Gladiator

by Not_A_Hat

21 - Hideaway

I lay on my back, feeling the cool tiles through my thin shirt. I sighed as the ceiling shook, breaking small clots of dirt free of the interwoven root system supporting the library. I wasn't sure what was happening upstairs, but hiding in the basement had kept me out of it so far.

I'd been honestly surprised when we'd made it back to Ponyville without further incident. Captain Armor had used the low throughput, high priority military-only teleport network to deploy a squad of pegasus couriers, who had rushed a pony-powered cart along the railroad to our location. We'd been whisked back to civilization faster than I'd thought possible, a combination of excellent logistics on the military side, and the fact that we hadn't actually been as far removed as I'd first suspected.

We had been thoroughly debriefed three or four times. Once by the official procedure, once for Captain Armor, again by Celestia, and maybe one or two more partial retellings to various officials, friends, and family as we worked our way through the paperwork and made our way...home. Back to Ponyville.

Home. An interesting word, but it fit better and better every day.

Through the whole thing, Twilight and I had been scrambling to assemble some sort of official compilation on the spells and techniques involved in the sealing of the empire, and a risk assessment of Sombra being able to weaponize the effect. Her current conclusion was that it couldn't be done, since it was centered on a unique artifact, and took a mind-bendingly huge amount of magic.

Celestia had skated neatly around our unexpected rescuer, Sunset Shimmer; I had likewise kept quiet about what was said to me. I guess neither of us were quite sure what to make of the issue.

A little private investigation revealed that Sunset was wanted for questioning, but why, or in connection to what, I had no idea. She had no charges against her, and even her official records seemed oddly sterile, as if information on her was controlled. It painted an odd picture, like Celestia was both being protecting and persecuting her. Information on Splinter was a little more open, though there wasn't much more. Maybe they were just a boring family. As I'd thought, he'd been in the Royal Guard, and she'd definitely been his sister. Other than that, unmarried, disappeared about the same time.

"Wes?"

I sat up, my head easily clearing the pony-sized counter I lay behind. Twilight stuck her head around the door-frame, a pair of pens and two journals hovering along.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing down here?"

"Hiding."

"What?"

"Hiding! Listen, can't you hear them stampeding upstairs?"

"But...why?"

"I'm worn out! I appreciate the welcome-home we were given, but after the hoop-la we went through for the army, and the government, and finally, Ponyville, I need some alone time!"

"Really?" She sounded genuinely surprised; her eyes searched my face, as if trying to find some indication of sickness.

"Really! Look, I'm not trying to be rude; you know I'm your friend, if you mares need a hand, heh, you have only to ask. But there is always, and I mean ALWAYS, some sort of wacky hijinks going down in this supposedly calm, peaceful little country town! Always! I'm not sure what they're doing up there. All I can say is that when I found out it involved a flugelhorn, a family of ducks, three cans of paint, and Pinkie Pie, I decided I wanted some alone time and I've been here since. Anyways. What did you need?"

"Um...is it OK?" She drew back hesitantly, as if to leave.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved hand helplessly. "Don't worry about it. I've already had more time than I expected. It's not like you're a whole herd by yourself. I can deal with one pony."

"Ok. Um, I was thinking we should re-start our association testing. And it would be better if we used fragments of songs, or something like that, since they're a little easier to remember, and a little less likely to be duplicated in language learning." She walked over, floated a journal in my direction, and sat down on the floor behind the counter. I adjusted the light crystals, brightening the lab enough that reading wouldn’t be a chore.

"Yeah." I plucked the notebook and pen out of the air, carefully setting the inkwell down and uncorking it. "Both of those sound like good ideas. Ooop!" I nearly knocked the ink over with a shuffle of my foot, but grabbed it just in time. "I really need to re-invent ballpoint pens. Or, at least, pencils. How do you live with this?"

"It's not so bad with telekinesis." She giggled a little as I tried to balance the inkwell on a knee, and almost spilled it again. I finally set it on the counter behind me, which was awkward but workable.

"Maybe I should learn some," I said, half joking, but her expression turned serious.

"Actually, I meant to ask you about that." She uncorked her own inkwell, and dipped her pen. "When we escaped the Crystal Empire, you were able to use the link between our souls to borrow some of my magic. I know you've given statements on this several times now, but I don't think you've been asked...do you think you could do it again?"

