I - The Will

“Are you certain you are ready?”

The words spoken echoed through the grand empty halls of Yearling mansion. No expense had been spared in the construction of the massive house - the walls were embedded with gold, the finest of carpets draped the floor, and the most rare of paintings lined the halls.

One of them was a painting of the late Starswirl the Bearded; looking down at the world with a stern, yet curious, stare. Twilight Sparkle felt like it was judging her, but for what she didn’t know.

“...Princess?”

“Yes. Sorry.” Twilight said, turning her head to look at the lawyer - a grey stallion whose expression was completely blank. She thought he was named Loose Pages, though she couldn’t tell for sure, seeing as she was a bit preoccupied at the moment.

“Open the door already.” Twilight’s companion, Rainbow Dash, instructed. “No use putting it off.”

The lawyer nodded, levitating a key ring from his side. He held it up before the gigantic looming doors. The doors, like the rest of the mansion, were the most expensive doors money could buy. But in stark contrast to the decorative nature of the rest of the building, the doors weren’t decorated whatsoever. They were thick and industrial, daring would-be trespassers to just try and penetrate their metallic bulk.

The two mares stood motionless while the lawyer inserted one key into the tiny slot that was the keyhole. He turned it with a click and the tremendous doors slowly began to open, kicking up dust as they did so. A few seconds later they stood open, revealing a vault, an enchanted room filled to the absolute brim with treasures. Along the steel walls pedestals stood, glinting in spotlights. Crests adorned the walls themselves, alongside masks, ancient weapons, and bits of jewelry both ancient and modern. Unusually shaped objects sat in randomly placed shelves and the handful of magical artifacts glowed softly in all the colors imaginable, glinting off the piles of coinage scattered around the vault.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash allowed themselves to grin. “This is amazing…” Twilight said. “That? That might be one of Starswirl’s custom wands!” She clapped her hooves in excitement.

The lawyer cleared his throat. “The will says that everything in the room belongs to you two. Take your time.” He let himself out.

“Ookay…” Rainbow Dash started rubbing her hooves together. “What do I want…?”

“Most of this is going in the Canterlot Royal Museum, Rainbow.” Twilight reminded her. “That’s what Yearling wanted, she just never got a chance to sort all this stuff out…” Twilight sighed, reminded once again that A K Yearling - or Daring Do as she liked to be called while adventuring - was gone, her story brought to abrupt end.

Of course that had been months ago - the will itself had only been opened recently, since there was a ‘wait six months to make sure I’m really dead’ clause in it. Even though her body was found the will still demanded they wait.

But now the wait was over, the trusted friends of the author knew her secret, and were given the keys to her vault.

And despite the air of loss surrounding this whole endeavor, the two couldn’t help but be taken in by how awesome everything was.

Twilight lifted up one of the ancient tomes. “...A spell authored by Luna? I didn’t know she dabbled in arcane construction…” Her eyes darted across the page, analyzing the circular spell glyph closely. “With such skill as well…”

“What’s it do?” Rainbow Dash asked, hefting a wing-spear and smirking, fighting an imaginary enemy in the air.

“It appears to amplify a scanning spell to probe the deep heavens…” She whistled. “Pretty impressive work.”

“Ah no way look at this!” Rainbow Dash called. “A dragon warmask!”

Twilight’s ears folded back as she noticed the giant red thing she thought had been part of the wall until a moment ago. “...That’s too big for Torch to wear. What kind of dragon was that?”

“The best kind.” Rainbow said, already having moved on to a glowing crystal-cut vase. It made a warbling noise as she poked it, and she got the distinct impression it was laughing at her.

Twilight picked up a pair of goggles. “No way. One of Meadowbrook’s legendary artifacts. The Goggles of Life.” She strapped the emerald lenses to her head, the entire room becoming grey, save for a few living artifacts and Rainbow Dash, which appeared as a bright green color.”

“Huh. Cool. But you know what I like?”

“What?”

“This globe of Equis that updates in real time!” She said, gesturing at the hyper-realistic globe. “See that storm? It was scheduled to be created about five minutes ago! Look at it grow!”

Twilight smirked. “I do admit, that is pretty neat. You can even see the ash over the Dragonlands…”

“Yeah it’s cool and - oooh look at that!” Rainbow Dash pointed.

“Huh?” Twilight said, following the pegasus’ leg to a round table, upon which dozens of papers were strewn about, all around a black seven-sided artifact laced with an ornate blue lining.

“The Seven Sided Chest of Chicomoztoc!” Rainbow Dash smirked. “I helped her with this one.”

“Ah, the time you met Quibble right?”

“Yep.” Rainbow strode over to the table, picking up the chest. “You know, I wonder why they call it a chest… It doesn’t really seem to open no matter what you do.”

“It appears Yearling was wondering the same thing.” Twilight noted, looking at the pages of notes on the table. “It seems like this artifact confused her the most…”

“Not Aztrot in origin?” Rainbow Dash read from a page near her. “But it was obviously an Aztrot temple we were in…”

“Apparently it’s much older. It features in many of their creation myths, and is said to predate even the first ponies…” Twilight rubbed her chin. “It’s made of a completely unknown material…”

“This is creepy.” Rainbow Dash lifted a photograph off the table It was of them and their friends - Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Starlight Glimmer, and Rarity. A note was written on the photo. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, two unicorns, one alicorn. Heroes of Equestria. Connected to the Tree of Harmony. This can’t be a coincidence.

“She never mentioned this, did she?” Twilight asked.

“Nope.” Rainbow responded. “But… She is right. We do match up perfectly with what we saw in that temple.”

“Bizarre.” Twilight said, sifting through some more papers, overcome with the need to learn more about what Yearling was onto… There were connections, half-formed theories, and some ideas but no answers.

What was the Seven Sided Chest of Chicomoztoc?

Eventually, she did find something - a sketch labeled the Seven Sided Temple as drawn from ancient description. Her eyes widened at the image - seven pillars sticking up out of the ground with a raised podium in the center. She had seen it somewhere before.

“This is in Yakyakistan.” She said. “I saw it on our last trip, one of the many ruins up there that they don’t know what to do with.”

Rainbow frowned. “Why wouldn’t she have found that out?”

“The Yaks don’t really record things and are prone to not sharing what information they do have - not to mention the place doesn’t attract too many tourists. She probably could have found out eventually, but didn’t have time…”

Rainbow Dash nodded. A grin slowly formed on her face. “Twilight. You know what this means don’t you?”

Twilight levitated the photo of her friends up to her face. “Yes. Yes I do.”

“It’s time to solve a mystery and carry on Daring Do’s legacy!”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll have to call someone to sort this stuff out while we’re gone though…”

~~~

“You sure you want to do this Moondancer?”

“Twilight.” Moondancer deadpanned. “I am barely keeping my excitement bottled up here. Of course I want to do this. There are artifacts in there that the public has never seen - to be one of the first to study and catalog them…”

“Sure it won’t be too much work?”

“I’ll have the girls help me.” Moondancer smirked. “And all I have to do is catalog these things for the Museum and make sure Rainbow Dash’s items get to her house. No biggy. We’ll probably be done by the time you get back.”

Twilight sighed. She hugged Moondancer. “See you around then. We should have lunch when I get back.”

“That’d be nice. Thanks again Twilight!”

“No, thank you.” Twilight giggled. “Bye!”

And with that, Twilight spread her wings and flew upwards towards the zeppelin she had chartered, the Jove, a behemoth of a ship built by the engineers of Canterlot for extreme weather conditions. It was big, orange, and cast a large shadow over the landscape.

Moondancer waved for a few moments. Then she turned to the front door of Yearling mansion, key in hand.

“Ready?” Lyra asked, her voice scaring Moondancer half to death.

“Where did you come from!? I didn’t even ask for you yet!”

“Legendary treasures.” Lyra said. “How could I not be here. There could be evidence.”

Moondancer sighed. Great. At least she had some help, crazy as it was…

On the Jove, Twilight closed the hangar bay behind her, shutting out the tremendous winds of the outside air. The cabin was lush - carpet clean, walls draped with curtains, and eight different walled off rooms lined the main hall she was in. It felt roomy, though this may have been because the cabin was meant to house thirty-two passengers, not a measly eight.

Regardless, it was nice. But it wasn’t delicate - the Jove was all terrain, prepared for anything Yakyakistan was going to throw at it. It would serve them well.

“Twilight’s on board!” Pinkie yelled. “Set course for Yakyakistan! HO!”

“Aye aye Pinkie!” Spike said, flipping a lever to activate the Jove’s engines. The airship moved forward, slowly picking up speed in the northerly direction.

Applejack shivered. “Back in the deep, deep snow, away from my farm… Twi, you sure Ah need to come along?”

“We might all be connected.” Twilight said. “So sorry, I needed all of us to be here. I feel like it’s important.”

“Well, the map didn’t send us.” Applejack pointed out.

“Not everything important is a friendship problem.” Twilight observed.

“Are you saying I was a problem?” Starlight said in mock offense.

“Yes. Yes you are.” Rainbow Dash confirmed, balancing the Seven Sided Chest on her right wing.

“Well, harumphadumph then!” Starlight chuckled.

Rarity frowned. “Dear, are you poking fun at me?”

Starlight shrugged. “Wouldn’t dream of it, dear.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Now why don’t I believe you…”

“Because she’s not trying to be convincing?” Pinkie piped in. “Since it’s all a joke?”

“It is rather silly.” Fluttershy observed, speaking for the first time.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Well, just want you to know I find this mockery most uncouth.”

Applejack and Starlight burst into laughter at this.

“What?” Rarity blurted, confused.

“Ah dunno, Ah seem to recall you mockin’ me an awful lot.”

“That was-”

“Not any different from now.” Starlight observed.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Yeah. Poking fun at each other is just part of being friends.”

“You don’t live with Discord.” Fluttershy pointed out. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Good point. Mine still stands though.”

Rarity sighed. “Fine, I see that a tad bit of good natured ribbing is fine. Though perhaps tone it down a notch or two?”

“Noooo promises!” Pinkie announced. Everypony - and Spike - laughed.

“Well… Rainbow Dash said, juggling the Chest. “We are on a quest! The seven of us here have been connected to this artifact by the amazing Daring Do!”

“And I’m along for the ride!” Spike added.

“Right. So we are going to trek across the winters of Yakyakistan, explore ancient ruins, and uncover hidden traps along the way!”

Starlight smirked. “Only, it’s summer. We can land literally just a few yards from the monument, and most of the traps have likely already been triggered.”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “As I said. Quest. There will be great peril and mystery - and we will be the heroes!”

Everyone was silent.

“Come on! Cheer!”

“Yay.” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash glared at her. “You did that on purpose.”

“...Maybe.”

“Anyway, regardless of any lack of celebration on your part, to adventure!”

Silence again.

“Twilight, how long till we get there?”

“Six hours.”

Rainbow Dash twitched. “Well that’s just… peachy…”

“Take some time to learn patience.” Twilight encouraged, smiling the most innocent smile ever to exist. Everypony present knew it was an act.

“Well, looks like we’re gonna be sitting here for a while!” Pinkie produced a banjo from her mane. “TIIIIME FOR A SONG! Oooooooh, one hundred bottles of cider on-”

“PINKIE!”

~~~

The Jove toiled onward through a powerful blizzard. Snow was beginning to weigh down the airship, ice crystals forming on most of the surfaces. Windows were freezing over and one of the propellers had already given out. But the Jove had compensated with the remaining propellers - Equestrian engineering wasn’t going to give out now. However, it was luckily summer in Yakyakistan and not winter.

It was still rather warm inside the cockpit, and Rarity was sipping a mug of piping hot cocoa- it just seemed to fit the occasion. “It’s getting mighty chilly out there.” She observed. “We must be getting close.”

“Yep.” Twilight said. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. You should probably get in your coats girls.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Ahem?”

“And you too Spike.”

Spike nodded, pulling his purple coat out of a glove compartment, covering most of his body with the warm fluff. “Ready!”

The mares quickly did the same with their coats - though Twilight and Starlight skipped the dressing process by conjuring their coats from the aether, and Pinkie just seemed to have hers on suddenly.

Soon, the rest of them had become bundles of fluff and fur (or scales) as well. The fluff was of varying qualities - Rarity’s coat pristine and sparkling, Starlight’s nearly featureless and practical, Applejack’s tattered and worn, and Pinkie’s… was pink. And probably made of cotton candy.

“I came prepared.” Was her only comment.

The Jove slowly descended to the snowy ground, landing with a soft muffled thud. The bay doors opened, rushing the cabin with the frigid sub-zero temperatures of Yakyakistan.

“Oh thank goodness.” Fluttershy said. “I was getting hot in here…”

“You’ll want to be hot soon.” Rainbow Dash said. “It gets really cold sometimes.”

“I know. I was here last time.” Fluttershy reminded her.

“Let’s just get a move on.” Applejack said. “Twi, where we goin?”

“There.” Twilight pointed to the north. “You can see the shadows of the pillars from here. Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to walk there.” She frowned. “Thought we landed closer…”

“Uh, Teleporting?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“We can’t see it clearly.” Starlight explained.

“So we must walk.” Rarity said, still sipping her cocoa.

“Great!” Spike said. “Walking.” He sighed, beginning the march. The various mares all followed, finding that the biting cold of the blizzard kept them from much conversation. Even with all their layers it was still terribly frigid.

It did only take a few minutes of walking - the Jove had landed pretty close to the temple. Soon, they could clearly see seven tall pillars rising from the snow, each of them a deep speckled blue color. They were easily as tall as a full-grown dragon, and as thick as a buffalo. The seven pillars were all arranged in a circle around a smaller pedestal that stuck up out of the snow, with a few visible steps that led up to it.

“Cool.” Rainbow Dash said, wishing her wings weren’t bundled up so she could fly around.

“Indeed.” Rarity said, feeling the need to drink more of her warm cocoa. She had to heat it with her magic to make it satisfying.

Starlight rolled her eyes at Rarity’s ‘sophistication.’ They were on a quest for crying out loud, now was not the time to be delicately sipping cocoa.

Twilight mounted the steps - they were a little too large for a pony, but they were manageable. She came up to the pedestal, standing on her hind legs so she could see the top of it.

There was a telling heptagon shaped depression in it.

Rainbow Dash looked at the pedestal. “Well that’s pretty obvious.”

‘Yeah it-” Twilight paused. “...Rainbow.”

“What?”

“I know you’re thinking it.”

“Thinking what?”

“Don’t do it.”

Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. “Oh come on! It goes right there!”

“Yes. And it could be a trap!”

“Eh. We can handle a trap.” Starlight commented.

“Not helping!” Twilight hissed.

“Well let’s make this easy!” Pinkie said, in one motion grabbing the Seven Sided Chest out of Rainbow’s bags and placing it on the pedestal. “Ba-BOOM!” She shouted.

“PINKIE!” Twilight yelled, ready to scold her friend, but was stopped when the entire area began to tremble. The top of the pedestal hissed and rotated, until the points of the Seven Sided Chest were each directed between two of the pillars. Two pillars in particular began to glow a deep red color.

“Well that did something.” Applejack observed, not sure if it was bad or not.

With a powerful and shrill noise, a red line bisected the area between the two pillars, splashing the area in a red light. The line slowly expanded, ripping a rectangular hole in the fabric of reality itself, through which an entirely different world could be seen.

It was unlike anything any of them had ever seen.

It was full of spheres of varying sizes, each one made out of a seemingly random material - stone, gold, crystal, sand, moss - and the spheres continually interacted with each other. Some moved quickly and attracted others to them, while others moved slowly and pushed spheres away. The size seemed to have little to do with the effect on the other spheres. Some places burst into light for seemingly no reason, while in other places spheres appeared out of nowhere.

The mares and Spike were speechless. They just stared, watching the spheres interact. Exploding, crashing orbiting… it was mesmerizing.

“Very good!” A voice boomed through the area, startling them.

“I know that voice…” Twilight muttered.

It wasn’t enough warning for them - for several snow white Diamond Dogs erupted from the ground and entangled all of them in less than a second, threatening to crush them, one specifically with a large hand right on Twilight’s horn. The voice chuckled. “Oh, glad you remember me, princess!” A large being descended from atop one of the pillars, landing on his forelegs with ease. He was tall, blue, doglike, had a hand for a tail, and was bundled up in even more coats than the mares.

“Ahuizotl!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Ah yes, Daring Do’s little companion and her friends.” Ahuizotl chuckled. “I suppose you are my nemeses now seeing as our little adventurer slash author has met an untimely demise”

“Hey…” Rainbow Dash said, thinking for a moment. “Did you do something to her!?”

“As much as I would love to take credit, I am blameless. I haven’t the slightest idea what finally killed Daring Do, though I am infinitely curious, just as I’m sure you are.”

“Her name was Advent Kiosk Yearling.” Twilight spat. “Respect it.”

“Hm? Well yes, but I knew her by another name, and always will. It was the way we did things.” He chuckled. “It’s how I remember her…”

“You won’t get away with this!” Fluttershy yelled, struggling against the dogs.

Ahuizotl facepalmed with his tail. “Even I get tired of hearing that. Understand this - I have you all captured. I have this temple, and the artifact to do with as I please. I won’t be here much longer, so what can you do?”

“You sure you have all of us?” Pinkie said.

“Six Elements of Harmony and one dragon captured. I fail…” his eyes widened. “Crapbaskets.”

“Hi.” Starlight said, levitating behind him. Then she lit her horn with a brilliant blue light. “Bye.”

The resulting explosion sent Ahuizotl flying. He roared at the white Diamond Dogs. “I told you idiots to grab them all!”

“They did.” Starlight said. “I’m just that good at teleporting.”

Ahuizotl twitched. “Get her!!!”

A dozen dogs rose out of the ground, clawing at Starlight. She responded to this by teleporting away and having them bonk heads. “Ha! Idiots.”

“Starlight that’s not very nice!” Fluttershy called.

“They’re attacking us!” She retorted.

“That’s no reason to insult their intelligence which I’m sure is fine.”

“I… You… Uh…”

Ahuizotl grabbed Starlight with his tail. She grinned. “Oh you’re going to get it…”

He twisted his tail and threw her into an inactive column, denting it. “...Ow…” She said.

“There. Powerful though she may be, she is not enough to face me.” Ahuizotl laughed as Diamond Dogs captured the dazed Starlight.

Rainbow Dash got an idea. “Hey Fido.”

“Huh?” The dog holding her said. “How did you know my name?”

“Wha? I - I’m psychic. But that’s not important. You know what is? Do you boy?”

“No! Tell me!”

“Ahuizotl will give you a treat if you do a dance!”

“...Really?”

“Really.”

The idiotic Diamond Dog let go instantly and started dancing - Ahuizotl wasn’t even looking at him, instead gloating over Starlight. “Most powerful unicorn, unable to fight a bunch of dogs! Ha!”

“Wh… Wha… Is breakfast ready Spike?” She asked.

“I really outdid myself this time…” Ahuizotl chuckled. “Well, time to initiate my plans-”

Rainbow Dash flew right into him at high speeds, knocking him to the ground.

“Every… Stupid… Time…” He growled, standing back up. “You even hit like her.”

Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, shivering. “T-That’s r-right! Y-you can t-take that!”

“See, this is why you don’t fight in the snow without a coat. It just doesn’t work, hypothermia starts to set in on your poor wings, rendering them-”

She hit him again. “Stop-p t-talking!”

“How about… no?” He chuckled, snapping his fingers. When nothing happened he looked at the Dogs in annoyance. “That means squeeze harder fools!”

The dogs picked up the slack and started squeezing harder. This interrupted the spell Twilight was trying to stealth cast, making her cry out in pain as her delicate horn was squeezed. The other mares yelped as well, and Fluttershy started crying.

“You are about to discover why Daring Do usually worked alone. Let me do what I want or I will have them killed.”

Rainbow Dash paled, standing down, shivering.

“Good.” Ahuizotl said, glancing at the giant tear in reality with a smile. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

It was at that moment when everyone realized that there was a force coming from the portal - one that was pulling a lot of snow into the gaping hole. It was slowly getting stronger as a blue sphere neared from inside the other world.

“Hrm…” Ahuizotl said. “That is concerni-”

Then for no reason the force increased tenfold. Rainbow Dash, being in the air, was pulled right into the portal without so much as a moment to yell in surprise. The dented tower Starlight was next to started to crack as it was strained.

“Rainbow!” Twilight yelled, reaching for her friend with her magic, ignoring the Diamond Dog’s loosening grasp. She couldn’t see her friend anymore, her magic unable to locate the pegasus. The readings she did get from the portal were just confusing.

The Diamond Dogs chose that moment to get the heck out of dodge, burying themselves into the snowy ground to escape. This loosened everyone, forcing them to hold their footing against the force on their own.

Ahuizotl latched onto one of the pillars with his tail, gritting his teeth - he would not be sucked in!

Starlight levitated herself into the air, approaching the portal, but using all her might to avoid being sucked in entirely. “I need an anchor! Applejack! Lasso!”

“Why?” Applejack asked.

“Going in after Rainbow Dash! Hurry!”

Applejack nodded, planting her feet firmly in the ground. She readied her lasso and roped Starlight easily. Starlight took a few breaths before she pushed herself into the unknown.

While she did this, Twilight used her power to keep Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, and Pinkie rooted to their spots. Applejack would be able to handle herself - she was a steadfast mare.

Rarity looked at Ahuizotl, and the more she did so, the angrier she became. She looked down at the cup of cocoa she had brought. She levitated it into the air, heated it, and then threw it at Ahuizotl with a smirk. It splashed him on the head.

“...Was that supposed to do something, little pony?” He asked from his precarious position.

Rarity blinked.

“Rich. Absolutely - AAAA MY EYES!” He yelled, the cocoa scalding his eyes and shocking him into letting to of the column and shooting through the portal, missing Starlight by mere inches.

Starlight barely registered Ahuizotl’s presence - she was having trouble keeping herself afloat, the force pulling too hard on her. She gritted her teeth - she needed to find Rainbow Dash fast…

The blue sphere erupted in a flash of light. Starlight cried out at the burning light, but realized that with it gone there was no more overpowering force. She was just floating there without a problem.

“Huh.” She said. “All clear! Going in deeper!” She yelled back through the portal to her home world.

Twilight dropped her anchor spell, breathing heavily. “”Good. I was beginning to weaken there. ...What was that?”

Starlight poked around the other realm composed entirely of spheres. “This place seems to be nothing but gravity anomalies. I have no idea what the heck this place is.”

“Do you see Rainbow Dash?” Applejack yelled, poking her head in.

“Not yet. Wait…” She squinted her eyes. “She might be on that onyx sphere in the distance. I’ll try telep-”

A sphere made of limestone appeared to her right - it was only about the size of a bowling ball, but she felt its powerful pull, unable to resist the force pulling her head towards it. She howled in pain, trying to pull back as she felt her skull getting crushed against it.

At the temple, Applejack was suddenly ripped into the portal. “Woah nelly! Twi! Shut it off!”

“But you’ll be trapped!” She yelled, but there was no response. Applejack had already been hidden behind a new globe.

Without Twilight’s spell, Fluttershy quickly lost her footing, screaming as she sailed towards the portal.

Twilight felt the force coming from the other side increase once more, Rarity and Pinkie starting to lose their own footing. She heard one of the blue towers crack from the force.

She whimpered, finally trying to shut it off. She attempted to remove the Seven Sided Chest from the pedestal - but it was in pretty tight, refusing to dislodge. “Come on…” She muttered, twisting it.

When she rotated it, the scene through the tear changed from a realm of spheres to a giant forest glowing with a serene yellow light. The force stopped acting, though Fluttershy’s inertia still carried her in.

“Huh.” Fluttershy said. “This is nice…”

The mares and Spike all heard a sickening crack. The pillar Starlight had hit couldn’t take it anymore. Eons of sitting in this weather, getting beat up in a fight, and extreme forces were just too much. The ancient relic began to tip over, severing its connection with the ground.

“Fluttersh-” Rarity didn’t even get out the pegasus’ name before the portal just disappeared. There was no tear in reality, and there was little evidence such a thing had even existed in the deep snow in the first place, save from a few small spheres that were lying on the snow.

Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike just sat there, stunned, unable to fully comprehend what had just occurred.

The Seven Sided Chest of Chicomoztoc popped out of the podium’s slot.

A cold wind blew through the scene...

II - Divided We Stand

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Twilight lit her horn as bright as she could manage and yelled, tearing at the spot in reality the portal had been in moments before. Her purple aura tugged and stretched the space, warping the fabric of existence around her will. She reared back, pulling with all her might, cutting right through with a sickening rip that drove headaches into Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike.

She managed to tear a hole in reality eventually – but it led nowhere, a blackness devoid of anything that rapidly sucked in air from the snowy scene. Twilight closed it quickly. She subsequently stood there, staring, silent.

“Twilight…” Spike said, reaching out a hand.

“They’re gone. Sucked into Celestia knows where. And I brought them here…” She choked on her words. “…I should have just let this be…”

“Don’t be silly Twilight.” Pinkie said, picking up the Seven Sided Chest. “Ignoring a mystery is like receiving an invitation to a party and not going!”

“But-“

“No buts dear.” Rarity said. “While you may have rushed this, all of us agreed to come. There’s always danger in these outings, and we all know it. Now, chin up, and start thinking. How do we get our friends back?”

“How do we…” Twilight pondered this, looking up. “Ahuizotl might have known. He wouldn’t have been here without a reason.

Spike blinked. “Wait, wasn’t he sucked into the thing?”

“Yes.” Twilight said. “But he had to get here somehow. Maybe we can find some clues.” She glanced at the fallen pillar. “…Because frankly I don’t think I can fix that.”

The three mares and young dragon spread out, searching for any signs or clues. They mostly found snow, snow, more snow, and a shadow in the distance that was the Jove. It was really hard to see in the blinding whiteness – were it not for Rarity’s purple frills on her coat, she wouldn’t have been able to even see herself.

About three minutes into the search, Spike got an idea. He began breathing fire to melt the snow around him. He didn’t actually see much for the longest time, but he eventually came upon a large mound of snow a few yards from the temple. He would have missed it had his flames not exposed the wooden tip of something.

“Found a thing!” Spike called. Twilight teleported there in an instant, carefully watching Spike remove the excess snow. Pinkie was somehow already there and Rarity arrived shortly thereafter, the group working to delicately remove the frigid covering. In a matter of minutes they had uncovered a rather large dogsled, in which many coats were placed, wrapped with twine.

“…He had those poor dogs pull him all the way here didn’t he?” Rarity observed. “My…”

“That is pretty brutal, even for dogs.” Spike said.

Pinkie began sifting through the coats like it was Hearth's Warming Eve. “Loot! Loot! Loot! Loot!”

Twilight sighed. “What have you found Pinkie?”

“Let’s see… How to Use a Dogsled… Extra food… Candy canes… Mmmnamffmm…. A self portrait… And a journal.”

Twilight levitated the leather-bound book to herself while Pinkie continued enjoying the candy canes. Most of the book was filled with notes on the Aztrot civilization, the Seven Sided Chest, and a few pages showed diagrams of the temple they were at, labeling the two pillars the portal had formed between ‘the Gateway’

“Hrm…” She said, focusing as much as she could on Ahuizotl’s cryptic handwriting. Most of this was information she had already gleaned from Yearling’s study, but there was at least some new data here. Nothing about her or her friends – thank Celestia – but a lot of mentions of something called ‘The Realms.’

One line in particular stood out to her. They hide in the Realms and have the keys to what I seek… They will hide no longer! Twilight read it aloud.

“So… He was searching for somepony?” Rarity pondered.

“Someone.” Pinkie corrected. “Didn’t know if it was a pony.”

“Yes, well, someone with knowledge or power.”

“Or someone with an ancient artifact of unimaginable doom!” Spike shouted. “What? That’s how the Daring Do books went!”

“Her life was preeeeeeetty weird.” Pinkie noted.

Twilight frowned, continuing to flip through the book. “This doesn’t tell us how to re-open the portal – he was depending on us to put the Chest in. He had no idea who built this place or how it worked… He just knew it was what he needed. A portal to another world. A Realm.” The journal began to tremble in her magic. “So this is useless!”

“Not completely!” Rarity said. “We know more now. Perhaps we can find a way to open our own portals to these Realms – or bring a team in to fix this one. You are a princess Twilight, and this is probably important enough for you to exercise your privilege.”

Twilight looked at Rarity thoughtfully. “You’re right. I just… Feel really bad about all this is all.”

Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. “I already told you to stop that. Something like this was bound to happen eventually. We’re all worried and scared – wondering what, if anything, could have been done differently.”

“No use dwelling on the past!” Pinkie chimed in. “Focus on the present! It has gifts!”

Twilight nodded. “Of… Of course. Get them back. Spike, ready a letter to Princess Celestia.”

“This is going to be a nightmare to do in gloves…” He muttered, pulling out a quill and scroll from his pockets. “Okay, Ready.”

Twilight cleared her throat.

Dear Princess Celestia

Our venture into Yakyakistan has been met with tragedy. We opened up a tear in reality and were attacked by the being known as Ahuizotl. Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all sucked into the tear before the temple broke from our conflict, preventing us from moving to rescue them.

We need to get them back as soon as possible, the Realm we saw was not a calm place. I do not know what we need to do this, I am still in a state of shell shock, but I do know we need ponies. Scientists, engineers, wizards, workers. We need them to study this place, tear the temple apart looking for answers.

In addition, order every book on Aztrot mythology, relics, and culture you can. I expect it may not be as much help as I hope, but we must leave no stone unturned.

Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Friendship.

Twilight stopped speaking. “And send.”

Spike lit it on fire and it carried away in the breeze, a small puff of green smoke.

“And now we start tearing this place apart before anything even arrives. Pinkie, lets see if we can move the fallen pillar…”

~~~

Infinite spheres of all sizes and materials. The world was filled with them. They ranged from sizes too small to see to tremendous globes that dwarfed the largest of stars. There was no pattern or organization to the spheres – giving the entire realm a look of rainbow static, nothing but the random objects visible in all directions for eternity. In the distance, spheres spontaneously burst into flames, producing all the light the world had.

Without light coming in from the portal, the small amount of light that came from the distant spheres wasn’t much, giving the world a dark ambience that readily flickered. The Realm was colorful – but dulled most of the time, and violent at others.

The combustion of a sphere of purple wood caused Rainbow Dash to stir. She opened her eyes to see the burning globe closing in on the blue one she was laying upon. She yelped in surprise and scrambled out of the way – the fireball missing her by mere inches.

“The heck?” She yelled, disoriented. “Where am I?”

She had to think for a moment… She was sucked into that weird portal and… She didn’t remember much else after that. It was just a bunch of spheres and a headache…

Why was it darker than before?

She didn’t have time to ponder this, for Starlight fell out of the sky at that moment, landing a few meters away with a sickening thud. Rainbow Dash rushed over to her – only to recoil when she saw the unicorn. Half of her face was caved in, pieces of her skull were visible, and blood was pouring down her entire face. Her winter coat was fading, her magic no longer keeping it active.

Miraculously, her horn was still intact – and glowing faintly. A healing spell started to exert its power over her smashed skull, sliding chunks of bone back into place and resetting her jaw. She started screaming as soon as her mouth became functional again. Her skull popped back into shape with a sickening crunch, and her one swollen eye returned to normal.

She was still screaming in pain, even as she managed to stand back up.

“S-Starlight!”

“AAAAAAAAAH!” She yelled, slapping herself across the face. “Ah… Ah… Ah… ha…” She breathed in and out heavily, bringing herself to a calm mental state. “Okay… I’m fine now…” She shuddered. “Do not get crushed by the small ones…”

It was in this moment Applejack fell on top of Starlight, forcing her back onto the ground. “Ow.” Applejack muttered.

Starlight levitated Applejack off, standing back up. She was still somewhat shaky. “So… found Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash was still in shock from seeing her friend’s skull reform itself.

Applejack blinked. “You okay Rainbow?”

“My skull got crushed by a stray sphere.” Starlight said. “The healing process wasn’t… Pleasant. For either of us.”

“No kidding!” Rainbow Dash blurted.

“Well…” Applejack looked up. “We’re stuck here for now.”

Starlight nodded. “At least there’s breathable air here. And a lot of other things…” She looked at the spheres that went on for infinity. “…Okay, I’m going to say it. What is this place!?”

“Ball world.” Rainbow Dash offered.

“Ah’m of the mind that’s not a good name.” Applejack said.

“Why not?” Rainbow Dash said, indignant. “Balls are all there are here! Nothing but balls for miles around!”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Perhaps we should find out how to get out of here rather than argue about what to call it?”

“And how are we going to do that?”

“Well-“ Once again, an interruption occurred. The blue sphere they were standing on just vanished into thin air. They were adrift, drawn slightly towards a tiny brick ball. Otherwise there was no way to orient themselves, no force keeping them on a ground.

Rainbow Dash tried to fly elsewhere, but found that her wings didn’t do so well without a ground of some sort. She bumped into a cork sphere. “Ow. This sucks.”

Applejack glared. “You’re one to talk – you have wings. Ah’m just sitting here, getting dragged along by Starlight.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad.” Starlight said. “This way you don’t have to worry about random balls crushing you, I can keep you away from them!”

The cork ball took this moment to explode violently, singing their coats and ramming them into a newly formed sphere of mossy substance.

“Great job.” Applejack muttered.

Starlight ignored her. “So soft and green… Bliss… Bliss…”

“Get ahold of yourself!” Applejack yelled. ”This place is dangerous! We’ve got to be on guard!”

Starlight shook her head. “Right.” She tied herself to Rainbow Dash with a magic rope. “Take off your coat Applejack, it’s only gong to hinder you.”

Applejack nodded, doing what was asked, while Rainbow Dash tried to tighten the magic rope further.

Starlight smiled. “Alright! Now we won’t be separated!”

A sphere appeared right in the center of the magic rope, severing it cleanly. It then started belching fire in all directions. Starlight teleported all of them to a large, metallic sphere where gravity was half of what they were used to.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What the heck is this place?”

Starlight raised a shield, protecting them from a bullet-like sphere. “A very unstable place where matter and energy are in constant flux…”

“What?”

“Things explode and appear for little to no reason and things like gravity are arbitrary.” Starlight clarified.

At this remark, the gravity of the metal sphere increased tenfold, pressing the three mares to the ground.

Starlight yelled in frustration. “I can’t keep this up!” She teleported them to a pink bouncy ball. It cushioned them from the powerful gravity of the metallic sphere on the other side.

Applejack knew Starlight was telling the truth – she couldn’t keep them safe forever. Her power was being strained to its limit just to keep them alive, and she was going to be completely drained soon enough…

The gravity reversed, tossing them into the air towards a giant ball of fire. Starlight lit her horn, but had her focus broken by a stray concrete sphere that beaned her in the face. She could no longer stop their descent.

Rainbow Dash acted, grabbing the two of them in her hooves and flying away from the ball of fire, using it as the ‘ground’ in her frame of reference. Seconds later, the gravity abated and they were once again adrift. Starlight regained her focus at that moment. “…Thanks Rainbow. I…”

“We’ve got to look out for each other.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Incoming!” Applejack yelled. A red gelatinous sphere impacted the three of them, jiggling as it did so. There was no gravity coming from it, but it was sticky.

“Eech…” Starlight shuddered, removing herself from the depression she made. “Disgustiong…”

Rainbow Dash liked it. “Mm. Cherry.”

“Discord’d be right at home here…” Applejack observed.

“Most certainly.” Ahuizotl said. The three mares looked up in alarm, seeing the doglike being standing on an onyx globe a few yards above them. “He does seem like the sort of person who would enjoy this delicious randomness.”

“Ahuizotl!” Starlight yelled, firing a laser at him. “This is all your fault!”

Ahuizotl leapt to a cloud-like globe, the laser hitting the onyx sphere and vaporizing it. “Ah, yes, this most certainly is my fault. But allow me to point out that we are all stuck here and have our lives threatened.” He smirked. “Perhaps we should consider-“

Rainbow Dash launched at him and socked him right between the eyes. “That’s for threatening my friends!” She bucked him in midair. “That’s for trying to take over the world!” She roared, charging again. “And this is for Daring Do!”

Ahuizotl grabbed her with his tail. “You know, you are just as headstrong as her as well.”

“Let… Go!”

“No. How stupid do you think I am?”

“Pretty Stupid.” Applejack said, landing squarely on Ahuizotl’s head and smashing him into the cloudy ground.

He stood up slowly. “You fools! We will die if we don’t work together!”

Starlight froze him in a magic crystal, her face contorted in rage. “I will die before I work with you!”

Ahuizotl managed to shatter the crystal, revealing some impressive strength. “Fine the-“

Then the cloud sphere vanished and the four of them fell onto a globe made of slime.

“Augh!” Starlight yelled. “Why does it have to be sticky again?”

The others were just as stuck as she was, none of them able to move a significant amount.

“Maybe we should be paying attention to the scenery…” Applejack muttered.

“Oh ho ha.” Rainbow Dash said, struggling wildly. “I’m going to get you Ahuizotl!”

A bright light suddenly shone down on all of them – a burning sphere the size of a castle had appeared above them and was on a collision course.

“Fools!” Ahuizotl yelled. “You’ve doomed us all!”

Starlight lit her horn, preparing a teleport she wasn’t sure she had in her. She was very low on power and couldn’t see her friends very well…

Then something unexpected happened.

Somehow Rainbow Dash tore herself from the sticky ground – snapping it as if it were chalk – and flew into the air. She pushed her hooves forward, yelling. The flaming sphere started to move backwards the moment she made the motion, no longer in danger of crushing them.

“…What?” Applejack said. “Did I just see what a think I saw?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “…Did I do that?”

“You sure did.” Starlight said, staring. “I have no idea how though.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’m just that awesome.”

Starlight finally managed to free herself and float over to Ahuizotl. She glared at his stuck form.

“You need me.” He said.

“No, we don’t.” She summoned a pointed spear. “You’ve hurt so many. Letting you continue would be wrong-“

“What are you doing Starlight!?” Applejack yelled.

“Taking care of him!” She yelled back. “He’s been offered Redemption multiple times- I read those books! He denied it every time!”

“But we don’t do it this way!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Sombra?”

“That was regrettable.” Applejack said. “Ah wouldn’t do it again unless there was no other choice.”

Starlight twitched, getting the impression she wasn’t going to win this argument. “Then what are we going to do with him?”

Ahuizotl looked ready to speak, but Rainbow Dash took the moment to knock him out. “That.”

“Fine.” Starlight said. “But now he’s just another thing that’ll get in the way…”

The slime sphere burst into light, burning all four of them. They would have been goners in a matter of seconds, the intensity far too much for their bodies. But a streak of grey and red shot towards them in the nick of time. With a single motion, the sphere of light vanished, leaving three singed mares and Ahuizotl adrift.

Starlight healed herself again, dipping into the reserves of her power. She breathed heavily, beginning to heal her friends, growing more and more exhausted.

The streak flew into her sight.

It – he – was a grey Pegasus with a red and orange mane. His face was serious and his cutie mark was that of a red cube interlaced with a green sphere.

He spoke in a language none of them understood.

“Oh boy…” Starlight said, lighting her horn for another spell, filling them all with an 'air of translation.' She breathed heavily. “Can… You… Repeat that…?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing out here?”

“Lost.” Starlight said. “Got tossed into this place…” She blinked. “My gosh… How do you survive here…?”

“Who are you?” Applejack asked.

“I am Trekker.” He said. “I live in the nearby settlement.” He raised a wing, and an incoming sphere of tungsten was vaporized. “Come. We can talk where it’s safe for you.”

The mares glanced at each other, all nodding. Not like they had much of a choice.

~~~

Fluttershy was in midair, hovering.

She had been there for the last several minutes, slowly flapping her wings, otherwise motionless.

She was trapped here – here in this foresty area. She couldn’t see very far into it – all around there were dense branches with giant rustling leaves alit by a soft yellow glow that permeated the Realm from all directions. Left, right, forward, back – even up and down were all covered in trees – or perhaps, more accurately, one single tree. She couldn’t see the ground or the sky.

A small butterfly flew past her face – a blue species she wasn’t familiar with. It ignored her presence, moving on without a care in the world. Fluttershy watched it disappear behind a leaf, and once again everything was still.

She had to admit, there were worse places to be trapped. It was calm, peaceful, even pleasant here. Had she been in a happier mood, she probably would have explored the forest.

As it was, she just sat down on the nearest branch, waiting for her friends to reopen the portal. They wouldn’t just leave her here, after all. It’d be a bad idea to move, it’d make it hard for them to find her.

A long time passed – she didn’t know how long. She saw a few animals during her wait – mostly bugs, a snake that looked a lot like a vine, and a three-tailed squirrel. None of them paid her much mind, though the squirrel was spooked when she tried to talk to it.

She heard some birds tweet in the distance – a conversation about finding food and avoiding predators. Nothing unusual, though it confirmed that predators did exist. She’d have to make sure they knew who was boss if any showed up.

She heard a long, deep, droning noise in the distance – she had no idea what animal it was from, but it was the sound of a gentle giant who was a little bored.

Her stomach growled. She was getting hungry… How long had she been waiting here? Hours probably – though the yellow light hadn’t changed in intensity at all. Maybe this world had no night.

She heard a hiss to her left and whipped her head in that direction. A green snake with an orange head at either end was preparing to bite her, fangs ready.

“Stop that.” She ordered.

The double snake stopped instantly, clamping its mouths shut.

“Not very nice, sneaking up on somepony you’ve never met.” She said.

The heads apologized in unison.

“Thank you. From now on, only hunt what you need to, okay?”

It nodded slowly, heads down.

“Aw… don’t be like that. Here.” She hugged the snake, smiling. “Nopony got hurt, all is forgiven.”

One of the heads smiled. The other didn’t seem happy yet.

“Oh, well, I suppose if you really want to make it up to me you can tell me where I am.”

The heads glanced at each other before hissing.

“The Tree?” She looked around once more. “How big is the Tree?”

The snake hissed again.

“It contains everything?” Fluttershy looked into space – that was certainly something. Assuming the snake was right, the entire world was just one big tree filled with animals and life of all kinds…

“Have you seen any ponies? Like me?”

The question confused the snake. It couldn’t decide – there were creatures like her, but none that felt the same as her. And it didn’t remember the last time it had seen anything like her.

“Hm… Thank you, you two. You’ve helped me a whole lot, really, you have. You can go back to hunting now.” She turned away, staring into space, thinking.

“You’re still here.” She said, several minutes later.

It hissed.

“Fine, you can stay. I have to know what to call you though.”

The heads blinked – the concept of a name was foreign to the snake.

“Can I name you then?”

The heads nodded, not sure what exactly was being asked.

“Then… You are Lou and you are Roy. How’s that?”

Roy liked his name, but Lou wasn’t so sure about his. But they accepted the labels in the end, slithering onto Fluttershy’s back and draping themselves around her neck.

“Now now, no choking.” She said, smiling warmly. Her stomach rumbled. “I really am hungry… I don’t eat meat, know where to find some berries?”

Roy pointed his nose to the left, arcing over Fluttershy’s head. She nodded, spreading her wings and fluttering in that direction. The very next clearing had a berry bush growing out of one of the many branches. The bush in question was filled with white and blue berries. She munched them eagerly, enjoying he minty taste of them... “Pinkie Pie would love these…”

She became sad suddenly. It had been hours – her friends were having difficulty getting to her. While they wouldn’t stop trying, they might have to work for days – weeks even – before they could get to her.

She’d have to live here until then…

While not horrible it would be incredibly lonely…

Lou and Roy nuzzled her – they didn’t know why she was sad but they knew she was. She smiled. Animals were almost always nice. Maybe they weren’t as deep or complex as ponies, but that was why she liked them.

So full of life…

She heard something rustle to her left, setting Lou and Roy on edge. She whipped her head that direction to see something long, black, and huge slithering around them. It was oily, leaving inky splotches on the leaves it touched.

Fluttershy began to shake – that was a huge creature, and it didn’t feel like a nice one.

Suddenly its front shot out of nowhere, revealing it to be a giant worm with many teeth in circular rows. Lou and Roy hissed in panic, and Fluttershy only had the briefest of moments to do anything. So she faced the beast directly and gave it the Stare.

Several things happened at once.

The creature stopped charging.

Its teeth retracted into its mouth.

A strange thing appeared between Fluttershy and the worm – a silvery urchin shaped creature, metallic and slightly smaller than a pony. It floated there, shifting its spikes around as if it were made of a liquid, yet never losing its hard metallic appearance.

The worm fled the moment it saw the urchin creature, yelling in fear.

Fluttershy looked carefully at the spiky thing, unsure of what to do. It had scared off that worm but it hadn’t done anything else…

Five long, winding threads shot out of the thing, wrapping together with each other and forming a single limb. The new limb rotated around for a while, always connected to the main body, but seeming to move independent of it.

“H-Hello?” She said.

It stopped moving the arm. “Oh! Sorry.” It spoke, stopping for a moment. Its voice was male, but didn’t sound right – there was a droning to it, the pitch was odd, and the syllables didn’t seem natural. “I had forgotten about speaking… Haven’t for ages.”

He used his limb to point at himself. “I’m Sperion. How have you managed to get into the Realm of Life, little pegasus?”

III - Settlement

View Online

The cold wind continued to blow more and more snow into the temple grounds. Twilight had realized long ago that attempting to clear the snow itself was a fruitless endeavor, doomed to be undone faster than it was accomplished. Instead, she was examining the place where the pillar had broken off. What was inside the lapis column amazed her – there were wires of magical crystal inside, laced in patterns far too complex for her to understand – she suspected some were even too small for her to see. She had determined the purpose of the pillar early on: draw tremendous quantities of vis from the surroundings in a particular way, and pump it all into the Gateway pillars.

The problem she had run into was that a simple mend spell wouldn’t work – she didn’t have all the pieces, since some of it had crumbled into dust. Such a spell cast without all the pieces would just guess what went in the empty spots, and with something this complex it was pointless.

She had tried reaffixing the column three separate times despite this. She made sure to undo the spell every time it failed to work, and lifting the tremendous column burned huge quantities of her energy. She ended up lying in the snow, exhausted. To put icing on the cake, they were losing light by which to work. It would be night in under an hour.

“Twilight…” Spike said. “You need to take a break. Let’s go to the Jove and sleep.”

“I can’t Spike! Every moment I wait something could happen to our friends! They could move further away! They could get hurt! They could… They could…” She started crying. “Spike, what have I done?”

“No, don’t do that.” He said. “You are Princess Twilight Sparkle, and you know your friends don’t want you blaming yourself! They want you on top of your game and ready to take on anything!”

“I… I know you’re right Spike.” She sniffed. “But I don’t know what to do… I feel helpless…”

“Wait for the team Celestia’s sending. Until then, you can go check in on Rarity, then maybe go to sleep.”

“That’s… a good idea Spike.” She picked herself up, and shook the snow off her coat. She trotted over to the table Rarity had set up – upon it was a lot of snow, dozens of empty cocoa cups, and a pile of a dozen or so spheres made out of seemingly random materials.

Rarity had a golf-ball sized globe of pure diamond in her telekinesis right now. “So sparkling… So wonderful! I’m going to turn you into a necklace!”

Twilight sighed. “Not now Rarity, we have to know what these things are before we start messing with them.”

“Well, I can confirm that your scans were right. They are perfect spheres made out of a uniform material – even when the material shouldn’t be uniform. See this?” She said, lifting up a green one. “Moss. Or, rather, the components of moss smashed up in a blender and arranged into a perfectly round shape.”

“None of them have changed since you’ve gathered them?”

“None I would have noticed. Maybe they just don’t change outside their world?”

“Maybe…” Twilight said, frowning. “It’ll require more research.”

Pinkie appeared, setting a tray of four cocoa cups on the table. “Back! Also found a radio in the Jove’s trunk!” She tossed the brown box onto the table and turned it on. The static-corrupted sound of Yak music came out of the speaker.

Rarity winced at the powerful thundering beats. “Er… Better than nothing I suppose”

Spike walked over and took a swig of cocoa. “Well, look at all these balls we have. Who wants to play marbles?”

“Spike, I’m not sure now’s the time…” Rarity said.

Pinkie shook her head. “Nah, we aren’t doing anything more right now anyway. It’s a perfect time! Might as well set it up.”

“No using the spheres as marbles!” Twilight twitched. “We’re studying them.”

Spike raised his hands in surrender. “O-Okay… Pinkie, got some marbles in your mane?”

“Do I ever!”

As the two of them set up the poorly planned idea of snow marbles, Twilight scrunched her muzzle, trying to fight back the biting cold.

Pinkie was just about ready to shoot a marble when she frowned. “Does anyone hear that thrumming?”

“That’s the ‘music’ dear.” Rarity said.

“No, the thrumming’s coming from above us.” Pinkie said, gesturing.

A dark form appeared in the skies where Pinkie was pointing, casting a dark shadow over them. The form moved past them, descending to a point where they could see it – a dull golden airship with the mark of Celestia imprinted on it. The cabin was large, metallic, and covered in military markings. The front hatch popped open, and a dozen royal guards in winter armor walked out in formation, alongside no small number of construction and scientist ponies.

“They’re here!” Twilight teleported over to them. “Okay, we’ve got a lot of snow to uncover. Who’s in charge of this expedition?”

“That’d be me.” A red and orange unicorn said, stepping into the light. She wore no coat and her cutie mark was that of a raging sun. The snow evaporated as it touched her.

“Sunset?” Twilight blinked. “How…? Why…?”

Sunset smirked. “Good to see you too. And good to be back as well. Anyway, to answer your questions, after you sent the message to Celestia she knew you’d have a snow problem, and since she couldn’t come herself, she contacted me.”

“What can you do about snow?” Twilight asked.

“My specialty was fire magic Twilight. Think about it.” She cleared her throat loudly, and looked behind Twilight. “CLEAR THE PREMISES!”

Twilight teleported her friends and the table right next to her. “Done.”

“Then stand back everypony…” Sunset said. “It’s about to get hot out here.” She paused for a moment, and then grinned. “Gosh, it feels good to be able to do this again.”

Pinkie wisely chose this moment to put on sunglasses.

Sunset shifted her head and a gigantic fireball appeared above the central pedestal, shining down with the power of a sun. The brilliance made all but Pinkie, Twilight, and Sunset look away in pain. The snow around the temple began to steam, wafts of vapor trailing into the air, creating a powerful current of warm air.

Twilight clapped. “That’s amazing Sunset! At this rate it’ll only take a few minutes!”

“Seconds.” Sunset corrected, adjusting her horn again. The miniature sun shot out a tremendous laser of fire that vaporized the snow in a large area instantly, cutting a circular path through the accumulation in a second, taking only six more cycles to completely uncover the blue temple.

The temple was a lot taller than any of them had previously thought – the columns had only been two thirds visible, and the pedestal had been raised well over a story off the ground. The ground itself was a smooth blue heptagon shape upon which everything stood. Beneath the two pillars that had housed the portal, several spheres that Rarity had missed in her search stood, mostly unharmed.

