• Published 20th Jan 2017
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Realms of Existence - GMBlackjack



The Seven Sided Chest of Chicomoztok holds a secret - a secret that will throw open the gates to the very Realms of Existence.

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III - Settlement

The cold wind continued to blow more and more snow into the temple grounds. Twilight had realized long ago that attempting to clear the snow itself was a fruitless endeavor, doomed to be undone faster than it was accomplished. Instead, she was examining the place where the pillar had broken off. What was inside the lapis column amazed her – there were wires of magical crystal inside, laced in patterns far too complex for her to understand – she suspected some were even too small for her to see. She had determined the purpose of the pillar early on: draw tremendous quantities of vis from the surroundings in a particular way, and pump it all into the Gateway pillars.

The problem she had run into was that a simple mend spell wouldn’t work – she didn’t have all the pieces, since some of it had crumbled into dust. Such a spell cast without all the pieces would just guess what went in the empty spots, and with something this complex it was pointless.

She had tried reaffixing the column three separate times despite this. She made sure to undo the spell every time it failed to work, and lifting the tremendous column burned huge quantities of her energy. She ended up lying in the snow, exhausted. To put icing on the cake, they were losing light by which to work. It would be night in under an hour.

“Twilight…” Spike said. “You need to take a break. Let’s go to the Jove and sleep.”

“I can’t Spike! Every moment I wait something could happen to our friends! They could move further away! They could get hurt! They could… They could…” She started crying. “Spike, what have I done?”

“No, don’t do that.” He said. “You are Princess Twilight Sparkle, and you know your friends don’t want you blaming yourself! They want you on top of your game and ready to take on anything!”

“I… I know you’re right Spike.” She sniffed. “But I don’t know what to do… I feel helpless…”

“Wait for the team Celestia’s sending. Until then, you can go check in on Rarity, then maybe go to sleep.”

“That’s… a good idea Spike.” She picked herself up, and shook the snow off her coat. She trotted over to the table Rarity had set up – upon it was a lot of snow, dozens of empty cocoa cups, and a pile of a dozen or so spheres made out of seemingly random materials.

Rarity had a golf-ball sized globe of pure diamond in her telekinesis right now. “So sparkling… So wonderful! I’m going to turn you into a necklace!”

Twilight sighed. “Not now Rarity, we have to know what these things are before we start messing with them.”

“Well, I can confirm that your scans were right. They are perfect spheres made out of a uniform material – even when the material shouldn’t be uniform. See this?” She said, lifting up a green one. “Moss. Or, rather, the components of moss smashed up in a blender and arranged into a perfectly round shape.”

“None of them have changed since you’ve gathered them?”

“None I would have noticed. Maybe they just don’t change outside their world?”

“Maybe…” Twilight said, frowning. “It’ll require more research.”

Pinkie appeared, setting a tray of four cocoa cups on the table. “Back! Also found a radio in the Jove’s trunk!” She tossed the brown box onto the table and turned it on. The static-corrupted sound of Yak music came out of the speaker.

Rarity winced at the powerful thundering beats. “Er… Better than nothing I suppose”

Spike walked over and took a swig of cocoa. “Well, look at all these balls we have. Who wants to play marbles?”

“Spike, I’m not sure now’s the time…” Rarity said.

Pinkie shook her head. “Nah, we aren’t doing anything more right now anyway. It’s a perfect time! Might as well set it up.”

“No using the spheres as marbles!” Twilight twitched. “We’re studying them.”

Spike raised his hands in surrender. “O-Okay… Pinkie, got some marbles in your mane?”

“Do I ever!”

As the two of them set up the poorly planned idea of snow marbles, Twilight scrunched her muzzle, trying to fight back the biting cold.

Pinkie was just about ready to shoot a marble when she frowned. “Does anyone hear that thrumming?”

“That’s the ‘music’ dear.” Rarity said.

“No, the thrumming’s coming from above us.” Pinkie said, gesturing.

A dark form appeared in the skies where Pinkie was pointing, casting a dark shadow over them. The form moved past them, descending to a point where they could see it – a dull golden airship with the mark of Celestia imprinted on it. The cabin was large, metallic, and covered in military markings. The front hatch popped open, and a dozen royal guards in winter armor walked out in formation, alongside no small number of construction and scientist ponies.

