The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds

by Kamahido

VOLUME FINALE - Chapter 15 - Epiphany

Arc awakens early the next morning as the first rays of dawn shine through the window into his face. He looks over at the bed and sees the three fillies resting peacefully. Dinky sits up slowly and rubs her eyes as Arc walks over to the bed.

“Sorry, sweetheart. Did I wake you?”

Dinky shakes her head. “No, dad. This is about the time mom and I get up every day, remember?”

“Oh… right.”

She looks at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle on either side of her before gently nudging them.

“Wha?”

Sweetie Belle groans. “Five more minutes, mom.”

“Come on, you two. We need to get breakfast going.”

“They can sleep in if they want, sweetheart. After all, you three had a busy time yesterday.”

Apple Bloom sits up. “Nah, I’m good.”

Sweetie Belle kicks the covers off. “Well… I’m already awake. Might as well get up.”

They hop down from the bed and head toward the door with Arc and Dinky.

“You three want to help me cook breakfast?”

Dinky nods. “Sure thing!”

Apple Bloom looks up to him as Arc opens the cabin door. “Applejack and I cook together most mornings, so this’ll be…!”

They stop talking as they spot Aurora standing in the corridor. She appears to be waiting for something. Arc greets her.

“Oh! Um… is everything alright, Aurora?”

“Yes.”

Dinky steps forward. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“Aurora does not sleep.”

Sweetie Belle raises an eyebrow. “Then what were you doing?”

“Waiting for you to start moving again.”

Apple Bloom looks confused. “What for?”

“For speaking.”

Arc nods. “I see. Well, would you like to follow us to the Kitchen??

Dinky grins. “We’re going to cook breakfast together!”

“Aurora will follow. Although we are not sure what we should be doing.”

Sweetie Belle shrugs. “You could keep us company.”

“Very well. Lead on and Aurora shall follow.”

They head toward the Cafeteria together. Aurora turns to Arc.

“Tell Aurora something. How do you… what is the term…? Function?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“The Consciousness and Aurora have been debating theories until now.”

Apple Bloom gasps. “All night?!”

“Yes.”

“What did you come up with?”

“We have agreed that it is a form of magic that keeps you moving.”

Dinky looks confused. “Moving?”

Sweetie Belle gasps. “Wait! Do you mean alive?”

“We are not familiar with that term. But since we have not witnessed a living creature stop moving, there is little we can understand about this.”

Arc raises an eyebrow. “But we were asleep last night.”

Apple Bloom frowns. “Yeah! We all stopped moving for several hours.”

“Indeed. However, you started moving again after the Great Light reappeared.”

Arc looks out a window as they pass. “You mean the sun, right?”

Aurora points at the rising sun. “If that is what you call this wondrous object, yes. Did it somehow cause you to start moving again?”

Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes. “We just woke up.”

Dinky turns to Aurora. “Right. All of us need to sleep at some point.”

“But the first one witnessed many other creatures in our homeland stop moving. Are you perhaps different?”

Arc holds up a hand, gesturing for them to stop walking. “Wait a moment. Aurora, can you describe what happens when something… stops moving?”

“The creature slows internally and externally before falling to the ground. There they lie as other much smaller creature arrive and begin the process of consuming them.”

Apple Bloom gasps. “What?! They get eaten?!”

“Yes. However I do not see any of the small creatures attempting to consume any of you.”

Arc sighs. “I think what you know as ‘stop moving’ we know by a very different name.”

“What’s that, dad?”

“Death.”

Aurora looks around. “The creatures should have shown signs of appearing by now.”

Sweetie Belle frowns. “We weren’t dead!”

Arc chuckles. “I suppose to someone with Aurora’s point of view, we may have appeared so. But it isn’t magic that wards away death.”

“You are comprised of many different living parts all working together. However, we do not understand how.”

She looks them up and down.

“Were such a display not right in front of us, it would be unbelievable.”

Dinky smiles. “Well, aren’t you the same?”