"Seriously?" She shot me a look, wondering if I was offended, but I was thoroughly impressed. "Twilight, I have some idea how painful that must have been for you. You haven't even finished recovering yet! I'm suprised you can suggest that so calmly. And, well, we haven't had time to re-work the diagnosis on the soul-meld. Is that sort of experimenting safe?"

"Ah, no..." She trailed off for a second, her gaze going distant as she reviewed whatever data she'd prepared for this discussion. "I mean, you're right. We can't actually do any experiments yet. I just wanted to know, if you had to, or wanted to, do you think you could do it again? Hypothetically."

"Oh. Um. Maybe?" I mulled it over for a moment. "Hypothetically....that's a definite maybe. Yeah. I can't really say. Both times, when we've moved magic, we've been on the brink. I've been working from instinct, practically autopilot. And, we were both on some other level of connectedness. I mean, normally, this...thing," I waved a hand from my crystal towards her, "isn't intrusive or even noticeable." I tapped the gem; it clinked dully through my shirt. "It glows purple now, but other than that, I can't say anything has changed in my day-to-day. During those two times, however....well, something changed. You felt it too, right?"

"Yeah. Yes, I did. I could feel you, almost physically connected to me. Like your mind was touching mine."

"Right, like that. I could use your magic to close the portal, because I also had access to all of your magical lore and spell-casting training. As our memories are now, that's not possible; I can sometimes use bits of your memory, like when I checked your calculations in the Crystal Library-"

"It's kinda silly to refer to everything there as 'Crystal this', or 'Crystal that'."

"Yeah, but you know what I'm talking about. The point is, our memories are normally connected only weakly. But when I was spell-casting, I was using more than just your memory. I also used your reflexes and instincts. I couldn't have done it otherwise, but it started earlier than that. I nearly got pulled into your spell-casting when you opened the gate. Maybe it has to do with the amount of magic you're pulling? Like, the pressure of power can force the connection to widen?"

"Maybe." She thought for a minute, and the items she levitated danced in an absent minded way. "We could test that. Maybe if I built up a full horn of magic, we could open the connection like that again, and-"

"No!" My vehemence stopped her dead. "No." I continued more calmly. "At least, not until you're completely recovered, and have some theoretical idea of the power-flows and thaumic patterns involved, and we've both sent a write-up to the Princess about it. And even then, we start with a proof-of-concept."

"Fine." She sighed, flicking her mane out of her eyes, pretending annoyance. "But Wes, Sciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiience!"

"Pfff." I flicked a pebble at her. "Enough. Let's give this new association testing a try. You go first."

"B.B.B.F.F."

"Big-Brother-Best-Friend-Forever." She nodded, and made a tick in her notebook. I thought for a second, and scribbled out my phrase.

<"Scar tissue that I wish you saw.">

<"Sarcastic mister know-it-all."> I made a check mark, and nodded back at her.

"Learn to face your fears."

"You'll see that they can't hurt you."

<"The silence, a mirror,">

<"That breaks the light in two.">

"The time has come to welcome spring,"

"And all things warm and green."

<"There was something so pleasant about that place.">

<"Even your emotions had an echo, in so much space. Wes,"> I looked up, surprised at the break from the pattern. <"Are all the songs you know melancholy?">

<"Um, I dunno."> I felt a little defensive. We'd only done three rounds! <"Why? Does it bother you?">

<"Not really, but...well, it's a little different from what I'm used to."> I sighed, and put the notebook down for a second. I was feeling melancholy. This thing with Sunset was distracting me, and if Twilight didn't have advice for me, no-one would.

"Twilight, do you think Celestia trusts me?"

"Yes. Well, probably. Why?"

"Well, Sunset said some really odd things to me." I proceeded to retell the multi-verse refutation I'd been given, and how Sunset had mentioned that this was the sort of thing Celestia ought to know. "...and, the thing is, I don't think she's wrong. Celestia is too old, wise, and knowledgeable to not have realized this sort of thing. So, why didn't she mention it?"

"Hrmph." Twilight gave me a confused glance. "I don't know, Wes. Only… I've known the Princess for quite a while. I believe she has good reasons."