“They’re here!” Twilight teleported over to them. “Okay, we’ve got a lot of snow to uncover. Who’s in charge of this expedition?”

“That’d be me.” A red and orange unicorn said, stepping into the light. She wore no coat and her cutie mark was that of a raging sun. The snow evaporated as it touched her.

“Sunset?” Twilight blinked. “How…? Why…?”

Sunset smirked. “Good to see you too. And good to be back as well. Anyway, to answer your questions, after you sent the message to Celestia she knew you’d have a snow problem, and since she couldn’t come herself, she contacted me.”

“What can you do about snow?” Twilight asked.

“My specialty was fire magic Twilight. Think about it.” She cleared her throat loudly, and looked behind Twilight. “CLEAR THE PREMISES!”

Twilight teleported her friends and the table right next to her. “Done.”

“Then stand back everypony…” Sunset said. “It’s about to get hot out here.” She paused for a moment, and then grinned. “Gosh, it feels good to be able to do this again.”

Pinkie wisely chose this moment to put on sunglasses.

Sunset shifted her head and a gigantic fireball appeared above the central pedestal, shining down with the power of a sun. The brilliance made all but Pinkie, Twilight, and Sunset look away in pain. The snow around the temple began to steam, wafts of vapor trailing into the air, creating a powerful current of warm air.

Twilight clapped. “That’s amazing Sunset! At this rate it’ll only take a few minutes!”

“Seconds.” Sunset corrected, adjusting her horn again. The miniature sun shot out a tremendous laser of fire that vaporized the snow in a large area instantly, cutting a circular path through the accumulation in a second, taking only six more cycles to completely uncover the blue temple.

The temple was a lot taller than any of them had previously thought – the columns had only been two thirds visible, and the pedestal had been raised well over a story off the ground. The ground itself was a smooth blue heptagon shape upon which everything stood. Beneath the two pillars that had housed the portal, several spheres that Rarity had missed in her search stood, mostly unharmed.

Twilight noticed runes in the bottom step of the seven-sided staircase that led up to the pedestal. It wasn’t Aztrot – it was something she had never seen before.

Despite herself, she grinned.