“No. The Collective is a mass of numerous Dragon Fruit essences existing together.”

Arc nods. “Like us.”

Apple Bloom turns to him. “We’re not plants, Arc.”

“True. But our bodies are made up of cells that all work together to keep us alive.”

Aurora looks them over. “An interesting concept. We would like to learn more about our similarities.”

Dinky points a small hoof down the corridor. “How about after breakfast?”

Arc and the fillies laugh. Aurora appears confused.

“Break… fast?”

Arc continues down the corridor. “We’ll show you.”

Sometime later, after a hearty meal, Arc and his friends leave the Cafeteria. Twilight looks to Aurora sheepishly.

“Again, Auriel and I are very sorry for falling asleep back there.”

“There is nothing to worry about. We merely thought you two had stopped moving.”

Auriel raises an eyebrow. “Stopped… moving?”

Arc chuckles. “She thought you and Twilight were dead.”

Twilight nods. “Oh. Wait, what?!”

Sweetie Belle turns to Arc. “Are we almost there?”

“Yes. We’ll land at Canterlot Castle soon enough.”

Dinky turns to her father. “Canterlot?”

Twilight nods. “Aurora told us last night she wanted to meet with Sunburst before returning to Ponyville. I think the three of us could learn a lot from one another.”

Auriel smiles. “Agreed.”

Aurora sighs. “I only hope he does not stop moving before that time.”

Apple Bloom rolls her eyes. “I wouldn’t worry about that. He’s not THAT old!”

“Yes, well… why don’t you and your friends head for the game room, Dinky?”

“What about you, dad?”

“I’ll meet you there in a little while, sweetheart. First I have to pick up your mother and Ember.”

“Okay. See you in a bit.”

Aurora turns to Twilight. “Might we relocate to the area with clear walls again?”

“You mean the Observation Deck?”

“Yes. Basking in the Great Light’s warmth is of great comfort to us.”

Auriel gestures with a claw. “Right this way.”

They part company as Arc chuckles.

“That was quite the adventure for what was supposed to be a rather boring trip.”

Cherry giggles. “It really was touch and go for a while there. But I’m glad it all worked out.”

“Well, that’s still up in the air.”

“Oh?”

Arc sighs. “Aurora seems to really like the sun and nature.”

“Considering what she is, that does make sense.”

“Agreed. But I’m worried she won’t agree to do what Auriel wants.”

“You mean light Tartarus?”

Arc nods. “Right. There’s no sun and no plants there.”

“All you can do is ask, Arc.”

“Yeah. But if she doesn’t agree, Auriel will be heartbroken.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand. Auriel wouldn’t force Aurora to go anywhere she didn’t want to.”

“Yeah. But it’s kinda nice having her around.”

“Because she looks like me?”

Arc blushes slightly. “Yeah. But…”

He sighs.

“At the same time she’s just a reminder of something I’ll never have again.”

“You’ll find another love, Arc. Think of Rarity, or any other mare whom we talked about the other day.”

Arc leans against the wall. “Rarity. How am I going to explain having Sweetie Belle appear aboard my ship?”

“It’s happened before. Her teleporting across the continent, that is.”

“Yes. And as I recall, Rarity wasn’t too happy with her about it.”

Cherry giggles. “Considering your current relationship, I would think she’d be happy to have you watching Sweetie Belle.”

“I guess. She really is a sweet little filly.”

“Agreed.”

Arc raises a hand as he calls forth his gauntlet.

“But we should get a move on.”

Opening a portal Arc steps through. He arrives on the sigil in the corner of Ember’s small house. The pair are waiting for him on the couch.

“I’m here. Everything okay?”

Derpy smiles and nods. “Yes. Just a little mare time.”

Ember looks away. “Yeah… can we get moving?”

“Um… okay.”

Reopening a portal, Arc allows Ember and Derpy to enter first before following them. They reappear in his quarters aboard The Equinox.

“Dinky and her friends are in the Game Room. Should we join them?”

