Realms of Existence

by GMBlackjack

IX - Congeal

“No… No no no no!” Twilight yelled. “It’s gone!”

Pinkie gasped. “They disconnected the Chest!”

“Who’d do that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Robo-alicorn,” Discord muttered.

“Uh… Who?”

“We really don’t know… We can catch you up later,” Twilight said. She looked at Discord. “It looked like zebras, not that… thing.”

“They both attacked us in the same location at almost identical times,” Discord said. “That’s some coincidence there.”

Pinkie spoke up. “…I hope they’re okay.”

Twilight realized with pain that she had no idea if Trixie, Spike, and Rarity were even alive. No, she had to have faith that they were fine. Fluttershy had been okay, and she knew the others had survived… Rarity and Spike would be fine as well. They just had to get back. Somehow.

She looked at Discord. “Can you…?”

Discord sighed. “I have no idea where we are. Dimensional tunneling isn’t something you can just do without thinking. Took me forever to find that puppet…”

“We’re stuck here,” Pinkie said.

Discord facepalmed. “This is the greatest rescue mission I’ve ever been on.”

“Your sarcasm is dripping,” Pinkie said.

Discord created a jar and caught the viscous liquid leaking from his tooth. “So helpful, Pinkie.”

“Careful! You might excrete too much!”

“Uh…” Fluttershy said. “Well, you should all come back to my place then, I have extra rooms. And tea!”

Discord clapped his hands. “Oh goodie, haven’t had some tea in a while! Away we go~!”

They arrived back at the treehouse in a flash of magic. Lou and Roy yipped in surprise – they were standing on top of a small pile of dead mice.

“Lou! Roy! Really? The moment I leave you start being cruel again?!” Fluttershy fixed them with a disapproving glare.

Lou and Roy bowed their heads in shame.

“Clean this up and share it with the other snakes!” She turned back to her friends. “Sorry about that, they just won’t behave…”

“Seems easier to deal with than Angel,” Twilight observed.

“Oh yes, for the most part they’ve all been great.” She trotted inside. “Coming in?”

“Definitely!” Pinkie shouted, popping into the house and rushing around like a caffeinated hummingbird. “Ooo! Pots! Pans! Tables! Bushes on the walls! Animals!”

A bird cooed at Pinkie.

“COOOOOO!” She yelled back, frightening the bird considerably.

Fluttershy grabbed some leaves from a live tea plant. She touched the wooden walls and formed a teacup from it, not thinking it odd.

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Fluttershy…?”

“Oh! Right…” She looked embarrassed. “Apparently I have a strong… ‘inflection’ is what Sperion called it, I think. I can control life. It’s… beautiful. I can make things grow. It’s how I made this house.” She extracted some water from nearby leaves and put it in the cups. Then she grabbed some dust harvested from a fire lotus, spreading a dash into each cup to heat it.

Tea was served.

“Woah,” Pinkie said. “You’ve got this tea down to a science! That’s amazing!”

“I did make it several times. Fire lotuses are amazingly useful when you don’t want to burn down the entire Realm.”

“So… Fluttershy,” Discord said, drinking from his cup. “What happened to you here?”

“Ah, well… I was so scared I didn’t move at first. Sat perfectly still for a long, long time – maybe a day, I don’t know, there’s no night here. Then Lou and Roy found me and we became great friends. They showed me how to find food growing on the Tree of Life.”

“So this entire thing really is one tree?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. Some animals tell me distant areas are colored differently, and that others don’t have the constant light, but it’s definitely all one tree.” She paused. “It’s weird being able to go up and down wherever and whenever you want.”

Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, not all that weird. I move in abnormal directions all the time. Why just last week I went light!”

“…What?” Twilight said.

“Left and right together,” Pinkie said. “Personally I prefer reft.”

“Reft is a most glorious direction,” Discord agreed.

Twilight shook her head. “Let’s just let Fluttershy continue her story.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Well, then a giant worm tried to eat me, so I used the Stare on it – and that’s when Sperion showed up. He was amazing – helped me understand this place, showed me how to use my power, and built the first room in this house.” She sighed. “I hope I get a chance to truly thank him…”

“What can you do with this new power? I’m curious,” Twilight asked.

“Oh, well, I can just make that bush grow berries, for one,” She said, spreading a wing to touch the bush. The bush shook, and produced seven succulent red berries which Fluttershy picked and passed out to her friends. “I can also heal animals, and I think my Stare has been enhanced. No predator has tried to eat me after I used it. It’s helped me grow this haven.”

“I saw herds of things outside!” Pinkie said. “Are they all yours?”

“Mhm. All part of my big family here. Life’s been…” She hesitated. “Nice.”

