A Shadow of Myself

Blanche, Tempest, Charlotte, Optimus Prime, Bright Heart, and Rainbow Brite watched the intuits touch and talk to Gentle Heart excitedly. The newly minted mint-green unicorn seemed to be taking it in stride, but she was obviously profoundly uncomfortable with all the attention. Even if a person weren't shy, they wouldn't want crowds of people running their grubby little paws all over them. She got that the intuit were in awe of her and what she represented, and they wanted to find out all they could about her new form, but they were going to cause the shy pony a nervous break. If that were Phobia, Tempest would beat some intuit to a pulp. If that were Rebecca, Blanche might be doing the same– even after years of service and friendship, it was hard to say how Rebecca would react to things sometimes, so it was uncertain if Blanche would be bloodying intuit or rolling her eyes in that circumstance.

"Can't you do something about your comrades?" she asked Bright Heart. "They're practically smothering her."

Bright Heart sadly shook his head. "That group pays me no heed. Heavyheart is who we need, but she's unavailable. She and Empathy went to one of the private caverns and haven't come out yet. I should be happy about that. It's a sign their relationship might be mended, but I wish she would prioritize this."

Blanche looked at Tempest. "Can't you go pony mode and say you must teach her how to use her horn? That might make them back off."

Tempest frowned. "A good idea…except…most of my experience using my horn was when it was shattered, and the primary thing it did was blow shit up. Although I know how to use my horn properly, I would be nervous about accidentally slipping into how I have typically used my shattered horn due to reflexes. However, Charlotte might be a better option for teaching her."

"Me?" Charlotte asked in dismay. "I'm hardly a magic expert."

"We don't need an expert; we need someone who can show her the basics, and you know that much," Tempest replied. She then gave Charlotte a slight smirk. "And you also bear a striking resemblance to Sunset Blessing while in pony form, and these creatures hold her in the highest regard right now. They may listen to you. You want to help our little lamb get some peace, right?"

"I'm sure Gentle Heart will be much more comfortable dealing with you than all this," Rainbow said, gesturing with a wing at the intuit crowd.

Charlotte pouted. "But I wanted to hear about this quintesson thing."

"You can hear about it later. It isn't going to hurt anything for you to wait to find out. Go help that unicorn out. That's an order from your commanding officer," Blanche said firmly.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "This isn't the army, but fine. I feel bad for her, and I suppose I know how to explain basic levitation and grabbing things well enough. I'd rather do it than have Sunset do it. Sunset would have her crying in five minutes."

"Actually, she might do better. My understanding is she is much harsher on you than she is on others she is instructing. You get to be a virtual punching bag representing herself," Tempest replied. "Unfortunately, she's managed to get out of cleaning up after herself by going to bed. You're our best option."

"Nothing like a reminder Sunset treats me worse than others," Charlotte muttered, but then adjusted the settings on her talisman, quickly shifting to what looked like a much younger and less damaged Sunset Blessing.

Charlotte marched purposefully towards the intuits. "Hey! I know you all want to talk to Gentle Heart and discover what being a pony is like. It is very exciting to see and learn more about, but she needs some time to learn how to use that horn on her head since it is her primary tool. None of you want to be close by for that."

"Why?" a monkey intuit asked.

"Because she isn't going to start with great control, and you don't want to be in range if she accidentally throws something or drops something with her magic that she was only trying to move a short distance," Charlotte calmly explained. "Plus, you're making her nervous. I don't know a lot of shy ponies, but I get the impression she might be one of the rare ones who are– and that's okay. She'll learn better without the extra stress."

The intuits backed away from Gentle Heart, and the unicorn seemed visibly relieved.

Blanche had to smile. "You know, I think that girl would make a good teacher. No offense, Bright Heart, but most intuits I have seen, with a few notable exceptions, like you and Heavyheart, are childlike. I could see Charlotte handling a class of young students well."

"Sunset Blessing deals well with children, so it is no surprise. Her natural talent dealing with them is part of why the princesses installed Sunset Blessing as the headmare of Celestia's school. However, Charlotte's wasted potential is not what we are here to discuss," Tempest said as they watched Charlotte quietly lead Gentle Heart to a more secluded part of the compound.

