The Art Installation
The sound of construction was filling up the area near the friendship castle that Twilight and Free had reserved for Flix’s larger artistic works. The sound of ripping metal woke Path up, and slowly one of his eyes opened.
“Urg! It’s seven a.m.… what the hell is going on now?” He let out a low groan and lay his head back down, going back to sleep.
However, it was only a few minutes later when Twilight woke up and moved, causing the pile of sleepers to fall apart and waking them all up.
“Is that still Flix constructing his latest project?” Path sighed, rolled to his hooves, and walked over to the window to look outside along with Rose and Luna.
“Well, not only that, but he also seems to have enlisted the help of your mom, Free’s dad, Discord and Pif.” Luna’s head tilted to examine the construct better. “It looks like they are making a giant rhombic triacontahedron.”
Path just groaned again as he walked back to the center of the room and tried to curl back up with a drowsy Free. “Too early to hear big words. Wake me up later on.” The two curled back up and started snoring again.
Rose rolled her eyes. “Well, let’s make sure that what he’s making isn’t going to break the universe.”
The four that were still awake walked out of the room to let the two dads sleep.
# # #
When the moms finally made it down to the construction site, they found Flix talking to the group and apparently drawing a complex set of blueprints on the fly as he was speaking.
“So the outside needs to be thicker. It can’t buckle under its own weight, and it needs to be able to store complex spells and runic sets.”
Ivory Tower looked at a few sheets and her horn started to light up. Pif was busy coating sides of the sheet metal with changeling resin, waiting for it to set before Ivory and Thundercloud started to work on the rather delicate panel. Once each panel was completed, they moved the massive form into position where it was then fixed into place by Discord and Flix.
“This is so boring! Why don’t you just use some of the lessons you learned to will it into being?” Discord asked.
Flix grinned at his mentor. “Because it’s going to take all that I have to power the chaos factor of this art piece.”
The professor’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh, now this will be interesting. What exactly are you going to do?”
Flix laughed as he started to channel his chaos magic, which was still daunting and draining for him. A strange kind of magic started to permeate the metal as it continued to click and whirr. “Assemble it, and create the inner-workings.” The hippogriff shuddered as he continued to channel the chaos magic, his sclera turning yellow as the pieces kept moving.
Pif looked over to Flix as she helped guide the pieces into place. “Why are his eyes changing color, Discord?”
Discord went into lecture mode. “It’s very simple, my dear. As you know, eyes are the window to the soul, and when the self channels or focuses magic, the soul shines for all to see. It’s why when alicorns have to flex some muscle, their eyes glow, and depending on the magic, the glow can be different colors.”
Pif blinked a few times. “That… actually makes sense.”
“With chaos magic, it’s slightly different. The more you use it and the greater the magnitude you use, the more you change. First it’s subtle feature like eyes, but then as you grow in power, there are more changes.” Discord pushed the last panel into place as he looked back to his student who was giving it all he had.
“Come on... COME ON… COME ON!” Flix yelled out before whatever he was doing was completed. The strange geometric shape floated in the air with the weight of an inflated balloon. Thundercloud and Ivory attached three hold points under the device to keep it in one spot. A few moments later, Flix collapsed from the strain. Judging by his closed eyes and his slowed breathing, it looked like he had passed-out from overexertion.
“One of these days, I really do want to study chaos magic theory,” Ivory said while looking at Discord.
“You could try, but the only one so far who has been able to understand it is Flix.” Discord moved over and picked up his student with a smile, walking toward the castle.
Pif looked over at Thundercloud. “Wanna try it out?”
Thundercloud’s beak grinned widely. “Buck, yeah!”
Pif looked at the opening at the top of the spheroid. When she moved the top, it slid easily, wide enough for a single pony to go inside. “So I just go inside? Just like that?” she asked as she looked at her grandfather.
“Yeah. It looks like it, I think. Go ahead; I’m kind of curious to see what happens.”
Pif slid into the hole, and as soon as she did, the top slid back over and sealed itself. A few minutes later, Pif appeared outside of the sphere, sitting down on her hind legs, completely dumbstruck.
“Are you okay? Path is going to kill me if I broke his daughter,” Thundercloud asked with concern.
Pif suddenly stood up and her horn lit up almost blindingly bright. With a familiar concussive wave, the changeling disappeared, leaving a confused grandfather looking back at the spheroid that had the top slid open again.
“Oh, stop tempting me,” he muttered.
# # #
Free suddenly woke up and held his head. “Aah! Damn it, Pif, what are you doing?!”
Path looked up at Free with a sigh, rubbing his eyes. “Fine! I’m up! I’m up! What’s going on?”
“Pif just teleported down into the secret levels and issued an order for all of her cells to meet her down there and drop every other project they are working on. Something must have riled her up big time, but since I don’t feel any fear on the network, just wonderment and determination, I think it’s okay.” Free looked down to Path and nuzzled him up to his hooves.
Path walked over to the window to see Flix and Discord walking back to the spheroid which, in the small amount of time it had been in existence, was starting to attract quite a bit of attention.
