Realms of Existence

by GMBlackjack

XI - Ascending Wings

"I'll be leaving soon," Sperion announced to the group, "it's been nice to spend some time with decent ponies, but I can never stay in one place too long."

"Aw..." Fluttershy said, torn, "how much longer do you have?"

"Less than an hour," Sperion responded. Seeing Pinkie about to bounce up in excitement, he held up a limb. "No party. I'd rather translate into the next Realm calmly."

Twilight nodded. "Are you sure you won't reconsider?"

He let out his synthetic sigh. "No. I will not take you with me. It would be too much."

Twilight nodded sadly. "I... Can't say I understand why, but I respect your choice. I'll figure something out eventually."

Sperion let out a short chuckle. "I... have little doubt that you will discover something. It may not be what you want though."

Twilight shrugged. "Make sure the others are okay."

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else. It's been... a long time since I encountered a group such as your own, willing to accept me as I am."

Pinkie giggled. "Silly, we accept almost everybody!"

"Almost?"

"Well, there was that centaur who tried to destroy the world, and the evil changeling queen..."

Sperion sighed again. And I am reminded that nothing can be perfect."

"Then help make it better."

Sperion paused. Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy had not spoken. They weren't moving at all. The leaves outside weren't rustling, and all the animals were motionless as well. Behind a table Discord was shuffling a stack of cards, glancing upwards at Sperion.

Sperion leaned in. "What do you mean, draconequus?"

"Simple. You have the power to take us with you. You could make the world a better place by reuniting friends."

"You are mistaken. It would not make things better."

Discord huffed. "I fail to see the problem - we can handle a dangerous realm. I can bend the very fabric of existence around me to protect them. There's no danger to us."

"That isn't true. Nor is it the reason I'm saying no." Sperion floated back a few feet. "Cross-Realm contamination is bad."

"Oh, does it threaten to destroy the universe then?"

"...Nice try. ...I don't have to say anything to you, Discord."

"Oh, but you do. I can keep you here forever if I wanted."

"How little you know. The curse goes off of perceived time. I'm still leaving here, sooner every second."

Discord grunted. "Then I'll just remove it!"

"If you could have you would have offered earlier."

Discord clenched his fists. "Fine, maybe I can't remove a spell of such high order. I can still latch onto you and be dragged to the next Realm."

"Don't," Sperion said, "you all have done enough damage already."

"Damage? What have we done?"

"It is not for you to know!" Sperion yelled. "Don't you understand? Don't you get it? The knowledge of these Realms is dangerous! The can of worms was opened before - and shut for good reason!"

"What reason?"

Sperion twitched. "That is not for you to know either! Central and the Realms must remain separate! They... They..." He slammed his limbs into the walls. "You do not want to know what happens. You cannot, for there would be those who'd try to use it!"

Discord dealt a card out onto the table. It showed an image of Fluttershy crying. "Would she use it?"

"Th-that's not the issue."

"Oh really?"

"Look, it's bad enough you know the Realms exist. But here you are in no position to capitalize on that, which you should be thankful for. Here, it can all remain sealed. Kept from... critical."

"How will us knowing change anything!?"

Sperion sighed. "You'll tell someone. Or someone will find out from you. And then the idea will spread. Then eventually someone will have a 'breakthrough.' If you go back home, none of you would be able to leave this alone. So you can't. I won't let you."

Discord grinned. He snapped his fingers, and time resumed to its regular speed. "Did you catch all that girls?" he asked.

Fluttershy started crying as soon as she was able. "You... won't let us?"

Sperion receded from Fluttershy. "What did you do?"

"Transmitted the conversation right into their little pony minds," Discord said, smiling venomously, "the cat is out of the bag."

Twilight looked at Sperion head on. She frowned. "You... You are trying to tell us that us not getting back home to our friends is for the greater good?"

Sperion nodded slowly.

"No. I can't accept that," Twilight sighed, "I've founded my current lifestyle on the belief that friendship is magic and that nobody should be denied connections - connections to friends, family, events... Home."

Pinkie nodded in agreement. "Isolation is not good for ponies. And not for Fluttershy, either. She needs her home. There's something about this place that just iiiiiisn't good for her."

"This is exactly why you... can't!" Sperion shouted. "You don't understand the implications! You cannot! No one does until it's too late! We didn't either!"

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "...We?"

"No," Sperion said, "I am done talking."

