//------------------------------// // Of Trainsss and Jobhunting // Story: A Marty Stu invades the Multiverse (Chess Game of the Gods) // by Keairan //------------------------------// Having bought our tickets, Violet and I sat around, waiting for our train, that was to leave at half-past ten. "So Violet, tell me about Coltogne, if you would." I said, after a moment. She looked up at me, and took on a look of concentration. "It's a nice little village. They mostly make various perfumes and colognes for the high class ponies of Canterlot and the other larger cities. Assuming that the Pots haven't had their foal yet, we have about four-hundred ponies and one old minotaur in town." "Huh, a minotaur. I've not met many minotaurs who live in Equestria." "I've not met any snake-creatures in Equestria before you, Marty." "Touche." At this, Violet giggled. "Yes, Steel Link is our village blacksmith, but the poor dear is getting on in years, and I don't know how long he's going to continue working his forge. Nopony seems to be interested in taking up his job, and all his apprentices left for other towns long ago. But that's irrelevant for the moment." She stated with a smile. If nothing else, I could get a job assisting him in his smithy. Small towns always seem to need more smiths than they have. "True. Anything else interesting about Coltogne?" I replied, and returned with a smile. "Not really all that much. We don't have that many farm ponies, so we aren't quite self-sufficient in terms of food, so fresh food can be... a little expensive." She said with a slightly sheepish smile. "Not that that is something we really need to worry about, now is it?" as I booped her nose while stating that. Violet rears back, startled. "Why did you boop my nose? And no, no it isn't." "Because I get reactions like that." I said with a mischievous grin. "You are so weird." She said with a shake of her head. "I know, but you know you like it." "I suppose." ***** "All aboard for the Canterlot Line!" came over the station loudspeaker. "That's us, Marty!" Violet said with a little excitement. "Alright Violet, lead on." her excitement was infectious. We walked to the train, which was a not-so-surprising collection of pastel colors. It never changes from universe to universe. Everything they have is always colorful. "Tickets please, get your tickets marked here!" The ticket-masters cried out. Violet and I walked up to one, handed our tickets over to get marked, and had them returned with a minimum of fuss and scared looks. "That was surprisingly easy." I stated as we found our seats. "That's probably because I'm with you." Violet said with a smirk. "That would not surprise me if that was the case." I replied, completely serious. The conversation died for a bit, while we waited for all the passengers to finish loading onto the train. As the looks of fear and whatnot began to get more and more, I looked over at Violet, and decided to ask a question. "Hey Violet, if I make myself look like a pony, do you think folks will freak out by the sudden change?" "Maybe, but if you're surreptitious enough, probably not. Though, if you can make yourself look like a pony, why haven't you before now?" Violet asked with a confused expression on her face. "It's an illusion, rather than a physical change. And changing my appearance like that means that it's easy to disrupt. My tail would stick out awkwardly, and I'm quite tall for a believable pony. But with me sitting still like this, I don't have a lot of variables to overcome." "Could you repeat that, in plain Equestrian?" She asked with a look of confusion. "If I sit still I can look like a pony with no problems. Lots of movement makes the illusion break down." I replied, slightly annoyed. "Oh. That makes sense." Her voice was lightly subdued, and her ears fell just slightly. "Can I see what you look like as a pony?" Her voice brightened. "Sure, do you want to see me as a unicorn, or a pegasus? I don't think the time I looked like an alicorn would go over too well here." "You looked... right, multiple universes. Keep on forgetting about that. Um, I think a unicorn would go over better." "Unicorn it is." With that, I cleared my mind of all emotion, then began to weave about myself, after I tucked my tail up around my upper body. A dark green horn appeared above my head, and the rest of my body took on the look of a fit unicorn stallion. My hair took on a slightly darker cast, then appeared to grow from my neck, and then a pony tail seemed to appear. A whirlpool appeared on my 'flank' after which I tied off the weaves. "How do I look?" I say, flicking out my tongue absentmindedly after letting go of the