Chapter 6 -||

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Being in a realm where the two major deities know you exist AND have no obvious urge to wipe your species out was surprisingly relaxing.

Worm had... big villains. Really big. From low level thugs up to conceptual bosses, and with powers that made secrets near impossible and probability worthless.

Here? Many of the biggest threats were due to philosophical issues. Or even training opportunities for Twilight and her friends.

So the feeling of being open and honest about his situation with someone else, even a magical purple pony, was soul cleansing. Soothing.

At this point, he was surrounded by magical arrays, some tools he had never seen before, and an enthusiastic pony helped by a bored young dragon.

Spike grumbled. "It just isn't interesting after the first hour or so. And you both said he can't use his power for a while still!"

Twilight scoffed, three dozen objects being arranged. "Getting background readings and baseline statistics is an important part of every endeavor. Also, I need genetic profiles." She glanced at the stone portions of Adam's body. "Well... the parts that HAVE genetics."

They had finished scanning all the books locally available hours ago, but she had more at the castle. These were duplicates of her personal library for 'light' reading brought with her when she moved into town.

Adam carefully looked in her direction, the wires and crystals shifting slightly. After learning about his 'Power Charges', she had been deeply interested in scanning the process... and so had he.

Any attempts at using Worm technology or tinkertech had failed at capturing anything, but this realm was ruled by emotions and power. A different section of reality was recorded with the local tools, and hopefully he and Squishy could learn something interesting from this.

Spike however, was done. "Right, how long till this actually starts?"

Adam felt Squishy poke. "About an hour and twenty minutes."

The dragon nodded before heading to the stairs leading up from the basement. "Then I am going upstairs for some orange juice. I'll be back in an hour. Call me if you need anything, Twilight."

Her orbitals twisted. "Thanks Spike! Adam, you moved too much, push the 34th crystal more left... no clockwise left. I think?"

Spike sighed as he climbed up the stairs to the ground floor. Twilight and research had to run its course, no point in trying to get a meaningful conversation before that.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Luna groaned. "It is NOT funny, sun-butt. It took hours to calm down afterwards."

Celestia giggled, nearly dropping her fork into her cake. "You LIVED in that forest for so long, how did you NOT notice the effect of all that purified magic!? That was basically raw sensuality. And even his smaller form just generates the good stuff."

Luna blushed, turning away from the white and gold sibling. "We noticed, we just thought we had better self-control."

Celestia grinned, an illusion glowing to the right of her throne. "Clearly. Why, the two of you on that soft couch, cuddling the night away..."

The blast of dark magic forcing the blackmail material away just made her nuisance of a family member giggle harder. "We can't believe ye saw that." Just... so embarrassing.

Her sister's rainbow mane settled as she forced her laughter back. "Sorry Luna, but something in that area had been setting my nerves on edge even before you found the little ones. I just didn't expect your new acquaintance to be so powerful. And magical."

Luna blushed. "His voice was alright."

Celestia laughed harder. "He was pure stallion and hot cider! I'd have him do all my court announcements. Make those nobles fidget like school mares."

WHY!? And now his voice was stuck in her head again. Not like it left. "Sun-butt, stop."

Celestia hummed. "I've never considered herding seriously, but if his lifespan is as long as his..."

Luna hurled her cake at the fiend. How was SHE, Princess Celestia considered the 'pure and chaste' sister!? "He is a Timberwolf! They don't HAVE anything!"

Celestia's telekinesis didn't let a crumb drop as she captured the new tasty cake treat her sister so callously let escape. "So... you checked?"

Luna prepared to leave breakfast with what dignity she could scavenge. "We had a chaste conversation. And we might visit again. To talk. Not everything is about mating."

Her dignity stumbled a bit on the way out, Celestia's voice chirping. "I'm sure as a wood being he could... grow to the occasion."

The guards, like always, ignored it all.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam was near bored to tears AND forced to remain stationary.

For a world with little to no need for wires or probes, Twilight had managed to find WAY too many.

One sneeze could set her back thirty minutes easily. He didn't even want to risk talking loudly at this point. And wasn't Spike supposed to come back?

Twilight was checking her outputs. "Alright we have a basic set up, enough for some early results. The timer says you still need three minutes or so?"

Adam... well. Blinked. Sort of. It was enough.

She nodded. "Alright, go ahead."

FINALLY! He peeked inside at Squishy, already in his MLP soul and ready to go.

'Alright, we need communication first. No point in trying to do magical tests if we can't understand what exactly we are supposed to do, no point in risking ideas if we can't follow basic examples. Squishy, lets go!'

"Communication."

...

Uh.

Adam mentally glanced at Squishy. Who seemed... less than impressed. 'What?'

Poke.

Huh. Like his old power 'Search', he COULD go for 'Communication' or 'Speaking' or 'Writing', etc. But it would not match well with this world or his current soul. It was not wide enough in scope, and would have to combine with other abilities later to stabilize... which was a waste.

'Well fine. What do you suggest then?'

Poke.

Huh. The 'Tree of Harmony' had come up before, and may even be related to some part of this realms creation mythos. It existed before this kingdom's history after all. And theme wise, it would work well with the 'Growth' power he had already gained. This whole reality was plant focused anyway...

It still felt childish.

"Harmony."

The world pulsed green for a moment.

'Recovery' was activated by Squishy even as his mind felt a connection with Twilight... and Spike... and that owl... and the tree? Was that a mail pony!?

It just... kept expanding. Raw information was being shoved into his brain, even as 'Recovery' ensured no damage stayed long enough to be noticed. And the further away, the less specific it became.

Twilight, right next to him, was expelling data for his power to absorb.

It wasn't a memory scan or even a brain scan, it was like his soul had knocked on her door and asked for a cup of sugar. All the data was being provided by her to him via choice. Subconscious choice, anyway.

So no memories or whatever, but every being in his range was acting like a database. One that only gave what the owner was comfortable with. The further the range, the less detailed the responses.

And Twilight wanted to know all KINDS of things. Her soul was equally generous when his exposed the holes in his abilities and information.

Eyes glowing blue flames, he felt his body shifting with 'Recovery' to a less powerful but far more expressive form. A tail of blue vines, his face rebuilt from scratch with far finer and precise pieces, his ears more agile and more flexible.

For each strength forfeited his ability to convey meaning through glances or slight body shifting grew. Like a non-battle mode.

His glance at Twilight showed her wide eyes watching him. "Uh... so can I move now?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Oh Celestia, his voice was even MORE smexy. WHY!? The other worldly thrumming was now directly vibrating her bones, like a massage on the inside. How was THIS going to help communication!?

Well... it would help a certain TYPE of communication. And he would make one Tartarus of a singer. For adults only. No pony should hear him unless they were old enough to be seduced by the sounds of scrumptious.

Wait. "What?"

And now his body was rippling with what looked to be muscles. More of those glowing blue vines, even if they were acting like a body builder's pride. The changes over all were not vast, but each one emphasize something or implied certain shapes. She had seen colts dedicate their lives and fail to look so firm and... uh. "S... Sorry, what?"

His speech was just toying with her now. "I said, can I move?"

Mmm, you can move right on over... uh. "Right." Deep, calming breath. Waves. The beach. A Forest.

Good.

"Right, sorry. Those results take a few minutes to process and I needed to focus." She absently waved at the recording devices that had finished several minutes ago.

But she wasn't going to admit to ANYTHING.

Twilight also checked the video devices. Suddenly the decision to record with high definition had jumped up to the 'Best Ideas' scoreboard. "Just... don't move much as I remove each sensor." Mmm. "Can you flex this area? Need to make sure the attachments didn't damage anything."

Better back up these videos for science.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

As Twilight did whatever magic-science-who-knows stuff, Adam sighed and tried to be as cooperative as possible. 'Harmony' was still pouring in information from all kinds of places, but he had swapped 'Recovery' to 'Research' because after a certain point Twilight's soul was making more and more minor body adjustments to himself. Something about helping to encourage 'Harmonization' or whatever.

This was taking time though, and at one point she had him get splashed with water to record... something? The absorption rate of light and liquid with his new form, or some such. This was a really thorough exam.

Point was, this was taking time and even with the various poses required for the baseline recordings, he felt his patience reaching an end point. At least three of those flexes had been duplicates, he was sure of it.

So Adam mentally connected to Mai and began checking the damage. From her report, at some point the Apple family had rounded up the guests and sent them home. Thankfully Mai was handling the cleaning, because those ponies knew how to party hard. Real hard. The mess was both impressive and gooey. At least the records showed the kids were kept separate from the various... activities.

