• Published 7th Apr 2017
  • 2,967 Views, 974 Comments

The Influence - GMBlackjack



Twilight Sparkle awakens in a mysterious room with a mysterious artifact - in a story where your comments influence the outcome.

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Twilence looked through the update without saying anything.

Orchid bristled at how long this was taking.

Twilence smirked. "We are going to evacuate the town, as per Josh's excellent suggestion. Diorite, think you can handle that?"

Diorite paused, then nodded. "That's... That's a good idea."

Prancey whooped. "YAY! YOU FOUND A THIRD OPTION!"

Diorite nodded. "We can take care of that ourselves actually. There is no need for you to stay."

"EXCEPT TO FIND THAT DIE!" Vriska shouted, digging through the krill still. "Okay, I need some luck. Who wants to volunteer to become extremely unlucky and fall flat on their faces for the next few days?"

"We cannot afford that," Orchid said. "Just leave the die."

Twilence frowned. "I'm not so sure... Letting it fall into the Dark Lord's hands..."

Vriska growled. "I should ask Aradia to go back into the past and find it for me-" Vriska's eyes widened. "Oh no. I do that in the future, don't I? And she brings it back to me! The future me! It might not even exist in this time! AAAAAAAAAGH!"

Twilence lit her horn, scanning for magic signatures - and found none. Though the die hadn't really given any off to begin with. Whatever it was it wasn't magic, at least not in the traditional sense.

"Looking could be pointless," Orchid said. "It is a powerful artifact, but Aradia can bring it back. We need to head to the South, it is a precarious journey. And we are going to try to make it in one day and night."

Twilence nodded. "Right... Tomorrow, ice altar. Then the Capital. Do we have time to stop over the archipelago's altar, for another ally?"

"The altar is in a public location, so yes."

Twilence grinned. "We'll have a full party soon."

"It all depends on your definition of soon. We should go now."

Twilence sighed. "Right... Prancey? Diorite? Wound? Sorry, I have to go again."

Infinity shook her head. "Me too..."

Prancey giggled. "No problem! Go save the world or whatever!"

"I plan on it. Stay safe!"

"We will be - the Forest has a few secret places in it!"

Twilence nodded. "Well... How are we going to do this?"

Fluttershy extended a wing. "Well... All of us can fly. Let's fly there until we can't."

Infinity raised an eyebrow. "AHEM?"

"Ruby can carry you."

