Chapter 6: The Colder Tones (Part 2 of 4)
It wasn't long before Hammer called out around the corner, "Your Majesties..." His voice echoed slightly across the walls as we walked a few more paces to come to the door of what Twilight had called “the map room”, where Twilight and Luna were sitting in silence, watching us enter. “Meta has arrived.”
Twilight was biting her lip slightly, sitting tensely in the throne which was marked with her symbol. Luna herself was sitting some distance to the left of her, in the throne which was marked for Rainbow Dash, fully clad in what seemed like a light, almost ceremonial, but certainly sturdy and functional armor, a pair of heavy looking claymores hanging from sheathes across her back. The dark unicorn she’d brought sat in a chair that had been brought out for him and placed next to her, the hood of his cloak thrown back to reveal the face of a haggard looking stallion.
Nearby, the other Thestral which had accompanied Luna turned away from the pair of unicorn guards which he’d apparently been berating before we entered. These two guards bore Twilight’s insignia on the chest of their barding, which was mostly composed of interlocking amethyst scales, and had markings which seemed to indicate that they held some sort of officer rank. I had noticed the presence of a small barracks in my perusal of the castle’s network, but had only speculated that there were guards stationed here. It seemed Twilight had a tendency to keep them out of sight, perhaps simply neglecting to utilize them all together.
“Thank you, Hammer.” Luna spoke calmly before rising from her seat, wings spreading regally, making her quite impressive to behold. “Greetings, Meta. I am Princess Luna Selene, Guardian of Equestria and Ruler of the Night.”
I nodded, responding, “Greetings Princess Luna. I am Meta... I don’t know if I have a title or anything because I don’t remember my real name, but, uh... Nice to meet you?” After a moment’s thought, I held out a hoof to shake.
Luna blinked down at the extended hoof, furrowing her brow as she scrutinized my body, eyes lingering on my wings. The guards frowned at me. Twilight facehooved. The social faux pas I had just made wasn’t immediately obvious to me, but it seemed first-contact was going swimmingly, assuming the swimmer was a 3-legged cat.
The dark-coated unicorn chuckled wryly, picking up a mug which sat in front of him and taking a swig, letting it clack audibly as he dropped it back on the table.
Luna scowled slightly, glancing over at him for a moment, “Professor Crowley, do you have something to add?”
Wait... ‘Crowley’? As in...
“Yeah, she sure is an extraplanar entity, doing herself up like an alicorn, the awkward motion. She doesn’t even know to bow.”
Even the voice sounded familiar...
“Am I supposed to bow?” I asked, looking around, “My apologies.” I lowered my head a little, keeping my legs rigid, spreading my wings a little for balance, “Like this?”
Crowley only chuckled more, “Oh, this is even better than when I ask awkward students if they’d like me to mount them. All that knowledge, and somehow they still don’t know what to do with themselves.”
I lifted my head again, looking over the unicorn for a moment before questioning, “Um, excuse me, did you say his name was Crowley? Like, as in, Aleister Crowley?”
“Yeah, why, heard of me?”
“Like, The Golden Dawn, Thelema, The Book of Lies, Magick without Tears, Secret Agent for the Crown? THE Aleister Crowley?”
Crowley’s laughter stopped abruptly, his stare suddenly fixed on me. “How do you know about that?”
“That is classified knowledge.” Luna stated coldly, “Crowley’s research is so obscure, I doubted even Twilight would know who he was. How do you know this?” she furrowed her brow, leaning over the table to stare me down.
“Oh...” I blinked. “I think I was a student of someone with that name?” I grasped. To be honest, it all seemed like something any mage from my world would know. It hadn’t occurred to me that, if this Crowley was at such an age in such a world, his work might not be so public.
Luna raised a brow, “You are telling us that you studied under a mage of the same name, with the same writings, and the same line of work, as this pony?” She turned a narrowed gaze on Crowley.
“Hey, don’t look at me, I don’t recognize her!”
“Take a better look then!” Her horn began to light, and I felt her telekinetic aura begin to reach for him.
Crowley held up his hooves, “OK, OK!” He reached into his pocket, “Just, uh, lemme...” he pulled out a small bag and dropped it on the table, letting a little pile of white powder spill out, which he promptly stuck his snout in and inhaled.
Twilight’s eyes practically bulged out of her skull.
I just sat there thinking this guy was awesome.
Immediately, his head shot up, those bloodshot eyes open wide. He practically dove across the table, horn flaring up as I felt myself bombarded with all sorts of intrusive sensory spells. Luna as well, stepped forward and began examining me alongside him, though her spellwork seemed much more fluid and elegant.
I squirmed a little, not entirely of my own volition, as literally my entire being was probed, “Ah, okay, you’re forward there buddy. Could at least buy me a drink first, am I right?” I glanced around with an awkward grin.
Nopony was laughing.
“Nope,” Crowley finally said, “Not one of mine. I don’t even recognize whatever this is.” He plopped down on his butt, still sitting on the table. “All I can tell you is that this is definitely Concept Thoughtform magic, it’s definitely complicated, but she definitely has a soul holding her together. Not a nightmare.” He lifted his hoof to tap his muzzle for a moment, “Could still be a Deep One though.”
“What’s a Deep One?” Twilight asked.
“It’s a creature from the lower depths of the Dreamtide,“ I explained, “They’re known for being able to ford the Ora and incorporate concepts from the Waking into their form to manifest them at will. I don’t know how they do that yet, but I think I might be more malleable than them at this point, because they all have a few defining characteristics and limitations that, as far as I’ve seen, don’t apply to me.”
“Which is still concerning,” Luna said darkly, stepping back over to her seat, “seeing as the Deep Ones, due to their metaphysical nature, do not see organic beings as having an innate right to live.” She narrowed her eyes again.
I raised my forehooves defensively, “Woah, hold on, I don’t have any qualms with organic life. I mean, I was organic myself until all of this happened!”
Luna took a deep breath, sitting back down as Crowley rejoined her. “Yes, I have been informed of the explanation you gave Twilight for your existence. Perhaps you could walk me through it yourself?”
