//------------------------------// // The Awakened World // Story: My Little Planeswalker: Glimmering Oil // by Zennistrad //------------------------------// As her eyes opened, Sunset was greeted to a world that she thought she had lost forever. The taint of Phyrexia had been scrubbed away, and in its wake was the bright, clear sky of a world that she had come to see as her own. When her vision finally adjusted to the light, she found herself standing in the center of the school’s front courtyard, right where the portal to Equestria had once been. All around her, students bustled and hurried about, leaving the building in a steady stream. From the sun’s position it appeared to be lunch hour, when students were permitted to leave school grounds and visit the local restaurants. They paid Sunset no mind, in spite of the fact that she had apparently descended from the sky — magical events had apparently become so routine to them it wasn’t even worth noticing. “Sunset!” The distinctive sound of Twilight’s voice pulled her attention to the side. No sooner had she turned to face her approaching friends when a pair of purple arms wrapped tightly around her torso, pulling her into a vicegrip hug. Sunset briefly protested, but before she found herself returning the gesture. The two locked arms, and the seconds that passed stretched on as she basked in the warmth of Twilight’s body. “That was incredible,” Twilight said breathlessly. “I don’t know how you did it, but everything’s back to normal now.” “Hey, was there every any doubt?” Sunset replied. Though, truth be told, she wasn’t quite sure how she did it either. The last thing she remembered was being in orbit, staring into the face of her own demise. She briefly looked towards her other five friends. From the looks on their faces, they weren’t quite sure what had happened either. Sunset tried to think of something to say to Twilight, but words had failed her. Twilight smiled gently as the sun caught her glasses, reflecting off the tears in the corners of her eyes. “You um,” Twilight paused, her face suddenly flushed with color. “You looked beautiful. Coming down from the sky like that, I-I mean.” “Er, thanks? You too, I guess?” Sunset’s heart began to race. She could feel hear breath growing short, but strangely it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation at all. On the contrary, it was... she was... ...She’d never really given it thought before, but Sunset really meant what she just said. Twilight really was beautiful. But why were such thoughts coming to her now? Oh, for— You’re in LOVE, you idiot! Just kiss her already! “What!?” Sunset blurted out, though she quickly covered up her outburst by doubling over with a fit of improvised coughing. Other-you’s got a point. We’ve been crushing on Twilight pretty hard for a while now. I’m surprised you-you didn’t realize sooner, honestly. Sunset looked up, and saw Twilight’s eyes filled with concern. “Sunset? Are you okay?” “I...” Sunset wheezed. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. I’m just, uh... thinking about how glad I am too see you and, uh... um...” Already, she could feel her body temperature rising. There was an unbearable pressure deep within her chest, like something was trying to force its way out. Twilight’s head tilted slightly. “Sunset?” “What I’m trying to say is, um... I... I think I’m in love with you.” For several moments, Sunset felt like she had tunnel vision. Everything apart from Twilight seemed to fade away into nothingness, and she was left staring at the person she had fallen for. Twilight for her part stared back, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. “I... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make this awkward,” said Sunset. “Just forget I said—” Her objections were immediately quieted when she felt Twilight’s lips press against her own. Before she was even consciously aware of it, she was returning the gesture in kind. Sunset closed her eyes, and everything else melted away as the two exchanged a kiss that felt like it could last forever. What passed as mere seconds became lost in a blur of emotions, as a tension Sunset didn’t even notice before washed away in a torrent of passion. “Ha! I knew it!” “...Dangit.” Sunset felt a jolt run down her spine. She involuntarily pulled away and glared at her friends, as well as at the other students that had come to gawk at the scene. Already she could hear the whispering gossip being passed among the crowdgoers. In the corner of her eye, she could see Applejack discretely handing Rainbow Dash a twenty dollar bill. “H-hey! Do you mind!? We’re having a moment