The Planeby silverspawnChaptersuistri---------------AwakeningProgressdbng------udirection it's in.” “Do you think you can solve it? Is it worth searching for it?” “I'm not sure yet. I think it's worth it just in case.” “Okay.” Cold slowly pivoted around, searching her field of vision for the faintest hint of a glimmer. There was nothing. “So, we have to move if we want to locate it again.” She thought for a moment. “I'll take care of it. You keep working on the puzzle.” Hesitantly, Cold moistened her lips, then she began walking forward, all the while looking out for the light and counting her steps. When she reached thirty, she turned around and walked sixty steps in the opposite direction. Nothing. Biting her lip, Cold turned around yet again and walked thirty steps into the direction from which she had come. At this point, it was reasonable to assume that inaccurate navigation had brought her a fair bit away from her starting point. Nonetheless, she turned around at a ninety degree angle, and began to pursue this new direction. Then, just half a dozen steps into her walk, she could see a light at the left border of her vision. Her initial reaction was one of relief, which was quickly mixed with doubts. She knew nothing about the way any of this functioned – what she saw now could easily be a source ito talk.” “What do you see?” “The same as you.” “Okay.” Cold turned around, paranoid of something sneaking up from behind her, even though there was no sensation of danger. “What do we do?” “I... I...” She stocked. “Look around for others?” Cold nodded, then she remembered that she wouldn't be able to see it. “Alright.” Slowly, carefully, Cold walked ahead. The landscape didn't change; there was no sense for direction or space. After a while, however, a distant glimmer came into vision. As she got closer, she made it out to be the outlines of two geometrical shapes on the ground: a rectangle and a circle, both radiating in the same bright blue light. “It's a puzzle. A set shall hold any number which can only be divided by one or itself. If this set has infinite size, step into the rectangle, if not step into the circle. Guess wrong and you die.” “Do we have to solve it?” A small pause. “No. It's optional. But it will benefit us.” “How much?” “I have no idea.” “Do you think we should stay and try to solve it?” “I... I don't know.” Cold bit her lip. It was hard to decide on a course of action with so little information. “I think we should keep moving...” she mumbled. “Do you think we can find the way back here?” “Not if we go too far away. There is nothing to help coordination in this place.” “Alright...” Cold took a deep breath. “How about you think about it, and I'll see if I find something else? I'll stay close enough for us to find back. If you think you aren't going sto solve it, tell me, and we'll forget about it.” “That's fine.” “Okay.” Slowly, Cold picked up a steady pace, ready to dodge an incoming threat at any second. Occasionally, she threw short glances over her shoulder to ensure that the glimmer was still visible. But by the time it was on the edge of disappearance, there still hadn't been any change to her surroundings. Carefully, Cold started to navigate along the invisible circle which her sight radius drew around the distant glimmer. The minutes crept by, and Cold began wondering if something would happen as soon as she lowered her guard, and how she was supposed to tell when she had completed the circle. Then, she thought of something else... and then of something else “Hey!” “What?” Cold shook her head. Blinking, she tried to remember how she got here. “Is everything alright? You stopped paying attention to the location of the puzzle, and began to walk in a straight line.” “I.. I-I'm I'm...” Cold turned around. Her head felt dim and bleary... and she could feel this sensation intensifying. “I think we're facing another threat,” she said, quickly so as to explain it while she was still lucid enough to formulate thoughts. “Something is messing with my clear thinking. I... I... you... do you... are you affected too? I mean, are you not affected... I... are you?” “I'm fine” “Right, then you... if you... mhh...” “Hey! Hey!” “Gaaah!” Cold shuddered, and a wave of fear washed over her. “You've been out for almost half a minute.” “Right. Give me commands. If you see something... mhlll... ffffff...” She squeezed her eyes as hard as she could, trying to stay in the moment. “If you see something dangerous, give me commands. Simple ones. Shout something until I react. I don't know if... mhhh...” She smiled. The water was so clear... some day, she would like to visit the but everything was peaceful. The beach stretched on for as long as her sight “Left. Left.” Cold reacted as soon as she could process the meaning of this thought. When her consciousness kept creeping back bit by bit, she saw that she too would have noticed the shape in time. It was black, it was deadly, and it came towards her straight from ahead. But it was also slow. Cold judged that it would have taken at least ten more seconds to reach her position. “I don't think that'll be the only one. Keep looking.” “I will.” “Mhhh...” Cold could feel her thoughts leaving her again. This time, she didn't fight it – she had just dodged an attack, she didn't need to think right now. If the drowsiness came in waves, the sooner it happened the sooner it might go away... “Forward.” Mhhhh The world was a cube. When you stepped over the edge, it would flip and adjust the point of gravity. It was impossible to fall – but it was also a trap. “Forward." Forward? There was no forward in a cube. Every direction was the same. Forward was tthree times backwards. Backwards was three times forward. “For “Forward!” There were two worlds. One of them was a cube, the other a plane. If you went forward in the cube, how would that affect the plane? If you went forward on the plane, how would that affect the cube? One had to be right. “Forward!” “Mhh... m-mhh...” Forward. “On... w-which world?” It was difficult to make the right decision. Maybe try both? She went forward in the cube, but nothing changed. She went forward in the plane... it was difficult. It felt like a shadow was falling off her mind with every step. The cube began to dissipate... “That's enough.” “Mmmhhhhh...” Cold blinked. She shook her head. Slowly, a net of unconnected dots in front of her appeared, and just as slowly, it merged into an image. She turned around. Behind her, a black shape was just moving by. She shuddered. This one she wouldn't have noticed in time. If there was another one – and her feeling told her that there was going to be one more – and if it was going to be as much harder as the second had been compared to the first, then she wouldn't survive it, unless she found a way to wake faster this time. But there was no time to think about a strategy. The cloud that would enclose her mind was already on its way. Drift off, drift off... upon the winding path of fate where the golden chimeras fly in the twilight glow “Forward.” sensation rising within “Forward.” “F “Forward.” “Forward.” Forward. “Forward.” She moved forward. The destination was the way to survive. A futile endeavor. Going to the end of the dream to chase the shadow that was the key to the longing that was the aftermath of the horror that was the cure to the fear that was the consequence of the treason for which the goal was to starve to see Cold blinked. She looked behind her. There was nothing. She looked around. There was a black shape moving towards a point somewhere behind her. It hadn't even been close this time. “I don't understand this,” she said, her heart still beating quickly. “But good job. I think we made it.” “It was terrifying. The second wave almost killed us, and there was nothing I could do.” Cold closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths. “What about the location of the puzzle? Have we lost it?” “I think so. You went in a straight line for a while before the attacks came, and during the attacks I didn't pay attention to the rdifferent from the one she had been looking for. “Is this it?” “You found it. Yeah.” “You sure it's the same puzzle?” “Yes.” Cold didn't ask how she knew this – it wasn't important. All that mattered were their chances for survival. With a sigh, she started walking in a new circle around the light. Minutes passed without disturbance. Cold didn't want to distract her, so she didn't say a word, but she couldn't keep her own thoughts from moving ahead. Everything she knew – her entire life – was less than half an hour old. If she had existed before that point, then all memories had been taken from her. But her mind was not one of an infant. She possessed extensive knowledge of a language that she couldn't name, understanding of concepts whose source was unknown to her, and a familiarity with a body of which she knew nothing. Whatever her world was, it was not natural. Something, or someone, must have designed her current state of being. A drop of liquid hit her front limb, and she realized that she was crying. Squeezing her eyes tight for just a moment, Cold broke through the sorrow that clouded her mind, only to continue in her fruitless journey around the accurst shade of light. More minutes passed, and Cold judged the likeliness of having fully circled iwith the word itself. “Okay, listen. For the following riddles, you try to follow lines of thought similar to this one. Grammar. Wordplay. Maybe symbolic connections. And I'll try to stay closer to the direct meaning. That way we have independent lines of thought, at least mostly. If either of us thinks her way is or isn't going to work, she should tell the other. Okay?” “Okay.” “Okay.” The next few seconds were painful, but Cold told herself that it was foolish not to utilize them. Somehow. Even if all she did was trying to calm herself. “Time is running out. I'll submit... and... a tree of souls stands amidst a field of flowers. How do you climb the tree?” A tree of souls. What did that mean? Was it a metaphor? A murderer of sorts? Should she even think about it that way, or was that her task, with the way she had chosen to split the riddle? But she had to do it here. Or should she ask? No. No. Think. For a few moments, Cold had to fight back panic. They hadn't had a lot of time for the first riddle, and so far she hadn't made any progress. For what could it be a metaphor? What did souls represent? The... personality? A creature with multiple personalities? But she didn't know any creatures. She knew the concept of different animals, even races, but she didn't know any of them. Maybe just an undefined creature? Climb it. How did you climb something with a split personality? Or a murderer? Was climbing equal to overthrowing? How did you overthrow a murderer? By being one yourself? That wasn't applicable at all. And the field. A field of flowers. What did flowers mean? Was it innocent people? Was the tree murdering flowers? Were the souls defeated flowers? It didn't make much sense. This approach didn't seem to work. Maybe something else entirely? A literal tree in a literal garden? Maybe... “I'm not getting anywhere. I think we have to give up my approach for the riddle.” A crushing sensation of fear hit Cold upon hearing that, but she tried her best to ignore it. “Alright.” Maybe... what had she been thinking? The garden. ---thing... though, metaphorically, you could speak of the birth of tools... in a way. It wasn't entirely convincing, but it still sounded pretty good. Only, birth was not like death. Was there a way to fix this? Rather than birth and death... beginning and ending? But that didn't wok for all of nothing comes before me. No, the answer probably was life, she just had to find what the two parts were... somehow, make them equal instead of “I got it.” “What is it? Life?” “No, it's a letter again. It's v. It's a part of everything. It's made of two mirrored stripes. Every letter in the word nothing comes before it. And if you were trapped inside something which is shaped like the letter, you could never get out.” V? It made sense, except... would it really be a letter a second time? Maybe it was coincidence? Maybe the answer was in fact life? “I'm... not sure. I thought it was life; made of birth and death.” “But life is not really made of birth and death, it's only framed by it. And they aren't really a part of everything. And... they're not equal.” “I know but... I just... I mean, a letter as the solution to two riddles?” “Yeah, but everything fits.” “Let me see again... two