Ruby nodded impassively, grabbing Infinity. Twilight gave Prancey and Wound one last hug before they took off towards the Ice Shelf...

~~~

It was night. They were still flying. It had started to get really cold and windy.

"Okay..." Twilence shivered. "This... This is annoying!" she yelled through the intense winds.

"What!?" Orchid yelled, unable to make out what she had said.

"NOTHING IMPORTANT!" Twilence rolled her eyes. Now was as good a time as any to talk to the Influence she supposed. She was momentarily struck by a feeling of oddness - the crisis with Pebbleton was supposed to be more of a big deal, and yet it wasn't. She didn't know why this struck her as odd, it just showed up in her head. She shook it. "Well, Josh, you had a good idea. Thank you. I... I just don't think it would have gone well if we chose any of the previous options. And thank you for your kind words. And to everyone who asked about the die, I am sorry, we just... didn't find it. And it is making me nervous, but one of the first things I'm going to ask Aradia is for her to go get it, next time we see her. Afizah... You're right, the moonless night would match up with Nightmare Moon since the day she appeared she eclipsed the Sun, though that was years after Sombra... Celestia, we are almost exactly one thousand years in the past, aren't we? Anyway, Afizah, we know Sombra isn't the Dark Lord - it's Siron, Corot, or both."

She flapped extra hard to avoid capsizing in the wind. "And about all this Alpha Timeline stuff... I think Josh is right, we can change things, defy prophecy. Even Aradia said she has a hard time dealing with what we do. I don't think it necessarily means we win though... But we know Vriska survives. And something tells me I do as well. I really don't know what though..." She looked at the Eye. "...Are you telling me things?"

"Maybe."

"Oh. Hi Mite. Creek and I say thank you for all you've done, by the way."

"Accepted."

"Ponygood, that thought about how reality works - I mean, it's interesting, but it seems a little pointless at this point. If we exist with a direct connection or indirect as you say, does it really matter? The same things are happening all around us. It doesn't change anything. Creek, we don't need you to talk about your past. But we are here if you need to. And I often find that ponies - and people - need to talk about their past. It may be you've already done so and don't need to again, but if you haven't... Well, we're here. Also, don't type your stutter, it was awkward to read as it was. Probably fine to hear, but text leaves something to be desired. And Ponygood, as for your question... HEY VRISKA!"

"What?"

"If you can control luck why do you get crap rolls?"

"Running low at the time! Have to accumulate it! Since I don't like removing luck until people's hearts stop anymore, not as easy as it sounds!"

"Got it!" Twilence flew over to Ruby and Infinity. "Hey, Infinity!"

"Hey, Twilence!"

"Haven't really talked, have we?"

"Not really. What's up?"

"Wind. Lots of wind! And yelling!"

"Yeah, I got that too! Also I've got a dragon embedded in my back!"

Ruby said nothing. Twilence smirked. "That you do. So, did you figure out what your cutie mark meant?"

"Not entirely sure. I think it has something to do with infinite ideas maybe? But that seems wrong. Maybe I'm just an outcome of random chance? Who knows?"

"What else happened while you were with them, by the way?"

"Well I was scared at first, but then I realized how corny they were. Ruby here was blind faith incarnate and Orchid was easy to infuriate. Also M - oh M, you know, the Motherboard? - they were absolutely deadpan SNARK. The hate for Orchid was obvious no matter what she commanded."

"Sounds like the Motherboard..."

"An ironic 'celebration of the Oracle' party was performed just to annoy her!"

Ruby growled. "It hindered our progress."

Infinity laughed. "That was kind of the whole point! Semi-rebellion!"

"This is why I hate machines. OW!"

"Payback," Mite announced.

"...I am one with the wind..." Ruby said, trying to calm herself.

And then the gust hit. The wind came from above, catching them all by surprise. They were tossed into the ground with alarming speed. Luckily the snow was soft. Unluckily the snow was cold.

Fluttershy stood up, chattering. The snow was up to her neck. "Ok-k-kay we c-cant travel in t-this..."

Orchid nodded, shivering herself. She brought out the spheres for Proteus and Castorson, green and black. Great trees grew out of the ground and started glowing with the soft energy of stars. The snow in the middle of them began to melt. Ruby hastened it by breathing fire.

Twilence blinked. "...What exactly are the capabilities of the spirits?"

"They are each attuned to one of the six elements - Water, Life, Cosmos, and Magic. We are missing Mind and Blood."

Vriska raised an eyebrow. "Does Blood have to deal with personal connections?"

"No. Blood is all about physical power and control."

"Okay, explain these elements to me, they aren't like any system I've heard of."

Orchid nodded and explained while the others set up camp. "Life and Water, Cosmos and Magic, Mind and Blood. Green and Blue, Black and Purple, White and Red. Proteus, Alderan, Castorson, Ine, Gamnemnon, Vester. The Elementals had many other elements - some suggest there were hundreds of thousands of different ones - but those were the six that rose to the top and defined themselves as the dominant. Life is all about living things and nature, Water is all about the nonliving, the substances from which life draws from. Cosmos is all about the Stars above us and the space between them while Magic is the substance from which all spells are drawn. Mind deals with thoughts and calculation while Blood deals with power and emotions."

Twilence laid down on a roll of fabric she created. "Interesting. The Elements where I come from are different - more about how to live your life than anything. Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness. I have read some texts that equate these to more traditional elements, of course. Magic, Earth, Air, Cosmos or Void, Water, Life."

"No fire?" Orchid asked. "Most standard systems have a fire in there somewhere."

Twilence shook her head. "Nope. Though I have a friend named Sunset who would be fire... Wonder what that means... Empathy Fire? Redemption Fire? Hrm..."

Fluttershy blinked. "There's somepony we could bring."

"What? Sunset?"

"I mean, it's an option right?"

Twilence shrugged. "I don't know... Something to consider I suppose. Still bringing in Aradia and Evermore Pinkie. At least I'm pretty sure about Pinkie, I suppose I could be outvoted. And whatever the other one is."

Vriska yawned. "Well, it's sleep time..."

Twilence nodded. "Yes. Yes it is."

