Heads in the Cloud

by PresentPerfect

Chapter 5: The Cloud

Heads in the Cloud
by Present Perfect

Chapter 5: The Cloud

Rainbow Dash launched herself at Catrina, but whooped and spun in the air. Twilight recognized the same physical disorientation she'd experienced upon first entering the Cloud. Despite Dash having been here longer, she'd only been sitting still. Flying was going to be as hard for her to figure out as simply existing had for Twilight.

Catrina laughed. "Foolish, simple ponies. You really are quite slow on the uptake."

"What are you doing here, Catrina?" Twilight snarled at the head. "There's no possible way you could come here!"

"There isn't, is there?" Catrina smirked and raised an eyebrow. "The same way you could never come here unless you knew a certain spell?"

Twilight paled. "But... that spell was locked away--"

"Where I couldn't find it!" Snarling, Catrina circled them. "My one mistake was thinking your dear Princess Celestia was as stupid as the rest of you. I'm still not sure what I missed, but the spell definitely was not in that room!"

Rainbow Dash burped, still spinning. "I'm guessing... Ugh... It'd be too much to ask for you to just leave..."

Catrina snorted. "Of course, simpleton. I've already gotten what I wanted. It's too late for you to stop me."

"I don't understand." Twilight shook her head. "Princess Celestia told me she would have given you the Ankh if you'd asked. You didn't have to break into the Crown Room!"

Rainbow Dash righted herself and landed beside Twilight, looking rather green, as Catrina laughed once again.

"I may have underestimated one pony princess, but it's obviously not the case with the others." She licked her lips. "You really haven't figured out that the Ankh was never my target?"

"So the Cloud was?" Twilight scowled.

"Hmph." Catrina shook her head. "Perhaps you're not as idiotic as I took you for. I came to Canterlot under the guise of being an 'ambassador' from my people entirely to prove my theories. I broke into the Crown Room, the most heavily Guarded room in Canterlot Palace, because I thought the proof I needed would be there." She scowled. "Evidently, it was more well-hidden than I had anticipated."

Tilting her head, Twilight squinted. "What theories?"

"Why, about the Cloud! It's obvious you ponies had no idea it was even real, but I, in my infinite wisdom, had always suspected something like it existed." She smirked, regarding them out of the corner of her eye. Twilight got the feeling that, if Catrina's projection into the Cloud had hands, they would be preening her whiskers at the moment.

"I still don't follow," she said. "What was it you suspected?"

"Oh, come now, even you cannot be that ignorant." Catrina scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Haven't you ever wondered how all that magic, all that friendship, all that knowledge fits into the tiny little pea-brain inside your enormous skulls?"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash glowered at Catrina, who paid her no mind.

"The simple answer is: it can't. Thus, something like this Cloud must exist, where parts of your consciousness are stored when not in use, but easily accessible when you require them."

Rainbow continued to glower. "So what'd you do to me, huh?"

"Simple." Catrina's smile grew wickeder. "I severed your link to the Cloud."

"That shouldn't be possible." Twilight scanned her own memory of the treatise. What had happened to Seafoam had been theorized as just an accident, a one-in-a-billion chance. It certainly hadn't been purposefully enacted.

"Look around you, Princess," Catrina said, her smirk turning into a frown of disgust. "If what I say is untrue, then why are we all here?" The lines of her face relaxed. "I may be a powerful sorceress, yet I know only three spells. First, fully formed illusions, that feel and smell entirely real."

Twilight's eyes widened. "You mean all those monsters and traps we faced in your cave were illusions?"

Pride crept its way into Catrina's expression. "Well, some of the traps were real. The one which caught your farmer friend, for instance. Secondly, I know a spell to remove outside influence on a mind. It was a simple matter to craft it into a trap, with a nice big, spooky shadow for misdirection."

Rainbow Dash growled. Catrina only laughed primly. "Oh, it wasn't personal, Rainbow whatever your name is. I just needed any one of you to fall prey into the trap so my plans could be set in motion.

"Rounding out my repertoire is a mental projection spell. Once I cast it, which, by the way, your Princess Celestia had no idea I was doing in her lovely jail cell, it was a simple matter to seek out the spell you used to reach the Cloud. I knew if one of your friends was to be afflicted, one of you would have to find a way to enter the Cloud yourself, thus bypassing all the Palace security and leading me straight to my goal." She laughed. "I should thank you for being so kind as to link yourself mentally to another of your friends. It was a far easier spell to infiltrate than the one you're maintaining."

Twilight reeled. Rarity, cancel the telepathy spell, now!

"Oh, it's too late for that, Princess." Catrina once again showed her fangs. "I'm already here, after all. In fact, if the two of you would be so kind as to remove yourselves from this place, I'll get on with my work. All you need to do is will yourself back to reality. The only reason rainbow wings here hadn't thought of it sooner is she was too wrapped up in whatever frivolous fantasy her mind had created."

Twilight and Rainbow exchanged looks.

"Why?" Twilight asked. "Why did you betray Celestia's trust in you, when all she offered was friendship? What could you possibly hope to gain from all this?"