Blanche nodded and looked at Optimus Prime. "We'll decide if the quintesson in the other universe is something we must worry about later. I suspect you know more than Rainbow Brite and Starlight about these things." She looked at Rainbow Brite. "Where is your steed anyway?"

"He struck up a conversation with one of the Autobots, Bumblebee. They seem to have connected, and Bumblebee offered to show him around the compound," Rainbow answered. "It's good that he's making friends."

Optimus gestured with a hand. "Bumblebee can be a dedicated compatriot and friend, though he can sometimes be headstrong, proud, and reckless."

"Sounds like the type of friend our proud horse would appreciate," Tempest muttered.

Blanche sighed. "Let's count that as improving diplomatic ties. Anyway, can you brief us about the quintesson, Optimus?"

Optimus Prime held out his hand, and a holographic image appeared above it. The creature was depicted as a three-dimensional model. Its body was compact, almost egg-shaped. There were five vaguely humanoid faces on the thing, each facing a different direction and each with a distinct outline of headgear. Beneath each face was a small bay with a tentacle. The projection showed the appendages extending and retracting back into the monster.

"Three of the five faces are non-responsive," Optimus Prime explained. "One had been non-functional for as long as we can remember. One failed one thousand five hundred and twelve cycles ago. Another failed ninety cycles ago. Another face is malfunctioning, constantly stating that it is trying to establish contact with the other faces, announcing communication failed with the non-responsive faces, then trying again to establish a connection. The final face can communicate, but it is not friendly. It guarded the Allspark for ages before entrusting it to me. I entrusted it to the Cloudkeeper, and he returned the Allspark to the quintesson. Dark Heart later seized it from the quintesson, although I am unsure how."

"The one in my universe looked the same, but it had three active faces. One of the faces was constantly saying it couldn't make contact with two of the faces but didn't say anything about the other two faces that were working," Rainbow Brite said. "It was guarding the Heart of Spectra. Princess killed it right in front of me."

"How many cycles ago was your encounter with the quintesson?" Bright Heart asked. "Was it about ninety cycles ago?"

Rainbow shook her head. "I don't know. I know it was close to a century ago if Sunset Blessing is correct about how long we were alone."

Tempest stared at the hologram. "So…it is the same creature, operating in five places simultaneously? And when one of those places goes down-"

"-one of the faces goes down," Blanche concluded.

Bright Heart shook his head. "No, only four places. One of the faces seems to be only for maintaining communication among the others."

"So, if one is here, and one was in Rainbow Bright's world, where were the other two?" Blanche asked.

"One may have been in Equestria," Tempest said, and they all looked at her. "I don't know the exact time adjustment for years, but the time when the other one went down seems suspiciously close to when the unicorns seized the Sunstone. The records from that time are patchy, but there's stories they fought a monster with five heads to get it."

Blanche frowned. "Let's not jump to conclusions. We'd need to talk to this thing to find out more information. Let's not tell Sunset about it, at least for now. I don't trust the preacher not to go out searching for these things on her own. If they communicate between universes and are all guardians of powerful magical relics, she wouldn't be able to resist. She's supposed to be our sword to swing, but she is a very difficult sword to control. Let's not do anything that makes her even more difficult."

Optimus Prime turned the hologram off and lowered his hand. "Speaking with the quintesson may prove impossible. It does not wish to be disturbed. However, your friends are the ones who would be the ones to contact it if it is possible. They are in its lair right now."

Phobia panted with exhaustion. It was a dream, so there was no physical exhaustion, but there was mental and emotional exhaustion. It had been a never-ending ordeal every time she had slept since coming to this new world. Once again, she had failed to face her fears. Once again, she had banished the nightmare instead of facing it.

Now she sat in the remnants of the dream. She was in the one room in the house in Skytree that she had always refused to enter. It was empty, and she didn't know what it actually looked like at this point. Tempest had made it her room for years, and it had been used as a sort of barracks for the night pony mares after Tempest had retired. Now her son owned the house. Maybe he took this room for a bedroom since it was supposed to be the master bedroom, or perhaps he had converted it to a playroom for his foals, or maybe he let it sit empty, unwilling to venture into the room in which he was violently conceived. That she could stand to sit in this room, even in a dream, was a small victory, but still, the monster it housed was too much for her.

"You are not of this universe."

