//------------------------------// // Chapter 2.1: Blast from the Past? // Story: Beyond the Glass: Discord and Pinkie's Chaotic Adventures // by Gear Grinder //------------------------------// Pinkie and Discord floated away from the glass sheet they had just exited from, the door disappearing behind them. The glass, however, stayed illuminated, revealing the girl who was still at the desk. "So, the screen's still lit up like this because she's still there?" Discord asked. Pinkie shook her head. "Nope. It's still lit up because this screen," she tapped it lightly, "is awake. It recognizes who we are now, and screens will only wake for ponies they recognize and like. That's why there's a green light coming from around it, too!" Sure enough, a green aura luminated from the glass, as if giving the permission to enter it once more. The thought of the screens being even remotely sentient bothered Discord, as that meant he had physically passed through it in order to gain access to that other world. Do these things feel pain? Do they even feel emotion? he wondered. He dismissed the thought, realizing just how silly an idea that was. He slapped himself hard when he realized that he thought something was too silly to exist. "Still getting used to the idea of there being someplace outside of our world?" Pinkie called. She had floated about a mile away, yet Discord still heard her like she was right next to him. Odd, he thought. Maybe she's using the panels for an echo effect? Then he remembered when his voice echoed and reverberated a short while ago when he yelled out in annoyance. He'd have to remember that in case he ever got lost in this place. He willed himself to appear next to Pinkie, who was inspecting the glass before her. It was old, clearly, and slightly covered in dust. Something about this glass seemed very familiar, yet totally distant and forgotten. He got a bit closer and immediately felt a wave of heat engulf him. He immediately backed away, grabbing a protesting Pinkie. "Hey! What're you doing?" She wriggled in his paw and claw. "I was looking at that!" "Shush." He said. He stared hard at the layer of dust, and the glass behind it. Slowly, very slowly, a picture came into view. It was faint, very faded, but he could make out the shapes of creatures behind it. They looked familiar, yet incredibly different. Their faces were oddly over-detailed, and they all looked exactly the same, except for color variations and... cutie marks? They had manes and tails, but they were very muted and boring colors. Every feature about them looked... old. Not old as in ancient like him, but old as in... faded. Used up. Dated. Retro. The "ponies" beyond were Pegasi, and they flew around the sky without flapping their wings somehow. A large rainbow encompassed the sky, and the ponies slid down it like a slide. Huh he thought. I've never actually tried that before. Looks kinda fun. The Pegasi then slid down into a rainbow waterfall, splashing into the pool below and covering the screen in water. Suddenly, the rainbow was back again, and the words "My Little Pony" were emblazoned on the side. He thought he could faintly hear music playing. That wave of heat was still preventing him from going anywhere near it. Pinkie wriggled herself free from his clutches, and gave both him and the screen an odd look. "Forget it, Discord. You don't wanna go in that one." She said in an odd disgust. "Trust me." He continued to watch the screen, and a pink Unicorn with white hair and purple highlights appeared, standing on top of a cliff. She looked down the cliff, as if to determine whether she would jump or not. Suddenly, a white Earth Pony on roller skates zoomed in behind her. He could just barely make out what the Earth Pony yelled before leaping over the Unicorn. "Look out, Twilight! Her I gooooooooooooooo!" TWILIGHT? No way! After a purple filly had jumped off the cliff and was saved by a Pegasus, the pink Unicorn looked down the cliff, saying something. It was faint, but Discord heard the words "I wish, I wish, I WISH." Suddenly, the Unicorn was on the ground, the massive cliff behind her. Yup, that was Twilight, alright! No pony knew a spell of that level except a student that was under the tutelage of Princess Celestia. A pink Pegasus, who somewhat resembled Rainbow Dash, soared across the sky and did a rather basic loop-di-loop. She flew lower to the ground and passed another group of ponies, including "Twilight". The Pegasus, whose name was evidently Firefly, zoomed into a basket of apples with an orange and blonde pony in front. He immeidately recognized Applejack, though she didn't have her hat. A couple other mares ran forward to see if she was okay, then Pinkie immediately covered his eyes with her tail. "What the- what's the big idea?!" "There are just some things that you aren't meant to see, Discord. This is one of them!" He parted her hair with his hands. What was so bad that she needed to- ... OH MY. Was Applejack..... LICKING another ponies face? He couldn't tell for sure, because the screen faded to black immeidately after. He raised his arms in frustration, a camera in both paw and claw ready to take in as much juicy evidence as possible. "Aw, COME ON! It was just getting to be interesting!" Pinkie shoved the glass forward with all her might, but not too hard as to cause damage. The screen floated away, the images from before repeating themselves once more in an infinite loop. She turned to Discord, once again authoritative. "That is a place that NOPONY from our world should ever go to. Not even you." She booped him at "you", his nose honking like a party horn. "Why not? What could possibly be so bad in that place? It looked harmless." He thought about that for a second. "Harmless and boring, yeah, but still harmless." She folded her forelegs, then continued. "Listen. This place we're in, it's more than what you think. This place, this.... this Hub, is something that connects hundreds of universes together, just like that one." The screen still continued to float backwards, lazily. "Not only is that another dimension entirely, but..." she swallowed slightly, nervous. "It's also another time. Like, in the very distant past, time. Anything you do there, good or bad, would affect our world." "So what you're saying is that world we just saw-" She nodded and cut him off. "Exactly. That was Equestria from an incredibly distant time. Far beyond Princess Celestia, Princess Luna... even beyond you." He caught himself holding his breath. He released it, letting the butterflies fly out of his stomach in sweet release. A big ugly moth was in the mix, but he had no clue how that was there He looked up to the screen once again, but it had vanished into the infinite dark. He glanced down at the pony before him. For one so air-headed and care-free, she certainly had a lot of knowledge tucked under that fluffy pink mane, especially considering this particular topic. Too much knowledge, honestly. He thought There was something she wasn't saying to him, and he didn't like it. Pinkie floated back towards their glass, every so often looking to make sure that the old, dirty glass was far beyond her sight. She propelled herself even faster once she was certain it was gone. Discord quickly materialized a set of binoculars, ad focused in on the screen. The muted images were still repeating themselves, but the scree was slowly fading to black. He took the moth out of the air, then took a Plunder Seed that was stuck in between his teeth and stuck it onto the moths back. He took a slingshot from nowhere and shot the poor insect at the distant pane, waiting for it to hit it's mark. Seconds passed. A minute. *tink* Good. He poofed the slingshot away and teleported to the pink pony. He was lucky that she was so trusting, and not at all aware of the fact that - "Aware of what, Mr. Author?" Oh... uh. Nothing. Nothing at all. Pinkie turned around to, somehow, look at what I had typed previously, but stopped mid-way to yawn and stretch. She was too tired to care much, so she let... whatever it was I said slide. WHEW. Close one.