Discord glanced through the window at the herd of ponies. “How’d you find them?”

“Browncoat came to me with a broken wing. I healed him and… well, it took me a moment to realize what he was. He and his herd can’t think like we do. They’re missing something.”

“It’s called sapience,” Twilight said. ”It’s… Well, it’s a term used to describe something we don’t understand. It’s what separates us from animals. A soul? We don’t really know what it is, for sure, merely that it’s there.”

Fluttershy blinked. “…Well after I realized that, I…” She paused for a moment. “…Helped him find his herd and brought them here. They haven’t shown any signs of leaving since then.” She sipped her cup of tea. “What happened to you?”

“We… Spent a lot of time at the Yakyakistan temple,” Twilight said. “It still isn’t fixed. We found an image in Yearling’s vault that showed another temple. We followed the clues to the Zahara.”

“And then got attacked by a vicious metal alicorn!” Pinkie blurted.

“Which I defeated,” Discord said, smug. “Fella used time hax on me. I overruled him.”

“Oh my. Was everypony okay?”

“We were fine,” Twilight said. “It didn’t do much damage. We went to the temple after that and tried to find Applejack, Rainbow, and Starlight. We discovered that there is an entire city of ponies living in that violent Realm, and that they knew our friends. Starlight apparently found a way to travel to another Realm and took it hours before we got there… They may have broken a few rules when they left.”

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said. “Are they wanted? Hunted?”

“Not as far as I know. I don’t think the ponies we met could follow them. So they’re fine, we just don’t know where they are,” she took a breath. “We searched for them in the Realm of Magic, a beautiful place with crystals and magic everywhere – and that’s where we met Sperion. I… Well he was upset. Starlight apparently took the spell from him against his wishes. He… didn’t want to tell us anything.”

“He didn’t’ have a lot of time to tell me things. He had to leave quickly,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll ask him about it when he gets back.”

“He’ll be back?”

“He said he has to make seven jumps before he comes back. I don’t know how long it takes though…”

Discord grinned. “Perfect. I can put socks on him!”

Fluttershy didn’t even ask, instead turning back to Twilight. “Well, what happened next?”

“After we talked with him we came and found you, and then the portal was shut off… And now we’re all stuck.”

Fluttershy hugged Twilight. “I’m just glad you’re here I…” She sniffed. “I was getting lonely.”

“Shhhh…” Twilight soothed. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay. We’re here.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered. “You know what? It’s time for a party! We’ve reunited and have a whole mansion and hundreds of animals! Let’s do this thing!”

Discord grinned. “I like how you think Pinkie! I’ll get the chocolate rain!” The two were gone in an instant.

Fluttershy looked up and smiled. “It… it feels so good to be near ponies again…”

“I’m not leaving you again,” Twilight said. “Never.”

“Thank you, Twilight.” Fluttershy flapped into the air, directing herself towards the window. “I’m going to say hello to the herd. Want to come?”

“Nah. They… Give me the creeps.”

“They did that to me too,” Fluttershy admitted. “But I try to treat them just like any other animal. It’s hard, but I try.”

“Fluttershy, you are amazing.”

Fluttershy blushed. “…Maybe. Or maybe it’s just this power. Doesn’t really matter, does it? Explore the house a while, see you in a minute. Don’t let them paint it pink.”

“Will do!” Twilight said, marching through a random door into a moth closet. “AUGH!”

Fluttershy flew out, chuckling. She glided over to the calmly grazing herd, landing next to Browncoat. He greeted her but kept grazing.

bones flesh smashing horror tendons blood screams pain

She frowned.

She could never tell the others what had happened.

Never.

It was just too much…

She shuddered, backing several feet from the herd. Her herd. The thought disgusted her, even though she knew it shouldn’t, deep down.

