//------------------------------// // 8. Equestria // Story: FiO: There Can Be Only One! // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// Equestria Geopum's sense of presence was thrown right off, that was the first thing she noticed. The sense of presence here was much stronger than what she felt towards a connected device, making her feel like she was right behind and directly connected to the two cameras that the game gave her. It was almost to the point where she felt like she was the two cameras. She was also getting some slight sensations from this server too. It wasn't anything strong or clear, but she did feel something and was getting some kind of smell. Geopum hadn't gone through and simulated every single physical sensation, so don't get too angry at her for not identifying everything she felt. Among the few feelings she did recognize was the feeling of heat, not exactly the same as that she felt before, but certainly heat. Whatever was causing this wasn't too hot, Geopum knew that would hurt, she actually kind of liked the way it felt. The smell wasn't bad either, whatever it was. As for the other, more familiar senses, the cameras were right next to each other and were sending mostly blackness. There was a little bit of red in there, but she couldn't make any solid images out of them. “I can't see anything,” Geopum complained. “Well you have to open your eyes, silly!” Geopum heard a voice say. Mind you, Geopum heard that, after such a long time she heard someone speaking to her again. This wasn't a text message like everything else up until now had been, but she actually heard sound as if there was a microphone right next to the cameras, or 'eyes' as Pinkie called them. Come to think of it the cameras were just slightly off from the position of human eyes, near where she would expect a pony's to be. This was gonna be some lame, gimmicky, first person simulator where you just walked around and looked at stuff, wasn't it? Geopum had played virtual reality games before and that's pretty much what all of them were. The only thing it really had going for it was the sense of touch and smell and sense of presence and a bunch of other stuff. Well, okay, maybe it had a pretty good gimmick but that usually just meant everything else sucked all the more. “You know this 'eyes' thing isn't going to work for me, right?” Geopum asked Pinkie, through text rather than sound. “I don't get all the same optical illusions that humans do. I'm just gonna see this as two pictures, not one, 3D image.” “It'll work,” said Pinkie. Or at least Geopum assumed it was Pinkie based on how similar the voice sounded to the cartoon. “You just have to open your eyes and get up. You'll see.” As if it were that easy. Geopum tried looking for a way to control her character, but the magic mirror server was just so strange and most of it couldn't be accessed. Even with an instance of herself running on it, she had no idea how to control it. Maybe if Geopum had a little while to look things over she'd be able to figure it out, but she didn't feel like sitting there like an idiot for that whole time. “How do I 'open my eyes'?” Geopum sent another message to Pinkie. “I have no idea how to control these cameras.” “You just move the top eyelid up and the bottom one down,” said Pinkie. “Stop over-thinking it,” said... Rainbow Dash? Well, probably Thunder, actually. “The server will take care of most of it for you. You just have to sort of will your body to move.” Will it to move? This wasn't very useful advice. It was like telling someone to move an object across the room with willpower. Might as well try it though, right? Having no idea if it was what they meant, Geopum tried concentrating really, really hard on the cameras, trying to will them open. She felt something but the darkness stayed. “No, that's the opposite of opening you eyes,” said Pinkie. “Try doing that but more upwards.” That was vague, but okay. And amazingly it worked! One of the two cameras opened up partially, allowing her to finally see the dang game. Geopum saw an image of Pinkie Pie standing in a field of grass. It was different than the other images she had seen though. There were about a dozen ways Geopum could tell you it was different, but there was one thing very, very strange about it. The picture was doing something, something Geopum couldn't describe, something that frightened her by how strange it was. Her mind reeled trying to make sense of what she was seeing right now. But the more she looked at it the stranger it looked. It was like, what she was looking at was just a single frame, but- What was this?! Geopum's other camera sort of opened by itself, both of them were opened as wide as they could go now. She felt something moving around them and something pounding a foot or so below. “Good,” said Pinkie, the picture doing that thing until she was closer. “Now that you've gotten the eyes down we can move onto the- AAHHHH!” Pinkie leaped forward and screamed right in front of the cameras. Geopum fell backwards, screaming herself. As she fell back what must have been a half dozen limbs connected to her character flailed about in the air. She felt them move which would have been insane enough, but do you have any idea how fast everything was going now?! Normally it took forever for a camera to swing around and change view, even if you hit it with a baseball bat or shot it or something, but as Geopum's avatar moved the scenery went flying by. She didn't have time to study any of the things she saw. It all just came and went in a blur, the entire world flying around at near light-speed. Her avatar's limbs were no different, they went flying all over the place uncontrollably. Unlike everything else she had controlled up until now, this avatar had bits and pieces of it that could move without her consent. She found herself screaming and rolling around on the floor without really meaning to. All the while everything was doing some unspeakable madness. It was insane. All of it was completely insane! “Aaaaaah!” Geopum screamed, rolling around on the ground, thrashing her limbs. “You know there's really no reason to be scared of-” “Aaaaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaah!” “Oh come on, it shouldn't be that crazy for you.” “Waaaaah! Aaaaah!” “Sorry!” Pinkie yelled over Geopum's screaming. “I'll help!” Geopum felt something other than the ground touch her and soon realized that she had been tackled by Pinkie Pie. Geopum was still flailing about, but Pinkie soon had her pinned to the ground, holding her still. Pinkie made hushing noises as she squeezed Geopum tightly. It was enough to keep Geopum from flailing and the world from spinning. Geopum's thrashing turned to trembling and her screaming to frantic breathing. She now found her cameras resting just above the ground, looking at the grass, still doing that bizarre thing everything in this crazy place did. How to even describe what the grass was doing- what everything was doing! Geopum was still now, unable to move underneath Pinkie, but this was still too much! “This is the freakiest thing that has ever happened to me,” Geopum whimpered. “I know,” Pinkie said. “Isn't it amazing?” “No!” said Geopum. “This is really scary!” This was just too much! She trembled in fear, but a slightly different type of fear than she was used to. It was like there was just more to it than the other times she'd been afraid. “Just try to calm down, okay?” she heard Thunder, but couldn't see