Golden Grace, Headless Headaches

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Stopping a mountain from becoming a molehill
Chapter 2 - Tectonic plates are not good for eating off of
Chapter 3 - A pesky persistent purple princess
Chapter 4 - Dust in the wind, Tokens in the Void
Chapter 5 - Ponies, meet human. Human, mee- GET BACK HERE!
Chapter 6 - Burn - I mean, building bridges
Chapter 7 - "Great, now there's two of them." - Celestia
Side Chapter 1 - I think the universe just shivered
Chapter 8 - Crystaline capers composed of confrontation
Chapter 9 - Libera Mentem Tuam
Chapter 10 - The storm before the hurricane
Chapter 11 - The Defense of Newvale
Chapter 12 - Home is where you make it
Chapter 13 - The first step is admitting you're wrong
Chapter 14 - Summons and why not to mess with them
Chapter 15 - Bunker Busting
Chapter 16 - Canterlot Clash
Chapter 17 - Necesse est omnia finiantur.
Chapter 18 - An ending, a beginning.

Chapter 1 - Stopping a mountain from becoming a molehill

(3rd POV - Princess Celestia)

It had been a week and a half since Dullahan had saved the world from the threat the Wise One represented. It was a quick battle, but one that killed both participants.

After Dullahan tore the Wise One apart on the subatomic level, the powers of the Golden Sun and the energies that bound him together conflicted so badly that the armor fell off of him before he winked out like a candle in the wind. Discord had returned the armor to the village he'd put together, and then said something about having something important to do. Something about policing the boundaries.

Celestia didn't have time to think on that, because another matter occupied her mind these days.

Her view of the horizon was shifting, a little every day.

After going over everything with a fine-tooth comb (one had mysteriously appeared once she thought about it with a small fanfare of trumpets) she determined that Canterlot was perfectly fine.

The mountain, however, was sinking into the earth. Slowly. About an inch every day.

Nonetheless, today was to be the day. Today she would send the spellbook to her student, and her true potential would be revealed to all.

Afterwards, perhaps a council could be convened to stop this issue of a mountain somehow vanishing.

She had just sent off the book when one of her guards came into the room, panting for air.

"Rise, my guard, and tell me what troubles you."

It took him a moment to catch his breath, but when he did, the news was stunning.

"Princess, an incredibly powerful bipedal creature has requested an audience with you."

Only one train of thought flicked through her head at that statement.

It couldn't be! While Discord did point out that there was no residue from his vanishing atop the mountain, he couldn't have survived! Dullahan is gone, we saw it happen!

(Auric POV - 4 days ago - Everfree Ruins)

Okay, it was official: I hated this basement.

I mean, I can see why I returned here! This being the spot where I had been imprisoned for so long, my soul was drawn here naturally when it was unbound from the armor.

It was hella cold, though. The power I'd gotten from Golden Sun had sought to create a form I was familiar with, I.E., my old body, but it took the power a while to do so. Probably because Equestria had very few frames of reference for building a human body. And once it had been built, my soul inhabited the new, empty vessel, and the powers I had bonded with it as well, altering it ever so slightly.

For starters, my green eyes were now golden, and my hair, once black, was streaked with gold as well. Thankfully, I retained my six-foot height, and all my muscles and such appeared to be in working order, which was fascinating for a new body that hadn't actually used them before.

What it didn't do was give said form clothes. And if there's one thing I learned about my favorite basement, it was that it was cold.

Needless to say, I got out of there faster than I thought possible.

Looking around the ruins and the forest showed me just how much plant life there was around, and I sighed wistfully. If only I had a modicum of know-how, I'd fashion these plants into something useful. Like pants.

There was a flash of golden light from my hands that shot at some nearby vines and leaves. Images that I'd pictured before of somehow weaving some pants together suddenly came to life as an aura of gold wrapped around the plant life and starting molding and shaping it. Before too long, I was staring at a pair of green pants hovering in front of me.

I reached out to take it, holding my breath as my hand impacted the golden aura. After a moment, it flickered and vanished, and I was left holding the jungle pants. I put them on and held my hands up to my face.

Still getting used to having a living body again, by the way. It feels so awesome when you've lacked one for as long as I have.

I focused on the sensation I'd felt when the aura had shone, and my hands lit up with golden flames. I smiled my biggest smile. My strength in Psynergy that I had attributed to the blade was still gone, probably tied to it, but this...

This was the power the Golden Sun granted me. This was the ability to change and shape matter, mold energy to my desires.

While I Understood how it worked, others had a simple name for it.

Alchemy.

It had taken me two days of stalking through the forest and reshaping plants to form clothing, but I reached Ponyville's train station just as the last train to Canterlot was leaving.

Naturally I didn't think to buy a ticket. No money, after all. I'd have to work on that.

No, instead I just hopped on top of the cars as they were pulling out and rode on top, clinging to it for dear life. It was an interesting experience. One that I hoped never to repeat again.

We arrived at Canterlot on the dawn of the third day, and I snuck off the cars and used an optical illusion to make everyone not notice me.

It wasn't perfect, if I bumped into someone, they'd see through my light-bending trick easily. I took it slow and managed through the city in another day. I really didn't want to be spotted, but I just had to check out a newstand as well.

Apparently, Celestia had agreed to do some sort of interview later this week about the mysterious happenings that had been going on lately. Previously she had been quoted as saying 'no comment,' but now she apparently had her thoughts in order.

Oh, disrupting that meeting would be wonderful!

I discarded the idea almost instantly. Joining it would be even better.

I vaguely noted that the date the newspaper told me was ten days after my little duel had happened. Counting the three days from travel time, it would appear rebuilding myself had taken seven days.

By the time I had snuck over to the palace, the gates were closed. Clearly they were done taking visitors for the day, so I'd just have to wait till tomorrow.

Once the fourth morning since my rebirth dawned, I walked up to the gates, bold as brass. The pegasus guards didn't even look at me, but they clearly heard me, and moved their wings to halt my advance, as well as lowering their spears.

"Halt! Identify yourself and your purpose here."

My mind whirled at the chance.

I don't believe I ever told the Princesses my actual name. I could take another one on. One more fitting. True, I was Dullahan for so long, I've gotten used to answering that name, but he and I aren't bound anymore. Let's see. Golden Sun...Gold...AU...Aura...Auric. I like it. Auric. Auric what? Hmm...Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I can move the earth...Fulcrum. Auric Fulcrum. But let's mess with them for a bit.

"Those are rather broad claims. Do you mean identify my species, my name, my standing? You could at least open your eyes so that I don't have to do all the work here."

At this, their eyes did snap open, and a retort died on their lips. Whether it was because of my attire, which still looked like a suit of Everfree Camouflage, or because I was in fact currently human, I didn't care. I just smiled a wicked smile and leaned in towards them, lighting up my right hand as I did so.

"That's better. I'm Auric Fulcrum, and I would like to meet with the Princess, if you would be so kind."

The two of them looked to each other, one of them gulped and nodded, and led me to a sitting room.

It was only five minutes later that Celestia burst in, saying "Dulla-"

Then she took notice of me and gaped. I stood up and walked slowly towards the center of the room, looking her in the eye as I did so.

"Well Celly, it's been a week and change. Miss me?"

It had taken her two minutes to get her jaw unstuck and her mind working again. It was quite amusing, seeing her go through all the motions of confusion.

Have you ever seen an alicorn's eyes rotate in different directions due to sheer confusion? I have, it's pretty hilarious.

Eventually, Celly got her mind unstuck and looked at me more carefully. "Dullahan? Is this how you looked before?"

I pulled a lock of hair in front of my eyes and stared at it, then looked back at her. "Yes and no, Cel. And I'm sorry about the wait. Turns out, rebuilding a body you haven't had for fifteen hundred years takes a while, even for such powers as mine. But please, don't call me Dullahan anymore. I gave your guards the name Auric Fulcrum, I'll try to start answering to it now."