She heard a loud explosion behind her, turning just in time to receive a blast of frosting to the face. She licked it. As expected: pink flavor. She smiled to herself. A party probably would cheer her up.

~~~

Applejack stared at the puzzle cube in front of her. Twenty five small squares on each side, six different colors, all distributed randomly. It stood there, asking for her to make each side have only one color…

She grabbed the Cube Cube™ and began to rapidly turn it in her hooves, making at least nine shifts a second. She stared at its rapidly changing color the entire time it was in her hooves, unblinking. The entire object was blurred, moving faster than an onlooker could keep track of.

Twenty seconds later Applejack set the completely solved cube on the table and smiled. “Ah’m getting’ good.”

“I’ll say,” Starlight admitted. “You only looked at it for, what, half a minute?”

“Eeyup.”

“This Inflection of Truth improves your ability to process information astoundingly. 29.117 times 7.21!”

“209.93357!”

“Integral of 3x to the power of 4 plus 7x!”

“0.6x to the power of 5 plus 3.5x to the power of 2! …Plus C.”

“Wow. Nothing phases you anymore.”

“Well, you have been doing nothing but test me since we got out of those questioning sessions.”

“What else is there to do here besides eat and talk?” Starlight pointed out.

“Fair point. This entire realm is rather dull.” She blinked for a moment. “She’s coming.”

Implode charged into view, knocking a stallion out of the way as she did so. The fact that he didn’t react to being shoved really bugged her and dampened her already foul mood.

“Didya hear me coming again, Apples?”

“Er… Yes?”

“Amazing,” Implode deadpanned. “I was being so sneaky that time.”

Applejack sighed. Implode had never stopped getting on all their cases about the powers. Applejack knew the mare was troubled and that she should let these slights slide, but it was getting irksome.

“By the way, Starlight, you should try those time powers again!”

“Look, Implode, the answer’s no. I don’t know what they’ll do around here. I could blow everything up just by thinking!”

“Rainbow doesn’t seem to have any problem with that!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Thought you hated Rainbow?”

“So? I can still use her as an example!”

“Ah.” Applejack frowned. “Well, Rainbow’s a different mare than Starlight.”

“No shit,” Implode deadpanned.

Starlight sighed. “Answer’s still no. I’d only try it in an emergency.”

“You do realize you’re giving the resident psycho a reason to cause an emergency?”

“Yes,” Starlight said. “Yes I do.”

Implode twitched and stormed off, muttering under her breath as she did so.

“…I think we bonded there,” Starlight said.

Applejack facehooved deeply. “At least she’s still talking to us. That shows promise.”

“Her only other option is to talk to the emotionless bricks that ‘live’ here or never talk at all. She strikes me as the type who needs to talk.”

“Just be patient with her and not judge her. It may be hard, and she may not change much, but we have to try.”

Their discussion was interrupted by Rainbow Dash’s yell from down the brown hall. “FREEDOM!”

“Incoming at 71 miles per hour!” Applejack yelled, diving out of the way. Starlight did not have the reaction time of Applejack, so she got tossed right out the window-slit with Rainbow. Rainbow flew into the sky. “Haha! No more stupid questions! It’s done!”

“How was your session?” Applejack asked, glancing at Starlight’s form on the ground below just to make sure it was okay.

“Suuuuuucked! More than usual! He asked about weather patterns for hours. Why not ask about stunts? Or Wonderbolts?”

“He did ask me a lot of farming questions last time…” Applejack said.

“They want useful information,” Starlight said, standing up. “Asking about our areas of expertise is the best way to do that.”

“Meh. I just want to know why Applejack was in there for less time.”

Applejack smirked. “Ah answered questions before he asked them. Does wonders for downtime.”

“Cheating…” Rainbow Dash muttered, turning a nearby floating cone shape into vanilla ice cream. “I need to find a way to even the playing field here…”

Applejack rolled her eyes.

One of the pink message diamonds pinged. “Question session for Starlight Glimmer.”

“Ooooof course…” Starlight said. “See you girls later.”

“Have fun answering questions about…” Rainbow blinked. “What even is your job?”

Starlight shrugged. “I have no idea. Mage, I guess. We’ll see.” She marched down the hallway and into Diamond’s questioning room. She saw two ponies on the way there, not bothering to even wave at the emotionless mares.

“Starlight Glimmer,” Diamond said. “Sit”

Starlight obeyed. “Ask away!”

“Describe the nature of magic to me.”

Starlight shrugged. “I’m not a scholar like Twilight, I just use the stuff. I’m unable to give you any sort of explanation using the ‘crystal spheres’ or ‘wind sheers’ that Twilight spouts off some of the time. I don’t use the arcane babble.” She put her hoof on the table. “Here’s what I do know. Unless it’s artificially removed, magic is everywhere. Spread throughout everything in this aether that swirls around reality. It alters things at random sometimes, giving them properties that go against standard physics. Things that provide endless energy. Shapes that are changed on the spot. Impossible movements. Extra strength. Some – for instance, all unicorns – are born with a manifestation of magic. In my case, it’s my horn, a thing altered by the aether and tied to my brain. With it, I can guide the aether according to my will and create spells.”

Diamond nodded. “Why are you better than most unicorns at it?”

“I was born that way. It’s my special talent – magical power. While some casters, like Twilight, have a talent that lets them understand and manipulate magic with finesse, I just have raw power.” She looked at her flank. “It’s a star giving off a solar flare. One of the most powerful cosmic events known to exist.”

“Does it strike you as similar to an Inflection?”

“I suppose it does, now that you mention it. Some are just born with a strong or weak Inflection of magic… Hrm…”

“Why do you think your time powers activated only once you were in the realms?”

“Because I was close to them? Like… Let me think for a second here.” She pondered this for a few minutes. “Maybe the powers can only activate in an excess of something- in the case of most, it requires being in a Realm to get enough of a boost to activate the power. Matter-energy. Spacetime. Information. Maybe magic as well” She tapped her hoof on the table. “There’s a reason Sperion called our home Realm Central. It really is in the focus of all the other’s isn’t it?”

“As far as we know.”

“But why is magic different? Why are we given the ability to control it?”

“Did it occur to you that you aren’t controlling it, merely using it?”

Starlight blinked. “But that would mean… That would mean there’s something beyond the magic we know.” She bit her lip. “Wish I could safely go to that Realm of Magic to see what’s there…”

“I never said there was a Realm of Magic.”

“Maybe I have a tiny Inflection of Truth, because I know you know there’s one.” She smirked.

“True enough. What other realms do you think there are?”

“Presumably there’s seven, because that’s how many sides the chest has. So, if we count our own, that leaves two unaccounted for…” She blinked, thinking. “What isn’t covered in the others…? Perhaps there’s a Realm of Life? I’ve noticed a distinct lack of it in these Realms. Perhaps a Realm of Thought as well?”

“The Archive speaks of Realms of Dreams, Life, and Distortion, though data on what they are is limited.”

“Wonder what Distortion is…”

“Why do you stay in this Realm?”

“Okay, change the subject why don’t you. We stay because I don’t know where the spell will take us. It may take us to a Realm we can’t survive in. Distortion does not sound friendly, for instance.”

“Do you plan to spend the rest of your life here?”

“…No. I will eventually find out how to return home.”

“It seems unlikely that will happen at this point.”

“I have hope. Don’t ask what it is, you couldn’t understand. That small grain of feeling and confidence you hold onto when all seams bleak. That rock you stand on in a storm. The one thing keeping you alive. That is hope.”

“Noted. We’re aware of the definition. Why did you tell me not to ask and then proceed to answer the implied question?"

"Uh... I felt like it."

"What was your time as leader of a small town like?””

“Er… Guess you really do infer a lot of things. It was a time I deeply regret because of how crazy I was.”

“You misunderstand. How was it then?”

“…It felt good. I convinced myself I was helping ponies. That I was curing them from a blight. The power went to my head. I was not in a good state of mind.”

“Would you consider yourself a good leader?”

“Then? No. Now…” She paused. “I have to say yes. Everypony looks at me for what to do in complex situations and I just seem to end up working it out.”

“Self-honesty is difficult for your kind. Now, you will explain every spell you know to me one at a time.”

Starlight gawked. “Every one?”

“Every one.”

“…Let’s start with the most basic, telekinesis…”

