//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 - He's got an attitude not even his mother could love. 
// Story: Drifting Through Realities 
// by Thadius0 
//------------------------------//


Drifting Through Realities

Chapter 8 - He's got an attitude not even his mother could love.


The walk to the smith was not without its share of questions.  Thankfully, I could now power down Origin and tuck the hilt away, what with not being in the same room as the Goddesses anymore.

"So, what is the makeup of those crystals?"

I sighed and shook my head.  "That's...a long and complex answer, Twilight.  They've been called so many things by so many people who study them, but I can tell you the same thing that two of them said: I bring them with me into this world...from the space between the worlds."

Trace sucked in a breath at that.  "Crystallized matter from the Void?  No wonder it has such...strange properties."

I nodded as we continued to wind our way through the maze that was Canterlot's hallways.  "Yeah, I don't go directly from one world to the next when I Drift."

The others looked at me, and I sketched out what I was talking about by holding my hands about an inch apart.  "There's this...space between spaces, it acts like padding."  I dropped my right hand, touched my left with my right pointer finger, sketched a vague line, and moved my left hand to the other side of it.  "I Drift from the world I'm in, into the place between, and then into the next world."  I backed my pointer finger up a touch and continued.  "Any of the energy in that place that clings to me in the time between worlds crystallizes upon contact with the air."

I dropped my hands and looked to the ceiling.  "They also serve as guidelines for when I'll next Drift; one crystal to one year of time spent in that world.  I can...force it a bit, towards the end, but I usually need a minute to concentrate, and typically I can linger for about a week after I start feeling like the Drift is coming.  I usually take that week and say goodbye to any contacts I have before I start being forced out."

A bump on my left leg caused me to look down at Octavia, who was looking up at me.  "You're not going to drift again anytime soon.  You won't have to say goodbye to us."

I blinked at that and slowly considered her words before smiling.  "You're...right, I suppose.  Actual friends that'll stay with me.  Or rather, that I'll stay with."  I hummed and looked ahead.  "It'll take a bit to get used to thinking of others as friends rather than contacts or acquaintances..."

Octavia interrupted me.  "It'll be worth it when you do."

Twilight nodded.  "I can vouch for that.  Friendship certainly changed me."

I looked at the lavender unicorn for a moment before shrugging.  "Life is change.  The act of living is to change the world around you.  I suppose friendship would be the act of changing those close to you for the better."

Everyone blinked at that before Trace shook his head.  "First you're a paranoid, then you're tactical, then you're a supplicant, and next you're a trickster.  What after this philosophical turn?  Will you show your might in the art of debate?  Or perhaps you'll show off your warrior prowess?"

I almost managed to hide my flinch at that last one, but I think one of the mares next to me picked up on it.  "I was actually very well-read back...home."  I sighed, but then perked back up.  "I suppose grounding me here means I might start acting like my old self again."  And at that, I blinked, then ran a hand through my hair.

Vinyl looked up at me and cocked her head to the side in confusion.  "What's the matter, dude?"

I whispered the next bit.  "Do...do I even remember my old self?"

I wasn't as quiet as I'd thought, and Octavia bumped me, hard, causing me to take a knee for a moment.  In that moment, she got in front of me and locked eyes with me by rearing up and placing her front legs on my shoulders and bringing our faces together.

"Stop.  Doubting.  Your.  Self."

Four simple words, but she didn't stop there.  "Stop fearing everything.  Stop looking at every unicorn like they're somepony with a grudge against you.  The Princesses, I can kind of understand, you have to be careful around them because of what they do to humans.  But please, stop treating magic like it's to be feared?"

I slowly nodded, eager to get the pony out of my face.  "No promises, but once again, one day, it will have its chance like everything else."

She looked at me a moment longer before nodding and dropping back to the floor.  I brushed myself off a bit and stood back up.  "Well Twilight, how close are we to the smith?"

Our party turned a corner and she pointed at one door in particular.  "He's right through there."

I walked up to the door, then paused and looked at my entourage.  "I...would appreciate it if you lot didn't come in with me.  If I know anything about smiths from my time with dwarves, it's that there's a way to address them, and it's typically not polite.  Plus, he's also going to ask for details as to what the crystals actually are, and that answer is not for any ears besides his."

After a moment, Vinyl nodded and took a step back.  Octavia followed shortly after, and Trace also backed up.  Twilight looked up at me with a pleading expression, and I almost gave in, but with great effort, I shook my head.  She sighed, but decided to back up as well.

I then turned to the doors, pushed them open, and let them slam shut behind me with a mighty boom.

The first sensation was one of heat.  Highly uncomfortable heat.  This room was warmer than I could really withstand.  I powered down my clothes in idle curiosity, and was hit with a wave of cold.