"Heh, that's fine." I laughed bitterly. "Hey, even I don't trust myself most the time. I can get that. But she seemed so...honest. Straightforward. Not like a chessmaster, not like someone who'd be manipulating me. And that makes it even worse, honestly. I'd prefer outright coercion. Better a <steel fist> than a <velvet glove.> I want to like her, trust her, but I can't tell if that's dangerous or not."

"Wes, look at me." I turned towards her. She was very serious, purple eyes boring into mine. "Trust her."

"But-"

"Ah! Let me finish. Look, she comforted you, and gave you her word. You can hold onto that. I don't know what she's holding back or why, but it's not for some secret scheme. She's not like that. She told me once, as part of my study on power and its uses, that the just use of power limits our actions as well as widening them.

"She can't allow Celestia-the-princess to do things that Celestia-the-pony wouldn't think twice about. She won't hurt you, unless you need it, and she will help you as much as she can, as long as it doesn't hurt another. Although she may have resources she's not offering to you, that's her prerogative and burden as a ruler. She needs to place her kingdom first. Her personal interests come second. The fact that she offered you her help as Celestia-the-pony is not to be scorned." She looked down, and her voice quieted a little. "It's more than most get."

"Fine." I puffed out a great breath, stirring up the cobwebs and dust around us. "Fine. Ok, yeah. I'll take her at face value. What the hay, if you don't know her, no-one does. Except maybe Luna. Thanks, Twilight."

"You're welcome." We sat in silence for a second, before she raised her pen again. "Let's give this another few rounds. You've gotta share, you've gotta care."

"It's the right thing to do." I thought for a second; if she didn't like my music, maybe I should go with something else.

<"Voila! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran,">

<"Cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate."> Her eyes widened, and a look of surprised eagerness crept across her face as she realized I'd quoted her a bit of something very like poetry. She accelerated, and her voice took on louder, more rolling tones as she fell into the character of the speech. <"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.">

<"Twilight, I didn't mean-">

<"The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.">

<"-that you should recite the whole thing."> I finished lamely. Dang, I hadn't even memorized it that well; I didn't think I could recall the whole thing. My breath caught at that thought. Could it be?

"That was so cool!" she said, laughing. "All those VvVvV sounds! And so powerful! I guess that's what declaiming feels like! Do you know more poetry like that?"

"Um. Some. But that's not the point of this, right?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess. Still, human poetry sounds cool!"

"Yeah, I like it. Sorry, your turn."

"Right. How about: The fire of friendship lives in our hearts."

"As long as it burns we cannot drift apart."

<"So since I'm still here livin', I guess I will live on.">

<"I could've died for love, But for livin' I was born.">

"I'm the belle of the ball, the star of the show,"

"I'm the type of pony every pony, every pony should know." I finished, with a wry twist. Twilight giggled a little at my deadpan recital.

<"He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.">

<"The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls. Oooo, more poetry!"> She took a minute to write this down in her book.

"Twilight..." I started speculatively.

"Yeah?"

"You know how, before, we were seeing something like a twenty percent difference in how much we could remember? I think I figured it out." I chewed on the end of my pen for a second, before realizing feathers taste awful and spitting.

"What do you mean?"

"I think you're just better at remembering things in general," I said slowly, tasting the words. "I got the idea with the <V speech>. I tried to memorize that after hearing it the first time; I barely made it past the first line. Yet you spit the whole thing out, like it was no big deal."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And more than that; those last two bits of poetry, I'm pretty sure I couldn't recite more than the fragment I gave you. I mean, 'The Eagle' isn't any longer than that, but still. Why," I asked plaintively, "do you even get to be better at my own memory than I am?"

"But that can't explain the whole thing, can it?"

"Dunno. But it's a working theory on where the gap comes from. Even explains the block of decimal calculus in your notes. I didn't do well in that class, but you were throwing integrals around like it was nothing-"

"Wait, what?"

"Oh." I stopped for a second. Had I forgotten to give that back to her before the whole blur of re-entry? It would probably have made her report much easier. "Um, I might need to check my pack, but I picked up the report you made on Sombra when we left the empire. I might still have it in my stuff. Right smack-dab in the middle was a bunch of math I learned a year or so ago, but wasn't very good at. You worked it in human decimal, not Equestrian. If you can remember my own memories better than I can, it might explain how you were able to use it more effectively than me."

"Calculus, calculus...I really want to see this report. You know how, when you first accessed my memories, everything was pretty blurry?"

