//------------------------------// // Explanationssss // Story: A Marty Stu invades the Multiverse (Chess Game of the Gods) // by Keairan //------------------------------// Confused by the change in character? Look at the updated author's notes in chapter two "You died?! You look quite hale and hearty to me." Violet Melody said with doubt in her blue eyes. "My body in the lassst reality I was in received a fatal wound. Sssspecifically, a bullet to the back of my head." I said with a bit of a pained memory. "Your last body?" "My lassst body. I think that every time I come to a new reality I gain a new body, with all the memoriesss my mind hasss collected and all the thingsss bound to my sssoul coming along for the ride." Seeing the befuddled look in her eyes, I continued on. "Every time I wake up, I've noticed ssscars, wrinklesss, and tattoosss have been erasssed from my form. Or at leassst the onesss that I've gained since I made that wisssh. She looked all the more confused. I sighed and chuckled. "I'm going to have to give you more than just the Cliff Notesss versssion, aren't I?" She mouthed the words 'Cliff Notes?' and so I explained. "A ssseriesss of booksss that give the abridged versssion and sssummary of a book ssso that sssomeone doesn't have to read or reread the book. Great for literature majorsss and ssslackersss." She nodded her head at that, and motioned for me to explain. "Before I begin, do you mind if I examine your body for injuriesss real quick? I should be able to heal most anything physically wrong with you. Also, where do you want to go? I know Hoofington is close to here, but I don't have a set destination." "I guess I'll let you examine me. As to heading to Hoofington, that is fine for the moment. I live north of Canterlot, in a small town called Coltogne. It's known for manufacturing perfumes. Anyways, examine away." She flinched at that last statement, telling me that she was merely humoring me, but I figured that I would take what I could get. Slithering over to her, I took hold of the power, and began to carefully delve her body, looking for sickness and injury. What I found caused me so much rage that I nearly lost hold of the power. Barely a square inch of her body did not have bruises on it, a break on her left rear pastern looked to have been set to heal wrong on purpose, and her hindquarters. By every god I have ever even heard of being worshiped, her hindquarters. Multiple claw lacerations on her flanks, almost completely obscuring her cutie mark. Severe deep bruising along the entirety of her hind end. Multiple abrasions and bruises along the flesh of the vagina, and a torn anus. Amazingly, no infections, and thankfully, no foals. I took hold of threads of earth, fire, water, air, and spirit, and began to weave. Starting off, I healed the bruises along her body, easing each one as I went. I then healed the lacerations on her flank, showing the purple eighth note on her flanks. I then got to her reproductive system, and started healing those areas, grateful that I was able to do this for the poor mare. "Violet, I need to ask your permissssion for sssomething elssse." Feeling dazed at the lack of pain along much of her body, she asked "What?" "Your rear left passstern has healed in a posssition that will cause you pain for the ressst of your life if I don't fix it, but to do so, I'm going to have to re-break that fracture. I don't have any pain deadening herbsss on me, and thisss will hurt a lot. Thisss isss completely your decisssion, you can wait until we're at a proper hospital for the procedure, I'm just offering." I say without emotion The lack of pain still new to her, she takes a moment figure out her response. "I'll wait. I've gotten this far on it, I can go the seventy or so miles to Hoofington." She gets to her hooves, and starts to head off in the direction of the town. Letting go of the power, I look at her. I admire her tenacity, but curse her silliness, so decide to speak up. "Alright, we'll wait till Hoofington for that, but you aren't walking with that injury." She looked back at me stubbornly from her admittedly pretty blue eyes. "I can walk, so I shall." "And risssk ssscrewing up your leg beyond what I can heal? Or what any unicorn can heal? How do you expect to hold your violin if you can't ssstay upright? Sssitting in a chair like a human? I know for a fact that'sss hard on a pony ssspine, and getsss quite painful after a while. No, you aren't walking. I will tie you up and put you on my back before I let you do that. Your optionsss are riding my back , or riding on my back tied up." I tell her all this with a slightly predatory grin. "Fine, fine. I'll ride on your back." She begins to mutter under her breath, which I imagine is something about "stupid snake thing" or something or other. I begin to go about my camp, packing up all my things and place them in my pack, leaving the canteens out for my rider and myself. I then pick up about forty pounds of the scrap chain that the prisoners where