Runes
“So…” Pinkie said, hoofing at the ground. “What do we do now?”
Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie stood in the middle of the desert. A fair ways away there was a black spire Twilight had said was “part of the world’s subterranean magic system.”
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “What do you think?”
Pinkie gasped. “You’re asking me what to do?”
“If nothing else, you seem to have good intuition. Applejack?”
“I don’t know anything, it’s all up to you two,” Applejack admitted. “I’d like to get home, but we still don’t know how to do that, do we?”
Twilight shook her head. “I believe I can take us to my home, knowing what I know now.”
“What about the others?” Pinkie asked. “Fluttershy and… whoever else was taken here.”
“I came here with a pegasus,” Twilight admitted. “Rainbow Dash. She… well, she was an arrogant, egotistic, reckless adventurer who ruined everything, but she knew about other worlds.” She frowned. “I may have been a little rough on her. Even if she was asking for it…”
“You came here with someone…” Pinkie furrowed her brow. “And in your rant you talked a lot about the machine.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes. As you know I was investigating the possibility of other universes. My machine… it would have worked had we not been under fire at the time when Rainbow decided to play hero and activate it with all the magic and energy flying around. …That was really, really stupid.”
“So she’s the reason this is happening?” Applejack asked.
“It shouldn’t work like that. Only her and I make sense, the rest of you…” she glanced at Pinkie. “Shouldn’t have been drawn here. I don’t see a reason.”
“The reason might just be destiny,” Pinkie suggested. “We have to be here for… something to happen. This desert is dying, and monsters plague the other world. Maybe there’s something wrong we have to fix everywhere?”
Twilight scoffed. “The only problem with Unity is that it’s gotten boring.”
“…I’m… not supposed to say anything…” Applejack frowned. “The Mesh does need help, though.”
Pinkie grinned. “See? We’ve got some worlds to save! The question is how.”
“Unity has enough resources to conquer most of a galaxy,” Twilight said. “As Empress, I could allocate some resources to three worlds. Restoring magic here might be difficult, but I could organize evacuations… the army could destroy the monsters… and I’m sure we’ve got enough stuff to deal with whatever the Mesh’s deal is.”
“Then why aren’t we doing that?” Applejack asked.
Pinkie narrowed her eyes. “That… seems suspiciously easy.”
“Well, the station is currently occupied by an unknown enemy,” Twilight admitted. “I can probably take them by surprise if we go back, but we just don’t know much about them. …Though Rainbow probably does.”
Pinkie grinned. “That sounds better! Find the others!”
“I’m pretty sure she was with the Enchantress falling into the Mesh.”
“…And that’s probably where Fluttershy is too…”
“Hold on…” Twilight flared her wings and lit her horn, performing a quick search of magic. “No, the Enchantress has not returned. Nothing but a few empty anomalies.”
“That sounds ominous.”
Twilight shrugged with her wings. “They were here when we first arrived. Whatever they are, they’re normal for the world.”
“Again, suspicious,” Pinkie admitted.
“They actively seek to hide from my magic. I’m not certain we could find them even if we went looking. A-“ Twilight froze. “I sensed the same thing in the other world… the assistant at the temple. I don’t remember his name…”
“But we can’t go back there,” Applejack said.
Pinkie shook her head. “Twilight can’t, we can.”
Twilight lit her horn, creating a holographic checklist in the air. “So, here’s a list of our goals. Find the others, get information from Rainbow Dash, enlist the assistance of Unity, and investigate the anomalies through the temple assistant. I have no idea how to do the first two.”
“Fourth one would involve splitting us up,” Applejack said. “I’d avoid that if possible.”
“Then… Unity?” Pinkie frowned. “Sounds too easy…”
“Does that mean there’s going to be problems?” Twilight asked.
“I mean, if things continue going the way I think they will, yeah, probably.”
Twilight sighed. “And you really don’t find it… odd that things go like they do in your books?”
Pinkie nodded with a nervous laugh. “Oh yeah, it’s very odd. But I’ve always believed everything happens for a reason. It’s just… a bit more obvious right now.”
Twilight let out a thoughtful hum. “Get behind me. I’m going to open the portal. There’s no way to know what’s waiting for us on the other side.”
Pinkie and Applejack did as asked, trusting that Twilight could handle what was on the other side.