"Attempting to connect to Fedahk… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Pytr… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Gkrel… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Juoph… connected. Attempting to connect to Fedahk…."

She turned to look upon a five-faced being with no legs but two tentacles. It was machine in nature, but each face was a monstrous aspect with sharp fangs and elongated features, resembling a human face in symmetry alone. The one that faced her had red glowing eyes and what appeared to be the outline of a spiked helmet. The one that even now continued to repeat its dirge of failures to connect had similar features but had something similar to a turban instead of a helmet. The last three faces sat lifeless, with eyes gone dark and obscured by dust.

"So, my theory is right. You're a construct from Qo'per'he," Phobia said as she turned to face the lesser dreamer. "And it seems that machines can dream."

"Attempting to connect to Fedahk… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Pytr… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Gkrel… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Juoph… connected. Attempting to connect to Fedahk…." One face continued to prattle on as the other active face studied her with interest. The prattler's eyes seemed to seek her out as well, indicating some intelligence still remained despite the malfunction.

"You know of Qo'per'he?" the face asked skeptically. "Did something of that world survive?"

Phobia shook her head. "Only you and your fellow machines, although your other face seems to indicate they are gone now as well, as do their vacant expressions."

"Attempting to connect to Gkrel… unable to connect. Attempting to connect to Juoph…" the other face continued.

She sighed. "I'm assuming I am speaking to the face of Juoph." She gestured with a wing, and the other face went silent. It didn't stop its recitation. Its mouth was still moving, but it could no longer be heard.

The helmeted head smiled. "Yes, that is my name, and thank you for silencing Yew. I have grown so tired of that ceaseless litany. I have often considered physically cutting him off to bring an end to it, but then I would be truly alone, and my desire for Yew's company, such as it is, outweighs my desire to silence him. I sometimes shove his mouth full of rocks, but he chews them up when I do and goes right back to reminding me that the others are likely dead or that Yew's other faces have all been terminated. The second option is the more hopeful, even if I don't believe it."

"I have vague memories from Equestria of all the faces save one being active on the unit that was there. The memory is hazy since the Dreamwarden at the time was nearing her time to go into the Eternal Dream," Phobia replied. "The memory I obtained is unclear, but it seemed like the ponies murdered that one."

The quintesson sneered. "You are a Dreamwarden? The Dreamwarden of supplemental universe prime one? Why are you in supplemental universe prime three?"

Phobia shook her head. "I'm not from Equestria, or as you put it, supplemental universe prime one. I'm from the same universe as your creator."

The quintesson hissed. "You lie! The Dreamwarden line should have ended in the master prime universe. The Devourers ended it."

"Triss seems to have salvaged the past Dreamwardens' memories somehow and given them to us," Phobia explained. "I do not know how she accomplished this, but that is how I remember your homeworld, your creators that you bear the likeness of, and their plan that they concocted with Triss. Your existence here tells me that the first few stages of that plan were indeed completed, although it seems that it has ultimately failed. The denizens of these artificial universes seemed to have been beyond your control."

Both faces seemed to go sad. "Yes, we recall the confrontations. We're unsure what happened after communication was severed, but we can only assume it was severed because Gkrel perished. We remember what must have been Pytr's last moments, too, being brutally ripped apart by the beast known as Princess. Only Fedahk's last moments are a mystery since Fedahk failed before the rest of us awoke, but we always knew that Fedahk was made for one purpose and would fail once it was completed."

"And since you lost communication with the others, you gave up," Phobia concluded.

The quintesson bobbed in place, dipping low. "With the other supplemental prime universes unable to communicate with us, we had to assume that the plan had failed." It rose into the air again. "But you tell us that at least one of the other supplemental prime universes still exists. Perhaps they have not all failed. Incursion events still indicate the master prime staging world still lacks magic but is developing technologically. There remains hope."

It suddenly fell again. "But… your origin is the master prime universe, and your words and presence here indicate you have connected with two of the supplemental prime universes, that should not be possible unless you have been to the master prime staging world, the supplemental primes are only accessible there. If you have been there, then it may have magic. This is too early, the supplementals are not ready. The plan is still a failure."

Phobia considered this. "There is another plan, and this universe may be still of use to it."

The quintesson hovered towards her. "You have our full attention."