Chapter 1: Experimental Magic
Author's Note
Hey folks! I'm making a new side work to work on while I do everything else. I hope you enjoy! This first chapter's a little confusing if you don't play Magic the Gathering but don't worry! All will be explained!
Chapter 1: Experimental Magic
"Hey Starlight? Can you give me the collider?"
Starlight smiled and nodded while she walked over to Twilight's work desk. She located the heavily protected item and proceeded to begin unlocking all five locks on the glass case. "This has to be the best project you've ever made, Twilight!"
Twilight sighed. "Yeah. If it actually works this time." She turned to Starlight while absent-mindedly turning a screw into the ring shaped machine she had created. "This is the seventh prototype and it usually ends with it blowing up. I don't have extremely high hopes for this one."
Starlight smiled and picked up the object that was glowing with purple and light blue streaks of electricity. "I'm sure you've got it this time." Twilight smiled and carefully took the object from her.
With extreme care, she gently placed the object into a cylinder shaped hole she had carved into the side of the ring. When the final wire was connected, the ring sparked to life. Starlight and Twilight ran to hide behind a blast-proof shield they had constructed in the lab after prototype two.
The ring began to fill itself with a cyan substance. Not quite water but not that thick either. The liquid-like substance suspended itself in the air in the middle of the ring until it was full when it stopped. Starlight jumped up and gave a cheer. "Twilight! The portal works! It didn't blow up this time."
Twilight sighed. "It's not supposed to be that color. If it lead to the crystal empire like I wanted it to, it would be a lighter blue than this." Twilight reached a hoof out and brushed it across the surface of the portal causing it to ripple a little at the touch.
Starlight tilted her head. "Do you want me to go through it?"
Twilight held up a hoof. "Don't. It could be unstable."
"How can we test it then?"
"We need to find somepony else. Someone who wouldn't mind."
"What the hell, Twilight?" Starlight's eyes narrowed a little. "If it's unsafe, we can't just send somepony else through it!"
"Sure we can!" Twilight smiled. "I have a test subject ready. Two of them actually."
Starlight tilted her head. "What do you mean? When did we ever hire test subjects?"
"When Spike said he wouldn't do it anymore. Besides, the salary is 60,000 bits per experiment. And it's funded by the princesses! They're the ones we tested the shrinking potion on. And subsequently, the enlargement potion!"
"Okay. Why haven't I met them? I always thought that you tested everything yourself."
"Oh! Stars no! I just didn't think you'd like the idea."
Starlight sighed. "As long as they're being paid nicely. Who are they?"
Twilight gestured over to a button. "Come meet them!" She pressed the button which sent a loud tone ringing throughout the hallway.
* * *
After five minutes had gone by. two ponies finally walked into the room talking with each other happily. Starlight immediately recognized them as Lyra and Bon-Bon. Lyra turned to Twilight and said, "Hey Twilight! Sorry it took us so long to get here! We actually had to finish up with a few customers first!"
"Oh! Congratulations! I told you the shop would get back up and running soon. This is just the start!"
Bon-Bon waved to Starlight who waved back. "So how long have you both been test subjects?"
Bon-Bon laughed. "Oh, since last year. Our sweet shop has been going through a rough period and so we both took a job to keep up with the bills. This one was the most worth it."
Starlight nodded. "Makes sense. You both live pretty close."
Lyra clapped her hooves together. "Okay Twilight! What are we working on today?"
Twilight gestured towards the portal. "This thing! We're attempting to reach a connected parallel universe full of humans."
Lyra's face lit up. "Humans! Oh my goddess! I hope this thing works!"
Bon-Bon was a little hesitant. "Why are we trying to reach humans?"
Twilight smiled. "I'm gonna let you two in on a little secret. There's a magic mirror in the castle. We moved it to the top floor for convenience's sake. It allows us to travel between this world and a parallel universe like the one I described. But the magic we used to power it was a little faulty and we had to start running about half of it off of the electricity and you can only guess how much something like that spiked our electricity bill. So, Starlight and I got to work developing this alternate portal which is powered by this." She tapped the device that was plugged into the side. "This is a collider that Starlight and I spent a long time developing. It takes out magic and converts it to energy without destroying the spell we put into it so it can continue to loop it over and over again."
