Lost Again
Teleportation is just a flash, I once thought. Pop-poof and you're there. I should be able to forgive myself for thinking that, but I can't. I can't forgive any of my selves for being so fundamentally wrong.
It feels like three weeks ago, though there are no “weeks” in this empty place.
I simply teleported, as unthinkingly as ever. It was stupid. I just wanted to get to the top of the Castle of Friendship faster – I'd spent too long in the library with Starlight Glimmer. How could it be any more trivial? If only I'd known the suffering it would bring.
The familiar magical light flashed, and instantly I came to this place, this magical nowhere, an enormous empty sphere. Well, not entirely empty. I wish it was empty.
I hovered, motionless in the center, amazed as the teleportation spell did something I thought it had never done before. A copy of myself formed, taking bare seconds to build itself out of nothing. She was alike in every detail, but instead of watching in rapt attention, she floated limp, eyes closed.
Somewhere below me, I heard a spell being cast followed by a small explosion.
Poof, she was gone; I fell.
I fell on to a gruesome heap. My eyes took it in, my hooves felt the cold flesh underneath, but it took ages for my mind to accept it: an enormous pile of dead ponies. Dead purple ponies, unicorns, and alicorns. A pile of my own rotting corpses. Among them was a fresh body, its head missing.
My legs went weak at the sight, the smell of it. I couldn't stand to touch them, those horrific bodies.
I looked at the wall and saw writing in blood. Is that my blood? The writings…they’re calculations, diagrams, pictures and notes. It serves as a distraction from the gruesome sight beneath me.
It didn’t take me long to complete my piece of the puzzle. I’ve written the new instructions and series of spell matrix components on available space, so should I fail…or at least the “other” me fails, the cycle comes closer to the end.
Despite my feelings towards all previous versions of me for even contemplating teleportation, I have to commend The First (that’s what those who came after called her) for being the first to try and break the cycle.
“GRAB HER NOW.” As a concept, it’s quite simple. You see the new “you” develop from nothing in a few seconds. The First figured that physical contact with the teleporting pony would force the spell to carry that pony as well. But things aren’t ever that simple. Ignoring the fact that teleporting multiple ponies requires more energy than one pony, this sphere is probably meant to contain whoever is left behind.
I mean, grabbing the newest iteration of Twilight had probably been attempted by somepony from before, but they’d just never bothered to write down that thought process beforehoof.
This is quite unfortunate because while the most one would typically experience is some burned hairs or fur, the pony designated to remain here would suffer an excruciating death, as the First documented.
So began a series of experiments to bring all of this to an end. The notes taken and written are extensive. The lifespan of survivors, testers and testees, spells and actions attempted, and summarized hypotheses, theories, and conclusions are all written on available space on the wall.
Sometimes alternative viewpoints are brought in and add their own ideas. More often than not they fail; the Rainbow Dashes frequently attempt to fly repeatedly at the wall, which only serves to mess up the notes already taken with spattered blood. Applejacks try to buck their way out with a similar result.
Pinkie Pies are exceedingly rare. In fact, for as long as we’ve been testing, Pinkie has not shown up at all.
Rarity is useful; while her magic is more limited, her finesse and attention to detail have helped the components of the matrix become more efficient. This has allowed room for even more alterations.
Fluttershys go insane almost immediately, which is quite understandable. Perhaps my desensitized nature to the emotional wellbeing of my friends is a facet of my insanity.
Spike, Celestia bless him, is the most useful. While I tend to ramble and my notes are scattered, Spike knows my magical capabilities, and his notetaking is impressive. He is also quite rare in appearances, but he lasts quite a while due to the draconic ability of calorie retention and hibernation. Unfortunately, he is also a child; he’s not meant for this place. We ended his sufferings quickly.
Having other me’s is also rare, as these days one of us almost always dies in the testing process. Whatever time together there is, ideas are swapped and shared. It’s usually constructive…although the sheer magnitude of the situation occasionally results in a violent version of insanity.