Interesting, I mused, It would appear that this room is enchanted to keep the air cold where necessary, and that my clothes can negate said enchantment when on.  Must keep this in mind.

"Oi!  Who goes there!"

An Earth Pony with a rust-red coat, a steely grey mane, eyes the color of bronze, and a mark of a hammer hitting something on an anvil on his flanks came out from deeper in the room.  Now that I had a chance to look around, I saw that the entryway had been converted into some sort of display room, where armor was on the ground on mannequins - or would that be ponyquins here?  - and weapons hung from the walls.  Beyond a step, there was a furnace in the corner with an anvil nearby, along with bellows, tongs, and all sorts of other tools.  I could only assume that beyond the turn in the room would be a pile of metallic ores and coal.

I turned to the pony and set my face and attitude.  "Who wants to know?"

"This is my bloody shop, ya danged biped!  I give the orders and questions, and I expect answers!  Otherwise, you can get the buck out!"

I snarled a bit and crossed my arms.  "You may be the bleedin' Royal Smith, but if you ain't gonna introduce yourself, then I'll go out and find one that's at least half as cordial as your mother!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME MUM!"  The pony reared up, thudded his hooves into my chest, and brought his angry face level with my own.

I kept my cool as I responded.  "Oh yeah, I went there.  I'm surprised you didn't take offense to me doubting your skills, really.  Guess I'll just find someone else who can do the work I need..."

There was silence for a moment, and then the pony broke out into a grin before dropping down to the floor again.  "HAH!  I like you!  You know how to talk shop!"

I nodded at the pony.  "Came from the dwarves.  They had two mottos regarding their smiths."  I adopted a terrible accent for the next part.  "Ya canna break their concentration when they're workin' fer all the booze in the fortress, an ya' don' wanna' be in the shop when they ain't smithin'!"

The both of us laughed at that and the stallion actually wiped tears away from his eyes.  "Aye, that be true.  Bein' short with the metal gives a smith bad wares, but bein' short with the customers is bad for business!  'S why most smiths pick up an assistant, he can be the buffer!"

I nodded at that.  "It's how most of them did business as well.  Standing up to a smith in his own shop is one of the only ways to get him to do work for you."  I grinned.  "The other involves copious amounts of alcohol."

The smith laughed again.  "Ah, it's good to be back with ponies who know how to talk to me!"  Eventually he recovered and offered a hoof to me.  "My name's Tempered Works, if it's made of metal, I know how to do it."

I grabbed his hoof with my left hand.  "Eric O'Mally, and I have a proposition for you."

He quirked an eyebrow.  "Oh?  Let's hear it then."

I pulled a crystal from my pack and held it between us.  "Would you believe me if I told you that by adding this one little crystal to a vat of steel, you could create metal that resisted magic?"

The smith's eyes widened, and he rubbed his chin with a hoof.  "I'd say we have a deal in the making, but I have one rule regarding the things I work with."

He pointed at the crystal.  "Name it.  Tell me what it is, and we can work out the finer details of the deal afterwards."

I sighed and looked to the floor for a moment, then looked at his eyes.  "On the condition you never tell anyone any of the things I am about to tell you, save that they're my crystals, and that they resist magic."

The smith slowly nodded, and I began to think on all the names that had been attached to the crystals.

"The dwarves called them the perfect catalyst, the perfect addition.  The elves called them a poisonous substance.  The Fae regarded them as the most interesting of trinkets at first, and an impenetrable barrier later.  Trace," and here I pointed behind me to indicate the door I'd walked through, "called them crystallized Void stuff.  Mr. Fantastic named them Alpha Matter, and The Doctor called them the Bones of a Universe."

I held the crystal up and idly activated it, causing it to glow while I finished my speech.  "They are capable of either resisting or repelling magic, and when activated with an electric charge in their raw form and carefully drained via non-magical means, they perpetuate a cycle of energy within themselves, providing potentially limitless power, unless it's all drained at once.  When worked into a metal and given a small continuous electrical charge, the object generates a small anti-magic field for both itself and the wielder or wearer. For every reality I have Drifted to, crystals have followed me.  One crystal meant one year of time in that world, except for the early days.  Then it meant less than a year."

I drained the crystal and lowered my hand, staring at Tempered.  "They are my crystals.  They are my curse.  They are what I bring when I Drift between realities.  And they are what I would like you to work into a vat of steel, if you can."

The stallion let out a low whistle.  "Ya don't half-ass your dramatics, do you?"

I shook my head.  "You asked."

Internally, I winced, but I knew that keeping these secrets would pay off.

I'd hate to see what would happen to me if they inverted one, much less Xavier or my replacement limbs or eye, and I especially didn't want to see them overcharging one...