She nodded slowly. "Very well, Auric. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

I lit my hands up with that golden flame again and grinned. "Oh yeah, I've got lots to show and tell. But I think it's best you tell me first, your list is shorter, probably."

Celestia looked to the floor, sighed, and looked up. "Mount Canterlot is sinking into the earth."

I blinked three times in rapid succession. "Well. Apologies. How fast?"

She looked at me with a slight glare. "An inch or so a day. Why did you apologize?"

I reached behind my head and gave her a sheepish grin. "Eh, well, this sort of thing may have happened before when that other Sun was formed. I just didn't expect it to happen here. There, the entire mountain sank into the earth so fast, only a preemptive evacuation saved the people living on it."

Celestia blinked a few times, and I continued. "Still, it's a slow progression. Dissy and I might be able to do something about it."

She shook her head as I mentioned Discord's name. "He vanished a while back, saying something about patrolling the borders."

I nodded at that. "Makes sense. I'd still like to talk to him, maybe together we can hash something out."

I turned to a nearby window, my gaze not focusing on anything. "Say, what happened to my armor?"

"Discord returned it to your village, along with your sword."

I turned to nod at her when I felt it. A small, imperceptible shift, one that was tiny, miniscule.

But I wasn't the Elemental Wraith for fifteen hundred years without learning something about how the world works, or rather, should work.

I made for the door, paused, and looked at Celestia while giving her my biggest grin.

"Be right back. I'm going for a walk."

Author's Note

Ho boy! We're doin' this again!

Chapter 2 - Tectonic plates are not good for eating off of

I suppose one thing that came of having cool Alchemy powers is that I finally figured out how Alex did his bullshit warping trick and how it works, along with my version of it. Did I not mention I had one? My bad.

It works based on line-of-sight. If he could see it and had the strength, he could go there. If he couldn't see it, then going there was incredibly risky. As in, he could fuse himself into a solid object. Forget walls, he might fuse his feet to the floor if he misjudged where he was going.

I wouldn't have any of that with my version, though. As the thoughts of how to replicate his trick flitted across my mind, the first thing I did was add in several buffers to make sure that wherever I went, I would not be leaving bits of me behind or fused into things.

All this in the time it took for a guard to find me and demand I halt as I exited the sitting room. So not long at all really.

Poor guy must've been really confused when I just dissolved into a cloud of golden fire and vanished. He looked around a bit and saw me looking out a window towards the base of the mountain. Before he could tell me to halt again, I was gone again.

And once I got to the base of the mountain, I doubled over as though I'd taken a punch to the gut. There was something dreadfully wrong here.

From what I could tell, Mt. Aleph had been designed to not only hold the Stars and trick and trap those who sought their power, but as a final 'screw you,' the Ancients built a final failsafe in. Once the Golden Sun shone on it, the mountain was meant to sink into the earth, bringing anyone who'd heard about the power the Sun was supposed to grant into the earth with it. The trigger was, of course, the Sun shining on the mountain and activating some sort of device, as a first showing of Alchemy's power.

Mt. Canterlot had no such device, but the power the Sun had unleashed upon it was no less devastating. I could feel, deep down in the earth, the tectonic plates of the land. And there was not supposed to be a goddamned ring around the mountain!

However, even with the power of Alchemy, one just doesn't 'fix' something like this. We're talking massive amounts of earth no longer having a connection with the rest. The fact that it hadn't sunk yet was a miracle in and of itself. Nearest I could figure, the very magic of the land was doing its best to keep the mountain where it should be, along with trying to keep all the magma deep in the planet where it was meant to be.

Trying, and slowly failing and buckling under the strain.

Just as I sat near the crack and tried to figure out just what to do, there was a sound of fanfare from behind me, and a familiar aura popped into existence behind me. "Well, you're an odd one. No, don't tell me your name. I'm gonna go with...Paul."

I turned to see Discord, my old friend, sitting on a two-legged stool in midair with a dunce's cap (That had the words Thinking Cap written on it in sharpie) on his head, with his lion's paw held up to his chin. I merely smiled and lit up my right hand. "Dissy ol' pal, I'm hurt you don't recognize me!"

Were I anyone else who didn't have wonderful durability, I'm pretty sure the hug he'd given me would have punctured my lungs with my own ribs. "DULLY! Oh I knew you weren't dead, I just KNEW IT! They said I was mad to hold out hope for you, but I knew you wouldn't leave us!"

I carefully pried Discord from my protesting ribs and gave him a Look. "Dissy, they called you mad anyways, and they weren't far off the mark! Now will you lemme go?"

"Can't. Too busy hugging."

I sighed and warped behind him, leaving him crushing himself in his own hug. "Y'done now? We've got a problem or two here!"

Discord sheepishly untangled himself and nodded. "I...I noticed, but I was doing important universe maintenance. Without me around, the boundaries got awfully thin. But now I've strengthened them a good bit! We're safe!"

I sighed. "Dissy, I have...well, let's call them allies, in alternate universes. I'd like to visit them, but not at the cost of this reality. We'll have to work out a sys-"

Discord cut me off with his paw and smiled. "Thought of that too. Your sanctum? It's the one hole I put in. And I watch it regularly, closing it up when something comes near, but opening it when nothing is. So what other problems we got, Frank?"

I sighed and pushed Discord off of me. "For starters, I'm NOT Frank. Not anymore."

Discord cocked his head to the side in confusion. "But you're the spirit that was bound within the armor, right? And you're free to be who you are again, yes? So if you're not Dullahan, then why aren't you Frank DeFontaine again?"

I held a lock of hair out in front of me and looked at him. "Frank DeFontaine was a boy without fantastic Alchemy powers granted to him by the Golden Sun. I'm the improved model. Call me Auric Fulcrum."

Discord's eyes widened and he snapped his talons, producing a golden miniature see-saw from nowhere that bobbed up and down. "Really, a golden pivot point? You sure you want to claim that title?"

I merely smiled at him. "Hey, half of Alchemy is molding matter and energy with a liberal application of willpower. The other half is using or making massive, complex devices to do things previously thought impossible. It works for me."

Discord nodded and made the see-saw vanish. "So, Auric. What else we got goin' on? I've been busy this past week and a half."

I motioned to the ground and then the mountain. "Well for starters, we've got a mountain and a city to save. Care to help me?"

It was quickly determined by the joint council of Discord and myself that we could, in theory, try to save the mountain one of two ways.

The first way would be to walk the perimeter of the disturbance and slowly, painfully, fuse the tectonic plates back together.

While it could work, I didn't want to test out the limits of my powers just yet. They may be massive, but I was uncertain as to the amount I could channel before I hit up against a wall. And doing so in the middle of saving the mountain that way was a quick way for all our work to be undone. So there was another option that I was far more comfortable with, and it would let me test out the other facet of my strength.

Discord and I would build a device. One that would stabilize the mountain.

The first thing that happened was Discord got samples of the stones on both sides of the tectonic rift. While I shaped and molded them into a representation of Canterlot and its surroundings, I was also calculating how much power we would need to activate and keep it running.

In theory, once I turned it on, so long as it was fed some manner of power, the device would be able to do its job while we attempted to make it unnecessary in our own time.

In the end, the inner sample of stone turned into a miniature representation of Canterlot, city and all, while the outer sample was formed into a ring around it. I molded a series of symbols into the 'inside' of the device, and fed it a small jolt of power.

The slight gap between the two stones lit up in gold and filled in, while I nodded to myself and powered it down. I showed the symbols to Discord and told him to try and write them into the walls of the rift and keep them proportionate. He merely snapped his talons and said 'That should be good enough.'

I decided to show the device to the Princesses, while Discord said he had things to do elsewhen.