Ember turns to him. “Are Twilight and Auriel okay?”

“Oh, yes. They’re on the Observation Deck with Aurora.”

Derpy appears confused. “Who?”

“A new friend we made.”

Ember raises an eyebrow. “And where did you meet this pony?”

“Well, she isn’t actually a pony. Truthfully, she’s… actually, it’s complicated.”

Derpy giggles. “I’m not surprised!”

Ember rolls her eyes. “Yeah. Leave it to Arc to make a friend in the middle of nowhere.”

Arc gestures for the pair to follow him. “Come on. I’ll try to explain it before we get to Canterlot.”

Several hours later The Equinox touches down inside Canterlot Castle’s hanger. Arc and company disembark as he turns to Aurora, whom has changed into Arc’s navy blue magic cloak.

“This is Canterlot Castle. The seat of power for the land of Equestria.”

Aurora looks around. “Is it all so… hard?”

Dinky looks confused. “Hard?”

Aurora reaches down and puts a hand on the concrete floor.

“No plant could grow through this.”

Sweetie Belle sighs. “Well, without sunlight they wouldn’t do well either.”

Apple Bloom nods. “Yeah. But maybe you could come to Ponyville and see Sweet Apple Acres.”

Arc clears his throat loudly. “Now, now. You should talk to your sister before inviting company, Apple Bloom.”

He looks back to Aurora.

“I should probably introduce you to the princesses first.”

Twilight sighs. “Yes. They should know what I’ve done.”

Frank raises an eyebrow. “What you’ve done?”

Auriel nods. “We’ve inadvertently created a sentient being… again.”

Dinky frowns. “What’s wrong with that? Aurora seems like a nice human to me.”

Ember shrugs. “True. But she’s radiating some pretty powerful magical energy.”

Arc chuckles. “Well, you would too if you were magical plant essence.”

Aurora turns to Arc. “Is that a problem?”

“I don’t think so. But either way the princesses need to know you exist.”

They make their way toward the Audience Chamber. Derpy looks Aurora up and down.

“Should we see about getting her some clothes first?”

Aurora looks down at the robe adorning her. “But Aurora thought that was what this was for.”

Frank puts a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t hurt. After all, she IS going to meet royalty.”

Arc sighs. “I can take her to see Rarity about some proper clothes after the audience.”

“Should Aurora make oneself more presentable?”

Twilight raises an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”

“One moment please.”

They stop and Aurora appears to concentrate. A small flash of light emanates from her momentarily before she pulls off the robe to reveal a rather startling sight. Cherry speaks to Arc telepathically.

“Is that… what I think it is?”

“Yes, Cherry. A human version of the outfit you wore to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

Aurora looks around. “Is this more appropriate?”

Frank nods approvingly. “I would say so, yes.”

Derpy smiles. “You do look very nice, miss.”

“Thank you. Shall we continue on?”

Arc shakes his head as if to clear it. “I… uh… sure.”

They enter the outer chambers. Arc approaches the guard on duty.

“My group and I require an immediate audience with the princesses.”

“Yes sir. I will announce you.”

He hurries into the Audience Chamber and returns a moment later with the previous audience.

“They will see you now, sir.”

“Thanks. Let’s go everyone.”

Arc and company enter the Audience Chamber together. Luna and Cadance smile and step down from their thrones as they enter.

“Welcome back, Arc.”

Cadance nods as she look to the group. “I see you’ve brought more friends today.”

Twilight smiles nervously. “Yes… well…”

Arc interrupts her. “Might we speak privately?”

Luna nods. “Very well.”

She turns to the guards.

“Leave us.”

They bow and head for the doors as Cadance gestures to their office.

“Why don’t we all sit down?”

Arc nods. “That might be a good idea.”

They enter the office and head for the couches. Arc looks to Luna.

“I’d like for Sunburst to join us. His knowledge might be useful in this matter.”

Luna nods. “I’ll summon him.”

“No need, Princess Luna. I’ll give him a call.”