identical parts... not quite.” “But it says 'each just like the other', and they would appear to ---the set is infinite, but I can't prove it yet.” “But you still have hope to find a solution?” “Yeah.” “Okay. Let's stay close then. Although, I don't think walking around it does something anymore. We must have already completed a full circle.” “Maybe a tighter circle?” “What would that do? We can see the light, and every other point is less far away. “Yes, but maybe there's something which is harder to see.” Cold sighed. “You don't really believe that.” “No.” “Alright.” Cold bridged half the distance towards the light, then she began to navigate around it once more. There was no talking herself out of the reality of the situation. Unless they somehow got out soon, they would die. Both of the last two challenges had been close, and it was foolish to expect that they would survive longer than one or two more – if even. Her biggest comfort was the thought that there would be no point in designing this place if whoever got there was inevitably going to die, but it was a feeble hope. Was it possible that they were doing something wrong? Was focusing on survival alone not the right course of action? Was there maybe some place they had to reach? But all directions looked the same. If there was a specific place, then there would be no way to reach it with anything but sheer luck. And if they just had to get far away, then why put the puzzle in there? And most importantly, it was not backed up by feelings. Every challenge, the puzzle, the riddles, it all had announced itself by intuition, either from Cold herself or from her. There was no feeling pointing her towards a specific goal. Cold stocked. She looked upwards. Blue. She looked downwards. Blue. Biting her lip, she kneed onto the floor, examining it more closely for the first time. It was hard, smooth, and neither warm nor cold. There were no inconsistencies to the material, no cracks or knolls or anything. Cold hit her front limb onto the ground, but she had no reference for the sound it made. She tried to press, rub, scratch, but to no effect. With drooping ears, she stood up again and continued her walk. The ground was an irresistible barrier, and they had no way of trying to even reach the ceiling. Every direction parallel to the ground looked the same. What was there left to try? Did they just have to solve this puzzle? But that was impossible. Even without understanding it, they could have just guessed with a fifty percent chance. The odds of getting out had never seemed that high. Plus, she had said the puzzle was optional. Maybe it was not about getting somewhere, but about doing something? Except all that seemed to be there to do in this place was walking, talking, and trying not to die to the challenges. Did she have to say a specific thing? Was it all ---such a cell to exist. With a panic scream, she leapt towards a cell at her front left, which wasn't even the closest option. For a brief moment, she thought that she wouldn't make it, but then she arrived about half a second before the cells behind her lit. Now, the adrenaline was overwhelming, and what was left of her lucid thinking began to fear that she might collapse or simply start running away if the challenge went on for longer. Yet, even though she hadn't even began processing her near death experience, she somehow managed to fall back into a quick but controlled rhythm, allowing her to stay alive for another five or six cycles. It was now that the time to escape each strike got truly uncomfortable, if it went on for another twenty seconds she would inevitably miss one, it was close every time, she would fail any moment now and then It stopped. The illuminated squares disappeared, and Cold could feel that the challenge was over. With an uncontrolled whimper, she broke down at the spot, crying hopelessly against the apathetic ground. She couldn't tell how much time it took, but eventually, she hoisted herself up into a sitting position, staring tiredly towards the light. “You did wonderfully.” Cold sniffed, and she couldn't bring herself to smile. “Thanks,” she replied nonetheless. “I... I knew exactly how many rounds were left at each point, but... I thought telling you would have been distracting.” “Yeah... honestly, that sounds like a trap. I think... if you told me how... many I had left, we might have died.” She suppressed a sob. “It... must have been hard to... watch it all without saying anything. But I think it was the best you could have done.” “What now?” “Let me sit here for a few more minutes. I need to get calmer if we want to have any chance of beating the next challenge. And we aren't getting anything done in between them anyway.” She didn't ask how it went with the puzzle, but she knew that she would have to soon. Despite no intuition pointing towards it, Cold wanted to try and travel farther away. Even if it wouldn't get them out, they might still find something. Minutes passed, and Cold prolonged standing up for longer than necessary, judging that even being slightly more prepared was at this point more valuable than exploring the area around the light. Even though the last challenge had taken more from her than any one before, she found that she was more hopeful now than earlier, perhaps ---more than ever before. “I solved it!” “Huh?” Cold blinked. “Really?” “Yeah. Can you go back to the puzzle?” Cold stood up, and did as she was told. “What is the answer?” “It's infinite.” “Can you explain why?” “I could... do you think it's necessary?” Cold hesitated. Time was valuable, and if she was certain, they wouldn't receive any benefit from her knowing it too. But even so, she wasn't ready to gamble her life on something she didn't understand. “If something happens and we have to hurry, you can submit the answer. But otherwise... I'd like to know.” “I understand. So... okay. There are three parts to this proof. Reminder, the set holds numbers which can only be divided by one or themselves. Part one is, no number except one is a factor of two consecutive numbers, because if it's a factor of the original number, then multiplying it by even just one more will already result in a result greater than number next in size. Got it?” “Yes,” Cold said after a few moments. “Part two is, every number can be split into a product of only members of the set, because... well, let's start with any one number. Either it is already in the set, or it can be split into a product of two other numbers which are not one or itself, because that is the definition of numbers outside of the set. So, now we got two numbers which are smaller than our original one, and we can do the same for both of them. We can keep doing that until we're only left with numbers from the set. They get smaller every step, so we have to make it eventually.” Cold had reached their destination by now, and sat down next to the two shapes. It took her several minutes to fully process this, but eventually she nodded. “Yes.” “Good, that was the hardest part. Part three is... let's say we have any amount of numbers from the set. We can create the product of all of these numbers, resulting in a new number which is extremely high, and has all of our original numbers as factors, right?” Cold squeezed her eyes, but she was still following. “Yeah.” “Good, next we increment this number by one. Now it is still insanely high, but it doesn't have any of our members as factors, based on part one, right?” “Yeah.” “So, and now we split it like in part two, until it is only made of numbers which are in the set. It may have already been in the set, in that case we get just one new number, or it ---may not have been, in which case we will receive however many. But we will get at least one new number, and it will be one different from the ones we started with, because none of those was a factor of our huge number.” It was an odd train of thought, but Cold knew that she was still following. “Yeah.” “And that's it. Given any amount of numbers of the set, we can construct at least one new one. And then another one. And another one. Or, probably much more than one, but one at least. If the set had finite size, we could take all of its members and construct at least one new one – so it can't have finite size.” Cold thought about this for over five minutes, considering each step multiple times. Eventually, she was convinced that it was a definitive proof. “Alright. Okay. Which shape for the infinite set?” “The rectangle.” Cold stepped at the edge of the shape. Breathing quickly, she hesitated for just a second, then she moved a front limb forward and touched the ground inside of it. Both shapes disappeared immediately. Nothing else seemed to have changed. “What did it do?” “I don't know. But I'm sure that we guessed right.” Cold gulped. But there had never been a reason to assume that they would know that which they had gained. There were plenty of ways in which they could benefit without knowing about them. “Alright. This has to be good enough.” Cold stood up. “Let's go. I want to bridge more distance.” She began to move again, this time at a quickened pace. Then, less than two minutes into her walk, she could feel the next challenge incoming. Only... there was no threat. The challenge was coming, but not to them. “Do you feel that?” “Yeah. I think we get a free pass.” “Oh.” Cold verified this theory with her intuition. It was true. She could clearly feel the fifth challenge incoming, but nothing suggested that they had to do anything to be safe. So this was the price they had won. “Do you think this means that we just have to overcome a fixed number of challenges?” “It doesn't have to. A free pass is valuable no matter what we have to accomplish.” Indeed, a free pass would even then be valuable if all they could do was to delay the inevitable. This prize didn't provide them with any new information, but at least they were still alive. If they had ever had any chances, then they had also increased. During the following minutes, Cold could feel the challenge taking place, even though it didn't take place for them. Breathing evenly, she continued to walk straight ahead, all the while on the lookout for anything that would contrast with the monotone blue ahead of her... And then everything disappeared. AwakeningCold fell, but before she had time to register this fact, the fall came to a sudden end. Immediately suspecting another threat, she tried to lift her head despite the pain of her impact, but all she could see were tiny stars dancing in front of her, and countless blurry dots which were impossible to decipher. A gasp. With clenched teeth, Cold turned her head towards the source. Slowly, the image in front of her sharpened more and more, until she could make out the shape of somepony else standing there. Some...pony? Cold blinked. Something was different. She knew what she was. She also knew a number of other things... names of things... All the names that had been missing. “Are you alright?” “I think so,” Cold answered, stifling a painful groan. With a considerable amount of effort, she slowly crawled into into a sitting position. “Who are you?” “Call me Twilight.” The pony rushed over, only to stop right in front of her, apparently not knowing what to do. “I'm... I'm... I'm terribly sorry for what you have been through.” “So it's over?” “Yes.” Cold didn't know how she was supposed to feel, but right now she barely felt anything. “Did you do this to us?” “No.” Cold swallowed. She knew that it was foolish to blindly believe this pony, but right now, sitting on this floor with the looming prospect of death absent for the first time in her life, it was hard to feel any sensation of danger. Curiously, she began to examine her surroundings. She seemed to be in a library, with circular walls whose many recesses served as bookshelves. Beside her, a neatly decorated staircase lead upstairs, and in the center of the room stood a small, round table. Looking upwards, she saw that the ceiling was covered by a single large celestial symbol. It was... pleasant. Cold couldn't think of any other word to describe it. Without a doubt was it the friendliest place she had ever been to. “Are you there?” No-one answered. Twilight was still standing beside her, but she had her gaze lowered to the floor and didn't say a word. A sense of foreboding overcame Cold. “Hello?” But there was no point asking again. If she was there, she would have answered. “I'm sorry,” Twilight said in a whisper. “You are the only one who survived.” “The only one?” “You and twenty-three