Catrina was silent for a while, as her expression darkened like a thunderhead. When she at last spoke, it was in a low rasp.

"What do you know of my people, Princess?"

"The Felyptian empire spanned more than a millennium before ponies lived in Equestria," Twilight said without hesitating. "But their homeland began to grow infertile, and they slowly died off. The remainder lives in what we now call the San Palomino Desert, in the south of Equestria."

"We were exterminated!" Catrina shouted. "It wasn't some natural die-off, don't insult me! Your people moved into the Equestrian valley and drove the Diamond Dogs out. It was they who migrated south and slaughtered my people!" Her eyes flashed with lightning. "They murdered children in their cribs, toppled our cities by digging beneath them, and turned our lush, green empire into a barren desert with their endless tunnels!"

Despite none of them needing to breathe, Catrina panted. "And you, you disgusting, selfish, ignorant, stupid ponies, spent the next few thousand years living a life of indolence, unaware you had sponsored genocide at your own borders! All those years without famine, without predators, without conflict of any sort left you soft and gave you time to think."

Twilight opened her mouth, but Catrina cut her off.

"In all that time, you've been collecting those thoughts up here. All of them swirl around us, right now." She huffed. "And do you know what that knowledge represents?"

"Power," Twilight said, her face a thundercloud.

"You finally got something right!" Catrina barked a laugh. "I am literally swimming in power right now! Power I need to restore my people to their former glory! I am going to take all of this lovely knowledge for myself, because I am sick of being powerless!"

Catrina's head rushed at Twilight, and she flinched back. Though the scream accompanying the attack unnerved her, the expected blow never came.

Twilight, I... I can't! I don't know how. What's going on? Is something wrong?

Catrina's here. I have to stop her.

"You won't stop me, Princess!" Catrina shouted. "My cause is just!"

"Your cause may be just, but your methods stink!" Rainbow shouted back.

"Do I stink more than you ridiculously inferior ponies sending Diamond Dogs to destroy my kind?"

As Catrina rushed at Rainbow Dash, Twilight took stock of the situation. For all her bluster, Catrina couldn't hurt them. In fact, she couldn't do anything to them whatsoever; why would she have told them how to leave the Cloud instead of use her link-severing spell on them? That left all the information around them as the only thing in danger.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. A series of cutie marks out in the Cloud lit up, and she willed two of them closer.

"Hey Catrina! Get a load of this!" She opened them.

The first, a helmet and spear, showed a scene in what Twilight recognized as the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, before it was ruined. A unicorn clad in armor matching the cutie mark's decoration knelt in front of a young and skinny Princess Luna. The second throne beside her was empty.

"Your Highness," said the unicorn, "Diamond Dog activity continues in the south. They attack anypony who nears them, yet they do not linger in any one place. If we do not stand in their way, it seems they will leave Equestria on their own."

Princess Luna sighed. "I fear these Dogs may be the one race with whom friendship may never be possible. Thank you, Lieutenant, for the news. I shall apprise my sister of the situation in the morning."

The scene dissolved and Twilight brought forth the other cutie mark, a large leaf. Within was a scene of Princess Celestia, her mane pink and unmoving, standing on a balcony. An earth pony mare with the very same cutie mark trotted up behind her.

"Princess, you asked for a report on the aid sent to the Felyptians?"

Celestia turned to look at the mare and inclined her head.

"All contact with the envoy was lost two weeks ago." The mare swallowed. "The patrols you sent have found but wagon parts in the sand. They report harsh winds and sandstorms make recovery difficult."

Celestia looked stricken. She turned back to the balcony, watching the sun set.

"I fear we may not be able to help those people after all," she said, her voice heavy with emotion. "I would have liked to make friends with them, but the odds seem stacked against it. We wouldn't have even known they existed if not for the refugee envoy they sent." She lowered her head. "It is a terrible thing, having to run a country, even with help from my sister. Fennel, am I right in fearing for the future of my people under my rule?"

The mare smiled, though it was not as bright as it could have been. "A ruler must fear for her people if she wishes to inspire those she rules, milady."

That seemed to restore the hope in Celestia's eyes.

Twilight closed the scene and turned to Catrina. "We didn't send the Diamond Dogs to kill your people, Catrina."

"What does it matter?" Catrina growled. "The result was the same. And if you have the power to reverse what happened and fail to use it, then it is my right to take it and use it, as you have so kindly shown me how!"

"No," Twilight whispered. "No it's not."

All the secrets and scenes she had already witnessed by being here less than an hour would be vulnerable to Catrina's snooping if she were allowed to proceed. All the ponies' magical knowledge, everything Star Swirl the Bearded had ever dreamed of, any dark secret taken to a grave would now be available to a sorceress who obviously had few scruples in how she used her power.

She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, go back to your body."

"What?" Rainbow gave her a quizzical look. "But I--"

"I don't want anypony else to be in the Cloud for what I'm about to do. And tell Rarity to design a new dress for you. That should disrupt her concentration enough to end the telepathy spell."