Arc touches his earring.

“Arc to Sunburst.”

“Sunburst here, sir.”

“I need you to join me in the princess’ office for an impromptu meeting right away.”

“Yes sir. I’ll head over there now.”

“Thank you. Arc out.”

He turns to Aurora as the others take their places.

“Would you like to sit down?”

Aurora appears confused. “What is ‘sit’?”

Dinky calls over from the couch. “What we’re doing now.”

“Oh. I… do not believe so, no.”

Cadance smiles at the newcomer as she sits down next to Twilight. “Suit yourself.”

Luna clears her throat as she looks to Frank. “Now then, Arc. Does this have anything to do with your friend’s magical training?”

“Not exactly, Luna. I took Frank to see Twilight here, of course. She recommended a book.”

Cadance giggles. “That does not surprise me.”

Frank nods. “It was very informative.”

Twilight smiles sheepishly. “At the time I… may have mentioned my idea for an experiment to Arc.”

“Yes. But…”

There is a knock at the door. Luna calls out.

“Come in.”

Sunburst enters and trots quickly over to the group.

“I came as quickly as I could! Did I miss much?!”

Ember shrugs. “Nothing yet.”

Dinky giggles. “We barely started!”

Arc nods. “Have a seat, Sunburst. Now that you’re here we can get down to the business at hand.”

He gestures to Aurora standing next to him.

“This is Aurora. We… encountered her on our most recent adventure.”

Sunburst appears confused. “On Earth, sir?”

Sweetie Belle giggles. “A bit more locally.”

Arc nods. “Right. But to understand, I’ll have to start at the beginning. It all started when I agreed to help Twilight with her experiment.”

Twilight sighs. “Auriel and I had finally extracted enough Dragon Fruit essence to create a prototype artificial sun.”

Auriel nods. “At Arc’s recommendation we chose a test site far to the west.”

Frank chuckles. “That was quite a flight.”

Derpy grins. “Right.”

Cadance turns to Arc. “Where exactly did you go?”

“A peninsula south of Las Pegasus.”

Luna thinks for a moment. “Quite a ways from here. Were you concerned about the essence becoming volatile?”

Twilight shakes her head. “No. But we figured nothing bad would happen to anypony way out there in case something unexpected did come up.”

Cadance nods. “Very prudent.”

Arc sighs. “I thought so. But when the essence was ready, some rather strange black vines grew out of the ground and went for the machinery.”

Sunburst grimaces. “The Plunderseed Vines you mention before?!”

“Yes.”

Luna’s eyes grow wide. “Wait a moment! Plunderseed Vines?!”

Cadance turns to her friend. “You’ve heard of them, Luna?”

“Yes! They’re a very dangerous plant that feeds on various magical energies!”

Sunburst nods soberly. “It was thought that they had been eradicated centuries ago.”

Frank folds his arms over his chest. “Some must have been missed.”

Dinky grins. “Well, I don’t think any of them survived what happened.”

Apple Bloom nods. “Right. That explosion was pretty big.”

Sweetie Belle giggles. “Agreed.”

Cadance gasps. “Explosion?!”

Arc nods. “We sent a warning to Las Pegasus before taking action. There were no injuries fortunately, as we were quite a distance away.”

Luna breathes a sigh of relief. “Good. I’ll send a team to verify this infestation has been completely neutralized. But how did you stop the vines?”

“Well…”

Arc retells the story of the battle. Luna frowns.

“Very risky.”

Twilight nods sheepishly. “True. But the science behind it was sound.”

Auriel sighs. “And there wasn’t any time to come up with something safer.”

Cadance gestures to Aurora. “So you were pulled into another realm by this young human?”

Arc shrugs. “To tell you the truth, she isn’t what she appears to be.”

“That is correct. Aurora is the physical manifestation of The Consciousness.”

Luna raises an eyebrow. “And what is this… Consciousness?”

“The collective will of what you know as the artificial sun.”

