A Wizzard Abroad

by Parchment_Scroll

Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...

Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever, and Private Pansy had united the three pony tribes under a unified banner - or rather, would have done, had they been able to come up with an actual banner to unify them under.

As it stood, they had to settle for unifying them under a common cause: friendship, harmony, and, it must be noted, survival. Their newfound friendship had driven off - if not outright destroyed - the Windigoes plaguing the three pony tribes, freeing thousands of ponies from their icy fates and restoring the ability of the three tribes to regulate the weather, grow crops, and, not at all least, continue the necessary cycle of night and day.

Several months later, Clover the Clever's mentor, Star Swirl the Bearded, returned to the world. Surprisingly, he was not alone. He was accompanied by two ponies no one had ever seen before. He introduced them to the assembled ponies as Celestia and Luna. It would be weeks before the two ponies - magical Alicorns who possessed the powers of all three pony tribes - would step forward to offer their services in controlling the sun and moon. It would be years before they would be crowned Princesses of the land of Equestria.

It would be centuries before the consequences of their adventure were felt.

The first of these consequences was the arrival of an entirely new creature. It called itself a draconequus and went by the name Discord. The princesses had recognized the creature, and they knew exactly what to do to defeat it.

Where they obtained the Elements of Harmony, nopony knew. After using the Elements, however, they resolved to keep them close at hoof in the event they were needed again.

That event occurred just a few years later, when the seeds of madness planted in the younger Alicorn by Discord took root, turning her into Nightmare Moon. Heartfelt pleas meant nothing to the dark alicorn. A raging battle tore apart the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters. With tear-filled eyes, the elder had been forced to call upon the powers of the Elements of Harmony for a third time.

After that, though she remained a steadfast and noble ruler of her little ponies, Celestia could not feel a connection with the Elements any longer. She wasn't sure what it was. Had there been a limit to the number of uses the Elements could be put to? Had her need to banish her own sister broken the link when it broke her heart?

If the truth were told, she found it hard to care. She knew, somehow, that when the Elements of Harmony were needed again, ponies would rise to meet the challenge.

Those ponies, it happened, would arise a thousand years later. And it was after those ponies had risen to face challenge after challenge, and they, too, had been forced to set aside the Elements of Harmony, that the greatest champion ever known to ponykind would make himself known once again.

That story, however, does not begin in Equestria.

There are a number* of dimensional axes making up the sum total of reality**. There are the usual four: length, breadth, height***, and time. There are, of course, others, as well. Probability is one. Negotiability, notability, inscrutability, and others with names that are, in most known languages, unpronounceable fill out the list.

* The actual number is open to debate. Some say six. Some say thirteen. Some say forty-two. Some say the number itself is unknowable.
** And, in fact, unreality and everything in between.
*** These terms are, of course, meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Suffice to say one allows length, two allow for area, and three allow for volume, but the names are interchangeable.

If one were to plot the location of Equestria and its homeworld on the axes of Negotiability and Probability, then draw a line through the origin point of those two axes, one would, with some fiddling about among the spatial and temporal axes, eventually come across Great A'Tuin.

Great A'Tuin drifts through the celestial void. Massive, crater-pocked flippers propel him* through space from point A to point B, albeit along a meandering path that could take anywhere from millennia to several millennia.

The time of great Cold having passed, its thoughts have turned, once again, to the Weight. With glacial slowness, tremendous thoughts trickle along neurons roughly the length of nations, one to another, and each thought is of the Weight.

Though not as tremendous as Great A'Tuin himself, the Weight is enormous. The Weight consists, in part, of the four great World Elephants: Tubul, Jerakeen, Berilia, and Great T'Phon. It also consists of the Disc.

* The actual gender of Great A'Tuin is unknown. Due to the fact that the Hatching of Great A'Tuin's Eggs took place in recent history, many speculate that it is in fact a female of the species Chelonia Galactica. Until such time as a successful expedition can be launched to accurately gauge Great A'Tuin's sex, however, many stubbornly refer to it as male.

The Disc is about ten thousand miles in diameter. At the Rim, it is roughly thirty miles thick, but the closer one gets to the center, the thicker it (generally) gets. The thickness of the Disc varies greatly, however: it is covered largely by oceans, but also by four major landmasses and quite a large number of much smaller ones. These four continents (and assorted islands, archipelagos, and other landmasses) are practically infested with life, both sapient and nonsapient.

