a story set timeline wise alittle after the 2nd episode but before the third episode, story is mostly a perspective change on what would have happened if ebony from the aol rpverse ended up in the mlpverse, including a few mythological ideas on mu
A story set timeline wise is being under at this current time, story is mostly a perspective change on what would have happened if ebony from the aol rpverse ended up in the mlpverse on a quasi vacation.
Along the way there will be hijinks, mild strangeness, a very confused changeling queen whos being treated like a pet cat most days, and a dimension hopper just trying to enjoy his vacation while being dragged into various shenanigans. Time starts pre equestria in first two chapters before time skipping to the ancient equestria before discord was first defeated. Mostly from there its a day in the life trip of one being who lived and breathed war and kingdom intrigue adapting to a world of harmony and friendship. Warnings are mostly because some scenes have a chance of them occuring, and while there isnt going tobe explicit clop, sex tag is because of ebonys lust gum (blue) and instant orgasm gum (white) being in his arsenal and usable in any situation. narcotics warning is because some of his other edibles have druglike effects, like 24 hrs of euphoric joy gum(red), which can be considered a narcotic type effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~june 2023 update~ If there is something you dislike, please tell me in the comments, just downvoting without any imput tells me absolutely nothing, I am trying to improve as a writer and not knowing where i am going wrong doesnt solve the problem~
seeing as its a work in progress and my first attempt at fimfiction or storywriting so please commentary and advice is much appreciated, just a heads up some parts will be mature some will be odd, and some will just make one question my sanity.....to which I can only say welcome to the crowd....
There is a possibility of anything showing up from the fimverse and quite a few things showing up from the aol rpverse including but not limited to transmogrifying gum,lollipops,mints,teas,breads,and sushi.....
....not sure what more can be said since am pretty new to writing this story and most likely it will go through many drafts before completion.........thus all imput is greatly appreciated and thank you meeester for pointing out my short and long description were rather lacking....
....also thank you ringtael for reminding me not to give up the ghost when writing.....despite hardly any feedback on what I had and life being crazy I am going to give it another shot....eb is the candyman afterall…..~
Everything had a beginning, everything an end. Tales blended between realities and sometimes things fell through the cracks. There once was a land where different storyland nodes converged and connected, a land many called the Rhydinverse or Aolverse that knew of its existence. It was a point connected to all times and all dimensions in truth, some connections weak and barely a hairs width, and other connections thick enough to take up planar residence but a dimensional layer away. Or at least that's how it was for a few decades.....but like all things time has a way of sweeping the past away under layers of dust and many things can be forgotten...…And so we come to this tales beginning that was at the start of the end of the place known as the Aolverse…..A time before greed and corruption would make it a forgotten memory.
~Tower of Ebony, Date Unknown~
The times were shifting, the seasons changing, and the days lengthening as a tall figure looked out from atop his tower. Within his black cowl nine eyes shimmer a multitude of colors as he ponders the current plans, he had to explore another connection to the multiverse he had opened a doorway to. In his many years within the lands of Rhydin he knew that times were changing and that a darkness that would change everything he knew was on the horizon. Maybe he wondered if he went to a land of peace and harmony, he might find the answer to how to the questions that plagued his mental madness. For even an insane mind like his desired some semblance of order now and then after all. One of six crimson gauntleted hands poked contemplating the swirling portal of void energies musing to himself how it felt like jellified water at times before becoming somber. He knew that once he stepped through the portal time would act at a different rate in this other land. His training in chronomancy had taught him that long ago after many such voyages into the space between worlds. One of nine eyes swivels from the rest looking around the tower rooftop, his mind recalling so many things and creatures he had brought back as reminders of his travels, now residences in his tower and flying island.
His magics gently touching the leylines and magical weaves interlacing his personal home he had spent so many hundreds of centuries building and protecting after inheriting it from his former master. His mind recalling all the battles he's fought to ward off would be thieves who mistook his home as a perfect dungeon crawl. All the wars fought, and experiments tested, those who once shared his abode and musings of those who might share it in the future. His mind checking the connections just in case he ever needed to bring his home base from this dimension into the one he planned to explore, recalling when he had twice had todo so in the past. Then again in his defense the first time he needed it only to show power to bring peace and the other time was to use the flying island mass as a shelter for an alliance he had found comradery with. Every adventure he knew contained its own risks and perks, a smile touching his lips as he magically ran a spectral touch over a magitech zoid he had stored in the vault of his basements fifth subfloor, sitting next to a full suit of what can only be described as bone mail made from dragon claws. So many adventures, so many memories and so many more memories to come in the years to follow if his intuition was anything togo by.
Nodding to himself Ebony touch out a pocket watch examining it and its intrinsic runic glyphs and sigils, this particular artifact designed to show optimal times to cross between dimensions without causing too big of a time gap. An artifact he had been improving on after centuries of trial and error to prevent missing the dimension he wished to enter and accidently entering a similarly attuned dimension. The one flaw of dimensional travel he had found from the lands called Rhydin was that even if he got the right dimension, sometimes he ended up being flung into the far past or future of his intended entry point due to his own naturally high magics reacting oddly to the flow of the worlds between. It was always a tedious risk but one worth being patient to get through he had learned if one sought to gain the best souvenirs from visited worlds and dimensions.
With a few minutes remaining til the dimensions would be most properly aligned he began to give his minions and servants within his tower final orders, after all it wouldn't do to return only to find a smoldering pile of rubble and a crashed island like the first time he had visited another land for too long. Ebony made sure that from his tower generals to the lowliest book mimic of his tower library each knew their personal tasks and what was expected of them in his absence. Two of his many eyes roaming the notes he had taken from observations he had made of the other dimension through a portal scrying spell. Notations made inside his mind of different key individuals to not kill to preserve timelines, while at the same time pondering where and when he could interfere to prevent himself just having to completely sit on the sidelines, as well as where potentially he could obtain a new souvenir for his tower, be it an object or a creature. The pocket watch within his one of many hands vibrating slightly as an internal alarm alerted Ebony to the fact that the dimensions were closely aligned enough and would remain such for the next full day of time. One hand idly brushing off some dust from his shoes and another from his shoulder while a third hand picked up a rucksack he had prepared, slinging it over his shoulder between his two pairs of wings before he rose fully and lumbered through the portal. He knew not what the future held, but he hoped with would prove interesting.
