Nuada walked off the ship stretching as he did, the ship was way too small to be comfortable for long, kinda like a minivan, he thought idly. Thinking back to his day, he had dropped off Ushio and spoken with Twilight, went to another world, helped a shapeshifter, and a changeling queen, met a crazy strong overpowered Displaced guy, got enchanted, yeah busy day.
“Oh it’s you Sparkle, what do you need?,” an older pony in robes said trotting up to the armored Alicorn.
“Starswirl a pleasure as always, your ideas for a magical power core worked well in my world, our guns are beginning to hit harder than ever,” Sparkle said giving the older pony a hug, “the Collectors will be no match for us.”
“Just be careful, don’t need you blowing up planets. Now then who is this?” he asked looking up at Nuada.
“Hello sir, I am Nuada Lugh,” Nuada answered extending his hand, “I met Sparkle recently and she’ helping explain this Displaced thing to me.”
“Great another new Displaced, I’ve met quite a few of you, so how’d it happen tricked by that ‘Merchant’ or some hogwash?” he asked shaking Nuada’s hand with his hoof. He looked rather disinterested.
“I bought a book online from a store called Virgil: Seeker of Knowledge’s book emporium. Claimed to have every book under the sun and a few from the shadows. Anyways the book I ordered was a complete guide to everything Juraian and came with a gift bag. Got the book, opened it, and bam there I was in the middle of a forest. The items in the bag was a pair of royal tree seeds from Jurai and what looked like copies of Washu-sama’s three sealed gems,” Nuada explained, “eventually figured out I had been turned into a variant of Tenchi, from the anime Jurai is from.”
“That’s a bit different, I will have to keep an ear out for this Virgil, now then have you got a token made yet?” he asked.
“That’s why I wanted to meet with you,” Nuada said, “in my world you were one of the greatest mind around.”
“I get that alot,” Starswirl said, “so you need my help with something?”
“Yes I have a concept for a communicator watch, that was used by the galaxy police in the anime, I want to make and use it as a beacon for when I figure out how to travel the void,” Nuada explained.
“I see, explain it to me and I’ll see what I can do,” Starswirl said taking Nuada aside. Where they walked into a side room leaving Sparkle to run diagnostics on the ship.
“So this communicator draw it for me,” Starswirl said summoning a quill and parchment.
Nuada nodded and began sketching, “so Mister Starswirl, what is this place, feels like some kind of spaceship.”
“This is my home, it’s a ship that I made that exists in the void between worlds. Fairly advanced spell, though easy enough for me,” he said praising himself as he pulled a small bell out of his cloak, “This is my summoning token, put your will into it and ring it. I will answer as quickly as I can, try not to abuse it though I have a great deal of research to do.
“Understood,” Nuada said taking the bell and looking it over, “so here is the basic shape of the communicator.”
“I see,” Starswirl said taking the parchment, “very small, not bad, micro computer, may need help with this. What else should it do?”
“Well as I understand it, it’s a com device and a tracker of sorts, specifically energy signatures,” Nuada explained.
“Give me a while, to work on this, this kind of tech isn’t my strongest area of study,” Starswirl said making some notes.
Nuada nodded and saw Starswirl lose himself to the challenge, much like his old Starswirl from back home. Deciding he wasn’t really needed here Nuada wandered off. After a little while he had made it back to the hanger where Sparkle was under a ship wing working.
“Hello Sparkle how goes it?” Nuada asked watching her pull apart what looked to be the main wing cannon.
“Crap, between rushing that ship and your sword overcharging my systems these cannons are shot. The barrel is warped, and some of the charging system is burned up. I’ll have to spend the next week trying to fix it. Luckily the engines are doing okay, though I’ll have to move the scheduled maintenance up a month.” Sparkle continued listing off issues as she worked on the shuttle.
“Wow I’m so very sorry that happened, anything I can do to help?” Nuada asked, feeling most of that was his fault.
“I’ll need to get a new pair of guns from my closet in my room, walk with me and help carry them,” Sparkle said, “I’ll give you a tour and introduce you to some of my friends.”
“Okay,” he said, “so why keep them in your room, why not in the hanger?”