He flew away, teleporting into the distance with a burst of magic. "More..." He said to himself. "It's always more, more, more... They'll never be satisfied until it's too late..." He hurled an explosive globe of fire at a tree in rage, burning it to a crisp. Then he sighed. "It's already too late... isn't it..."

He embedded himself into a bush and waited for translation. He would not be coming back here. He didn't know what he thought he was doing, interacting with them again...

He was drawn to them... But he needed to be separate.

He sat there, alone, just like normal. He felt the curse start to activate...

Discord appeared next to him, with the three ponies in tow. "Discord no!" Twilight yelled. But it was already too late - Discord grabbed onto Sperion's essence, magically bonding the five of them together. They translated.

They were in a dark place. A place they didn't - couldn't - understand. A place where up and down didn't exist, where shapes were but arbitrary suggestions, where eyes appeared and vanished amongst red shapes of impossible geometries. Things walked up walls, walls turned to pudding, and a television screen laughed. The physical form of binary flowed through their senses, and the noise drilled into their minds, driving them mad with its distortion.

Twilight and Fluttershy screamed - they felt their bodies warp, their flesh boil, and their forms stretch to impossible lengths. Bones snapped where bones should never have been, and eyes appeared within them. Discord yelled out, imposing a bubble of reality around himself, Fluttershy, and Twilight, returning their bodies and minds to normal.

"Not again! Not again!" Fluttershy yelled, barely keeping herself together.

"W-what was that!?" Twilight yelled, her mind reeling.

"Pure chaos," Discord said, "a form different from my own..." He looked outside the bubble at the reddish ever-changing landscape of impossible geometries. He was enthralled and terrified by it at the same time.

"Where's Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

Discord gulped. "Uh... I don't know."

"Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno..." Fluttershy began to wail.

Discord narrowed his eyes and searched through the murky Real, trying with all his magic to locate the pink pony. He found Sperion, floating what appeared to be inches from them. The Realm wasn't changing him - but he did grow a fourth limb right before their eyes.

Pinkie Pie suddenly slammed into the outside of the bubble, fully formed as a pink pony. She started talking a mile a minute, though the bubble was soundproof. Discord clapped his hands, allowing the bubble to grow and encompass Pinkie and Sperion.

"Oh my gosh guys! This is my Realm!" Pinkie squeed, "the Realm of the Impossible! Look what I can do!" She twisted her body into a cyllinder, and then folded in on herself, creating an infinitely circling loop of pink geometry.

Fluttershy cowered in fear from Pinkie's display.

"The Inflection of Distortion," Sperion said, "the rarest of the Inflections."

Twilight blinked, staring at Pinkie's impossible distortions. "Pinkie... Could you... Stop that? I think... I'm going to be sick..."

Pinkie stopped moving, popping back into pony shape. "Oh sorry Twilight! I didn't realize it was that freaky. Not that different from what I normally do, but I guess it is more powerful. I see everything Twilight! I can hear the spelling of words! leyek thihs!"

"...What?"

"She... She uh..." Sperion shook his head. "Things are different now."

Twilight sighed. "Look, Sperion, I'm going to apologize for Discord. I..."

Sperion held up his new limb. "I'll take you out of here when the time comes to move again. I'm not cruel. This is no place to live." He turned to them. "But until that time comes, you are on your own. Perhaps you will learn a lesson here." Then he was gone.

