• Published 23rd Oct 2014
  • 1,006 Views, 30 Comments

Phase Shift - redtau



Justin works for ARCO, and his favorite dimension jumper, Sarah Jordan, has gone missing. Justin jumps at the chance to save his crush and become the hero he's always dreamed of being. What could go wrong?

  • ...
7
 30
 1,006

Day 9: Concerns Carved In Iron

Notes on Another World - Day 9

I woke this morning to a crash course in local politics, not enough to get me a job in government but enough that I don't embarrass myself. The Dimension Jumper's Primer notes that effort should be taken to prevent altering the political landscape too greatly. Just as there are concepts in physics that differ from world to world, so are there differences in policy and social structures. The Primer went into detail to show that even asking certain questions can be troublesome, as ideas we are comfortable with at home might be strange or destructive elsewhere.

So I have had to ask Dusk several times for clarification without being able to explain why I needed clarification or didn't understand something. He gave up on teaching me basic structures of government once the diagram ran off the chalkboard and decided to try explaining history and how the current systems evolved.

He's covered the Era of Division, the Era of Unity and founding of Equestria, the Era of Chaos and is just now getting started on the Era of Harmony. There are some concepts in here that are frightening, but I'm trying to calm myself with the knowledge that a beast capable of altering creatures minds or moving the sun and moon at a whim were defeated long ago. This Eris creature sounds like a Fae, and if there is one thing I have learned from Sarah it is that you do not fuck with the Fae.

At least without proper preparations, one of which Imp is off setting up now. Hopefully without setting something on fire.

"So, how long was the Era of Chaos?" I asked again, looking up from my notes.

"We don't know. Time didn't really behave back then." Dusk was erasing the board to start the next section. "Now, the end of the Era of Chaos came about when two alicorns-"

"Two what?" I quirked an eyebrow.

"Alicorns."

"Is that a profession, governmental title, or military position?"

"No, it's a kind of pony." Dusk drew a rough stick figure of a winged unicorn, or maybe a horned pegasus. "They have the attributes and abilities of all three pony races, making them very powerful."

I nodded and returned to my notes as Dusk continued. "Ahem, two alicorns, Artemis and Solaris, discovered the Elements of Harmony and used them against Eris to defeat her."

"What are the Elements of Harmony?"

"Artifacts of immense power, each tied to an aspect of harmony. The elements embody Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Laughter, and Magic."

I bit my tongue on a couple of questions, mindful that asking certian things could stir up trouble. Things like where did the alicorns come from? and were there any BEFORE the chaos spirit started mucking with everything? were not the sort of questions one asked without starting issues. Quiet inquiries at a later time could answer these questions without putting doubts into the teachers mind.

Instead I settled on. "So they slew Eris and the three tribes went back to ruling things?"

"Not quite. First, they didn't slay Eris, just defeated her."

"What, she ran off?"

"No, she was petrified." Dusk grinned. "They moved the statue to the royal gardens in Canterlot after a while."

"OK, so note one. Do not get hit with the Elements of Harmony, they will turn you to stone."

"That really isn't what the Elements are." Dusk huffed. "Anyway, after Eris's defeat the alicorns were made princes and given control of the Equestrian government. There was a long period of rebuilding and restoration, and the era was not without conflict."

Stepping over to a map of Equestria Dusk pointed to a region to the north. "The Crystal Empire was taken over by an evil unicorn known as Obscura. Solaris and Artemis confronted Obscura, and the dark sorceress was reduced to a shadow of existence. She took the empire with her, causing it to vanish for over a thousand years. It's only recently returned."

"Interesting, I'll have to schedule a visit someday." A comparison between the current and archaic cultures would give me a good idea of the technological and cultural growth rate. "Any other events?"

Dusk seemed to cringe. "There was the Nightmare Nebula incident. After Eris was defeated, the alicorns divided control of the night and the day between themselves."

"Wait, moving the moon and sun? I thought you said it took teams of unicorns to shift those."

"Normally yes, but alicorns are incredibly powerful. It also helps that each was tied on a deep level to their charge with Solaris controlling the sun and Artemis the moon. Over time Prince Artemis felt that his efforts in the night sky were not appreciated and that he was being ignored and relegated to a lesser position next to his brother. He felt angry and hurt at ponies seeming to devalue him, and soon he became embroiled with a dark dream spirit known as the NIghtmare. Enraged and empowered, Prince Artemis confronted his brother and refused to yield the night to the day."