The other side, as it turned out, was completely abandoned; no sign of any enemies. Or anypony at all. They had clearly dialed into a space station, seeing as the curved hall was made out of silver metal and there was a giant window that showed nothing but stars.
Twilight’s face contorted in confusion. “There’s… no one here who shouldn’t be… I only sense the scientists.”
“They left?” Pinkie asked.
“Looks like it. Maybe when the device was destroyed they had no reason to stick around…” Twilight walked through the portal, Pinkie and Applejack trotting in behind her.
Pinkie looked around with awe. Even though she was in little more than a simple hallway, everything was spectacular. The view out the window was simple – just white specks on black – but it still filled her imagination with the possibilities of living in space. She had lived with her mind among the stars most of her life and now she was really here. It had come true!
And that didn’t even count the holographic screens on the opposite wall. So many words, diagrams, charts, and images that she couldn’t take it all in. It might as well have been in an alien language!
“Wow…” Pinkie said.
Twilight placed a hoof on one of the screens. “This is Empress Twilight Sparkle, I have returned. Report?”
This proved to be the wrong choice.
Instantly, two-dozen cloud creatures in Rune-covered armor teleported in, pointing guns at them. Pinkie was struck by their “heads”; nothing more than wispy stumps of fluff with no sign of an actual face.
Twilight wasted no time. She surrounded herself and her two friends in a shield, ready to lay waste to the enemies.
“I wouldn’t do that, Empress,” a unicorn said, walking through the cloudy soldiers. She was pink and her horn was always lit in the act of gripping a magic staff. “This staff can remove your magic. I’d really prefer not to do that, but if I have to, I will.”
Twilight tensed, letting Pinkie know that the unicorn wasn’t bluffing. “…Who are you?”
“I am Glimmer,” the unicorn said. “And I represent the Starcross Society. We need to have a talk about your little stunt yesterday.”
Pinkie hated Glimmer’s smile. It was so… genuine. It didn’t belong on somepony talking like that.
~~~
Rarity looked the… other Rainbow Dash up and down. She was significantly thinner than the Rainbow Rarity had come to know over the last two days and she wore a black suit that could cover every inch of her save her eyes. Rarity made a quick note of a small nick in the Blue Bolt’s ear in case she’d need to differentiate the two of them on the fly later, for their faces were identical.
“I don’t have any problems with making a deal,” Fluttershy said. “Girls?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Long as we get to keep the device and talk to you a bit. Rarity?”
Rarity was still precariously balanced on her hind legs – a tiring position to be in for so long, even with the ability to use her swords as canes. “So long as we have some assurance the thief won’t double cross us.”
“I need to get home,” Bolt said. “You know how to use this thing. Why would I double cross you?”
Rainbow snorted. “Really? Have us opon a portal to your home, steal the device, and disappear into it.” She tapped her head with her wing. “I know how you think, Rainbow.”
“I’m the Blue Bolt.”
“And I go by Dasha sometimes if there’s confusion, so what?”
“D-dasha?” Fluttershy snorted.
“And ponies wonder why I don’t officially change my name…” Rainbow shook her head. “Point is, we don’t implicitly trust you. Naturally, we’ll take the deal because we are a little desperate, but we’re going to have to hold that thing while we do it.”
Rarity half expected Bolt to outright refuse and try to make like her namesake. Instead, the thief nonchalantly tossed the device through the air, forcing Rainbow to catch it in her wings. “Geez! This thing is pretty durable but if I had missed…”
“You wouldn’t miss if you’re me.”
“I mean, law of averages, yeah, that was a safe bet,” Rainbow admitted. “But there are some Rainbows that aren’t athletes of any kind! There’s one who does nothing but try on fancy dresses. Literally, that’s all she does.”
“What a shallow world she must live in,” Rarity said.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Rainbow said, twisting a few settings on the dimensional device. With a soft tap of her wing, it activated, tearing a portal through reality back to the Crystal Sea.
Rarity felt a weight suddenly lift from her spirit. Her aching muscles and pained mind were massaged into a relaxed state by the sudden existence of magic once more.
Bolt tensed. “That’s not my h-“
“Hold your horses,” Rainbow interrupted with a roll of her eyes. “You can’t just access any world from anywhere. The device knows the connection from the Mesh to the Crystal Sea for sure, but it didn’t recognize the Mesh to… whatever your city was.” She jumped through the portal. “Come on.”