"Bye!" Pinkie waved. "Don't go too crazy!"

~~~

Rainbow Dash flew up - and up, and up, and up, higher than she could back home. The air didn't thin with altitude in the Realm of Truth like she was used to - which was good for her purposes. There may not have been clouds in the Realm, but having no height limit just opened up possibilities. She went higher, higher still, high enough that she could no longer see the brown rectangle of the Nexus that had become her home.

She let herself drop, front first. She felt herself become enveloped within her own magic, the mach cone forming around her hooves, the air whizzing by faster and faster. The rainbows of energy slowly began to overtake her, and the power approached critical mass.

She grinned. Here goes nothing.

The moment the sonic rainboom burst, she kicked her heels, creating a tremendous ball of fire the size of Ponyville behind her. The rainboom tore it apart, triggering an explosion that filled the sky, rocketing Rainbow Dash forward faster than the rainboom alone would have allowed.

"YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!" she yelled as she descended, extending her wings and pulling up slowly. She curved away from the plane mere meters away from it, landing on top of a nearby cube, the air behind her rushing past in a powerful gust. "Am I good or am I good?"

The inhabitants of the Nexus paid her no mind. Save for one, a certain ex-pegasus who was clapping her hooves with a sarcastic expression on her face. "Wo-o-oah that was ab-so-lutely rad-ical!"

"I can fry you, you know."

Implode shrugged, striking the ground with her hoof and creating a milkshake. "Eh, it'd be more interesting than what usually goes on in this place. Friggin walking talking rocks."

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Yeah, all 'the truth is ouuuut there!' Heh."

Implode smirked. "Hey!" she called out to a random stallion, "would it kill you to live a little?"

"No," he said, monotone, carrying on his way without so much as a glance.

Implode raised an eyebrow dubiously. Rainbow Dash burst into laughter. "He also answered your next question! Will he live a little? NO!"

"Heh. Heh." Implode turned to look at Rainbow Dash blankly. "...My Stars are we actually laughing with each other?"
"Woah," Rainbow Dash said, stalling mid-flip, "that is weird."

They stood in silence for a while. Implode eventually sighed. You know what, it's too boring not to talk to you."

"Truce?"

"Sure. We'll go with that," Implode said, stomping her hoof in an attempt to make another milkshake. The drink appeared in front of her - frozen. She groaned. "I miss my wings..."

"I feel ya. Once I had this bad guy, Discord, and he freaking took my wings because he found it amusing. Kinda betrayed my friends to get them back... Oh sure he told me my home was in danger, but I should have figured he wasn't really going to hurt anyone."

Implode blinked. "You... Betrayed them? You... strike me as fiercely loyal. Like, whoa, don't piss off the Rainbow's friends or she will buck you."

"Yeah, I suppose I am. At times." She did a flip. "But, you know, just because I'm awesome doesn't mean I'm perfect."

Implode blinked. "Wow. I hate you slightly less now."

"That's the awesomeness wearing off."

"...Aaand now it's back," Implode grunted.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Eh, it's a process." She thought for a moment. "You seem to have mellowed out a lot since we met."

"Well, the 'mighty father' isn't here for me to kill, so that may have something to do with it."

Rainbow Dash winced. "Still going for that huh?"

"You have no idea how horrible he was. He didn't just call me worthless to my face and deny me what was mine. He lied to me about the world, about other ponies. He kept friends away by telling me they hated me. He beat me. And I believed him for most of that..."

"...Why on earth would anypony do those things?"

Implode shrugged. "Some ponies are just born sick cruel bastards. If anything, it was all because he saw me as part of himself. He wanted control. He wanted domination." She shivered.

"Hey, it's okay. He's not here now. He can't get here. Okay?"

"...Okay. Stars, now I'm crying. What the hell."

"It's normal," Rainbow Dash said, "Even I cry, sometimes."

"Wow, you are great at this empathy thing," Implode deadpanned.

"I know right? Totally the best."

"There's only one thing left to do..."

"What's that?"

Implode grinned. "Race you to that cube, no wings, go!" She galloped off.

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Did... Did she just...?" Rainbow Dash shook her head and galloped off after her. "She did! That cheeky little..." Despite herself, Rainbow Dash laughed.

Above them, the orange Archive floated. Starlight looked down at the race, brow furrowed. "Well, they're bonding. I guess that's good."

"If it'll get her to cool it, Ah'm all for it," Applejack said, looking at another slide. "This one's about how to use the communication diamonds."

Starlight's eyes went white as her magic took over. She linked her mind to Applejack, absorbing the information running through the earth pony's mind. It was a lot, and most of it not very useful to somepony without the Inflection of Truth, but at least she could see it.

Applejack put it back, frowning. "Ah wonder if we really can find anything in here..." she said, turning to another shelf and taking out a slide, scanning it, and putting it back. "most of this is just technical dribble."

"Well, they are logical beings. They like to read logical things."

Applejack tried another one. "Eh, I guess you're right. Still, interesting as Ah thought this was when I first saw it, it's mighty disappointing."

Starlight shrugged. "At least we're learning something."

"Yeah..." Applejack looked at the next one and laughed. "Oh look, this one here has Aztrot folklore and legends on it. There's that alicorn, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns thing again."

Starlight's eyes went white. She absorbed the legend, frowning. "This one's slightly different than the one I saw in the Realm of Power..."

"How so?"

"More detail. Quite a bit more. It's talking here about how the Seven's power was.. cursed? And how they never passed it on for fear of what it would do. And that they tried to destroy the Chest, and failed."

"Look at this," Applejack said, drawing Starlight's mind with her, "it says here that the king Troxal discovered how to use the lost power of the Seven, using it to spread the Empire far and wide..."

"So, this only confirms that the temples aren't Aztrot. They just used them. Then what happened?"

"No idea. There's a genealogy of kings and Troxal's the last one."

Starlight tore her mind from Applejack's. "well, some of them obviously stayed behind in these Realms and have lived here to this day..." she shrugged. "maybe they just all moved here and their home fell because of it."

"Something tells me it was more than that. Call it a gut instinct. Hey... This is an odd one."

"What?"

"Aztrot poem about the Seven." Applejack cleared her throat.

The seven stood tall
Far, far from home
Further than any pony has known

Forgetting what had been
They tried to go home again
The world did not agree with them

Seven houses they made
Desiring only to undo
But all they caused was decay

They cursed what they did
Turning to our world
Driving the demons away

In their loss
They gave us a way
A path to return home

We will never be lost
Long as we remember
All that is to connect

Starlight blinked. "...There's a way out of here."

"Eeyup."

"What the heck is it?"

"Ah haven't the foggiest idea Starlight."

Starlight rubbed her head. "Remember all that is to connect? What does that mean?"

"Ah dunno, since obviously everypony here forgot and we never knew in the first place."

Starlight groaned. "I hate them and their logic focus. They probably just dismissed this whole slide here!"

Applejack sighed, putting it back. "Let's see if we can find anything here to shed light on this..."

They searched for a while longer, finding nothing else relating to a way out. However, Applejack did stumble across a mostly blank slide that caught her attention.

"Sperion..." she said.

"Oooh, what's it say about him?"

"A really long time ago - I think somewhere around two thousand of our years - he regularly showed up here, mysteriously cursed with traveling the Realms. But he wasn't alone."

"Oh?"

"There was... an alicorn with him, though the ponies here didn't call her an alicorn. They didn't have a word for what she was. Her name was... September."

Starlight blinked. "September? What kind of name is that?"

"No idea... There's not much here. One day they just stopped coming, and the next time Sperion was seen he was alone and wouldn't talk to them."

Starlight narrowed her eyes. "There's something going on here Applejack, something big, and we're in the middle of it."

Applejack nodded, slowly placing the slide back into the shelf.

