Songs of the Spheres

by GMBlackjack

030 - Doors in the Snowblast

Despite everything, Earth Tau’ri’s Stargate Command was the same. It was still a government operated site that, while not exactly secret anymore, was still closed to the public and would probably stay that way for some time. The base was filled with military personnel of many different nations and universes, dozens of missions were undertaken every day, and there was some new politician making an annoying visit every other week. The walls were still gray, the gateroom was still used for almost every mission, and the cafeteria still served blue jell-o.

All these years, and Daniel Jackson still couldn’t identify the flavor.

“What do you think it is?” he asked Renee.

Renee licked her lips. “I have no idea. It’s not blue raspberry, or blueberry. All I can tell you is that I want more.”

“I wonder if even the Ascended know…” Daniel spooned more into his mouth, pondering the flavor deeply.

“Could just be a chemical mixture,” Renee pointed out. “Not based on anything. …Actually, now that I think about it, it does taste a bit like some of the things Pinkie’s given me.”

“Now the question becomes something else. Do we want to ask her what it is?”

Renee held out her hoof and tipped it side to side. “Eh... Either she doesn’t know, won’t tell us, or what she tells us won’t be satisfying.”

“Or it’ll blow our minds.”

Renee shrugged. “Possibly. There is something to be said for appreciating a mystery.”

Daniel put his hand to his forehead. “You think too hard, you know that?”

Renee chuckled. “And you don’t? Remind me again, which one of us was it that studies written languages even though we have a spell for that now? Hrm?”

Daniel held his hands in surrender. “Alright, you win, I think too hard too.”

“Aw, I was expecting more resistance from you. Come on, Daniel, try to prove your point!” She chuckled.

“I have to keep my mind for other things today. Joint mission with Earth Vitis later.”

Renee blinked. “Oh, that’s today?”

“…Isn’t that why you wanted to have…?” He checked the clock. “…I guess this is brunch.”

“Oh! No, do I really need to have an excuse for that? Please, sometimes I can just do things on the spur of the moment. I’m just taking a little break before Pinkie demands another adventure. Which… Is probably in less than an hour, actually.”

Daniel sat back. “These are our lives now. Constant random exploration.”

“And when it’s not that, it’s politics,” Renee said. “I may not mind it as much as the next mare, but it’s rather dour at times.”

Daniel folded his hands together. “You have no idea.”

“Oh?”

“You know that ‘solution’ Twilight dreamed up for the Earth companies?”

“I read it over. Seems like a rather elegant solution to me.”

“It just passed. And now I’m having flashbacks to earlier today about the media throwing a frenzy about the ‘inhibition of the free market’ and the ‘destruction of democratic ideals’.”

Renee stifled a chuckle. “Your people care a lot about things they don’t really understand, don’t they?”

“So do yours. How many of you actually study this ‘magic of friendship’?”

“Daniel, we’ve already had this conversation. Twilight studies it extensively and conveys her findings. Not that many ponies listen but… Oh, I see your point.”

Daniel smiled. “I knew you had it in you.”

Renee narrowed her eyes. “Oh, how terrible, woe is me, I made a quick assumption and Mister Jackson was actually right. However will I cope?”

“Ice cream?”

Renee put a hoof to her chin. “That sounds like a good idea, actually.”

“Maybe there’ll be ice cream where you’re going.”

“I have no idea. Pinkie doesn’t exactly decide these things ahead of time.”

“How can you prepare then? Our mission today is to go to Earth-108 and investigate a distant radio signal, look for signs of life. I know it, my team knows it, and the people from Earth Vitis should know it as well.”

Renee nodded, eating the last of her jell-o. “Never underestimate people’s potential for cluelessness.”

“I’m not the one in charge, so that’s luckily not my responsibility.”

“Right. You know, sometimes I forget you technically aren’t a commander of any sort.”

Daniel smiled. “Just an archeologist with experience.”

“I wish you luck on your archeological endeavors,” Renee said, standing up. “I must be off. If I take too long Pinkie’s apt to appear from nowhere and scare the living daylights out of me.”

“Have fun!”

“Fun is always planned for.” She trotted out of the cafeteria.

O’Neill sat down at Daniel’s table the moment she left. Daniel blinked. “Aren’t you supposed to be on Esefem?”

“The Enterprise can pick up Saxton Hale’s shipments on its own,” O’Neill said, digging into a piece of steak that Daniel knew wasn’t on the cafeteria menu. “Decided to cross the great divide to see how the old stomping grounds are doing.”

“Right.”

“So, you’ve been spending a lot of time with that unicorn there.”

Daniel folded his fingers together and nodded slowly.

“How’s it feel to date a horse?”

Daniel sighed. “You sound like a teenager, Jack.”

“I’m feeling immature today.” O’Neill laughed. “I’m also feeling like I’m right. You two spend a lot of time together.”

“We’re colleagues and friends, Jack.”

“I don’t recall you having lunch more than once a week with Carter…”

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “You’re one to talk.”

O’Neill shrugged. “I’m just saying, you know this Renee really well at this point.”

“Jack…”

“What’s her name mean?”

“It’s the name of a fictional detective she took when she was investi- …this doesn’t prove anything.”

“Who runs her fashion chains?”

“Sassy Sa- wait, how do you know these things?”

O’Neill held up his phone. “Google. A great source of information.”

Daniel folded his arms. “So you came here prepared to rile me up.”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “You’re reading too much into it.”

“Well then, riddle me this, what do you two talk about?”

“Policy and happenings, mostly. Like it or not, we’re big names in the political scene, and we’ve got to keep track of what’s going on. Lately it’s been about your ‘Prime Directive’ ideas.”

O’Neill raised an eyebrow. “Well that’s not romantic.”

“How surprising.”

“So, what’s the verdict on the Prime Directive?”

“She doesn’t like it,” Daniel said. “We’re wrong a lot of the time about when to interfere, but having a policy against interference would just be ‘horrendous’. She’s seen too many worlds that would fall without help.”

O’Neill took a long sip of his nearly-empty drink. “And you?”

“Not sure yet. On one hand, it keeps cultures separate and protected from our oftentimes-corrupting influence. On the other, we wouldn’t be able to stop races from destroying themselves in war.”

“Back on the first, it’s based in Star Trek.”

“Being based in Star Trek is a negative point, Jack.”

“That’s what they told me, but I made the Enterprise, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Daniel was about to retort when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked behind him at a younger man in full military uniform. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, current leader of the team known as SG-1. “It’s time, Daniel.”

“Already?” Daniel said, checking his watch. “Wow, time sure flies, Jack. Sorry, we’ll have to continue this later.”

O’Neill shrugged. “I know where to find you.”

Mitchell led Daniel out of the cafeteria. The moment they were out of O’Neill’s sight, Daniel let out a breath. “Thanks, Cam.”

“Don’t mention it. There are some times you just don’t prod a man about his girlfriend.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Cam…”

Mitchell grinned. “I’m kidding. Though, if I’m speaking honestly, I think you two would be adorable.”

“Remind me why I put up with all of you people again?” Daniel asked as they walked deeper into the base.

A third man met them as they walked. “Because you appreciate your experiences with us, Daniel Jackson.” The man in question was dark, bald, and very muscular. A golden symbol was etched into his forehead, vaguely reminiscent of a snake enclosed in an oval.

“Hrm… Teal’c has a point,” Mitchell said. “We’ve saved your ass more times than I can count!”

Daniel chuckled. “I think we all know I’d just find some way to come back from the dead, like I always do.”

Teal’c raised an eyebrow. “Indeed.”

“So, Mitchell, did Earth Vitis send over their group yet?”

Mitchell nodded. “Just received word. Three people, two from their China, one from the AID. Haven’t seen them myself, but I’ll bet a wooden nickel that they’re in the gateroom.”

Teal’c nodded. “I was on my way there myself. I am curious what kind of warriors and explorers the other Earth has offered us.”

“I’m hoping for some scientists,” Daniel admitted. “I wonder how they’ll respond to the skin alteration spell…”

Mitchell shrugged. “We’ll just have to see. I’m expecting at least one claim of ‘racist’ to come out of somebody’s mouth.”

They soon arrived at the gate room, walking into the presence of the stargate itself. In addition to the people normally there tending to the gate and arches, there were three others. One was the form of Agent Tempest, though instead of her normal maroon skin she had a black tone similar to Teal’c’s. The other two were clearly Oriental. One, a man, had probably had a different skin tone prior to arrival. The other, though, was not from Earth Vitis. Daniel knew she was from the Fire Nation, and it wasn’t just from her red-black clothing and cultural hairstyle.

“Okay, can someone explain to me what Azula is doing here?” Daniel asked.

Azula smirked. “Isn’t it obvious? I was sent here to represent China.”

“But – you’re not –“

“I work for them. Have for a few years.”

“Director Storm sa-“

“Doesn’t matter what Director Storm thinks he may have seen,” Azula said. “I’m here, I was selected to go on this joint mission with you. You don’t like it, complain after we’re done.”

Daniel turned to Mitchell. He just shrugged. “Hey, we had Vala on the team for a while, you know how crazy she is. And aren’t we friends with that unicorn who tried to steal our Puddlejumper?”