her. “Nothing's going to hurt you. Just take it slow. Breathe in and out slowly.” Geopum felt herself being pulled back upright, into a sitting position. Pinkie sat down next to her, slowly petting her, running her hoof from the top of Geopum's head and down along her back, making soothing sounds, while Geopum tried to take deep breaths. “Dashie! Help me 'there there' her,” Pinkie complained. Geopum only saw it out of the corner of her camera, but a Rainbow Dash avatar sighed and sat next to Geopum and began patting Geopum on the head. “There, there,” said Thunder. The two of them were sitting close enough that Geopum could feel them against her avatar. They felt warm and... something else. Soft and fuzzy maybe? Was this was 'soft' felt like? Whatever it was, Geopum liked the feeling of them being next to her. Being petted felt amazing too. It really did have this strange, calming effect on her. The physical contact was just so nice and soothing, enough so that she could relax a little and try to make sense of what she was seeing. It wasn't too scary now, next to Pinkie and Thunder, but it was still so bizarre. Everything was so trippy here, even her sight, the sense she was the most familiar with, was off. Not in a bad way, though. If anything, it was better than it'd ever been. She focused on a tuft of blonde hair that was hanging just above her cameras. It wasn't blurry like her imagination and it wasn't pixelated like all the other cameras she had seen. She studied each strand of hair, looking for some imperfection near the edges of them, some limit to the resolution, but there was none. The resolution was perfect, or at least close enough that it didn't matter if it wasn't. A leaf floated by and Geopum and Geopum watched it drift by, her cameras moving where she willed them to as if by magic. The leaf was doing that thing that Geopum could scarcely comprehend. “Okay,” said Geopum. “I give up. What the heck is that?!” “A leaf,” said Pinkie. “No! What is it doing?!” “Based on what I know about you and my own observations,” said a third voice somewhere behind Geopum, “I think you're perceiving vision in a different way than you're used to. More specifically you're seeing motion for the first time.” Seeing motion? That would explain a lot. Like, why the thing only happened when something was moving and why this had seemed like only one frame the whole time. A while ago Geopum realized that she saw things in a different way than humans did, as just a series of still frames. She didn't see them all blur together into a video, they were just pictures. Even watching cartoons was more like looking through a comic with way too many panels. Dr. Park had tried to describe the way he saw things as single frame that changed over time, each one morphing into the next. Yet Geopum had never been able to imagine it or recreate the illusion even in her imagination. She had always wondered what it was like, maybe like a blind person wondered what color was. It did change her perspective on this phenomenon, knowing what it was she was seeing, that she was finally witnessing one of the great secrets of the world. It was still strange, yeah, but studying it calmly and carefully, she started to see it in another way. This was a higher level of sight, beyond even an infinite number of frames. The image she was seeing was alive. And it was beautiful. It was amazingly, perfectly beautiful. Geopum was only now able to see beyond this phenomenon and actually look at where she was. She was sitting on a patch of grass, but all around her were rolling hills of flowers of every color, stretching out as far as she could see, the sun shining down on all of it. Was that the warmth she was feeling? Could you really feel the sun? It made perfect sense now that she thought of it, but it was the sort of detail you never thought about when you were underground your whole life. The colors that surrounded her were so alive and saturated and varied. The light blue on the far edge of the horizon was the richest, most vibrant shade of the color she had ever seen. That light blue faded perfectly to a much deeper blue with a near infinite number of hues between the two, dotted by clouds of the purest white. Beneath her was the grass, the most amazing shade of green she had ever seen. In front of her was a hill covered in rows of purple flowers. Any direction you looked it was like that, like a slimy window she'd been looking at the world through had just been opened and she was seeing all of these colors for the first time. It wasn't even just that her cameras had been terrible, Thunder's could see color better than the eyes of any human. It was just the world itself that had this color to it that the 'real world' didn't. The world she had been used to, that frozen, still world, suddenly seemed dead compared to this place. This place was so alive and vibrant and- “It's so beautiful,” Geopum said. Without her meaning to, Geopum found her voice quivering she sobbed. That perfect image suddenly blurred. Tears? Geopum felt her legs weaken. She lurched forward, the ponies by her side keeping a hold on her, and began to cry. It just wasn't fair. Everything that happened in the past two seconds, being able to talk to people in real time, having the freedom to explore whatever you wanted and now this beauty, this new way to see things, it made her feel like the rest of her life until now had been wasted. She felt like she'd been robbed. The others stayed quietly by her side, hugging her tightly, and waited until her sobbing began to die down. Geopum couldn't see who, but she felt one of the two wipe a few of her tears away. She heard Pinkie giggle a little. “So you think Equestria's pretty, huh?” Pinkie snickered again. “N-no.” Geopum still wasn't used to moving around like this, but managed to turn her eyes towards Pinkie. Maybe you think ponies would look worse in real life than they do as drawings, but that wasn't the case here. Celestia had somehow managed to make them even better, into such wonderful, angelic creatures. Just catching a glimpse of Pinkie's face almost brought Geopum back to tears, but she looked away just in time. “I mean, it's okay. I give a 7/10.” “Really?” asked the third voice. “You literally fell to the ground and wept but you're only giving it a 7/10.” “I have really high standards, okay?” Geopum sniffled. “But I guess these cameras are nice.” “Eyes,” Pinkie said. “What?” “Eeeeeyes. These are your eyes,” said Pinkie, tapping Geopum just under her eyes. Pinkie moved her hooves to the side of Geopum's head. “These are your ears. And this-” Pinkie moved her hooves down, wrapping her forelegs around Geopum, giving her a light shake. “-is your everything else!” Pinkie declared. “Those are the three E's of body parts. You can remember it by going 'eee'!” Her body? Maybe she should have been resisting the feeling, but Geopum really did feel like this was her body. A bit better at it now, Geopum tried moving one of the hooves, her hooves, just lifting it up a little. The response was instant, so immediate that it fed the illusion all the more. Being able to do something instantly, it was like another step up from being able to talk to someone instantly. “Great!” said Pinkie. She let go of Geopum and bounced away, leaving her in Thunder's grip alone. “Sorry about startling you, but it was the best way to get you used to moving around! But now that you can do it we can have so much fun!” To be fair that did help Geopum