I summon...

by Xinrick

New Perspective, New Life

I followed along the ‘boss angel’ of this place towards wherever the hell the All Maker was. “So, who is the All Maker and what are they like?”

“They are All Maker Nitch. He is… difficult.” They said.

"How difficult?" I asked carefully. "Cause so far I've dealt with a lot of very difficult people…"

“He enjoys being contradictory, mainly because it annoys people.”

I groaned already. “Fantastic…no wonder why since me and Sunset got to Equestria she practically turned into a different person…”

“He crafted the human counterpart world too. His works often have… less that sensible laws of nature and magic.”

“Considering he also wanted to shove the SCP universe into it I can see why.” I sighed. “Fucking…Luna fusing with a Pattern Screamer, and somehow I’ll end up with her being my girlfriend as well and that’ll open up a whole can of worms when that’s spoiled to everyone…”

“I do wonder, what exactly are you hoping to achieve in this meeting?”

“Hopefully to get some understanding as to why…all of this.” I motioned. “And two…just so I can at least scream at someone, cause boy howdy is Celestia, Sunset and Pure not going to like what I have to say back home.”

“I’m amazed you didn’t realize your issues would fall on deaf ears. Given that this is how that world has always been, they would have no idea why you find their actions so unacceptable when for them, that was normal for as long as they’ve known. After all, you are the other worlder in this situation.”

I sighed. “I know…” I shook my head. “Hopefully I can get to them through what I have in mind to say cause…this is just getting ridiculous…”

“It could have been worse. One of Nitch’s universes, it’s a hellscape of war and violence… yet everyone talks in Shakesphere with… uwu…” The angel groaned.

“Oh…oh no…” I muttered in horror, imagining that hellscape. “Not the uwu speak…”

“He made it on a dare and to annoy some of the other All Makers. Thankfully, All Maker Pain usually exterminates his realities when they are a bit… too annoying to deal with. Ironically he only made the worlds you reside within now because he wanted to create a world both where mortals could overpower gods, and where Gods were both feared and wrathful yet still containable.”

Right… what happened to Dria… and SCP. Deadly beings still able to be contained… barely.

“This is still…a lot to take in and it’s aggravating the hell out of me.”

“Then he’s doing what he does best. Being annoying.”

“So I was right…just be apathetic and ignore his nonsense…” I sighed. “Cause why not…”

We came to a large wooden doorway. Once here I was let inside, I was greeted by a room full of glass figurines and in the middle of the room, sat a desk where a being that seemed to be made of gears and clockwork parts sat, pouring slowly some sand onto a tray where it was taking shape and forming to glass.

“Hi there.” I said carefully. “You must be Nitch…nice glass figurines.” I admitted.

“Shush now harem protagonist.” They said, their voice sounded like… well, metallic and high pitched. “I’m working…”

I rolled my eyes, knowing that’s never going to leave me alone. “What did you want?”

“Just a moment…” They said. The Glass figurine formed from pouring sand soon took the general shape of a mare with large wings and medium length mane and tail. “There we are. Look at her.” He said, the figurine floating over to me. It was lacking any major details, but resembled a mare silhouette regardless. “Isn’t she pretty?”

“Well, they do look pretty, but they are lacking major details.” I said, gently raising an open hand as they softly landed on my hand.

“Awh, is that any way for a father to talk about his daughter?” I nearly dropped the figurine upon hearing that. “Careful, that might be a glass figurine, but it represents her existence. Break it and little Aria is gonna have a very sad stillbirth.”

I froze, looking around at all the glass figurines around me… some I could recognize… that’s Sunset… Celestia… Even Luna, er, Nightmare Moon…

I put a second hand underneath the glass figurine and made sure I was keeping them safe. “Alright…so besides nearly giving me a heart attack, what did you want Nitch?”

“Why? Hmm… I forget.” They laughed. The glass figurine floated up from my hand and over to the shelves with the rest. “Why indeed? Why did I want you here?”

“Alright, so I might as well start asking questions.” I frowned. “First question, why in god’s name did you make this world so…apathetic?” I asked. “Especially when it comes to people just not giving a shit about…basically anything?”