Flix walked over to the group of ponies that were assembling around the device. “I did not expect my art instillation to gather a crowd so soon. Who among you would like to go first and experience infinity?”
A pale yellow colored earth pony with a raspberry and pink mane raised her hoof. “I’ll give it a shot!”
Flix pulled a strange amulet out of his side bag and put it around Roseluck’s neck. So I need you to close your eyes and tap the amulet. That will activate far-sight and warming spells. Count to ten and we will put you into the experience. If you take the amulet off, it will stop the experience and we will pull you out. It is very intense, but you will be experiencing infinity.”
The earth pony nodded and closed her eyes pressing the button. She didn’t feel herself being lowered into the strange object before the top was sealed. When she opened her eyes she was staring right at Luna in mid cast. “Wait… what’s going on?!”
Luna boomed out to her. “I CAST THEE BEYOND THE SACRED SPHERE!”
Roseluck suddenly felt a hard upward motion as she moved up. She screamed as the Friendship Castle started to grow smaller and smaller, then she passed the cloud level and she was able to spot a few pegasi looking at her confused as she traveled faster than any pony had gone before today.
Her screams faded though as a strange feeling began to fill her core. As she looked around, she could begin to see the curvature of Equus. Sunset was coming to Canterlot, and half of the large city was lit by mana lights while the other was bathed in the reds and oranges of sunset.
The feeling swelled even greater as she willed herself to look ahead at what was to come, and to leave what was left behind. The moon was growing larger and larger, and soon the earth pony sailed by its surface, getting almost close enough to touch the lunar body as she continued outward for an unknown amount of time.
‘This is it,’ she thought. ‘That machine killed me. Am I going to the greener pastures?’ She felt herself slow down and eventually stop, her body slowly twisting as she moved in the black void of space. She slowly looked back toward her home where everything she ever knew was located, and she realized just how small she really was. No larger than a beach ball, the blue orb floated in front of her, the crescent shape of the moon floating silently next to it. Celestia’s sun was just about to set behind the planet as a red ring formed. The earth pony was witnessing the eternal sunset of the world.
“It’s… it’s beautiful!” Roseluck started to cry as she saw the sun disappeared behind the planet entirely. If she squinted hard enough, she could see the lights of the many civilizations on the globe. “It’s so small… everything is so small....”
Roseluck floated for what seemed like eternity while she took all of it in. Her soul forever changed by experiencing something that she should never have seen. The earth pony, once content in her garden, now knew not only her place on the world but also the world’s place in the universe. One would expect that she might have entered into a deep depression upon realizing that all she knew was a speck in a giant unknowable universe, but she was filled with elation. The extraordinary experience created an equally extraordinary inspiration, and she calmed down and accepted all that was. She was but one pony, but sometimes one pony was all that mattered.
The moon slowly moved in the sky as the sun started to peek over the other side of Equus, until she was bathed in a bright light and everything went white.
# # #
Everyone looked at Roseluck when she appeared outside the spheroid. She took a few steps and sat down, completely silent and non-responsive to those hounding her to know what it was like.
“It is something that cannot be explained… it’s only something that can be experienced.” Roseluck said in a quiet voice before she slowly stood up and started to walk toward her home.
Thundercloud frowned in concern as the pony walked away, and then looked back to Flix. “I don’t know about this, Flix; there are some things that ponies cannot handle, cannot experience. It can be too much for them. I don’t think that most of your usual patrons can handle the revelations that your piece can offer them.”
Flix just grinned. “I cannot choose if they decide to go or not to go in and experience it, but if they want to, then the final choice should be up to them.”
Thundercloud shook his head. “Just remember that sometimes people will not like things they can’t understand. You could get shot down, or even worse, censored.”
Flix shook his head. “I would never be censored! Now… let’s get this to the gallery!”
# # #
Celestia always did love the arts. When it came to the first Friday of the month, she often visited a lot of the Canterlot galleries, but she was surprised when she heard that Flix managed to get into one of the larger ones. Last time she saw one of his exhibits, she had been pleasantly surprised, and she hoped that this one would be no different.
“Luna, are you coming?” Celestia asked as she walked into the throne room to see her sister finishing up with the last petitioner before her usual nine pm break.
“Yes, yes, we are almost done. Shall we go see the latest artistic works?” Luna replied with a smile.
“Well, I heard that Flix was able to get into the CCG, so shall we go look at his entry?” Celestia asked as she started to charge her horn up.
Luna walked over to her sister and they both disappeared in a bright flash.
# # #
The pair of alicorns arrived at the entrance to the gallery, and almost instantly things seemed off. A few of the ponies looked depressed, their colors faded, mumbling about how their lives were nothing, how they were all so very, very small. On the other side of the spectrum some ponies ran out of the gallery ecstatic and enraptured by something only they knew.
The two sisters reached the satellite hallway where the ‘up-and-comers’ were housed. At the back of the hallway, the massive spheroid stood. Flix and Orlonda were helping up a pony that had just exited the installation.