~~~

Rarity woke up, much to her relief. She had quite the headache and was covered in dust, but she was alive. She’d worry about looking presentable later, after she examined her surroundings.

The floor was sand, the walls brick, and the window barred. A soft glow of sunlight beamed through the window at an angle, suggesting it was morning. The door was barred with metal, no knob or lock on the side she was on.

She saw Spike and Trixie laying alongside her, neither stirring. She felt bad for them – and herself. They were in the middle of a foreign nation, captured by unknown zebra vagabonds. What did they want? Would they kill them? Rigorously question them? Torture them?

Rarity decided that the answer to the last question was a definite yes because there was no bathroom or toilet in the room – not even a bucket. She made a terrified whining sound..

“Not up for poker… Belly rubs please… Starlight why don’t you… Go eat the pie…”

Rarity looked at Trixie. “…You awake?”

“Getting there… Half-dream…”

“…What?”

Trixie rubbed her eyes, dragging herself out of dreamland. “Sometimes I can sorta dream and feel the world around me at the same time. Weird feeling let me tell you.”

“…Sounds annoying,” Spike said, standing up. “It means you can’t enjoy the dream!”

“Trixie likes remembering them like that. Now, Trixie wants to know where we are.”

“Captured. Imprisoned,” Rarity said. She looked out the window and saw they were at the end of a long, empty alleyway. “Somewhere populated.”

“Clopro?” Spike suggested.

“Maybe. I can’t tell from here.” She lit her horn, trying to grab something from the alleyway. A sharp pain shot through her forehead, making her yell out.

“Rarity!?” Spike said, concerned.