Bright sunshine illuminates a city that seems almost carved of crystalline multicolored glass, the general population of this city blissfully unaware as they proceed with their daily lives of the tragedy the day will bring. To prevent a panic those who run the city's management have toned down and hushed up any news related to the ice meteor shower that's been determined will strike the city in the very near future. A silent council sworn to protect and oversee the kingdom of Mu, having turned their backs on their people in the name of ignorance being bliss. They believed that because they couldn't on their own save the city, why bother giving anyone a chance to flee the doomed kingdom.
Silently the tall figure sits back in his seat idly observing the ice meteor shower in the sky shaking his large head before running a hand over the heads of his pet wooden hounds. One of nine eyes closing as he sighs wondering why the city council had denied his offering to stasis petrify the population so that once the ice is gone and time has passed the city can continue as it once did. Alas, they like fools had denied his offer, prompting him to create just enough petrification prisms for his collection of genomic hybrids and himself, as well as a habitat relocator system designed to send his pets to livable biomes by species. His plan had been greatly delayed by just how far into the past he had been flung from his intended timeline, but he took small comfort in the fact that he at least knew he had the right dimension.
"And so like all good things, this land of science will soon come to an end.....such a pity, they had such good bacon....". Swiveling one eye to double check the weaves of the spell he had inlayed into the system and the prisms he nods to himself before walking down the hall towards his nearest laboratory, his hand waving over a crystal weave encoded to his signature, before his figure walks into the doors. One of six hands taps a series of wall keys as a different hands fingers taps off a second series of ceiling keys, an auric display flickering to life before him as he analyzes it with three eyes another three eyes observing each of the three tubes containing materials from before his arrival in the lands of Mu a year ago, the last three eyes roaming the room making sure everything was secured so no matter the aftershocks or force of the cold waves the lab would remain in relatively good condition until he returned. A hiss of steam next to him unlocking a wall panel from which he removes a personal random teleportation relocation prism. Tilting his head to one side he muses quietly," I am forced to wonder, when all comes to pass, who shalt remember and what shalt be forgotten from these lands that shalt be no more...lost in the sea of time like so many distant relics to come....".
He pauses pondering as he picks up the prism his large head tilting to one side as he grins like a cheshire cat," now my little pretty I wonder how long I should sleep while my pets are free to play in my absence...a hundred years, a thousand, maybe a hundred thousand....". He rubs his chin in ponderance still grinning to himself before tilting his head to the other side and begins modifying the prism, his feet taking him back towards his personal room where he links the depetrifying part of the stasis prism to the timer prism in his hands, a few flicks of his fingers manipulating the energy like a musician playing a harp, setting a timer so he would unpetrify much later then his pets, but no so late as all might be weeded out by natural selection. Finishing preparing the prism he walks over to his closet, before taking out his old set of spiked armor, his cloak, cowl, and robes, as well as his pale white mask, fingers tenderly running over the masks smooth surface as he puts it on, his six hands then carefully putting on his armor, the cowl and robes being placed over his armor, their color symbiotically shimmering at his putting them on before turning pale white, and the cloak being placed across his backside, a clasp being secured across his neck that is the emblem of a reaper holding two crossed scythes. One hand reaching down to remove from a special case a large tri bladed scythe, which he fits into a back sheath built into the back part of his robes, a modified bandolier being affixed to each wrist and to his legs, each one containing a hundred sigiled tiny needles. One hand pulls back the back of his robes as he affixes to his backside the triple katana sheathe next, before finally picking up a large back labeled 'candy' and placing it over his backside.
The distance sounds of screaming begin to fill the air as the first of the ice meteors begin to strike at the edge of the city, the prisms glowing as they begin to warm up, his feet taking him to his window as he watches the distant but quickly approaching waves of cold. His eyes nine closing in ponderance, the distinct thuds and explosions as parts of the cities magic generators were sundered, the magical essence mixing with the waves of cold, causing unusual side effects like warping sections of the city while vaporizing other parts, the wards placed within his home ensuring that chaos magic would affect it for at least a decade after the stasis took hold. One eye opening as he observes a random citizen running away before being transformed into a pile of cheese by a magically imbued cold wave that was sweeping that part of the city, a sigh and head shake being all he can give as the stasis crystals magic begins to petrify him, his home, and his hybrid creations habitats. His last act as the spell works its way up his chest is to begin humming 'what do you do with a drunken sailor'.
~Time Unknown, Location Ruins of a Forgotten City~
It had long been a statue considered an oddity after it was unearthed by the minotaurs a decade ago, some speculated it was a depiction of some ancient deity, other a perversion of the minotaur legendary figure Santa Claus, but many who passed and stared with pointed hooves at the figure could agree on two things.... that it was strange and that it was tall. The statue stood at a height of 19' 8" and appeared to have six arms, one of which was holding a large bag that had a scarce five odd letters on it, one hand positioned on its waistline and two more sets of arms folded across the figure's chest, its face hidden behind a smooth featureless mask that had what looked like to small eye slits on it. Due to the unusual nature of the artifact, it was moved into its own wing of the museum, so that those curious could examine it without being disturbed by other museum visitors. Attempts to take samples from the statue had drawn the oddest reaction because any attempts were met with debilitative shocks or waves of babbling about sheep and knife wielding rabbits fearfully, prompting a sign being placed next to it warning against touching the statue, directly or indirectly. Thus no one noticed at first that for some reason the tune "what do you do with a drunken sailor" had begun tobe hummed within the museum wing, the melody seeming to originate from the statue, nor did anyone notice the hairline cracks that had begun to form over the past four days.
Looking around himself he found he was at a loss, as two layers of memories swirled within his mind's eye. On one hand he remembered the timeline as it had been, but on the other he now realized something had changed the timeline and thus changed where he now found himself. Ebony slowly scratched under his chin in ponderance as he mused to himself and examined more closely the energies flowing throughout his body. He made a mental notation of how a lot of his strongest powers had a seal placed on them, while ten abilities he possessed had been minorly augmented. So, he stood pondering just what he could do with device mimicry, card magic, book teleportation, conceptual anchoring, tranquil combat, human disguise, gene-splicing, meta-learning, corrode, and sealing infusion. Seeing as some higher power had decided to tweak his existence to amplify these 10 abilities while sealing another 40, he figured he most likely didn't do it on a whim while also pondering how those abilities can be combined with one another. Deciding that standing around looking like an idiot wasn't going to get anything done he takes stock of his current location, finding it to be what appeared a museum exhibit in an abandoned museum...his creations and lab equipment missing, left with nothing but the stuff he had directly been wearing before entering the petrificational stasis. He sighs tilting his head to one side before uttering," Well now, doesn't this just blow a wet monkey....at least the stasis kept me intact but now I have to wonder how much of my stuff is scattered across the multiverse due to time being changed while in stasis. And if it's worth it to retrieve the lost items or merely leave them to be found by other dimensional beings...."