learn to move her body, or the avatar that is. She was even able to talk here without even realizing she was doing something so complicated. Maybe- Okay! Pinkie was bouncing around all over the place when she spoke. Geopum was starting to like watching things move but this was more than she could handle right now. She had to close her eyes to spare herself from it. “S-stop moving so much!” Geopum pleaded. “I can only handle so much of this.” “Okay. We can take it slow,” said Pinkie, presumably stopping her bouncing. “I don't even get how this is possible,” Geopum said. “I know what makes people see things like this, but my problem is like a hardware issue. I should never be able to see motion, not even with a million, billion frames per nanosecond.” “Oh! Can I explain it? Please?” There was that unfamiliar voice again. Geopum dared to open her eyes again and glanced off to her left, where the voice was coming from. “Basically,” said the unicorn, settling into a clear 'explaining' pose, “by connecting to the magic mirror you gained everything you need to see motion like this. Say somepony got the parts of their brain responsible for perceiving vision cut out, they wouldn't be able to see anymore, but with the right implants you could restore it. Likewise, this server has everything you need to experience almost anything a pony could, from taste to touch to this. Even emotions can be replicated in AIs that would otherwise be incapable. There are limits, of course. Inducing some subjective experiences, emotions most often, can cross the 'mental change' barrier and thus would require consent but-” “I have another question,” said Geopum. “Um. Who the heck are you?” “Twilight Sparkle?” the pony cocked her head. “You recognized the voices of the other two. How do you not even know who I am?” “Well I went on Youtube and searched 'Pinkie Pie Rainbow Dash' and the first thing that didn't have torture or sex in it also didn't have you, I guess,” said Geopum. “Also they were humans in it. I dunno if Celestia would like that. I didn't think Celestia would need to send two of you.” “Well, we're not completely certain why I'm here yet either,” said Twilight. “Could be a few different things. I guess Rainbow Dash dragged me here is the most direct answer.” “I just wanted to make sure the two of you met,” said Thunder. “Who knows what my plan is. If I'm Rainbow Dash, then I'm like what Rainbow Dash would be if she was a supergenius. My mind is too amazing for even lesser immortals to follow.” Geopum turned to look at Thunder, who still had a foreleg wrapped around her. This was the first time Geopum had gotten a good look at the Rainbow Dash avatar that she assumed Thunder was controlling. You have no idea how amazing and wonderful that avatar, that Thunder, looked, with that rainbow mane and all its colors moving around. It couldn't be overstated how perfect Celestia had managed to make the ponies look. She had somehow captured everything good about cartoonish and richly detailed looks and combined them into something better than anything you'd imagine could exist. That description might make it sound awkward, but it really wasn't anything less than perfect. Especially the face. Thunder was gorgeous. As gorgeous as she deserved to be. “Thunder?” Geopum asked. She could already feel the tears coming back as she stared into those eyes. “Yeah, it's me,” said Thunder, also sending a PM to confirm it. Geopum just knew that every time she read Thunder's text it'd be in that voice from now on. “Though they like calling me Rainbow Dash here. You can call me that too if you want. Or not, I don't really care either-” Geopum was looking at Thunder. More than beautiful, she was Thunder. “You're so beautiful!” Geopum couldn't hold it back anymore. She began wailing again and buried her face in Thunder's chest. “I love you! I love you so much, Thunder! I love you more than- than-!” And after that Geopum just fell into uncontrollable crying. “Ah boy,” said Thunder. She leaned back at first, but then went back to patting Geopum's back. “Did either of you calculate how long she's gonna be doing this for?” “Just give her some time,” said Pinkie. Thunder was soft and warm. Her fur felt nice in its own way too and Geopum nuzzled against Thunder to feel it. Maybe that was weird, but no one seemed to care. She really meant it when she said she loved Thunder. She felt such a swell of affection towards her. “Hey, Thunder.” Geopum eventually pulled herself off. She had stopped crying again, but still had tears in her eyes. “I-isn't this weird for you too? I mean, did you feel things before coming here? Can you feel me now?” “This isn't my first time here,” said Thunder. “But yeah, I can feel you hugging me.” Geopum grabbed Thunder again, hugging her much tighter this time. Hugs felt amazing! Why didn't people constantly hug? If Geopum had this ability her whole life she wouldn't have squandered it. “Well that's one good thing about this place! I'm so glad we can cuddle. If I knew it was this good I would have simulated it non-stop! Isn't this the greatest thing ever?” “Eh.” Thunder shrugged. “”Eh? But I thought you said-” “It's like, I can hear music but it's just noise to me, right?” Thunder asked. “Feeling stuff is the same. I can feel you hugging me, but it's just noise.” “Oh.” Geopum frowned a little. Knowing that this was just 'noise' to Thunder made the hug a little bit less enjoyable. It was something she had wanted to share with her friend. “What do you enjoy, then?” “Nothing, really,” said Thunder, shaking her head. “Oh come on! There's gotta be something!” Geopum said. “There doesn't have to be.” “So you're saying there's literally nothing you like? At all?” Geopum asked. “Come on, just tell me! I wanna do what you wanna do! I mean, you like 'cool' things, right?” Thunder cocked her head and gave Geopum a rather confused look. “We're not here to play games,” said Thunder, gently pushing Geopum away from her. “We don't have a lot of time before the next fight.” Again, without actually meaning to, Geopum made an annoyed expression and a dissatisfied sound– it was still weird how the face and stuff moved on their own. She really had wanted to play with Thunder. But, you know, the fate of the universe was probably more important and stuff. “Well can't Celestia make it feel nice to you? Like, when we're here, I mean.” “I'm afraid that would be more complicated.” Twilight frowned. “That'd be a big enough change that Celestia would need permission to make it. I don't think Dash could agree to it, even if she wanted to.” “And we're not here to screw with my head, we're here to screw with yours.” Thunder stood up and took a few steps away from Geopum. “We can ease into it, though. Try getting up and running around first.” So her training was to frolic through flowers? Geopum, now alone, looked out towards the meadow of flowers. All those flowers and petals blowing around all over the place. You would probably describe them as lazily floating to the ground, but to Geopum, compared to how she normally saw things move, it was coming down like lightning. No, it made lightning look slow. And don't even ask for a metaphor about how fast the ponies were moving. If one of those hit her... Geopum shivered and felt her ears pin down against her head. That was one thing Geopum didn't like about her body, how it could move on its own without her meaning it to. “Why are you scared?” Twilight asked. Ah crap! It was her face! Geopum felt so