Twilight opened her eyes - she was still in her meditative pose, and nothing had happened while she was receiving the... 'import' or whatever. She took a breath - she didn't need to do anything, she could address what she had been told.
"First things first..." Can you hear these thoughts? Tell me next time if you could, okay? Oranges, Crystals, Butt the Cloud, Starswirl the Bearded... Just test words. She took in a breath and thought.
Ponygood... Probably should deal with him first. "I can't... make anything out of that string of letters, sorry, but it looks a lot like a website address. But I haven't seen any computers around here and I don't know how to get to Earth, so... Yeah. I do know what a helicopter is though, we have them in Equestria. Flying machines with propellors on top, right? That's... Odd, to say the least." She stood up and stretched her wings. "And you could try to tell me the perfect way to explain my situation. If it doesn't get through, it doesn't come through, doesn't hurt to try."
She frowned - she thought she saw the stars out of the corner of her vision again. The one thing that the Influence might have added to her world... Or maybe they just had a lucky guess. They'd been trying to change it in so many ways, they were bound to get it right eventually, by sheer coincidence. She'd still make sure to be on her guard, of course - it didn't make it any less ominous.
Light was apparently gone. Just... Showed up, said a few things, then said he was leaving. Twilight wondered if Dark was gone as well...
She took a moment to look around - the flowers definitely weren't poison joke. They were far too large, had petals shaped like parts of a pinecone, and were glowing softly. They were rustling in the soft wind - she wondered if the Influence received noises by the words that described them. After all, Afizah's 'crashing' had just felt like the word 'crash' to her. Then again, Afizah was probably the least trustworthy of the voices. Maybe that unknown voice had the right idea, ignoring them...
...But she couldn't, they were too far engrained in her mind. There were some, like Zen, who legitimately tried to help. Finding a map really was a good idea they all should have thought of a long time ago - it made her a little embarrassed. Not to mention the things they said...
Especially Key. She found it hard to believe how extreme he was - he seemed so, so angry and unstable - but if what he said was true, he'd seen this sort of danger dozens, if not hundreds, of times before... She found it hard to reconcile his apparent instability with the supposed experience. Unless he had gone mad from it... Which made her warier.
"Oh who am I kidding..." she muttered - she was trying not to think about the implications of what they'd been saying. The universes... Blackjack treating her like a story... The many others who suggested they could see into other universes, and create their own... To them, she was just a story - entertainment, as it were. It certainly explained why a lot of them found it amusing to toy with her - she was, to them, nothing more than a novelty. ...Well most of them anyway.
She sighed. How much control did this Blackjack have? How much did she really matter to them? Did she cease to exist once their view of her was closed off? Like the closing of a book?
They seemed to disagree on that... Like they didn't know-
And then she laughed. "Of course you wouldn't know! Look, look, think. You follow along with me like a... an adventure, story, log, right? Right? Well, when those logs end, you won't be able to see me anymore - and by nature, you can't know! You couldn't - there's no way. It's like trying to prove the existence of something that cannot be tested. You can't. Key, you mentioned that you and your others thought I ceased to exist when you stopped looking. Where's your evidence? Did I not exist before you started looking? I..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I know it concerns you - and for what it's worth, I'll try to stay... interesting, whatever that means. I'm... also curious about these other universes you all are talking about. What are they like? What of Blackjack's other worlds? How do you find them? How are they created? ...I mean, if you want to tell me..."
She frowned - silence. She felt like a crazy mare again. "Okay, to do list: explore the forest, get map, get cloak, and... Call Discord!" She lit her horn, spread her wings, and sent out the Discord spell.
She FELT him. She felt him respond. But... He didn't appear. It was as if he couldn't...
"Weird..." She frowned. "...It was worth a shot, at least. Pretty sure he knows I tried to call him though."
She lit her horn, performing a magic scan of the area - she felt stronger magic coming from deeper within the forest. No surprise there, she supposed. She began to walk into the deep foliage...
~~~
Twilight noticed about half an hour later what was wrong.
Almost no animals or critters whatsoever.
She had seen a few bugs, and the occasional fungal spore floating around, but no animals. Nothing squirrel-like, no deer - not even any birds. Had she seen any at the opening? She wasn't sure - she only knew that she hadn't seen any since she started going deeper.
She stopped in her tracks. Was she going to be able to get out?
Gulping, she spread her wings and flew above the trees. The sun glared down on her, blinding her temporarily. However, when her vision cleared, she was gifted with a sight of the village in the distance. A little further to the east than she would have expected, but at least she knew she wouldn't get lost.
Actually... Flying over the forest would be quite a bit faster. She could just scan it from up here, look for anything she wanted. She directed herself towards the center of the forest, flying over the treetops. Prancey had said there were some creatures in here - dangerous ones - so even though she hadn't seen any this was probably the safer course of action.
