Lyra Heartstrings - 16th of Lunerdusk 08 EoH - MorningLyra Heartstrings - 16th of Lunerdusk 08 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Changeling Imperium Province no. 12, Equis #2
No time to plan! Follow trained directions from the Basic Handbook! Reacting to contact, step one, seek cover.
Shit! No immediate cover, only the wall pillars about fifty feet from our position. Direct contact with no chance to evade. Skipping that step.
Step two, assess the enemy. At least two dozen enemies, all armed with assorted melee tools and with ranged ‘weapons’ built in. Armor exists, appears medieval but could be tough.
<Lyra: Green, thirteen. Modified, I act as wingman,> BB said over microwave band.
Oh, yeah that might work. Give Fluttershy and Bon time to get to cover.
<Go!> I replied.
I ripped my knife from my belt, holding it ice pick style. BB jumped into the air, stopping just over my head before launching herself forward into the mass of enemies. Half the group turned, reacting to her half of the charge. I would need to engage the others.
Leveling the unfamiliar gun at the other half, I pulled the trigger. I regretted it instantly.
The recoil felt like a heavyweight boxer hit me squarely in the hand. The muzzle flash triggered my visors auto tint. Its grenade-like thundering hurt despite my helm’s sound dampening systems. The projectile made a literal line of fire from the muzzle to the target and filled the air with the smell of burnt ozone.
The changeling I hit spun a quarter circle. His friend behind him got a facefull of green viscera. That’s all I could take in before pure panic reflex made my hand clench and fire a second round.
I had no idea where the second bullet went. Hopefully in the direction of the enemy.
Unfortunately the gun’s sheer noise completely fucked over our charge with the enemy firing en masse on reflex. My vision turned bright green as I let myself drop to the floor, hoping that none of them were aiming low. The air above me exploded into chaos, green energy arced and rippled, bits of blue-white flashes and sparks danced around the air.
Something grabbed my shoulders, pulling me to the left! Fluttershy, pulling me over closer to her. Oh shit did she get hi-
“Were you hit?” Shy asked in concern.
“No! Find cover,” I retorted, twisting to get off a few more shots from my scary loud hand puncher.
“I am cover. Shield generator. Bon, keep behind me,” Shy ordered.
Well, that was handy. Should probably have talked more about battle plans while we were sa-
The wave of changelings fired a series of rays, the sickly green light scratching the ground around us, taunting us by dancing close but not striking home. A few of the lings didn’t fire, instead moving in an odd fashion as if having a fist fig-
Oh shit, Bonbon charged!
I stood up to look for her, a bolt of green magic streaking over my left shoulder the second I stood up. Shy quickly yanked me back down, my ass slamming hard into the gray stone floor.
“It’s only a pony high!” She yelped, “And not too strong, we need to run!”
“Bonbon charged!” I retorted, standing up again to see Bonbon shoved back out of the ring, a halberd's tip stuck into her chest.
Not that it seemed to actually have hurt her. Or have gone in deeper than a quarter inch.
“Aerial tactics do not work well on the ground,” she said with a concerned frown.
The changelings began to fan out, a half circle that slowly moved to encircle us completely. I couldn’t help but notice that Chrysalis hadn't moved. She simply sat on her throne, leaning on one elbow and looking boredly off to the side.
<Suggestion,> Cheer.ly piped up. <Remind Bonbon that AIs are designed to be hot swappable between UAA hardware.>
“Yeah but those files are all locked out,” I said out loud to myself.
Damn her talking to me like this was creepy. How the fuck did people deal with their VI being ‘awake’ their whole lives? Probably since that’s all they ever knew.
<I don’t like being awake like this either…> Cheer.ly attempted to soothe.
“What files are locked out?” Shy and BB asked in unison.
“Bonbon is hot swappable,” I said, taking a second to fire three shots at the left most changeling. “So she has the files needed to run a suit of-”
“I do! And I’m not in a core! I can freely access anything I like,” Bonbon practically squeed.
Oh shit that’s right! Hardware locks on the code.
The sound of iron striking iron rang outwards from the throne like a bell, drawing my attention up to see the Changeling Queen glaring towards us with her teeth grit angrily.
“It’s my own Throne Room!” Chrysalis shouted. “There must be another battle somewhere else. May I please fight this one!?”
“As you wish,” the mass of changelings said as one.
“Thank you!” She said. Or rather, all of them said. “I do not like to play with food, unlike him. There are seven thousand soldiers within my keep, and two hundred other freeminds. You can surrender and live as feedstock, or die. Choose.”