being held by, as well as the gems that where on the diamond dogs. "All aboard for Hoofington! Lassst call, all aboard for Hoofington!" She giggles up at me beautifully, and climbs up on my back at the base right behind my pack. Joining in on the impromptu humor, she replies "Conductor, I seem to have misplaced my ticket somewhere." Bending over, I grabbed a spilled gem and hold it up. "Don't worry, I found it." With that I started to slither towards our destination. After about five minutes of silence while slithering, I pipe up with what we were talking about before I healed most of her injuries. "You wanted an explanation of my hissstory, correct?" "That would be nice, knowing something about my rescuer." "You asssked for it. To my mind, I was born to a happy family over thirty-thousssand years ago. I grew up quickly and happily. My father had a good job that allowed my mother to ssstay at home and look after my big sister and myself. Once I hit eighteen, which isss the age of semi-majority where I'm from, I headed off to college to gain knowledge for a career. I had a good time, but lacked diligence in my studiesss, ssso I had to take some time off to get sssome money to return." By the end of that sentence, Violet had finally regained her composure. "OVER THIRTY-THOUSAND YEARS OLD?!" "Yup, but I'll explain how I'm that old and not sssome sssort of god in a moment." "Fine, but it better be good." "Oh it isss. Anywaysss, as I was sssaying. I wasss working a dead-end job in an attempt to gain funding to return to higher education. Getting frussstrated, I decided to take a weekend hiking vacation near where I lived. I found a natural cave along the trail I wasss walking, and as it wasss rather warm out, decided to cool off in the ssshade of the cave. I walked in, and happened to trip over an old brasssss bottle, completely green with corrosssion. I wasss able to get the top off, when a large cloud of sssmoke flew out of the bottle, coalessscing into the ssshape of a man." "He ssspoke to me, sssaying 'I am the Djinni of the bottle, and you have freed me from my imprisonment. I only give three wishes, but any three wissshes shall be granted.' I'd alwaysss wanted to travel, to well and truly travel to places of my imagination, ssso for my first wish I chossse to be able to travel the multiverssse. My memory had never been asss good asss I had wanted it to be, ssso for my sssecond wisssh I wissshed for a perfect memory. For my third and final wisssh, I wissshed for the Djinn to return to hisss bottle." "Why would you waste a wish like that?" Violet asked in confusion. "Many of the legendsss about Djinn dessscribe them as being dessstructive creatures if allowed to run loossse. I merely put it back in itsss cage." "Okay, that makes sense. Please, continue." "I finished my trip, and went back to my home. I began reviewing my textbooksss, and noticed that I could remember the text perfectly, even ssseeing the diagramsss in a photographic fashion. I then decided to tessst my first wish, along with a theory I had about the nature of the multiverssse. I wrote down a little ssstory about a world where everything wasss made out of gold, and all the other easssily tangible elementsss where either absssent or extremely rare. Concentrating on my dessstination, I sssoon found myssself there. The world was interesssting, but it was sssomewhat painful to be there, asss the light reflected off of everything, and hurt my eyesss. I picked up sssome gold off the ground, and concentrated on my home reality. I returned, but I no longer had the gold I had picked up." "So you can't take anything with you between the worlds you travel to?" She asked around a swallow of water. Following her example, I took a quick swig and then answered. "I can only take thingsss that are bound to my sssoul between realitiesss. I found a reality with the correct magic that wasss able to split my sssoul and place partsss in my armor, my sssword, and my pack. It's why I have these objectsss inssstead of being either naked or esssssentially naked." "Didn't it hurt to have your soul split like that?" She asked with a bit of concern. "It's the worssst pain I have ever felt in my life. I passed out the pain was ssso bad. Sssummoning my equipment to me alssso hurts, but it hasss become tolerable with time." "Why would you do something that causes you pain like that?" She asked with real concern. "I have, in the time I've exisssted, been ssshot to death, ssstabbed, tortured, electrocuted, hung, poisssoned, incinerated, had partsss cut off, ssstoned, beaten to death with blunt objectsss, and been dropped in acid. Many of those deaths are more painful, ssso a little bit of pain now sssavesss on a lot of pain later." "That makes sense, I guess. But why do you put yourself in the position to have to deal with those problems?" "The multiverssse is not a pleasssant place, hon. I count the timesss I've ssspent in Equessstrian realitiesss as vacationsss for the most part. Even the violent onesss are