"Well, we have day and night now, so what happened."

"Prince Solaris used the Elements of Harmony on Prince Artemis."

I cringed back. "Geeze that's rough, turning your own brother into a statue."

"What? The Elements didn't petrify Prince Artemis."

"NO?"

"No, they banished him to the moon."

I blinked. "What?"

"Prince Solaris used the Elements of Harmony on his posessed brother and both he and the Nightmare were banished to the moon."

I quickly wrote "Never get hit with the Elements of Harmony" and drew a circle around it and several arrows pointing at it.

"DUSK!" Barb called out running into the room. "You got a letter from the Prince."

"Well, you're fairly popular to be getting mail from royalty." I said with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, I am Lord Solaris's personal student." Dusk said with a flourish, taking the letter. "It's a lot of work, but it comes with some pretty nice perks."

"You are the personal student of the ruler of this entire kingdom?" I raised an eyebrow. "But you live in a library, in a tree. I'd think the prince could get you some better arrangements."

"What could be better than a library?" Dusk asked unrolling the scroll. "Oh, the princes are excited to hear that you've mastered our language and are coming to see you."

"Well then we better get to some etiquette lessons in after we finish history."

"No, we'll do a crash course on etiquette now."

"NOW? How soon are the princes coming?"

"This afternoon."


"You look nice." Elusive said assuring me. "I think the coat was a nice touch."

The coat was ridiculous. It fit well but was black with yellow trim and a wide, high collar that came to my nose before bending back towards my shoulders. Clearly an experimental piece if ever there was one, It couldn't even button shut.

"Thanks," I nodded to the unicorn. "Now explain this to me again. The Prince Solaris that is coming to see us right now is the exact same creature that defeated the spirit of chaos and banished his own brother to the moon over a thousand years ago?"

"Yeah," Barry smiled and bounced a little, his eyes double checking the "Welcome to Ponyville" banner that stretched between trees overhead. "He's really nice and fun though."

"His brother's reformed too." Applejack put in. "He isn't the evil stallion who wanted eternal night anymore."

I glanced down at my Dimension Jumper's Primer, skimming again over the rules and notes regarding encounters with the Fae. I didn't have holy water. I didn't have sacred relics. I had sent Imp out this morning to try and create cold iron, but I'd stressed caution and secrecy over speed and there was no guarantee he would be back with what I needed in time. I looked down at my feet and frowned, reaching out with a toe to reconnect a line Pinkie had bounced over. While a trio of concentric circles could keep a faerie contained it wasn't as effective at keeping them out. I'd added a poorly scuffed ward between the second and third ring, following instructions in the primer.

The books final option was "RUN" in big letters with several underlines. I was saving that as my last resort.

"There he is" Dusk called, pointing to the sky.

I spotted the twin chariots approaching, one of white and gold, the other of a deep blue. I boggled slightly at the sight of a wheeled carriage being drawn through the air. The dark one veered away while the golden one descended until it rested on the ground only a few yards from me.

The prince got out of the chariot, regalia glowing in the sunlight, a flowing ethereal mane blowing in a non-existent wind. He spread his wings once in a grand display, the wind and heat of even that soft movement pulling at my clothes and touching my skin from this distance. There was a power that seemed to radiate off of him, a presence that he projected that struck me with a mix of awe and fear. The ponies around me bowed low as he approached, and I had to fight with myself not to drop to one knee in reverence.

I instead managed to restrain myself to a stiff bow. "Prince Solaris of Equestria, I am Justin of ARCO. It is a great pleasure to meet you."

The prince smiled and raised a hoof to me, passing through the outer rings of wards without even noticing. When he touched the inner ring however, everyone noticed. The flash of light from the etched runes was blinding, and the sound of confusion and shouting was everywhere.


Dusk shook his head, clearing the flashes from his eyes before surveying the scene. Prince Solaris stood unharmed at the edge of a smoking ring in the ground. Justin was gone, a short trail of black footprints where his shoes had gone through the scorched earth pointed towards town. Rainbow Blitz and Applejack, loyal and honest, had stepped forward to try and stop whatever was happening and had been tackled to the ground by the two chariot guards.