Ah hell.
On the other hand, these were clearly in a hive mind. The changelings I’d met before did not seem aggressive or hostile, and they did not have a hivemind. This had to be forced onto them, and right now this Chrysalis's was running the whole thing. Which meant…
I snapped my gun up and fired six shots at the Queen. The rounds hit the air and just vanished. As if their existence was simply ignored a bubble around the Queen.
Chrysalis smiled. “I was hoping you’d choose that.”
The changelings in front of us snapped into much more focused looking combat stances.
BB deployed her armor, the plates snapping into place. Fluttershy grabbed onto Bon’s right hand with her mouth, pulling her towards the door. I wondered why my helmet hadn't kicked on my combat HUD yet, I definitely had more than enough adrenal-
Right! Those sensors were in the flightsuit!
<Cheer.ly-> I asked, hud flicking into existence before I could finish the instruction.
“Autonomous Armor Mode CQC protocols accessed! Covering retreat!” BB announced.
I really really wish pilot training included DISARMED. It would be nice to know how to demolish a creature with your hands. Ohhhh shit, there’s a problem!
“How do you plan on using that without hands?” I asked just as the horde leapt forwards as one solid wall of flesh.
“FUCK!” Bonbon cursed, facehoofing.
I had time for one shot. If I could make sure I didn’t get hit by the wave, maybe I could make it out.
The surging line of changelings closed in, weapons leveled menacingly, horns glowing ominously. Launched like living spears.
The entire mass’s motion was highlighted clearly by my helmet’s systems. Shooting one wouldn’t matter. Too many, from too many angles. I suppose escaping death on the last hop pissed him off a bit.
I caught a glimpse of the grey pegasus mare, now that the wave of changelings wasn’t obscuring her. Maybe at the least she could get away, since the enemy had entirely changed focus to us.
As I made eye contact, the mare took a deep breath, wincing in pain as the motion stretched a deep cut along her ribs. Then she exhaled, sweeping her head across the room in an arc to unleash a torrent of motherfucking lightning in the same way a flame thrower spews flames.
The bolts slammed into the wave of changelings, ignoring physics in they didn’t seek out the nearest conductor, but the individual changelings themselves. The formation disintegrated, individuals thrown aside, smoldering, to lie in patches of red-hot armor.
Dear sweet physics pegasi magic is terrifying!
“Run! I can’t do that again for at least a minute!” The mare shouted, sprinting past me.
I frowned, looking at the twitching pile of dead or well incapacitated changelings. “But we just took out all of-”
Chrysalis chuckled, clapping her hooves together twice. “Minions!” She called, overly dramatically.
I heard the sound of a door creaking open to my left.
“There are way more of them than you think there are!” The mare shouted, having caught up to Bon and Shy as the two were nearly out of one of the throne room’s doors.
“You know, Overmind is right. This is a little fun. Would you like a head start?” Chrysalis asked smugly.
I fired another round in her direction as a response and sprinted towards the door as quickly as I could manage.
“Ha! Why can’t ponies be as entertaining as whatever your kind are?” The Queen called as I passed through the elaborate archway.
“We need a plan!” BB called from behind me. “What would a secure location found within a building like this be?”
“There isn’t one!” The gray mare called back from the front of our group.
Despite being wounded, she had lifted Bon up onto her back, splitting her weight between herself and Fluttershy. Good thing she seemed willing to help, since it was apparently her fault we’re here.
“These changelings are an actual hive mind, Princess Chrysalis is literally everyling in this keep right now… Except for maybe a few mages and scouts. I don’t know, I haven’t been here long and these ones are very very different than the ones I know,” she continued.
The five of us barreled down the hallway. The rapidly shortening hallway.
“We don't have a lot of places to go! Do you know where stairs are?” I asked, a ray of green magic burning a path down the hallway to my left.
“End of hall, right side. We go down!” She cried.
Another ray sliced down the hall, almost hitting Bon!
She whipped her head around to look behind us. Astonishingly, she wasn’t afraid. Just irritated.
“No fair! I don't have those!” Bon protested. “Mom! They’re not playing fair!”
Bon snapped her tail in what I assumed was the snek version of a foot stomp. Despite the life or death situation, I couldn’t help but smile.
“It will be okay hon, just hold on to Shy and what’s her face,” I comforted as we reached the stairs and ducked into the slightly safer place which was the spiral staircase.
“Wait, she’s a child!? I’m sorry! I lost concentration while trying to use a summon charm,” what’s her name lamented.