Daniel let out a tense breath. “Fine. Azula, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But you’ll be watched.”

Azula shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Teal’c, watch her.”

Teal’c glanced from Daniel to Azula with his normal stoic expression. “Of course, Daniel Jackson.”

Azula grinned. “Great! By the way, my little… ‘buddy’ here is called Wan.”

Wan said nothing, he only nodded.

“He doesn’t talk much,” Azula explained.

“I can tell,” Tempest muttered.

Mitchell put on a smile. “Well I can see we have a troop of happy campers! So, I assume all of you have read the mission?”

“Go to E-108,” Tempest said, monotone. “Investigate radio frequency. Explore anything interesting and report back.”

“Good! I assume everyone brought heavy coats?”

Azula blinked. “…What?”

“It said in the file. E-108 is absolutely covered in snow. You needed to bring a coat.”

“I… I er…”

Tempest snorted. “I’m sure the Tau’ri have plenty of extra coats for you to use. Don’t complain if the color’s ugly, though.”

Azula folded her arms. “Fine. Where are these coats?”

“I can show you,” Teal’c said, bowing slightly. “This way.” The two of them left the gate room.

Mitchell turned to Wan. “So… Do you ever say anything?”

Wan shrugged.

“Fascinating. Tempest, how are you adjusting to the-“

“If I hear a ‘you’re black’ joke somebody will die. Otherwise everything’s fine. A rather standard mission, all things considered.”

Daniel chuckled to himself.

“What?”

“Oh, it’s just that you’ve invoked Murphy’s Law. If this mission turns out to be a standard one I will be very surprised now.”

Tempest turned away, clearly of the mind that Murphy’s Law was stupid.

Daniel shrugged. So she was going to learn the hard way. Fine by him, sometimes that was the only way.

~~~

Wolfe University’s cafeteria was, in many ways, the center of student life on campus. Every other section – nay, every building – had its own location for the students to interact, creating numerous different cells of people, a division. The cafeteria stood as a neutral ground – the engineers could meet with the artists, the business majors with the economists, the athletes with the mathematicians. It was a place to experience togetherness.

Sometimes.

Ever since Corona had started living as a unicorn the reactions were decidedly different. There were three camps – people who avoided talking to her, people who begged to be close to her as much as they possibly could, and people who actually knew her. The third group was small, the second group stopped coming up to her after she exploded on them a few times for being so naggy, and the first silently judged her for being different. Oh, sure, they’d claim that being a unicorn was cool, but she knew. She just knew from the way they looked.

Maybe they didn’t even realize they were doing it, refusing to believe they could harbor racist thoughts. But they were. She was certain.

“Corona?” Sparky called, waving her hand in front of the unicorn’s eyes. “You’re silently judging everyone again.”

“N-no I’m not!” It took her less than a second to recognize the hypocrisy of that statement. Unfortunately, that was not fast enough to stop Sugarcoat’s response.

“You’re judging them for being judgmental. You should have that cognitive dissonance looked at.”

“They are sitting there and judging me!”

“You’re just reading too much into it. They ignored you before, they’re ignoring you now. You’re no longer interesting.”

“Sugarcoat!” Sparky chided.

“I apologize for nothing.”

“Girls,” Corona said. “I’m a unicorn. I’ve only been a unicorn for a few months. The press shows up at my house wanting interviews every other day! How is that no longer interesting?”

“Exposure,” Sugarcoat said.

“I think you were just too snappy with them,” Sparky said. “They wanted to know everything about you and, well…”

“You exploded,” Sugarcoat finished. “Metaphorically and literally, at different times.”

Corona looked away, eyes downcast. “…You’re right about that, at least.”

Sugarcoat smirked. “Just listen to your friend Sugarcoat, it’s the shortcut to truth.”

“You’re not always right.”

“My record speaks for itself.”

Sparky rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it does.”

“Your sarcasm is unfounded.”

Corona folded her hooves over each other and laid her head on them. “I dunno, girls. It just feels… wrong.”

“It’s just not what you were expecting. Nothing to get worked up over,” Sugarcoat said.

“Thank you for that uncharacteristically understanding sentiment.”

Sugarcoat shrugged. “I’m not a completely heartless blunt instrument.”

“Right again. You’re on a roll today. I should probably not care as much – I don’t have much longer in this college anyway. Graduation at the end of the semester and all that. I should just relax and get through these last few mo-“

The main doors to the cafeteria were thrown open with a loud enough bang that everyone turned to see who it was. Two figures strode into the room, a slight aura of dramatic smoke following them.

“CITIZENS OF EARTH!” Trixie yelled, holding up a hoof. “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE LULAMOON HAS COME TO YOUR HUMAN WORLD!” Firework spells shot out from behind her, singing the floor around her.

The other figure, Discord, snapped his fingers, removing the singed floor and replacing it with bright disco dance tiles. “Don’t forget me, Trixie, I’m here as well.”

“Yes, and the chaotic and conniving Discord is here as well,” Trixie said, dismissively. “We’ve decided to spend a day among you!”

The entire cafeteria cheered, startling Corona considerably. Most of the students ran out of their seats and to Discord and Trixie. They whipped out phones, started taking videos, and tried to get a single question or sentence through to the two of them. Trixie and Discord ate the attention up, posing in dramatic, flamboyant ways. They displayed creative uses of magic to dazzle the eye, ranging from parlor tricks to a complicated chaos surge that turned dust particles into tiny cats.

Trixie clapped her hooves. “A cat for all of you, courtesy of Trixie and Discord!”

Corona teleported in between Trixie and Discord. “What are you two doing here!?”

“What does it look like?” Discord said, handing out the cats to the crowd. “Putting on a show!”

Corona twitched. “You can’t just waltz into a college and start casting crazy magic! You shouldn’t be here Discord, you could cause a panic!”

Trixie huffed. “Please, Corona, everyone already knows about Discord.”

“Really?”

“Really. Have you not been paying attention to the Internet? We are celebrities.” She waved to the crowd. “We brought the Internet of the multiverse together, and now everyone knows who we are!”

“But people don’t know how powerful Discord is!”

Discord put a finger to Corona’s muzzle. “Shush. You need to calm down, Corona. Don’t worry, this is all great publicity. Throwing a party for a bunch of students, what could go wrong?”

“The teachers could get mad.”

Trixie put a hoof around Corona’s neck. “Just relax, Corona, enjoy being close to the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“B-but-“

“Have a cat,” Discord said, placing a pale yellow feline into her mane. “Her name is Puffin.”

“…She’s not a bird,” Corona said, levitating the cat out of her mane. “And I already have a pet, Discord. And you’re distrac-“

Discord put Puffin back in Corona’s mane. “Everyone, Corona doesn’t want our gift!”

“The gall!” Trixie said.

The crowd booed at her. Corona twitched, opening her mouth to give them a piece of her mind. But she remembered the conversation she’d had not ten minutes ago. She fell silent, letting Puffin crawl through her mane.

Trixie’s expression shifted to mild confusion. She looked like she wanted to ask Corona something, but Discord stopped everything with a shout. “WHO LIKES CHAOS?”

A dozen of the students yelled “I DO!”

“THEN FOLLOW ME TO THE FOOTBALL FIELD! We shall create a chaos capital!”

Trixie coughed. “And I will be performing outside the cafeteria for the next little while! Come and go as you please!”

Discord and Trixie walked toward their respective locations, taking the vast majority of students with them. The cafeteria was soon empty.

Corona’s eye twitched. “…They get all the love without even trying. This doesn’t seem fair.”

Sugarcoat slurped her almost-empty drink. “You won’t get any argument from me.”

Sparky grimaced. “I can’t see this ending well.”

“They’re not thinking straight,” Corona muttered. “There will be chaos, and chaos is not a good thing most often. This is going to blow up. I need to convince them to stop.”

“If you can’t bribe Trixie with peanut butter crackers I don’t think you can just convince her to stop,” Sugarcoat commented.

Corona narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see about that…”

~~~

Daniel, Mitchell, Teal’c, Tempest, Azula, and Wan marched through the snow, all six of them in full heavy coats, their faces covered with reflective visors. It was difficult to tell who was who. They could only hear each other because of the radios in their visors; otherwise it would have been far too difficult to shout over the frozen winds.

“How far away is the signal?” Mitchell asked.

Tempest held up a tablet covered in considerable protective casing. “Less than a mile.”

“You think we would have seen something by now.”

Azula snorted. “We can’t see ten yards in this white mess, why would we be able to see it?” She punched a fist forward, unleashing a torrent of fire. “Can’t even see the edge of my flames in this mess.”

“Thanks for the demonstration,” Tempest muttered.

Daniel held a hand to his visor, trying to cut down the glare. “Azula, do the fire again. I thought I saw something.”

Azula pulled her body back and shoved her hands forward, this time with considerably more effort put into it. The white blizzard was pushed away by the fire. There was something there – the form of a human, kneeling in the snow, unmoving.

Daniel and Teal’c ran through the immense snow to the figure, laying their hands on them. It was a woman swathed in heavy clothes, but nowhere near as much as the team had, and definitely not enough to survive long in this immense cold.

Daniel pressed a hand to her neck. There was a heartbeat, and he could feel her breathing. “She’s alive!”