“Starswirl helps a lot of Displaced, and you’ll find you can’t trust all of them. I keep certain things in my room as it’s set with a special lock spell Starswirl and I made. Each room has one and it keeps everyone out that isn’t the owner or has permission, this even blocks Starswirl,” she explained trotting out of the hanger.
“Makes sense,” Nuada noted.
“So this is the main corridor, this will take you to the gym, comms room, kitchen, and other general use areas, such as the hanger,” Sparkle explained, “at the end here is an elevator that will take us to the residential block, as a void ship, don’t be surprised if the ship shifts layout.”
“Or doesn’t make any kind of spacial sense, three lefts don’t make a right here. Name is Gaige btw, new guy?” A brown haired woman with a robotic arm stood in a doorway. She was covered in scars, and her outfit looked like it was old and warn.
“Yes Nuada this is Gaige, she’s a human cosplay Displaced from Borderlands,” Sparkle said, “Gaige this is Nuada Lugh, a new book Displaced based on the Tenchi Muyo series.”
“Nice to meet you Miss Gaige,” Nuada said extending his hand.
“Pleasure, if you need a hand, I’ve got extras” She joked waving her robotic hand, ”I’m not only good with basic robotics, but have gotten good at prosthetics, had to build this one.”
“There you are Gaige, I need your help,” Starswirl said walking into the hall from the opposite room, “what do you know of micro electronics?”
The world around them shifted as Gaige was suddenly whisked away with Starswirl.
“That happen a lot?” Nuada asked, looking at the empty space that was Gaige.
“You get use to it if you stay here,” Sparkle stated, “anyways on to the residential area.”
"Right so this ship is some kind of chaos subspace?" Nuada asked.
"It's a void ship, so not really, it's more of a physical manifestation of Starswirl's desire to help ponies, which because it's tied to his ancient mind causes it to shift form sometimes, like there is a swimming pool that comes and goes," Sparkle tried explaining.
"Okay sorta get it, so here in the void his thoughts are given form, but he's an old man with a scattered mind," Nuada said.
"In very basic form yes, the implications of this power are interesting at the quantum thaumaturgy areas of research, but I've been unable to replicate the effect," Sparkle pouted slightly.
"I'm sure one day it'll make sense to you," Nuada said as they walked out the elevator to see the strangest thing of the day.
"To be or not to be, that is the question," said a skeleton headed body to another skull. His suit was a strange yellow and black martial arts gi.
"Ah Scorpion, what are you doing here?" Sparkle asked unphased by the freaky necro man.
"Alas my compatriots are scattered and in hiding, and I was wounded. I choose to dwell here for a few days until my vigor rose once again," Scorpion stated.
“I meant what are you doing here in the hallway?” Sparkle said, “didn’t we build you a garden for you to practice your acts in.”
“Alas what is life but a stage, this free heart knows no walls and no limits. Such a confined stage can not hold my heart,” he said exaggerating his motions.
“Fluttershy in there again?” Sparkle said flatly.
“Yes, she came in while I was in the middle of King Lear and ousted me on my arse,” he said flame around his head flaring.
“That doesn’t sound like the Fluttershy,” Nuada stated off hand.
“This Fluttershy went thru some dark things and now is a bit unnerved by humans,” Sparkle stated.
“Unnerved tis a bit kind Lieutenant, psychopath berserker is more like it,” Scorpion stated in a huff.
“She’s working on,” Sparkle said, “this kind of healing takes time.”
“I know this but she’s known me longer than you and I still can’t stay in the same room as her,” he said with a sigh, “by the way who is this?”
“I’m Nuada, I was displaced as a variant of Tenchi Masaki,” Nuada stated.
“I am Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, displaced oddly to a Gundam universe,” he said shaking Nuada’s hand.
“A pleasure may I ask what’s so odd about that?” he asked.
“My good man, the Displaced are by large sent to Equestria, and rarely a pony from Equestria is sent to another world. I am strange as while I am Displaced I was sent from Earth to another Earth,” Scorpion answered.
“Yup we know only one other right now who is like that, and she’s a bit hard to approach,” Sparkle explained, “we must be off Scorpion see you later.”