I shrugged and vanished in a burst of golden flames.

"Tell us, Auric, how does the device work?"

I shrugged and continued to work on the block of marble that Luna had given to me. "Law of Contagion. Any piece broken off from the whole still has a connection to the whole because they were once one and the same. I'm merely telling both the mountain and the world at large to get their acts together. Think of it like a voodoo doll, only instead of someone being the recipient of your dislike, the mountain is the recipient of my power and efforts to keep it stable."

I finished shaping the channels for the power and nodded to myself as I looked them over. As it turned out, I couldn't just let the model sit on the ground, or on anything, because that would disrupt the sympathetic runes carved into it. So I went for the next best thing.

I'd carved a chunk of marble so that the energy infused into it would be able to keep something of a few pounds worth of weight aloft indefinitely. I would have used Float, but I'd infused that one before I'd been hit, and I was pretty sure I didn't have access to it anymore. This simulation of it would be the best I could do for a while.

I motioned for Luna to hand me the model, and she floated it over as I reset it ever so slightly, to reflect reality. I then looked at the marble, then looked around at the stained glass windows. "Hmm. Maybe we should have done this somewhere else."

Luna shrugged with her wings at my statement. "Tis too late for now. Our priority must be Canterlot's safety first. We can worry about the floor plan later. Activate your device."

I nodded and poured power into the marble. It lit up with a green glow, and I held my left hand over it to test out just how much it made objects float. As my hand crossed the circle in the middle, I noticed a pressure pushing it upwards. I moved the inactive model out with my right hand and watched it hover exactly where I placed it, and my smile grew.

I activated the device, and there was a lurch that everyone, everyone felt. It was small, but then I looked out the window to see the flash of gold on the ground. I slowly, carefully reached out a finger and moved the outer ring downwards, so that the tops of both were level.

There was a rumble, and the golden flow from before showed itself as part of a huge ring that went around the entire mountain. And then there was the lurch.

The horizon shifted downwards, or more accurately, the mountain moved upwards.

After the world stopped shaking, I looked at the model, out the window, and back to the model. I blinked a few times in surprise that my idea had worked, and worked on such a grand scale as well. I slowly turned to Luna, who had a look of shock on her face. I waved a hand at my device and managed to croak out one smartass saying.

"Behold, the Terrene Stabilizer!"

And then everything went black.

When I came to, the first thing I noticed was that the ceiling was a lovely shade of white.

Then there was a voice, one that sounded vaguely familiar.

"Send word to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, he's waking up!"

Then my vision was invaded by a very familiar purple face with a horn.

"We have a few minutes before that messenger reaches the Princesses, Auric. Why don't we start with you telling me everything..."

As a quill and scroll hovered nearby, I realized that I had finally been caught by one knowledge-obsessed Twilight Sparkle in full Research Mode. This would probably sting...

Author's Note

So, first announcement. Officially looking for coverart, since it was barely a day since I put this story up, and it got featured.
Preferably of Auric.
Second announcement: My inbox is crazy. I've gotten 250 messages in one day. 140 favorites. What. The. Christ.

Chapter 3 - A pesky persistent purple princess

My first thought upon seeing Twilight's face so close to mine was 'Oh dear gods I do not recall what happened after I finished my project, please let it not have been drinking to the point where going to bed with a pony was an idea I had.'

The second thought was 'Wait, are those feathers? Since when does a unicorn have wings?'

My brain raced as my heart beat faster and faster, something which a nearby heart monitor picked up on. As Twilight turned to look at it, I caught a better glimpse and realized that she was now no longer a unicorn, but an alicorn.

Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, control freak, and librarian to Ponyville, was now an alicorn.

Twilight frowned and made a note on her nearby scroll. "Interesting, you've only been conscious for a few moments, and your heart rate is skyrocketing. Why would that b-"

By then, I had gotten the NOPE out of there. I was NOT hanging around an overpowered purple unicorn for any longer than I absolutely had to, which, if I had my way, was none at all.

I reappeared in a swirl of golden fire near the door I had barely gotten a glimpse of, clothing myself in my Everfree Camo with another burst of flames.

I ran through the door and began making a beeline away from where I had been, intent to get away from the purple death that had been hovering over me. Apparently I had been in the hospital wing of the palace. I determined this because I was rushing past mares and stallions in doctor and nurse get-up, and the fact that every so often I saw a royal guard.

Of course, the real big giveaway was the scream from behind me.

"AURIC, GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER, I KNOW THE PALACE LIKE THE BACK OF MY HOOF!"

Of course, my thought process could be summed up as a constant loop of the word Nope being repeated ad nasuem, but there was an underlying plan here.

1) Get to Celestia
2) Tell her what I'd managed to accomplish
3) Get her to call her student off
4) Think of a number 4

I focused my ability to sense powerful magical auras and thought of Princess Sun-butt. There was a distinct tugging sensation in my mind, and at the next intersection, I turned right.

Twilight probably caught on as to what my plan was, because the next thing I know, an order's being shouted. "ROYAL GUARD, DETAIN THE CREATURE KNOWN AS AURIC BEFORE IT GETS TO THE PRINCESS!"

Of course, at the next intersection, an entire platoon of guards were sitting in my way, so I had no choice but to act again.

I poofed right behind them and kept goddamn running! I knew that eventually they'd figure this little trick out, but until then, it would be useful for shortcuts! I had no idea how many they had, but so long as I had line-of-sight to where I wanted to be, then it wouldn't matter. I could keep running.

Eventually, I looked out a window to see Celestia's tower, and her balcony was wide open, showing me a bit of her room.

With royal guards bearing down on me, I made a snap decision and vanished, reappearing in her bedroom.

There was a cry from the study as I fell on Celestia's bed, and I looked up to see Celestia holding a hoof up to her mouth.

"Auric? What are you-?"

I went to the door and quickly locked and bolted it, turning to face her. "Long story short, Canterlot's safe for now thanks to Dissy and me building a device, we'll work on fixing the actual problem later, but for right now, your student's gone loco for some reason!"

Celestia moved the hoof to her chin and let out a hum. "Well, the last thing I recall was that I told her to stay with you, notify me of your awakening, and that she would be in charge of our efforts to learn about you..."

I slapped my forehead, finally glad I could facepalm again. "Cel, she's a control freak! She probably took your orders to mean 'when he wakes up, send for me, then learn everything about him instantly so you can write up a report'! I'm just lucky I woke up normally, not to a vivisection!"

Celestia blinked a few times, then sighed and facehooved. "My student, what have you done..."

There was a knocking noise from the door behind me, and I jumped away from it and landed on her bed again. Celestia began to walk towards it, but not before I gave her my best pleading face. Or maybe it was my 'oh god no' face. Hard to tell, there wasn't a mirror handy.

Of course, I realized in a moment that the guard would probably insist on searching her room anyways, so I needed another plan.

I came up with one, discarded it, failed to come up with another, grimaced, and surrounded myself with my power.

(3rd POV - Celestia)

Celestia carefully opened the door to see one of her guard standing on the other side.

"Princess, your student believes that the creature known as Auric may have been heading here. Have there been any disturbances?"

Celestia carefully shook her head. "No, no disturbances. Are you certain?"

The guard paused for a moment before replying. "While we did lose track of him somewhere along the way, he was headed in this direction before he suddenly vanished. Would you mind if I took a look around?"

Celestia carefully got out of the doorway while wishing fervently in her mind that Auric had come up with something that would hide him from the guard's sight.

"Well hell-o there. Celestia, you didn't say anything about adding a third."

Twisting around so fast that ordinary ponies would have gotten whiplash, Celestia looked at her bed where Auric was last and was flabbergasted.

Instead of a bipedal figure, there was instead a red unicorn stallion with an orange mane and golden eyes sprawled on her bed. His cutie mark was of a silver-colored cloud, and he was making what could be described as 'bedroom eyes' at the Princess before turning back to the guard.