generally comparatively pleasssant." "Wait, wait! You say there is more than one Equestria?!" She cried out in astonishment. "Honey, I'm certain there are thousssands of inssstancesss of Equessstria, along with thousssandsss of instancesss of Terra, of Corellia, of Nirn, and basically any universsse you can think of. Every time you write a piece of prossse, or make a poem with ssstory-like elements, a new reality is either made, or a connection is opened up. It generally doesn't matter to most folks, asss very few have the ability to move between realities. I've met only one other, and he was a sssickly fellow, nearing the end of his life at only sssixty." "Something just occurred to me, if you have a perfect memory, and you've lived as long as you have and experienced that type of pain, how are you not completely and utterly insane?" "Patience my dear, I will explain to the bessst of my ability sssoon enough." "Anyways, back to your explanation?" "I returned without my gold, but I had gained sssomething jussst asss valuable, knowledge. To cheat the sssystem, you have to underssstand the rulesss, and the rulesss can be re-written if you know what you are doing, or that was my reasssoning at least. I decided to write a new world. I made it an exact copy of my home instance of Terra, but it had a sssignificant difference. A traveler who came upon that world that wasss not from that reality would gain the ability to channel the appropriate half of the one power with an ability beyond that of the 'Dragon Reborn' and receive knowledge of how to do every weave ever. Also, thisss ability and knowledge would ssstay with that traveler for forever." "One power? Dragon Reborn? Weaves? What the hay are you talking about?" She asked. I chuckled at her question, seeing as many people from my home reality hadn't heard of the ssseriesss, I would need to explain this to her as well didn't surprise me. "In my home reality, and in several other sssimilar realities, a fantassstic book ssseriesss detailed a sssubssset of magic that sssoundsss and isss more powerful than any non-deity level magic that I've ever heard of. The one power drives the wheel of time, which weaves together ssspace-time in a linear fashion that we mortalsss, and ssso-called immortals, can interact with. It hasss two halvesss: Sssaidin for malesss, and Sssaidar for femalesss. Since I am male, I channel Sssaidin." I took a quick swig of water, and a deep breath. "The Dragon Reborn wasss a very powerful male channeler in the book ssseriesss, and weavesss are what one callsss when you form the power into a ussseful form. When I healed you, I weaved together healing. That fire I made to kill the diamond dogs were two different formsss of battle weavesss, both ussseful for killing multiple enemiesss quickly. Ssstill with me?" "Barely. This is a ton of information all at once." "I underssstand completely, I don't expect you to underssstand it all. I sssometimesss am unsssure about it myself. Anywaysss, back to my ssstory. I went to that world, and that'sss when I ssstarted to have true problemsss." I sigh at this, not quite sure how edited of a version I want to give this obviously traumatized mare, who was probably using my story to distract herself from what happened to her during her captivity. "When I got there, the firssst thing I felt wasss a headache. This wasssn't one of your run of the mill headachesss, not even a migraine. My head felt like it was going to burssst, implode, and catch fire all at once. Fairly quickly, my mind broke, and I began to lasssh out at the landssscape around me. I lassshed out, until the resultsss of my lassshing out killed me." That's the nice and polite way of saying that you destabilized the core of an entire planet, and likely killed around seven billion sentients, to say nothing of the flora and fauna. I then returned to my story. "I woke up to a bright new place, surrounded by brightly colored equinesss everywhere, ssscared of my appearance and my obviousss insssanity. Thisss wasss my firssst time to Equessstria, and I wasss going to make it mine. Noting the sssimilaritiesss to the local populace and herd animalsss on my home planet, I began forcing every pony I could into large paddocksss I channeled whole out of the ground. I was able to do this to the entirety of a settlement, what I later learned wasss called Ponyville. Two large specimensss russshed me, which were of courssse Celestia and Luna, attacking me in an attempt to defend their sssubjectsss. I'm ssstill not quite sssure what I did to them, but after I did it, they acted like horsssesss from my world. Ssseemingly nothing could challenge me asss the planet ssslowly died from the lack of the movement of the sssun and moon." I could feel the vibrations of what was probably fear along my back. "I wasss luckily not doomed to murder thisss planet, and in fact, I didn't kill a sssingle pony. A group of sssix maresss, who you probably know of asss the Elementsss of Harmony, blasssted me with the power