others were thrown into that place. Only you got out.” “But... what about the pony who was with me? The one I could always talk to? She was there the whole time. We got through this whole thing together. How can I have survived, but not her?” Twilight looked at her, and a lone tear dropped onto the floor. “I'm so sorry.” Cold closed her eyes, and felt the agony washing over her. Now she knew what true loss felt like. She had been the only living soul she knew. And she didn't even know her name. “What... what was her name?” Still crying silently, Twilight turned her head away and summoned a small piece of paper from the circular table. “What is your name?” “Cold.” She could see Twilight's eyes quickly running down the paper in front of her. “Gold... Goldspark.” Twilight took a moment to collect herself. “She was a small unicorn filly, gifted in maths and revelation related magic. Thirteen years old.” “Thirteen,” Cold repeated disbelievingly. “She was a kid.” “Ya.” Twilight sniffed. “What happened?” “Somepony did this to you. To you and the others. We caught him, but we couldn't stop what he had begun. It would go on until all but one pair were killed. If you want to know the details...” “No.” Cold hat taken in this news without making a sound, but she didn't want to hear more. “Not yet.” Squeezing her eyes, she tried to think about anything other than the dead filly. “How old am I?” “Nineteen. You were a homeless pony from Manehatten, raised in an Orphanage.” Twilight moved her glance back at her, biting her lip. “There is something else.” “Yeah?” “All ponies which were thrown into the plane have been robbed of their special talents... and the talents of their race. You are a pegasus.” Cold stared at her, not willing to believe what she had heard. “But I have fur.” “I know. The pony who...” She bit her lip. “He is... cruel. And the way he did this... I studied the spell. It is... I can't really describe it to someone who doesn't understand unicorn magic, but the spell alone is a great crime.” She took a deep breath. “But I can reverse it. Even for a pegasus. As soon as you want, I can give you your old body back.” “Do it,” Cold said without hesitating. Twilight gave her a look, then she nodded, stood up, and walked a few steps backwards. After drying her eyes, she tilted her head slightly, and a stream of magic began to erupt from her horn, enclosing and flowing all around Cold's body. It hurt, but it was bearable. Squeezing her eyes shut, Cold patiently waited for the pain to go away. Sooner than expected, it did. Cold let a few more seconds pass, then she opened her eyes and stared down at her body, blinking. Her coat was now made of blue feathers, but it was a kind of blue different from her old coat or the plane; this one was brighter, friendlier. It was a close distinction, but to her it made all the difference in the world. And she had wings, which so far felt like strange and unknown extensions to her body. Pulling a tuft of hair, she could see that her mane was comprised of two differently colored strands, one a light blue and the other white. Now she knew why she was called Cold. “All ponies had blue coats when they were sent into the plane. It is just coincidence that your real color is so similar.” Twilight was still watching her, looking almost as if she was expecting to be yelled at at any second. But there was no anger in Cold. Twilight wasn't responsible for what had happened, and Cold hadn't fought tirelessly only to falsely blame the first pony she met, especially when that pony was showing her so much sympathy. “Thank you,” Cold murmured, and with a sigh, she dropped back onto her haunches. Hesitantly, Twilight sat down next to her, and without thinking about it, Cold closed her eyes and leaned her head against her shoulder. This was all she needed. No danger. No challenges. No laboriously suppressed desperation. No responsibility. And no fear. Gradually, her breathing slow and steady, Cold drifted off into the first real slumber of her life. Progress“I want to visit her family.” Twilight looked up from the letter on which she had just finished a paragraph. “Goldspark's?” “Yeah.” “That won't be a problem. Do you want me to come with you?” “Yes.” Cold fumbled around uncomfortably. “But you don't have to.” “I'll send word to her family. It's better to obtain permission; ponies can react very differently to personal losses such as this.” Cold nodded. “Thanks.” Twilight made a few corrections to what she had written, then she put the quill aside. “I hope you aren't offended if I ask you this... but can I be sure that you won't...” “Kill myself?” “Or do some other stupid thing.” “Yes. I haven't fought this hard just to throw my life away once it is safe. It's just...” She sighed. “I just wish that she was still alive. It's one thing to know that I denied eleven other ponies the chance to live, but... it would be so much easier to accept if I also saved somepony. But as is, I only saved myself, and now I feel like I owe it to the others to live it as best as I can.” Twilight nodded slowly. “She was a smart kid, wasn't she?” “Yeah.” Cold wanted to chuckle, but it came out more as a sob. “She came up with a proof for the existence of infinite prime numbers in the spawn of like an hour. That was one of the puzzles in the... blasted place.” ”Quite impressive, indeed.” Twilight stocked, and looked at her for several seconds before she continued. “But as far as your life goes... I want you to know that we will do everything we can to make up for what happened. Nothing can restore your memories, but we can give you back the life you lost.” “How?” “By temporarily pausing your aging, making you younger, or a combination of both. However you like.” Cold blinked. “Really?” “Yes,” Twilight said emphatically. “Nopony may trade with lifetime, but if somepony has life taken from her by force, then Celestia will give it back to her. Otherwise, you would always feel like twenty years were missing from your life.” “But I did live them.” “Even so. Reaching an age without that many years to look back to is a terrible fate. Have you not felt it yet?” “Yes.” Cold lowered her gaze. “Yes, I have. It feels like I'm only just starting with my life, and the knowledge that I have lived for twenty years does not change a thing.” She breathed out slowly, comprehending the news. “This... is a great gift. It's...” Cold stocked. “It's more than I expected. It's immeasurably precious.” Twilight nodded. “Yeah, it is. So, I take that you want to have it?” “I do. I... I need to think about how exactly I want it to be, but yes.” “There are some restrictions, of course. You must not tell anypony about it without permission from the princess, and you may not get back your whole lifetime. The way ponies produce memories is different in every stage of their life. The matter will have to be discussed in more detail with the princess.” “Yeah, of course. Thank you.” Twilight nodded again, then she smiled. “Crimes of this magnitude happen very rarely in Equestria. If they do, it is our job to compensate for the living as best and as just as we can. I am only involved because I had a part in catching the pony who did this, but I know that the princess will take a great interest in how well your situation can be handled.” “Cold?” “Hm?” Cold had spent the last few minutes doing nothing in particular, just enjoying the tranquility of the moment, and watching Twilight work. “Not that I mind, but... you know that you can go out whenever you want, right?” “But you don't mind?” “No.” “I...” Cold sighed. “I'm not ready to meet anypony else yet. I'm not even two days old, remember?” She giggled, and to her own delight it sounded almost natural. “You know, I... even though I spent less than a tenth of my life in the plane, it still feels like... like I've been in there for most of it. Like I just got out. It's not just because it was terrifying, but also because it's the first thing I have experienced. When I was there, it was the only life I knew. Mh... don't worry, I'll go out soon enough. I just need a little bit more time to process everything. And staying here with you is nice. Peaceful.” “Well, you can stay for as long as you like. Company is nice, especially if it's as quiet as you are.” A smile hushed over Cold's face. “Yeah. Well...” She bit her lip. “You know, it would all be so much easier if she... that's what really hurts me. I just... I wish so much that she was still alive. So much...” She closed her eyes. “It's the same thing again. This... loss that I feel, it's the first strong emotion that I know, and I don't know how to deal with it yet. That's why I need time...” “Twilight?” It was two days later, but the scenario was identical. Cold was sitting on the floor of an upper room in the library, watching Twilight as she was reading up on something in a large book about teleportation magic. Not wanting to be a distraction, she had waited for Twilight to put the book aside before saying anything. “Yea?” Twilight turned around. “I can't fly. I tried to earlier today. Do...” She stocked. “Do you... know somepony...” “Somepony who could teach you how to fly?” Cold nodded. Twilight smirked. “I do. And I know she'll keep it private if you ask her to.” “Oh... good.” “You're actually... well, at the very least a passable flier based solely on your wing muscles, but more likely a pretty good one. The physical requirements are there, you just need to relearn the technique. I don't think it'll take as much time as learning it from scratch.” “Who is she?” “She's captain of the local weather team, but that's a job way below her qualification. In truth, she's one of the top fliers of her generation. And she's one of my closest friends.” “And... you're sure she's not overqualified for...” “No. You worry too much, Cold. She'll enjoy teaching you how to fly. And who knows, once you have relearned how to do it, maybe she'll actually get a more capable flying partner. An orphanage from Manehatten? Most pegasi who are great fliers don't live in places such as this. Chances are you'll be one of the best fliers in Ponyville." “Alright... thanks.” “Do you think I'll fit into Ponyville?” Twilight, who had just finished practicing deforming magic on a small rubber ball, stepped back from her desk and turned around. “I do. You're kind, uncomplicated, and super considerate. And Ponyville is one of the friendlies places in Equestria. You'll have no problems getting along.” She tilted her head. ”Does this mean you're ready to go outside?” “I think so.” “That's great.” She gave her a smile. “Would you like me to take you somewhere?” Cold sighed in relief at the offer. “Yes, that would be wonderful.” “We can go right now.” Twilight lead Cold towards the staircase. The walk down seemed to take next to no time, and Cold almost regretted her decision, but there was no backing down now. “You still seem to be nervous. If this is because of our meeting with Goldspark's family, I can easy reschedule that to a later day.” “No, it's not that. I want to go outside.” But it was more than that. During the last few days, her fear and pain and slowly been taken over by excitement. Everything was open to her. Every place was somewhere she could go to, even the sky. Every activity was something she might enjoy, if only she tried it out. The world was large and beautiful, and it was time for her to see some of it. Her heart beat like a filly on her first day of school when she stepped in front of the library door. “Let's visit my friend Fluttershy. She lives outside of town, so you'll get a look of Ponyville and meet someone nice, without being put through too much at once.” Cold nodded. Her eyes ahead, she stepped closer to Twilight than it was necessary. She was ready to finally meet the outside world, for the first time in her life. d“Are you okay?” Cold shifted her gaze around the landscape in front of her. “I... I think so. I'm kind of scared.” “Yeah, me too.” Nervously tonguing her lips, Cold tried to make sense of the sensation of foreboding which seemed to have accompanied her birth into this world. “Do you know what's happening?” “No.” Cold shuddered. Something was about to happen. Something... bad? No, that wasn't quite right. Something... dangerous. A challenge. And it was happening now. Right now. With a shriek, Cold backed away from her current position, under which the ground had just taken on a pale shade of red. Moments later, its color saturation intensified drastically, only to then fade entirely. Although she had felt nothing from the