Regardless of who is here, I’ve found it hard to eat. Drinking blood is fine, I’ve suckled enough of my own cuts as a filly and bitten the inside of my mouth enough times to have made this emotional leap. I sometimes delude myself into thinking it’s one of Rarity’s red wines from Prance. However, eating flesh still vexes me. I can’t even stomach the thought of eating my friends, so I’ve resorted to eating old me’s. Even then this is difficult. As a result of this and associated nutritional deficits, my magical reserves are low and my strength is abysmal.
I’ve lasted longer than most in this place. I chalk that up to the nature of the experiments these days, combined with rationing of resources and increased maturity compared to past selves. I quickly realized that the explosion from when I first got here was my predecessor’s suicide. She left a note on the wall, citing her slow descent into madness and unwillingness to destroy the research. She’d been here for a month. I fear the same may happen to me soon, but more from starvation than insanity.
However, I’m confident that my work is sound. What’s particularly exciting is that I might be the final one of have to suffer in this space between spaces, should I succeed.
The air in the room tingles. That’s the sign of a teleportation. Here she comes. I hope she doesn’t bring anypony else with her. They aren’t part of the solution, and will have to stay behind.
As the flash brings the “old” Twilight in, I immediately cast my spell. I hold the forming New Twilight in semi-stasis. I was never powerful enough to overcome another unicorn’s teleportation spell mid-casting, and my current condition only reinforces that. However I’ve slowed the formation of New Twilight enough that I think we can continue with the plan.
Old Twilight is dressed in royal regalia; she must be in Canterlot for an international summit or some such thing. Not my concern, though it means if we succeed, the resulting entrance will be quite…dramatic.
Old Twilight and the now slowly-forming New Twilight hover in the center of the space, with the conscious one looking as bewildered and terrified as ever. As she turns to me, I point to the instructions.
The obvious shock of seeing me aside, she’s horrified by the instructions. I know what she’s thinking, she isn’t the first I’ve seen like this. “There’s no time for debate,” I shout at her, “This is our chance to end this nightmare! Start casting, before it’s too late!” Ponies, being herd creatures, almost immediately follow an order when told. I have told Old Twilight that now is the time for action. She knows what she has to do. She’s a quick learner – I would know, I’m her.
My expectations, admittedly, have been low so far. Part of me expects this Twilight to blow up before the spell modifications are complete, or the spellcasting sequence may be incomplete, leaving her here with me. To my surprise, she performs all spells proficiently.
Once the modifications are complete, the half-formed New Twilight immediately starts spasming and screaming. Her skin is boiling, her teeth are falling out and replaced immediately. Her horn falls out and regrows.
The rapidity of this effect was unanticipated, especially in our time-dilated state. I will have to record this.
“Something’s wrong,” Old Twilight yells over the screams of her counterpart, “I’m feeling pain all over.”
I quickly surmise that whatever is happening with New Twilight is affecting Old Twilight as well. I determine the thread of the spell responsible; I believed we’d solved this problem in the last test, however I can see the similar pattern reactivating now. Stupid redundancies! “Can you nullify this section?” I ask the Old Twilight, highlighting a section of the matrix in my instructions with what little reserves I have left.
“No, the pain is limiting my ability to multicast! We need to do something quickly.”
I quickly come up with a solution. It increases the risk of this whole operation exponentially, however it increases the chances of success.
It’s a no-brainer. “I’m dropping my spell and channeling my power to you. By my calculations you’ll be able to survive for the remainder of the spell. It will be tougher and more painful than it is now. Do you understand?”
“I don’t like how this ends,” she responds.
“Buck what you like, lives are at stake including your own! Say you understand!”
After a brief hesitation, Old Twilight nods “I understand.”
I sigh in relief. I cancel my spell and immediately channel my remaining power reserves to her.
