"Spiiiike!" Twilight called to her assistant with an annoyed tone. "Spike, I need your help!"
"What is it, Twilight?" he answered, jogging down the steps of the library.
"I can't get the front door open," she stated, motioning to the library door with her horn. "I think it's jammed, but for some reason my spells won't unjam it."
"Your spells won't work?" Spike asked, confused.
Twilight nodded. "My spells react as though it isn't jammed, and analytical spells don't return anything. Help me see if I can force it open."
Spike ran over and helped her push fruitlessly for several moments before the two gave up. He then ran to the nearby window.
"I don't see anything holding it shut from the outside," he said.
Twilight sighed. "Then it looks like we're climbing out through-"
"Wait..." Spike interrupted, which was unusual. "What's that?"
Twilight trotted over to where he was and followed his gaze out the window, just in front of the door. There was a visible shimmer, and... a crack? It seemed to hang in midair, and a small light shone through the three-inch-long distortion.
"What is that?" Spike asked.
"I don't know..." Twilight answered. "Maybe a failed teleportation spell of some kind? But who would...?"
The light pulsed out of the crack, causing it to widen. It then happened several more times before stopping, the light now much brighter and the crack a few feet long vertically.
"That can't be good," Twilight said with a hint of panic in her voice. "Spike, head out and find Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. We'll need their help to keep people away from here while I figure out what this is."
Spike quickly saluted before opening the window and slipping out, running in the direction opposite the anomaly. When she was sure he was safe, Twilight squeezed out the window herself and concentrated, attempting to discern if the crack had any magical properties. A few seconds later, she felt an odd power wash over her from it.
"That's strange," she said, opening her eyes and looking at the crack. "It doesn't have any sort of magical signature I've ever seen. Is it actually a-"
She was interrupted as the crack pulsed again, the light intensifying to the point where she had to shield her eyes. When the light died down again, it was over seven feet in length and several inches wide. The light began to envelop the air next to the crack, moving out like a mist.
"Uh-oh."
Twilight gathered concentration and readied a magical counterspell to try and dispel the growing anomaly, but before she could do anything the light suddenly ceased. She held the spell ready, staring at what remained.
Rather than a crack, what remained was more of a hole, beyond which was a branching hallway lined with doors. Standing in the doorway was a creature unlike any she had ever seen: around two feet taller than an average pony, which made it six feet tall, and bipedal. Two arms and legs, similar to a dragon's anatomy but without the tail or wings. It wore a white suit and top hat, paired with pointed brown shoes and white gloves. Its head and face were a deep purple with flat moving shapes for facial features: yellow triangles for eyes and a jagged red line for a mouth, having no visible nose or ears. The creature didn't seem to notice her as it stepped through the hole and began to look around excitedly.
"Who... are you?" Twilight asked it as it took a deep breath and finally noticed her. It seemed stunned by her presence, staring a few seconds before answering.
"Erm...... one moment," it said in a vaguely male-sounding voice before quickly turning away and looking down at something hidden. A few seconds later, he raised its hand and made a frustrated noise before glancing back at her over its shoulder.
".......I..." he said, turning back to her, "...am the Story Teller."
"...the Story Teller?" Twilight asked.
"Indeed! I, um..." he answered, scratching its head and looking around. "...where am I?"
"Ponyville," Twilight said warily. "What are you?"
He looked at her, startled once more before turning around again. He was fiddling with something that only seemed to be in his hand when he was turned away.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked while moving around him to see. In his hand was a small, flat pane of light with words on it that she couldn't make out. The Story Teller looked at her, not bothering to turn away now that she had seen his task.
"...nothing," he said, closing his fingers on the pane and making it disappear. "I....... am not supposed to be here," he continued, looking around at some ponies that had stopped to stare. "Is there somewhere I can go to be alone for a while?"
Twilight motioned to the door. "You can stay here in the library for a while if you explain yourself," she said. His eyes lit up.
"I would be more than happy to!" he said excitedly.
"...if you can get the door open," Twilight said. "It's stuck."
He looked at the door and then back to the portal he had entered through. He then waved its hand and the hole in midair disappeared without a trace. "Problem solved," he said, opening the door without any trouble. "Sorry, erm, my portals do that to nearby doorways... for reasons best discussed later."
Without another word, he walked into the library and Twilight followed him, happy to get him out of view of everypony else.
After Twilight closed the door behind her, she turned to see the creature spinning around, looking at the books with wonder.
"Oh it's been SO long since I've been in a library!" he said dreamily. "So, so very long..."
