Land of the 6 Kingdoms 2: Please Let This Be A Normal Interdimensional Field Trip

"I see...." said the mare in portrait. "Well, I guess only when the original Soothing Soul was here, it was the last time, we had a chance to meet changelings on the medical field. By the knowledge copied into me...." the mare's colors changed into their negative ones for a moment.
"Go to the second room on your left, and put her inside the third crystal tube. A magical caster should activate the tube with positive emotions."
She turned to Xazrith. "Sorry. Manners weren't coded into me, that well. I am the portrait of Soothing Soul. The greatest healer, who worked here. Soothing Soul have made many break through researches, that even most brilliant medical minds can't fully understand. Soothing Soul wished, that in times of need her knowledge would be still accesable. So she has inserted her knowledge into me. I am also, source formany researches." She folded her ears, looking guilty.
"I might be the inspiration, for the forbidden research which my grandson made... and probably have destroyed everything.'

Astral motioned for Aid Tent and Cafe Mocha to follow him into the room indicated by the portrait. Carefully, he laid Staresh into the third crystalline tube and gently embraced the Changeling before motioning for the Unicorn to complete the task. Sighing, he walked back out to the portrait of Soothing Soul, idly casting curious glances at the building around him.

"Fittingly, this whole place beats with the magic of a living thing. Why have the Unicorn made it this way?" Astral asked the painting in his usual, distant tone.

Rocket: " yeah, I would like to know too," approuving what Astral said.

"It does seem to ... complicate things," Mocha agreed.

The Healing Crystal Tubes Room
This room as a marvel by it's own right.
Two lines of long tubes made from colorful crystal stood there, with complicated set of gentle crystal machinery around each of them. Next to each was a sign with abstract drawing of specie- you easily recognize, the three core pony types, bat ponies, but also tubes made for minotaur, diamond dog, dragonz and more species you might have met or never met before.
The Smokey unicorn sighed melancholicly, looking at the destruction- more than half of the tubes were shattered to pieces, and ore-like black covered parts the floor, walls and the ceiling- which few bricks fell from there.
Luckily the changling tube was ok. Mostly, beside few little "spider" cracks.
At the base of the tube, you can see.. preserved changling's khittin.
At each of the tube bases, there are preserved body part of the specie- hair, horns and so on.
There is almost invisible door, which you open and put Staresh through.
One of you activate it, and the tube is filled with light made from your will to heal Staresh, enhanced thousands times more with the help of the crystal.
The magical light levitate Staresh, showering her with the healing light, made specificly to heal her kind if body.
"I'll watch over her.' said the smokey unicorn.

You came back to Soothing Soul's portrait.
She sighed. "I am not sure, I was inserted with the authority to answer it.."

"That ok, grangrandma. They aren't bunch of ignorant Magic Inspectors. They will understand." Soul Muse's voice was heard. She aporached from the depth of the corridor, dripping black water. She looked like she fell into ore mine, and then tried to shower at the toilet.
Her mismatching eyes completed her mad-geniouse-who-live-at-the-sewers look.
The mare in the portrait looked sad. "I have told you. I am not the real Soo-"
Soul Muse waved her foreleg dismissivly. "You are real enough for me."
The portrait didn't looked very happy to hear that.
Soul Muse looked over the group. "Let me answer your question with a question.' She said with a glitter in her eyes. It seems she was used to this exact question, and she had prepared lecture for this.
"Why are there ponies? Dragons? Changlings? Critters? Insects? Why does life exist?" She has asked.

"I might argue life exists without a why, simply a result of an infinite, magical world," Astral replied, waxing philosophical. "Not that life requires a reason to be. Living is justification enough. I must say, I appreciate your answer,
for the Unicorn mages I have known in the past have all too rarely hold this appreciation for the world." He extended a hoof to SOul Muse and smiled.

"I am Astral Gleam, a fellow scholar of magic."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Humble Master

"I might argue life exists without a why, simply a result of an infinite, magical world," Astral replied, waxing philosophical. "Not that life requires a reason to be. Living is justification enough. I must say, I appreciate your answer,
for the Unicorn mages I have known in the past have all too rarely hold this appreciation for the world." He extended a hoof to SOul Muse and smiled.

"I am Astral Gleam, a fellow scholar of magic."

---

She shaked hooves with a smile. "Nice, to meet you. Even if you have spoiled my opening lecture- you just said my final line of the lecture." she giggled.
"Usually I take new students on a tour. Naturally, they ask your question. And I start a discussion. But.. I guess we don't have much time for that..."

"Is the situation so serious that we cannot spend some time admiring the achievements of this place?" Astral asked, glancing around at the pulsing, living Life and Creation Dept.

Rocket Blast shrug. He feel so out of place here. He never was the pony type to crack a book and enjoy it. And noponies goshed at him here so he felt like a sore thumb.

And even worst... now he was wondering if walking on the floor was displeasant to it.

This place, for him, was close to a nightmare land.

He remain strangely quiet, look away. He was rarely this silent and not trying to be the center of attention... He was that unconfortable.