“Um, don’t you have books to go to different universes with?” Shy asked. “Why not use one of them? Or use one now?”
“Sorry, but I don’t remember you, when did we meet?” The mare asked, giving Fluttershy a suspicious look.
“Um, in Equestria. You’re Ms. Muffin, right? Remember me? I bumped into you when you visited Sky, you gave me a muffin,” Shy asked.
“Sorry, I don’t remember that. I must not have done it yet. Time can get weird with planar travel,” she replied apologetically. “Oh! Muffin is my nickname, please call me Derpy.”
“Um, D-derpy?” Shy asked in confusion. “But doesn't that mean-”
“It’s Draconic, not Equish. Different meaning,” she explained.
“Derpy, do you have a plan for getting us out of here, or are we just blindly running down stairs?” BB called from behind me.
“That’s a damn good question,” I added.
“Just running! I um… I thought I could take the Queen down. I totally can’t. She’s REALLY strong, even without her swarm. Kinda told a few normal changelings I could find the Overmind and get rid of it for them. Yeah…” She admitted sounding really ashamed.
Well fucking shit.
“Okay,” I started, “in that case… BB, Shy, think you can fly Bon out between the two of you?”
“Um, maybe-” Shy started, trailing off as the sound of hoof steps coming up the stairs began to echo upwards to match the ones coming downwards.
“Uggghhh… It’s the Sierra Madre all over again,” Derpy grumbled. “I’m probably not going to be able to fly far. Left wing’s hurt bad.”
“What about those books Shy mentioned you have?” I asked. “I’d use my own but the battery’s dead.”
“Too much pain to focus. I’ll be okay in a few hours, and I’ll get you out of here. I promise… I didn’t think any Travelers moved with their kids!” She bemoaned.
“It’s fine, let’s just not die here, alright?” I said as we turned off onto the next floor, the sounds of changling hooves echoing loudly through the stairwell.
The new floor was more decorated than others. Wooden paneling on the walls, some inlays in the wood to make brass murals. Pretty nice. I wouldn’t mind living here a while. If it weren't for the murderous swarm everywhere.
“We’ll be fine,” Fluttershy of all people said. “My friends and I have escaped way worse things than this. Um, we might be able to hide in an attic. I saw a city outside through a window. If we can fly out of here, we could reach a nearby building very quickly.”
“That's… Ow…” Derpy moaned.
“How bad are you hurt? Fluttershy, you have healing supplies, right? Can you slip her a stimpack or a spell, or something?” I asked.
“It’s fine, I already took one,” Derpy groaned. “They just take forever with me. Hiding is good. I didn’t expect their weapons and armor to be that good. An attack works on them once. Then it won't do anything to any other changeling.”
I almost froze mid step. “Wait, then they-”
“Yeah, my lightning won't hurt them again… Or your pistol. Hells, they even started to resist punches,” she warned.
“Hiding it is then,” Shy, BB, and I said in unison.
“There is a changeling couple,” Derpy gasped. “Freeminded ones. They live nearby. They hired me to do this. Should shelter us for a bit. Anyone know which way the outer wall would be?”
As Derpy finished speaking a volley of energy bolts shot down the corridor. I felt one hit the back of my jacket like a five year old’s punch. Right, good thing I had the jacket. Thank you Rarity!
“If you are hoping my valuables will save you from my fire, you are mistaken,” the Changeling Swarm intoned.
“This way!” BB exclaimed, running ahead and turning down a left hand corridor.
We put on a fresh burst of speed, quickly rounding the corridor. The hail of ray blasts heating the air in the corridor to an uncomfortable degree.
“How the hell do they keep missing us?” I wondered aloud.
“Protection from Evil amulet!” Derpy called back.
Oh ha ha… I mentally rolled my eyes.
“It’s just harder for them to aim in my general direction, don’t think you’re invincible. That’s what got me into this mess,” she added. “Also stay within ten steps of me!”
Wait, was she actually serio-
“The wall at the end of this corridor is the outer wall,” BB called from the front of our formation. “Unless this floor is larger than the one three floors up.”
“Um, Bon, can you slide off me for a moment?” Fluttershy asked.
Bon nodded and slipped off Shy’s back. Fluttershy turned around, and closed her eyes tightly, this time I saw the slight shimmer in the air as the flat rectangular force field flickered to life, filling up a good chunk of the corridor.
“She’s blocked their line of fire,” I explained. “Let’s knock a hole in this wall!”
BB drew back a hoof and punched the wall hard enough to smash out a cooking pot sized hole of wood chips and gray stone.
