//------------------------------// // Meetingsss with an Important Cow // Story: A Marty Stu invades the Multiverse (Chess Game of the Gods) // by Keairan //------------------------------//         I opened up the door, and slithered in. I took in three strangers to our shared abode. A red pegasus, wiry strong looking, a male unicorn, who had the look of military No threat there, and a jersey cow in.. a business suit? Who’s glowing? Ta’veren, now that’s a fun find.         “Hey Violet, who are your friends?” I called out.         “Hey Marty, these are someponys... err some folks who are new to town, and they were curious about our strangest new resident, no offense.” she answered back.         “None taken, I’m decidedly strange compared to most folks around here.”         The suited cow interrupted with “Hello, Mister … Stewart was it? I am called Missy, and I was hoping that you could answer some questions.”         I looked her over, and noticed a bulge on her suit, in the perfect shape of a gun. I frowned. I really don’t want a repeat of the wasteland. I hope that’s just a one of a kind item. “What’s your business here, and why are you packing heat?” I asked shortly.         She looked at me, a little confused, then answered with “To answer your second question: it’s a dangerous world out there. Some stallions already tried to rape me once, and I have no intention of allowing anything of the sort to happen again.”         I nodded at her return, then said “It is indeed. I don’t blame you for carrying a little heat. I would too, if I were in your situation. Your statement implies that they failed. What happened to them?”         She grimaced at me, then answered “They lost their stallionhoods, their inheritances, their titles, and their good names.”         I darkened at this statement. “They got off lightly. Had I been around, they would have lost their lives.” I said, memories of Salice coming to my mind. The ponies and Missy all looked at me uncomfortably. I don’t care. There is no excuse for rape, and there never will be.         “Going back to your question: My business is to look into ways to improve Equestria, such as by locating threats and figuring out ways to deal with them... such as slave-raids by diamond-dogs, and individuals who are able to deal with large numbers of such raiders without any help.” I raised my dermal ridge at this, and she continued “Safe Guard, Red, why don’t you go talk with Violet, while I talk with Mister Stewart here?”         I smiled at Violet as they went into the kitchen to talk. Missy took in all my glorious ‘Yuan-Ti like form’ then spoke. “I’m afraid that I don’t believe I’ve seen anyone of your species before. I am guessing, like most sentient reptiles, you are one of the groups descending from dragons, rather than alicorns or cynogriffons?”         I looked at her, slightly confused. “I have absolutely no idea. I’m the first of my kind I’ve ever seen. Me being related to dragons? Completely possible. I doubt I’m related to an alicorn, and what is a cynogriffon?" “They resemble wolves with wings, and seem to have gone extinct after creating the more well-known griffons, and the more canine races such as the Diamond Dogs.” She answered, filling in my knowledge gap.         I was still confused. “That makes no sense taxonomically. Winged creatures don’t devolve into true bipeds, at least in my experience.”         I heard her mutter “I guess he’s never seen Spike.” Heh, I probably know more about Spike than you do. Also, that’s a metamorphasis, not a devolution or evolution. She said louder “I’m not a true expert on biology - I’m just going by what the specialists who’ve studied such things have said.” “That makes sense.” I guess. “Of course, with magic involved, then the ‘natural selection’ part of ‘evolution by natural selection’ can take some otherwise completely implausible turns. But perhaps we are straying from the main point...” She trailed off. “Ah magic, truly the wonder explanation for what we don’t understand. Magic really makes science its plaything, but yes, we are straying from the point.” I answered with a smile while sipping my chai. *****         We sat around for an hour, chit-chatting about various topics, when Missy asked me an extremely odd question. “Do you know anything about... The Game?”         I looked at her confused. “What game?” Did I just lose?         She sighed, then said “Nevermind.”         Now she’s gone and made me all curious. I’ll have to figure this out at some point. *****         I gave her my version of how I’d rescued Violet, which I noticed she seemed to be leading me in her questions. What’s she looking for?         She asked me “Mister Stewart - was your rescue of Violet and the other ponies a mere whim of the moment, or do you bear a particular dislike for slavers?” Ah, that’s what she was looking for.         I answered her candidly. “Ma’am, my feelings on slavers borders between hatred and psychopathic rage. I would have done what I did to those slavers without a second thought where the situations reversed, or an inverse of said situation.” And if I’d know what they did to Violet beforehand, I wouldn’t have made their deaths so quick.         