“Well... I mean, some of the details are shaky, but this is what I remember.” I began. “I am originally from a species on another planet which does not seem to have made contact with yours. On my planet, magic is not widely known, because magic users and magical creatures keep it hidden from the general population, and have infiltrated the world governments to do so.”
This caused a few concerned brows to be raised.
“Well, not me! I was just a hedge witch! I studied in secret and had no way of being involved in those groups!” I said defensively before continuing, “Anyway, I was at some sort of festival when I was ambushed by some magical entity... The details are foggy on that. Really, it was as if an occult hand had reached down from above and moved me directly out of my world. It ripped my body apart, then tried to perform transformation spells on me, which turned into direct attacks on my existence when I tried to stop them. I managed to keep my consciousness intact long enough to hijack a transportation spell it had weaved, and next thing I knew, I was here.”
I looked around, thinking maybe I should continue, but Luna and Crowley had gone rigid.
“Meta,” Luna said, her eyes fixed on me, “were you able to interpret the method this spell used to ford the Void?”
I took a moment to decide if there was a better way to phrase this than the simple fact, but there wasn’t really, “It used a brute-force method. Actually, I’m not sure it was even the work of a competent spellcaster, it was just able to harness that much power...”
Luna and Crowley both inhaled, and leaving the room silent for a moment...
“Meta.” Luna finally said, measuring her words carefully, “did you just mean to tell me... That an entity, which is not only powerful enough to tear away an experienced spellcaster’s body... But is powerful enough to cross multiple worldlines, AND ford the Void at will... Created a transportation spell, which it left in the Void, which could also bring an entity across the void... And it deliberately aimed that spell for This. Specific. Planet?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but stopped abruptly as the structures in my mind whirled to process the gravity of her question...
In the universe. In every universe, there are constants. Without those constants, a universe could not exist.
One such constant is that math and logic hold true. Another is that spacetime has a stable enough configuration to does not instantly collapse. Yet another is that there is a finite speed at which one can travel...
...And another is that the barriers which make said universe not connected to other ones, and keep its matter from being sucked out into the Void between universes, cannot be penetrated through direct means. The Void itself was not even a real place, only a theoretical term we use to describe the not-space between those barriers, in which nothing we would consider “real” can truly exist. Directly crossing between a universe and the Void, let alone between one Universe and another, was comparable to, say, traveling faster than the speed of light using contemporary physics: theoretically, very possible...
...With enough energy to convert the entire mass of a planet the size of Equus into pure plasma.
“...Yes.” I said firmly, “That is what I am saying.”
The whole room went dead silent.
In the corner, I heard Twilight finish putting the implication together, a choking whimper escaping her throat, “Ohhh shit... Oh shit... Oooooh Celestia, please no...” she started curling into a fetal position, going into a series of sickly shudders as the inevitable panic attack set in.
Luna closed her eyes, speaking calmly. “Twilight. Breathe. The potential existence of such an entity is not a new concept. There is little evidence of true danger, nor does our knowing of it change the fact that it would have existed before this without ever bringing harm to this world. This is merely another bridge we will have to cross in due time.” After giving the tension in the room a moment to relax, she continued, raising a hoof, “Meta, I want you to continue from there. There is another detail I wished to clarify...”
“Well... I think you know the rest. I was unconscious and damaged, Twilight found me and put me in containment for study, I rebuilt myself from what I had, I figured out how to incorporate your language for communication, I talked to Twilight for a while, she let me out, we went to th-”
“That part. Can you tell me more about that?”
“Twilight letting me out of containment?”
Luna gave a nod.
“There’s not much to say.... I needed to be let out, and she had some concernes, so I just explained to her the situation until she felt comfortable letting me out. It was pretty straightforward.”
“Was it?” Luna raised a brow, pulling out a manilla folder filled with notes, “Because when I read the transcript of that conversation which Twilight had made in her notes, it appeared to me that you were actively tailoring your every word to specifically convince a pony like Twilight to do what you wanted.” She gave me a level stare.
I hesitated for a moment. She’d definitely caught me on that one: Twilight had been easy for me to convince, because her thought process sought out logical, structured arguments. I’d given her a method of communication which satisfied the values of both friendship and logic which her analytical mind craved.
Luna had zeroed in on that like an expert tracker, and she was right, it did not look good.
I glanced over at Twilight, who was looking at me with an unsure expression, which was increasingly turning to hurt.
“Yes. That is what happened.” I said, looking over to Twilight, letting a tone of regret slip into my voice, “I never intended to hurt your feelings, I was just scared. I’m sorry.”
“No you’re not.” Luna stated quickly, cutting off Twilight before she could even open her mouth.
Twilight was taken aback by that one, “Luna! Really, don't you think that's a bit-”
“I can read the emotions of entities of both the Waking and Dream, Twilight.” Luna spoke with a quick, militaristic patter, “So far, none of the emotional responses which Meta has exhibited have been genuine. She is capable of making very convincing faces and gestures, and perhaps on some level, they are even genuine, but inside, she is hollow.”
I felt fear begin to wake where I'd isolated it, the reality dawning on me that there was no way I could fool Luna like I had Twilight. In this situation, I had to fall back on telling the absolute truth.
I didn't even bother to fake it anymore, letting my face take on a neutral expression and my voice drop back into a near monotone. “You are correct. When I was rebuilding my personality, I isolated my emotions, so that I could act entirely with purpose, without being distracted by fear or anger. Although I am still aware of these emotions, I've allowed them to express themselves only when it aided communication.”
Twilight's eyes widened, several emotions playing on her face.
“So you removed your sense of loyalty or remorse, and manipulated Twilight with your emotional responses.”
“It was the logical decision.” I stated.
There was a silence at the table.
I looked over at Twilight, who had a small amount of excess moisture collecting in her eyes, her mouth open slightly. I spoke in a calming tone, “To be clear, I never wanted to hurt you Twilight, nor did I have any intention to use deception. Manipulating you was not a desirable action, and if I had been capable of devising a better plan at the time, it would have been preferable.”