It was time to actually begin the study of this place.

~~~

Trekker was not a pony who answered questions, Starlight noted with immense annoyance. Nor did he talk much at all, beyond ‘don’t do that’ and ‘stop being stupid.’

He had just spread his hooves and created a smooth disc out of the air. She asked how he did it. He sad ‘the Power’ and refused to make any further comments.

When she asked how he got the disc to move, he said the same thing. Apparently it was the reason for every damn thing he could do – cancel unwanted gravity, blow spheres away with a look, and change the shape of whatever he wanted.

She got no explanation whatsoever for why the world seemed to be his to control.

“You’re pretty awesome with this Power stuff.” Rainbow Dash commented. Trekker made no response, instead focusing on moving the disc they were standing on top of through the world, destroying spheres in front of them with little to no effort.

Applejack and Starlight exchanged glances – they really didn’t trust this stallion. But he was effortlessly keeping them safe from the dangers of this world, so they didn’t really have much choice. He was a guide who refused to elaborate on anything.

Ahuizotl began to stir from his slumber. Starlight wasn’t having any of that, casting yet another sleep spell on him. She still thought he needed to be dealt with, but her friends objected, so she was refraining for now. But she would never take her eyes off him. He was not going to slip away.

They rode on in silence for several more minutes, until at last Trekker spoke of his own volition.

“There it is.”

Starlight looked ahead – and saw something that wasn’t a sphere. It was a well-lit structure composed of wood, glass, stone, and other materials arranged in a house-like formation that spread out in every possible direction. It was huge – Starlight estimated it could house ten thousand ponies – and it was shifting before her eyes, moving a section to the left, folding an entire tower upwards, expanding a hall… It never stopped the constant ever-changing motion. Ponies could be seen walking and flying around it – and every sphere that approached the structure vanished a few meters from contact.

“Woah…” Rainbow Dash said. “What’s it called?”

“New Mareu.” Trekker responded.

“Finally a legitimate answer…” Starlight muttered.

The disc carried them into New Mareu, passing several ponies on the way. Most treated the sight of the disc as something normal, but a few paused to look at them curiously. Rainbow Dash looked back, watching the citizens of this unusual city. She saw ponies conjuring things and shapes out of thin air, installing doors in walls they felt like walking through, and walking on the ceilings – or were they walls? It was all a little mind-bending, but she found it absolutely fascinating.

“So awesome…” She said.

The disc landed inside New Mareu, on a circular wooden outcropping. Trekker made it vanish with a stamp of his hoof; his four passengers dropped a few feet to the ground. He gestured for them to follow, creating a doorway in a nearby wall.

Starlight lifted up the prone form of Ahuizotl, and they followed Trekker. They ran into a few ponies on the way – a few greeting Trekker, a few looking at Ahuizotl in confusion, but most left the group alone. Some even shot Trekker wary looks before scampering off. It was as if they knew to give Trekker some space and not ask him questions.

After a few minutes of walking through mazelike halls, rooms, walls, and balconies, they finally came to a strange place composed of ancient stone, upon which was engraved words in a language Rainbow Dash recognized.

“Aztrot!” She said. “Those are Aztrot glyphs!”

Trekker raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, continuing on.

“Do you know what it says?” Applejack asked.

“Er… No. Twilight would though.”

“I would very much like to meet this Twilight.” A new voice said – that of a unicorn mare. She stood in the center of the ancient seven-sided room they had entered, her sleek green form draped over a chair in the center. Her eyes matched her coat, and her mane was a brilliant, almost luminescent, white that contrasted deeply with the red sphere that was her cutie mark. She looked at all of them intently, face betraying nothing more than curiosity, before she looked back at the thousands of ancient words that lined the walls of the room. All were in Aztrot, and they seemed to scream out to the world that they were important beyond measure.

Starlight blinked. “Twilight? We’re… separated from her, sorry.”

The mare nodded. “Figured as much, judging from your tone earlier. I am Overglobe, welcome to New Mareu.” She folded her hooves and let a slight smile come to her face. “You no longer have to be afraid. You are among friends. New Mareu is safe from the chaos of the rest of our Realm.”

“That’s mighty kind of you.” Applejack said.

“It’s just what we do.” Overglobe stated. “Though you seem… different than most others we’ve found out there. You look surprised at everything. Shellshocked.”

“Yeah, see, we’re kinda not from around here.” Rainbow Dash said. “Where we come from giant spheres don’t constantly try to kill you and ponies can’t just make things appear out of thin air!”

Overglobe frowned. “That… sounds wonderful. I presume you’re trapped here?”

“Yes.” Starlight said. “This guy here – Ahuizotl – interrupted us when we activated a portal between our worlds. WE don’t have a way back right now, at last until someone figures out how to reestablish the connection.”