With less to do, Mai was focusing on the samples that Applejack allowed her to eat of the family Orchard. She was now growing more variety of apples from her back as the giant plant umbrella of conversion soaked up the sunlight, and trying to modify the various plants in interesting ways. Apples that tasted like blueberries, for example.

The arguments between Mai and Adam about what types of plants to grow and how many species should be shifted around kept him entertained as he absently followed Twilight's ongoing directions... wait.

He focused on the blushing purple pony. "Twilight, I KNOW that is a stripper pole."

Her eyes were full of innocence. "Uh. Science pole?"

This wasn't an hentai universe, was it?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Applejack snorted. "Look Rainbow Dash, having Scootaloo keep Mai here would be BLESSING, not a favor."

She pointed her hoof at the northern acre. "That clubhouse may have eaten a dozen or so apple trees, but even without the new ones growing on top of her the cleansed magic being released has made all our farm produce way above expectations."

She tapped a wooden bucket. "See? Each apple already is larger, maybe three percent growth or more. That just be today alone, no idea how much improvement we will see at the end of the season. Flavor is richer too."

Rainbow Dash looked over the fields of fruit trees. The red orbs of apples were near glowing the closer a pony got to the northern edge of the farm. "Right, but... still. Thanks for helping Scoots out. Her parents aren't around much, and I can only do so much. My house is on clouds after all, I can't exactly keep a mountain up there."

Applejack chuckled. "Shucks, twernt nothing. Ah may not the 'Element of Generosity' like Rarity, but I believe that helping a friend is just the right thing to do." She glanced at the flourishing fields. "That said, having a bountiful harvest ain't hurtin us neither. Granny Smith said Scootaloo could keep her house here anytime."

The floating Pegasus watched another couple stumble out of the 'Club House'. "Hmm. If it stays this popular a hot spot, you may want to charge admission. Better than the nightclubs in Manehattan."

Applejack winced, dusting off her cowgirl hat. "Ah. Yeah. Had a conversation with Mai about that. Didn't want any of the fillies stumbling on something mature."

She ignored Rainbow Dash's sly look. "Before or after that party? Cause I don't remember any complaints at the time."

Ignore. "Welp, better get back to the harvest."

She ignored Rainbow's sniggers as she went back to work.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam got out of the basement (Sex dungeon?) with his pony/wolf virginity intact, though Twilight stayed down for 'documentation' reasons. When he got up to the living room, he found Spike with gem fragments on his lips, asleep on the couch.

Well, at least the kid hadn't wandered in on the 'Twilight Photo Shoot Hour' downstairs. It was awkward enough without a child asking pointed questions while he was distracted by raw power, a sentient house/sex party, and a purple magic unicorn pushing him into sexy poses.

Squishy was having fun. His Worm soul was a fishbowl, but now his MLP soul resembled a hollow glass tree. Crystal? Maybe solid magic.

Anyway, he was leaving 'Research' and 'Harmony' active for now. And it was glorious.

Initially, he expected something that would translate for him, or allow rapid learning of new words or texts.

What he got was SO much more.

Now 'Harmony' helped not only translate the raw text or words, but also created explanations and parallels for more abstract information. Parables, metaphors, poetry, social stories, local references, even internet memes... all of it was not only explained via the social power but relationships and equivalents to his OWN information were added.

Now, given enough time, 'Harmony' allowed his body to flinch the right way, to strut in certain patterns, to tilt the head just enough... to show the body language of a native, with the know how to back it up.

The data being recorded was absurd. Even now, Golden Garden was running a stupid amount of indexing programs to make that raw text usable by other powers or needs.

Stepping out of the Library Tree, he took a deep breath. His new body was... more flexible. He had something similar to real lungs now, ones with fine mold that absorbed carbon dioxide. Just breathing would clean the air, all impurities absorbed by his power and cleansed.

A glance in the window he passed back towards town center showed his new form was a black body of power with bright blue vines acting as patterned muscle fibers. Fluffy blue moss was glowing like a blanket over his back, his tail was 'fluffy' vines of a thin size, and his eyes glowed with blue glass covered fire.

He blinked. Also, he was gently breathing blue smoke. Not a lot, just soft puffs... but between his white wooden teeth (fangs?) a blue mist was floating away.

Huh. Hopefully that wasn't poison or something stupid like that. Twilight would have said something about him generating dangerous chemicals right? Unless the perversion set her off track.

It was probably fine.

Adam moved in the direction he could feel Mai. It would be a good idea to get some goods from her to sell for some local currency. Maybe sell some stuff to Applejack and the other Apple family members.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Scootaloo grumbled. "I. Am. Fine."

Granny Smith blinked. "Ehh? Ah don't pay no fines. Now get back in the corner with Apple Bloom. You both are too thin. Have some apple soup."

Apple Bloom groaned, blushing with embarrassment. She just KNEW Granny Smith was playing up the whole 'I am too old to care' routine to force them both into being 'mothered'. "Thank you Granny."

Scootaloo looked at the third bowl of thick soup. At least it wasn't any more apple stew. "I can't stand it, Granny Smith I don't need any more food! I am all better, Adam healed me and I am full and..."

Granny gave a slow look, full of quirky grandma vibes and good old style home livin.

Scootaloo slumped. "Thank you Granny."

At least it tasted good.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam sighed.

The show, what he could remember of it, did NOT give a correct sense of scale.

This walk was taking forever!

There had been a whole episode about Big Mac having health problems (Sick or something), and how Applejack had to take up the slack to harvest the apples alone. Her pride prevented her from relying on friends, and the whole thing showed her struggling to handle both her work load and her friend related responsibilities.

Tons of work alone had only handled a few sections of the farm, her sleep deprivation forcing her to admit to having personal faults and ask for assistance.

Looking at the miles of apple farm he had passed so far ALONE, accomplishing the amount shown on the show had been a work of talent and stubbornness unheard of!

This place was... VERY big. And it may be his wooden nature, but the smells of all those fruit trees was making him feel more than a bit nommish.

He felt his moss quiver under the direct sunlight. Some part of his 'Conversion' was working very well with this form, as 'Recovery' had made his leafy parts VERY efficient when it came to delicious sunshine. Even so, the temptation to eat a few apples (Or apple trees) was still there.

At least the magic wasn't running rampant now. Being close to so many plants in this magical world with 'Harmony' activated had shown 'Recovery' the changes needed to handle wild magic without making his IQ drop or his libido run off.

Though... his body producing refined, purified magic was basically acting as a low level aphrodisiac to anything remotely interested in him.

Somehow, he could feel Narwhal leering at the situation. Didn't she write adult fiction about something similar?

He paused.

Had his power sent him here BECAUSE she would be into this? His power WAS based on a being that loved trolling his victims in various ways. Sending a man to his girlfriends fetish would fall neatly into that.

Then again, Narwhal had listed so many turn-on's that it was almost confusing.

He sighed, a blue fog drifting from his fangs as he moved onward. Squishy was still bouncing 'Recovery' and 'Research' back and forth as new advances in his wolven form were discovered, but she would likely tell him if one of his powers was trying to turn Adam into Narwhal's secret fantasy.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sweetie Belle sighed as Rarity continued to fuss. "I'm fine, we're fine. It has been forever since we were even in danger!"

Rarity frowned. "But it is just so savage in those woods! Yes, there are some good ponies and creatures and so such that spend time in the wilderness, but it is hard enough to survive, much less be fashionable!" She carefully ran a comb through Sweetie's mane, ensuring no twigs were there.

For the third time.

Sweetie Belle tried to maneuver closer to the door again. "But we had Burnie! Or Adam. Whatever his name is."

The larger pony sighed, her purple mane wafting over her white fur. Her hooves wrapped the filly in a warm hug. "Darling, I worry. I worried so much! And... and I was so busy, so focused on doing my best to represent my brand and my lifetime of hard work that I ignored you, family."

She nuzzled Sweetie Belle, speaking softly. "I was afraid. That you and your friends had not only fallen into danger... but that I, through careless words, had cast you into it myself. That I could have hurt you through my inattention. I'm so, so sorry."

Sweetie Belle wiggled, embarrassed from the raw emotion in that voice. "But... it was fine! And... and you did nothing wrong. We should have told somepony what was going on."

Rarity held back tears. "I'm still going to punish you for your actions. Not because you did something terrible, but because you did something thoughtless. And darling, I'm going to also change some things because of my own thoughtless actions. In the future, I hope you will remember how our own lack of foresight almost made me lose my favorite little sister forever."

That was unfair. Sweetie Belle felt her own eyes tear up. "Alright, big sis."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

WHY IS THIS FARM SO HUGE!?