Lyra was in awe. She walked over to the collider and examined it thoroughly. "Twilight! This thing could power Canterlot for thirty years! It's amazing!"
Twilight smiled. "Thanks, but it was actually Starlight's idea."
Starlight smiled and blushed a little at the recognition. Bon-Bon spoke up and said, "I assume you want us to go through it and tell you what happens."
Twilight nodded and gestured to the portal. "This is the seventh prototype! I'm like eighty-five percent sure it's totally safe!"
Bon-Bon looked hesitant. "Umm. I think I'm gonna opt out of this one Twilight. I'm sorry but this thing looks risky. You can keep my salary this time."
Lyra's face went from excited to sad and she looked at her marefriend. "Oh come on Bonnie! It won't be that bad! Just a quick trip through and back and we both make 60,000 bits! Is that so bad."
Bon-Bon's face turned towards Lyra. "I'm not so sure about this Lyra. It looks dangerous. I don't think you should go either."
Lyra sighed. "Please Bonnie! Think of how much we could fix up the store with the money! Maybe we could develop some new recipes too!"
Bon-Bon sighed. "Fine. I'm in. But only because you're so annoying!" Lyra jumped up and clapped her hooves and Bon-Bon rolled her eyes.
Twilight led the two closer to the portal. "Alright. Stay on the other side for a few minutes. If you appear outside a high school then I definitely got the coordinates right. If not, come back and we'll try again."
Lyra and Bon-Bon nodded. Twilight walked over to the console on the portal and began typing in a few numbers. "Okay. It should be ready. Hop in!"
Bon-Bon began to take a shaky step forward when Lyra grabbed her hoof and dragged the two in together. Everything was silent in the lab for about fifteen seconds. Suddenly, a loud crackling noise came from the portal. Starlight ran and took cover while Twilight ran over to the collider. "Starlight! The collider is producing too much energy! It's unstable!"
Twilight dove for cover and the portal exploded with a loud sound. Twilight peeked over her desk to see the remains of the portal and the shattered collider on the floor. Somehow, the inner chamber containing the magic hadn't broken. She had designed it to withstand high energy and have a high blast resistance. If that magic was released, the energy created could bring destruction.
Starlight peeked her head over the blast-proof shield. "Where are Bon-Bon and Lyra?" She asked sounding worried.
Twilight winced.
"Shit."
* * *
Lyra opened her eyes. As she surveyed her surroundings, she saw that she had landed in a forest. She saw Bon-Bon lying unconscious on the ground next to her. She rubbed her head as she thought about what got them there. She remembered being pulled through the tunnel the portal had created. Then she heard a loud bang and they had gotten jerked off the path.
As Lyra was rubbing her head, she realized what she was rubbing it with. She was overjoyed as she yelled, "I have hands!"
Bon-Bon woke up. She looked at her marefriend to see that she hadn't been lying. She looked just like the humans that Lyra had talked about. Except for one tiny detail.
"I can't believe it! I'm a human! I'm never going back there! Not a chance!"
"Um, Sweetheart? Look at your ears."
Lyra reached her hands up to realize her ears were pointed. She didn't know what she was, but she sure wasn't human. "God damn it! I've waited for so long to be a human and now these pointy ears ruin the whole vibe!" Lyra sat down and crossed her arms.
"Lyra, I don't think that's our biggest problem. Where are our clothes? I know we were wearing them when we wen't into the portal."
"I read in a book once that magical transformation can deform objects attached to somepony's body. It was in transmogrification 101 at the Canterlot Library." Lyra seemed more casual about the fact that they weren't wearing anything but Bon-Bon seemed a little more uncomfortable. She quickly began looking around their surroundings and picking up decent sized leaves.