“Ugh! This is why you should have given me missiles, Sky!” She complained.
Derpy quickly fell into position alongside BB and reached up with her hooves, ripping away sections of wood like she was pulling the wrapper off a nutrient brick.
“Help me get the wood out of the way and I’ll take care of the rock, I’ve got enough energy for that,” she asked.
I took a knee beside Fluttershy’s barrier, aiming my pistol at the changeling swarm as they rounded the corner. I felt a tinge of pure terror as I saw them crawl around the corner on the floor, walls, and even ceiling, forming a solid barrier with their own bodies.
Fluttershy winced. “Oh my…”
“We’ll be fine,” I promised, firing three rounds in quick succession.
My hand immediately protested. This thing needed some fine tuning with it’s recoil…
“Not us! Them,” Shy said. “They’re all puppets!”
True, but they are still trying to kill us.
I fired a few more rounds, this time trying to place where the shots were going in my mind. Each shot seemed to simply vanish when it got close to one of them.
Yep. Derpy was right. Scary-good magic. Cheating good in fact.
“Welp, we’re boned,” I concluded as the swarm reached the halfway point.
“No,” Derpy grunted. “Were. Not!”
A few rays of deep blue light shimmered like someone waving a flashlight, the shimmer accompanied by a loud squishing as if someone had stepped in deep mud.
“Holy shit!” Bonbon exclaimed.
I whipped my head around, expecting to see more of the enemy coming from behind. Instead, I saw a hole in the ripped out section of wall. A hole which looked like someone used their finger to squish a hole in the side of a clay pot.
Thank you for existing magic! Pleasure doing buisness with you.
“Hole in the wall!” I shouted to Fluttershy. “Behind you, go!”
“After everypony else!” Shy retorted.
Fair enough. She did have the laser proof shield.
“You’re a wizard!” BB exclaimed, staring at Derpy, overly transfixed.
A volley of green energy bolts rained down, punctuating Bonbon’s sentence.
“Hole now! Talk later!” Derpy retorted jumping through the hole to hover just outside of the gap.
“Sky said that pegasi can’t do magic like that,” BB exclaimed, quickly picking up Bon by crossing her forelegs across Bon’s chest and under her shoulders.
I grabbed her middle, deploying my wings to help carry her out.
“That’s really tall…” Bon whimpered as she looked out of the hole over. Around four hundred feet of empty space to the city below.
Fuck! I wasn’t afraid of heights, but just- This was really high up!
“It’s fine, Mommy's got you,” I promised. “BB, go!”
“But Aunt Shy flies better!” Bon whined.
“Bonbon, go!” I ordered.
The two of us quickly jumped out of the hole in the wall, wings snapping open, servos whining under the strain of holding Bon aloft, but managing to support us well enough.
“Fluttershy, we’re clear, go!” I called, doing my best to hold onto Bon as she squirmed fearfully. And as an icy wind crept up my jacket’s back. God damn it was cold! Why was it so co-
Ah, the rooftops below weren't just white, they were glittering. That would be snow. We were so high up it was honestly a bit hard to tell.
Soo... Winter. Great. That meant we sure as hell wouldn’t be able to hide outside for long.
Fluttershy jogged backwards rather expertly, staying just a few seconds in front of the swarm. I bit my lip nervously as I watched her retreat. If I’d had a hand free, I’d have tried to provide covering fire. Even if the individual shots were useless.
“Funny thing about holes,” the swarm droned as Fluttershy jumped backwards out of the castle, “Anyone can use them.”
Derpy rolled one eye, the other staying put while the Pegasus smacked the wall, imparting a light blue magical aura to the stone with her hoof tap. Over a split second, the aura radiated it’s blue light, causing the stone to leap upwards and inwards, closing the hole with a mud-like squelch.
“You can also fill ‘em in. Let’s go before they just dig through or use a window!” Derpy said urgently.
“How did you do that?” Fluttershy asked in awe. “That’s not pegasi magic, did you learn non-pony spells?”
“Um, yes,” she replied, quickly looking over the city below.
“Why did you make us waste time ripping off the paneling?” BB demanded.
“We’re really high…” Bon whimpered.
“That spell only works on stone. My home’s magic is simplif- There!” Derpy suddenly pointed downwards at a smaller structure which appeared to be an observatory with the dome closed, “That’s She’ka, erm no that’s not- Shay-coo? Shie-kuh? Um… That’s my employer’s house!”
The rock wall behind us began to steam and shimmer, like the air above a road on a hot day.