Seriously, this wasn't just a few city blocks. Did he just accidentally go the wrong way? Was there a gate closer to town that was on a different street!?

This implied that Big Mac was traveling literally dozens of miles every day just to get these stupid apples to market, never mind the stupid distance one would have to travel to harvest all those trees Adam was passing!

Then again, there wasn't many types of food out there in this world. Corn, wheat, apples of course, fish... maybe? The Griffon nation were meat eaters, so... yuck.

And there was milking cows... wait, did cows talk here? Or was that just part of the underground perversion he kept running into? Huh. Eggs were eaten too, unfertilized likely. Even if chickens DIDN'T speak here, Fluttershy COULD speak to them... and that must be a strange conversation.

Anyway, fruit was normally not the biggest seller in a kingdom back on earth, but here with a land of herbivores maybe the situation was different. It would explain why such a large property was dedicated to what seemed to be a single produce.

Finally a gate showed up! It even had a path leading to what looked to be the actual farm!

Things were finally looking up! He moved with good humor to knock at the door.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Granny Smith squinted her eyes at Adam. "Yer not the delivery foal."

He blinked. "No? I am Adam. I'm with Mai, the club house out back. Apple Bloom and the others should have mentioned me?"

She... seemed to have drifted off? Ah. Might be the voice again.

She frowned. "I said we don't have pidgin fees."

Never mind. Old age. "That's... nice?"

The old pony somehow gripped his shoulder and dragged him inside. He could see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in a far corner wearing cute little bibs and staring at the incoming wolf. "Uh."

Granny moved slowly towards what seemed to be a kitchen. "Young colt, you are too thin. Have you eaten yet?"

Adam watched the two little fillies in the corner frantically shaking their heads. "No?"

He blinked as the two stopped gesturing and face-hoofed.

Granny Smith seemed to have suddenly gained perfect hearing skills. "Ah thought not, young people don't take care of themselves. You sit on down and have a slice of pie."

He didn't even remember sitting down. What the heck!?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Apple Bundt Cake, Apple Crisp, Apple Fritters, Honey Custard Caramelized Apples, Apple Pie, Apple Scones, Brown Butter Apple Loaf, Baked Apples filled with Spiced Oatmeal and Brown Sugar, Applesauce, Apple Yogurt Cake, Apple Tart, Apple Pie Muffins topped with Streusel, Baked Apple Dumplings, Lemon Glazed Apple Cinnamon Mini Breads, Apple Granola Bars, Apple Cake, Mini Apple Rose Pies, Kale and Apple Soup, Butternut Squash with Apple and Sage Soup, Apple-Cabbage Salad with Cider Vinaigrette, Apple Stew, Apple with Cheddar and Tofu Melts, and more.

Not to mention the drinks, ignoring the alcohol free options like straight Apple Juice or the many berry mixes and so forth, included Apple Cocktails, Apple Crisp, Apple Margarita, Apple Sour... honestly, the list was long and involved vodka, gin, bourbon, scotch, rum, and... well.

Only Adam got the good drinks, but then again the two little ponies had tapped out hours ago. Polite, but stuffed with apple products.

Adam himself had his teeth mutate three times so far. Once to something closer to the original Timberwolf Teeth, then to something close to a set of human options... then full pony/herbivore dentures. To eat the apple products more easily.

This... had been a learning experience.

First, Granny Smith was amazing! By now he had ended up scanning her to see how someone clearly so old could be THIS active with no age related issues.

Turns out that ponies age VERY well. The magic forced any changes to occur in the weakest areas first, so like an old twisted tree that fought through the worst nature could throw her body was a twisted, defiant masterpiece.

He would try to scan more old creatures from this world, as the paths carved in her system by magic and a life dedicated to farm work were art. Pure art.

Secondly, a rich clan history dedicated to a single product, especially one in this world where magic is common and expected, had lead to an ocean of interesting specialty spells.

Preservation and presentation magic was nothing compared to the cooking related spells and charms this old pony could whip out subconsciously.

Those dozens and dozens of dishes? They were not being stored or retrieved, this grandma was cooking in REAL time with magic helping along. Ingredients were soaking in spices, or being dehydrated, or heating internally, or cooling off, or being diced, minced, ground, and more.

Nothing like Twilight's telekinesis was going on here, but every dish was being forced to complete at record paces as magic was taking a natural process and skipping the time needed in the middle by enforcing the results.

Squishy was helping to record everything, and the range of interesting knowledge to gain from this world had expanded by many-fold. This was just the basic information an older pony picked up to feed a large family, NOT a professional chef or magic user.

When she realized that not only was Adam finishing his plates but that he was able to give accurate and in depth reviews of her dishes, Granny Smith had lit up, cooked up a storm, and seemed years younger as she rattled off dozens of long winded stories of the past times she fed the masses.

It was... very nice. A warm homely feeling.

That said, the old pony had reacted to him asking for the recipes by trying to convince him that they were 'Family Secrets', that her granddaughter Applejack was single, and suddenly all the drinks were (while still tasty and apple focused) VERY alcoholic.

He still liked the crazy old pony, and after seeing the wolf drink dozens of knockout concoctions Granny Smith gave up and started sharing some of the more basic treats and snacks.

She DID keep the juice flowing though. If he had anything like a normal biology he would have drowned before blacking out from the layers of delicious booze and such.

Still, the food frenzy eventually wrapped up. Applejack had shown up earlier, caught the conversation of how her 'generous hips' would be a 'pony birthing machine' and noped out of the room... so after accepting a take home package with enough food to stuff a small army, Adam wandered over to Mai and then back to the library.

His original plan on sleeping at Mai's place was put off after she let him know how many couples had visited again for the night. Well... 'sleeping'. This town was going to have one heck of a baby boon, although from conversations Mai had overheard this was a direct result to how well pony magic reacted to purified power.

Though she did accept the food bundle, as he was... quite full.

He wasn't sure how late it was by the time he reached Twilight's place, but he tried to be quiet as he snuck into the building.

Only then did he realize that the noises from the basement implied that Twilight was giving a personal showing of what was likely his 'examination' to Pinkie Pie and... Fluttershy? Hard to tell. That pony was quiet at the best of times, much less when embarrassed and put on the spot.

So to avoid that conversation and any related to it, he settled for the couch in the library main room. Even as a plant, today had been very tiring. Emotionally if nothing else.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Princess Luna found the right dream far later than expected.

Still, better late than never.

Adam was likely going to need some assistance considering how scary being stuck into another world could be. Who knew what night terrors could result... he had twisted into a forest consuming plant-mountain-house and been forced to confront some of the more twisted creatures of darkness. And she had to leave him surrounded by strangers due to how much work was waiting at the palace.

Her concerns and the need for more intellectual company...

Well, she probably should have noticed that this black cloud of magic had some bright pink streaks on the edges before diving into the dream.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked as suddenly his activities took a... more realistic hue. Like a spotlight made all the blurry edges in sharp focus.

And with a shock, he realized several things.

First, when a magical princess pony entered a dream, the dream would become real enough to 'awake' the user and have them realize it was 'just a dream', making everything lucid and granting the ability to control themselves.

Second, he had been under a LOT of sexual tension.

Third, this was... not a 'G rated' dream.

He glanced at the other versions of him around the bed. One copy of his body for each power, one copy as a timberwolf (enhanced... both physically and sexually), one copy as an Alicorn (What!?), one copy a skeleton with certain biological (bony) additions.

The girls were in various situations in the middle. Narwhal, one with her powers activated and one without. Dragon, both as a sexy cyborg and as a dragon-female hybrid. Twilight, because why not.

And right now, at the door... Luna (Who seemed very... caught off guard) was wide eyed and seeing three copies of herself... occupied. One of her was normal Alicorn, one was Nightmare Moon, and the third one was an Ipotane (Human torso with horse hindquarters). Oh, there was a fourth one that looked like an anthropomorphisistic pony. Because of course there was.

Adam wearily closed his eyes for a second.

Just... deep, calming breaths.

Right.

He clapped loudly, making the group look at him.

...

He should probably be wearing pants.

Forget it, focus on the 'now'. "Alright, all of me please move to the left side of the room. Clean up what you can, but for now let's put everything on 'hold', as it were."

He waved a hand at the... group. "Dragon, you and yourselves please go to the left with the Narwhals." He ignored his two girlfriends whine about being extracted from the love pile.

He looked at the ponies. "Twilight, would you and..." Oh, there was a couple of other Twilights hidden under the crowd, one as an Alicorn and one as a mostly human pony. Sigh. "Twilight, would you please help your other selves to the right side of the room."