"What are you doing?"
"Gathering leaves. I'm gonna make clothes out of them."
"How the-" Lyra was cut off by her marefriend putting a finger to her lips. Once Bon-Bon had the leaves she needed, she quickly got to work weaving the leaves together to make a thin rope that she then used as a thread to attach the leaves to each other. After about a half hour, she had constructed some very skimpy two-piece outfit for Lyra and herself. Once they were fully clothed, they got around to practicing their movement and surveying their surroundings.
"Okay. It seems the gateway back has been closed off. I think something went wrong with the portal. We both lost our saddlebags when we went through the portal so we don't have a reliable food source and we have no clue where we are." Bon-Bon was mildly freaking out about the entire situation. "I told you that damn thing wasn't stable but you just couldn't listen could you?"
Lyra shook her head. "Save it Bonnie. Fighting won't get us anywhere. Right now, we need to look for something or someone who can help us out." They began searching the forest. After about ten minutes, they found a dirt path. Lyra jumped happily. "See! There must be a civilization around here! This kind of path in this dense forest is definitely not natural! I think-" Her sentence was cut off as a large creature went running bye them. Lyra didn't see much as she was knocked down by the sheer force of the breeze it created.
When she looked over at Bon-Bon, she looked horrified. What Bon-Bon had seen, she couldn't believe was real. It looked like some horrible combination of wires, flesh and blood. It ran on four legs with the biggest claws she had ever seen on any creature.
Not long after, they saw something else running up the path. It was a human. She had a darker skin complexion and she carried two daggers. Bon-Bon realized too late that Lyra has just gotten up and was standing in the middle of the road. She tried to call out, but it was too late. The human ran into her sending both of them flying. Bon-Bon winced as Lyra and the human hit the ground. Hard.
"What the hell?" The human shook her head and picked up her lost daggers. "Hey! Stay out of my fucking way! I'm on a job!" She quickly began running off in the direction of the creature.
"Ly? Are you okay?" Bon-Bon asked with concern after seeing her friend get knocked down for the second time in the span of a couple minutes.
"Yeah. Just give me a second." Lyra stood up and walked out of the road. "Who was that?"
Bon-Bon shook her head. "I don't know. But I think we should follow her. She's our best chance at finding a civilization." The two began to walk quickly in the direction of the girl. After gaining balance, they began trying to run. Bon-Bon fell a few times but eventually, they were both running quickly towards the place they had seen the girl running to.
Eventually, they came to the mouth of a cave. They slowed themselves and began to venture into the cave slowly. As they continued down the cave, they noticed something strange. All of the walls were made of wood. As they continued venturing down, they saw the walls gently shift from being wood, to being metal. Lyra reached her hand out to touch the metal. She winced a little. It was electrifying to the touch. Not much, just a little shock really but it was enough to make her not want to touch it again.
They continued in the cave for about twelve minutes. They soon found their way to a bright opening. The walls here were some kind of melding between metal and wood. What they saw, was a monster lying on the floor and the girl they had seen, holding a dagger over its head.
As she brought the dagger down for a finishing blow, a flash of light filled the room. In front of her, stood a man with only one eye. He seemed unreal. Almost ghost-like. A raven roosted on his shoulder. "Kaya!" The man shouted at the girl and quickly waved his hands, creating a magical forcefield between her and the monster, causing her final blow to change course. She struck the mounter in the leg, cutting it off clean. The monster roared in outrage but dragged itself to the wall.
Bon-Bon watched in horror as the monster melted into the wall, and disappeared. The girl, who Lyra guessed was named Kaya, threw down her dagger in frustration. "God damn it! You son of a bitch!" She turned to the phantom-like man yelling. "That was my chance! You don't even know what you just cost me!"
The man seemed unfazed by her screaming. He calmly said, "Kaya, you're dealing with forces you don't understand here."
"Fuck you! I was gonna kill that stupid thing! You owe me big time! Pay up!"