"Not that I can blame you, honestly, you're too much mare for one stallion."

The guard sputtered a bit and pointed his spear at the strange stallion. "Identify yourself!"

The stallion put a hoof to his chest. "Oh Celly, you didn't tell them? I'm hurt, really I am." Lowering the hoof, he continued. "My name is Silver Lining, I find the best in every situation and work to draw it out. For example, though Cel obviously didn't tell you about me, that doesn't mean we can't be friends. Especially if you intend to stick around for round two..."

The guard opened and closed his mouth a few times before backing up and out of the room. Celestia closed the door and locked it, and the stallion was consumed in a burst of golden flames before resolving into the familiar form of Auric.

Blinking a few times and getting her mind set straight, Celestia began to laugh. It started low, but eventually she was outright pounding one hoof on the ground while trying to keep her balance. "You...you did that...just to throw him off?"

Auric grimaced. "Don't remind me. I had next to no time to come up with something, and I went with the option that would cause him to want to leave."

Celestia slowly composed herself before walking over with half-lidded eyes, intending to turn the prank back on the pranker. "Well, we wouldn't want him spreading untrue rumors, now would we?"

It took Auric a few seconds to compose himself, but when he did, he glared at Celestia. "I would rather suffer your student a thousand times than make my fiction a reality."

Celestia put on her biggest grin and got into a 'ready-to-pounce' position. "Well, you gave up the choice when you came in here. Now hold still, this will only hurt if you resist!"

Just as she pounced, Auric vanished in a swirl of golden fire. Celestia got up and laughed a bit to herself. "Oh goodness, I do hope he sticks around. He has a way of livening up my days."

(Auric POV)

What the hell, Cel!

Just what the hell!

I swear to all that I hold dear that had better have not been your actual intentions! Otherwise I fear for my sanity. And groin.

I mean, if you were just turning the prank back on me, no harm done. Except for my mind.

But if you actually wanted to do...that...with me, then no dice.

Okay, where the hell am I? I just warped without setting a destination, which was probably not the brightest move. All I know is, I wanted OUT of that room, that castle, the entire bloody city!

Huh. Okay, dark, rows of pillars, an engra-

No. No bloody way. My sanctum? I'm here again?

Well hello there, boy. Fancy meeting you here.

That voice. That can't be the voice I think it is. It's coming from behind me, so if I turn...

...

That armor. That cape. That shield. That sword. Those flames.

"Dullahan?"

Before it could respond to me, there was a commotion from behind me. One of familiar voices. "Ah'm tellin' ya, Shiver, there was some sort of surge of power, an' it came from here!"

The sound of hooves and talons on stone reached me, and I turned around to see Silver Cross and ShiverSpine coming into the sanctum. The two of them froze, and I, very carefully, raised my right hand and began waving it at them. "Hi there, I can see I have some explaining to do..."

(POV: ??? - Location: ???)

The changeling let out a gasp as it hit the previously clean concrete floor, now stained with its green blood that oozed from many wounds on its carapace. Looking around only showed it that the room it was being held in didn't seem to differ too much from what the Canterlot Dungeons supposedly looked like, save for the drain set into the floor and the slight tilt to make sure fluids were funneled into the drain.

Taking all this in only reinforced what the drone knew: this was a room that things were put in to die, and he was about to join whatever passed on before him.

A voice cut in from above, the only true exit to this room. "Attempt number five at extraction was unsuccessful. At the current one hundred percent failure rate, I am beginning to doubt the rumors that any changelings possess these powers at all."

The voice was cold and uncaring, and the changeling shuddered at the memory of the pony it conjured in its mind. "I...told you...I didn't...have any..."

There was no response from the voice for a moment. Then, in the same tone, it continued. "Fascinating. The subject is still alive after the latest procedure. This one is far more resilient, but no matter. That just means it will die later rather than sooner."

The changeling coughed and hacked up a wad of phelm mixed in with blood. "Please...no...end it now..."

"And why should I? Had you anything worth trading for, I might consider it."

"I know...which hive...has this...psynergy...you seek..."

Silence reigned for a few seconds before the voice cut in again. "If you give this information to me, I shall end your suffering."

"Wardens of...Mercury's light...they are the...only ones..."

"TELL ME!" The voice had lost its previously cold edge and instead gained an intense aura of malice that made itself known behind those two words.

"Badlands...Chrysalis..."

After uttering those two words, the changeling slumped to the ground, nearly utterly spent, but still in pain. Silence reigned for a moment yet, before the cold voice returned.

"I thank you for the information, subject five. Administering gas. Goodbye."

An odor filled the room, and the changeling knew no more.

Author's Note

A wild antagonist appears!
Action?
Fight Flee
Djinn Item
Also, the fav count is crazy high. 405. Over 200 messages in my inbox today.
What. The. Hell.

Chapter 4 - Dust in the wind, Tokens in the Void

"-And that's why I'm here now."

The armor, unicorn, and dragon looked at me with slightly stunned expressions on their faces. Well, those of them that had faces, anyways. I'm not sure which part of my story they didn't quite believe: that I was an interdimensional alien, that not long ago Dullahan and I were one and the same, that I survived the Golden Sun and what it did to me, or the part where I was in Celly's bedchambers.

I'd put money on the last one, though.

"So lemme get this straight. Ye pretended to be Celestia's lover to get out of any more questioning by the guard?"

Called it! "Yes, and in future retellings, I'll just say I was invisible if you're all going to act like that."

The two in front of me snickered a bit at the thought of me in Cel's bedchambers. I'd wisely kept the other part, the part where she turned the prank back on me, a secret, and turned to Dullahan.

Well, boy, I am glad to see you again. I was afraid I was the only one to come out of that blast, but apparently the powers of the Sun are greater than we knew.

I nodded at him. "And how. But first, I think there's a matter we should attend to. Discord said the sanctum is the only hole in his network, as a favor to me, so with your help, I'd like to update my callsign."

Dullahan slowly got up and clomped towards me. I am uncertain if I know how to do what you are talking about.

I held up my left hand and lit it up with my power, golden flames dancing up and down it. "Simple enough. Just focus on the essence of who and what you are, and bring it to your left hand. We're both extradimensional entities here in the place where the veil is thinnest. We should be able to do something with that, especially with my Understanding of how things work."

The armor finally reached me, and we clasped our left hands together. I nodded to him to tell him to begin, and as he started to 'speak', a dark hole opened above us.

I am Dullahan, the darkness, the shadow, the elemental wraith. They that would stand against the darkness that lurks in the hearts of us all, I call my allies!

I nodded and began my Call. "I am Auric Fulcrum, the light, the candle, the wielder of Alchemy! Reborn by the Golden Sun, I punish the wicked, no matter their form! You who would bring back balance and peace, I call friends to my cause!"

I searched for enough gold to make a bit piece, and it appeared in my right hand. I altered it ever so slightly, though. On one side was the atomic symbol for gold above a see-saw that was perfectly balanced. On the other was a picture of a solar eclipse. I looked to Dullahan's right hand and saw he had formed yet another book. I nodded at him, and he took his cue.

They that would call on us need only hold our tokens and invoke our names, and we shall answer your call if you are worthy!

And with that, he and I threw our tokens into the hole above us, and I could...sorta feel their presence leave this reality entire, before fracturing into a thousand thousand copies, which spread across the Multiverse, seeking worthy holders.

It wasn't long before I heard a voice whisper to me on the etheral winds.

I am Typhon, Heir of Breath; the presence, the absence, and everything in between. All who value and respect freedom are my friends, and all who would protect it may call me 'ally'. I shall fill the sails of those who call upon me.

I decided to take a gambit and try and nudge one of my coins towards that particular voice. It wasn't long before I felt a tugging sensation, and I followed it, trying not to direct it anymore, but anxious to see where it would lead.