"Prince Solaris." Dusk called with a worried tone. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine my student, though our guest seems to have vanished." The prince was regarding the burned remains of the circle with scrutiny. "If I understand what happened, we will need to find him before something bad happens."

"What did happen?" Applejack asked, pushing the guards off of him. "I ain't never seen a spell like that."

"And I've never seen him run that fast," Blitz said, squinting to try and spot Justin's form retreating into the distance. "I'll go get him."

"Blitz hold." Solaris commanded. "The circle I inadvertently triggered was a spell of binding and protection, and is only useful against a long forgotten foe. If this person believe me to be one such foe, any force used against him will only escalate his behavior. It may be best to let him flee without further incident."

"But he's running into town." Dusk pointed out.

"Is that not the way to his escape?"

"He walked out of the Everfree Forest," Applejack said. "I think if he had a way back, it'd be out there."

"Ahem," Elusive coughed. "I believe he has gone to retrieve his familiar, that foul mouthed imp."

Solaris turned his head suddenly to the town. "Oh no, my brother sensed something in the town and went to investigate."

Dusk cringed. This might escalate anyway.


I leaned heavily against the flower shop and fought for breath. A week of running around and racing Rainbow had not done enough to build up my sprinting speed to a point I could run halfway across town without trouble. As it was I'd managed only to make it to the market before nearly collapsing.

I knew Blitz wasn't chasing me because I hadn't been caught yet, and the guards weren't chasing me because I hadn't seem them in the skies. I had no illusions that I had eluded pursuit, which meant I either wasn't being chased at all or I was being discretely followed. Logic and paranoid screamed that the latter was far more likely.

"Hey Justin, is that you? Are you alright? You look like you just tried to outrun Blitz again."

I looked up and smiled at the flower shop owner, Chrysanthemum. He and his brothers had panicked the first time they saw me but seemed to calm down once Dusk had explained things to them. Chrys grinned and spoke again, slowly. "Are you all right?"

I nodded at him. It wasn't common knowledge in town that I'd mastered the language, and my breathless nature kept me from forming fuller sentences. "Blacksmith?" I gasped.

Chrys smiled and pointed a few shops down. "Three down on right." He said slowly. "I hope you're doing alright there Justin. You look so pale I thought you were a ghost at first."

Nodding again, I stumbled off towards the shop.


"Did you see that freak?" Shining Circlet asked, nudging his best friend Sterling Scoop. "He looks like he got dunked in bleach!"

"I know, is he dressed up for Fright Night?" Sterling replied, waving a hoof.

"I bet we could get him to harass those blank flanks if we acted nicely enough."

"I don't think so, your mom was pretty upset with him."

Circlet frowned. He didn't like letting anyone, even this stupid abomination, get away with insulting him in public. There had to be some retaliation. Looking around he spotted something that made him grin.

"Excuse me!" He called, running over to the towns resident pink party pony. "Could we get some baloons? We want to surprise a friend."

"Sure!" Barry smiled, "But you'll have to blow them up yourselves." Barry turned to a nearby cart and pulled a small bag of balloons from behind a wheel. "I tried hiding inflated balloons, but some mean pony came around and deflated them when I wasn't looking."

Circlet waved and Barry walked off.

"Why are we going to throw that freak a party?"

"We aren't! We are gonna get him good." Circlet said, watching the strange creature walk into the blacksmiths before turning to scan the rest of the market.

"With balloons?" Scoop cocked his head sideways.

"It's not the balloons that are important." Circlet said, pointing to a public faucet. "It's what they are filled with that counts!"


The front of the shop displayed various metalwork items. A few like plows and nails were generic items for sale, but others like locks and candlesticks were more examples of commission work. Nopony was up front, but I could hear Imp arguing with someone in the back where the forge was.

"Nah, listen it needs to be hotter than that." Imp said.

"I'm not sure if I can get it hotter without getting it brighter." a rougher voice replied.

"We believe it is possible, though the coal may not have the right elements mixed in to attain the desired temperature." A third voice added.

I poked my head around the corner to see Imp sitting in the forge poking a thing piece of metal. The burly smith was working the bellows and a dark blue unicorn I didn't recognize. I stepped in and as close the the furnace as I could without burning myself. "Imp, we need to go."

"Oh hey boss! What's up?" Imp lifted the thin rod of metal. "We're almost done. Prince Artemis here has been a big help."