“They’re melting through!” I warned.
We needed no further warning. As quickly as everyone could manage we made a beeline for the dome. As we flew down the sun slowly began to lift itself into the sky. Literally. It went from normal sunrise speed to ‘spot light moving into place’ in a horrific sudden burst of acceleration.
Chrysalis could somehow deprive us of the cover of what little darkness there had been. If we missed this one opportunity, that was it.
The ground approached rapidly as we half flew, half fell down. Fluttershy and Derpy lagged behind Bon, BB, and I. Probably their lack of experience in aerial combat. Maybe it seemed like we were just falling thanks to Bon’s weight. We basically were, but we had just enough control to-
<Pull up!> BB ordered as we hit the point of no return.
I adjusted my wings, they creaked loudly, our near fall leveled out into a steep glide along the rooftop level.
“That was dangerous!” Shy scolded. “You could have dropped her!”
“Entire army, seconds behind us!” BB and I retorted in astonishment.
“I-it’s not mom’s fault I can’t not-fall too…” Bon whimpered in my defense.
“It’s okay, we’ll be on the ground soon,” I soothed.
“It’s cold… Can we go back to the mean bugs?” She asked.
“We’ll be in a warm place soon,” I promised.
Derpy flew past our little carry operation, banking to the right and moving down. “There’s a door in this back alley!”
Following her lead, we banked and descended, landing in a small snow filled ally with a fairly hard whump.
“Ow!” Bon yelped.
“Shit! Are you okay?” I asked desperately. “Did we put you down onto a broken crate or-”
“The floor is ice!” Bon hissed irritably.
Oh. Yes. Cold blooded.
Derpy frowned. “Are you cold blooded?”
Bon nodded.
Without a word Derpy picked Bon up with a foreleg and set her down on her back, letting her coil up.
I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were injured.”
“I am,” Derpy agreed, turning to knock on the door loudly. “But there’s no reason for her to be too.”
“Um, so… Are pegasi from your world stronger and more magically inclined than most?” Fluttershy asked.
Derpy frowned. “Um, well… I’m not actually a pegasus. I mean, I started out as one, and I look like one right now, but that’s a lot of transformation and illusion magic. Uh, it was hard for my mom to raise me right because she is way, way bigger than a pony. So-”
With a sound of wood scraping on wood, a small slit in the door opened to reveal a blue changeling eye.
“Who are they?” The changeling asked.
“I used a summon charm when everything went bad,” Derpy explained.
“What went wrong?” They asked again.
“Turns out Princess Chrysalis is immune to mind affecting spells. I um… I was going to make her think I was her best friend and then have her give me the information,” she answered.
The changeling took a half step back from the door, turning around to angrily hiss, “Lei’ra! You didn’t think to tell her she’s immune to mental magic?”
“Cordyceps! No, I didn’t think that she’d use them!” Another voice hissed.
The door clicked before creaking open, the changeling stepping aside to let us enter. “Get in, and be quick. It’s alright, my partner and I are Freeminded.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I said hesitantly.
“It means that unlike our non-sapient brothers who are under the Overmind and Queen’s direct control, we have agency of our own like you. Both of us oppose the current status quo. You are safe here… Until they begin to search every building.”
“You have a half hour at best,” Lei’ra called from somewhere. “Get into our basement and if you can, Travel onwards.”
Fluttershy eeped. “Um, will they be that interested in-”
“You are a pony, as far as our rulers care, that makes you food. And food is pretty rare these days,” the changeling said, urging us inside with a nod.
I took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The building appeared to be of a wooden construction, with the walls filled with a hard green stone-like substance that seemed to have been poured and the wood then pressed into it. It was actually pretty interesting, and implied these changelings knew advanced construction methods such as cast-structures. Unfortunately the sudden sound of several hundred buzzing wings in the distance pushed my mind away from checking out the admittedly cool building.
Derpy trotted in before everyone else, the second she passed through the doorway Bon sighed happily.
“Yay for warms!” She murmured happily.
The changeling gave Derpy a shocked look. “Did you intend to summon a coldblooded hatchling!?”
Derpy’s ears drooped sadly. “No! I wanted to summon my mom… But um, I’ve never been good with summoning. I’m not a Wizard.”
“Hey, it’s fine. My VM can only take us to random places anyways. No choosing whatsoever,” I comforted.
“Better than ours,” the Changeling admitted, closing the door after everypony had arrived. “All we have is a portal that goes one place.”
Derpy rolled her eyes. “At least your portal takes you to Fillyways. I have to write an entire book per place I want to go!”