Bolt twitched, hopping in after her. Rarity and Fluttershy followed – and immediately started checking themselves over. Fluttershy cast a simple lighting spell with ease, while Rarity removed her swords from her hooves with telekinesis and hid them within her outfit once more.
Rainbow adjusted one of the dials on the device, dissipating the portal with a pop, a second gateway opening a swirling vortex to the city.
Already Rarity felt the wash of the wrong magic from the other side. It wasn’t as painful or as jarring as last time, but she still didn’t trust it. The gigantic moon was still high in the sky, looming large over the skyline.
“Well, this was fun,” Bolt said, raising her wing in a salute. “But I’ve got stuff to do.” She hopped over to her home.
“Wait!” Fluttershy called. “There are… others. Drawn, like us, to this world. Have you…?”
“Haven’t seen any others.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Well… we’re trying to help these worlds, too. Do you know of any way to restore magic?”
Bolt shook her head. “I got nothin’. Though if you do ever think of something and need a quick pair of hooves, just drop by. I’ll be able to find you.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You wish to assist?”
Bolt smirked. “It’s what the Blue Bolt does.”
“She steals.”
“Exactly.” Bolt winked – spreading her wings and taking off into the night sky.
The portal closed.
“…Looks like we might have another friend,” Fluttershy said.
“Maybe…” Rainbow said, scratching her chin. “We might talk to her once we find the others.”
Rarity furrowed her brow – not sure what to make of the other Rainbow. She could sense the same ego and confidence from both mares, but from the short meeting it was easy to see differences. The Bolt put care in the way she presented herself, while Rainbow just… did whatever she felt like. It made her wonder how different other Rarities would be.
She pushed those thoughts away. “We have to find the others first. There… was a powerful magic essence that made contact with me just before we were trapped. Possibly the one you were talking about earlier, Rainbow?”
“Yeah. Twilight Sparkle. Has a horn and wings, magic powerhouse. Just a tad sadistic.”
Fluttershy blinked. “Sadistic?”
“Eh… maybe more ‘impish’. She likes messing with ponies.”
Rarity closed her eyes, sending out a magic scan. She could easily sense that the powerful magic had been near here. But that was the problem. Had. She was nowhere to be found now. “She’s gone.”
“Maybe she went to another world, like we did,” Fluttershy suggested.
Rarity nodded. “Perhaps…”
“Well, that’s a dead end until the device finds another world.” Rainbow set the device to search once again. “So… options?”
“Fly around, look for ponies.” Rarity put a hoof to her chin. “Or we could check out New Alice City… but I don’t like the feel of that world.”
“Fly around it is,” Rainbow agreed. “We can start at that… black spike thing.”
“Oh, one of the Runes!” Fluttershy said. “That’s where you found me, maybe somepony else has the same idea?”
Rarity nodded. It was close… Without consulting anypony, she teleported the three of them there. Neither Fluttershy nor Rainbow objected.
As usual, the Runes reacted to Rarity’s presence, flashing a pristine white before returning to the default Amber. However, before Rarity could begin her cursory study of the structure, the Runes did something they’d never done before.
They flashed a pale green.
Rarity’s jaw dropped.
“You mean they don’t normally do that?” Fluttershy asked.
“N-no! They only respond to me!”
“Huh…” Fluttershy looked at her wings. “It did the same thing to me when I first arrived here. It felt… comforting.”
“Wh… I…” Rarity shook her head. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend what this meant.
~~~
Twilight examined Glimmer with every sense she had available to her, though taste and touch weren’t really on the agenda at the moment. Visually she was young, though her eyes told of an age far beyond that of a normal pony. She had the ‘eerily beautiful’ sculpted form Twilight had grown accustomed to seeing in ponies who kept up their appearance through magic alone. Glimmer was clean – almost odorless, and her voice was just the wrong pitch for Twilight to listen to comfortably.
Magically speaking, she was one of if not the most saturated unicorn Twilight had ever seen. Her levels still paled in comparison to Twilight’s own monstrous reserves, but ponies with that much magic often had devious tricks up their sleeves.
And then there was her staff. Wooden, two pronged, with a Rune on it that was most definitely enchanted with a magic absorption spell. Very dangerous.
“My stunt? You must have me confused with that blue bird-brain.”
Glimmer nodded. “True… it is her fault, but unfortunately she is not here and we have no idea how to find her. You, on the other hand, are here and able to speak for the galaxy to boot!”
