Twilight looked around in fascination as Celestia guided her down the hallway leading from Gate Three. She shivered, feeling out of place in the sterile off-blue hallway, as though the walls themselves were somehow unnatural.
"What's wrong with this place?" she whispered, voice wavering.
"What do you mean?" Celestia replied, stopping to give Twilight a look of concern.
"I don't know," she admitted. "It just... feels wrong, somehow."
Celestia looked around, studying the featureless metal walls for a moment before turning back to Twilight.
"I'm afraid I don't know to what you refer, my dear Twilight."
"It's... nothing," Twilight concluded, trying to shake the feeling. "Probably just shock."
Celestia smiled reassuringly, resuming her slow trot down the hall.
"Who built this place?" Twilight asked, her natural curiosity managing to suppress her unease. "I've never seen material like this."
"Nopony really knows," Celestia admitted. "There are many theories, but without evidence it's impossible to say for sure."
"Wait... You mean..."
"The Exterior is unimaginably old. Far older than any of the ponies that inhabit it by far. Legends say that the first pony to find their way here found it devoid of all life, yet seemingly immaculately maintained."
"What about records? Books?"
"Nothing at all. We found libraries with naught but empty shelves. Piles of scrolls devoid of all markings. No writings, no explanations, nothing."
"But I've seen writing! That room I arrived in before, it had warning labels all over the place!"
"Those were added after we arrived, after much trial and experimentation. Strangely, most of the markings you see were placed upon plates that seemed to be specifically designed for them."
"So... assumedly somepony designed and built this place?"
"That is a popular theory, yes."
"But... that makes no sense! Who would build something this big, only to leave no clue as to its purpose or function?"
"And that is the obvious problem with that theory."
Twilight snorted. The questions were building up faster than they were being answered.
"No. There must have been writing somewhere. You called this place 'The Exterior'! Where does that name come from?"
“Where does the name ‘Equestria’ come from?” Celestia challenged, levelly.
“It’s a mutation of the ancient equestrian ‘Equestris’,” Twilight answered snappily. “Which is in turn a derivation of the word ‘Equus’. Before that, it’s debated, since ancient equestrian seems to derive from multiple different pre-classical language sources, from Cobbian heyratic all the way to Jackkadian poneiform.”
Celestia paused, glancing at Twilight with a curious gaze.
“That was supposed to be a rhetorical question,” Celestia admitted.
“Oh…” Twilight dropped her gaze, embarrassed. “Sorry, Princess.”
“Twilight…”
“Sorry. Celestia,” Twilight corrected herself, unable to meet Celestia’s gaze. “Old habits.”
“To be truthful, I wasn’t expecting such a verbose answer,” Celestia continued, turning down an intersection marked with a plethora of navigational markers. “The mistake is mine, thinking that you would not have an appropriate answer ready for such a basic question of history.”
Twilight followed her, unconsciously trying to hide in the shadow of the not-princess.
“If I’m honest, I don’t really know the specific origin of the term,” Celestia explained. “Much like ‘Equestria’, no Outsider has been able to discover to true origin of the word. There is a functional significance to it, but I’m afraid I am hardly the best qualified to explain it. You would be better served, I dare say, by asking one of the Librarians.”
“Librarian?” Twilight perked up, interest piqued. “Librarian implies library. You have a library?”
“We have many libraries, in fact,” Celestia chuckled. “There are many small libraries scattered throughout the inhabited areas of the Exterior, some devoted to speciality subjects, others collected by particularly devoted individuals. I curate one such collection near Operations that has somewhere near twenty million books within it.”
“What?” Twilight choked.
“I know,” Celestia sighed. “It’s paltry. Bravo’s collection at Analysis is almost double that size, it’s a source of… considerable rivalry between the two of us.”
“Twenty million books is not small!” Twilight shrieked, cutting in front of Celestia. “The Canterlot Royal Library barely has a fifth that many books!”
“Forgive me, I keep forgetting that this is all new to you.”
“Wait, wait a moment. If twenty million is small, then you must have something that it’s small in comparison to,” Twilight surmised. “You have a library somewhere with enough books to make twenty million books look small.”
“Yes.”
“Can I see it?” Twilight asked excitedly, barely able to keep herself still.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Now?”
“No.”
Twilight pouted, visibly deflating. “Why not?”