"Kaya, a big threat approaches Kaldheim. You must help prepare the ten realms or else I fear the entire plane may fall into ruin! My friend Cosima has arranged for you to take her longship between the realms. Please! For the good of Kaldheim, forget about the praetor."
"Look dude! I'm just here on a job. I didn't sign up to help this place. I'm gonna be honest, I don't even really care. I just gotta find that thing and finish it off."
"Fine. Let me rephrase. If you can't stop the threat here, it will spread. It will take down everyplane in the multiverse. Ravnica, Fiora, even... Tovada."
Lyra didn't know what any of that meant, but she saw the girl's look change when she heard that last one. She heard the girl continue the conversation. "Fine! Not because I want to, but because I don't want to fuck up Tovada."
The ghost smiled. "I'll take it. The ship will be awaiting you when you exit this cave. Go forth." The man disappeared and Lyra and Bon-Bon stood there awkwardly while the girl came towards them. The girl pushed straight passed them and began to walk out of the cave. Lyra gestured to Bon-Bon and the two quickly followed.
"Hey! What the hell was that thing?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "What the fuck are you? Some fucking dryads or some shit?"
Lyra tilted her head. "Dryad?"
The girl looked at her. "Yeah. Dryad." She gestured to her ears. So that's what I am? Lyra thought to herself.
"I-I guess?"
"Why'd you follow me?"
"I don't know. We're kind of lost and we don't know what to do. You're Kaya right? Can you help us?"
Kaya rolled her eyes. "Screw off. I'm busy. If you hadn't knocked me down in the first place, I would have finished that kill before I got interrupted."
Lyra stopped Kaya in her tracks and stood in front of her. "Please! We just need to find a way back home."
Kaya pushed past her. "I swear! Fucking elves are always getting on everyone's nerves."
"Elves?"
Kaya, once again gestured to the ears. "I thought these made us Dryads?"
Kaya rolled her eyes. "Elf Dryads? Are you fucking stupid?"
Lyra looked at her with eyes of confusion. Kaya stopped. "Wait. You really don't know who you are?"
Lyra shook her head and Bon-Bon stepped in. "I know it might sound crazy, but we just kind of appeared here. Like fifty minutes ago. We just need to find our way back to Equestria."
Kaya looked at Bon-Bon's wide eyes and then looked towards Lyra. When she looked at Lyra, she stared hard. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She smiled and asked a simple two word question that would send Lyra's mind spinning.
"A spark?"
The demons loomed over the party. They roared and swung their claws towards Kaya and Tyvar. Kaya dodged and jumped onto the demons arm. She ran to the demons head and struck his neck with the axe. The axe didn't break but it certainly didn't deal much damage either.
Tyvar also dodged but didn't have enough battle experience to do much afterwards besides roll on the floor. Kaya yelled down to the others. "We don't have time for this! Lyra! Do something!"
Lyra closed her eyes, trying to focus her magic and she could feel the mana flowing through her. When she attempted to use it however, all that came out was a small little spark of lightning combined with a flicker of flame. Above them, Kaya continued to strike the demon on the neck. She had produced small cuts but nothing of real damage due to the demon's thick, leather-like skin.
Lyra tried again but produced a similar result. Tyvar got himself back up just in time to be assaulted by the second demon once again. This time, he managed to dodge it and stay on his feet. He ran toward the demon and slipped around him. As the demon tried to turn, he ran his blades against its heel causing it to fall down with a large, earth-shaking crash. He approached the demon's large head and drove his blade into it.
Black blood began to flow out of the demon's head as Tyvar removed his blade. He looked up at Kaya, who was still struggling to do any damage to the demon. He touched a clasp on his arm and began to unfasten his blade from his arm. "Kaya!" He yelled throwing the blade up towards her.
Kaya expertly caught it and sent it straight into the demon's head. The demon fell and Kaya jumped. She was caught by Bon-Bon who was waiting down below.
"Kaya. I'm sorry. I just don't know how to control my magic right." Lyra said.