“If you wanted a diplomatic encounter you wouldn’t be pointing guns at me.”
“Eh, that was Scarcity’s idea, she’s a hardcase. Since you don’t look ready to explode anymore…” Glimmer held up a hoof and all the cloudy soldiers lowered their weapons, though she kept a tight hold of her staff.
“So, let’s start with something simple.” Twilight took a few steps forward, careful to keep Pinkie and Applejack within her magic bubble. “What made you think it was a good idea to hijack my research station?”
“Poor planning, desperation, a minimal understanding of this universe, a commanding officer with a bone to pick; choose any three and mix well.” She chuckled at her joke.
Twilight smirked. “While I appreciate a kindred spirit, I do need specifics.”
“Agent Rainbow Dash smashed our dimensional drive. She came to you looking to escape from us, and we came here looking for her and a method of dimensional travel. We didn’t know anything about the world so we risked a full-scale attack to stop her. Naturally, this didn’t work. I am sorry to report that some of your scientists didn’t survive the assault, and that we’re currently occupying the station from outside.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “Assuming I agree to let this slide, their deaths will need to be set right one way or another.”
“We are the Starcross Society. We could supplement you with anything you require.”
“Don’t do it,” Pinkie hissed.
Glimmer didn’t waste a beat. “Ah, a Pinkie. So problematic and helpful at the same time.”
“W-what do you mean?” Pinkie asked. “You… know me?”
“There are many of you out here… though your surprise tells me you are not the most problematic kind.” She returned her focus to Twilight. “Why would you listen to her?”
Twilight frowned. “To be fair, you are giving off an untrustworthy vibe.”
Glimmer sighed. “I try… so hard to keep us from that. With Scarcity running things like a military state on the ship it’s hard, you know? I’m sure you do, I’ve read up on some of your history while we were waiting for you to return.”
“Waiting?”
“We reasoned you’d figure out how to get back faster than we’d be able to reverse-engineer whatever that explosion did.”
Makes sense. “And then you trap me with the magic staff.”
Glimmer nodded. “Yep! Not sure why you still have that shield up, it would be pretty useless.”
“Not chancing it.”
“Fair enough.” Glimmer tapped the staff on the ground in mild annoyance. “Look, all we want is for the spell you use to travel universes.”
“It only goes to one. A pretty useless desert.”
“We still want it. Give it to us and we’ll get out of your mane. You’ll get your station back and we’ll be your avenue to the Starcross Society after this whole ordeal is wrapped up.”
“And if I don’t?”
“We’d just force it out of you and discontinue all possible relations?” Glimmer shrugged. “I much prefer the friendlier option, myself.”
“Don’t do it,” Pinkie cautioned once more. “She’s a smooth talker. There’s more going on here we don’t understand.”
Glimmer fixed the pink pony with a curious expression. Twilight wasn’t sure why Glimmer did, but she was smart enough to know it meant Pinkie was either right or close to right.
“Looks like we’ll have to decline then,” Twilight said, smiling. “Terribly sorry about that.”
Glimmer sighed. “This staff isn’t a joke!”
“I know it’s not. Which is why I’ve been sending out a coded distress signal this entire time, masked by this shield spell. Oh, and I’ve been casting the dimensional spell in the background. Buh-bye now!”
Twilight created a tiny portal in front of her eyes – barely large enough to see into. As the soldiers were raising their guns and Glimmer activated her staff, Twilight executed her pre-prepared teleport through the tiny hole and back to the Crystal Sea.
This teleport had not been a particularly elegant spell, so the three of them came flying out over the desert sands at high velocity. Applejack and Pinkie landed face-first in the sand while Twilight managed to gain control of her flight using her wings.
A short distance away, she saw three ponies staring at them in shock – one of them was unmistakably Rainbow Dash.
“Hey!” Twilight called. “We’ve been looking for you!”
The unicorn of the group – the Enchantress – teleported her group to Twilight.
“We’ve been looking for you!” Rainbow shouted. “And you were the one who teleported away!”
Twilight rocked her hoof side to side. “Eeeeeeh… sorta-kinda…”
“Twilight…” Pinkie said, glaring at her.
“Okay, fine,” Twilight sighed. “Sorry.”
“Sincere,” the Enchantress deadpanned.
“I like you,” Twilight said.
“The feeling is not mutual. Your little stunt sent us on a wild goose chase through a world of gears.”