“I bid you adieu,” said Scorpion with a bow. Nuada and Sparkle bid him farewell and continued on. As they continued down the hallway they came to an elevator, attached to it was a scanner, which Sparkle explained would read the mind of the user, taking them to the area they wished to visit. As it moved them though the void, familiar elevator music played.
“I’m so far removed from my earth and still we have the same elevator music,” Nuada remarked, twiddling his thumbs.
“Seems to be a multiversal constant, which is a weird thing to say.” Sparkle commented, tapping a hoof to the music. The elevator binged and the doors opened to a hall that looked the exact same as the last one.
“I’m the room on the corner to the left,” Sparkle stated walking off the elevator. Nuada followed and came to a door that reminded him of the one on the Golden Oaks Library. The door opened for Sparkle and Nuada saw the largest library of his life. The expansive of written knowledge was awe inspiring, even for one who had lived for so long.
“Every world I visit I get a copy of their written history and cultural information. I get technical manuals and research material from various people I meet and help. When I get home, I hope to help my world with some of this,” Sparkle said noting Nuada’ hanging jaw.
“How long have you been doing this?” Nuada asked.
“Well as you can imagine, time in the multiverse is tricky to track. But relative specifically to me, a few years,” she answered.
“My gods, well I know where to go for some light reading,” Nuada joked, “I read every book Celestia and Luna had a few decades prior to my imprisonment.”
“That was just prior to Nightmare Moons, so you have a lot to catch up on,” Sparkle stated motioning him to follow to the side.
“I imagine, but if I’m going to live as long as Tenchi then I’ll have plenty of time,” Nuada said following her to a spiral staircase. The steps felt odd to Nuada as they were spaced for Twilight’s body size.
“How long is that you figure?” she asked stopping at a landing waiting to open it.
“Till the end of everything and beyond, he ascends to a god state eventually, surpassing beings that created portions of the multiverse where he was born in.I speculate that I can achieve a similar growth but it will take many many years to get there,” Nuada explained, “it was shown that in a hundred years he still looked about the same and was living as a human on earth still.”
“Interesting, take care a life that long can be lonely,” she said opening the door.
“I know,” Nuada said looking in. Surprised again by the size, it seemed to be a warehouse of sorts, clean painted white illuminated by mini sun spheres in the roof. “You know I just realized your room is smaller on the outside.”
“Huh?” Sparkle asked.
“Well by my guess this room should be only big enough for a bed and a desk based on the size of the hallway and the wall placement, but it’s massive in here,” Nuada said.
“Oh that's just one of the perks of being in the void, space is a malleable thing. We could set it up so there is no space between doors and each room the size of a planet, but for those with less open minds we simulate slightly more realistic geometry for familiarity. My room is one of the largest as I helped with the designs and expanded it myself,” she explained walking up to a crate and pulled it down with her magic onto a hover trolley parked near by. Popping it open she double checked it’s contents, “here are the new gun barrels let’s head back she said going further into the warehouse.
“Shouldn’t we go back the way we came?” Nuada asked.
“Nope,” she said as she trotted over to a door that was in the back of the room. The door popped open and revealed a side entrance into the hanger.
“Wait if you have a door right here, why did we take the long way?” Nuada asked pushing the trolley over.
“I told you I was giving you a tour and introducing you to the others,” Sparkle commented as her necklace began to glow. Nuada recognized that as someone calling her.
“Darn it, Nuada we’re gonna have to cut the repairs short, can you pilot?” she asked trotting to the ship and began putting things back together.
“I think I can may need some pointers to start,” he said running over leaving the trolley behind. The door closing behind him.
“Good, Mistress Change is in deep trouble and needs help, we won’t have weapons though so I need someone to keep the ship flying while I shoot from the hatch,” she said pouring magic into things as they fitted back into place.
“Won’t that be dangerous?” Nuada said as a wing hit him in the face, “right Alicorn soldier who was I kidding.”
“Going for specter soon, I’ll keep myself tied to the ship with a magical harness just keep it flat and fly in circles, try to dodge the enemy,” she said the ship reassembled, “get in we gotta get going.”
“Okay,” Nuada said activating his battle armor for protection.