Twilight noticed runes in the bottom step of the seven-sided staircase that led up to the pedestal. It wasn’t Aztrot – it was something she had never seen before.

Despite herself, she grinned.

It was time to actually begin the study of this place.

~~~

Trekker was not a pony who answered questions, Starlight noted with immense annoyance. Nor did he talk much at all, beyond ‘don’t do that’ and ‘stop being stupid.’

He had just spread his hooves and created a smooth disc out of the air. She asked how he did it. He sad ‘the Power’ and refused to make any further comments.

When she asked how he got the disc to move, he said the same thing. Apparently it was the reason for every damn thing he could do – cancel unwanted gravity, blow spheres away with a look, and change the shape of whatever he wanted.

She got no explanation whatsoever for why the world seemed to be his to control.

“You’re pretty awesome with this Power stuff.” Rainbow Dash commented. Trekker made no response, instead focusing on moving the disc they were standing on top of through the world, destroying spheres in front of them with little to no effort.

Applejack and Starlight exchanged glances – they really didn’t trust this stallion. But he was effortlessly keeping them safe from the dangers of this world, so they didn’t really have much choice. He was a guide who refused to elaborate on anything.

Ahuizotl began to stir from his slumber. Starlight wasn’t having any of that, casting yet another sleep spell on him. She still thought he needed to be dealt with, but her friends objected, so she was refraining for now. But she would never take her eyes off him. He was not going to slip away.

They rode on in silence for several more minutes, until at last Trekker spoke of his own volition.

“There it is.”

Starlight looked ahead – and saw something that wasn’t a sphere. It was a well-lit structure composed of wood, glass, stone, and other materials arranged in a house-like formation that spread out in every possible direction. It was huge – Starlight estimated it could house ten thousand ponies – and it was shifting before her eyes, moving a section to the left, folding an entire tower upwards, expanding a hall… It never stopped the constant ever-changing motion. Ponies could be seen walking and flying around it – and every sphere that approached the structure vanished a few meters from contact.

“Woah…” Rainbow Dash said. “What’s it called?”

“New Mareu.” Trekker responded.

“Finally a legitimate answer…” Starlight muttered.

The disc carried them into New Mareu, passing several ponies on the way. Most treated the sight of the disc as something normal, but a few paused to look at them curiously. Rainbow Dash looked back, watching the citizens of this unusual city. She saw ponies conjuring things and shapes out of thin air, installing doors in walls they felt like walking through, and walking on the ceilings – or were they walls? It was all a little mind-bending, but she found it absolutely fascinating.

“So awesome…” She said.

The disc landed inside New Mareu, on a circular wooden outcropping. Trekker made it vanish with a stamp of his hoof; his four passengers dropped a few feet to the ground. He gestured for them to follow, creating a doorway in a nearby wall.

Starlight lifted up the prone form of Ahuizotl, and they followed Trekker. They ran into a few ponies on the way – a few greeting Trekker, a few looking at Ahuizotl in confusion, but most left the group alone. Some even shot Trekker wary looks before scampering off. It was as if they knew to give Trekker some space and not ask him questions.

After a few minutes of walking through mazelike halls, rooms, walls, and balconies, they finally came to a strange place composed of ancient stone, upon which was engraved words in a language Rainbow Dash recognized.

“Aztrot!” She said. “Those are Aztrot glyphs!”

Trekker raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, continuing on.

“Do you know what it says?” Applejack asked.

“Er… No. Twilight would though.”

“I would very much like to meet this Twilight.” A new voice said – that of a unicorn mare. She stood in the center of the ancient seven-sided room they had entered, her sleek green form draped over a chair in the center. Her eyes matched her coat, and her mane was a brilliant, almost luminescent, white that contrasted deeply with the red sphere that was her cutie mark. She looked at all of them intently, face betraying nothing more than curiosity, before she looked back at the thousands of ancient words that lined the walls of the room. All were in Aztrot, and they seemed to scream out to the world that they were important beyond measure.

Starlight blinked. “Twilight? We’re… separated from her, sorry.”

The mare nodded. “Figured as much, judging from your tone earlier. I am Overglobe, welcome to New Mareu.” She folded her hooves and let a slight smile come to her face. “You no longer have to be afraid. You are among friends. New Mareu is safe from the chaos of the rest of our Realm.”

“That’s mighty kind of you.” Applejack said.

“It’s just what we do.” Overglobe stated. “Though you seem… different than most others we’ve found out there. You look surprised at everything. Shellshocked.”

“Yeah, see, we’re kinda not from around here.” Rainbow Dash said. “Where we come from giant spheres don’t constantly try to kill you and ponies can’t just make things appear out of thin air!”

Overglobe frowned. “That… sounds wonderful. I presume you’re trapped here?”

“Yes.” Starlight said. “This guy here – Ahuizotl – interrupted us when we activated a portal between our worlds. WE don’t have a way back right now, at last until someone figures out how to reestablish the connection.”

Overglobe nodded. “First, let me make it clear, you are free to stay here as long as you want, we won’t change our policies just because you are unusual.” She glanced at Ahuizotl again, furrowing her brow, as if she was not sure what to make of him. “Please, introduce yourselves and tell me your story.”

They did so – Starlight and Rainbow Dash doing most of the talking, Applejack making sure they didn’t exaggerate anything too much. Overglobe said almost nothing while they told their story, nodding and pondering what was being said.

“…And then we were led here.” Starlight finished.

“You’ve had quite the ordeal.” Overglobe observed. “Your world sounds so… serene. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be torn form that to this place.”

“You don’t know the half of it…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Mmm.” Overglobe nodded. “Can you wake Ahuizotl up? I wish to hear his side of the story.”

“I can…” Starlight paused. “But are you sure you want that?”

“I can take care of myself.” She said. “Do it.”

Starlight grimaced slightly, but lit her horn anyway. Oveglobe stared at the magic spell in fascination, but said nothing. She redirected her gaze at the waking form of Ahuizotl. “What do you want Ahuizotl?” She asked.

He stood up and rubbed his eyes, yawning. “Well, I see we’ve found the locals. Of course they won’t trust me now, shame. Would have made things so much easier.” He looked at Overglobe. “I am simply looking for the sage known as Meadowbrook.”

“No idea,” Overglobe responded.

“Why are you looking for her? She’s long dead!” Starlight said.

“Oh, but you see little pony, that’s where you’re wrong. She unlocked the secret to eternal life, and then vanished. I’m sure she fled into the Realms to hide her discovery. Use that tiny brain of yours to figure out what I want.”

“Immortality…?” Applejack said. “Really? Aren’t there other ways?”

“This is not my first attempt.” He deadpanned.

Starlight nodded. “Yeah, haven’t you read the books Applejack?”

Applejack looked sheepish. “Ah... No?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “She’s not a big reader.”

“You weren’t either, at first.” Applejack reminded her.

“Well… Yeah fair enough.”

Overglobe seemed mildly intrigued by this exchange, but said nothing about it. “Well we will allow Ahuizotl to remain here, but he will be watched, as will all of you. If you prove yourselves to be harmful we will eject you, but I find that unlikely from what I’ve seen here” She looked at Starlight. “Is his race common where you come from?”

“He’s the only one I’m aware of.” Starlight said. “Though there are lots of other non-ponies in our world.”

Overglobe nodded. “Trekker, what do you make of them?”

“The dog is unusual, pathetically weak in the Power. The unicorn and earth pony have above average levels, though they’ve obviously never used it. The Pegasus has the highest presence of the Power I’ve ever felt.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Is… that good?”

Overglobe smirked slightly. “It is for living here. The Power is what we use to survive here – without the guardians like Trekker here New Mareu and any of the other settlements would just fall apart in a few seconds. The globes are just too violent and unpredictable for anyone to survive otherwise.“

“Ah. That explains a lot.” Starlight said.

“I’m sure it does. The Power allows us to manipulate matter and energy itself – we can change the composition and shape of anything, which is how we make things out of air itself. We can control an object’s temperature, can change the force of gravity itself, manipulate magnets and light, and convert matter directly into energy.”

Starlight realized something in that moment. ”Hey, wait a minute. That’s exactly what the globes are doing outside. Matter, energy, and forces – all being manipulated haphazardly!”

“I understand that it is very different where you come from.” he said. “I do not know if the power exists there… But you have it here.” She turned to Trekker. “Are you willing to show them some basics so they can get around here?”

“Fine.” He said. “I will show them. Not the dog though. Too weak.”

Ahuizotl shrugged. “My resources have always been more mental and charismatic, my fine Pegasus. I am not devastated that I will not be taught how to survive here by your obviously experienced and battle-hardened self, and will instead be content with meditating on the mysteries of this place.” He smirked.

Overglobe raised an eyebrow at him. “Feisty.”

Ahuizotl didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Come with me.” Trekker said. “We will practice just outside.”

Leaving Ahuizotl with Overglobe, Trekker led the three mares to a flat room. Starlight felt nervous about not being able to keep an eye on Ahuizotl, but Overglobe looked able to watch herself – and she probably had that Power up her sleeve as well.

“Lesson one.” Trekker said suddenly, spreading his wings.

“Wait, we’re starting?” Starlight said. “No dimension theory, no ex-“

“Gravity.” He said, flapping his wings and quadrupling the gravity in the room. Starlight and Applejack crumpled instantly. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, keeping her footing. She grinned at Trekker. “That all you got?”

He flapped his wings again, doubling the force. Rainbow Dash flattened like a pancake while her friends roared out in rage at her arrogance.

“The lesson is over when you stand up.” He said.

Starlight lit her horn, lifting herself up – and the gravity increased again.

“No horn.” Trekker glared at her. “The Power needs no tricks.”

Starlight groaned. This was going to suck…

~~~

Fluttershy had determined that Sperion was an excellent listener, sitting completely quiet while she told her story. He didn’t ask questions, moved his center in a nodding motion when appropriate, and didn’t seem to look anywhere else the entire time. Though he didn’t have any eyes, so it was somewhat difficult to tell what he was actually looking at, if anything.

“…And then the worm thing attacked and you saved me.”

Sperion shook his center. “Actually, I only scared it away. You were the one who stopped it.”

“Oh?” She said. “So the Stare worked?”

“Definitely.” Sperion floated into the air and pointed at her with his limb. “It’s how I found you – you were giving off such a powerful signal that I had to come instantly just to see what it was.”

“Me? Oh no, I don’t have any sort of power…”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Sperion said. “I can feel the strength inside you – you are connected to the very essence of this Realm, to life itself.”

“Oh. …That’s nice.”

“You have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Yeah…”

Sperion chuckled - a strange artificial and flat sound. “You have the inflection of life, that means you can manipulate biology; you can control muscles, make animals like you, and incite growth in living beings. Like this.” He touched his limb to a trunk, and a small branch grew out of it into the air.

“Woah…”Fluttershy said.

“The essence of life offers much more than just that,” Sperion said. “With skill you can alter your own body – something I sadly cannot do – and even create life itself!”

“Create… life?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“Like this.” He said, plucking a piece of bark from the tree. “Hard to find nonliving material in this realm, but bark is close enough.” He tossed it into the air, and the piece of bark opened up a pair of brown scratchy wings, flying away.”

Fluttershy stared at the place it had been moments before. “Uh… Will it be okay?”

“Unless a predator finds it, yes. I made sure to give it a mouth to eat with.”

Fluttershy looked at Lou and Roy. “And you say I can do that? That the Stare is… part of it?”

‘You have the strongest inflection of life I’ve ever seen; of course you can. Here, try making this leaf grow. It’s possible to-“

Fluttershy Stared at the leaf and it grew tenfold in under a second.

Sperion was silent for a moment.

“Did I do okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“…Excellent. You know most have to make some sort of physical motion or gesture to use their inflection. And even then most still need training. You really are amazing.”

“Oh. Um… Thank you.” She blushed.

“Anyway…” Sperion waved his limb around to initiate a topic change. “You say you arrived here through an ancient portal in your world?”

“Mhm.”

“And you have no idea how to get back?”

Fluttershy drooped. “No… I’m stuck here until they come for me. And it looks like it might be a while.”

“Don’t worry about yourself.” Sperion said. “You have the power to survive and thrive here.” He made a sighing noise – just as artificial and scratchy as every other noise he’d made. “I was hoping you knew how to travel the Realms…”

“You’re stuck too?”

“In a way. I rather like this Realm – it’s more peaceful than the others – but I have this ‘curse’ on me that makes me change Realms every couple dozen hours.”

“You can’t stop anywhere? That’s horrible!”

“Yeah, it is. Even though I’m used to it by now I’d like to stay somewhere awhile again… Or at least control where I’m going.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Do… Do you want to go to my world?”

“No. Your world is not for me.” He turned, Fluttershy getting the impression he was staring far into the distance.

“…Do you go to the place with the spheres?”

“The Realm of Power? Yes, why?”

“That’s where my friends are stuck.”

Sperion thought about this closely for the first time. “…I hope they found a settlement quickly, the Realm of Power is rather brutal.”

Fluttershy winced. “Can you go check on them? You will be taken there eventually right? Their names are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer.”

“I’d be glad to, Fluttershy.” Sperion said, turning slightly. “But until I shift, we should make you a place to live. A cabin.”

“Do I have to Stare at the poor tree? I don’t want to force it…”

Sperion laughed. “You really are precious, you know that? You have a power – you shouldn’t be afraid to use it.” He touched his limb to a branch, and it began to grow dozens of branches out the side, forming a platform. Vines climbed upwards, creating walls, and a bunch of smaller branches clung together at the top of the growing enclosure, making a leafy roof.

“There, a single-room cabin. That should get you started. Alas, I am about to be swept away.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Thank you for your help mister Sperion. How long till you get back?”

“Seven jumps. It will be a while.” He said. “But I will return to you – just use that Stare from time to time. Don’t be afraid of it!”

“Okay.” Fluttershy agreed. “Bye for now!”

He was already gone, vanishing without so much as a flash of energy.

Fluttershy walked into the cabin, taking Roy and Lou off her neck. “I’m going to sleep for a while, okay? If anypony shows up you can wake me.”

They nodded.

Fluttershy curled up on the leafy floor and quickly fell asleep, dreaming of her friends… and Sperion.

IV - Passing Moments

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Twilight once again woke up to the frigid feel of Yakyakistan air blowing through the flap of her thermal tent. The thing had never managed to stay closed an entire night, despite her best efforts. With a groan, she conjured up her winter garb and stepped outside, careful to close the tent flap so Spike could continue sleeping.

The night sky was brilliant – the stars flickered their light down on the snow, and the Aurora was at full strength, dancing across the sky towards the horizon. Not as brilliant as the lights at the north pole, but the magnetic phenomenon was still breathtaking to behold.

She walked in the multicolored light, trudging through the deep snow, taking the view in as she went. It was beautiful, serene, almost perfect…. Would be perfect, if there was not one blemish on the snowy horizon, made of six blue pillars standing tall, a reminder that her friends were still gone. Had been gone for almost an entire week.

Twilight teleported herself to the temple, the area kept free of snow by a dozen mini-suns kept in place by Sunset’s magic. Their warmth was welcoming, though their dimming was a reminder that they’d just need to be recreated come morning. Which was in an hour or two, she judged from the stars’ positions.

She walked over to the tables covered in artifacts – all of which were either more spheres or Aztrot relics that didn’t match the design of the temple whatsoever. It was as if the Aztrot had just found this place and made it their own.

Which brought up the question of who built the temple and how? It was more advanced than anything anypony – or yak – had ever seen! It was decades, perhaps even centuries, more advanced than anything they had at their disposal!

How?

She combed through the artifacts again – all Aztrot living implements, things found at all the ancient sites all over the world. Though they were strangely far north, which raised a few questions, but the Aztrot were known for spreading over large distances. However, they usually kept records – and little to none were found at this site. There was no evidence that there had even been an archive building anywhere near the temple, and all Aztrot communities had a record hall. Plenty of regular building space had been uncovered, just adding to the mystery.

She shook her head. It was an ancient puzzle and the lives of her friends hinged on it. They’d had no luck whatsoever in repairing the temple, the pillar never reaffixing correctly, the wiring just too complex for any of them to figure out. The closest anypony had gotten was making the pillars spark violently, nothing more.

She walked to the central podium, looking intently at the heptagon-shaped hole. She growled. “Why? What’s the point?”

“You probably don’t want the answer to that question.”

Twilight yelped in surprise, taking a few moments to realize whom it was. “Pinkie!? You scared me!”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” She smirked. “Saw you awake. Thought you could use some company.”

“Thanks.” Twilight said. “I’m just… It’s hard. I don’t even know if they’re still alive.”

“They’re our friends Twilight! Do you think they’d ever give up?”

“No…”

“Then don’t lose your faith! We’ll open a portal and find our friends!”

Twilight sighed. “At this rate, that may take months, even years. The best mages cannot figure out how the portal was activated… We can’t fix it… And the Aztrot aren’t here to be answer questions!”

“Twilight.” Pinkie said. “We’ll figure it out. We just have to stay determined.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “You’re right Pinkie. I… I know that. Still hard, but thank you.”

“It’s what I do.”

The two mares sat, looking at the sky in silence for some time. Eventually, the sun rose, blanketing the snowy landscape in brilliant beams of sunlight. The team began to wake up, tent flaps opening by the dozen. Ponies and yaks once again started studying the temple, discussing amongst themselves what they thought of during the night, and all in all working together as a good, functional team. It made Twilight smile – Yaks and ponies didn’t usually get along well, but here they were, trying to solve an ancient mystery together.

Rarity trotted up to Twilight and Pinkie, yawning. “What are you two doing up so early?”

“Talking.” Twilight said, looking at Rarity. “You sure you don’t need to go back to your boutique?”

“Darling, wouldn’t dream of it. I’m sure it’s running just fine without me – it’s not like Ponyville needs a lot of clothing. Though I do feel sorry for Coco, poor thing is overworked as it is.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course. Pinkie, you don’t have to-“

“I’ve missed two birthdays. But… This is more important.”

Twilight beamed. “Thank you girls. You are all that’s holding me together right now.”

“Same…” Rarity admitted.

The three hoofbumped and set to another day of work. Rarity went to the table to organize artifacts, cataloguing every trait she could think of. Twilight met up with the mages and scientists to discuss theory while Pinkie went around with a tray of warm baked goods on her head for everyone to take as they wished.

Sunset stood atop one of the pillars, looking down at the bundled up ponies and furry yaks below. She frowned. There wasn’t much progress here. They had learned a few interesting things on the first two days, but beyond that… Nothing much had turned up. They still hadn’t translated the writing on the steps, nobody had even the slightest idea where to start with it. They were sitting in this snowy place, freezing to death, finding nothing new…

The mini-suns went out, Sunset re-casting them over the course of the next fifteen minutes, using a lot of her energy in the process. Breathing heavy, she leapt off the pillar.

Back in Twilight’s tent, Spike woke up with a powerful belch. A letter appeared in his hand, addressed to Twilight. He quickly realized that it was day, running out in a mild panic. “Twilight! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You needed your sleep.” She said, a smirk on her face. “What do you have there?”

Spike handed it to her, and she read diligently.

Twilight,

We found the following image under a bookshelf in Yearling’s vault. Considering where you are, we thought it best to send it to you.

-Moondancer.

Affixed to the letter was a photo – dirty, colorless, and faded, but still decipherable. It depicted a vast, sprawling desert with a few cacti here and there. A temple composed of seven identical pillars stood atop the sands, their height basking the desert in shadow.

“Another temple…?”

~~~

“Don’t worry Mistletoe, it’ll all be ok!”

“Just try not to focus on the pain!”

Mistletoe cried, holding her broken leg. Her parents glanced to each other, trying to balance her on a disc and move her as fast as possible through the halls of New Mareu. It was a tricky proposition, but they managed to rush through the chaos, creating doorway after doorway in a rush to get their filly to the right mare.

They slid her into a perfectly cubical room fashioned out of a purple crystal. They paid no attention to the books, scrolls, and magic crystals littered around, caring only to find the mare that lived here.

“Starlight!”

“Hm?” Starlight said, looking up from her book. “Oh.” She said, seeing the filly’s broken leg. “Let me fix that…” She trotted over to the whimpering filly, casting a mending spell on the broken leg. Mistletoe screamed in pain the moment the bone snapped into position. The pain ceased immediately after that.

“There you go, good as new.” Starlight said. “How did you ponies survive without me?”

Mistletoe’s parents thanked Starlight profusely, creating flowers from the air for her. “Thanks?” Starlight said, taking them in her telekinesis. “You really didn’t have to…”

“You saved our daughter.”

“Broken legs will heal eventually.” Starlight said. “But thanks anyway.”

They left shortly thereafter. Starlight chucked the flowers in the ever-growing pile of gifts she had received ever since the Ponies of New Mareu had discovered magic spells could heal all the injuries they kept getting. Using the Power to shape biological tissue had never gone well, and doing such a thing outside of a life-threatening emergency was banned in any case. Starlight had discovered first-hoof why the practice was considered diabolical, for she had been given a stallion to heal yesterday who’d had the Power used on him. It had been one of the most horrifying things she had ever seen, his mouth on the side of his head, while his tail was embedded into his leg, blood vessels flowing along the outside.

She had managed to help him, but he left with a faraway look in his eyes. She knew she would never forget those eyes…

Starlight turned back to her book - a New Mareu history book from the library, one of the rooms where using the Power wasn’t allowed since the objects within couldn’t be recreated. Starlight was let in regularly and allowed to borrow books since she had never been able to tap into the Power effectively – she did manage to eventually stand up hours after Applejack and Rainbow Dash that first day, but could hardly do anything beyond that.

No, instead, she was a new sort of guardian for New Maeru. None of the unicorns could craft spells of any kind – save Overglobe, and Starlight had to teach her. As a result, Starlight was unique, the only mage the ponies of New Mareu had, filling a hole their guardians couldn’t. So what if she had stopped training with Trekker? The ponies still loved her, and she was useful.

Plus, she didn’t like Trekker very much.

Starlight put down the book, sighing. Who was she kidding; her inability to use the Power bothered her. She had a latent inflection on the level of Applejack, and yet the earth pony was already making doors in walls, and all Starlight could do was keep from dying when a bowling ball was thrown at her head.

She frowned, deciding she should go take a walk. That almost always meant getting lost in New Maeru, but she had discovered that sometimes it was good to be lost in a safe place. She marched out of her private room and began her walk. A few ponies waved to her as she passed by, letting her know she was becoming part of the community. It was a nice feeling, she had to admit. A bit like how she felt when she moved to Ponyville, now that she thought about it.

A wave of sadness hit her and she drooped. She was trapped here – maybe forever – likely never to see any of her friends again. Trixie, Twilight, Pinkie, Discord, Thorax, Sunburst…

She shook her head – Twilight was probably hard at work fixing the portal. There was no reason to be worried about them; they were safe. Starlight, Rainbow, and Applejack were the ones in danger.

Starlight hoped they weren’t presumed dead.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she bumped into something large and furry.

“Ahuizotl.” She glared.

“Ah, fancy meeting you here.” He chuckled. “Last I knew you were on medic duty, staying where everypony could find you.”

“I can take walks. And breaks.” She said. She recognized where they stood, the grand hall outside Overglobe’s office. “Talking to Overglobe again are we?”

Ahuizotl grinned. “Jealous?”

“Suspicious.”

“Ah well, such is as it will be. You continue thinking what you think while I get what I want.”

Starlight bristled. “You want too much.”

“And yet, try as you might, you don’t see how I plan to get it or how to stop me.” He chuckled. “You’re cute when you're angry.”

Starlight twitched. “I am going to grill you one of these days.”

“You are welcome to try. Until next time, Starlight Glimmer.” He bounded off, a piece of parchment in his hand.

Starlight groaned – she hated him and his hammyness. She poked her head through the doors. “Overglobe?”

“Yes?” She said, looking at the writings on the walls.

“You do realize he’s selfish and cares only for himself right?”

“Oh definitely, he makes no attempt to hide his self-centeredness.” Overglobe tore her gaze away from the writings and stared Starlight right in the eye. “It’s just that right now being my ally is a good thing for him.”

Starlight sighed. “He will backstab you.”

“Not if I do it first.”

Starlight took a step back. “…Wow. You’re good at this.”

“There’s a reason I’m in charge.” She said, rubbing her hoof over the ancient inscriptions. “So much history here…”

“Has he been useful in the translations?”

“Extremely so. But nothing new today, just more of the same. Our ancestors found the temples, believed them to be gifts from the gods, and migrated much of their population through the portal to the Realms.” She shook her head. “Nothing but legends beyond that. Take this one for instance.” She cleared her throat.

Once the world was in turmoil. Demons ran free and peace was unknown. Everypony lived in fear of their lives, hundreds dying daily.

The world was about to end.

But heroes rose from the ashes, an alicorn, two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns banded together. Using their impressive powers and knowledge of the Realms they banished all the Demons and paved the way for our society to form. The Seven passed to us one of their god-given blessings, a Seven-Sided Chest. Our king watched over it his entire life, using it to remind all of the day Demons used to rule the earth.

As for the Seven, none know exactly what happened to them. Many think they went to live normal lives, while others suggest they undertook adventures in far away lands. It is prophesied that one day, seven more heroes will rise to vanquish a completely new threat. We await their coming.

Starlight remembered something Twilight mentioned. Two earth ponies… Two pegasi… Two unicorns… An alicorn… That can’t be a coincidence… However, she didn’t vocalize her thoughts. She just shrugged. ”Interesting - what’s it mean?”

“No clue.” Overglobe said. “But it’s an important part of our culture.”

“Ours has something similar.” Starlight said. “Our history books start in the age of Demons – before the unicorn, Pegasus, and earth pony tribes existed the world was overrun with monsters. From what I understand the Mesoponies were the first to come out of the darkness, but I’m not a history buff.”

“Mmm…”

Starlight took the hum as a signal to leave. Overglobe was a mysterious mare who appreciated her space. Starlight wasn’t sure if she liked the mare or not.

Starlight stepped out onto a balcony, watching a few of the guardians shape New Mareu, keeping it safe from the random globes. She remembered that Rainbow and Applejack were out there training today. She wondered what they were doing…

~~~

Rainbow Dash grinned, her wings holding up a sphere the size of her house back home. “Ha! Look at that!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Raw power doesn’t do it Rainbow, haven’t you been listening?”

“Yeah yeah, but come on, doesn’t this-“ She suddenly found herself pressed into her own sphere. “Hey! What gives!?”

“Increased the gravity of your sphere.” Trekker said, looking down at her disapprovingly. “You lost focus. Had a dark sphere appeared, you would be dead now.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve never seen one of those black-“

Trekker raised a hoof and transformed a very distant brick globe into something featureless and black. It twisted the fabric of reality around it, distorting the appearance of the spheres behind it, and furthermore devouring all the spheres around it in an instant. Rainbow Dash and Applejack felt it pull on them as well, forcing them to use the Power to maintain their stationary position.

Trekker made it dissapear, then glaced at Rainbow Dash, indicating she should respond.

“Th-Those can just appear?” She said.

“Yes. They are one of the greatest threats our world has to offer. Luckily they are rare.”

Applejack nodded. “Very lucky. We woulda died had one of those shown up when we arrived…”

“You have the skills to deflect them now, as long as you remain aware.” Trekker looked into the clearing he had just created with the dark sphere. “While not perfect or skilled enough to be guardians of the settlement yet, you should be able to survive out here on your own. Though I have my doubts.”

“We’ll keep our guard up.” Applejack said. “Well… Ah will.”

“Yes.” Trekker turned to Rainbow Dash. “You have enough power to become a guardian. I would consider enrolling in the Academy once I am done cementing the basics into your head.”

“I… I’m honored.” Rainbow Dash said. She had long since given up on him complimenting her in any way, much less suggesting she was ready for big things. “But… I have a home. This isn’t it.”

“You may be stuck here.” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond but Trekker’s look told her not to interrupt. “You do not need to decide now. Just think it, and your future.”

A high-pitched and unstable voice rang through the area. “Her future? Oh that’s rich! Considering you didn’t let me choose!”

Trekker’s eyes went wide. “Get down!”

All the globes in the nearby vicinity exploded. The three ponies diverted the light and energy around them with the Power, keeping themselves from intense burns.

“Oh look at that, they really are skilled!” The voice giggled. “Looks like you really found someone you could be proud of!”

“Daughter or student?” Applejack hissed to Trekker.

“Both.”

“That ain’t good. How bad’s her grudge?”

“Lethal and insane.”

“Mighta warned us about her… How do we fight her? We can’t see her!”

“Are you talking about me?” The mare in question asked, her location still unknown. “Silly, trying to plan against Implode Baskets! That-“

Rainbow Dash burst into laughter.

“…What’s so funny?”

“That name.” Rainbow Dash said. “Implode. Baskets. That just sounds ridiculous!”

“Rainbow Dash don’t antagonize her…” Applejack hissed, to no avail.

“I mean, what do implosions and baskets even have to do with each other?”

Implode was silent for a few seconds. “I am going to hurt you. I won’t stop. Even after you’re dead.”

“Try it missy.” Rainbow Dash dared her.

Implode dropped the rectangular shape she had created with an image of the distance on it. She was feet away from Rainbow Dash. “Okay.” She said, her smile splitting her face. She was a very red Pegasus, with yellow and orange tints in the mane, and powerful bloodshot eyes. Her left eye twitched as she created a ball of fire next to her. The ball of fire ejected a cone-shaped blast into Rainbow Dash at point blank range, sending her flying.

“Aw, that felt-“ Implode held up a hoof, stopping Trekker’s energy beam attack mindlessly. “-good.”

“What is your deal?” Applejack yelled, creating her own pony-sized sphere of fire and tossing it.

“Daddy issues.” She said, blowing the fireball away with her breath. “I was a gifted youth…”

Trekker hit her with a steel pole, sending her downwards. “No.”

“What? Don’t want them to know?” She growled. “I’m your daughter damnit!”

“You-“

“Blah, blah, heard the whole disownment thing before. Give it a rest for once.” She dodged several dozen of Trekker’s pillar-shaped attacks. “You’ve done it enough times.”

Trekker just glared at her, silent.

“You never could handle it.” She spread her wings, releasing pure light from them. Trekker intercepted the light with ease, but Implode took the opportunity to entrap him inside a concrete globe – that he promptly shattered.

“I hate you.” She growled. “You just can’t be hurt! You just stand there and take everything! Why can’t you let me win anything!?”

“There is no winning.” Trekker said.

At that moment Implode felt a rope tighten around her neck, making her gag. “Now Rainbow!” Applejack yelled, holding fast on her lasso.

From nowhere, Rainbow Dash charged with a burst of rainbow power, unleashing a Rainboom right in Implode’s face. She screamed in pain, drifting away from the explosion. “The Tartarus was that!? That wasn’t the Power!”

“Nope. But this is.” Rainbow Dash smirked, lifting her wings and generating a gigantic globe of coal. She ignited it, focusing its energy forward in a cone shaped explosion that completely engulfed.

“Oh yeah! I’m awesome! Totally awesome!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Don’t get cocky…”

“So…” Implode coughed, holding her legs in pain, her mane heavily singed. “She’s got raw Power.” Her eyes focused, generating a dozen needles around Rainbow Dash’s neck, each one long enough to pierce all the way through. Rainbow Dash forced herself to be motionless.

Implode was about to make another remark when something appeared in front of the blue Pegasus. It was silver, spiky, flowing, and had a single limb.

Wait… Two limbs. It waved one of them, removing the needles from around Rainbow Dash’s neck. “Rainbow Dash, I presume?” He spoke in a synthetic voice. “Fluttershy sent me.”

“Wait, Fluttershy? How?”

“I’ll explain in a minute. Right now you appear to have a problem.” He rotated, directing one of his limbs towards Implode.

“The freak are you?”

“Sperion.” He waved a limb, and suddenly Implode’s wings disappeared. She began to scramble in a panic – she needed those! How had he gotten rid of them? The Power couldn’t do that so cleanly…

Sperion cuffed her hooves together with a silvery material he created from the air. “There we go, she’s all yours.”

Trekker narrowed his eyes. “…Thank you… Sperion.” The compliment came out with an undertone of distaste.

“Glad to help.” He turned to Applejack. “Applejack then?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. All I have to go off of are names here, sadly. And while you think pony names and appearances would match up, that’s not always the case. Starlight?”

“Back at New Mareu.” Applejack cocked her head. “You said you were sent by Fluttershy?”

“Oh yes, I found her in the Realm of Life.” He waved a limb. “Helped her find her inner strength. She asked me to check in on you. She’s fine herself, living in a tree cabin last I saw, waiting for me to come back with news.”

“She got stuck too?” Rainbow asked.

“Ah, yes, unfortunately. I take it this means you haven’t had any luck returning either?”

“Nah.” Applejack said. “We’re stuck livin’ here, waitng.” She frowned. “Can you take us to her? Or her to us?”

He paused for a moment. “Sorry. My curse is only applicable to me. I am doomed to wander the Realms in a never-ending circle, no choice really. I’ll be gone in a few dozen hours.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Well, any friend of Flutters’s is a friend of mine, no matter how weird they look.”

Sperion let out his synthetic laugh.

“…Or sound.”

Sperion laughed again.

“…Anyway, you need to show us what awesome stuff you can do! And what you know!”

“Starlight’d love to meetcha!” Applejack added.

“And I’d love to meet her!” He paused. “Stars, it’s been a while since I entered a settlement here…”

“Why?”

Sperion didn’t answer the question. It was as if he didn’t hear it.

Trekker watched the silvery being slowly, eyes narrow. He didn’t like unknowns. And they just kept showing up.

~~~

Fluttershy’s little cabin was now a twenty-story mansion filled to the brim with animals. She flew down the many floors, saying hello to all the birds, frogs, snakes, rabbits, butterflies, mushroom dogs, spore clouds, and mood grasses. It was even bigger and more diverse than her tree back home, and it had much more variety to it as well, thanks in no small part to her newfound abilities.

Fluttershy had to admit, the Realm of Life was lovely – and here she had the ability not only to build her own house, but mend any animal’s wound just by Staring at it – no more complex healing processes that took weeks to work, just a small tweak of life itself.

She feared using it at first, but once she saved a six-legged squirrel’s life with the ‘inflection’ she found it wasn’t something to fear, it was something to use, to help the animals. She could bring life! It was such a warm and happy feeling. The animals loved her, more so than they did even at home. More and more came in every hour – there was no day or night here, so she had no idea what day it was, but Fluttershy assumed she had been here for well over a week.

“Lou, Roy, share that mouse.” She chided. “You both have the same stomach so you won’t go hungry if you only get half a meal.”

Lou and Roy hissed, but obliged.

Fluttershy stuck her head through the fine-laced window, fixing her gaze outside. She had told the Tree of Life to grow away from the house, creating a rather large clearing with a ground – a pasture of sorts. She could see cows, giant flies, some of those black worms, and even a few dinosaurs roaming around out there.

And a pony.

Her wings shot up in alarm and she flew out quickly – a pony! Another pony to talk to! She just had to make sure the predators in the pasture didn’t try to eat them. Luckily, a certain dragonfly tiger saw her coming and backed off. Fluttershy landed, looking at the brown Pegasus closely. His wings were injured, so she Stared at them and healed them, almost without thinking. “There you go, good as new! Um, who are you?”

She frowned. There was something wrong with his eyes. They looked… shallow. And he had no cutie mark, despite being a full grown stallion.

Fluttershy paused. “Mister?”

He grunted, flapping his wings and smiling, walking closer to her.

“Well… come on in.” She said, frowning. He understood, but he understood her, not the words she was speaking. The understanding of an animal.

“Oh my…” She said. “What happened to you?”

He said something about breaking his wings in a flying accident.

Fluttershy shuddered – it felt so wrong to talk to him, a stallion, like he was an animal.

He ravenously dug into the grass Fluttershy had grown as a carpet, then curled up and started sleeping without another sound. He hadn’t been antagonistic, predatory, violent, or dominating…

But he still scared her.

He was wrong.

V - That Which is Dodged

View Online

The Jove was docked right outside Twilight’s Castle, casting a mildly ominous shadow on the town of Ponyville. Inside the castle’s library, three ponies and a dragon were pouring over dozens of books all sharing a similar topic.

Botany.

“Twilight!” Rarity shouted. “Perhaps this is it?”

Twilight teleported over to Rarity’s book and frowned. “The spines form in patches of twenty-three, not twenty-two.”

“Oh. Sorry, don’t mind me.” She bristled. “Stupid cactuses always look so similar…”

Twilight looked at the faded photo once more. All the cacti were of the same species, though only one was close enough to the camera for any detail to be seen. It was becoming very evident that the idea of a quick plant identification was a lost dream. They had been here for hours…

Spike groaned. “This sucks. We are close to something, we just can’t locate it!”

Pinkie pursed her lips. “Hrm… What we need is some kind of breakthrough…”

A deep amused voice filled the room. “Did someone say breakthrough?”

“Oh no…” Twilight said.

“Oh yes!” Pinkie shouted.

A hole was blasted through a wall in the castle, revealing Discord in a black suit and sunglasses. To everyone’s surprise, Trixie of all ponies was on his shoulder, also wearing a suit and sunglasses.

“Hi Discord! Hi Trixie!” Pinkie waved.

“Why hello there little pink fluff!” Discord said.

Trixie took off her sunglasses. “You find them yet?”

“Sorry…” Twilight drooped. “The Yakyakistan temple is still broken, and we have no idea where this image was taken.”

Discord teleported the image to his eyes. “A desert. Seems obvious.”

“There are over a hundred deserts worldwide, some tremendous in size.” Twilight said. “Just looking at them one at a time would be a pointless waste.”

Trixie shook her head, sighing. “We’re just worried, that’s all. Trixie hasn’t left town for a week…”

“I know.” Twilight said. “And I wish I had better news, but this image is all we-“

“Wha-ha-ha!” Rarity trilled. “Darlings! I found it! The northern giant barrel cactus!”

Twilight teleported over, and everyone else crowded around the small book. Twilight’s eyes lit up. “She’s right! This is it! It says here that they can only be found in the Zahara…”

Twilight facehooed. “The largest desert in the world. Just our-“

Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly the six of them were knee deep in sand, inches away from a northern giant barrel cactus. There was no evidence of a temple anywhere in sight.

“Discord!” Twilight yelled. “We needed to prepare! Pack water! Desert gear! Make plans for the expedition!”

Discord snapped his fingers and everyone was outfitted in sand-proof fabrics from head to toe, and everyone got a canteen. “You were saying?”

“We… We… We still need a plan!”

Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. “Twilight, you can’t honestly tell me we were going to do anything different from just wandering around the desert searching?”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but then shut it, realizing Rarity was right.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie said. “Desert adventure! Let’s go… That direction!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wait! Do we have the Seven Sided Chest?”

Discord snapped his fingers and it appeared in his hands. “We do now.”

“Draconequus is OP, please nerf.” Pinkie said.

“Oh, like you aren’t.” Discord muttered.

Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, touché.”

Trixie started guzzling her canteen. Twilight was about to chide her on wasting water, but then realized that Discord was here and such worries were pointless. The four mares, Spike, and Discord travelled through the Zahara seeing the sights – which was sand, cacti, and not much else.

Trixie panted. “It’s… So… Hot…”

“Tell me about it…” Rarity said, looking equally as parched.

“We have an infinite supply of water and we’ve only been walking for ten minutes!” Twilight snapped.

“It’s… The heat…” Rarity said.

“Not thirsty…” Trixie continued. “Just… Being fried like an egg…”

Discord snapped his fingers and doused the unicorns in ice water. Trixie let out a sigh of relief while Rarity shrieked. Everyone started laughing. Rarity rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I suppose it is a good way to stay cool isn’t it?”

They continued onward, leaving a miles long trail of their own foot and hoof prints behind them. They wandered the desert for the longest time, the sun beating down on them. The simile Trixie had offered earlier was well suited to the situation.

Trixie groaned. “Trixie hates walking.”

“Oh look, Trixie doesn’t like walking,” Discord muttered. “That remind you of anything? Hrm…?”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you and walking, riot.” She looked at Pinkie. “Trixie envies her energy.”

“Everypony does,” Rarity said. “It’s what makes Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie.”

“How can she be so happy at a time like this?”

Rarity smiled. “It’s her job to spread happiness. She can’t do that if she looks depressed. She is affected, and sad, but she doesn’t let it show most of the time for our sake.”

“Huh,” Trixie said, drooping. “She’s a great pony…”

“Now don’t get all self-pitying here. Not everypony can be Pinkie Pie. In fact I’m pretty sure Pinkie Pie is unique. You don’t have to be happy all the time – sometimes sadness is all you can feel, and it’s perfectly fine.”

Trixie nodded. “…I miss Starlight.”

“Well then, let’s rectify that and find her!”

They continued on through the sand for a few more minutes.

“There has to be a better way to do this.” Twilight said. “We’re not covering much ground. And I think we’re lost.”

Rarity shrugged. “You could scan with your magic.”

“I’ve been doing that. Nothing.”

“Split up?” Spike offered.

Discord and Pinkie facepalmed. “That’s daft!” Discord said.

Trixie spoke up. “What if we have Discord make a plane and we fly over large portions of the desert with all six of us looking out in different directions?”

Twilight blinked. “…That’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Fixated and worrying.” Pinkie said. “You need to loosen up a little.”

“I know… It’s just hard. Discord! Make that plane!”

Suddenly the six of them were inside a glass donut, sailing across the sands at high speeds. “This is your captain speaking, prepare for slight turbulence during our flight. And do keep an eye out for our destination; we seem to have lost it in a gambling accident. In other news, you have your refreshments; now stare out the window! Not like you have much choice in the matter unless you seal your eyes shut!”

“Peanuts for everyone!” Pinkie squealed, tossing peanuts everywhere. Trixie caught one in her mouth. “AGH! Salty!” She yelled, grabbing her neck and rolling onto the floor.

Pinkie just giggled.

They tore their attention from the peanut fun and onto the expansive desert. After about fifteen minutes they realized one thing – the desert was just as boring from above as below.

“There’s nothing here.” Trixie said.

“There was that zebra caravan a while back!” Pinkie reminded her.

“And that was different how? This is Zebrica! It’s where the zebras are!”

“Eh, not as many in the desert.”

Spike let out a cry of jubilation. “I think I se- oh wait. No, that’s just a bunch of cacti.”

“False alarms from Spike: 5,” Discord said. “At this rate he’ll win the competition by a landslide, seeing as no one else has had one yet.”

“H-Hey!” Spike said. “I’m doing just fine…”

“Pfft, you’re far too-“

“There it is!” Rarity yelled pointing a hoof into the distance. “Seven orange pillars, right over there!”

Everyone looked – sure enough, there it was, a temple identical to the one in Yakyakistan, except it was orange and half buried in sand instead of snow.

Discord landed the donut and made it vanish with a quick motion of his hands. Twilight stepped out and held up the picture – it matched perfectly, though the southern giant barrel cactus was much larger now due to decades of growth.

Twilight frowned. Something was eating at her – something about their location. “Hold on… Discord, what’s the closest Zebra settlement?”

Discord extended himself far into the sky and produced a pair of binoculars. “Clopro.” He said. “Several miles that direction.”

Twilight bit her lip. “Clopro… That was where they found A. K. Yearling’s body. We... might be in danger.”

Trixie tensed. “What!? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It didn’t matter until now okay? Discord just swooped us to the Zahara and I didn’t have time to ponder where we were going!”

“Oh, blame this on me?” Discord looked offended. “I got us here faster than any other way, we’ll be able to save Fluttershy nearly instantly. Even if we were in quote-unquote ‘danger,’ whatever it is could not take on the lord of chaos!”

A gigantic beam of energy shot Discord’s head off. He regenerated it with a ‘splat!’ sound effect. Fire burned in his eyes. “Someone is very, very stupid.”

Twilight raised a magic shield, the beams of energy coming at them from all sides. “Where are they?”

“How should we know!?” Trixie screamed. “You’re the alicorn!”

“I’m keeping this shield up!”

“I’ll find them,” Discord said, teleporting high into the sky, seeing instantly the magic source of the multidirectional beams. He appeared at said location and brought a giant hammer down upon the caster. The hammer snapped in half upon impact with its target, a very large pony in a dark desert cloak. The pony had a strange silvery color about them, and a strong stance.

“Oh so you can take a hammer then? How about this?” A torrent of sand launched out of the ground, transforming into candy corn bullets and battering the target dozens of times a second.

The pony in question raised their snout to the sky – creating a giant sphere out of the air which promptly ignited, blasting Discord with a cone of energy. He deflected it with ease, only to see three copies of the pony charging him. He lashed out with his claws, tearing the cloak of one of them. He realized that another one of the cloaks already had a small tear identical to the one he just created…

“Hacks! I call time hacks!” He yelled.

The ponies said nothing, only revealing more copies of them.

“Badger, you’re annoying.” He said. He clapped his hands, transforming every last one of them into oranges – and they somehow changed themselves back. They blasted him with magic beams, riddling his snakelike form with holes that sealed up virtually instantly.

They charged him, and Discord decided he’d had enough. He snapped his fingers and stopped time. They kept moving anyway, creating dozens of spheres and tossing them at him. He even felt a few mental attacks hit him, trying to distract him.

He growled, pointing a finger at the sky. The entire area rippled with chaos energy, the ground transforming into a checkerboard pattern, and gravity becoming a mere suggestion. The ground itself latched onto all the ponies and smashed them into one being, which Discord pummeled with a thousand anvils. “And we’re not done yet!” He lifted the pony into the air and hit them with a baseball bat, making something inside them crack sickeningly. They went flying across the desert, no control over their trajectory. “Hooooome run! And now we hope for the hole in one!” He teleported back to Twilight’s shield, catching the pony before impact. “Score!”

“Did you really have to go full chaos?” Twilight said, finding it hard to stand on the new ground.

“Oh yes, they had a lot of tricks. Now, let’s see who they are…” He ripped the cloak away.

They were… a robot. The limbs were chrome, the eyes a bright yellow. It had both metal wings and a crystal horn, and instead of a cutie mark there was an engraving of a heptagon with a circle inside it.

“Robocorn!” Pinkie said. “So cool!”

Twilight frowned. “What are you?”

The robot said nothing. Twilight wasn’t sure if it could say anything. “Discord, imprison it in Tartarus, we’ll look at-“

Then it was gone, leaving nothing but a depression in the sand. Everyone was silent.

Trixie summed the mood up best.

“The buck!?”

~~~

New Mareu was abuzz with rumors - the ponies just couldn’t stop talking. It had been weird enough when Starlight, her friends, and Ahuizotl showed up, but now there was this Sperion thing as well?

Everypony got the impression that times were changing rapidly and that they needed to prepare for anything.

Overglobe was one of those ponies. Specifically, she prepared by talking to Sperion. A conversation that Starlight really wanted to be privy to, but was politely asked by Overglobe not to be involved in.

Starlight sighed. She hadn’t gotten a moment alone with the spiky ball yet. He was always either talking to somepony else, or in public talking with lots of other ponies and being sociable. She didn’t want to ruin that – judging by what she’d heard, he rarely just talked with ponies. But his time with them was running out, she knew it. She needed to talk to him about his curse – she needed to know what it was.

She sat down at a table Rainbow Dash was eating at. “You got to talk to our visitor on the way back from the outside right? What’s he like?”

“Oh well… He’s friendly. He didn’t get mad at anything anyone said… And Trekker was pretty rude to him almost the entire way back – though that may just have been because of Implode.” She snickered. “Anyway, Sperion… He likes everyone, helped all of us whenever he could, and hunted us down to give us Fluttershy’s message even though he barely knows her! He’s pretty cool!”

“Has he told you anything about himself?”

“That curse of his…”

“Anything else? About other Realms What he is? His history?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “You know, now that you mention it… No. He hasn’t. But he just seems like the mysterious type, y’know?”

Starlight frowned, nodding. “…Still would like to know more.”

“You’ll get your chance Starlight,” Rainbow Dash said. “Then you’ll realize how much you like him!”

Starlight raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on her face.

“Not like that! Yeesh.”

Starlight rolled her eyes, sighing. “I just… it feels like he knows something I might be able to use to get us home…”

“Maybe he does!” Rainbow Dash said. “And you’ll figure it out!”

“You are pretty optimistic Rainbow.”

“I try.” Her ears perked up. “I think he’s coming this way now, actually.”

“For the last time…” They heard Sperion’s synthetic voice echo through the halls. “The answer is no, I tell you nothing.”

The responding growl was that of Ahuizotl. “But you know!”

“My life has been defined by not telling people things. That will not change today, and definitely not for you.”

“This discussion isn’t over.”

“Yes, yes it is,” Sperion finalized, floating into the room. “Rainbow. Starlight. How nice to see you!”

“Sperion!” Starlight said, standing up. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you think I could test your curse to see if I can find a-“

“No, sorry.”

Starlight blinked. “W-Well do you at least know how to help us? Have a spell you can teach us?”

Sperion paused, and Starlight got the impression he was choosing his next words carefully. “No.” He made a synthetic sigh. “Starlight, I will never let myself be experimented on. Ever. I will help you however I can, but you can’t use my curse. Anything but that.”

“It’s okay.” Rainbow Dash said. “We understand.”

“B-but…” Starlight stuttered.

Rainbow Dash glared at Starlight. “I said we understand. We can find another way.”

“Thank you.” Sperion said, stretching his two limbs. “If it makes you feel any better, my curse would not be able to take you back home, even if you could control it.”

Starlight sighed. “…Can I at least ask some questions?”

“Sure, ask away.”

“What are you, really? What is Sperion?”

Sperion was silent for a long while, thinking deeply. “…A flawed being.”

“That doesn’t really answer-“

“It’s all I have.” Sperion stated. “There’s nothing to compare me to. Nothing like me. I am unique. I am alone.”

“Sorry to hear that… Um… Have there been any others like us? Getting lost in the Realms?”

Sperion seemed to choke on something. “Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s how the settlements got started.”

“How many Realms are there?”

“Seven, but you probably know this already.”

Starlight pondered for a second. “…What do you know about an ancient Aztrot myth about the Seven?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Sperion responded instantly. Much too fast. For the first time Starlight was convinced he was outright lying, but she didn’t let it show. She tried to think of another question to ask to expose him, but he cut her off before she could ask again. “I’m afraid I must go, I have an errand to run for Overglobe. It was a pleasure, as always.” He left quickly.

“Well that was odd,” Rainbow Dash said.

“He was lying on the last one for sure,” Starlight said. “He knew something and he didn’t want to tell us. I don’t care if he keeps personal secrets, but lying about something like that? It’s not right.”

“You lie all the time.”

“Yeah, well, I…” Starlight bristled. “Fine. Just… I don’t trust him.”

“You can join Trekker in that club. Speaking of which, I need to go see him. Applejack’s probably already there."