“I...I...I…” The pony stammered as he gradually got back up to his hooves and slowly started to walk down the hall, his glazed over eyes not even recognizing the Solar and Lunar Diarch as they watched him pass. They slowly turned to the spheroid and then looked to Orlonda and Flix.
“This piece is very… interesting, Flix. Is this all that it is? Am I missing something? Or is this like your other pieces and interactive?” Celestia queried.
Flix smiled and nodded. “All of my pieces are meant to be interactive. If you want to experience infinity, you just need to go inside the sphere. I had my grandparents help me design a lot of it, and it’s powered partially by chaos magic to make each experience different. So, Princess, would you like to try it out?”
Celestia eyed the sphere as the very top slipped open, and she couldn’t help but grin as she flapped her wings twice to gain enough altitude as she stood at the entrance. “Do I just drop in?”
Flix nodded. “Just drop in, and the top will close and you will experience it. Then when it’s done, you get 'ported out next to Orlonda.”
Celestia nodded and went into the sphere, and there was a strange silence for about five minutes.
Luna looked at Flix. “Does it normally take this long?”
“No, normally it takes only about two or three minutes then they appear out here. I wonder what's taking so long.” Flix just watched the sphere.
It took a few more minutes before a completely disheveled Celestia appeared in the spot next to Orlonda.
“This exhibit is closed!” Celestia boomed out as Flix winced.
“Why?! You can’t just shut me down!” the hippogriff started to yell at the Solar Princess, his feathers poofing up as a sign of aggression.
“You can't just expose my little ponies to that! They aren’t ready for it!” Celestia said in a louder than normal volume as her wings started to flare out.
Flix was not known for his grasp of subtle emotions; in fact his extreme emotions were what made him so good at his out-of-the-box style artistic pieces. However, this often worked against him as he did not like to be told what to do. “Are you censoring me?!” Flix squawked out as Orlonda’s eyes went wide. She did not like how his emotions were starting to flare out of control.
“No, no! She's not saying that she's just suggesting that we maybe screen those that want to see it so no adverse effects occur?” Orlonda said in a helpful manner, trying her best to calm his growing anger, but it was nowhere near enough.
“Flix, I need to censor this; it will cause harm to ponies!” Celestia said in her most authoritative voice.
Flix however was becoming more and more enraged. “NO! Art is not meant to be censored or meant to be limited to the public. If she’s going to censor me…” His sclera started to turn yellow and his pupils started to glow red.
Luna decided to jump in. “Flix! Flix! Calm down! My sister only means to do this to protect those that might be too weak to handle thy vision!”
Celestia narrowed her eyes as her horn lit up to cast a spell, however Flix was already focusing as well and with a snap of his talons, Celestia’s horn stopped glowing and she sat down heavily on her rump.
Luna and Orlonda looked at Flix. “What didst thou do?!”
Flix snarled as he clawed at the ground with his talons. “She censored me, I uncensored her.” He growled as he started to walk out of the exhibit, leaving his showing there.
Orlonda ran after him. “Flix! Wait! You just can't do that! Your moms are going to be so mad!”
Luna looked back to Celestia. “Sister, are you okay?”
Celestia just looked at Luna with a huge grin. “Let’s go out tonight. I’m tired of the stuffy noble ponies. I want to go have fun!” Her horn powered up and she transformed into her Sunny Skies guise and trotted out of the room as well.
Luna groaned and followed. “This... this is not good.”
# # # # # # # # #
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For anyone wondering click this 'rhombic triacontahedron'
Tia just wants it for herself...cause this...
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/199/8/f/celstia_on_motorcycle_in_space_by_mrdouche89-d57osqi.jpg
How the others saw it...
img00.deviantart.net/f75e/i/2013/322/c/0/tired_horse_astronaut_by_shizm00-d6urpcm.png
and uncensored chaos ensues?
Oh. Buck.
Excuse me, I need to start to find a diamond dog so I can have it help me make a shelter deep enough to not get hurt when 'Tia gets back to herself. And the fallout of the Path family's punishment of Flix.
I hear the core of the planet is nice this time of the year.
"And, yes, that's a thing that almost happened."
Flix, blushing: "MOOOOOMMMM!"
oh dear.
Uncensored Tia...this is gonna be wild
Interesting compared to what she could've done Celestia is still tame. In some ways while not good for everyone having a chance to blow off steam is good for Celestia. It's what else she might do that could well be the issue. Remember she's been dealing with nobels for over 10centuries without the support of Luna
Uncensored Tia
Flix!
He really, really need to learn that tantrum and magic isn't a viable answer.
I LOVE the premise of this story. Every leader who has the power to change the lives of others has their "Uncle Ben" moment when they realize they can destroy those same lives, I expect Flix is about to have his moment.
Well... I can't say that Celestia's handling of the situation was ideal as well. How about discussing it first before outright yelling about closing it?
Oh well. Not good for them, amusing for us. But yeah, Flix went too far this time.
Ooooh, Flux is in trouble!
I'm surprised Celestia of all people where that startled by the experience.