“Can you get back?” Applejack demanded. “I… I need to go home!”
“Applejack, right?” Rarity asked. “Yes, we can. Your tree is fine. I even gave it some care of my own, rest easy.”
“I… thank you. Uh…”
“Yeah, I think we need some introductions,” the armored pegasus – presumably Fluttershy – said.
Twilight cleared her throat. “I am Empress Twilight Sparkle of Unity. This is… Pinkie Acorn and Applejack.”
The Enchantress nodded. “I am Rarity, the Enchantress. This is Fluttershy and Captain Rainbow Dash.”
“There’s also another Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow commented. “But she’s currently in another world. …Since we’re all here, we might want to go find her…”
“Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“To complete the party, silly!” Pinkie said, giggling. “Seven’s a lucky number, anyway.”
Rainbow nodded. “Yep. Then we can group together and figure out what we’re going to do about… well, everything.”
“A lot of different worlds need help,” Applejack said.
Twilight sighed. “Pinkie’s of the mind that we’re here to help them all, like some group of heroes.”
“Oh, definitely.” Rainbow nodded her head excitedly. “It’s generally how these things work.”
“I knew it!” Pinkie cheered. “…Wait, generally? This isn’t some kind of fluke of destiny?”
“Nah.”
“While I would love to talk about the nature of destiny, we do need to figure out if any of us can do anything about our situations,” Rarity said. “Half of us don’t even know the other half!”
“But we’ve been in the worlds of others,” Applejack said. “Fluttershy, your world is assailed by monsters.”
“And your Mesh is winding down,” Fluttershy responded.
“How do…?”
“A mare named Dust. She helped us escape.”
“The point is, worlds have problems,” Pinkie said, tapping her hoof on the ground. “Monsters, lack of magic… hey, in mine ponies are fighting all the time, maybe that’s a problem too?”
“My world has no problems,” Twilight said with pride.
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Your world currently has an angry Starcross Society in it.”
“Unity will take care of that in a few hours.”
Rainbow blinked. “I mean, they only have one damaged ship… but you’d be surprised what sort of tricks they can pull.”
“Please, the primary galactic fleet will be blowing them to shrapnel soon enough, there’s nothing t-“
A portal opened up directly behind her. She could hear Glimmer laughing. It was far too innocent and delighted for the context.
“Thanks for casting that spell! We never would have figured it out without seeing it in action!”
Twilight’s face twisted into a menacing scowl. Of all the things she hated, the feeling that came when she was outsmarted was near the top of the list.
She whirled around, ready to flatten Glimmer like a pancake – but she could no longer see the unicorn. Instead, the soldiers of the Starcross Society poured out of the portal by the dozen, already beginning their assault.
Pinkie screamed.
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Now that is some exquisite multilayered irony.
In any case, the gang's all here! Or about eighty-six percent here, anyway. Just in time for the Starcross Society to invade. Yaaaay...
Well, if nothing else, at least a lot of magic is coming into the Crystal Sea today.
This Glimmer might regret angering a galactic, immortal empress...
Now that the 6 are finally united, they can start saving the worlds.
I wonder what nega-rarity's plan is, back in Unity.
Upon, or open?
gg glimmer
9815162
Unless the author goes with the show where she just somehow bests (as in messes up) two Alicorns by herself.
Comma, not period.
9815142
Technically, standard Raritys... Rarities? How do you plural that? Anyway, they make clothing, they don’t just wear it. Being a fancy shmancy dressmaker might not be a terribly meaningful purpose in the eyes of this Rarity - or many others, including both of these Rainbows and myself - but it is a far more meaningful line of work in my eyes than modeling, and I think everyone, pony, human, or other, finds dressmaking a more meaningful occupation than simply wearing dresses for your own pleasure. It’s the difference between and artist and someone who doesn’t do anything all day but look at other people’s art. You may or may not value artist as a profession, but I don’t know anyone who views experiencing a thing, anything, as every bit as meaningful/justifiable/helpful as making that thing. Well, maybe if that thing is considered of negative value, but I think my point is made.
Not that I don’t see the irony, I just felt like sharing.
Well, dang. That turned around bad quickly, but the group's all together now.
Pffft. Now that's ironic.
Huh...guess that wasn't Pinkie's world earlier but Bolt's. Wonder what the "wrongness" is, but I bet Pinkie might be able to explain...