here! Go on, shoo! And get that camera out of here, you!” Reluctantly, the crowd began to disperse, though not before Shaky Shutter managed to snap one last photo. Sunset glowered at the other students as they cleared away, before finally turning to Twilight. “Alright, let’s try that again. No interruptions this time.” “Um...” said Twilight, “...okay?” Closing her eyes, Sunset leaned in for another kiss, determined to make sure her second attempt was perfect. This time, she thought, there would be no interruptions. Before her lips could even touch Twilight’s, she was interrupted by distinct sound of metal scraping against piano wire. “Oh god dammit.” Twilight gave a slight giggle. “Sunset, it’s okay. We can make out later.” “Um,” Fluttershy spoke up. She stared beyond Sunset, in the direction the vworp sound was coming from. “N-not to worry you guys or anything, but what is that?” Sunset was tempted to answer ‘some eccentric weirdo,’ but decided against it. There, at the apparent source of the noise, was the image of a man with light brown skin, slowly fading into view. He had the same short, ruffled brown hair, with a blue suit, green necktie, and an especially-distinct brown trenchcoat. There was no mistaking him: this was Time Turner. DOCTOR Time Turner. Oh, don’t you start with that. When the Doctor came fully into view, Sunset’s eardrums were immediately assaulted by a deafening shriek. “EEEEEEEE!” “What!? Twilight, what’s wrong!?” “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Are you kidding me!? Do you know who that is!?” “Um...” “It’s Time Turner! I can’t believe you’ve never heard of him! He only played the most iconic incarnation of The Professor on TV!” Without hesitation, Twilight ran over to Time Turner, her body practically vibrating as she stood before him. “Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you in person!” “Well, I’m flattered, really,” said Time Turner with a grin. “But you should know that I’m actually very different from who you think I am. I have several doctoral degrees, for one thing.” Twilight deflated almost instantly. “Huh?” “It’s quite simple, really. You see, this world and Ungula — that’s the world Equestria is on — might act like separate planes in most respects, but they’re really not actually separate at all. Rather, they’re more like mirror images that exist on two sides of the same underlying planar space, each one casting a reflection on the other. Because of this, it’s possible to travel between the two worlds using methods that aren’t strictly interplanar travel. It also means that for every soul that exists in one world, the reflection it casts will cause a mirror image of that soul to end up in the other. These twin souls might not be born at exactly the same time or place, and they might not share all of the same properties, but there will always be a soul at some point in Ungula’s history that corresponds to a soul in Anthropia. This, as you can guess, includes myself.” “Oh,” said Twilight, frowning. “You could have just told me you from Equestria, you know.” Time Turner grinned. “Of course I could have. But that would be terribly boring, and I rather like giving lengthy explanations. Besides, this way grants me a very smooth segue.” He pointed a finger at Sunset Shimmer. “You there.” “Me?” said Sunset. “Yes, you,” said Time Turner. He pulled his finger away and lifted a hand to his face, wriggling his fingers enthusiastically. “You know, no matter how many times I gain them, I’m always amazed by how useful these extra digits are.” Sunset glared at Time Turner, her arms folded across her chest. “And what was that about a smooth segue again?” “Oh, right!” said Time Turner. “Terribly sorry. As I was saying, everyone on either world will at some point in time have a counterpart on the other. But you’ll notice, Sunset, that your counterpart appears to be absent. ‘Appears’ being the operative word there.” Sunset paused. “Huh,” she said, “you know, you have a point there. I’ve always wondered about my counterpart since I came here. I guess with all the crazy things happening, I just forgot about it after a while. Are you saying you know where she is?” “That’s correct,” said Time Turner. “You’ll notice that I said that whenever a soul is born in one world, its counterpart ends up in the other. That’s not to say that its counterpart had to have been born in the other world, or that it came into existence at the same time. In some rare instances, a soul may not even have a counterpart at first, until it becomes a counterpart later.” “Uh... I’m afraid you lost me,” said Sunset. “Well, to paraphrase a certain famous