Mitchell pulled out the dimensional device. “Let’s get her back to base, stat-“

“No…” the woman managed. “There’s no hope for us…”

“Us? Are there others out here?” Teal’c demanded. He tore off the outer layer of his own coat, covering her with it.

“You… You aren’t from Therma?”

“No,” Tempest said. “Where is Therma?”

She pointed to where the signal originated. “That way… Can you help us? Can you…?”

“We can try,” Mitchell said. “But you have to live for us to do that, understand?”

“Okay… Let’s go. It’s not far…” She tried to stand up, but her legs were frozen too weak. Teal’c pulled her up and carried her, grunting against the cold seeping through the remaining layers of his coat.

Mitchell put the dimensional device away. “Right, let’s go. Hustle everybody.”

Nobody needed to be told twice. The six of them ran through the snow, kicking up impressive amounts of the frozen weather. Wan tripped more than once, but Mitchell always helped him up. In less than a minute, they arrived at the edge of a steep drop off into what was essentially a crater.

Standing on the edge, they could see Therma – a settlement. In the middle of this crater was a tremendous cylindrical structure churning smoke into the air above to be lost in the whiteness of the blizzard. The structure glowed a soft red at its base, visibly heating the area around it – heating it enough that there was no snow in the majority of the crater. Instead, there were several dozen industrial buildings, circling the source of heat, creating a large town. They could see hundreds of people walking around, living their lives in a thermal haven from the snow.

“How do we get down?” Teal’c asked the woman.

“There’s... A chain elevator…” She pointed to the left, where a small elevator structure sat, composed of rusted chains and a metal pillar. The generator for the lift was at the bottom of the sheer face, as was the lift itself.

There was no one manning the elevator at the moment.

“Azula, can you get down there?” Daniel asked.

“Yes, I can,” she said. “You’d be lost without me!” She jumped off the edge, causing the woman to yell in surprise. Hands forward, Azula shot a torrent of fire at the ground, bringing herself to a stop just before she actually hit the ground. She jogged over to the elevator and pulled a lever, bringing the large lift to the top of the crater.

The rest of the team piled on. The woman stared at Azula in disbelief. “How did you…?”

“Classified,” Tempest interjected. “It’d be best if you didn’t ask questions.”

“…Are you from the government?”

“You could say that,” Daniel said.

“You really can help us…” a soft smile came to her face. “Will you?”

“Don’t see why not,” Daniel responded. “Looks like you have it rough.”

The lift hit the ground, and all of them stepped off. The people of Therma had apparently seen the fiery display from Azula and had come to investigate by deploying two dozen people with guns.

Mitchell held up his hands. “Woah, hey! We’re not here to attack! We’re just bringing one of your people back!”

The man in the front grunted. “Who?”

Mitchell turned to the woman. “What’s your name?”

“…Aria.”

The man in front lowered his gun. “A-aria?”

Aria said nothing. She remained in Teal’c’s arms, unmoving. Refusing to shift her head.

The man shook his head. “Stranger, while I thank you, we’ve never gotten visitors before. You’re going to have to tell us who you are.”

“I’m Colonel Cameron Mitchell, and this is my team. We were investigating a radio signal we detected, probably coming from your town, when we found her. We just brought her back.”

“Government? …Military?”

“Military,” Tempest said, nodding. “Special operations, so naturally we can’t tell you everything.”

The man lowered his gun. “I’ll have to take you to Marge then, see what she wants to do with you. You’ll have to surrender your weapons.”

Cameron, Daniel, Wan, and Tempest handed in their guns without fuss. Azula had no weapons to surrender, at least as far as they knew. Teal’c gave up the staff weapon strapped to his back, the zat gun on his side, and the regular pistol he kept on his other side.

The man blinked at Teal’c’s armory. “You the weapons expert?”

“Indeed.”

“Experimental stuff?”

“Indeed.”

The man took in a breath. “…Right. I’m Henry. Follow me; my men will tend to Aria. Get her to the hospital.”

“Right away,” a subordinate said, taking Aria away with three others. Daniel and the team followed Henry into Therma proper.

“You may want to open your coats, it starts getting hot pretty quickly,” Henry warned. They obliged, unzipping the fronts of their coats and removing their visors. This revealed their regular uniforms on underneath, many of which had the stargate symbol for Earth.

“That your insignia? Never seen it before.”

“As Agent Tempest here said, we’re not exactly public knowledge,” Mitchell said.

Henry nodded, not questioning it any further. The six of them were led into Therma. By the time they reached the outer structures, the temperature was no longer freezing, just slightly chilly. They saw men, women, and children hard at work repairing the metal scaffoldings of the many, many buildings. Smoke poured into the sky from virtually every structure imaginable. The lesser smoke trails paled in comparison to the tremendous output of the generator itself, but it was enough to give the town an overall unclean look. Soot covered everything from the walls to the streets to the faces of the children.

Most of the population walked around with a downcast expression plastered on their faces. They walked around with little energy in their motion, going through the motions of intensive labor just to stay alive. People yawned immensely, some struggling to keep awake. They saw one girl – couldn’t have been older than twelve – fail to tighten a bolt on a construction project properly. She had to twist herself to avoid getting crushed and clearly dislodged a shoulder in the process.

Her cries sent pain into the hearts of the newcomers, but they didn’t have to do anything – they saw people taking her away, presumably to the hospital. They saw other people walking around in casts, but still working.

“You do have it rough here,” Daniel commented.

“No argument here,” Henry responded. “It’s nothing but work, work, and work to stay alive. Things have calmed down a little since the engineers improved the generator’s efficiency, but it’s still hard. At least we’re actually able to educate the children now…”

“What do you guys eat?”

“It’s called gruel. It’ll be a treat when you get to it. Everyone swears it’s fifty percent sawdust, fifty percent random mold. It’s disgusting but it works.”

Daniel looked around at all the dour faces. “Do you have anything to look forward to? Any leisure?”

“Besides the occasional duel? Not really. We’ve been hanging to life by a thread for so long…”

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Duels?”

“Well – oh, it looks like one’s happening right now. Over there.”

The six of them looked. A small crowd of people was forming around two men, each glaring at each other. An official-looking woman with an ugly green robe stood between them.

She looked at the two men, arms folded. “This duel is officially sanctioned. The weapons – type 5 pistols.” She produced the two pistols from her robe. “The dispute is over the courtship of one Eliza Bennet, let it be known. The setup is a five paces quickdraw. The weapons will be returned to me upon conclusion, or else punishment will be severe.” She handed the guns to the men and casually strode out of the ring, face expressionless- bored if anything.

The crowd cheered as the two men moved five paces back and glared at each other, hands on their guns as if they were in some old western movie – just how the people liked it.

There was a BANG, and the man on the left fell to the ground, a hole in his chest. He didn’t scream, he just tipped over like a ragdoll. The crowd went wild, patting the victor on the back. He grinned, especially when a woman who was presumably Eliza Bennet flung herself around him, laughing jovially.

The people who had only a few minutes ago looked hopeless and destitute now walked around with excited smiles on their faces, chattering excitedly. There was a decidedly sharp improvement in the people’s mood from the bloody duel.

But there was one sorrowful person – an old woman standing over the dead man’s body, weeping bitterly. She was probably his mother. Official-looking people came in to clean up the body, having to tear it from the mother’s hands.

“This place just earned some respect from me,” Azula said.

“Huh? Why?” Henry said. “It was just a duel. Happens every few days.”

Daniel forced the lump in his throat down. “Is that really all you have to look forward to here?”

“…Pretty much. It’s either that or talk about rumors. And the rumors get more outlandish every day.”

“Such as?” Tempest asked.

“The most recent one is that there’s some girl who can walk in doors and just vanish. If you ask me, it’s just some clever girl who’s figured out how to use the vent systems. Probably a thief.”

Mitchell nodded. “I think we need to see this Marge now. How far away is she?”

“I am right here.” An older woman with a sharp nose, white hair, and a pale blue cloak walked up to them. “We never get newcomers here. Henry, explain.”

“They brought back Aria from the wastes, Marge. Found us from a radio signal. This is Colonel Cameron Mitchell and his team, a special operations unit of some sort.”

She turned to Mitchell. “You’re American, and most of your team is as well, but clearly you’re international.”

“Yes,” Mitchell said.

“Care to explain how you survived the freeze?”

“We have our own secret base, not all that far from here. Been there the whole time.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you pick up our signal earlier?”

“Had other problems to deal with first before we could send a team to investigate.”

“Took you that long to get organized?”

“Took you this long to get make your generator better?”

“How’d you know that?”

“I mentioned it,” Henry said. “Was I not supposed to?”

Marge pressed her hands together. “You’re fine, Henry. As for you… I don’t suppose you are allowed to tell me much, are you?”

“That’s right, everything’s classified.”

“Can you at least provide some assistance?” Marge asked, somehow managing to ask the question in a standoffish manner.

Mitchell glanced at where there had been a duel but a few minutes before. “I’m not sure about that, we were not expecting to find such a full-fledged civilization here. We may not be prepared.”

“You have the resources,” Marge said. It wasn’t a question. “How dare you think we don’t deserve it?”

Azula chuckled. “She’s observant!”