I froze. "Prince Artemis?" I asked, eyeing the dark unicorn. The wings had been somewhat hidden in the smokey room but he fluttered them out for a moment and nodded at me in greeting.

"We have conversed with your familiar and have found him amusing."

"Imp, aren't the princes, um," I struggled for a description. "Fair Folk?"

Imp's eyes went wide. "What? The princes? Not a chance."

"You sure? I mean, he moves the moon."

"What exactly is it thou art accusing us of?" the prince asked in a threatening tone.

"Justin, if Prince Artemis was one of the, ahem, 'Fair Folk', I would have headed for the hills long ago." Imp said with a grin. "He's powerful, no doubt about it, but even in a disguise I'd be able to detect one of THOSE from this range."

"What do you mean I am not Fair Folk?" The prince demanded. "Do you think me unfair?"

"Your majesty I simply mean I thought you and your brother were OUCH!" I pulled my bloody hand back from where Imp had straight up stabbed me.

"NO! Bad jumper!" Imp shouted. "Call them the others, call them the outsiders, call them fair folk. But do NOT say that name. Not even here among all this iron." he turned and kicked a red hot chunk out of the furnace. "Useless as it might be."

"Another bad batch?" the smith asked, picking up the half molten chunk of metal from the floor with a pair of tongs.

"I swear it's like it jumps right over the critical temperature range." Imp threw his hands up in frustration and collapsed back among the coals.

"These other." Prince Artemis said slowly. "When you say other, you mean really other don't you. As in, beyond this world other."

"You know of them?" I asked. "Sticklers for rules, love to make deals."

"I have dealt with nightmares and tyrants and spirits of chaos." The Prince said. "And if half the tales of your Other are true, I would rather face all my past foes naked than deal with a single one of 'them' unprepared."

"Hence all this work," Imp said from the furnace. "For all the good it's done us. I got a test piece about the size of a pencil nearly right and that's about all I could manage."

"Better than nothing." I grumped. "Well Prince Artemis, I think I need to go apologize to your brother. I left in quite a hurry under false assumptions."

I opened the door to the blacksmiths.

"Hey, look at the freak!" a familiar young voice called. "He's all washed up!"

And for the second time in two days acid washed over me in a wave.


Prince Solaris had over a thousand years running a country and had seen nearly every concevable response a sentient creature could have to his presence. There had been the Griffons, who though the Alicorn a hoax or mutant or in one instance Eris the Spirit of Chaos in disguise. They had subjected him and his brother to a number of tests to prove their validity. Some had bowed, some had fought, some had fled. The ambassador of the Arach-taruian Empire had declared him "too strange to exist" and a figment of the diplomats imagination. That coming from a spider-minotaur hybrid that hung from the ceiling for the entire meeting was somewhat unnerving.

Justin had taken the option to flee (option 15) following a test with inconclusive results (sub-option 227) and had fled towards a population center (sub-sub-option 31). Since he had incurred the flight or fight response, understandable if he guessed the nature of their misunderstanding, then he would have to be careful how he approached the creature so that it did not switch from flight to fight. He expected to find Justin cowering (outcome a), continuing to flee (option b), or having collected his companions and any arms or armor, preparing to fight (option s).

He was not prepared to find Justin in the middle of the market covered in blood and trying to devour most of a two gallon pot of baked beans. The merchant whose cart he was raiding was trying to stutter out demands for payment while staying out of arms reach. He got growled at for his troubles.

"BROTHER!" a familiar loud voice called out as Solaris descended. Prince Artemis came running up followed by some strange purple bat-winged thing about the size of a volleyball. "Brother, we fear Justin has come under attack from some of the locals."

Solaris arched an eyebrow. "All evidence points to the opposite."

"Its that healing ability I tied to him." The little purple thing said. "He's lost blood and skin and he's trying to eat what he needs to grow it back."

"And what would that be, exactly?"

"Protien mostly." The thing said, "A bit of other elements and some carbs."

"Which explains why he attack the pony carrying a basket of muffins." Prince Artemis said, pointing to a sad faced grey pegasus mourning his now empty basket.

"And the beans." Solaris agreed. "Tell me, what happens if he runs out?"

"He'll try and find another convenient source of nutrients." the thing replied.

"You misunderstand me," Solaris started to approach the rapidly healing creature as it reached for another pot of beans. Two empty pots already lay at his feet. "What happens when he runs out of convenient, plant based nutrients?"