New Twilight is a gorey mess. She’s constantly decaying and regrowing all over. Whatever shows up at the destination of the teleportation will be a mess of flesh, bone and fur. I doubt she was ever truly conscious.
Old Twilight is keeping it together but the pain has magnified significantly. “I can’t hold it,” she screams.
I act on impulse. This has to work! Nopony else will suffer!
I go into overdrive. My horn starts cracking, first at the tip and quickly working its way to the base. The pain is intense, I cannot see. I accidentally bite my tongue as I concentrate, a familiar taste creeping its way down my throat as I swallow.
I can barely hear Old Twilight yelling over the ringing in my ears, “It’s working! We’re almost there!”
I can’t hold it anymore. I collapse as my horn explodes and a flash engulfs the sphere. I succumb to the darkness.
Some time later, I come to. I look around, and I’m in the familiar space. The bones are scattered here and there among the rotting flesh. The notes remain on the walls. I’m still here. Nothing has changed. The cycle continues.
Wait a second…
Nothing has changed! I see no new addition to the pile of flesh and bones! It must have worked!
For the first time since I arrived in this sphere, I allow myself to cry. We did it. One of us got out.
The chance of rescue for me is a desperate delusion, I know that. But I have another hope: Maybe this is the end. If it's enough to prevent anypony from ever teleporting again, that will be victory. That hope might be enough to let me rest in my final moments of life.
Please, I plead to my other self, please just never teleport again.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Foals Errand · 1.2k words · 798 22 · 15k views
- Dream Seeker · 907 words · 431 14 · 9.2k views
- michaelb958 · 1.3k words · 404 11 · 8.6k views
- PiercingSight · 1.3k words · 229 7 · 6.3k views
- Fervidor · 5.6k words · 758 19 · 9.2k views
- Flash Notion · 3.6k words · 152 18 · 4.9k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.616 seconds
Total duration
1,147 users online
2,406,427 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This is a good sequel to an already brilliant fic. I commend you my friend for satisfying me with this amazing work of literature.
Well, talk about making a grand entrance to Fimfic! This was well done indeed! I especially liked the progressive acceleration in the pacing as Twilight(s) raced toward completing the puzzle. I found myself reading almost as frantically as Twi was spellcasting.
To be honest, a small part of me wishes for a epilogue of sorts to catch the reaction/next steps of the Twilight who made it out. :)
Still, a tip of the hat to you for a job well done!
Cheers!
GMP
Encore!
Love me some dark fics
This is very well written; you have every right to feel proud! And for me, personally, not only did I get to read one great dark fic today, but two. Thank you for writing this wonderful Twilight Zone (ha) reminiscent story, and also for pointing me to its predecessor.
Good day!
So something I'm not seeing mentioned is what exactly brings all the old copies of Twilight's friends into this place of nothingness? Is Twilight herself taking her friends from time-to-time on large-scale teleportations with her that also kills them and then reforms them? I guess it's a good thing Twilight doesn't think about how she's effectively murdered her friends so many times.
edit: no wait I'm being stupid, forgot it was mentioned in the first fic
Thanks for all of the responses so far. I appreciate every one.
7957135 maybe sometime in the future? I've had thoughts about it.
Well, after I read this, I read the first one, and now I'm tempted to to a prequel with filly Twilight... the first teleportation.
Oh boy...
I really hope someone keeps this trend going and writes another sequel
I think this is a worthy sequel, but it begs for just one more. I would love to see the aftermath of what happens in the real world now that the secret behind teleportation has been discovered.
Double negative.
Gah! I'm glad she made it out but darn it, I wanna see the results. But that's the point. This Twilight doesn't get to see the results. She just knows that one made it out, and that's enough.
7957755
*instantly clicks the follow button*
No, no! You can't end it here! We need an epilogue with the Twilight who escaped!
Great story. I loved the original, and yours is a worthy successor.