process right in front of her, Cold knew that residing within the area at the time it lit would have resulted in her immediate death. “We have to dodge it.” Cold nodded. This time, with her eyes focused on the ground, she noticed the color change ahead of time, and quickly stepped into an unaffected location. Ready to repeat this maneuver, Cold awaited a third strike, but it didn't come. Instead, a slowly spinning orb emerged from somewhere ahead of her. Just like the enchanted areas prior, its color changed from pale to deep red, and it went on to flip between them with consistent frequency. This lasted a few seconds, then the orb sprouted rays which followed the same color progression. The rays went far beyond Cold's position, which made it so the orb's rotation forced her to step over the rays during their pale state. It was a fairly easy task, but the looming penalty for failure was threatening enough for Cold to dedicate this exercise her undivided attention. Less than half a minute into the task, the orb disappeared entirely, and Cold could feel the danger fading. “Is this a game? Are we being toyed with?” Cold swallowed. “I have no idea.” She looked around, trying to make sense of what she saw. It was a large hall of sorts, or a plane. Below and above her, everything was blue. It was impossible to tell whether or not the place had a ceiling. “Do you know anything?” she asked. “Anything... else about this?” “I'm... well, I don't think I existed until right now. I don't have my own body and seem to be tied to you, but I have a separate mind. That's pretty much all I know.” “Can you listen to my thoughts?” “No, you have bthe light to be higher with every step. “There is another challenge.” Cold halted in her walk, looking around. “I don't feel anything. Or see anything.” “It's a different one. A... series of riddles. But not like the puzzle. These are easier, but compulsive, and we also have limited time. And there will be one without a solution; just one, and the answer for it is that there is no answer.” “What happens if we can't solve one?” “We'll die.” “As usual.” Cold bit her lip. “How much time do we have?” “Different for each one. I... I... I'll sense if we're about to reach a certain point; up until that point we'll be safe, after that it could end at any moment, and I won't be able to tell. And if it ends, we die.” “When does it start?” “In a few moments.” “What... what happens if we guess wrong? Can we guess multiple times? And how do we guess?” “Guessing wrong means we die. We can only try once for each. And... I can submit it, if we know the answer.” “Alright. Alright.” Cold took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Was there anything else they could do for preparation? They were two, so... they should split the riddle somehow. But how could they split a riddle if they had no idea what “Okay, I got the first one. What is the beginning of nothing, the middle of meaning, and the end of pain?” The beginning of nothing... was nothing. The middle of meaning... could be anything. Or, what if meaning didn't have a middle? Was it both nothing? And the end of pain... was nothing? The pain which foreshadowed death? Was it nothing? No, that wasn't good enough. Nothing and pain maybe, but nothing as the middle of meaning? If she was being this vague, surely she could justify a whole bunch of conclusions. The beginning nothing. What was it that came before nothing? Was it everything, or anything, because everything would one day fade into nothing? But that didn't work for the other two. Maybe something which could cause “I got it.” “What is it? Can you tell me without submitting it?” “Yeah. It's grammar. The solution is the letter n.” Cold quickly went through all three words. “Yeah, that's it. Okay. Is there an advantage to submitting early?” “No.” “Alright. Okay. So, don't submit it yet. But do it if it's getting close.” Cold noticed her quickened breathing, and forced herself to stay calm once again. They had solved the first one. It was going well. Grammar. Could that be a part of future riddles? Probably not as plain as here. But there was a way of thinking about things in a more abstract manner that had less to do nNo, the literal sense. How did it make sense literally? How did you climb a tree? She couldn't. Her body wasn't capable of climbing. Was that it? Did you have to be different... different than she was? But that didn't consider the garden. There was no way a part of the riddle wouldn't mean anything. The solution had to make sense for every asset. She needed a new approach. This wasn't working. A garden. A garden... a tree... climbing... and flowers. Did they have something in common? Was there a contradiction? They were all alive – aside from the act. Maybe... No. This was another dead end. She needed something different. Something different... How would she do it? If she were there... no. Bad. The souls. They had to mean something. What did a tree of souls mean? What... maybe the growth of suffering? The growth of wisdom? Was climbing the tree of souls equivalent to gaining wisdom? And the flowers... if they represented bloom, was it to become wise among a field of other souls? Wiser than others? “Our safe time is running low.” Cold bit her lip so hard that she could smell blood. But she had made her choice. “Submit no answer. Unless you are close. I will not put our faith up to chance.” “You sure?” “Do it!” This could be the end. She might die. Right now. Right now. Maybe she should have “It's correct.” The relief was overwhelming. Cold barely noticed herself collapsing at the spot. “an name.” “What?” “The next riddle. What is the only thing you can name?” “Right. Sorry.” Cold silently cursed herself for losing attention. The only thing she could name. But... she? Or her? Was... “Do you know what 'you' means here? Is it me, or you? Or both?” “I... it's you. Sorry, I should have told you.” “It's fine.” The only thing she could name. This was fairly easy to understand – she didn't know the names of anything. She didn't know the name of the species she belonged to, nor the name her language. She knew the name of concepts... but there was no specific one that could be the answer. It needed to be a name that was breaking the pattern somehow – but she hadn't yet fully understood the pattern. She didn't know the name of... specific things? Was that it? Was a concept like courage a specific thing? No, that was the wrong line of thinking. She didn't need to define the pattern, it was enough if she could tell the difference, which she was confident that she could. She should search for a concrete thing which she could name... “What's your name?” “I don't have one. I don't know.” “Okay. Then it's not you...” Speaking of which, how did she know her own... “That's it. It's me. I know my name. That's the only thing.” “You sure?” “Yeah, absolutely. There is nothing else even nearly as concrete of which I know the name. It's myself.” “What is your name?” “It's Cold.” “Just 'Cold'?” “Yeah.” “Okay. Should I submit?” “No.” Cold took a few deep breaths. It was going well. Three out of three. “How many riddles will there be?” “I ghave no idea.” “Okay. Okay...” Was there something in their approach which they should change for future riddles? Any further preparation they could do? Anything... Was there a pattern in the riddles, maybe? Grammar, no answer, herself. Or, the letter n, no answer, herself. N, no answer, Cold? N.... none... no... no. There was nothing. Maybe... maybe something they had in common? A difficult thing with just two solved riddles. Grammar and her... no. Then, maybe a “My two parts, each one just like the other, would trap you forever. All of nothing comes before me, yet I am a part of everything. And... I don't know whom 'you' means this time. Are we still doing the split approach?” “Yeah.” Two parts... and a part of everything. That sounded like some kind of particle all matter was comprised of... but she didn't know the names of any particles, so it had to be in the metaphorical sense. Two things... making one thing, which was a part of everything. Life and death? All of nothing comes before me... I am a part of everything... that could be it. Only, life and death were not like each other. Still, this sounded promising. Maybe birth and death? And they were both part of life? Was life the answer? But birth was not like death; it was the opposite. And wasn't there something else... “Sorry, can you say it again?” “My two parts, each one just like the other, would trap you forever. All of nothing comes before me, yet I am a part of everything.” “Thanks.” Would trap you forever. That made sense. All of nothing comes before me. That also made sense. I am a part of everything – that kind of made sense, except it was only every living ---be just like each other if you were trapped between them.” “I... guess? Okay, it's not a big stretch. Let's see the rest. A part of everything. Pass. All of nothing comes before me. Pass. Also, the way it's worded sounds like it's about grammar. If you were trapped... yeah. Yeah. You're right. It has to be it. It does fit better.” Four out of four. Now all she had to do was to get ready for the next one. There couldn't be that many more. The challenge so far had already been difficult. Cold closed her eyes, and tried not to think of anything. “We're done.” A pause. “Fhew...” “Did you submit?” “Yeah, just now. It was the last one.” Cold let out a breath. “And you're sure that, if we had answered anything wrong, we would have died right away?” “Yes.” “And... you know all of this instinctively?” “Yeah.” For a few moments, neither of them said a word. “Cold?” “Yeah?” “Do you think we have been put into this place? Or could it... could this be the only world there is?” “No.” A knot was forming in her throat as she allowed herself to fully realize the grimness of their situation, but at least she could truthfully give this answer. “There has to be another world. A world with several people living together. This place alone could not function.” “Then why are we here? Do you think it is a punishment? Are we criminals? Could we... could we have murdered someone?” “I don't think that's likely. Sure, it's possible, but there are a million other reasons why someone might do this to us. Don't assume the worst.” “And... do you think we will ever get out of here? We have completed three challenges so far, but nothing has changed. Maybe completing them doesn't change whether or not we die, but just when we die. Maybe there'll just be challenges until we fail at one.” “Maybe. Yeah.” Cold's lips quivered. “But we might also get out with the next challenge. And talking about this doesn't help us to progress.” “I know, I know, I just... I just wanted to talk to you about it before I die.” “Mhh.” Suddenly, every gulp Cold took was accompanied with short stitch of pain. “I know. I can understand that. But you can't give up hope.” “I won't.” “Okay.” Cold looked around, until she located the glimmer once more. “How's the puzzle coming along?” “I'm not sure. I think ---one big riddle? Cold thought back to the challenges she had already overcome, and tried to find a clue which could hint to a word, but to no avail. She even tried to speak commands out loud, but nothing. Eventually, the next challenge announced itself. Cold could feel tears of disappointment and frustration dwelling up inside her, but she fought them back, and instead looked out for an incoming threat. “You can feel it too, can't you?” “Yeah.” “Do you feel anything else?” Cold asked, slowly pivoting around on the spot. “Nothing.” The seconds crept by, until... Below them, the ground lit up in a pattern of squares, each one the same size, as far as her eyes could reach. They were just large enough for Cold to comfortably stand inside one. “I think this one is about speed.” “Yeah.” Cold kept her eyes on the ground, her whole body tense in anticipation. She didn't have to wait for long. Every second cell took on a pale red color, just like the ground during their first challenge. The cell Cold was currently in was not affected, so she just stood still, knowing that moving accidentally would be just as fatal as not moving in time. Then the red lit up, but only for a moment, before fading entirely. Cold judged that the pale state had lasted for almost five seconds, which seemed like plenty of time to react, but she knew that the challenge would increase in difficulty as it went along. Now the squares lit up in blocks of nine, and Cold had to sidestep to the cell on her left. The next strike came with a more complex pattern, but the cell right in front of her was free, so Cold didn't bother to study it. Then, every three cells in a block of four lit, and Cold could already sense that the pace was quickening. With quivering limbs, she gave up on recognizing the patterns entirely, and instead just dodged to whichever free cell she spotted first. Eight or nine cycles in, Cold began wondering whether the deciding factor for this challenge might not be speed or quick processing, but simply endurance. The pace was still accelerating, but slowly, and Cold judged herself to be capable of surviving for at least another minute, provided that she didn't make a single misstep. But even though her whole body was shivering, she hadn't yet given way into panic. Every step she did was with sufficient precision, and not once did she move without spotting a free cell first, which was always at most two cells into the most favorable direction. The game still wasn't hard, as long as she gave it her undivided attention and didn't make mistakes. Then the challenge chose to break this unspoken rule. Cold cast about in any direction for the safespot which would be within a two cell radius, and remembered too late that she didn't actually have a guarantee for