“Because you have no idea where it is,” Celestia pointed out. “And I still need to show you to your quarters.”
“I don’t need a room, there’s a library.”
“Twilight, I know this might be disappointing, but you can’t live in The Library.”
Twilight continued to pout, obviously annoyed at being denied the chance to see the hinted-at repository. “...Fine.”
They proceeded in silence for the next few minutes, passing intersections and other ponies, each of them staring at Twilight with strange expressions as she passed, mumbling under their breath.
"There aren't any windows."
"No."
"At all?"
"None that anyone has ever discovered. Many even attempt to break sections of the walls to see if there is anything beyond. None have ever succeeded."
Twilight tried to suppress the growing feeling of claustrophobia as the implications of that set in.
"How big is this place?"
"Nopony knows that either. It just seems to go on and on."
"Oh that's just stupid. It must have a limit somewhere!"
"If there is an end, nopony has ever found it. Not long after I first arrived here, I resolved to find an answer myself. I didn't find an end."
"How long did you look?"
"Eighty-five years."
Twilight coughed as her reply stalled in her throat.
"Y-years? Years? And you didn't find an edge?"
"It just goes on forever. Some Outsiders become so completely consumed by that very question that they flee into the Exterior to find where it ends. Most are never seen again."
“...Most? What about those who are?”
“There was one particularly memorable case of a mare who, upon her discovery near Hydroponics, claimed that she had only just departed on her quest, but in reality had been missing for over three centuries,” Celestia recalled. “Others… Are not quite as fortunate.”
Twilight's claustrophobia returned, accompanied by a perception of being utterly, insignificantly small.
"That's... wow."
"I trust you will not be following their example any time soon?"
"Oh Tartarus no! Truthfully I'm scared I'm going to get lost now!"
Celestia chuckled, laying a reassuring hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
"You won't get lost, Twilight. Not unless you try to get lost."
“What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, trying desperately to fend off the panic attack she could feel welling at the pit of her stomach.
“Have you ever found yourself lost in Canterlot?”
“Well… No, but I know my way around Canterlot.”
“But that’s not it, is it?” Celestia said. “There’s a correct answer here, I want you to find it.”
Twilight’s brow furrowed in concentration as she pondered the question, her earlier panic seeping away in the face of a good intellectual challenge.
“Herding instincts?”
“Correct!” Celestia exclaimed, smiling. “Modern ponies still retain the herding and social instincts of their genetic ancestors, instincts that seep into and take advantage of natural pony magic.”
“I remember reading a dissertation to that effect some time ago,” Twilight admitted. “It was a fascinating read.”
“Much like on your homeworld, the same magic is in effect here,” Celestia explained. “Though in a slightly altered form, given the Exterior’s unique architectural oddities.”
“I can’t get lost, because I can instinctively tell when other ponies are nearby?”
“It’s a very subtle thing, not something you are consciously aware of, at least,” Celestia reassured her. “But, yes. You can’t get lost unless you specifically, consciously attempt to get lost.”
“Well, I certainly won’t be doing that.”
“I’m quite glad to hear it, Twilight.”
Celestia turned and led them into another corridor, dimly-lit and lined with solid-looking metal doorways, each with what looked like a small camera inlaid into the wall beside it.
“While some areas of the Exterior have functions that continue to elude us, areas such as this are more easily discerned,” Celestia explained, walking through the corridor. “Dormitories like these are located throughout the Exterior.”
Twilight followed the door with some trepidation, examining each door in turn. “So I’m going to be living here, then?”
“Once we sort through some issues, yes.”
“What issues?”
“I’m sure you noticed that my colleagues were… less than enthused regarding your arrival here.”
“Yes,” Twilight growled. “One of them wanted to kill me.”
“Ah, yes.” Celestia acknowledged. “Solaris can be somewhat overzealous, the same can be said for most of Operations.”
Twilight huffed.
“I certainly do not wish for you to remain here as a prisoner, despite what my colleagues would insist be done to you,” Celestia insisted. “However, granting you the capability to live here without constant escort represents an unavoidable potential security issue.”
“Go on,” Twilight said impatiently.
“Navigation on the Exterior is unavoidably difficult,” Celestia continued. “Maps and other traditional methods of navigational assistance are ill-equipped to deal with the sheer scale and… unique architectural features of this place. Do you remember the Sparkle you arrived with? Echo? She had a pendant.”