In the distance the sound of hammering can be heard drawing Ebony to look out one of the windows of the former museum and observing in the distance what appeared to be a unicorn nailing with magic a sign to a black tree that's in the middle of a swamp seemingly composed of dumped magical wastes. Searching his memories, he identifies the unicorn as one named Starswirl the bearded and realizes that he is witnessing the incident that released the sealed changelings into the world. Calmly observing the unicorn wander off, he focuses and erects a telekinetic bubble barrier around the free to keep the changelings in the rough area until he could interact with them, grimacing as what felt like a dozen bug bites in his mind as the changelings en mass erupted from the tree and slammed into his erected barrier.
Deciding he might as well use the human disguise since it had been a very long time since he had last accessed it, his form first shifted until he was 7'2" tall. A step down from his usual height but tall enough to meet and greet full ground alicorns if need be, eye to eye. Next, he shortened his ankle length hair to merely be down to the middle of his backside and tied it up into a ponytail, his six arms merging into merely two, the muscles merely looking bulkier then normal. His normally bluish black skin turning a pale white and his eyes nine merging into two eyes, the main nonhuman thing about his eyes being they had double pupil in each eye, making it resemble an infinity symbol. The eyes each resembled mini rainbows with the spectrum of colors that were revealed as the light shone upon them, his normally pointed ears shortening to look human and his wings melding into his backside looking like realistic tattoos. The final change was within his mouth, his lamprey like teeth reshaping to take on a more normal omnivorous pair of dentures. His normal black spiked body army changing with his form shift to turn into a black suit and tie, his metallic boots turning into black leather like cowboy boots, and his mask shimmering and changing into a pair of black shades. His cloak and robes merging to form a billowier cloak from the combined mass and his cowl melds into a cloak collar, the needles he keeps in his hair remaining unchanged.
Stretching and popping his quasi joints he mentally adjusts to the new form, preforming a few mouth exercises to both get used to the new dental setup as well as renew his familiarity with using his mouth after being stoned for so long. Stepping from the entrance to the abandoned museum he tilts his head to one side as he looks at the barrier containing the changelings, noting most had ceased striking the barrier other than their queen who was rather relentless, most having seem to have tired themselves beyond the initial adrenaline-fueled attempt at being free. Focusing his mind upon the barrier he feeds a portion of concentrated love into the barriers lining so those within would slowly be fed and hopefully begin relying less on their most primal of urges to seek food which seemed tobe the only thing driving them at the moment. Recalling the time that no longer one brings a frown to his face, recalling a version of this chrysalis who had lived a better cake loving life, before resolving his mind and looking into the changeling queen's eyes directly. "I don't know if you can fully understand or comprehend my words, but I am not your enemy and seek only to give you a better potential future. Whether you accept my offer is up to you, it matters not in the long run that is my lifetime, but that doesn't mean I will try less to help you little ones...."
Stretching again he sits down in place cross-leggedly while continuing to stare intently into the eyes of Chrysalis before he resumes speaking," Your being here I would assume has todo with Discord, judging by the taint of chaos magic that was permeating that tree and most likely slowly corrupting you over time, making you into a more perfect toy for his amusement. Before you rest many roads, some good, some bad, and some I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies. Ironically had this been another time, in another land, I might have added to your misfortune as my mine was often clouded by chaos that would make noodle boy cry with euphoric joy. But I have long been purged of my madness thanks mostly in part to a strong infusion of harmonic energies this realm gives off."
"Why....why help us?". Chrysalis rasped from a dried throat, her eyes flickering between dilated and non-dilation, showing her slipping from ferality to lucidity as the love energy slowly brought her mind back from the edge and into sanity. "Why help us when you can just look the other way and let us go be lost to the madness you speak of...."
"Because, I once knew a cake loving changeling in another time, in another place, a time that no longer is, but that might in some way be one day reflected again. You and she had a lot in common, the main difference being Discords interference wasn't involved and a good support system of family and friends. In some worlds your path leads to one of love between yourself and an alicorn of love as well as her husband tobe....in other worlds you die an ignoble death by the hands of others or frozen alone as the last changeling in a cave to the northern lands. And while you finding happiness would be a joyful thing, I personally would prefer the darker paths just because of the one you remind me of. Sometimes a little effort is worth it, if it means many lives will enjoy a better future......"
"Strange....Delusional.... Oddity....", by this point Chrysalis had stopped pounding on the barrier and had laid down in what many call a pony loaf position, her eyelids heavy and barely open," I cannot stop you from doing what you wish it seems but hear my words.... if you harm my people i will find a way to kill you...."
Smiling to himself he extends his senses, making not of how each changeling was fully topped up on emotional food before lowering the barrier and taking the changeling queen up in his arms gently. The other changelings he gently enshrouds in his telekinetic grip lifting him to carry alongside him as he makes his way back into the ruins of a museum. "Harm is the last intention from my mind, but I understand the sentiment behind your words. Afterall sometimes the greatest harm is caused by those seeking to help others. As for killing me, many have tried, many have failed, and I have the structures built from my enemies as a testament to how hard I am to kill. All I want is your kind to recover and rest for now, what happens in the future remains tobe seen and mayhap will be brighter with us working together."
"Delusional....", Speaking one last comment Chrysalis succumbs to the call of the sandman having fully become exhausted, her breathing leveling out and all tension leaving her body as she's carried gently.