Soul Muse looked at Astral with glimmering eyes. "Well..I gues, I could-" a brick bitten one of her hooves.
"Ouch! Riiiight." she sighed.
"Actually yes. There no time. If your friend were hurtby our accident... we already are losing preciouse time. I am sorry..." she said with folded ears.

"Trust me, there nothing I would like more, than present youour department... but I guess, you could kearn about it, at... the historic department." her voice shivered.


"But before anything else. Your promised payment."
She knocked on few bricks on the wall under the portait. "It's ok guys. You can move." she said with motherly tone. The bricks... like crowd of tics slithered away on dozens pairs of tiny feet, and has exposed a small chamber filled with gold bits, platinum bits and even gem and diamond bits.
"This is your. Take it, before the Magic Council will remember about it."

Astral stared at the revealed chamber, mouth slightly agape.

"I shall have to wait until our work is concluded," he said, eyeing the living bricks that had scuttled to the side. "So, what specifically do you need us to do? Your first communication indicated that an experiment had gone awry?"

Rocket frown at Astral, go to the payment and take it: " Dont mind if I do. Our ship is damaged, we might need it for repairs on the short run, supplies on the long run. "

Aaahhh...! Xarzith salivated at the sight of so much treasure! All that gold and platinum in one place, and in such a quantity too...! Even the smallest nugget is the sweetest of morsels, but this, this was a feast fit for a High Lord! He almost felt unworthy to accept such a glorious dessert, but the idea of surrendering it to one "more worthy" sat even worse to the avaricious dragon, as he reached out to try and take the container.

Rocket keep the dragon at bay: " Restrain yourself. This is for the whole crew ok? No nibbling or anything. You arent allowed to eat anything in there unless the captain say so. "

"Well.. it's up to you how to use it. Even if some of them, might get sad." some of the coins, squirmed, spourting spider like legs.
"Also, Chester?" she called, and a heavy looking chest with six pairs of pony hooves, trotted and opened itself.
"He could carry all that for you, and hide until you want to leave... she took a deep sigh.

"And... now it's time.. to see the fruit of our sins here." she said sadly, leading into the burnt sections of the department.
Optional Ost

The walls are black. There are holes everywhere, and somehow... the bricks feel to you... dead, rather than inanimate.
"My father..." she sighed. "He was quite obsessed with immortality, about the possibility, to continue his research forever. As any filly could guess,
it rarely lead to positive results." she led to shattered double wooden doors.
It looked like a titan has escaped the place. With a sigh, she has opened the doors with her telekensis.
Infront of you, you see a lab in ruins. Almost everything was burnt, but many things, looked broken like a filly with anger issues and too much power had a tantrum here. Books were torn and ripped by sadistic hoof.
remains of vials were almost the only things which weren't black.
"Watch your s...steps." Soul Muse started to sob.

In the middle of this mess, were a wooden bed, with broken shackles.
"This.. is much worse than it looks."

Astral smiled at the ambulatory chest, and gently patted its lid while helping to load in the crew's payment. But all the excitement and joy at the wonders of magic around him become solemnity when he entered the destroyed lab. Cautiously, he picked his way across the field of debris to the broken bed.

"It looks like he was restraining something, which I assume then escaped. What exactly occurred here? "

Xarzith jumped when the gold started sprouting legs and scurrying around each other. He was not expecting that at all, staring them with wide-eyed alarm, and just a bit of fascination. Everything seemed alive here.

Um, yes, let's do a not eating them... He said, slowly backing away.

He then followed the group into the ruined room, immediately noting the smell of burned...everything, immediately noticing the bed with shackles. What ever happened, that appeared to be the epicenter. Who-who was doing a bed, there? He asked, pointing to said bed.

Rocket almost kicked the chest in his surprise. He didnt like this place ONE BIT!


" GRRRR! Let's just get this over with! "

When they enter this place, he frown: " Waaaait... who was imprison here? "

Chester whined at Rocket's reaction- and for some reason, has chosen to stalk him from all the group.


Soul Muse sighed. "I.. don't know very much of this." she stepped toward the ruins of the bed.
"When my father started it.. he was very excited. He told me, he would create a perfect artifical body, which will carry his wisdom for eternity." she paused.
"I..." she lowered her head, and folded her ears.
"Was a coward. I didn't supported him, but neither... tried to stop him. He was so passionate about it.. but he was disappointed at my reaction... so he hidden all of this.. from all of us. I also know, he called his project "Golem"."
she paused.
"I have tried to figure out what happened.. but there were this fire.. all I could find were this page." she levitated the page toward the group

Spoiler

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The term "Golem" was one Astral was not unfamiliar to. Indeed, there had been a number of examples back in the Equestria he knew more fully, from animated clay Ponies to one strange creation of a mad Changeling Queen which had, somehow, come to be a doctor. But these were not "true" Golems, not living things like a Pony or Changeling (though Curn had been a wondrously complex thing it its own right). Given what he had seen in the Department of Life and Creation, he doubted Soul Muse's father had been seeking to craft a very complex machine.

"Calling his work "Golem" is certainly ambitious," Astral murmured as he looked at the notes. "And from these notes, it does appear like he was studying the primordial magic of the Trees of Harmony. I think it safe to conclude he was trying to create, and perfect, life itself."