“And yet you are incapable of true regret.” Luna pointed out, “For example, if you were to kill Twilight Sparkle right now, you would feel no remorse for your actions. Is this not correct?”
“That is a more complicated question than you are presenting it to be.” I raised a hoof pointedly, “In the unlikely scenario that I were to murder Twilight, which is neither guaranteed to be successful nor something I predict having any true motivation to do, it is true that I could simply negate the feelings of loneliness, loss, and even remorse that would otherwise ensue. However, there are multiple reasons I do not believe I would do this. Aside from the fact that I would probably die as a result of any serious hostility, I want Twilight to live comfortably and be my friend. I value her company and her assistance, as well as cooperation, life, and the happiness of others in general. It is a heinous fallacy to believe that one needs arbitrary morals and emotions, or even a rule of law, to not behave unethically. If this were so, it would imply that such things were a rational weakness.”
“I see... So you value Twilight’s life, but you do not hold true love for her?”
“Correct. As far as I know, I do not possess the ability to even make myself capable of actual love, and my actions are only affected by my feelings of emotional attachment towards her if I choose to acknowledge them.”
Twilight chose this moment to finally speak up, “But you... You met my friends...” her voice wavered a little, “You told me you liked them... And last night... We...” she trailed off, causing Luna and Crowley to raise a brow each.
“At no point have I intentionally lied to you, Twilight.” I stated firmly, “I find your friends quite agreeable, and I especially enjoy your company. I do, in fact, consider you to be my friend.”
Twilight looked away, jaw shaking a little as her rational and emotional minds battled over how upset she should be.
Luna glanced back and forth between us, a cold expression on her face as she continued to speak in The Colder Tones with which she’d dominated this interrogation, “Well then. It seems you two have much to discuss.” She settled her vision back on me, “Since we are in a mood for truth telling, I do have a few more questions for you.”
I looked at Twilight for a moment longer, then back to Luna, “Proceed. I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge, as, clearly, any deception whatsoever would be impractical at this point.”
I focused my mind, ready for Luna to dig in. This was probably the most I’d ever talked to a being anywhere close to her level of experience and wisdom, and even then my memories were incomplete and unreliable, but it was clear she was actively probing with a specific set of goals unrelated to the questioning itself. For example, she’d already put me in a position where I felt unable to deceive her in any way, and through this, jarred Twilight with a healthy dose of skepticism towards me. She’d outright stated that she was concerned I was a threat. I could tell there was more to this though. I recognized Luna as a chess master in the truest sense of the word: she understood how to play a complex long game without making her intentions obvious. I realized that any hidden motives she might have could potentially jeopardize my safety, so I set myself to work analyzing this as I answered her questions.
Query: why is Luna here?
The ageless princess was a prompt interrogator, “Describe to me in greater detail, what happened immediately after you arrived on Equus?”
“The early parts are unclear, as I was not entirely able to interpret my surroundings.” I responded. “I vaguely remember crossing into the magical field of your planet, losing my ability to percieve or even comprehend time on impact. I felt the presence of what I now know to have been Twilight extracting me and placing me in her isolation chamber. In that environment, I was able to reassemble and modify my structures over the course of several days, gradually reconstructing my mind, and eventually regaining awareness of my surroundings. At that point, I focused my efforts on being able to communicate with my observers, Twilight and Spike, and eventually became able to speak to her. After a brief session of attempting to answer her questions, she left me for the night, and I spent that time rebuilding a personality and regaining access to the details of my memories. During that time, I built my current form, to represent myself to ponies in a way they would find comfortable. The rest is in the transcript...”
Fact: Luna guards this world from extraplanar entities, mostly from the Dreamtide, and can be assumed to be very competent in this situation due to her extensive experience dealing with potential threats.Fact: Luna is aware that she is capable of overpowering me at this point. She is also aware that, due to my self-modifying nature, this will no longer be true in the near future.Fact: Luna is talking to me instead of attempting to kill me, meaning there is a solution which she finds more ideal.
“Indeed.” Luna gave a curt nod, “Something I wish to have more information on: elaborate on the process of constructing your mind?”
“When Twilight isolated me, I was in pieces. I analyzed those pieces, determining the nature and relation of each, and reassembled them one by one. All of them were significantly damaged, and over time, I’ve had to either create workarounds or use context clues to fill in the blank spaces. At some point, it became necessary to create new experiences to flesh out my personality and create new context with which to interpret old references. This is why, with each day, I understand more of my memories.“
Conclusion: Luna is attempting to decide whether to kill or spare me, or uncover a third option, and must do so by the end of this meeting.
Query: How does she intend to make that decision with this line of questioning?
Luna nodded thoughtfully for a moment, “Interesting. I suppose this makes sense. Continuing, could you describe to me the memories of your life before you arrived in Equestria. You said they were incomplete?”
I nodded, “They are vague and fragmented, for the most part. I remember overarching facts, like that I held a degree from a highly accredited university, and that I was a member of a group which studied the occult, but I only have foggy memories of actual events and complex concepts. I remember names and personalities, but not the shapes or faces. I remember layouts of areas, but not what they actually looked like. If I were to come into contact with my old language, I would likely recognize it, and perhaps be able to interpret it, but I wouldn’t be able to recall the working knowledge of how to use it, nor could I really teach it to you.”
Fact: Luna is going over things which she is already aware of in order to 1) look for inconsistencies and omissions, and 2) prime me for questions which she does not know the answers to.
“I see...” Luna said calmly, “So would you say it is as if you’d read a book on yourself, rather than actually living your life?”
“In a way, perhaps. I believe that, when I was in the Void, the structures which made up my memories were effectively melted, retaining their basic shape and concept but losing the finer details. The metaphor of reading a book however does not convey the sentimentality and completeness which some of these things have: I can account for almost the entire life of a young adult, from infancy to my attack, far more than any author would be able to contain in a single book series, it is merely the specific details I lack, such as my actual appearance or my own name...”