~~~

Twilence looked at the red eye.

The red eye looked back. It did nothing this time.

Twilence sat down and shrugged. There really was nothing to do here anymore. The eye was there - it was always there - and it'd probably be there tomorrow night as well. Twilence didn't think she'd be sleeping the night after.

The night of the moonless sky.

Or the day of Nightmare Moon's eclipse.

Afizah was probably right about that.

Were the events related? Twilence knew Nightmare Moon came into existence because an evil entity took advantage of Luna's anger at her sister - a very real anger, Luna had confided to Twilence once - and created a monster. But it had never been clear where those Nightmare Forces came from. Many thought the moon itself, but that didn't make much sense - how'd they corrupt her when she was nowhere near it? And if it was through her natural connection to the celestial body, why was it not more gradual?

Did the Dark Lord have something to do with it, maybe?

...There was no way to know. Not until it happened.

She bit her lip. If given the choice, once she knew, would she change anything?

She didn't know.

The red eye continued to stare at her.

"Oh stop it already, you aren't as creepy as you think."

Nothing.

~~~

They walked along the snow-covered peninsula alongside the shore. The salt water of the sea was enough to keep it from freezing over, but not enough to prevent small patches of ice to form. Everyone was bundled in magically conjured coats - save Ruby and Mite, who needed no such things.

The scenery was... boring. Snow only looked beautiful for so long. It was all very flat and boring. The wind had died down - they could have been flying - but they were taking it slower for now. The Ice Shelf was a large geographical feature, they didn't want to miss a snow-covered Altar just by rushing over it.

Twilence noticed a feature in the distance. She pointed at the top of a snowy hill. "There. That looks like a spire of ice."

Vriska raised an eyebrow. "So it does."

"Could it be the Altar?"

Ruby flew over to it to see. It was a giant spire of ice pointing directly out of the snow, letting the low-hanging sun's beams through beautifully. The snow wasn't sticking to it for whatever reason, and it was semi-melted from the sun's direct rays. Ruby reached out to touch it.

Before she did the spire opened up like a flower, turning into eight tremendous spinning blades. Ruby ducked back before they could slice her in half. The flower rose up into the air on a strange mobile strand of ice, from which numerous thorns appeared. The creature easily towered over all of them.

"Ice monster," Infinity said. "I don't know what I was expecting. Something less plant-like?"

Ruby bathed the creature in her fire breath, parts of it melting off, but it still came for her, whirling like a saw blade.

"...You know, maybe we should help her?" Fluttershy said.

Ruby dodged another attack from the ice-flower with elegance.

Twilence shrugged. "I think she has it."

Another ice monster erupted from the snow directly in front of them, this one looking nothing like a flower. It was mostly a giant pair of jaws with sharp teeth, though it did have two pointy icy arms. It charged - Orchid shattered it with the power of Ine. Ruby took the flower down with another belch of fire, leaving only a writhing tower of ice.

"Okay, these things are weird," Vriska said, picking up a piece of the toothy one. "This is literally just ice. Nothing else at all."

Twilence raised an eyebrow. "At least it looks like they won't be too much trouble."

~~~

A few hours later...

Twilence, Orchid, and the rest of the group stared up at an ice creature that was too large to comprehend. It was made of numerous hydra head shapes, tentacles that snaked far out of sight, insect shapes everywhere, random places made of geometry, flower-blades alongside literal saw blade shapes, and a single cubical head the size of a small mansion.

"Welp," Twilence said. "I can see why ponies don't like the Ice Shelf."

Then the Eye lit up. Twilence facehooved. "Of course."