"Where did you come from?" Twilight asked.
He stopped spinning and looked at her. "I hail from a place long lost to anyone, born in a time longer than many memories can reach and most don't care of at all in the first place."
"And exactly where and how long ago was that?"
He hesitated, not having expected her to delve further than what he'd told her.
"...erm... you see, it's not likely you would believe me on my age," he stated, "and the location I came from no longer exists in such a fashion that explaining it would take some time and might shake some of the fundamental things you know."
Twilight looked at him sarcastically.
"Well you'd better get to explaining some things," she said. "Why are you here?"
"Now that," he said, moving to a nearby table, "is something I am far more willing to discuss!"
He spun around once, now holding something in each hand as his front came back into view. In his left hand was what looked like a shield with small gems of various colors embedded into the rim. In his right was what looked like a small, elegantly-carved wooden box. He set them both down on the table and looked at them with what Twilight guessed to be either affection or wonder.
"What are those?" she asked.
"These, my dear friend, are what I'm here for," he said, his tone of voice confirming his expression to be of awe. "A Shield of Wonder and a Deck of Many Things. I've brought each of these in from another world, to test here!"
Twilight felt uneasy about the objects. "Test them here...?"
"Yes!" he said, snapping out of his infatuation with the objects. "I can travel between different worlds, you see. The one I went to revolved around many tales of adventure! These two objects are powerful artifacts from that world, each with a variety of unknown effects that trigger under certain conditions."
A small red flag went up in Twilight's head, mostly triggered by the words "artifacts" and "unknown effects". She slowly backed away from the table, her eyes on the Story Teller.
"What do you mean by 'unknown effects'?" she asked cautiously.
"I don't know what they do, entirely," he said nonchalantly. "I know their effects are randomly chosen from a variety of set ones when activated, but I don't know what they all are. That's what I intend to find out!"
"How are they activated?"
"Well..." he said, picking up the shield. "The Shield of Wonder is activated whenever it is struck by a weapon. And the Deck of Many Things," he continued, taking the top off the box to reveal a deck of cards within, "is activated whenever one declares that they will draw a card from it!"
Twilight relaxed a little bit. At least they probably wouldn't be going off randomly.
"And how to you intend to test them?" she asked.
"Why, by having people draw from the deck and hit the shield, of course," he responded happily. "Preferably starting as soon as possible!"
"Are you crazy!?" Twilight yelled. "They could be dangerous!"
"So?"
Twilight stared at him incredulously. "......you're going to endanger random ponies just so you can see what they do?"
"Well if things get dangerous, I'm sure I can undo some of the damage," he replied, setting the objects down. "Care to draw from the deck?"
Twilight backed up. These artifacts were too dangerous to leave in the care of someone so naive about the possible danger they posed. He put the objects down and took a step towards her.
"Come now, I'm sure it won't be that horrible. I have seen a thing or two they're capable of..." he said, "so I know that the deck can do several good things as well!"
Twilight shook her head, levitating the objects away from him while his back was turned. He didn't notice the glow around her horn. "No, it's too big of a risk."
"Come ooon," he said childishly. "Just draw one! When someone activates it, they can never activate it again! Draw one card, get it over with!"
"Why don't you test it yourself and draw from it then?" she asked, floating the artifacts up the stairs and out of the room.
"......I hadn't thought of that. EXCELLENT IDEA!" he yelled, his eyes widening. He spun around and the box with the Deck of Many Things in it was suddenly in his hands. Twilight's eyes widened as her magical aura disappeared from around where it had been previously.
The Story Teller straightened up, raised a finger, and stated formally: "I declare that I shall draw one card from this Deck of Many Things!"
Twilight felt a weak wave of magic emanate from the deck as the Story Teller reached into the box and drew a card from the top of the deck. He held it aloft, staring at the image on it before turning it to Twilight with a smile so that she could see. The card held the image of a Throne and a subtitle indicating it.
"I appear to have gotten lucky," the Story Teller said. "Throne... I can feel its effects. Erm, is there an open field nearby?"
"...why?" Twilight asked cautiously.
"The card has granted me a keep, and I highly recommend you get me out of range of other structures within the hour, at which point it will place itself wherever I am."
"WHAT!?"
The Story Teller began to repeat himself but Twilight interrupted, running past him and grabbing onto his shirt with her mouth and dragging him out the door, finding him lighter than he appeared. After a few moments of stumbling along, he wrenched his shirt free and ran alongside her.
"Where are we going?" he asked
"As far away from Ponyville as possible!" Twilight answered.