Kaya handed the blade back to Tyvar and he fastened it to his arm. "It's fine. You just need practice. It took me years to learn magic. This is why most planeswalkers and sorcerers end up aligning with only a couple colors. Who knows? You might end up aligning with red! You'll be able to do that fire spell you tried with ease."
Lyra's face fell. "But when do I get to align? I want to be able to help you guys. I want to be able to planeswalk and bring us home!"
Tyvar jumped in. "There's no set time. You need to become good with your magic first. You'll know when it happens."
Lyra was about to respond when the ground shook violently. Kaya looked towards the tower structure to see a glowing light coming from it. "We're too late! He's merging realms with the sword!"
The party rushed towards the light to see that it hadn't been coming from the tower at all. There was a chasm in the middle of the ground and on the other side, the realm looked completely different. A swamp-like area. There was a glowing stitch in the middle of the large chasm and standing on the stitch, they could see Tibalt holding the sword above his head.
There were hordes of demons rallying around him, similar to how the trolls had been. Tibalt was speaking in a language that none of them could recognize. He pointed the sword towards the swamp and yelled what the party could only assume was a battle cry.
The demons charged towards the swamp. It was then that Lyra saw something rising out of the ground. Zombies began to pull themselves out of the ground. These weren't like the zombie ponies that Spike had told them stories about. They were strong and covered in armor. A war broke out between the demons and the zombies.
Tyvar observed the situation. "He's created a doomskar. A tear in the realms to stitch them together. I can only assume he's done this to every realm. That looks like the realm of Karfell. The zombie realm. What should we do Kaya?" He looked towards Kaya but she had already began darting towards Tibalt who was laughing at the carnage.
The rest of the party rushed towards her but she reached Tibalt before they could devise a plan. She attacked him and stole the sword from his hands. She raised the sword over his head. "Any last words?" Lyra heard her ask.
Tibalt smiled. "It's finished." With that there was a flash of light and he disappeared.
Kaya stabbed the sword into the ground angrily. "God Damn it!" She turned back to the party. "He planeswalked. We aren't going to be able to find him easily."
"At least we got the sword." Bon-Bon said.
"Yes. But this war is a problem." Tyvar interjected. "Most creatures don't know about the other realms. This could shift the balance of Kaldheim forever if we can't stop it."
"What is that thing?" Lyra asked, pointing to a large demon who beheaded ten zombies at once with a large dual-head axe.
"Steer clear of him. That's Varragoth The demon overlord. He won't hesitate to kill anything that gets in his way." Lyra's face paled a little and they took cover behind a rock to come up with a plan.
"Tyvar?" Bon-Bon asked. "How are the realms of Kaldheim arranged?"
"They all revolve around the world tree. They can collide but it usually doesn't last for more than a few seconds at most."
Kaya tossed the large sword to Bon-Bon who fumbled with the handle a little before catching it, consequently being dragged down by its weight. "Okay. If these realms rotate, and they've all collided, then if we go back the way we came, there should be another doomskar. I don't know where but it's gotta be safer than this."
"If I know these realms the way I think I do, We're in Immersturm now. If that's Karfell, then behind us should be Bretagard."
Lyra raised her hands. "If we go back the way we came, won't we just end up back i that place with the trolls?"
Tyvar shook his head. "No. We arrived here through an omenpath. Those can connect to any realm. going backwards will lead us to the land of the Human Warriors."
Lyra's face lit up before Bon-Bon smacked her on the back of the head. "Not the time Ly."
The party traveled backwards and, just as Kaya had said, there was another doomskar. On the other side, was a lush green plane. "The demons must not be there yet." Bon-Bon said.
They began to walk towards the doomskar. As they did, Lyra began to hear a voice inside her head. Over here! Behind this rock!
She looked towards the others and quietly snuck off quickly. She knew she would be able to make it back before they actually crossed the doomskar.
When she reached the rock that the voice had led her to, she gasped as she saw a large red demon. Similar to Tibalt but not nearly as tall or scary looking. "What are you?"