udirection it's in.” “Do you think you can solve it? Is it worth searching for it?” “I'm not sure yet. I think it's worth it just in case.” “Okay.” Cold slowly pivoted around, searching her field of vision for the faintest hint of a glimmer. There was nothing. “So, we have to move if we want to locate it again.” She thought for a moment. “I'll take care of it. You keep working on the puzzle.” Hesitantly, Cold moistened her lips, then she began walking forward, all the while looking out for the light and counting her steps. When she reached thirty, she turned around and walked sixty steps in the opposite direction. Nothing. Biting her lip, Cold turned around yet again and walked thirty steps into the direction from which she had come. At this point, it was reasonable to assume that inaccurate navigation had brought her a fair bit away from her starting point. Nonetheless, she turned around at a ninety degree angle, and began to pursue this new direction. Then, just half a dozen steps into her walk, she could see a light at the left border of her vision. Her initial reaction was one of relief, which was quickly mixed with doubts. She knew nothing about the way any of this functioned – what she saw now could easily be a source
ito talk.” “What do you see?” “The same as you.” “Okay.” Cold turned around, paranoid of something sneaking up from behind her, even though there was no sensation of danger. “What do we do?” “I... I...” She stocked. “Look around for others?” Cold nodded, then she remembered that she wouldn't be able to see it. “Alright.” Slowly, carefully, Cold walked ahead. The landscape didn't change; there was no sense for direction or space. After a while, however, a distant glimmer came into vision. As she got closer, she made it out to be the outlines of two geometrical shapes on the ground: a rectangle and a circle, both radiating in the same bright blue light. “It's a puzzle. A set shall hold any number which can only be divided by one or itself. If this set has infinite size, step into the rectangle, if not step into the circle. Guess wrong and you die.” “Do we have to solve it?” A small pause. “No. It's optional. But it will benefit us.” “How much?” “I have no idea.” “Do you think we should stay and try to solve it?” “I... I don't know.” Cold bit her lip. It was hard to decide on a course of action with so little information. “I think we should keep moving...” she mumbled. “Do you think we can find the way back here?” “Not if we go too far away. There is nothing to help coordination in this place.” “Alright...” Cold took a deep breath. “How about you think about it, and I'll see if I find something else? I'll stay close enough for us to find back. If you think you aren't going
sto solve it, tell me, and we'll forget about it.” “That's fine.” “Okay.” Slowly, Cold picked up a steady pace, ready to dodge an incoming threat at any second. Occasionally, she threw short glances over her shoulder to ensure that the glimmer was still visible. But by the time it was on the edge of disappearance, there still hadn't been any change to her surroundings. Carefully, Cold started to navigate along the invisible circle which her sight radius drew around the distant glimmer. The minutes crept by, and Cold began wondering if something would happen as soon as she lowered her guard, and how she was supposed to tell when she had completed the circle. Then, she thought of something else... and then of something else “Hey!” “What?” Cold shook her head. Blinking, she tried to remember how she got here. “Is everything alright? You stopped paying attention to the location of the puzzle, and began to walk in a straight line.” “I.. I-I'm I'm...” Cold turned around. Her head felt dim and bleary... and she could feel this sensation intensifying. “I think we're facing another threat,” she said, quickly so as to explain it while she was still lucid enough to formulate thoughts. “Something is messing with my clear thinking. I... I... you... do you... are you affected too? I mean, are you not affected... I... are you?” “I'm fine” “Right, then you... if you... mhh...” “Hey! Hey!” “Gaaah!” Cold shuddered, and a wave of fear washed over her. “You've been out for almost half a minute.” “Right. Give me commands. If you see something... mhlll... ffffff...” She squeezed her eyes as hard as she could, trying to stay in the moment. “If you see something dangerous, give me commands. Simple ones. Shout something until I react. I don't know if... mhhh...” She smiled. The water was so clear... some day, she would like to visit the but everything was peaceful. The beach stretched on for as long as her sight “Left. Left.” Cold reacted as soon as she could process the meaning of this thought. When her consciousness kept creeping back bit by bit, she saw that she too would have noticed the shape in time. It was black, it was deadly, and it came towards her straight from ahead. But it was also slow. Cold judged that it would have taken at least ten more seconds to reach her position. “I don't think that'll be the only one. Keep looking.” “I will.” “Mhhh...” Cold could feel her thoughts leaving her again. This time, she didn't fight it – she had just dodged an attack, she didn't need to think right now. If the drowsiness came in waves, the sooner it happened the sooner it might go away... “Forward.” Mhhhh The world was a cube. When you stepped over the edge, it would flip and adjust the point of gravity. It was impossible to fall – but it was also a trap. “Forward." Forward? There was no forward in a cube. Every direction was the same. Forward was
tthree times backwards. Backwards was three times forward. “For “Forward!” There were two worlds. One of them was a cube, the other a plane. If you went forward in the cube, how would that affect the plane? If you went forward on the plane, how would that affect the cube? One had to be right. “Forward!” “Mhh... m-mhh...” Forward. “On... w-which world?” It was difficult to make the right decision. Maybe try both? She went forward in the cube, but nothing changed. She went forward in the plane... it was difficult. It felt like a shadow was falling off her mind with every step. The cube began to dissipate... “That's enough.” “Mmmhhhhh...” Cold blinked. She shook her head. Slowly, a net of unconnected dots in front of her appeared, and just as slowly, it merged into an image. She turned around. Behind her, a black shape was just moving by. She shuddered. This one she wouldn't have noticed in time. If there was another one – and her feeling told her that there was going to be one more – and if it was going to be as much harder as the second had been compared to the first, then she wouldn't survive it, unless she found a way to wake faster this time. But there was no time to think about a strategy. The cloud that would enclose her mind was already on its way. Drift off, drift off... upon the winding path of fate where the golden chimeras fly in the twilight glow “Forward.” sensation rising within “Forward.” “F “Forward.” “Forward.” Forward. “Forward.” She moved forward. The destination was the way to survive. A futile endeavor. Going to the end of the dream to chase the shadow that was the key to the longing that was the aftermath of the horror that was the cure to the fear that was the consequence of the treason for which the goal was to starve to see Cold blinked. She looked behind her. There was nothing. She looked around. There was a black shape moving towards a point somewhere behind her. It hadn't even been close this time. “I don't understand this,” she said, her heart still beating quickly. “But good job. I think we made it.” “It was terrifying. The second wave almost killed us, and there was nothing I could do.” Cold closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths. “What about the location of the puzzle? Have we lost it?” “I think so. You went in a straight line for a while before the attacks came, and during the attacks I didn't pay attention to the
rdifferent from the one she had been looking for. “Is this it?” “You found it. Yeah.” “You sure it's the same puzzle?” “Yes.” Cold didn't ask how she knew this – it wasn't important. All that mattered were their chances for survival. With a sigh, she started walking in a new circle around the light. Minutes passed without disturbance. Cold didn't want to distract her, so she didn't say a word, but she couldn't keep her own thoughts from moving ahead. Everything she knew – her entire life – was less than half an hour old. If she had existed before that point, then all memories had been taken from her. But her mind was not one of an infant. She possessed extensive knowledge of a language that she couldn't name, understanding of concepts whose source was unknown to her, and a familiarity with a body of which she knew nothing. Whatever her world was, it was not natural. Something, or someone, must have designed her current state of being. A drop of liquid hit her front limb, and she realized that she was crying. Squeezing her eyes tight for just a moment, Cold broke through the sorrow that clouded her mind, only to continue in her fruitless journey around the accurst shade of light. More minutes passed, and Cold judged the likeliness of having fully circled
iwith the word itself. “Okay, listen. For the following riddles, you try to follow lines of thought similar to this one. Grammar. Wordplay. Maybe symbolic connections. And I'll try to stay closer to the direct meaning. That way we have independent lines of thought, at least mostly. If either of us thinks her way is or isn't going to work, she should tell the other. Okay?” “Okay.” “Okay.” The next few seconds were painful, but Cold told herself that it was foolish not to utilize them. Somehow. Even if all she did was trying to calm herself. “Time is running out. I'll submit... and... a tree of souls stands amidst a field of flowers. How do you climb the tree?” A tree of souls. What did that mean? Was it a metaphor? A murderer of sorts? Should she even think about it that way, or was that her task, with the way she had chosen to split the riddle? But she had to do it here. Or should she ask? No. No. Think. For a few moments, Cold had to fight back panic. They hadn't had a lot of time for the first riddle, and so far she hadn't made any progress. For what could it be a metaphor? What did souls represent? The... personality? A creature with multiple personalities? But she didn't know any creatures. She knew the concept of different animals, even races, but she didn't know any of them. Maybe just an undefined creature? Climb it. How did you climb something with a split personality? Or a murderer? Was climbing equal to overthrowing? How did you overthrow a murderer? By being one yourself? That wasn't applicable at all. And the field. A field of flowers. What did flowers mean? Was it innocent people? Was the tree murdering flowers? Were the souls defeated flowers? It didn't make much sense. This approach didn't seem to work. Maybe something else entirely? A literal tree in a literal garden? Maybe... “I'm not getting anywhere. I think we have to give up my approach for the riddle.” A crushing sensation of fear hit Cold upon hearing that, but she tried her best to ignore it. “Alright.” Maybe... what had she been thinking? The garden.
