Reflections

by RQK

27 - Existence

Sunset Shimmer lit her horn and a magical cloud appeared next to her. She poked and prodded at the monolithic tower in front of her. The tower itself, which had to be at least as wide as a small city, was a hazy coalescence of reds, strong pinks, and even splashes of violet. She could see further down where parts of the tower appeared made of pure crystal and, further down from that, parts that were almost crystallized but not quite so.

She watched it in silence. She could see how the tower slowly crystallized layer by layer. It was a slow and continuous process but she could spot it nonetheless. She could see all the little chunks that seemingly oozed out and suddenly flew off the top of those crystallized portions.

“I wonder if this is what Crystal sees?” she thought aloud.

Starlight Glimmer and Chrysalis floated close by. They too examined the surrounding void.

Sunset scanned the structure and she spotted a slowly growing cavity that ran from where she floated to infinity. The timeline was collapsing and would eventually be no more.

And Sunset thought of the supercomputer that still remained in that timeline.

Starlight turned around. “Okay, so what’s our plan?”

Sunset scratched her head. “Well, it might take them a while to bring Miasmus around. All we can do is make sure the spell’s safe.”

“Indeed,” Chrysalis said. “We can either wait here long enough for that hole to expand and spit out the spell on its own… or we can go back and get it out here ourselves.”

Starlight scratched her muzzle in thought, and after looking at the monolithic tower behind them, shook her head. “Maybe it’ll be a good idea if we just wait it out. I mean, I don’t think anything in that timeline can touch it right now.”

“One of us could venture back in and keep an eye on it,” Chrysalis said.

“Maybe.”

“I think I’ll have a look around while you sort that out,” Sunset said. “Maybe I’ll find some ponies out here.”

Chrysalis’s frown deepened but she nodded all the same. “Do not wander off too far.”

“You bet,” Sunset replied. She willed herself forward and her body complied; she sailed through the space, drawing further and further away from the others and the collapsing tower. She wasn’t sure how that even worked, but she decided that she couldn’t worry about it.

Sunset flew through fields of debris. She pushed her way past pieces of stone, pieces of brick, and more dirt than she could ever fathom. Much of what she passed phased in and out. Her eyes sifted through the debris, looking for signs of anything moving.

She drifted toward another infinitely tall tower that wasn’t too far away—how far away was it even? Sunset looked back to where she had just come from, and while the distance was hard to quantify, it appeared like she had traveled several hoofball fields in length. Maybe it was even a few hundred hoofball fields. Or a few thousand. Or many many times that.

And she just about blew a raspberry. That wasn’t even a minute! she mentally exclaimed.

She moved to the other side of the tower; it took her at least a minute to circumnavigate it. But she gasped when she made it around the other side and spotted the thousands upon thousands of individuals floating in the void; many looked human. As Sunset floated closer, she saw them more clearly but determined that none of them were anyone that she knew.

Sunset shook her head and soared upward. She saw more and more creatures of all shapes and sizes as she went along. Some of them looked exceptionally alien, with some of metallic composition, some with features (especially facial) in completely different places, and others with multiple appendages that bent this way and that.

She could see the ruins of late structures in their midst. The remains of houses, some more complete than others, floated about with some creatures loitering in their doorframes. She saw wood, marble, metal, glass, and other things.

She kept ascending and eventually reached the ruins of a brick building with some crystalline aspects to it. Crystal Prep had several room-sized chunks missing but she recognized it nonetheless. She willed herself toward it.

A few humans floated within the structure. Many of them wore Crystal Prep uniforms but a few humans here and there had their own flavors to them. They all looked disheveled with tears in their clothing and knots in their hair.

And the humans turned to her as she approached. One of them, an older lady in a blue suit, flipped over. Her expression was as distant and dazed as the teenagers that surrounded her. Her purple hair flowed every which way. Even then, Sunset knew her—she was Crystal Prep’s former principal.

“Can… I help you?” former Principal Cinch said.

Sunset swallowed and glanced at the other humans that floated about. She could see more familiar faces among them. They all had distant stares about them. She spotted Crystal Preppers, her own classmates, some of her teachers, and then she saw her friends.