"It doesn't matter." It spoke in a hissing voice that sent chills down Lyra's spine. "I've been watching you guys. I can sense the magic coming off of you. It is unfamiliar to me."
Lyra knew she couldn't show she was scared. Her emotions would be her best weapon here. "What about it?" She asked warily.
"I can tell you're eager to reach your group so I'll make this quick. I've seen your desire to use your magical abilities. I'd like to take a small bit of blood from you so I can study your magic. In return, I will enhance your magical abilities. You'll be able to cast spells with ease."
"Why would I make a deal with a demon? Seems risky."
The demon swirled his hands and an orange glow came from them. Lyra backed away a little. The magic took the form of chains and quickly wrapped around her arm, the other end attaching itself to the demon. "Luminous bonds. A spell that can kill anyone lying under them. I can honestly tell you honestly that I will perfectly adhere to this deal. I'd just like to be able to work with your blood and I will enhance your magic abilities in the way that I described earlier." The demon held out his hand with a smile on his face. The smile seemed friendly.
Lyra hesitated for a second and looked down at the orange chains on her arm. Slowly, she inched her hand toward his and she grasped it firmly.
The demon laughed and Lyra watched as colors began to flow through her hand. White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green mana swirled in her palm and flowed to her core. Lyra's could feel as her brain was filled with all knowledge of mana and the inner-workings of sorcery.
After the colors stopped swirling, the demon laughed loudly. Out of his index finger, he took a long needle and inserted it into her wrist. Lyra expected a feeling similar to giving blood. She was surprised to instead find that something was being pumped into her blood. She tried to pull away but the demon held her firmly.
When he was finished, Lyra collapsed to the ground. "You said you were only going to take a blood sample! What about the bonds?"
The demon laughed. "If you recall, while I was under the effects of the bonds, I said I was going to work with your blood."
Tears began to flow down Lyra's face. "What did you do to me!" She yelled.
The demon chuckled a little. "Oh, you'll find out. I would stop crying darling. I'm going to send you back to your friends. Enjoy your newfound power." He snapped his fingers and Lyra was back with her friends as if she had never left. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes before anyone decided to look at her.
The party crossed the doomskar into Bretagard and they emerged in a lush green plain. They saw a large wall in the distance and agreed to take shelter there.
Lyra began to flick her hand quietly. She was seeing the red mana flowing through her as she produced flames on the end of her finger like a lighter. It didn't burn her, but it sent heat through her whole body. She shook her hand and extinguished the flame. She continued to flick the flame quietly and extinguish it as she walked.
In her head, she heard four words that chilled her to the bone.
"All will be one."
* * *
"Any sign of them?"
"Not a one. I asked everyone I knew but they all said they hadn't seen them. Other than their normal human varients of course."
Starlight sighed. "What do we do at this point?"
Twilight sighed and flopped down on a nearby chair. "I don't even know. How are we going to explain to the princesses that two ponies went through our portal and are now stuck in who the FUCK knows where!"
Starlight placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I have an idea. Let's recreate the portal, and figure out what went wrong. Once we can guarantee it's stable, we can use the coordinates you put into the first portal to find them."
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think that will work. When the portal collapsed, there was a good chance the tunnel got screwed up. They're probably on a plane we've never even heard of before."
"This is the best option we have."
"Your right!" Twilight yelled. She clearly thought of something. "Let's build another unstable portal!"
"That's not even close to what I was saying. Where the hell did you get that idea?"
"No! Let's create an unstable portal exactly like the one we just did with the blueprints we copied while we were building! Then, let's make a stable portal! We can alter the shrinking potion to shrink objects! We can shrink the portal and I could take it with me! We can use it to find Lyra and Bon-Bon and I can use the good one to bring them home."
Starlight looked at Twilight with wide eyes. "Let's get started!"
Author's Note
I know this was confusing but I can't wait to continue.
If you know what "All will be one" Means, then you already know what's coming.