---thing... though, metaphorically, you could speak of the birth of tools... in a way. It wasn't entirely convincing, but it still sounded pretty good. Only, birth was not like death. Was there a way to fix this? Rather than birth and death... beginning and ending? But that didn't wok for all of nothing comes before me. No, the answer probably was life, she just had to find what the two parts were... somehow, make them equal instead of “I got it.” “What is it? Life?” “No, it's a letter again. It's v. It's a part of everything. It's made of two mirrored stripes. Every letter in the word nothing comes before it. And if you were trapped inside something which is shaped like the letter, you could never get out.” V? It made sense, except... would it really be a letter a second time? Maybe it was coincidence? Maybe the answer was in fact life? “I'm... not sure. I thought it was life; made of birth and death.” “But life is not really made of birth and death, it's only framed by it. And they aren't really a part of everything. And... they're not equal.” “I know but... I just... I mean, a letter as the solution to two riddles?” “Yeah, but everything fits.” “Let me see again... two identical parts... not quite.” “But it says 'each just like the other', and they would appear to
---the set is infinite, but I can't prove it yet.” “But you still have hope to find a solution?” “Yeah.” “Okay. Let's stay close then. Although, I don't think walking around it does something anymore. We must have already completed a full circle.” “Maybe a tighter circle?” “What would that do? We can see the light, and every other point is less far away. “Yes, but maybe there's something which is harder to see.” Cold sighed. “You don't really believe that.” “No.” “Alright.” Cold bridged half the distance towards the light, then she began to navigate around it once more. There was no talking herself out of the reality of the situation. Unless they somehow got out soon, they would die. Both of the last two challenges had been close, and it was foolish to expect that they would survive longer than one or two more – if even. Her biggest comfort was the thought that there would be no point in designing this place if whoever got there was inevitably going to die, but it was a feeble hope. Was it possible that they were doing something wrong? Was focusing on survival alone not the right course of action? Was there maybe some place they had to reach? But all directions looked the same. If there was a specific place, then there would be no way to reach it with anything but sheer luck. And if they just had to get far away, then why put the puzzle in there? And most importantly, it was not backed up by feelings. Every challenge, the puzzle, the riddles, it all had announced itself by intuition, either from Cold herself or from her. There was no feeling pointing her towards a specific goal. Cold stocked. She looked upwards. Blue. She looked downwards. Blue. Biting her lip, she kneed onto the floor, examining it more closely for the first time. It was hard, smooth, and neither warm nor cold. There were no inconsistencies to the material, no cracks or knolls or anything. Cold hit her front limb onto the ground, but she had no reference for the sound it made. She tried to press, rub, scratch, but to no effect. With drooping ears, she stood up again and continued her walk. The ground was an irresistible barrier, and they had no way of trying to even reach the ceiling. Every direction parallel to the ground looked the same. What was there left to try? Did they just have to solve this puzzle? But that was impossible. Even without understanding it, they could have just guessed with a fifty percent chance. The odds of getting out had never seemed that high. Plus, she had said the puzzle was optional. Maybe it was not about getting somewhere, but about doing something? Except all that seemed to be there to do in this place was walking, talking, and trying not to die to the challenges. Did she have to say a specific thing? Was it all
---such a cell to exist. With a panic scream, she leapt towards a cell at her front left, which wasn't even the closest option. For a brief moment, she thought that she wouldn't make it, but then she arrived about half a second before the cells behind her lit. Now, the adrenaline was overwhelming, and what was left of her lucid thinking began to fear that she might collapse or simply start running away if the challenge went on for longer. Yet, even though she hadn't even began processing her near death experience, she somehow managed to fall back into a quick but controlled rhythm, allowing her to stay alive for another five or six cycles. It was now that the time to escape each strike got truly uncomfortable, if it went on for another twenty seconds she would inevitably miss one, it was close every time, she would fail any moment now and then It stopped. The illuminated squares disappeared, and Cold could feel that the challenge was over. With an uncontrolled whimper, she broke down at the spot, crying hopelessly against the apathetic ground. She couldn't tell how much time it took, but eventually, she hoisted herself up into a sitting position, staring tiredly towards the light. “You did wonderfully.” Cold sniffed, and she couldn't bring herself to smile. “Thanks,” she replied nonetheless. “I... I knew exactly how many rounds were left at each point, but... I thought telling you would have been distracting.” “Yeah... honestly, that sounds like a trap. I think... if you told me how... many I had left, we might have died.” She suppressed a sob. “It... must have been hard to... watch it all without saying anything. But I think it was the best you could have done.” “What now?” “Let me sit here for a few more minutes. I need to get calmer if we want to have any chance of beating the next challenge. And we aren't getting anything done in between them anyway.” She didn't ask how it went with the puzzle, but she knew that she would have to soon. Despite no intuition pointing towards it, Cold wanted to try and travel farther away. Even if it wouldn't get them out, they might still find something. Minutes passed, and Cold prolonged standing up for longer than necessary, judging that even being slightly more prepared was at this point more valuable than exploring the area around the light. Even though the last challenge had taken more from her than any one before, she found that she was more hopeful now than earlier, perhaps
---more than ever before. “I solved it!” “Huh?” Cold blinked. “Really?” “Yeah. Can you go back to the puzzle?” Cold stood up, and did as she was told. “What is the answer?” “It's infinite.” “Can you explain why?” “I could... do you think it's necessary?” Cold hesitated. Time was valuable, and if she was certain, they wouldn't receive any benefit from her knowing it too. But even so, she wasn't ready to gamble her life on something she didn't understand. “If something happens and we have to hurry, you can submit the answer. But otherwise... I'd like to know.” “I understand. So... okay. There are three parts to this proof. Reminder, the set holds numbers which can only be divided by one or themselves. Part one is, no number except one is a factor of two consecutive numbers, because if it's a factor of the original number, then multiplying it by even just one more will already result in a result greater than number next in size. Got it?” “Yes,” Cold said after a few moments. “Part two is, every number can be split into a product of only members of the set, because... well, let's start with any one number. Either it is already in the set, or it can be split into a product of two other numbers which are not one or itself, because that is the definition of numbers outside of the set. So, now we got two numbers which are smaller than our original one, and we can do the same for both of them. We can keep doing that until we're only left with numbers from the set. They get smaller every step, so we have to make it eventually.” Cold had reached their destination by now, and sat down next to the two shapes. It took her several minutes to fully process this, but eventually she nodded. “Yes.” “Good, that was the hardest part. Part three is... let's say we have any amount of numbers from the set. We can create the product of all of these numbers, resulting in a new number which is extremely high, and has all of our original numbers as factors, right?” Cold squeezed her eyes, but she was still following. “Yeah.” “Good, next we increment this number by one. Now it is still insanely high, but it doesn't have any of our members as factors, based on part one, right?” “Yeah.” “So, and now we split it like in part two, until it is only made of numbers which are in the set. It may have already been in the set, in that case we get just one new number, or it
---may not have been, in which case we will receive however many. But we will get at least one new number, and it will be one different from the ones we started with, because none of those was a factor of our huge number.” It was an odd train of thought, but Cold knew that she was still following. “Yeah.” “And that's it. Given any amount of numbers of the set, we can construct at least one new one. And then another one. And another one. Or, probably much more than one, but one at least. If the set had finite size, we could take all of its members and construct at least one new one – so it can't have finite size.” Cold thought about this for over five minutes, considering each step multiple times. Eventually, she was convinced that it was a definitive proof. “Alright. Okay. Which shape for the infinite set?” “The rectangle.” Cold stepped at the edge of the shape. Breathing quickly, she hesitated for just a second, then she moved a front limb forward and touched the ground inside of it. Both shapes disappeared immediately. Nothing else seemed to have changed. “What did it do?” “I don't know. But I'm sure that we guessed right.” Cold gulped. But there had never been a reason to assume that they would know that which they had gained. There were plenty of ways in which they could benefit without knowing about them. “Alright. This has to be good enough.” Cold stood up. “Let's go. I want to bridge more distance.” She began to move again, this time at a quickened pace. Then, less than two minutes into her walk, she could feel the next challenge incoming. Only... there was no threat. The challenge was coming, but not to them. “Do you feel that?” “Yeah. I think we get a free pass.” “Oh.” Cold verified this theory with her intuition. It was true. She could clearly feel the fifth challenge incoming, but nothing suggested that they had to do anything to be safe. So this was the price they had won. “Do you think this means that we just have to overcome a fixed number of challenges?” “It doesn't have to. A free pass is valuable no matter what we have to accomplish.” Indeed, a free pass would even then be valuable if all they could do was to delay the inevitable. This prize didn't provide them with any new information, but at least they were still alive. If they had ever had any chances, then they had also increased. During the following minutes, Cold could feel the challenge taking place, even though it didn't take place for them. Breathing evenly, she continued to walk straight ahead, all the while on the lookout for anything that would contrast with the monotone blue ahead of her... And then everything disappeared.
AwakeningCold fell, but before she had time to register this fact, the fall came to a sudden end. Immediately suspecting another threat, she tried to lift her head despite the pain of her impact, but all she could see were tiny stars dancing in front of her, and countless blurry dots which were impossible to decipher. A gasp. With clenched teeth, Cold turned her head towards the source. Slowly, the image in front of her sharpened more and more, until she could make out the shape of somepony else standing there. Some...pony? Cold blinked. Something was different. She knew what she was. She also knew a number of other things... names of things... All the names that had been missing. “Are you alright?” “I think so,” Cold answered, stifling a painful groan. With a considerable amount of effort, she slowly crawled into into a sitting position. “Who are you?” “Call me Twilight.” The pony rushed over, only to stop right in front of her, apparently not knowing what to do. “I'm... I'm... I'm terribly sorry for what you have been through.” “So it's over?” “Yes.” Cold didn't know how she was supposed to feel, but right now she barely felt anything. “Did you do this to us?” “No.” Cold swallowed. She knew that it was foolish to blindly believe this pony, but right now, sitting on this floor with the looming prospect of death absent for the first time in her life, it was hard to feel any sensation of danger. Curiously, she began to examine her surroundings. She seemed to be in a library, with circular walls whose many recesses served as bookshelves. Beside her, a neatly decorated staircase lead upstairs, and in the center of the room stood a small, round table. Looking upwards, she saw that the ceiling was covered by a single large celestial symbol. It was... pleasant. Cold couldn't think of any other word to describe it. Without a doubt was it the friendliest place she had ever been to. “Are you there?” No-one answered. Twilight was still standing beside her, but she had her gaze lowered to the floor and didn't say a word. A sense of foreboding overcame Cold. “Hello?” But there was no point asking again. If she was there, she would have answered. “I'm sorry,” Twilight said in a whisper. “You are the only one who survived.” “The only one?” “You and twenty-three others were thrown into that place. Only you got out.” “But... what about the pony who was with me? The one I could always talk to? She was there the whole time. We got through this whole thing together. How can I have survived, but not her?” Twilight looked at her, and a lone tear dropped onto the floor. “I'm so sorry.” Cold closed her eyes, and felt the agony washing over her. Now she knew what true loss felt like. She had been the only living soul she knew. And she didn't even know her name. “What... what was her name?” Still crying silently, Twilight turned her head away and summoned a small piece of paper from the circular table. “What is your name?” “Cold.” She could see Twilight's eyes quickly running down the paper in front of her. “Gold... Goldspark.” Twilight took a moment to collect herself. “She was a small unicorn filly, gifted in maths and revelation related magic. Thirteen years old.” “Thirteen,” Cold repeated disbelievingly. “She was a kid.” “Ya.” Twilight sniffed. “What happened?” “Somepony did this to you. To you and the others. We caught him, but we couldn't stop what he had begun. It would go on until all but one pair were killed. If you want to know the details...” “No.” Cold hat taken in this news without making a sound, but she didn't want to hear more. “Not yet.” Squeezing her eyes, she tried to think about anything other than the dead filly. “How old am I?” “Nineteen. You were a homeless pony from Manehatten, raised in an Orphanage.” Twilight moved her glance back at her, biting her lip. “There is something else.” “Yeah?” “All ponies which were thrown into the plane have been robbed of their special talents... and the talents of their race. You are a pegasus.” Cold stared at her, not willing to believe what she had heard. “But I have fur.” “I know. The pony who...” She bit her lip. “He is... cruel. And the way he did this... I studied the spell. It is... I can't really describe it to someone who doesn't understand unicorn magic, but the spell alone is a great crime.” She took a deep breath. “But I can reverse it. Even for a pegasus. As soon as you want, I can give you your old body back.” “Do it,” Cold said without hesitating. Twilight gave her a look, then she nodded, stood up, and walked a few steps backwards. After drying her eyes, she tilted her head slightly, and a stream of magic began to erupt from her horn, enclosing and flowing all around Cold's body. It hurt, but it was bearable. Squeezing her eyes shut, Cold patiently waited for the pain to go away. Sooner than expected, it did. Cold let a few more seconds pass, then she opened her eyes and stared down at her body, blinking. Her coat was now made of blue feathers, but it was a kind of blue different from her old coat or the plane; this one was brighter, friendlier. It was a close distinction, but to her it made all the difference in the world. And she had wings, which so far felt like strange and unknown extensions to her body. Pulling a tuft of hair, she could see that her mane was comprised of two differently colored strands, one a light blue and the other white. Now she knew why she was called Cold. “All ponies had blue coats when they were sent into the plane. It is just coincidence that your real color is so similar.” Twilight was still watching her, looking almost as if she was expecting to be yelled at at any second. But there was no anger in Cold. Twilight wasn't responsible for what had happened, and Cold hadn't fought tirelessly only to falsely blame the first pony she met, especially when that pony was showing her so much sympathy. “Thank you,” Cold murmured, and with a sigh, she dropped back onto her haunches. Hesitantly, Twilight sat down next to her, and without thinking about it, Cold closed her eyes and leaned her head against her shoulder. This was all she needed. No danger. No challenges. No laboriously suppressed desperation. No responsibility. And no fear. Gradually, her breathing slow and steady, Cold drifted off into the first real slumber of her life.