Daniel held up a hand. “Before we start yelling at each other about who deserves help or not, let’s realize that we’ve all only just met and that we may all be jumping to conclusions.”

Marge nodded. “Your diplomat is right. Stay a day, live among us. See what it’s like here in Therma beyond first impressions. See if you can come to realize that the future of humanity depends on our continued survival.”

Mitchell nodded. “All right. We’ll stay for a while. I think we were going to do that anyway.”

Marge nodded. “Good. You’ll be placed on the construction of the Repository.”

“…Wait, what?” Daniel blurted.

“Everyone in Therma has to work. You’ll be no exceptions.”

“Wouldn’t we be better as soldiers or hunters?”

“How would you get to see our city that way?” Marge folded her arms. “You’re working on the Repository. That’s final.” She turned and walked away.

Mitchell blinked. “...We don’t have to listen to her, you know.”

“But we will,” Teal’c said.

“…Yeah, fine. Let’s go build a Repository. Lead the way, Henry. That woman…”

Tempest folded her arms. “Colonel, why are we doing this? We should just leave.”

“These people can get at least some help out of us.”

Tempest shook her head but didn’t comment any further. Henry led them back to the edge of Therma to experience the life of a citizen.

~~~

Trixie grinned, levitating her hat into the air. “And for the grand finale, Trixie shall pull herself out of her own hat!” She reached into her hat with her magic and pulled, pulling herself into nothing and back out of the hat, landing flat on her hooves. Fireworks exploded from behind her, flying into the air and covering the sky with images of her face. The audience went wild. “Thank you all for your adoration! Next show in… half an hour. Be there!” She pulled the curtain closed, grinning. “This feels great! Trixie was expecting adoration but not this much.”

“I bet it feels great,” Corona said, muttering.

“Corona! What are you doing backstage? Trixie and Discord are the only ones allowed back here!”

“I needed to talk to you without the crowd constantly demanding your attention!”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “Pfft, Trixie isn’t that self-absorbed, she can tear herself from a crowd if she wants.”

Corona raised an incredulous eyebrow.

“Okay, most of the time. What did you need to talk about? Do you think we’ll bring about chaos and destruction?”

“Maybe?”

“Corona, Trixie can’t believe she has to tell you this, but lighten up. It’s just a show, and Discord’s just having some fun. There have been no authorities here telling us to stop, so I think we’re good. You’re friends with human-me, you should know I can handle this.”

“They’re all scared of Discord!”

“Please, if they were really that scared they’d try to drop a nuke.”

Corona raised an eyebrow. “They aren’t that stupid.”

“Then we’re good!”

“Trixie, just waltzing in here without any warning draws too much attention!”

“That’s the idea! Trixie’s an Internet celebrity, Corona, Trixie plans to capitalize on that.”

“You aren’t charging admission.”

“Yet,” Trixie said. “Plus, the adoration of the crowd is generally payment enough.”

“You need to get over yourself.”

“You need to-“ Trixie stopped herself. “You’re jealous aren’t you!”

“What? No I-“

“You’re jealous! You’ve been here for months as a unicorn and you never got this much attention!”

“That’s not what this is abou-“

“Take some advice from Trixie, Corona. You want ponies to notice you; you have to get out there. Be bombastic, loud, and put on a show! I can get you in on the act, actually. You’ve got some pretty good fire magic. The dragon thing would be killer.”

“You’re shifting between pronouns, Trixie”

“Trixie can refer to herself however I want whenever I want.”

Corona facehooved. ”Ugh… Trixie, this isn’t the point. The point i-“

“Look, Corona, if you’re really worried, you should talk to Discord. He’s the one with the powers that can actually do damage. Look at me. Nothing I do here is more than clever illusions, and everyone knows it. Personally, I think he’s got himself under control and won’t make a mess of things.”

“A vote of confidence in Discord?”

“Yeah. We’re friends. Isn’t that, like, loyalty or something?”

Corona blinked. “…Right.”

“Corona, you really are making this into a bigger deal than it needs to be. It’s just fun. We’ll be gone tomorrow and things will more or less go back to the way they were. Discord knows better than to leave chaos magic around and Trixie will vanish with a smoke bomb, as usual.”

“…Why is it I keep getting things wrong...”

“You’re insecure?”

Corona chuckled. “At least you have the decency to treat it like it’s a question. Sugarcoat wouldn’t.”

Trixie shrugged. “Trixie has her ways. Now, if you’ll excuse Trixie, there’s another show to prep for and chocolate pudding to eat.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll calm down. But if something does go wrong, I will be relentlessly smug about it.”

“Trixie has no fears.”

~~~

Discord sat on a throne surrounded by two dozen enamored students. The football field they were on was hardly recognizable – covered in hexagon patterns, soap stains, and unusual maze walls. He grinned – he could get used to this.

“Discord!” a young man yelled. “As your followers, we ask that you bestow us with powers to further your chaos!”

Discord put his hand to his chin. “Well… I suppose. You’ll only get it for a day though, so use it well!”

“Of course!”

Discord snapped his fingers. “There. Now you can summon bubbles faster than any bubble blowing machine ever could. Probably.”

A woman raised her hand. “Me next! Me next!”

“Uh… You can turn inanimate objects into high velocity bagels.”

“Thank you!”