detective,” Time Turner eagerly replied, “it’s elementary. You, my dear Sunset, are a Conduit of Harmony. In effect, that means you are this world’s counterpart the Tree of Harmony itself.” Sunset blinked. “I’m sorry, what?” “The Tree of Harmony,” said Time Turner. “You know, Equestria’s very own conduit of Harmony? Harmony herself, of course, being the personified will of all harmonic energy in the multiverse, as well as a more general guiding force of destiny. Also slayer of the Ineffable, if you fancy that sort of trivia.” “I know what the Tree of Harmony is!” Sunset shouted. “I just... I can’t believe this. You’re seriously telling me that’s my counterpart?” The sunlight glinted off Time Turner’s teeth as he smiled. “That it is. Of course, don’t expect to be able to call upon Harmony’s power all willy-nilly. You can’t channel her unless she wants you to, and I think you’ll find she’s rather fickle in most circumstances. Bit of a tease, she is.” “So... you’re saying I only have that kind of godlike power when some inscrutable force thinks I need to?” said Sunset. “I’m not sure whether I should be relieved or annoyed.” “You’ll get used to that feeling, I’m sure,” Time Turner replied. “But I think there’s a bit of a more pressing concern for you right now, though not a world-ending one. Well, it’s more like it’s not immediately world-ending. Well, it’s more like it is immediately world-ending, but more in the metaphorical world-as-you-know-it sense than the world-blowing-up sense.” Sunset’s chest tightened. The last thing she needed to deal with was another magical problem. “Oh no, what now?” Time Turner placed his hands behind his back, his eyes drifting away as he gently rocked back and forth on his heels. “Oh... not a whole lot, really. Just a teensy-weensy, itsy-bitsy, insignificant little detail. Like that you may have undone the seal on the mana lines leading into Anthropia, flooding the entire plane with Equestrian mana and granting every living human on it access to their latent magical powers.” Sunset’s eyes bugged out. “I did what!?” “Oh, come off it now, it won’t be that bad,” said Time Turner. “In fact, I’ve seen the nearly the exact same thing happen before. Of course, I also recall you being a lot more consistently godlike there, so take that bit with a grain of salt.” Sunset threw her hands up into the air. “Enough of your babbling! Are you seriously saying that everyone has magic now? Literally everyone?” “For a given definition of ‘everyone,’ yes.” Sunset screwed her eyes shut, and pressed a pair of fingers to her forehead. “...I think I need to go lie down for a bit.” “You’ll have to wait until after class, I’m afraid. If I’m right — and I am — Harmony should have reset your planar timeline to the Friday that the Phyrexian portal was opened, except with all influence of the Phyrexians eradicated. You might want to check up on Starlight Glimmer when you get the chance. Odds are she’s had to cancel the seminar due to the side-effects having phyresis forcibly purged from her body.” “WHAT!?” Sunset blurted out. “What do you mean ‘reset the timeline?’ That’s even crazier!” “Well, you should keep in mind Harmony is a lot more powerful here than she was in Dominaria.” said Time Turner. He briefly looked at his wrist, which was conspicuously bare of any timekeeping devices. “Ooh, but would you look at that. That’s all the time I have to explain right now. Lots of important things to do. Toodles!” “No! Don’t you dare leave! Get back here and explain what’s going on, or so help me!” But Sunset’s pleas fell upon deaf ears, as by then Time Turner was already vanishing into the air. When he at last disappeared, Sunset and her friends were only left to stare in extended silence. “So, um,” said Fluttershy. “What now?” Sunset looked over to her friends, all of which were staring blankly at her, hoping to find an answer. Sunset’s head swirled, still considering the implications of what happened, and what was now expected of her. After everything that had happened, she felt completely burned out. “Let’s... let’s just head out to lunch for now.” said Sunset. “I still need time to process what the hell just happened here.” And so Sunset and her friends did just that, only able to hope they would make sense of the world they were now in. ———————— Anthropia Awakened Plane — Anthropia When you planeswalk to Anthropia Awakened, each player creates a 1/1 white Human creature token. Each Human creature is a Horse in addition to its other creature types. Each Human creature on the battlefield has lifelink and is all colors. Whenever you roll {Chaos}, create two 1/1 white Human creature tokens.