She stopped that thought. "Wait... Was I not supposed to think things like that?" She racked her brain - what wasn't she supposed to say or think again? There was just so much information in the influx of information...
She shook her head - she needed to keep moving on. Couldn't let half-remembered warnings impede her. She continued flying - she felt like she was getting closer to the center, and whatever laid inside these woods. Maybe it would be some answer to her questions... Questions the Influence couldn't answer. They saw her predicament from the outside - they knew nothing of the inside.
Or at least very little...
Being deep in thought, she didn't notice the spiritual hand reach for her until it was too late. She screamed as something semi-tangible grabbed hold of her wing and thrust her into the ground. She slammed through the canopy, snapping dozens of twigs and branches before coming to a stop on the forest floor.
She acted quickly, bouncing back, spreading her wings, and readying her horn. Before her stood creature that looked much like the being she had seen in her dreams, only smaller, more lanky, and much less impressive. It was a deep green, and there was a mark inside of its translucent body - a kind of glyph that seemed reminiscent of a leaf. It moved forward, claws outstretched.
She created a shield around herself, deflecting the claws. The creature found this annoying. It formed its claws into a single point and pierced the shield, much to Twilight's fear. She fired at it with a few lasers, but they only seemed to shift around the creature's ethereal body. It slashed again, again, and again, backing her further and further away. She contemplated flying away - but a pain in her wing told her that would end badly.
You might have to kill.
This... This thing was certainly trying to kill her. Still, she really didn't want to-
In her conflicted stupor, the creature managed to cut a gash in her ear, drawing blood. She screamed - realizing with panic that it had somehow told the nearby vines to tie themselves around her legs. She was helpless. Kill to defend yourself. Twilight lit her horn - surrounding it in a sickly red color. Her eyes became dark, highlighted with intense green power. She fired a cone of red energy at the being before her, engulfing it completely.
It shrieked in agony as the very fabric of its existence was torn away. It soon dwindled to nothing but the plantlike mark in its center - which vanished itself a second later. The vines lost their grip on her the moment it died, freeing her.
Aside from a few singed trees nearby, everything seemed normal and peaceful.
She breathed heavy, looking around wild-eyed. She'd just killed it. She'd really just killed it. "Oh, Celestia..." She didn't even know what it was and she killed it! She... She felt sick.
Twilight turned around, trying to push it out of her mind. She returned to her mission - find the center of the forest. The moment she tried, she saw it - a small clearing ahead. She walked in, slowly, taking it all in. The sun glinted off six tall, metallic pillars, lined with what she recognized as circuitry. Parts of it glowed with intense magical glyphs, while others shined with electric light. In the center was a platform, glowing with all the colors of the rainbow.
Twilight blinked. What was this place? It... it gave off a sense of extreme magic, but it also felt like it was constructed technologically - far above anything she had seen on Earth...
Welcoming the distraction from what had just happened, she walked towards the platform in the center. She put her nose down, sniffing it. It was made of the same bluish-grey material the pillars were. It was placed in such a way that the six pillars looked like pointed claws trying to close in on it, like a predator going for an egg.
"Interesting aesthetic..." She lit her horn, trying to prod the platform with her magic.
It activated instantly, a powerful telekinetic field drawing her into the center. She felt a connection form with her mind. The connection pumped into her mind the purpose of this place.
It was a communication altar...
It wanted to know who she wanted to talk to.
She had no idea - and it didn't look like she was going to have one for some time either, as the Witch's Eye had just started glowing again.
We know very little of The Sweepers ability to create the worlds, our sources dictate that she commandeered a Plot Device. A large machine that generates ideas at a consistent rate. The Sweeper is capable of creating and destroying entire worlds at her own whim. And with no moral compass to guide her, she does so with reckless abandon. She first creates the world itself, the environment and geography, following that she populates it with Neurally-Processed Companions, as she is fully incapable of creating true life. Next she locates a-
*Fwi-PPPFFKKKKK* WHAT THE SLASH ARE YOU DOING AT MY REEDING STATION??!?!
Oh, hey Key, what's uuuuuuuup?
Don't give my that attitude, what are YOU DOING HERE?
Bosses orders small fry, turns out you were upsetting the Prop too much and it was reassigned to me.
NNNNNNRRGGNNN Twilight Sparkle has a reeding name, I'd appreciate if you decided to use it, Shutter!
Tisk, tisk, listen to you, getting all buddy-buddy with the Prop. What until Everyone hears you decided to call 2X4TS by it's real name! So adorable!
Get...out...of my booth!
Ah-ah! Remember that you're on your second strike, one more outburst and you'll be Stationed.
J...just...just don't, don't treat her like-
Okay, buh-bye now, get out before I call the high ups. *RRRrrrrriiictupt* That's what i thought. Now, as for you. I'm here to answer any and all questions you may have, and don't worry about Key, he's been taken care of.