Seeing their expressions he mentally gave up. "Fine. Just... follow the me's to the left then. I... just somewhat order yourselves."

That just left the Luna group, who seemed slightly sheepish about the situation as Princess Luna (Probably the real one) stayed stunned at the entrance. "Right, you four Luna's follow us. I'm not sure if you exist or not, but it doesn't seem polite to have this talk without you involved."

A swipe of his hand had clothing form for everyone. Feeling a draft, he glanced down... right.

Pants.

Somewhat less embarrassed now that he was clothed to a certain extent, he led the Luna crowd toward his new (actually real) guest, exiting the room.

The crowd of people left behind shuffled a little before the closed door opened again.

Adam leaned in. "Right, this may take some time so you all can... go back to whatever. I'm sure Narwhal will want the memory at some point."

His two girlfriends did a very distracting victory squeal before he left again.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

This was probably a dream, but it seemed to blur together with Adam's Simulation powers. Or act similar.

So the room now had a nice table, snacks and tea, and a variety of chair styles to ensure comfort for pony, human, and the others.

Luna had recovered to a certain extent, and was smirking at Adam's low level embarrassment. "Ye know, We are not sure we can actually bend that way."

One of the other Luna's, the human torso one, snorted. "His power allows any and all types of physical modification needed. And he can enhance sensitivity. In fact, he..."

Adam coughed, loudly. "ANYWAY, how may I help you tonight, Princess Luna?"

He watched her glance at her four temporary 'sisters' with a smirk. "We HAD been concerned that you would be having a nightmare."

Nightmare Moon quietly moaned. "Oh, he did."

Adam smacked his face into the table. "Right."

Deep breath. Calm. Peace. "Princess Luna."

All of them smirked. """""Yes?"""""

He pointed at the original. "Don't you join them! Their troll levels are off the chart already!"

Her expression was more than a bit smug. "We don't know what ye are talking about."

Adam glanced at the crowd. "Are you helping them develop? They seem more and more aware the longer this continues."

Her response was cut off by the Alicorn Luna. "Princess Luna's entrance into your dream set off the 'Master' protocols, and Squishy ended up using both 'Recovery' and 'Simulation' to directly control access to your mind. Our personalities were then enhanced via analysis of the scans of our intruder."

Princess Luna choked on her tea. "Are ye using our mind to develop! Are ye not fragments!?"

Nightmare Moon snickered. "We are not developing in the same directions, but we are becoming something close to Mai. As are the other dreamers from the 'fun room'. After all, Squishy had medical scans of all of them at some point."

Adam blinked. "Wha? But when did we scan Twilight?"

The crowd of Luna's reached for each other... and suddenly only Nightmare Moon was left. "Ah, much better. One mind with multiple forms saves so much confusion." She looked back at Adam with a certain gleam in her eyes. "You enabled 'Harmony'. And didn't renable 'Growth' when you slept. You've been passively scanning the souls of ponies for a while now."

Princess Luna watched the form of her private fear with something between intrigue and horror. "And when I joined the dream, this 'Harmony' scanned me?"

Nightmare Moon shrugged. "He still has it enabled, and you are still visiting. Some of your repressed and removed memories have even been added into me as well, now that I think about it." She waved a hoof at the shifting colors outside. "And it is MUCH better in Adam's soul as a part of his power than it was as a part of you."

That... that sounded concerning. "Uh... I thought you were dream fragments?"

Her purple body drifted closer to him. "We were. And if Luna had stayed away, we would have stayed such. But an Alicorn is a being of magic to begin with. 'Harmony' let me finally be free of her fears and regrets... into a form far more powerful and connected to a being with far more potential."

Adam ignored Luna's stunned expression and frowned. "You know that I am not going to stay here, right? That if you ARE a form of the real Nightmare Moon, you will end up leaving this world behind."

She shrugged. "What have I here? My name is feared, a cautionary tale for foals. My friends died years ago, my former body is terrified of me possibly existing, and my sister banished me away rather than work with me to help heal my woes." She sighed before a smirk came back. "Besides, you are young, possibly immortal, sexually active, and planning on exploring reality."

Princess Luna seemed to regain her balance. "Hmm. Our former self seems far more frisky than fiery death."

Nightmare Moon winked. "Like you don't want to ride his saddle."

As Luna sputtered denials, the skeleton Adam poked his head in. "Boss?"

Adam raised his head from his slump. "Yes?"

How could a skeleton look worried? "Right. Uh... Narwhal and Dragon seem to have caught up from being nympho fun girls to standard personalities. So has Twilight. I mean, the Twilights. And aside from the embarrassment, and Narwhal trying to sexually harass... everyone... well."

Oh what now. "Yes?"

Neat, a skeleton can wince. "Turns out the last scan we had was right before we left the Worm reality. And they are very unhappy about you not telling them. You know, the whole 'My Soul May Blow Up' universe hopping thing."

And from behind the skeleton there was a 'small' explosion.

Adam sighed. "Well."

Well. What the hell was he supposed to do!?

In his personal opinion, anything that happened while dreaming shouldn't count. It was a damn dream, after all. A man could think or dream any kind of scenario without condemnation as long as he acted appropriately when away. Then again, Luna was here, part of her had magically infected a simulation of the Alicorn, and... and... sigh.

He stood. "Right, let me... get myself together. Moon, could you please keep Luna company?"

Nightmare Moon snorted. "Not sure she would be into that without a stallion in the middle."

Moving on. Though that blush was quite an expression on Luna's face. "Right. Be back in a moment."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Results were mixed.

All the Twilights, Dragons, and Narwhals had merged into single beings. So... names were easier.

Downside, this had vastly stabilized their personality and memories. They were damn near perfect copies of their physical selves. Deleting or modifying them now would be super close to murder.

Secondly, HIS duplicates had merged... into him.

Which... well, it felt odd, but the real problem was all the memories he gained. Of being part of nearly every position in an orgy.

He wasn't counting that as a negative, but it made all conversations more awkward.

And there WERE conversations. Even after he explained about how the Simurgh and other thinkers could have stolen the information if he hadn't made this trip, they had required a lot of promises and compromises before letting him out of the wolf house.

And even after they forgave him Dragon, being more logical, let him off easy.

In the end Narwhal went for kinky punishments... which Twilight, Nightmare Moon, and (eventually) Dragon got roped into.

And Narwhal had insisted that they retained the ability to split up into components again for future 'activities'.

Long story short, he now had five magical artificial intelligence's in his soul. Thankfully, the existing simulations would keep them busy.

Mai and Twilight were working heavily with his 'Research' and 'Harmony' power via Golden Garden.

Dragon was using the Garden system as well, working on developing new enhancements for his products via 'Technomancy' and 'Growth'.

Nightmare Moon was working on 'Recovery' and 'Growth' to come up with more 'interesting' forms and abilities. Luna was following Moon around out of curiosity at this point.

And Narwhal was building a new section of Simulation for AI's like Mai and external visitors to visit. Because of COURSE the idea of seducing her external self was instantly her focus.

It was only their long relationship that allowed Adam to see the feelings hidden by their exteriors. Dragon took it best. As an AI to begin with, she knew she could just merge if/when Dragon gained entry. No issues with 'am I real?' that she hadn't already addressed. Mai was born here, in his power... she had no issues leaving clones outside, like the one running the clubhouse.

Twilight was distracted from everything by having such a large number of books, memories, and raw information combined with his super-powered research abilities. She was interested in meeting/collaborating with the Twilight in the real library, but it was a lower level concern for her.

Nightmare Moon was just... so happy to be free. To talk to anyone. To be able to feel things. Touch. Her conversations with Luna were far more lighthearted than either had expected, and she was treating this like a birthday combined with winning the lottery.

The issue was Narwhal.

He wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. Whispered. "You are real. And Narwhal will love to meet her new sister."

He wrapped darkness around her. No one had to see the tears.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Celestia narrowed her eyes as she sipped her tea.

Luna was... slumpy. Eyes blurred, her hoof drifting as she slowly ate breakfast.

She coughed. "Trouble sleeping?"

Luna jerked, more awake. "Oh. Sorry, our night was... complicated."

Hmm. "I suppose our dimensional visitor was to blame. I assume you visited him last night?"

Her sister's absent nod didn't clear up much. "Hmm. Why do you seem so.. distracted?" She smirked. "Did you go dream peeping?"

Luna's expression was priceless! "WHAT! No! We were just worried that he would have a... uh. We were fretful that he would need dream calming. Terrors and all that."

Was that a blush? "And... what sort of dream did you happen to find?"