“Why indeed?” They said, scratching their head. “Was there a reason or was it for amusement? I can’t recall. Got a few gears missing. Or were they never there to begin with? I forget.” They chuckled. I could feel them smirking despite having no mouth.

“So is this just…your thing?” I asked. “Being pointlessly contrarian because you think it’s funny?”

“Is it funny? Would I do that? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s intentional, or is it? Either way, what can you do about it?”

“Treat you like a child and not give you any satisfaction?” I asked. “Cause so far…I want to be mad…but just hearing you…I already get enough of it from Sunset, Pure and Celestia.” I said, expecting something…a lot more than just ‘look at me, I’m a quirky contrarian that literally can’t say a single sentence without contradicting myself for no reason’.

“Do you? Well, that’s a shame. Or is it a disappointment. Am I not what you expected or am I what you thought I’d be like? Are you upset the divine is not what you thought? Or are you relieved?”

“While you being a clockwork golem is neat…” I sighed. “I don’t know what I expected just from the little bit the boss angel told me…but I didn’t think I’d be dealing with some school yard contrarian nonsense at the moment.” I explained. “The divinity part? Well that just confused me mostly cause…well, from what I’ve seen from someone that’s not a god being able to call down the Sun’s Wrath like that…eh?”

“Hmm, was that divinity or was that magical skill and talent? Who can say. I surely can’t.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked simply. “If you can’t decide on what you want to do, if you can’t say what you do…then why are you here if it’s not just to annoy people and watch as no one likes you because of it?”

“Why indeed? Do I care what the others think of me, well, maybe, but not enough to deter from what I enjoy. And what I enjoy, is a good contradiction.” I actually got scared… hearing the first straight answer from him…

“Huh…somehow you giving a straight answer…is just a really scary thing…” I said nervously.

“Is it? Well, then perhaps you should be asking yourself the Why of it? Why did Voodoo choose you? Why did you lose that game? Why did you have to be the hero? Why did you choose to be the hero? Who told you to be a hero? Why did you feel you had to fight when you could have just as easily lived a normal life, even with the powers, why did you feel the need to take the role you placed upon yourself? Foundation could have handled the monsters, and you and Sunset could have led fairly happy, normalish lives in the human counterpart world. So, why? Why bear the weight of the world on yourself?”

I heard all his why’s…all the questions were straight to the point, no contrarian bullshit…just straight questions on why…”To start…no idea why Voodoo chose me, I got unlucky in a fifty fifty choice and…well, someone has to.” I said. “Someone has to be a hero, someone has to take a stand against the monsters that would do horrid things…and someone needs to bring some semblance of normalcy to all this…I just don’t understand why…people just don’t care?” I said sadly. “Ever since I got to Equestria and saved Canterlot…I learned that Equis just…doesn’t give a shit…only time I learned people actually gave a shit was when Celestia glassed a town that tortured Dria…but after that, I’m treated like an insane person because nobody cares.”

“Desensitised to an unfair, uncaring and contradictory world. Is there any other way for them to become in the world I created? A world that, mortal or god, cares nothing for anyone.” He said, a glass figurine of a griffoness… Dria, floating from the shelf and to his desk. “Take this one for example. A goddess of Fertility, potent and powerful magic reserves, yet her power is so limited and on top of that, Ace. Heh, such an interesting contradiction of a goddess.”

“So…I know what I’m here for.” I said carefully. “Well…hopefully I know…”

“Do you? Heh, now who’s unsure?”

“There’s a difference between being unsure and contrarian.” I frowned. “But I’m here…to stop this uncaring contrarian bullshit…and even if it might seem like an impossibility to some, I wouldn’t be here if that was the case…cause what’s more contrarian to an uncaring world than someone who cares?”

Niche laughed. “Oh, I knew I liked you. But the task you wish to take is not simple, and you are just human. But that’s why I like humans so much, a physical representation of contradiction. So, there are two conditions that need to be met in order for you to achieve this goal you seek.”

“And what are those two conditions?” I inquired. “Cause I…I really want to help this world, and so far there’s at least been one miracle with my stay here.”