Nodding to himself, he focuses his mind as he looks around the abandoned museum, using geomancy to strengthen and repair the stone walls of the building while telekinetically gathering any good quality cloth around himself. He then uses his telekinetics to draw to himself any non-organic matter around himself to break down using corrode, reducing the matter to dust and tossing said dust into a corner to deal with later. Most of the floor of the museum now being cleared of old debris, he then applies a touch of cytokinetics to loosen the bonds of the grime that had formed over time, sweeping it mentally into the same corner as the dust. Telekinetically using a needle from his hair and some thread from one of his cloaks pouches he begins to sew the cloth materials he had gathered into a large soft comforter to before placing the changelings onto it, his own form sitting down in place as he rests the changeling queen on his own lap like a giant lap cat. Musing to himself he applies a little druidic attunement to connect with the wooden supports of the building and its doorframe, as well as the trees outside. Watching as the supports of the building took on a more treelike look and the door began to look more naturalized, he smiles to himself, the holes in the roof being covered over as the trees around the building were urged to grow and cover the gaps around the building, creating a natural camouflage.
Petting the changeling queen in his lap with one hand, he ponders to himself while using the other hand to direct the druidic energies flowing through the treelike supports, willowy branches emerging to add an almost Celtic look to the walls and ceiling. He had always been fond of those aesthetics when he lived in the lands of Goldenmyst, Goldenhorn, and Kavanagh long long ago. Sometimes he was thankful for his spacial anchoring which allowed him to keep a thin connection to those other lands, thus allowing travel between worlds without being lost, while also keeping his mind unaffected by changes to the time stream. On one hand he knew what mistakes to not repeat while on the other it meant he might make all new ones, as each change he made created a new butterfly effect. Closing his eyes to meditate the future potential of this land and time he found himself in, he patiently let his spell weavings play out in the background while leisurely petting the resting changeling queen.
"You're a strange creature no matter what you say", Chrysalis had been studying her new accommodations the past few days as she watched her host slowly modify the building around them into a more secure and sturdy base of operations. She couldn't quite understand why he had saved her group of changelings from losing themselves to the chaos induced ferality if hunger, but she wasn't jaded enough tobe disrespectful to a willing love donor. "You say we can't travel back to the north to warn our kind to the actions of the chaos god because it would risk drawing his attention to the Crystal Empire and that some future force will make the same empire vanish for over a thousand years, in some form of preserving a timeline. Yet you outright helped us which by your own words means you changed the timeline in some way, even warning myself of possible future negative and positive outcomes when first we met. I don't understand your angle, but am thankful for you feeding and housing my hive, but what do you get out of it?"
"Boredom relief honestly", he replied truthfully. "It would have been easy yes to let you do your thing, but I felt it only fair to remove at least one toy from the chaos gods toy chest. At the same time, I get to have someone to talk to while I make my own plans, plans that though I don't want to change to much of the timeline, I know will in some forms or other do such a thing. It's a tricky little bit of business you see, on one hand I know the prime timeline ends with a very positive outcome and resolution, even if its distant potential future is so off kilter, it would make Discord contemplate being orderly. At the same time on the other hand, if i change some small things now, maybe I can make the world a little better and more balanced so when that far flung distant future occurs, it's not so wibbly wobbly. To quote a friend of mine, I am essentially trying to corral a group of wet cats and dogs, in a way that they all get along mostly without burning down the house or breaking to many walls....."
"Do I even want to know how corralling cats and dogs can lead to fire or broken walls?", Chrysalis inquires with one raised eye ridge, honestly both curious and worried at the possible answers.
"Fire breathing hellhounds and winged sabretooth tigers tend to get a little bit violent when stuck in close quarters with one another.....". Ebony casually shrugs as he begins reshaping part of the floor with geomancy to create a set of stairs and begin work on creating a basement for the changelings, having recalled how they do have an insectile love of tunnels and caverns in their hives. "As for feeding you, it's not really that much of an issue tobe honest, I merely am converting a small fraction of my bodies energies into passively released love energy which you and your kind suck up like plants consume sunlight. Any decent magical scholar whose spent a few decades researching energy manipulation and conversion could in theory do the same, either with ambient energy or a focus. In my personal case I am using my own large stores of energy as the focus, I do have far too much as it is...."
Watching Ebony seem to reshape the floor and create new walls in a new basement with his bare hands, Chrysalis paused while thinking over his words. Looking back to her changelings that had been growing slightly restless these past few days now that they weren't starving, she knew staying indefinitely wouldn't be an option, no matter how comfortable the accommodations were. Sighing to herself she walks slowly behind the man as he works on crafting a basement, making notes of where he forms the start of future doorways indication future rooms to this basement." You make it sound like you are a being connected to a celestial body, like the alicorn sisters we heard of in the south, the ones we were intending to investigate before Discord ambushed us and sealed us in a tree. Especially with how much energy you already seem tobe casually throwing around in reshaping this building on an almost whimsical nature. But I know alicorns don't just grow on trees so surely it's something else....."
"You wouldn't be too far off, my true species is like a living adaptive evolving star, we constantly store ambient energy and energy directed at us, like walking living giant batteries. It's something that makes our physical aging all but cease when we are fully mature and why none of my kind has yet died of old age. Sigothi is what my race is called, and when we die it tends to in the oldest of my kind create blackholes like the collapsing of a star, rather messy for whatever planet we happen tobe on at the given time. As for being an alicorn, I do have an alicorn form I can take, but I am preferring to not use that form unless I must, sticking to this humanoid form instead. The last thing I want todo is be chased by two horny female alicorns who might get it in their head to try breeding me to rebuild the alicorn race. No thank you, last thing the multiverse needs is half alicorn half sigothi beings running around, getting into conflicts and creating potentially more blackholes in the future." Pausing in his work he raises a chunk of the floor to make a crude pair of thrones, sitting in the left one and gesturing to the right with his other hand. "I have led armies and groups in the past, my days of being any form of ruler I would prefer remains in the past, I am just a tired old man now, long past the wildness of my youth. This trip is in a way my retirement and vacation rolled into one. A chance to get away from all the burdens and responsibilities i have faced, and at the same time a chance tobe somewhere people aren't trying to kill me on a daily to weekly basis."
Moving to sit in the offered throne, Chrysalis observes him as he speaks, noting that there is in fact an almost tired feel from his posture as he's sitting in repose. " Why here though, if you're a space traveling, dimension and time hoping being, why pick this mudball and time period to visit? Why pick this dimension, if you have so many other options? Heck if you can so freely travel why let any place or responsibility pin you down or even care about what others think?"
