Splitting chapter 4 · 3:08am Aug 11th, 2017
Ok, so, as I said, this is a pretty experimental fic for me.
Seeing as I keep finding all these holes and things I really should rewrite in Chapter 4, I've realized that a 15,000 word chapter is too much for me to deal with at once. So I'm cutting it down to 2 chapters and making this a 10 chapter fic. Expect a pair of chapters with (hopefully) under 8000 words each over the course of the next week, then a more regular release schedule after that.
Since you've all been patient, have another part...
“Well...” I said, sitting back a bit and making the hide that formed my chest transparent, so that she could see the clockwork spellform inside me, “Some parts, like the memory, actually rely on running that interference for organic function, others, like the way I'm actually storing information, utilize subspacial folding. I believe I may even have a few ten dimensional structures in there...”
Twilight's pencil slowed, “...but... There are only nine dimensions...”
“Nine known dimensions, that you've discovered.”
Twilight drew a blank for a moment, then flipped her page back and started scribbling more notes, “Ohh my gosh... Are you sure? I mean, you're sure you're not mistaken about this? Because the discovery of a tenth dimension completely changes several models of unified theory... I mean, unicorns have only been able to sense five without enhanced perception, and we only know about the ninth because of the Hoofings Equations...”
“Unicorns aren't ten-dimensional magical entities from the Void.” I allowed myself to get a little smug, “I can pretty much sense any dimension I'm able to operate in... But I can understand why you're surprised: I think my people only discovered five or six of them...” I thought about that, “Wow... I'm like a walking science experiment...”
Twilight looked at me, “So... So wait... You're saying you can just SEE these other dimensions?”
...a slow smile spread over my face... “Twilight. Remember the flying books from your dream last night?”
She stopped, “Yeah... Kind of... Wait how did you-”
I reached down into the Dream World, stretching my arm out for a few meters in that direction as I did so, and yanked out a flying book, grinning at Twilight as it flapped in my hoof.
Her eyes practically bugged out of her head, “HOLY SHIT!” She almost dropped her notepad, “How did you do that? Only a Dream Mage can do that. You didn't even build a portal, you just did it! HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?”
I laughed instead of responding to her for a moment: screwing with Twilight's sense of reality was way too much fun. I let the book go, and it started flapping aboht haphazardly on and off the floor, its tiny wings unable to support it in the gravity of the Waking World. “Ok, ok... Let me explain... Remember how we were talking about the non-cardinal dimensions? One of them is the dimension of thought. It’s a bit like time, where it has a one-directional flow, but unlike time, things can and do travel against it through the application of Will. The physical, Waking world, is sitting on top of this endless depth of concepts and thoughtstuff, part of which we know as the collective subconscious. You go down far enough, and you start getting some really weird stuff: I don’t know what’s past the collective subconscious, and all I know about the other direction is that Platonic Concepts seem to get pulled down from there.”
“...Platoni-what now?”
“That’s not important right now. What’s important is, because I can percieve that dimension like any other, and I’m not bound by the limits of a being truly bound to the physical plane, I can interact with it. Grabbing that book was just a matter of reaching through that dimension and yanking something lingering there from the dream you just woke up from.”
“Well, that's... Wait... are you telling me you can just move across non-cardinal directions at will??”
I laughed again, “That would be impressive, but no. I mean more in the sense that I can simply reach across non-cardinal directions without the need to bend them parallel with the cardinal directions with a portal. The book was sitting on the top of the Dreamtide, so I could snag it without stretching my form too far in. I don't think I can use that for fast travel... Yet... But I certainly seem to have developed a knack for parlor tricks... With experimentation, this might have some real application.”
Twilight stood up and started pacing a bit, “Wow Meta... You literally just subverted the laws of reality, and you're calling it a parlor trick... What do you-”
“Uh oh...”
“WHAT IS IT!?” Twilight shot over to me, looking me over.
“The book.” I pointed.
She looked, “I don't... Where did it go?”
“Oh, it submerged back into the Dream World. But it did it while I was watching it...” I narrowed my eyes.
“Is that normal?”
I shook my head, “They're not supposed to be able to do that while being observed... See, things from the Dream World lack something called ‘object permanence’. Picture the Dream World as a body of water, and we're all sitting on the surface here in the Waking. We can dive in, grab something, and pull it out, but it can't really keep it's form in the Waking world. This means that things pulled from dreams can only exist in the Waking while someone is actively watching them. If you stop paying attention to them, even for a moment, they lose their form and vanish, like an air bubble meeting the surface of the water. I don't think I've ever seen one of them vanish while I was watching, back when I did this on my home world, but the fact that it did means that I don't count as an active observer anymore...”
“Wow... So... What does that imply?”
“I don't know. That I'm actually dead? I've only ever seen this from creatures that don't have object permanence themselves... Which... I... have...” I stared off into space, awkwardly feeling at myself with my forehooves.
Aw only ten chapter any sequel plans?
4630586
Part of why I wrote this was so I could have a sequel in which Meta visits other worlds and crosses over with other stories. I've already been planning the sequel, which will probably update slower but will probably keep going until I get sick of writing about it..
4630627
Ok hopefully there is some sprt of story to it not just random adventures
4630652
There's an overarching plot, which continues off of this one, yeah. It's gonna be a bit more episodic though: one story will involve her brokering a peace treaty, another will involve a war with the caribou, another will involve her killing Celestia and destroying the planet, another one she gets Discord pregnant, another one she punches time, another one she becomes Cthulhu... Plenty of ideas floating around. It'll be fun, and have tons of crossovers which actually are part of the story.
4630686
Ok do be careful with cross overs tho seen storys that use heavy cross over become unreadable messes
4630688
I know. I'll be avoiding those pitfalls, mainly because they'll be part of the actual story and not a distraction...
4630700
Ok good luck try not to over do it with the random adventures try reading beating of my heart (may have gotten the name wrong) main story but random stuff happens all the time
The beating of my heart thats the name
Sorry about all the advice if i can call it that i just like this concept and dont want to see it turn unreadable due to too many things happening the story i used as a example has a core story but its mostly background with the main doing other stuff with some planing for the main story as well
4630731
This first story just the origin. No crossovers until planeswalking becomes a major plot point. Stop worrying and just watch what I do: most stories get sidetracked because they have a bunch of unrelated crossovers happening. The sequel will have a strong focus on crossovers but won't have that problem because that will be the main story when it happens, not a sidetrack.
4630751
Ok goodluck then