No, THAT was a blush. A massive one. "He was... occupied. At first."

Celestia snorted. "Well, even as a wolf he is the prime of life. You've bumped into naughty dreams before, especially when young colts were involved."

Luna looked aside. "Y... Yes. It may have been of an adult nature."

The Sunlight Princess took another bite of her cake. Best breakfast ever. "Honestly, you don't need to be so prudish about it. It's not like he was dreaming of you or something."

Awkward silence fell.

Celestia's eyes widened. "No."

Luna coughed. "Right, it's been a long night and we should get some rest."

Celestia was already chasing her as she began to flee. "Sister code! I already invoke it! Stop running and spill already!"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked. Sleeping in this form was in some ways more easy, as there wasn't any flesh to pinch or feel sore. On the other hand, he didn't have eye lids. So blinking his eyes was like winking a lantern by closing it quickly.

Still, he was awake. And not having to directly communicate in the awkward group in his head space was very nice.

Narwhal had calmed down a lot after a few hours, but uh. Dragon was... very logical. And awkward. And he learned things he hadn't wanted to know.

Like how Narwhal had gotten her to promise in a threesome with Dragon's boyfriend if they hadn't found anyone else beforehand to date. And visa-versa. Or how Narwhal had been trying to convince Dragon to do the 'Multiple Bodies' trick in virtual world BEFORE he left. It had become something of a fantasy of Narwhal by now.

Apparently his girlfriend had backed off on those issues a bit after Armsmaster and her started considering actual dating... but had ramped right back up when Narwhal realized that an antisocial tinker and a un-bodied AI were taking the idea of going 'slow' to unheard of levels. To exasperating levels.

Right now, the two hadn't even gone beyond 'tinkering in the same room', much less upgrading to 'tinkering on the same table'. Their version of 'cybersex' was project collaboration.

Basically, Narwhal had been trying to push Dragon into trying kinky stuff with Armsmaster for weeks before Adam had jumped dimension, not that he had noticed. Those memories being absorbed did not help calm down either of the girls during the unexpected mid-orgy 'Surprise: We Be People' situation.

So technically, according to Narwhal anyway, you didn't count as being in a relationship until you... like... asked to be in one. Or at least went on a date. Or held hands. Or even said 'I like you' in some form.

Frankly, some of Adam's flirting with others had gone farther than the tinker cyborg and tinker beard man had. Which was... super sad.

And... he didn't want to know ANY of this. He wasn't exactly amazing at social stuff.

Worse, Nightmare Moon was having a blast.

Poor thing had been stuck alone for years, so this drama was like the best television sitcom ever! Mind-Twilight was making things worse with her innocent questions, as 'Herding' or group dating was actually a social norm, if not common in Equestria. So her asking 'When would you three join us?' and so such just made Dragon blush harder and Narwhal start laughing again.

Mai was staying out of it, and Luna left after the teasing started drifting in her direction. Because Nightmare Moon jumped ALL over that topic. 'Remember that time you almost got caught...' and 'Were you not involved in a few orgies back when...' conversations made Princess Luna abandon Adam's brain pretty quickly.

Again, things he didn't want to know. Though some perverted section of his heart did take note.

After some yelling and compromises, the final plan was to allow the original beings in the Worm Universe to view memories of the AI's and (Hopefully) set up future information exchanges if things went well. It wouldn't be a true merging of beings, but more a fun movie to enjoy. With emotions. And the feelings.

Over all, he was... not furious. More resigned.

MOST guys were allowed a naughty dream or two without their significant others receiving a 3d mental movie with sexposition and naughty sound effects. And in a way, he was lucky. What if Narwhal HADN'T shown up in this dream? Forget the wolf house, he would have been neutered!

Anyway, he talked with Squishy a while.

Just in case, no more dreams. Too dangerous now that his mind and simulation were so oddly connected. Squishy would either have him stay in the simulation or enjoy visualizations like stars and soothing music from now on. Any dreams he would have had would be handed over for Squishy to care for, while Mai and Nightmare Moon had loved the idea of custom crafting dreams for him in the future. Narwhal alone had started suggesting a whole list of erotic stuff before Adam could get her to move to a different topic.

Thus, Squishy would review all dreams first... just in case.

He shifted off the couch, moving toward the kitchen and away from the books. Spike and real world Twilight were having breakfast when they noticed Adam sit. "Morning!"

Adam sighed, slumping on the table. "Good Morning, Twilight. Spike."

She finished her toast, concerned. "Everything alright?"

He closed his eyes. Or turned off the fire. Whatever. "No. Had a magical incident last night when Princess Luna tried to enter my dream and stop some nightmares."

She gaped. "What? What happened!?" Spike also seemed far more alert now.

Adam glanced at her. "I left the 'Harmony' power on. And when my powers saw her enter my mind, it tried to protect me. And well... there was already a Princess Luna in my dream." He sighed. "Anyway, I now have several magically powered personas in my soul that might as well be magical versions of you, Princess Luna, and simpler versions of some loved ones from my home world."

Ignoring their reaction, he stretched. "It won't happen again, at least not by accident. But I might have to invest in an illusion ability next power charge so they can interact in the real world. Not sure how accurate my Twilight is compared to you, but she is eager to do research on the whole situation. And on my time project. And uh... everything really."

Spike nodded, confused. "That... sounds like her? I guess?"

He managed to direct the ensuing conversation away from WHY the two ponies were in his dream to begin with, but his original idea of learning enough magic to jump straight to time manipulation had been firmly side tracked.

And illusions were useful after all, especially to the more creative casters. The ongoing discussion even implied that he may be able to get away with actual pony magic instead of wasting a power charge on that. For now.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Applejack fled home, heading to Apple Bloom's clubhouse.

Seriously Granny, why!? It was embarrassing enough showing up late at night, covered in sweat from a hard days work, and seeing a stallion in wolf's clothing in her home with a voice slicker than wagon grease.

That the guy was being stuffed with food and being told how many fillies and colts her granddaughter Applejack could pop out... it was horrible!

And this morning, Granny Smith didn't even slow down! Though she bounced between how strong that 'Nice young stallion' seemed and 'Something was a bit wild about him' and so such. Well no surprise there, a wolf IS a bit wild compared to the namby pamby colts she bumped into around town.

That was Adam, anyway. Apple Bloom mentioned the guy had been talking close with Princess Luna, and during Applejack's rounds last night she heard from the gossip that Twilight Sparkle had been spotted on the way home, carried like a babe on that same creatures back.

So, claimed... possibly double claimed. By royalty no less!

...Still didn't want their first official meeting to involve grandmothers and implied dating tips.

The massive shadow of Mai brought her back to focus as she got closer to the mountain's side entrance. Which was one of the heads with a wide open mouth and a tongue in the shape of stairs.

It took her little time to find the three girls of the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders', though seeing Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy was a surprise. "Howdy Girls! Sorry, I meant to get started sooner even if today's my off day."

Rainbow Dash waved it off. "Forget it, Applejack! Scootaloo was giving me an awesome story about how they were saved at the last moment! Danger, a hero!"

Fluttershy was frowning... which was unusual for her. "I am very disappointed with those wolves. I know they don't work well with the other animals, but a couple of nice Chimera living near the edges of the trail had been working hard to keep our sections safer."

That was... far more talking than the shy yellow pony normally did. "Welp, I'm glad you all were safe."

Sweetie Belle seemed the most subdued, but all three girls were at least chipper. Although all of them protested at first when the lower sections of the club house were to become an ACTUAL club.

In the end, they would get an allowance boost for now, a portion of the proceeds that would be put in a bank for when they were older, and well... Fluttershy did that disappointment look thing.

But it really had to be done, the town was far too enthusiastic about having such a pure area with cleansed magic. It reduced the chance of medical problems, increased the chance of pregnancy and healthy newborns, and uh... 'encouraged' the males.

None of that would be great for little girls though, and thankfully Mia agreed with no issue. So the house was slowly growing upward and the bottom floors were already becoming a separate 'party' facility.

Pinkie Pie was still down there. Changing things. It may become the town's default party room, as compared to Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie usually worked.

Honestly, the most fun part of the conversation was hearing how Sweetie Belle escaped from Rarity's mother hen instincts this morning.

By convincing her that Mai, a mountain-house-club-farm-(sex dungeon?)-plant thing... needed a hat. Or more specifically, eight hats. One for each head.

It would take a while.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam felt progress for the first time.

Pure, raw, unending progress.

Those scans of Twilight, all those ponies, and so forth?

Pure. Gold.

His body had a weak version of the energy veins, or chakra paths, or whatever they were that ponies possessed within seconds.