After all, my high school counselor had told me 1,500 years ago that more human interaction would be good for me. It'd be a shame if I let her advice go to waste after all this time, right?

I pulled at my power and followed the sensation, across space and time...

(3rd POV - Celestia)

Celestia had been having a boring day, which briefly became an interesting day, which was now devolving into a day where she'd need medication for a headache.

Then again, she supposed she should be grateful that her student was currently only slightly obsessed with tracking Auric down. It wasn't at Smarty Pants level of obsession yet.

Barely.

"I just don't understand! That much teleportation should be out of the leagues for any but those with a cutie mark in teleporting or magic in general, yet he managed to blink at least three times in rapid succession and showed no signs of fatigue! It doesn't make sense!"

Celestia carefully drew closer to her student and draped a wing over Twilight's back. "Twilight."

At this, she looked up at Celestia with a slightly sheepish expression on her face. "Um, yes Princess?"

"While I did say you would be in charge of studying him, I did not expect you to learn everything about him instantly. I am certain there will be parts to him that we will never understand, even if you studied him for a hundred years...Assuming he lives that long. You should take it as an extension to your studies in friendsh-"

The solar diarch paused as she felt something leave not only the country, but wink out of reality itself. "My student, did you feel that?"

Twilight nodded and scrunched her face up in concentration. "It felt like...somepony taking a candle out of a room. It's like you knew there was a light there, and now it's gone."

Celestia nodded. "That was Auric's unique magical signature. It seems to have left all reality, but not violently. Otherwise, it wouldn't have felt like the light merely left, but rather, was being slowly extinguished. Most likely, he slipped through a crack in reality. Did you manage to tell where it happened?"

Twilight slowly rotated to face Newvale and tried to remember if she had ever been to where the vanishing act happened. "Yes, me and the girls were there once. I think...yes! There's a village there! Dullahan may have turned us away last time, but this time..."

Before Celestia could stop her student, she was gone, rapidly chain-teleporting to the village. Celestia vaguely recalled something Dullahan had said about it when he was atop the mountain the first time. Something about how there was no love for the crowns in Newvale.

A crown which Twilight had just earned.

"Oh dear," Celestia whispered to herself as she put a hoof to her mouth.

(3rd POV - Dullahan)

"An' these are all the collected grievances that the villagers have against Sunbutt or her subjects."

The mighty armor picked up the scroll and 'looked' down it, whistling softly as he did so. Well, that's...quite the list. Good thing we got some of the more grievous ones out of the way on our path to lighting the Lights. Not sure about this personal vendetta one, but we definitely need to get the slavery ring sorted out. Contact Inferno Blaze, get the informa-

There was a sensation of tension in the air, and suddenly, the room was home to another occupant.

Another alicorn occupant.

Fortunately for the occupant, it was neither alabaster or blue, but lavender.

The trio still collected in the room (ShiverSpine, Silver Cross, and Dullahan) all turned to look at the suddenly appearing alicorn (SAA) as she turned and gave them a sheepish grin.

"Heh heh...any of you know where Auric went? Or where...I am?"

Silver slowly reached for some of his blades, while Shiver started to charge up his psynergy. Dullahan merely held up a hand and said Stop.

The other two looked at the headless armor with some degree of shock as it moved towards the lavender alicorn. Hmm. Accessing memories...Ah yes. Twilight Sparkle, right? Last I recall, you were a unicorn. How did you earn those wings?

Twilight moved to answer before Dullahan cut her off. Not important. How did you track Auric to here, and why did you track Auric?

Twilight closed her mouth, let out a huff, and glared at the armor before responding. "Auric has this unique magical signature that anypony with a horn could sense. It suddenly vanishing is cause for concern, because if he's gone suddenly and not violently, then that means there might be a hole in reality that he stumbled through. I tracked him so that I could find the hole, fish him out, and plug it."

The armor let out a chuckle then. You really don't understand the boy at all. He has allies in other dimensions, ones that he missed while he was away and thinking he would have to ask for all reality to be sealed from all others in order to keep Equestria safe. He and I updated our Call throughout dimensions, and this sanctum is the only hole in Discord's network, so that we may come and go as we please or are needed. Would you take him from those he considers allies and friends?

Twilight blinked and worked her jaw a few times before a smug look crossed her face. "If he needs to cross realities, then yes. He should make friends in the reality he helped save, not go gallivanting off at the first sign of turbulence."

Silver Cross spoke up then. "An' who be the source ah the turbulence, lassy! From what he tells us, ye'd a cut 'im open to learn about his insides while he was still usin' 'em!"

As Twilight sputtered and started to protest, the trio laughed, and ShiverSpine interjected next. "You do realize that he probably would have answered your questions if you had thought to, oh, I don't know, ask them, right?"

Twilight's entire face turned red and the blush slowly creeped down her neck before the armor held up a hand to stop the other two. The lavender alicorn turned back to the animate armor as he began to speak again. Very well, when he returns, I shall inform him you wish to speak with him. I would advise that you be ready for him come nightfall, because knowing him, he will sneak into your town after dusk has fallen, to minimize the chances of him getting caught...assuming he comes at all.

The alicorn sighed and hung her head. "If it helps any...tell him I'm sorry, and I'll try to be better about my questioning if he chooses to come talk to me."

And with that, her horn lit up one last time, and she was gone.

Author's Note

Okay so THIS chapter was slightly delayed by Spring Break no longer being a Thing that was Happening. I probably won't be able to update daily anymore.
And the NEXT chapter will be delayed because a certain Heir of Breath and I are hammering out a crossover. Wanna get the fine details of that out of the way with him before I post again. We kinda need Auric here to do a chapter.
So yeah, just outta the gate and I'm already holdin' you guys back.
Apologies, but when I saw his story, I just knew, right away. That this was the sort of Thing I wanted In On.
So we'll work on a chapter that's sufficiently awesome for you guys and get back to you on that.
EDIT: 594 favorites already. 392 likes.

Chapter 5 - Ponies, meet human. Human, mee- GET BACK HERE!

It wasn't long after the lavender alicorn left that there was a rush of golden fire in the air, and Auric reappeared. His body was no different, but his clothing was another story.

The gathered trio noticed that it was far more colorful, this new outfit of his. The right side of his new pants were colored orange, while the left side were colored yellow, and the sneakers he'd suddenly acquired matched them. The unusual shirt he'd picked up had the colors swap sides, so as to create a checkerboard effect. In the middle of the shirt was the symbol of an eclipse, and the hood currently drawn over his head was orange, so as to contrast the yellow cape that lay on his back, which also had an eclipse on it.

In short, it was a mismatch of orange and yellow with an eclipse emblazoned on it both front and back, but Auric wore it proudly nonetheless.

Back so soon, boy? Where did you go that such a fashion was the norm?

Auric tugged at the shirt with a slight grin on his face. "Did you not hear the voice as well? Typhon called on me, and quite frankly, I don't regret it in the least." His smile faded a bit, "It was...tense, for a few moments..." And then it was back again in full force, "But I got to learn so much. About him, about my strengths, abo-"

Auric's eyes widened as he gasped. "Oh, that's right! Dully, meant to ask. Can I have the sword, please?"

Silence hung in the air for a good ten seconds, as everyone processed what Auric had just asked. Finally, the armor made to respond.

And why do you need it?

"My skills are more freeform, unfocused without it. I need a focus, and that's the only one left, seeing as how the stars were consumed to light the Lights. Besides which, can you honestly tell me you want to wield that much Understanding?"

The armor drew the blade and paused for a moment. Can you craft a replacement?

Auric grinned at that. "Not I, but my friend? Most likely. Do let me know if he shows up."