I stared at the two for several moments before deciding it was time to ask. “Okay, so, just how many people can travel around alternate universes? Like, if each of you have a different method-”
“You should get into the basement, Chrysalis may be trying to Scry for you,” the changeling warned. “The basement is protected against that. Derpy is better suited to answering your questions than my partner or I. She’s been out of the branch, we have been to only one other universe.”
I looked over to Derpy, she nodded. “I know the way. Follow me!”
The grey apparently-not-really-a-pegasus led us around a corner to a small hatch in the floor, pulling it up before hopping down. I decided to take the ladder, only to discover that the ‘basement’ was about half as tall as the floor above. Meaning I would need to crawl.
Great.
As soon as everyone was in the cramped-even-by-pony-standards basement, Derpy reached up and shut the hatch.
“I’m sorry again for summoning you four,” she apologised. “I-I’ve never been too good with magic, even magic items. I meant to call mom, because well, she would have been able to help. And I was basically dead there. S-thank you! A lot. If I hadn’t had a minute to catch my breath even that simple Stone Shape spell would have been impossible.”
“Speaking of, how do you do magic? I was told that only unicorns can do magic,” Bonbon said irritably. “I want to do magic!”
Probably just so you could store more missiles on you. Heh… Love ya, sis.
Derpy smiled embarrassedly,.“Well um, anyone can learn a little magic. Unicorns just, well, they are naturally better at it than most. As for my magic, I really am not very good. Which is okay, because I trained to be a scribe and an author, not a mage of any kind. It’s also not Equestrian Magic.
“Uh, well, no, technically it is. Because apparently all magic is the same across all the universes. It’s just that the spells I know are different in terms of logic. They are very specific and compartmentalized. Unicorn designed spells are more free flowing and, well, just overall better.”
“Which means… What?” BB asked, face frowning in what was either confusion or concentration.
“It means that anyone could learn Stone Shape with a few years of college, like I did,” Derpy answered. “But that spell will only allow you to alter the shape of existing stone objects you can touch of up to ten cubic feet plus a bit extra based on your own capability-”
I leveled a finger accusingly. “That is a spell from Dungeons and Dragons!” I exclaimed, Fluttershy joining me in my accusations, only saying ‘Oubliettes and Ogres’ instead.
Derpy sighed, rubbing her temple with a hoof. “Ugh… Yes. My homeland’s magic is similar in how the spells were designed to that game humans made. Can we please not talk about that? Every human in every universe I’ve been too with you guys has pointed this out.”
“But-” I began.
“There are infinite universes,” she interrupted. “Eventually, you will find one that matches up exactly with anything you can imagine. It just so happens that a game that apparently all humans everywhere invent matches the way my homeworld writes spells. It’s not like everything there works with a one in twenty chance… Please? This happens everytime I meet one of you, and your species is EVERYWHERE, not just this branch either.”
“Um, how about you give us a ‘run down’ as Rainbow calls it,” Fluttershy asked. “Because we’re all very new to traveling across universes like this.”
I nodded. “Yeah that’s probably more important. Especially the question I asked earlier.”
Bon coiled up around Fluttershy and I. “I’m cold again…”
Derpy’s ears drooped. “I’m sorry. I’ll get you all to a safer universe as soon as I can. I um, I guess your Travel method doesn't let you move freely? Or quickly?”
I shook my head. “One portal to random place every three days or so.”
Derpy winced. “That’s dangerous… I use D’ni books. You can go anywhere in a universe you want to. But um, I need to write a whole book to go there in the first place. Which is a problem when you are looking for your birth universe and can’t remember anything about it.
“Anyways, there are lots of ways people can Travel the universe. Maybe even infinite ways, because, well, infinite universes. Though on average, any given world has less than a thousand Travelers on it at any given time. So unless a world has like, nopony alive on it making people very very rare, or incredibly good surveillance, Travelers like us tend not to be noticed.
“How much do you know?”
I coughed into my hand in embarrassment. “I um, I push a button and go to a place. It’s always a universe similar to the last one. That’s it.”
Derpy’s mouth formed a little o. “Okay, so… Think of all possible realities as an orchard. That’s what we call the ‘Omniverse’. It’s literally the void, and everything that exists in it. This orchard has infinite trees, and each tree is a multiverse, which is just the term for ‘universes that share common elements with one another’. The tree metaphor is important because like tree branches, each tree has trunk universe which all others in that multiverse emerged from.
“The thing to remember is that all universes are connected to one another, and as you discovered, you can travel between them… Or outside of them if you accidentally wind up entering the Void.”