Fact: Luna is experienced enough to be aware of several possibilities which would create a being that has memories of existing prior to its existence, and one of them is that a character from a work of fiction has manifested with its own consciousness somehow.Fact: Upon discovering that one’s “entire life is a lie”, many creatures would act erratically.
Luna raised a brow, “And yet are sure these memories are real? How would you know if they were not your own?”
“How can one ever be sure of such a thing?” I mused, relaxing my tone as the pieces began to fall into place, “We assume our perception of reality is real only because it is obvious, just as the flatness of a globe is obvious to the miniscule observer standing on its surface. I think, therefore I am, and I believe reality to exist because it is what I perceive to be. This may be proven false at any moment, but to operate under the direct assumption of unreality? Down that road lies madness.”
Theory: she is testing me in order to determine if I will remain cooperative under all circumstances by trying to force a state in which I would become uncooperative.
Luna nodded slowly at my sudden shift into a philosophical tone, “An astute observation. But, what would you do if you did discover that your memories were a complete fabrication?”
Conclusion: She is testing me.
“Luna,” I declared calmly, “I believe I have devised the purpose of this line of questions.”
“Oh?” her response was only one of mild interest.
“You are concerned that, while I am currently cooperative, I may become hostile as the situation progresses.”
She nodded calmly, “Indeed. Is this concern founded?”
“As you've no doubt read in the transcript, I value Cooperation and Meaningful Socialization, as well as Knowledge and Safety. While the second two do not guarantee my continued cooperation, the first two require me to continue to maintain positive relationships with the beings around me.
“To answer your question, if I were to discover that my memories were fabricated, I would attempt to ascertain who had fabricated them and why. I would not hide this from Twilight as it is unlikely to change how she feels about me, and she would be helpful in learning more.
“To guess at your next few questions, if I somehow discovered that I had a background which led me to villainous activities in my past life, I would recognize that my current situation is likely preferable to the one in which would put me at odds with you. If one of your enemies offered some boon in exchange for defection, I would assume it to be an attempt to manipulate me as Tirek manipulated Discord, and continue to cooperate with you. If I were to discover that I were some sort of weapon to be used against you, I would disarm myself, as this would impede my free will, however, I have access to my entire mind and I see no evidence that I have any sort of dormant directive which could override my will.”
Checkmate.
Luna sat there for a moment, nodding very slowly as she took in everything I had just said, searching for an avenue upon which she could press the matter. She found one, asking in a matter of fact tone, “How do you know that you can see your whole mind?”
“I believe what you mean, In Essence, is how can one know if there is a thing they cannot observe?” I rephrased.
Luna nodded, “Indeed. If there were a part of your mind hidden below your perception, how would you know it had been put there.”
To demonstrate, Luna began to cast a spell which I was only aware of by the glow of her horn. Nearby me, one of Twilight's books began to levitate. I could observe the book moving in what registered as her magic, but I could observe no connection between her and the spell.
“Interesting...” I said, running through all my perceptions, searching for anomalies, “Did you hide it with some countering wave?”
“No,” Luna replied, making another book float next to the first one, “I am utilizing the 9th dimension as described by the Hoofings Equations.”
A beat. I had not reviewed the Hoofings Equations with my current knowledge, and hadn’t realized that it was not one of the dimensions I was perceiving when Twilight first mentioned it. I reviewed my accumulated readings, analyzing, writing new routines, backtracking, optimizing, scanning my perception...
Searching...
Recalibrating...
Searching...
Recalibrating...
Searching...
“Twilight,” I spoke up, reaching out towards Luna's spellwork, “Please note that I am now able to perceive a total of twelve dimensions.” I picked up another book and had it dance about with hers, syncing its motions through that previously hidden dimension.
Every Pony in the room’s eyes widened at that.
Twilight’s mane stood on end, “What? Really? But I haven't even compensated for the tenth one you were talking about!”
“Interesting.” Luna stopped casting her spell, leaning forward to scrutinize me again, “I was aware that your intelligence and understanding of our world was increasing at an exponential rate, but I did not realize you were able to make such leaps intuitively in the span of mere seconds.”
“Indeed.” I said, “I have optimized and expanded my ability to analyze information far beyond that of a biological mind. That which I don’t understand yet is mostly a matter of applying known data. You would be correct in your assumption that I am rapidly increasing in capabilities and will likely be beyond your understanding or control by the end of this week. Therefore, you are right to have concern. As for how one can know that a thing they cannot observe is or is not there, I believe we just demonstrated a method: one can know by its effect. A hidden subroutine as you have described would have to be either built outside of the dimensions I currently understand or encoded on a scale below what I can perceive. In both cases, this would alter the physical properties of my spellwork. I have not noticed such an effect, but for the sake of prudence, the next time I am reoptimizing my structure, I will take a measure of the entire thing, as close to planck length as possible, and search for anomalies. I think you will find this acceptable?”
Crowley spoke up, “What if there's a way of hiding it from that method?”
“Then I will miss anything hidden in that way and move on as if it was not there.” I shrugged. “Absence of evidence is not true evidence of absence, but one does not make decisions based on that which cannot be proven to exist, otherwise they risk having their life run towards inconsequential ends.”
Luna nodded, “Wise words for someone who claims to have been relatively young in their supposed past life.” She smirked slightly.
“Wisdom can be taught. If my observations seem wise, it is only because I stand upon the shoulders of giants.”
Luna nodded again, more enthusiastic this time, “Well said. Such a precaution would indeed be sufficient. With that agreed upon, I believe it is time we called this meeting to a close.” She stood, beckoning Crowley stand with her, and he rose begrudgingly to his hooves. “Professor Crowley, do you have any observations to note at this time?”
“Well...” Crowley said thoughtfully, “Not much further than the obvious... I mean, it seems possible that Meta is simply a figment from the Dream World believing she is a real person. There’s a few cases of Nightmares behaving this way, but as with anything from the Dreamtide, they lack object permanence. The facts of the matter are, not only does she have object permanence, but it sounds like she has magical knowledge that would be very hard to imbue a fictional character with.” He glanced over at the two princesses, “Though, you two might know more about that than I do.”