Twilight bows her head. “Sorry about this. It looks like we’ve accidently created a living being.”

Auriel nods soberly. “Again, I might add.”

Dinky sighs. “It wasn’t on purpose though.”

Sweetie Belle nods. “Right. Who could’ve know that would happen?”

Apple Bloom grins. “Luckily Dinky came and got us when she did.”

Arc appears relieved. “Yeah. Thanks for that you three.”

Luna nods stoically. “We are happy you and your friends are safe, Arc. But how did these fillies help?”

Dinky jumps to her hooves. “We jumped into that artificial sun thing to lend our power.”

Apple Bloom giggles. “Just like Kronos showed us.”

Sweetie Belle looks up at Arc sheepishly. “You’re not mad, are you?”

“No. But I do wish you three hadn’t put yourselves in harm’s way.”

Ember rolls her eyes as Frank sighs.

“Well, I suppose what’s done is done.”

Sunburst nods. “Quite the tale, I must say.”

He looks Aurora up and down.

“Miss, might I speak with you further on your physiology?”

Aurora nods. “Yes. The Consiousness also wishes to learn more about the others whom inhabit this land before we depart.”

Twilight gasps. “Depart? You mean return to where we found you?”

“No. The Consciousness wishes to relocate to Tartarus.”

Auriel smiles. “Really?!”

Luna raises an eyebrow. “That is rather surprising. Might we inquire as to why?”

“During last night’s conversations it was brought to our attention that the reason we were extracted was to create something known as an artificial sun for that place.”

Cadance nods. “Yes. Twilight mentioned that to us in the past.”

Luna sighs. “Truth be told, we thought it was impossible.”

Auriel gestures to Aurora. “The artificial sun was indeed created as intended. At the moment its energies reside within her.”

Ember looks the woman over. “Will you be okay? I mean, being cut off from the real sun.”

Twilight nods. “Yes, you seemed to enjoy the sun on our trip here.”

“In Tartarus, The Consciousness would BE the sun. We have discussed this matter and can think of no greater honor than to bring hope to such a place.”

Auriel grins happily. “Thank you! This will mean a lot to the other demons, I’m sure!”

Twilight turns to Auriel. “We’ll have to perfect a device capable of sustaining and suspending the artificial sun.”

Ember looks skeptical. “How long will that take?”

Auriel thinks for a moment before responding. “I have some theories, of course. But until we got the readings from this experiment I wasn’t completely sure how to proceed.”

Twilight nods. “We’ll get to work right away on some prototypes.”

Sunburst turns to Twilight. “Might I see your data as well? This whole idea is fascinating!”

“Of course. I’ll send over copies of what notes and data we’ve collected thus far.”

Auriel looks to Sunburst. “Maybe the three of us could figure this out together.”

Sunburst sighs. “Sadly, I don’t think I’ll have much time to dedicate to this. As you know I’m quite busy with my current projects.”

Aurora nods. “To find Princess Celestia?”

Ember gasps. “How did you know that?!”

“When The Consciousness attempted to make contact with Arc via his pocket dimension, we learned the basics of a great many things. Such appears to be a side effect from when we attempted to reach out to his mind.”

Arc frowns. “Not sure how I feel about that.”

“Forgive us, as the willful invasion of your thoughts was not our intention. Only contact.”

Aurora looks to Sunburst.

“However, during that time we learned that our magical powers could be redirected.”

“In what way?”

“It is difficult to explain. Perhaps a demonstration is in order.”

Luna frowns. “Is it safe?”

Aurora nods. “Yes. We only require a volunteer.”

Twilight raises a hoof excitedly. “I’d like to try!”

Cadance sighs. “Now Twilight…”

Sunburst steps forward. “This really is something I should do myself.”

Ember raises an eyebrow. “Sunburst?”

“I am the Lead Sage, after all. If there’s some new magical technique it’s my job to study, catalogue, and record my findings.”

He turns to Aurora.

“Shall we begin?”

“Very well.”