Ponygood speaking. I had forgotten you knew as much as you did about our world. I, personally, feel that the place beyond the mirror and the reality we exist in are not the same, and that your reality isn't as "full" as ours. I also didn't realize Equestria had that level of technology. Aside from Pinkie, I guess.
Ooh, speaking of Pinkie, are you able to summon her by saying a portion of that phrase about breaking the trust of a friend and losing them forever? Also, if you can find a fire, can you try to send a letter through it to either Spike or whomever else?
Also, I am sorry that you didn't get some sweet new stuff, but life experiences are just as important, aren't they? And on that note, congratulations on completing your first real challenge on this island! I know you might want to just block out this potentially traumatic event, but that is not the ideal thing to do. Temporarily, it's fine, especially since you have some pressing concerns. However, when you get the chance, ackwnowledge your actions, but don't think you're a murderer. Next kills will likely come more easily now that you've experienced it, but as long as you remember that there is good in the world and don't fully desensitize yourself to it, you shouldn't have to worry about going insane or anything. I can't relate to this, since I've never had to kill, but I can at least give you some sort of scientific advice.
If it helps, the creature that attacked you could be seen as an evil being that didn't deserve to exist to terrorize others.
But there is something important to mention, and that is to leave violence as a last resort if you can. You didn't really have a choice in this case, but try to look for non-violent and non-fatal solutions to problems. Maintaining that ideal will separate you from the bad people in the world: those who kill for pleasure or without morality.
Also, I guess you wanted us to confirm that we can hear your thoughts. "Oranges, crystals, Butt the Cloud, Starswirl the Bearded."
Twi-light *groan* my sister..is headed..your..way.*thump*
Ponygood again. I'm putting this in a separate thought, so that this doesn't potentially invalidate my other comment.
There is a person in our world known as Lauren Faust. She is an important person in the creation of a little girls' show known as "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," which details the lives and adventures of the ponies of Ponyville, but most often the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. For various reasons, people other than just little girls were attracted to the show, and have created refuges on the Internet for others of their kind. One of these sites is Fimfiction.net, in which aspiring writers can create fan-fiction of and including this show. Once of these people, known in our community as GMBlackjack, or just Blackjack as you know him, decided that he wanted to create an interactable story called "The Influence," in which he originally created a situation and put you in it (the room where you found the Eye), and leaves each chapter of the story open-ended, for us viewers to comment our suggestions which are hopefully incorporated into the next chapter. So, in short, you are a fictional character being used by someone to create his own story for others to enjoy.
We all know that you aren't actually Twilight Sparkle, stuck in some mysterious island. However, there are two things that might make you feel better.
One: I and others are willing to treat you like a real person, and to try to help you in this situation, which we are also treating as a real situation. We want to let this story end on a good note, for your sake as well as ours.
Two, it is entirely possible that our universe is just one in a potentially infinite multiverse, though we don't know for sure. So, for all we know, there is a universe somewhere in which a purple pony is stuck on an island with a host of intangible people babbling at her.
That is my description of your situation, using terms you hopefully understand.
"Hello? Is this thing working?"
"I don't know, Twilight, I just found the thing."
"Then why did it start glowing? And why did I just hear a voice telling me her sister was heading my way?"
"Think it could be some communication device?
"Could be. I mean I have been to the world where everypony here was human, so maybe this can communicate with other realities?"
"I wonder why that one voice wanted us to say Oranges, Crystals, Butt the Cloud, and Starswirl the Bearded?"
"Good question? Hey, whoever's out there that can hear this, why did you want us to say those things? I mean I know Starswirl is the best wizard in Equestria, but what do oranges and crystals have to do with it? Also, who the heck names their foal butt the cloud? That's like calling an earth pony filly 'The Earth Filly.'"
josh here - yes we can hear your thoughts; your test words were "Oranges, Crystals, Butt the Cloud, Starswirl the Bearded". I say we use this communication altar to tell Celestia what has happened to you and if she has any advice that might help also assuming this thing doesn't just shut down after you use it you should let your friends know where you are; they're probably worried by now
8143853 also way to go Ponygood if that doesn't give her an existential crisis I don't know what will
P.S. don't feel to bad about killing Twilight, I've seen so many worlds where killing is the only way out of a situation, if anything this will only help you down the road, but don't get too used to it, that is a slippery slope you do not want to fall down
8144153 Sorry...
Pro tip. Next time you see the stars, try grabbing one with your telekinesis. Also, the altar is probably a trap. Be wary.