The armor let out a sigh as it carefully unbuckled the scabbard from its hip, sheathed the blade, and presented it to the boy. Honestly, you're right. I don't want all this power. I would be happy with a simple steel blade. However, if your friend can make a straight up replacement, I'll take it. In the meantime, guard it well, boy. Understanding is not to be undertaken lightly.

Auric carefully nodded as he buckled the sword to his hip. "Hmm. Understanding would cause some confusion. And Madness might be insulting to a certain Lady thereof, or one of the others in that triad."

Just as the others were about to ask what Auric was going on about, he snapped his fingers. "Aha! Eureka, that's what I'll call it!"

Call what?

"The blade, I'll call it Eureka. Greek for 'I've found it', also known as the moment when you realize the answer to your problem. That fits the blade perfectly."

Surprisingly, the armor nodded. You are right, it does. I do hope you figure out how to deactivate its unique function, though. Wouldn't want anyone else to experience moments quite like yours by accident.

Auric waved a hand dismissively.. "Easy enough. Was there anything else?"

A certain lavender alicorn tracked you here and wanted to apologize for her enthusiasm. She'll be waiting in Ponyville library...if you decide to go.

Auric sighed and looked at one wall as though he could see through it to the village in question. "Yeah...The longer I put it off, the worse it'll turn out to be."

And with that, the boy was gone again, in another burst of golden fire. The trio looked at one another before Silver coughed.

"Ye think we should have told him?"

Shiver shook his head. "We'll do fine without. Heck, the princesses might ask him to parley with us when we show up on their doorstep."

Dullahan nodded at them. Gather a Venus and Mercury adept before you go, though. It would serve to have one of all four elements, for every situation.

The dragon looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think there's a pegasus named Snow Fluff, he's a pretty good Mercury adept, head of the weather team in these parts. The town might be able to deal without him for a few days. And Silver can probably convince Aboyami to come with."

As the stallion shouted in indignation at the dragon's insinuations, the armor only chuckled.

(Ponyville library - Still 3rd POV)

The lights were out in the library. This was not unusual, seeing as how night was starting to fall. Either the lights hadn't been turned on yet, or the proprietor had decided to close up for the day.

What was unusual was the hushed whispering from so many ponies lying in wait for the guest of honor. Two in particular stood out.

"Pinkie, all I did was tell you about the offer I made! Why does that mean you have to throw a party?"

"My Pinkie Sense told me that someone new would stop by in town, but I just didn't know when! So when you told me about what you did, I realized it lined up perfectly, because this Aury's not a pony, and my Pinkie Sense for somepony new coming to visit hasn't gone off either!"

"...For you, that makes a surprising amount of sense. By why the library?"

"This is where you told him to meet you, silly! So this is where the party has to be!"

Any further discussion was cut off by a flash of golden light shining through the front windows. "Shh! That's what his teleporting looks like! He's here!"

Indeed, there was a knocking noise at the front door not a moment later. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed before speaking in a slightly angry tone. "Oh for goodness sakes, this is a public library! No need to knock!"

Another moment passed before the front door creaked open, and the voice of Auric filled the air. "Well, yes, but seeing as it's also a residence, and a currently dark one at that, the polite thing to do is-"

"SURPRISE!"

The lights came on to reveal that somehow, Pinkie had wrangled quite a few ponies besides the Bearers into coming to greet Auric on his first official visit to Ponyville. Noted amongst the crowd were Lyra Heartstrings, Time Turner, Ditzy 'Derpy' Doo, Colgate, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Berry Punch, and Bon Bon.

However, besides the aforementioned guests and Bearers, one thing quickly stood out.

Auric had disappeared.

"Wow, he's fast! I didn't even see him move! Where'd he go, Twi?"

Twilight quickly cast her gaze around, looking for the errant human. There hadn't been a flash of gold, so she doubted he'd cast any spells. Just as she gave the room and immediate area outside the door another glance, she heard a scratching noise from above her. Realizing what may have happened, she slowly craned her head back and looked directly up.

Clinging to the ceiling was the form of Auric, his eyes darting between all the ponies that were there. And when he spoke, Twilight instantly realized what had gone wrong, as his voice held an edge of panic to it. "You're here to pay me back for all the things I did, aren't you? That's what this is, a highly compact mob ready to overpower me, isn't it?"

Twilight opened her mouth to offer a rebuttal, but Auric's paranoia would not be denied. "I've not survived my duels with the Sisters for no reason! You'll never take me alive, and it'd be darn hard to kill me now!"

And before anyone could reassure the human he was so in the wrong, he vanished in a burst of flame, while another one appeared at the front door, revealing Auric again as he began to run away from the library.

Twilight sighed. Auric was proving to be more trouble than she'd planned for, but still within containable parameters. "Dash, Pinkie."

The two stepped forward and gave a mock salute, to which Twilight responded by rolling her eyes. "Find him and stop him from going too far, I'll catch up, and we can all explain. In the meantime, if you all would please not make a mess until we retrieve the guest of honor?"

The murmured reassurances and nodding heads set the librarian at ease as she and her friends went out to find and hopefully retrieve the wayward biped.

(Auric POV)

Too many ponies, too small a room, too much, too much, too much!

Need a place, need a safe place, need somewhere I can catch my breath, need-

Is that a lake? That'll do. It's pretty calm and still, it'll make for a nice thing to focus on.

Okay Auric, breathe. In, out. In, out. Control yourself. Calm down.

Good gods, when was the last time this happened? I haven't had a panic attack like that in...

...Well, ever, here. Guess it has something to do with not being technically alive for all that time. And now that I am, being around unfamiliar ponies in tight spaces without my meds...

Yeah, that was bound to happen. Maybe they have a pharmacy I can visit to get something to help me control myself. Can't be running off every time I feel unfamiliar eyes on me. Wouldn't get anywhere.

"Pinkie! He's by the lake!"

"Okie dokie! Hey Aury!"

Are those- yep. Rainbow and Pinkie. Gotta say, Twi does pick the right ponies for the job. Rainbow's supposedly the fastest pony around, and Pinkie...let's not get into Pinkie. I'll have to run some tests around Pinkie to see if there's any explanation for what she does.

The two came to a stop in front of me, and I let out a sigh. "So. You're here to ask me what that was all about, I guess."

They nodded and made to ask me a question, but I held up my hand to forestall it. "Allow me to tell you. I have a...condition. If I'm in a small space with too many people I don't know, I tend to have a panic attack. I used to have medication to help me control myself before it got out of hand, but I haven't had any for some time. Frankly, this was bound to happen sooner or later."

Twilight made her presence known off to the side by clearing her throat. "Interesting. So what would you say is the threshold for these attacks?"

I looked up to the sky and hummed for a moment. "Five unfamiliar faces are enough to cause me to feel uneasy. The smaller the room, the faster it happens. I sorta know of you and your friends the Bearers, but not well enough to call any of you my friends. So really, my mind went out of control with the first panic attack I've had for some time."

Twilight nodded, and then a look of confusion crossed her face. "For some time? And all those things you said...Auric. Will you tell us about yourself?"

I pursed my lips, thinking. "Ummm. At the party, for sure. Once I get my breathing under control, I'll be good for a little while. So long as the ponies there make an effort to introduce themselves, then I should be able to cope. They won't be unfamiliar anymore."

And so, the four of us made our way back.

The party was fairly tame and a bit childish, and I only had to breathe deeply three times. First was when I walked in the door and all the ponies stared at me. Hello, blurred vision, it's so nice to meet you.

The second time was when I started having flashbacks to my last night on Earth. About the party and suddenly vanishing, only to reappear in the Everfree Forest, when this whole mess started. Probably didn't help that Eureka was hanging off my hip.

And the third was when Twilight suggested a Q & A session, so that we could each learn about the other. Namely, I would point at a pony, they'd introduce themselves, which would essentially be my question anyways, and then they'd get to ask a question about me.