"In this world they call it equanimity, in others humanity, all boiling down to maintaining a sense of right and wrong and no losing sight of one's personal values. If I really stopped caring, it would in fact become a lot easier for myself but at what cost. There is only so much one can give up of their compassion and feelings before one because nothing but a twisted shell, something I came very close to becoming on the battlefields in the past. For a time, I even bore the mantle of the horseman of death, working on the side for a close friend of mine who is no longer with us. Apoc wanted me tobe his horseman of war, but I pointed out I would be too good at such a job, and I have a personal love of scythes when it comes to actual weapons. Not to say I am not nearly equally skilled with other forms of weapons; it's just scythes are so much easier to modify and upgrade." He solemnly looks down at his open palm contemplating and remembering the past, both the good and the bad. "In a way, construction, inventing, and tinkering is what helped me keep myself the most in the present, kept me from losing focus. By taking breaks to make things for others, or for pranks I could tame my darker urges and notions."
"Either you have the world's greatest health plan or know an excellent method to repair wounds, because if you have been on as many battlefields as you make it sound, you sure lack the scars to back it up. And though I am not saying you're making it up, you don't seem tobe what most would call a walking embodiment of death, after all you saved the lives of my hive with your actions a few days ago." As she speaks, she makes a no offense gesture with her hooves to make it clear she's not doubting him outright, it's just not every day someone saves you and yours and then says they used tobe Death itself. Although being Death would explain abit of his knowledge of how others were meant to end in her book, making her now potentially wonder just what her own personal future held that she would garner such a creature's attention. "So, I get it, you are essentially on vacation from your travels, but that doesn't explain why here and why help my hive. We aren't ones to refuse to repay a favor owed within decent expectations, but the whys are something that would keep any sensible ling awake at night."
"To answer in order, why here.... because this dimension and world is one of the most peaceful and least violent of the many dimensions i have seen in my observing of the multiverse. Sure, it has its darkness, but that darkness is balanced by the orderly and harmonious aspects within this world. And that leads into why you and yours, I need your lings todo me a small favor of watching over seven ponies, as well as keeping those ponies' lives flowing smoothly when they have to handle important matters. These seven are the pillars of Harmony, or that is what they will be known as later in time. Mage Meadowbrook is an earth pony alchemist, Rockhoof a town militia pony, Flash Magnus is a pegasus soldier, Somnabula a pegasus wisepony, Mistmane is a unicorn sorceress, Stygian who is an earth pony strategist, and lastly Starswirl the bearded. Starswirl is the one who accidently freed you from the tree and tends tobe slightly short sighted and prideful in some of his actions, but he at his core truly does care about the rest of Eques. These seven will play pivotal roles in keeping the countryside safe, and I would prefer their homelives tobe somewhat stable while they keep the rest of the land stable. But at the current time walking around as I am would only attract a lot of attention, while your race being able to blend into society and maintain a sense of order, while also providing information covertly. Once Discord is sealed away and the matter is resolved in the north, having a more stable connections to the ponies of these lands will go a long way to making a more beneficial land for your kind. Or at least that's my intention." He relaxes back in his seat looking at Chrysalis, waiting to see what she decided todo with the information.
"I won't promise anything since I don't know these ponies you want us to work around, but I will give it some thought and see what can be worked out from there. That is the best I can offer all things aside, and I won't deny having a better footing in the nations to rise in the future is appealing." Sitting back in her own crude seat she closes her eyes deciding to take a nap and consider what's being asked and what's being offered.
My how time flies, he mentally notes as he stands atop the roof for the pseudo hive and temporary headquarters, he's erected for himself and his changeling guests. A small part of him felt bad for the bit of dishonesty he had shown Chrysalis, but he also rationalized what she didn't know wouldn't be overly detrimental for her. In truth the array he had setup and been using to convert raw energy to the emotional spectrum actually took a lot of energy. Mostly due to how short of a time he had to erect it originally and the fact he wasn't used to having to worry about energy expenditures. On one hand even with his seals in place which limit his true potential, and the seals placed upon him when he awoke from his stone slumber, he wouldn't likely have to worry about running out of energy until at least two thousand years had passed. On the other hand, that was also counting into consideration not having to fight something like an alicorn, Grogar, or Discord. Those three vectors would definently take more energy than he would like to spend in the immediate future. Taking out a small notebook he had been composing of future plans from what he had previously gleaned of this dimension's possible futures before arriving, he mentally goes through his list of future issues.
Sombra, he noted again wouldn't be much of an issue, he was well versed in dealing with shadow manipulators due to his long time working alongside two of the strongest in their fields, while he lived in the Rhydinverse. He could intervene with the Pony of Shadows, thus freeing up the Pillars to help Luna and Celestia and prevent Nightmare Moon from occurring, but doing so could have unforeseen consequences. He would have to intervene a little with Nightmare Moon when she came to be, if just to keep Chrysalis from being in danger. Because she, despite her tsunadere nature, was likely to try to fix the issue in a rather poorly planned manner rather than let her changelings risk extinction. He could help the gryphons with their eventual relic issue but, doing that would later potentially hurt the growth of the future element wielders, as well as the growth of a rather intelligent gryphon he noted had good potential.
Being honest with himself, he noted a lot of the issues the future element bearers will be facing he didn't actually need to intervene much in, other than the Zecora incident. That issue he noted he wanted to intervene in personally, disliking anyone judging someone just based on appearance and rumor. Storm King, he noted he could mostly intervene in, since his role in future events was more harmful than anything, and depending on how he went about fixing the issue, he might actually make things better. Discord he was content to leave alone and run his course as long as that particular god of chaos left him alone in turn. Wishful thinking, he mused but at the same time he knew that not interfering unless provoked by Discord would yield the best possible future for both him and Discord. Starlight Glimmer was one future threat he was on the fence about though. Like with interfering with the destiny of the Pillars, he could intervene at many points, but if he messed with too much or messed up period, it would have unforeseen consequences which he wasn't looking forward to. Afterall just because he had more energy than he knew what todo with most days, it didn't mean he was eager for extra trouble while trying to steer the changeling race to the best possible future he could achieve.