“Some… Sort… Of security… Stars that hurts…”

Trixie frowned. “They don’t want us pulling any tricks – they even took Trixie’s hat!” She drooped. “I liked that hat…”

Spike cleared his throat and let out some fire on the bars. While he wasn’t hit with a headache, he wasn’t successful with removing the bars either. “Darn.”

“Well now what?” Trixie asked.

“You come with me,” A deep, gravelly, accented voice said. The three turned to see a cloaked zebra standing in the now open doorway. “Try to escape and you die.”

The zebra led them out the door into a short hallway. It was windowless and featureless, lit only by a small lamp on the ceiling. They were taken to the left, through a set of ornate wooden doors.

Through the door was a large room with several windows looking out at a normal street – zebras bustled around, trading with each other and talking amongst themselves. Rarity noticed she couldn’t hear any of their voices.

The room was well decorated- ornate lamps in the four corners, a thick red rug on the ground embroidered with a heptagon, and a robotic alicorn in the center, sitting. It wasn’t damaged at all – the wings were pristine, the legs smooth. Its purple cutie mark was glowing, as were its eyes.

It stared at them intently.

“Er…” Rarity said, glancing side to side. “…Hi?”

The robot nodded slowly. With a wave of its hoof it dismissed the zebra – who bowed and slinked out. Then it stared back at them.

“W-what do you want?” Rarity asked.

No response. But Rarity did see something large and white begin to take shape behind it. She could see flowing hairs, scales, and claws. She took a step back as a giant snakelike reptile took form, looking at her with intense yellow eyes, a giant maw, and rippling mane. Its head was easily bigger than her.

“Congeal wants information,” she said.

Spike’s jaw dropped. “You… you’re an eastern dragon! I’ve never seen one of you!”

“Yes.” She smiled, baring her many sharp teeth. “I am Yuku.” Then her face contorted in rage and she roared in Spike’s face. “And we are not here for me! Congeal is the purpose!”

Rarity gulped, looking at the machine, presumably Congeal. “W-What do you want to know?”

Yuku chuckled. “Ah, so oblivious.” She sliced a claw next to Trixie, making the unicorn yelp. “So nervous. Good…” She leaned in. “Where are the other temples?”

“W-well there’s the one in Yakyakistan…” Rarity said.

“Already know about it. Where are the others?”

“We don’t know where any-“

Yuku roared, cutting Rarity’s words off, looking ready to torch them –but Congeal held up a hoof, shaking its head.

“They… They really don’t know,” she growled. “Just great. Do you know anything about the Realms?”

“Not particularly, no,” Rairty said.

Congeal pointed at Trixie. Before Yuku could even start to threaten her, Trixie started screaming. “I’VE BEEN TO TWO OF THEM! ONE HAD CRYSTALS AND ANOTHER WAS FILLED WITH EXPLODING SPHERES!”

Yuku leaned in, eyes narrow. “Did you talk to anyone in there?”

“Yes. Sham Rock in the clouds and Overglobe in the spheres. Can you back up now?”

Yuku leaned in even further. “They know so little, but already too much.”

Congeal nodded.

“Who else did you encounter?” Yuku demanded.

“Trekker, several ponies from New Mareu, Sperion-“

Congeal shoved Yuku out of the way glared at Trixie personally. Trixie fainted.

“…You know Sperion?” Rarity asked.

“Congeal did,” Yuku said. “Not that Sperion would actually tell you anything.” She chuckled. She leaned in towards Rairty. “Where was the Chest found?”

Rarity bit her lip. “Rainbow found it a few years back at a Daring Do convention. I don’t remember which one…”

“Pah! No help at all! Should just kill you!”

Congeal held up a hoof, stopping her again.

“Fine, guess they’re leverage at least.” She growled. “Idiots. The lot of them.”

“Hey!” Spike yelled. This earned him a claw across the face, drawing blood. He fell back, wailing in pain.

Rarity went red with anger. “You do not get to harm Spike! Don’t you dare try again! You pale, reptilian, cold-blooded, deceptive, heathen, demon!”

“Okay. Guess I’ll go for you instead.” Her tremendous claw flew right for Rarity’s face. It was at this moment Rarity realized this probably hadn’t been the wisest course of action.

Comments

[zeusdemigod131]

Jeez, I thought Eastern Dragons were suppose to be wiser and less violent

[GMBlackjack]

8029625

You're asking the right questions!

-GM, master of minks.

[ferret]

I sued the Stare on it
we came and ofund you,
She could never tlel the others what had happened.
Stalright said, standing up
I deepy regret
“Self-honsety
trying ot grab

Rarity went red with anger. “You do not get to harm Spike! Don’t you dare try again! You pale, reptilian, cold-blooded, deceptive, heathen, demon!”