Sometimes, the Void surprises me.
Hi! Oh, what’s that? Well, of course I’ll tell you who I am, dear reader, my name, at least my current name, is Magnus. I’m a retired SysAdmin from an old part of this Multiverse, often called the Displaced Multiverse. I live my life fixing issues in the Void, fractures in Universes or branches. Death has graced me with no enemies and many friends, however, I am an alternate of an evil being here, his name is The Merchant. However, my power, being merely low Godly, has assured people I am no threat. I happen to Displace people as well, but not in that tearing them from home sort of way, in fact, I’m displacing someone right now. I finished my inner monologue to my possible readers, and resumed my conversation with one of the mortals from the universe I had repaired.
“What do you say?” I asked, having offered Displacement as an alternative for him and his daughter to dying in the oncoming civil war between their two factions. He started to speak and I took a small sip of my coffee.
“It sounds promising,” he said, nodding, “but this is a lot to take in.”
I nodded, understanding how he felt, much like my own arrival into the Void, “Of course, take your time,” I smiled and took another sip of my coffee.
He stared off into space, holding the mug for a moment or two before turning back, “You know what, I’ll take that deal, what powers do we get?”
I shook my hand, “I’ll give your daughter’s powers to her in just a moment,” I said, before pulling out five lists, each with five unique powers on them. Some of my Displaced have called it the Power Lotto, but only Essence really does a lotto, with a few others. My means are direct and precise, I offer two good powers, two decent powers, and a physiology. Nothing else to it, they merely pick their most desirable one. This had led to a fair few being greedy and me having to remove their powers, giving them time to learn their lesson before offering different powers.
He looked over them, noting each power as he did so before pointing at the one on the far left, “That one,” he said firmly. I smiled. I was right, he was a good person, picking powers that benefited others and allowed him to protect them as well.
“Admirable choice,” I said, giving him a friendly grin and granting him his new powers before marking him, in a very non-obnoxious way. Just a mark to show to others he had been Displaced by yours truly. I waved my hand, sending him, and his daughter who had already chosen her powers and been marked, to a choice Equestria, one of my favorite universe styles.
And then, my coffee was interrupted by a minor annoyance, Essence, currently one of three well known entities, along with Aaron and DEATH. She appeared to be chatting it up with a friend of hers, Illusionist.
I’ve ‘met’ her before, and found her both charming, and a bit annoying. Although, I’d suppose it comes with being Madness, as well as a Meta. I finished my coffee and, in my usual quiet way of doing so, reentered normal Void space, a beautiful view every time. I made my way over to a particular universe, one involving something about twin-tails and watched for awhile before looking over to see the Displaced Void Dweller, Aaron Heibai, drifted towards me.
I decided to attempt to get his attention and avoid a potential collision, I happened to enjoy my particular spot in the Void at present time, and called out, “Aaron, do please watch where-” he flew right through me and it was then I remembered, I haven’t been seen by any other vOid Dwellers since my retirement, and I mean that literally, they cannot see me, it’s never been explained to me by DEATH, but it does get depressing.
I watched him go, off to whatever his next destination was, and returned to watching the universe, which had already reached the eventful climax of its timeline, leaving me with a bitter taste at the quick end. It was no issue, I could rewind, but I decided to take my free time and visit a universe I particularly enjoy, one in which Celestia is a dear friend.
I drifted through the boundary and entered the universe, appearing next to Canterlot castle in time for Celestia’s daily tea and coffee on her favorite balcony, the princess looked particularly happy, her white coat twinkling lightly in the summer sun.
I sat myself in the seat she always left open, for myself, and she started speaking, “Are you there, old friend?” She asked, her voice beautiful as always.
“Who else would it be?” I asked, adding a bit of playfulness to my voice.
She smiled, and started speaking, “Of course, I have wonderful news,” her eyes brightened, joy having lit them up. “Luna has come back to me,” she said.
I forced myself to speak joyfully in return, “That is very wonderful indeed,” I told her, truly happy her sister was back, but also fearing, and knowing, what she would say next.
“It is, Magnus, but I’m afraid I no longer need an imaginary friend to hold my hoof,” she said, still believing, a thousand later, I was her imagination.
“Of course, shall I go?” I asked, attempting to keep my sadness in check, after all, this is only the 4,700,000,002nd time.
“Not yet,” she said, “I wish to reminisce with you, just for a second.”
She said that, but, whenever I come back, far in the future, she never remembers and I am left alone, with nobody to talk to, leading me to yet another version of her before the process repeated itself. And so, I sat there, waiting, and, as time came for her to lower the sun, Luna appeared.
“Sister, have you been talking with someone?” She asked, her demeanor still the same after a thousand years upon a barren rock trapped in her own jealousy.
“No, Lulu, I wasn’t talking to anyone but myself,” Celestia said, her horn beginning to glow as she lowered the sun and I returned to the Void.
With a sigh, I drifted off to another fractured universe, ready to send a new Displaced to their new home. This was usually how I repaid Celestia for her short friendship. I would send only the friendliest Displaced to each Celestia, checking in on them, only to find their memories of me faded and many of them accepting that they must have been displaced by the Merchant.