Overglobe nodded. “First, let me make it clear, you are free to stay here as long as you want, we won’t change our policies just because you are unusual.” She glanced at Ahuizotl again, furrowing her brow, as if she was not sure what to make of him. “Please, introduce yourselves and tell me your story.”

They did so – Starlight and Rainbow Dash doing most of the talking, Applejack making sure they didn’t exaggerate anything too much. Overglobe said almost nothing while they told their story, nodding and pondering what was being said.

“…And then we were led here.” Starlight finished.

“You’ve had quite the ordeal.” Overglobe observed. “Your world sounds so… serene. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be torn form that to this place.”

“You don’t know the half of it…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Mmm.” Overglobe nodded. “Can you wake Ahuizotl up? I wish to hear his side of the story.”

“I can…” Starlight paused. “But are you sure you want that?”

“I can take care of myself.” She said. “Do it.”

Starlight grimaced slightly, but lit her horn anyway. Oveglobe stared at the magic spell in fascination, but said nothing. She redirected her gaze at the waking form of Ahuizotl. “What do you want Ahuizotl?” She asked.

He stood up and rubbed his eyes, yawning. “Well, I see we’ve found the locals. Of course they won’t trust me now, shame. Would have made things so much easier.” He looked at Overglobe. “I am simply looking for the sage known as Meadowbrook.”

“No idea,” Overglobe responded.

“Why are you looking for her? She’s long dead!” Starlight said.

“Oh, but you see little pony, that’s where you’re wrong. She unlocked the secret to eternal life, and then vanished. I’m sure she fled into the Realms to hide her discovery. Use that tiny brain of yours to figure out what I want.”

“Immortality…?” Applejack said. “Really? Aren’t there other ways?”

“This is not my first attempt.” He deadpanned.

Starlight nodded. “Yeah, haven’t you read the books Applejack?”

Applejack looked sheepish. “Ah... No?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “She’s not a big reader.”

“You weren’t either, at first.” Applejack reminded her.

“Well… Yeah fair enough.”

Overglobe seemed mildly intrigued by this exchange, but said nothing about it. “Well we will allow Ahuizotl to remain here, but he will be watched, as will all of you. If you prove yourselves to be harmful we will eject you, but I find that unlikely from what I’ve seen here” She looked at Starlight. “Is his race common where you come from?”

“He’s the only one I’m aware of.” Starlight said. “Though there are lots of other non-ponies in our world.”

Overglobe nodded. “Trekker, what do you make of them?”

“The dog is unusual, pathetically weak in the Power. The unicorn and earth pony have above average levels, though they’ve obviously never used it. The Pegasus has the highest presence of the Power I’ve ever felt.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Is… that good?”

Overglobe smirked slightly. “It is for living here. The Power is what we use to survive here – without the guardians like Trekker here New Mareu and any of the other settlements would just fall apart in a few seconds. The globes are just too violent and unpredictable for anyone to survive otherwise.“

“Ah. That explains a lot.” Starlight said.

“I’m sure it does. The Power allows us to manipulate matter and energy itself – we can change the composition and shape of anything, which is how we make things out of air itself. We can control an object’s temperature, can change the force of gravity itself, manipulate magnets and light, and convert matter directly into energy.”

Starlight realized something in that moment. ”Hey, wait a minute. That’s exactly what the globes are doing outside. Matter, energy, and forces – all being manipulated haphazardly!”

“I understand that it is very different where you come from.” he said. “I do not know if the power exists there… But you have it here.” She turned to Trekker. “Are you willing to show them some basics so they can get around here?”

“Fine.” He said. “I will show them. Not the dog though. Too weak.”

Ahuizotl shrugged. “My resources have always been more mental and charismatic, my fine Pegasus. I am not devastated that I will not be taught how to survive here by your obviously experienced and battle-hardened self, and will instead be content with meditating on the mysteries of this place.” He smirked.

Overglobe raised an eyebrow at him. “Feisty.”

Ahuizotl didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Come with me.” Trekker said. “We will practice just outside.”

Leaving Ahuizotl with Overglobe, Trekker led the three mares to a flat room. Starlight felt nervous about not being able to keep an eye on Ahuizotl, but Overglobe looked able to watch herself – and she probably had that Power up her sleeve as well.

“Lesson one.” Trekker said suddenly, spreading his wings.

“Wait, we’re starting?” Starlight said. “No dimension theory, no ex-“

“Gravity.” He said, flapping his wings and quadrupling the gravity in the room. Starlight and Applejack crumpled instantly. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, keeping her footing. She grinned at Trekker. “That all you got?”

He flapped his wings again, doubling the force. Rainbow Dash flattened like a pancake while her friends roared out in rage at her arrogance.

“The lesson is over when you stand up.” He said.

Starlight lit her horn, lifting herself up – and the gravity increased again.

“No horn.” Trekker glared at her. “The Power needs no tricks.”

Starlight groaned. This was going to suck…