~~~

The Zebra police chief looked up from the report in front of her. "Rarity Belle, Equestria?" she asked with a heavy accent.

"Yes. That's me."

"Know name. I buy ago. Nice." She frowned. "Cannot fix eye."

"I... know." She sagged. Spike and Trixie leaned towards her to comfort her. "What can you tell us?"

"No see 'robo' alicorn. No file on dragon. Unknowns. Protect while wait for Equestria."

"Thank you for watching us," Rarity said, "it means a lot to us."

"No... Sweat? Bah, Equestrian silly tongue."

"It is a bit silly," Trixie agreed, "I mean, the plural of sheep is sheep, and present has three meanings!"

"Why you hate own tongue?"

Trixie shrugged. "Trixie likes to complain when stressed."

"Ah," the zebra said, understanding. "Need anything, ask me, Chief Aballahaz. Personal duty."

"We hopefully won't need to," Rarity said, "thank you, really."

Aballahaz rolled her eyes again. "Always with the 'please' and 'thank you' you Equestrians."

"Well I'm a dragon!" Spike offered.

"Not enough 'please' and 'thank you.'"

"Wow. Hard to please?"

Aballahaz smiled. "Very. Until later." She walked out, leaving the three of them alone in the protective custody room. There wasn't much there save for a bathroom, and four lumpy looking cots. They sat there in silence for a good while.

"Am I the only one expecting dragon lady to crash through a wall and eat us?" Trixie asked.

Spike's eyes widened. "Not anymore."

Rarity sighed, "We're safe here. Even they can't get though an army of zebra officers."

"But... Congeal made Discord sweat!" Trixie said, "they might be able to crash their way through!"

Rarity shook her head. "Something tells me they want to remain as secret as possible. Out of public eye. Attacking us here would be foolish of them."

"So we just have to wait for someone to come get us..." Spike said, "that sucks."

"I'll say," Trixie grunted, "what we need is a way to pass the time..."

Rarity lit up. "Cards?!"

"Noooooooooooooo!" Trixie yelled.

"Yeesh, you didn't need to be so forward about it."

