//------------------------------// // Interlude // Story: Four Stars // by Moterius //------------------------------// Welcome back. I did not expect you to enter the world between worlds intentionally, at least not so soon. “Vortex?” I asked, realizing that I felt… different. For the time being, you are an… emergent being. The culmination of your four personalities, but yet not their true union. That is why it feels like something is wrong. There are a lot of things I never taught you before. Me intervening subtly in your world has changed events. Nightmare surprised me. I expected you would become four completely normal alicorns. I was wrong. “Then what is it that you need to teach me?” Teleportation. Here, take this and remember it. I could see that it was a magic circle, designed similar to a teleportation or summoning circle. Both. “Did you just read my mind?” I cannot help it. Right now, we both are just beings of thought, but I shield my thoughts so that you do not hear me thinking. I’ve been told it is quite distracting. I glanced down. “Not to say anything, but I still have a body,” I drily responded, not sure if it was Day or Night that was making me do it. It is you who believes you have a body. Not like it matters much. “That much is true,” I shrugged, accepting it. Good. Now, as you probably are aware, jumping straight into the multiverse had… detrimental effects on you, you, you, and you. “No need to rub it in!” Day snapped back, before receding back into me. Good. Now, I believe there is something you need that I can help you with. I will bring you to an ‘Eques’. Nightmare blinked. “What exactly do you want?” Well, remember what I told you in the beginning? “Something something perceived and real balances something something,” I deadpanned, not sure who it was that answered. Correct. You see, while you did a fine job at causing change, the concept out of balance now is life and death. “Is ‘change’ different from ‘chaos’?” Samantha asked, causing Vortex to nod. Yes. You changed things, you did not disrupt them. You made things unintentionally orderly, and unintentionally chaotically. Not important right now, besides the fact that neutral change may not tip the scales, but does help so that they will not fall over. In any case, I can only help you here if you agree to a small deal. “...what sort of deal?” Nightmare asked, skeptical. I believe I just told you the balance of life and death is tipped in the wrong direction, did I not? There are two problematic worlds right now, one from an ...unavailable creator who lived on the first version of earth to exist in the multiverse, and one version of Eques. The problem is, right now, there are thousands of creatures alive that will NOT be there anymore when the thousandth year will come in that version of Eques. “I think I understand,” Daybreaker responded, cautious. “You want us to save as many beings as possible, right?” Correct. Since you are not one yet, you will also not land in the same places. In a way, that is a good thing, though. You do what you can to help the creatures on the planet, and before the summer solstice comes, you meet up in Ponyville. Another thing, if you do this task good enough, that will gain you enough ‘favor’ so that I can mend you into one being, like you were supposed to be. I / we thought a moment about it. “...very well. One thing before you send us away, though.” Yeah? “I left something in the other version of Eques I visited, so that I can talk with the ‘me’ in that world. If I want to travel to that world, how do I do that?” You know what? Just call upon me. “What? I thought I would need to do something for you to help me?” No, not for something so trivial. Do you have any other questions? Travelling between worlds is trivial? Ignoring that thought, I found that I had no other questions. “No.” Good. Then, please do brace yourself. Oh, and I can only bring you to worlds you already visited. While I did start feel his power enveloping me, it did not teleport me instantly. So, I asked him why that was. Well, to travel to a world, you need to know where it is first. For beings like me, knowing about a world is considered far more worth than transporting something to a world like that, and as such, I cannot bring you to worlds you have not visited yet for free. “That makes sense,” I responded, eliciting a nod from him. I’m glad you can see that. Good luck, he said, before his powers whisked me away.