I really had to breathe deep when I realized I was trying to acclimate myself with an entirely alien culture. And not just punish the ponies in it, but rather, live with them.

Eventually I calmed myself and nodded at Twilight, signaling I was ready to begin this minor interrogation. A plum-coated earth pony stepped forward then. "Berry Punch, I run a winery in town. My question is, what are you? I don't think many of us have seen something like you before."

A few murmured assent at the question, and I ran a hand through my hair. "General name, Human. Scientific name, Homo Sapiens. Bipedal, mammalian, and for the purposes of this question, I break the norms. Normally, humans have no access to magic at all."

Here I lit up my right hand with a bit of power, catching their eyes, but most notably those of a brown earth stallion in the back. "I'm not normal, though. My story is a bit more complex, and it's not what you asked about at all, so I'll skip it for now. Humans have no flight, no magic, just our bodies and brains. And yet, in my home dimension, we became the dominant species."

A few ponies whispered at that, and I pointed at the next one, a light blue coated unicorn with a dark-blue and white mane and tail. "Minuette, but everypony calls me Colgate, I'm the dentist. I notice you have a rather odd dental structure. Can you tell us what humans eat?"

I sighed and let my hand drop. "Okay. Minuette, c'mere and take a look in my mouth. They'll believe you first, then I can step in."

The pony let out a nervous gulp before inching forwards. Once she was close enough, I crouched down, she reared up, and I opened my mouth.

About ten seconds passed while she just looked in my mouth, not saying a word. Finally, she let herself drop to the floor, and looked at me with only the vaguest hints of fear in her eyes. "So. Both?"

I nodded and turned back to the crowd. "Humans can digest most of the same plant matter you can, save for grasses and flowers. However, they do require a source of...protein to stay healthy. And a while back, the easiest, best way to go about it was to gather it from...readily available sources. Such as animals."

There was silence for a moment as the ponies realized they were standing in the same room as an omnivore, and I held up a hand to try and forestall the panic. "Now, granted, just because I need to consume protein, doesn't mean I will attempt to do so to any of you. Humans do have this sort of rule where we don't eat anything that can talk back to us. Though, it is quite lonely back in my home dimension, seeing as how they're the only sapients there. Regardless. You all can talk, and as such, I would never attempt to eat any of you."

There was a uniform sigh of relief at my statement, and I was relieved as well. That could have gone very badly. I pointed to the sea-green unicorn, and she stepped forward with a wide grin. "Lyra Heartstrings, I play the lyre, and I also study non-equine cultures. The prospect of learning about yours is absolutely fascinating. Would you let me?"

I chuckled a bit and pointed to Twilight, who appeared to be taking more notes than a court stenographer. "If you two can work something out, then yes. Don't want to exclude either one of you and have you feel slighted."

Lyra did what I can only call a hoof-pump in victory as she trotted over to Twilight's notes and began reading them. I pointed to a cream-colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane next, and she stepped up while rolling her eyes. "Sweetie Drops, but everypony calls me Bon Bon. I run a candy shop in town, and I apologize for Lyra. My question is, why are you wearing so much clothing?"

There was a pause while I tried to work out not only a good way to explain my answer, but why she would ask that. Then I realized. Oh yeah, ponies have coats. They don't need clothes as often as humans do.

"Okay, first let me observe that ponies have a coat of fur to keep their temperature more or less regulated. Humans don't have that good fortune; a while back, when we were still evolving into what we would become, the style became less hair, more clothes. Somewhere along the way, we attached a taboo to going around unclothed, which, frankly, I appreciate. We don't have a way to hide anything without clothing, and I don't think you'd WANT to see it anyways. So its one part survival, one part modesty."

A short bark of laughter erupted from some parts of the room as the answer made its way around, and I took note of those that gave it. Mostly so I could know who to avoid drinking with. I motioned towards a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane and purple-lensed goggles. "Vinyl Scratch, my stage name is DJ PON-3. What sorta music you humans got?"

I thought back. "Well, if you can name a genre, I can tell you that someone not only found a way to record it, but someone else would find a way to make a subgenre of it. Humans are inventive like that in almost all things. But personally, I like a song with a beat, one that I can listen to and understand. Sometimes I let the music flow through me, but more often than not, I want to understand it and be touched, not blasted. Just moved."

Surprisingly, she and the earth pony she'd been standing next to nodded in unison at that. Pointing at the grey-coated black-maned pony revealed another interesting query. "Octavia Philharmonica, cellist for the Canterlot Orchestra. Why do you have a sword attached to your hip in Ponyville? It's a relatively safe place."

I sighed and placed my left hand on the hilt. "It's...a long story. Suffice to say, Eureka isn't exactly safe to be around. I keep it with me to make sure others don't fall victim to its curse."

There was a small current of muttering before Twilight spoke up then. "Don't be silly, there's no such thing as curses."

I glared in her general direction. "Eureka does have a curse. I should know, I contributed to it. And if I recall correctly, you lot are treating a Guard-Captain for the effects of being touched by it."

Octavia spoke up then. "You mean the Captain of the Los Pegasus guard that was found in front of the hospital? The one who is obsessed with rules and law and order? That happened because he touched your sword?"

I nodded then. "No two cases are the same, but the curse remains. I could try to explain how it works, but it's a part of my extremely lengthy story, which I think I'll just record and give to Twilight to look over."

I cast a glance at her before saying the next bit. "You can record it, right? Please tell me that. I'd hate to have to recite it more than once."

Twilight actually giggled at that. "Yes, I have the appropriate magical crystals for recording audio already. No worries."

I sighed a bit in relief then and motioned for a grey-coated, blonde-maned pegasus to come forward with the most interesting eyes. Like mine, they were golden, but they couldn't seem to focus. "I'm Derpy the mailmare! Do you like muffins?"

I paused for a moment, considering the upbeat nature that she'd said that with. Now, I'm not going to say she was...disabled. Just...well, look. I worked with kids who had...mental impairments that were no fault of their own. And if not for the one with autism, you'd think they were all normal enough kids. And all of them, hearts of gold. They didn't let something they were born with get them down.

The schools considered putting me in with them, but a bit of medication and deep breathing exercises, showing them that I did not need (nor would appreciate) someone trying to tell me how to manage my panic attacks got me out of it. I still helped them around, but there was a...subtle distinction. One I appreciated.

So my first response was to crouch down, right in front of the mailmare, and make a show of thinking out loud. "Do I like muffins? Hmm...Well, I haven't had a muffin from a pony yet, so how would I know?"

Derpy let out a gasp and somehow procured a muffin from her mane. No, I won't question it either. Just another thing on my list of things to test. "Nopony should be without a muffin! Well, you're not a pony, but you get what I'm saying, right?"

I gingerly took it from her and set it on a nearby table. "Well, I'll let you know how it tasted later. I think there's still someone here who has a question." I looked from her to the stallion nearby, oddly enough, the only stallion in the entire gathering.

He blinked a few times as he realized I was talking to him. "Oh, me? Oh, well, my question was both going to be a more private one, and one you've rendered moot. However, if Miss Sparkle will let us borrow a reading room, I would like to have a chat with you."

Twilight opened a door with her magic, and we both walked in, him first. As I closed the door and turned about to face him, I realized there was something about his eyes. Those light blue eyes. They suddenly seemed to not only look at me, but be looking into me, as though he were measuring my character with just his eyes. And then he actually spoke to me, which didn't help any.

"You still have a purpose here."

I blinked and shook my head, trying to clear it enough to ask critical questions. "How would you-"

"The power you have unleashed on the land will soon be turned against it, and you will be called on to defend it and yourself in more ways than one. Take heed, Knight of the Eclipse. Ready your sword arm and your mind, for both are the most deadly weapons and stalwart shields this world can hope to find."