“You look familiar…” one of her classmates, Pixel Pizzaz, said.

Sunset swallowed. Wow… what happened to all of you?

* * *

Twilight Sparkle watched as tower after tower whizzed by at unfathomable speeds. She wasn’t even sure how long they had been flying along for. She spotted another debris field between a few of the towers and then she located a nearby tower with a jagged top.

Crystal Faire, who flew right beside her, also regarded the collapsed timeline and frowned.

The two increased their speed. At the rate they were going, they now passed scores of timelines every second. The towers appeared like blurs as they zipped by them and, in some ways, just from the uncountably many there were with naught but their colors to differentiate one from the next, they meant nothing.

I’m sure you know how to read all of this, Twilight thought.

She took a moment to study Crystal’s face. With the way that Crystal kept her gaze ahead, it gave the impression that her mind was ultimately blank.

But Twilight knew better.

Twilight turned her own thoughts to that which she was sure now occupied Crystal’s mind. She tried to picture a Cadance unlike anypony she had ever known. She wondered how the time had changed her. Had it really been a few thousand years?

Would she even resemble the mare that Twilight knew?

Twilight considered Crystal. Would she resemble the mare that Crystal knew?

Twilight shook her head and continued on. The timelines, for the moment, offered no end in sight.

* * *

Chrysalis watched a few hundred figures appear from behind one of the towers and then willed herself to Starlight. “It appears we have company.”

Sunset arrived before them and motioned to the hundreds with her. “Well, I found some familiar faces, at least.”

Chrysalis looked them up and down and then rolled her eyes.

Starlight, however, remained staring. “What the buck…?”

“I’ve learned what you are called,” Chrysalis said as the rest of the humans floated to a stop before them. “You are humans. You are from a human world.”

Cinch looked Chrysalis up and down and frowned. “What a ghastly little creature you are.”

“I am a queen, you cretin. You will address me with the proper…” Chrysalis’ voice left her as she spotted five girls in particular. And then Chrysalis went pale. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding right?” Chrysalis asked.

While they were decisively human, the five girls in question looked just Twilight’s friends if said friends had human forms. Pinkamena and Fluttershy glanced at each other and frowned. Rarity, on the other hand, crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“From what I know,” Sunset began, “most ponies in Equestria have a human world counterpart. And these… are my friends from back home. Or, at least, them from some other reality…”

“Uh,” Applejack said, “who… are you?”

Sunset placed a hoof on her chest. “Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “What? You!?”

Sunset nodded.

“I don’t believe this,” Chrysalis seethed.

Rainbow Dash shook her fist. “Me neither! Sunset Shimmer sure as heck isn’t my friend.”

Cinch adjusted her jacket and shook her head. “I am aware of a Sunset Shimmer. But she looks nothing like you.”

Sunset deflated at that and turned away.

Starlight shook her head and floated up to them. “Whatever. I have a question. How long have all of you been out here?”

At once, all the newcomers exchanged glances. Tentatively, Cinch replied, “Several days… I would suppose.”

Sunset, Starlight, and Chrysalis exchanged glances.

Chrysalis cleared her throat. “Fine. And during that time… have you encountered some thing called Miasmus?”

Applejack adjusted her hat and scowled. “Ah’ve been hearin’ his name crop up here and there. Why?”

Sunset turned toward the tower right behind them and she watched as it continued spewing debris of all types. She watched as a few organic figures appeared out of it and tumbled through the void.

“Well, he’s a bad guy,” Starlight explained.

“He possesses people,” Sunset explained as she watched the figures flip over and eventually right themselves. “And we’ve been fighting him for the past while. We’re really close to fixing all of this,” she said, motioning to the rest of the void, “but he’s trying real hard to stop us.”

Starlight nodded. “Yeah. We can’t stop the destruction of the multiverse until he goes down for good.”

“Well, ain’t that somethin’…” Applejack muttered.

Said figures in the distance all turned in their direction at once. They each snarled and then dashed in their direction.

Sunset swore. The others immediately whirled around and either gasped or said some pointed words. That went doubly so when some of the unicorns coming in their direction let off a few token shots (all of which missed).

“What the hay!?” Starlight exclaimed. “I thought we knocked him out!”

