//------------------------------// // New circumstances require re-orientation // Story: Aether, Heir of Chaos // by Arcane Anonymity //------------------------------// After talking a little with Lavender, it's come to my attention that I should talk more about my involvement in the affairs of other worlds. It is easy to think of other worlds - those of different realities, that is - as one would think of other worlds across the vast reaches of space. Distant. Isolated. No such luck, I'm afraid. The in-between spaces aren't nearly as good as the hard vacuum of space for insulation purposes. If your native reality has that, I mean, since there are places where 'outer space' is not overly-difficult to traverse - heck, with some princessly-assistance, we can lasso the moon here, and there's atmosphere (if cold). Those with a little more knowledge might think of... countries and continents, where there might or might not be the means to travel elsewhere, but each keeps to their own business. Again, not quite the case. It largely depends on the kind of multiverse you reside in - Magic: The Gathering is different from, say, Kingdom Hearts or maybe Home Tutor Hitman Reborn!, and even then there are multiverses where they kind of... co-exist. Sometimes, your world's bubble is like a bubble, and just drifts by, or sometimes it's connected (perhaps even glued!) to another such bubble (As is the case with Prime, or 'canon', Equestria and the mirror portals). Here, it could be said to be like a huge tree. The trunk is where everything flows to and from - the Collectives both Material and Unconsious - with the Astral Realms and the Void providing the spiritual and 'empty' spaces that fill everything else. Each branch is a world (parallel or otherwise), each split is an Alternative, each leaf is a being, each vein in the leaf is a possible tought or dream or action or whatnot. There's trouble when something falls from one branch into another. Worse if an entire branch or even a small offshoot 'falls'; even hypothetical/imaginary offshoots can cause very real trouble. And there's nothing that prevents them from falling 'up', or hitting something on the opposite side, either. Think of it as being crammed into a city. Sometimes, your neighbors are nice and separate like in the suburbs, but you can also have more than one next-door-neighbor from that crummy apartment building with the too-thin walls. That. That right there is the problem. You think you have it bad with the loud, band-to-be rehearsing at ungodly hours? The consequences of things done in another world can be felt in this one as echoes - it's one of the reasons we end up with so many dead people getting a second life. A 'leaf' falling and being absorbed into the new branch is what happens when someone dies under certain conditions or is transported alive - though the latter has better chances of happening, for obvious reasons. Or with people that were never really alive (a leaf of their own) from the start and only existed as a bundle of character traits inside the imaginations of people; Song Doll is the example. Instability in other worlds can have an impact here, much the same as firing a gun can punch through walls and windows and harm someone from an entire different domicile as far as the bullet can fly. Hence, sometimes, we just have to interfere or risk severe consequences for our inaction. A 'thinko' is the least damaging possible effect something can have, and we already make enough of those on our own without having psychic interference from alien brainwaves, thank you very much. Of course, since we are who we are, that is to say, the princesses, Discord and I, we can manage some really widespread effects. Say, you want to knock out a hundred people with a sleep spell. Let's say that they are of moderate magical resistance. One could simply overpower a spell and blast the whole area, but that would make the edge less potent than the center, which could be harmful by itself if one tries to 'correct' it to have the blast edge powerful enough. One could use a 'wave' effect, making the spell roll and crest like a wave, or a bank of fog - much better and safer, although costly. Discord and I, we could make an even, uniform area-of-effect that takes less energy, is more accurate, and is less 'my power against yours' and more 'it's a debuff, the power is secondary to the fact that it lands'. And so, with my blatant disregard of distance, the princesses powers and skills, and Discord's downright dastardly trickery, we keep other worlds from knocking down our own metaphorical walls. Please excuse me if I find self-preservation and responsibility ranking a little higher above of indifference at other worlds killing themselves. To quote myself, when I once interrupted a 'demonstration soccer game' where (a possible) Celestia stood alone against a team led by her sister: Noone is an island; the pony that stands alone, falls alone. That was fun, actually. Celestia had no chance - after half an hour of one-sidedness in her favor, it was entertaining to see her desperately trying to stave off a souped-up Luna and greatly-enhanced lunar guards; it took her another half hour to get it through her thick skull that her way of thinking (the one about being alone we've previously discussed here) would just get her all that closer to defeat, and requested 'those close to (her)' fill out her team. It was the next day when she got that it would lead her to her death. One of the bad ones, for sure. Those, my friends, are the less-than-fun ones. ... Of course, Celly; we are friends, after all. Moving on. Cadence. As a mare, I'm shorter than I am as a stallion, but still a little bit taller than Cadence. My lean build does translate quite nicely; although I'm slightly thinner than Cadence, I can't see how I'm that much different. Ponies like Celestia and Rarity, though, apparently see the differences as plain as day; every centimeter is more evident than the last, to them. Uh, and my... 