“This about Implode?”

‘Yeah. We want to know who she is.”

“Go on then. Maybe you’ll get some actual answers.”

Rainbow Dash obliged, creating a hole in a nearby wall and blasting through New Mareu at high speeds. She arrived at a particular room seconds before Applejack. “Ha! I’m here first!”

“Not a competition, Rainbow.” The two mares turned to the cell bars before them, two guardians standing at silent attention. Inside was the wingless form of Implode Baskets. She was sleeping, though twitching madly as she did so.

“Why are you two here?” Trekker asked, walking into the room behind them. “You know I-“

“Exactly why we’re here. Who is she?” Applejack asked.

“My daughter and student.”

“There’s more to it than that.”

“Which is none of your business.”

“You’re training us,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s now our business.”

“Fine. She was powerful but unstable. I denied her early entrance into the academy she was positive she earned. She was a brat about it, proving she was worthless and didn't deserve it. I gave her to Overglobe, washing my hooves of her existence. She was banished later for being an insane threat to society. She hates me for it. There you go.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were taken aback.

“You asked.”

“How… How could you disown your own daughter?” Applejack said. “Even if she was crazy you shoulda still watched out for her…“

“You’re wrong.” He glowered. “I care nothing for her. She’s been a pain in my backside her entire life and I will be glad when she’s executed.”

“W-What?” Rainbow Dash blurted.

“She was still a danger to us in banishment. She cannot be allowed to stay.” He huffed.

Implode Baskets roared, letting everypony know she was awake. “Do you see now!? Do you see who’s training you!?”

“You are my daughter.” Trekker said. She roared – and the other guardians had to subdue her. Trekker left wordlessly.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were speechless. They looked at the prone form of the mare inside the cage and saw a battered and broken little filly… A girl whose father wanted her dead.

It was horrible. Even if she was insane… They felt like they had to do something.

~~~

Fluttershy watched the stallion she had named ‘Browncoat’ sleep. He had been there for several hours, largely unmoving. He was very mangy and wild – the coat was uneven, the mane unkempt, and the hooves cracked from far too much walking. He had many scars – presumably from encounters with predators or just plain dangerous creatures. Yet the scars didn’t seem to bother him whatsoever.

Fluttershy glanced behind her, noticing hundreds of eyes staring over her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at the several dozen animals hovering behind her. “You know, the mansion has plenty of space elsewhere. Browncoat probably would like some privacy.”

The animals nodded and slinked away one at a time, eventually leaving only Lou and Roy behind. Fluttershy didn’t tell them to leave.

Browncoat yawned, stretching his hooves and rising to his full height – slightly taller than Fluttershy. He looked down at her with longing eyes and grunted.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “No, I am not interested.” She said. “Sorry.”

He made a whinnying noise of acknowledgement and proceeded to look out the window.

“What are you looking for?”

He said he was looking for his herd.

“Herd? How many more like you are there?”

Several fours.

“Are they all like you?”

He didn’t understand the question, giving her an odd look.

“Sorry. Do any of them talk like me?”

The response to that was a definite no.

“Oh.” Fluttershy said, sagging. Then a look of determination crossed her face. “You know what? Let’s find your herd. Come on. Lou, Roy, if my friends show up let them know I’ll be back soon. Wave the sign around a lot.”

The twin heads hissed in affirmation.

“Browncoat, I want to introduce you to someone.”

The stallion accepted his name without comment, following her with his mostly blank expression. They went to the top of the mansion, a small wooden spike that poked out of the ‘canopy’ and into a much larger clearing in the Realm of Life – one dozens of kilometers in diameter. Large winged creatures soared across the sky alongside floating serpents and aloof jellyfish. There were hundreds of them visible in the expanse. In the distance, more of the tree could be seen, the slight variations in leaf color visible at such a distance, ranging from blackish-blue to whitish-yellow, all basked in the constant warm glow that came from everywhere.

Floating nearby was a giant manta ray like creature Fluttershy had named Minarette. She was the size of a small boat and loved giving other creatures rides on her back. Browncoat saw her and took a step back.

“Oh it’s okay Browncoat, she won’t bite. She eats the tiny floating animals in the air – not you. She’ll help us find your herd.”

Browncoat agreed, but his pensiveness was still evident. Minarette mentioned that she had seen a herd less than a mile away during her last outing. Perhaps that was the herd?

“It’s worth checking out.” Fluttershy said, climbing onto Minarette and gesturing for Browncoat to follow. He eventually found his way onto the giant ray’s back, twitching nervously. Fluttershy stroked his mane, soothing him. Eventually he calmed down enough that Fluttershy believed he was ready. “Go ahead Minarette.” She said.

Minarette flapped her fins and lazily glided into the air, staying just a few meters from the tree. As they glided across the Realm, birds came to fly alongside them, their luminescent feathers flashing in the warm light. Larger creatures let out deep, droning calls of greeting to them before continuing on their way. Animals seemingly made out of light flashed into existence around them, made some strange geometric shapes, and vanished.

“Isn’t this beautiful Browncoat?” Fluttershy asked. He just stared ahead, face mostly blank, but with hints of concern and fear. She sighed. “Nevermind…” he was just… Different. He needed to be returned to his herd, with those who were like him. She mentally couldn’t handle an animalistic pony.

Minarette announced they’d be arriving soon with a trill. She dove down, through a weak spot in the branches, into a much smaller clearing roughly twelve times her size. The sight they beheld was horrifying.

The entire enclosure was red with blood – some fresh, most not. Bones Fluttershy recognized as pony were strewn about, most picked clean, a few covered in flies. There were dozens of skeletons, all equine in nature, and most brutally tossed aside like nothing.

There was a creature still alive in this carnage, sitting on a pile of the bones. It was red, it was sleeping. It was the largest dragon Fluttershy had ever seen, bigger even than Torch. A few scraps of old and degraded black armor were attached to its body, and a thin trail of smoke blew out from its nose.

Fluttershy’s wings shot out in fear and she trembled, unable to say anything to Minarette or Browncoat. The two of them were nervous as well – big as Minarette was, she was also a delicate creature that was unlikely to survive an encounter with a dragon. However, she was still able to keep her wits about her and she slowly began to back out of the clearing.

It was at this point the scent of Minarette reached the dragon’s nostrils. Its eyes flew open wide, murder in its eyes.

Minarette dropped all attempts at stealth, flapping out of the clearing as hard as she could, launching back into the large clearing. The dragon wasn’t about to let her go – with a flap of its own tremendous wings he launched after her. It opened its maw, preparing to torch them.

“N-No!” Fluttershy yelled at the dragon. “Don’t do this!”

The dragon closed its mouth and growled.

“You’ve had enough to eat…” She shuddered, a few tears falling down her face. “Just don’t. Please. No more.”

The dragon said it was sorry, just protecting established territory.

Fluttershy tried to tell the dragon it was okay, but she choked on the words. Dozens of ponies… Or not-ponies… She didn’t know.. All eaten by this creature… She could barely comprehend it…

Wait. “Why aren’t you talking?”

The dragon was confused by the question.

“But… But you have armor! You’d have to make it…” nothing made sense.

The dragon said he’d had the armor as long as he could remember.

Fluttershy couldn’t think about this right now. “I… I’m sorry. Just go. Far away. I’m sorry.”

The dragon flew directly upwards.

“Take us home,” Fluttershy said, unable to look Browncoat in the eye.

~~~

Sperion came to a sudden stop. “You’re following me.”

Ahuizotl stepped out from a hallway. “Can you blame me? I’m curious. Very curious. You are… Unique. Something I have not factored in or considered. And you know what I want to know.”

“I will not tell you. You know this.”

“Perhaps. But what if I offered you something?”

“Nothing you could-“

“A way out. There are-“

“Out?” Sperion interrupted, turning quickly. “You think I want to go to Central? You really don’t get me. I want choice. I don’t wa-“

Then Sperion as gone, his curse carrying him forward along his path.

Ahuizotl cursed the Stars for the horrible timing, stomping off in a huff. He was no closer to his goals, and who knew when Sperion would return, if ever.

After he left, Starlight removed her invisibility spell. She smirked. She had one perfect magical scan of Sperion’s travel to another Realm. And she was pretty sure she could mimic it.

She felt a little bad for going against his wishes – but she needed to take matters into her own hooves. She’d apologize to him later; offer him some magical insights, a favor, something. She was in his debt now even if he didn’t know it.

She returned to her room in preparation to use her newfound knowledge…

VI - Mirror's Edge

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Twilight set the Seven Sided Chest in the central depression of the temple, the relic clicking into place. In a manner almost exactly the same to the one in Yakyakistan, a tremendous rectangular portal was ripped into existence, the otherworldly window rimmed in red energy. It led to a world no one had seen before, a strange, white expanse with nothing in it at all.

“Boring,” Discord said.

In the Realm, an eye materialized out of nothing and looked at them, a psychedelic pattern radiating from it, beginning to mesmerize the ponies.

Twilight grabbed the Chest with her telekinesis and rotated it. The image changed to the world made of all the spheres, the psychic influence having vanished. However, the gravity was so strong that gallons of sand started pouring into the Realm. Strangely, nobody was sucked in.

“Discord-“ Twilight began.

“Yes I’m keeping you down, thank me later. Fluttershy in there?”

Rarity shook her head. “No, but Rainbow, Starlight, and Applejack are. We need to find them first.”

“…Why?”

“Because,” Twilight said. “The longer we leave them in there the less likely they are to… To…”

Pinkie put a hoof around Twilight. “We’ll find them Twilight! Don’t worry!” She turned to Discord. “Fluttershy’s world was a safe one.” She gestured at an explosion in the portal. “And this is nooooooot. So let’s hurry-harry up and search!”

Discord looked ready to let out a long-winded rant, but Trixie stopped him by butting a hoof on his leg. “Please Discord. Let’s get Starlight.”

Guilt crossed his features. “Okay. We find them first.”

“Hold it,” Rarity said. “Some of us need to stay here and watch this place in case there is another attack!”

“Good thinking!” Pinkie grinned, hugging Spike and Rarity close. “We’ll stay!”

Discord snapped his fingers, enchanting the three who were staying behind so the portal wouldn’t pull them in. He turned to Twilight and Trixie. “That leaves us then. Hey Trixiiiiixie!”

“What?”

“Smoke bomb.”

Trixie grinned, tossing a bomb to the ground. When the smoke cleared, Discord, Trixie, and Twilight were no longer in sight.

Spike shrugged. “Those two have a weird friendship.”

“Spike, it’s not nice to judge others.” Rarity admonished.

“Hey, I’m not saying it’s bad, just weird. And that can be very good.” To prove his point he directed Rarity’s gaze towards Pinkie – who was currently patrolling the temple like a guard dog. She was even barking.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Well, yes, I suppose so.” She shifted her gaze towards the open portal, studying the every-changing field of spheres. It was such a contrasting mix. Such order – every last thing in there was a perfect sphere. But also much chaos, for the explosions and collisions were nonstop.

Wait… was that a donut in there?

She did, in fact, see a donut. She rolled her eyes, quickly putting two and two together. “Can’t you do any shapes besides donuts?”

He didn’t hear her, enjoying the feeling of standing atop a donut like it was a spaceship flying through a danger zone. Twilight and Trixie held on for dear life while he sang.

“It’s a magical donut flying through the sky
On a magical adventure with balls everywhere
Oh who would come up with a thought so divine?
In this crazy world that just doesn’t care.”

“Discord!” Twilight and Trixie yelled.

Then he started rapping.

“That’s right, Discord’s the man
Flying foodstuffs are my game
Pound cake, hamburger, left ear corn
Stuffed puppy, ketchup, right bear horn!”

“Discord just take us to Starlight!” Trixie yelled. “I know you have a point-to-pony teleport!”

Discord blinked. “Oh yeah.” He snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Just to make sure his powers were working he turned every sphere in a mile radius into freshly cooked strips of bacon. “Hrm…” He said. “Odd.”

“Maybe teleports don’t work right here?” Trixie suggested.

Twilight teleported them out of the bacon zone. “No, we’re good.” A mammoth sized sphere of acid appeared inches from their faces, dissolving half the donut. Discord quickly raised a magic shield, vaporizing anything in the immediate area.

“…Did that ball just take a bite out of my donut?”

“Looks like,” Trixie said, biting her lip. “So… If teleports work and we aren’t being taken directly to Starlight, what does that mean?”

Discord said nothing. He didn’t have to.

“Try the others.” Twilight urged. Discord nodded, snapping his fingers twice more, nothing changing.

Twilight began to panic. They weren’t here. She was too late. They were… They were… Tears began to form in her eyes. “N…no…”

Trixie winced. “Trixie… Trixie is… Sorry…” Trixie said, not at all sure what to do in this situation. She was freaking out herself, realizing what this meant about Starlight.

“No!” Twilight yelled again, spreading her wings wide, anger rolling through her wings. “No!” She yelled to the heavens, her eyes turning an intense white.

“APPLEJACK!” She yelled, sending her magic out as far as it could possibly reach.

“Twilight…” Discord said.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

“Twilight!” Discord yelled.

“STARLIGHT GLIMMER!”

“Twilight!” Discord grabbed her. “They aren’t here! They can’t year you! Stop wasting your effort!”

Trixie started bawling. “There’s nothing here! Nothing but stupid deadly balls! Why I oughta just… Just… I don’t know…”

Twilight’s eyes returned to normal. She put her face in her hooves. “D-discord… What have I done?”

“Oh really, putting me on the spot?” He lashed out. “Do I look like the kind of guy who knows how to deal with this?”

Twilight just hugged him, and Trixie did the same. For a moment he froze. Then, with sorrow in his ancient eyes, he returned the gesture. They sat there, on the half donut, amongst the spheres for quite some time, wordless.

“Were you the one calling the names?” A male voice asked.

Twilight looked up to the sight of a large grey Pegasus with an orange and red mane. He floated there, not even flapping his wings.

She sniffed. “…Yes.”

He nodded “I have someone who wants to see you.” He spread his wings, generating a disc to carry all of them. “It will take some time to arrive.”

Discord frowned. “Just tell us where it is and I’ll teleport us there. I don’t have all day.”

The Pegasus blinked. Then he pointed. “Several thousand miles in that direction.”

Discord snapped his fingers a few times, initiating tremendous teleport jumps. It took five jumps, but they eventually arrived within sight range of New Mareu, the moving city shifting beneath them.

Twilight, her eyes red from tears, still managed to let out a childlike gasp when she saw the changing city. “I… I… What is this place? How does it work? How do ponies live here? How is it changing? How…”

The Pegasus said nothing. He walked up to a wall and created a doorway, gesturing for them to follow.

“Wh-wh-wha? How!?” Twilight shouted.

“Please stop being so confused. I answered enough questions last time. Overglobe will tell you what you want to know.”

Trixie sneered. “Trixie doesn’t like you.”

“Good.” He said, leading them into a large set of doors, essentially dragging them along with his Power. Twilight quickly recognized the room as Aztrot in design, and assumed the mare on the chair was Overglobe. This was all par for the course.

The fact that Ahuizotl was standing right next to her was not. Twilight yelled. “AHUIZOTL!”

Ahuizotl’s eyes widened. “Oh my-“

He found himself flung into a wall, the force of Twilight's alicorn magic threatening to crush his ribcage. Overglobe lit her own horn and surrounded Twilight’s head in dozens of tiny spheres. Discord created a rocket launcher, directing it at Overglobe.

Nobody moved, save Trixie, who leapt into the hallway to take cover.

“Your friends aren’t dead.” Overglobe said.

Twilgiht’s face softened slightly. “…Really?” She said, not sure she believed it.

“We saw them alive and well two hours ago,” she affirmed. “They just left to another world.”

Twilight nodded, dropping Ahuizotl. The spheres vanished and the rocket launcher was dispelled. Trixie inched back into the room. “Why do you let him near you?” Twilight asked. ”Do you know-“

“Yes, I know,” Overglobe sighed. “All are welcome in New Mareu until they prove themselves to be too much trouble.” She extended a hoof. “Welcome, Twilight Sparkle.”

“How do you-“

“Starlight told me. Let’s see if I can guess you two…” She frowned. “Discord… and… Minuette?”

Trixie facehooved. “The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“Ah, of course. Now that we’re not threatening to kill each other, and have completed the formalities, I’m sure you have questisons?”

“Where are they now?” Twilight asked.

“The Realm of Magic, we think. According to our source it’s a purple cloudy place with floating crystals. Can’t be sure though.”

“Why’d they leave?”

Ahuizotl looked like he wanted to answer the question, but Overglobe indicated he should stay silent with a look. “We aren’t completely sure. Starlight somehow worked out a spell to travel with, and used it to teleport her friends and a criminal out of this world.”

Trixie blinked. “A… Criminal?”

“One Miss Implode Baskets,” Overglobe said. “A delusional and insane mare who has tried to kill Trekker over there numerous times, and has killed numerous others.”

Twilight took a step back. “Wh… Why would they release somepony like that?”

“She played them,” Trekker said. “Got them to pity her.”

“We don’t know that Trekker. We haven’t gotten to talk to them about it.”

Trekker said nothing.

Discord frowned, looking around. “Well this has been productive…”

Twilight shook her head. “Overglobe, I’m sorry, but we have to go find them. I’d love to return and learn more about your city, and I have many burning questions, but our friends might be in danger. I’ll see what I can do about this Implode if I find her – but I can give no guarantees. I’ve left them alone for too long.”

Overglobe nodded. “Of course. You will be welcomed back. I look forward to some answers to a few questions of mine.”

“As do I,” Twilight said. “Again, sorry, but we have to go. Discord! Teleport!”

The three of them were gone in a flash.

“Didn’t tell them about Sperion.” Ahuizotl observed.

“They didn’t need to know.” Overglobe said.

Ahuizotl grinned. “You are quite the little mastermind aren’t you?”

Overglobe didn’t respond, instead staring at the ancient text on the walls, brow furrowed. There was something important hidden in there… Something world-changing… And she felt like it was happening all around them.

She hated not being able to put her hoof on it.

~~~

Two hours ago…

There was nothing here. An expanse of a flat, reflective material, with only the blank whiteness of the sky to mirror it. It was blank, empty, and eerie.

Then it was no longer empty, as four mares appeared in the realm without so much as a noise.

“…The heck are we?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking down at her reflection in the reflective ground.

“Another Realm, obviously,” Starlight said, looking around. “a rather empty one at that…”

Applejack frowned. “At least nothing’s trying to kill us.”

Implode spoke up. “I might…”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Do you want us to leave you?”

She ignored the question. “Why did you take me with you? Why did you save me?”

“Ask them.” Starlight muttered, scanning the area with her horn. “They talked me into it.”

“Couldn’t just let them execute you, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “That wouldn’t be right.”

“…You really don’t have a clue about me do you?” Implode said.

“Eenope,” she said. “And it don’t matter. Nopony deserves to die.”

“Sombra,” Starlight said without hesitation.

Applejack sighed. “He shouldn’t have died.”

“Just keep telling yourself that.”

Rainbow Dash sat down, the novelty of her reflection having worn off. “Well, this place is boring.”

A rectangular object appeared in front of her, an image of herself on it. But it wasn’t an exact copy of her. “Well, this place is boring.” It said.

Rainbow Dash recoiled. “Woah…”

“Woah…”

“Huh.” Starlight said. “A delayed reflection that speaks. Most interesting.”

She heard her words echo back at her from the distance.

Implode blinked. “So, what, things reflect and repeat here? Where are the explosions?”

“Don’t make any,” Starlight ordered. “It’s fine without them.”

“Fine.” She said, turning away. A mirror shot up beside Starlight, tossing Implode to the side. Implode’s voice came from the mirror. “Maybe I’ll blow something up anyway…”

Implode leaped to her feet, glaring at the mirror, having been too distracted to hear what it said. “Maybe I’ll blow something up anyway…”

Everypony stared at her, jaws agape. “…What? I didn’t do it yet! Don’t have wings anyway…”

Starlight looked around nervously. “The mirror said what you were going to say before you said it. It wasn’t a delayed reaction, it was a-“

“Time distortion.” A mirror reflecting her said.

“-a time distortion, yes… Waitaminute.” She took a step back. “I said that because it said it. How could it-“

A mirror appeared in front of her and said, with her voice, “you can shut up now.”

Suddenly, Starlight and Implode were miles from Applejack and Rainbow Dash, as if the space between them had just inexplicably stretched a hundredfold.

“What the-“ Implode managed to get out before she just flat out vanished before Starlight’s eyes. Starlight took a few steps away from the place she had been moments before. A mirror slid up beside her, displaying Implode. “I’m Implode and I’m okay…”

“Implode!” Starlight yelled. “Can you hear me?”

“No, sorry.” The mirror slid back into the ground. That had been pretty weird.

Starlight turned to look at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, preparing to teleport back to them, but before she cast the spell she noticed something about her two friends. They were walking backwards. Then Implode and another Starlight appeared next ot them, and all four of them continued moving backwards! Starlight shook her head – what kind of time shenanigans were going on?

Then the four ponies in the distance vanished, leaving Starlight alone in the reflective expanse. She cowered, her ears laying flat. She couldn’t deal with this…

Then she saw two other versions of herself on either side of herself.

“Oh,” The one on her left said. “Well then.”

“What?” The one on her right said.

She took a breath and shouted. “The hell!?”

“Oh that is annoying…” The one on the right said.

“Told you,” The one on her left said.

Then she was standing with two Starlights to her left.

“Oh,” The one on the far left said. “Well then.”

“What?” She yelled, wanting to know what she meant.

“The hell!?” The one next to her yelled, the shouting making Starlight wince.

“Oh that is annoying…” She mumbled, shaking her head.

“Told you.” The one on the far left said.

“Oh,” Starlight said, this time standing with two mares to her right. “Well then.” She blinked, thinking she had it figured out now.

“What?” The far one yelled.

“The hell!?” The close one followed, as expected.

“Oh that is annoying…”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Told you.” Well, she did about five seconds ago… After she had been told… And the one before had been told…

“ARGH!” Starlight screamed, once again standing alone. The heck was going on? Freaky time loops, random teleportation, and freaking mirrors everywhere!

“Freakingmirrors!”

“You can shut up now!” Starlight growled. Then she facehooved. “My Stars…”

“Starlight… Starlight… Starlight… Starlight…” She heard Rainbow Dash call.

“Rainbow!” Starlight yelled. “Where are you?”

“Starlight… Starlight… Starlight… Starlight…”

For the briefest of moments a skeleton appeared in front of Starlight before vanishing. She reared in panic, hearing voices come from nowhere.

“What’s the legend?”

“Two pegasi, two earth ponies, an alicorn, and a unicorn.”

“Two unicorns!” Starlight yelled. “Get it right!” Then she blinked. “Waitaminute…”

A mirror slid into view, showing her an image of a blue unicorn stallion she had never seen before. “The Realm of Echoes gives glances of all times and places. Never forget.”

The blue unicorn physically appeared next to her. “Never forget.” He said.

“Forget what?” She asked.

“It’s different for everypony.” He smiled warmly. “You will make a good successor.” Then he vanished.

She blinked. “Seriously, what the actual hell?”

“We must be better.” Another voice said.

“What’s your deal!?” Seventeen Starlight’s said at once. They all looked at each other in fear. Then there was one again, mind swirling from seventeen memories of the same event. “F… F…Fun…”

Something exploded. She saw robot ponies crawling around. A mechanical alicorn appeared briefly before the entire white expanse was filled with yellow alicorns. Then it started raining Implodes, in the mist of which she could see a mirror displaying Sperion, limbless, motionless. Then with six limbs, moving faster than she thought was possible.

Then everything vanished, the expanse once again becoming empty except for Starlight herself.

“I’m going to go mad here.” She said. “I need to escape…” But what about my friends?"

Another Starlight fell from the sky. She looked bruised and battered. “Ow… Oh look,” She said, looking at Starlight. “Guess this is where this happens.”

“Where what happens?”

“You can control this place,” she said. “Just try it.” She shakily stood up, lit her horn, and in a flash of mirror shards she was gone.

Starlight blinked. “Did I just see my future self?”

“Yes you did!” She heard herself call from the distance. “And you’re hearing a different one now!”

“Why the heck would you say that to me?”

“Because I did earlier and it’s mind bending?”

“Where are you?”

“Somewhere. Not here anymore. Bye!”

Then there was silence.

Starlight sighed. She might as well try… She lit her horn – and a mirror instantly appeared in front of her. It showed an image of herself, horn glowing. She frowned, it frowned too. She focused, and the frown disappeared. The Starlight in the mirror dropped her magic, and began to look confused again.

Starlight blinked. She tried looking forward through the mirror. She saw herself stamp a hoof and cause another mirror to appear far away. She stamped her own hoof and the mirror in front of her instantly changed location.

“…The paradoxes…” She said, mind reeling.

She created another mirror, looking into the future again. She saw herself light her horn and create a copy of herself, so she tried it. There were now two Starlights physically at the location. “Weird,” the ones in the mirror said, quickly followed by the ones in reality.

The two heard a voice. “…Don’t bet on sinking ships…”

“This is a bad place,” Starlight A said.

“Yeah. We are not meant to exist in a state of temporal flux,” Starlight B agreed.

“We need to get the others.”

“Well, obviously we can control spacetime here, so why don’t we split up, gather them, and appear right back here?”

“Okay,” Starlight A said, teleporting right to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. They blinked.

“Uh… Starlight? Where’s Implode?” Applejack asked.

“Wait, did that just happen? But when did I…” She paused, teleporting away for a moment, then teleporting back.

“Starlight!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Where have you been? It’s been hours! And we just saw a million copies of ourselves!”

“It was deeply unnerving…” Applejack muttered.

Starlight frowned. “We’ve got time problems. Sorry. Come with me.” She lit her horn and teleported them away. Starlight B was already there with Implode. Starlight A and B reconciled their timelines, forming into one…

“Hey Implode,” Starlight B said.

“I’ve been here probably about a day,” Implode said. “I’ve been alone. Going crazier. Hearing voices.” She began to cry. “Watching myself cry…”

Starlight B frowned, unsure about this. “I can fix that, I think.”

“What’s the point? Oh there it is, funny, I was wondering when that happened.” She chuckled. “This place knows Starlight! It knows! It’s gonna get to you!”

Then Starlight B saw an older Starlight and Implode in the distance, talking. The Implode next to her vanished.

“They make a circle…” Implode said. “Make it stop…”

“Okay…” Starlight B agreed. Then teleported them away.

“Oookay…” Starlight said, reeling from the double memory. “Done with that! We’re out of here!”

“Did I just see my future self?”

Starlight sighed. This. “Yes, you did! And you’re hearing a different one now!”

“Why the heck would you say that to me?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Because I did earlier and it’s mind bending?”

“Where are you?”

“Somewhere! Not here anymore! Bye!” She lit her horn, activating the Sperion spell, accelerating the cooldown to nothing. The four of them appeared on a blue cube with a pink pyramid floating above them.

“Finally!” Implode yelled. “Sweet freedom from that place!” She twitched her head, causing several explosions around her face. She basked in the heat of the Power – she didn’t care that it hurt, she just laughed.

Applejack let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I’m not sure I could have lasted many more hours…”

“Hours!?” Implode blurted. “Try a week! That’s torture!”

Starlight realized that for her, it had only been a few minutes in the Realm of Echoes. She shuddered at the thought.

“Who are you?” A monotone voice asked them. They were rather surprised at who the speaker was.

~~~

Fluttershy laid in her bed made of bushes and leaves. Her nose twitched, and she shivered. She tossed and turned, groaning in her sleep.

The dragon bit through a pony’s neck, the head still screaming as it went flying.

Lour and Roy slithered onto her bed, concerned. Why would anyone act like this? Was she sick?

Minarette was burned to a crisp, the sickly smell making Fluttershy’s mouth water.

Fluttershy flailed with a hoof, kicking the twin snake to the ground.

Browncoat was swallowed in one sickening gulp, his neighs still audible as he slid further into the dragon.

The real Browncoat was sleeping soundly a room over, dreaming about eating leaves. How lucky he was not to be burdened with a full awareness.

The dragon turned to Fluttershy and laughed a truly evil laugh.

Fluttershy winced and started to cry

It opened its mouth wide… and chomped.

“AAAAAAAAAAA!” Fluttershy screamed, leaping out of bed. She flew to a window and into the warm yellow light of the Realm, breathing heavily. She looked out at the many animals prowling around, all minding their own business, hardly a care in the world.

But… They didn’t have everything. There weren’t complex and deep relationships. There were no ideas. There was no art. No happiness...

She found herself wondering who got the better slice of life… animals or ponies? Long ago she would have said animals. Recently she would have said ponies. Now… She wasn’t so sure.

She sighed, turning back to the home she had created, filled to the brim with critters of all kinds. They were her little friends that cared for her and kept her company. And yet, she felt horribly lonely. Here she had the power to control life itself, she could fashion just about anything she wanted…

But there wasn’t anypony to talk to. To challenge her. Just the animals.

To imagine that a place like this had once been her dream, a place alone, a place without other ponies to make her feel bad…

Tears fell from her eyes. She just wanted somepony with her. Someone she could share this pain with. Was that so bad?

It sure felt bad…

She slowly flew back to her room. On a whim, she stopped by Browncoat’s enclosure, watching him sleep. His ear twitched and he rolled over, but otherwise gave no indication his sleep wasn't peaceful.

Fluttershy smiled at him. So peaceful, even after the trauma. But she knew he still wanted his herd. He needed ponies as well, others of his kind…

She couldn’t help with that though…

…Or could she?

An idea formed in her mind. She flew out of the house again, aiming for the top. She found Minarette sleeping on the canopy.

“Minarette?” Fluttershy asked the great ray gently. Minarette rose into the air and greeted Fluttershy. “Can you take me back to where we found the dragon?”

Minarette agreed, and they arrived there in short order. Fluttershy dismounted and flew towards one of the mostly full skeletons. She took a deep breath, and spread her wings, feeling the energies of life flow around her…

VII - Relational Geometries

View Online

“Go fish!”

“We’re playing blackjack, darling,” Rarity said, looking up from her cards.

“Still don’t know how you’re doing that with just two players,” Spike said from his perch atop the Seven Sided Chest.

“Believe me, I have no idea either,” Rarity said, looking a little tired.

“Woo hoo!” Pinkie yelled. “Field goal! You win Rarity!”

“I… Do? I… See...” Rarity blinked, not quite able to understand this. Desiring to stop the train of thought that was bound to end in further confusion, she turned to Spike. “See anything yet?”

“Nothing but sand, pillars, sand, cacti, sand, a portal, sand, two ponies, and sand.”

“Business as usual!” Pinkie giggled.

The portal hurled another sphere into the desert, this one about the size of a table and made of chalk. It landed in the sand, creating a large dust cloud to form.

“I wonder…” Rarity said. “Does Discord’s spell have a timer on it?”

“It’ll probably wear off eventually,” Spike said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be back before it dissipates. Probably.”

“Encouraging…” Rarity muttered.

Pinkie was somehow on top of one of the pillars. “Hey guys?”

“What is it Pinkie?” Rarity asked.

“Don’t look straight into the sun, it hurts.”

Rarity sighed. “Yes Pinkie. Yes it does.”

In a flash of white light, Discord, Twilight, and Trixie appeared.

“Oh my…” Rarity said, realizing they hadn’t come back with anypony. “…Did you find anything?”

“They left the Realm two hours ago,” Twilight said, flying up to the pedestal to grab the chest with her magic. “We need to get to the Realm of Magic. Look for a place with purple fog and crystals.” She rotated the Chest, and the portal changed to display a Realm filled with geometric shapes - cubes, pyramids, prisms, icosahedrons – all floating above a green plane against a dark blue backdrop.

“Nope.” Twilight said, twisting the Chest again, this time selecting a place that fit the description. An ominous softly glowing purple fog flowed out of the portal, through which a cloudy realm could be seen, swirling softly with magic winds. Shards of crystal floated amongst the mist, refracting the purple glow with sharp glares.

“That’s it!” Trixie said.

Discord rubbed his hands. “Let’s get this over with, we’ve got a Fluttershy to save! Eventually.”

They drifted into the cloudy Realm, Trixie held by Twilight’s magic. They quickly realized there was no gravity whatsoever within the purple fog, so they began to drift through space.

Twilight cast a protection spell on the three left behind, just in case. The last the she hard them say before she drifted out of audio range was a “Wanna play again Rarity?” from Pinkie.

“This place feels… Empowering.” Trixie said, touching the clouds with her hoof.

“I feel it too,” Twilight said. “Magic, dense magic, everywhere, almost completely uniform… So much energy…” Twilight realized her horn was glowing slightly, even though she wasn’t using it. “Odd.”

“Aaaaa!” Trixie panicked. “Why is it on? This place is messing with my horn! Aaaaa-“

“Calm down, nothing bad is happening. No freak sparks, no explosions-“ An arc of purple lightning flashed in front of them. “Okay, so maybe it isn’t perfectly safe, but better than where we just were by far.”

Trixie calmed down from the shock of the lighting bold. “Okay… Just magic… Lots of it… Maybe I can use it!” She lit her horn and her wizard hat started changing colors. She grinned. “Nice.”

Discord pointed a finger, cutting a miles long tunnel through the magic cloud. “Wow,” he said. “Barely broke a sweat on that. Hrm… Maybe I can finally make that tap dancing plant here…”

“Take us to Starlight first,” Trixie pleaded. “Please.”

Discord grinned, raising his hand and snapping his fingers – and once again nothing happened. “You know, this is starting to get really annoying. Hold on a sec, I need to call tech support.” He created a banana and put it to his ear. “Hm, yes, is this tech support?”

The banana made a sound like someone talking from the other end of a receiver.

“Well that wasn’t my fault! Anyway, this has nothing to do with that whole debacle. The find-a-pony spell isn’t working.”

More mumbling.

“Yes, I tried turning it off and on again, what kind of idiot do you think I am?”

Rapid syllabic talking.

“The question was rhetorical. How do I fix it?”

Two words.

“Please hold?” He made the banana explode. “Well that was no help.”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “No kidding.”

“The intense magic could be jamming scans,” Twilight said. “I know it’s overloading my short range detection.”

“Inferior magic,” Discord smirked. “I’m better than you-u!”

“Maybe…” Twilight said, looking around. “But I have an idea.”

“Hm?” Trixie said. “There’s nothing here.”

“There are these crystals,” Twilight said, putting her nose inches from one the size of an apple. “They appear to be solid magic. Maybe we can use them.”

<I would love to know how you plan to use us.>

Discord snapped his fingers, blowing the clouds away as far as he could. Several dozen yards away to their left, the clouds brushed out of view and revealed a truly tremendous floating crystal. It was the size of a tower, sparkling intensely in the Realm’s glow. It had two sharp points at either rend, brought together by a many-faceted surface. Its voice boomed once again, a shrill noise that was was reminiscent of thousands of glass bells ringing in harmony.

<Allow me to reiterate. What was your plan?>

Discord pushed Twilight forward. Twilight gulped. “Well… I was planning on sending a cascading spell into one of the crystal matrixes that would pass on indefinitely to other crystals in a chain, therefore finding our friends faster. If you have an issu-“

<I do not. I was merely curious> The giant crystal gave no physical indication that it was the one speaking, the only sign being fluctuating magic levels. <Though it won’t work, the next Crystal patch is miles away.>

“Ah… Oops,” Twilight said. “Can you help us, mister, er…”

<I am…> It paused, as if it had to think about it. <Sham Rock. And I can try, though the Realm of Magic is large. I can help you get through the interference. Are any of you familiar with a form of spell notation?>

Twilight nodded. Discord groaned. “Ugh, why can’t you just tell us? Writing it down is so boring…!”

<Ah you. Of course you would say that.>

Discord blinked. ”…Do I know you?”

<In a manner of speaking. It’s not important now. Which style are you most familiar with?”

“Stellar Cyclic Notation,” Twilight announced.

<Ah, a true scholar. Very well, prepare your mind.>

Trixie blinked. “Wait, she needs to prepare? How big is this-“

Twilight’s eyes went white and hundreds of thousands of symbols crashed through her consciousness. This was larger than any spell she’d ever attempted – so many links, glyphs, and flows to keep track of… all to just continually clear the dense magic interference out of the Realm. She supposed it’d have to be complicated to see through this much condensed magic, but even then this seemed a bit ridiculous.

She spread her wings, increasing her horn’s glow to a stellar intensity. Trixie had to look away from the intensity. Twilight let out a powerful burst of magic, clearing away the mist as far as the eye could see, revealing dozens of crystal patches in the distance, some with crystals much larger than Sham Rock.

Discord took the opportunity to snap his fingers – and once again, nothing happened. He growled. “They. Aren’t. Here.”

“Why would they be?” A synthetic voice spoke. Before them stood a silvery spike-ball with three limbs. “I just saw them in the Realm of Power hours ago.”

Twilight blinked. “Who’re you?”

“Sperion.”

<Hey Sperion.>

“Nice to see you too. I still want to know why they aren’t there,” Sperion pressed.

“They… left?” Trixie frowned. “That’s what we were told anyway…”

“How could they have…” Sperion paused. “She didn’t listen to me.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“I’m cursed with wandering the Realms forever. She thought she could figure out how to travel from scanning me. I told her it was a bad idea.” He let out a synthetic sigh that made Trixie squint at him, uncertain. “But she didn’t listen, apparently. She could be anywhere now.”

“Anywhere?” Discord asked.

“Anywhere.”

<That’s truly unfortunate. Hope they didn’t end up in the Realm of Distortion.>

Discord smirked. “Sounds like my place.”

<Careful what you ask for.>

Twilight looked to Sperion. “…Can you help us find them? We’d be eternally grateful for-“

“Sorry, all I can tell you is that Fluttershy is safe in the Realm of Life and that you should just keep dialing Realms until you find the others.” He made a shaking motion with his body. “Excuse me for my straightforwardness, I am… Preoccupied.”

Twilight nodded. “I understand. I… once again have many questions I want to ask, but there is no time.”

“I’m sensing a pattern here…” Discord mumbled.

“I hope we'll meet again,” Twilight smiled. “I’m sure you know a lot about these mysterious Realms.”

“That I do,” Sperion said. “Be careful out there. The Realms can be surprising.”

“Thanks. I think we got that.” Twilight lit her horn, focusing her magic. “Thanks anyway, Sham Rock!”

Then they were gone.

Sperion turned to the crystal. “’Sham Rock?’ Really?”

<You can stop talking now.>

~~~

Overtop the green plane there was a blue cube. Standing on the floating cube were four mares. Said four mares were staring at a head sized pink diamond that had just asked them who they were. The pink diamond got impatient. "Answer soon."

“Uh…” Applejack said. “Ah’m Applejack, that’s Rainbow Dash, this is Starlight, and that’s Implode.”

The diamond responded with a calculating, deadpan male voice.
“Processing. Inexact speech. Outlier. You four are not from this Realm.”

“Er… No,” Starlight said.

“How did you arrive?”

Starlight looked right at it. “A spell I cooked up recently.”

“Deception detected. Not an outright lie, but information is being held back. This is the Realm of Truth; there are no secrets here. Tell the unaltered truth or there will be extraction.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “I don’t want to figure out what extraction means.”

Starlight sighed. “I stole it from Sperion as he left with a magical scan.” She didn’t like this at all.

“Peculiar. The Sperion has rarely let himself close enough for that course of action to be considered.”

“You do sound like the sort he’d want to avoid,” Applejack said.

“Yes. He does not wish to share knowledge. Such greed is illogical and detrimental, but he sticks to his alien creed.”

Implode grunted. “This diamond guy is dull.”

“Interest is not a criteria of function.”

“I’m going to smash your face in.”

“Noted and disregarded.”

Implode was a bit taken aback by this response.

“What do you want?” Starlight asked.

“The truth. Knowledge. Information.” The diamond paused. “We request further questioning sessions from you. In return, we will provide you with a residence, food, and whatever else you require. No harm will come to you and we will not initiate extraction.”

Starlight narrowed her eyes. “How do we know we can trust you?”

“There are no secrets in the Realm of Truth.”

“Oh yeah?” Implode blurted. ”What’s extraction then?”

“The process by which a pony’s brain is disassembled while the host is living to absorb all information contained within. Large waste of tablets and resources, but sometimes required with greedy ones.”

Rainbow Dash shuddered. “Yep. I didn’t want to know. Shocker.”

Starlight frowned. “I don’t know…”

“I trust it,” Applejack said. “I just feel it. Seems right.”

“Possible inflection of Truth detected. Must be a high concentration to activate this early.”

“What?” Applejack wondered.

“There is power within some individuals to access the nature of the Realm of Truth, information. Unconfirmed, but evidence suggests you have this inflection.”

“Ah… guess that’s nice?”

“Irrelevant. Continue forward 7.3 miles, turn left, and travel 4.2 more miles to reach our settlement. We will be waiting.”

“Why not just go in a straight line?” Starlight asked.

“We do not expect you to calculate the angle of departure precisely and therefore take precautions.”

Starlight lit her horn, creating a beam of light shooting out at precisely the right angle. She raised an eyebrow.

“This is why we must have further questioning. We were unsure you could do that.”

“Who do you use we all the time?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I speak for all here in the Node.”

“All right, enough talking for now,” Applejack said. “It’s time to get moving.”

The pink diamond said nothing, and Stalright hopped of the cube onto the green plane below. “Strange,” she said, tapping the ground with her hoof. “It seems featureless, but I don’t slip around like it’s ice.”

“At this point I’m not surprised it doesn’t make sense,” Rainbow muttered, flying around in loops. “These Realms are just weird.”

“It’s not weird!” Implode shouted suddenly. “The Realm of Power is a moving work of art that makes perfect sense should you bother to actually study it!” She huffed. “This place… is just boring!”

Rainbow smirked, stretching out a wing and turning a nearby prism into fire. “Better?”

Starlight blinked. “Huh. I guess you can still do that outside the Realm of Power.”

Applejack frowned, stamping her hoof on the ground. Part of the green ground turned to dirt around her hoof. “Seems lesser for me “

Rainbow grinned. “Ha! I’m better than you!”

Implode growled. “If I had my wings I would teach you a lesson about your arrogance.”

“You’re one to talk!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! You’re stuck up, arrogant, and entitled!”

“Why’d you save me if you didn’t like me?”

“You didn’t deserve to die!”

“I bucking killed ponies Rainbow Dash!” Implode screamed, face strained. “What do you think of that?”

There was silence. Implode huffed and walked ahead. “Idiots.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Applejack sighed. “Ah still stand by my position.”

“Getting weaker every day,” Starlight hissed.

“No time for this,” Applejack chided.

The mares walked through the Realm of Truth in silence. They saw geometric shapes of all kinds and colors – red cubes, pink dodecahedrons, silver donuts, purple toruses, white cones, anything imaginable floating above the green plane. Eventually, after much walking, they saw a tall brown rectangular prism in the distance with parts of it cut out. Paths snaked around the prism, ponies walking in and out from all sides. There were bridges composed of dozens of floating shapes leading to other large objects. All of the larger floating ones had also been cut into, giving them the appearance of hives. On the very top of the brown prism there was an object that didn’t belong – a large floating clod of dirt, which had a giant tree on top, glistening with hundreds of pinkish-blue fruit.

Starlight saw this and realized they had to get their food from somewhere, that tree was probably it.

“This is the Nexus, the only settlement in the Realm of Truth.” A pink diamond said from nearby. “Some pegasi will drag an ellipsoid to you, and carry you into the central prism. Stand still while the process is carried out, you will not survive a fall.”

“I can fly,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“It would be best if you remained still as well so to not cause confusion.”

The pegasi arrived shortly, a brown and a green stallion, both with blank looks on their faces.

“Uh… Hi,” Applejack said. They did not respond. They simply pushed the black ellipsoid they had under the four mares and flew it into the Nexus. The Nexus, unlike New Mareu, was… Monotone. Ponies walked around the brown halls without emotion, kept a blank face set at all times, and the few who spoke did so with monotone voices. There were no decorations whatsoever, every last object having a practical use and nothing else. Most places were completely empty, just serving as a way to connect various rooms together for methodically moving ponies. They passed group-sleeping chambers, record rooms, and a dining hall were everyone ate fruit and green bricks.

Rainbow Dash shuddered. “Yeah, I don’t like this place. Gives me the heeby-jeebies.”

For once Implode had no comment.

They were led into a smaller room with a door. The pegasi unceremoniously dumped them inside and left. Applejack stood up and dusted herself off. “Did they ever hear of courtesy?”

“Nope,” Starlight said, examining the room. “Let’s see… Desk, bed, bed, bed, bed, table, four plates, four food bricks, and a very open toilet.” She frowned. “Minimalist.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the toiled with a blush. “…It’s just there in the wall where everypony can see it!”

“Don’t think privacy exists here Rainbow,” Starlight said. “Don’t worry about it, we’re all mares and friends here.” She glared at Implode. “Mostly.”

Implode growled.

“Pointless ideas.” A familiar voice said from the doorway, the one they had heard from the diamond. It belonged to a tall grey stallion with a pink diamond for a cutie mark. “Questions will begin immediately. I will take you one at a time to the discussion room, where you will cooperate and then return here. After all initial questions have been asked, you will be free to wander the Nexus until such a time as another questioning session is desired. Satisfactory?”

Starlight gulped. “…Yes.”

“You can’t talk for me,” Implode said.

“You want to be cut off from what looks like the only source of food in this place?”

“No,” Implode muttered. “Fine, I agree to the terms. But I will not like them.”

“Irrelevant. You,” He said, pointing at Rainbow Dash. “Come with me.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well, here I go…” She walked away with him.

~~~

Fluttershy looked out a window at her field.

She saw Browncoat grazing.

He was surrounded by several dozen other ponies like him, most grazing as well. Some were flying lazily, and a few were lifting rocks with their telekinesis curiously. All of them were herding together and living.

None of them could talk. None of them could have the same experience she did. But… That didn’t matter anymore. They were happy out there. Brought back from the brink

bones cracking, flesh slashing out in bloody tendrils

of death from nothing but skeletons. They all acted like nothing had happened. Everything had been made right. She restored life. She felt good about herself.

She flapped her wings and drifted over the field, lazily floating

wings, shooting out of the side in a spurt of blood, bones visible through tears

over to where Browncoat was grazing. She landed and nuzzled him. He wondered what she wanted.

“Nothing. Just checking to see how you’re doing.” She laid down in the grass, looking at all the animalistic ponies around her. They all looked so serene. She closed her eyes

squirting, gushing, screaming in fear

and whimpered as a sudden rush of loneliness came over her. None of the ponies went to comfort her, Browncoat only giving her a sideways glance. She began to cry. A few of the ponies became concerned, thinking she was hurt, but then just shot each other confused looks when they realized she was perfectly healthy. The animals began to congregate, unsure what to do.

Fluttershy wept.

It was just too much. She... She…

eye squishing into existence from an empty eye socket, the iris staring at her with pain beyond that which could be comprehended

She couldn’t talk about what she had seen.

She needed her friends.

She needed them badly…

“Why don’t you come for me!?” She yelled to the Realm, screaming as loud as she could.

There was no response but the rustling of leaves.

VIII - Interview

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“Aaaaaaand rigby!” Pinkie declared.

“Pinkie!” Rarity yelled. “In what card game do you get a rigby!?”

“This one,” Pinkie said, tallying her point by eating a card. “The score is eleven to Q, my lead by a thumbtack!”

Rarity’s hair twanged while her eyes twitched. “But… But… Oh I fold.”

Pinkie gasped. “No way! You just stole my trap card!”

“I…” Rarity sighed. “Pinkie, what’s the score now?”

“Valence to Q, my lead by a corkscrew.”

Spike looked down at them from his perch on the Seven Sided Chest. “You know, the more I listen to this game, the more I think that there are too many patterns for it to just be random. Pinkie, you are a mastermind.”

“I know!” She giggled. “Now Rarity, go fish!”

“…Gladly,” Rarity said.

Once again, Twilight, Discord, and Trixie appeared next to them. “We have to search the other Realms for them,” Twilight announced, grabbing the Chest and turning it. The portal changed to reveal a forested area bathed in a soft yellow light. “Fluttershy should be here. Maybe Starlight and the others will be too…”

“What happened dear?” Rarity asked.

“They weren’t there. They could be anywhere, apparently,” Twilight sighed. “Let’s just go, we have no time to lose.”

“Trixie will sit this one out,” Trixie said, sighing. “Trixie needs to calm down…”

“I understand,” Twilight said. “We’ll find her, Trixie.”

“Trixie knows…” Trixie sighed.

“So!” Discord rubbed his hands together. “Who’s coming with us to save Fluttershy?”

Pinkie appeared on his head. “Me, ya silly! Wahoo! Adventure awaits!” She used Discord as a springboard, launching into the Realm. She hit a trunk facefirst, embedding herself in it. “...Ow…”

Discord and Twilight strode in, laughing despite themselves. “Alright, Discord… Use your finding spell.”

Pinkie pulled her head out of the trunk. “The Fluttershy finding spell!”

Discord rolled his eyes. “I know. I’m not an idiot.” He snapped his fingers – and they vanished in a puff of white light, leaving Spike, Rarity, and Trixie behind.

“…This is boring,” Trixie declared after a few minutes.

“In other news, sand is grainy,” Spike said.

Back in the Realm of life, Discord, Twilight, and Pinkie appeared in a large clearing filled with all kinds of alien animals they’d never seen before. Flying manta rays, strange bugs with many colors, and clouds that moved like rabbits. A truly impressive house constructed out of living wood cast an impressive shadow over the herds of creatures.

Then there was the herd of ponies sleeping to their left, a somewhat odd sight. They were all clustered together one mound, almost like sheep. Everyone instinctively knew Fluttershy was sleeping somewhere in the pony pile.

“So…” Discord said. “Who wants to poke them first?”

“Me! Me!” Pinkie said, producing a foam finger from her mane.

“No! Shh!” Twilight hissed. “We don’t know what these ponies are like! They could consider being woken up offensive!”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “You’re being pretty loud.”

“It’s a hushed yell!”

“I believe the term is hissssssssing,” Discord stressed.

Twilight was just about to come up with a clever retort, but her opportunity was shattered when a double-headed snake hissed right at her.

She looked at it, blinking. It looked back, unblinking. Pinkie looked at each of them with one eye.

Discord facepalmed. “This is pointless. What do you want?”

It hissed at him.

“…Yeah, still don’t speak animal… Want some kumquats?”

The hiss in response to that might have been a yes.

“Well, that was pointless,” Twilight said. “So… Dusnake-“ The twin snake shot her death glares at her suggested name. She hastily backtracked. “Or not! I can just not call you anything! Uh… Can you take us to Fluttershy? Flutt-er-shy?”

The snake heads took a moment to realize who – or even what – Twilight was referring to. But they eventually reasoned through it and pointed at the pony pile.

Pinkie grinned, taking out some cymbals. “Can I wake ‘em up yet!?”