Sunset lit her horn and let off a few shots from her own position and smirked when at least a couple of them hit.

The humans shied away and then, as a few more shots came through, they retreated wholesale amongst some frightened screams and cries.

“Perhaps he still is!” Chrysalis yelled. “His possessions are acting on their own! Crystal Faire warned us about this!”

Starlight let out a yell and floated across the void in the direction of their attackers where she rammed right into a pegasus mare.

Chrysalis and Sunset took a few moments to volley off several shots at the foes who continued to close in. It helped that a few turned to take care of Starlight who let off several close-range blasts in response.

More and more foes tumbled out of the bleeding timeline, oriented themselves, and then started in their direction while letting out feral cries.

Chrysalis groaned and then whirled to face the few humans that remained. “You! All of you! Make yourselves useful!” she barked.

And the humans, all looking like deer in headlights, continued staring and didn’t respond.

Without checking for any affirmatives, Chrysalis turned to Sunset while pointing at the tower. “I’m going to make sure the spell is secure, if you don’t mind.”

Sunset lit her horn and blasted another foe. “Go ahead.”

Chrysalis touched her neck and her senses shrunk down to a single point. When it expanded back out, Chrysalis found herself standing in Canterlot.

She ducked underneath the large metal sphere that still sat in the middle of the plaza and then, once she was sure that the winds wouldn’t sweep her away, she looked up. The hole in the sky had grown larger and she could see a few smaller holes dotted around it.

She transformed into the rex-like form from before and stomped her way across the plaza; this form was far too heavy for the winds yet. She charged into the city below where she found a few ponies hanging onto the scenery to avoid getting sucked up.

And they looked up and snapped at her.

And she whipped them with her tail, knocking them unconscious and otherwise causing them to lose their grips. The winds sucked them upward and they eventually disappeared past the horizon.

Chrysalis frowned and immediately continued on, searching for more foes. I’ll try to take care of whatever I can. I just have to hope that he can’t take any more possessions for a while.

Her frown deepened. Because if we still have a fight on our hooves… We will not last forever. While she continued stomping along, catching and tail-slapping a few stray earth ponies who tried to charge her, she turned her eyes toward the holes in the sky. Crystal Faire, Twilight Sparkle, you must work quickly, or so help me…

* * *

“Do you think we’re getting close?” Twilight asked out of the blue.

As the two of them passed over a mountain-sized piece of rock directly below them, Crystal nodded. “It shouldn’t be much further.”

Twilight nodded and looked around some more. She could see towers as far as she could see (and that seemed to go to infinity). She could see so many that she had to tell herself not to try and count them all.

She instead considered the geometry of the space. She told herself that it didn’t make sense. Space itself was three-dimensional, and here they existed in three dimensions. How did the dimension of time come into it?

She looked up the infinite length of one tower nearby. Time had, for that matter, already come into it. These… towers, they represent a timeline from start to finish. There are entire realities in there.

That doesn’t make any sense! This geometry is absurd!

“This is what we can comprehend of it,” Crystal’s voice said in her head.

Twilight frowned and looked up at the mare in question. Crystal, for the most part, still kept her eyes forward. You did say that, didn’t you? Twilight thought. We even talked about this: it could exist in any number of dimensions. Even infinitely many dimensions.

She thought about Celestia and all the other faded ponies that she had seen over the past few days. She thought of them in the worlds. She thought of herself and her friends now outside the worlds.

Twilight used her hoof to push out a long sigh. Right. Right. This is a representation of the multiverse, Twilight. This… probably isn’t how it actually looks; this is just how we can see it.

Her eyes caught some movement and she turned her head to see a moving timeline in the distance. It was moving in a direction away from where the two were heading. Twilight watched it between the forest of timelines that came between them and she eventually saw that timeline collide with another. The second one bent this way and that and started moving as well. There was a low boom from their collision.

Twilight shuddered and imagined all the ponies inside those realities.

She shook her head and flew faster than before, even passing Crystal.

We… we’ve gone from three dimensions into… potentially more. Princess Celestia and everypony else… They did the opposite.

Twilight gasped. Is that why they fade? Going between a timeline and this… interversal space… is it not bijective? Is there information loss?