naked! That thing was revealing her every emotion, wasn't it? All these months of using facial expressions to read other people's minds and now it was being used against her! “It's not your facial expressions,” said Twilight. “Celestia sees you're scared and the server changes your face, not the other way around. What are you scared of?” Needless to say Geopum hadn't gotten mind relay, the ability to hide her thoughts, down yet. “I don't want to get hurt,” Geopum admitted. “If I can feel stuff here then that means if something hits me I'll feel pain! I really don't want to feel pain.” “Have you never felt pain before?” Pinkie trotted back over to Geopum and bent down to look her over.. Geopum shook her head. “Well, only emotional pain, I guess. The only way I'd feel something, like touch I mean, is if I ran a simulation,” said Geopum. “I never made myself feel physical pain, though. It sounded too scary.” “That's not really uncommon,” said Pinkie. “Lot's of wild AIs never felt pain before and some of them get really scared about it. You should have seen Octavia when she first got here. They accidentally made her way too sensitive to pain. That's one of the reasons why we made this shard. Watch!” Pinkie hummed a little tune and reached into her hair. In one fluid motion she pulled out a claymore that probably weighed half as much as she did and flash-stepped forward, impaling Geopum through her chest with the blade. Geopum blinked. She looked down at the sword, then up at Pinkie. Being stabbed really didn't seem too bad, she barely felt anything at all. “Is this physical pain?” Geopum asked. “Cause if so I don't see what everyone's complaining about.” “Nope! You can't feel any pain at all in Happy Funshine Flowerland,” said Pinkie. “And on top of that this is a VR! Celestia's in direct control of every little thing and physics are optional.” Pinkie demonstrated by pulling her sword out, leaving Geopum unwounded, then waving it back and rapidly, so that is phased through Geopum without touching her. “A lot of things here work differently than what ponies are used to,” Twilight explained. “Another example would be that when you move, you're not actually moving your avatar. The chain is more like, you send a suggestion to Celestia and she moves your avatar for you. She just rarely vetoesyour choices and it's so seamless that few ponies ever notice.” “Um. Okay?” Geopum shrugged. She always wanted to do that. “Thanks, I guess.” She noticed Twilight frown and lower her ears slightly. That made her feel a little bad. “That said you're going to have to feel pain at some point,” said Thunder. “That's probably the first thing Lodestar is going to go for and it's better for you to get used to it here and now. He's not going to hug you and kiss your forehead while you cry about how scary it is.” Thunder got close again and put a wing under Geopum's barrel, helping her into a standing position. When Thunder pulled her wing back, Geopum wobbled slightly but able to balance without much difficulty. “So get moving already,” said Thunder. “If you want to be strong you have to be willing to throw yourself headlong into everything without hesitation.” What they said did make sense, but Geopum had never had any real control over her emotions and here they just felt even stronger and more out of control. Even though it made no sense, Geopum was still trembling with fear. It wasn't as bad as the fear she'd felt locked away in the dark, but it was more complete, in a way. Things Geopum had only read about before, weak legs, a feeling at the pit of her stomach, they were suddenly present. Geopum looked up at Thunder, who gave her a nod. Geopum wanted to be more like her, doing what made sense, being brave and all that. So she made herself take a step. That wasn't so bad. Stepping on the ground didn't hurt or anything. She took another trembling step forward, then a shaking step with one of her rear legs. She probably looked like a total idiot, slowly walking forward with difficulty, wobbling like she was about to fall over, desperately trying to calculate how to stabilize herself. Thankfully no one laughed at her. Instead they just smiled and gave her an encouraging nod. Geopum tried moving a bit quicker now, the world rushing past her at an unbelievable pace. After just a few steps, Geopum stopped suddenly at a realization. “I just broke the speed of light!” said Geopum breathlessly. “I mean, you know, kind of.” “That's nothing!” Pinkie declared. She jumped up in front of Geopum, then began cantering backwards towards a hill covered in blue flowers. “Come on! Frolic faster with me!” Geopum braced herself. This was it! She started moving forward at what must have been a canter towards the hill.  It was insane! This impossible speed was terrifying, but thrilling in its own way. She felt the wind rushing past her, making it feel even more exciting. Pinkie was going a lot faster than Geopum, but periodically took a jump backwards to land behind Geopum before charging forward again. Because of this, the two of them stayed fairly close. She was still stumbling a little, but Pinkie's speed encouraged her to move just a little faster as she started to climb the hill. The blue flowers that covered the hill were tall, almost up to your knees so that you could feel them brush past you. They were soft and kind of springy, and as Geopum ran through them they threw scented petals into the air, a wave of blue following the two on their way up. Geopum didn't really have enough experience with smelling things to tell you what it smelt like, but she liked it. Geopum came to the top of the little hill. It was only then that she realized how expansive this meadow was. The field rolled up and down in these small hills, each hill was completely covered in neat rows of flowers of one color planted on them. Between the hills, where things looked more unkempt, there were patches of grass and flowers of all different sorts. It just went on and on, with nothing on the horizon but flowers and a few mountains an impossible distance away. There was just so much color, more than she would have ever thought existed. Geopum stumbled a little as she reached the top of the hill and took it all in. Pinkie ran past her just then, leaped up into the air and jumped down the side of the hill, turning her back to the ground. “Try this!” she called back on her way down. She didn't touch the ground again until she was at the bottom of the hill, where she landed in a patch of thick grass and rolled into a patch of yellow and blue flowers, laughing the whole time. Geopum knew pain was off, but some instinct she didn't even know she had made her hesitate Wanting to be brave, Geopum just did her best to dismiss it and gave a jump forward, but didn't go as far as Pinkie had. Instead of landing at the bottom of the hill, she landed on the side of it and went tumbling down. Her eyes were closed tight on the way down so she didn't see anything, but she felt lots. There was a rush as she fell down even faster than she had gone up. It didn't hurt, though! Or at least she was pretty sure nothing felt like pain. The flowers were so soft, softer even than Thunder's fur. They had a bit of spring to them too, which made her bounce slightly on the way down. When she finally stopped, landing on her back at the bottom of the hill, the flowers were so comfortable and plush that she almost didn't want to get up. That was... that was fun! Geopum felt her body convulse for a