It’s hard, you know, being invisible and easily forgotten. Before I retired, I had many friends, now? All I have as a friend is a a pony princess who forgets me moments after we speak for the last time. In all the Omniverse, I’ve found only one person can still see me. DEATH, the creator, and he’s nice enough, we hang out at my favorite cafe here and there, and, thanks to him, there’s always coffee for me while I’m there.
In fact, I drifted back into the coffee shop, and took my usual seat, refilling my own personal mug. It always felt nice to sit here, sip a steaming cup, and watch the interactions of other Void Dwellers, as well as the assorted screens, each focused on a random universe. I had gotten so caught up in the one I was watching, that I hadn’t noticed DEATH as he appeared and poured a cup for himself.
“Hello Magnus,” he said, bringing me out of my stupor and back to the cafe. DEATH’s usual appearance, at least around me, is that of a man in his early twenties in an unbuttoned button-up, a T-shirt underneath, and jeans with sneakers.
“Hello DEATH,” I greeted him, taking a second to flick my eyes to the screen before taking a drink of my coffee. I am, however, am not like DEATH. His appearance makes you, in this case, think he’s cool, and the type of person you’d hang out with. I have a tendency to wear a frayed jacket, a baggy shirt, baggy jeans, and raggedy old shoes. In fact, these were the exact clothes i had been wearing when I started the job.
“How goes Displacement and fracture repairs?” he asked, as usual. DEATH is normally concerned by such things, as I am one of few SysAdmins who didn’t lose access to coding upon the ending of the SysAdmin Corps, or whatever they had been calling it.
“Well enough,” I said, handing him the tablet he had passed me long ago, and continuing, “I’ve fixed the section of the Equestrian Branch that had been drifting off, and I talked Yggdrasil out of invading the Hexical Branch,” he nodded, noting the data on the tablet, which recorded every repair I make.
“It’s good to know you’re still working over here,” he said, returning the tablet, which was still open to the data on the Hexical Branch, revealing what I had actually done. Yggdrasil had invaded, after my attempt to talk to it, and I had eventually convinced it to retreat, however, it had taken several Hexical universes before this. This left me to clean up the mess of moving, and fixing, a large chunk of the current Multiverse, since few other Void Dwellers bothered with these things anymore. “Don’t be modest,” DEATH said, “You’ve done some pretty important work here,” DEATH nodded, reminiscing in something, I assume, before waving a hand as he walked away.
“See you,” I called out, despite knowing, with his omniscience, that he knew what I’d say. I sighed, finishing off my current cup of coffee, and tapped open the tablet once more. It had a feature that monitored my current Multiverse to look for any fractures, tears, the typical issues, and it color coded by danger levels.
And that led me to the current spot in the Equestrian Branch where two Conversion Bureau universes were on a collision course, all because some idiot newbie had shoved them. I had seen these events before. The universes collide, planets, stars, everything, begins ripping its counterpart to shreds, not a pleasant experience. Unlike most Void Dwellers, I found the Conversion Bureau Celestia to have a good idea, on paper, but she always goes about it the wrong way, in practice.
I reached into the coding of the universes and stabilized them, thus preventing the collision and oncoming explosion of new universe fragments. Those could get nasty, after all, they’d destroy another and create multiple alternates ejecting them in a frag grenade style manner. Several unsuspecting Void Dwellers had their egos wounded by this every time it happened.
These kinds of repairs never posed a challenge, always giving me the quickest fix as the safest. Things like the events with Yggdrasil, however, do not. I’ll admit, I find such things fun, but I will not create fun, only for it to backlash on me. A few moments after the repairs and some minor ones across the Equestrian Branch, I was greeted by the presence of Fausticorn, who, like everyone else, didn’t know I was there, and assumed the Multiverse was fixing itself.
I’m not one to brag, nor to claim credit, but I have to admit, not being acknowledged for my actions by everyone, DEATH exempt, was striking a cord. I watched her peer into a few universes before drifting into a new one myself. Ironically, it turned out to be one I had Displaced someone too.
A young boy bounded up a hill, a small cyan-colored pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, flew up beside him, and they continued arguing about who was faster and who had won, all while panting on the ground. They seemed happy, playfully pushing each other as a purple, sorry, lavender unicorn made her way up next to them, only to to start lecturing them about safety. “It says right here in Quick Finish’s book, that races have set rules!” She stomped her hoof, arguing with the cyan pegasus.
“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes, “I’ve been racing for YEARS, I don’t need to know some stupid safety rules.” My eyebrow raised, apparently this was one of the typically arrogant and cocky Rainbow Dashes.
“Everyone should pay attention to safety,” Twilight argued, pushing the book towards Rainbow with her magic, only for the book to receive a hoof to its open pages.
“No Twi, “ Rainbow Dash said, “It’s just friendly competition,” she said, wrapping her hoof around the boy’s shoulder, “Right?”
The boy nodded, “That’s right.”
I nodded my head before turning around and ejecting myself from that universe with ease, landing right back next to Fausticorn. I watched her aimlessly wander for a bit before returning to the cafe. I welcomed the familiar coffee, and stared at the data on the tablet for a few moments, only to hear someone address me.
“Hi, DEATH said you’re Magnus?” the new person asked.
I would’ve responded but the idea of someone actually interacting with me was almost too much and I was left opening and closing my mouth like a fish, in shock. Something had happened and apparently, it was time for my life to change. Magnus, out.