Twilight lifted a hoof toward her own neck, contemplating the spell within. Oh… goodness… I hope I was right about this spell that’s on the Crystal Heart being a bijection… Because if not…

“Twilight,” Crystal piped up.

Twilight shook the thought from her mind and looked over. “Hmmm?”

Crystal pointed forward. “Look there.”

The towers thinned out up ahead but it was rather that a large fraction were stumps. It looked akin to where half of the trees in a forest, all chosen at random, had been cut down. Every stump that Twilight saw served to make her stomach churn even more.

And they saw one stump in the distance that rose much higher than the rest. Its stretched far above the plain of stumps that they zoomed through. Unlike its hazy brethren, it was crystallized along its entire length.

Crystal started to arc upward with Twilight close behind and she pointed to the towering stump in question. “That… is where we need to go.”

Twilight swallowed and nodded solemnly. Together, the two of them flew toward it.

* * *

The throne room was quiet. Crystalline walls and high ceilings watched over an equally crystalline table in the center of the room. Six-and-a-half thrones ringed around it, all seemingly guarding the object in the center.

There were some hushed voices in the hallway, but the room paid them little mind.

The object in question was an almost completely transparent Crystal Heart which sat by its lonesome on the center of the Cutie Map. Energies swirled inside it and it pulsated energy at frequent intervals. The process would have been imperceptible to would-be observers but, with every moment that passed, the Crystal Heart faded more and more and would vanish entirely given enough time.

But, for the moment, it lay idle, the magic within still at the ready.

* * *

Starlight threw another foe off her and then took the shot. She could feel it in her horn at this point. She found herself putting less into her shots and constantly second-guessing how much she needed. She knew she could go for more, at least for a while longer, but her horn ached.

Too much and she would run out of shots that much sooner. Too little and she couldn’t knock Miasmus’ essence out of his possessions.

They all still came in droves. She knew that, with Sunset’s help, she could fend them off for a while. How long that while would last, however, was a question.

She spotted many watching the battle. Many of the humans from before kept their distance. Other humans, likely from elsewhere within the void, flew toward them, all clenching their fist and yelling out unintelligible things. Starlight knew it wasn’t them but rather the feral entity inside them.

Some of the foes that they had once hit (and subsequently knocked unconscious) were now waking up and asking questions. Starlight couldn’t bother herself to discern their conversations.

Starlight flipped over another foe, placed another shot into him, and then gasped when she saw another hundred foes behind him; she instead willed her body to move away from them as fast as it would allow her. She rocketed upward, streaking along the height of the infinitely tall tower. Her foes were already moving faster.

Her body breathed in and out on its own; the need for air was still not present but her body kept its natural rhythm. It was a reminder that this was impossible.

And it felt real, a fact reinforced as a few of her pursuers caught up and subsequently tackled her. They continued to sail upward as they wrapped themselves around her. One of them started driving hooves into her and she cried out with each blow.

She lit her horn and a wave of magic exploded out of her. Her opponents went flying in every direction with (to her relief) blobby particles flying off them as they went.

She could really feel it in her horn. And there were still several tens more coming her way.

She lifted a hoof to her neck amidst the madness and her world shrunk down to a point. It expanded back out yet Starlight couldn’t find solid ground as severe winds sucked her upward. She could see the ruins of Canterlot around her, and while the city had yet to fall off the mountain, there wasn’t a single structure in sight still intact; the entire castle was gone now. The gigantic supercomputer still lay idle in the center of the plaza.

That was good, at least. She could feel some of her own spirits set fire again.

As the wind sucked her up, she spotted a small dragon also tumbling about. He soon enough angled his wings and spun himself. He snapped his fangs at her, trying to get a good bite in. Starlight shot a laser into his open mouth and the creature cried out before millions of blob-like particles oozed from underneath his scales.

And then Starlight and her defeated foe fell into the event horizon. The world became a deep dark black and then, after a split second of nothingness, the void welcomed them.

Starlight willed her body to move away from the tower and toward Sunset who she immediately spotted. Sunset herself juked around her foes while landing the occasional shot. Starlight let off a few shots of her own which hit a few targets but missed others.