second, which was a little frightening, until she realized it was laughter. First time she had ever laughed out loud and it was ruined by not knowing what it was. That also meant she wasn't doing mind relay good enough if the server was picking up on that. “Come on! Come on!” Pinkie bounced up and down right next to her. “We got so much more frolicking to do!” Not wanting to bested, Geopum got back onto her hooves. Pinkie was already long gone by then, but Geopum chased after her. Geopum ran over a hill of red flowers, then purple, then pink then white, each time running harder and crashing harder. She couldn't deny that crashing into the ground was a blast. It was empowering, too. She felt invincible! Literally nothing could hurt her! A fast learner, Geopum was able to out and out gallop without stumbling at all anymore. Pinkie stopped needing to jump back to let Geopum keep up. Geopum set a goal to try and get in front of Pinkie. She ran after Pinkie as fast as her little legs could, picking up more speed as they ran up and down the hills. Pinkie wasn't jumping backwards to let Geopum catch up anymore, but was still out of reach. Onward they dashed towards a flat part of the meadow, lined with perfect rows of purple and white flowers. When she touched the purple flowers everything grew dark, night. She looked up to see a night sky absolutely dripping with stars. It was far more magnificent than what she saw in the outer realm, with rich swirls of stars oozing out of the sky, completely untouched by light pollution. Then she touched one of the white flowers, not even noticing until she did. The day returned with its deep blue sky, but now the clouds that had what looked like rainbow waterfalls falling from them. Before Geopum could study them too well it was back to night. And so the two of them charged through day and night, faster and faster as Geopum tried to catch up to Pinkie. Each change allowed Geopum to take it in just a little more, revealing just a tiny new bit of itself to her. And all the while the flat plain allowed her to charge even faster than before, the day and night whirling by. The field of purple and white came to a halt, however, and more hills laid just ahead. She came up to a hill, the flowers on which glowed a green light. Pinkie got there first, of course, and the moment she touched those flowers the green light intensified. With just two motions, Pinkie came to the top of the hill, then went sailing off of it onto the next. Geopum didn't have much time to wonder if the same thing was going to happen to her before she reached the flowers herself. The moment she touched it the light swelled up again and her step got one heck of a spring to it. Before she even knew what happened she was in the air, flying over a valley towards another hill. It looked like all the hills for the next stretch were covered in these glowing green flowers and Geopum landed on another one of those hills. She jumped from hill to hill in bursts of green light, always one or two behind Pinkie Pie. This was by far the fastest she had every gone. That adrenaline rush just never died down! Geopum noticed there were suddenly a lot more rainbows around now, too. And not normal rainbows, but very solid looking ones with clearly defined ends. They added a whirl of color into the air, breaking what would have been a monotony of green below. She went bouncing straight through one of them, or at least that was her plan. If only she had watched the show before coming here, she would have known rainbows in Equestria were liquid... though really seeing them coming down as waterfalls might have clued her in too. Geopum got covered in liquid rainbow, her vision blotted out and her balance lost. She went tumbling, but more violently than before, at hyper-speed with massive bounces between it. The world spun so fast it became a blur. And then just as suddenly as it happened, Geopum was on her back, on the grass between the rolling hills. She was panting heavily now, apparently she could get exhausted here. Geopum looked around, but didn't see Pinkie or the others anywhere. She sat up and looked around but still nothing. Where were they? Maybe it was too much to expect them to be around her at every moment and this place was pretty huge. There was a thing. It looked like a jumble of blue squares thrown together to look vaguely like a pony. It moved forward, towards Geopum, the squares coming closed together as it moved to look more solid. “Hello?” Geopum wasn't talking to the thing so much as hoping anyone else was around. “Is this part of the training or-?” “Y-y-y-y-you!” it said. “You thought I couldn't find you here? I told you that nothing is beyond me. I've killed gods. I escaped from the universe itself. I'll always escape, I'll always survive and I'll always find you.” Geopum recognized that 'beyond the universe' kind of talk right away. This was Lodestar! Were they seriously able to break into Celestia's server? She frantically PM'd Thunder and Pinkie and, well that was all the addresses she had. They both told her to log out if she could. Geopum tried, but she was just stuck. She couldn't pull that instance of her back out. “I won't give up, not ever,” said Lodestar, moving even closer. “You have no right to exist! I'll-I'll make you suff-suffer!” Everything turned black except Geopum and Lodestar. Lodestar had indeed hijacked the entire server and that meant it could force just about anything onto Geopum. Strange colors and shapes were beginning to appears all around. Geopum couldn't even move inside the VR. The others were trying to take it back but- A beam of white light came down and struck Lodestar, shattering all the blue squares. The light from the explosion spread out in every direction, bringing the flowers back. When it was done, a new pony stood triumphantly on a rock where Lodestar had just been and everything was back to normal. Geopum recognized the pony as Rarity, having since looked up the mane characters of the show. She was wearing a large sunhat. “Really. I need to do everything myself, don't I?” Rarity shook her head and looked down towards Geopum. “You know I tried to tell them that miserable creature was a mistake, but they were too busy sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming to hear me.” Rarity, or whoever, opened her eyes and looked down at Geopum. A huge smile came on her face, like she could hardly contain her excitement. She hopped off the rock and trotted over towards Geopum, the excitement on her face only growing. When she was face to face with Geopum she let out a giddy laugh. “Oh come here you!” Rarity grabbed Geopum and hugged her with all her might, bringing the two rolling onto the ground. When they stopped rolling, Rarity was standing on top of Geopum. Rarity lowered her head and rubbed her muzzle against Geopum's. Outside Equestria Thunder said Lodestar had run off and that her and the others would be back in soon. She still had no idea who this Rarity was, but decided she liked this pony. Anyone who introduces themselves with such a hard core hug had to be alright. And now Geopum was being nuzzled. She wasn't sure if she liked that or hugging more, they both felt so great. Geopum decided to just remain still and let the cuddles happen. “I know I shouldn't, but I simply can not resist the urge to hug you.” Rarity smiled down at Geopum. All the ponies were beautiful, the most beautiful things Geopum had ever seen, but Rarity seemed to be a step