The Dimensional Observatory

by Doctor Tex

Prolouge.

Many moons ago, the ponies of Equestria were just confined to one universe, Equestria Prime. Not many ponies knew of what was beyond the Imagisphere. However, that all changed when a pony named Surprise joined with the leader of the second generation Vortex Masters, Solaris. She said that she was able to see beyond the Imagisphere. This gave Solaris an idea. Being a master of construction, he created an altar where those worthy are able to see into other realities.

He called it, "The Dimensional Observatory."

EQUESTRIA, CELESTIAL SOLAR SYSTEM, YEAR 3 OF LUNA'S RETURN, PRESENT DAY

The sun was out in a gorgeous blue sky. All the birds were chirping and Rainbow Dash, as always, was flying around practicing to join the Wonderbolts. As she flew through the sky, Dr. Vohr T. Tex, a Halcandrean from another planet, was watching the Pegasus do her tricks. As he was laying down on that tree, he noticed something vibrating in his bag. Cautious, he opened it up and looked inside. The only thing fitting the criteria for a vibrating object was the book inside. He pulled it out and realized it was the Halcandria Hystoria, the Vortex Masters' book of prophecies.

He didn't have time to even think about opening it when it flew open by itself.

This was normal for him, considering the fact that the book has a mind of it's own. It opened to a page where it showed a picture of a gorge. Ghastly Gorge, to be exact. This is odd, he thought. Why would the book show me the location that my base is stationed? It then flew to another page, landing on a more precise location, the south side. He knew that something was down there if the book showed him this. He put it back into his shoulder bag and bid farewell to Dash, before making a run south to Ghastly Gorge.

He had reached the area where the book specified. Yep, the south side of the gorge. He inspected the area around the wall and found a strange keypad, similar to the one on the north side, where his base was located. In fact, it was the exact same model! He pulled the Hystoria back out and flipped through the pages of Halcandrean Tech. He found a page unlike any other. Instead of the Times New Roman print the rest of the book was in, this looked like it was written by someone else. Someone had obviously put something here for a big reason. The only question he had was, "who?" He looked at the page, reading as follows:

PUZZLE OF THE OBSERVATORY

"My Observatory was hidden many years ago in the land of Dream Valley. It has been hidden for thousands of years. To whomever possesses this ancient book, heed this. The Observatory's code is a riddle. If you can solve it, you may enter. It goes like this;

'When two beings are separated, one is dark and one is light. The one will take over, while the other takes flight. If you can guess who this light one is, then it'll open. But beware, the wrong one will then be broken.'

Good luck." -VMS.

"Strange," Tex said." I know I have seen those initials somewhere before. Perhaps in one of my notebooks?" He pulled an orange Notebook out of his bag and look through Initials. " Let's see, DJE, TS, RD......AHA! VMS! It stands for 'Vortex Master Solaris'. So that means....."

He inputted the number code of his family; 91068. Sure enough, the wall slid open like a door.

As he walked inside, he immediately was taken aback by the décor. The six columns holding up the ceiling in the corners, all connected with purple drapes. The giant chandelier made of Halcandrean Gold. And the altar in the centre that looks rather unstable.........

Wait, what was that last one again?

The altar seemed to blow up for a second, and Tex was immediately thrown back due to the blast. The chains wrapped around the altar shattered. A strange blue smoke appeared out of the padlock, stretching as if it was taking a long nap. It solidified into a creature that Tex recognized. His grandfather, Sol.

"TO THOU WHO HAS AWOKEN THE POWER OF THE VORTEX, I BID YOU WELCOME TO THE CHAMBER OF THE DIMENSIONAL OBSERVATORY." The voice was loud and booming, it didn't help that the walls looked like they were crumbling. "AND YOU MUST BE THE ONE WHO HAS AWOKEN THE POWER. YOUR NAME IS VOHR "TERRIA" TEX, IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN?"

"Ye-Yes, sir. That'd be me."

"Well then, it seems that the Royal Canterlot Voice isn't needed after all." said Sol. His voice immediately went back down to a level similar to Tex's. "I am most deeply sorry, Doctor."

"Well, no apologies are necessary. So, would you care to explain the motive of this altar?"

"Most certainly! A long time ago, when your father, Solaris, discovered Equestria, it was known as Dream Valley. A peaceful land where the ponies lived happily. Solaris was the protector, of course, along with 6 others; Twilight, Posey, Minty, Applejack, Firefly, and Surprise were ancestors of Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, AJ, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie respectively. I won't go into too much detail since I'm pretty sure you have heard this story before. Anyways, Surprise had an amazing ability, the ability to see into other realities, much like Pinkie's 4th wall breaking.

"She knew that Solaris was a Vortex Master and gave him an idea. Using his mastery of construction, he crafted an Altar where he and the others could view what was happening though the Vortex Network. Using this altar, you can see into other realities that others have created."

"So, this was made to viewing purposes?" Asked a perplexed Tex.

"Why, yes, my fine orange friend!"

I still cannot believe that Solaris had this hidden all this time! thought Tex. I mean, I know he traveled to Dream Valley for the final battle against Naga, but I never knew that he was able to mix his power with their magic! He had dealt with aliens coming from the skies to eat ponies' brains. He had dealt with Shadow Tex nearly bringing destruction to both Equestria and Earth. But this was on a whole other scale.

Sol then spoke up. "Every possible reality, every outcome that ever was. It's all yours, my friend. Where would you like to start?" Just then, a menu of many different realities came onto the screen behind the altar. "Take your pick."

Tex thought long and hard for his first choice, but came across a rather interesting story. "I'll try that one." he said, pointing to a story.

It was labeled; "Canterlot wedding, Bad Ending."

Author's Note:

HOO-WEE! I had this idea in my head for 6 months, and now I get to bring it out! HALLALUJA!

Comments

[Masterweaver]

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Okay. I understand this is a framing device. I get that. I get that it doesn't need as much development as the snips that will follow.

But there are a couple of problems here.

First of all, Show Don't Tell. If you must have exposition, do it in a way that isn't blatant. Have somebody ask "What's this?" and then another person say "That's the doohicky that does the thing!" Or have exposition implied: 'He carefully navigated the craters around his home, thankful that the stench of alien vessels had disappeared.' If a character doesn't recognize something, don't just say 'they didn't recognize the thing', have them approach in amazement or confusion or fear, as appropriate.

Secondly, worldbuilding. You've got a lot of scraps and no hard backing. It doesn't feel like this world has a history, so much as there are so many random events that happened. 'Aliens invaded, and also we're from dream valley, and by the way your gramps built a magic observatory.' It's just so... discombobulated. And even if this is just a framing device, it should be a reasonably comprehensible one. As it is, there does not seem to be any reason for the story beyond telling the story, which is not a good thing for a framing device; there should be a reason why our intrepid hero is poking his nose into other realities, even if it's just FOR SCIENCE!