Among those lifeforms counted as sapient* are Rincewind, Eskarina Smith, and the Librarian, and it is in conversation between those three that the story of Equestria's greatest hero truly begins.

Eskarina had just explained to Rincewind that all of Reality was about to have been unravelled.**

Rincewind had, after a brief discussion, reacted to this with his characteristic grace and stoicism.

"Where does he think he's going?" Eskarina muttered.

"Ook," said the Librarian***, who either did not grasp the concept of rhetorical questions, or, more likely, did not care to.

* Allowances must be made in the case of Rincewind, who many argue is more a collection of reflexes and panicked sarcasm than a sapient being.
** One of the problems with time is in properly describing it. Multiple treatises have (will have) been written on multiple worlds. Cause and effect are frequently, though not always, chronologically linked, and this can lead to a misconception that time flows in a specific direction, or at all.
*** Owing to an incident with a powerful burst of magic some years ago, the Librarian is, and has been for some time, an orang-utan. He has since resisted all efforts to change him back.

There are those on the Disc who can be said to be afraid of nothing. Rincewind had always been quite proud to exclude himself from their numbers. There is simply so much on the Disc (and well beyond it) to be afraid of, he reasoned, it would be ingratitude not to avail himself of every opportunity to be terrified.

So it was with no small amount of shock and dismay that Rincewind fled headlong from the grounds of Unseen University only to discover that there was Nothing to be afraid of. Rather a lot of it, in fact.

Rincewind pivoted on his heels and fled from it, back into the University, past the library (and the Librarian, whose "ook" went unanswered, and, indeed, unheeded), up one of the innumerable flights of stairs, into a small, shabby room occupied solely by a ratty cot, a disconsolate Luggage, and a lopsided wardrobe, the latter of which he clambered into and shut behind him.

Eskarina and the Librarian would find him there several minutes later, trembling, hugging his knobby knees, rocking back and forth, and muttering to himself darkly.

Author's Note:

Here it is, the not-very-long-at-all-awaited sequel to The Wizzard and the Pony. Originally, the universe-threatening peril was not intended, but when I got around to writing the Apocrylogue of the aforementioned story, it occurred to me that if I left that one loose plot thread dangling, the potential for disaster was enormous.

Well, we couldn't have that, now, could we?

Of course we could. It's a Rincewind story, after all.

The title is blatantly cribbed from Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series, with A Wizard Abroad being the fourth book in the series.

Bonus internets for whoever correctly identifies the source of the peril.

Comments

[Mister E]

Excellent beginning. I was always a fan of all of Sir Terry's series.
His death was a great loss to us all.

Haven't read your prior story yet, but I'll be starting on it.

As for the source of peril. Are we talking about "Nothing" as in 'Neverending Story' nothing?

[FanOfMostEverything]

Wow. In all honesty, I wasn't expecting to see this story until 2016 at the earliest. This is a very pleasant surprise.

As for the cause of the Neverending Story-like peril... Well, I don't exactly remember much of the earlier story. I'm going to have to get back to you on that one.

[Georg]

Huzzah! I prefer to think of Rincewind as somewhat of a human Thaumeter⁽*⁾, only more of a disaster detector that any Discworld insurance salesperson⁽¹⁾ would be well-aware of the location thereof, because that is where the agency's policies need cancelling as quickly as possible.

(*) Thaum (noun) - The amount of magic which is needed to create a white pigeon or three billiard balls.
(1) It is quite fortunate that the Discworld has self-limited the career of insurance agent to the Counterweight Continent, due to their inability to thrive outside of their natural habitat. In Ankh-Morpork, for example, the probability of an insured event coming to pass during the covered period of a policy approaches and sometimes exceeds unity by several multiples.

[Booster Spice]

Oh dear, Clothahumps been messing around with the roots of all existence again.

Somebody better get Pinkie. Its a code 505.

[nemryn]

5758391

Thaum (noun) - The amount of magic which is needed to create a white pigeon or three billiard balls.

Only on the Disc, though. In Equestria, the thaum is defined as the amount of magic needed to summon one standard reference orange.