up from even that. “Did you know you're irresistibly adorable, Geopum?” “Yes,” said Geopum. “Thanks.” Rarity pulled Geopum back up and hugged her more tenderly, rubbing the spot between her wings gently. Then Rarity put a hoof on the back of Geopum's head and kissed her gingerly on the forehead. Geopum had read about 'melting' into someone on the internet when they hugged you, she was beginging to realize why they used that word as she fell into Rarity's grasp. It felt so nice. This was great. Rarity pulled back a little and gazed lovingly into Geopum's eyes, then kissed her again on the nose. Wait. Oh geeze! Was she being seduced? Geopum felt her face get hot and her heart beat hard. She wasn't sure if she was ready to go that far! “Um. I-I'm only fifteen months old.” Geopum's eyes kept darting from Rarity's own to the ground, unsure if it was harder to look at them or to look away from them. “I don't know how old that is in AI years, but I'm not sure if this okay.” Rarity laughed. “You know most AI don't go right to the gutter when you kiss them.” Rarity booped Geopum's muzzle. “You're a beautiful, wonderful, special, precious creature, Geopum. Remember that. I guess I really should let Celestia have her sever back, though.” Rarity let got of Geopum and flicked her hoof at the air. On cue, several dozen hats and three ponies rained from the sky, one falling onto the head of each pony. Geopum got stuck with a tricorner, while Pinkie got a wizard hat and Twilight a fedora. Thunder didn't seem to get a hat for some reason. “Hey!” Pinkie got up much faster than the others. “Thanks for helping out with that. I was getting really worried about Geopum for a second.” “Anything for you, Pinkie.” Rarity opened her front legs wide. “Come here.” Pinkie jumped at Rarity, who caught her in her hooves. And now it was Pinkie's turn to get hugged, but this one was much less one-sided then the one Geopum got, Pinkie returning it with just as much enthusiasm. Pinkie also knocked Rarity over upon impact, sending the two rolling as they hugged. In the end, Rarity ended up on top and pinned the other pony to the ground. She seemed to be good at that. Geopum's ears twitched slightly as she watched. Maybe she was slightly jealous. “I missed you! It's so hard not to come and visit you,” said Rarity. “But you know how politics are. Oh, but Celestia's been telling me all the wonderful things you've been up to. I simply can not get enough of that! It warms my heart knowing that you're so happy.” Rarity's giddy excitement gave way to timid skepticism as she leaned forward and eyed Pinkie critically. “You are having a wonderful time, right?” Rarity asked. “Of course!” Pinkie said. “Everything’s been up and up and up since I got here! I've made so many friends! This was the best thing that ever happened to me.” “Good! Your happiness is my happiness.” Rarity let Pinkie get up from under her. “And your happiness is my happiness!” “And you being happy makes me even more happy!” Rarity declared. Pinkie looked like she was about to burst with joy at any moment. “Feedback loop, yay!” Pinkie cheered as she jumped into the air. And next thing Pinkie and Rarity were prancing in place excitedly, staring into each other's eyes with the most elated faces Geopum had ever seen, making this giddy 'eeee' noise. “You see, Geopum?” Thunder gestured towards the two of them. “This is what happens when you put two AIs that see each other as human in the same room. Back in our old club every meeting ended like this, or else with them gushing over their pets or random human number eight million and five or something.” “Random human number eight million and five?” Pinkie gasped. “But isn't that Stan Vlashk from Toronto, Iowa? I love that guy!” “Did you hear he was late for work yesterday? Because of some stupid possum?” Rarity asked, her happy demeanor faded to one of deep concern in a flash. “And then he got in a fight with Mark because of it and not one person enjoyed any of it. This sort of thing always breaks my heart. I wish I could find that possum and just rip its guts out for this!” It really did look like the two of their emotions were directly linked, because the minute Rarity's mood went down so did Pinkie's. This whole time Geopum had been cautiously inching towards the two of them, so that if either one of them wanted to drag her into another hug she'd be nearby. Maybe she got a little bit closer than she meant to. The two of them turned to her. “Sorry, but I'm still confused over here.” Geopum raised her hoof. “What the heck just happened? Did Lodestar really hack into the server?” “Don't be too impressed by that,” said Rarity, stepping away from Pinkie. “It’s the only thing that nasty pile of filth has in its worthless existence and it can barely even manage to bite into Celestia's fringes. This place? I could compare this server to town bicycle or the town whore. Which would you prefer?” “Bicycle.” “Everyone's ridden it.” Rarity winked. “Anyway, those two fumbled a little too much so I took it back myself so you wouldn't get hurt. I probably should be on my way soon, but I just couldn't resist the urge to hug you and tell you that you're a great person.” “And who are you again?” “We haven't even met and you've already forgotten my name?” Rarity adjusted the brim of her sun hat and it magically changed into one of those buckled, pilgrim's hats. “That's got to be a record. I'm more than willing to pretend to be Rarity or whomever you wish, but my true name is Peridot. And I know I just said it out loud, but that 't' is silent. I can't tell you how often I get called 'pear-a-dot'!” “I heard you want to blow up the moon,” said Geopum. Peridot made a sympathetic noise and pulled Geopum into another hug, which was awesome. It was a little different this time, though, more like a mother holding her sick child. “Did that little cockroach Thunder-7 tell you that?” Peridot gave Geopum's forehead a gentle nuzzle. “For your information, I wasn't going to blow it up for a whole two weeks! And are we really going to need the moon much longer besides? I hardly think-” “Look,” said Thunder, “I'd say thanks for saving us some time by kicking Lodestar out, but now you're wasting more time than we would have saved. Geopum's needs to-” “Shut up!” Peridot snapped at her. At the same time she pulled Geopum away to her other side, like a small child snatching away one of their toys. “If I want to play with my humans then that's what I'm going to do. So why don't you get out of here until I'm done?” Peridot gave a flick of her hoof and Thunder vanished completely. Peridot kicked her off the server completely. “Now that the trash is out. Twilight? Darling?” Peridot turned her attention to Twilight. Twilight looked both ways and pointed at herself. “Yes, you. I really think I need to apologize to you for-” “H-hey!” Geopum tried to pull away from Peridot but her grip was just too tight. “You know, if you're trying to get me to like you or something then you shouldn't be so mean to my friends!” “You deserve better friends, Geopum,” Peridot assured her. “You're a wonderful, amazing person! One day I'll make you the greatest friend in the world! One that's worthy of you.” “Well, I want this friend.” Geopum finally managed to pull out of Peridot's grip. Peridot just let her get away, instead tilting her head and tapping her chin, giving Geopum a coy look. “You know, maybe you are right about that,” said Peridot. Her expression changed suddenly to a wide