A few moments later, they reached the fields next to Ponyville. "Here?" he asked, slowing down.
"No!"
Twilight grabbed the front of his shirt with her magic, prompting him to catch up and continue running. A few moments later, Ponyville was decently distant.
"Here looks nice!"
"NO!"
Again, the two kept running. After a while longer, they reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. Twilight stopped and looked to the left and right, not knowing where to go next; she hadn't thought her path through very well, just having wanted to get him away from Ponyville as fast as possible.
"Here." he said, satisfied while pointing a short ways down the edge of the forest.
"No! What are you-"
Twilight was interrupted as a tremendous rumbling came from the ground beneath them. While Twilight struggled to remain standing, the Story Teller stood calmly and balanced, staring at the spot he had pointed to. A few seconds later there was a cartoonish pop sound and... a castle. Next to the Everfree forest and centered at where he had pointed was a large castle, not nearly as big as the one in Canterlot but definitely big enough to be visible from Ponyville.
"....what..." Twilight said as she regained her balance, staring at the structure.
"See?" the Story Teller said. "Now, imagine if someone else were to draw the same card!"
Twilight's eyes widened with panic at the idea. "No. No, nopony else is going to draw from that deck!" she stated. "Hand it over."
"Why?" he asked, pouting holding the box aside. "It didn't hurt anything."
"DIDN'T HURT ANYTHING!?" Twilight yelled. "THERE'S A CASTLE NEXT TO PONYVILLE NOW!"
"And what's wrong with that?"
"You can't just... go around putting castles everywhere!"
"Why not?"
"Because.... because you can't!"
"Well fine," he said, turning towards the castle and beginning to make his way towards it. "I'll be in my wonderful new keep, you're welcome to come in if you want." Twilight stared at him, dumbfounded as he walked away. Another voice began to reach her ears.
"Twilight! Twilight!"
She turned to the winded baby dragon approaching from the direction of Ponyville. He stopped to catch his breath for a second as he reached her.
"Saw you... running... and the... thing... and then... there was... a castle... and... then I... got here..." he said between heavy breaths. He took one last deep one before resuming normal speech.
"What's going on, Twilight!?"
"We've got a problem," she answered, watching as the Story Teller went through the front door of his spontaneous castle.
Chapter 1: Attention Getter
"So let me get this straight," Spike said, "He said he's from another world and he's here to test weird magical artifacts?"
"That's right," Twilight answered as they made their way to the Story Teller's keep, "and he's dangerous. Or at least the objects are."
"And it's our mission to get them from him?"
"Precisely. If we can somehow separate him from the objects and hide them somewhere safe... or at least convince him not to use them... we might have partially defused the situation."
The two of them stopped at the front door of the place. It seemed to have been fitted for the Story Teller's kind rather than a pony. Spike shifted nervously.
"Twilight, this place looks kind of creepy..." Spike said nervously.
"I know, it did kind of start existing a few moments ago. It probably should seem creepy," Twilight answered, doing nothing to reassure her companion.
"...are you sure he's dangerous and we can't just leave him alone?"
Twilight nodded. "He plans to test the objects on random ponies next. We can't leave him running rampant, and if what he said about the shield he has is true then a panic will probably just make things worse when something goes wrong in the first place. Come on," she said, opening the door and then turning back to Spike. "Let's get going."
Spike gulped, but followed behind her as she walked into the castle.
He then suppressed a laugh at the sight of Twilight walking literally into the castle, her face flat up against a wall.
She backed up and shook her head. "What...?"
It appeared as though the door was no longer there. In its place was nothing but flat bricks, just like the surrounding wall. The door was simply gone.
Twilight shot Spike a glare that silenced him, though he continued giggling for a moment. She then observed the wall closely...... yup, that's brick alright. It was as though the door never existed.
"Come on, Spike," Twilight said, sighing. "Let's check if there are any other doors."
The two circled the castle's walls to see if another door had appeared or was already there. Turns out that there was indeed another door: facing the forest. Twilight tested it to make sure it wasn't going to disappear this time before finally entering the Story Teller's keep.
The inside was surprisingly warm and inviting. The floors were made of some sort of marble with a red carpet through the middle, again seemingly constructed for a fair number of whatever type of being the Story Teller was to travel through at once; thus allowing ample room for a single pony and a baby dragon to travel through. Torches lined the walls, casting plenty of light on the various doorways that lined the hall.
"Wow," Spike said while looking at the tapestries on the walls. "It's not as creepy in here as it was outside."
