> Geometric Shapes > by ShamelessOC > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > (Prolouge) A Crossed Wire > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey, Vip,” Etzer called, peering into the intricate mechanisms of the teleporter, “can you hand me the Wire Cutters?" "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Viprin asked nervously, fidgeting in place, "I mean it says right on the box not to ‘perform unprofessional maintenance’." "Oh, come on,” Etzer waved, “They only put that on the box so people don't make these things awesome, like we're doing. And I am a professional." "If you say so..." Viprin said, using an unseen hand to toss the wire cutter to Etzer - who began to tamper with the inner machinations immediately. "Strip those… tie that... annnd done!” the self-proclaimed mechanic decreed, “Alright, Vip, plug it in.” The teleporter was an orange circle, domed on one side to prevent accidental entry. Inside, hundreds of nozzle-like objects lined the interior – placed there to produce the portal. It was propped up on two metal poles, which were bolted to the floor. Viprin hesitantly reconnected the power, the hum of electricity sparking the machine to life. Within seconds, it seemed to be working perfectly. "Alright, Viprin, slide back." Etzer warned. The two moved behind a table that they had set up in the room for portal experimentation. Viprin grabbed a remote controller and proceeded to guide a small toy car with an attached camera, into the vibrantly coloured portal. Upon crossing the portal’s threshold, the rift began to shake and distort violently – sparks flying out in all manner of directions. "Oh no." Viprin said, very worried about the sudden destabilization. Then, in an instant, the portal exploded in a flurry of energy. No shrapnel, debris or destruction, only a raw light that consumed the entirety of the garage, devouring it whole. The building, and everything that was inside it, was ripped from the fabric of space and time. Etzer woke up with a start, mind racing with newfound adrenaline. Flipping upright, he quickly gave his surroundings a look over – struggling to see in the darkened room. Not again... He looked over at Viprin, still lying out cold on the ground. The top half of his body was no longer hovering above the lower half. "Vip, wake up." Etzer said in a hushed tone, nudging his friend lightly. "WOUGH!" Viprin yelled, flipping up immediately. The upper half of his body quickly floated back to its original place. "Did we knock out the power again?" he questioned angrily, an edge apparent in his voice as he took in the gloomy surroundings. "Looks like it," Etzer replied, dusting himself off, "We also need to apologize to the neighbors. I’ll go do that now, I guess..." Etzer stretched before slowly making his way over to the side door. Tentatively grabbing a hold of the door, he took a deep breath before opening the door and marching out into the darkness of the Everfree. "Sorry ev’r- the hell?" he yelled, "Where are we?" > (1) A Magical Shockwave > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A shockwave was felt by unicorns across Equestria – particularly the adept and experienced. A magical shockwave, its power only matched by the Elements of Harmony at its epicentre, dissipated as it rippled throughout the world. Most disregarded the sensation as normal – one of many incidents that Equestria was known to experience from time to time – but a certain Twilight Sparkle was quick to take note. "Dear Princess Celestia,” she declared, Spike quickly jotting down the message. “Recently I felt a powerful magic sweep across Equestria, seeming to come from the Everfree Forest. The signature is unlike anything I've seen before, like it was designed to be untraceable. This may be a major threat to Equestria, particularly the towns and settlements surrounding the forest. I would like for you to help me investigate the source of the magic with any resources that you could spare. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight watched as Spike engulfed the message in a green flame, the resulting magical transformation disappearing through an open window towards Canterlot. From where she stood, Twilight could still feel the energy about her, hardly noticeable amongst the common magic frequencies of Ponyville, but distinct enough for her to discern. Unlike most spells, the only ‘identifier’ would be that it was impossible to keep track of, the signature changing and warping every second. Such power was meant to be kept hidden, an arcane field passing like the breeze. It behaved like chaos magic, not that unlike that from the looming forest to the North. The Everfree was known to ‘hiccup’ from time to time, but it was better to keep track of such events. Waiting with great anticipation, a return message arrived not even five minutes after alerting Princess Celestia. "Finally." Twilight sighed, pacing around the globe as it popped back into the room in an almost identical bout of green fire. "Dear Princess Twilight,” Spike read aloud to her in his clearest voice possible, I too have felt the same shockwave that you speak of, and we do happen