Putting up the notebook back into his cloak pouches he sighs, knowing his desire to help the changelings so strongly is because of a timeline that no longer was. But a part of him really did care for those other changelings he had known in that lost timeline. Grumbling to himself about how much changes to timelines and creation of alternative timelines or destroying timelines annoyed him, he hops off the roof of the structure to resume work on building a working printing press. If he was going to use book teleportation in some of his future plans, he needed at bare minimum to raise the literacy level of the pony population. Even if it's just mass printing a guide to reading Equestrian script, or Old Ponish as it will later be called, it would make his like easier to have it distributed by the changelings under Chrysalis. Also, he highly doubted introducing a printing press at such an early point in the timeline would hurt things too much. Using pyrokinesis to shape and mold metal with precision to create the required gears and components he found was abit therapeutic. It wasn't very often he could just mindlessly work on rebuilding what some consider a normal convenience without someone interrupting his work or seeking his help with a menial task. A large part of his mind considered staying longer than a mere vacation but, doing so weighed on his essence. No matter how convenient temporal anchoring allowed him to snap back to his home dimension and the exact time he left the Rhydinverse, he also had to make sure to not grow too complacent. Afterall even void dwellers who lose caution can become stranded. One of his close friends was such an eldritch abomination. Some days he wondered if Raven was lost or merely bored and seeking a fellow traveler to kill time. That man did have almost as many backup plans as he himself did.
Pausing in his work, he senses along the base hivemind that the changelings used, his interference with the discordian corruption preventing it from degrading too much. Ensuring each changeling assigned to cover a different Pillar's life while they were saving Eques, he frowned noting that his printing press idea will need more wood then can easily be hidden being created or harvested. He pondered who would be the biggest obstacle between Discord and the Alicorn Sisters, since they were the two most likely to notice his actions if he rushed this project. On one hand, rushing matters would allow him to travel faster and potentially reach the minotaur lands within a year or two tops. On the other hand, being dragged into a power struggle early would set back many of his plans by decades at minimum. And he did so hate having his plans set back by excessive amounts of time. Mayhap he should prepare a few seal infusions to offset the possible delays to his plan. He had already been sealing after all, his weapons collection into a few sets of harmless seeming playing cards. Each set divided by level of danger it might be needed to cover.
It had been a rather busy month, a part of him regretting not interfering with the destiny of the Pillars of Harmony, as they would later be called. Ebony looks contemplatively at his palm as he muses to himself over how things had been progressing. With the Pillars in Limbo, that meant sometime soon the battle between Discord and the Alicorn Sisters would be occurring. The chaos caused by Discord had been enough to hide his harvesting of wood to make a lot of paper, but he had held off trying to make any books until after Discord is taken down. In the meantime, he had the changelings gathering copies of common scrolls he intended to convert into book format. Turning his gaze to some of the changeling drones, he makes note they had been showing increasing levels of personality and identity equivalent to the amount of love they had been fed at a consistent rate. He also noted the changelings holes have begun slowly closing up, something he chalked up to the corruption being counter balanced by his actions. Having an in-depth knowledge of how too much chaos corruption can affect an individual made finding a solution a lot simpler. Also having spent a long-time studying changeling biology in the time that no longer exists, he was aware of a lot of their biological functions, which then he could compare to their current biological functions.
Some of the changelings, with the Pillar matter settled, he had been sending into pony settlements in disguise to gather intelligence. Sure, it cost him a few jars of condensed love, converted from base residual energy, but it was a price well paid in his opinion. Queen Chrysalis was firmly entrenched in his new hive and seemed to have her own plans based on what she had heard him mentioning, but he didn't mind. Afterall, what is a queen if not someone who rules independently and for their own people's future. He silently makes a mental notation to be more careful on what he shares with her, just to see what happens in a more controllable format. It wouldn't do for future projects tobe put at risk or damaged by giving her too much information.
Dusting himself off as he stands, he focuses on the mountain that would later become the city of Canterlot with an annoyed frown. It would seem his missing lab somehow in this world ended up being shoved inside a giant crystal within the crystal mines, which means he would either have to change history to retrieve it, or hope no one else get into it before he could access the lab. Personally, he blamed Discord for the location of his lab, just enough of a chaotic twist to annoy him without being provable that Discord had a claw in the matter. He made a mental notation to paint Discords statue plaid the first chance he gets. While he's musing on all the ideas to get back at Discord for the perceived moving of his lab, he feels at light tapping on his leg, looking down at one of the bulkier changeling drones. Searching his mind for a name to match to the drone's form, he snaps his fingers recalling to himself," Yes Mandible?"
"Queen want, not happy, demand speak", Mandible speaks in broken Equish, the drone like many growing slowly more used to using words as its mind regains more cognition.
"Okay i will be right down," Tussling the head find of the drone, who he makes a mental note was beginning to develop into a warrior drone. Hopping off the top of the structure he makes his way down the stairs within, into the pseudo labyrinth of tunnels that composed the hive internal structure. Nodding and smiling to changelings as he passes them working within the hive, he makes notes how much the hive has grown since he helped get it started almost a month ago. It made him feel good inside to help another group get off its feet, a sort of hobby he had picked up in his many travels even back in the Rhydinverse. Unfortunately, those good cheerful feelings were meant to die in a fire the moment he saw the livid upset face Queen Chrysalis was making, clearly something had got wrong worse than Celestia being denied cake for a month. "I am going to go out on a limb and blame Discord for whatever most likely has you upset.....that or something I didn't expect occurred."
The Discord comment actually got a chuckle out of the queen before she resumes frowning, "Well your right on at least part of your guess. It would seem Discord has been teasing the Alicorn Sisters with dropping statues of you at random places all over the place. Mutated caricatures of you, but still images nonetheless, which is making the princesses send out groups to try and find this strange hornless minotaur as you have been dubbed." She frowns again sitting back in her throne watching Ebony take a seat next to her, "Which wouldn't be such a bad thing if they didn't somehow, most likely another prank by Discord, discover by "accident" a group of gatherer drones thus making Celestia and Luna aware of changelings.", the word accident she emphasizes with air quotes using her hooves. "Since the gatherer drones were in fact only retrieving herbs and spices and not actually committing crimes, and as you advised using false identities that matched no other ponies, the princesses let them go after sending me a formal invitation to tea and discussions. And while that wouldn't be a bad thing, I have little doubt you won't come up in the conversations."
"I see....", Ebony places his palms in his lap as he sits back in his seat, closing his eyes in contemplation. Perhaps he had been too passive when dealing with Discord and the Alicorn Sisters. Celestia was easy at this time to deal with as long as one kept a cool head and followed perceived protocol. Her sister Luna on the other hand had a personality that was growing more wanting to prove herself, to step out of the perceived shadow of her older sister. It didn't help that Discord gave ponies a reason to fear the unknown and darkness with some of his more extreme antics, something which hurt as a consequence Luna and her nightguard reputations. "If you want, I can make an appearance and try to unruffle some mental feathers. I do after all miss having tea with guests at my own tower, in my homelands. And by making an appearance, short of a prank by Discord, which is highly likely knowing him, maybe we can both profit from this bit of diplomacy."