She kneels down next to Sunburst and closes her eyes.

“I am ready. Begin casting your spell.”

Sunburst nods. His horn glows and the air is suddenly thick with magical energy. Cadance gasps.

“What the…?!”

Luna grits her teeth. “Such magical power!”

Ember turns to Twilight. “Should we stop them?!”

“Maybe we should.”

Sunburst grimaces. “N-no! I need to see this through!”

Arc frowns. “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Yes!”

“Aurora will see to it your friend does not come to permanent harm.”

Auriel takes a step back. “Are you sure he’ll be okay?”

“Yes.”

Several minutes pass as Sunburst continues casting.

“Can you give me more?”

“Aurora can, but…”

“Do it!”

“Aurora does not believe this would be beneficial, but will comply.”

Cadance frowns. “Luna…”

“Sunburst knows what he’s doing. We should have faith in him.”

The air around Sunburst and Aurora begins to swirl.

“Dad?!”

“Sunburst?!”

“Just… a bit… more…”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom run to hide behind Arc.

“I don’t like this!”

“Me either! And I can’t even use magic!”

Suddenly Sunburst levitates a few inches above the floor. His eyes suddenly glow white as his magical powers continue to grow. Luna and Cadance step back.

“This defies all logic!”

“What should we do?!”

Arc calls out over the din. “Aurora, stop!”

“Aurora cannot stop at this point. He must complete the spell that has been started, lest the magical energies destroy him.”

As suddenly as the process begins it ends. Sunburst falls to the floor, his hooves making a light tap as they touch down.

Derpy looks to Sunburst. “Oh my! Are you alright?!”

Saying nothing, Sunburst rushes over to the princess’ large desk and grabs a piece of paper and pencil. Luna calls out to him.

“Sunburst? Are you alright?”

Not responding to her query, the stallion begins writing.

Ember raises an eyebrow. “Um… should we call Doctor Whooves?”

Derpy watches Sunburst’s erratic movements. “That might not be a bad idea.”

Arc cautiously walks over to the desk. “Sunburst? Hello?”

Ignoring all attempts at communication for a full minute. Sunburst eventually drops the pencil and falls to the floor. Auriel runs to the door.

“I’ll send for the doctor!”

Arc nods. “Good!”

Reaching Sunburst first Arc rolls him over onto his back.

“Sunburst, can you hear me?!”

He nods weakly. Cadance gasps as she and the others approach.

“What happened?!”

Sunburst smiles weakly. “I… I saw it…”

Luna raises an eyebrow skeptically. “Saw what?”

“A large, white stone building with a tall concrete wall around it. Two guard towers stood on either side of the main gate. Human soldiers patrolled the grounds while I could feel more were inside the structure. That was when I felt… something familiar.

Cadance looks nervous. “What was it?”

Sunburst holds up the paper in his shaking hoof.

“H-here.”

Arc takes the paper and looks it over before looking to Sunburst.

“Coordinates? To that building you spoke of?”

Sunburst nods. “Yes. She’s there.”

Twilight gasps. “You mean…?!”

Sunburst nods.

“Yes. That facility… is where Princess Celestia is being held.”

Comments

[Munro]

woow finaly and it only took the supercharging magic power from something on alicorn levels xD

[Kamahido]

10752266
Aurora is (theoretically) more powerful than an alicorn, as she can channel the Collective's combined power. She's literally sentient magic in physical form.

[Booster Spice]

Whee.. high power levels working through standard tracking spell has a chance of affecting the antiscrying spells on what its aimed at, if only by causing higher than usual power or energy drain, so if created by gems or batteries, theyve discharged faster?

Wonder what the general city or country area to those coordinates looks like to publically available satelite, arial views?

[Malory]

“A large, white stone building with a tall concrete wall around it. Two guard towers stood on either side of the main gate. Human soldiers patrolled the grounds while I could feel more were inside the structure. That was when I felt… something familiar.

Oh hey it's that thing they could have figured out if Wiseman wasn't a troll.