'Recovery' and 'Growth' had then escalated that to untold levels as experimentation within his flesh found efficiency and throughput beyond the norm. The itching, strange heat and cold waves, all of that got handled within an hour or two.

Each claw became something similar to a horn, or at least could be used the same way. Someday he could cast twenty spells, theoretically.

Obviously he stayed focused. Even as his teeth gained magical channels, as his tail became more than just a nuisance.

And the payoff was glorious!

Something about 'Fire Manipulation' merged with 'Harmony' during testing, and the energy, the magic flowing through his new magical system was just... perfectly controlled.

Those feelings allowed him to quickly develop high levels of control WITHOUT those powers activated... so he could swap to 'Research' and 'Growth'.

And the important puzzle piece that had made everything work together?

Illusions.

Right now, virtual screens and consoles filled Twilight's lab. Illusions of TwilightAI and Nightmare Moon (That had been an awkward introduction/explanation to his host) were examining test data and using the illusion interfaces to suggest more tests, while actual Twilight seemed trapped in a happy mess of emotions and experiments.

Because Illusions, his Simulations, Golden Garden, Dragon, and 'Harmony' with 'Technomancy'?

It was a match made in heaven!

Data was absorbed by 'Harmony', examined by 'Technomancy', entered into Golden Garden, Manipulated by Dragon, and his mental ponies were able to work with him and Twilight as if everyone was flesh and blood.

Problems during casting? Caught, analyzed, suggestions offered, simulated, tested, implemented.

Within hours his spell casting ability was beyond improved! Hours more and illusion efficiency had gone up through the roof!

And then... TwilightAI and Twilight had brought up other illusions. Non-visual ones. True, they needed Sorcerer level enchanting abilities and spell frameworks... but now, with his advancements...

Illusion of touch. Illusion of sound. Of smell. Of taste.

Achieved, studied, improved, simplified, enhanced.

He flexed a paw, each claw of which handled a different aspect of what he needed.

Minor telekinesis to enhance to illusion of touch. Weak transformation of the air to create scent particles. Layers of visual illusion creating color, shade, reflections.

And... an apple. Simple, looked slightly damp.

Dragon appeared, Golden Garden now upgraded to be able to use his back paws as casting tools to not interfere with Adam's work. Nightmare Moon and both Twilights leaned close.

He gulped. And took a bite.

Even the juice was convincing! It wouldn't actually make one full or whatever, but this was one of the most advanced tests for illusions currently known by the magical pony community. Not surprising that it would focus on an item that all ponies would be used to and have prior experience with. He carefully watched the juice drip over the bite edge. Beautiful.

Twilight was stunned. "That... that normally takes decades of work to achieve! Even I took three months, and I didn't aim for this level of complexity!"

Adam blinked. "What about that giant spell when I arrived? And I know you've done bigger things before."

The pony of magic waved a hoof. "That was maybe two layers of spell casting and many layers of predesignated frameworks that were mostly similar. Hard, but not up to this level of discrete spells of unrelated domains!"

Nightmare Moon hummed as she took the apple from his paw. Now that it was cast, the spell was anchored on other spells and would exist without more meddling. "I am... very impressed as well. I've done more complicated illusions, but I relied on my overwhelming power to force my creations when needed. Never have I seen something use so little energy so effectively."

TwilightAI was back to work. "I still think we can reduce the spell cost by 0.54 units if we can just tie in the color illusions with the texture layers. It would simplify the spell sections that change color shades based on viewer angle as well."

Adam shrugged. "I'm happy with this level for now, it's not like I can cast any of this without storing the spell framework as a program in Golden Garden anyway."

Dragon bit into the creation. "Hmm. It tastes better than the scans of apples you made back in our world. Maybe due to magic filling in the unrecorded data? Or maybe my new form translates taste better than the digital avatar I had."

Another back set of his magical claws glowed blue fire, and illusion Narwhal settled on his back. "So... we can move on to time magic?" She was... far less interested in the nitty gritty science/magic stuff. Mostly spent the last half day or so designing dreams that Squishy was hesitant to approve and reading pony created books inside the simulation.

Adam sighed. "Not yet, but far sooner than I expected. You might as well get comfortable because we will be importing a wide sample of spells and enchantments into Golden Garden first so that 'Research' can more accurately simulate untested or new magic first. Wouldn't want to go the wrong direction in the time dimension."

She waved a hand. "So nerd stuff. I'm going back to that Daring Do novel with the ninja pirates."

Sigh. Well, at least he had a group more willing to try converting magic into soul-science-abomination stuff now. "Right, what next?"

Nightmare Moon hummed. "I have magic that I used to merge with darkness and mist. It may destroy your soul though. Maybe even teach you some dream walking... though there are things in there that can escape if you do it wrong."

Huh. "Maybe later."

Twilight held up her hoof. "OOOH! What about a bunch of detection and analysis spells? It should help your 'Recovery' and 'Research' abilities a lot!"

Right. "Let's go with plan 'Speed things up' instead of 'New Scary Stuff' for now."

Aww, Moon's pout was adorable.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Magic was... a big cheat.

With illusions basically under hoof, as it were, a dozen or so analysis, scanning, and testing spells were quickly added to Adam's repertoire.

Then came the testing cycle. Loops of testing, enhancing ability, increasing flexibility, pushing stability, and simplifying processes while reducing duplicate effort.

Mental Twilight and Nightmare Moon were having a lot of fun with spell design, as normal spells can only be documented using complicated standardized formulas.

Recording an emotion, three or four dimensional spell framework, and all the theory and background needed for casting was a big part of magic casting difficulty. Not only did you have to put it on paper, split up into pages, and in only two dimensions... but you had to remember all the easy basic stuff one did automatically. All by hand, many times required to be written in one go with no corrections or it would damage the information.

Anyway, Adam basically had 'spell slots' of memory where a spell could be inserted, tested, and modified with no strain to Non-Adam users.

Twilight, whose cutie mark focused on spellwork, was very envious as her high level of ability allowed her to intrinsically and automatically adapt to flaws in castings, not store and perfect spells so easily.

Between tests, she and physical Twilight were trying to make a similar 'spell slot' framework for ponies to use as well. The idea of such a meta-spell (A power for using powers) was touched upon with her delegation spell design, but this was something far more simple for others to try out in the future.

On a side note, power charges used in MLP's soul were... odd. New, broad powers worked. Mostly. But they were flexible. Wiggly.

'Growth' was affecting 'Harmony', even though they could not be equipped together. And Squishy was concerned that future worlds may not make a new soul socket unless VERY different from the Worm one or the MLP soul.

Just like duplicate powers, his souls may collapse and combine. Probably with Worm taking all the technical stuff, MLP taking all the magic options. Any new slots or souls would require some strong difference in power types. Maybe one focused solely on biology? 'Recovery' was controled via small nano-bots, basically. At least, Panacea's power did.

Well, it didn't matter for now. Applejack had shown up with lunch and (After freaking out a bit seeing such a... strange group stuffed in Twilight's house) forced the group to take a 'science' break.

So Adam was eating a cupcake on a bench in the middle of town, with 'Recovery' and 'Harmony' watching the civilians and increasing his information base.

Adam glanced at his dessert as the crowd passed by. Touch telekinesis was not a big focus of the research team yet, so his paw was wrapped like a hand, holding the deliciousness up for snackatude.

When the pony sat on the same bench, he honestly didn't notice.

When she scooted close to his body, he was surprised.

It was the licking that made him lose his zen 'cupcake' moment.

And no, it was not a squeak. It was a manly... uh. Wolfly roar. Just a little short and high pitch.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

His wide eyes watched the mare try to get closer. Not that there was much space to begin with.

She looked... drunk. Very drunk.

Her body was very light blue. Cyan? He wasn't great at the color stuff. Her mane was pink, sparkly, and translucent. Her eyes a mixture of blue with hints of green... but it was a solid color, not the normal pony or human examples he was used to.

Her body ooched closer. "You... are so... delicious..."

Adam's eyes got wider. "Uh... Thank you?" He carefully pushed her back. Uh. Tried to.

Her body was... hard. Non-Pony hard. 'Harmony' hummed... it was exoskeleton.

This... She was a Changeling. Probably. Maybe a mutated one, she didn't match his memories of the tall black bug-ponies with large holes in their bodies.

He glanced at the crowd. Thankfully, the default politeness of pony society had them 'not paying attention', even if a couple of individuals had 'wandered by' several times now to watch the 'drunk pony' make a public scene.

Carefully using a tentacle, he pushed the mare back. "Hey. You alright?"