She continued on, a faint smile playing over her bovine face. “There is a, I’ll call it a network, of people working to improve Equestria from the inside. Finding ways to deal with enslavement raids and attacks is a particular concern. Assistance of several sorts would be valuable - anything from your passing on word of a situation which could be dealt with by other members, to passing word to you of situations in your own field, to, depending on a lot of specifics, more material support. Even if you wish to avoid making any specific promises, it would cost the network nearly nothing to send you a note of something happening in your area - giving you the option of doing, or not doing, whatever you see fit.” “I would be more than happy to help. I don’t know how much field work I could do, but if you need muscle I’m more than capable.” I offered. She replied quickly. “Muscle would be helpful. One of the emphases of this network is in rapid reaction - in learning what’s going on in Equestria as soon as possible, and if possible or necessary, dealing with it before the Royal Guard has pulled their armor on... but given the peaceful nature of most ponies, there are many more who are willing to just look and talk rather than act.”         I shrugged and answered. “Trust me, I am very willing to act. I could in fact facilitate the moving of information and material very quickly. I can make a gateway that allows for instantaneous transportation, and can enter the world of dreams to send out information.” Her entire body perked up, from her ears to her hind end. “I have a particular interest in improving communications and transportation. Would it be possible for me to convince you to allow these abilities to be studied more closely, to see if they can be applied more generally?”         I frowned slightly at this. “As far as I can tell, I am the only one on this planet who can create gateways and travel the world of dreams both. Princess Luna, with her status as ruler of the night, might be able to travel the dreamworld as well, but I can’t see asking a princess to be a messenger boy to end well. As for application, assuming you are willing to risk someone being cut in two, I can travel instantaneously to any point on the map. Well, instantaneously assuming I know my current area well. I can skim to that same point, but it’s not as quick or as efficient.” Lightning deployment of armies anyone?         She frowned slightly at this. “Hrm. I will... keep the limitations of your ‘gateways’ in mind - perhaps they might be better suited for sending non-living resources and materiel to a site, so that whoever is dealing with an incident can travel light and fast.”         I was slightly confused. “Why would it... Oh, you think that the gateway might cut someone who would go through it in two. When I make a gateway, I more or less poke a small hole in the fabric of space-time that allows me to travel instantaneously between two points. The space occupied by the hole at those two points will cut anything that is currently there. Well, almost anything. It won’t cut heartstone, but that’s the only thing it won’t cut. Sending material and personnel through after the gateway is woven is completely safe, assuming I don’t stop channeling the gateway.”         She perked back up. “So a gateway is essentially a magical wormhole?”         I smiled back at her. “Yes, that sums it up perfectly.”         “Is your control precise enough to open the other end at a specific location, or, say, ten feet above ground level, to avoid any such unfortunate accidents?” “That is a possibility, and I can also create a chiming sound to warn of imminent opening of a gateway. If you have people on the ground who know what the random chime means, I won’t need to do a three-meter drop.” I waited a few moments for her to contemplate what I’d told her. “I will also admit that after having thought on it for a few moments, I have a mild concern about your dream... thing. I do not wish to offer you any offense, but you do not, yet, have the clearance for some of the information known by various members of the network - information that could cost lives if spread. Is there some way you could demonstrate what the limitations of this oneiric mental connection might be?”         Nice three dollar word there, hon. “I can tell you, and I can visit your dreams tonight if you so desire.” “Tell me what you can do, and then I’ll decide on whether or not I want you to visit my dreams.” “Alright, if I so desire, I can send my consciousness or my body into the world of dreams, or what some cultures call Tel’aran’rhiod. While in this world when sleeping, your conscious willpower decides a lot of things about you; clothing, or a lack thereof, what you look like, all sorts of things like that. Most people accidentally visit Tel’aran’rhiod at some point in their dreams throughout their lives. People like me, who consciously visit Tel’aran’rhiod, can affect a lot of different things. I could go to a forbidden section of a library and read classified knowledge, read through the Princesses’ paperwork, or figure out what I’d look like if I was pink.” By now, Violet and the other two had returned, and the look that Violet gave me was amusing. “I can also skim the surface of someone’s dreams who doesn’t ward them, and see what they are dreaming about. If they have knowledge of dreams, they might note my presence, but most would not. I can also drag people into Tel’aran’rhiod, but I’d rather not, as the world of dreams is a dangerous place.”         