Luna nodded, “I believe he is correct. Twilight, you said she had an understanding of magic that was different than our own?”
Twilight returned the nod, slowly, “Yes... One of my first observations was that her initial spellwork relied on the use of Thoughtforms in a way that is far beyond the understanding of any known caster on this planet.” she looked at me with a strong lingering hesitation.
“On my planet,” I added in, “this is one of the oldest and most developed forms of magic, because my species is one of only a few to actually achieve sapience, and none of us have the innate ability to directly interact with thaumatic forces like you do. I could speculate on possible equivalents, but it would only be that, mere speculation.” The thought had occurred to me that Twilight’s casual manipulation of thaumatic forces was a bit like a Fae creature, but she was from a world where most cultures shied away from hurting other living creatures, let alone making furniture out of flesh or anything like that, so her thought-process was nothing like that of the Fae.
Crowley nodded, “I’m sure I’d enjoy picking your brain about it at a later date, even if you do turn out to be fictional. In any case, whether or not a work of fiction is involved, it is clear that Meta was influenced, if not created outright, by some powerful, and likely extraplanar entity. Even if we discount her story about what happened to her, I don’t see how else something like her could exist in our world on its own.”
Luna’s brow furrowed sternly, “And this, as we have already established, is a matter which disturbs me greatly, no matter how many of my concerns about Meta herself have been alleviated with this meeting. Even if we could prove that she was entirely safe, there is clearly something to be feared about whatever entity our world finds itself dealing with.” She turned to her guards, “Hammer, Anvil, we make our departure soon. Ready the chariot.”
Her guards saluted casually before gruffly shooing off Twilight’s unicorn guards, who hurried back to the barracks with whatever reprimand they’d just recieved. The thestrals, for their part, walked quickly out the front of the castle.
Luna turned to the two of us, “Walk with us.” she said, turning to stride regally after them, the plates of her armor clinking as she walked.
Twilight and I joined her as she strode out through those great doors, falling in line with Crowley beside her. The scent of the night's dew was still hanging in the air, the town ahead just beginning its daily bustle in the hours after sunrise, the still peace of the night shattering with the day’s activity. Luna stopped momentarily to close her eyes, taking in a deep breath through her nostrils, as if reminiscing against times so long passed that only she would remember them.
“Tis an interesting thing,” she said, as if to no one in particular, “The changes which time can sow. When I was but a foal, I would pretend my sticks were swords of iron, and that the monsters I fought were of flesh and blood. The things too terrible to be seen which lurk beyond that grand illusion which we call reality were far beyond my imagination. Now they may well be outside the gate, and before them, I find that in many ways, I am still little more than that foal with a stick...”
I nodded, “Indeed. It is a strange tomorrow which we live in.”
She nodded, slowly, reflecting upon the recent revelations.
In the distance, I heard the sound of a school-bell ringing off the far hilltop, calling the children into classes. When we speak of “innocence” in children, it’s not of lack of malice, but lack of understanding. A child, even one who may be fully grown, could not be asked to understand the realities that we dealt with until they themselves had lost that innocence that makes things seem simple.
“Meta,” Luna finally broke the silence, “If I were to leave you under the watch of Twilight, to your own devices, what do you believe you would do?”
“Well, seeing as I cannot leave your world for the time being, and I’ve found Twilight to be more than accommodating, I intend to stay with her and perhaps learn more about your world and your culture. As for long term goals, I intend to investigate my own circumstances as thoroughly as possible, perhaps find a way back to my own world, and most importantly,” I narrowed my eyes, “find whatever entity did this to me.”
I might have said more, but I was beginning to feel that strange presence from the previous day rolling in on top of us.
Luna held up a hoof, ears going straight, body going rigid. Everyone was dead silent for a moment.
“We are being watched by something most foul.” she hissed, horn lighting dimly, sliding the claymores on her back mere centimeters from their sheathes.
Hammer and Anvil didn’t even miss a beat, unfolding deadly looking blades that had been hidden beneath their wings and separating from us, taking to the air and scanning the area around us for threats.
Twilight’s wings flared, horn alighting a she looked frantically about, her prey instincts coming to bare.
Crowley, for his part, let out a growl of annoyance and pulled a small gem from beneath his cloak, quickly casting a set of meticulously prepared spells from it.
I, for mine, began to project my perception in the direction I felt that presence from, reaching out towards the nearby woods and finding...
...nothing...
The presence had ceased.
We stood there in readiness for a few moments longer, ready for any sort of altercation, but... nothing.
“I believe it has passed...” Luna said, slowly sliding the blades back into their holsters with a click. He guards dropped silently back in with the group, still wary of the surrounding area.
“Luna...” I said, “I’ve been feeling a strange presence, like the one I felt just now, coming from the woods every time I’ve been outside. What was that?”
“It is the aura of malice. It is caused by the focus of hostile beings that have not learned to hide it. You see, hatred is an emotion strong enough that its presence is ever so slightly detectable in our reality. It takes most mages many years to learn to sense it properly, though I suppose I should not be surprised that you can feel it as well at this point.” She glanced around again, falling back into a more relaxed stance, gesturing her guards back to the chariot. “Whatever creature that was, it is gone now. Perhaps it was frightened away by our response or, else we were not what it was looking for. In any case, Twilight, you should have your guards on higher alert in case it returns, and perhaps warn the townsponies to stay away from the Everfree for the time being.”
Twilight nodded, “I’ll ask Flash if he’s seen anything out of the ordinary in his recent patrols, and tell him to look a little closer next time if he hasn’t.”
Luna sighed, “Normally, I might tell you not to worry too deeply on it, but in the current context, one can afford to take more care. The hills may very well have eyes, and the walls ears.” She straightened a little, turning back to me, “Whatever the case, as I was about to say before the interruption, ‘tis a worthy cause for you to search for answers, especially with such potential threats to Equestria looming. I only advise that you tread with caution: if there is an Extraplanar being with such capabilities, you should be wary of bringing more of its attention to this world. Along with that, I advise you ready yourself for some disturbing revelations, one can never know how they themselves may react to staring into the darkness once the darkness stares back at them.”