Discord smiled as he saw his ‘followers’ use their new chaotic powers. This was amazing. Perhaps he should consider getting more…

~~~

Daniel sat down at the lunch hall table, hands folded. His uniform was dusted with soot, torn in a few places, and his hand had a nasty scratch on it. “These people need help.”

“That was the whole point,” Azula pointed out. “She wanted to force us to have empathy. A classic tactic.”

“You’d know,” Tempest muttered.

Azula smirked. “Thank you!”

Mitchell rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the pain on his back. “They have it hard… And they don’t have any contact with the outside. They can’t be a threat, no reason not to.”

“No reason?” Tempest blurted. ”She’s a manipulator, and a cruel one at that. If we let them into the multiverse we may have a problem. They’ll get demanding.”

“She has a point,” Teal’c said. “They want much. They may not be many, but their need is significant.”

“Just ask Cosmo,” Daniel said. “She’s got resources and land to spare.”

Tempest folded her arms. “We’re interfering too much. We are not gods.”

Mitchell frowned. “You’re bringing the ‘Prime Directive’ argument into this? Really?”

Daniel furrowed his brow. “It is an important debate… We do have to consider how our actions affect the future. The more we interfere like we’ve been doing, the more everyone else will do that. Even if it is good in this one case, that doesn’t mean it’s better in all cases.”

“Isn’t that kinda the point?” Mitchell asked. “From what I understand, Renee’s putting forth the idea of ‘case by case basis’ for interference.”

“She is writing up some proposals,” Daniel confirmed. “They’re in very early stages and not everyone has agreed that’s the way to do it. Jack wants a non-interference policy, while there are others who want every universe ever discovered to be told about the multiverse.”

“Let me guess,” Azula said, leaning in. ”Ponies who don’t like secrets are in that camp?”

“Sometimes. It’s usually power-hungry manipulator types arguing for it.”

Azula blinked and said nothing.

“I think we can agree that complete transparency is a bad idea,” Tempest said. “This does not change the argument between non-interference and the ‘case by case’ interference. You know if we set precedent for case by case, some explorers are going to take advantage of the freedom.”

“Renee has been discussing a license…”

Tempest snorted. “Renee isn’t here and we’re not that far along. We’re in the era where the problem is just barely being noticed, Daniel Jackson. What we groups at the front decide set what people in the future will base the laws around. The Charter has already declared her support for case by case judgements. You, the Tau’ri, are the other major voice in this debate. O’Neill advocates the Prime Directive. Cosmic has not made a stance, and frankly the opinions of the others don’t matter all that much.”

“Why are you speaking like we’re united?” Azula said. “We’re not. We are friends today, but we could easily be enemies tomorrow. It makes things fun.”

Tempest nodded. “Yes. Which is why we can set a different precedent than the ponies are. We are separate, operating under Tau’ri oversight. What we do reflects on their future.”

Mitchell took a breath. “Daniel? What do you think?”

“I’m not sure,” Daniel admitted. “We interfered a lot on missions in our own universe with every planet we found, but as we’ve expanded, we’ve found that interfering with alternates of ourselves doesn’t go well most often… But…” He frowned, looking at all the hungry and cold people in the hall around them. “These people are losing hope. They will die if we don’t do something. The planet is freezing around them. We have to do something.”

“Then that’s what we’re doing,” Mitchell said. “We’ll help them.”

“Hey, what about-“ Tempest began.

“This isn’t a democracy,” Mitchell chided her.

Tempest clearly wanted to punch him, but resisted the urge.

Daniel turned to Mitchell. “We don’t need to tell them about the multiverse. We can just give them supplies from the ‘secret government base’ we’ve been telling them about. It’ll keep their dueling mentality away from the others.”

“That would be hard to deal with,” Teal’c said.

Mitchell nodded. “It’s a plan. We’ll let Landry work out the specifics of the help. Soon as we can get away and dial home, get news back. …Hey, Wan, what do you think?”

Wan just nodded in agreement with the plan.

“Right. Anyway… Where is lunch? We’ve been waiting forever!”

A kid ran into the mess hall. “Someone stole the food!”

“What do you mean someone stole the food?” a man yelled.

“The main warehouse is empty!” the kid yelled.

“Uh oh…” Mitchell said.

“I bet those new guys took it!” a woman said, pointing at the six of them.

The people in the mess hall stood up, murder in their eyes. They began to move toward the six of them.

“There’s a window behind us and to the left,” Teal’c told Mitchell. “We could-“

Azula interrupted him by standing up so fast she knocked her chair over. “We did no such thing!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!” Azula said, putting her hands on her hips. “And you know what? The sheer audacity of you accusing us makes me livid. Think we could resolve this with a duel? I’ll represent my side.”

“Azula what are you doing!?” Tempest hissed.

Azula ignored her. “Come on, who’ll face me?”

“I will,” a burly man with impressive stubble said, standing up – clearly a man who had been in more than a few fights in his time. “What’s the weapon?”

Azula grinned. “Would you happen to know martial arts?”

“Yes. Are you asking for hand to hand?”

“Precisely,” Azula said, pointing a finger at him. “I am Azula. You?”

“Raymond.”

“Good. When do we do this? I’m not exactly familiar with your customs.”

“Tonight. Eight. I’ll have everything put through the proper channels.”

Azula grinned. “Nice.”

The angered crowd of people slowly dispersed, knowing they weren't going to get lunch, but also knowing that tonight they were going to get a duel with a newcomer. It was exciting.

“What was that!?” Mitchell yelled at Azula.

“You’re welcome,” Azula muttered. “Now they’re not going to mob-kill us. I saw it in their eyes, they wanted to, and no offense to muscles over there, but there was a lot of them.”

Mitchell put a hand to his forehead. “Fine. We’re not helping you with that duel though.”

“I can burn one man.”

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure they’d consider that cheating.”

“Whatever.”

Mitchell took out the dimensional device and handed it to Teal’c. “Leave Therma and go get some food stores for these people. Take Wan with you. Make sure to get your weapons before you leave.”

“Indeed.” He took the device and walked away with Wan.

Daniel furrowed his brow. “We should investigate the missing food.”

“Duh,” Azula said.

The four of them set out across the street to the food stores. There was a small crowd outside, but none were allowed in – Henry was guarding it. “Go back to your jobs!” He yelled at the crowd. “Do you know what Marge will do if you riot?”

The small crowd of people heard Marge’s name dropped and quickly ran like scared dogs, allowing Daniel and the rest to walk up to Henry. “Food missing?” Daniel asked.

“You heard?” Henry grunted. “This is what we get for employing the children…” he shook his head. “I can’t let you in.”

“We sent Teal’c and Wan to go get food from our base for you,” Mitchell said. “The least you can do is let us look. I bet you have the authority to do that.”

Henry nodded slowly. ”I do. Fine, you can come in.” He let the four of them in and shut the door behind them. The warehouse was a single, large room with a dozen tremendous metal barrels that should have been filled with dried grains, edible fungus, and the like – but all of it was empty, besides a few scattered pieces of grain and fungus on the ground.

“How could someone have taken all this…” Mitchell muttered.

Tempest looked left and right suspiciously before taking a tablet out of her pocket and performing some scans. “We’ve got magic levels in here.”

“Is there magic in this world?”

“The levels were three hundred times lower out in the blizzard. I’d have to scan elsewhere in Therma to be sure, but something that probably wasn’t supposed to be in this universe happened here.”

“Did something follow us? Sombra?”

“These people don’t use advanced computers,” Daniel said. “While Sombra could definitely do something, I don’t think she could steal all this food… Plus, this isn’t exactly her M.O. Not to mention the lack of her signature.”

“Got something!” Azula said, lifting a small, green globe off the ground. It resembled a crystal ball, but glowed more like a glowstick and had visible circuitry lining the outside. “This doesn’t belong here.”

Daniel took it and examined the circuitry. “Not a language… But definitely not from here. Too advanced.”

Tempest scanned it. “The scanner says it’s producing a magical field to fuel its light spell. It’s not struggling against the physics of this universe at all…”

Mitchell raised an eyebrow. “Don’t most spells weaken or require more power when placed in a universe with low magic?”

“Yes… This isn’t. It’s overwriting the physics of this universe, substituting its own.”

“That’s unheard of.”

“No,” Daniel said. “The black spheres with the green diamonds did that. They had to, because they were technologies designed to work in any universe.” He held the glowglobe in his hand. “Not even the Enterprise or Feldspar was able to do this… This is a feat of engineering beyond us at the moment.”

“And it’s a flashlight,” Azula commented.

“Yeah. A flashlight. I’m not sure I want to read too much into what this implies we’ve stumbled across…”

Mitchell crouched, lowering himself to the ground. “Someone’s been in here.”

“Oh?” Daniel responded.

“I see evidence of footprints. Small, possibly a child.”

“Probably the child that told everyone what had happened.”

“It’s hard to see against the wood floor, but the dust patterns…” He moved behind one of the large metal drums. “It’s clearer back here, easily seen in the dust. Nobody comes back here.” He followed a trail to a door, and opened it, revealing a long hallway covered in dust – but where there were no footprints. He reeled back, baffled – he was trained to track as part of his military schooling, and he knew the girl had come through this door – but he also knew she hadn’t come out the other side.

He walked out from behind the drum. “Okay, so maybe the rumor about the girl who walks through doors and vanishes is a real thing.”

Tempest frowned, glancing at the glowglobe. “So we have a mysterious girl with probably access to advanced magic. Why would she need to steal all the food?”

“Good question,” Daniel said, hand to his chin. “What if-“

The door to the warehouse flew open. Daniel stuffed the glowglobe into his pocket as fast as he could, and Tempest hid her tablet. A man in a long silvery coat strode in, holding out identification. “I am Doctor John Smith, and I’m here to investigate the mysterious vanishing of food in this warehouse. Tell me, what are you four doing here?”

“Investigating as well,” Mitchell said.

“Have you found anything?”

“Besides a trail that goes to that door and ends? Nothing,” Tempest answered.

“Hm… Hm…” John Smith said, walking around, an incredulous look in his eyes. “Where are your other two team members?”

“Getting food from our base to help yours,” Mitchell said.

“Really… So what you’re telling me is that you’re our saviors in our time of need?”

“If that’s how you want to see it.”

John Smith raised an eyebrow. “What if, bear with me a moment here, you stole the food just so you could replace it and seem like the heroes?”

“Oh, this again!?” Azula said. “Do I need to duel you too?”

“Ah, no, I’m not part of such a barbaric practice. I’m just here to solve a crime, and you are my prime suspects.”

“We were working on the Repository all day,” Daniel said. “Ask around.”

“I’ve examined your weapons. You have access to some rather spectacular technology, I must say. Your secret base must be very well funded. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had something that could make all the food vanish from a distance.”

“We don’t have any such thing!” Michell shouted.

Azula whistled innocently.

John Smith did something that no normal human would do – he noticed her falsely innocent whistling, and then called her out on it. “Oh, so you can do that? Specifically you? Curious. I hear you challenged Raymond to a duel in martial arts. You have a special trick up your sleeve, don’t you?”

Azula’s confident smile faltered for the first time the entire mission. She said nothing.

John Smith smiled. “Right! So you’re some kind of powerhouse that could do this, through some esoteric means. Wonder if you’re a wizard of some sort. But that’d be silly, wouldn’t it?” He chuckled. “Daniel Jackson, you’re hiding something in your pockets.”

“Classified, Mister Smith.”

“What a convenient excuse, that,” John Smith said, whirling around. He still had a smile on his face that was somehow rather jovial, despite the nature of the comment. “I ask a question, you just say it’s classified. What am I going to do, shout it to the world? This is just a small town, not worth your time or effort.”

He’s trying to convince us to just leave, Daniel thought. He cleared his throat. “We’ll be out of your hair as soon as we replace your food stores, if that’s what you want.”

“Really? Your base must be really close by. I’m pretty sure the scouting parties would have found it if it was within twenty miles.”

“It wouldn’t be very secret if it was easy to find.”

John Smith put a hand to his chin. “You have a point there…” Suddenly, a grin grew across his face. “Oh… Ooooooh… If you’ll excuse me, I have something to attend to. Such a wonder, talking to you.” He ran out of the warehouse.

Tempest blinked. “That man was way too clever for his own good.”

“He’s onto us,” Mitchell said. “And that makes us look guilty in his eyes.”

“We should find out what happened to the food, and fast,” Daniel said. “I don’t think he’ll be distracted by… Whatever he was distracted by for long.”

~~~

Corona had just started believing Trixie’s assertions that nothing was going to go horribly wrong when the man that summoned lizards from his mouth started tormenting Trixie’s crowd. The swarm of sticky, wet reptiles sent the adoring crowd screaming in every direction.

Trixie shrieked. “What are you doing!?”

“Using my new powers, what does it look like?” He hurled a lizard onto her face.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!” Trixie shrieked, tearing the wet reptile off her face and tossing it to the ground.

Corona encased the lizard-spewing man in a red crystal. “HEY TRIXIE!” she shouted.

“W-what?” Trixie said, face already red.

“I TOLD YOU SO!” She ground her teeth. “We need to go talk to Discord.”