“Pinkie! Shh!” Twilight hissed. But it was too late, for her words woke up a white unicorn mare. She stood up, looked right in Twilight’s eyes – and walked away without a word.

“Uh…” Twilight blinked, watching in mild confusion as the ponies slowly woke up and spread out, paying the three newcomers little to no attention. Just… wandering in a herd.

Discord blinked. “…What?”

“Your worst fears have been realized Discord…” Pinkie grabbed him by the face. “They found you boring.”

Discord gasped. He fell over and convulsed as if he were having a heart attack. Pinkie giggled at this absurd display.

Twilight continued to watch the pony pile get smaller and smaller until at last there was just one buttery yellow Pegasus left, still napping in the warm yellow light. She looked… troubled. Her mane was mangy, and she kept twitching in her sleep.

Twilight walked over to her. “Fluttershy…”

Fluttershy grunted, opening her eyes slowly. She squinted. “Twi- Twilight?”

“Yes Fluttershy, it’s me. I found you.” She smiled.

Fluttershy instantly leapt up, rushing Twilight into a tight embrace. “Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you…” She trailed off as the tears began to flow. She squeezed Twilight hard enough to cause real pain within the alicorn – but she made sure not to comment on it.

“Ahem,” Discord coughed.

“Oh. Discord helped,” Twilight admitted. Fluttershy leapt out of the embrace with Twilight and gave Discord one just as hard. He didn’t hide his pain.

“Ow! You’ve gotten… stronger.”

“Oh! Sorry…” She pulled back, face wet. “I just haven’t talked to another pony in forever…”

Twilight frowned. “What about them?” She said, pointing at the other ponies.

“They… aren’t ponies. Well, they are, they… They’re animals.” She looked embarrassed about something. “It’s… a little creepy to be honest.”

Pinkie pulled a bunch of silly faces in front of Browncoat, receiving little in the way of response. Pinkie shuddered. “That is creepy.”

Fluttershy looked at her friends. “I take it we have a way home now?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “We found another temple. Still have to look for Starlight, Applejack, and Rainbow though.”

“Oh? Well we shouldn’t waste any more time then.” She turned to the double-headed snake. “Lou? Roy? You’re in charge. I may not be back for a while but I will try to return. Let Sperion know they found me.”

Lou and Roy nodded.

“What did you think of Sperion, by the way? He seemed... Odd when we met him.” Twilight asked.

“Oh, he was just wonderful. He taught me how to survive here and made my house.” She lifted one of her wings and a flower grew out of the ground. She looked at it warily, as if she wasn’t sure about it anymore.

Twilight gawked. “Well… that’s impressive. We’ll have to figure out exactly what that can do…”

“I wanna grow plants too!” Pinkie grinned, ramming her hoof into the ground. Nothing happened.

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry Pinkie, we need to go. We’ve got to find them as soon as possible. Celestia knows where…”

Fluttershy stood up tall, looking upwards. “Ready.”

~~~

The room was brown, cubical, and had a single featureless table in the center. The grey stallion looked Rainbow Dash right in the eye. “Full name?”

“Rainbow Dash. Now tell me yours.”

“Diamond Seventy-Eight,” he said, monotone.

“Parents?”

“Windy Whistles and Bow Hot Hoof.”

“Other family?”

“Nooope.”

“Romantic interests?”

“What? Heck no! What’s that got to do with anything!?”

“Defensive emotions, but nothing deceptive. Odd. We need to gather as much information as possible in these initial questions.” He paused a moment. “Relation to your companions?”

“I’m Applejack’s and Starlight’s friend and… Uh… I guess I know Implode but don’t like her that much?”

“Explain what you think of Implode.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “She’s insane, crazy, ungrateful, and just basically a jerk. I couldn’t leave her to die, you know, but man am I starting to wonder if she’s dangerous.”

“Why dangerous?”

“Well, she was a criminal and she’s said that she killed ponies. …You’re not going to hurt her are you?”

“No. We made a deal, we do not go back on our word unless there are extraneous circumstances. Why do you dislike her yet want to protect her?”

“Uh… Because nopony deserves to die?”

“Interesting. Treated as a statement of fact. Will require further questioning later. Back to questions about you. Occupation?”

Rainbow Dash was already a little frazzled at this point. “Uh… weather pony, and stuntmare. I organized the clouds in Ponyville and flew in Wonderbolt shows.”

“Entertainment employment. Irrelevant. Clouds, you can stand on them?”

“Uh, yeah, all pegasi can. …Clouds don’t exist here do they?”

“No.”

“How’d you know to ask then?”

“It is mentioned in the Archives left by our ancestors that Central had clouds and that pegasi could stand on them. I was just confirming the information. How did you leave Central?”

“My world? Uh… found some ruins that opened a portal and we got sucked in?”

“Which Realm did you start in?”

“Er… The Realm of Power, the one with all the spheres. Stayed there a week or so. Learned how to use the Power. Like, really cool, this power. I can change everything!”

“You can control the matter-energy?”

“Yeah! Watch!” She spread her wings and created a sphere of bubblegum.

“Abilities are retained in other Realms. Useful. You left via Starlight’s spell?”

“Yep.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Well, we wanted to get home, though really it was because we didn’t want Implode to get executed. Even she didn’t deserve that. So we convinced Starlight to take us away, simple as that.”

“Where did you end up then?”

“Some horrible weird white expanse where time didn’t make any sense. She got us out of there quickly… I think. The memories are really fuzzy.”

“She bent time?”

“I… think so?”

“Three high inflections of power, each for a different Realm’s aspect. Very suspicious. Can you think of any reason why you and your friends have such power?”

“…No. Now that you mention that it is weird that all of us can do that…”

“Further research warranted.” He paused, thinking. “What is your opinion of our Realm?”

“You’re all boring, but at least everything isn’t falling apart or trying to drive you insane.”

Diamond nodded. “That will be all for this first session. Expect more to follow.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. That was an abrupt end.

~~~

“Full name?”

“Applejack Apple. Go ahead and laugh at the redundancy.”

“We do not experience laughter here. Parents?”

“Deceased. Bright Mac Apple and Pear Butter Apple.”

“Other family?”

“Granny Smith Apple, my amazing and wise grandmare. Big Mac and Applebloom my brother and sister. Ah could go on but Ah don’t think you want the extensive family tree.”

“Not yet. Romantic interests?”

“None o’ yer gosh-tootin’ business.”

“Answer the question.”

“None.”

“Similar responses. Odd.”

“What’s odd about it? Askin’ about that kind a thing is rude!”

“Noted. Will not remove the question from the list. Relation to your companions?”

“Good friends with Rainbow, Ah know Starlight pretty well, and Ah just barely met Implode.”

“What do you think of Implode?”

“Ah think she’s lost in life and needs some guidance to recover from her past experiences,” Applejack frowned. “That wasn’t on the list of questions, was it?”

“Settling into the Inflection of Truth well. You are right. I simply asked it because of the way Rainbow Dash’s interview went.”

“Wait, so you mean to tell me Ah can just sense things about truth?”

“More than that. Information in general. Not only can you detect lies and deceptions, but also misleading information and, if you are experienced, piece together conclusions with detailed analysis in seconds.”

“So like Rainbow with her spheres?”

“Exactly the same, but a different sort of inflection. Do you have any idea why you and your friends have such strong inflections?”

“’Nother question you asked Rainbow.”

“Yes. Answer the question.”

“Well, Rainbow and I were part of these magical artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. There were six of ‘em and we each had one. That doesn’t explain Starlight though.”

“Think – how did you know Starlight had a strong inflection? It has never been explicitly stated to you.”

Applejack blinked. “Are you sayin’ that Ah just figured that out? Little creepy.”

“Perhaps. But useful. I have gathered enough information with this interview to speak for a year because of my strength in the inflection, but I am an experienced master. I fully expect you to surpass my level eventually.”

Applejack blinked. “Okay…”

“Occupation?”

“Farmer.”

“Does anypony deserve to die?”

“No.”

“…Odd. You believe that but there is doubt.”

“Yeah, so? Ponies have doubt.”

“Further research will be required.” He looked closer at her. “Do you have anything to add about the other Realms that Rainbow Dash didn’t mention?”

Applejack found her mind reminding itself of the brief conversation she had with Rainbow Dash before she was taken in to Diamond. Suddenly a wave of information flooded her mind, and she knew what had happened with such detail she might as well have been sitting next to Rainbow during her interview. “Woah…”

“Seeing into the past is easy,” Diamond said. “The question still stands.”

“Uh… Yeah! We were in a settlement called New Mareu kept by ponies that could bend the matter-energy thing.” She paused. “But you already knew that.”

“Yes. What is your opinion of our Realm?”

“…A bit overwhelming with how forward y’all are...” She smirked as she realized something. “Guess I should go now.”

“Seeing the near future isn’t much harder,” Diamond said as she left.

~~~

“Full name?”

“Implode Bucking Baskets.”

“Ignoring second word. Parents?”

“Vera and Trekker. One’s dead, the other is the worst pony to ever exist,” Implode laughed. “I’m probably a close second.”

“Other family?”

“Nope!”

“Why do you hate your father so much?”

“Sociopath. Raised me and never let me forget how worthless and irksome he found me. He denied me entry into the university simply because I wasn’t as good as him! Oh, and that’s not all mister Diamond, you see, he disowned me, forbade me from ever becoming a Guardian through his power, and then went to let dozens of other students graduate.” She slammed her hoof into the table. “Then, he had the gall to get me banished when I confronted him on it!”

“Your emotions are the strongest we’ve encountered. Does it occur to you that they may be a detriment?”

“Stars, you’re worse than him. I didn’t think that was possible.”

“Answer the question.”

“Without my emotions I can’t have fun. And without some sort of break from my horrid existence, there’s no point in living. So I’ll keep them, thank you very much.”

“We shall see if you are strong enough to resist the acclimation of Truth.”

“The heck does that mean?”

“Those without strength get changed by this Realm. Their emotions are slowly ironed out of them the longer they stay.”

Implode blinked. “…Terrifying.”

“Romantic interests?”

“The buck is wrong with you? How’d you change topi- No! None!”

“The prevalence of romance we were led to believe existed outside our realm appears to have been misplaced.”

Implode groaned.

“Relation to your companions?”

“Hate the Pegasus with a burning passion, hate the earth pony less, and Starlight… Eh, since I can’t lie here I really don’t care either way about her. Needs to loosen up.”

“Why do you hate Rainbow Dash so much?”

“For someone who claims to be the master of truth you sure don’t pick up on subtext.”

“I regularly ask questions I already know the answer to just to get reactions. Answer the question.”

“Prodigy. She’s a freaking prodigy. Trekker was drooling over her and her prowess. And no, it’s not just that she overshadows me and got my damn father’s approval. No, look at her. She never worked for it. I broke all my limbs multiple times, training as hard as physically possible! Then I snapped from the stress!”

“What happened when you snapped?”

Implode was silent for a moment. “…I killed his students and tried to kill him. I didn’t stop trying. Still haven’t.”

“Did those students deserve to die?”

A bead of sweat fell down her head. “…No.”

“Does Trekker deserve to die?”

Implode looked Diamond in the eye, her face enraged. “Yes.”

Diamond thought for a second. “Do you have any idea why your three companions have such strong inflections?”

“No. Do you?”

“No,” Diamond said, “and this lack of knowledge is unacceptable.”

“Tough,” Implode deadpanned.

“Occupation?”

“Banished crazed murdermare,” Implode shouted with glee.

“Unemployed. Were you aware of the Sperion prior to recent events?”

“Nope! Not a clue about that… thing.”

“How do you feel about him taking your wings?”

She groaned. “I want to kill him. Can’t decide how I’ll do it. Slow enough so he can give me my wings back, that’s for sure.”

“What is your opinion of our Realm?”

“You ask too many questions, fail to understand the point, and are just creepy.”

“That will be all for this session. Expect more later.”

“Oh my gosh no. No more questions.”

“Your desires are irrelevant. Return to your room.”

~~~

“Full name?”

“Starlight Glimmer.”

“Parents?”

“I never knew them.”

“Any family?”

“None that I know of.”

“Romantic interests?”

Starlight paled. “W-w-what?”

“Answer the question.”

“No!”

“False. Answer the question.”

“Fine! I spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about Sunburst.”

“…There’s more.”

Starlight groaned. “And Thorax. And Discord. And Twilight’s brother who I know is married. And then there’s Trixie’s constant-“

“Enough. I get the picture. Romantically confused.”

“I find myself annoyed at how accurate that is.”

“Relation to your companions?”

“Good friends with Rainbow and AJ, don’t know much about Implode but I really don’t trust her. She’s crazy.”

“Can you think of any reason why you and your friends have abnormally strong Inflections?”

“No.”

“False. You can think of something.”

“Well destiny does seem to like us, and two of them are Elements of Harmony…”

“Why don’t you want to tell us?”

Starlight gulped. ”Look, I don’t want attention drawn to us and I might be crazy. There’s some Aztrot legend about two earth ponies, two pegasi, two unicorns, and an alicorn. Those race types match me and my group of friends exactly. It… well it strikes me as something I should keep secret.”

“Nothing should be kept secret.”

“False,” Starlight said, clearly liking the feel of the word in her mouth. “If I lie to save lives, it is good.”

“Good and evil are subjective. Only truth exists.”

“And you are a broken record. Not changing my mind.”

“Does anypony deserve to die?”

“Not most. But some.”

“Who were you thinking of right then?”

“Ahuizotl. The one responsible for this mess.”

“Why did you go against Sperion’s wishes?”

“We needed to get out. He was being selfish.”

“We agree on something then. What is your overall opinion of Sperion?”

“He’s… an okay guy, I suppose. I don’t like the way he thinks or how he chooses to help one moment and then do nothing the next. It’s like he can’t make up his mind. And he knows things that could help us. But he doesn’t share them, and he won’t really say why.”

“Have you tried accessing your power since you left the Realm of Echoes?”

“Er… no. I’m a little scared of what it will do.”

“It is your choice. We will want to know more of it later, however. What do you think of our Realm?”

“It’s alien, weird, wrong on so many levels, but it’s safe. So I think we’ll stay since we don’t know what lies beyond.”

“We are done here. You will now be allowed to roam the Realm and the Nexus freely unless you are called.”

Starlight nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“It is not hospitality. It is us seizing an opportunity.”

~~~

“Go fish!”

“Uh… Rarity?” Trixie said. “Weren’t we playing blackjack?”

Rarity giggled to herself. “I think I understand what Pinkie sees in this!”

“And so she spreads!” Spike declared, lounging on the Seven Sided Chest. “Will nopony be spared the pink!?”

“No…” Rairty said, smirking innocently. “None will…”

Trixie recoiled slightly. “…And now Trixie finds you creepy.”

“Oh, sorry dear, guess I got a tad carried away there. Touchdown, by the way, grab the ace of hearts.”

Trixie wordlessly searched the cards for the ace of hearts. She would be down there for a while.

The sun beat down on them. It was well into the afternoon on the Zahara, so it was outrageously hot. Heat waves could be seen creating mirages in the distance, and more than a few desert birds had just passed out from exhaustion in midair. The portal to the Realm of Life game some cooling, enough to keep the ponies alive and healthy, but it was still uncomfortable. Rarity was sweating like a dog and it bothered her to no end.

“Found it!” Trixie said.

“Yes!” Rarity grinned. “I claim victory!”

Trixie’s mind shattered. She rammed her head into the sand and let out an annoyed groan.

“Shouldn’t you go easier on her?” Spike asked.

“Pinkie didn’t.” Rarity said.

“Actually I did!” Pinkie yelled from the other side of the portal. “I went really easy!”

Rarity twitched. “Pinkie? Let me have-“ she stopped her thought when she saw who was standing next to Pinkie. “…Fluttershy?!”

“Hi.” Fluttershy said, smiling. “I’ve been rescued.” For one single, brief moment, everything seemed fine.

Twilight smiled. “Now we can go find St-“ Her eyes widened in alarm, noticing something behind Rarity. Twilight spread her wings, ready to pounce. “Watch ou-“

There was a ‘click’ and the portal vanished, shutting Twilight and the others off from home. Twilight flew through empty air, panic straining her features. “Oh no…”

In the full heat of the Zahara, Rarity stared at the air where the portal had been milliseconds before. Twilight, Discord, Pinkie… Fluttershy… They had been right there! Something must have happened to the Chest, and Twilight had seen it. Rarity whirled around to look at the Chest. What she saw terrified her – three tall zebras, all covered in black cloaks and hoods, stood around the pedestal. One held the Chest in his hand, while the other two held Spike and Trixie, both unconscious.

Rarity lit her horn. “Release them, hooligans!”

“The answer is no. With us you will go.”

“I will do no such thing until you reopen the portal and let my friends out!”

“We cannot do that for you, and you already know this to be true.”

Rarity gritted her teeth. “…Then we do this the hard way.” She was no fighter – she was a seamstress and a lady above all else. But Twilight had not allowed one of her friends to be defenseless. She shot a white laser from her horn. Using her finesse, she split the beam into three streams, each one heading right for a zebra.

None of the beams made contact. They dodged them faster than Rarity could comprehend. Their leader was behind her in an instant. She didn’t even register the blow to the back of her head. Her body simply froze and tipped over.

The zebras picked her up and carried her away…

Minutes later explosions rippled around the base of the desert pillars, destroying the ancient ruins. No more would they dial other Realms.

IX - Congeal

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

Pinkie gasped. “They disconnected the Chest!”

“Who’d do that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Robo-alicorn,” Discord muttered.

“Uh… Who?”

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

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

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

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

She looked at Discord. “Can you…?”

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

“We’re stuck here,” Pinkie said.

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

“Your sarcasm is dripping,” Pinkie said.

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

“Careful! You might excrete too much!”

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

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

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

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

Lou and Roy bowed their heads in shame.

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

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

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

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

A bird cooed at Pinkie.

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

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

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Fluttershy…?”

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

Tea was served.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“…What?” Twilight said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh my. Was everypony okay?”

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

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

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

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

“He’ll be back?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nah. They… Give me the creeps.”

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

“Fluttershy, you are amazing.”

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

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

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

bones flesh smashing horror tendons blood screams pain

She frowned.

She could never tell the others what had happened.

Never.

It was just too much…

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

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

~~~

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

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

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

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

“Eeyup.”

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

“209.93357!”

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

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

“Wow. Nothing phases you anymore.”

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

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

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

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

“Didya hear me coming again, Apples?”

“Er… Yes?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No shit,” Implode deadpanned.

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

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

“Yes,” Starlight said. “Yes I do.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Applejack rolled her eyes.

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

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

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

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

“Starlight Glimmer,” Diamond said. “Sit”

Starlight obeyed. “Ask away!”

“Describe the nature of magic to me.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“As far as we know.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Wonder what Distortion is…”

“Why do you stay in this Realm?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Uh... I felt like it."

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

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

“You misunderstand. How was it then?”

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

“Would you consider yourself a good leader?”

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

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

Starlight gawked. “Every one?”

“Every one.”

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

~~~

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

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

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

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

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

Rarity looked at Trixie. “…You awake?”

“Getting there… Half-dream…”

“…What?”

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

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

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

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

“Clopro?” Spike suggested.

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

“Rarity!?” Spike said, concerned.

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

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

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

“Well now what?” Trixie asked.

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

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

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

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

It stared at them intently.

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

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

“W-what do you want?” Rarity asked.

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

“Congeal wants information,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We don’t know where any-“

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

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

“Not particularly, no,” Rairty said.

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

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

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

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

Congeal nodded.

“Who else did you encounter?” Yuku demanded.

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

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

“…You know Sperion?” Rarity asked.

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

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

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

Congeal held up a hoof, stopping her again.

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

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

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

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

X - The Cyclic Nature

View Online

Fluttershy looked out at the herd of non-ponies once again, her face blank as her thoughts turned their very existence over and over. She loved the poor ponies, but they also scared her. Not to mention they were a constant reminder of...

"Fluttershy?" Discord asked.

"Hm?" She said, looking up at him.

"Are you okay?"

Fluttershy was surprised at this. "Why... Yes, I'm fine. Do you think something's wrong?"

"Hrm... Well you're acting different. More..." He waved his hand around, searching for the word. "Distant. Locked up in that little mind of yours, not coming out. Instead you just stare at that herd of... whatever they are, like they have all the answers."

Fluttershy glanced outside at Browncoat. He was munching on some grass, blissfully unaware of everything going on. She sighed. "It was difficult being here all alone. I formed connections with them. It made being here both easier and harder..."

"...Harder?"

"They gave me some companionship. But it felt... empty. Without meaning. They just liked me because I'm good with animals. None of them liked me for who I am. I'm not sure they're capable of that. It's like saving their lives meant nothing."

"...You hadn't mentioned saving them before."

Fluttershy's demeanor shifted to near panic. "W-Why I'm sure I mentioned it! I... I heal all sorts of animals! You've seen it!"

Discord narrowed his eyes at her. "Fluttershy..."

"Please," She said, her eyes starting to water. "Don't ask. Please."

Discord took a step back. He never got to actually respond, for at that moment Sperion flew in through a window. "Ah," He said, pointing a limb at Discord. "You found her I see."

Fluttershy smiled. "Sperion! You're back!"

"Drifted all the way around the Realms to see you again." He let out a synthetic chuckle. Then he paused. "...If you're here, why is Fluttershy still here?"

"Some idiots blew up the portal while we were in it," Discord muttered. "Apparently we have enemies."

Sperion shrugged with his three limbs. "I have no idea who'd do that. I'm not informed of things in Central." He turned to Fluttershy. "How's the Realm been treating you?"

"Oh, it's nice enough. I've got a lot of animal friends, though it was very lonely before my friends showed up."

"Ah, yes. Twilight and Trixie?"

Fluttershy blinked. "No... Twilight and Pinkie."

"Trixie's back in... 'Central.' We don't know what the zebras did to her yet," Discord growled.

"It's been a couple days..." Fluttershy said, worried.

"I'm sure she's fine. I can just imagine her smoke-bombing our enemies in the face," he chuckled. "Though I don't see her fixing the portal, so we're stuck here."

Fluttershy nodded. "At least we have each other. And now Sperion's here!"

"Only for a short time, as you know," Sperion reminded her.

"Oh that doesn't matter, you can still have a little party."

Sperion blinked. "...You didn't strike me as the sort who enjoyed parties, Fluttershy."

"Oh, I don't, not really," she said innocently.

"Not unless I make them!" Pinkie yelled, suddenly standing on one of Sperion's limbs. "Prepare yourself silvery sea urchin, you will have cake!"

"I have no mouth," Sperion deadpanned.

"I can create the fundamental concept behind cake." She rushed him into another room, blabbing on about 'experience' and 'metaphysics' and 'yeast.'

Fluttershy looked at Discord. "So...?"

"I'm betting he lasts five minutes before giving up all resistance."

"I was going to say ten."

"Oho! Faith in the urchin? How interesting." He paused for a moment. "Fine. I won't ask. But Twilight will figure out something's wrong, and I'm certain Pinkie already knows about it some way or another."

"I..."

"Don't worry. Let's just go enjoy this welcoming party. I will bring the chocolate covered potato chips!"

"That sounds disgusting."

"Ah, but ponies will try anything once," Discord cackled, walking with Fluttershy into the already set up party room. Fluttershy had no idea where the balloons, cake, punch, or presents had come from, but they were there nonetheless. She didn't even bother questioning them, Pinkie would be Pinkie after all.

Pinkie stuck a party blower into Sperion's center and giggled. Somehow it made a 'fweee' sound without Sperion blowing into it. It didn't even look like it should have been able to stay where it was, but stay it did. Sperion grabbed it and fiddled with it for a few seconds. "...Peculiar."

"Oh you ain't seen nothing yet Sperion! I've got alllll sorts of tricks!" She smashed a cake into him - the thing somehow absorbing into his body.

He twitched. "I... Feel so full of energy..."

"It's called a sugar rush. Embrace it! For the part is just getting started!"

"You are a most interesting pony."

"Eh, I'm just Pinkie Pie, and I'm here to make you feel at home! Come along, let us enjoy a feast! I've got corn, corn, corn, and other interesting foods for dinner!"

"Aside from the deserts it all appears to be corn."

"Exactly!" she grinned. "He understands! Let's give a hand to the three-armed Sperion!"

in the midst of their clapping, Fluttershy realized something. "Hey, you didn't have three arms before..."

Sperion shrugged. "The form is not static. Stimuli result in change. It's not bad for me, don't worry."

"Oh. Okay. Is it good?"

"Well, I can be more expressive with them," he said, generating a plastic cup and levitating some punch into it. He paused. "...You sure this will work Pinkie?"

"You got the cake didn't you?"

He poured the punch on his center - and it just dripped to the ground. "Hrm. That didn't work."

"Eh, it isn't an exact science. If it were, I'd be predictable! Can you imagine that? Me? Predictable!?"

"I could stand to predict you from time to time," Twilight said as she strolled in. "Much a part of you as it is, it can be pretty overwhelming."

"Pfft, that's the fun part!"

Twilight nodded. "Hello Sperion."

"Twilight. I wish to apologize for the way I acted with you when we last met. My time in New Mareu was... Stressful, and I had just finished meeting an old acquaintance of mine when you met me. I am sorry. Here's to hoping we can start over." He levitated a drink to her.

"It's nothing Sperion," Twilight said, taking the drink. "We all have our off days." She sipped, and her eyes went wide. "P-Pinkie? What flavor is this punch?"

"Cinnamon apple with extra extra cinnamon."

She gagged. "That's not punch!

"I never said it was punch!" she giggled.

Twilight let out a gasp of air. "So... Cinnamony..."

Discord handed her a glass of water and she drank it. She was mildly surprised to find it actually was water, though she somehow drank the glass along with the fluid. It took her a minute to process this.

Sperion made his chuckling noise. "It seems you four have quite the interesting relationship."

"Oh yes," Discord said. "I was the bad guy at one point, Fluttershy was the hermit, Twilight was the introverted bookworm, and Pinkie..." He paused. "...Is exactly the same."

"I WILL NEVER CHANGE!"

Sperion made a nodding motion. "Remaining constant for so long is something to be proud of indeed." He let out a synthetic sigh. "I have changed much over time. Not all of it by my own choosing."

Twilight looked at him curiously. "How so?"

"My past is long, complex, and dark. And not fit for a party. Let's just enjoy ourselves, I'm not here for long."

Discord smirked. "I like how you think! Sperion, you and I are going to be great friends!"

Sperion floated there for a moment "Never in a million years..." He took all of one second to reconsider. "...All right, what's the plan?"

"I don't know. Let's go exploring!" Discord snapped his fingers and they were in the middle of the giant clearing, beneath behemoth creatures floating above them.

Pinkie giggled. "Adventure time!" She shouted, clinging to Discord.

"Discord..." Twilight began, but she was cut off by a giant seven-eyed whale creature floating overhead, moaning loudly.

"Aw... He likes us!" Fluttershy drifted over to the whale thing. "Yes you can do a trick! Yes you can!" Fluttershy squeed while the whale did a midair backflip.

Pinkie cheered. "Discord! Give him a bouncy castle!"

"On it!" Discord said, creating an inflated bouncy castle on the whale's back and jumping in it. "Come on in, the castle's great! Guaranteed not to cause concussions!" To prove his point he purposefully faceplanted into the neon colored floor. "...Ow."

Fluttershy and Pinkie sighed - before jumping in to bounce with him.

Twilight looked down at them, smiling. The smile was short-lived, for a thought occurred to her. "Rainbow Dash would love this."

"She probably would," Sperion agreed. "She was a bit... brash at times, but she has a wonderful fiery spirit."

"That sure sounds like her." The whale did a backflip again, and the three riders screamed with glee. "I hope they're okay..."

Sperion made his synthetic sigh long and drawn out. "I hope so too. They know not what these Realms can do... The danger in them."

Twilight gulped. "I... I know you don't like the fact that Starlight took your curse and made a spell, but..."

"No. I'll look for them, but I will never again let somepony travel with me. The drift..." He stopped.

"Sperion?"

"Where you come from the Realms mix into one. But out here, in the separations.... it is not meant to be."

"What do you-"

Fluttershy screamed in terror. Twilight looked over at her in panic - seeing nothing out of the ordinary save for a flock of dragons flying in the distance, not paying them any mind.

"Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked. "What's wrong? It's just some dragons!"

Fluttershy was breathing so hard she couldn't speak. She curled up into a ball and started shuddering.

Discord teleported them all back to the house. He held her in his arms. "...What happened to you?"

She didn't respond. She just cried.

~~~

"Appleack-"

"-how have you been acclimatin' to your power? That's what you were goin' to ask right?" Applejack rolled her eyes at Diamond. "Well, seeing as I could predict that question, Ah'd say pretty well."

"What have you discovered-"

"-about my inflection. Well, Ah can see the past pretty easy, can guess what's just about to happen decently, and know more than I wanted to know about things just by lookin' at them. Too much information is becoming a bit of a problem. The inner workings of Implode are something I'd rather unsee."

"Perhaps you should consider taking a step back and looking at things objectively?"

"Oh no, Ah'm not giving up my emotions today."

"All you'd have to do is accept the Realm into you, though I know you're not going to do that."

"...Did you make that choice?"

"No, all of us here were born without emotions. At least, not in the way you see it. We do not experience rage, love, amusement, or loneliness. But we do have beliefs, convictions, and desires. We don't lose everything. We just don't let things get in the way of our minds."

"...Huh. You're right about that. That's a belief right there. Still think it's plum crazy, but you do you."

"Mhm," Diamond said. This struck Applejack as a little odd, but she didn't comment on it. "Look at this," He said, producing a flat orange rectangle, about the size of a dinner tray. Applejack looked at it and saw so much information contained in the microscopic engravings
that lined the object. Her eyes went wide.

"What is this?"

"One of many thousands of such sheets we have in the Archive. Tell me, what is on it?"

"The structure of every single element on the periodic table. Every fact about them Ah can think of, and some Ah can't. That's a book's worth of stuff there."

Diamond nodded. "Your skill has now reached the level at which you can read. Follow me, it is time to show you the Archive." he stood up and walked out, marching right down the brown hallway. Applejack followed close behind, a little excited at the prospect of something - anything - to do here. It had been getting rather droll as of late. The two of them climbed to the top of the brown rectangle, stepping into the garden. The great tree loomed over them, and the fields were producing a high yield of 'pale fruit.' The fruit were round and a lightish blue, and when mixed with herbs grown in between the bushes, they made the food bricks everypony used for sustenance.

This was not their final stop, however. Diamond led Applejack off the edge, towards one of the bridges made of smaller shapes tied together by rope. The two of them jumped from shape to shape, the green plane far below. They approached what Applejack presumed to be their goal - a large orange dodecahedron with an entire face cut out of it to serve as an entrance.

Diamond walked in and stopped abruptly. Applejack's jaw dropped when she saw what was inside. The entire shape was hollowed out and filled with shelves - hundreds of the orange structures, stuffed with the extremely thin orange plates.

"How... many are there?"

"1,117,924,628," Diamond said. Then he put the slide he had into a shelf. "Make that 1,117,924,629."

"...And you're just letting me come here?"

"You could always have come here, nothing was blocked to you. It would have been pointless, however, if you couldn't read any of it."

Applejack pulled out a slide and glanced over it. "...The history of the pink diamond nodes?"

"Yes. Most of these are created by our own hooves. There are a few left here by our ancestors. Few of which are helpful, most of them being legends and tall tales. We keep them around only for historic importance."

"Woah..."

"Remember, just because you can absorb all this information doesn't mean you can retain it. Our organic brains are horribly inadequate."

"Ah could browse this forever then..."

"Precisely. Pehraps you can find something interesting, or even make your own slide one day."

Applejack said nothing, just staring at the slides around her, speechless. She took one out and learned all the inner workings of a pale fruit. She took out another and discovered what was known about the tree, and learned of the backup trees elsewhere in the Realm. Another told her about the procedures to fix a broken horn...

There was so much to read... To see...

She found herself feeling a little bad that the others couldn't read it. Starlight had shown a small inflection of information, and Rainbow none at all...

She couldn't help but feel she wanted to share this.

...Maybe she could...

~~~

Rarity stirred.

Images of Yuku's gaping maw flashed across her mind.

Images of that pointed claw...

Her face throbbed.

Her face burned.

She groaned.

"R-rarity?" She heard Spike say.

She let out some air. "I'm here." She flicked her ears. "Have to get up..."

She stood up extremely slowly, needing to work at planting her feet on the ground. She looked around. They were in the cell, but it seemed... different. Oddly flat, and it was as if some of it was hidden from her.

She narrowed her eyes. "...What?"

"Oh Rarity," Spike said, jumping in front of her. "I was so worried!" He had a long gash diagonally across his face. It wasn't bleeding, nor was it infected, but it still looked terrible.

"Oh Spike! Look at you!" She put a hoof out towards him, intending to bring him in for a closer look. Instead she just fell over.

"Careful!" Trixie said. "You have to get used to a lack of depth perception!"

Rarity slowly stood up. "...I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Trixie's eyes went wide. "Stars. She doesn't know."

"Don't know what?"

Spike gulped. "How... How can you not feel that?"

"What!?"

"Your eye..." Trixie said.

"Oh don't be absurd, I can..." Rarity put a hoof up to where her right eye should have been. She didn't see anything. She screamed, falling on her rump, scooting backwards until she hit a wall. She winced, hiding her face.

Spike rushed to her. "...Rarity it's going to be-"

"Don't look at me!" She hissed. "I'm hideous..."

"Rarity, that doesn't matter, you're our friend..."

She looked up slightly. She whimpered, crying out of her remaining eye. She swore she could still feel her missing eye... Burning... Right where it was supposed to be. "I... I just feel wrong, Spike... Everything feels wrong..."

"Rarity, Rarity," He said. "It's okay. We're alive. Congeal stopped Yuku from killing us. They want us alive. We're all fine."

"Trixie can confirm," Trixie said.

Rarity nodded, slowly lifting her head up. "I... I know. Thank you. I... I just need a minute."

"Take as long as you need," Spike said. "We'll be here. ...Not like we can go anywhere."

Rarity nodded slowly, falling into silence.

She was disabled. She'd been disabled quite some time ago, healing spells wouldn't restore the eye properly anymore. At least not correctly. She couldn't walk straight. She couldn't see right. How was she going to make dresses? How was she going to help her friends escape this mess? How was she going to live!?

She didn't know.

In one fell swoop, her entire life had changed drastically.

What would she do now?

Trixie bit her lip. "I think she's..." She didn't finish the thought.

"She'll get through it," Spike said. "She's strong."

"Yeah..." she gulped. "Spike, I'm not holding together all that well either. These aren't nice zebras and they don't care if one of us loses an eye. Who's going to say they won't just start killing us off? They probably only need one! And three prisoners is a lot of trouble!"

Spike tensed. He knew Trixie was right. "We need to get out of here. We need to get out of here right now."

"Well you're in luck," a zebra said from the open doorway. "Congeal wants to see you again."

"Not what I meant," Spike muttered.

"I know. Don't care. Find it amusing really," the zebra said, gesturing for them to get out of the room.

"Wait a minute..." Trixie said. "Don't zebras speak in rhyme?"

"Only pretentious pricks. Come on, move it."

Spike and Trixie moved towards the door. Rarity made no motion. The zebra groaned. "Of all the stupid things I do... Get her to move, Blue."

Trixie didn't point out that he had rhymed his words. She just grabbed Rarity with her telekinesis and with a substantial amount of effort, dragged the white unicorn across the sandy floor.

The zebra took them once again to the large room. Congeal was there, right alongside Yuku. The white dragon didn't even bother with the invisibility this time. It was somewhat unnerving to see the giant dragon sitting there, staring out a window predatorily, without the zebras outside paying any mind. Yuku tore her gaze from the zebra townspeople when the prisoners arrived. "How's the eye?" she asked venomously.

Rarity said nothing.

"Trauma. Cute," She growled, turning towards Trixie. "Let us start where we left off. Sperion. How long did you talk with him?"

Trixie whimpered. "A... few minutes?"

"And what did he say?"

"I don't really remember!" she wailed. "We were there, cast a spell given to us by Sham Rock, then he showed up in all his three-armed glory!"

Congeal touched a hoof to Trixie's head the moment the arms were mentioned, and Trixie's tongue lolled out of her mouth, her entire body going slack. Congeal took a step back, dropping Trixie to the ground. "Of course it'd be her..." Yuku growled.

Spike rushed to Trixie. "Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"Oh, little creatures, am I too much for you?"

Trixie shivered. "C-Can... you... j-just... back... up..."

Yuku touched Trixie's muzzle with her large reptilian snout. "This far enough back?"

There was a soft laugh from behind Yuku. "Why, yes, darling, that is pretty good. Afraid you messed up 'back' with 'forward' though, dreadfully sorry, but that will get you dome demerit points in the long run." Rarity wasn't covering her face - her empty eye socket was there for the world to see, a red hole in her face ringed with blood, a marked red streak running down her face and across her sharp smile. "Maybe try listening better next time hrm?"

Yuku stared at Rarity in silence for a minute. "...I'm sorry, what?" she deadpanned.

Rarity began walking - stumbling slightly as she did so, but her face betraying no fear. "Wow, there it is again. You really do need to work on those ears of yours. Actually, come to think of it..." She circled the room, looking closely at Yuku's face. "Do you even have ears?"

Congeal was looking directly at Rarity - the look was somehow more intense than usual, as if there was something off about her beyond her missing eye. Yuku just glared. "Yes. Of course I do. Your point half-face?"

Congeal put a hoof on Yuku, in an attempt to calm her. She batted the limb away. "No. We don't need her..."

"Don't need me do you?" Rarity let out a laugh. "Really, darling, perhaps you should know who you're talking to. I'm Rarity, famous seamstress and the Element of Generosity." She stood firm, light from the window behind her, casting her in an impressive silhouette. "I'm so important, much more important than you. You're just some mysterious knockoff snake that has no class whatsoever-"

"That's it!" Yuku roared, leaping towards Rarity with intent to kill.

Rarity looked at the oncoming dragon, smirked, then leapt out of the way.

Yuku's rage vanished. "Oh..."

She hit the window with full force, blowing the bars and glass out completely, falling out into the street. A street filled with around a dozen zebras. Zebras that could see her clearly. They all pointed and screamed.

"RUUUUUN!" Trixie yelled, scrambling out the window, Spike in tow. "She wants to eat you!"

A magical explosion of green hit Yuku in the head. Some of the zebras were fighting back with druidic explosives. More and more of the concoctions hit Yuku from all sides. She roared, launching herself into the air and turning invisible. Even she knew she couldn't face the zebras of Clopro for very long out in the open.

Rarity finally managed to walk out of the room into the open air. Zebras were already crowding them, asking them if they were okay - in Zebrican. Many screamed when they saw Rarity's eye socket, but then most became concerned. They all wanted to know what happened.

Rarity didn't know much Zebrican, but she thought she knew the word for 'taken.' She hoped they understood.

She glanced back inside just for a moment.

There was no sign of Congeal whatsoever.

That made her uneasy...

She shoved the thought out of her mind. They were alive and in a public place now. She didn't think even Yuku was foolish enough to try something.

XI - Ascending Wings

View Online

"I'll be leaving soon," Sperion announced to the group, "it's been nice to spend some time with decent ponies, but I can never stay in one place too long."

"Aw..." Fluttershy said, torn, "how much longer do you have?"

"Less than an hour," Sperion responded. Seeing Pinkie about to bounce up in excitement, he held up a limb. "No party. I'd rather translate into the next Realm calmly."

Twilight nodded. "Are you sure you won't reconsider?"

He let out his synthetic sigh. "No. I will not take you with me. It would be too much."

Twilight nodded sadly. "I... Can't say I understand why, but I respect your choice. I'll figure something out eventually."

Sperion let out a short chuckle. "I... have little doubt that you will discover something. It may not be what you want though."

Twilight shrugged. "Make sure the others are okay."

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else. It's been... a long time since I encountered a group such as your own, willing to accept me as I am."

Pinkie giggled. "Silly, we accept almost everybody!"

"Almost?"

"Well, there was that centaur who tried to destroy the world, and the evil changeling queen..."

Sperion sighed again. And I am reminded that nothing can be perfect."

"Then help make it better."

Sperion paused. Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy had not spoken. They weren't moving at all. The leaves outside weren't rustling, and all the animals were motionless as well. Behind a table Discord was shuffling a stack of cards, glancing upwards at Sperion.

Sperion leaned in. "What do you mean, draconequus?"

"Simple. You have the power to take us with you. You could make the world a better place by reuniting friends."

"You are mistaken. It would not make things better."

Discord huffed. "I fail to see the problem - we can handle a dangerous realm. I can bend the very fabric of existence around me to protect them. There's no danger to us."

"That isn't true. Nor is it the reason I'm saying no." Sperion floated back a few feet. "Cross-Realm contamination is bad."

"Oh, does it threaten to destroy the universe then?"

"...Nice try. ...I don't have to say anything to you, Discord."

"Oh, but you do. I can keep you here forever if I wanted."

"How little you know. The curse goes off of perceived time. I'm still leaving here, sooner every second."

Discord grunted. "Then I'll just remove it!"

"If you could have you would have offered earlier."

Discord clenched his fists. "Fine, maybe I can't remove a spell of such high order. I can still latch onto you and be dragged to the next Realm."

"Don't," Sperion said, "you all have done enough damage already."

"Damage? What have we done?"

"It is not for you to know!" Sperion yelled. "Don't you understand? Don't you get it? The knowledge of these Realms is dangerous! The can of worms was opened before - and shut for good reason!"

"What reason?"

Sperion twitched. "That is not for you to know either! Central and the Realms must remain separate! They... They..." He slammed his limbs into the walls. "You do not want to know what happens. You cannot, for there would be those who'd try to use it!"

Discord dealt a card out onto the table. It showed an image of Fluttershy crying. "Would she use it?"

"Th-that's not the issue."

"Oh really?"

"Look, it's bad enough you know the Realms exist. But here you are in no position to capitalize on that, which you should be thankful for. Here, it can all remain sealed. Kept from... critical."

"How will us knowing change anything!?"

Sperion sighed. "You'll tell someone. Or someone will find out from you. And then the idea will spread. Then eventually someone will have a 'breakthrough.' If you go back home, none of you would be able to leave this alone. So you can't. I won't let you."

Discord grinned. He snapped his fingers, and time resumed to its regular speed. "Did you catch all that girls?" he asked.

Fluttershy started crying as soon as she was able. "You... won't let us?"

Sperion receded from Fluttershy. "What did you do?"

"Transmitted the conversation right into their little pony minds," Discord said, smiling venomously, "the cat is out of the bag."

Twilight looked at Sperion head on. She frowned. "You... You are trying to tell us that us not getting back home to our friends is for the greater good?"

Sperion nodded slowly.

"No. I can't accept that," Twilight sighed, "I've founded my current lifestyle on the belief that friendship is magic and that nobody should be denied connections - connections to friends, family, events... Home."

Pinkie nodded in agreement. "Isolation is not good for ponies. And not for Fluttershy, either. She needs her home. There's something about this place that just iiiiiisn't good for her."

"This is exactly why you... can't!" Sperion shouted. "You don't understand the implications! You cannot! No one does until it's too late! We didn't either!"

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "...We?"

"No," Sperion said, "I am done talking."

He flew away, teleporting into the distance with a burst of magic. "More..." He said to himself. "It's always more, more, more... They'll never be satisfied until it's too late..." He hurled an explosive globe of fire at a tree in rage, burning it to a crisp. Then he sighed. "It's already too late... isn't it..."

He embedded himself into a bush and waited for translation. He would not be coming back here. He didn't know what he thought he was doing, interacting with them again...

He was drawn to them... But he needed to be separate.

He sat there, alone, just like normal. He felt the curse start to activate...

Discord appeared next to him, with the three ponies in tow. "Discord no!" Twilight yelled. But it was already too late - Discord grabbed onto Sperion's essence, magically bonding the five of them together. They translated.

They were in a dark place. A place they didn't - couldn't - understand. A place where up and down didn't exist, where shapes were but arbitrary suggestions, where eyes appeared and vanished amongst red shapes of impossible geometries. Things walked up walls, walls turned to pudding, and a television screen laughed. The physical form of binary flowed through their senses, and the noise drilled into their minds, driving them mad with its distortion.

Twilight and Fluttershy screamed - they felt their bodies warp, their flesh boil, and their forms stretch to impossible lengths. Bones snapped where bones should never have been, and eyes appeared within them. Discord yelled out, imposing a bubble of reality around himself, Fluttershy, and Twilight, returning their bodies and minds to normal.

"Not again! Not again!" Fluttershy yelled, barely keeping herself together.

"W-what was that!?" Twilight yelled, her mind reeling.

"Pure chaos," Discord said, "a form different from my own..." He looked outside the bubble at the reddish ever-changing landscape of impossible geometries. He was enthralled and terrified by it at the same time.

"Where's Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

Discord gulped. "Uh... I don't know."

"Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno..." Fluttershy began to wail.

Discord narrowed his eyes and searched through the murky Real, trying with all his magic to locate the pink pony. He found Sperion, floating what appeared to be inches from them. The Realm wasn't changing him - but he did grow a fourth limb right before their eyes.

Pinkie Pie suddenly slammed into the outside of the bubble, fully formed as a pink pony. She started talking a mile a minute, though the bubble was soundproof. Discord clapped his hands, allowing the bubble to grow and encompass Pinkie and Sperion.

"Oh my gosh guys! This is my Realm!" Pinkie squeed, "the Realm of the Impossible! Look what I can do!" She twisted her body into a cyllinder, and then folded in on herself, creating an infinitely circling loop of pink geometry.

Fluttershy cowered in fear from Pinkie's display.

"The Inflection of Distortion," Sperion said, "the rarest of the Inflections."

Twilight blinked, staring at Pinkie's impossible distortions. "Pinkie... Could you... Stop that? I think... I'm going to be sick..."

Pinkie stopped moving, popping back into pony shape. "Oh sorry Twilight! I didn't realize it was that freaky. Not that different from what I normally do, but I guess it is more powerful. I see everything Twilight! I can hear the spelling of words! leyek thihs!"

"...What?"

"She... She uh..." Sperion shook his head. "Things are different now."

Twilight sighed. "Look, Sperion, I'm going to apologize for Discord. I..."

Sperion held up his new limb. "I'll take you out of here when the time comes to move again. I'm not cruel. This is no place to live." He turned to them. "But until that time comes, you are on your own. Perhaps you will learn a lesson here." Then he was gone.

"Bye!" Pinkie waved. "Don't go too crazy!"

~~~

Rainbow Dash flew up - and up, and up, and up, higher than she could back home. The air didn't thin with altitude in the Realm of Truth like she was used to - which was good for her purposes. There may not have been clouds in the Realm, but having no height limit just opened up possibilities. She went higher, higher still, high enough that she could no longer see the brown rectangle of the Nexus that had become her home.

She let herself drop, front first. She felt herself become enveloped within her own magic, the mach cone forming around her hooves, the air whizzing by faster and faster. The rainbows of energy slowly began to overtake her, and the power approached critical mass.

She grinned. Here goes nothing.

The moment the sonic rainboom burst, she kicked her heels, creating a tremendous ball of fire the size of Ponyville behind her. The rainboom tore it apart, triggering an explosion that filled the sky, rocketing Rainbow Dash forward faster than the rainboom alone would have allowed.

"YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!" she yelled as she descended, extending her wings and pulling up slowly. She curved away from the plane mere meters away from it, landing on top of a nearby cube, the air behind her rushing past in a powerful gust. "Am I good or am I good?"

The inhabitants of the Nexus paid her no mind. Save for one, a certain ex-pegasus who was clapping her hooves with a sarcastic expression on her face. "Wo-o-oah that was ab-so-lutely rad-ical!"

"I can fry you, you know."

Implode shrugged, striking the ground with her hoof and creating a milkshake. "Eh, it'd be more interesting than what usually goes on in this place. Friggin walking talking rocks."

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Yeah, all 'the truth is ouuuut there!' Heh."

Implode smirked. "Hey!" she called out to a random stallion, "would it kill you to live a little?"

"No," he said, monotone, carrying on his way without so much as a glance.

Implode raised an eyebrow dubiously. Rainbow Dash burst into laughter. "He also answered your next question! Will he live a little? NO!"

"Heh. Heh." Implode turned to look at Rainbow Dash blankly. "...My Stars are we actually laughing with each other?"
"Woah," Rainbow Dash said, stalling mid-flip, "that is weird."

They stood in silence for a while. Implode eventually sighed. You know what, it's too boring not to talk to you."

"Truce?"

"Sure. We'll go with that," Implode said, stomping her hoof in an attempt to make another milkshake. The drink appeared in front of her - frozen. She groaned. "I miss my wings..."

"I feel ya. Once I had this bad guy, Discord, and he freaking took my wings because he found it amusing. Kinda betrayed my friends to get them back... Oh sure he told me my home was in danger, but I should have figured he wasn't really going to hurt anyone."

Implode blinked. "You... Betrayed them? You... strike me as fiercely loyal. Like, whoa, don't piss off the Rainbow's friends or she will buck you."

"Yeah, I suppose I am. At times." She did a flip. "But, you know, just because I'm awesome doesn't mean I'm perfect."

Implode blinked. "Wow. I hate you slightly less now."

"That's the awesomeness wearing off."

"...Aaand now it's back," Implode grunted.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Eh, it's a process." She thought for a moment. "You seem to have mellowed out a lot since we met."

"Well, the 'mighty father' isn't here for me to kill, so that may have something to do with it."

Rainbow Dash winced. "Still going for that huh?"

"You have no idea how horrible he was. He didn't just call me worthless to my face and deny me what was mine. He lied to me about the world, about other ponies. He kept friends away by telling me they hated me. He beat me. And I believed him for most of that..."

"...Why on earth would anypony do those things?"

Implode shrugged. "Some ponies are just born sick cruel bastards. If anything, it was all because he saw me as part of himself. He wanted control. He wanted domination." She shivered.

"Hey, it's okay. He's not here now. He can't get here. Okay?"

"...Okay. Stars, now I'm crying. What the hell."

"It's normal," Rainbow Dash said, "Even I cry, sometimes."

"Wow, you are great at this empathy thing," Implode deadpanned.

"I know right? Totally the best."

"There's only one thing left to do..."

"What's that?"

Implode grinned. "Race you to that cube, no wings, go!" She galloped off.

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Did... Did she just...?" Rainbow Dash shook her head and galloped off after her. "She did! That cheeky little..." Despite herself, Rainbow Dash laughed.

Above them, the orange Archive floated. Starlight looked down at the race, brow furrowed. "Well, they're bonding. I guess that's good."

"If it'll get her to cool it, Ah'm all for it," Applejack said, looking at another slide. "This one's about how to use the communication diamonds."