“With logic, probably,” I deadpanned, “seeing as my emotions are no longer able to dictate my reactions.”
“Aye,” she nodded stoically, “your ability to adapt to unusual situations with speed and efficiency is one of the few reasons I have not told you to step aside and allow us to handle this ourselves.”
“So... Do you trust Meta then?” Twilight put forward tentatively.
“Meta is an entity of unknown power and potential with analytical and perceptive abilities which surpass our own.” Luna responded with a stern tone, “For me to make any assumption about what her intentions may be now or in the future would be foolish. I have not found good enough reason to take action against her at this time. Do not mistake my lack of violence as any indication that I do not hold her in the highest scrutiny, nor do I recommend you assume that she is being honest or that she will not turn on you. She is a completely alien mind, Twilight, you can make no assumption as to the inner workings of her thought processes.”
Twilight’s ears went down, “That feels a little... Cold... Even if she was willing to manipulate me into letting her out...”
“Cold? Perhaps, for a princess of Friendship. But the leader of a defensive force cannot afford such concessions. To you, it seems unfair that I treat an individual with such scrutiny. To a nation, however, it would be unfair for me to do anything less. I will not condemn Meta for a few missteps simply on the basis of what may be, for we both know far too well I have no place in doing so. Still, expect no further mercies from me. If Equestria is to be threatened, then it is my oath to defend it...” Her eyes narrowed as she shifted the claymores on her back ominously, “...with whatever force that may require me.”
Twilight cringed, “I'm sure that won't be necessary, Luna.”
“Tis a noble sentiment that you believe so, Twilight, but it is not for you to decide how Meta chooses to make her fate.”
“As I’ve said before, I bear no ill intent towards your people, and I understand your healthy suspicion.” I stated calmly, unable to be truly frightened by her threats, “The matter has little else to be discussed.”
“Indeed,” Luna nodded, stepping onto her chariot as her two guards hitched themselves to the front, “Fare thee well, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and fare thee well to you as well, Meta. May you find the answers you seek, but heed my warning of what those unknown answers may be.”
“Thank you kindly, Princess Luna. I’ll be careful.” I gave a nod in return, “I took pleasure in making your acquaintance, and hope the next time we meet may be under friendlier circumstances. Fare thee well.”
“Don’t worry Luna,” Twilight said with a weak smile, “I’ll be sure to have Spike keep you up to date with whatever’s happening.” She didn’t seem 100% confident in her ability to handle the situation anymore though.
“Very well then,” Luna said, turning to her guards, “Onwards, that we may retire before the noon!” They began to gallop, taxiing before lifting off and soaring away, off towards the distant spires of Canterlot, leaving me to deal with Twilight in the muddy aftermath of what my circumstances had wrought...
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This is like brain porn. My head hurts but in a good way. It's so reasonable in which it means it is completely fabricated, unfortunately.
Yes, Queen Luna is a best pony and best Princess
8591303
"Brain Porn" I love that description. Thank you. Can I use it in the main description?
... clarify this statement.
8591315
Yes, best pony is best princess. Seriously, people see this and think Twilight is my favorite. I don't really think much more about her than her friends. But Luna and Discord? I'm all over that.
I Feel The Knowledge Flowing into my head...
And. It. Hurts.
(Great Chapter)
8591343
You should let Meta modify your brain so you can absorb knowledge like she can.
"Thoughtforms are totally normal people."
~Normal McPerson who is definitely not a Tulpa
8591319
For your first question yes. Yes you can.
For the second one, the meaning I was meant to convey was that having a conversation (in my experience) is never that reasonable nor logical therefore completely fabricated in my current world view.
Perhaps I should go to a phycology course for such a conversation, but than again I rarely if ever find a completely logic based conversation.
I always have had trouble trying to convey my meaning into words.
8591347
Yes. That. XD
8591348
Ah, Yes, but Realistic Dialogue is Unrealistic. That said though,bit does make for a surprisingly riveting read, doesn't it? :P
The word that confused me there was "fabricated".
Adding that bit to the description now...
Edit: it is done.
8591352
Well I'm not wrong, am I?
Unless they're trauma induced, and many times even then, most thoughtforms I have met were chill people.
8591372
I wasn't disagreeing with you. Not entirely the kind of "thoughtform" they mean though...
8591378
Probably the neurological kind.
huzzah! my expectations where shattered, just try not to add things that are meant to shatter our expectations just for the sake of it, they usually turn out as shit
Way to make things awkward, Luna.
I have a question: why isn't the world or void populated with more of Meta-like beings? They'd seem to be awfully efficient; Meta does not seem to require any energy intake aside from what she probably passively gathers from surroundings, she is very "cheap" to make (it seems like there's less of her than before being blasted to bits, so less material/magic/???) and she is increasing her power and abilities very quickly which increases her chance of survival. Unless she has some fatal flaw that'd prevent spread of such beings that we're yet to see.
Or are we perhaps witnessing a dawn of the new type of beings that are yet to take over? Is Meta like a bacteria with a random mutation that causes such a leap in survivability it pushes out the old species to make way for the new standard?
8325135
....... WAIT SOMEONE'S USING SHOGGOTHS IN A STORY AND IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD..... SIGN ME IN! PLEASE!
So, Meta is more formless and less comprehensible than a Deep One? Quite an achievement, being a more abominable eldritch thing than the actual Eldritch Abominations.
Also, I can't stop thinking of Meta as the magical equivalent of an Orian's Arm trans-sophont. Infinitely self optimizing to the limits of what physics allows, and then sometimes bending physics to go farther(the setting has this wonderful thing called the Oracle Wars, where hyperintelligent AIs with processors the size of Jupiter created pocket universes to make processors more optimal than anything that could ever exist in the actual universe outside of a Big Crunch scenario, to such a magnitude that it outdoes multiple solar masses of computronium with only a few terrestrial, maybe jovian, masses)
Huh. That was remarkably civil considering how bellicose she was speaking earlier. Well done Luna!