“Two things. First, in order for you to make these changes, I must relinquish ownership of the universe. As long as it is bound to me, any change you make would slowly revert back to it’s default as I designed. Second, you yourself must become an All Maker yourself, a member of my Family to gain ownership and make the changes you wish. Otherwise, anyone else could claim it, including Pain, and if she does, then it means death for all that live there.”

“Uh…okay so how the hell am I supposed to become an All Maker?” I asked incredulously. “And wouldn’t either Voodoo, Fenrir or Angrdoba take control of this place since it’s more so their game?”

“We have rules in place for when things like this happen. Firstly, time in the worlds you’re taking part in will freeze. No time will pass while you’re gone. Second, the how, you’d be accepting being reborn as one of our children. This is the only way to… ascend your soul to achieve the power you need. Who your parents will be, well, they can be chosen or they can be random. It’s all up to you at this point. Lastly, those three won’t make any moves while this is happening. In fact they would probably spend time with you while you are growing up again. This kind of thing does happen from time to time, it’s not uncommon, we take in all kinds.”

“Huh…” I said. “I’m kind of surprised about that…well…I suppose it would make sense to do that…”

“Oh wonderful. Now then, is there any request for who your parents shall be or shall we leave it up to chance?”

“I don’t know ‘who’ you all are outside of…well, what I can only assume is either this is a job for your race of beings or ‘how you want mortals to see you’ because of some godly nonsense or another.’

“A bit of both. While I wasn’t born in this body, I find this new look fits me better. At any time we can choose to change our race, gender, everything upon adulthood is customizable to us.”

Okay, that’s pretty cool.

“Right…and just so I can understand, if I do come back as some powerful All Maker, a majority of that power would be locked until after I win this challenge or would it all be taken up trying to get this world to run properly?” I inquired, cause while it sounds like I would become some super ultra powerful being, I didn’t want this adventure to just be done in an instant.

“Well, for starters the power of an All Maker will be your birthright, but to earn it you’d have to compete in the Trial of Creation. Pass and you will receive the powers of an All Maker and all that comes with it.”

“Alright, that sounds simple enough.” I nodded. “What is this ‘Trial of Creation’ thing? Like…I have to create my own world or something?”

“No, in a sense… the power of an All Maker is… potent. Too powerful. Long ago this power belonged to a tyrant and… long story short, it wasn’t good. My family defeated this tyrant All Maker and took this power for ourselves. We’ve been using it for largely the purpose it exists for. Endless creation. Depending on the person taking the trial depends on the trial but they are typically in a set of three and the last is always a trial by combat.”

“Well…that makes sense.” I said, thinking about what that ‘trial by combat’ could mean but deciding to put it off for later as I thought it might involve my current adventure.

“So then, I guess you will be off then. Enjoy your next life Mike.”

---

Hm… what? Crap, I can’t breathe… but I don’t feel like I’m suffocating… am I in… fluid? Wait, what’s happening? I’m… being pulled… crap this is tight… Shit that’s cold now!

“That’s the last one. Three sons.” A male voice said.

“Oh, triplets again? Heh, I guess it’s easier to manage anyway.” A female voice said, weak and chuckling.

Wait… was I just born?!

I felt someone, a large hand holding me as cloth wrapped around me, keeping me warm from the sudden cold. I then felt I was carried to someone else, and held by them. I felt them hold me close and a finger poke my nose. “You are Mike, my Reborn child.” The female voice said softly. “You’re so tiny and cute. I can’t wait for you to grow bigger.”

“Who in the world?” I thought to myself, trying to open my eyes and see who was…now my new biological mother.

Despite my efforts, my eyes refused to move, my body felt different. I was tired… agh… need to… sleep…

---

It’s been about a year since I was reborn to the All Makers Family. My new parents, Joy and Jenny, were… interesting. Joy, my dad, was a Dire Wolf, humanoid with backwards bending, more feral knees/legs. Jenny, my mom, is a also partly Dire Wolf, but she also has large wings and bird like legs.

I have two brothers as well. The first born, Trul, is like dad, fully Dire Wolf, and extremely fluffy too. The middle brother, Ark, has bird like wings and legs but his arms are also his wings, ending in sharp talon covered fingers that right now are dull and flimsy, but will grow harder and sharp with age.