"Yeah," Twilight answered, doing the same. She almost didn't want to admit that she was pleasantly surprised as well.
And then everything changed.
The doorways suddenly melted into the walls, fading away as though they weren't ever there: similar to what had happened to the 'door' Twilight had tried to enter before. Spike jumped behind Twilight and peeked out to see the walls change consistency, going from smooth grey stone to mottled green marble with windows that showed an open-air garden on the other side of both walls of the hallway. The end of the hall was the only thing that remained the same, being a large door that seemed to lead to the throne room.
A moment later, everything stopped moving. Different tapestries hung on the walls and there were markedly fewer doors on either side.
"Is it over...?" Spike asked, slowly stepping out from behind Twilight.
"I hope so," she answered, wondering what would happen if they were in the middle of a changing section. "Come on, let's get to that door."
Spike gulped and hopped on Twilight's back before she quickly trotted through the hallway. She cringed slightly as a doorway near the end of it appeared to twitch for a second, but it did nothing else. Before either of them knew it, they were on the other side and at the door. She quickly opened it and went through.
On the other side was indeed the throne room. It was spacious, as one would expect, with the red carpet on the floor ending at the foot of the throne: the Story Teller sat in it, looking very uncomfortable. He didn't notice as Twilight approached with Spike on her back.
Twilight cleared her throat before speaking. "Mr. Story Teller?"
No answer. He seemed to be staring off into space, with the same uncomfortable expression as when they entered.
Twilight tried again, louder. "Mr. Story Teller!"
This time she elicited a response, causing the Story Teller to jump slightly and make a small, startled noise. He looked at Twilight once he regained his bearings.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"Yes," Twilight continued as Spike hopped off of her back. "I'm here to talk to you about your artifacts."
As expected, the Story Teller's eyes lit up. "Oh, you've decided to try one out-"
"No," Twilight interrupted, causing the Story Teller to gain a disgruntled, disappointed expression. "I'm here to ask you to not use them, preferably getting rid of them or at least taking them somewhere else to test them."
"Well what's wrong with here?" he asked in response, gesturing to everything around him. Presumably, of course, meaning this world rather than the keep.
"Well... I don't mean to be rude, but I kind of care about the ponies that live here," Twilight said. "You yourself admitted that the artifacts might be dangerous, and I would rather not deal with having one of them cause something bad to happen."
"You're still not providing me any reason to not test them," he said, crossing his arms.
"What do you mean I haven't?" Twilight asked. "I just told you that I don't want anything bad to happen!"
"And do I care what you think?" He said. "No, not right at the moment. I might later, but not right now."
"What?" Spike asked, scratching his head. The Story Teller noticed him for the first time.
"Oh. My. GOODNESS!" he cried, moving from the throne to holding spike in the air in a smooth motion. Spike struggled to get free, but the Story Teller's grip was firm enough to hold him high in the air.
"Aren't you just the most adorable little thing!?" he said, admiring Spike.
"Put me down!" Spike complained. "And I'm not adorable!"
The Story Teller lowered Spike to the floor, who immediately retreated to the other side of an unamused Twilight Sparkle.
"Well I do think you're adorable," the Story Teller said. "They used to tell me the same thing and I never believed them."
"Who?" Twilight asked. The Story Teller froze.
"......er....... no-one," he said. "Nobody at all, and I shan't explain further than that."
Twilight shook her head. "We're getting nowhere with this. Why didn't you at least test the objects in the world they came from?"
The Story Teller merely stared at her for a moment as though he had heard something astounding. Then a smile gradually broke out across his face. He then began laughing a hearty, jovial laugh that would have been fun if not for the fact that he was dangerous.
The Story Teller stopped laughing for a second, acting as though he was about to cry from laughing too hard.
"Why?" he finally replied.
"Because that would, I don't know, make sense?" Twilight answered.
"Oh, what's the fun in making sense?" he asked. The words struck Twilight, a memory of having heard them before bringing up suspicious thoughts.
"...there's plenty of fun in making sense," she answered cautiously. "I find that making sense of things is actually pretty fun in itself."
"Well that can be too," the Story Teller said thoughtfully. "I've just done it for so long, that... well, I get so bored of things sometimes. That's why I'm so glad that there are so many possibilities for everything, and so much of existence to test it on!"
"Then test it somewhere nopony can get hurt!"
"But it requires participation, and beyond just I," he stated.
"And why not test them in the world they came from then?"