“Wait,” I interrupted/ “I had a wizard tell me you can’t do that.”
“Then he was wrong. Travelers have cities and towns and all kinds of things built in the Void as rest stops and places to share stories,” Derpy said simply. “We have a whole community and culture. There are families who have been Traveling for generations, or even millennia. It’s fun!”
“Huh… So then, people just do this for fun?” I asked with a half frown.
Derpy nodded. “Yes! Also for adventure, thrills, and those sort of things. Most trees are not as dangerous as the Equestrian ones… These universes are always very magically advanced. Besides, a lot of people like danger. But most people are here for a reason. I mentioned looking for my birth universe, right?
“I’m adopted, and I’d like to find my biological parents. If only because I’m curious about them. What about you?”
“I’m trying to return this VM here. It’s not mine, I found it,” I answered, twisting my shoulders to try and find a comfortable position for my neck.
“Um… And you brought your whole family for that?” Derpy asked, going cross eyed in surprise.
Fluttershy blushed. “I um, we became a couple on the way.”
Bon booped my nose with her chin. “I followed mom through the shiny door.”
“I’m an AI, my sis built me this body on our last stop,” BB explained.
“Yeah, I sort of set out alone,” I laughed. “This just happened.”
“Oh! Well at least you’re a good person. Most people in my homeland wouldn’t return a dropped coin purse, let alone a magical device,” Derpy said happily.
“Well, yeah. I mean… A wallet is one thing. I might just hand that over to the MPs. But this?” I said pointing at the VM. “Someone could be stranded in a universe because they lost this thing.”
Derpy nodded. “Exactly!”
“Um, may I ask what exactly the changelings upstairs hired you to do?” Fluttershy asked. “Because we’re a part of it now, and uh, well, it could be important to know.”
BB nodded sharply. “That’s a very good point. Sis, you picked a mate properly.”
“Oh!” Derpy exclaimed, nodding in agreement. “Yes, that is something you should know. The two upstairs hired me to find out where exactly the Overmind lives. Noling besides the Queen's know. I thought that Princess Chrysalis would well… Um… I mentioned that a pony is too small for my mom to easily care for, right? I’m actually sort of a dragon… And in my home world-”
“You’re a dragon!?” Fluttershy exclaimed excitedly. “You must be very very good at illusion! What kind are you?”
I made a note that Fluttershy liked Dragons. Playing the tenth Skyrim remastered version with her would be a bad idea.
“Half-dragon. Technically. But everyone in my home village didn’t care about the pony half. And you would only know I wasn’t normal by my wings, they stay feathery. And I’m not good at illusion, I’m bad at it. Most of this is shape changing magic,” Derpy reminisced. “Um, my point is that my particular subspecies has a bit of natural magic which can make hostile people treat us like we are their best friend for a few minutes. My plan was to use that on Chrysalis and then ask her where the Overmind lives. But that did not work.
“Which is bad, because I was hired by them to gather intelligence for a warrior couple they hired to kill the Overmind. They’ve been to another Equestria and well… Once you know that your species doesn't need to be mindslaved except for the few castes who are resistant to direct control, you kind of want to free your species.”
“Yeah, I’d want to kick some ass too,” I agreed.
Derpy nodded. “I can’t imagine any humans who wouldn’t.”
“Who did they hire?” BB asked with a frown. “I can’t see how any two individuals could take on an army.”
Derpy shrugged. “I’m new to this branch. All I know is they supposedly are big deals around these universes. Apparently they’ve been going around purging evil Paladin style as like, date nights.”
“Huh,” I mused. “Hey, Fluttershy, think we should try-”
“No thank you,” she giggled.
“Anyways, it’s not too bad I failed. They did say it wasn’t a vital job, just that it would help. And I work for information on other universes,” Derpy sighed. “Which means It’s back to Fillyways to look for more work. I can’t drop you off there though. There’s Traveller Law, more of a code really, but I don’t want to break it. So you need to find Traveler Towns on your own.”
“That seems… Pretty dumb,” I grumbled.
Like, really really dumb. Because, “How are you supposed to find them on your own?”
“Yeah, it is dumb. But I saw someone get locked out of going there for taking someone to it. And if I lose my privileges there, I’ll never find my parents,” she apologised. “And your answer is we'll leave clues in big landmarks in given universes. Find the clues, and it’s probably going to guide you to a portal or hidden ‘gate’.”
“Oh! It’s a recruitment test,” BB exclaimed eagerly. “That makes sense.”