Progress“I want to visit her family.” Twilight looked up from the letter on which she had just finished a paragraph. “Goldspark's?” “Yeah.” “That won't be a problem. Do you want me to come with you?” “Yes.” Cold fumbled around uncomfortably. “But you don't have to.” “I'll send word to her family. It's better to obtain permission; ponies can react very differently to personal losses such as this.” Cold nodded. “Thanks.” Twilight made a few corrections to what she had written, then she put the quill aside. “I hope you aren't offended if I ask you this... but can I be sure that you won't...” “Kill myself?” “Or do some other stupid thing.” “Yes. I haven't fought this hard just to throw my life away once it is safe. It's just...” She sighed. “I just wish that she was still alive. It's one thing to know that I denied eleven other ponies the chance to live, but... it would be so much easier to accept if I also saved somepony. But as is, I only saved myself, and now I feel like I owe it to the others to live it as best as I can.” Twilight nodded slowly. “She was a smart kid, wasn't she?” “Yeah.” Cold wanted to chuckle, but it came out more as a sob. “She came up with a proof for the existence of infinite prime numbers in the spawn of like an hour. That was one of the puzzles in the... blasted place.” ”Quite impressive, indeed.” Twilight stocked, and looked at her for several seconds before she continued. “But as far as your life goes... I want you to know that we will do everything we can to make up for what happened. Nothing can restore your memories, but we can give you back the life you lost.” “How?” “By temporarily pausing your aging, making you younger, or a combination of both. However you like.” Cold blinked. “Really?” “Yes,” Twilight said emphatically. “Nopony may trade with lifetime, but if somepony has life taken from her by force, then Celestia will give it back to her. Otherwise, you would always feel like twenty years were missing from your life.” “But I did live them.” “Even so. Reaching an age without that many years to look back to is a terrible fate. Have you not felt it yet?” “Yes.” Cold lowered her gaze. “Yes, I have. It feels like I'm only just starting with my life, and the knowledge that I have lived for twenty years does not change a thing.” She breathed out slowly, comprehending the news. “This... is a great gift. It's...” Cold stocked. “It's more than I expected. It's immeasurably precious.” Twilight nodded. “Yeah, it is. So, I take that you want to have it?” “I do. I... I need to think about how exactly I want it to be, but yes.” “There are some restrictions, of course. You must not tell anypony about it without permission from the princess, and you may not get back your whole lifetime. The way ponies produce memories is different in every stage of their life. The matter will have to be discussed in more detail with the princess.” “Yeah, of course. Thank you.” Twilight nodded again, then she smiled. “Crimes of this magnitude happen very rarely in Equestria. If they do, it is our job to compensate for the living as best and as just as we can. I am only involved because I had a part in catching the pony who did this, but I know that the princess will take a great interest in how well your situation can be handled.” “Cold?” “Hm?” Cold had spent the last few minutes doing nothing in particular, just enjoying the tranquility of the moment, and watching Twilight work. “Not that I mind, but... you know that you can go out whenever you want, right?” “But you don't mind?” “No.” “I...” Cold sighed. “I'm not ready to meet anypony else yet. I'm not even two days old, remember?” She giggled, and to her own delight it sounded almost natural. “You know, I... even though I spent less than a tenth of my life in the plane, it still feels like... like I've been in there for most of it. Like I just got out. It's not just because it was terrifying, but also because it's the first thing I have experienced. When I was there, it was the only life I knew. Mh... don't worry, I'll go out soon enough. I just need a little bit more time to process everything. And staying here with you is nice. Peaceful.” “Well, you can stay for as long as you like. Company is nice, especially if it's as quiet as you are.” A smile hushed over Cold's face. “Yeah. Well...” She bit her lip. “You know, it would all be so much easier if she... that's what really hurts me. I just... I wish so much that she was still alive. So much...” She closed her eyes. “It's the same thing again. This... loss that I feel, it's the first strong emotion that I know, and I don't know how to deal with it yet. That's why I need time...” “Twilight?” It was two days later, but the scenario was identical. Cold was sitting on the floor of an upper room in the library, watching Twilight as she was reading up on something in a large book about teleportation magic. Not wanting to be a distraction, she had waited for Twilight to put the book aside before saying anything. “Yea?” Twilight turned around. “I can't fly. I tried to earlier today. Do...” She stocked. “Do you... know somepony...” “Somepony who could teach you how to fly?” Cold nodded. Twilight smirked. “I do. And I know she'll keep it private if you ask her to.” “Oh... good.” “You're actually... well, at the very least a passable flier based solely on your wing muscles, but more likely a pretty good one. The physical requirements are there, you just need to relearn the technique. I don't think it'll take as much time as learning it from scratch.” “Who is she?” “She's captain of the local weather team, but that's a job way below her qualification. In truth, she's one of the top fliers of her generation. And she's one of my closest friends.” “And... you're sure she's not overqualified for...” “No. You worry too much, Cold. She'll enjoy teaching you how to fly. And who knows, once you have relearned how to do it, maybe she'll actually get a more capable flying partner. An orphanage from Manehatten? Most pegasi who are great fliers don't live in places such as this. Chances are you'll be one of the best fliers in Ponyville." “Alright... thanks.” “Do you think I'll fit into Ponyville?” Twilight, who had just finished practicing deforming magic on a small rubber ball, stepped back from her desk and turned around. “I do. You're kind, uncomplicated, and super considerate. And Ponyville is one of the friendlies places in Equestria. You'll have no problems getting along.” She tilted her head. ”Does this mean you're ready to go outside?” “I think so.” “That's great.” She gave her a smile. “Would you like me to take you somewhere?” Cold sighed in relief at the offer. “Yes, that would be wonderful.” “We can go right now.” Twilight lead Cold towards the staircase. The walk down seemed to take next to no time, and Cold almost regretted her decision, but there was no backing down now. “You still seem to be nervous. If this is because of our meeting with Goldspark's family, I can easy reschedule that to a later day.” “No, it's not that. I want to go outside.” But it was more than that. During the last few days, her fear and pain and slowly been taken over by excitement. Everything was open to her. Every place was somewhere she could go to, even the sky. Every activity was something she might enjoy, if only she tried it out. The world was large and beautiful, and it was time for her to see some of it. Her heart beat like a filly on her first day of school when she stepped in front of the library door. “Let's visit my friend Fluttershy. She lives outside of town, so you'll get a look of Ponyville and meet someone nice, without being put through too much at once.” Cold nodded. Her eyes ahead, she stepped closer to Twilight than it was necessary. She was ready to finally meet the outside world, for the first time in her life.