8144800 Just be weary, Twilight. I believe these stars are related to the monster who attacked you, and that they definitely wouldn't like you after defeating one of them and revealing the rest of them.
i hadnt previously confirmed our aliases were masked from you, for simplicity i guess you can call me nickel. you have some understanding of an earth pattern world so that makes things easier for us, we use the internet as the medium which we find and interface with your story, but i have no clue how that in turn interacts with your world and while i have not looked at other stories by blackjack i can find them the same way. i wont add any of the content of those since you already seem pretty overloaded. there is one thing that might help us some, i dont know when you diverged from the primary equestria or how and its possible i missed the clues, but anything you can tell will give us a better idea of what you have already gone through, major events or notable occurences are best, but may be unique to your particular variant. i dont know what kind of interaction we have with the worlds in our imaginations, but i feel that they are real even if its only within the mind of their creators, basically another idea of what is god. actually the fact that this is presented as a story for us means you should be fine at least for now, how many fictions have you read where they killed off the main character before the plot was wrapped up? and besides, your story isnt marked with the relevent tags for such an ending to be at all likely. when this ends for us i hope its fairly soon by your perspective, it seldom does good things to a world for it to be bound like this for long since you dont want a boring story so things will keep going wrong, that was my mistake for my world, i ran it for far too long and now its eons too late to save the early parts of its history since i didnt record it then, but in that regard your fine.
This is Zen.
Ignore the dramatics. It's just Afizah being ridiculous, of which I have grown tired. I would prevent it in the future if I could, but I lack the authority.
Your attempt to contact Discord gave me a bizarre thought. You have been transposed in space, presumably by some magic. In the past, you have encountered magic which disrupted your position in time. It may be that the magic responsible for your present circumstances did something similar. Specifically, this most recent speculation of mine is that you may have been transposed to a time during which Discord was still imprisoned—and, presumably, understanding of the magic responsible would be able to revert you back to a place and time 'before' (for lack of a better word) this whole ordeal began. Thinking on it, the only magic confirmed to be able to restrain Discord is that of the Tree of Harmony, and the periods during which he was imprisoned in stone are the only times he was known to have been restrained by it. However, while it does make some amount of sense, it lacks quantifiable evidence. There is unknown magic in play, and considering even just moving you over vast distances and fixing the Eye to your chest, it must be considerably powerful.
Thus, I would propose an experiment: use the device to contact Princess Celestia. If it works, and I am wrong, then she will be glad to hear from you, and will endeavor to help you in any way she can. If I am right, then my understanding of her would lead me to believe she would still render aid, or at least offer advice. However, if I am right, it would prove to be an emotionally trying experience, and I would think no less of you for not taking that route. This is merely a proposal; the choice is yours, Twilight.
So let me start with my own introduction I am a traveler who made a deal something just shy of a god I am a world walker given a new form to match the world in outward appearance, but retaining the gift of my eye. I can only give aid in grave situations, so I go by storm crow the bird that flys before the storm to give warning. NOT BRINGING THE STORM. I think that we can only influence the world in small ways where we have the most influence is on your thoughts like when someone seggested you try some grass which normally you wouldn't even consider, but then frog said you would be attacked by a minor evil. Not blaming you might just be a good guess. Poradoxily the best way to test this would be to take a course of action we didn't mention but my saying this mean that any course is now one we recommend. Of course the forest until we mentioned it so so much conflicting
Akumakami, back again! Oi, I am late to this, though not that you could tell. When I'm not busy, I'm usually either reading other worlds or managing the ones I worked on. I have one where you become the Alicorn of Harmony on your own- don't worry, Friendship is still your main thing. Though, I adopted that world from someone else. Yes, we do that sometimes.
Sorry, rambling.
Anyway, Techno-magic....oh boy. That is rarely a good thing. Technomagical devices are often far more powerful and/or dangerous than pure technology or magic, and those that can make them more so. So my initial question for you is to take another look at this thing and see how old/abandoned it looks. The more it looks like its been taken care or recently made, the more likely someone might be listening in on whoever you contact.
Still, in either case, I'm not sure who you should contact. Who is the most skilled with mental arts and such? Cause, if this is like a phone, it might not be easy for the target to talk back to you. Regardless of who you call, if you don't get an immediate response, still summarize your situation quickly- being in an unknown lands called Peron(forget if that's the spelling) with an unknown artifact(don't bother explaining us, its too complicated). Even if they can't say anything, they'll at least know what's basically going on, voices in your head excluded.
Hmm, some of my fellows are suggesting timetravel now. I doubt that, personally. Still, this is weird. This is often but not always a situation where things go wrong for people in your shoes, or hooves. Like the machine malfunctioning or the villain making some ominous appearance as a sinister voice.
Also, yes: Oranges, Crystals, Butt the Cloud, Starswirl the Bearded.
And here's your mindbender for the day...or mental importing, whatever you want to call these things: In many of the other universes, a somewhat common backstory for Discord is that he's Starswirl the Bearded, having gone a bit crazy for one reason or another.
Akuma out!
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