to share similar worries. I am almost positive that it is nothing to be concerned over, but one can never be too safe when it comes to the Everfree. A small group of magically sensitive guards and myself are preparing to travel to Ponyville now – and will most likely be en route by the time this message reaches you. No worries, Princess Celestia." "I sure hope it's nothing." Twilight said aloud, seemingly to herself "It's gotta be!" Spike reassured, trying to cheer her up, "I mean, who would plot against Equestria in the Everfree of all places?" "Lots of ponies, Spike." Twilight said, an edge of worry becoming apparent in her voice, “If there is somepony scheming in the Everfree, it would be almost impossible to find them! It’s so close to Canterlot, they could be planning anything right beneath our noses.” The junior princess did have a certain logic to her points. With its close proximity to both Canterlot and her residence in Ponyville, the Everfree commanded a strategic position in Equestria. One could feasibly hide a small army within the boundaries of the forest, located in the deep caves and ruins of the felled castle. The Nightmare forces, small tribes of diamond dogs, the odd Kelpie or two, it was a well-known hideaway for the less than law abiding. It was rather fortunate that the Everfree was just as hostile to those that would seek it as refuge as it would for those that would try and cut it down. Devoid of any semblance of control or logical happenings, it was usually more trouble than it was worth to try and inhabit it. Later, Princess Celestia arrived at the castle by chariot, flanked by ten guards. She knocked on Twilight’s door, and waited patiently for her arrival. Twilight was quick to open the large, crystalline door, a look of relief plastered on her face. "Thank you for coming so quickly, Princess Celestia," Princess Twilight Sparkle greeted, inclining her head slightly as she shook her former mentor’s hoof. "I'm afraid we won't have much time to talk much,” Celestia conceded regretfully, “If there is any chance that there is a threat lurking in the Everfree, we must look into it immediately. Hop in the chariot, we shall leave now." Twilight followed her elder into the vehicle almost immediately being pulled forward by a team of pegasi as she entered it. "We're gonna die!" Viprin screamed fearfully, moving about spastically. "Voop, chill. W-we're gonna be just f-fine." Etzer responded from a sitting position, trying to calm down his panicked friend. "We're gonna be fine? One: We're in a forest of indeterminate size, Two: the teleporter doesn't work anymore, and Three: WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FUCKING FOREST!" Viprin shrieked in a rushed and slurred manner, practically vibrating in place. "Calm down, man! Let's just use our ships to fly over the forest." Etzer said, getting into a ship that materialized besides him. Viprin – who had sufficiently calmed down enough to start thinking and speaking rationally again – did the same. The two ‘men’ of ‘science’ took their recently spawned craft out of the front door of their garage opening out to brave, new world. The forest seemingly stretched on unto all horizons, never breaking. To the war west, at least what could be assumed west if the orientation of the garage hadn’t changed, was a singular mountain with some kind of construction leeching off of the side. To the east appeared to be olden ruins jutting up from the trees, though the dilapidation and disrepair wouldn’t be very fruitful, most likely. Smoke emanating from the south was a good sign of civilization. Fire never really goes out of style, after all. The two directed themselves towards the would-be settlement, quickly zooming off to investigate the new realm that they had gotten themselves stranded on. Never knew, locals might be useful. "Alright, let's see if we can find any proper civilization around here,” Etzer said, going over some quick scans, “Aha, small town over there." The two continued on their route, taking in the primitive and rudimentary design of the houses. Not as advanced as they would have liked to solve their universal displacement problem, but any amount of local civilization was better than none. As they continued to fly along, Etzer was taken aback upon passing by what appeared to be a flying chariot. Twilight did a double take. Cubes? On some kind of transporter firework? The guards aimed their spears at them, defensively protecting both her and Princess Celestia, and the two parties came to stop before each other. One of them was a dark grey, with indentations for eyes and a large, spiked mouth that hovered above his body. He, if she could assume that either of the befuddling beings before her had genders, glowed grey. The other was the same grey, but he had glowing cyan eyes and mouth, except this one was just a normal, flat mouth. What seemed like an hour of awkward silence was broken by one of them. "Okay, how did we get to the magical land of ponies, Etzer?" Viprin asked, a smug look on his face. "Um... Uh..." Etzer started. "THEY CAN TALK?!" Almost everypony around the chariot yelled – save Celestia, who looked