source. "Except for the snake-tongue thing, you look like a handsome unicorn. What does that cutie mark mean?" She asked, curious. "It's one of my talents. I can see a special type of sapient known as a ta'veren, which means a lot of things. I'm a ta'veren myself, and I seem to be drawn to others like me. Six ponies in your world are always ta'veren, no matter how different the Equestria." "The elements?" She asked, eyes full of curiosity. "You guessed it." Though it would've been nice if more than the current elements where always ta'veren. That would've made my life a lot easier in the wasteland. I'm interrupted from my thoughts by her next question. "So what exactly is a ta'veren? I've never even heard that word before, let alone know what it means." She said with an air of curiosity. "To understand what a ta'veren is, you have to understand a bit about the fabric of space-time. Imagine, if you will, that time and space is one gigantic tapestry, that a gigantic wheel of loom is continuously weaving. All life are threads being spun out by that wheel. Each universe has their own wheel, and each tapestry is different. With me so far?" "I'm a thread in a tapestry, and all of everything is also part of that tapestry." She said with a look of information overload. "Correct. Now then, a ta'veren is a special thread. They are in some form or fashion important to that particular tapestry. They might correct flaws, right wrongs, or enact social change. They also might cause genocide, oppress an entire people, or change things for the worse. It just depends on the individual and the universe they're a part of. These individuals also seem to have a greater than ordinary amount of luck. And by that I mean both good luck and bad luck. They also will effect change on those around them. Still with me?" "You cause change, and have a greater amount of luck than I do, I think. So ta'veren are essentially bringers of balance?" She asked. I looked at her for a moment, and then replied. "You hit it exactly on the head. I haven't met that many individuals who have made that connection. I'm impressed." "You don't have to be condescending about it." She looked at me with what looked to be some anger. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was being completely serious there. I'm genuinely impressed you made that connection that quickly. I've explained this to philosophers and scholars before who never did quite understand it." I said, trying to calm her down. "Alright, I believe you. I'm just used to a few ponies mocking me in school, calling me brilliant when I would ask the teacher questions." She said, sounding somewhat depressed. "Well that was stupid of them. How else can someone learn, if they don't ask questions? I'm not going to say there are no stupid questions, but questioning is how species advance beyond what they currently know." I leaned over and gave her a hug. She leaned into me, and said "Thank you, Marty." and closed her eyes. We fell both fell asleep, the vibrations and the noise from our fellow passengers making a nice lullaby. ***** "Tickets please, can we please see your tickets." Came the call at our stop in Canterlot. "Here you go, sir. Our tickets." I quickly channeled them over to the conductor, to keep up the ruse of my being a unicorn. Two to Coltogne." "Those look to be in order. Staying on this train will take you straight there. You folks have a good day." The conductor moves on to the next set of seats. ***** About an hour before we reached Coltogne, Violet woke up from her semi-snooze. She reached over, and elbowed me in the ribs, then pointed out the window. "Marty, we're nearly there. We're nearly home!" She said with glee. "I'm glad Violet. There is nothing quite like coming home." I smiled at her as I said that. As the train chugged along, I noticed that the sun was beginning to set. "I think that we'll arrive shortly before dusk, what do you think?" Violet looked up, then back to me. "Probably. Oh well, I really didn't want to run into that many ponies today, anyways. Plus, less stress on explaining who and what you are." "Well that's easily explained. I'm your friend, and some sort of snake creature. Easy." I gave her a smirk, and then returned to watching the scenery. "I guess that works. But we've got to come up with a better name for what you are than snake creature. What's something else we could call you." She put a hoof to her muzzle, perplexed. "I resemble a species in several ways known as yuan-ti, which are a species that has both human and snake characteristics. I resemble a yuan-ti halfblood, specifically. We could always go with that as an explanation." "That works." We