“I remember it.”
“That pendant is what’s called a ‘Beacon’. Their primary function is to allow Outsiders to return to the Exterior from anywhere in the Interior, but they also allow easy navigation on the Exterior through a little-understood thaumic mechanism. When wearing a Beacon, ponies are instinctively capable of finding their way around.”
Twilight’s ears perked up, her natural curiosity again showing through.
“So unless we have an Outsider following you around for the remainder of your stay here, we’re going to need to get you your own Beacon. However, I doubt I can convince my colleagues to grant such a request without certain… assurances being made."
“What kind of assurances?” Twilight asked, suspiciously.
“Many Outsiders are naturally distrustful of Insiders. It would go a long way to reassure them if you could demonstrate that you do not seek to bring harm to the Exterior.”
Twilight pondered for a moment, allowing the statement to percolate. “You… are you offering me a job?”
“Astute as always, Twilight.” Celestia praised, smiling. “I doubt you have any great desire to remain here, given your own admission to feeling this place ‘alien’, so I was thinking that we could attach you to one of our Operations teams. An Insider like yourself would be an invaluable asset to any Ops team, and being a Sparkle, you have a natural magic talent.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Twilight admitted. “This… this is all a bit much to take in at once.”
“I can imagine.”
“If it’s alright with you,” Twilight continued, thinking. “Could you show me around a bit more? I’d like a bit of time to think about the offer.”
"Absolutely.” Celestia answered, rising to her hooves and trotting down the hallway. “Come, do you enjoy science? Mechanics?"
"Yes. Very much."
"I thought so, most Sparkles do."
"That was another thing that I didn't understand. What's a 'Sparkle'?"
"Since there are so different copies of any one pony, we group them together. I am a Celestia, you are a Sparkle, your brother, Shining, would be an Armor. To set individuals apart, they are assigned a single phonetic letter, and the combination gives their Outsider Designation."
"Celestia Alpha being yours."
"Correct! Though since many find them extremely clunky, they instead choose nicknames or aliases and use them instead for most purposes."
Twilight pondered for a moment. "What would my designation be?"
"Since you are not an Outsider, the rules don't really cover you. Though since you are the only Insider here, I doubt you are going to encounter much confusion."
"I've got another question, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, dear Twilight."
"What are the Falls?"
Celestia's answer was cut off as the door they were approaching exploded outward with a howl of rending metal. A screaming pink mare, towed by a rogue jet engine, slammed into the wall beside them, covering the three with a plume of dust.
"Medic..." Pinkie moaned, twitching.
Twilight gaped at the soot-covered pony, shattered sections of what was once a gas turbine disc slowly spinning to a stop atop her head.
"What," Twilight blurted.
This is still my favorite chapter.
MOAR!
Darn this rabbit hole!
YAY NEW CHAPTER THAT I ENJOYED PLEASE LET PINKIE BE CRAZY THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. OR A NORMAL PINKIE. Or both... That would be cool.
So the Exterior is a giant indestructible TARDIS.
What in the world is going on...?
Very intriguing story. I can't think of anything even remotely similar to compare it to, and I suppose that's part of its allure. No telling what'll happen next
I certainly can't wart to see what happens next in the story. Its also nice that you set up specific dates to release the chapters.
When I first read the description for this story, I admit, I was a bit doubtful. Very few people can pull off writing an alternate universe fic like this.
However, you not only pulled it off, this is one of the most exciting stories I have read! And I don't think you've even gotten to the action yet.
I eagerly await the next chapter
You and me both, diving into the exposition this week …
Sanity-destroying Old-One-spawned architecturally memetic space station is best space station. Especially when it has room for multiple libraries that are larger than the Library of Congress.
I'm guessing next chapter tells us how "Outsiders" get there?
i am going to guess the falls is the "core" of this verse and the ruins just outside that.
and it was not too bad considering it was solid dailog. you made it work.
4275329 we aren't in the world anymore remember.
Isn't Twilight curious where Outsiders come from?
It can't be by birth. They're clearly immortal, and they exist as distinct "types" a Sparkle a Ponka etc. If they could have sex then those traits would get mixed up and diluted. If they were all born as Outsiders then... giving birth, you can be sure what pops out already exists in some fashion as an adult pony? Like "Your child is RoseLuck." "Don't I get to name my child?" "No they are literally RoseLuck. Looks like a version sigma."