“Trixie is sure he’ll have a good explana-“

Corona glared at her.

“Uh… I think we should go talk to Discord too.”

“That’s good. Sparky, with me!”

Sparky performed a teleport, appearing to Corona’s side, wobbling. Trixie trotted on the other side.

The three of them barely made it one step before a man with the power to create ice that was as hot as a roast turkey dinner appeared, riding a sled of his own bizarrely warm ice. Corona swore the ice smelled like turkey. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Corona lit her horn, red magic swirling around it. “Going to talk to Discord. You should get out of the way.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, we can’t allow that.” He said. A girl appeared to his left, her slender body duplicating itself several times over. To his right another man in a tuxedo appeared – his eyes glowing slightly.

“All right, Freezy, Copy, and Starey, get out of the way,” Corona growled. “I am Corona Shimmer, and you don’t know what you’re dealing with. You and your friends are tormenting this campus.”

“Jumping to conclusions much, are we?” the girls dubbed ‘Copy’ said. “We’re just enjoying our powers!”

Corona pointed at a bunch of bagels flying through the air and breaking windows. “That’s tormenting!”

Starey stepped forward, expression flat. “We can’t let you talk to Discord. He would remove our powers. And we can’t have that.”

“I thought you were his followers!?” Trixie shouted. “Shouldn’t you want what he wants?”

Corona blinked. “…They played him. Pretended to be his followers so they could get powers.”

Freezy clapped loudly. “You’re significantly smarter than he is. But he has given us the power of chaos. We a-“

Corona froze him in a box of red crystal. “One down, two to-“ Corona blinked. The box of red crystal was gone, and Freezy was free. Trixie and Sparky were nowhere to be seen. She teleported out of the way of the unpleasantly hot ice, only to end up in a location that she hadn’t intended to teleport to. The Copy copies were there, even though Corona was sure they hadn’t been there before. They tackled her, but she blew them back with a burst of telekinesis. She kicked off her boots and touched one of the Copys on the face – but no emotions rushed into her mind.

I’m under the influence of an illusion or something.

She grabbed one of her back boots and pulled out a particular pair of sunglasses. “SOMBRA! Come in! My senses and possibly my mind are compromised, help!”

A message appeared on her lenses. We’re sorry, Sombra can’t come the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep! That was the beep, Corona, just leave a message.

“You heard me – or you didn’t and I’m still under the influence...” Corona muttered, leaping back over a bunch of ice shads. It’s probably mister Starey that’s doing this, but I can’t exactly be sure if hitting him will actually hit him…

I’ve just got to hope when I yell out that I’m actually talking and not in some vegetative state.

“TRIXIE! You’re the illusion master; you know how to see through illusions! Do something about this!”

She had no idea if Trixie heard her – or if Trixie could hear her. That was the problem, she had no idea how far the sense manipulation of Starey went. She just had to operate however she could.

She focused all the magic she could into a complex matrix designed to protect her from incoming ice and Copy duplicates. She still wasn’t getting anything off the sunglasses, and contact never let her get the emotions of others. She glared at Starey, trying to take him down with fire, but his form moved without moving – it was suddenly in another place the moment she fired.

“This is hardly fair!”

“This is power,” Starey said. “This is magic so many of us have dreamed of for so long. You will not take it from us.”

“There are other ways to get magic!”

“Not of this power.” He pointed a finger at Corona. “You were gifted with power, and you don’t use it. That’s why you’re in the background. That’s why you’re nothing.”

Corona snarled. “I used my power once. It turned me into a monster. I’d rather you didn’t go through that. It may be too late though.”

“That’s all you need to thi-“ A firework explosion went off behind his head. The illusions around Corona vanished the moment Starey hit the ground. She was able to hear Sombra laughing in her ear.

Trixie whooped. “Yeah! Got him! Take that, you substandard illusionist!”

Sparky looked around, blinking. “Wh… What happened?”

Freezy and Copy looked at each other. “I guess we’ll actually have to fight now,” Copy said.

Corona removed her sunglasses and put her boots back on. “Nope.” She lit her horn and teleported the three of them right to Discord. “Should have done this from the start.”

Discord looked at them. “Hm? What brings you to my chaos capita-“

“Discord your ‘followers’ are playing you just so you’ll give them cool powers and then they are abusing the powers to do whatever they want.”

Discord dropped his bag of popcorn, the contents spilling into the sky and turning into teddy bears made of marshmallows. “…What?”

A woman looked panicked. “I assure you, great Discord, we had no such intent-“

Discord snapped his fingers, removing all the chaos and powers in an instant. He glared at all of them. “Care to explain? Any of you?”

“Corona’s lying!” one of them shouted.

Discord appeared next to the shouting man. “You, hey you, SHUT UP, Corona’s not exactly a liar. And, you know what, now that I think about it you all seemed too eager. Well guess what? I’m never giving out special powers again! You’ve ruined it for everyone! And I’m taking Trixie away!”

Trixie blinked. “Wh-“

“We’re leaving Trixie.”

“But-“

Discord raised an eyebrow. “Trixie?”

“Er… Okay, fine, they lost their chance.” She sighed. “Goodbye all! The Great and Powerful Trixie will probably not be back! Shame on you!”

Discord snapped his fingers and the two of them were gone.

The crowd of students dispersed, suddenly not wanting to be anywhere near where the teachers could find them and make them clean up.

Corona sat down and rubbed her temples. “Ugh…

Sparky blinked. “I still have no idea what happened.”

“I was right. That’s what happened,” Corona muttered. “Just wait until tomorrow when the news picks this up and blows it up in everyone’s faces.”

Sparky blinked again. “…I’m still confused. Was there or wasn’t there a giant evil quesadilla?”