Rainbow frowned, but after a few moments, began to fade out. "I don't like this, Twilight, but I trust you," she said, before vanishing completely.

"That's one," Catrina said, her voice guarded.

"I'm sure no amount of apology will make up for it, but I'm sorry for what happened to your people, Catrina," Twilight said somberly, turning toward her. "If you had come to Princesses Celestia and Luna seeking friendship, you would have found it. They would have shared our wealth with you, returned any artifacts belonging to your people, and even extended the protection of Equestria over what is left of your empire.

"Instead, you came to us under false pretenses and betrayed the trust freely given to you." Her eyes hardened. "You lied, you stole, and unfortunately for you, you hurt my friends. I'm not about to forgive you for that so easily."

"I'm hardly asking for forgiveness," Catrina scoffed. "If anyone here should be, it's you!"

"You're right." A tiny smile quirked the side of Twilight's mouth up. "You're absolutely right. My people didn't do enough to help yours in the past, and you suffered for it." She straightened. "As a Princess of Equestria, I formally apologize for the actions of my ancestors wrought upon the Felyptian people, leading to a fate both undeserved and unconscionable."

Catrina scowled. "Apologies will get you nowhere, Twilight Sparkle, you know that!"

"Which is why, as a Princess of Equestria, I am giving you what you want, Catrina."

Catrina's eyes narrowed. "What are you playing at? Do not attempt to outsmart me, pony! You will regret it!"

Twilight closed her eyes, steeling herself.

"Catrina of Felyptia, I grant you access to the Cloud, one of the best-kept secrets of Equestria."

She opened her eyes.

"All of it!"

Catrina looked puzzled at first. Then the cutie marks began swirling around her, and her expression became fearful.

"What are you doing?"

By ones, by twos, by dozens and hundreds, cutie marks of every shape, size, and color imaginable swooped at and dove through her. Catrina's pupils dilated, expanding until her eyes were entirely black. The black continued to spread beyond the confines of her eyelids.

"No, it's too much! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"Sever your link to the Cloud, Catrina!" Twilight shouted. "It's the only way! Otherwise, that big brain of yours is going to become home to every idea ever conceived of by ponykind, all at once!"

The outlines of Catrina's projection blurred. A dark liquid seeped out of one of her nostrils. Breathlessly, she chanted.

"Maz... besh... jekhandeth..."

With a twinkling of lights, she vanished from the Cloud. In a moment, all was still, as if what had just taken place had been a figment of Twilight's imagination.

She sighed, relaxed and smiled. The cutie marks, the representations of every pony that had ever lived since the dawn of time, returned to their places in the background.

"You're more than just a repository of knowledge, aren't you?" she whispered. "You're all there, watching me."

As if in response, a single cutie mark flew out of the swarm and stopped directly in front of her. Twilight gave a little gasp as she recognized it as her own. Hoof shaking, she reached out and touched it gently.

It opened onto a hospital room. A mare -- her mother -- lay breathless on a bed, a nurse beside her. The nurse handed over a bundle, saying, "Here she is! What's her name?"

"Sparkle," her mother said in between breaths. Her father joined her mother, gazing down at the infant her, tears in his eyes.

He looked up at an odd angle, gazing directly at Twilight as she watched the scene.

"Twilight Sparkle," he said, winking.

A little jolt of electricity surged through Twilight, and she banished the image. A moment later, she faded from the Cloud.

Comments

[djthomp]

This has been the worst "one chapter a day" publishing schedule ever.

I guess I see what you meant by divisive, but I think it worked pretty well.

[horizon]

Hmm. Divisive? If this were tumblr, the SJWs would be on you like syrup on waffles for that line about reclaiming power not being OK, but the basic structure of the story is sound — Twilight's solution does follow from the premise and seems the most natural ending.

The only quibble I'd have would be Catrina casting that final spell from within jail. I mean, wouldn't prisons in an explicitly magical world account for that? And the Crown Room scene did seem to imply that anti magic technology is explicitly known.

[Alondro]

Your people moved into the Equestrian valley and drove the Diamond Dogs out. It was they who migrated south and slaughtered my people!" Her eyes flashed with lightning. "They murdered children in their cribs, toppled our cities by digging beneath them, and turned our lush, green empire into a barren desert with their endless tunnels!"

Uhmm.... Catrina, no offense but Rarity beat a whole bunch of Diamond Dogs just by whining.

If your so-called 'empire' got beaten by then, you guys must have been more impotent that Neville Chamberlain.

[PaulAsaran]

Catrina's brain isn't so big it can handle all that at once, eh? A pity, after all that gloating. but two issues still come to mind:

1) Why did she need Rainbow and Twilight to leave?

2) What's to stop her from going back in once she's recovered and taking the knowledge she wants anyway?

[Thought Prism]

It's like the ending to the fourth Indiana Jones movie. But Catrina doesn't disintegrate, unfortunately.

[Cursed Quill]

5752570
She only knows threee spells. She has to have an active connection to piggyback on. And, she wasn't there long enough to learn the Cloud spell herself.