'attributes' are a little rounder. Cinnamon's are still... a tad larger; she's a milkmare, as is her mother. The reason mares from this world have 'them' so defined while Terran equines do not is pretty much the same reason human women have them so shapely while other primates have them... less so. The differences in culture are also a factor. I returned to being a stallion. No need to make things more awkward with Shining. "So you mean to tell me that you can tell if they are compatible?" Cadence asked after I explained - again. "And that's not the only thing." Shining said. "He didn't take into account his own pheromones." "Oh. That... that could be part of it." Cadence tapped her chin. "You said you can see magic, right?" "With my glasses on, since I recognize that seeing it all the time would be distracting." I nodded. "... Where do you keep your things, in any case?" Shining asked. "Things just seem to find their way to your hands - or hooves. You don't re-create them all the time; it would feel the same, and you clearly don't use even half as much energy after their first time." "Actually, that's a good question." I replied. "I don't know, my mindscape?" They stood quiet for a few seconds. "I don't know what is more worrying." Shining began. "That you know what that is, that you can do it so easily, or that I'm used to you wielding Discord's power with that ease." "He did inject some knowledge into my mind, albeit under disguises - I just have to dig through it. As for the mindscape thing, you'd be surprised how much does not having magic influence people to think about magic." I shrugged with my wings. "Still, if your glasses are the... the 'condition' for you to consciously notice, wouldn't your subconscious pick up something?" Cadence explained. "Ponies notice things that are too similar to or too different from things they are already aware of - I think that getting used to the feel of your own magic has made you notice ponies that are similar to that, or compatible enough." "Huh." "Magical auras are composed of the emotional, spiritual, vital and mental energy of a p- a being." Shining pondered out loud, touching a hoof to his lips as he stared at the distance. "Those have many components themselves, but this is mainly what makes ponies come together, or push appart - obviously things can work out between different ponies, or fall through with nominally-compatible ones, but then again that's what dating them is for." "There's the pheromones, too." I said, then poof, I was wearing a spandex outfit for yoga, albeit with with holes for wings and a tail. "Look at me." "It clashes with your coat." Cadence said. I may not be the most color-coordinated individual, but I usually pick colors that look good-ish. "It's made for maximum mobility." I said with a stupid grin on my face, then I turned a quarter of the way, wiggling. "It's feels like I'm wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! Nothing at all!" "Okay, I see the problem." Cadence said with a blush that matched Shining's. And that's despite the fact that my thin build means that my posterior isn't actually that flattering in any of my shapes unless I purposely alter it - although a stallion's 'distinctives' is enough for ponies. Long legs are attractive, too, even if my hips are slightly narrower than averange as a pony. "We can handle a powerful aura/pheromone combination, but nopony this strong acts as..." "Uncouth?" I supplied. "For a start." Cadence agreed. "Could you stop?" Shining asked with a nervous tone, so I did. "Huh, I just realized..." Cadence began. "I wanted to give you some advice, but I realized I don't know anything about human relationships." I gave her an extremely summarized account, which Cadence said it was a lot like Griffon relationships. Orientations included, as ponies had a slightly different concept of those. She asked me about mine. "Non-binary, mostly. I don't think in terms of how 'manly' or 'feminine' something is, or care much at all; I still prefer women, though, since I don't see much beyond recognition of a man's aesthetically-pleasing characteristics." "But that doesn't matter, since I'm a pony now." I said, shrugging. "I don't know how being a mare changes me." "I don't need to even guess how you change so easily; what I want to know is how do you do it to somepony else - there's too much to track to do it in one go." Cadence said, which I guessed meant that she had heard about what I did to Big Mac. "Chaos magic mostly directs itself - so long as I don't screw up too hard." "Don't I know it!" B̸́͘̕o͡҉҉̧ò̶̸ḿ͞͞!̡ Holy- !@#!! Discord! What the hell?! "Cough! What was that for?" What do you mean, you- where did you even come from? "I just woke up." You mean to say that you've been there since I told you that Topsy Turvy has her own kink like the oth- huh... ... Well, that takes care of him for a few hours more. Uuuugh. Where was I? Ah, right. I decided to show what I meant by turning some of the flowers into candy. "What kind of candy is this?" Shining asked, eyeing the unpacked thing. "It's tamarind pulp with chili powder, sugar and salt." "Sugar and salt? Are you sure this is not something you came up with?" Cadence asked me with a raised brow. "I don't think I am feeling that adventurous." "This one is the 'extra spicy' version, which doesn't have sugar." I presented her the other version, a dark red slab of gummy candy without the powdered sugar and salt of Shining's one. My mistake was not