My body has dad’s legs, mom’s back wings, and we all share the same dark blue and brown colorings.

I have to admit, having wings has been different. Hard to make them move how I want to right now, for the most part they partly hang from my back. They sometimes can move when I want, but it gives me some major strain on my back. I guess my muscles still need to develop more before I can move them accordingly.

“This is honestly…kinda nice…” I thought to myself with a smile, just crawling around and feeling warmth and kindness…but still, something in the back of my mind was nagging at me like I’ve seen mom and dad before.

“BA!” Ark said, well, not so much said as made sounds as he tackled me.

I was an only child before, so suddenly having two brothers was new.

“Ba!” I said, starting to wrestle with my brother and just feeling happy right now…just simple adorable fun.

We wrestled for a while in the play pen, knocking into Trul who joined in and we quite literally dog piled onto one another.

“Easy there boys.” We all looked up, seeing mom walk over to us. “Don’t be too rough with one another. You still need to eat later, and then we’re going on a trip to the park.”

“Ma!” I said happily, glad for the trip to the park…part of me being a lot of different animals I suppose ‘walks in nature’ was a lot better than what I liked before.

We took it easy on the play until lunch, where we ate some soft baby food, our teeth were coming in and thankfully not sharp yet so play bites didn’t hurt. With our meals done, mom and dad took us in a stroller outside… HOLY CRAP!

We were living on… a mini planet… floating amongst various small islands in space, high above us was a star shinning down on us and as mom walked with my brothers and I in a stroller, stones flew up and formed a pathway for us… wow…

“You kids like it? Designed it myself.” Dad said.

“Da?” I asked in awe at the mini planet that was created…wow. “He can just…create worlds like this?”

“He made it after things calmed down as we got settled into our new work.” Mom said.

“Heh, new work? That was centillions of years ago hun.” Dad said.

“Was it? Heh, still feels like yesterday sometimes.” Mom chuckled.

I looked at both of them incredulously. “Excuse me what? Centillions of years!?!”

“I guess. Sometimes I do wake up sore from the constant fighting we did back then.” Dad laughed.

“I know. Sometimes my trigger fingers cramp up grabbing stuff.” Mom chuckled.

I let out a confused whine and was concerned about what the hell they were talking about.

“Oh, don’t worry about it Mike, It was a long time ago. We’ll tell you more about it when you’re older if you want.” Dad said, scratching my head some.

I nuzzled into his hand and gave a confirming yip, considering I couldn’t speak normally I at least had yips and baby noises to help get my point across.

The magically forming pathways took us to a floating island surrounded by slowly spinning stones. We arrived onto a sandy beach just before the small jungle. Mom took us out of the stroller and placed us on the ground.

“Okay, so you three can run around this island as much as you want. There’s only small game here, like squirrels and rabbits here, so this will also let you learn a bit how to make use of your senses. Once your teeth fully grow in you’ll be able to hunt then properly.” Mom said.

“Just try not to run too close to the edges alright.” Dad said. “The floating rocks will catch you if you fall, but it will still be scary when it happens.”

I nodded, starting to toddle around and try to use my brand new senses like mom and dad suggested.

My brothers and I all walked into the green. The smells were… strong. I smelled the grass, the moss, the dirt, the rabbits and squirrels. I could tell what each was, how far they were, where they had been… and the sounds. I could hear bugs walk, birds flying. The winds blowing well up above the trees. Woah…

“This is…a lot more than what I thought it would be…” I thought to myself in awe, all the sounds and smells being so clear even when it was all at once…

Were I still human, even pony, this would have been a total sensory overload, but even in this tiny toddler body, it was incredible. This wasn’t anything like I’ve ever experienced before. It feels so alien yet so natural all at the same time. Even my eyesight. In the dark shadowy areas I can still see clearly in them. The plants and bugs in the dark areas…

Trul took off running, on all fours chasing a squirrel. Ark was next, running awkwardly through the grass, but having fun regardless.

I smirked, letting out a few barks before joining in. I learned a while ago that running on all fours was easy, maybe because of my legs or something but it was easy for me to move this way. I ran through the grass, this body… it’s incredible. I’m still so young and yet, I already know as I age I’m only gonna get stronger, better.

To be continued...