[FordPrefect]

The peril is
Starswirl never went back in time to talk to himself.

[Parchment_Scroll]

5758266
It is that order of Nothing, but not from the same source.

5758289
I'm getting back into the groove, boy you've got to prove your lo--- I'm getting back into the swing of writing. Finishing off The Wizzard and the Pony proved just the kick in the trousers I needed.

5758442
Wow, there's a name I haven't seen in forever. Eh, I'm sure Jon-Tom can handle it. On the other hand, the thought of Pinkie learning about Spellsinging is kind of... I think the word I'm looking for is horrifying?

5758512
I rather like that.

5758661
You, sir, win an internet!

[Parchment_Scroll]

5758391
Well, there has been one attempt to import the concept of insurance (in-sewer-ants) to Ankh-Morpork, thanks to Twoflower. It... did not end well. Also, I love that the pun "echo-gnomics" was only ever alluded to and never said in The Colour of Magic. Just filled me with giddy glee.

[book_burner]

The title is blatantly cribbed from Diane Duane's "Young Wizards" series, with A Wizard Abroad being the fourth book in the series.

[Booster Spice]

5759132

Why play one physiologically incompatible reality altering magical instrument, when you can play Ten.

[DarkAura89]

Just gonna tag this and get to it this weekend. I'm glad to see you writing again, that said, now I just need to see a certain crafty thief of yours again...

[FancyFan]

A sequel to a crossover of one of my favorite book series* with one of my favorite cartoons** named after not only my other favorite book series***, but my favorite book from that series, using a brilliant pun involving the title of my third favorite character**** from the first mentioned series?*****

*That would be the one with the footnotes
**Cartoons don't have footnotes silly
***Despite it lacking footnotes
****Being beaten only by Vimes and the "Final Footnote" himself.
*****I think I may have gone slightly overboard on footnotes.*******
******Dang it I did another one. *GAH NO MORE!

[Pinklestia]

You forgot to post the link to this in the first story.

[Pinklestia]

Well, the disc got Harmony for the first time in existence, then got said Harmony removed due to ponies and the Elements of Harmony leaving. That alone should cause such a big unbalance than unless some heroic deeds are those, the story of the disc would have to be reset so Harmony was never there in the first place, meaning that literally, existence is what's in danger. Of course saving said existence means time travel.

[Parchment_Scroll]

5776051
I've been meaning to...

[FordPrefect]

5776075 Actually new forces do come and stay in Discworld. So Harmony was introduced via Celestia/Luna/Starswirl, but because this is Discworld, it is quite possible for the new force to stay after they leave. They were the spark, the only question is will the fire keep burning or not.

[Pinklestia]

5830807

Well, they took the elements and most of the bearers of the elements away, at most the disk has an incomplete harmony, like a piano that’s missing several keys.

[FordPrefect]

5830829 A piano that's missing several keys would be an accurate description of discworld in general.

[Kencolt]

Well, well. A sequel to one of my favorite stories ever. And it has already certain things that make for a classic Discworld tale-- and for that matter, possibly a Pony tale already.

(a) The required reluctant hero.
(b) A world/s shattering threat.
(c) Hiding in a wardrobe.*

This is going to be... interesting.
_____
*It should be noted that, unlike certain other wardrobes, this one isn't likely to be a gate into a wonderful world of enchantment and adventure. That will likely be another pathway.**

** Although, to be fair, Rincewind will likely react to Equestria with much the same attitude as he would Narnia, except with possibly less panic, because after all there's no-one in Equestria who would know him except Celestia, Luna, and-- oh, dear.

[Prawo Jazdy]

Tracking. I do hope you pick this up again (though that is arguably a riot, coming from me.)

[Late_Night]

5776754
so, you gonna update this, or...?

[Shadowshame]

I greatly enjoyed your last story, that of a wizzard and a pony I hope you can update this one

[coyote]

Some how in some way I know Luna and Celestia are going to be ecstatic over "Uncle" Rincey coming to visit

[Neece]

Just binge read the prequel and I've got to say it's wonderful and oh so like the works of Pratchett himself. And that I'd love to see it continue in this one

[notme]

I don't care if it seven years old. I'm still tracking this.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

11237168
Ditto.