need a room, there’s a library.” “Twilight, I know this might be disappointing, but you can’t live in The Library.” Twilight continued to pout, obviously annoyed at being denied the chance to see the hinted-at repository. “...Fine.” They proceeded in silence for the next few minutes, passing intersections and other ponies, each of them staring at Twilight with strange expressions as she passed, mumbling under their breath. "There aren't any windows." "No." "At all?" "None that anyone has ever discovered. Many even attempt to break sections of the walls to see if there is anything beyond. None have ever succeeded." Twilight tried to suppress the growing feeling of claustrophobia as the implications of that set in. "How big is this place?" "Nopony knows that either. It just seems to go on and on." "Oh that's just stupid. It must have a limit somewhere!" "If there is an end, nopony has ever found it. Not long after I first arrived here, I resolved to find an answer myself. I didn't find an end." "How long did you look?" "Eighty-five years." Twilight coughed as her reply stalled in her throat. "Y-years? Years? And you didn't find an edge?" "It just goes on forever. Some Outsiders become so completely consumed by that very question that they flee into the Exterior to find where it ends. Most are never seen again." “...Most? What about those who are?” “There was one particularly memorable case of a mare who, upon her discovery near Hydroponics, claimed that she had only just departed on her quest, but in reality had been missing for over three centuries,” Celestia recalled. “Others… Are not quite as fortunate.” Twilight's claustrophobia returned, accompanied by a perception of being utterly, insignificantly small. "That's... wow." "I trust you will not be following their example any time soon?" "Oh Tartarus no! Truthfully I'm scared I'm going to get lost now!" Celestia chuckled, laying a reassuring hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "You won't get lost, Twilight. Not unless you try to get lost." “What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, trying desperately to fend off the panic attack she could feel welling at the pit of her stomach. “Have you ever found yourself lost in Canterlot?” “Well… No, but I know my way around Canterlot.” “But that’s not it, is it?” Celestia said. “There’s a correct answer here, I want you to find it.” Twilight’s brow furrowed in concentration as she pondered the question, her earlier panic seeping away in the face of a good intellectual challenge. “Herding instincts?” “Correct!” Celestia exclaimed, smiling. “Modern ponies still retain the herding and social instincts of their genetic ancestors, instincts that seep into and take advantage of natural pony magic.” “I remember reading a dissertation to that effect some time ago,” Twilight admitted. “It was a fascinating read.” “Much like on your homeworld, the same magic is in effect here,” Celestia explained. “Though in a slightly altered form, given the Exterior’s unique architectural oddities.” “I can’t get lost, because I can instinctively tell when other ponies are nearby?” “It’s a very subtle thing, not something you are consciously aware of, at least,” Celestia reassured her. “But, yes. You can’t get lost unless you specifically, consciously attempt to get lost.” “Well, I certainly won’t be doing that.” “I’m quite glad to hear it, Twilight.” Celestia turned and led them into another corridor, dimly-lit and lined with solid-looking metal doorways, each with what looked like a small camera inlaid into the wall beside it. “While some areas of the Exterior have functions that continue to elude us, areas such as this are more easily discerned,” Celestia explained, walking through the corridor. “Dormitories like these are located throughout the Exterior.” Twilight followed the door with some trepidation, examining each door in turn. “So I’m going to be living here, then?” “Once we sort through some issues, yes.” “What issues?” “I’m sure you noticed that my colleagues were… less than enthused regarding your arrival here.” “Yes,” Twilight growled. “One of them wanted to kill me.” “Ah, yes.” Celestia acknowledged. “Solaris can be somewhat overzealous, the same can be said for most of Operations.” Twilight huffed. “I certainly do not wish for you to remain here as a prisoner, despite what my colleagues would insist be done to you,” Celestia insisted. “However, granting you the capability to live here without constant escort represents an unavoidable potential security issue.” “Go on,” Twilight said impatiently. “Navigation on the Exterior is unavoidably difficult,” Celestia continued. “Maps and other traditional methods of navigational assistance are ill-equipped to deal with the sheer scale and… unique architectural features of this place. Do you remember the Sparkle you arrived with? Echo? She had a pendant.” “I remember it.” “That pendant is what’s called a ‘Beacon’. Their primary function is to allow Outsiders to return to the Exterior from anywhere in the Interior, but they also allow easy navigation on the Exterior through a little-understood thaumic mechanism. When wearing a Beacon, ponies are instinctively capable of finding their way around.” Twilight’s ears perked up, her natural curiosity again showing through. “So unless we have an Outsider following you around for the remainder of your stay here, we’re going to need to get you your own Beacon. However, I doubt I can convince my colleagues to grant such a request without certain… assurances being made." “What kind of assurances?” Twilight asked, suspiciously. “Many Outsiders are naturally distrustful of Insiders. It would go a long way to reassure them if you could demonstrate that you do not seek to bring harm to the Exterior.” Twilight pondered for a moment, allowing the statement to percolate. “You… are you offering me a job?” “Astute as always, Twilight.” Celestia praised, smiling. “I doubt you have any great desire to remain here, given your own admission to feeling this place ‘alien’, so I was thinking that we could attach you to one of our Operations teams. An Insider like yourself would be an invaluable asset to any Ops team, and being a Sparkle, you have a natural magic talent.” “I don’t know what to say,” Twilight admitted. “This… this is all a bit much to take in at once.” “I can imagine.” “If it’s alright with you,” Twilight continued, thinking. “Could you show me around a bit more? I’d like a bit of time to think about the offer.” "Absolutely.” Celestia answered, rising to her hooves and trotting down the hallway. “Come, do you enjoy science? Mechanics?" "Yes. Very much." "I thought so, most Sparkles do." "That was another thing that I didn't understand. What's a 'Sparkle'?" "Since there are so different copies of any one pony, we group them together. I am a Celestia, you are a Sparkle, your brother, Shining, would be an Armor. To set individuals apart, they are assigned a single phonetic letter, and the combination gives their Outsider Designation." "Celestia Alpha being yours." "Correct! Though since many find them extremely clunky, they instead choose nicknames or aliases and use them instead for most purposes." Twilight pondered for a moment. "What would my designation be?" "Since you are not an Outsider, the rules don't really cover you. Though since you are the only Insider here, I doubt you are going to encounter much confusion." "I've got another question, if you don't mind." "Not at all, dear Twilight." "What are the Falls?" Celestia's answer was cut off as the door they were approaching exploded outward with a howl of rending metal. A screaming pink mare, towed by a rogue jet engine, slammed into the wall beside them, covering the three with a plume of dust. "Medic..." Pinkie moaned, twitching. Twilight gaped at the soot-covered pony, shattered sections of what was once a gas turbine disc slowly spinning to a stop atop her head. "What," Twilight blurted.