Her eyes wandered. "Oh! You have smaller hoof legs! I had those once! Or... I was a baby? Something." She leaned against his moss again. "You taste good."

The next twenty minutes convincing her to follow him somewhere out of the public eye was complicated by Narwhal suggesting innuendos and helpful 'suggestions'. Then again, directing a young woman into private while she tries to lick your face was a pretty sketchy scenario to begin with.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

In the original time line, or at least the one he knew best, Changelings had a sad life. They were a species that consumed emotions for survival... in a land where love and harmony was enforced by twin deities, that wasn't a big deal.

But in the story, shortly after using the 'Elements of Harmony' again after many years, the Changeling's ability to absorb and transfer emotions was damaged.

Normally a Changeling who infiltrated a pony town or city would either be very promiscuous or build up a relationship strong enough to feed themselves and send tribute back to their hive.

After the damage? Their whole civilization was collapsing. Starvation was forcing them to cannibalize and even cause egg destruction to prevent the fall of their whole system.

They tried replacing the agents, transforming and replacing ponies who died in the wilderness or were off on long trips, even desperately doing more and more embarrassing and lewd acts in an effort to feed their young.

It wasn't enough. Eventually it lead to a major invasion attempt into the kingdom. Which failed.

The show... didn't push the dark side of the situation too much.

Here, he had already had looked up the situation. He wanted to scan a few for future ability cost decreases, as the magical transformation ability of Changelings were legendary. Anyway, unlike the show, a couple of changlings had actually shown up and applied for assistance from Celestia fairly quickly. No idea why.

It went well, eventually. Now Changelings had positions as care takers (Young and old) which involved lots of tasty emotions. More than a few individuals (and couples) found an immortal and sexy any-sexual a fun option for a fling or long term relationship. And according to Twilight, the castle was employing many as information gatherers.

That didn't mean that a Changeling should feel free to launch herself into a wolf on the street, moaning and hugging away.

Also, why was this realm so damn sexualized? He had been in the Worm world for weeks without random women leaping into his arms.

Normally he would just accept it as being the 'bad wolf' that all the fillies crave, but this girl was babbling, seemed confused and easily distracted, and nearly exposed her species on a busy street.

So... yeah, he wanted a few answers.

He felt her body land on his back, even as her hooves wrapped around his neck and she started to... fall asleep?

"I'm not you drunk are! ANd... and... Zzzz..."

Yes, sleep. Tentacles wrapped her safely in place as he headed back to Twilight's place, sending an illusion her way with a basic heads up on the situation.

It wasn't two way conversation, but at least she would be ready for a drunk bug-pony guest.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Good news! Sort of.

"Noo! Wolfie, come back to my embrace!"

She wasn't drunk. The standard hangover spell and detoxification spell did nothing.

Twilight (Both of them, the illusions were out and 'examination' through spells was ongoing) was not being a huge help getting the girl to stop glomping on Adam's back. "Just stay in the middle of the array Adam, and we will solve this soon enough!"

Nightmare Moon was finding the entire scenario hilarious. The poor Changeling was so enthralled with Adam that the most powerful and feared Goddess didn't even get a glance as she rubbed her cheek against his face.

Adam tried to push her back again. "Look, I don't even know your name! You don't even know mine!"

Her eyes went wide. "No! You are stallion-wolf. And I, Ocellus, am the future Queen of the Changelings! Or... uh. No. I am Undercover! No one knows how I have secretly dominated this corner of the globe!" She was mumbling a bit, her body still hugging his back. "And... and I can whistle... and cook cheese sandwiches... mmm, soft."

Twilight shook her head. "Not Chrysalis. And from what I can tell, she is just a gatherer. Not a proto-queen or warrior changeling either."

Her eye opened and her face fell to a pout. "When I rule the kitchens, you will get NO soup!"

Adam sighed. At least she was an adorable issue.

Her whisper tickled his bark covered ears. "I... I'm sorry. I lied. I can't cook cheese sandwiches."

Oh god no, was she going to cry!?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sigh. Once again: The issue was the orgy.

His soul/mind was stuffed with the concepts and emotions of multiple people/ponies/beings that had gone through unnatural and unrealistic activities for an impossible amount of time.

And at some point, Narwhal had split up and started... well, doing yourself was lesbianism, right? Just sort of... masturbation.

Anyway, the point was that while Squishy had stopped people invading his dreams (She controlled his subconscious, literally now.) she had NOT destroyed the people in his mind/soul/simulation, nor had she examined psychic leakage.

Not to mention that 'Harmony' if not checked shared his emotions with others as well as the other way around.

So poor Ocellus was going about her business when an orgy between a robot, five copies of a goddess, copies of a pony of magic, and his girlfriends... well.

It was overkill.

Love alone was the most popular food for the Changeling race. Love combined with lust, from about a dozen or so people, concentrated and delivered in one burst?

It was lucky she didn't have a mental breakdown and try to become a servant or something.

Right now, Squishy had both magical and biological scans of the poor mare, and Adam had used a power charge to let Squishy both detect and gain basic control over power being released by his body.

It just... hadn't mattered before.

While more than a bit miffed that he couldn't gain a new, more flexible ability than 'Stop spewing energy, thoughts, and emotions by accident', not having more issues like this was a necessity.

And while this would make any future 'Modification' ability both cheaper and more powerful, Adam was... more than a bit ready to advance his agenda. Time manipulation could be very useful if done carefully.

Going back in time? Hard. Slowing down a limited local area? Easy. Accelerating a limited area? Simple.

And he had plans for that.

Still, the forced break had allowed him to review his recent actions. More than a bit of his impulsiveness and lack of restraint was due to home sickness. And concern about the new travelers he had gained while here.

But... there was no point in rushing and causing a mistake. A day or longer here, now, could prevent weeks of issues or dangerous accidents later. Wasn't there some phrase about 'Sharpening the Ax doesn't waste time when cutting wood' or some such?

Thankfully Ocellus was moved into a dark room right now that Twilight had set aside, and the poor mare would hopefully be coming down from her feeling god-feast. The term 'emotional high' had never been so accurate.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ocellus was apparently super-shy. Normally.

The memories of her throwing her body at a muscle-wolf while yelling to the crowds how she was going to lick his delicious man-emotions had made her hit embarrassment level Not a Number.

We are talking 'Fluttershy accidentally becomes a model' levels of embarrassment, shame, and shyness here. The kind where one honestly considers becoming a nun or hermit.

So... it was good Adam got those scans earlier, because it was unlikely he would ever see her again. Not anytime soon at least.

Adam was basically shuffled off to Applejack's farm for the next few days. He had scanned all the books here anyway, so it wouldn't slow down the research projects much and local Twilight would have time to convince the poor thing to leave the guest room. Eventually. Or at least, one day. Or ever.

He sighed, turning another mental page with terrible hoof-writing. The oldest, more powerful stuff HAD to be done without automation. And apparently, without spellcheck or grammar.

Still, with these insulator and superconductor spells he could hopefully make power equivalents to the Worm Realm's solid hologram projectors and so forth. Eventually.

Adam absently accepted another Maple Pecan Caramel Apple Pie Bar from Granny Smith. Thankfully the lab work was being done in the simulation, the table had no room with all this food on it.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Twilight fidgeted. "Are... are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Nightmare Moon oozed confidence. "Of course! You've seen how distraught Adam is to be separated from his Narwhal alone, not to mention poor Dragon's concerns."

The smaller pony was not fully convinced. "But we are doing fine enough now. We even made a bunch of magical advancements!"

Moon sighed, a more simple and honest smile crossing her face. "Look, we both know that Adam is a good stallion, right?"

Twilight mumbled as she tried to focus on her current projects. Nightmare Moon wasn't wrong, of course. After the initial shock of their situation had worn off, her years of defending the kingdom had made her quickly look into Adam's past, memories, and more.

It helped that the 'man' had basically given her full access (with Squishy as overseer) after a question or two.

But that same trust made it hard to make choices like this without telling him first.

She glanced internally at her own 'settings', an interface Squishy had provided to all the mental AI's living in Adam's soul. Her body was set to just after a restful sleep, so she never got tired. Her muscles never cramped, she never got sore or uncomfortable, hunger was very mild and easily handled, thirst was equally simple to address, bathroom options only existed because Narwhal had some... interesting ideas.

This was a level of control that she didn't need. It also addressed a personal dream of hers, the ability to focus entirely on the search of knowledge without abandoning her family, Spike, or her friends. Because now there were two of her, one to continue life like normal while SHE could research entire new worlds!

And the person giving her these abilities had done nothing to abuse the absolute power he could wield.