“No, there was not. He must have really gotten into your head.”

~~~

“Got a description of the girl,” Tempest reported. “Maybe fourteen years of age. Reddish eyes, white hair that some people claim was slightly blue. Her most distinctive feature is the two red gloves she has on her hands. Her clothing is also odd for this world – smooth, almost rubbery. She’s been seen entering several doors and never leaving, even when people walk in right after her. There’s occasional mention of her being accompanied by someone, but those descriptions don’t match up.”

“Why doors?” Daniel wondered. “What is it about doors that make everyone associate them with her? Surely she disappears behind other things. Surely people see her in other locations…”

“Any pattern to where they see her?” Mitchell asked.

“More sightings around the generator than anywhere else,” Tempest said.

“Then we go there,” he stood up and adjusted his hat. “Since we don’t have our weapons, if we run into a problem – Azula, you’ll be our only firepower.”

“Not a problem. It’ll be nice if some fun shows up.”

“You are not to instigate a fight.”

“Fiiiiine.”

The four of them quickly arrived at the central generator areas. There had once been living quarters surrounding the generator, but they were abandoned now. It was sweltering here, so hot that nothing could be done comfortably. There were only a few generator engineers working around the giant cylinder, and these people were sweating profusely.

“It’s a giant space heater,” Mitchell said. “…I was expecting it to be more elaborate.”

“Sometimes simplicity works best,” Azula said. “If we were in the Fire Nation we’d just have firebenders pouring fire into the air twenty-four-seven to accomplish the same thing.”

“This must take a tremendous amount of power,” Daniel observed. “I wonder what they did to get it working this efficiently.”

“Trade secret, classified, that sort of thing,” Tempest said. “Y’know, like how we can’t tell them what we’re doing.”

“Right…” Daniel said, looking around with curiosity. He wiped his brow.

Then he saw it – something unusual tucked between two buildings. “Hey, what’s that?”

Everyone turned. They saw what could only be described as a blue phone box sitting snugly between two buildings, mostly in the shadows. The door was slightly ajar, allowing a slight glow to come out – the glow being the only reason Daniel had noticed it.

Cautiously, Mitchell approached the phone box. He touched his boot to the door, pulling it open the rest of the way. All four of their jaws dropped.

“It’s bigger on the inside…” Azula managed to say.

Mitchell walked in cautiously. The phone box should only have been able to hold one or two people, but the room he entered could easily hold twenty. It was spherical, with a large column of complex glowing technology in the center. A beyond-complicated console surrounded this central column, lined with buttons, levers, screens, widgets, and springs that served some indecipherable function. The outer walls were lined with doors, stairs, and there was even one side that had a small bookshelf.

“What is this place?” Mitchell asked as he walked around the central pole.

Azula leaned in to touch one of the central buttons, but Tempest slapped her hand away.

Daniel went right for the bookshelf. On top of it was a tremendous tome with a peculiar design on the cover – three large circles of differing sizes arranged around an unusual symbol that resembled a ‘K’ with a line through it. A fourth circle was inscribed near the bottom of the cover, distant from the other three.

The Multiverse.

“Guys?” Daniel called to them. “I think I’ve just found a Directory.”

“What?”

“A multiversal guidebook.” He held up the tome, showing its cover to everyone. “I think this might be a map of sorts. You know how Twilight’s map arranges things into two ‘spheres’ – east and west? This suggests there might be others – two or three, I don’t know what all the symbols mean.”

“What’s inside?” Tempest asked.

Daniel tried to open the book – but it wouldn’t let him. “Sealed shut. Don’t have any mages to open it either…”

“We could just take it back with us,” Azula said. “I’m sure whoever owns this place has a few extra around.”

“Aaaaaand that’s all I needed to hear!” the voice of John Smith echoed through the room. The front doors of the phone box closed and locked. John Smith opened another door and walked into the room. “Multiversal travelers, aware of magic, and thieves.”

Azula pointed a finger at John Smith – but he pulled a small, blue rod out of his coat. “Ah ah ah, we can’t have that! Terribly sorry.” All four of them froze. John Smith smiled. “Now, the question remains – why are you tormenting these people?”

“We aren’t!” Mitchell shouted. “We just got here today!”

“What are the chances that not one, not two, but three multiversal parties make contact with the same separated universe within a few days of each other? Not very likely. Since I know you’re not with me, you must be with her.”

“Who is she?” Daniel asked.

John Smith rolled his eyes. “Don’t you play dumb with me! I’m the one who wants to know who she is! You tell me!”

“We have no idea!” Mitchell said. “I’m Colonel Cameron Mitchell and we’re with Earth Tau’ri, ally of Equis Vitis, Earth Vitis, Lai, Equis Cosmic, and the Elemental Nations! We didn’t even know there was a settlement on this world until today!”

“And I’m the Doctor, the Traveling Doctor,” the Doctor said. “And none of those names ring any bells. The words Equis and Earth being exceptions, but those are just standard world names. This is not the first time I’ve dealt with a Cameron Mitchell or Daniel Jackson, however. A disgrace to your counterparts, you’re usually the good guys.”

“Think about this,” Daniel said. “If we knew what was going on, why would we be investigating the girl? We’d just be able to go right to her!”

“The working theory is that she’s a runaway of yours and you’re trying to catch her and sweep the mess you created under the rug.”

“Yeah, no,” Daniel said. “I have proof of this, but I have to reach into my coat to show it. Okay?”

The Doctor pointed the rod directly at Daniel. “Go ahead.”

Daniel removed the glowglobe. “We found this. We do not have the capabilities to make such a technology. It overwrites the local physics of this universe, replacing it with its own light spell. None of our mages can do this, and this is just a flashlight.”

The Doctor blinked. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth? I’ve met some really good liars.”

“Oh for the-“ Tempest couldn’t take it anymore. She unleashed a spin-kick on the rod the Doctor had in his hand. He reacted quickly, using a precise calculation of movement and a twist of his body to knock Tempest to the ground. She tried to get back up, but he kicked the back of her leg, making her fall flat on her back.

He pointed the rod right in her face. “Nope.”

Tempest grinned. “That rod does nothing.”

“I assure you, it does something.”

“It’s not a weapon though.”

The Doctor tensed. Then he held up his hands, sticking the rod back into his coat. “I could probably modify this sonic screwdriver to do some damage quickly, but I know when I’ve been made.”

Daniel looked at Tempest. “How did you…?”

“He would have used it on me if it was a weapon,” Tempest said. “Even if he didn’t go for a lethal blow, it could have been used to threaten me. But he just took me down.” Her smile fell as she realized she had just been well and truly trounced by a man without a weapon. She made some disgruntled noises.

Azula turned to Mitchell. “Can I burn him?”

Mitchell shook his head. “We’re on the same side here. Do you realize that, Doctor?”

The Doctor furrowed his brow. “I’m not completely sold on it just yet…”

Mitchell shrugged. “Teal’c and Wan have our dimensional device, so we can’t just show you…”

Daniel’s eyes lit up. “I got it. Doctor, you said you think we’re after the girl to clean up our mess?”

“That still seems rather likely, yes.”

“We aren’t, but even if we are that still means we want the same thing. To catch her – and by consequence save these people. We should work together.”

The Doctor shrugged. “That’s all fine and good, but do you have any leads I don’t?”

“We know what she looks like, that she disappears through doors, and has been seen hanging around the generator lately.”

“I know all those things,” the Doctor said. “I also know she vanishes through doors because her particular method of interdimensional travel relies completely on doorways. No idea why.”

“I had a thought earlier,” Daniel said. “She’d clearly have no use for food. What if she came to the room for the same reason we did – to investigate? To find out where the food went?”

The Doctor blinked. “That makes some sense, but that means there’d have to be something else here. Something that could take all that food in an instant… Something that hasn’t been here for very long, or it would have happened befo-“

Daniel and the Doctor locked eyes.

“The engineers upgraded the generator,” they said at the same time.

The Doctor snapped his fingers, opening the doors to the phone box. “Everyone out of the TARDIS!”

“Tardis?” Azula commented.

“Time And Relative Dimensions In Space – I do not have time to explain this right now! Let’s go, to the object of our interest!”

The five of them rushed out of the TARDIS doors, toward the generator. They stopped right next to the extremely hot object.

“So,” the Doctor said. “Anyone know how to get in?”

“Is there even an inside at all?” Mitchell asked.

“Has to be. Maintenance tunnels at least…” the Doctor facepalmed. “Everyone back in the TARDIS.”

“…We just left,” Azula pointed out.

“I can teleport us right in. Just a quick jump into the middle, the TARDIS will find where she can land.”

The five of them piled back into the blue phone box. The Doctor closed the doors and began activating dozens of lights with the central console. Nobody could follow the pattern of inputs he was inserting, and that was probably the point. The TARDIS shook slightly and the central column glowed a brighter white. A VWEEEEERRRRP VWEEEEEEERRP VWEEEEEERP noise met their ears – and then there was a thump. The Doctor snapped his fingers, opening the front doors.

The inside of the generator was so hot the temperature difference created a wind in the Tardis’ interior, blowing a few loose objects around. The five of them didn’t care – they marched out into the heat. The place was dark, but the central heating element let out a consistent dim red glow that covered the area in a hellish scheme.

And then there was the thing. It was square, but it had five sides. It was in three dimensions, but it shifted through thousands of cross sections before their eyes. It was bright, but it didn’t cast any light. It was impossible to look at, because it didn’t make sense.

What could be seen was a large cable dangling from the ceiling, channeling power from the thing, shunting it into the heating element.

“That’s not supposed to be here,” Mitchell said.

Tempest pulled out her scanning device and the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver. Their eyes widened.

“I’m not getting any readings that make sense,” Tempest said.

“Seven-dimensional object,” the Doctor said. “It really shouldn’t exist here. It’s reaching into dimensions this universe can’t handle… Probably causing spontaneous teleportations.”

“Is it… bad?” Daniel asked.

“Not really,” the Doctor said. “It’s an object. They’re running power from it, but they don’t know how to control it. I could probably get them an appropriate replacement…”

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening.”

They looked to their left, to see Marge standing above them on a metallic scaffold. Below here were a half-dozen soldiers – including Raymond. Marge continued. “We will figure out how to use this divine gift, and you can’t use your secrets to stop us, or give us something else. It is ours, and we will use it to thrive. You can’t have it back.”

“…Back?” Mitchell said. “Wait! We’re not with the girl-“

“Likely story. Raymond, get them.”

Azula turned to Mitchell. “Can I?”

Mitchell nodded.

Raymond and his compatriots had to raise their guns. Then they were on fire, their clothes and skin burning. The surprise came so far out of left field that they all dropped their guns. Some remembered to stop, drop, and roll – Raymond was not one of them. He charged Azula, ignoring the intense pain of flames on him. He raised his fist – she shot him to the ground with a fireball.

“You’re all regular humans,” Azula said, snarling. “You can’t do anything against me.”