Didn't you mean "ever"?
Beautiful. And you also made me read the original...
7957755 This NEEDS to happen....
Over a hundred upvotes and getting into the featured box on your first try?!
Knew this would get into the feature box! Well done!
Although, there simply HAS to be a third installment! Just to finish this madness!
Considering that you wrote this sequel... I might write a third. I've got a nice idea of how to make it play out...
7958894 I am super interested in how you would proceed.
Very dark, brilliant. There can be a prequel with filly Twilights first teleport, and a sequel with the survivor.
Yeah... Shudder.
If you look at how many times Twilight uses teleportation on Spike here... Yikes! It was raining dragons right then :).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-naRCKh74h8
P.S.
So there are at least 2 fics with similar idea.
Blinking by lumberjack; continuation of Blink by ocalhoun and Blink by zaponator
That last one had a few(?) "sequels"/inspirations too IIRC.
Can't find any right now. Is there a group or something like that with them?
If not I would be glad for a links/titles if you remember any.
Dude, this is amazingly well written! Will there be a sequel?
7959484 This is the sequel
7959510 Yes, I mean a story after this one.
I agree with everyone else. This is deserving of a sequel, one dealing with the aftermath of this revelation. Might I posit for the title, "Blinked"?
It needs a third chapter. The trapped Twilight needs rescue. And I doubt the saved Twilight would leave her there if she had a choice.
7957755
It would be interesting to see another fic where Twilight has to deal with the consequences of teleporting being destructive.
Also, it'd be nice to see her start obcessively teleporting food and drink around, as well as writing supplies and equipment in the hopes of it showing up and aiding in an escape attempt.
7959604
I... don't think that's a very good idea. For starters, that Twilight has been physically, mentally, and emotionally ruined by her experiences. Even if she were to survive, recovery is improbable, bordering on impossible. It's also far more likely that she'll simply die of her injuries, alone, but triumphant in knowing that she was able to save innumerable ponies an unfathomable amount of pain. To be perfectly honest, the knowledge that she could be the last one to suffer is probably all that kept her going at that point, what could life possibly be like afterwards?
In any case I will simply reserve a moment of silence for a very brave, very brilliant pony that didn't deserve the hand fate dealt her. And yes, I would also like to see this continued. Despite not being much of a fan of this particular sub-genre I find this series to be very... emotional, in a good way. I think it's the feeling of hope each installment leaves you with, the idea that maybe, just maybe, you can still make a difference.
I absolutely need more! This was so good!
I think I actually like this series better than the one by Zapponator. No offense to him, his story is great in its own way, but at the same time Twilight's clinical investigation of her spell in that story lacks the subtle psychological impact that these stories deliver.
Of course, neither story's versions of the Blink spell conform to my own headcanon, in which Twilight is essentially folding space and time to connect the two points and either falls or runs through the resulting fissure, but that doesn't mean that I don't think they're good.
Also, I agree, a resolution to this nightmare would be great. A short fic about Filly Twilight Prime would be interesting, too, but I'm not sure I could stand reading about the anguish of a child going through this... even thinking about it is giving me the willies...
I like this better than the original, because frankly I find the original a little over the top. I actually laughed while reading parts of it, just because it was such an absurdly horrific situation. I personally think that horror needs to be at least somewhat plausible to be horrifying.
The main logical problem I have with this whole scenario is that the original is still being teleported into the sphere, and the copy is being teleported out of it. This means that it is possible to teleport without the sphere, which exists purely for the sake of tormenting Twilight.
In my head cannon at least, spells work like equations, and someone with a theoretical understanding of magic (like Twilight) would understand exactly what a spell was supposed to do and how it worked. If the teleportation spell really killed the original (or oddly sent the original to a hell sphere) and left a copy in her place, she would be aware of that. The fact that she uses the spell so casually indicates that either it's not a duplication spell, or it is and she just has the same inexplicable apathy about it as the people on Star Trek.