of their talisssmansss, banissshing the madnesssss from my mind. We where all quite lucky, as it healed the damage I had done to the princesssssesss, as well asss the ponies around. Long ssstory ssshort, I spent the next sssixty years cleaning up the messsss I had made, and eventually earning a modicum of ressspect from that world's populace." I took a deep breath, then continued on. "I died of old age in that world, then woke up in a completely different place, a place that I recognized from descriptions I had read of asss Corellia. I knew then I wasssn't going to truly die for sssome time." "That's fascinating, but you left two things out, how you haven't gone insane again, and why you didn't simply return home after you regained your sanity." She sipped her canteen as we traveled beneath the sun, it starting to set into the west. "I'm not quite sssure why I've not gone insssane again. I think it might be an effect of getting hit by the Elementsss of Harmony. Asss for returning to my home reality, I think my insssanity made me lossse consssciousss control of that ability. Anywaysss, I'm thinking we ssshould ssstop for the evening. We have a lovely ssstream right over there, and sssome flat ground that isss absssolutely perfect for the tent." "We still have some daylight, we could make a few more miles." Violet said with a slight pout. "We could, but I want to get everything ssset up, including my wardsss, before dark. Besssidesss, water is ssstupid amountsss of important. I alssso imagine you're rather hungry. Ssslaversss and ssslave ownersss aren't exactly known for feeding their ssslavesss well." "True, but I'm not really all that hungry." A large growl coming from her stomach quickly showed off her lie. "Or maybe I am hungry. I suppossse we can stop for the evening." "That'sss good, becaussse I wasssn't planning on moving forward anymore today." I began to walk about the suggested camp area, making a jacks hole, along with setting up my wards. I had no desire to end up as chow for a possibly hungry predator, nor for that sweet young mare to end up either back in captivity, or as a similar dinner. She's suffered enough for the moment. Having finished setting up the tent, I look over at my new companion. "Ready to sssee sssome magic that makes any unicorn magic you've ever ssseen look like a parlor trick?" I assume that this version of Equestria is like most in that they do not have the ability to conjure food from seemingly nothing. She looks over at me, and looks hopeful. "I'd love to, please show me." I then reach into my pack and pull out my horn of plenty, and show it to her. "Watch, and be amazed by this artifact'sss powersss." With that, I blow into the horn, summoning forth a table with two chairs, one appropriate for a pony, and one for a Yuan-Ti. On the table is an amusing dichotomy. The side set up for me was covered in a assortment of cooked and bloody meats, whereas the side for her was seemingly any fruit you could ask for, along with what smelled like a delicious quiche. Her eyes ballooned looking at the feast, which considering how large a pony's eyes are normally, they became a truly comical size. I chuckled, and then spoke. "Yoursss looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. Anywaysss, dig in, but eat ssslowly. You don't want to eat too much too quickly, sssurfeit isss no fun after being ssstarved." I was, of course, speaking from experience. "Alright." With that, she grabbed several apples, some pears, and the quiche. I laughed when she looked at a pomegranate with confusion. "How do I eat this, and what is it?" "It'sss a pomegranate, and they are delicious. I'll prepare it for you." With that, I slithered over and picked it up, and took a knife to it. I cut off the crown, and then scored the sides, finally pulling it apart. "You eat the red fruity partsss, but ignore the white partsss and the ssskin. The ssseeds are completely healthy." I grabbed a few seeds, and popped them into my mouth to show off my point. They still taste good, but the spell detects biology. I know this isn't good for me. Guess fruit and vegetables are going to be candy for me in this universe. Along with actual candy, bread, and cupcakes. I was interrupted from my musing by the moan of pleasure coming from Violet's mouth after trying the pomegranate. "By Celestia! This is absolutely amazing! Why have I never heard of this fruit before?" "I don't know, hon. They might not exissst in this world period, or don't get exported much, not being a sssuper cold tolerant plant." I explain. With that, I start in on my own meal, taking a cooked rabbit haunch, and eat it whole. It tasted amazing, like everything else the horn creates. We continue the meal in silence, my doing so as to not interrupt the hungry mare, and Violet because she was stuffing her face. The hour came to an end, and Violet has finally had her fill. The magic of the horn sent the table, all the leftover food, and the chairs away. "I have never felt better after a meal, and