I nodded; both of us had noticed that. Our first attempts to use the others' memory had been reflexive, and we'd been unaware of what we'd done afterwards.

"You think you did the calculations, and then forgot it?"

"Maybe. But calculus...I'm not sure why, but I just like that word. What does it mean?"

"Um...it's a little hard to put into a short description, even if I was an expert, which I'm not. It's...kinda sorta a way of getting discrete answers for equations that are continually changing, by quantifying the limits of the problem and working from there. I'm not sure if that's...anyways, you were using it for field calculations. Like, the sort of thaumic signatures necessary to force sigilistic patterns through different dimensional layers."

"That...can't be right."

"Maybe I misunderstood the math? But that seemed to be what you were doing."

"No, you don't understand the problem. There's no way to do those calculations. The vectors are morphing in three dimensions, and the whole thing needs to be rotated axially-"

"You can do that with calculus. I mean, I can't, but it's probably doable. I've seen examples of integrals rotated through space. They ought to be solvable."

"Wes." Her voice was flat.

"Y-yes?"

"Get me that report."

"Yes ma'am!" I leaped up, intending to dash off. Just as I did, the roof shook. I paused, my enthusiasm quailing as the ruckus knocked more dirt out of the root-woven ceiling.

"Wes!" An energetic voice exclaimed. I sighed, completely deflating as Pinkie's head appeared in the door. "I was looking for you! Do you know how to play the flugelhorn?"

"I need to move out," I muttered, glancing back as Twilight's giggle rose invisibly from behind the counter.

Comments

[hs0003]

Considering that the human brain constantly runs in what would be "power efficiency mode" in a laptop, that may explain why he can't recall it as well as Twilight. Considering that there is magic in Equestria and so many sentient species, it stand to reason that their brains either fully or partially run on the energy from that magic.
My theory is that where humans have evolved to favor energy efficiency over output, the ponies and especially the unicorns have evolved to favor output over efficiency, simply because they had access to more energy.

[Inquisitor-Awesome]

3780092
Strange that was my theory as well.....

[hs0003]

3781279 Which part? The reason "their brain uses magic energy to function" part or "her memory recollection prowess comes from energy availability".

Btw, if we had evolved in a place with such energy availability, we would likely all be as intelligent or more intelligent than Einstein, have the ability to view the world in slow motion and make well thought out decisions in fractions of a second.
Because our two brain parts don't like to communicate through their basic "line" because it uses a lot of energy, and the two others is abilities we already have but only use in life or death situations. Like falling or surrounded by fire.
(I've been self studying human biology quite a lot)

[Inquisitor-Awesome]

3781355
Both parts actually
Ps I am studying human biology too and know about the energy output as well so looks like you and I seem to have the same hypothesis...interesting

[hs0003]

3781371 Although, our hypothesis sadly wouldn't work in reality, because a human being wouldn't be able to adapt to the change in one life time, it would take a shitload of generations for anything to happen. Unless of course magic fixed that forcibly.

[Inquisitor-Awesome]

3781355
Or a lot of genetic engeeniering, cybernetics/bio tech, or again what you said(if we are able to be manipulated by magic) magic manipulation chamge.
Edit. Forgot or evolution...we are still evolving so on the long run we might reach that. But again it's evolution

[hs0003]

3781409 I generally dislike cybernetics. I am more into gene manipulations (More cost effective in the long run).
Btw, have you seem Limitless? It would probably be like a mild version of that after a few hundred years of natural adaptation.

[hypnoshadow]

3774504 why is it every time i read the title of your fic i have this song in my headhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUw0oZlzy-Q

[damnaion]

mmmmm

[Dj7291993]

She can't allow Celestia-the-princess to do things that Celestia-the-pony wouldn't think twice about.

Opening quotations, see previous comment.

[dargonax]

You quoted v for vendetta. I love that movie.

[Mahtan]

3781409
I don't have much to colaborate with the duscussion but both of you are asuming the brain would be able to work on a higher energy flow for a long period of time without breaking, wich is not the case. For a simulation it would be like the effecya of adrenaline overdose in live or death simulation anf studies indicate that maintaining such state for long periods of time cause brain damagr in the temporal, speak and long term memory parts of the brain, though it was not know if that is caused by the adrenaline or the the higher ibtebsity the brain is submited to.