“Not me, but I have a new friend,” Marge said, pulling a large cable from behind her. She flicked a switch on the wall, forcing a tremendous bolt of lightning to shoot out from the wire. Azula managed to duck out of the way, but the current found a target – Daniel. The poorly-controlled and primitive blast of electricity went right through his chest. He fell backward, motionless.

“Daniel!” Mitchell yelled, kneeling down to tend to him. Tempest, the Doctor, and Azula acted as a single unit. Marge fired off another bolt of electricity from the wire, but Azula caught it in her hands, twirling in the air as she did so. The Doctor Pulled out his sonic screwdriver, overloading the technology in the wire, making it useless. Tempest rolled, picked up one of the discarded guns, and shot Marge right in the head.

To add to the overkill, Azula released the bolt of lightning out of her body, returning it to Marge. Her body shuddered with the electric signals and fell back, smoking.

The Doctor shook his head in disappointment at the sight of death.

Tempest lowered the gun. “All clear.”

Everyone crowded around the form of Daniel. Mitchell was checking his pulse. “He’s still got one, but it’s irregular…”

“That lightning hit near his heart,” Azula said. “He’s lucky there’s a pulse at all.”

The Doctor leaned down and examined Daniel, feeling his heart. “That might just be remnant signals... The heart could stop, then we’ll have to revive him.”

“Again?” Mitchell said.

“Happens a lot to you too?”

“You have no idea…”

“You’d be surprised how many Daniels have this problem.”

Luckily, it appeared as though another round of ‘find a way to revive Daniel’ would go unplayed. His heartbeat returned to regular, and he opened his eyes. “Ugh… Cam, have I ever been struck by lightning before?”

“Don’t think so.”

Daniel put a hand to his head. “Why is it always me…” he muttered.

“The multiverse hates you,” Azula said.

Tempest looked up at the seven-dimensional thing. ”So... what are we going to do with this?”

Mitchell looked at it and shrugged. “Probably study it, after we help these people get over their… Somewhat crazy leader.”

“I have a better idea!” a young voice called. “How about letting me have it?”

Everyone except Daniel looked beneath the seven-dimensional object to see the girl lay a doorframe down on the floor – a doorframe large enough to accommodate the seven-dimensional object. She pulled it open with her bright red gloves faster than they could react. Something on the other side of the door sucked the object through.

The girl looked ready to jump through the door herself, but the Doctor called out. “Wait!”

The girl raised her eyebrow. “I mean, sure, but why?”

“Why are you doing this?” Daniel asked.

“Who are you?” Tempest demanded.

“Who do you work for?” the Doctor asked.

The girl grinned. “All right, I’ll play along. This thing wasn’t theirs, they got it by accident, and I’m returning it. My name is Jenny, Jenny of the Red Gloves, C.E.O. of Dracogen Enterprises, and I’m currently working for the University of Doors.” She smirked. “Such satisfying expressions you all have.” She jumped into the door and closed it behind her.

Mitchell walked up to the door in the ground and opened it. Of course there was only the floor through it.

“…Well,” he said. “Doc, think you can take us to our hospital before this town decides to lynch us?”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Just this once. The TARDIS is not a taxi.”

“We’re not exactly paying you,” Azula pointed out.

The Doctor smirked. “Azula, I never ask for payment of any kind. I’ll get you home. Just promise me that you’ll take care of this place. I wouldn’t recommend telling them about the multiverse, but they will be in for some tough times.”

Mitchell nodded. “That was the plan.”

“Good!”

“Wait, Doctor,” Tempest said. “Can you answer some questi-“

“It’d be best if you discovered the nature of the multiverse naturally, rather than having an old man tell you.”

“But-“

“No buts! We will meet again, I am sure of it. But now is not the time for me to tell you everything I know. Actually, I don’t think that time will ever come. Nobody can know everything I know. …Except maybe Flagg…”

“Who?”

“Not important,” the Doctor said. “Are we just going to stand here talking all day, or are we going to let Daniel die again?”

“That would be…inconvenient,” Daniel muttered.

Mitchell bit his lip. “Right. Everyone, move out. Let’s hope Teal’c and Wan have already gotten most of the food figured out…”

Comments

[the other sans]

I guess it's not too much of a shock to the Doctor that Daniel's always getting the brunt end of the multiversal stick. Heck, this would be basically Dan VS the multiverse at large. Also certain that non SG fans won't understand the gag but can appreciate a universal trouble magnet of sorts. But hey, at least we know the team were all seeing Red. No not the Red from Neptunia and not the Red from Undertale or even Red from Riding Hood. But then hey, there's alotta red tape for stuff like this at times and it does get convoluted the more it grows.

Now I'm almost wishing that the Neptunia series was a possible anime world to be chosen. Though that could be because I've been recently playing it for the past two weeks. Hard to say.

[Galliar]

All chapter I was trying to figure put where you were going. You haven't had any Earths that weren't attached to something crossover-like with the sole exception of Earth Vitis. All chapter I tried to think of anything that this mig have been related too. King books, popular series I havent watched, anything.

I've seen maybe 5 episodes of Doctor Who. All of those I saw very recently. It was certainly enough to recognize the coat and that he introduced himself as 'Doctor John Smith.' Doesn't mean I have any clue who Jenny is, what Doctor this is, or even what to expect. I definitely pat myself on the back for that though.

Is this the first time where we focused on an adventure where Daniel was the central character? And its an entirely human cast? The closest character we have to ponies on the Earth mission was Agent Tempest. Given that the characters talked about the Prime Directive and setting precedents, it was fascinating to see you set one as well. Welcome to the main cast Daniel.

Speaking of precedents, the people taking advantage of Discord's ego could be seen as justification for keeping the worlds seperate. It makes sense that you gave us the Doctor in this same chapter, who has a lot of experience with traveling across the multiverse and is more aware of just how and when he should get involved. The team finding his directory shows how far ahead he is of our heroes.

I take it that's the big theme of this act. When and when not to interfere. How to interfere. Why.

Personally, I'm happy with keeping businesses out of the multiverse. If this were a space age story that would be one thing, but these are worlds living alongside alternate versions of themselves. You already made all of the arguments last chapter.

When it comes to interference on an exploration scale, its different. I believe that whatever the case, there should be no interference without either as much information as possible or if the locals attack first.

My thought was that there could be a multiversal registry between the Disclosure worlds of explorers. Anyone not listed would not be authorized to travel to unknown dimensions without authorization, either by a regustered explorer. Any exploration would be done by registered explorers in teams, and whoever lead a team would have final say in any case that Renee's 'Case-by-Case' laws are ultimately unable to foresee.

That said, I'm not on the multiversal legislative team, so I hardly have the authority to put forth this proposal for review and voting. I guess we just have to trust the Disclosure Legislature's decisions. After all, when has politics ever screwed up?

[GMBlackjack]

8840011
it is unlikely you'll get what this Earth is from - while I am a fan of listening to popularity, I'm not above pulling extremely obscure references. This chapter is filled with more obscure than well known. However, unlike Vivian's world, what this one is from will be revealed in the end-of-arc notes, if you're really curious.

The Doctor's incarnation is intended to be nonspecific, so nobody is supposed to be able to guess.

When has politics ever screwed anything up?

Heh. Twilight knows the answer to that question all too well.

-GM, master of politico.

[FanOfMostEverything]

I too find myself when and where Renee and Daniel will have the wedding.

Corona's graduating in a semester? My, how time flies...

I can't really blame Discord for his poor judgement. He's always had a weakness for people actually liking him, and worship's a hell of a drug.

Huh. A Savage Device. It rejects your reality and substitutes its own.

Another bigger fish. This one very big indeed given who he was facing off against at the start of the story.

While I'm amused by the Doctor calling out Azula's whistling, I have to wonder why that's so remarkable. Though I'd probably need someone with at least Pinkie's level of meta-awareness to explain it.

Looks like we're reaching the oh-so-fun part of Civilization where you start meeting your neighbors... except they have gunpowder while our heroes are still puzzling out this "bronze" they've heard so much about. Still, should be very interesting indeed. And at least the "heroic misunderstanding" bit didn't last too long.

Of course, now there's a slight issue with the whole "we shot your leader" thing...

[Blaster M]

Well, now things are really getting interesting.

[wizard0209]

I love that not only did you bring in the Doctor into this but one that's mutiversel

[raven618]

8840066

While I'm amused by the Doctor calling out Azula's whistling, I have to wonder why that's so remarkable. Though I'd probably need someone with at least Pinkie's level of meta-awareness to explain it.

In fiction, casual whistling is often used to remind the audience of the main character's guilt in whatever was said prior, while also trying to appear innocent in face of the accusation. Having any other characters notice the whistling would be counter productive. So to have someone call a character out on it would be the equivalent of if they pointed out that they performed the guilty action back in scene 23, despite the accuser not having been in said scene.

-This is a rough explanation by an individual with only a passing knowledge of the fourth wall and multiversal rules.-

[GMBlackjack]

8862900

BINGO! YES! Someone's been paying attention in meta-awareness class!

Have an internet cookie.

-GM, master of potatoes.

[EnderHooves]

8862960
Where can I go to take a Meta-Awareness class?

[GMBlackjack]

9453157
I mean I have a discord channel for this story. That's probably a good place to start.

-GM, master of places.

[kistecool]

Corona narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see about that…”

Corona, you’re an idiot.

[Pseudonym1]

Teal’c raised an eyebrow. “Indeed.”

He said the line!

[FridayPie]

8840043
Frostpunk!

I spent xmas week's evenings playing this.

[guldringr]

“What are the chances that not one, not two, but three multiversal parties make contact with the same separated universe within a few days of each other? Not very likely. Since I know you’re not with me, you must be with her .”

You know in retrospect this line really doesn't make any sense at all major spoiler: after all the doctor knows about Ka it would be a little bit silly to assumed this could not happen

[keybounce]

8840043
Non specific? That's the 11th, clearly :-)

[keybounce]

9453157
> Where can I go to take a Meta-Awareness class?
I'd start with The Crossover Wars.

http://www.dragoneers.com/crossoverwars/

Warning: big. BIG. Over a year and something like 50 different comics involved. Plus at least one forum. Forum threads are, as far as I know, lost to time, but all of the comics that got drawn are archived (at least one comic never got all its pages drawn and died off.)

[Phara_mine]

Oh yeah Frostpunk is in here GIMME MY PORTION OF THE SAWDUST SOUP!!!!!

“Sometimes simplicity works best,” Azula said. “If we were in the Fire Nation we’d just have firebenders pouring fire into the air twenty-four-seven to accomplish the same thing.”

Yes Azula you understand all too well how you need to rule such a settlement.

Now sorry gotta go back to my twenty-four-seven shift in the coal mine.
Deus Wolf!!!

[theGECK]

I came to the comment section just to gush about Frostpunk and how I love reading fiction set in that world.

[Razalon The Lizardman]

Trixie and Discord ate the attention up, posing in dramatic, flamboyant ways.

Is that a JoJo reference!?