And then she could see some of the former foes, along with several humans and other strange creatures, charging. They tackled some of the current foes and together they all went spilling across the void. Their foes responded in kind with all sorts of punches and kicks and other things in between. Hooves and claws and other appendages collided with other appendages and both sides grunted and groaned in kind.

Sunset, on the other hoof, found fewer foes to deal with herself and started similarly bashing them while placing the occasional shot.

Starlight smiled. It was help, at any rate. And there weren’t many, but it would do. And it would need to do, for Starlight could really feel it in her horn.

* * *

Twilight and Crystal reached the top of the tall stump and then glided over its surface. Most of the outer edge looked just like shiny crystal but they could also see bits of grass and dirt in a thin layer right on top of the crystal.

Twilight scanned the grounds and noted the way that it ebbed and flowed just like normal terrain. And it was impossible. Her expression grew more wide-eyed with every blade of grass that she saw. It was all intact and likely as intact as the moment it had arrived there.

And that could have been a very long time ago.

And then she spotted train tracks. Said tracks snaked their way through the various hills that made up the terrain. Her eyes followed them upward where they eventually passed a lone building. She then followed a dirt path that split off from there.

And then she saw the giant structure that was the Crystal Castle. The structure, which stood on four legs, towered over the surrounding city. It was as tall and as magnificent as she knew it to be. She was sure that, had there been a sun to shine down on it, it would have had a radiant sparkle to it.

Twilight’s jaw dropped. Oh my goodness! It’s here! It’s actually out here!

The two descended. They flew over the train station—Twilight had no doubt that, with no trains, it was abandoned—and they flew over the dirt path. They finally touched down at the city’s edge.

There, many ponies within the city itself had shiny, gradient manes and tails and even the light in their eyes looked polygonal and crystal-like. The crystal ponies didn’t look much worse for wear. Those closest to them turned and regarded them through raised eyebrows. Several seconds of silence passed as the crowd stared at them and they stared at the crowd in turn.

And one of the crystal ponies sharply gasped and then exclaimed, “It’s Princess Crystal Faire!”

Several more gasps rose up. Those who hadn’t already noticed them whirled around to get a good look.

“She’s returned…” another voice said.

At once, the crystal ponies before them bowed. Nopony else made a sound.

Crystal frowned and looked over at Twilight. “It would seem that I was awaited…”

Twilight nodded in agreement as she scanned their faces. They weren’t any faces that she herself recognized. They were, she supposed, faces that Crystal did, however. “They remember you…”

Crystal nodded in agreement and then started forward again. “Let us go, Twilight.”

They trotted down the street. The street itself consisted of crystal so smooth that Twilight could see her reflection in it. The houses and buildings that lined the streets were equally crystal in design with all their surfaces smooth and perfectly contoured. They saw reds and blues and a few purples too. Small pillars hosted some internal energies that gave a little extra light to the street; not that much was needed as the void’s ambient light was more than sufficient.

It looked just like a normal Crystal Empire. But instead of clear blue skies, endless towers of reds and violets made up the background.

As Twilight and Crystal went along, the crystal ponies they came across received them with gasps and dropped jaws before invariably clearing a path.

Crystal scanned their many faces. She scanned their features. She scanned the ground that they stood on. She scanned every corner of every bush, lamppost, windowsill, and pathway. She turned paler with every second.

Twilight looked up at Crystal and frowned. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

Crystal shook her head and motioned to some of the crystal ponies that they passed by. “They all look just like they did… everything looks exactly like it did on the day that I left them,” she said.

Twilight’s muzzle twitched and she glanced around as well. “Just like it did on the day your reality collapsed?”

The crystal castle loomed over them and steadily grew as they neared.

“Four thousand years…” Crystal croaked. “I never would have dreamed that I would ever see this place again.”

I can’t believe I’m even seeing this place, Twilight thought. She chuckled under her breath. What a strange feeling this is… I’ve been in the Crystal Empire so many times before. It’s not like I’m seeing anything that much new. And yet… Her eyes wandered over the street again and her smile faded. I know that this place is different.