that was quite possibly the best meal I've ever had. What magic allows you to create such a wondrous thing?" "You know how I've sssaid I've traveled to other worldsss?" She nodded. "That horn wasss made in a ssspecific part of a world called Toril, on the continent of Faerûn. The magic of that world isss quite different from the magic you know. It isss more heavily focusssed on causssing harm and death, as well as usssing gifts from their ssso-called godsss to heal and bring folksss back from the dead. This horn recreatesss a spell that isss basssed upon the giftsss of their 'godsss'." "So Celestia could gift someone with the ability to recreate this spell?" "To my knowledge, no. Magic worksss differently in essssentially every world I've been to. Yoursss is no exception in that fact." "That's too bad. We could really use that ability." "I'm sssure. It's why I feel no shame in sssharing the bounty of it'sss abilities with others. Anywaysss, we ssshould get sssome sssleep, no sssenssse in getting up too late tomorrow. I want to get that leg of yours healed, pronto. Oh, and you get the tent, I'll sssleep on the ground." "Okay, Marty. If you insist." "I do. Good night, Violet." "Good Night." With that, she went inside the tent. I curled up, and used part of my own lower body as a pillow, which worked out fairly well. I fell asleep fairly quickly, not really acknowledging Luna's night. ***** "No! No! Get away from me! Stop! Please Stop! For the love of Celestia, stop it!" I was awoken from my slumber by these yells. Grabbing my saber, I slither as fast as I can to the entrance of the tent, prepared to destroy whatever was hurting my new friend. Opening the tent, and looking inside, all I see is a screaming mare, entrapped in the remains of my bedroll. I toss my saber off to the side, and enter the tent. I gently shake her awake as best I can. She cries out "No!" and wallops me across my muzzle. With that, she wakes up. She sees my face, and screams again. She begins to struggle with the shredded bedroll, trying to get away. "Snake monster! Snake monster!" The statement stings, but I decide to combat it as I always have, humor. "Even if the ssstatement isss true, you don't have to call me a monssster. I'm alssso only half sssnake. The ressst of me looksss roughly human." I make a semblance of a pout, but It just doesn't work with my current face, along with the bruise on my muzzle. She finally comes back to herself, and looks up at me. "Sorry for calling you a monster. You may be ugly, but you aren't a monster." "Thanksss, I think." With that, I massage the spot she hit. We stare at each other for a bit, the awkward silence hanging in the air. "Ssso, want to tell me what you were dreaming about that causssed you to be ssscared enough to hit me?" "Hit you? Oops. Sorry." Her fur around her face turned from a cream to a deep crimson. How they can blush around all that fur I will never understand, but eh, it looks adorable. She sighs, and begins to speak. "I was remembering my time in the mines. I'm only good at violin, not worth anything at all outside of cooking at anything else. I'm horrible at even getting things to grow, and I'm an earth pony." She shudders, then continues on. "The guards... tired of my inability to be efficient at digging up gems. They tried to beat this out of me, but it made me even worse at digging. One of the guards came to a conclusion, if she's no good for digging, lets use her in other ways." She started crying now, just absolutely bawling her eyes out. "H-h-he f-f-forced himself on me. He used me for what seemed like hours." She starts to scream while crying. "I was a virgin! He took my virginity! I was s-s-saving myself for a really special pony!" I had long since figured out she'd been raped, but I hadn't wanted to say anything until she did. I merely slithered next to her, and drew her into a hug. She continued to sob, and began to squeak out the rest of her story. "He told the other guards what he had done, and they all started to take turns with me. One of them got the idea to use my tail-hole. I screamed loud enough it made my ears hurt. I lashed out with my left rear hoof, and caught the one who was currently using me with that leg, and I took off running." She starts to cry a little less, then continues on. "He caught me easily, and broke that leg. He broke it like a twig. And then he started raping me again." "They used me up, and then decided they would trade me to another tribe." "And that'sss when I found you." "And that's when you found me. I have no clue what would've happened to me if you hadn't come along." "A ssshort life of pain, probably. But it'sss over now, and your life isss only going to get better." I had begun to scratch my fingers through her mane, easing what tension I could. She yawned, and said "I certainly hope so." With that, she fell sleep in my arms, and I couldn't put her down without potentially reawakening her. Deciding to make the best of it, I curl up around her, and fall back asleep.