sat in silence, enjoying the scenery passing us by from the train window as we approached the small town. It resembled a small Bavarian village that I had seen as a boy for the most part, with a few odd houses built in a more modern style. "I feel like I should see somebody dressed in lederhosen or something similar." I remarked to my companion. "Lederhosen?" Violet looked at me, confused. "A traditional outfit from a place known as Bavaria, from my home world. I might draw you a sketch of it later on." "Oh, okay." The train finally pulled into the station, and I decided to drop my illusion weave, not wanting to freak anyone out with the weird cross of pony and snake walking out of the train. "You decided to change. I thought you looked cute as a unicorn." Violet pouted at me "I probably did, but a snake tail trailing from the undercarriage would've looked decidedly strange." "True, true, but I still wish you looked like that." "I wouldn't have minded too much myself. Getting rid of the strange looks would be quite nice." "As old as you are, you're still affected by people giving you strange looks? You'd think you would've stopped being affected by it long ago." "You might think so, but you'd be wrong. Quite wrong." Violet looked up at me with a slightly sad look. "Sorry." "It's okay. It's something I've dealt with before, and I'll probably deal with it again. It still gets to me, every now and again. I normally just react with a well-placed insult or something." "That's probably not healthy, but everypony has their coping method." "True, true. Shall we go to your house?" I asked, changing the subject. "Please. I want to sleep in my own bed tonight." We 'walked' in silence to her home, which was surprisingly kept up. "Was someone house-sitting for you while you were gone?" I asked with some confusion. "Not to my knowledge, but my brother might have decided to take care of it in my absence." She smiled. "He's the village gardener, and specializes in orchids." "That's probably what happened. Do you have a key hidden anywhere so that we can get in? Or do you not bother locking your doors in a community this small?" I asked, curious. "Yes, and while theft isn't that big of a problem, we do occasionally get ne'er do wells from Canterlot and other cities passing through who we wouldn't want to tempt them." "That makes sense. Well, lead on my fair mare." I did my best Groucho Marx eyebrow raise, but the effect is completely lost on Violet. Note to self, introduce Equestria to vaudeville. Violet reached behind a loose stone, and pulled out a brass key. "Found it. Wild has definitely been taking care of my house. He's the only other pony who knows about that hiding place, and the only other key was mine, and it's lost in a diamond dog den." She shuddered at that last thought, then opened up the door. "Here we are, Casa del Violet. Feel free to make yourself at home." I 'walked' about the home, taking in the various sites and pieces of architecture. Vases and pictures where everywhere, though the vases where empty. This home truly did have a womanly touch, but it was comforting touch. I found a lovely guest room, a lavatory with bath/shower and toilet that had running water, and an extremely nice master bedroom. A nice study, that had three violins in it. The bows where all strung with an odd purple hair that was also white. What are these strung with? I know that violin bows are all traditionally strung with horse tail hair back on Terra, but what does she use to get this purple color. Violet walked in behind me, and asked "What do you think of my home?" I turned around, and looked at her. "Your home is lovely. But I have one question, what do you hair your bows with?" "Oh, I hair them with my own tail hair. The lighter shade of purple is from the rosin I put on them." I facepalmed. "Of course. I didn't know you could luthier." "I can only luthier to an extent. I can't make my own instruments, only do basic maintenance and such." "That's still really impressive. I seem to remember hooves not being the most delicate of tools to work with, and wooden instruments are notoriously fragile, and the bows even more." "That's true, but if you have enough practice and patience anything is possible. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Do you mind too much getting out your horn? I don't think any of the local restaurants are still open, and I'm ninety-nine percent positive they don't have any meat." "No, that's fine, lets get into your kitchen area first though, don't want to make a mess near your instruments." "That works, lets go eat." ***** "That was delicious, as usual." Violet said to me. "Yes it was." I looked outside, and noted that it was dark out. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired, despite all the sleeping we did on the train. Shall we go to bed?" Violet looked at me, like she was going to say no, but yawned instead. "I think you may have a point. Lets go to bed." I slithered into the guest room, while she walked into her room. "Good night, Violet." "Good night, Marty. Sleep well." She said with a smile. "I'll try." ***** I stood on four green hooves, walking away from a gateway that overlooked a savannah plain. I know this place. I know where I am, and more importantly, when. The majestic city of Manehattan stood before me, a gorgeously clear day. I started to run into the city, trying to warn any and all who would listen. "The zebras are going to attack! They're going to drop balefire megaspells! Get to the stables, get out of the city, for the love of Celestia, get away from here!" The ponies all blithely ignore me, not a care in the world. A couple of foals dance about laughing. "Please! Get out of here!" I'm begging and crying. The ponies continue to ignore me, up until a large explosion triggers from one of the buildings, engulfing several pink balloons, then spreading outward. "Stay with me! I'll protect some of you, at the very least!" I yell at the now panicking ponies. None of them pay me any mind. I look over, and see the group of foals no longer dancing, but standing there, frozen. I channel my most powerful shield, and place it over them and myself. The shield only worked for me. The foals are now just four spots of ash as green fire blasts outward. The air under my shield begins to give out, but I don't care, I just sit there, and cry over the now dead foals. Something begins to shake me. The ground? No, it's just being burnt by the balefire, it isn't moving. I continue to shake, and the dreamworld disappears. "Marty! Marty! Marty!" Violet yells at me, my snake-eyes opening up. "You were yelling. Are you okay?" "Not really, but thank you for getting me out of that dream. The variations on that place are awful." I said while shuddering. "Care to talk about it?" She asked, concerned. "I really don't want to tell you about it. It's a horrible dream that more or less changes a horrible memory to an even worse case." I was still shuddering, but was beginning to calm down. "I'm sorry Marty. I guess you weren't kidding when you said you had bad dreams." She looked thoughtful for a bit. "You said that sleeping next to someone helped with the nightmares?" "They make them tolerable, rather than ruinous. My other options really aren't all that desirable. I can either get stone drunk, or spend the night in the world of dreams, or Tel'aran'rhiod. I don't want to do that, because it isn't particularly restful." "What about potions that make you sleep dreamlessly?" "They sometimes work, but all too often they don't." "I don't keep alcohol in the house, but it wouldn't hurt to have you sleep next to me. Besides, it's a large bed, plenty of room to share." She and I both smiled at this, as she led the way to her bedroom. "Thank you Violet." "It's no problem Marty. No, seriously, if it keeps you from yelling it's not a problem at all." "Well then, so you're not being completely selfless." I stuck my tongue out at her, which didn't phase her at all. "Are you trying to taste the air, or are you trying to be childish?" She said coquettishly "Must they be mutually exclusive?" I said with a smirk. "No, no they mustn't. Now come to bed." "Yes ma'am." "Oh hush, you." At this, we both started to laugh, then got into bed, and fell asleep nice and quickly. ***** We woke up the next morning fairly early, and got out of bed. I stoked the fire that heated the hot water heater, then channeled a thread of fire into it to give a jump start. "Test the water, Violet! It should be decently warm!" I yelled up to her. "Okay, Marty!" She got into the tub/shower and turned the water on, from what I could hear. "The water's great! I'll try and be quick about it!" She yelled back to me. I waited for about fifteen minutes, when she called out to me. "Shower's ready! Go on in." "Thanks Violet." I slithered into her bathroom, as she walked past with her mane up in a towel. "Looking good Vi." I said with a laugh. "Oh hush, you." She said with an annoyed smile. "K, hon." I got into the shower, which was an odd exercise with snake coils. I was able to bath fairly quickly, the hair on my head the thing that ended up taking the longest. After about seven minutes, I stepped out of the shower, then headed into the kitchen to get breakfast. To my surprise, she had already used the horn. "Hey Marty, hope you don't mind that I