Rubbing the bridge of her forehead with one hoof, Chrysalis looks at Ebony with one eye, "So you're telling me, despite knowing that Discord is most likely to not only intervene but also pull a prank on this meeting, that you still would be willing to attend with me? I know you told me you were in a petrificational stasis before waking up in this current time period, but are you sure your brain is fully not stone? Thats like walking into a tavern and handing every pony a knife, then asking them to throw them at you at the same time and expecting to walk away without a scratch."
"Actually, I have done that before, and yes I get the reference, its reckless and dangerous. As well as most likely to ruin many of my future plans, but I have to point out 2 things. One, no plan survives the first encounter in any situation, no matter how much one prepares. And secondly, no person has ever accused me of being perfectly rational and sane, not even my closest long-term allies. Sometimes walking into the trap filled room is the safest option, rather than letting it spring when least expecting it." Ebony casually shrugs chuckling abit at the look of annoyed confusion on the changeling queens face. That was a look he was so used to getting over the years, especially when people thought they knew him and then he would do something stupid seeming, yet efficient enough to work.
Taking a breath to center herself and shaking her head in annoyance, Chrysalis looked back at Ebony, "If this goes wrong, I am going with plan B, and you can deal with the sisters on your own. I already have had the drones preparing a backup hive in another part of the forest in case the worst occurs. With a third location planned if that backup hive isn't viable. I am not sticking around if you, Discord, or the sisters in any combination get into a knock down drag out fight. With what is fated to happen up north I intend my kind to survive and thrive, with or without your help. Oh, and I will also be taking the printing press if I have to flee, I like how it looks and its form gives me many ideas."
While he had been expecting her to bail if things got dicey, he hadn't been expecting her to steal his book making project as well. Blinking to himself, Ebony scratches the back of his head chuckling abit," Fair enough". Changelings were very adaptable survivors he reminded himself, so reusing something left in their care, and improving on it wasn't a foregone conclusion." But if you're going to take the press, make sure to also take the two crates I marked as research ideas, that way if this play gets vaporized or worse, the plans aren't wasted, and you have a leg up in a few future plans I had set aside."
Again, the changeling queen found herself looking at Ebony like he was nine cents short of a dime, and pondering if it wasn't safer to trust Discord at this point with the lack of sanity she was hearing. Then again Discord was to blame for her current predicament, so maybe better the mad pony she knew then that mad pony she didn't know. She had perused some of those notes of ideas on the few times Ebony had been gathering wood to turn into paper. Watching him cut and crush the wood into thin paper slices had been very disturbing. The main two research ideas she had been interested in related to one labeled modern plumbing and the other being labeled hot springs. Waving dismissively to Ebony she resumed communing with the changelings of her hive in the hivemind, she had plans to make if she was to attend this teatime talks in the near future.
A solitary blue winged mare of the night descends into what could be charitably at best called a hellscape, swooping low towards a looming figure overlooking the madness below from atop a mountain top. The smoke of fires obscuring the bright moonlight night of the dream they had entered, but at last they had found the one sought tirelessly. "Finally, we hast found thou, interloper. What hellish madness is this scene ere us?" The alicorn of the night, Luna, it taken abit back by the carnage below as the figures nine glowing orblike eyes seem to study her intently.
"This little one, is but one of many battlefields I have found and survived upon, in my travels. Not all my vacation destinations end up as planned after all." One of the six arms folded across its chest gestures to the battlefield below and the screams of the dying and injured. Grotesque bestial gargoyle like monstrosities can be seen dive bombing and killing what looks like bipedal soldiers in heavy armor. Other limbless entities can be seen floating around releasing waves of psionic chaotic energies at groups of fighting soldiers. "One past attempt at a vacation was interrupted by a species known as Tyranids. They were abit of a pest species in the dimension i was visiting, adaptive evolution types that had a mindset like a hive yet also like locusts. They swarm and consume planets for the sake of biomass, and unless a species is considered not worth the biomass it takes to kill, all other species are considered prey to them."
"And thou encountered these things and survived how haply. Should they are as dangerous as thy words imply how goes't still alive having witnessed such a conflict?" Surveying the carnage below, Luna looks between the being she had spent the past few weeks hunting in the dreamscape and the madness before her eyes. A scene that even would make Discord pale from its sheer brutality and bloodshed.
"When you pity two adaptive evolving entities against one another, the one who can think more independently usually will win in the end. Like the Tyranids my species is adaptive evolutionary type in nature, but instead of being predators, we are scholars. For myself there is nothing more soothing than visiting other realms, seeing what I can learn from them, then returning home to try and understand how I can use that knowledge to create new inventions. Thus, when I go on vacations, usually I visit someplace I have yet to travel to. Be it a star, a planet, a moon, or even a new multiversal dimension. The destination matters little, it's what can be learned along the way that is the most important to myself." Gesturing with one large hand again at the battles below he sighs deeply," These creatures ended up ruining one of my planned vacations and by the time the dust was settled, I was deemed not worth the biomass lost to fight me alone. I am a scholar, but I am also a warrior blooded across almost a hundred micro wars in my home dimension. The more I am forced to fight the deadlier I am, but I take no pleasure from killing." Wagging a thick finger, he chuckles abit before folding his arms back across his chest. "Some days I envy my simpler comrade Ryan, he was like a fired arrow. Didn't care what was in the way of his task, just completing the task as efficiently as possible."
"So, thy saying thou fight this Tyranid species on superior footing yet, that thou are still a seeker of mostly knowledge. Surely thy jesting? these creatures look like they are spawned from the vilest of nightmares and I wot nightmares." Giving a quick snort, Luna glares up at the figure that's looming over her, her temper slowly rising at the perceived falsehood. "I am Luna, Princess of the Night and all it entails! Surely, thou don't expect me to receive these impossibilities thou speak of?"