Rocket saw that the chest was following him... He grumbled, hesitated but then petted the top part of it as a apology: " I'm hard to follow so try to keep up with me ok? Thank you. If you can't follow me, stay close to the group. "

After Astral words, he say: " Well it seem whatever was here didn't like being imprisonned here. What degree of intelligence we are speaking about however he was aiming for? Like you and me? "

"Golem?" You mean like Curn? Xarzith asked, knowing well of the ancient automaton, having spent some time with it to get his physiology entered into its database, just in case the original Whinnielight project resulted in injury. Knowledge of Ancestral Dragon anatomy is rather scarce in Equestria, as it turns out.

Xarzith squinted at the diagram. This isn't look like a Curn. He remarked. Is building pony. Elements of Harmony pony. He looked at the diagram again, and how the body seemed to be splayed out, each limb in a direction corresponding to the positions where it would certainly be restrained to the bed.

It...looking like Golem Pony is doing a working.

"I would imagine this golem is more different than similar to Curn," Astral told Xarzith before turning to Rocket Blast. "If he was successful, the golem would indeed be comparable to a Pony. In fact, if he was successful the golem simply would be a pony, with whatever modifications he though to be improvements. Given that the experiment looks to have met a disastrous end however, it is likely the golem is unfinished. It's intellect could be anything from an animal to a basic automaton."

Soul Muse folded her ears, looking down.
"I... should have noticed, in last week.. my father has acted so strange.. I have heard him yelling and laughing... but.. well.. in our family... we always had hmm.. few quirks." she paused.
"I think he wanted the real thing... he talked and researched the portrait of gran gran. He also.." she paused.
"Paid a LOOOOT of visits to the Social Magic Department... which is mostly about researching the elements of magic. I... just thought.." she chuckled sadly

"How naive of me. I thought... he had a very special pony over there.. Professor Theory. I thought.. that he finally found somepony, after mom... left.... but I guess, it was all work for him." she paused.

"Also.. it seems.. that this.. Golem somehow diminishing magic. Few witnesses said, that all the living objects on his path.. just.. died. Unicorns couldn't use spells when he was nearby... somehow his existence, pausing magic itself..." she looked away
"I have notiched a lot light outs, and magical accidents, caused by the magic, pausing all of the sudden. I believe the golem has something to do with that." she looked at the group, looking begging.
"And that why it's so dangerouse! I think, that this thing... is.. a danger to the very fabric of magic itself!"

Astral visibly shuddered at the mention of the Golem's anti-magic abilities. He said nothing however, the wounds of that great failure still fresh in his flesh and pride.

"A wonder of magic," Astral murmured, forlornly glancing a the page of notes and the broken bed. "But part of such, unfortunate circumstance." He sighed, shook his head and then turned to Soul Muse.

"It is wishful thinking, but I wonder if there is a complete record of these incidents and the Golem's sightings," he asked. "There might be some pattern to them which could prove useful."

Xarzith looked around, examining the surroundings, often times attempting to sniff things. They were not pleasant smells, he was picking up.

Did he having...health problems? He asked. In Dragon Lands, is known to using a magic to extend our lives. He suggested. Though the dragons in this world were everlasting, use of supernatural means to extend their already significant but finite lifespans back home was not unheard of. Methods did exist, though few were even contemplated in civilized company and were often spoken about in legends with the lesson: Death is better.

Rocket didn't care about all that. He didnt use magic himself but he just hoped their ship would be able to leave this kingdom once the job was done. It was the first time visiting the kingdom of Magic but it didnt leave him with a good impression.

He stay silent for now.

Soul Muse shaked her head to Astral's question. "This is quite... fresh incident. I had to hide from the Magic Council's investigators. And.. we weren't cooperative with them. So I afraid, there are no record.. how ever... Just few minutes before you have arived, from my window, I have noticed a sudden shut down, at the air ship port... it might be the golem's doings."

To Xazrith she looked surprised.
"I.. am not sure. If so, he didn't shared it with me... he did talked a lot to gran gran's portrait... but knowing him, his strongest motive was curiosity. We don't talk about it much... but he actually one of the last students, who made a degree at the Necromancy's Department before it's shut down..."

Chester rubbed itself with a dog like whine against Rocket.

I was doing a thinking the same thing. Xarzith mused, a claw under his chin in thought. It didn't look like the full nature of the golem would be found here, but pieces were beginning to fit together. It does do a have an ability to control its anti-magic, and I do not think it did a random when it attacked. He points out. Else there would be other such bursts.

Have there been? Xarzith asked. And who else would have a knowledge of our arrive?

"Soul Muse did mention there were other incidents of the Golem's anti-magic causing accidents," Astral said to Xarzith, conceding to the fact that the near-crash of the Whinnielight would be a vital part of the investigation. "Our... incident was not unique. Though the fact that the Golem sought to hamper the arrival of the crew who had been hired to find it does point to a more thoughtful approach behind its actions." He turned to Soul Muse.

"My apologies for the subject, but is your father still around?"