“In that case,” Fluttershy asked. “What exactly is ‘Fillyways’.”
Derpy giggled. “It’s a restaurant. I found out about it in the last Branch I was in. It’s owner was inspired by a famous restaurant in that universe called Milliways. But instead of being at the end of the universe, Fillyways is at the end of the Multiverse. It’s a one up, hehe! It’s become a Traveler Town of sorts. I was lucky to find it, I’d never seen another pony before I found it.”
“I thought you were a dragon,” Bon said, sounding quite confused.
“I am, I’m also a pony,” Derpy explained giving Bon a happy smile. “Besides, the difference between a Cloud Dragon and a pegasus pony is, um… Swap fur for scales and make them a lot bigger or smaller. That’s about it. Really.”
A thunderous explosion shook the ground! The smell of burnt glue and charred wood immediately saturated the air.
“Traitors!” The thousand voices of the swarm screamed. “I know you are hiding them from me!”
“Shit!” I hissed, fumbling for my gun.
Bon yelped and coiled tightly around me.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened in terror. “Anypony have a plan?”
“Attack?” BB suggested before frowning, “Wait… I have no weapons. Nevermind.”
“Give me a moment!” Derpy exclaimed, closing her eyes in intense concentration.
A few hundred energy blasts slammed into the ground, causing bits of wood to break off from the ceiling and drop down onto our heads.
“Fools! As if teleporting will take you beyond my reach,” the Swarm raged.
I really, really, really wished I hadn’t wasted my grenade on those bandits…
A small pop, as if a tiny balloon had been stepped on managed to make itself heard over the sound of the droning of a hundred wings. A small olive green footlocker, with blue sparks of magic dancing around it had appeared in front of Derpy. She tossed the lid open and began to rummage through the contents, reaching deeper into the box than should have been possible.
“Your device only works in this branch right?” She asked urgently.
“Uh, I think so,” I replied quickly.
“Okay, then that gives us one choice. Grab onto my shoulder or something, everyone!” Derpy announced, pulling a small leather book from her footlocker.
I couldn’t help but notice it’s title read ‘wasteland’.
Suddenly the floorboards shrieked and groaned, ripped aside with a bright green flash of telekinesis. The Swarm filled the sky above, their closely positioned bodies forming what could have been a building of it’s own.
“You know,” the Swarm laughed, “I was always good at hide and seek. A key rule is do not speak.”
I quickly reached out and grabbed a hold of Derpy’s shoulder. BB grabbed the other. Shy tightly hugged around my middle. Bon half crushed my legs.
And then everything turned bright white. Blindingly bright white. Like a camera flash went off for a full minute right in my face! Then, suddenly, I could feel cool concrete under my hands. The air smelled nice and processed. The hum of machinery provided a soothing background noise. It was nice.
I stood up slowly, letting Bon keep clinging to my legs but managing to move her enough to stand up. And then my vision cleared up. I was looking at a manila painted concrete wall. With a poster on it.
A poster that featured a stylized pony giving a smile and a ‘hoof’s up’ with the text ‘A Brighter Future, Underground!’.
“What! The actual. Fuck!?” I exclaimed in total shock.
A hydraulic door hissed open.
“FREEZE!” Someone yelled aggressively in a girlish voice.
“Hi Moonshine!” Derpy called cheerfully.
“Oh! Oh thank Celestia, everypony, it’s Derpy… And some friends. You need to warn a pony before popping in like that,” they said in honest relief.
I turned around, catching a glimpse of the massive gear shaped door I’d expected, and beheld a small light magenta fured, peach maned, very mare-ishly built stallion dressed in a blue leather jumpsuit, with some simple padded armor and a security helmet. All with 88 painted on them in white. He had a back mounted rig on which held two arcane looking guns at his sides, which were aimed squarely at me. No Pipboy though. Weird.
Yep. This was happening. Fuck the last universe, THIS was the worst one yet.
“Hey, so Derpy… You promised a safe universe, and I’m standing in a Vault,” I accused.
She giggled. “I know. I’ve played this game too. Infinite universes, infinite possibilities, remember? Um, Moon, these are some people I owed a favor. They need a place to stay, just for a few days. Also I’m hurt. Pretty bad.”
“No problem,” the security pony said, turning around. “All of you, follow me. It’s full medical check up time.”
“And I’ll need to talk to the Overseer after that,” Derpy continued.
“You’re in luck, she wanted me to try to call you. There’s a job or something,” Moon answered.
The multiverse was weird. It’s a good thing I liked that.