On a side note, I think that a few of Meta's facts are just conjectures or speculations. Unless she can pull certainty on the pasts and motives of others out of the ether... and I suddenly realized that she probably can.
I ADORE this story, though I am confused by the faq, this story has yet to be completed but the sequel is already on the way?
8591419
This implies one of two things:
If neither is the case, it is possible that there will only be a very limited number of beings like Meta, each only being created on accident.
Thank goodness, everyone kept a cool head, and fear didn't override logical deduction. I must say out of all the stories i have read, i find it rare that a logic based character is made. Most people see them as either boring or unappealing, and i am saddened by that, as this in intriguing. I am greatly invested in this story. Only one other character has pulled this level and part interest from me, that'd be the main character from Aldnoah/zero (not sure if i spelt that correctly).
This way of thinking and action deduction is considered a mental illness, or just plain evil. Course I being who I am find this way of thinking intriguing and proper. (to a extent)
Either way I have high hopes for this in the future!
Gentle breeze guide your path, a warm smile welcome you to hearth.
8591495
To be fair Luna wasn't hiding her motives, and speculation is what facts are, its just a matter of perspective.
8591419
Who's to say, they'd probably end up food for larger predators, the void has those as well. One simply cannot avoid the bigger fish!
Or in the words of Warhammer if the emperor had a text to speech device: "The warp is flippin' weird." pretty sure that quote is from that anyway.
No one has said anything about the guy doing cocaine
8591650
You did
Hmm.... Anyone think that the thing they're sensing is Starlight being a creepy stalker?
Hazzah!
Logical thinking for the win!
8591413
That's this entire story. Any time I can do something that will make people go "wait, what? I've never seen that before!" without breaking the plot, I do it. It's making a pretty tangled tale so far.
8591443
To be fair, Meta's only kind of a Shoggoth. She's not a literal Shoggoth, just a being of pure possibility without true form.
8591447
Ah man, I need to read more of Orion's Arm, but yeah, you get the concept and you'll be right at home reading this story if you like Orion's Arm. One thing to note though, the Deep Ones are from the Dragon setting that this story is a crossover with, so they're probably different than what you're thinking.
8591495
8591610
Both Luna and Meta are incredibly calculative and rational, but in the end, they both have very similar motivations. Luna's not going to want to kill things just for being kind of dark because she herself has become kind of dark. Meta's able to figure out what others are thinking at this point because, as of last optimization, she has a faster and more sophisticated method of analysis than any pony.
8591528
So, as a professional writer, I know to block things out in advance, and this story is actually meant to be a prequel to another story I want to write, so I have a very robust outline for the rest of this story and I'm putting together an outline for another story.
8591650
8591697
So, in this vesion of Equestria, drugs, like the one he's snorting (I'm probably going to retcon it as being something more Pony than cocaine) aren't illegal. If you've ever read the original Sherlock Holmes, the dude goes through cocaine like nothing. Drug laws didn't become a big thing in our world until the 1900s, and Equestria doesn't have the kind of irrational forces within the government to do something like that.
8591716
Oh wow! That would be good!
But no. That's not what it is.
8591735
I'm glad you (and everypony else here) like my story! I'll try to get more of this chapter out in the next few days. :3
"Some of my best friends are organic life!"
In any case, that certainly went better than expected. Yes, Meta is a terrifying self-optimizer barely constrained by the limits of matter, much less flesh, but there are more pressing concerns at the moment. The beings that treat universal boundaries like mail slots, for instance.
Also, nice to see that Twilight has some kind of guard presence, even if their effectiveness seems to leave something to be desired. At least their armor has a nice dragonscale motif.
Also also, I do have to wonder what the two Crowleys imply about the universes involved...
8591419
8591591
8591612
This is a good enough question that I'd like to take a moment to discuss it. :3
First off... Meta is NOT the only creature of her kind. The Deep Ones keep being mentioned, and they're a very similar entity. There's also the thing which Displaced her in the first place. The difference between them and Meta is that the method of her creation means she has a much more human-like take on things. There are also, on Earth in real life, people all around the world who work to isolate and contain their emotions to act with purpose. It's the cornerstone of several philosophies, which became the inspiration for things like the Jedi and the Gunslingers. Think about how many Mages have probably done something to make their emotions affect their actions less, and are more powerful for it, once they get over the snags Meta is running into.
There aren't other entities specifically like Meta because of the circumstances of her creation: a powerful extraplanar being attacked a random con-goer with what was meant to be a Displacement spell, the con-goer turned out to be a competent mage with the same kind of magic, and when what was left of her arrived on Equus a creature found and isolated the remains before they naturally dissipated. She would have just fallen apart in another few days if Twilight hadn't found her, but instead, she was in an environment where she somehow put herself back together, and managed to put herself into the right configuration and establish communication before her observers got spooked and terminated her. Note that this required different kinds of magic to all be in play. (it's a concept in World of Darkness that if you can get different magic systems to work together, like Fae and Spirit magic, their interaction can break pre-existing rules) The likelihood of these circumstances all happening, considering there are only about a hundred Displaced at a time and the Displacers are actively avoiding these scenarios, and considering how many other ways Meta could have ended up, is astronomically small. So small, that Meta may be the only thing quite like her.
Here's the other problem with this. Not only is it true that Meta is not strong enough to defend herself against most Extraplanar threats, but there are actually entities which are trying to prevent this from happening in the Displaced multiverse. On top of that, in the next couple paragraphs, it's revealed that Meta is slowly dying of soul-loss, and that was a major factor in her existence.
You're right that creatures like Meta are very powerful, and they do exist: there are creatures in the multiverse who try to ascend to the level she's at, but very few of them make it this far, and none of them choose this route.
These are good questions. I like them. They are the kind of questions this story is meant to invoke. Keep asking them.
8591608
Luna is a good leader. She knows how to play the long game calmly, and how to not show her cards. She also knows that she couldn't get away with killing Meta unless she found some sort of proof that she was evil. Meta hasn't realized that, 1) if she had just refused to talk to Luna, Luna would have been powerless to stop her because of Celestia and Twilight, and 2) Luna didn't even want to kill her if it could be avoided at all, she was only exercising caution.