d“Are you okay?” Cold shifted her gaze around the landscape in front of her. “I... I think so. I'm kind of scared.” “Yeah, me too.” Nervously tonguing her lips, Cold tried to make sense of the sensation of foreboding which seemed to have accompanied her birth into this world. “Do you know what's happening?” “No.” Cold shuddered. Something was about to happen. Something... bad? No, that wasn't quite right. Something... dangerous. A challenge. And it was happening now. Right now. With a shriek, Cold backed away from her current position, under which the ground had just taken on a pale shade of red. Moments later, its color saturation intensified drastically, only to then fade entirely. Although she had felt nothing from the process right in front of her, Cold knew that residing within the area at the time it lit would have resulted in her immediate death. “We have to dodge it.” Cold nodded. This time, with her eyes focused on the ground, she noticed the color change ahead of time, and quickly stepped into an unaffected location. Ready to repeat this maneuver, Cold awaited a third strike, but it didn't come. Instead, a slowly spinning orb emerged from somewhere ahead of her. Just like the enchanted areas prior, its color changed from pale to deep red, and it went on to flip between them with consistent frequency. This lasted a few seconds, then the orb sprouted rays which followed the same color progression. The rays went far beyond Cold's position, which made it so the orb's rotation forced her to step over the rays during their pale state. It was a fairly easy task, but the looming penalty for failure was threatening enough for Cold to dedicate this exercise her undivided attention. Less than half a minute into the task, the orb disappeared entirely, and Cold could feel the danger fading. “Is this a game? Are we being toyed with?” Cold swallowed. “I have no idea.” She looked around, trying to make sense of what she saw. It was a large hall of sorts, or a plane. Below and above her, everything was blue. It was impossible to tell whether or not the place had a ceiling. “Do you know anything?” she asked. “Anything... else about this?” “I'm... well, I don't think I existed until right now. I don't have my own body and seem to be tied to you, but I have a separate mind. That's pretty much all I know.” “Can you listen to my thoughts?” “No, you have
bthe light to be higher with every step. “There is another challenge.” Cold halted in her walk, looking around. “I don't feel anything. Or see anything.” “It's a different one. A... series of riddles. But not like the puzzle. These are easier, but compulsive, and we also have limited time. And there will be one without a solution; just one, and the answer for it is that there is no answer.” “What happens if we can't solve one?” “We'll die.” “As usual.” Cold bit her lip. “How much time do we have?” “Different for each one. I... I... I'll sense if we're about to reach a certain point; up until that point we'll be safe, after that it could end at any moment, and I won't be able to tell. And if it ends, we die.” “When does it start?” “In a few moments.” “What... what happens if we guess wrong? Can we guess multiple times? And how do we guess?” “Guessing wrong means we die. We can only try once for each. And... I can submit it, if we know the answer.” “Alright. Alright.” Cold took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Was there anything else they could do for preparation? They were two, so... they should split the riddle somehow. But how could they split a riddle if they had no idea what “Okay, I got the first one. What is the beginning of nothing, the middle of meaning, and the end of pain?” The beginning of nothing... was nothing. The middle of meaning... could be anything. Or, what if meaning didn't have a middle? Was it both nothing? And the end of pain... was nothing? The pain which foreshadowed death? Was it nothing? No, that wasn't good enough. Nothing and pain maybe, but nothing as the middle of meaning? If she was being this vague, surely she could justify a whole bunch of conclusions. The beginning nothing. What was it that came before nothing? Was it everything, or anything, because everything would one day fade into nothing? But that didn't work for the other two. Maybe something which could cause “I got it.” “What is it? Can you tell me without submitting it?” “Yeah. It's grammar. The solution is the letter n.” Cold quickly went through all three words. “Yeah, that's it. Okay. Is there an advantage to submitting early?” “No.” “Alright. Okay. So, don't submit it yet. But do it if it's getting close.” Cold noticed her quickened breathing, and forced herself to stay calm once again. They had solved the first one. It was going well. Grammar. Could that be a part of future riddles? Probably not as plain as here. But there was a way of thinking about things in a more abstract manner that had less to do
nNo, the literal sense. How did it make sense literally? How did you climb a tree? She couldn't. Her body wasn't capable of climbing. Was that it? Did you have to be different... different than she was? But that didn't consider the garden. There was no way a part of the riddle wouldn't mean anything. The solution had to make sense for every asset. She needed a new approach. This wasn't working. A garden. A garden... a tree... climbing... and flowers. Did they have something in common? Was there a contradiction? They were all alive – aside from the act. Maybe... No. This was another dead end. She needed something different. Something different... How would she do it? If she were there... no. Bad. The souls. They had to mean something. What did a tree of souls mean? What... maybe the growth of suffering? The growth of wisdom? Was climbing the tree of souls equivalent to gaining wisdom? And the flowers... if they represented bloom, was it to become wise among a field of other souls? Wiser than others? “Our safe time is running low.” Cold bit her lip so hard that she could smell blood. But she had made her choice. “Submit no answer. Unless you are close. I will not put our faith up to chance.” “You sure?” “Do it!” This could be the end. She might die. Right now. Right now. Maybe she should have “It's correct.” The relief was overwhelming. Cold barely noticed herself collapsing at the spot. “an name.” “What?” “The next riddle. What is the only thing you can name?” “Right. Sorry.” Cold silently cursed herself for losing attention. The only thing she could name. But... she? Or her? Was... “Do you know what 'you' means here? Is it me, or you? Or both?” “I... it's you. Sorry, I should have told you.” “It's fine.” The only thing she could name. This was fairly easy to understand – she didn't know the names of anything. She didn't know the name of the species she belonged to, nor the name her language. She knew the name of concepts... but there was no specific one that could be the answer. It needed to be a name that was breaking the pattern somehow – but she hadn't yet fully understood the pattern. She didn't know the name of... specific things? Was that it? Was a concept like courage a specific thing? No, that was the wrong line of thinking. She didn't need to define the pattern, it was enough if she could tell the difference, which she was confident that she could. She should search for a concrete thing which she could name... “What's your name?” “I don't have one. I don't know.” “Okay. Then it's not you...” Speaking of which, how did she know her own... “That's it. It's me. I know my name. That's the only thing.” “You sure?” “Yeah, absolutely. There is nothing else even nearly as concrete of which I know the name. It's myself.” “What is your name?” “It's Cold.” “Just 'Cold'?” “Yeah.” “Okay. Should I submit?” “No.” Cold took a few deep breaths. It was going well. Three out of three. “How many riddles will there be?” “I
ghave no idea.” “Okay. Okay...” Was there something in their approach which they should change for future riddles? Any further preparation they could do? Anything... Was there a pattern in the riddles, maybe? Grammar, no answer, herself. Or, the letter n, no answer, herself. N, no answer, Cold? N.... none... no... no. There was nothing. Maybe... maybe something they had in common? A difficult thing with just two solved riddles. Grammar and her... no. Then, maybe a “My two parts, each one just like the other, would trap you forever. All of nothing comes before me, yet I am a part of everything. And... I don't know whom 'you' means this time. Are we still doing the split approach?” “Yeah.” Two parts... and a part of everything. That sounded like some kind of particle all matter was comprised of... but she didn't know the names of any particles, so it had to be in the metaphorical sense. Two things... making one thing, which was a part of everything. Life and death? All of nothing comes before me... I am a part of everything... that could be it. Only, life and death were not like each other. Still, this sounded promising. Maybe birth and death? And they were both part of life? Was life the answer? But birth was not like death; it was the opposite. And wasn't there something else... “Sorry, can you say it again?” “My two parts, each one just like the other, would trap you forever. All of nothing comes before me, yet I am a part of everything.” “Thanks.” Would trap you forever. That made sense. All of nothing comes before me. That also made sense. I am a part of everything – that kind of made sense, except it was only every living
---be just like each other if you were trapped between them.” “I... guess? Okay, it's not a big stretch. Let's see the rest. A part of everything. Pass. All of nothing comes before me. Pass. Also, the way it's worded sounds like it's about grammar. If you were trapped... yeah. Yeah. You're right. It has to be it. It does fit better.” Four out of four. Now all she had to do was to get ready for the next one. There couldn't be that many more. The challenge so far had already been difficult. Cold closed her eyes, and tried not to think of anything. “We're done.” A pause. “Fhew...” “Did you submit?” “Yeah, just now. It was the last one.” Cold let out a breath. “And you're sure that, if we had answered anything wrong, we would have died right away?” “Yes.” “And... you know all of this instinctively?” “Yeah.” For a few moments, neither of them said a word. “Cold?” “Yeah?” “Do you think we have been put into this place? Or could it... could this be the only world there is?” “No.” A knot was forming in her throat as she allowed herself to fully realize the grimness of their situation, but at least she could truthfully give this answer. “There has to be another world. A world with several people living together. This place alone could not function.” “Then why are we here? Do you think it is a punishment? Are we criminals? Could we... could we have murdered someone?” “I don't think that's likely. Sure, it's possible, but there are a million other reasons why someone might do this to us. Don't assume the worst.” “And... do you think we will ever get out of here? We have completed three challenges so far, but nothing has changed. Maybe completing them doesn't change whether or not we die, but just when we die. Maybe there'll just be challenges until we fail at one.” “Maybe. Yeah.” Cold's lips quivered. “But we might also get out with the next challenge. And talking about this doesn't help us to progress.” “I know, I know, I just... I just wanted to talk to you about it before I die.” “Mhh.” Suddenly, every gulp Cold took was accompanied with short stitch of pain. “I know. I can understand that. But you can't give up hope.” “I won't.” “Okay.” Cold looked around, until she located the glimmer once more. “How's the puzzle coming along?” “I'm not sure. I think
---one big riddle? Cold thought back to the challenges she had already overcome, and tried to find a clue which could hint to a word, but to no avail. She even tried to speak commands out loud, but nothing. Eventually, the next challenge announced itself. Cold could feel tears of disappointment and frustration dwelling up inside her, but she fought them back, and instead looked out for an incoming threat. “You can feel it too, can't you?” “Yeah.” “Do you feel anything else?” Cold asked, slowly pivoting around on the spot. “Nothing.” The seconds crept by, until... Below them, the ground lit up in a pattern of squares, each one the same size, as far as her eyes could reach. They were just large enough for Cold to comfortably stand inside one. “I think this one is about speed.” “Yeah.” Cold kept her eyes on the ground, her whole body tense in anticipation. She didn't have to wait for long. Every second cell took on a pale red color, just like the ground during their first challenge. The cell Cold was currently in was not affected, so she just stood still, knowing that moving accidentally would be just as fatal as not moving in time. Then the red lit up, but only for a moment, before fading entirely. Cold judged that the pale state had lasted for almost five seconds, which seemed like plenty of time to react, but she knew that the challenge would increase in difficulty as it went along. Now the squares lit up in blocks of nine, and Cold had to sidestep to the cell on her left. The next strike came with a more complex pattern, but the cell right in front of her was free, so Cold didn't bother to study it. Then, every three cells in a block of four lit, and Cold could already sense that the pace was quickening. With quivering limbs, she gave up on recognizing the patterns entirely, and instead just dodged to whichever free cell she spotted first. Eight or nine cycles in, Cold began wondering whether the deciding factor for this challenge might not be speed or quick processing, but simply endurance. The pace was still accelerating, but slowly, and Cold judged herself to be capable of surviving for at least another minute, provided that she didn't make a single misstep. But even though her whole body was shivering, she hadn't yet given way into panic. Every step she did was with sufficient precision, and not once did she move without spotting a free cell first, which was always at most two cells into the most favorable direction. The game still wasn't hard, as long as she gave it her undivided attention and didn't make mistakes. Then the challenge chose to break this unspoken rule. Cold cast about in any direction for the safespot which would be within a two cell radius, and remembered too late that she didn't actually have a guarantee for