"My mind still hurts from the whirlwind you gave it last time!"

"It wasn't that bad..."

"How does Q plus the Nth degree equal four!?"

"Oh, darling, you're forgetting about the quandary theater that was in effect at the time."

Trixie moaned and slumped to the ground. She yawned. "...Trixie hasn't slept well in ages."

Rarity bit her lip. "Well, protective custody or not, this is still a cell, and the beds look absolutely dastardly..."

That was true - the four cots were flat, torn up, and a few had springs poking out of them.

Trixie sighed, climbing onto one and laying down. "This sucks."

Spike nodded in agreement, but he crawled onto a mattress and attempted to get comfortable. "G'night."

Rarity climbed into her bed, muttering goodnight as well. She knew she needed sleep - but she couldn't calm herself down. The mattress was lumpy, the air was dry, they were far from home, and she only had one eye. Everything was wrong... Most of her friends were trapped... She was stuck in a foreign country... And despite what she had said earlier, she didn't feel safe. Nothing felt safe. It all felt... dangerous. She shifted on her mattress, starting to cry through her single eye. She shut it, trying to keep the tears in.

Was there really any hope here?

Could they really do anything?

She groaned, opening her eye.

She wasn't on the bed anymore. Instead, she was in a strange white expanse, floating. She blinked. "Uh..."

A gigantic eyeball appeared in the sky and looked down upon her. It pulsated as it focused in on her small form, the iris slowly shifting through all the colors of the rainbow.

"W-what?"

The eye made no response, or any indication that it even heard her. It just kept looking at her, unwavering.

"...Rarity..." A familiar voice rung in the the back of her mind.

"Hm?" Rarity said, "What?"

"...Rarity..."

"Princess Luna?" Rarity said, confused. Then she realized what was going on - and laughed. "Oh. I'm dreaming." With a smile on her face, she waved at the giant eye. "Hi!"

The eye moved not. It just pulsated.

"...Okay Luna I'm ready to wake up now."

"...Rarity... Your dream... Can't see... Wake up..."

Rarity froze. If Luna couldn't see this, that meant... "What are you?" she demanded, glaring at the eye.

The eye still made no movement. But the world around her did, darkening in color considerably and generating thousands of hands, each one pointing right at her.

"Wha...?"

"...Rarity wake up!"

There were now two eyes, then three, then twenty, and they began circling her.

"W-what do you want?"

Y O U

"Something has you! Run!"

Rarity didn't see anywhere she could run to in the now-black expanse - the eyes and hands were everywhere. "Why do you want me?" she asked.

There was no response at first. Just the image of the Seven Sided Chest, surrounded by eyeballs. An image of the moon. Seven pillars stood among the grey rock and the stars - a Temple.

C O M E

"Wake up!"

Rarity leapt out of bed screaming, into the hooves of Luna. "That... That was horrible!"

Spike and Trixie crowded around her, worried looks on their faced. "Rarity!" Spike said, "you got out!"

"It.. Let me out," Rarity said.

Luna frowned. "What was it?"

"I... I have no idea. A giant eye... eyes? An image of seven pillars on the moon..."

Luna recoiled in surprise. "...How would anything know about those!?"

"So, wait, there's a Temple on the moon!?" Trixie blurted.

Luna thought for a moment. "...That could be what they were..."

Rarity shook her head. "Wait, why are you here princess?"

"I'm here to get you back home." She lit her horn. "The longer we leave you here, the more likely you are to just be taken."

"She's going to teleport us right home!" Spike grinned. "No more waiting!"

"Good," Rarity said, "I've had enough drama..."

"Stop the press!" Trixie gasped. "Rarity has had enough drama!"

Rarity let out a half hearted laugh. Luna looked at her eye socket, and winced. "I am sorry."

"Not now," Rarity stopped her, "we need to go."

Luna nodded, lighting her horn. They vanished...

...and appeared in the middle of the Zahara, in the rubble of the Temple. It was night, the moon looming large overhead. This was not where they were supposed to appear. Luna spread her wings. "WHO DARES!?"

Then they saw it.

Congeal.

It sat there in the center of the ruins, somehow glaring at them with its expressionless face. It spread its wings, preparing an attack...

Comments

[Cross Lament]

Ooo that might've been a bad idea, Congeal. Especially with the Moon already in the sky.

[ferret]

THis is no place to live.
implode eventually sighed.
he wasn't really giong to hurt anyone."
"At least we're leaning something."