On the other hoof, that same trust and sense of gratefulness was making Nightmare Moon's argument all the more convincing.

She sighed. "I just... I don't want to betray anypony. They trust me, and I gave my word to protect their secrets. You have Luna's memories when she talked to me about this in the past, right?"

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. "Trust me, Luna is head over hooves over the wolf. If it wasn't for Celestia teasing her and her own embarrassment, Adam would already be in Canterlot's Library."

Still.

With a sigh, Twilight looked at the growing bookshelves of memories. "I... fine." Her horn glowed as new books from her past began to fill the shelves. "But I will lock them until I can discuss it with outside Twilight. This is just... a backup. Just in case."

Nightmare Moon smirked. She herself had already added books and scrolls of information, dozens of libraries worth and growing. Still was adding more, in fact. Most written in ancient languages and elder texts. But Twilight had been studying all the 'approved' books from the last thousand years or so that Luna had been banished to the moon.

She didn't bother to inform Twilight that the 'memories' she was storing were being supplied via 'Harmony' being able to connect to the external version of her. Even as the outside pony was all the way over town at her library.

More importantly, this would enhance and stabilize the Twilight here, to the point of being able to survive and improve in the future after leaving this world. Unlike Nightmare Moon, THIS pony was ONLY a fantasy, not a twisted being of dark magic and raw power.

If it also provided a massive library of magical knowledge enhanced by years of personal teaching by her solar powered sister, all the better.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The trick was to focus on both plants and symbols related to plants.

Adam looked down at the seed. It... well, it was one of those 'helicopter' seeds from an Ash tree, the ones with a tail that let the seed twirl in the wind.

This also gave more surface area for the spells to be attached.

His left paw gently pressed the seed into surface of Mai's back, near the trunk of the giant 'Conversion' tree on her back.

Layers of power activated, attached, stabilized.

The first dozen layers had nothing to do with his current needs. Spells to gather energy, store it, to analyze itself, to create simulations, to create repair spells and direct them, to absorb or redirect impacts or energy that could damage this core.

The ball of light at the end was a mass of carefully balanced patterns. A stable, sphere platform that further charms and so forth could easily attach to safely.

Dragon had labeled it a 'Spell Seed', and he had nothing better to go with so... good enough.

He then felt Dragon take over the next thousand or so spells, each one tiny components that duplicated chips and pathways on circuit boards. He theoretically could do this himself, but Dragon was able to construct a spell circuit-board in real time without a template or schematic.

And... well, he didn't enjoy memorizing a dozen components and all that fiddly stuff. When this final product was done, the process would be saved and stored so future castings would be damned near automatic, but creation?

She was faster, enjoyed doing this, and honestly more reliable. Adam's programing had been better than any human, sure, but she was a god at this stuff. Didn't even need to accelerate her sense of time like he always had to.

He picked up control again as the external protective layers of spells began to assemble. Layers of energy absorption, of heat redirection, of sound displacement. Then layers of color, of spell shields, of sensor matrices.

And... done?

Adam blinked, glancing over at holographic Twilight and Nightmare Moon, who were looking over Dragon's shoulder at her screen. "I'll be honest, I am waiting for the explosion again."

Dragon shook her head. "No, we got it this time. The last issue was the outer protective layers accidentally connecting directly to the internal components. That feedback loop should be fixed. Probably."

He gave them a dry expression of solemn judgement. "Then why are you three over there behind the protective screens?"

They winced... but stayed behind the layers of spells. Dragon gave a weak smile. "Oh... just. Checking the readings. Got to be scientific about this, you know!"

Adam looked down at the pulsing ball of light. Which, thankfully, was NOT increasing in frequency. In fact, it seemed to be stabilizing. "Well, if this doesn't explode or began to collapse in an hour, then I think we have a solid success." Finally. This was one of his biggest 'To Do List' items that he wanted completed before leaving this Realm.

He paused. "Wait. What happens if the seed dies? Would this all... like boom?"

Nightmare Moon shook her head. "After it stabilizes, the seed could actually be removed safely. It would collapse a bit but the repair function would reconstruct the center using pure energy. Many spells act like that if done correctly, which is why seeds in this case would be considered a non-consumed spell reagent."

Hmm. "So I need the seed, or something similar enough, to get it going... but can reuse it for the next attempt?"

Twilight seemed to be the only one present not watching the mess of magic like a bomb. "I added a small set of maintenance spells near the core anyway. If they fail it would self replace, but just in case of strange issues they would ensure the seed remains viable for actual planting."

She paused seeing the amused looks of her female companions and blushed. "I like being a perfectionist. If I have a living component in a spell, I will ensure it is handled with care."

Adam watched the bulb of light slowly fading away... but not creating a rip in space or turning to cheese or something. "I... I think we actually got it right this time." No well timed comedic explosion? Hell yeah! "Yeah, I am sure it worked."

Dragon huffed. "Don't touch it. We wait the full time allotted no matter how safe it seems first. BEFORE trying to activate it."

Twilight glanced at the next scheduled experiments with a sigh. "I really want to try the upgraded 'drone' spell. I have some remote viewing stuff, but these things are far more impressive. I'm far too scared to cast it myself though, not after how many tries this 'Garden' thing has taken so far."

Adam tuned out the girls who were reviewing the test results and discussing how far along Twilight was getting with her customized spell slot system. It would only allow four saved spells so far, though she was trying to create a library of recorded items to 'load' into the slots at a later time. Like a wizard's spell book, basically.

He had known Squishy had made something like a game interface for the girls earlier, which the group had fallen in love with. And that she was even working on a similar setup for himself, which... well, it would be fine. But right now the feeling of casting all those tiny spell fragments himself was just so... satisfying.

It was likely a subtle reward system from magic itself, a burst of pleasure when a spell successfully activated. Or magic itself was a pervert, which just seemed to be common sense in this version of the world.

Leaning back, he left a small magical observation charm running for 'major change' and focused internally.

Squishy was preparing for a universal realm jump.

Now that they both KNEW how much realm travel sucked, they could prepare. Each charge for the last few days had been to enhance 'Harmony' and 'Growth' in very fundamental ways. Trying to tie together a theme that could withstand the consumption of the Void.

The next power to be created was still being debated, and the girls in his head had joined in the fun. Current race winner was the concept of 'Consume', to push growth and Harmony into a direction of adapting outside power and concepts into growth and understanding. Of gaining from the consumption of others.

That it would synergize well with 'Fire Manipulation', 'Conversion', and 'Transfer' was just icing on the cupcake. Even 'Technomancy' may benefit, if he consumed advanced technology. 'Recovery' would likely go nuts.

The other runner up choices (Aside from the sexual suggestions) involved trying to encapsulate magic itself... terms like 'Mana Manipulation' or 'Power Refinement' had been tossed about. In the end though, Squishy made several convincing arguments that eventually each power should be a more general concept.

As it was, she was concerned that 'Fire Manipulation' should eventually be refined into pure 'Manipulation'. It made sense, and was the most restricted of his Worm Powers... but she felt that it could collapse his Worm soul if a second stable option wasn't there to support it. Mostly because 'Manipulation' would meld so well 'Technomancy' and 'Research', that they all may collapse into a mess that would require Squishy to hide in a second soul to prevent problems.

And that would be... bad.

So, very carefully, he continued doing something very stupid as quietly as possible while the internal people were distracted by the current 'Make Technology out of Magic' project.

Transfer: Summon: Flame of the Abyss.

A fraction of a fraction of nothing burned the tree-shaped soul that Squishy was carefully working within. Fractions of power were burned away, while 'Recovery' tried variations of that small section of soul to find some pattern that could resist the corrosion.

His teeth clenched. At least this was only a bit painful. Like gripping a burning log. Not the 'lava is my blood' feeling from last time.

He wasn't sure when Narwhal had first noticed him doing this last night, but her hugging Squishy while they worked helped both stay calm. Well, after she stopped yelling about how he shouldn't burn his eternal soul. Which honestly was a good point, but he wasn't going to just jump in the multi-dimensional lava without slowly lowering himself in like an old man into the bath.

Learned that lesson.

Thankfully the tricks and methods discovered from the first jump made this far less painful and dangerous, and the results were much better than before. Just... constant fire damage. Directly on his soul.

He smiled at the girls who seemed comfortable enough with the 'Celestial Garden' spell to actually consider planting it in Mai like originally scheduled. In another hour or two. Probably.

Seriously, HE was willing to be this close to the stupid test area. They should really suck up that fear and get over the dozen or so explosive failures so far. THEY were just illusions, HE was the one who kept exploding into parts.