Starlight's eyes went white as her magic took over. She linked her mind to Applejack, absorbing the information running through the earth pony's mind. It was a lot, and most of it not very useful to somepony without the Inflection of Truth, but at least she could see it.

Applejack put it back, frowning. "Ah wonder if we really can find anything in here..." she said, turning to another shelf and taking out a slide, scanning it, and putting it back. "most of this is just technical dribble."

"Well, they are logical beings. They like to read logical things."

Applejack tried another one. "Eh, I guess you're right. Still, interesting as Ah thought this was when I first saw it, it's mighty disappointing."

Starlight shrugged. "At least we're learning something."

"Yeah..." Applejack looked at the next one and laughed. "Oh look, this one here has Aztrot folklore and legends on it. There's that alicorn, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns thing again."

Starlight's eyes went white. She absorbed the legend, frowning. "This one's slightly different than the one I saw in the Realm of Power..."

"How so?"

"More detail. Quite a bit more. It's talking here about how the Seven's power was.. cursed? And how they never passed it on for fear of what it would do. And that they tried to destroy the Chest, and failed."

"Look at this," Applejack said, drawing Starlight's mind with her, "it says here that the king Troxal discovered how to use the lost power of the Seven, using it to spread the Empire far and wide..."

"So, this only confirms that the temples aren't Aztrot. They just used them. Then what happened?"

"No idea. There's a genealogy of kings and Troxal's the last one."

Starlight tore her mind from Applejack's. "well, some of them obviously stayed behind in these Realms and have lived here to this day..." she shrugged. "maybe they just all moved here and their home fell because of it."

"Something tells me it was more than that. Call it a gut instinct. Hey... This is an odd one."

"What?"

"Aztrot poem about the Seven." Applejack cleared her throat.

The seven stood tall
Far, far from home
Further than any pony has known

Forgetting what had been
They tried to go home again
The world did not agree with them

Seven houses they made
Desiring only to undo
But all they caused was decay

They cursed what they did
Turning to our world
Driving the demons away

In their loss
They gave us a way
A path to return home

We will never be lost
Long as we remember
All that is to connect

Starlight blinked. "...There's a way out of here."

"Eeyup."

"What the heck is it?"

"Ah haven't the foggiest idea Starlight."

Starlight rubbed her head. "Remember all that is to connect? What does that mean?"

"Ah dunno, since obviously everypony here forgot and we never knew in the first place."

Starlight groaned. "I hate them and their logic focus. They probably just dismissed this whole slide here!"

Applejack sighed, putting it back. "Let's see if we can find anything here to shed light on this..."

They searched for a while longer, finding nothing else relating to a way out. However, Applejack did stumble across a mostly blank slide that caught her attention.

"Sperion..." she said.

"Oooh, what's it say about him?"

"A really long time ago - I think somewhere around two thousand of our years - he regularly showed up here, mysteriously cursed with traveling the Realms. But he wasn't alone."

"Oh?"

"There was... an alicorn with him, though the ponies here didn't call her an alicorn. They didn't have a word for what she was. Her name was... September."

Starlight blinked. "September? What kind of name is that?"

"No idea... There's not much here. One day they just stopped coming, and the next time Sperion was seen he was alone and wouldn't talk to them."

Starlight narrowed her eyes. "There's something going on here Applejack, something big, and we're in the middle of it."

Applejack nodded, slowly placing the slide back into the shelf.

~~~

The Zebra police chief looked up from the report in front of her. "Rarity Belle, Equestria?" she asked with a heavy accent.

"Yes. That's me."

"Know name. I buy ago. Nice." She frowned. "Cannot fix eye."

"I... know." She sagged. Spike and Trixie leaned towards her to comfort her. "What can you tell us?"

"No see 'robo' alicorn. No file on dragon. Unknowns. Protect while wait for Equestria."

"Thank you for watching us," Rarity said, "it means a lot to us."

"No... Sweat? Bah, Equestrian silly tongue."

"It is a bit silly," Trixie agreed, "I mean, the plural of sheep is sheep, and present has three meanings!"

"Why you hate own tongue?"

Trixie shrugged. "Trixie likes to complain when stressed."

"Ah," the zebra said, understanding. "Need anything, ask me, Chief Aballahaz. Personal duty."

"We hopefully won't need to," Rarity said, "thank you, really."

Aballahaz rolled her eyes again. "Always with the 'please' and 'thank you' you Equestrians."

"Well I'm a dragon!" Spike offered.

"Not enough 'please' and 'thank you.'"

"Wow. Hard to please?"

Aballahaz smiled. "Very. Until later." She walked out, leaving the three of them alone in the protective custody room. There wasn't much there save for a bathroom, and four lumpy looking cots. They sat there in silence for a good while.

"Am I the only one expecting dragon lady to crash through a wall and eat us?" Trixie asked.

Spike's eyes widened. "Not anymore."

Rarity sighed, "We're safe here. Even they can't get though an army of zebra officers."

"But... Congeal made Discord sweat!" Trixie said, "they might be able to crash their way through!"

Rarity shook her head. "Something tells me they want to remain as secret as possible. Out of public eye. Attacking us here would be foolish of them."

"So we just have to wait for someone to come get us..." Spike said, "that sucks."

"I'll say," Trixie grunted, "what we need is a way to pass the time..."

Rarity lit up. "Cards?!"

"Noooooooooooooo!" Trixie yelled.

"Yeesh, you didn't need to be so forward about it."

"My mind still hurts from the whirlwind you gave it last time!"

"It wasn't that bad..."

"How does Q plus the Nth degree equal four!?"

"Oh, darling, you're forgetting about the quandary theater that was in effect at the time."

Trixie moaned and slumped to the ground. She yawned. "...Trixie hasn't slept well in ages."

Rarity bit her lip. "Well, protective custody or not, this is still a cell, and the beds look absolutely dastardly..."

That was true - the four cots were flat, torn up, and a few had springs poking out of them.

Trixie sighed, climbing onto one and laying down. "This sucks."

Spike nodded in agreement, but he crawled onto a mattress and attempted to get comfortable. "G'night."

Rarity climbed into her bed, muttering goodnight as well. She knew she needed sleep - but she couldn't calm herself down. The mattress was lumpy, the air was dry, they were far from home, and she only had one eye. Everything was wrong... Most of her friends were trapped... She was stuck in a foreign country... And despite what she had said earlier, she didn't feel safe. Nothing felt safe. It all felt... dangerous. She shifted on her mattress, starting to cry through her single eye. She shut it, trying to keep the tears in.

Was there really any hope here?

Could they really do anything?

She groaned, opening her eye.

She wasn't on the bed anymore. Instead, she was in a strange white expanse, floating. She blinked. "Uh..."

A gigantic eyeball appeared in the sky and looked down upon her. It pulsated as it focused in on her small form, the iris slowly shifting through all the colors of the rainbow.

"W-what?"

The eye made no response, or any indication that it even heard her. It just kept looking at her, unwavering.

"...Rarity..." A familiar voice rung in the the back of her mind.

"Hm?" Rarity said, "What?"

"...Rarity..."

"Princess Luna?" Rarity said, confused. Then she realized what was going on - and laughed. "Oh. I'm dreaming." With a smile on her face, she waved at the giant eye. "Hi!"

The eye moved not. It just pulsated.

"...Okay Luna I'm ready to wake up now."

"...Rarity... Your dream... Can't see... Wake up..."

Rarity froze. If Luna couldn't see this, that meant... "What are you?" she demanded, glaring at the eye.

The eye still made no movement. But the world around her did, darkening in color considerably and generating thousands of hands, each one pointing right at her.

"Wha...?"

"...Rarity wake up!"

There were now two eyes, then three, then twenty, and they began circling her.

"W-what do you want?"

Y O U

"Something has you! Run!"

Rarity didn't see anywhere she could run to in the now-black expanse - the eyes and hands were everywhere. "Why do you want me?" she asked.

There was no response at first. Just the image of the Seven Sided Chest, surrounded by eyeballs. An image of the moon. Seven pillars stood among the grey rock and the stars - a Temple.

C O M E

"Wake up!"

Rarity leapt out of bed screaming, into the hooves of Luna. "That... That was horrible!"

Spike and Trixie crowded around her, worried looks on their faced. "Rarity!" Spike said, "you got out!"

"It.. Let me out," Rarity said.

Luna frowned. "What was it?"

"I... I have no idea. A giant eye... eyes? An image of seven pillars on the moon..."

Luna recoiled in surprise. "...How would anything know about those!?"

"So, wait, there's a Temple on the moon!?" Trixie blurted.

Luna thought for a moment. "...That could be what they were..."

Rarity shook her head. "Wait, why are you here princess?"

"I'm here to get you back home." She lit her horn. "The longer we leave you here, the more likely you are to just be taken."

"She's going to teleport us right home!" Spike grinned. "No more waiting!"

"Good," Rarity said, "I've had enough drama..."

"Stop the press!" Trixie gasped. "Rarity has had enough drama!"

Rarity let out a half hearted laugh. Luna looked at her eye socket, and winced. "I am sorry."

"Not now," Rarity stopped her, "we need to go."

Luna nodded, lighting her horn. They vanished...

...and appeared in the middle of the Zahara, in the rubble of the Temple. It was night, the moon looming large overhead. This was not where they were supposed to appear. Luna spread her wings. "WHO DARES!?"

Then they saw it.

Congeal.

It sat there in the center of the ruins, somehow glaring at them with its expressionless face. It spread its wings, preparing an attack...

XII - Doubting Minds

View Online

Shifting...

Gurgling...

Adjusting...

Cranking...

Shaking...

Bending...

...

...Giggling?

"Pinkie," Twilight said, looking up from the reality bubble, "please stop making the mobius strip laugh at us."

"Aw...." Pinkie said, releasing her hold on the mobius strip that lay just outside the bubble. It floated away, exploded, grew eyes, and vanished to the sound of tap dancing. In that order.

"This place is just weird..." Fluttershy said, backing as far away as she could from the edges of the bubble.

"It's a Realm of Chaos," Discord chuckled. "Honestly, what did you expect?"

"Realm of Distortion," Pinkie emphasized. "Terms, Discord, terms."

"Since when do you care about accurate terminology?"

"2 periods ago."

There was silence in the bubble. Twilight coughed. "So... Are we just going to wait here or are we going to explore this place?"

Discord facepalmed. "Does it look like this place is going to have any locations at all?"

"Well..." Twilight frowned. "I'd at least like to see if it acts differently in different locations."

"Twilight, do you remember how it felt outside?" Discord asked. "The only reason you even perceive an up, down, left, or right is because this bubble forces it to be true! In the 'reality' out there, that mobius strip that no longer exists is actually wrapped around us and that eyeball over there exists only within a subdimensional pocket in the shape of a sardine!"

"Mackerel, actually," Pinkie said. "I should know. I made it."

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie. "How... are you able to just... accept this part of yourself?"

"It just feels natural! Like this was what I was meant to be! Which it was. At least this time around. Don't worry, every pony acclimates to inflections differently."

"How do you-" Twilight began, but stopped herself. "...Nevermind."

"Yay! Twilight! You're learning!"

Twilight facehooved. "Ugh... Pinkie, stop bending my brain..."

Discord grabbed Twilight's ears and extended her face to double its normal width. As he was rolling in the air, literally laughing his face off his body, Pinkie returned Twilight's face to its normal dimensions. Twilight glared at the draconequus.

"...I still want to explore," she said.

"Fine," Discord said, "which 'direction' do you want to go, fair princess?"

Pinkie answered. "That way! we'll find something interesting, I'm sure of it!"

Discord blinked. "...You do realize space might just fold in on itself and move us effectively backwards?"

"Oh, yeah, it's totally going to do that. Doesn't change anything though. Away!"

Discord looked ready to object, but thought better of it. He clapped his hands and the reality bubble began to move in the general direction of forward, though in the 'reality' of the Realm the path was tesseract-like.

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "W-why is everything spinning?!"

"I don't thing straight exists here," Twilight said, examining the kaleidoscope of red and black colors swirling around them, with other colors splattered around in random locations. A few of those colors hurt to look at. Fractals bristled over the bubble's surface, making dull grating noises as they hit. Twilight was eagerly searching for anything new outside - but it just seemed to be endless repeating randomness... She realized how paradoxical that thought was, but it was true. Things just appeared and left - nothing could truly form.

Twilight sighed. Despite himself, Discord also shook his head in disappointment. He halted the bubble, prompting Fluttershy to let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia that's over..."

Twilight put a hoof on Fluttershy. "I... I know it's hard, and I'm sorry I had us move. We'll stay here until Sperion can take us out."

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, next cha-" she stopped herself short, pointing a hoof out of the sphere. "...What's that?"

Everyone tried to look, seeing something in the 'distance' that wasn't changing with the Realm. The form was a bright nine-pointed blue star, floating amongst the reddish world, swirling incoming distortions around it.

Discord blinked. "That's not normal."

"Let's go say hi," Pinkie said.

"I think it's coming to say hi for us..." Fluttershy said, trying to back away. The bright thing did appear to be moving closer to them, in a zig zag, haphazard, jumpy fashion.

"Probably just an illusion," Twilight said. She immediately ate her words. The star was suddenly directly adjacent to the bubble, poking it with one of its nine spikes.

"You are not from here.... Heh..." The voice that filled the bubble was old, male, and strained. "So... So long..."

Discord snapped his fingers and they were somewhere else. "Nope!" he said. "Not him!"

"Who?" Twilight asked. "...You know him?"

"Yes," Discord said, "you've heard of him too. Twilight, listen to me-"

"YOU CAN'T HIDE!" The star was there again, poking the bubble. "Discord! My... Oh what even are you? Magnum opus? Embarrassment? My... My..."

Discord moved them again. "This is bad. He recognized me. Why is he even here...?"

"Discord!" Twilight yelled, "Who is he!?"

Discord looked back at her, a pained expression plastered on his features.

Fluttershy let out a small 'eep.' "...it's Starswirl isn't it?"

Discord sagged. "...Yes."

Twilight gawked. "Starswirl!? As in, Starswirl the Bearded!? WHAT THE-"

Starswirl appeared next to them again, demanding their attention with his presence. "Diiiiscord! You're in my chaos now!"

"Heck no!" Discord shouted, backing the bubble up. "I'm the manifestation of Chaos! You said so yourself!"

"I said a lot of things back in Central!" Starswirl laughed. "But then I left! Best decision ever!" He drove on of his spikes through the bubble, allowing some of the distortion to flood in. Pinkie pushed it back just before it grabbed ahold of Fluttershy.

"Hm?" Starswirl said, leaning in. "Where did you find this one? An inflection of Distortion - and a strong one at that!"

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Please stop trying to hurt my friends!"

"Hurt? Oh my little pony, hurting is relative. Heh. Nothing means anything here! I'm a freaking star! You're all in a bubble amongst beauty! Ha ha ha!"

"You... You're mad!" Twilight managed to eek out.

"And you're Celestia's newest pupil. Wonder what you did to get ascended."

"I... I completed your spell!"

Starlight went silent for a moment. "Y... You what?"

"You needed to factor friendship and connections into the equation."

Discord shook his head violently in Twilight's direction. She shut up.

"Friendship... Connection... Ha... Ha ha ha... Look at me! Silly old fool! Stupid! Seven!" He roared, and the Realm of Distortion went blue around them. "If you're so great at my spells, what's the completion for this one!?"

Twilight paled. "A... Annihilation."

"Maybe you are worth something." He flashed, and the world crushed them... and bounced back from the pink rubber encasing them.

"Woo!" Pinkie shouted. "That was fun!"

Starswirl paused. Then he shook. "Bu.. Wh... I am the strongest here!" He made a whimpering noise. "I... I am here..." The Realm became its standard red once more, and Starswirl drew back. "Why did I follow her..."

Discord raised an eyebrow. "...Who?"

"Before your time, smush. heh. Ol' Meadowbrook... Stupid Meadowbrook..." He started crying - despite having no eyes.

Pinkie left the bubble and drifted over to him. "There there... It's okay..."

"Pudding... What are - Ah." he stopped, as if he understood. "Was she right? Was it all a bad idea?"

"Shh..." Pinkie said, "you did fine."

"You're next, you know. The story walks on."

"Yeah, I know."

"You probably know more than I... Watch out for them. For her. They may be right... But it feels so wrong." He let out a sob. "Why did I come here... Why did I come here... Why? What is there? nothing!?" He turned to Discord. "Why did you come here? Was it your counterpart!?"

"My...What?" Discord blinked.

"Ahahaha.... Friends! I see! Oh how wrong I was.. By my beard they really messed it up..." He let out a sickening laugh. "NOTHING!"

And then he was gone. It was like he was never there.

Pinkie sighed. "Until next time..."

~~~

Implode walked across the green plane of the Realm of Truth, head down. She moved slowly, deliberately, without much energy. She sighed.

She felt... empty.

What was the point, exactly?

"Whatcha thinkin'?" Rainbow Dash asked from a nearby pyramid shape.

"Oh. Hi." She sighed. "I just... Starlight and Applejack have the archives, and you have those damn stunts. What do I have?"

"Gonna be honest here, those stunts don't really mean much without somepony to watch them. With Starlight and Applejack always busy, you're kinda the only one who does now."

"That's a crappy purpose," Implode muttered, flipping her tail. "I just... It feels empty. I built my life around being the best- and then revenge. Neither of those apply here. I'm starting to wonder if they ever did."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Implode? It's not like you to get this... existential."

Implode shrugged. "Eh, I'm not the same pony I was when I left home."

"Okay, now I know something's up. Even when you opened up last time you were still snarky miss bossypants!"

"...What?"

"My gosh," Rainbow Dash gaped, "you're just going to take that?"

"Why wouldn't I? ...You're being weird now."

Rainbow Dash facehooved. "I mean, just... Just yesterday, I think I called you 'featherbrain' and you launched into a tirade at me! I thought you were going to try to kill me!"

Implode let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah... That was silly. Sorry about that."

Rainbow Dash reeled. "Wh... Okay. Implode. Answer me this. How do you feel about your father?"

"I hate him," she said, level.

"Implode... You 'hate his very being with a fiery passion and want to drive his skull into his chest cavity.' That's you."

For the first time since the conversation started, Implode looked a little worried. "...That's right..."

"Implode, what happened?"

"I... I don't know!?" She racked her brain. "Nothing has changed for days! Just walking around, watching you, and answering Diamond's stupid questions!"

Rainbow clasped her hooves together. "Diamond! Maybe he knows!"

Implode shivered. "Y-you think so?"

"Celestia, something's really wrong with you." Rainbow Dash picked her up and carried her into the air. She zoomed back to the Nexus, blasting through the hallways. They landed right in front of Diamond.

"There's a problem," he observed.

"Implode's acting really weird!" Rainbow Dash said, pointing at the out of place fear and confusion on Implode's face. "Did you have anything to do with it?"

"No. She is just going through the change. She has proven not to be powerful enough to resist the Realm's natural degradation of the emotions. I was under the impression she already knew this."

"T-Terrifying," Implode said, gulping.

"Nothing to be concerned about. You'll be free and operate at a much more efficient set of parameters. Stop stressing over it, it'll only make it more painful."

"Are you nuts!?" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We've gotta stop this!"

"I see no reason to. She was a menace before the Realm started acting on her. She would likely not have let you talk to her were her emotions full."

Rainbow Dash took a few steps back. "W-what?"

"The Implode you were getting to know wasn't her either."

Rainbow Dash was about to give Diamond an earful, but Implode spoke up. "Can you reverse it?"

"The Inflection of Truth does not allow me to, nor does the Inflection of Power. Perhaps the inflection of Echoes, if you could convince Starlight to give it a try." He shook his head slowly. "But why undo this? You like yourself better. You are more comfortable with yourself. Why not let it complete its course?"

Implode looked Diamond right in the eye... and smiled.

"Thank you very much, Diamond. You're right, I am more comfortable." The fear had vanished from her face, her words spoken with venom.

"See? You feel it. Let it take you fully."

Rainbow Dash leaned in. "Implode? You sure about this?"

"Oh yes." She looked Diamond right in the eye. "No emotions in the way anymore. I've... embraced it."

Diamond blinked. Then he turned and ran. Implode wordlessly stamped a hoof, conjuring a metal spike right through his brain. "Ah. No remorse. Useful, I must say. Still get some satisfaction though..."

"IMPLODE-"

Implode kicked Rainbow Dash in the face, drawing blood from her nose. "I'm going to kill them all. Then I'm going to kill myself. I don't want to kill you, so I guess I must have something left in me. Guess giving in doesn't make it happen all at once. You best stay out of my way before that vanishes too, for your own sake."

"I... I won't let you!"

Rainbow Dash was clocked in the head by an iron sphere, driving her into unconsciousness. Implode's face remained impassive - she felt more and more of herself slipping away. She stood up, glancing at Rainbow Dash for a second. She twitched slightly, then ran away as fast as her hooves would carry her.

Moments later, screams of pain and death filled the halls.

~~~

Luna went flying, tossed into the stump of one of the temple's columns, a sharp crack audible over her pained cry. Congeal leapt towards her, its hoof turning into a pointed drill. Luna stopped it with her telekinesis, ripping the limb straight off the machine. Luna spread her wings, launching herself off the pillar and crashing into Congeal's body. It was caught off guard and driven into the sand.

Two more Congeals appeared behind Luna, fully functional. "You can not be serious..." Luna muttered moments before the two pummeled her into the sand as well.

"Don't you dare!" Rarity yelled, launching her magic bolt at the two of them. The third Congeal erupted from the sand, stopping the two bolts with its hooves. Then two vanished, leaving a singular Congeal, fully repaired. It created a giant ball of fire, illuminating the area as if by day. It tossed the flaming globe right at Rarity, Spike, and Trixie.

Trixie screamed. Rarity tried to push the ball back with her magic - but it was a futile endeavor. She felt the heat start to singe her, smoke wafting off her coat.

Spike leapt into action, leaping onto Rarity's back and holding out his hands, pushing back the encroaching heat. He winced. "Gosh this thing is heavy..."

Rarity got an idea. "...Spike!"

"Huh?"

"HOARDE IT! It's yours!"

Congeal noticed at this point that the targets weren't dead, but it was a bit late. Spike acted quickly. He shoved the fireball into the ground and roared. "MINE!" He grew in stature slightly.

Rarity tossed him a piece of the ruins. "Yours!" Trixie threw some sand at him. "Uh... yours?"

Spike growled, now the size of a large carriage. He raised a claw, only to have Congeal lift him and toss him away. Congeal shook its head slightly, as if to say 'nice try.'

"YOURS!" Luna yelled in the Royal Canterlot voice, creating a pile of glittering treasures below her with a simple spell. "If you can take it."

Spike leapt up instantly at the words, growing twice as tall as he had been. He leapt into the pile of riches, tossing Luna off. She drifted away, watching with a smirk on her face as the purple dragon continued to grow in size.

Congeal raised its wings, teleporting the treasure to her, away from Spike. Spike, in turn, roared with an animalistic rage in his eyes, increasing in size even further. Trixie laughed. "That's our Spike!"

"Oh, woe is you!" Luna boomed. "Have you never studied the art of dragon greed? You took his treasure away. And with that enhancement spell I have on those treasures, well..."

Rarity blinked, looking up at the tremendous form of Spike. "My Stars, he's three times as big as last time. Luna! What did you put in that spell!?"

Luna pointed at the moon. "Lunar energy."

Spike crushed Congeal under his toe, repeating the stomping motion in blind rage. Several Congeals appeared - twelve of them, to be exact - surrounding Spike's neck. They embedded large knife-shaped objects into his skin. This only served to annoy him. He unleashed his green dragonfire upon them, attempting to burn them into nothing.

Trixie blinked. "...Things that big should not move that fast."

Congeal appeared a distance from Spike, readying a giant disintegration beam - only to find Luna next to its wing. "Hi." The princess enveloped the robot in a cloud of shadow, attempting to crush the machine with the power of the cosmos. Alas, Congeal broke free, and its first action was to toss Luna to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Spike bit off Congeal's leg, the same one Luna had removed a few minutes prior. Congeal flew back, regrowing the limb with a swift shaking motion. It then teleported right in front of Spike's head. It spread its wings, and Spike began to shrink. He was being rewound.

"Oh no you don't!" Luna yelled, using a spell of her own, a simple 'undo' spell. "You don't get to just bend this the way you want!"

In response, Congeal bent space around itself, adding a new direction to existence that drove the three-dimensional minds of those present to a pounding headache. She moved through the fourth dimension, tripping Luna and driving a knife into her side. Luna screamed out from the sudden and unexpected pain, her cry shaking the very ground.

Congeal generated a sphere of electric energy, ready to disintegrate the moon princess. A piece of the pillars hit Congeal's head, interrupting the process, and denting the metal in the machine's skull. The dimensional bending faded, reverting the world to normal.

Trixie laughed. "Ha! Saw through your higher dimensional structure! That is why you never try to fool the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!"

Congeal generated dozens of sharp objects around Trixie, pushing inward - only to be blocked by a shield spell cast by the injured Luna. Congeal was then promptly crushed by Spike's foot again.

Congeal appeared in the air, on Spike's head once more. This time, though, it didn't try to shrink him. Instead, it stomped its hoof, and Spike instantly stopped moving. It stomped its hoof again, and Spike turned around, robotic in his motion.

"No!" Luna yelled, blasting Congeal off Spike - but it was already too late. The dragon roared, charging Luna. Luna instantly undid the growth spell she had on Spike, and he reverted to carriage size, falling to the ground at a rapid speed. Luna let out a sigh of relief - but winced mid-breath when she the pain from her knife wound shot through her.

Congeal didn't move. It stood perfectly still.

"What are you doing?" Luna wondered aloud, scanning Congeal. Luna paled when she discovered what was happening. "Trixie!"

"Wha-" Congeal teleported next to Trixie, the tip of the metal wing lightly touching the mare's forhead. Trixie slumped to the ground, lifeless.

"TRIXIE!" Rarity yelled. "TRIXIE!"

Congeal appeared next to Rarity. The wing extended towards Rairty's head, touching it... Rarity gasped as her mind was flooded with words, images, thoughts... Rarity felt the image of an eye burn itself into the back of her mind... She could hear Congeal... The distorted voice of a mare...

Destroy those who know. Was foolish. Cannot...

N O The immense voice from Rarity's dreams flooded both of their minds, shaking Congeal and Rarity to their core.

No, I will not destroy...

U N D O T H E N L E A V E

Congeal removed its wing from Rarity and teleported over to Trixie. It tapped the unicorn, and she suddenly started breathing again, panicked. "W-wha?"

Then Congeal was gone.

The eye left the back of Rarity's mind.

"The buck!?" Trixie said. "The buck!?"

"I... Have no idea," Rarity said.

Spike decided to use that moment to rush out of the sand and attack Rarity. Luna grabbed the carriage sized dragon with her magic and froze him. "His mind... it is still conditioned."

"Can you fix him?" Rarity pleaded.

"Mind spells are not my expertise. I am certain Starlight could. But that is for later. We must make use of this opportunity and return to Equestria. We can figure out what helped us later." She looked closely at Rarity, eyes narrow. "Tread carefully, Rarity."

"I will."

Luna took a few more moments to heal herself and prepare the long distance teleport, but they were off in less than a minute. They appeared in the main hall of Canterlot, at the foot of Celestia's throne, the regal alicorn herself sitting there. It was day on this part of the planet, and the sunlight felt warm and welcoming to them. It would have been perfect, had it not been for the presence of a few familiar faces.

"Ahuizotl!?" Rarity yelled.

"Overglobe!?" Trixie followed up.

Ahuizotl smirked. "Ah, fair Rarity, I see you've returned. We have much to discuss..."

Trekker let out an annoyed grunt.

XIII - Implosion

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"No emotion," Implode said, spiking three ponies' skulls with a single chrome spike, "that's a lie." She walked through the blood, the redness soaking into her hooves and tail. "I embraced it. I still feel something."

The ponies of Truth knew they couldn't fight her, so they all ran. It was of no use - even without her wings to control the inflection, the power was just too strong for them. They were crushed, cut, and stabbed with her various constructs with little effort on her part.

"...A contentment. A fulfillment. I can do what always needed to be done. What I wanted to do. A feeling of... Liberation. No constraints."

She leapt into the air, landing on a mare. Implode transmutated the poor pony's head into cheese. "You feel it too. In you. The self-preservation. The freedom. Life." She stood tall, face impassive as she cut off a nearby stallion's head with a razor sharp steel disc. "I can see why you choose to be this way. Why you see it as better. No inhibitions. No illogical blockades to fulfill your desires." She drove a stallion into a wall, crushing all his bones with a series of harrowing cracks. "Then again, you may be reconsidering right now. After all, you've obviously never run into somepony like me."

She walked through the bloody hallway, eyes lazy, face still straight. "Still. I wonder why you scream. The pain means nothing to you or me."

She stamped her hoof, blowing a hole in the side of the Nexus. She created a staircase along the outside of the rectangular prism. As she walked along her creation, the steps receded behind her, returning the wall to a flat state. The ponies harvesting the garden on top looked up at her quizzically - those with the Inflection of Truth bolting the moment they saw her. None of them bothered to warn their companions.

"Do you deserve to die?" Implode asked. "A legitimate question I've been asked many times in many different ways. By pure logic, the answer is no. All of you were just born into this, by no choice of your own." She lit a nearby mare on fire, setting the rest of the garden ablaze by proximity. "But, in the end, what does anypony deserve? Nothing. We are all failures. We have all 'wronged' others." She looked up at the giant tree, her eyes widening to take it all in. "Deserving something is just an illusion. There are only wants." She set the great tree ablaze, purposefully spreading the fire to the rest of the garden.

"So I'll do what I want. And I've wanted to do this for quite some time."

A pink diamond floated up to her, blinking softly. The voice of a mare came from the diamond, presumably the pony who had taken Diamond's place. "You are correct. Welcome to Truth."

"If I was in any state besides this, that would sound horrible," Implode observed, blasting some ponies on the green plane below with a targeted explosion.

"It is horrible. But anything in existence is horrible. The world fails to meet with the emotional expectations."

"Strange. I still find it odd that you aren't angry or upset at me destroying your lives. You just run and scream - but you don't get angry. You don't blame."

"How could we? We satisfy our wants as well. Knowledge. Truth. In some cases this also includes physical pleasures that mean nothing, but we are still driven to do. You are not the first to do this as you believe. Merely the first to be here with an Inflection of Power. The others were stopped."

"So you'll try to kill me then?"

"Pointless. You are too strong. We will just flee to another location. This is not the only garden we have. It would be foolish to put everything we had here."

"I should be livid that I am not destroying you," Implode noted. "Instead... Nothing has changed. Odd."

"Acclimation to the Truth takes time. Cognitive dissonance will eventually be ironed out."

"I won't be around long enough for that."

"Suicide is wasteful."

"Life is wasteful."

"Perhaps. After all, meaning is but an illusion brought on by lies. There is no good, no evil. No matter how hard we search the Truth, we cannot find them."

Implode stood still for a moment. "Why do you insist on living?"

"We cannot break from the other Realms so easily. Life and Dreams still influence us, even after so long. Otherwise, we would be just like the shapes."

"I thought you said the cognitive dissonance would go away?"

"It does. You treat every moment knowing it doesn't matter and that the only think keeping you running are biological imperatives. You just don't care."

Implode nodded. "Where are you right now?"

"I do not have to tell you that."

"Thought there were no secrets here?"

"You do not have the Inflection of Truth. There can be secrets kept from you. Not from me."

Implode leapt down off the Nexus, turning the plane into an elastic material so the fall wouldn't crush her. With her landing, she impaled a handful of fleeing ponies with spikes. "You are the strongest Inflection of Truth remaining in this place. Don't you think it would extend your knowledge to see if you could fight me?"

"Perhaps. But chances are high I would die."

"Life is pointless. Be in control of your biological imperatives. I know I am."

A tall amethyst colored unicorn with a snow-white mane walked out of a nearby prism. Her eyes locked with Implode's. Implode swore she could feel the unicorn analyzing every aspect of the world around her, thinking of every possible outcome.

Implode did no such thing, stamping her hoof on the ground, creating a sphere of intense gravity behind the mare. The new Diamond leapt into the air, using the gravity of the sphere to curve herself backwards. She launched a burst of energy from her horn which Implode maneuvered away from with ease. The mare landed right behind Implode. The ex-pegasus created a knife and threw it at the mare - only for her to catch it mid-flight.

Implode felt the knife slice through her side. She cried out in pain, but she didn't care. She kicked out with her hoof, the new Diamond limboing under the attack. Implode put her hoof in the air, generating a fireball barrage. The new Diamond dodged every last sphere of burning gas. With a jump, the mare launched past Implode, cutting her once again.

Implode twitched involuntarily, stamping her hooves and turning the area around her into lava - realizing that the lava just fell through due to the plane's infinite thinness. She looked under the plane, noticing that very few shapes were below it. An idea came to her. She began to remove areas of the plane under the new Diamond, attempting to doom her to an eternal fall. She continually managed to leap out of the way just before the ground vanished, milliseconds to spare each time.

The new Diamond saw an opening - and took it. She leapt into the air, arcing in a graceful curve. She drove the knife right into Implode's chest before she could do anything about it. She leapt back, letting Implode fall to the ground. Blood pooled around her.

Then Implode thought of something.

The reason the Power wasn't used on flesh was because it wasn't specific enough, and would rarely work for a long period of time, not to mention cause unforeseen complications and extreme pain. But Implode didn't care anymore. Implode stamped her hoof and screamed, generating raw flesh over her cuts, little more than fleshy tumors. She stood up, eyes closed tightly - she wasn't done. She roared again, two stubs beginning to form on her back, extending outward slowly. The bony protrusions drew blood of their own, bringing with them more pulsating tumors.

The new Diamond kicked Implode into one of the holes she had created. Implode fell, still screaming from her pain as she continued downward. The new Diamond didn't believe for a single moment that it was over. Less than a minute later, Implode flew up out of the hole, screaming from the constant pain her new, horribly disfigured wings were giving her. There were too many bones in one, both looked malnourished and flat, and both flung blood each time they flapped. But at least they were able to channel magic and fly.

She flapped. The Power-infused wind tossed the new Diamond into the hole. She was unable to do anything - doomed to an eternal drop...

Or she would have, had a certain unicorn not levitated her out with blue magic.

"S... Starlight..." Implode managed to get out through her body's intense pain, "w..wonder...ed... when.. you'd... sh.... show up..."

Starlight didn't bother responding. She lit her horn, a thick black aura surrounding it. She unleashed a death blast. Implode dodged the red and black beam with a painful swoop."Gah... T...This is different..." She stared at Starlight, face indicating unimaginable pain. "I... Oh I see... D...Death... Distasteful...? Hah..."

"What happened to you!?" Applejack demanded from below. "You were makin' progress! And now you're worse!"

"The... The Realm of T... Truth. I... T..." She dodged another one of Starlight's death beams. "Re...moves emotions... But... You knew this..."
She let out a pained yell as she adjusted her wings - only to create more fractures in them. "I... I wanted... to kill... Now... no... inhibitions..."

Applejack's eyes widened. "She's completely serious Starlight."

"Kill her! Now!" Starlight yelled, tossing dozens of magic crystal bolts at the mutilated pegasus. Implode screeched and turned them all into bouncy balls. She kicked them back with her hooves, transforming them into bolts of lightning directed at Starlight.

"Son of a-" Starlight managed to say before she was tossed away by electrical discharge. Applejack sent a volley of spheres at Implode, but she was sorely outmatched by Implode's mastery over the Power- her wings may have been painful, but they were powerful.

The sphere of energy Implode sent back at Applejack was at least ten times more powerful than anything the earth pony could have come up with - though using the Truth Applejack managed to dodge the tremendous attack with three well timed acrobatic leaps.

"H... How can... Y... You use the Truth... and... not see it?" Implode grunted.

Applejack frowned. "The Truth can't tell you how you feel or why."

"T... That's because it doesn't... Exist! Ill... Illusion!"

"That's where the Truth is wrong. Calling it the Truth is bad - it doesn't tell you everything, and it most certainly isn't right all the time. It's too strict. It's not really what everypony here seems to think it is. It's just information. The real truth can't be found by analyzing. You have to feel, to experience, to live."

Implode shook her head. "D... Delusional." She raised a wing and sent a flurry of bullets at Applejack, who managed to dodge them all almost effortlessly.

Starlight came to her senses at this point, moving to encase implode in a crystal spell. Implode completely shattered the attempt at a prison, allowing her to dodge the death spell follow-up. In retaliation, Implode created several dozen explosives around Starlight, which the unicorn barely managed to deflect with her shield spell.

Applejack tried to attack again, but all her constructs were simply deflected by a flick of Implode's wing. Applejack noticed with some annoyance that she was basically being ignored in favor of focusing on Starlight. The powerful unicorn was put on the defensive as spheres exploded around her several times every second, not giving her any chance to retaliate.

Applejack gritted her teeth. They were losing. This wasn't going to work... Unless... "Starlight!" she called out. "Try some stuff! We're losing!"

Starlight bit her lip, but nodded. Suddenly there were seven Starlights in existence. After a split second of confusion, they all charged a death beam at once. Implode's movements slowed down to a sluggish crawl, although she still managed to create rock shields in defense, nullifying the beams.

The Starlights surged forward as one, dropping the death beam in favor of rapid-fire crystal bolts. They all had cocky grins on their faces, their full attention focused on Implode. They failed to notice a knife form to the side of the leftmost version of themselves, stabbing that Starlight in the gut. Wounds opened up in half the Starlights, the ones who weren't gasping in pain gasping in fear.

In an instant, there was only one Starlight, and she slumped to the ground, a pool of blood slowly appearing beneath her.

"Starlight!" Applejack yelled. She quickly tried to calculate a way out of this difficult situation, but found none. With Starlight down and out, there was a 0% chance of dodging the incoming pegasus's attack...

Sperion appeared, a fifth limb shooting out of his body and pointing at Implode. Implode was tossed to the side by a silvery magical aura, falling on one of her wings. She howled at the doubling of the already harrowing pain.

Discord, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie appeared seconds after this.

"This," Sperion said, pointing at Implode and Starlight with different limbs, "this is a small taste of what contamination leads to."

"Starlight!" Fluttershy shouted. She and Discord ran over to her prone form. Fluttershy acted quickly, scooping the unicorn up in her hooves and healing the knife wound.

Twilight took a step back from everything, her ears pressed back against her head. This... They had just left that horrible distorted Realm, and had ended up here to see this. Starlight and Applejack were here... But Rainbow Dash wasn't... And there was a mutilated pegasus mare over there... Twilight closed her eyes and whimpered. "Wh..."

"You see it. That thing over there," Sperion said, making a gesture with all of his arms towards Implode. "She is suffering from this Realm removing her emotions. It turned her into a monster. When followed to the end, there will always be a monster. A monster greater than anything you could ever perceive." He managed to glare at Twilight despite lacking an eye. "This is the problem."

"It.... It can't be that simple."

Sperion made a singing sound. "And that... Is why you can't be told more. You know so much. She would have me kill you for it. But I won't." He turned as if he was looking at Fluttershy. "...I'm weak that way."

Implode slowly opened an eye - they weren't watching her closely anymore. She could still do this. But there were too many right now. She couldn't get them all. Only one. She focused on her tail, turning it into an explosive compound. Then she waited for a back to turn... And then she leaped towards Applejack, lighting her fuse.

In a burst of rainbow colors, a certain blue pegasus placed herself between Implode and Applejack. Rainbow Dash was bruised, battered, and looked barely awake - but she stood firm.

Implode's eyes widened. She reacted without thinking, causing a minor explosion to push herself back from Rainbow Dash. Then the rest of her exploded, her very molecules torn apart, her entire being vaporized.

"Implode!" Rainbow Dash yelled, holding out her hoof. "I... ...Why would you do that!? Implode!" Her plot hit the plane, her eyes staring unblinking at the place in the air where Implode had exploded.

Fluttershy let out a scream - she couldn't fix that, even if she tried the... bad thing. There was nothing left!

"Maybe you should have let her be executed back home," Sperion said, "look what your interference has done."

"No," Starlight said, standing up, "that would have been wrong."

Sperion paused. "...Excuse me?"

"I saw beautiful things from her. Powerful change. She was becoming a better pony! I..." Starlight looked down at the ground, guilty. "I just didn't realize it until right now. She... She spared Rainbow Dash." Starlight closed her eyes, nodding to herself. "I'm going to fix this. Fluttershy, think you can help me?"

Fluttershy nodded. "I... I can try."

Starlight focused, reaching deep within to the Echo within herself. She focused on where Implode had been mere seconds before... And rewound time. The particles that had made up Implode were slowly brought back together. Her form was changed, horrid wings forming once again. She whimpered in pain - a broken pegasus, unwilling to even try to move. Fluttershy touched her with her yellow wing, healing all the cuts, bruises, and tumors in the correct way. She even restored the wings to the way they were supposed to be.

Implode blinked, face alternating between straight and pained. "I... What have I..."

"Sh..." Starlight said, "we'll fix it." Starlight and Fluttershy returned to the slaughter Implode had caused, rewinding and healing everypony. Implode watched, her face straight, eyes darting back and forth, taking it all in. She made no move to attack, or even take any action at all. Rainbow Dash sat herself down next to her. "You better?"

"No," Implode said. "The Realm still has its hold. I. I think differently than I was. But it is not undone." She continued staring at the healing Starlight and Applejack did. "I felt horrible there in that instant I saw you. I regretted everything. I saw that I was wrong." She looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. "I don't feel that anymore. I'm not sure if I can hold onto that feeling..."

"Don't worry, they'll fix you, they're fixing everypony else."

Implode shook her head. "I... Don't think they can heal my mind. It's been molded. I think she'd have to rewind me - including my memories - back to stop it. And I don't want to forget this. I thought I had it figured out. But Applejack is right. Without emotions, something is missing. It feels - no, seems - odd, trying to hold onto something irrational with all your energy while most of you tells you to drop it just because it's worthless."

"Cognitive dissonance," Sperion said, "you need some irrational things in your mind to live well. But here, in the Realm of Truth, it isn't allowed. So you are going to have to fight it. I don't envy you - none have managed to hold it back for long."

"We'll just leave," Twilight said, "Exit this Realm."

"I'm not taking you," Sperion said, floating upwards. "Goodbye. I... I'm done. Fluttershy, I'm sorry." He floated further away, hesitating no more.

"...Bye," Fluttershy said.

Applejack let out a sharp breath of air. "Well, this is some reunion, ain't it?"

"Yeah..." Twilight rushed Applejack into a hug. "But at least we found you. When I saw Starlight like that I... I..."

Applejack returned the hug, tears flowing down Twilight's face onto her friend's back.

Then something exploded above them. Everypony looked up to see a cloud of orange dust above them.

"The Archive!" Applejack yelled.

The smoke cleared, revealing Sperion, just floating where the Archive had been. All he could do at this point was hope they hadn't already found something in there. He couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to him before that the Archive was dangerous...

He flexed his new, fifth arm. He focused on Starlight for a second, thinking. Then he floated away.

Discord raised his hand, ready to follow Sperion. Twilight held up a hoof. "No... Let him go. He made his choice. Let's respect it," she sighed. "We haven't done that enough."

XIV - Can of Worms

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In the halls of Canterlot, Trekker cleared his throat. "Are you done staring at each other yet?"

Rarity pointed a shaky hoof at Ahuizotl. "You! You are the reason for all this!"

"Me?" Ahuiztol feigned offense. "You were the ponies that had to put up a fight! You could have just given me the chest!"

"You threatened to kill!"

"And you wouldn't have?"

"No! We're not evil sadistic dogs!" She turned to Celestia. "What in Equestria's name is he doing here without cuffs on him?!"

Celestia sighed. "He is under the protection of a foreign power." She gestured towards Overglobe. "They made it clear he's with them."

Trixie narrowed her eyes at Overglobe. "Why would you give him that?"

"He discovered how to leave the Realm," Overglobe said.

"There was this nice spell hidden in the carvings that needed something from Central to work." Ahuizotl rubbed his hands together. "I volunteered myself."

"We are in his debt for his discovery."

Ahuizotl smiled. "As you ponies can see, I'm useful. Unlike helpless little Rarity here... Oooh, it seems like you've felt your inadequacy fully recently..." He pointed at her eye socket, sneering.

"Enough!" Celestia yelled. "Just because I have agreed not to incarcerate you does not mean I won't have you thrown out of this hall if you dare to act uncivilized towards my ponies! I would suggest changing your attitude."

Ahuizotl shrunk back from the Princess of the Sun ever so slightly. "...Fair enough."

"Hey..." Spike said. "You... Found a way here right? Think it can work to get the others out?"

"It was a one-way trip," Overglobe said. "The scans I took of Sperion could only go so far."

"Can't imagine he was happy about that," Trixie muttered. Then she blinked, turning to Spike. "Wait... weren't you violent and crazy?"

Spike shrugged. "Guess it wore off."

"Wait..." Luna said, something occuring to her. She turned to Overglobe. "...Why would you come here if you knew you couldn't go back under your own power?"

"There are seven temples. The legends said so," Overglobe said, "One was destroyed by fighting. We know there is at least one other standing, the one Twilight came to us in. And with the Seven-Sided Chest, we can return and report on our findings. Evacuate our ponies out of the dangerous Realm and into this safer place. Although...." She looked at Rarity, Spike, and Trixie with a frown. "...Something tells me everything's gone wrong."

Rarity sighed. "I... I admire what you're trying to do miss... Er..."

"Overglobe."

"Overglobe. Right. What you're doing is admirable. But... You're right. Everything has gone wrong. That other temple was destroyed, and the Chest has been stolen. It's in the hand of some order that, for whatever reason, seems to be against the temples and Realms."

"We do know where a fully functional temple is though!" Spike offered.

"Oh suuuuuure tell them everything!" Trixie facehooved.

"Trixie, they need a way back home," Rarity said, "the least we can do is tell them."

"Where is it?" Overglobe asked.

"...On the moon," Luna answered. "I saw it myself, during my time there."

Overglobe looked at the Princess of the Night strangely for a moment, before shaking her head. "Sorry. Not used to... alicorns. The moon is the large round gray thing in the sky we saw earlier right?" Everypony nodded in confirmation. "That's absurdly far away, and I'm fairly certain this world doesn't have a permeating aether of air, so how would we get there? How did you get there?"

"Powerful magic artifacts," Celestia said, "more specifically, the Elements of Harmony."

"Where are those?"

"Right now they're under the control of the Tree of Harmony. We'd have to ask the Tree to send us."

Ahuizotl's eyes widened. "You know where the Tree of Harmony is?!

Celestia smirked. "Ancient though you are Ahuizotl, I am a bit more versed in certain ancient powers. I extracted the Elements from it with my sister millennia ago. I know exactly where it is. Though going to the moon without the Chest is futile - as I understand from Twilight's reports, the temple won't work without it. Rarity, describe this... Order you've encountered."

Rarity nodded. "They appeared to mostly be zebras in hoods, skilled at hoof-to-hoof combat. They are represented by a purple seven-sided shape with a circle in it. They appear to have two leaders - there's a dreadful white eastern dragon mage by the name of Yuku who is just..." She put a hoof to her eye. "Extremely dangerous and aggressive. The other is what appears to be a mechanical alicorn with powers unlike anything I have ever seen. It goes by the name of Congeal."

Luna nodded. "I can confirm the existence of said being. It bested us in combat, and we were only allowed to live because... something intervened."

"A... Thing that told us to go to the moon," Rarity said.

Ahuizotl raised his eyebrow. "Oh? Ancient god looking down on you favorably? How lucky."

Overglobe rubbed her chin. "This is bigger than I previously thought. It's not just us - there's some conspiratorial Order and a high being messing with things."

"Changes little," Trekker said, "we get the chest, go to the moon, and return regardless of any god-things involved. The ponies are waiting."

Overglobe nodded. "Of course."

"But how are we going to get it back?" Spike asked. "We know nothing about them!"

"Then we need to find them," Trekker said. "Then we take it back by force. Simple."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "I was bested in combat by this Congeal by a fair margin. What makes you think you can do any better?"

"Skill," Trekker said. "Powers such as this." He raised a wing and created a sphere of fire.

"Congeal can do that as well," Rarity gulped, "and bend time, and repair itself, and cast spells, and mold minds."

Overglobe's eyes lit up. "An... Inflection of Central!?"

"A what now?" Trixie asked.

"An Inflection of Central. We read about it in the ancient texts. Usually, inflections are limited to being strong in one area. But the legend talked of a being that was strong in all inflections simultaneously. It was one of the last stories on the wall come to think of it..."

"It could be that this Congeal and the being in the legend are one and the same," Celestia suggested. "Alicorns live forever. I know not what a mechanical one implies, but they could be a similar being. What did it say about this... being with the Inflection of Central?"

"Not much. Not even a description, or gender. Just that it represented Order, the Realms in unity."

"So, like, the opposite of Discord?" Trixie said.

Overglobe nodded. "It sure seems that way."

"Hah. Chaos is stronger than order then. He trounced Congeal!" Trixie bragged.

"He may have just gotten lucky," Luna said. "We need to proceed with caution. I do not think we have the resources or the power to take on this Order right now."

Celestia nodded. "Sadly, she is right. How long can your ponies wait?"

"They are prepared just in case we don't come back," Overglobe said. "They will be fine, but I'd prefer not to leave them forever. I understand the need for caution princess, but we will want to start sometime soon."

Trekker huffed. "I'd start it now. Show the arrogant machine that it's not the top of the heap."

Ahuizotl shrugged. "Ah, you do just love getting into danger, don't you? Do you ever think?"

Trekker shot Ahuizotl an unsettling glare. Neither said anything further.

Celestia broke the silence. "I will enquire across the kingdom - and the other nations - for information about this Order. I will tell all of you everything we discover. Until then... We'll just have to wait."

She turned to Trixie, Spike, and Rarity. "Return home. Get some real rest. And... I am sorry for what you've been through."

Rarity bowed. "Thank you, your majesty."

~~~

"All right, so," Rainbow Dash said, wings spread, "Implode! You. Hate. Your. Dad."

"Yes," Implode said.

Rainbow Dash facehooved. "That's not the point! We've got to keep your emotions there!"

"Oh. Sorry." She blinked. "Right. Hate him. He's horrible. Want to make him suffer."

"That's it! Hold onto that! Grind it between your teeth!"

"Why would I...? Oh. Right." She started grinding her teeth methodically. "Grrrrrrrrrr."

"That's... better."

"No, it isn't."

"Least you're trying," Rainbow Dash sighed. "We'll find a way to get you back to normal. I promise."

"Such a promise is fool-" She stopped herself. "Thank you."

"Well, I guess polite is better than emotionless," Rainbow Dash said. "It's... hard to watch you go through this. It makes me wonder if I'll fall to it eventually."

"You're strong enough to resist it."

"Okay, we really need to get you out of here. Girls!" She called over to Twilight and Starlight. "Do you have a plan yet?"