More sensible explanation is that Outsiders are from the Inside. Birth/death/etc happens normally in there, and as they're all parallel universes there's no chance for mixing or dilution. But that can't be true either because everyone is shocked that Twilight came out while being an Insider, as if that had never occurred before. But if Twilight is a canny Insider, then where do the Outsiders come from?
It's been too long since I saw an AU fic that's more than just "For want of a nail." Good to see someone take the characters and have them arise in an unfamiliar setting like this.
The Exterior is really starting to remind me of the Submachine. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. I hope we can get some answers soon, though.
wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/2/26/Medic.png/250px-Medic.png?t=20111127145913
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It's bigger on the outside!
...wait...
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The original write of this chapter had a section that touched on the issue, but I pulled it out since it was a) too info-dumpy, and b) revealed too much too fast for my liking. That question will be popping up, though.
Fun fact, the original write also included a scene detailing exactly how Pinkie came to be an indoor jet engine payload.
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They way the comments are going, it's more "For want of an explanation"
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Alright, time for a wild stab in the dark!
The Outsiders couldn't be Insiders, because that would be way too easy, and because of reasons aforementioned.
So. The outsiders are all refugees from a series of dimensions that got Apocalypsed for reasons and somehow found their way to the Exterior. The smoking hulls of the apoc'd dimensions became known as The Falls, and not much lives there now except Scary Things In The Dark.
The only thing I can't yet explain is: why are insiders considered so wildly different from the outsiders?
[/stab]
4275229 A normal pinkie is pretty crazy... What would a crazy pinkie be like...
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Perhaps a Cupcakes Pinkie, or a Pinkie with twice as much sugar power.
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Oh I didn't mean you should answer the question. It's just a good opportunity to make Twilight flustered as she tries to contemplate the crazy possibilities.
Anyone else read the Keys to the Kingdom series?
The Exterior's "unique architectural features" remind me somewhat of the House.
Is the new Pinkie Doc Brown?
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I've read it! And it DOES seem rather like the house at a glance. So would the falls be areas consumed by nothing...?
The Exterior reminds me of the City from Blame!
To put the scale of that place in proportion, it has rooms where you can't see the other wall. One minor character points at a bridge vanishing into the distance and comments that he's from a settlement on the other side "but you can't see it from here." In a later chapter the main character wanders into a what looks like an endless black void. His companion goes: "I think my sensors are broken, I can only detect the floor."
Turns out they'd stumbled on a big hollow space the size of Jupiter.
(The protagonist does reach the end eventually, but at that point he's been wandering relentlessly for thousands of years.)
Enjoying this. This Exterior is familiar, like I've been somewhere like it before. Of course not this Exterior, but I can't help but wonder if there are places like this scattered about the various multiverses.
One of the most show-accurate quotes from Twilight I've ever read.
Try and stop her, you silly filly.
I really, really want to liken the Exterior to the TARDIS, but I'm trying to restrain myself here.
But ze hurting is more rewarding zahn ze healing!
I don't get why she asked what a Sparkle is
“Much like ‘Equestria’, no Outsider has been able to discover to true origin of the word."
Bit of an error there.
4278310 You win
This is a wonderful piece. The world is as thrilling and captivating as it is suspenseful and mysterious, and barring a few small mechanical errors, the writing is excellent, which is a rare treat as of late on this site. I will be adding this to my favorites, and perhaps reading it over again as I try to jump-start my creative engine. I beg you to continue.
Don't sell yourself short. Your dialogue writing is not bad at all. You know why? Because it actually reads like dialogue. I have seen so many writers completely fuck up dialogue and throw me out of the story, thinking "no one would ever actually talk like that". Thus far, your dialogue has flown pretty much naturally with no weird topic changes or robotic pronouncements or inhuman reactions. That's a lot better than a lot of people on this site can say.
heiratic, unless you're going for the pony pun with hayratic.
Observation: angled quotes begin (inconsistently) in this chapter (“”), rather than the prior uniform "". (in the middle of this chapter, with “Where does the name ‘Equestria’ come from?” )
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Though I'm only 4 chapters in, it seems to have a closer similarity to Axiom Nexus from Transformers.