emphazising how hot it was, thinking that she was somewhat inured to spicy things, as Celestia said that one of the chefs was an expert in spicy food given how much she liked it - and Shining also liked a bit of bite from his food. Her mistake, however, was that she thought that something meant for children would be tame. Or thinking that the kick was instantaneous; after the first bite, she just ate the rest. "Salty, sweet, spicy and tart." Shining said, having rolled the candy about his mouth. "You didn't seem to control the spell all that much, and yet this came out - I can see how you could brute-force a gender change without-" Pop! Shining didn't say anything, just letting her glare do the speaking for her. Meanwhile, Cadence was making faces, and she was sweating. And turning a little red. I had a fiendish idea. I made a cup of creamy chocolate and, as Cadence shot a hoof to it, I poured it into Shining's mouth. The result was that Cadence latched onto her husbandwife's face and tried to use her tongue to scrape the chocolate off her tonsils. I took pictures, and - as I was a pony - it was actually hot. I turned into a mare. Still hot, so I figured I was at least mostly unchanged orientation-wise. Mostly. I turned around and saw that Cinnamon and Dusty were staring from the door, with a small jar on Cinnamon's back. "What is that?" I asked, as Cadence released the blushing Shining Armor. Both of them slumped, one in relief, the other... "Oh! Um, mom said gr- er, her aunt gave it to her for when..." Cinnamon got really quiet, slowly turning pink. "For when our relationship advanced to the part where you trust us." "It's some form of honey she makes." Dusty said, unsure. Sure, they were already in a relationship, but it seemed like she had been holding out on them - at least until the point a stallion (or somepony with a less shy personality) entered the mix. Maredragoras are quite... affectionate, then again, most monster ponies are, and quite a few normal ponies. Unlike her grandmother, her great-aunt is more maredragora than pony. "You look flustered." I said, a little dumbly, since I, too, was - a little. "I- uh, I found out my grandma- oh, the- on my father's side, is expecting." Cinnamon said, pawing at the floor, trying to switch the topic away from the intense snogging we had just witnessed. Cadence recovered enough to congratulate her. Oh, see, ponies live a long time, and stay youthful for a big chunk of it - barring accidents causing them trouble, like Granny Smith and her hip issue. They don't tend to have foals too 'young' on average, although Cinnamon's parents and grandparents were exceptions, given their non-standard physiology; both grandfathers had it a little tough, but the plant-ponies are great at housekeeping, even Alraunes, despite spending most of their time rooted to a single place. Cadence knew them - after all, Celestia suggested moving Thorny Rose to the garden after learning of the situation, and Cadence is the princess of Love. The story of a pony falling in love with a sapient rose was appealing to her. "Well, congratulations, and I can't wait to spoil your uncle or aunt rotten." I said after Cadence. "Also, now I really want to know what maredragora honey is like." In my defense, they didn't suspect much, either. I just thought it was something symbolic, like what Lavender said about giving feathers to somepony else. They were too busy trying to not blush too hard from the implication of trust, either (I may be wary around people, but I am also perceptive, and I'd rather just get things over and done with rather than just keep the poor mares waiting). I learned a lot about wings while she was testing my motion range. Still, Cadence understood what happened after my face turned pink, and shortly before I sarted giggling. I really should have noticed something was odd about it when I noticed the faint spice-like scent in the sweetness. Although I didn't want to seem like I was stringing them along, either. "I have to go take a shower." I displaced into the bathroom, not even bothering to traverse the ten meters of physical space to the door. I barely had the mind to pay attention to Shining's plea to reverse the change, much less actually return her to normal. The shower didn't help. I, uh, 'took care' of it, though. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I was treated to the sight of Shining (who looks a lot more slender as a mare) with ribbons and eyeshadow. "Change me back!" She said. She was blushing because Cadence giggled straight into her ear. "Just one moment." I replied. "Cinnamon, Dusty, I want you to understand that this is not your fault, and that I walked into it myself." Naturally, they started to apologize. I tapped below the base of Cinnamon's horn with a static-charged wing, and ran a hoof down Dusty's spine - making her shot her wings out in reflex, which I exploited by - well, if a pony's skin was as sensitive as a human's, I'd have given her a hickey. The spot, however, was very special - it's a bundle of blood vessels and nerves, that sent a very confusing mix of signals when touched. Long story short, the harsh sucking makes the body think it's injured and lock the wing in full extension, while the increased blood flow makes the area warm; similar to a human hitting their elbow just so and making their arm numb all the way to the fingers, but with warmth and without pain. Also, Cadence took a sniff of the 'honey', but apparently overdid it a little, or had a flash of 'inspiration', or somehow decided to take a taste, as she and Shining were gone by the time I took my eyes away from the squeaking mares in front of me. They are adorable when they forget how relaxed I am about the whole protocol thing.