Casually he shrugs adjusting his robes and cloak before looking from the fighting down to Luna," Believe what you wish little Lulu. The multiverse is a vast and wild place and those who traverse it either adapt fast or end up being swept along in the flow. For what it's worth, my name is Ebony Ekin Shade, and I am merely a simple traveler who's seen far too much and is trying to enjoy a peaceful vacation for once. I intend no harm towards your lands and am simply relaxing with good company while staying out of your lovers quarrel with Discord." As he speaks, he waves his hand dispelling the dream images and turning it to a starry void, taking on the human disguise he had been using while residing with Chrysalis and her hive. "Us meeting in the dreamscape was because I sensed the presence of a dream magic based searching spell trying to connect to my mind. In truth my kind, once fully matured, don't usually need to sleep. It's a luxury used mostly to expediate the passing of time or for those of us with a dream walking talent to converse privately."
Slightly taken back by the dream being dismissed and sudden change of surroundings, despite believing herself originally to be the one fully in control of the dreamscape, Luna listens carefully to his words to try to find any deceptions. At being compared perceptually to a lover of Discord she scowls," We are 'i no way 'i a relationship with that buffoon! Surely, thou want thy mind checked if thou regard I hast any romantic feelings towards one such as Discord."
He chuckles deeply placing both hands across the back of his head, reclining to lay on his back in the air looking at her with one eye closed," Oh no, little Lulu, I am sure you have no feelings for him that don't reside on the head of one of your pony soldier's spears for all that Discord has caused. Your sister on the other hand, as strait laced as she is, strikes me as the type to also for a time fall for the proverbial bad boy. Especially if it means shaking loose from the shackles and stress of trying to lead and being independent like you both were in your younger days." He frowns abit before closing both eyes and shaking his head," No matter how we chase the ghosts of youth, they will never be fully grasp. This is one of the few truths of growing up is it not? One can't even truly change past mistakes, even with time magic. For todo so would merely create a branching alternative world and without temporal anchoring there is little chance of returning to one's true time period."
"Thou speak like thou hast a lot of experience playing with time, something e'en the great Starswirl had difficulties with and bid the hardest form of magic." She raises one eyebrow looking at the figure before her, not liking the implications of his words, but also not being able to fully deny her sisters fancies in the department of romance. Despite being smaller then when first she saw him, the reduced size didn't make her feel any more at ease. Instead, his seeming lack of concern and flippant nature reminded her far too much of his Discord himself acted, only with less madness.
"Time magic is a complex and dangerous field sure, but it's merely a steppingstone compared to so many harder spell forms I have come across. For example, Void and Dimensional magic is so much more complex and both come with a higher risk. Especially if someone who's not temporally anchored encounters a version of themselves who's more experienced and deadlier." A black booklet appears floating beside Ebony as he regards Luna with one eye again, summoned forth to the dreamscape as he sits up, cross-legged in the air looking at her with one eye still closed. "Before I visit a place, I try to see what I should look out for. A lesson I learned the hard way not to skip after encountering Tyranids and a lesson that has helped me to survive a few dangerous encounters in the multiverse. It also helps me plan if my vacation will be mostly peaceful by viewing timelines of where I have decided as a travel destination. The fact 40 of my powers were sealed after I entered is a good reminder to me that no matter how much I plan for, there are always things and beings stronger than me, watching for travelers." Tapping the book with one gloved finger he smirks chuckling abit ,"Within this book is the few things I could intervene with in your potential timeline, but the more I intervene in the perceived goal of making things better, the more I might create a worse future. A wise man once said, the road to hell is paved in good intentions. Something I myself have seen first-hand from past attempts to dabble in other lands."
"If thou wot what dangers lurk 'i our future, why not grant that knowledge to us to solve, if thou yourself don't crave to intervene too much as thou say? Surely some few knowledge and foresight canst not be as troublesome and dooming as thou imply?" She stares now focused intently on the book he had indicated. If it truly had a list of current future problems, surely that knowledge would and could help her and Celestia's rule.
Clicking his tongue in a tsking fashion, he shakes his head dismissing the booklet back to his storage spell. "Still so young, innocent, and naive. While not a bad thing one day you will understand my words better in hindsight. Sometimes dark things must occur so that harmonic balance can make a brighter future. Any time too much darkness is suppressed, it creates a vacuum effect, which make the next bad event usually worse than it has tobe. My one big interference I have already preformed will have a mild effect at best in the current timeline but might have a greater effect in the distance future. I helped the changelings you see take up a better potentially path, a path not corrupted by the antics of Discord more than they already had been." Holding up his hand he moves them like a scale as he speaks," on one hand, in the short run it gives Chrysalis a chance to make something beneficial to all with her hive. But on the other hand, she was supposed to be corrupted almost fully by the chaotic twisting of Discord to eventually become a villain in the far-flung future. Had I let history play out, majority of her race would have after suffering great losses, had a brighter more colorful future, but Chrysalis would be condemned to stone in most multiversal histories forever, never given a second chance, unable to move, and able to see everything. A true hell I wouldn't wish on anyone. So, I took a chance and gambled on following my own personal code, to try to help her avoid that fate."
The look of horror on Luna's face at the thought of being petrified but conscious forever, to be able to see everything but never able to move again, made it rather obvious how she felt on such a fate. While a mad mind might be able to last, a sane mind would eventually be destroyed completely. If such was the destined fate of one who would have been a villain, what would that make those who cast such a fate be. She couldn't fault him stepping in, in such a situation. Even if it met changing the future and taking a risk. She would have to speak to her sister about making a law in case of future stone imprisonments, to ensure no one ever was locked in such a state. "Join what may, I canst not bear against thou thy actions 'i this case. If mine role was reversed with hers, i too would hast preferred someone ensure I wasn't trapped 'i a stony prison forever, seeing yet unable to move." Nodding to him she prepares to resume her nightly duties, his words giving her much to think about as she completes her tasks. "Fair thou well till next we speak, haply when the changeling queen visits our home to talk, yet hitherto I bid thou good rest."
Nodding to Luna, he lays back watching her vanish back into the ethereal realm that was the dreamscape, pondering what she had said. Was it right to still hold back from helping her with the impending issue that was Nightmare Moon. Her words left him unsure if he really was taking the right step, but if he acted, he would also have to ensure Celestia didn't fall to a darkness within her, which often happened in multiverses where Luna doesn't fall to her inner demons. He also recalled worlds he had seen where both ended up killing each other and shakes his head, his plans now muddled and murky. "Even in the most harmonious of lands, why is it nothing can ever be simple and straightforward as I hoped.....", he mutters to himself as he focuses to return to the waking world. There was things todo and plans to make, he only hoped he wasn't going to make a bigger mistake of matters.