"Well you see, I would rather see how their magics," the Story Teller said, "interact with a world they weren't supposed to exist in in the first place! Things that shouldn't normally happen might be possible here! That's far more unpredictable and fun, wouldn't you say?"
"I think predictableness can be fun," Twilight answered. "Lots of fun can be-"
"But that's run DRY!" the Story Teller loudly interrupted. Twilight took a defensive stance at the sudden hint of desperation in his tone.
"I've been predictable for a long time!" He continued. "So long have I acted rationally, that it's time for a bit of chaos to mix things up! Something random, something... something powerful or unpredictable that I can learn of through watching an experience rather than hearing about it!"
There was a short silence as he stared at Twilight, his arms still in the air from the wide hand gestures he had suddenly flown into.
"...and that, my dear friend, is all the explanation you need as to why I'm here!" he concluded with a calm smile, lowering his hands quickly to his sides. Twilight looked down in concentrated thought.
"Spike," she said, turning to her assistant. "Do you have a scroll and quill?"
He shook his head. "No, I left it back at the library because I was in such a hurry to get help..."
Twilight groaned in frustration before an idea hit her.
"Mr. Story Teller," she said, turning to readdress the being. Who had, apparently, gone back to sitting on the throne and staring into space.
"Story Teller!" she said more forcefully. He jumped and made the same startled noise from earlier.
"...I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Twilight looked unamused. "Do you have any scrolls and quills I could borrow?"
"Why, yes I do," he said happily, reaching behind the chair and procuring both a scroll and a quill. "You may use them if you wish!"
"Thank you," she stated as she levitated the supplies over to Spike. "Spike, take a-!"
She turned back to the Story Teller. He'd gone back to staring once again and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Spike, take a letter."
Spike saluted and readied the quill, which already had been dipped in ink.
"Dear Princess Celestia... there is a matter that I feel that requires your direct attention. You know that I would never ask for your presence without good reason, and I've learned a lot about many things since my first letter to you of this nature since the release of Nightmare Moon -- including that which is and isn't important enough to trouble you with. I'm afraid the details are difficult to explain through a letter, so could you please visit Ponyville as soon as you possibly can? I cannot stress just how urgent it is that this is attended to. Your faithful student: Twilight Sparkle."
Spike finished writing the letter and then looked around for a window. After a few moments of no success, the ceiling suddenly changed and an open skylight was now present. Spike shrugged, took a deep breath, and released a breath of flame over the Shield of Wonder being held between him and the scroll.
He opened his eyes and looked at the shield in confusion while Twilight let out a short scream, not having seen the Story Teller move at all until he was already in place. He giggled with glee as the shield began to glow.
Elsewhere...
An object rolled across a flat, hard surface. Its many facets each displayed a different number: this particular stone held one hundred different numbers, from one to the final count of a hundred. The die slowly rolled to a stop, proudly displaying its result.
31
Spike stared for several moments at the shield as its effect took place. After a short, stunned silence, his eyes widened and he began to shake.
"What did you do!?" Twilight yelled, running to Spike's side and giving him a light shake. He jumped violently at the touch but then immediately clung to her leg.
"What... did you do!?" Twilight repeated with a growl in her voice.
The Story Teller shrugged. "I 'unno."
Twilight stared at him with a mixture of incredulity and anger before turning her attention to the still-shaking Spike.
"Spike?" she asked. "Are you alright?"
"No!" he quickly replied. "Twilight, there's a dragon out there that wants to kill me!"
"What!?"
"The Shield... I heard its voice, but it didn't really sound like anything even though that doesn't make sense! It told me that there was an old, powerful dragon out there that just lost its wings, and it can only get them back if it kills me!"
Twilight placed a hoof on his back and shot the Story Teller a glare, who happened to be jumping up and down giddily.
"How can you be happy?" she asked. "Look what you just did!"
"I know!" the Story Teller responded. "Isn't it exciting?"
"No," she stated before looking back to Spike. "Spike, I need you to send that letter, right now. Celestia can help, I'll make sure he," she said, shooting another glare at the culprit, "doesn't do it again. Okay?"
Spike nodded and held the scroll up again as Twilight stood defensively between him and the Story Teller. The Story Teller held both his hands up innocently, the shield nowhere to be seen as Spike breathed another cautionary flame over the scroll. Nothing went wrong this time, with the letter dissolving into magical ash and flying out the window as usual.
"S-... so now what?" Spike asked.
"We keep an eye on him," Twilight answered, briefly glancing away from the Story Teller. "And make sure this doesn't happen to anypony else."
The Story Teller merely laughed.
