When you're in...

by PeaceColt112

Ummagumma

Twilight felt her whole body shake, as she woke up once more. Her eyelids rose slowly. She was on a metallic floor somewhere. The first thing that dawned on her is how startlingly cold it felt. It was almost like Ponyville in the middle of winter. She cleared her head and stood up. She was alive; even though she was absolutely convinced she died of drowning some time ago. The puddle of water on the floor seemed to confirm that suspicion. She immediately noticed is her distinct lack of wings, even though the image of flight was still vividly embedded within her mind.

It was still dark all around her and no sounds were heard, just a faint ticking behind her and an occasional metallic clang. The room she was in was filled with a number of lengthy appendages, tubes and wires that all led towards the door. It seemed like they were there to simply show her the way, and served no practical use. Some of them even glowed in such a way that their streams of light flowed in a specific direction. After she absorbed her surroundings, it was time to press on.

Soon, she realized that the aforementioned wires were simply floating wherever she went, hanging off the walls at awkward and somewhat impossible angles whenever she passed them. Natural magnetism maybe, attraction to organics or was it her horn? Nothing in her book fit. She had not time to concern herself with that; the room was getting claustrophobic and Twilight started to feel uneasy. Then she noticed the door was now glowing at a very hoof-shaped spot.

Twilight approached the door and touched it ever so slightly, depressing something behind the light. The door slid open, revealing a very large room, similar to an orchestra hall, entirely empty. The ceiling was made out of pure blackness, almost a void. There was simply nothing there, spare a few pieces of rubble scattered around it. As Twilight trotted in, she realized that the room was in fact a gazebo of sorts surrounded by high walls made of some form of transparent glass. She was mesmerized by the dome that towered above the place. It was fantastically black, almost like a total lack of...of EVERYTHING. She was transfixed by it, just wanting to stare at it forever, never moving.

She didn’t know if it was day or night, and in the end it didn’t matter. One sun was slowly rising at the other side of the room, while the other sun set behind her. At the same time two moons rose and sank on the sides of the room, creating a cross right above the void. She didn’t know how many suns this planet had and how they worked. Maybe the day night continuum simply never existed, and it was a perpetual state of day? The more she went on trough these adventures, the more grew her interest in astronomical properties of the different places, and her curiosity for physics.

Trotting slowly over the meadow, Twilight noticed that the transparent material that lined the hall looked out onto what appeared to be a sea. Endless fields of blue extended for miles and miles ahead. There seemed to be nothing except this place, but then again, maybe this was all just a show and Twilight was nothing but a viewer. She couldn’t wait to find out more about this place, and its purpose. With every question, three more arose, and none of them had an answer. This frustrated Twilight, and she simply stopped. All around her there appeared to be relics of a past world, a civilization long forgotten, swept away by time into the drawer of memories. A voice began from somewhere, singing in a very content way:

In the lazy water meadow
I lay me down
All around me golden sunflakes
Settle on the ground
Basking in the sunshine
Of a by-gone afternoon,
Bringing sounds of yesterday
Into this city room

Hear the lark and harken
To the barking of the dog fox
Gone to ground
See the splashing
Of the kingfisher flashing to the water
And a river of green is sliding
Unseen beneath the trees
Laughing as it passes
Through the endless summer
Making for the sea

It was all very natural and fitted into her surroundings perfectly, even the voice was natural. It sounded like a stream of water, like a gust of wind, completely blending in with the surroundings.

Stones were buried in the ground about knee-high, their tips protruding like spearheads. There seemed to be some form of writing on it, and Twilight couldn’t decipher it. By the time she was half way across the chamber, birdsong started coming from somewhere, and the pitch-black canopy above cleared, to reveal a huge oval planet hovering right above it. It was simply astonishing to see such a clear alignment of planets, and over such a precise spot. A slow and steady tune started playing, increasing somewhat steadily. All the planets aligned and something happened. Slow music started playing out of nowhere, increasing with every passing moment. The ground shook. A whisper emanated from the sky:

Careful with that axe, Eugene

The tune climaxed with a blood chilling scream that slowly devolved into several smaller ones. The entire structure of the building shook. It was shattering to pieces. The glass broke; the dome cracked and fell to the ground, all around Twilight. She herself was unharmed, but it was all falling apart. The debris smashing into the sea outside created a horrible roar, as the building disintegrated towards the sea. The music went on, like it was driven by a mad man, so full of life and energy.

That energy broke the old and exposed the new. It made room for changes, and it made room for time to do its job.
The tremors stopped, and Twilight was now all alone, on the platform that once held the gazebo in place. Air was now gushing all around her, and waves crashed against the rubble. Eventually they will erode the structure, erasing any mention of it in time. Life went on, and the universe continued, blissfully unaware that it had just eliminated the developmental pinnacle of some smaller civilization. It didn’t matter, in the long run.

Twilight realized that, at that precise moment. It’s like the crash of the first wave triggered something inside, something amazing that made her view things differently now, from a bigger point of view. And that song, that single line was enough. It’s meaning simple and unique to all. If it meant something to you, it doesn’t mean the same thing to me and vice versa. To Twilight specifically, it told her that she had complete control over her life, that no princess could tell her what to think or feel and that those few cubic centimetres under her horn belonged to herself. She was always obedient to the Princess, never questioning her, never investigating the validity of her tasks. It was time, it was time that someone asked themselves if she really knew what was best for ponykind. But Twilight had to be careful with this new knowledge, this axe of hers. The seed of doubt was planted, and Twilight was a new pony. She followed the wires, and began her descent.

The wire was leading her to the bump in the middle of the platform that automatically opened for her as she stepped in. She was ready. She had learned all she needed in this place, and it was time to go. She lowered herself into the liquid and allowed it to fully encase her. It all made sense, but at the same time not all of it. There was much to be learned, and much to be seen.

The canopy closed and Twilight was submerged underneath a blanket of dark. It was comfortable. She was completely at rest. There was nothing to fight, nothing to worry about and nothing to think about right now. Just warmth and safety, combined with the song of time itself.

She flew

Comments

[MasterQuake]

This is magic And personally, I think Obscured by Clouds is one of my favorites by them, so I can't wait for it!

[PeaceColt112]

614149
Thanks for the feedback! And also, Obsucred by Clouds is my favourite Pink Floyd album of all time
Sorry about not being here for a while, field trip!
New chapter will be up on the 20th of May