They finally arrived at the central square and it was at that point that Crystal stopped. A very long spike hung from the bottom of the castle; a similar spike, much shorter than its brother, rose from the floor. A singular relic, the Crystal Heart, idly floated between the two spikes. It rotated slowly about its axis. There was not a scratch or smudge on its brilliant blue surface and it appeared as untouched as Twilight knew it to be.

After staring at it for a few seconds, Twilight turned to Crystal. “That Crystal Heart… It was corrupted once, wasn’t it?”

“Y-yes. It was.”

Twilight looked at the Crystal Heart again. She couldn’t see any alien energies swirling inside. “You… don’t think it’s still corrupted, do you?”

Crystal shook her head and said, with a matter-of-factly tone, “No.”

At that, Crystal silently floated upward. Twilight willed her body to follow. They eventually arrived on the balcony that hung on the side of the castle.

An opening revealed a short hall with a few doors on either side. At the end of the hall sat a pair of double doors at least twice the height and width of all the others. They could see a pair of crystal guards, clad in equally crystalline armor, standing right in front of it.

After a moment’s hesitation, Crystal sucked in a breath and pointed toward them. “I can’t see what’s about to happen. I have no idea. Please don’t be mad at me...”

Twilight chuckled. “Well, Crystal, power or no power… I trust you.”

Crystal blinked and tilted her head. “You… trust me?”

Twilight trotted up to Crystal and placed a hoof on her withers. “You can do this. I know you can. But whatever happens… I’m here with you. That’s what friends do.”

After a few moments more, Crystal cracked a smile. She then closed her eyes and took a long and deep breath and then took a second one. She then turned and started down the hall. “I appreciate it, Twilight. Thank you.”

Twilight smiled in response and followed closely behind.

“Chances are that she’s on the other side of that door,” Crystal said. “I could be wrong, but… Twilight, before we go in there, there is something that I want you to know. It’s about me; it’s about my power.”

Twilight hummed in response.

“My ability… it is truly unparalleled.,” Crystal said. “Its applications are endless. The ability to manipulate probabilities and the flow of timelines… to make the future… it allows one to change everything.”

They reached the end of the hall and, as they approached, the pair of guards in front of the door sidestepped out of the way, leaving the path before them clear.

Crystal approached the door, put a hoof on it, and then turned to Twilight. And she said, tentatively, “For better... or for worse.”

Twilight said nothing.

Crystal took one last deep breath and pushed the doors open. They creaked as they swung on their hinges. The throne room itself was a tall space with tall windows on either side. A singular carpet ran the length of the room and sloped up to the dais at the opposite end. The throne that sat atop it consisted of several gigantic crystalline gems, including one which towered over the rest of the throne.

And a lone pony sat on that throne. Her cerise coat had nary a wrinkle or stain on it. Her long and vibrant mane, which was full of sparkles and even had a visible energy to it as it seemingly flowed in an invisible wind, was a violet with some rose-colored and gold-colored streaks. She wore large, golden regalia over her body and a large ornate crown much like Princess Celestia’s atop her head.

And she stood up and, with a magic that was very decisively blue, she lifted that crown off her head and set it on a nearby cushion. She looked like she was trying to find her breath with the way that she looked at them. Her lips made feeble attempts at making words and nothing came out.

Twilight could feel her own heart weighing several tons within her chest. It was a mutual feeling, surely.

Crystal swallowed and inched forward. “M… Mother…”

Cadance finally stood tall and sucked in a breath. “Crystal Faire…” she wheezed. “My daughter… you’ve finally come home.”

Comments

[JMP]

And so mother and daughter reunite after 4,000 years. Looking forward to what comes next, as always.

[EchoWing]

Not gonna deny it, this tension is killing me.

[Snorlaxkid]

Why did you have to end this chapter on a cliffhanger?! D:

[lazyreader19]

Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake... 🐞

[Thought Prism]

Was Starlight replaced by Shulk in this chapter? Because she seems to be really feeling it a lot.

[Blaster M]

We are getting closer to the finale.

[Razzy]

... Whenever Chryssie turns into her t rex form, I keep hearing Nostalgia Critic's t rex song.

Cadance seems out off shape. :B

The tension, it is felt!

8633403 Do not underestimate the power of the Monado!

[Csquared08]

And so the title drop chapters begin