I also couldn't help but be amused by the thought of whether or not this happens to everyone on Star Trek.
Even if the teleportation spell did cause this, if Twilight could figure it out then you would think Luna or Celestia would have figured it out centuries ago.
Anyway Lumberjack, don't let my obsessive over analysis get you down. You get a thumbs up from me, although I just realized how odd it is we use thumbs up/down when ponies don't have any.
7960004 I think of it more like plane shifting. The sphere is another plane, and Twilight shifts to there and then the copy is shifted back to Equestria, but in a different geographic place.
The only thing here that contradicts the original story is... In the first one we were told that Twilight was unable to cast any spells in this place. I'm guessing you changed that deliberately, because otherwise you wouldn't have anything to work with.
My own headcanon with regard to teleportation is quite different. . . I reckon that it transforms the caster into a cloud of magic smoke (for lack of a better term) that rapidly flows to the destination and then re-forms into a pony. (Just like a genie coming out of a bottle, eh? Or like Spike's letters.) The smoke doesn't go into any alternate dimensions or sidestep reality -- which means you can't teleport in or out of a sealed room or container. There's got to at least be a path for the smoke to flow, even if it's only a small hole or vent of some sort.
I also figured that normal teleportation requires the caster to visualize the path beforehand and effectively pre-program the smoke to follow it, since they aren't conscious while they're in smoke form. But a very advanced spell caster could remain conscious and guide the smoke and materialize at will -- thus explaining how Nightmare Moon was able to move around as a dark cloud. It's just super-teleportation!
7960541 there is also the theory of magic being four-dimensional in nature and allowing the caster to bend space and create wormholes to teleport.
7959795 ..Has she EVER teleported WITH food?... you may be on to something.
Twilight could sustain the one that saved her by teleporting food and water to her while she works on a way to get her home. It would be very long term but it gives the trapped Twilight a fighting chance.
7960588
I guess it's just me, but I have a bias against using scientific (or pseudo-scientific) explanations for magic. In my mind, magic is almost the opposite of science. I'd rather go back to pre-scientific, mythological or fairy tale explanations of how things work. I try to imagine how somebody from 5000 years ago, who knows nothing about science, might explain it, and then I say "YES! That's exactly how it works."
Blink Dagger? Really?
Intense and creepy! Well done.
7960541 I allways thout it worked like a stargate or maby tracers blink abillity from overwatch.
I really like your continuation. I kind of want to see a fic now, about the outside of what happens, maybe a split fic where it shows the two sides.
Does Discord know about this, I wonder...
7960990 When the magic violates the laws of physics, trying to use science to explain what science states cannot possibly occur is just plain silly.
sequel now
7960990 All Science is, is explanations of natural phenomenon. If Magic is real and exists in a world, then by definition, it must be scientific in nature. Maybe the laws of of physics are different in this alternate reality, but by the very inherent meaning behind the word 'science', all magic is scientific in nature.
7961837 interesting thought. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why he's insane. Why he's so able to transport or bend reality to his will.
#1 This was REALLY good!
#2 MOAR!! Though hopefully the sequel won't be QUITE as gruesome. I would LOVE to hear how HORRIFIED Celestia will be when she hears The Truth
Sweet jesus... Blink was good I'll give it that, but you've taken the idea and ran with it to a whole new level of amazing. Have a mustache!
7962549 Right?? It could well be that Discord knows and he just turns a blind eye to teleportation - he would be the Cassandra of it. He could warn everyone, but they wouldn't believe him. After all - when someone Teleports, they're perfectly fine! No worse for wear and not a hair out of place.
... Until Twilight...
7961837 he probably knows, but has long forgotten. It's not like he visits there after all or would have reason to go there. Every copy of Fluttershy is the same afterall. Now if Fluttershy was teleporting and didn't come back, then yes I could see him looking for her in the place in between teleports.