onto the foreigners with curiosity. "Uh, of course we can talk." Etzer replied, "We have mouths." "But how- Wha...” Twilight stuttered as she looked upon the completely alien creatures, perhaps machines, "Regardless, the two of you will have to come with us. The magic you used had no signature, which is illegal if it's done purposefully without permission. Unless there’s been some kind of accident on your part, you’ve in serious violation of… quite a few laws actually." "Okay..." Etzer said, "But we got here by mistake. Where are we exactly? I don’t even think we’re in the dimension we’re supposed to be in.” Celestia's horn lit up as she scanned the two of them, extrapolating the strange energy that appeared to be surrounding the two. She gasped as the scan completed, confirming their other universal claims. "You are in the Principality of Equestria,” Celestia informed the bizarre duo in a regal tone, “It seems that whatever arcane power you have tampered with has brought you here, to us. This is not the same universe that you’ve originated from. Regardless, I am Princess Celestia, and this is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am sorry about the… less than pleasant beginning, but hopefully we can put that behind us. Would you like to join us on our trip back to town for further discussion?" "Sure, why not." Viprin said as his ship dematerialized and he fell into the chariot. Etzer did the same. It was only when they were in the chariot when the size difference was noticeable. Both of them were about the size of Twilight's head. "So... this is weird." Viprin said after a long pause, "We're in the magical land of ponies, we can't get back, and we're tiny. Things just keep getting better and better... Also, are you hungry too, Etzer?" "Yeah, I think we should have gotten lunch before we messed with the teleporter." Etzer replied. He turned to the two princesses, "Hey, do you know of any good music places in the town?" "Yes, there's-- wait did you say music?!" > (2) An Odd Discovery > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “How…” Twilight squinted incredulously at her newest companions, “how in Tartarus do you eat music?” "Well, we just... Listen to it!" Etzer replied, "It's basically like putting fuel in a car, or… whatever kind of combustible materials that you put in an engine that you have around here." "What's a car?” she questioned, quickly shaking her head and continuing, “So, if you listen to music, you will gain nourishment from it?" "Yep, pretty much." Etzer replied, "We can also eat solid foods, but they're hard to come by. At least where we are from, anyways. Not much there is exactly edible, you see." "Hmm... So, judging by the fact that you two eat music, are you guys some sort of... rhythm beings?" Twilight inquired. Suffice to say, looking at the oddly proportioned creatures, it was more than mind boggling. She was familiar with beings of magical nature – golems, spirits, animals bound by sorcery but… they were relatively simple. Timberwolves were, as their name suggest, just wood. Cragodiles were made of stone, the crystalline ponies of the North shined like crystal… these things were not that unusual or outside of imagination. Discord, for all his mind bending powers, was easy to understand in concept, he was a personification of chaos. Beings made of music, or sustained themselves through it, were wholly new fields of study. Not even sirens or banshees were so closely connected to it. "Exactly! Music is what keeps the very structure of our soul intact, it is out being! At least that's what our King tells us..." Viprin answered. "King?" Twilight repeated, curious as to the idea of a whole nation of such beings – let alone what their leader would look like. "King RobTop, he is the one who constructs the landscape, and, well, pretty much everything!” Etzer answered, gesturing wildly with his bouncing body, “He controls the sun, moon, the link to our music, and he is also responsible for the alliances with the RH and the IG dimensions respectively." "Wow." she said, taking notes as they conversed, "What about problems? What crises has your dimension been through?" Twilight, as she would come to discover, would regret asking so many questions into their origins. For every explanation offered, they only prompted more and more inquiries. The nature of this… species was quite foreign to her. The rules and principles under which they operated were alien, so much so she was beginning to question how she and they were even capable to communicate. Out of all the insanities that she was discovering, sharing a common language was actually one of the more probable things. "Well... a few years back,” Viprin said, in an unusually hushed tone, “a friend, Zobros, was corrupted by some black sludge that started to spread across the land. It was… I don’t really know how to describe it other than that. Like the world was bleeding this stuff out. This... sludge broke his mind, with him saying that serious reworking had to be done. It wasn’t that bad in the beginning, only a few changes here and there, but after a while he and his work were unrecognizable. His courses started