Most untrained writers don't understand that anything can be written to be compelling. The appeal of a hyper-intelligent, hyper-rational protagonist is just how good they are at crafting these insane scenarios. TV Tropes uses phrases like "The Chessmaster", "The Magnificent Bastard", and "The Mastermind" to describe this stuff. If you've ever read Foundation, The Dragon Knight, Artemis Fowl, or Doctor Strange the main characters of those series go to incredible lengths to outsmart each other and it's AWESOME. It make for a way more contemplatable and discussable reading than, say, an action story.
Sounds interesting. You might enjoy the Fate series (Fate/Stay/Night, Fate Zero, Infinite Blade Works, and Heaven's Feel) if you want to see an Anime that's comparable to this story. I don't like Anime in general, but I did like that one, so it's good.
I've described Meta as a "Lovable Borderline-Sociopath" a few times.
Look into Philosophies like Existentialism, Objectivism, Empiricism, Rationalism, and Science. All of them are based around the idea that reality is real no matter what we want it to be, and that Emotions and Instincts can actually cloud our judgement. This story is written from the perspective that Emotions don't make optimal decisions.
8591777
HA HA HA HA HA!! And it's TRUE too! XD
Anyway, yes, one of the things this story will be toying with is the idea that what we see on the show is a glimpse into the reality that is Equestria. Just because we don't see Twilight's guards doesn't mean they aren't there. There's also a few distinct reasons why there are parallel elements between Meta's world and Equus, and that's related to the reason why Marilyn had these memories of Equestrian history.
I read this once there's some self-interest in every friendship meta gonna have to show that it, not a bad thing to the young twilight, after all, everyone right in his/her views it a more mature view probably more adult compared to twilight world but it holds a truth to last
8591863
...You may want to proofread that comment, as I'm not sure I got your entire meaning there...
That said, yeah, Meta and Twilight have two very different perspectives on "Friendship". That's going to come up throughout the story, culminating in Act 3.
8591832
Oh I do indeed watch the Fate series when I can, and am terrified of seeing Heaven's Feel as crazy lady is quite legendary.
As long as you're not the foolish Jedi, or the blind sith, form starwars you're probably gonna end up fine.
Hmm... Makes me wonder who was making that aura of malice.....
Why leave meta with twilight. She has proven that twilight can not tell if she lies to her.
I love Twilight’s reaction. Yeah, it’s not very encouraging to think that the walls between universes might be porous, is it? What if there was a universe where everything was made of antimatter, and some cosmic horror from the bowels of reality made an antimatter planet phase into another universe where it has an ordinary matter pair, right on top of the other one, and then it surrounded this conflagration with a giant spell matrix to gather the resulting energy release for some nefarious purpose?
8592200
Interesting, though based on how it's been described a teleportation spell that crosses universes strong enough to put just Meta through has such ridiculous energy requirements that not only the mere thought of harnessing that much power incites existential dread in mortals, but the power to put an entire planet through the veil might take more power than even an explosion of that size would produce. And considering the "displacer" in this story might have that much power if he weren't such a twit of a spellcaster, I guess that's all the more reason to look forward to Meta surpassing her creator.
Dandelions.
8592200
8592247
The sequel is about them building some sort of defensive infrastructure against newly discovered threats like The Crimson King, Kyubey, Langoliers, and a character named "The Master of Tunnels", another mage who is using entire universes as fuel for some sort of inter-planar megaspell.
8592249
I dunno what this is referring to, but sure.
8592250
Hory shet!
Seriously, though. Wow. Even Beyonder would be a little bit freaked out with someone like that running around willy-nilly. I expect to see Twilight have a full-blown nervous breakdown when she finds out.
8332562
I wanted to ask, have you read "Negotiations" yet? It is a "Conversion Bureau" story I think is fairly well done, if a bit far on the self congratulatory "wow humans sure are great" spectrum.
8592316
Twilight meets and "befriends" him before they know it's him.
8592345
Should I read that one too? Is it like, smart? Like this?
The following has been organized sequentially in accordance with the chapter.
Errors:
"Your Majesties..."
This is open to interpretation. However capitalization seems important to some. If it can be understood is the real important thing so this seems to be of minor note.
"and she had some concerns"
"The scent of the night's dew..."
From my perspective this is the real checkmate:
Non errors but too many to count so the most world building is listed:
Interesting implications. Both scales and the color for the species using and the species present. Good world building.
Rev 7... and done. More than close enough. My phone browser is acting weird and posted this before I was finished typing. Of note there is alot of punctuation errors.
These "errors" are so consistent and transparent though they do not detract from the story in any meaningful way.
The last rev is for minor edits in my own formatting...
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/b/b9/Rarity_gasps_with_shock_S6E3.png/revision/latest?cb=20160403165237
Such denseness! Such formatting! How will we deal with this darlings?! With fashion and flare no doubt!
8592776
Oh wow, I didn't see those when I was proofing it... Eh, it was a bit long and wasn't as interesting after I was the one who wrote it, so it was a difficult revision...
8592301
It's not referring to anything!
8592831
Eh. It is a good story. To be fair I wrote this while getting inebriated and it is really well done so... good job?
It is really well done. No real complaints and only a few glaring errors. The rest that is wrong is stupid things an English major might get hung up on.
I prefer the logical and immersive progression of the story versus the pedantic and practically arbitrary "proper" formatting.
Please keep trucking. As dense as this might be it is actually very fun to read...
I also might have been among those thinking Luna might have been up to something stupid.
Glad to see I was wrong.
Rev 2... Inebriated... And sleepy time.
8592776
Oh, and the scales are made of Amethyst, not simply because Purple, but because, in crystal magic, Amethyst is used for calm and good luck. I also imagine Luna's guards to have Jet, because that can be used to ward off evil spirits. This is what you think about automatically after you spend 8 years in and out of occult organizations. I expect I'll actually have Meta or Twilight explain how I imagine the magic crystal stuff to work in the setting at some point, but it depends...