She cocked her head at me, confused. “Dangerous, how?”         “In a normal dream, you get a cut on your hand, you wake up and might remember the cut from the dream and the pain, but there is no physical evidence that it happened. Do that in the world of dreams, and you’ll wake up with the cut, and all the bleeding that might have occurred with it. Same with dying, you die in Tel’aran’rhiod, and you die for real.” “You mention ‘warding’ - is that something anyone can do?” She asked. I shrugged at this question. “I’m not a unicorn, so I can’t say whether or not they could ward their dreams, but close proximity to me while sleeping does transfer the protection of my own wards. I’ve known of powerful unicorns in the past, so it might be possible by unicorns that know a specific spell or have a specific talent for dreams.” *****         We continued talking for a good long while. She seemed to be getting a feel for how I could be useful, which while I don’t like being manipulated for horrible things, I don’t mind being a tool in the hands of someone who has a good plan that benefits the most people. She seems like she understands politics well, which is something I’ve never been good at. Sure, I can command an army, and can wield a sledgehammer, but politics is best described as dueling with razor blades; sharp, and subtle.         We wound down, and Missy gave me some contact protocols if I had info, or if she had info or an assignment for me. We wrapped things up, and the three of them left our house.         I sighed, and visibly deflated. “I’m glad they’re gone.  That is quite possibly the most draining conversation I’ve had in a long time.” I said, looking over at Violet.         “I believe it. I felt like I was being interrogated by those two.” She answered back.         I got up, and grabbed the horn to make us dinner. The usual tables, chairs, delectable smell and delicacies all appeared on the table. “I’m starving, how about you.”         “Oh definitely.”         We dug into our food, stuffing our faces with deliciousness. Halfway through dinner, Violet asked me a question. “Why do you hate slavers, Marty? Why did you say you’d kill those rapists if you’d been there.”         “Violet, that’s just one of those things I’d rather not talk about. It’s painful to think about, let alone talk about. Please just accept that I hate them, and leave it.” I said, cringing.         “But, I think you should tell me. I thought you weren’t the type to keep secrets.” She said, trying to figure me out.         “Everybody has secrets, Violet, especially me. Please, just drop it.” I replied.         “I’ll drop it.” and then in a quieter voice, continued “For now.”         We finished eating, and then cleaned up for a bit.         “I’m ready to go to bed, how about you?” I asked.         “Yeah, todays been tiring. Let’s go to bed.” She answered.         We got into bed, and the two of us slowly drifted off, her heading into her dreams, and me heading into ‘The world of dreams’. *****         I circled the space inbetween regular dreams and Tel’aran’rhiod,  looking for a certain cow. I found her dream after a little while, and found myself within. Huh, she’s a lucid dreamer. I noted, because I could feel her react to me very easily. I walked over to where I felt her essence coming from, and noticed a strange sight. A bipedal cow-man-woman thing. Now there’s something you don’t see everyday. Deciding to break the ice, and randomly thinking of ice cream, I call out “What would you do-o-o-o for a Klondike Bar.” I look at it expectantly for an answer.         She countered with “Where’s the beef?”         I laughed a little inside at this, and this started a catchphrase war. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”, “This is your brain on drugs”, “Just do it”, “Got milk?”, “Tastes great, less filling”, “Don’t leave home without it” where all exchanged quickly. Terran, definitely a terran.         I left her dream, and decided to go into Tel’aran’rhiod proper. I looked around at the buildings, the cloudy ‘sky’ and the ponies that would randomly pop in and out of here. No one I recognize, but then again, I’ve been here how long? Three days? That’s not enough time to meet everyone.         I then hear from behind me, in a somewhat creepy double voice “It’s about time you showed up here.” I turn around, and see two ‘humans’ in fancy medieval clothing. They spoke again in a creepy double voice. “Greetings, Martin Stewart. We are Oponn.” ***** Author's Note This is my half of a crossover with DataPacRat, and their story: Myou've Gotta Be Kidding Me.