The creature looked at the prince, then back at Justin, then back at the prince. "Your majesty, I'm sure he wouldn't just attack somepony. He may seem somewhat feral at the moment but I'm sure he's still in control, probably."

"Probably is not good enough." The Prince of the Sun sighed and stepped forward. "This may not look good for him, publicly, but the alternatives could be far worse." Lighting his horn he enveloped Justin in a golden glow and lifted him bodily from the cart. "We shall discuss this at the library. Brother, if you can see to the damages we will meet you there."

The golden glow expanded to encompass the solar diarch, the strange creature, and the little winged beast before they all winked out of existence.


Once, when I was younger, I went swimming in caves near Cozumel. I had on a life vest and a little waterproof flashlight and most of the caves you could just wade through, but one was different. One was wide and about thirty feet deep. If you pointed your flashlight down, you could easily see the sandy bottom.

If you didn't it was just a dark void their beneath you in the freezing water. Black but not empty, for my mind filled it with every horror it could conceive. I crossed the cave, but by the far end I felt like I was trying to climb bodily from the water to escape.

Now I was floating in a place far colder and far darker, a place with no up or down, no where to run. And the things in the darkness were not just horrors that my mind imagined but actual monsters who were even now reaching hungrily for-

The library seemed to slam into existence and I hit the wood floor hard. I gasped for air and coughed, my throat ragged as though I'd been screaming, the late evening sun slitting through the windows to blind me. wasn't it just past noon?

"Brother!" Prince Artemis cried as he lept to Solaris side while the larger alicorn wobbled slightly. "You're here! DUSK THEY ARE HERE!"

"By harmony, I didn't think you would be that troublesome." Prince Solaris gasped.

"BOSS!" Imp dropped into my field of vision. "Unless you want to be walking home the long, bad way I would not recommend doing that again."

"What-" I coughed harshly again, surprised at the ragged sound of my own voice. "What happened?"

"At a guess," Prince Solaris straightened, "I'd say I just confirmed every claim you could make about being from another dimension in the harshest way possible. I've never seen anypony, any creature ever come so close to being lost in a teleport spell."


"Yeah, well unfortunately-"

"PRINCE SOLARIS!" Dusk yelled, bursting into the library. "Thank goodness, we've been so worried."

"Relax my faithful student," The ruler was still recovering his breath a bit. "We are all fine."

"Where did you go after the marketplace?" Prince Artemis asked.

"Go?"

"Your Majesty, we teleported right here." I told him.

"You- you've been gone a while" Dusk countered. "You couldn't have come straight here."

"How long?" Prince Solaris asked, narrowing his eyes. "Dusk, how long were we gone."

"Brother you have my apologies. I had no idea how hard it was to move both the sun and moon in my absence."

The prince and I turned and stared at the sun sitting low on the horizon.

The Eastern horizon.

"You were gone all night." Dusk clarified.

Prince Solaris looked at Dusk, the rising sun, his brother and finally to me.

"We are settling whatever this is right now."


Maxamilion the Great and Powerful glared through the window of the library and ground his teeth. It wasn't bad enough the town was crawling with royal guards when he'd arrived, he'd spent hours trying to figure out how to challenge that upstart librarian who fancied himself a mage. At first he'd thought Dusk had been forewarned about his arrival, though hanging out with Prince Artemis seemed a stretch.

He'd spent the night at the small hotel in town and had worked himself up to challenge Dusk bright and early this morning and there he was with BOTH of the diarchs! With that outlandish creature, whatever it was. Had Dusk found it? Had he summoned it? It had some unusual arcane energy around it.

Horse apples, if Dusk could summon things like this he might really be a better mage. Max, as great and powerful as he was couldn't summon something like that.

Not yet a dark voice whispered to him while Maximilian unconsciously stroked the Alicorn Amulet around his neck.

Not without a lot more study.

Then it would be him the royals would praise. It would be him who wold get the praise, the fame, the glory that such a feat would earn.

Maximilion slipped away from the window and started walking. Let the little bookworm sit in her Podunk town library and rest on her laurels for now. Canterlot had a far better library, and the amulet around her neck was going to guarantee her access to even the most restricted sections.

Max smiled. You wait a little longer Dusk he vowed I'm going to summon something to knock the socks off those Princes, and then everyone will bow down to my power.