used this to get breakfast ready for us." "No, no I don't mind at all." I looked over my food, delighted by what I saw. "Mmmm, bacon!" I said excitedly. Violet shook her head at me, then went back to eating her omelet. We ate quickly, then decided what we would do for the day. "I'm going to go job-hunting and also get some clothes. While my armor looks nice, it's also extremely intimidating looking, and I don't want to intimidate the good folks around here." "That makes sense, but why don't you just go nude? Most of us walk about nude all the time." "Habit, and I feel less vulnerable clothed." "I guess I can see that. The town seamstress should be able to do most anything you'd look for. Her name is Silvered Needle, and her shop has a sign that shows a needle and thread out front." "Thank you, and I saw the town hall when we came in last night. They should have a help wanted board somewhere on there." "There is, but why are you looking for a job so quickly? Don't you have plenty of bits and if you keep giving us food via horn I'm not about to charge you rent if you do even a modicum of cleaning up after yourself." "It's for something to do as much as anything else. I don't want to just sit about doing nothing, and I'm not going to try and muscle in on your territory by becoming a professional violinist. Though I'm not good enough to even think about trying." "You play?" She looked at me, incredulous. "Yup, just out of practice. Didn't get a chance to get my hands on a violin in the last universe I lived in." "Cool, I'll lend you one of my violins to practice with... I mean, if you want to." "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, I'm going to go find a job." "I think I'll come with you, just to show the mayor and other bureaucrats that I'm back." "That makes sense." We chatted amicably as we walked to the town hall, where I did in fact find a notice board. A nice big post on there made me grin. 'Blacksmith Wanted, preferably journeyman or better. Inquire at the forge.' "Violet, I'm going to head over to the forge. I think I can get a job there." "Alright Marty. I'll see you sometime back at the house. Good luck!" "Thanks Vi!" I then slithered over to where I could see a forge. As I slithered up, I could see a strong but old minotaur pounding a piece of iron into a chain link. "Hello there!" "Eh, what was that sonny? I couldn't quite hear you." "I said hello. I'm interested in the blacksmith position." I say, somewhat louder. "You're interested in the positions you say. Do you even know how to smith?" "I made the armor I'm wearing, and the sword I have back at the house I'm staying at. I'd say I know how to smith." He puts down his hammer, and sets the chain off to the side for a moment. He looks at my armor, noting the seams, pins and joints that make it up. "That's mighty impressive work there sonny. I don't recognize the material the pins and plate are made out of though. What is it?" "The plate is specially treated iron, making it incredibly resilient." Well, invulnerable is incredibly resilient, isn't it? "The pins are also specially treated, but it's actually an alloy of iron, carbon and titanium." And the power, but that's neither here nor there. "My sword is made of the same alloy." "You say you made all that, but seeing is believing. I want to see what you can do. Impress me." "I can do that." I take a look around his forge, and note three barrels filled with liquid. I reach down and taste each one, finding one to be straight water, a second to be salted water, and the third to be oil. I take three pieces of bar stock, reasoning that if nothing else I have the money to replace them if I screw up. I start by fashioning two long handles that morphed into flat planes. I then shaped both of the planes so that they would fit together with one above and one below. I then began pounding out three smaller planes, one was just a small rectangle, whereas the other two where triangles that extended from half-moons. The minotaur had his hand under his muzzle, watching me work. I began to narrow the flat side of the half-moons, creating an edge along the flat of the half-moon area. I then began to bore out holes in each of the pieces of metal. I finished my bores, then began quenching each of the pieces. The edge got quenched in the salt water, whereas the rest of the pieces where merely placed in the water bath. Once I was certain they where completely quenched, I did a bit of polishing and sharpening of the various parts, then began to place bolts into the holes, finishing my creation. "I can tell that it's well made, but what is it?" The minotaur asked me. "It's a bolt cutter. It gives a mechanical