Twilight bit her lip. "We... Think so. We believe that we can use Starlight's spell to return to the Realm of Life, a safer place. Stop the progression of her degradation. There are a few problems though..."

"We have to pass through the Realm of Distortion," Starlight said, "and while Twilight's group did survive in there, it's apparently pretty freaky, dangerous, and might have aggressive individuals who want to attack us out of their madness."

"We'll spend as little time there as possible," Twilight affirmed.

"What's the other problem?" Implode asked.

"The Realm of Life steals away your consciousness... We think. It didn't happen to any of us, but we've come across a herd of not-ponies. So you shouldn't stay there long."

"...Least it'll be safe for a while, I guess."

"That's the spirit! And when we get there, I'll try to find us a way home. Applejack says she might have a clue, and I think she knows what she's talking about. But we can discuss it in the Realm of Life and not... here. We need to get out of here." She looked upwards at the destroyed pieces of the Archive. "...There's nothing left for us."

"You mean he won't let there be anything for us," Starlight growled. "I could just rewind it but I have the feeling that'd just draw him back here."

"...Yeah..." Twilight said, looking up at the dark blue 'sky' of the Realm. Sperion was... so confusing. He seemed like a decent guy, but he did a lot of things that said otherwise. Do you judge a person by their words and intent, or their actions?

"We should hurry," Implode said, dragging Twilight out of her thoughts.

Starlight nodded. "Everypony here?" There was a chorus of 'yes.'

"Forgetting someone?" Discord said, flashing into existence.

"Everypony and Discord?" Starlight grunted.

"Yes," Diamond said, walking up to them. "I will be accompanying you as well."

Starlight blinked. "Are you sure - nevermind, you ponies are always sure. What made you decide you wanted to go on an adventure? What's the point to you?"

"New information and experiences."

"Fine," Starlight said, "are there any objections?" There were none.

"Okay," Starlight turned to Fluttershy for a moment. "It'll be okay, understand?"

"Y-yes..."

Discord turned to Twilight. "You better be able to find something out quickly. I don't want her there for too long."

Twilight nodded. "If all else fails we can cycle back to the Realm of Power. But that'd mean going through the unknown Realm of Dreams, and I'd rather not do that if we have a choice." She turned to Starlight. "Take us away."

Starlight lit her horn, charging for a few moments. Then the seven mares, one stallion, and spirit of chaos were gone.

They appeared in the Realm of Distortion, the red and black anomalies tearing at them instantly. Discord and Pinkie were ahead of the intrusions, however, creating a giant bubble to keep them out.

Implode looked out at the chaotic ripples of force around them - and she smiled slightly. "It's stopped. I'm... I'm not getting any worse. I still have something inside me. I can smile." Her smile faltered. "...I should be ecstatic, shouldn't I? And I should be scared of this place.... I'm not..." She put a hoof to her head. "My head hurts..."

"You try too hard," Diamond said, "you-"

"And you can shut up!" Rainbow Dash yelled, glaring intensely at Diamond. "She freaking killed you because of this thing and you still don't see the freaking problem! So shut up or I toss you out there just to see what happens!"

Diamond stayed silent, giving Rainbow Dash no response. He began to study the distortions around them.

"Gah, I was so done with these ponies..." Rainbow Dash grunted.

"They made their choice," Starlight said, focusing on rewiring the Realm translation spell. "We should leave them with it, even if we don't like it."

Fluttershy nodded. "Be kind even if they won't be back."

Rainbow Dash looked guilty for a moment. "...Sorry Diamond. You can talk as long as you don't mess with Implode's head."

"Noted," Diamond said.

Discord grunted, poking his head out of the reality bubble. "See anything, Pinkie?"

"Seven shark sided bits. Other than that, nothing more out of the ordinary than usual."

Twilight looked out of the bubble, frowning. "I was kind of hoping to see him again..."

"Who?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Starswirl."

"You met Starswirl!?" Starlight blurted, almost losing focus on her spell.

"Yeah... He apparently followed someone into the Realms. My current theory is Meadowbrook, just like Ahuizotl, but I can't be sure. He ended up here - and went crazy. I... I haven't really had time to process it."

Fluttershy nodded in understanding.

"Did he say anything particularly interesting?" Applejack asked.

"Quite. He mentioned that Discord had a counterpart, and he talked a lot about 'them' royally messing up, and being right... I'm not sure who 'they' were thought. He had a pronoun problem." Twilight frowned. "He also was responsible for Discord somehow... Hey, Discord, how did that happen?"

Discord looked up from his work - which at the moment was clipping his toenails with a candy cane. "He was trying to create a being composed of parts of everything. He created a chaotic mixture."

"He doesn't like to talk about it," Fluttershy said.

"Sorry," Twilight apologized, "but that means somewhere out there is an ordered mix..."

In that moment, Starlight completed the spell, and they were in the Realm of Life once more. Fluttershy twitched involuntarily the moment they arrived. Starlight's eyes sparkled as she examined the tree surrounding them. "It's... So pretty."

Discord teleported them to Fluttershy's tree mansion. Lou and Roy greeted them from the door, prompting a smile to creep up Fluttershy's face. "Have you been good boys?"

They hissed in affirmation.

"Good." She glanced out at the field, expression fading when she saw Browncoat's herd. She tore her gaze away and went into the house, most of her friends following her.

Twilight kept Applejack and Starlight outside. "Okay, what do you know?"

Applejack cleared her throat. "We've got this 'poem' thing..."

In their loss
They gave us a way
A path to return home

We will never be lost
Long as we remember
All that is to connect

Twilight blinked. "...That's the only hint you have?"

"Yeah, the actual poem's longer, but doesn't say anything about a way out."

Starlight nodded. "Best we can tell, to leave, they have to remember where they came from and everything that 'is to connect' to return."

"Who's the poem talking about?"

"Either the Aztrot or the Seven. Probably both."

"Our predecessors," Starlight said. "I'm fairly certain that's what the two earth ponies, two pegasi, two unicorns, and one alicorn thing is about. We're like the 'next phase' of ponies with extremely strong connections to each of the Realms."

"All that is connect..." Twilight's eyes lit up. "I think it wants us to 'remember' all the Realms and home!"

Applejack blinked. "Good point, but that leaves us with a problem. None of us have been to the Realm of Dreams"

Twilight's eyes sparkled, a knowing smile slowly crawling up her features. "I think we have enough for my idea, right here, right now. We'll need the others for this."

Inside the main hall, Rainbow Dash was talking to Implode, telling her about all the other ponies. Pinkie was passed out on the floor next to them, exhausted. To the side, Discord and Fluttershy were having tea while Diamond just looked out a window at the fields of animals, face blank.

"Okay everypony," Twilight announced, "I'm going to try something. Come outside, please."

Discord raised an eyebrow. "We're in a tree. We're already outside."

"You know what I mean."

They all filed outside. "Okay, I'm going to stand here," Twilight said. "We need to make a seven pointed shape with me as the primary point. Going counterclockwise from me, Rainbow, Starlight, Applejack, Pinkie, and then Flutttershy. Leave a spot between Fluttershy and me. The rest of you, in the center." Discord shrugged, teleporting himself, Implode, and Diamond into the designated area, while the other six set themselves up.

"Now what?" Discord asked.

"Usually, I would form a magical connection between all of us and try to guess the last spot here..." She glanced at the last spot. "...And that could take hours. However, I have a pretty good idea of what - or, rather, who - goes in that last spot. Rarity is supposed to be here with us. I just have to think of her. It would probably help if the rest of you did the same."

Everyone nodded. Everyone but Diamond closed their eyes.

Twilight spread her wings, a purple heptagon of magic energy surging through all of them. The fabric of everything shook and rippled around them, and a bright ball of distortion began to form in the center...

~~~

Congeal dropped the Seven-Sided Chest that was in its hoof.

No...

~~~

Sperion halted in the Realm of Truth.

"No... No, I destroyed it I..." He stopped. "...They'd already found it..."

He roared, the very air around him ionizing. The ponies of Truth could see what appeared as a star in the distance.

"The can of worms is open! Again! Again... Again..." He let out a sighing noise. "...I hope she knows what she's doing."

~~~

In the hall of Canterlot just outside the throne room, Rarity felt something burn in the back of her eye socket. It wasn't the presence from before - it was something else. As if something was locking onto her... She yowled in pain and crumpled to the ground.

"Rarity!" Spike and Trixie yelled. They didn't have time to say anything else, for above them a powerful coalition of energies appeared and promptly exploded, warping the very fabric of existence around it, shaking the foundations of the universe. Seven mares, a stallion, and Discord were dropped on top of Rarity unceremoniously.

Twilight stood up and shook her head. "We... We're back! Yes! It worked!"

"Can you please remove your leg from my gut..." Rarity groaned.

"Oh! Sorry Rarity." Twilight stood up, helping Rarity to her feet as well. "We figured it out! Rarity, it's so good to see you-" Twilight paled, stopping short. "R-Rarity? What happened to your eye!?"

Rarity sighed. "It's... A long story."

XV - Welcome to the Show

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"Oh, let me fix that..." Fluttershy said, walking up to Rarity and putting her wing over the empty eye socket. "You poor thing..." Fluttershy focused, pushing life into Rarity...

...And nothing happened. "W-What?" Fluttershy said. "B-but that always works! Even on dea..." She stopped herself from completing her thought.

Twilight lit her horn, scanning Rarity's face. "There's some kind of spell locked on it. Who... who would make a spell like this? It ties the wound to the attacker? I'd need to find them to dispel this..."

"It was a dragon," Rarity said, "horrible one by the name of Yuku." She grabbed Twilight's hoof and smiled. "I'm fine darling, really, just haven't had time to get an eyepatch. Right now, it doesn't matter. You... you're all back!"

Trixie leaped onto Starlight, hugging her tight. "Oh, you're safe! I was so worried! You have no idea what it was like..."

Starlight smiled sadly. "I... I'm pretty sure I have some idea." She hugged her friend back.

Spike grinned. "Well, it looks like we're all back together! This is great! Everything's going to be fine!"

Pinkie facehooved. "Spike... Spike... Spike... Spike... Spike..."

Celestia appeared in the hall. "I sensed a huge magic surge, are you all-" She saw Twilight. Celestia's expression shifted to one of boundless joy. "You... You've returned!"

"Yes, Celestia, I have." She would have continued talking, but she saw someone else behind Celestia. "AHUIZOTL!?"

"Oh not again..." He facepalmed with his tail. "I'm politically protected by Overglobe here because I helped her get out of the Realm. Yeesh."

Twilight frowned. "How did you get here? How'd you remember all that connects?"

Overglobe spoke up. "All of it was in Sperion. You just needed to know how to look."

Starlight blinked. "Wait you were scanning him? And he didn't notice!?"

"Nope."

Starlight was struck dumb. "Well... That would have made things easier..."

Then Trekker strode forward and saw Implode. He raised his wings, creating dozens of weapons to throw at her.

Starlight held up a hoof, freezing time around Trekker. "Ah, no, sorry, she's under our political protection. It's... not like she's in the mood to kill you right now anyway. Even though you sure as Tartarus deserve it."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Starlight..."

Rainbow Dash spoke up. "No offense Princess, but Starlight's... partly right. That stallion has done unspeakable things to Implode - his own daughter - that sent her over the edge, making her a bad pony. I... He doesn't deserve to die, just like everypony, but you need to know he's a horrible stallion."

"She lies," Trekker said.

"Problem with that," Applejack said, "Implode's kinda been under the influence of the Realm of Truth, which has been ironing out her emotions. It's why she's not trying to kill you right this very now. It also makes her less likely to lie, and even if she was, Ah'd know about it. Somethin' called an Inflection of Truth." She turned to Implode. "Just checkin', did you lie about anything he did?"

"I may have underplayed it, and exaggerated it at times, but there were no outright lies about him. What I implied happened as well."

Overglobe shot Trekker a look but made no comment.

"Fine," Trekker said, "take her side, I really don't care. But I'm leaving. I will not be in the same room as her." He spread his wings and flew off.

Ahuizotl chuckled. "It appears I'm not the worst behaved here after all. Well well well."

Overglobe pointed at Diamond. "Who's he?"

"I am known as Diamond. I am from the Realm of Truth, here to gain knowledge. I doubt I will have anything to contribute, for now, so do continue."

Celestia nodded. "I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, welcome to our world."

Overglobe bowed. "I am Overglobe of the Realm of Power, specifically New Mareu."

Diamond made no further comment.

Celestia looked at her ponies and her visitors. "We all probably have a lot to talk about, each of us with their own stories. The tea room is open, and I'll have the butler prepare us some refreshments."

Discord snapped his fingers, creating several hundred cups of tea. He smirked. "You should fire that butler."

Celestia sighed. "...Just follow me." She led them through the halls of Canterlot to a somewhat large room filled with six rounded tables, enough for everyone to have a seat with some to spare. Discord summoned the tea and passed it out to everyone.

Celestia cleared her throat. "I was going to let everypony get some rest and sleep, but it appears that will not be happening. Twilight, why don't you start with what happened after you left for Zebrica?"

Twilight nodded and started talking. She told them about meeting Overglobe, Sham Rock, and Sperion. Then she mentioned getting trapped in the Realm of Life until Sperion found them again, and about Sperion's talk about 'separation' and 'what can't be known.' After that, she told of the Realm of Distortion and Starswirl.

"He said a lot of weird things, using a lot of vague pronouns. He apparently followed somepony - we think Meadowbrook - there." She glanced at Ahuizotl - as expected, his eyes were open wide. "And uh..." She looked at Discord.

Discord groaned, putting a lampshade over his head. "Go ahead and spill my secrets to the world, it looks like it might be important..."

Fluttershy hugged him. "You sure?"

"Bah, I'm not going to doom the world because I don't like to talk about my past. That's, like, so wimpy."

Twilight cleared her throat. "Well... Starswirl created Discord."

Luna spat out her tea. "WHAT!?"

Celestia frowned. "That would explain why he became distant after we sealed Discord away... And explain why he went where he did afterwards."

"But... But..." Luna shook her head. "I... Sorry, I knew Starswirl well. Or so I thought."

Twilight sighed. "Yeah... I've figured out that Discord is a Chaotic Mixture of power, and that somewhere out there is a counterpart, an Ordered Mixture."

"We found that out too," Rarity said, "but you'll hear about that later."

Twilight nodded, and then recounted the events in the Realm of Truth, and how they returned home.

Starlight told their story next - talking of how the New Mareu ponies saved them, and how they lived there until Sperion showed up and told them about Fluttershy. Then Starlight admitted to scanning Sperion, and using that to get Implode away from execution. Starlight largely glossed over their time in the Realm of Echoes and Truth, only describing them briefly. That is until she got to what happened to Implode.

"Though at the end..." She bit her lip. "Implode was unable to keep back the power of the Truth. It all but removed her emotions. She went on a tranquil rampage and we had to stop her. Fluttershy and I undid all the damage she caused, but she's barely got any spark in her left. We need to help her."

Rarity furrowed her brow. "I... May have an idea. But I'll wait my turn. We all know what happened after that so... Fluttershy?"

"Not much," she said. "Sperion taught me how to use my power and then I lived in the Realm until they showed up. Found some animalistic ponies, probably real ponies who had been in the Realm too long - or their descendants. ...Nothing really happened."

Applejack narrowed her eyes but said nothing.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Well, I suppose it's my turn then..." She told them about their time in captivity with the order, about Yuku and Congeal, and how she lost her eye. Then she told of their escape and fight with Congeal, and of the powerful being.

"There's only one Realm left you haven't been to," Rarity said, "the Realm of Dreams. I think that's where the... thing wants us to go. And it told us how to do it. The temple on the moon."

Twilight was grinning. Never before outside of a hypothetical thought experiment had the words "go" "to" and "moon" been in the same sentence. She started chuckling. "This is going to be amazing..."

"We still need the chest," Overglobe reminded everyone. "The Order has it right now. Where, we don't know."

"How do we get it though?" Starlight asked. "We don't know where they keep it, much less who they even are!"

Diamond spoke up. "It seems simple. They want to keep the Realms a secret and are willing to kill to achieve that end. Draw them out with a show of the Seven's power."

"Feels weird being called that..." Rainbow Dash commented.

Pinkie giggled. "I think it sounds fun and amazing!"

"But... My power isn't truly activated yet..." Rarity said. "I'm fairly certain that it's what let Congeal mess with Spike's mind, and is what the... thing used to save us from Congeal. And I think I'll be able to use it to help Implode. Stars it feels weird talking about powers like this..."

"Do we even want to play with these powers?" Twilight wondered aloud. "Sperion was really concerned about all this and as angry as he made me, he seems to be a reasonable person and probably has real reasons for being so harsh."

"We are not leaving my people in that Realm if we can help it," Overglobe said. "I want them safe from the random death that is always on our horizon."

Twilight sighed. "Well... That's true. We need to save those we can... So we need that Chest. I suppose I could try reversing the travel spell I used to get here, but that could take months..."

"Sooner rather than later please," Overglobe insisted.

"Well then, how will we draw them out without revealing the Realms to the public?"

Pinkie's hoof shot up. "I HAVE AN IDEA! Trixie! How fast can you make a stage?"

Trixie grinned. "Are you kidding? Half an hour tops. Just let me get my wagon."

~~~

"Heloooo Ponyville!" Pinkie cheered from atop Trixie's stage, which was positioned on the edge of town. 'Lulamoon TM' could be seen scrawled all over the wooden planks that formed the structure. "I'm back from the amazing trip to Yakyakistan! And all my friends are back as well!" She grinned. "And guess what we found out!?" She clapped her hooves, and a giant curtain fell down behind her, displaying a symbol: a purple septagon with a circle inside it. "I've got some new tricks!"

She began to walk alongside the stage's back wall. "So I thought to myself, self, it'd be a good idea to team up with my good friend..."

"The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie!" Trixie shouted, appearing in a puff of smoke. "Do we have an act for you today, fillies and gentlecolts! Amazing powers have been uncovered from beyond your wildest dreams! Watch in awe!"

Pinkie and Trixie hoofbumpbed, and suddenly Pinkie was standing upside-down on nothing at all. The audience ooo'd. Pinkie giggled, walking up an invisible set of stairs and grabbing Trixie's hat, folding it in on itself. She held up the hat, now both inside-out and rightside-in at the same time. She threw it into the ground and it shattered like it was made of ice.

Trixie smiled. "Now! We will guess what you are thinking!"

Pinkie pointed at Derpy. "You are thinking about your birthday!"

Derpy gasped. "How did she know!?"

Trixie pointed at the Doctor. "You're thinking about Trixie's hat!"

The Doctor looked up from the hat shards he was examining. "Wha? Oh... Yes actually."

"He's also thinking about Derpy," Pinkie said.

"W-What?"

Pinkie giggled. "Mrs. Cake! You're thinking about how good it is to see me again!"

"Where have you been!?" Mrs. Cake demanded.

"Ah, I was just experiencing some transdimensional weirdness. Speaking of... Trixie? Ready for the fun trick?"

Trixie looked around nervously. "...Sure."

Pinkie and Trixie clapped their hooves at once, and nothing seemed to happen. Pinkie grinned. "Okay... Now we are going to turn and your little pony minds will be blown!"

Then the two of them slowly turned around. The crowd gasped - Pinkie and Trixie were now two-dimensional. They were so thin they couldn't be seen anymore!

They returned to their full three dimensions with a soft pop. Pinkie giggled. Then she gasped. "Oh no! We created a chaos vortex within our show!"

Trixie gasped. "Really!?"

"Look!" She said, pulling a piece of paper out of nowhere, somehow revealing a red swirling vortex of impossible shapes. "What are we going to do?"

Trixie pulled a fire extinguisher from her cape and threw it in. The vortex grew several times larger. It rumbled, and then exploded, spreading gooey contents all over Pinkie and Trixie.

Pinkie liked the stuff off her face. "Ewww... This does not taste like whipped cream... Bleh!"

"YOU BUCKING IDIOTS!!"

The audience, Pinkie, and Trixie all looked up to see the source of the voice. Visible, floating far above them, were Congeal and Yuku. Congeal had Yuku fixed with a stare as if chiding her for speaking.

But that wasn't what everypony ended up staring at.

No, they noticed the gigantic black sphere Congeal was holding up. For the first time, a real look of panic crossed Pinkie and Trixie's faces.

Congeal hadn't gotten it to the desired size, but they had been spotted, so it had to go now. With a flick of a robotic wing, the black sphere was launched towards the ground, its immense gravity suddenly taking hold and drawing ponies towards it. They screamed in fear as they approached its event horizon.

And then it was gone. The ponies of Ponyville fell to the ground with a bunch of "OOF!" sounds.

Trekker stood where it had been but a moment before. "This wasn't my plan," he said, "but it isn't the worst."

"What have they DONE?" Yuku screamed.

"I don't know and I don't care." He flapped his wings, creating a small black sphere behind the two of them. "All I know is that you need to be knocked down a peg. "

"You... You have no idea what you are messing with!" Yuku screamed. Congeal removed Trekker's black spheres from the equation with a simple motion.

Trekker rushed Congeal and drove a razor frisbee through its side, cutting the robot in half. Congeal repaired this instantly and punched Trekker across the sky.

"Much as he deserves that, he is on our side right now," Rainbow Dash called, smashing into Congeal from the side and knocking the robot across the sky - right into Implode.

"I should enjoy this more than I am," Implode said, encasing the robot in a fireball and squeezing with her Power. Congeal began to fall to the ground.

Yuku rushed to Congeal's aid, only to be stopped by a rapidly growing green and purple shape with a very prominent mark across his face. "Hi," Spike said, grabbing Yuku in one of his hands and roaring.

"Fighting fire with fire? Ha! You cheat using spells!" Suddenly Yuku grew to twice Spike's size, pushing him back slightly with her sheer girth. "THIS IS A REAL DRAGON KID!"

Spike punched her in the gut, tossing her into a nearby mountain. "Yeah, well I wasn't raised by dragons, so that really doesn't mean anything."

"You freaking twerp."

"That's a sucky insult."

Meanwhile, Congeal had regained control of its flight, temporally cloning itself hundreds of times - only to be met with an equal number of Starlight Glimmers. They were all sarcastically clapping while wearing the most annoying expression of all time. Every last Starlight was rushed by a Congeal - and precisely half of them managed to punch back. The time clones of both reverted back to their singular form, both heavily damaged. Starlight was healed by a quick Fluttershy while Congeal was forced to repair itself, once again barely avoiding contact with the ground. Implode, Rainbow Dash, and Trekker collided with the struggling machine from all sides, pinning its legs and wings together with pin constructs. Congeal tried to push back - but it found its horn dull, its magic blocked.

Twilight Sparkle smirked, waving from nearby. "You are done. We have you. Give up."

Spike was tossed to the ground right next to them. "HA! PATHETIC LITTLE-"

Twilight cast a sleep spell on Yuku. Yuku laughed. "You think a simple sleep spell will take me out? I have faced grand mages and won! Ha! You... Are... Laughab... l... e..." The dragon fell to the ground. Trekker, Implode, and Rainbow tied her up.

Applejack and Diamond came out of a nearby bush. Applejack offered a hoofbump. Diamond ignored it. Applejack rolled her eyes. "Well, good job everypony. Let's wake Yuku up, keep that machine down."

Spike's returned to his normal size as his growth spell wore off. "Saw," he demanded. Rainbow Dash created one out of thin air and handed it to him. He brought it down on Yuku's claw and started sawing. Yuku woke up with a howl, but the ponies kept her down. Spike handed the claw to Twilight, and she ground it into a powder with her magic. She threw half of it on Spike's face. With a quick healing spell the gash in his face was gone. "Good. Fluttershy, you should be able to heal Rarity's eye later with this. For now..." She glared at Yuku. "Where is the chest?"

"No idea!" she growled.

"Lie," Applejack and Diamond said.

"Da- Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Yuku screamed at them.

"Trying to save ponies," Twilight said. "Where is it?"

'You don't..."

"It's inside Congeal," Applejack said.

Twilight blinked. "You could work that out just from what she's saying!?"

"No. I was looking at Congeal." She pointed. "There is a density discrepancy right about there."

Diamond nodded. "Impressive. Not even I saw that."

Rainbow rubbed her hooves together and dug into Congeal's body - only to get zapped with electricity powerful enough to send her flying.

Twilight blinked. "Aaaand that's why it's in Congeal and not in a safe house. Inside of her is literally the safest place for it..."

Trekker cut off Congeal's head with a loose cleaver and opened the robot's chest with a pair of large sticks, dragging the Seven Sided Chest out of the strangely fleshy interior.

"Trekker!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "We don't kill them! Gah! Come on Fluttershy let's heal this... Robot... Pony... Thing."

Fluttershy shuddered, but nodded. She helped repair Congeal, handling the inner organics while Rainbow did the mechanical parts - Starlight had to be brought in eventually because of how complicated it all was.

Yuku started speaking again. "You... You fools! You laid a trap for us - and the whole world knows about this now! You know not the damage!"

"Actually, no, the world doesn't know," Twilight said. "Discord has kept the audience from seeing this entire fight. They've been busy watching the rest of Pinkie and Trixie's show." Twilight smirked. "And anything odd in the show itself that you thought was such a threat will just be dismissed as 'Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.' Now..." She leaned in on Yuku. "Care to explain why we went through all this trouble to keep the Realms a secret?"

Yuku spat. "Something in the Realms will destroy everything! Apocalypse!"

Applejack blinked. "Well, she isn't lying."

"What is it?" Twilight asked Yuku.

"I'm not sure! But it has something to do with the Seven messing around with what they don't understand!"

"Where did you hear this?"

"Congeal! She found me and told me!"

"...She?" Twilight said. Apparently, the robot had a gender.

Spike looked at Yuku. "Why did you believe what she said?"

"Because it was her! Duh!"

"...She's been brainwashed," Spike said.

"The perfect right-hand dragon..." Twilight muttered. She sighed. "Let's go lock them up in the dungeons. I'm going to put all sorts of seals on them. And then we have tomorrow off. We all need a rest, and New Mareu can wait a day." She sighed. "Plus... We have a lot to think about and comprehend."

Trekker looked ready to object, but Rainbow Dash shot him a look that made him think otherwise. Everypony else nodded in agreement. The leaders of the Order were carted off.

Meanwhile, Discord poked his head in on Pinkie and Trixie's show. "Psst! We got it. You can stop now."

Trixie blinked. "...Can we keep going? They're loving it.."

"...Eh, sure, I'll get the popcorn."

XVI - Interlude

View Online

Rarity looked at herself in the mirror. Pristine pearly coat, well-groomed mane, sparkling eye - and a soft white eyepatch that fit perfectly over her face. She still felt incomplete but... She didn't look hideous. The eyepatch added character of sorts. It was... an accent. She smiled.

The bell of Carousel Boutique rang. Rarity looked away from the mirror. "Ah! how can I help you?"

"It's just us, Rarity," Twilight said, walking in with Fluttershy.

"Oh. Did the ploy work?"

Twilight held up the claw shavings. "Have them right here. Let's get to work."

"Oh. Okay..." Rarity said, removing the eyepatch slowly. The empty socket made Fluttershy visibly wince, but she held her ground.

Twilight lit her horn and delicately put the claw shavings around Rarity's eye. Fluttershy quickly set to work. Waving her wings in a hypnotic circular pattern, she poured life into Rarity's face. Rarity felt something squish inside her skull. She whimpered as she felt that thing grow, and nestle up next to the lining of her socket. Then, in one final sharp motion, there was a pop, and Rarity could see. Depth had returned to the world, rushing her like a tidal wave. She stumbled back a few steps, overtaken by the restoration of her vision. A dumb grin crossed her face. "Wa-ha-ha! Thank you girls so much!" She pulled them both into a hug and squeezed hard. "This means so much..."

"It was nothing," Fluttershy said. "How's it feel?"

"Odd," Rarity admitted, looking at the mirror. "I mean... It looks the same and acts the same as far as I can tell... But I've still got that burning sensation..."

"Psychological effect," Twilight said, "it may not pass anytime soon. But there's not much I can do for that. You'll probably have to live with it, sorry."

"Well, let me see... Slight burning sensation... Or a missing eye and a slight burning sensation..." She rolled her eyes. "I'll keep the eye. Again, thank you two so much."

Fluttershy nodded. "If you want me to adjust it, just call."

"I will! See you all later!"

"We're going to the Tree of Harmony tomorrow. Be ready," Twilight said.

"Of course." Rarity turned back to her work, her friends vacating the premises shortly afterward. She began sorting fabrics and rummaging through the pile of orders she had received while she was out. Coco had taken care of a surprising number of them, but there were still dozens. Rarity's nose twitched - it was time to start the dress for Fleur. Didn't want to keep her waiting any longer.

The bell rang again. "Carousel Boutique! How can I help you?"

"Ah, you're back! Finally," the Doctor said, placing a suit on the counter. "I need this seam re-done. Quickly please, I've already cut it really close once..."

"Oh yes," Rarity said, lifting the green suit into the air. "I can have this done in a few minutes. Stand right there..." She grabbed a needle and thread and focused closely on the string. Or, she tried to focus on the string. But it seemed to dance around her sights. She squinted, trying to force it into focus, to no avail.

Then, just on a whim, she put a hoof over her regrown eye. The image came fully into focus, albeit flat.

"Uh... Rarity? What are you...?"

"Recently had this eye regrown," she said, "still feels a bit odd, testing it out." Closing her new eye, and keeping it closed, she used her single eye to examine the thread. It wasn't easy, but she was able to redo the seam for the Doctor - although it ended up taking twenty minutes.

"Here you are! Terribly sorry for the time, no charge."

The Doctor tossed her a bit anyway. "You've just been through a lot. No reason to feel bad about it." He smirked and left.

She grabbed her head the moment he was out of sight. "What am I doing? I can't make dresses with just one eye!" She wailed, slamming her head onto her countertop.

~~~

Fluttershy and Discord were having a nice tea party, just talking in Fluttershy's cottage like they normally did.

"...Oh and of course I'll want to go back and see my animals again, perhaps move some here, make it safer for them... Lou and Roy would like it here."

Discord nodded. "What about the ponies?"

"They..." Fluttershy's smile vanished. "They'll stay there. Ponies would ask questions - the ponies here, not the ponies there." She looked at the ground, a knot forming in her stomach. "...Discord?"

"I said you didn't have to tell me."

"I... I think I need to. It's... affecting me."

Discord folded his hands together. "So... What is it about them that's terrifying?"

"Not them. ...Me."

"You? You're a harmless pegasus! What-"

"What I can do is not harmless..." She let out a shaky breath. "Browncoat was... the only survivor of a slaughter. A dragon. Just as bestial as them. Doesn't deserve the blame I gave... I... I arrived at the scene probably days after it happened... Bones. Bones everywhere... So many bones..."

She looked Discord in the eye. "I... I grabbed them all, all the bones, all of them! Then... I recreated them from the remains. Noises. Sharp, cracking noises as bones appeared... Wet, sticky ones as muscles came... And the eyes... The eyes... Discord, they came back terrified and shaking! The eyes shook! They shook!" She was crying now. "I... One time I ran out of power in the middle of a heal and took a breath... A... mostly-formed pony stood before me. It squirted... It screamed right at me. I... I panicked." She put her head in her hooves. "He just slumped to the ground, lifeless, just because I had a thought!"

Discord put a hand on her. "Fluttershy..."

"I... I brought him back after... But... But that doesn't change what I did..."

"Yes, it does. You brought him back," Discord said, grabbing her. "I have more power than all of you, and I could cause any pony's head to explode just by thinking it. Stray thoughts of mine can have disastrous consequences, destroying things even without my knowledge at times. I understand completely. My chaos sometimes went too far, even in the old days, when I was all about hammy world domination. And I undid what I did whenever I messed up." He smiled. "Just remember to control yourself - but also remember you have the power to undo anything you do."

Fluttershy blinked. "You... You... Were you just insightful?" She giggled at the absurd thought through her tears. "Thank you."

"You've been there for me all those times, I'm just returning the favor. Now," Discord said, clapping his hands, "who wants crumpets?"

Angel raised his paw.

"Demons don't get crumpets."

Fluttershy laughed. "D-discord! Be nice!"

"Angel isn't!"

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, wiping her face and giggling. Only a few minutes ago she'd felt like the world was trying to eat her alive - and now... She felt like things would be fine, at least for a while.

~~~

The deepest chamber of the Canterlot dungeons was truly gigantic. Tremendous stone blocks made up the walls, and only one tiny light in the center of the ceiling illuminated the large expanse. The stones were blackened and worn.

It was a room designed to hold dragons. Multiple dragons.

It only had one occupant. The prisoner was tied to the wall by seven gigantic chains, each link bigger than her body, each chain glowing with rainbow enchantment glyphs. Congeal's legs, wings, and horn were sealed to the walls. She wasn't going anywhere.

Twilight looked up at her from the floor.

"Who are you?" Twilight said.

Having no mouth, Congeal said nothing.

"Your DNA sample from the fight... It's pony. Alicorn. Meaning you must have been ascended somehow. Or naturally born that way, I suppose..."

Congeal made no response. Didn't even blink. Not that she could.

"Definitely female. The cutie mark you have engraved on your flank is your real one, we determined that. You're just a big mystery..."

Nothing.

"Celestia has admitted to ascending a few other alicorns before my time, and she knew of some before Equestria was founded. Still... Alicorns are rare, and they always exist for a reason. They're an alicorn of something."

...

"Alicorn of Realms?"

...

"Alicorn of Order?"

Congeal made a strange grinding sound with her innards. Twilight frowned, not sure what that meant. "You're just... puzzling. And I think you have the answers. You know. I feel it. It's as if you're a driving force behind this."

Nothing.

"Sperion," Twilight said.

That got a reaction. Congeal shifted, pulling on her chains as if trying to escape, to no avail.

"Right. Shouldn't be surprised. How did you know him? Did you fight? Did you tell him what was going on and he didn't join you? What?"

She was silent.

Twilight sighed. "I hate not knowing... We'll find out one way or another."

Congeal watched Twilight closely as she left.

~~~

"Tomorrow Implode! Tomorrow!" Rainbow Dash grinned. "Tomorrow we go to the moon! Then the Realm of Dreams! then we get you back to normal!"

Implode nodded, staring out the window of Rainbow Dash's house. "And that will... Be good... Right?"

"Well duh, of course it will!"

"You sure?" Implode asked, observing the clouds. "I have enough left in me to experience worry. Worry that I'll become like I was before I left home. Crazy. Murderous."

"Pfft, that's not you-"

"How do you know?" Implode questioned. "You didn't get to know me until after we entered the Realm of Truth. It could have been affecting me even back then."

"You stopped the attack." Rainbow Dash said.

"What does that-"

"You stopped. Right when you saw me. That shocked you out of your 'zombie state.' Which means it was a real connection we had. So chin up Implode, you'll be fine! Back to your old fiery self!"

"Yeah..." She frowned. "Even then, if I was returned... I would be out trying to kill my own father."

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Yeeeah..."

"I'm calm and rational now. But I won't be later. He is, objectively, a bad stallion. But as far as I know he's never killed anyone. I have. And we're pretty sure I don't deserve to die..."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Rainbow Dash said. "Now, you have some emotion in you still. Let's race."

"Race...? Why?"

"No reason. To that cloud over there."

"Sure. Why not. Go." Implode took off, through the window.

"...Did she just... She did! She did it again! Son of a..." She took off after her, rainbow trail blazing through the sky.

Rainbow Dash was impressed with Implode's skills as a flier. Rainbow wondered how she flew when she wasn't inhibited... You needed to live to really fly.

"I win," Implode said, alighting on the cloud, the slightest hint of a smile on her face.

Rainbow grinned back. "Good. Keep smiling, Implode, keep smiling."

~~~

Starlight sat on a hill in the countryside, looking at the stars in the sky above. They glinted back at her with their patterns - as if the constellations were speaking to her. She'd usually look up at the stars and feel comfort in a time like this. Now she felt nothing but an ill omen.

"What's up Starlight?"

"Hey, Applejack," Starlight said. She didn't take her eyes off the stars, barely registering that Applejack had sat down next to her.

"What brings you here?" Applejack asked.

"I've looked up at the stars since I was a filly. Of course, I believed back then that they were capital S Stars, looking down on us with their great power."

"There could be some truth to those myths, you know. Luna always dodges the question when Twilight brings it up, but there was somethin' about the 'Stars will aid in her escape' in the Nightmare Moon prophecy."

"So, what, they influence things here just when they think it matters?" She frowned. "Why doesn't it matter now? There's a threat to the world..."

"Maybe they think we can handle it. Maybe there is no threat. Maybe they are changing things, we just can't see it."

Starlight sighed. "Is what we're doing dooming the world? A lot of people seem to think it is..."

"Maybe," Applejack admitted. "But we aren't being foolish about it. We're watching ourselves. We're taking steps to keep this a secret - even though Ah don't like secrets. Ah wonder if Sperion and Congeal are right to keep everything from us though. Maybe this whole Seven thing is just dangerous."

Starlight nodded. "Maybe we'll understand when Rarity activates. Maybe not... Maybe we'll never know and spend our whole lives wondering what the big deal was."

Applejack frowned. "You know, Ah just want to go back to farmin'! I can live without any of this fancy inflection stuff, no end-of-the-world business, just regular old life."

"I think we'd all like our lives back," Starlight said, "even if it was more dramatic than most, it was still less dramatic than this." She sighed, looking up at the stars. ...and the Stars.

"...I... used to pray. When I was younger." She said. "...I feel the odd urge to do so again."

Applejack let out a soft 'heh.' "Starlight, Ah have a feelin' we'll need all the help we can get. Go right ahead."

Starlight nodded, lighting her horn. A small sphere of light appeared at the tip, and she whispered into it for a minute. Then she launched it into the sky, leaving a blue-green trail. She smiled. "That will fly through space at the speed of light for eternity. No way the Stars hear it, even if they exist. Just... I don't know, I think I feel better."

Applejack nodded. "And now we wait 'till morning..."

"Yep..." Starlight sat back on the grass again. "...Hey Applejack? Why are you here?"

"This hill is on Sweet Apple Acres. Mah property. I thought you were a trespasser and came here to take care of it."

"Oh. ...If I wasn't the pony here, what would you have done?"

"Depending on the attitude, I'd either chase you off or invite you inside for a hot meal. Was gearing towards chasing off before I saw it was you."

"Wonderful thought, that."

"Ain't it?"

The two laughed under the Stars.

~~~

Trixie was riding Pinkie: Stretchy Pony Express. Which just meant she was sitting on Pinkie's back while the earth pony in question walked through the Everfree Forest with accompanying "choo choo" noises.

Trixie looked at the map in her hooves. "You sure the Tree of Harmony is this way?"

"Positive! Or, at least, sure we'll get there within a few minutes. Somehow."

"You inspire great confidence."

"It's my job description!"

Trixie rolled her eyes, looking out at the forest. She felt oddly safe around Pinkie, so the forest was less terrifying and more... beautiful. The trees glinted in the light of morning, dew shining off deep blue leaves. Birds flew overhead and some critters scurried through the underbrush. She smiled. "I never noticed how nice this place was before." She stuck her hoof out into a ray of sunlight. "Trixie approves!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie said. "I mean, if you're safe, this place is absolutely amazing!"

Trixie nodded. "I wonder if you can grow peanuts here..."

"What?"

"Nothing," Trixie said, "wait." She pointed at a rock that looked like a face. "Didn't we see a rock that looked like a face a ways back?"

"Silly Trixie, that was a face that looked like a rock! Completely different!"

The 'rock' yawned. Pinkie blinked. "Oh. That is it. Yep. We're lost."

"You said you knew it'd only take a few minutes!"

"And it will only take a few minutes!"

"Trixie finds your optimism grating."

"And I don't find your third-personal speech grating! Even though it's inconsistent!"

"...Trixie senses passive aggression."

"Yeah," Pinkie admitted.

It was at that moment Starlight teleported to them. "There you are! Everyone's waiting for you!" She quickly teleported them to the Tree of Harmony's clearing. "Got them!"

Pinkie nudged Trixie. "Told you it'd only take a few minutes."

Trixie twitched.

Everyone was there: the Seven, Celestia, Luna, Sunset, Trekker, Overglobe, Implode, Diamond, Discord, Spike, and Ahuizotl. Ahuizotl was currently gawking at the Tree of Harmony itself - a brilliant crystalline tree that loomed over them, casting them all in a holy light. It seemed to dare Ahuizotl to try and exploit it. Ahuizotl decided that'd be a bad idea.

To Trixie's surprise, there was somepony there she wasn't expecting. "...Zecora?"

Zecora nodded to her. "Done convening I am with the tree. It will let you travel for free."

Celestia nodded. "Good. Those who we decided to go, prepare yourselves..."

Zecora shook her head. "No, the Tree has chosen different. A team of eight is sufficient."

"Only eight?" Overglobe said, narrowing her eyes.

Zecora pointed out Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Implode.

Implode blinked. "Me?"

Celestia processed this. Then she bowed. "As the Tree wishes."

Overglobe obviously wasn't happy with this, but she didn't let it out. She turned to Starlight. "Bring my ponies home."

"I will," Starlight said.

Ahuizotl sighed and growled - he'd wanted to go. He had been planning on piggybacking, but even he felt like defying the Tree would be a blasphemy.

"Raise the moon, Sister," Celestia said. Luna did as was asked, bringing the moon into the sky alongside the sun.

Twilight, her friends, and Implode all began to glow, the power inside of them spreading out in an intense harmony of colors. Starlight and Implode were placed in the center.

"Hang on!" Starlight told Implode.

"Onto what?"

"Your mind."

The six colors of harmony flew out of the Tree and hit the six ponies that represented them. The colors swirled around in a rainbow flurry, sparking into an orb that surrounded all eight mares.

Then a laser shot out of the orb, upwards towards the moon. Within seconds, a dark shape appeared on the gray sphere in the sky. The design was identical to Congeal's cutie mark - a heptagon with a dot in the middle - minus the purple color.

Celestia frowned.

What did that mean?

XVII - Rarity's Realm

View Online

The Moon.

It is a very desolate place.

It is a literal chunk of gray rock sitting in orbit around Equis that only experiences disturbance when a stray space rock hits it or when Luna decides to drag it across the sky. Other than that, the moon is a generally static, motionless, airless rock that the Stars constantly look down on from all sides, regardless of if the sun or Equis are visible.

On this lifeless rock, eight mares appeared in a flash of rainbow energy. Twilight blinked, taking in the surroundings. After she had cataloged the gray ground and starry sky, she entered a state of panic. "AIR! We need air-" Upon hearing her own voice, she stopped herself. "Oh. We're... breathing. How are we breathing!? There's no air on the moon!"

"I dunno," Rainbow Dash shrugged. "All I know is that this is AWESOME! Look! You can see the whole world from here!"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, Yes... How can I hear you!? Sound doesn't travel through a vacuum! And if we brought air with us it wouldn't still be here! Decompression!"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Ah'm going to go out on a limb here and say the Tree of Harmony didn't want us dead when we arrived."

Pinkie grinned. "Yeah, going on an epic adventure to the moon and suffocating in the first two minutes would be sooooo anti-climactic! Just relax, Twilight, enjoy the view of Equis!" She bounced high into the 'air' and gestured towards the dark blue orb above them. She fell back down to the ground slowly, a bemused look on her face.

Starlight pointed at Pinkie. "...You weren't using your powers at all there, were you?"

"No, she wasn't," Twilight said. "There's less gravity on the moon."

Rarity blinked. "Well, I was going to say this place has horribly drab and grayscale... But that aspect alone makes it a wonderful place to test new design ideas... Not to mention the wonderful contrast with our pale blue dot up there..."

"It's really... something," Fluttershy said. "It puts things in perspective... That's all we are, just that little blue ball. We've never gone further than our own moon..."

There was a moment of silence as everypony let this sink in, staring at the small form of Equis.

Implode tired first, taking off into the black sky. "If the gravity is less, why isn't flying any easier?"

"Probably because you're using just your magic right now," Twilight answered. "Usually you have a lot of air to push off of."

"So the best way to move is bouncing!" Pinkie said, bouncing around the group, wildly leaping over their heads every few seconds. "Wheeee!"

The mares giggled, save for Implode, who was just looking far into the distance.

"What is it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Why was I chosen? I'm not one of the Seven..."

"Cause you'll be able to help!" Rainbow Dash offered.

Rarity put a hoof to her chin. "Or, perhaps, it's because you need to be helped."

"Or both!" Pinkie shouted.

Then Fluttershy spoke up. "Um... Does anypony know where the temple is?"

The grins vanished from everypony's face. They all turned to Twilight. "Er..." she gulped. "...No idea."

Applejack facehooved. "Ugh. We really should have asked Luna where it was. It could take weeks to scour the whole moon for it..."

Twilight sighed. "Well... We better get started then."

"So, wait," Rainbow Dash said, "we're going to spend multiple days scouring this rock for an ancient temple?"

Twilight nodded.

"LUNA!!!!!" Rainbow Dash yelled in the direction of Equis. "WHERE IS IT!?"

"I don't think she can hear you," Twilight said, "nor do I think her dreaming spells extend this far. We're on our own. We just have to look."

Rainbow Dash groaned.

Starlight shrugged. "Well, the sooner we find it the sooner we can go home, so chop chop, let's search for a needle in a haystack..."

They set off.

~~~

"I think I may know why they're taking a while, sister," Luna said.

"Oh?" Celestia said, looking up from her cake. "What could cause them three days of delay?"

Luna grinned sheepishly. "...They don't know where on the moon it is."

Celestia facehooved. "Well, that's just wonderful."

"They'll find it eventually," Luna said. "I just worry that Overglobe will get impatient and angry."

"I don't think she's like that," Celestia said. "She actually reminds me of a younger version of myself, before I realized I could live a little."

"She does protect that distasteful Ahuizotl though..."

"She owes him," Celestia said, munching. "It's as simple as that. She respects her oaths. That's admirable."

Luna rolled her eyes. "I suppose. I still don't appreciate that dog having free reign of our castle..."

"Oh, neither do I. But he hasn't done anything."

"Yet," Luna warned.

Elsewhere in the castle, Overglobe walked down a hallway. She found that all the staff and guards bowed at her as she passed. She supposed she was the equivalent of royalty, so it was understandable. That didn't mean she had to like it. She trotted up to one of the larger guest suites, knocking on it three times.

Diamond opened the door. "What brings you here?"

"I wish to discuss things with you in private."

"I do not keep secrets."

"Less of me wanting to keep things secret, more of me wanting to talk to you without other voices in the way."

"Understood." He let her enter the room. "What is it you wish to discuss?"

"Do you plan on getting your ponies out of the Realms?"

"No. It would end our connection to Truth eventually."

"How so?"

"You put a heavy weight on a group's culture. We care not for most of what you call culture, but for our way of Truth - our way of no deception, of no inhibitions. It would come to an end anywhere besides the Realm of Truth itself. Our children born here would be unable to be part of our society. Then we would die out, and our efficiency would end."

Overglobe shook her head. "I don't get you. You claim to have no emotions and that you are completely rational. Yet I don't see that. Coming at the world from a purely rational perspective, accepting only what can be proved, well... All you can be certain of is that you exist."

"It is all possible that 'reality' is nothing but an illusion. But as I mentioned to the others, being without emotion does not mean without drive or without belief. I believe the world is real. I cannot prove this, but I do have good reasonings and evidence for doing so. I believe the way of Truth is the best way to exist. I have reasons for believing this, but in the end, it cannot be proven."

Overglobe shook her head. "How can you carry on without any happiness? Joy?"

"I have something that is closest to your feeling of 'contentment.' I have no desire to change what I am or what my ponies are - and I think that altering them would be a detriment."

"...Thank you, Diamond, for this... insight. I think you are extremely wrong, but it looks like you've been this way for a long time. Perhaps I could visit your ponies one day, gauge them. But until then, I'll just leave you be and mull this over." She turned around and left.

Diamond went back to staring out his window, analyzing the skyline. He absorbed all the information he could. So many things in this world... So much to learn... He thought about what Overglobe said. He would not let his ponies leave. Not permanently, anyway. But exploring the other worlds could be worthwhile... It could be used to rebuild the Archive.

His sense picked up on someone in the doorway. By the size of the shadow on the wall and the vibration of the hoofsteps, he knew it wasn't Overglobe. Using his Inflection of Truth, he was able to tell there was a sword. He knew there was no escape from this situation, so he just stood still, accepting his fate. In his final moments, Diamond didn't feel anything - he just wondered how things would play out once he was assassinated. He knew there'd be chaos, and that he was being removed precisely because he could detect lies. A deception was planned... The blade found Diamond's neck and spine in a millisecond. He died almost instantly.

The intruder closed the door and locked it, trotting away.

Only a few halls away, Overglobe had returned to her own suite, setting herself down on one of the couches with a glass of sparkling fruit juice. She looked out the window at the sky, pondering how the mission on the moon was progressing. She really wished she was there with them, able to hurry things along, to free her ponies. She often claimed New Mareu was safe around her subjects. This was a lie - the guardians didn't catch everything. Sometimes spheres made it through. Sometimes they appeared in the city despite their best efforts. Ponies died somewhat regularly from the environment.

They needed a place they could go to be safe. Here... Here, in Central, was a place infinitely better than the Realm. Everything was in equilibrium, and it was peaceful. Like a dream come true to Overglobe.

Overglobe heard a knock on her door. She unlocked it with her magic. "Come in."

Ahuizotl strode into the suite. "I believe I have reasoned out which Realm Meadowbrook is in."

"Oh? How so?"

"She was a hermit, so no Realm that is occupied. No realm with chaotic tendencies either, which narrows it down to Magic and Life. Now, if you were a reclusive ancient wizard who lived to practice magic where would you go?"

"Magic."

"Precisely. If she's still alive, she's in there somewhere - probably suffering from the Realm of Magic's curse. I believe it to be thus: anyone who spends too much time there, will turn into a crystal. Evidence: Sham Rock."

Overglobe nodded. "I see."

"Once they return, we can have them take us to her!"

"What makes you think they will?"

"Twilight is a wizard herself - even if she isn't interested in immortality since she already has it, she would still want to talk with Meadowbrook. And with you asking, I don't think we can be turned down, seeing as you're basically royalty."

Overglobe smirked. "I suppose I am." She took a long sip of her juice. She then rummaged under her desk, grabbing hold of a book - a Daring Do book. "I understand that Yearling embellished a lot in her tales, but I also understand these are based on true events, Ahuizotl."

Ahuizotl shrugged. "You already knew I wasn't a - how do you put it? - a respectable individual." He took a moment to chuckle. "You know the immortality is just a means to an end for me. The fun bit comes later - imagine what could be accomplished now that these Realms are open!"

"Careful," Overglobe said, "even you don't want to destroy the world."

Ahuizotl smirked. "Oh no, definitely not that. Not completely, at least."