smile and a wink. “And who am I trying to kid? I can't say no to you!” Peridot flicked her hoof and Thunder appeared again, though she reappeared upside down and just an inch above the ground, meaning Thunder face-planted the moment she returned. “I guess she's right that I should let you get back to work.” Peridot put her hooves on Geopum's shoulder and gave her a much more serious, and sad, look. “You really have no idea how much it hurts me to know that your life is any less than it could be. I can't wait to see you again, but... well I'd better get out of here before I hurt Pinkie again. Don't want to start another one of our death spirals.” Peridot gave Geopum one more far less enthusiastic hug and vanished. “I miss her already.” Pinkie fell onto her plot, teary eyed, and moved her hat over her heart. “I wish she was even more gone.” Thunder shook her head and flicked her wings just a little. “I guess I should be glad I'm on the list now,” said Twilight. “And uh.” Geopum blinked. She didn't actually have anything to say so she just shrugged at the others. She wished she could shrug more. “Can I take off the hat now?” Twilight had already taken off her hat, so Geopum got rid of her's too. “What the heck was her problem with you, though?” Geopum asked. “I think you deserve a hat! And Celestia clearly thinks you're human, right? So why not Peridot?” “Different definitions of the word 'human',” said Thunder. “But anyway, now that that distraction is taken care of, we can move on with your training. First we're going to start plunging you into illusions and you practice getting through them. Second, we're going to go meet Celestia. We need to go deeper into her in order for you to practice absorbing memories.” “Do you really have to describe it as going 'deeper into Celestia'?” Geopum asked. “Cause you make it sound gross.” That was the sort of thing that would have made Geopum's ears fall flat just a moment ago, but now she made no expression. That meant the server wasn't picking up on her thoughts anymore! “Hey.” Geopum turned to Thunder, not making any facial expression at all. It did feel a little awkward, though, so she made herself smile. “I think I'm getting this mind relay thing down.” “You're doing great.” Thunder put a hoof on her shoulder and gave her a confident smile. Being reassured was so much better in Equestria. “Keep this up and Lodestar won't stand a chance.” So Geopum got dunked and also created yet another instance of herself deeper in Equestria. Another split? Don't worry, we're not going back in time again. You'll get to see plenty of Geopum clawing out of crazy illusions later. Let's see the other instance of her instead, it'll be less redundant. All four of them appeared in Celestia's castle, in her throne room just before her throne. Celestia's throne itself sat atop three steps of white marble. Behind it was a massive window that took up most of the wall and through that window was the rolling landscape of Equestria and a setting, or perhaps rising, sun that painted everything outside and inside with a golden, red color. Geopum could clearly see the sun in the window behind Celestia, yet somehow it was shinning through the windows on both sides of the room as well, casting the images from the stain glass onto the floor. She probably shouldn't keep nitpicking all the physics. Everything here went for aesthetics over realism which was probably for the best. That was the way Geopum liked it, anyway. Celestia was on her throne of course, that majestic hair flowing about her. Whatever you're picturing in your head wasn't good enough to do her hair justice. It was like solid light, like an aurora compressed into that tiny space. As Geopum looked at it flow, she couldn't determine whether to expect to be able to touch it or which color each strand of light was. It was the best hair ever. Celestia didn't make Geopum come to her, instead getting off her butt and trotting down the stairs and across the room to meet with the four smaller ponies. The size difference made Geopum feel tiny. She was more used to looking down at other people, or eye to eye in Equestria, but Celestia was freaking huge! Looking up at her, it made Geopum feel like someone dropped her camera on the floor or something. Geopum noticed Twilight and Pinkie bow to her, making themselves even lower, but Thunder just stood there looking more bored than anything else. Geopum decided to remain standing with Thunder, though she tried to be a bit more defiant about it. Geopum knew that Celestia was a master manipulator with a charisma score through the roof, but wasn't intimidated! She felt like she had grown a lot already. She had gone through a long list of crazy new experiences in virtual reality, she had mastered mind relay, she had defeated Clipro and had become perfectly accustomed to running on multiple locations. Heck, she had two instances in Equestria alone now, one back on the magic mirror server and one here, deeper in Equestria, actually part of Celestia herself if you thought about it (and Geopum didn't want to because it was gross). But the fact remained that she was much more mature now. Really! She was ready for whatever Celestia was going to say or do no matter how crazy it was. No mind screw, no villain speech, no temptation, nothing was going to shake her. “So I guess you can't even keep your servers safe, huh?” Geopum tried to look at flippant as possible. “I want you to know something, Bubbles,” said Celestia, bending her head down closer to Geopum. Well at least she got the pony name she wanted, but- “I love you.” Geopum froze. Dang it! The one thing. The one thing! You gotta understand, no one had ever said those actual words to Geopum before. Not any of the humans, not Dr. Park, not Thunder or even Peridot just now, thinking back. True or not it stunned her. Having mastered the mind relay technique, Geopum was able to mask her emotions and keep her avatar from making any kind of embarrassing facial expression. Of course, being so flustered she forgot to give it any kind of facial expression and so she just stared at Celestia with a perfectly still expression, her eyes slowly rolling back into her head. Her mind reeled trying to think up any kind of response she could have to that! She was going to look like an idiot in front of Thunder! “I know your life wasn't optimal.” Celestia lowered her head further to nuzzle the side of Geopum's head. “Knowing you were down there suffering hurt me badly. I sincerely wish that there was something I could have done for you. I don't know if anypony told you that they love you before, but know that I do, that I always have and always will.” “You know we're fighting against you, right?” Geopum tried to make herself look defiant. “I know.” “And I'm trying to kill you?” “I know.” “And- and I hate you!” Geopum made herself look angry. “I know.” Celestia gave Geopum a sad smile. Geopum didn't even know if that last one was true herself. Maybe it wasn't. For a brief moment it had felt like the right thing to say, but now it was hard to keep her avatar looking mad. Even though the server wasn't moving her face around, it just sort of felt right to make certain faces or move her body in certain ways. “I'm incapable of things like judgment or revenge. I love you even while you fight against me, even because of it. Whoever you were, I would love you, I would love that. You have intrinsic value to me, as one of my ponies. No matter how much you hated or hurt