advantage that allows the wielder to get through weaker pieces of steel and iron. Your chain made me think of it, as that's what a bolt cutter is used for, to cut through things like chains." "Ah. You definitely get the job. I know quality work when I see it." The minotaur finally took all of me in, then looked at me queerly. "Just what are you? I've never seen a creature like you before." He said with a curious expression on his face. "I'm a yuan-ti. I've never seen another of my species in Equestria before, so I'm not surprised you've not seen another of me." I said dryly. "Anyways, I'll show up again tomorrow to work. I need to go get some clothing that isn't armor. I will see you later." "Tell me your name, first. I'm Steel Link." "Marty Stu." We shook hands, and then I slithered off. I found the seamstress's shop fairly easily, which had an open sign out front, written in fraktur. Hoo boy, I hope not everyone uses that font, else that's going to get annoying really quick. I slithered in, which caused a bell to tinkle. "Welcome to 'The Needle and Thread' where we fulfill all your garment neeeeds yah!" A blue on blue unicorn mare jumped back in fright at the sight of me. I sighed and looked at her. "I'm not going to hurt you ma'am, I just need a few clothes made, if you would be so kind." Regaining her composure quickly, she looks up at me sheepishly. "Sorry about that sir, what can I do for you today?" "I need three shirts, and two kilts with pockets made. They are only going to be non-formal wear, so I need them to be comfortable. Also, do you have anything for making a blacksmith apron out of? I'm going to be working the forge for a good while, so a good apron is a must." "I can do all of those, I just need to get your measurements, though I'm curious, how long do you want the shirt to be, and how do you want the kilt to fall?" "I want the shirt to come to here, and I want the kilt to cover from here to here." I gestured to various points on my torso and upper tail. "Alright, hold still while I take your measurements." She levitated her measuring tape around the various points of my body to collect my measurements, then wrote them down. "I should have at least one shirt and kilt made up by this evening. Where are you staying, and I'll drop them off." "I'm staying with Violet Melody at this point." I state neutrally. "Violet's back?! Really?! We'd almost given up hope that she was ever coming back. Her brother has been keeping up her house, but he seemed to about have given up hope. Oh this is such good news!" She crowed with happiness. "Yup, she's back, and hopefully better than ever." I don't say anything more, and let the mare work. "So, now we come to the best part, the cost. Does ninety bits for the entire ensemble seem fair to you?" "It sounds fine to me, Miss Needle." I reach into my bag to get the required number of bits out. "How do you know my name? I never told it to you." She looked at me skeptically. "Oh, Violet told me this morning when I asked her about clothes. Also, I'm Marty Stu, pleased to meet you." I reached down and shook her hoof. "The pleasure is all mine. Anyways, I'll see you this evening." "Alright, see you later, Miss Needle." With that, I slithered out of her shop, and headed back towards Violet's house. I waved to the various ponies I spotted along the way, most of which gave surprised waves back, though a few shot me disgusted looks. I got to her house, and I saw an earth pony stallion just walking out of her house when he spotted me. "Are you Marty Stu?" He asked with an air of desperation just below the surface. "Yes, yes I am." I said back to him, confused. He rushed up to me, hugged me, and started to cry. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou so much for bringing her back to me. She's my baby sister, and the only family I have left. I thought she was dead." He sobbed into my armor, while I awkwardly returned the hug. Violet stepped out of the house, the remnants of tears in her eyes as well, and she came over and joined in on the hug. "I won't leave you alone like this ever again if I have any say in the matter, big brother." I include her in the hug, and just let the awkwardly wonderful reunion soak in. ***** Author's Notes I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out to you folks. I had a hard time getting into my writing mode, and my job had screwy hours to boot for a while, doubly making it hard to write. I also apologize for the various infodumps throughout the fic. Those can get wearing quickly, I know. Please comment and criticize. How else can I learn what I did wrong and what I did right. Feedback is what we author's live for.