"Mhm..." Overglobe murmured. Ahuizotl took the hint and walked out into the halls.

Overglobe frowned. She was playing a dangerous game with that one... She wondered when he'd try to betray her. After the meeting with Meadowbrook? Before? The frown evolved into a scowl as she pondered further - She hated this, she hated him, but he was very useful. But she knew she had to let him go at some point...

She picked up the Daring Do book and started reading once again. She had to admit the style of the writing was rather good, and she was on the edge of her seat while reading it. She was forced to admit that 'research' was only part of the reason she had the entire boxed collection sitting in her suite right now.

To her annoyance, right in the middle of the last chapter, there was a knock at the door. She sighed. "Come in."

Trekker strode into the room, an unpleasant expression on his face like usual. Overglobe frowned. "Why are you here?"

"We need to talk about this place and what we could do with it."

Overglobe raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"This place, these ponies - they are weak. They have no inflections. We could easily control them with our full forces at our disposal."

Overglobe couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You.. what? These ponies, who have shown us nothing but kindness and understanding, these ponies who have helped us and asked for little in return - you want to betray them!?"

"Why not?" he asked. "It's not like you and I didn't weasel and cheat our way to the top of New Mareu."

"I'm beginning to think you and I had very different reasons for doing so." Overglobe narrowed her eyes. "I saw Implode fight. She was plenty good enough to become a guardian. I know you were never a good father... But I've heard many things that suggest you were absolutely abhorrent. You aren't the stallion I thought you were. I thought you had some honor in there, that you would defend your ponies. But now..." She stared him right in the eyes. "Do ponies only exist to pleasure you and meet your needs?"

"Yes," Trekker said, stern. "Shame. You could have stood beside me."

Overglobe frowned. "You wouldn't dare harm me. They'd kill you if they found out. And Diamond can detect lies! Applejack as well!"

"Diamond has already been taken care of. And our ponies trust my word. Not to mention that I have those who are loyal to me and not you."

Overglobe lit her horn - but quickly found herself hoofcuffed, gassed, and her horn broken. She tried to scream, but couldn't. Trekker stood over her, a slight smile on his face. "I'm going to enjoy putting you in your place." He created a sword, angling it right for her throat.

Ahuizotl decided he'd had enough at this point. He snuck away from is hiding spot by the ajar door, his stomach turning into knots.

This was going to be a big problem...

~~~

"Day six..." Starlight said. "Starlight's log. We are having lunch again, conjured up by Rainbow Dash... None of us have found anything in our searches. And somepony went over the same spot they checked yesterday"

"Starlight," Applejack said, "we know you aren't recording anything."

"And we all know it was me," Pinkie added.

Starlight groaned, biting on her sandwich. "I'm bored okay? Trying to spice things up here!"

"You could join our game, dear," Rarity said, laying a card down while she sipped a milkshake. "Zed," she announced.

"Aha!" Pinkie giggled. "But I have a reverse kumquat incubator!"

"You both lose," Implode said. "Ace of spaces. Thing of X is derailed the moment kumquats come into play. I win."

Pinkie and Rarity stared at Implode, jaws hanging wide open. "I... I say she picked up on this rather quickly... Congratulations Implode."

Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her forehead. "Right now the rule of funny hates me! Oh woe to me, for my hubris was large!"

"You make no sense," Implode observed.

Pinkie gave no indication that she'd even heard Implode, instead pretending to have a seizure on the ground.

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Concluding lunch today I found that the average intelligence of the crew has not improved."

"We are not on a spaceship Starlight!" Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm recommending Ensign Dash for a reprimand."

"Repri- wait, Ensign? I'm at least a commander!"

Starlight rolled her eyes.

"Okay girls," Twilight said, "soon as we finish eating we spread out again." She glanced at Rainbow Dash. "No generating extra sandwiches just so you can extend lunch."

"Aw..." Rainbow Dash said, dematerializing the foodstuffs in her hooves. She stretched her wings. "Fine. Let's get going."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Hold up, where's Fluttershy?"

Twilight stood up, looking around. "I.. Don't know."

"Over that hill," Applejack said. Nopony asked how she had figured this out, they just took it as fact. They marched over the lunar ridge, seeing Fluttershy's bright yellow body the moment they reached the top. But that wasn't the only thing they saw.

Less than a mile away were seven giant pillars made of a diamond-like material. It was in perfect condition - no wear, no buildup of lunar dust, not even signs of use. Just a pristine temple that shone brightly.

"I found it," Fluttershy said to herself - not yet aware of the ponies behind her.

Both Starlight and Pinkie exploded in cheers and laughter at the same time, running for the temple at high speed, startling Fluttershy.

"Oh! Hi! ...Bye." She shrugged - always in such a rush. To her mild annoyance, Rainbow Dash zoomed by, grabbing hold of Fluttershy along the way. With a yelp, she was dragged and dropped into the temple. Twilight teleported herself there along with the rest of those who weren't running at top speed.

The eight mares were laughing, cheering, and smiling - even Implode had the softest of smirks. Twilight held up the Seven Sided Chest of Chicomoztok. "Let's do this!" She slammed the Chest into the central podium, making a very satisfying click. It dialed the Realm of Life first, the red light of the portal's edge tinting the color of the lunar regolith ominously. Twilight turned the Chest, the Realm of Echoes appearing next, and a mirror showed an image of Twilight clicking the Chest again. She hit the Realm of Magic next, though no large crystals were in view. Then, with a fourth click, it dialed a white place where a single giant eye existed, staring at them through the portal.

Rarity gulped. "...It's expecting us."

"Go on," Rainbow Dash said, "You should go in first. It's your Realm."

Rarity bit her lip, but nodded. Shaky, she strode through the portal into the Realm of Dreams, her friends close behind her. The eye never blinked and never took its gaze off any of them. The ponies were on guard, ready to get out at the first sign of trouble.

Rarity tried to call out to Twilight but found no sound came out of her mouth. She realized she couldn't hear anything at all - and judging from the confused faces of her friends, they couldn't either. She turned back to the eye. Well, here we are, she thought.

The entire Realm began to shift. The plain, white backdrop alit with the colors of the rainbow. Shapes, forms, and lines drew themselves in the distance. Trees popped into existence, the moon rose, the sun set, and the two collided together to form a black star.

Rarity couldn't see her friends anymore. She couldn't see the portal either. Fear surged in her mind. She tried to move - only to discover she was floating in midair, not standing on anything. Colors flashed before her eyes. Hands and giant eyeballs flew through her field of view like there was no tomorrow. Symbols she didn't understand appeared, spelling out some alien word. Stars appeared around her on all sides, shaking like they were laughing. Then they exploded, and Rarity found herself standing on a microscope being examined by a being made of stars and nebulae.

Then everything went black.

She saw a single white sphere appear in front of her, the size of a small marble. One moment later, two white spheres appeared above the first, orbiting each other slowly. The two shot beams of energy towards each other, creating a ball of energy in the center. Above that appeared three marbles, also shooting energy towards their center of mass, creating a sphere of light between them. Above that, there were four marbles. Then five. All of the marbles shot energy into the center of their systems, creating a central point.

When the sixth layer appeared, Rarity saw an image in the central energy - a tall school with a horse statue in front and a bunch of brightly colored humans walking about. She was almost certain this was the Canterlot High Twilight had told her about.

Then the seventh layer appeared, each of the seven spheres displaying one of the Realms. The center - the culmination of their energy - showed an image of Canterlot.

Then an eighth layer appeared, a set of eight Realms orbiting a Central Rarity couldn't fully see. Rarity expected to see a ninth layer form - but instead, the eight layer exploded before her eyes, spraying matter and energy violently in all directions. Seven brightly glowing sparks drifted down to the Seventh Layer.

The stacked layers of marbles disappeared, replaced with an image of Sperion, though he seemed really far away, and had no limbs to speak of. He was standing before the giant eye, and next to him was a yellow pony.

A yellow alicorn, with a purple heptagon cutie mark.

She looked furious, screaming something at the eye Rarity couldn't hear. Then the alicorn vanished. Sperion shook, then vanished as well.

The image vanished, replaced with seven little sparks of light. One by one, each of them was violently destroyed, an image of Congeal's cutie mark coming into existence as it happened. Eventually, only one spark remained, and it grew before Rarity's eyes. The spark bulged, becoming flesh, flashing a psychedelic color scheme around it until it took the shape of the giant eye. It looked down at her.

A finger pointed at Rarity. It copied itself hundreds of times over, hands and fingers surrounding Rarity on all sides.

What do you want from me?

I N F L E C T I O N

How? In answer, she felt a burning sensation in her regrown eye. She felt it switch. Suddenly her eye was no longer showing her physical things - it was showing her thoughts. She could see the mind waves in this place - the seven of her friends alongside the tremendous jumbled wave of the Realm itself drowning the others out like a foghorn.

Rarity's two visions began to conflict, the colors of one distracting from the waves of the others. She experienced an extreme headache with the extreme influx of information. She tried to scream.

An image of her brain appeared before her, with her eyepatch strapped to it. A mind wave brushed through her. C O N D I T I O N S E L F

Rarity managed to reach into her mane and pull out the eyepatch - she had brought it just in case. She put it over her normal eye.

And suddenly, all at once, the thoughts became clear.

Is Rarity okay?

A world has already been destroyed!

Hope hers doesn't scar her like it did me...

Who was September?

Can she fix me now?

Six inflections - Oh. Eavesdropping are we?

Rarity quickly moved her eyepatch to the other eye, shutting out the thoughts, letting the usual color of the Realm of Dreams flooding her mind. Right in front of her was a six-limbed Sperion.

All Seven now... Sperion thought to her deliberately, placing the words in her mind.

Rarity didn't know how, but she sensed the Realm talking to Sperion. She flipped back to her mind-wave eye. She didn't catch what the Realm said, but she heard Sperion's response.

No. You have no right. You're just an amalgamation that can never agree with itself! I... I... I need time to think. His thoughts vanished from her sights - presumably, he had left.

The thought waves of the Realm plowed into Rarity in that moment, sending her mind reeling. She felt new information being installed in her mind. Synapses were adjusted, consciousness twisted. In a couple of seconds, she knew exactly how to mold the minds of ponies to her whim.

She switched her eyepatch again, returning to regular sight. She could see the portal again, and her friends. The Realm was white once more, with only the eight of them and the eye occupying it. The eye's pupil contracted, and they all felt a single word enter their minds. G O

They couldn't have refused if they wanted to. The eight mares left the Realm of Dreams, returning to the moon once again. All of them were breathing heavily.

"That... was trippy," Pinkie observed. "I mean, I've been on trips before but that..."

Implode walked up to Rarity. "...You can do it now?"

Rarity nodded. Instinctually, she flipped to her other eye, looking closely at Implode's thoughts. They were everywhere, fixed to a wave that was a mostly inactive, slowly vibrating strand that carried with it a slight plea of desperation. Rarity focused, using her mind to activate the stagnant strand of Implode. The wave became hurried, experiencing more hills and valleys, resyncing with the rhythm of life. It pulsed like a healthy heartbeat.

Implode gasped, her heart racing along with her mind. "W-wha?"

Rarity didn't know exactly how she knew what she was doing, but know she did. She stretched the wave out to calm the racing feeling in Implode. She created waves from the aether, inserting emotions back into Implode's consciousness one at a time. Lastly, she tapped the wave, causing it to resuscitate, fluctuating with the slight randomness all sapient beings had.

"There," Rarity said, switching to her regular eye. "How do you feel?"

Implode's face was blank. She blinked, taking a look at her hooves, her flank, and lastly her wings. She flapped them, stretching them out. A grin broke out on her face and she launched into the air. "I feel bucking amazing Doc! Ha HA ha!" She fell to the ground, continually laughing. She rolled over to Rarity, rushing her into a death grip hug. She dragged Rainbow Dash into it as well. "THANK! YOU!" She cried, laughing through a shower of tears. "I... I'm me again!"

G O The Realm ordered once more.

Without questioning it, Twilight rotated the Chest and dialed the Realm of Power.

XVIII - Betrayal's Vectors

View Online

A glass sphere filled with eight ponies rocketed through the globes of the Realm of Power, Implode positioned at the back providing explosive thrust, and Rainbow Dash clearing the way in front of them. They were going to need to travel the full distance between Equis and the moon through the spheres and while air wasn't a problem in the Realm of Power, the gravity and density of the spheres certainly were straining. Rainbow Dash was reaching the limits of her power, keeping everything away at these extreme velocities.

It wasn't until they'd been traveling through the Realm of Power for a good twenty minutes that Implode stated what should have been obvious.

"Damn thing bucking mind-controlled us!"

Twilight looked up. "...What did?"

"That freaking Realm of Dreams!" Implode shouted. "It told us to GO and none of us hesitated!"

Twilight was ready to object but thought about it for a moment. She remained silent.

"Oh... my," Fluttershy said.

Starlight growled. "Not a fan of that."

"Dears, it had nothing but good intentions," Rarity said.

"It rewired your brain, Rarity." Applejack said. "It could have just told you to believe that!"

"Oh don't be... silly..." She blinked. "Oh my. You have a point. Should I check everypony for lingering mental conditioning?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "You mean besides you?"

"Oh. Yes." She blushed slightly. "I suppose I need my 'conditioning' don't I?" She switched her eyepatch, staring blankly into space, feeling the influx of mind waves.

"Nopony bother Rainbow Dash, she's on the brink," Rarity said. Rainbow Dash may have had immense power and was easily able to plow through large areas of the spheres with just a wing motion, but when trying to cross the lunar distance in just a few hours, a motion that should have only been needed every minute needed to be done several times a second. Rainbow Dash was flapping like a hummingbird.

Rarity detected no conditioning and moved onto the others. Their thoughts were tense - but happy. Implode was back to normal, her 'conditioning' blending naturally with her mind, suggesting it was what she was supposed to be. They all felt like they were wrapping up their tense mission, and could relax soon. Of course, there were thoughts about Sperion and the images they had seen in the Realm of Dreams. What had destroyed the previous world? Was it still a danger here? Who was September? What was Sperion's story? How did Congeal get started? How did it all tie together?

There had been a few answers...

There were a lot more questions.

Rarity switched back to her regular vision. "Didn't see anything. Everypony's a tad tense though."

"Can you... Not look at our thoughts? Maybe?" Implode suggested.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Miss Baskets, I was querying into your mental wellbeing, and doing so required me to investigate your thought pattern. Which is fine and acclimating perfectly, by the way. I should know, I'm the mare who repaired it."

"Ooooooh!" Pinkie said. "Burn!"

Applejack blinked. "...Ah'd forgotten your full name was Implode Baskets. Why Baskets of all things?"

"My mother was crazy and my father is a sociopath. Is it really that mysterious?" she chuckled. "I mean, I know you're not the brightest brick out there but surely you could have deduced that, miss Inflection of Truth."

"Wow," Applejack said, "Ah'd forgotten how vicious you could be."

Starlight smirked. "And this is her being nice to us."

"And don't you forget it!" Implode shouted hammily. "I'm being nice and you will respect the impact!"

Twilight blinked. "...Shouldn't you be focusing on our acceleration?"

"Oh. Right. 'Scuse me, gotta make sure we don't all explode." Implode raised a hoof. "Oversights like this are bound to happen, don't stress about it, you dolts will be fine."

Fluttershy shivered, turning to Rarity. "It's nice and all that she's herself again... But she's a little... Intense."

"A little?" Rarity said, eyebrow raised.

"Okay, really intense. I'm just not used to her yet. I'm trying."

"Don't worry," Applejack said. "Crazy as she is, Implode's got something going for her. She has Rainbow Dash's undying loyalty. Don't forget that."

"I won't!"

Pinkie yawned. "Are we there yet!?"

"Not even halfway there," Twilight said.

"Ugh. This ride is going to get boring. We need a way to skip past this downtime..." Pinkie pondered this.

~~~

"There we go, worked like clockwork!" Pinkie grinned. "Are we there yet!?"

"We'll be within long teleport range in under a minute." Twilight looked at Pinkie oddly. "...You've been oddly quiet this whole trip."

Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, I was experiencing a break. No biggie, I bet you girls talked about all kinds of stuff while I was away!"

"Three separate emotional breakdowns," Starlight said. "I'm beginning to think we might need therapy for all this."

"Good idea," Twilight admitted. "I'll probably check myself in after all this is over."

Implode huffed. "I don't need no therapy."

"Oh?" Applejack said. "What was that earlier about killing and Trekker?"

Implode's eye twitched, but she said nothing.

"Within teleport distance!" Twilight said. "Cut it Implode!"

Implode turned off her rocket blast, signaling to Rainbow Dash she could stop working. Rainbow Dash fell to the bottom of the sphere, exhausted. "Never... Doing... That... Ever... Again..." she hissed. "Need... Energy drink..."

Everypony rolled their eyes when they saw Rainbow Dash create an energy drink in her front hoof. She drank it in ten seconds flat. Pinkie facehooved. Hard.

Twilight looked at Implode. "We're teleporting right outside New Mareu. I'll give you a disguise, okay?"

"What's my cover name?" Implode asked.

"Tiled Floors," Twilight said, transforming Implode into a generic white pegasus. "Try to look boring."

Implode shrugged. "Nooo promises."

"Fair enough. Don't ruin things, basically."

"Got it. Mission 'do not be Implode' ready with a seventy percent chance of success!"

Twilight grumbled. "Lower odds than I'd like but... Okay. Let's go."

Twilight teleported the eight of them into the air above New Mareu. Twilight lightly set them down, noticing that Rainbow Dash wasn't even attempting to fly. The trip must have been an absurdly large tax on her.

"Starlight?" A foal said, looking up at the group from an extrusion. "You're back?"

Starlight smiled. "For now. Can you take us to the guardians? We've got a message from Overglobe."

"Oh, she made it?" The foal grinned. "We were getting worried! Stay here, I'll get them!" He scampered off. In under a minute, a dozen guardians arrived - some by wing, some by explosion, others by simply walking through the floor. One of them stepped to the front, a silver unicorn mare with a purple mane.

"I am Silver Beads. Why aren't they with you?"

"It wasn't easy to get back," Starlight said. "Our transport only allowed the eight of us through, but Overglobe and Trekker are completely fine, living in Equestria right now." She smirked. "Overglobe asked us to come here and take you back. The seven of us can create a one-way portal to our home. They want you to come through."

"That was the plan," Silver admitted. "Make the portal. I want to see this for myself before we commit."

"Untrusting bitch..." Implode muttered under her breath.

Twilight obliged regardless, getting the Seven of them into the heptagon formation and lighting her horn. With Rarity physically there, the connection was completely stable. A round portal surged into existence, ringed with a soft red glow. Through it a snowy place could be seen. Twilight blinked, sticking her head in the portal. "Looks like New Mareu is around the Crystal Empire." She hopped through. "The portal should be permanent so long as we don't close it. Welcome to Central!"

The guardians walked through, Implode and the rest of the Seven close behind. They all stood in the cold, snowy realm, the sun shining down on them. The gurdians looked on in awe - it was a bit cold, but there was no chaos, no spheres appearing out of nowhere, and no shifting walls. Everything was stable.

Silver blinked. "I... Thank you. This place will save so many ponies..."

"In a way," Trekker said, dropping from the sky. Implode was only kept from flying off the hinges then and there by Rainbow Dash. Despite her tired state, she was still able to grab Implode's muzzle with a wing, telling her with a look that now was not the time.

Twilight blinked. "How did you find us so fast?"

"I can sense strong inflections," he said, turning to the portal. "That does look a good deal more permanent."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, it is. I can teleport us back to Canterlot. Everypony fine with that?"

Trekker nodded, looking at Silver closely. "Yes. Guardians, as soon as we arrive, show these ponies some alpha-five. I'm sure they'll be interested in that."

Silver's eyes widened and several guardians tensed, but they all nodded.

Twilight smiled. "Can't wait." She finished preparing the spell.

Applejack frowned. "Twilight, maybe you should-"

They vanished in a flash of light and appeared in the royal hall, right in front of Celestia seated on her throne.

"-wait." Applejack finished. She paled. She felt two metallic spheres pressed on either side of her head, and she could see that her other seven friends all had the same thing pushing against their heads as well. The message was clear - move and everypony dies.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Celestia demanded.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that as well Trekker," Silver said. "Why are we threatening them?"

"Overglobe is dead. Killed by the ponies of this world. It is not safe for us, they do not have the power to protect us from themselves." He turned to Celestia. "So we will take over and put matters into our own hooves. Surrender control of your kingdom or all of them die right now. Don't try anything, I guarantee I can act faster than you, and that our power exceeds your own. If all else fails, we can turn their brains into gas."

"I SHOULD HAVE BUCKING KILLED YOU!" Implode screamed.

"That's a horrible disguise Implode. Disgraceful." Those were the only words Trekker had for his daughter. He created a nail and drove it through her jaw, keeping her mouth from moving.

Celestia glared at Trekker. "You and I both know the Order's zebras killed Overglobe. We had nothing to do with that."

"True," Trekker said. "But you failed to protect us. So in the interest of my ponies, I will be taking over."

"Liar!" Applejack yelled. "He's lying! He's also hiding somethin' else!"

"You would say that," Trekker said. "Your life is being threatened."

"Ah don't lie," Applejack said.

"You would if the situation called for it. You were part of an elaborate plot to keep our existence a secret from the public."

"Yeah? So?" Applejack was trying to figure out what it was he was hiding - but all she could get was that he wanted power and that he really didn't care for anything beyond his own selfish agenda.

"That alone is suspicious. It is possible you wanted us dead and out of the way. We can't trust you. Any of you." Trekker took a moment to glare at each and every one of them."So I have to do something. I had to either let us live in fear or take control of the situation."

"That's a bunch of hogwash!" Applejack said.

Rarity used her magic to swap her eyepatch, looking at the world through her mental eye.

"No." Trekker said, seeing her horn light up. He tore her eyepatch off with a quick motion of his wing. "No magic, no spells. From anyone. No lighting horns. No inflections either." He looked right at Starlight and Rainbow Dash. "I know you two are thinking and pondering if you can stop time or remove the spheres fast enough. Trust me, you can't. "

Rainbow Dash growled. "You're sick."

"I'm being preemptive."

Rarity narrowed her mind eye at the thought. "Are you sure you want to be? You could let you and your people be helped. You don't even need to take Equestria over, you can go live in the middle of the ocean if you wanted."

Trekker bristled. "Do you think an ocean will stop killers?" No. I should know. Nothing would have stopped me from killing Overglobe.

Rarity gasped. "You killed Overglobe!" She pushed her thoughts into his mind.

"I killed Overglobe!" His eyes widened. "BITCH! Putting words in my mouth! I did no such thing!"

Implode laughed. She couldn't speak, but she found Trekker's cool demeanor breaking absolutely hilarious. Trekker clocked her on the head for her chuckles.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at Trekker. "I see what's going on here. You like control. You didn't want to answer to yet another higher power, so you set this up. I... I expect many, if not all, of those threatening my ponies are loyal to you."

"I want to protect my ponies, and you represent an unknown that should be dealt with."

"Stop lying through your teeth," Celestia hissed venomously. "You are doing this for your own selfish reasons."

Trekker shook his head. "It does not matter what you believe. Will you step down or not?"

Celestia looked at the eight mares being threatened. Fluttershy was crying, Rainbow Dash was cursing under her breath, Starlight was trying to think of a way out of the situation, Rarity was staring into space, and Twilight was looking right at Celestia.

Celestia saw understanding in the deep purple eyes.

"No," she said. "The livelihood of hundreds of thousands of ponies under my control must come first. I am sorry... to you all. But I cannot do that."

Trekker blinked. "I don't think you realize. I can order us to fight a war against you. We can easily overpower you in every way. These Seven here are the only users of Inflection you have, with them gone you won't stand a chance. What I'm offering you is a bloodless alternative."

"Trekker?" Silver said, "We..."

"We far outclass them in terms of power, Silver. The Seven are their strongest warriors. They stand no chance against us."

"The answer is still no," Celestia said. "The ponies of Equestria do not need you as a leader."

Trekker twitched. This is not how this is supposed to go. I don't think I can get them to fight a full war. "As you wish," he said through gritted teeth. He turned to the guardians. "Kill them."

Then suddenly, all the death spheres were gone, freeing the eight mares. "What...?" Trekker said. Then he felt a presence behind him.

Congeal bucked Trekker across the hall. He roared. "Who released you!?"

"I did," Ahuizotl said, waltzing into the room with a huge smirk. "Quite a while ago, in fact. You see I was preparing for this. I saw you kill Overglobe." His smile vanished, replaced with a vicious scowl. "I rather liked her, by the way."

Silver's eyes widened. "You did didn't you!?" She pointed an accusing hoof at Trekker. "You sick freak!"

Trekker narrowed his eyes. "I can see my hope for a simple resolution has been dashed." He dodged an attack from Congeal. "Guardians, let us fight. You know what to do."

All the guardians save Silver raised their hooves and wings, generating thousands of spheres, all of which headed right for Celestia. She raised a shield of golden energy, but it wouldn't have been enough had Rainbow Dash not leaped in and helped clear them away. "I am way too tired for this..."

Congeal swiped at Trekker with six versions of herself at once, but he masterfully dodged all of the attacks, impaling her with explosive spears of his own. "Why are you suddenly helping them?" he yelled. "What did he offer you!?"

Congeal said nothing, for she could not. She continued attacking Trekker from all sides, but the phenomenally skilled guardian slipped through all the cracks.

All around them, the throne hall exploded. Royal guards rushed in, only to be disintegrated quickly. Blood was flung everywhere, the very building coming apart around them.

Twilight's eyes went white the moment the roof came crashing down - she lifted the entire ceiling and threw it away, breathing heavily. She was unable to dodge an incoming attack a moment later, her left wing getting entirely burnt off by a sphere of fire.

Fluttershy and Starlight were doing their best to revive those who had fallen, but there were just too many falling, and they had to work to keep themselves alive as well. Royal guards, guardians, Congeal, the Seven... All tossed together in in a massive chaotic battle. Trekker had been right- the firepower of the dozen guardians outclassed that of most the Equestrians, and even the Seven had difficulty against the trained ponies - but Congeal's powers provided quite the edge.

Though there was one detriment to the Equestrians. Trekker realized that they weren't willing to kill. Fluttershy was raising every dead body she saw, from both sides, and only Congeal was actively trying to be lethal - and she was focused on just Trekker. He was having the fight of his life, but he had allies backing him up. Congeal, powerful though she was, wasn't going to be able to get through him plus several allies -

Implode barreled into him, jaw free of the hindering nail. "Hi, dad! Nice to see you!" She twisted his leg, turned part of it into concrete, and then threw him to the ground. Trekker landed, producing a giant crater in the already decimated ground.

"Keep Congeal busy!" He ordered. He stood up, covering himself in a strange spiky alloy. "I will take care of my daughter."

"Oooh!" Implode laughed. "Mano a Mano! I like it" Implode encased Trekker in a sphere of fire - which Trekker took control of himself and threw at her. Implode dodged it with a stupid grin on her face. "Such a perfect scenario! How unlike you!" She blew a wind of ice at him and increased gravity - only for him to invert gravity completely.

"You are the wayward child," Trekker said. "You have been a pain in my plot for far too long." He raised a wing, creating a black sphere in it. "It is time for you to die like you should have long ago."

Implode panicked. She'd never been able to deal with a black sphere very well. And he was directing it at her, with intent to kill. She closed her eyes, focused, and tried to squish the singularity into nothingness...

It exploded inches from her, sending her flying back a few meters. Trekker narrowed his eyes. "What? Why did you never do that before!?"

Implode shrugged. "Heh. Guess I got better without your guidance."

Trekker exploded in rage at this. "No!" He rushed her, smacking her across the face with a brick. "You are under me! Without me you are nothing! A stupid mare! You are mine!"

Implode smirked, hitting him with an iron sphere. "You know, you're kind of stupid that way. I don't have to be part of you."

"Yes you do, fool!" Trekker's calm demeanor showed no signs of returning anymore. "Everything! Everything needs me! New Mareu would have died many times over had I not given up some of my own time to save its sorry ass!" He spread his wings, generating a half dozen black spheres around himself. "Everything is improved by me! You needed nothing else!"

"You're sick and delusional," Implode said, managing to weave out of the way of the spheres, catching the last one in her power. "Even more so than me." She tossed the black sphere back at him, only for him to crush it with a thought.

"You defy at every turn. You are done now!"

"Oh really?" She said, smirking. Her smirk vanished when she felt a tremendous gravity well from behind her. She knew it was a much larger black sphere - too much for her to deal with. She tried to fly away, but the pull was too intense. She screamed as it began to tear at her back legs, threatening to rip them off with the gravitational difference. Numerous guards were swallowed by the black power.

"Die!" Trekker yelled. "Get out of my sights!"

Implode felt something move the black sphere behind her. The strain on her muscles vanished as it flew over her and towards Trekker. He paled - no. He had used too much energy - he couldn't make it disappear. He pushed his wings forward, attempting to slow the oncoming doom, only with marginal success. He took to running away - and he was strong enough to escape its pull. He was not strong enough to escape it and dodge the explosive sphere Implode generated in front of him.

"Bye," she said.

"AAAAARGH!" Trekker roared, his wings torn from his body by the gravitational difference. His form was stretched out into space, spiraling towards the event horizon in an ever-increasing number of pieces. His screams soon became nothing as he vanished from reality.

Rainbow Dash collapsed, truly out of energy. It had taken everything she had just to move that huge sphere. There was no way she could remove it from existence. It continued to devour guards, guardians, and structures with no restraint.

Implode and Applejack tried to stop it, but neither of them had enough power. It was flying through the air, devouring everything.

Congeal appeared above it, flapping her wings. It vanished instantly. Congeal took one look at the ruined castle, the Seven, and the many torn bodies. Then she vanished without another motion.

Everypony was still. The fighting halted, none sure what to do now.

Trekker was dead...

Silver stomped her hoof. "Let us stop this fighting! Trekker was not a good pony - and I believe he really killed Overglobe for his own power!" She limped over to the bruised and battered form of Celestia. "I turn us over to you and call a ceasefire."

Celestia coughed. "Accepted..." She shook the mare's hoof. Then Celestia turned to the rubble stack Ahuizotl was standing behind. "...It occurs to me we are in your debt. I do not know how you convinced Congeal to help us, nor how you released her, but I thank you."

Ahuizotl bowed. "I always try to help your majesty..."

Applejack let out a tired and drawn out laugh. "Heh. Right."

"I will be wanting to cash in that debt soon, but it can wait." Ahuizotl looked at Silver. "I hope you are better than that freak. I would have been better than him."

"Scary thing is, I agree with you," Starlight said. "Egh..."

As Fluttershy and Starlight went around healing whoever they could, Celestia and Silver talked, while Implode walked up to Rainbow Dash.

"You killed him." Implode said.

Rainbow Dash let out a nervous chuckle. "I helped. So? Isn't that what you wanted?"

Implode frowned. "...Yes. But it wasn't what you wanted."

Rainbow Dash sighed. "No, it wasn't. I... I'm not sure if he deserved it or not. I don't know. I just know I had to stop him right then and there. He was evil. ...And it was a team effort."

Implode nodded. Then she embraced Rainbow Dash. "Thank you. For everything."

"Heh. Yeah..."

Elsewhere, Twilight frowned. They had won. They all had the Realms' powers, Trekker was dead, peace was on the horizon, and Congeal didn't appear to be trying to kill them right now...

Why did she feel like it wasn't even close to over?

XIX - Meadowbrook

View Online

The Seven were standing together in the gardens of Canterlot, the sun shining down on them from directly above, minimizing thier shadows. It had been a couple of days since the attack, and the damaged areas of the castle had been completely repaired. Seven royal guards and three guardians had been beyond help, not counting Trekker - whatever those black spheres did could not be undone. The evacuation of New Mareu was well underway, ponies were being moved to an island in the East Luna Sea where they could form their own society. The island may have been a little small, but with their powers they could just extend it as much as they wanted.

Implode had gone with them to make a 'new' New Mareu. The ponies didn't trust the pegasus they had spent so long hating, but Implode took that as a challenge to prove herself to them. It helped that Silver personally wanted her there - and had made it clear she planned to promote Implode to full guardian status when given the chance.

Simply put, things were going well.

Twilight took in a deep breath, absorbing the scents of the garden. "Good. I think... I think we can relax now girls. We're done. We're home." She laughed.

Rarity smiled. "It really would be good to get back to my boutique. I'm going to have to figure out this one eye thing..." She drooped.

Fluttershy put a hoof on Rarity. "It'll be okay, I'm sure you can figure it out. At least now you'll be able to know exactly how a customer wants something to look!"

"That's... A good point. I'll have to adjust though..."

"I can help if you want," Starlight offered. "Give you extra time."

Rarity's eye widened. "That's right. You can give me extra time! And duplicate me!" She grinned. "One eye? What about a dozen!" She chuckled. "Well, silly as that sounds, that'll probably work wonders. What are the rest of you going to use your powers for?"

Applejack shrugged. "Ah dunno... Maybe Ah could use it on the farm. Buck more apples. Organize more cider... Get everythin' more efficient."

"I'm going to be the best Wonderbolt ever!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "I've invented so many new tricks..."

Pinkie grinned. "I will bend the very fabric of reality itself to throw a party!"

"Nothing fancy for me," Fluttershy said. "I'll probably just get a lot more animals and keep them all happy and healthy."

"Well, I'm going to be everywhere at once. Explore the world - but leave the past alone," Starlight said. "What about you Twilight?"

"...I don't know, the same? I don't really feel that different, it's just... Like I have a better fundamental understanding of magic than before. Study magical theory, I suppose..."

"Aha! Magic!" Ahuizotl shouted, jumping down in front of them. "It just so happens that I was coming to talk to you all about that!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

"You owe me, for one..."

"You were pardoned by Celestia."

Ahuizotl laughed. "A pardon means little to me Twilight. No, I want a little more. If I'm not mistaken, you are able to take me to the Realm of Magic, yes?"

Rarity rolled her eye. "Meadowbrook?"

"Why yes! Clever little mind reader."

"Wrong eye. It just wasn't hard to guess."

Ahuizotl seemed annoyed at this. "Well, I think she's in the Realm, and you Seven are going to help me find her."

"...All of us?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, it'd certainly make it faster," Ahizotl pointed out. "With the power in all of you, it should be easy to travel directly from Power to Magic, instead of, say, going the long way round."

"Ah," Applejack said, "good point you got there. He's right."

"...Fine," Twilight said. "We'll take you to Meadowbrook. I want to meet her myself... I have some questions. No guarantees about gaining immortality though."

"Oh, I just need to know how my little purple princess, I'm not going to let something like difficulty stop me from attaining it."

"...We really helping him?" Rainbow Dash asked. "He's a jerk! Villain! You've read the Daring Do books!"

"He saved us Rainbow, we do owe him something," Twilight said. "Plus, immortality isn't a world-ending scenario like the rings were..." She blinked. "...What even was the point of activating those rings, Ahuizotl?"

"Just to see what would happen," Ahuizotl shrugged.

Pinkie facehooved. "You need to learn the Little Inferno lesson."

"What?"

"Nothing important," she giggled. "To the Realm of Magic!"

Twilight teleported them all to the portal they had created a few days ago. Twilight checked to make sure it was still stable, finding that it hadn't fluctuated at all since creation. They walked through to New Mareu - the city was smaller now for half the population had moved already, so half the city was no longer protected, left to the destructive whims of the spheres. A family walked past them, smiling warmly their way. The parents had to restrain the filly's excitement at seeing the Seven of them.

"I guess we're heroes here, somehow," Rarity said.

"Silver likes to talk," Starlight said. "She's been praising our mercy and integrity nonstop since the fight."

Ahuizotl smirked. "Oh, what does she say about me then?"

"Lying sleazy sonofabitch," Silver said, walking through the floor. "...One who still saved us even when he could have run away."

"Oh, touching," Ahuizotl laughed. "I'd prefer dealing with Celestia over Trekker any day. Also, he annoyed me." He dusted his front paws. "We were just off to the Realm of Magic."

"Good luck on your travels," Silver smiled. "Thank you all for being so forgiving."

Rainbow Dash glanced at Ahuizotl. "...Eh, it's what we do."

Starlight frowned. "Sometimes we do it too much."

"You wound me so," Ahuizotl said.

"Biggest. Ham. Ever," Pinkie said. "You get the ham award."

Ahuizotl grinned. "I will forever be the hammiest!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Not something you should be proud of... Until next time Silver."

Silver nodded, returning to her duties. Twilight turned back to her group. "Alright, everypony! Heptagon formation!" The mares quickly ran to their positions and closed their eyes. "Okay, Starlight, put your spell in the center. I'll see if I can alter it..."

Starlight's horn lit, and the energy flew into the center of the heptagon, swirling in a formation reminiscent of a galactic disc. Twilight poked and prodded the magical energies with her own inflection, studying it closely. She frowned - she couldn't reverse it, it was too tangled up in itself... but with the power here she could just cast it six times at once, creating almost a full loop of travel.

"Here we go... Might be bumpy. Hold on to your brains." She lit her horn, and they were engulfed in light...

...The planes of Echoes...

...The shapes of Truth...

...The impossible Distortion...

...The vibrancy of Life...

...The eternal Dream...

...The clouds of Magic.

"Here!" Twilight announced. "Now, I know exactly who to talk to about finding Meadowbrook..."

Rarity gasped. "My, this place is beautiful! Stunning! So elegant!"

Applejack nodded. "Ah do admit, the clouds are nice. Seems... Peaceful here."

Ahuizotl grinned. "A place where the winds of magic are so thick you can see them. A place where even the largest of spells may be cast..."

"Don't get any ideas," Rainbow Dash muttered.

"Too late! But that's for another time." He smirked, turning to Twilight. "Who do you think can help us?"

"A crystal by the name of Sham Rock," Twilight said, swimming through the clouds. "He should be right around here..."

Rainbow Dash flew ahead of Twilight three times faster than needed. "I'll find him! He won't hide in these clouds fore-" She ran into something hard with a painful thunk. "Ow..."

<Well, that's the third most interesting way I've been greeted.> The tall crystalline one spoke with his magic.

"Ah! Sham Rock!" Twilight flew in, smiling.

<Yes, that's me.>

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Waitaminute. He's... Lyin'?"

<Oh for... I'm the same crystal Twilight met last time she was here.>

"...Well, what's your actual name then?"

<Er...>

"Clover the Clever," Ahuizotl answered.

<...Why do you have to ruin my anonymity>

Ahuizotl didn't get to answer, for Twilight interjected. "Clover the Clever!? Starswirl's pupil!? Oh! I have so many questions! What was early Equestria like? How was the battle with Tirek? How did the Wendigos feel? Was your favorite food really baked potatoes? Was..."

<This is why I gave her a pseudonym>

"Understandable," Rarity said, wondering when Twilight's questions would stop.

"...Why did Starswirl end up in the Realm of Distortion-"

<Woah, woah, you met Starswirl!?>

"Well... yes," Twilight said. "He... had gone, well, quite mad, to be frank. Like tried-to-attack-us mad."

<I... Apologize for him. He has not been well since he made a certain discovery all those centuries ago...>

"Which one?" Twilight asked.

"All the world's indeed a stage..." Pinkie Pie muttered. "Yeah..."

<I distanced myself from him long ago. He should be remembered for the legacy he left Equestria, not his fall to madness in these Realms>

Twilight nodded. "...By the way, do you have any idea what might destroy everything in these Realms?"

<Been talking with Sperion have you? I'm not sure. You Seven are the most powerful inflections I have ever seen in these Realms. I know Sperion is afraid of something, I just don't know what.>

Twilight sighed. "Okay..."

"Yeah, we need to find Meadowbrook now," Starlight said. "Maybe she'll have some answers. Any idea where she is?"

Clover made a laughing noise. <She's one of the oldest crystals here. Course I know where she is. About a minute's flight from here, thirty-five degrees down from where Twilight's muzzle is pointing. Don't be expecting her to talk though, she is a bit of a hermit>

"As expected," Ahuizotl said, grinning. "I was planning on scouring this place for hours to find her, but you just made it much easier... Thank you, my crystalline friend."

<...Why don't I like you?>

"Hammy villainous guy," Pinkie said. "he's pretty harmless right now, don't worry about him."

<...Okay then. Be careful of her. She might be crabby.>

"We will. See you, Clover," Twilight said. "It was nice to finally meet you for real!"

<It was a... pleasure.>

The Seven took off in the direction they had been given, dragging Ahuizotl with them. "This place is just full of 'dead and gone' ponies isn't it?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Indeed," Starlight said. They went the rest of the way in silence - anticipating what they would find with Meadowbrook. Would they find answers or more questions? Would they be welcomed or driven out? There was only one way to find out.

They soon arrived at the designated location. There was nothing visible. "What gives?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Applejack frowned. "This is where she should be..."

Ahuizotl grinned. "Ah, I knew it couldn't be this simple. There must be a trick!" He turned to Rainbow Dash. "You're the closest to her, you figure it out."

"I will buck your face in..."

Starlight frowned. "I do sense an immense magic power nearby..."

Twilight lit her horn. "Let's clear the clouds then, shall we?" She spread her wings, smirking as she cast the spell she learned from her first visit to this Realm. The chords of magic parted the way - and they all saw the crystal. She was tremendous - at least twenty times as tall as Clover. Her crystalline body slowly turned with the winds of the Realm, reflecting light from all angles. Several smaller crystals orbited her, arcs of magic shooting to and from them and the central body, giving the appearance of a complex set of Tesla coils. She was a bit too large to take in all at once.

<It took you a comically long time to uncover me.>

Twilight gulped. "M-Meadowbrook?"

<Oh please, it's obvious. I'm a gigantic crystalline one. What did you expect, a mare? I've been a part of the Realm of Magic much longer than my time as a pony!>

"...It's a pleasure," Twilight said, eyebrow raised. "I have a few questions.."

<Everypony has questions. Are you worth it?>

"Well... I want to know about Sperion, Congeal, and what they fear."

<Ah... A worthwhile question that will take some time to answer...>

"Wait, and answer it later then," Ahuizotl said. "I have my own question - a much simpler one. Immortality - how do I get it?"

<...Seriously? That? Talk to the Fifth over there, she can halt your timestream with her inflection. Or you could just stay here and be converted into an ageless magic crystal over time. In my youth, there was this absurd ritual I performed. I don't recommend it.>

Ahuizotl looked at Starlight.

"Not a chance in Tartarus," she grunted.

"In that case..." Ahuizotl coughed. "What is this ritual?"

Ahuizotl blinked, turning to Applejack.

"She's tellin' the truth."

Ahuizotl groned. "What is my life...?"

Rainbow chuckled.

<What are the new Seven doing with the likes of him anyway?>

"We owed him. And he tipped us off that you were here," Twilight said. "Wait... The new Seven?"

<Oh yes, the ancient Aztrot Seven are long gone. Mostly. You are the Seventh, Twilight, like your time-bending friend over there is Fifth. Use logic to figure out what numbers you all are.>

Rarity smiled. "Well, I am number one!"

Pinkie produced a saxophone and played a rapid sequence of notes. She giggled.

<The Third is well in tune with her Realm, I see,> Meadowbrook observed. <Now... You wanted to know about Sperion.>

"Yes," Twilight nodded vigorously. "I've been dying for answers."

<Not literally, I would hope. To begin Sperion is my->

Meadowbrook was engulfed by a black sphere that came flying from seemingly nowhere. The entire crystalline structure was shattered, each individual crystal chunk ripped from the larger body in the span of a single second. She attempted to retaliate - but she had not been expecting the assault. She fired off some magic bolts that disintegrated the singularity, but her crystalline body had already been shattered into hundreds of pieces, no longer able to carry a full consciousness. Congeal glided down from above, glaring at all the Seven.

"What!?" Twilight yelled, her eyes twitching heavily. "What!?"

Congeal glared at Ahuizotl in particular. Ahuizotl shrugged. "Oh yes, sorry about this, I had to keep my end of the bargain. You see, in order to get Congeal to help you, I had to offer her Meadowbrook. Apparently, she had some serious beef with the mage. That was the price of keeping you all alive." He smirked. " The best part is you can't be mad at me."

"Why not!?" Twilight yelled. "We were about to get some real answers!"

"Uh, Twi?" Applejack said. "Equestria'd be under Trekker's control if Ahuizotl hadn't made this deal."

Twilight twitched. Ahuizotl grinned. "You should be thanking me. And if you need consolation, I didn't exactly get what I wanted either..." He grimaced. "South pole... Ugh... Let's just return to Central and get back to our lives."

Congeal shook her head.

Ahizotl blinked. "Uh... Why not? Deal, remember?"

Congeal pointed at Rarity. Congeal motioned to her, crossing a hoof over her face.

Rarity blinked. "Wha- oh. Right." She swapped to her mental eye. "Yes?"

Suddenly Rarity's eye went narrow and soulless. She spoke with a cold, accentless monotone. "I request to speak through you."

Life came back to Rarity's eye. "Oh! Uh... Certainly! Just... Don't mess with anything, I'll know about it."

Rarity's eye returned to its empty state, and she spoke again. "I have no intention of doing so for now."

"Okay, that's freaky," Rainbow Dash observed. Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

"Disturbing attributes mean nothing," Congeal said through Rarity. "I am here to seek a peaceful resolution. Your inflections have all been activated and will reach maximum potential soon enough. That is dangerous, impossibly so. You unbalance the already strained Realms. Normally I would just kill you, but having been defeated before, I come to realize it may be simpler just to speak." Congeal pointed at them with a metallic hoof. "Each of you needs to return to the Realm of your inflection and stay there. Never leave: doing so would upset the balance even further."

Fluttershy shrunk. "I... Have to stay in the Realm of Life? Alone?"

"I'm not living in a place where time means nothing," Starlight said.

"You may be dooming the world to destruction," Congeal said.

"She's convinced she's right," Rarity said. "She's also willing to try and kill us if we refuse."

Twilight sighed. "Congeal... Can you at least tell us exactly what the problem is?"

"Yes. Using powers outside of their intended Realm upsets the balance. Moving things between Realms upsets the balance. Experiencing strong connection upsets the balance. Eventually, this will suddenly congeal into a cataclysmic event that will destroy this entire layer of reality."

Twilight blinked. "Couldn't we try to use these powers to solve the problem? Research another answer besides isolation?"

"This is precisely why none must know about this. They always think they can have the best of both worlds, that there can be some other way. Too risky, all projections are certain it won't work. The original Seven tried and failed. Failed horribly. They had to be dealt with before they went too far. They already destroyed one level of reality."

Twilight shook her head. "I refuse to believe that separating ponies is the solution. I've learned that friendship solves almost everything."

"You do not realize how much a part of the problem that is. ...Regardless, you can cooperate, or you can die," Congeal said.

"...What about the ponies of New Mareu?" Fluttershy asked.

Congeal said nothing.

"...You have to kill them don't you?"

"They likely won't return, just as you are hesitant to." She paused, moving her metallic head around, contemplating. "It looks as if I'll have to risk it."

"What?" Starlight sighed.

In answer, Congeal spread her wings, sending a spike into all seven mares' heads - a move which would have killed all of them instantly, had a time-clone of Starlight not been hiding behind a crystal chunk. The other Starlight rewound the attack, reviving the Seven. Starlight blinked. "Oh. That."

Rarity yelled, disconnecting her mind from Congeal's. "She's not talking anymore! She really wants to kill us!" Rarity was barely able to roll out of the way of a toxic blast aimed directly at her.

With the chaos unleashing, Ahuizotl decided it would be a good idea to get the heck out of dodge. He swam away through the magic clouds. Congeal, her initial plan of 'kill them all at once' having failed, instantly switched tactics. She went directly for Starlight, severing the unicorn's head from her body with one swift motion. She then rocketed towards the horrified Fluttershy, ready to decapitate her as well - only to be blocked by a team effort from Pinkie and Rainbow Dash - a concrete sphere with an impossible number of teeth around it.

"Help Starlight!" Rainbow Dash yelled, tossing circular saws at the half-dozen Congeals that had appeared. Pinkie stretched herself into an elongated noodle shape, repeatedly slapping all the Congeals around from directions that didn't exist. Congeal made a quick flapping motion, and all her forms copied Pinkie's noodle formation.

"Combo hax!" Pinkie yelled. "No fair!"

Congeal showed no sign she cared, using her multiple noodle forms to pass through Pinkie, rushing Fluttershy in an attempt to prevent her healing of Starlight. Congeal was pushed back by a magic shield from Twilight, something she could have dispelled easily had Applejack not bucked her in the face with her hind legs.

"Sometimes, you don't need fancy schmancy powers," Applejack smirked.

"And sometimes you do," Rarity said, focusing her mind onto Congeal's, the two locked in a battle of wills. Rarity knew she wasn't experienced enough to do anything to the masterful Congeal - but she kept her occupied, distracting the machine's mind enough for Rainbow Dash to smash her with a house-sized rock. Congeal repaired the damage done to herself, charging Fluttershy once again - but too late. Starlight, fully healed, met Congeal head-on, blasting her with a magic bolt that tore through her circuitry.

Wrestling through the mental imbalance bestowed by Rarity, Congeal time-split herself three times and distorted the world around her, trying to plow through Starlight with impossible directions. Unfortunately for the alicorn machine, Starlight had more control over time, able to duplicate herself a dozen times and push the Congeals back while Twilight engulfed them with an intense beam attack.

Congeal pulled herself together, showing no sign of tiring. She attempted a direct teleport, only for Twilight to redirect it behind Applejack. Congeal was not able to prevent another buck to the face. She grabbed onto Applejack and changed the earth pony's composition to that of a bomb, throwing her at Twilight.

"Oh cr-" the two of them exploded in a shower of green sparks. Congeal knew it was temporary - Starlight was already rewinding them back into existence - but it gave her an opening. She plowed through Rainbow Dash with intense speed and defected Pinkie's distortions with a few of her own, arriving at Fluttershy's position. The machine touched the pegasus with her wing, tugging at her target's very life force.

Fluttershy screamed at the attempt to drain her life. She fought back with her power - and Congeal's lights all went off in a single instant, her mechanical body falling limp. Fluttershy gasped - she had just torn the life away from the machine. "Oh no! Congeal!" Fluttershy flapped her wings, flooding Congeal with life once again; the machine's eyes lit up, and she looked right at Fluttershy.

"Are you okay?"

As a response, Fluttershy got decapitated in one swift motion. Congeal rushed Starlight afterward, ready to end it
- put a stop to this endless standoff. Starlight felt something impale her through the back of her skull. She went limp.

"Starlight!" Twilight yelled.