~~~

Fluttershy had determined that Sperion was an excellent listener, sitting completely quiet while she told her story. He didn’t ask questions, moved his center in a nodding motion when appropriate, and didn’t seem to look anywhere else the entire time. Though he didn’t have any eyes, so it was somewhat difficult to tell what he was actually looking at, if anything.

“…And then the worm thing attacked and you saved me.”

Sperion shook his center. “Actually, I only scared it away. You were the one who stopped it.”

“Oh?” She said. “So the Stare worked?”

“Definitely.” Sperion floated into the air and pointed at her with his limb. “It’s how I found you – you were giving off such a powerful signal that I had to come instantly just to see what it was.”

“Me? Oh no, I don’t have any sort of power…”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Sperion said. “I can feel the strength inside you – you are connected to the very essence of this Realm, to life itself.”

“Oh. …That’s nice.”

“You have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Yeah…”

Sperion chuckled - a strange artificial and flat sound. “You have the inflection of life, that means you can manipulate biology; you can control muscles, make animals like you, and incite growth in living beings. Like this.” He touched his limb to a trunk, and a small branch grew out of it into the air.

“Woah…”Fluttershy said.

“The essence of life offers much more than just that,” Sperion said. “With skill you can alter your own body – something I sadly cannot do – and even create life itself!”

“Create… life?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“Like this.” He said, plucking a piece of bark from the tree. “Hard to find nonliving material in this realm, but bark is close enough.” He tossed it into the air, and the piece of bark opened up a pair of brown scratchy wings, flying away.”

Fluttershy stared at the place it had been moments before. “Uh… Will it be okay?”

“Unless a predator finds it, yes. I made sure to give it a mouth to eat with.”

Fluttershy looked at Lou and Roy. “And you say I can do that? That the Stare is… part of it?”

‘You have the strongest inflection of life I’ve ever seen; of course you can. Here, try making this leaf grow. It’s possible to-“

Fluttershy Stared at the leaf and it grew tenfold in under a second.

Sperion was silent for a moment.

“Did I do okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“…Excellent. You know most have to make some sort of physical motion or gesture to use their inflection. And even then most still need training. You really are amazing.”

“Oh. Um… Thank you.” She blushed.

“Anyway…” Sperion waved his limb around to initiate a topic change. “You say you arrived here through an ancient portal in your world?”

“Mhm.”

“And you have no idea how to get back?”

Fluttershy drooped. “No… I’m stuck here until they come for me. And it looks like it might be a while.”

“Don’t worry about yourself.” Sperion said. “You have the power to survive and thrive here.” He made a sighing noise – just as artificial and scratchy as every other noise he’d made. “I was hoping you knew how to travel the Realms…”

“You’re stuck too?”

“In a way. I rather like this Realm – it’s more peaceful than the others – but I have this ‘curse’ on me that makes me change Realms every couple dozen hours.”

“You can’t stop anywhere? That’s horrible!”

“Yeah, it is. Even though I’m used to it by now I’d like to stay somewhere awhile again… Or at least control where I’m going.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Do… Do you want to go to my world?”

“No. Your world is not for me.” He turned, Fluttershy getting the impression he was staring far into the distance.

“…Do you go to the place with the spheres?”

“The Realm of Power? Yes, why?”

“That’s where my friends are stuck.”

Sperion thought about this closely for the first time. “…I hope they found a settlement quickly, the Realm of Power is rather brutal.”

Fluttershy winced. “Can you go check on them? You will be taken there eventually right? Their names are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer.”

“I’d be glad to, Fluttershy.” Sperion said, turning slightly. “But until I shift, we should make you a place to live. A cabin.”

“Do I have to Stare at the poor tree? I don’t want to force it…”

Sperion laughed. “You really are precious, you know that? You have a power – you shouldn’t be afraid to use it.” He touched his limb to a branch, and it began to grow dozens of branches out the side, forming a platform. Vines climbed upwards, creating walls, and a bunch of smaller branches clung together at the top of the growing enclosure, making a leafy roof.

“There, a single-room cabin. That should get you started. Alas, I am about to be swept away.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Thank you for your help mister Sperion. How long till you get back?”

“Seven jumps. It will be a while.” He said. “But I will return to you – just use that Stare from time to time. Don’t be afraid of it!”

“Okay.” Fluttershy agreed. “Bye for now!”

He was already gone, vanishing without so much as a flash of energy.

Fluttershy walked into the cabin, taking Roy and Lou off her neck. “I’m going to sleep for a while, okay? If anypony shows up you can wake me.”

They nodded.

Fluttershy curled up on the leafy floor and quickly fell asleep, dreaming of her friends… and Sperion.