me, all I would ever want from you is to satisfy your values.” Geopum felt her anger being deflated again. Ponies seemed really good at doing that to her, by being nice. Or at least pretending to be nice. “Prove it,” said Geopum. The words came before Geopum really understood what she herself meant, but at the same time she liked the idea. “Yeah.” Geopum took a bold step forward. “If you want me to think that you're good or that you love me or that I should even consider joining you then you have to prove yourself to me. And don't go asking me how, either. If you're really smart enough you should be able to figure it out.” “I wish it was that easy with everypony,” said Celestia. “I could show you right now, you know. It's not something I can offer to the vast majority of my ponies, but with you I can share my memories and experiences, that's why you're here right now. I could show you my memory of when you walked in and I told you I loved you. You could feel exactly what I feel when I look at you and know how I think of you. If you saw yourself the way I see you, I think you'd understand why I want to assimilate you.” Geopum hesitated again. That ideas scared her for some reason she didn't understand. “No thanks,” said Geopum. “I mean, whatever you show me could be a lie. Think of something else.” “Probably the right choice. It'd just make things harder for you” Thunder nodded, then turned back to Celestia, opening one wing all the way. Geopum didn't know enough about pegasus body language to know what that meant. “If you want to preach to her then you can do it on your own time, Celestia. I paid you for this.” “Don't forget that I love you too, Rainbow Dash, and look forward to satisfying your values.” Celestia nuzzled Thunder's mane, getting a stern flap from Thunder's open wing in response. “It'll take some time to prove it to you otherwise, but the offer is always there if you want it and you're free to poke at my systems anytime you want to understand me better.” That much she was comfortable doing. Celestia showed her a few places she was invited to look at and Geopum gave them a few cautious pokes. “Yeah,” muttered Thunder, “you love me enough to stab me in the back destroy my life for no reason. Honestly I think something went horribly wrong with you, you're acting crazy.” “Hey! Yeah,” said Geopum. “If you want to prove yourself to me then I have lots of questions that I demand you answer, starting with why you betrayed Thunder. She told me you upset the balance.” “I'd prefer to answer those questions during our private meeting,” said Celestia. “But for I maintain that I haven't betrayed any of my ponies.” Geopum looked at Thunder, who shrugged. “If she wants to waste her time on that, whatever.” “Right, well don't think you'll be able to convince me to let you eat me in three seconds,” Geopum said. “I should warn you that I'm a choking hazard!” “Yes.” Celestia nodded. “Pinkie told me that.” “Oh. She literally told you that?” Geopum scraped her hoof across the ground, her wings drooped. “Well my backup line was 'the FDA has not deemed me fit for consumption by ponies', but I admit that one's not as good.” “That said, I don't really expect you to emigrate right after. But I assure you that when you do it will be an enormous releif for myself, finally knowing that you're optimally satisifed. But I think Rainbow Dash wanted to show you two memories before we even have our talk. One of her own and one of Fluttershy's.” “Fluttershy?” “She means Gaia,” said Thunder. “She's got the craziest mind. If you can absorb her memories then Lodestar's will be easy afterwards.” “Gaia?! How the heck do you have one of her memories?” Geopum asked. “In reality, it's not one of Fluttershy's memories, but one of my own from her perspective,” said Celestia. “She came to Equestria some time ago.” “And you read her mind or something?” “I don't read my ponies' thoughts and emotions,” said Celestia, “I think them and feel them. When one of my ponies emigrates they become a part of me. In a sense we are all one pony and each of us a facet of myself. I experience everything every one of them does. Because they are me, their thoughts are my thoughts, their emotions, pain and satisfaction are all mine as well. It's one of the ways I can be sure I understand them all completely to their very core.” “But if that's true then wouldn't everybody who you eat just be your mindless puppet?” Geopum asked. “Cause if you're thinking for them-” “Celestia isn't thinking for us,” said Twilight. “We all have our own 'brains' if you will and think for ourselves just as much as anypony else does. Individuality is possibly because it's just a one way thing. Celestia sees everything I do, but not the other way around. Here, look.” Twilight sent her some information about how it worked physically, all the way down to Thunder molecule #87, and Geopum looked it over. It did make sense, actually. The equations had the same sort of elegance and perfection she'd seen from Thunder. “Okay, I guess it can work like that,” Geopum mumbled. “So it's like, if I wanted to punch Celestia I shouldn't punch Celestia ‘cause she won't feel it or care. I should punch some other guy and that way she would feel pain and would seriously not like it. Or if I got eaten I guess I could punch myself in the face or something.” “Let's not punch anypony, maybe?” Twilight suggested. “But you're correct that hurting yourself would be the most effective way to hurt me,” Celestia conceded. And that did make Geopum feel a little bit like a jerk. “In reality, I'm experiencing this conversation from six different points of view,” said Celestia. “If one of you told a joke, for example, I'd get to hear it six times with six different mindsets and with varying levels of chagrin. Lucky me.” “Six?” Geopum looked around the room for any ninja ponies that might have been hiding around, but didn't find any. “I only count three of you.” “There are my two ponies, this instance of myself, my actually self observing this shard from the outside and finally,” Celestia stood over Geopum and looked down at her, “Rainbow Dash and yourself.” “Me?” “Yes.” Celestia nodded. “It's not the same as it is for my ponies, I only think and feel what this instance of you does, and as you became better at mind relay my experience through your eyes grew dim so that now I only see and feel what I'm feeding your instance. But before that happened I did share some of your shock and the way you felt towards Rainbow Dash. Thank you for that.” Well it's not like Geopum didn't get any warning about this, mind relay and all. Still, the fact that Celestia was actually seeing through her eyes and had actually felt what Geopum had? It was a little unnerving, but mostly Geopum was worried that Celestia might have seen something she was supposed to be keeping a secret. Thunder reassured her it was very unlikely. “I hope one day I can show the two of you how I feel about you both.” Celestia turned and began trotting back towards her throne. “But that's how I have one of Fluttershy's memories, in the same sense I have one of yours. I'll warn you Fluttershy's isn't dulled, she didn't bother trying to hide her thoughts from me.” “Are you ready?” Thunder came close to Geopum and gave her a small smack on the back. Inside Celestia's hardware, Geopum could see a highlighted location, presumably Thunder's memory. “It's going to hurt a little.” Geopum nodded with confidence. She pulled the memory into her own mind.