Congeal was in front of the alicorn next, ready to take her out with an explosive. Applejack didn't let that happen. "Buck no!" She said, driving her hoof into Congeal and altering both of them to be partly made of explosive. "Ah hope Ah come back from this one..." The explosive went off, a blue fire erupting from the point of contact, igniting much of the magical winds to create an aurora that spread far into the distance. Congeal was shattered into dozens of pieces while Applejack was charred into a black heap. The pieces of Congeal made a few beeps and the fleshy bits pulsated one or twice more - but then there was nothing left. Congeal was gone, her remnants sparkling in the light of the blue aurora.

Twilight wasted no time - she healed Starlight's head wound with her own magic. It was a slow and painful spell that could not have been done in the middle of combat - but it got the job done. Starlight winced when she regained consciousness. "Ow... ...Did we...?"

"Yes, we won," Twilight said. "...Fix Fluttershy and Applejack."

Starlight rewound them back to normal. Applejack looked relieved when she was reformed - Fluttershy looked betrayed.

"You did it!" Rainbow shouted, clapping Applejack on the back.

"Ah... Ah did." She let out a soft chuckle. "But... she's dead now. And she wasn't like Trekker. She had a reason..."

"We're not bringing her back," Starlight said. "She was relentless. She almost had us..."

"But we won in the end!" Pinkie grinned. "Yipee!"

"Mhm," Twilight said, frowning. "Though... Now, where do we go for information?"

"...Me." The Seven turned, seeing the six-limbed Sperion behind them. He silently floated towards Congeal's metallic and fleshy remnants. He was silent for several minutes; nopony mustered the courage to speak to him.

"...I know now," he said at last, his voice as monotone as ever.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"What I can do. For her. What she wanted." He made his usual synthetic sigh. "And before I do... I believe you deserve to know my story. Our story. It's time for some answers."

He paused a moment - and then began his yarn.

XX - Sperion's Story

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Perhaps it is best to start with what I am.

I am the Spirit of Order - in a sense, at least.

Discord makes things diverge. In theory, I make things converge. Of course, unlike Discord, I was made with the Realms in mind, meaning things were a little different. The duality isn't perfect.

I was created right here in the Realm of Magic by Meadowbrook. She had been a crystalline one for a short time and was experimenting with her newfound magical powers. She created many things - I was just one of many. My purpose was to be the being that would use the inflections of all realms perfectly. She spent what amounted to years crafting me, and I was a horrible disappointment. While I showed great intelligence and fortitude, my inflections were no better than average. Yes, I had all of them at once - but not enough for her. Not enough to actually do the tests she wanted.

She didn't let that stop her, unfortunately. She tried other tests. At first, it was simple - just me showing off my powers for her, and her teaching me how to use my voice synthesizer. She spent much of her time teaching me about the structure of the Realms and Central, acting more or less as my mother. She eventually stopped getting any useful data from these endeavors and moved on to more... intense testing. Dangerous ones. She made me fight other creations of hers. She tormented me psychologically. She pushed me to my limits and demanded I move beyond. She saw me as hers - nothing more but her own creation, a thing. She owned me, so she could do whatever she wanted.

In a way, she was like Trekker, though admittedly not as malicious. Yes, I am reading your thoughts, don't bother asking about it. Just listen. I need to tell this story.

Eventually, I'd had enough. I told her I wanted to leave, permanently. I told her I was never coming back. I created a portal to the Realm of Dreams - but before I could leave, she cursed me, stripping me of most my powers, and dooming me to wander the Realms in the direction I had set out.

The Realms were... different, all those centuries ago. The Dreaming was less coherent, for it only had the minds of the Aztrot absorbed into it. However, it still had an intelligence - a personality that I grew rather acquainted with. The Realms of Life, Distortion, and Echoes were pretty much the same, though Starswirl hadn't taken up residence in the Realm of Distortion yet. I ran into him several times on my adventures, a stallion slowly falling into excited madness from his discoveries. There may have been one point where we were 'friends'... That was long ago.

The Realm of Truth was very different. The ponies there were not organized. They didn't have any sort of civilization - they just wandered around aimlessly doing whatever tickled their fancy at any given moment, which wasn't much given their mental state.

In the Realm of Power, there were many distant tribes. There were generally two to three individuals with the Inflection of Truth in each tribe who kept the other ponies alive, the nature of the Realm ensuring they never stayed in the same place for long. New Mareu didn't exist - it was just a couple really old guardians protecting an ancient Aztrot relic they couldn't read. I couldn't read it either, for that matter.

My journey to the Realms was depressing. I saw that the inhabitants could be doing so much with what they had, but they just weren't. They just sat on their powers, decaying into nothing. I tried to return to Meadowbrook - she would not have me. Not that she could have removed the curse anyway. We did set aside our differences much later, but she couldn't remove it no matter how hard she tried. It just wasn't enough. I was doomed to wander the Realms forever. I tried to kill myself a few times - but I was annoyingly immortal.

Then I decided I wanted to start doing things instead of just lollygagging around. I convened with the Dreaming for hours on end, learning all the Aztrot history I could from the disjointed images. I never did figure out how to read the glyphs, anything spoken and written is impossible within that Realm. But with what I knew, I took it upon myself to help the ponies abandoned in these Realms by their ancestors.

I taught the Ponies of truth what they could do with their inflections - I gave them the reason to organize. I brought the many small tribes of Power together, forging a half dozen - one of which was New Mareu. I helped organize the crystals together, prompting them to talk amongst themselves instead of succumbing to isolated madness. I never did convince Meadowbrook to join in.

I had no power myself - I was just a floating ball of spines, but I caused great change.

It was at this time that everypony wanted to worship me as some sort of god - or in the case of the Realm of Truth, would never stop talking to me. So I receded into the background, not informing, just watching them. I faded into the stuff of legend, and they grew, often in ways I could never have predicted, and in ways I disapproved of, as was the case with the Ponies of Truth. But they were dealt the hand and did what they could with it.

I spent years like this, talking only to the Dreaming. It was my only real friend in the world I had made for myself - and I... ...The Dreaming was really bizarre. It is literally a bunch of ponies' spirits all dreaming at once. I often wondered what the Realm of Dreams was like before it absorbed anypony - and the Dreaming itself wondered that as well. We never got an answer.

Anyway, centuries passed, and most forgot about me. I was content just to watch things unfold.

And then one day she arrived.

A yellow alicorn just showed up in the Realm of Life one day, though a portal of her own making. She was curious, investigative, and... unique. So after a few minutes of observation, I revealed myself to her.

Her name was September. She had a very particular cutie mark which she wore proudly - a heptagon with a circle inside it. She said it meant she was destined to help the Realms and Central.

I decided I believed her. So for the first time, I took somepony with me when I translated. I didn't even know that was possible until that day.

Her story... was different from mine.

...

She was born on Central long ago, in your 'east,' where Meadowbrook studied magic. She was born an alicorn, her parents a mystery even to her. Some thought she was part of some scandal from the newly formed Equestria, some thought she was the child of the stars. Regardless, she wowed the east with her kindness, her devotion, and her grace. She didn't have a cutie mark - she was in charge of her own destiny.

Then she stumbled across the last work of Meadowbrook's in Central. The mage had found the eastern temple, though without the Chest she could not use it. However, she didn't let that stop her - Meadowbrook was nothing if not tenacious. With several months of nonstop work and study, she figured out how to open a portal to the Realms on her own. September witnessed this event, the sight of which summoned her cutie mark. Startled by the appearance the shape on her flank, she lost her opportunity to follow Meadowbrook into the Realms.

Never before in her life had September wanted something more than to go to the purple clouds she had seen through the portal that day. She stopped at nothing, searching high and low for a way in. She eventually found four of the temples with their towering pillars, but she was never able to activate any of them. She even talked to Starswirl about it at one point, tipping him off to the existence of the Realms, fueling his own research. He ended up being thrown in by accident, which he once suggested may have been a side effect of his experiments and Discord's chaos magic.

September poured centuries of her life into finding the answer, working against her natural lifestyle to find her destiny. She wasn't a scholar, so she had to become one. Then, one day, she did it - tapping into a single column of the eastern temple, she flooded her magic into it and ended up in the Realm of Life with me.

She didn't realize until much later that she didn't have a way back, but she found she didn't care that much - she was at home in her Realms. She could stop being a scholar and start helping ponies again, now that she had found her place. So I came out of the woodwork with her, re-appearing to ponies that were descended from the ones I helped. There were only a few legends of me remaining, and most didn't affect my interactions with the ponies. It also helped that September outclassed me in every way - they loved her. the ponies of Truth claimed they didn't, but I'm sure they were in denial, as usual.

She hit it off with everypony, and she was naturally invited in as if she were a lost member of every family. A natural aura surrounded her that made everything trust her - even the Dreaming. And myself, now that I think about it.

We only spent a few years - glorious years - like this. During those years, we discovered that she had great power in all the inflections, and we began to wonder if it meant anything. We never did check the Archive of Truth... I don't remember ever realizing Aztrot legends were in there, not until you found them. Regardless, we didn't need it - all the information we desired was either already in her mind from her studies or the muddled minds of the Dreaming.

We began to wonder if she was a member of the Seven - or, rather, the New Seven. This was wrong - you are proof of that - but we convinced ourselves it was true, and that we needed to find the others that were probably still in Central. So we found the back door - September knew what Central was, and she had all seven infections at her disposal. She took me somewhere.

I... found that I wasn't stable in Central. We could only go for short trips - after an hour or so I would start to fall apart at the seams. She began to despise Central for keeping me from it.

Our travels to and from Central drew attention. Not of the Order - that didn't exist yet - but one of the original Seven. I never saw them in the flesh, but September did. Something she said to one of them made them flee into the Realms... We didn't figure out what happened until we went to the Dreaming again.

The member of the Seven - the First - had absorbed themselves into the Dreaming, the great influx of new mental information changing the Realm drastically. Gone was my odd friend, and in its place was a being who loved cryptic images and mish-mashed visions with mysterious intent. It became the Eye you know today - it gained a more stable thought process.

And through it we learned the tale of the original Seven.

In truth, there used to be Eight of them, since they came from the Eighth Level of reality, not the Seventh like our own, nor the Sixth level you all are thinking of right now - the one with the humans. Nor the Fifth that Pinkie is thinking about. It was the Eighth - a Central with eight Realms, the eighth being the Realm of Connection. In this place emotional, figurative, and relational connections everywhere all had a physically manifesting connection. This made travel between their Central and Realms so much easier - almost effortless. Their world was the Realms. But the power wasn't just wasn't enough. They experimented with their own inflections, seeing how far they could push them with no caution - it was all science to them. They messed with the fundamentals of reality just because they could.

None of them found out who did it, or what exactly was the end cause, but the entire Eighth Level was destroyed, dumping the Seven onto our Level. Wracked with grief from the loss of their Eighth - the Inflection of Connection - they were determined to make connections physical in this level as well, as a memorial.

They built seven temples, forming direct connections between the Realms with them. it was an extremely stupid move. It heavily stretched the fabric of our Level, a Level not intended to have physical connections, much less the fake substitute the Seven were forcing. Do you know that Magic of Friendship you all believe in so much? That is their doing - a side effect of something which should not be. They mutilated our Level, changing it forever into a shadow of their own. They are responsible for the core of darkness that plagued Equestria - the demons, the Wendigoes, all creatures made possible through the mutation of connection. You just choose to believe in the Harmony of Friendship because you are so close to the Elements - wake up! The connection is a dual edged sword - it produces evils as well, and the good side taxes reality just as much.

The Seven didn't realize what they had done until later, and to their credit, they did try to set things right by helping the inhabitants of our Level. They banished back some of the nastier creatures they had created and helped found the Aztrot civilization, occasionally taking the ponies into the Realms themselves for a tour. But the Seven would never let them stay, they wouldn't let them corrupt their Realms.

Eventually, however, the Seven grew jealous of the Aztrot, feeling as if the civilization was trying to take the place of their lost comrade. The Aztrot rejected them, and they went their separate ways, the many legends distorting the truth of the matter. The Aztrot locked the Chest away, believing the Seven's warnings for the time being.

And then Chicomoztok came along. An idiot and a madman through and through, he decided to colonize the Realms. Perhaps not as stupid of a move as introducing connections to a Level not meant to feel them, but it was rather close.

The Seven, who were perceived as nothing more than legends at that point, wiped the Aztrot off the face of Equis for their 'sins' in threatening the structure of the universe. The Seven had seen it coming: unstable reality falling apart. It wouldn't take much to completely send our Level the way their home went. Ponies living in Realms would gain inflections, and strong inflections would lead to experimentation. And in an unstable Level...

Well, they didn't want to destroy another world, that was for sure.

They never found where the Aztrot hid the Chest, leaving the seven temples mostly useless. Not that the Seven needed them. With the ponies in the Realms isolated and few in number, the Seven thought they were safe.

Until the First met September, that is. The First apparently entered the Realm of Dreams to ensure correct communication and to get September to stop traveling - to get me to stop dragging her along, to stop straining reality.

She agreed - after shouting at the Eye about how stupid they had been for messing with reality. They were the ones who doomed us with their hubris!

She dragged me to Central one last time right after that.

"Goodbye," she said.

"But we'll be able to see each other once you find a safe way to travel, right?" I said.

"No. I'm not going to try and find a safe way."

"What? Why?"

"I'm going to protect the Seventh Level." I remember clearly in that moment she looked at her cutie mark with an expression close to reverence. "It's my job. To that end... I am going to change myself, Sperion. Forever. I won't be the same mare once I'm done. September won't exist."

I was silent.

"Promise me this, Sperion. Protect my Realms." She smiled the saddest smile I have ever seen. "The best years of my life were spent in there. Make sure they stay"

I, of course, agreed.

"Please leave," she told me. "You don't want to see this."

"I want to be here."

She sighed, knowing she couldn't get me to leave.

I watched as she killed herself, and replaced her being with a monster. Her beautiful yellow coat, gone, replaced with machine plates. Her organs were squished to their minimum required size. Her elegant wings shot out, becoming razor blades, and her face solidified to its expressionless state. No mouth - no nose, just eyes. Then her mind... Her mind went next. She worked out her kindness, her mercy - what made her a pony. She needed to become something that would stop at nothing to protect the world.

She cried the entire time.

...Congeal's first act as a being was to attack me. I escaped through the open portal back to the Realm of Dreams. She would not have let me go were it not for the Dreaming ordering her not to. Perhaps some of my old friend was still in there after all.

The Dreaming - the Eye - or whatever you want to call the Realm of Dreams - told me what Congeal did after this. She founded the Order. She hunted down and killed the remaining Seven in Central. She destroyed the four temples she knew about. She made sure no one else ever found anything, burning all of Starswirl's and Meadowbrook's books on the subject.

Apparently, she wasn't thorough enough. You know the rest. Ahuizitol found mentions of Meadowbrook's experiments. Yearling found the chest with Rainbow Dash and then found a vague lead suggesting the location of a temple, but Congeal killed her before she could get close. Then the Chest was left to you... Where you took it to the snow of Yakyakistan and started this whole mess.

Now you know the full story. Who's to blame for this mess, I wonder? You? The old Seven? Congeal? September? Me?

I don't know.

I do know what I have to do though.

I can save her realms.

~~~

"How?" Twilight asked, curious.

"As I encountered each of you New Seven in the Realms, your powers were given to me. I have every one now - every one but Echoes." He paused. "It is turning me into what Meadowbrook wanted me to be - a perfect combination of the Realms. It makes me more stable, more able to influence the fundamentals of reality. I'm not there yet, but I will be."

Rarity frowned. "I'm sensing a very big catch. Your thoughts are turning dark..."

"Once I am perfect... I stop the contamination. I can remove the invading connections, dividing the Realms once again, keeping them all stable. The only cost..." He paused. "Is that I will have to eliminate Central completely and take its place myself."

"WHAT!?" Everypony yelled.

"I suggest you start evacuating to Level Six. I know you have a mirror." Sperion sighed. "You won't have much time."

"What makes you think we're goin' to let you?" Applejack said.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash emphasized.

Fluttershy just stared at Sperion with a look of betrayal.

"I don't need your permission. I will save the Realms - I will stabilize this world. I just... Thought I'd give you the warning you deserve."

Then he moved. He teleported, appearing next to Starlight, distracting everypony present with a minor mental attack. He surrounded himself and Starlight in miniature black spheres - and translated the two of them to the Realm of Echoes.

The other six mares stared in disbelief.

Twilight gulped. "We should follow -"

"No, Twi," Applejack said. "We can't think in the Realm of Echoes. We'd get lost to time without her watching us. We... We probably should evacuate as many as we can to Earth."

Twilight shivered. "He can do it then? He really can destroy our home and save everything else?"

"He believed everything he was saying."

"No time to lose!" Twilight said, arranging everypony in the formation to make a portal to Central. "Prepare the evacuation - set up the defenses! Everything we can!"

Then they were gone.

The pieces of Congeal drifted further apart...

XXI - The Eye of Sperion

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The Realm of Echoes shook.

A portal tore through the fabric of spacetime, depositing Starlight and Sperion upon the flat plane, all mirrors fleeing from the presence of the two powers. Starlight tore herself from Sperion’s grasp with a quick backflip, summoning hundreds of mirror shards to her, all reflecting her worried expression.

A seventh limb began to grow out of Sperion’s core, inching out at an alarming pace, congealing just like all the others had - grabbing hold of the power of a Fifth in her own Realm.

“No!” Starlight yelled, pushing back against Sperion with the power of time itself - focusing intently on undoing the growth of the new limb. It retracted back into Sperion’s body in an instant, without so much as a sound.

Sperion let out a sigh. “We will have to fight then. I am sorry.” He pointed his six limbs at Starlight and unleashed the totaled power of six Realms at once. The disoriented, mutating cacophony of energy frightened Starlight’s very soul with its power. She lit her horn, reaching into the Echos, warping space around her in such a way that the blast flew around her. All this time, she had to rewind time around the generating seventh limb - she could never let it fully adapt to the Realm. She needed to remain focused - merely giving him a few seconds would give him domain over time and space itself - then she wouldn’t have any edge over him whatsoever. She didn’t know how she - or any of them - could stop him after that.

Sperion moved slowly, using his arsenal of Dreams, Power, and Life all at once. Starlight felt herself slowly petrify, becoming a statue from the hooves up, losing feeling after a momentary crumbling sensation. She was unable to order her powers to help her, her mind was so clouded by a fractal he had sent to her...

A mirror slid into existence beside Sperion, showing an instance of Starlight grinning. A spell shot from this Starlight’s horn, creating a magical hammer in real-space and launching Sperion away, tearing his hold off the original Starlight. “Hurry!” The mirror Starlight yelled to her half-petrified self. “Get ahold of yourself and do what I just did!”

Starlight nodded to her counterpart with a smirk. With her mind free of Sperion’s influence for a moment, she rewound time around herself, un-petrifying her legs, at which point she rose a mirror up that showed Sperion from a few seconds ago. She grinned, casting the magic hammer once again to close the time loop - hearing the thunk on Sperion a second time was very satisfying. “Hurry!” she yelled to her past self. “Get ahold of yourself and do what I just did!”

Starlight turned from the mirror to the past, smashing another mirror into the present Sperion, attempting to freeze him in time.

“So, you did figure out the tricks,” he said, his body annoyingly resistant to being frozen, only slowing slightly. “But they are new tricks for you. I’ve known of them for a long time - they are my natural state.” He pointed his limb of Power upwards, creating a tremendous black sphere in an instant. He placed himself right at its edge, and Starlight felt her grasp on him weaken considerably, not to mention the intense gravitational field was dragging her ever-closer to the event horizon.

She grunted, ground her teeth, and anchored herself to the flat ground with numerous mirrors that cut into her skin. She focused intensely on keeping Sperion’s seventh limb from appearing, but the gravity well was creating an accelerated-time effect on him, and it was hard to focus her own powers through the distortion. She roared, lighting her horn and tapping into the space between the sphere and Sperion, extending it to several yards, removing the annoying warping effect. She followed it up with temporarily cloning herself, the future versions of herself flying through broken mirrors and hitting Sperion with intense magical laser blasts.

The intense volley had absolutely no effect.

The many Starlights gulped while Sperion sighed. “I did say I was annoyingly immortal.” He waved his limbs and the many Starlights found themselves flung away. They quickly reverted back into a single Starlight, who created several Mirrors out of the aether, flinging them right at Sperion. He blasted one away with a beam of energy, only to be hit by that same beam of energy from another mirror. Starlight copied the burst of energy and hit Sperion dozens of times with his own attack.

He teleported behind her, swinging a blunt steel rod. She teleported away, removing the rod from his grasp and bashing his center with it. The rod snapped in two. Sperion’s form rippled and then paused for a moment. “There is nothing you can do to harm me. Please, just let me save the Realms - save what can be saved of this Level. We don’t have to fight.”

“You don’t have to do this!” Starlight yelled. “We can find a way around this! We are the Seven! Maybe we can remove the Connection that shouldn’t exist! Time itself is at my disposal - I can take us back! Save September! Stop the other Seven!”

“We already tried that once,” Sperion sighed. “Time does not work the way you think it does. Undoing events? It... Doesn’t work. It just causes extreme instability when you succeed. And... Time just doesn’t like change. Not to mention that your predecessor would probably try to fight that change.”

“We can try!”

“Changing the very fundamental nature of the past is no different than what I’m going to do anyway. You’d just be destroying one world and replacing it with another.”

Starlight bit her lip - he was right there. “Then maybe we can find another way! We’ll try anything-”

“You rejected living in loneliness,” Sperion said. “I can see it within you. She asked you politely - you said no. And even if you say yes now, there was something she didn’t consider when she made the offer. Me. I am the combination of many Realms at once, and I... Am physically incapable of turning myself off. I can’t isolate myself, so the option is moot. I may be the Spirit of Order - but I may cause more instability than the Seven of you combined.”

Starlight blinked. “...Just by existing you strain the Realms?”

“I am what was not meant to be,” Sperion said. “So you have two options. Find some way to kill me, to temporarially halt the decay of this Level - or let me do what I have set out to do.”

Starlight shook her head. “I... I don’t want to kill you. ...But I guess I have to.”

“I don’t think you can,” he sighed. “...Try it. Hit me with everything you have. I won’t resist.”

Starlight blinked, losing most of her determination in one moment. “W-what?”

“I said go for it. Hit me with everything.”

Starlight hesitated - but only took a second. “...Sorry.” She lit her horn up to its full luminosity, space and time warping in a spherical shape of distortion around Sperion, rotating at speeds so high the air around him ignited. Tears in spacetime formed around Sperion, black and white energies swirling around him at relativistic intensities. Starlight shot the strongest burst of magic she could into the swirling cloud of spacetime anomalies she had created, the result being an intense luminous star of blue fire.

Then Starlight crushed space around the star, the intense energies becoming too much for her powers to contain. It compressed too far and exploded in a nova of temporal and magical energy that tossed Starlight far away, ramming her into the ground with a loud thud.

“Ow...” she said, opening her eyes. To her mild surprise, she saw a very confused version of herself standing nearby. “Oh look.” She took a moment to process what was happening. “...Guess this is where this happens. "

“Where what happens?” her counterpart responded.

Starlight smiled to her past self - a version from a simpler time. “You can control this place. Just try it.” She stood up, lit her horn, and appeared in the time and location she had detonated the nova in just moments before. Sperion was there still - shaking. The attack had evidentially been enough to shock him, but he was otherwise unharmed.

And his seventh limb had just completed formation.

“No!” Starlight yelled, reaching out with her inflection to reverse his limb formation - only to find herself being rewound slightly, forcing a stalemate.

Sperion began to glow with an intense white light, all seven limbs extending out fully, his entire body shaking with brilliant beams of energy. Starlight tried to do anything to him - but everything was bounced away effortlessly.

“Nonononononono!” She yelled. She tried traveling to the past, to the future - only to find that Sperion was following her while he completed his transformation, preventing her from altering anything. Eventually, all she could do was stare in abject horror as the light dissipated, revealing a new being. The shape was still the same - a shifting spiky shape with seven limbs, but it was much more brilliant - Starlight would have called the substance he was now composed of liquid diamond. Light refracted from within him, instead of reflecting from all sides. However, the biggest difference was his center - it was dominated by a single, large, sorrowful eye. He looked down at her, eye shifting around uncomfortably.

“Perfection...” He said, his voice no longer a droning monotone, but a beautiful harmony of differing voices. “I... I have it. I am complete.”

“Please reconsider!” Starlight yelled.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he said, the Realm of Echoes trembling slightly as he spoke. “This form is far too prominent... The world will end soon if I do not start...”

“Can we try a time loop? Send you to another level? Can we just delay things while we figure it out?”

Sperion chuckled sadly. “That’s just borrowed time starlight. The instability will become critical even if the entire world was on pause - and my presence would be even worse for lower Levels - I have Magic. It must be done.”

The Realm of Echoes suffered another tremble that Starlight had difficulty remaining upright through.

“Save yourself,” Sperion said, “go to the Sixth Level. Protect it from instability. Don’t be foolish like your predecessors.” He opened a portal, slipped through it, and left Starlight alone among the mirrors.

She stood there for several seconds, realizing she didn’t know how to get out... But she didn’t think Sperion would just abandon her here. He might have been crazy, but he wasn’t cruel.

She narrowed her eyes, realizing the way out was simple - she created a mirror that showed the portal Sperion created a few seconds ago. She leaped into the mirror, and through the portal, returning to Central seconds behind Sperion himself. She levitated herself, and looked around - she was in the sky over Equestria. Sperion was nowhere to be seen - but she still felt like something was wrong.

To her horror, she saw a small crack form in the earth below her, sending a large dust cloud up into the atmosphere. He was right - the world really was falling apart. She lit her horn, searching for him with a long-range location spell. His unmistakable magical signature could be found at... Ponyville?

She teleported herself there in an instant, a horrible sight greeting her. The ponies of Ponyville were all gathered together in the square, screaming in terror at the sight above them. Sperion had Discord in a death grip, the two beings floating motionless in the air, eyes locked in a battle of wills. Black energy was wafting off Discord’s form, mingling with the white energy flowing around Sperion. The black energy was rapidly diminishing, and Discord’s stare was beginning to lose intensity. Starlight could only imagine what the two beings were doing to each other that she couldn’t see.

Starlight tried to cast a beam spell, but a quick flick of Sperion’s closest limb sent her flying into a nearby house, dazed.

At that point Implode came flying out of nowhere, smashing Sperion right in the eye with flaming hooves. She bounced right off him - but that didn’t stop her. She rammed him again, and again, and again, relentlessly beating at Sperion’s stubborn horn.

“Bucking die!” Implode yelled, managing to make a hoof-sized black sphere in her rage, throwing the deadly object right at his singular eye. It vanished the moment it hit him, though it did grab his attention. Without taking his eye of Discord, he rose a limb and grabbed ahold of Implode with a magical aura, using his power to ram her into Discord. Implode screamed - the shadowy energy enveloping her, suffocating her.

It was at this point Discord lost the battle - he was not as convicted as Sperion, and the pained calls of Implode made him falter. His dark, chaotic energy collapsed in on itself, enveloping both his physical form and Implode. They were condensed into a small, black icosahedron that fell to the ground with an unsatisfying clunk. Sperion tossed the sphere a certain earth pony standing in the crowd - the Doctor. “Take them to Level Six. And save yourselves.” With a flick of his wrist, the entire population of Ponyville was teleported away.

“What did you do to them!?” Starlight yelled.

“They’re outside the Mirror Portal,” he said. “You should go there as well.”

“Not going to happen!” she yelled.

The planet trembled - a chasm opening right through the center of Ponyville. The town hall collapsed in a heap, splinters flying upwards in a cloud of debris. Sugarcube Corner fell over, sending bakery goods everywhere, decorating the nearby world in icing and bread loaves.

Sperion turned to Starlight. “Are you sure that this is what you want? To die here, leaving the next world without a guardian?”

Starlight growled. “I’m a stubborn mare, Sperion. I don’t know the meaning of the words ‘give up’.”

“You changed your mind once.”

Starlight shook her head. “Not listening.” She cloned herself dozens of times and rushed Sperion. With a flick of his limb, all the Starlights collapsed into one, and Sperion punched the remaining Starlight into the ground effortlessly.

“Ow...”

Sperion sighed, floating into the rapidly-reddening sky. “Please leave.”

“N-Never.”

“Then you seal your own fate. I am truly sorry.” He extended his arms straight, his eye opening to its widest. He roared, the voices of many filling the space of Central. He plugged himself into reality, ready to overwrite it with his own being... Starlight could only watch as the air around Sperion coursed with strange, multicolored lines that moved with oddly artificial angles - as if spreading like circuitry.

Something tugged at the back of Sperion’s mind, stopping him from his action. What...

...Rarity.

He wasn’t given any time to resolve the problem in his mind, for a pink blur collided into him at impossible speeds, distorting the positions of his limbs, reversing what little progress he had already made. She essentially unplugged him from reality.

“I was hoping to get done before you could arrive...” Sperion said.

Pinkie floated inches from his eye. “You clearly don’t understand this thing called timing.” She giggled, slapping him in the eye with a titanium hammer. Sperion then found himself frozen in crystal, which was then crushed between two giant spheres of solid uranium, which was then liquefied and hardened into a radioactive diamond shape around him.

He tore the material apart, the many radioactive chunks spreading out for miles, starting numerous fires. “Let me have this!” He yelled over the trembling of the world. “If I don’t do it soon, the world will end! All of it! No more Seventh Level! You are being foolhardy!”

“Truth,” Applejack said, walking in. “Hard truth, too.”

“But there’s always another option!” Pinkie said.

“We can’t just let our home die,” Twilight affirmed.

Fluttershy picked Starlight up and healed her. “...So much would mean nothing if you get what you want...”

“Go save as many as you can! Stop wasting time!” Tears began to fall from Sperion’s eye. “You aren’t just throwing your own lives away - you are killing those you could save!”

“Sunset and the Princesses have that covered,” Twilight said. “We are here just in case there is another way out. We will try to find it until the end - it may be impossible, we may be doomed, but we can’t not try.” She looked Sperion in the eye. “In the face of no chance, we will fight until our dying breath for this world.” She raised a hoof. “We are the Seven. This world is what made us. We were chosen for this. Our purpose is to save this world from destruction, not assist it in its fall! We will not run away from our destiny - or our home!”

She took a deep breath. “Sperion! Spirit of Order! You threaten our world - stop now! Please! We beg you!”

Sperion swore under his breath. “You... You... You are so inspiring, you know that? Optimism in the face of bleakness. Hope in the hopeless. A will to fight, even if death is certain.” He looked at them all. “You... You are amazing mares. I am honored to have had the chance to know you.”

Rarity frowned. “...Please, Sperion...”

“You know my decision. I can’t stop, my mere existence threatens the world’s now. You will have to kill me... And even then... Even then... The world would still be in danger. No. I can’t stop. Central... No, Equis must end, so the Realms can live.” He shook himself side to side, eye damp. “I know I cannot change your minds. And you cannot change mine. I can only hope that, like your predecessors, you will find a way to survive.” His gaze stopped on Twilight for a long time, fearful. The world trembled once more, a mountain in the distance falling to rubble. “It. Was. An. Honor.”

“Likewise,” Twilight said, tears in her eyes as well.

“Goodbye. One way or another.”

“Goodbye.” They bowed to each other.

Sperion spread his arms all at once - and the world exploded around them all, instantly replacing Ponyville with a smoldering crater. Twilight appeared above Sperion instantly afterward, her six friends right behind her. She roared, combining all Seven of their energies into a rainbow sphere that barreled towards him. He rose his limbs and shot a rainbow burst of equal magnitude back at them, the energies exploding in a brilliant show of fireworks that sent both sides flying - the Seven into the air, and Sperion into the ground.

Neither wasted a moment. Twilight teleported the Seven of them around Sperion in a finishing position, drawing on all their powers to surround him in a brilliant shower of colors. He fought back with the exact same power, an explosion occurring all around him. Completely unharmed, Sperion blasted a singular shot at Twilight, only for the other six to move in unison with their own powers to protect her, the bullet ceasing to exist.

Sperion backed up, attempting to crush them with a surging cloud of collapsing spacetime, but they shot the ripple back at him, driving him deep into the crater wall. He grunted, pulling himself out with an explosion of blue plasma. He raised a limb, grabbing onto part of the atmosphere above them, igniting it, and condensing it into an ionized tornado with the Seven in the center. They were burnt and charred by the plasma, but they were instantly healed by the Inflections of Life and Echoes. They charged out of the tornado, flying at Sperion with their own whirlwind of technicolor energy, barreling right into his eye. They quickly followed up with explosions, lasers, mental attacks, and a buck to the face courtesy of Applejack.

But still, he was unharmed.

He pushed back, freezing them all in once place. He shot all of them in the head simultaneously, only to see the bullets rewinds instantaneously. He found himself unable to counter the time alteration because of a mental pinch from Rarity. He shuddered, temporally cloning himself in a web of distortion.

The Seven did the same, all of them copying a hundred times over, enveloping themselves in distortion as well. Each Sperion met seven ponies, and the crater grew from all the intense clashes. Cracks continued to form in the earth below - and in the distance, a volcano erupted, and a large portion of Canterlot broke off. Thunder struck all around them and red clouds swirled in unstable formations above. The sun and moon were both in the sky - and both were shaking uncontrollably. The Seven and Sperion returned to singular forms, circling each other and bouncing many different attacks back and forth. A tree grew out of the ground and wrapped around Sperion, attempting to strangle him, but it dried up quickly. A black hole swept into him, a blast of magic stronger than any other blanketed him, an impossible shape attacked him from a direction that didn’t exist, a nova exploded around them all, but, always, none were truly harmed - only shaken.

Sperion never took damage, the Seven simply undid all the burns, demolitions, and deaths with a few quick thoughts. They were all far too determined.

The giants clashed in the crater of Ponyville, the world falling apart around them: ancient magics awoke, lava bubbled up through cracks in the crust, tidal waves formed on the seas, and the cosmos themselves were shaken. Nature itself raged - plants, animals, and magics all roared as one, called by an ancient power older than any knew, screaming against the end.

The Seven smashed Sperion into the ground once more.

“We’re running out of time!” Starlight said.

“But we aren’t even damaging him!” Twilight yelled. “I don’t know what we can do!”

Rarity blinked. “...Fluttershy does.”

Everypony’s heads turned to Fluttershy - her face was one of a mare terrified of herself and what she knew.

“You don’t have to sugarcube-” Applejack began.

“No,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I do.”

She flew away from the group, looking Sperion right in the eye as she approached him. He looked back at her - unsure what she was doing.

Then she stared at him.

He stared back, the two locked in a battle of wills - Fluttershy saw his life force, and he saw hers.

She moved first, grabbing his life with all her might and squeezing, using the most powerful Inflection of Life in existence to drain all she could. She wailed openly as she did so - not because Sperion was tearing her own life away in retaliation, but because she knew exactly what she was doing. She didn’t need the pain to remind her, it was one of the furthest things from her mind.

Sperion’s eye became incredibly unsteady - shaking with agony - the sound of his own wailing bringing tears to all who heard it. Neither stopped the assault - through the pain, through the darkness, through the suffering - neither relented. They held eye contact the entire time, both wishing there was another way. They both knew the other was sorry.

Sperion tried one final attack - using his six free arms to launch an attack, an attack that the other six stopped. And then - he did nothing. Twilight was sure he could have, he could have tried something else - but instead, he just held his connection to Fluttershy, hard. Their eyes rolled back at the exact same time - both fell to the ground, limp, dead, the life literally squeezed from both their bodies.

Fluttershy was grabbed by Twilight’s magic - Sperion was allowed to fall all the way to the ground, landing in the mud of the crater. Neither of them moved - the tears coming from their were just leftovers from their living moments a few seconds ago.

It was over.

Starlight quickly rewound Fluttershy back to life, hugging the yellow pegasus tight the moment she regained awareness. “You did it!” The other five piled in on the group hug - there were no dry faces, for their victory was such a costly one.

The world shook - less intense than the last tremble, but still powerful.

“It... It hasn’t stopped,” Rainbow Dash said. “Why hasn’t it stopped!?”

Twilight grimaced. “It... It might be too far gone now...”

Applejack groaned. “Why? Why? Why is this always for nothing? Why can’t there be...” She paused, a look of contemplation on her face. She looked around quickly, scanning the sky, the sun, the moon, Sperion’s limp, shimmering form, and the Seven of them. Her Inflection of Truth did its job - she saw all the information she needed. “Twi. Ah have an idea.”

“Hurry!” Twilight implored.

“This world needs stability, right? And were, like, part of it on some level of Destiny. We are connected to it on a fundamental level - maybe, maybe we, the Seven, can give it our essences. To repair it!”

“We... We won’t survive that,” Fluttershy said. “We would become anchored to the world - unable to move, unable to live...”

Rainbow Dash took in a breath. “Well... We weren’t exactly planning on making it out of this anyway,” she laughed, sadly. “W-we’ll be heroes!”

Starlight nodded. “We... We can do this. We...” She couldn’t continue.

Pinkie smirked. “Well... One last party then?”

Rarity sighed. “Yes Pinkie...” she let a soft smirk appear on her face. “One last party.”

Twilight frowned. “...I... I guess we did come here not expecting to make it out...” She shook her head. “Perhaps we should have taken Congeal up on her offer...”

Starlight shook her head. “Sperion told me it wouldn’t have worked anyway... There really wasn’t much of an optoin for us..”

Twilight nodded. “Let’s... Stand around Sperion.”

“You will need his energies,” Applejack said. “It’s the only way to do it.”

Among a crumbling world, Seven mares stood around the corpse of a spirit of Order, a beautiful sight despite its ghastly nature. A motionless image of beauty, made of diamond that shone in the light of a dying world. The Seven stood tall and proud - Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. They all closed their eyes, a heptagon of energy forming between them. The information for Applejack’s plan flooded into Twilight’s mind, and she instantly started weaving the spell through all Seven of them. She took energy from all of them - including the form of Sperion - and cast the powerful magic through what connected them all. She connected directly to the world that created them, that gave them their Inflections, that gave them their destiny. Artificial lines of color identical to what Sperion had created a short while ago shot from the seven of them, tearing into reality itself, and tugging on all their very souls, rooting their essences to the world. A sharp power filled their bodies, hitting them all with a sharp pain.

They felt essences flow out of them - they felt their cutie marks flash, vibrating. They felt the Tree of Harmony calling to them, giving them it’s support - giving them what they needed to follow through. They felt themselves start to petrify, turning into stone...

“I love you all!” Twilight shouted over the din of their power. She left her position in the heptagon, rushing them all into a hug around the fallen form of Sperion. The spell was already cast - helped along by the Tree’s ancient guidance. It worked their destinies and lives into the structure of reality itself...

They all smiled in the end, finishing as one.

In the last possible moment, Twilight had a thought.

Maybe...

Sperion’s eye opened.

And then everything was still.

Epilogue

View Online

Under the blue sky, there was a large crater where the town of Ponyville once stood. In the center of this crater, there was an elaborate statue, shining under the light of the brilliant sun. It was a statue of seven mares and a large, seven-limbed, thorny being. The mares were all hugging, and the arms of the creature were wrapped around them, one for each of their small forms. They all stood there, motionless.

Rarity's eyes were open - both of them - her eyepatch dangling off one of her ears. A look of awestruck wonder was imprinted on her face. Fluttershy's eyes were closed, trails of tears on her cheek, her lips turned in a soft, serene, smile. Pinkie's eyes were shut tight, and it looked like she was stuck laughing for eternity. Applejack wore a sad smile, looking wistfully into the distance. Starlight appeared to be at one with the universe, her face calm and accepting. Rainbow Dash had her wings spread out, her face one of intense exhilaration, a perfect form of a pegasus in graceful flight.

Twilight was looking up at the sky, her eyes open, an expression of deep thought on her face - the face of somepony with an idea.

Sperion's eye was open, staring right into the sky along with her.

They stood, motionless. A bird landed on them, and a breeze blew a few leaves around. It was a perfect moment. The bird left the statue when greeted by a brilliant flash of light.

Discord and Implode stood inches from the Statue. Implode grimaced. "Oh..."

Discord sighed. "Well, they did it. They saved the world..." He looked at Fluttershy, tears coming out of his own eyes. "Th.. Fluttershy..." He fell silent.

Implode was crying as well; she buried her face in Discord's leg. "...None of them deserved to die! None!"

Discord held her close, despite himself. "No. They didn't. They are the best ponies I know."

They stood there, silent, for several seconds - contemplating the sacrifice the heroes had made to ensure the safety of their home. It had been a game of sacrifice in the end - Sperion was willing to sacrifice the world itself, and the Seven weren’t - they would give themselves instead. The entire story had been marked by sacrifice... September giving up what made her a pony, the Ponies of Truth giving up their own minds, the Seven losing their home... Was it all just to stave off the inevitable decay? Or would there be an end to it?

And then a bright light flickered into existence, expanding into a strange magic construct in the shape of an upside-down bowl. The bowl had many gear-like imprints on its exterior, and it made a strange ticking noise. Discord and Implode started in baffled amazement as a lattice of rainbow magic appeared out of the bowl's bottom. Seven spheres of organic material were created in the air, and each one was slowly shaped into the form of a pony. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, two unicorns, and one alicorn were created right before their eyes from scratch - carefully created from the rainbow spell. The magic ran out - and the bowl vanished. The seven ponies were unceremoniously dropped onto the ground.

"Holy Quesadillas!" Twilight shouted with glee. "That actually worked!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head, disoriented. "Uh... What did?"

"I used our combined power to re-create ourselves at a certain point in the future, creating us as new ponies - without a connection to our destinies as the Seven! We're alive!" She laughed with glee.

Rarity blinked - both of her eyes. One at a time. "Er...I'm not seeing any thoughts..."

"That's left with the destinies," Applejack said. "Ah think. Can't really know for sure..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Wait - our awesome powers are gone?"

"Yep!" Pinkie said, smirking knowingly.

"I'm not complaining..." Fluttershy admitted.

Twilight turned to look at the statue then - those seven ponies stuck in there were still them - or, perhaps, it was better to think of them as the Seven. The seven ponies out here were... different. They may have had all the memories, experiences, souls, and bodies - but... The destinies were still in that statue, attached to something. Something that provided an anchoring presence for the world. She looked at Sperion. "It... Wasn't all us though. Sperion... Sperion was filled with life at the last moment. He knew what I was trying to do..." A big smile crossed her face, tears rolling across her features. "I... I wouldn't have had enough time to compile it on my own. He did it for me. He saved us."

Everypony was silent.

Then Discord couldn't take it anymore - he scooped all of them up in a big hug, laughing. Implode tackled them, and they became a big pile of bodies laughing and hugging under the sun.

It truly was over.

~~~

Except it wasn't, not completely. With the Seven and Speroin gone - and Congeal - most of the strains on the Seventh Level were removed from the equation - but not all of them. There were the ponies of New Mareu, straining the fabric by practicing their craft in Central. Twilight determined that the world could survive a generation of ponies with minor Inflections, so they were allowed to enter Equestria, as long as they stayed on their island. Silver didn't complain, she used her place to convince the other settlements in the Realm of Power to follow.

The same deal was offered to the ponies in the Realm of Truth. All accepted, in the end, once everything was fully explained to them - they saw that straining reality was far too dangerous to continue doing. The crystalline ones in the Realm of Magic didn't leave - they were more magic than pony at this point. A few did leave temporarily to help rebuild Equis, though.

It was a long process that took many years, but eventually, Equis was repaired. Cracks in the earth were filled, mountains reformed, settlements rebuilt - some from the ground up. When this was mostly accomplished, the time came to seal off the Realms completely.

Some Guardians of New Mareu and crystalline ones were in the Realm of Power, looking through the still-open portal at the moon temple. They destroyed the last of the Original Seven's temples with their magics, leaving the Chest on the moon to freeze. And then, at last, the crystalline ones returned to the Realm of Magic, and the rest of the ponies were ready to destroy the portal to New Mareu that had been kept open for so long.

A few things needed to be done first. Fluttershy had her many animals moved to her cottage - it had been far enough outside Ponyville that it was spared. She left Browncoat and his herd - they belonged more in the Realm of Life than Equis.

Ahuizotl was found in the Realm of Magic, having become a crystalline one. He said he rather liked the existence as a magical being and had learned to appreciate the immortality it offered. He never returned to Equis.

Starlight spent a lot of time in the Realm of Echoes in the last days - she had no more inflection, but she talked to many flashing phantoms of ponies long forgotten in that place, including her predecessor - she never told anyone what was said to her.

There would be no more journeys into the Realms after this. The temples were all reduced to rubble, and those living on Equis with Inflections would stop straining reality by the end of their lives. There was always the possibility somepony would figure out how to travel again, but it was a risk that had always been present throughout all history. It was deemed an acceptable risk and no "New Order" was formed to keep it from happening. September's mistake was not to be repeated.

Yuku was found dead in her cell, her brain split in two at the pain of Congeal's permanent death. She was never intended to have an existence beyond the Order, Congeal made sure of that.

In the end, the world was healed, and things went back to normal for the most part. Most ponies still don't know exactly what caused the world to almost end, and most are content to make up stories and legends from the statue in the Ponyville crater. The ponies immortalized in the statue make no attempt to dispel the many wild legends. With so many false stories, few ever come across the truth.

After the portal was destroyed, life marched on...

~~~

Ponyville was a quaint little town built into a crater. Houses lined the outer rim and streets crisscrossed in a scaffold pattern several yards above the ground. A small lake glistened in the center, a statue sitting atop a podium in the center, and the entire bowl was filled with green grass. Animals of all sorts - some alien, such as a two-headed snake or floating manta ray - frolicked around the town. There was no castle - all that remained of Twilight's abode was a heap of crystal that sparkled in the sun. A giant tree had been grown next to it, inside of which was a library. Among the many bookshelves and magic crystal table, Twilight Sparkle handed Rainbow Dash a book.

The Legacy of Daring Do: The Realms of Existence. The cover was an image of September's cutie mark overlaid an image of the Seven-Sided Chest.

Rainbow Dash squeed. "You... You really wrote it!"

"Yes, I did," she said. "Just the way she would have wanted it. Crazy, embellished, full of action, but with a barely-warped true story at its core. It'll be published anonymously, but I've worked out a deal with the publisher so it'll get a lot of press." She chuckled. "I can only imagine the fandom arguments on it..."

"Hoo boy, it'll be brutal. If I hadn't already told Quibble what happened, I expect he'd go to war with me over it." She smirked. "...That might actually be fun..."

Twilight nodded, strolling to the window and looking out at Ponyville. "...I wish she could see this."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "Me too."

~~~

"Fluttershy, dear, you're playing the wrong card."

"Oh, sorry. Which one was it again?"

"The chocolate one, ya silly!"

"Trixie still finds this confusing."

The four mares heard the bell ring. Rarity cleared her throat. "Carousel Boutique, how may I help..." she paused, cocking her head. "Implode?"

Implode stood there, face as straight as it possibly could be. "I want a dress. Stat."

Rarity blinked. "...What kind and why?"

"...That Spike of yours just asked me out and a date and I intend to look nice."

Rarity's jaw dropped. "You? And him? Wha- bu- he-?"

Implode raised an eyebrow. "You got a problem with that marshmallow?"

"No... No... Perfectly fine..." She turned to the fabrics and started muttering under her breath. "The Stars is Spike thinking...?"

Implode looked at the three mares at the table and grinned. "I'll take Rarity's spot."

"We're doomed," Pinkie said. "I fold! Nope! Abandon ship!"

"Oh, am I just too good for you, little pink pansy?"

"YES!" Pinkie shouted, slamming a door she hadn't even opened, somehow.

"Trixie has somewhere else to be she just remembered," Trixie squirmed. "A lawn needs to be mowed." She galloped out of the boutique, her cards going flying.

"I'll play," Fluttershy said. "But I don't really know what I'm doing..."

"Trust me. It helps," Implode said.The two pegasi laughed, starting the game. Somehow Rarity lost even though she wasn't playing.

~~~

Starlight sat on the hill at the edge of the crater, looking at the stars.

Or Stars?

She didn't know.

"Ah see you're here again."

"Yeah..." Starlight said. "I'm just... wondering."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "'Bout what?"

"About everything. The original Seven rigged everything in honor of their friend, and refused to stop because they thought it was right. September became Congeal because she thought it was right. We fought Sperion, and Sperion fought us for the same reasons. We all thought it was right- and were all willing to sacrifice."

"Starlight... It's been years."

"Were they really any different from us?"

Applejack frowned. "No. Ah don't think so. Ah think we just got lucky and were right in the end."

"Is that what it comes down to? Luck?"

"Fate? Determination?" Applejack shrugged. "Ah dunno, Starlight, Ah dunno. I do know that, in this life, some things won't ever make sense. But you will always have your friends, regardless of some 'connection' hogwash existing or not. When everything seems the bleakest, you just need to have some faith."

Starlight smiled, looking at the Stars. "Some faith..." A calming breeze wafted through the night, bringing a smile to their lips.

The moon shone down on Ponyville, glinting off the statue. The petrified form of Twilight the Seventh looked right back at the gray globe, curiously studying it.

Many, many miles away, the surface of the moon itself shone back at the planet of Equis, like it always had for millennia. However, things were slightly different now, and any amateur astronomer could identify the new crater on the lunar body. In the center of this crater were bits and pieces of diamond pillar scattered everywhere, the fresh moon dust covering large portions of them. But one object stood out, unharmed, as it always had been.

Half buried in the sand, the Seven Sided Chest of Chicomoztok sat, motionless under the starlight. It glinted with the prospects of the future, waiting patiently under the beautiful night sky.

Author's Notes:

Welp, that's ANOTHER big story done - and I will say, I have much more pride in this story than I do Wanderlost. Even if that space-adventure is more popular, I like this one because I put more effort into it - and the pacing is much better handled. (I have issues with the pacing in Wanderlost that I don't think I can fix without a complete re-write, and I'm not doing that.)

Anyway, besides that, thanks for reading this all the way through. Back when I wrote this, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to resolve all the plot threads in a way that made sense - but now that it's all up, I can't really see it much differently than it is now. Thank you for giving me reason to complete this undertaking - and to move on to other undertakings.

Regardless, tell me what you thought, go ahead and point out any mistakes/inconsistencies I made, and please, what was this book like as a whole?

Also, if you're interested in learning about some of the lore I couldn't fit into the story, go to this blog post: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/741780/the-realms-close

Until next time...

-GM, master of OMNIVERSE V.

Realms of Existence

by GMBlackjack

I - The Will

II - Divided We Stand

III - Settlement

IV - Passing Moments

V - That Which is Dodged

VI - Mirror's Edge

VII - Relational Geometries

VIII - Interview

IX - Congeal

X - The Cyclic Nature

XI - Ascending Wings

XII - Doubting Minds

XIII - Implosion

XIV - Can of Worms

XV - Welcome to the Show

XVI - Interlude

XVII - Rarity's Realm

XVIII - Betrayal's Vectors

XIX - Meadowbrook

XX - Sperion's Story

XXI - The Eye of Sperion

Epilogue

Credits