to decrease in quality, they even started to loop in on themselves and would just fall apart right under you. He also began to look kind of like a gray-white gradient rather than his usual red and white color. Everyone stopped, well, liking him after that – he was mostly sticking to himself anyways. One day he started to attack the empire, with these weird 'Disharmony' beams – pretty much scrambled whatever they touched. It caused chaos, before Rob took action. He was banished from our universe, and the gods of all other universes were advised to never let Zobros slide an inch into their worlds. Haven’t seen or heard from him since, and that’s why we listen to Rob… only guy that knew how to take action back then." The two cubes arrived to a small restaurant, gaining a few looks from a few ponies around. Most had just snuck a quick glance, used to odd happenings in Ponyville. To be fair, Discord had reworked the town a couple of days ago, so they wouldn’t start to panic again until the end of the week. Others stared, pointed, and whispered, mostly newer residents to the town. Viprin and Etzer both had to 'sit' on a small stack of books to be able to see above the table that they were given to eat at, which Twilight kindly had given. The ever constant hovering was... discouraged for multiple reasons. The greatest of which being to try and make them seem… slightly more normal appearing, at least by Ponyville’s standards. Princess Celestia had wished them her best, trusting that Twilight would be able to handle the two while she returned to reassure Canterlot that they were not under immediate threat of renewed changeling invasion. "So, all they serve is Solid food here?" Viprin asked, gesturing to a couple of pictures on the menu to the waiter that cautiously stood nearby. "Yes, we don't get many Rhythm Beings here," the unicorn answered, gesturing around to the few nearby ponies that were in eyesight of the new arrivals, "Why is solid food so hard to come by in your world, anyway?" The two cubes gave the nearby waiter their respective orders, Twilight just saying that she would take her usual, before the stallion quickly retreated to the interior of the restaurant. "Because most food is just for show, it’s not that… real,” Etzer replied after a moment’s pause, “What’s actually real is usually poisonous. We don’t mind though, music is more than enough to keep us energized." "Hmmm..." Twilight penned, jotting down something in her notebook, "Oh, our food is here." Twilight had ordered a lettuce and daisy sandwich, while Viprin had falafel and Etzer had a cheese sandwich. She could not help but stare at how they ate, given their peculiar body proportions. It was more like there was an unseen orifice behind their mouths, the food pretty much disappearing the second they took a bite into their meals. It was unsettling, but she was still able to finish her sandwich in relative peace. They ate in silence, Twilight discretely paying the bill before they got up from their seats and left. Trotting outside the door, she watched them slide about, as though to stretch out their muscles. Looking at them in detail… Twilight wasn’t sure if they had any. "Race?" both of them said, turning to look at her. Twilight looked at them oddly, gesturing to herself with a hoof. The two nodded, buzzing in excitement as Viprin turned towards the castle a couple of blocks away. Not that far a gallop, plus how it seemed to be a rather integral part of their culture, Twilight agreed to the proposition. On the count of three, they took off down the street. Viprin had come in first, Etzer and Twilight arriving close enough together that they agreed upon a tie. "No fair, you always win." Etzer groaned, chuckling as he started to go towards the castle. "I'm not first on the Course leaderboards for nothing." Viprin replied, "So, Twilight, do we have any roo- nevermind" he said, noticing the impressive size of the crystal tree itself up close. "Well, follow me. I do have an extra bedroom, but you'll need to share it." Twilight explained, directing them through the doors. They followed her upstairs to a small bedroom with a closet on one side and a window on the other. A wide view of the town could be seen from there, overlooking the town unto the massive forest that they had been found in. The bed was a little big for both cube's standards, but nonetheless it was quite accommodating. Etzer hopped onto the bed, using his limited telekinesis to drag the sheets over his lower half. "Thanks Twilight. We should be going to sleep now, it was about… eleven at night when we got dragged over here and… well, we’re not used to staying up this late.” The unicorn giggled in response, "Goodnight you two." she waved, closing the curtains and shutting the door. As soon as she was downstairs, she started to review the notes she had taken. Zobros, his vision fading in and out as he contemplated the data, internally grinned. Of course, out of all the worlds, they would follow in through the trail that he had left behind. Marvellous, he contemplated, he would have to pay them a visit at some point – catch up for old time’s sake. Soon – it was confirmed.