And with that, the pony pushed past me and left not only the room, but the library. Derpy stuck her head in with a slight look of befuddlement on her face. "Why did Doctor Hooves leave?"

My puzzlement just got worse. Did I just get future information from a pony version of Doctor Who?!

(Location: ??? POV: ???)

"Amazing. Subject six seems to have an inborn response to being drained to the point where it is physically harmful. When the machines are turned off and the subject is given time to recuperate, the first thing the power does is heal the subject's physical ills."

There was a scratching noise of quill on parchment. "Additionally, the captive stallion that was fed love poison and forced to look at the subject seems to be doing well enough for the subject's love requirements. This and a small bowl of mushrooms and bread three times a day, along with all the water the subject asks for, is enough for the subject to survive."

The slightly-larger-than-average changeling panted as it fell back against the table it was strapped to. Above her glistened an array of machines that would have been an impressive, shiny, and sharp array, but she couldn't come to marvel at them.

They were coated in her blood at the end, after all.

"Yes, the subject is doing wonderfully for my procedures. I am even now learning more about this 'psynergy'. However, seeing as how the subject claims there are four different strains of this power, I will require three more subjects. And I have no guarantee that they will survive the procedures like this one."

There was a disappointed sigh from somewhere behind her, and the changeling knew the crazed scientist was giving her a more in-depth examination.

"Still, one will be enough for me to confirm or deny my ideas or theirs as to how this power works."

The nymph let out a hacking noise as she tried to speak. "You will...rue the day...you crazed mare..."

"Oh really, subject six? And why is that?"

"They will...find me...or my name isn't...Princess Vespula..."

Author's Note

Longest chapter so far (if you exclude the crossover I just linked you to up in the chapter).
652 fav's. I think it's stabilized again.
And a quick calculation of both stories shows me a 96% approval rating or thereabouts.
Next chapter might not be quick in coming, so savor this one!
...
I don't hear you savoring it yet!

Chapter 6 - Burn - I mean, building bridges

When Twilight came down the next morning, I was already up, reading from one of the many books on magic. She didn't take notice of me, heading directly towards the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Good thing Spike was already up and working on it. It'd taken a bit of time to get him used to me, but once he had, he was stoked to have another biped friend, along with another guy friend.

Twilight sipped her coffee and sat at the table, letting the caffeine soak into her system slowly. I took a sip of mine, grimacing at the temperature. Spike told me he used his dragon breath in the process, making it ungodly hot. Granted, it was tasty. Little dude knows how to brew a mean cuppa. But I had this unnatural desire to save my taste buds and throat, so I never drank my coffee hot. Lukewarm, more often than not, was how I took it. Besides, I only ever drank it for the caffeine anyways, not the taste or temperature.

"Mornin', Sparkle."

I got a grunt in response, whereas Spike merely rolled his eyes. "Auric, it's pointless. Until the caffeine breaks the blood-brain barrier, she'll be no more responsive than a coma patient."

I sighed, touching the cup with a finger and focusing on a new idea I'd had. I pictured the molecules of the coffee, visualizing the motion that intense heat correlated to, and slowing it down, drawing the energy into myself. I felt the cup cool off as I kept the energy drain going, feeling a slight tingle as the excess flowed in to me. I took a careful sip, then bolted the cup down, now that it was at the perfect temperature.

"Believe me, Spike, I know how that is. Took me long enough to discover coffee."

Twilight took another sip of coffee, and then her eyes took note of the fact that I was not at the table drinking with her. She looked around, her ears twitching, looking for where I was, before her brain started to interpret what she'd heard properly. Slowly, she craned her head back, and looked at the ceiling.

I sat there, in an Indian-style posture, with my empty cup in one hand, and an open book in the other. The fact that I was sitting on the ceiling was probably less impressive than the fact that I wasn't holding on like I had last night. I idly flicked a page and continued to read my intermediary magic manual, hearing the strangled squawking from below as Twilight's brain was forcibly booted up without caffeine.

"What are you doing up there, Auric?!"

I flicked a page again, quickly scanning the book. "Familiarizing myself with the laws and rules of magic. Did you know your foal book is completely useless for me? I'm already familiar with all those mechanics of building and directing power. If I'm going to bend the natural order, I need to know what rules can be subverted, and which are immutable. This book is a good starter, but I'm going to need something more advanced soon."

Spike giggled as Twi sputtered, reveling in her confusion. "I think she means, how are you staying up there, Auric."

I nodded as I flicked yet another page. "Ah, yes, that. Gravity's just another mechanic of the universe, one that I Understand how to manipulate. It's just a thing of greater mass attracting things of lesser mass, after all. Creating a false field of gravity and attaching it to the ceiling in an inverse fashion isn't easy, but I needed to see how much of the natural world I could change."

Twilight finally got her brain booted up and connected to her mouth again. "How in the world are you capable of holding it for that long? Most unicorns can't even generate a field like that, much less sustain it for any length of time!"

I closed the book, knowing I'd finished the last bit of information I'd find useful. "Not a pony, Twilight. Nor a unicorn. I need to see how far my powers extend. My Alchemy is too dangerous to use without knowing its limits, and half of it is about manipulating the world around me. If I break a rule or law, who knows the repercussions that could result?"

I stretched out, and lay down on the ceiling, then jumped up, leading with my feet. Halfway to the floor, I left the influence of my field and landed on the floor. "So! What's on your agenda today, Sparkle?"

She worked her jaw a few times, then sighed and hung her head. "I will never understand you."

I laughed and shook my head. "Human nature, m'dear. We're contradictory creatures. Now, since you're supposed to be studying me, do tell, what's your schedule, and when's my scheduled interrogation?"

Twilight shook her head. "I need to head back to Canterlot today, the Princesses are going to resume teaching me about royal duties." And here she looked up at me with a slightly narrowed glare. "And you are coming with me."

I tilted my head at her. "Now is that any way to ask?"

She worked her mouth a few times, and before she could say anything, I held up a hand. "Now let's gloss over the fact that I am apparently powerful," here I lit up my hand with golden flames, "and don't quite know my own strength, or the fact that, if I really wanted to, I could do all manner of things thanks to my Understanding of how things work. The way you just stated that I was coming with you was incredibly rude, as though it were a fact of the universe. You could have...asked. It would have been far more friendly."

Twi had the good grace to look shocked as I implied that she'd been less than friendly. Her, the student of the magic of Friendship, had been less than friendly. I smiled and beeped her nose. "As it happens, I need to go to Canterlot anyways. I got a message today that I should be there, some friends of mine are going to be there in a meeting with the Princesses, and I'll be needed to mediate it."

I vanished in a swirl of fire, reappearing in the Day Court. The slight panic that ran through the nobles was thrilling to me, but it would be second to the panic I was going to incite. I clasped my right hand around Eureka's hilt, and sent a pulse of thought into it, back to the armor that once held it. Ready as I'll ever be.

I still had a moment before they arrived, though, so I turned to Celestia and inclined my head. "Auric Fulcrum, here to mediate a dispute."

Celestia had barely opened her mouth to ask what dispute I was here for when there was a flash of light around me. ShiverSpine, Silver Cross, Aboyami, and Snow Fluff had just appeared behind me, all touching the Teleport stone I had made before being blasted. Three of the four glared at the princess, and Snow Fluff walked forward as the only one not angry with the sun princess.

"The village of Newvale, founded by Dullahan, brings forward these grievances against Equestria and the Sun Princess."

Snow reached under his right wing with a hoof and brought out a massive, rolled-up scroll. The nobles were scared stiff that there was a dragon in the room with them, and Celestia sighed.

"All other matters are dismissed for the day." She leveled her best gaze at first the scroll, then me. "Follow me."

I will say this for Cel: She has the best chefs. They know how to make excellent tea and cookies for any diplomatic incident. Slight tiff between her border patrol and the griffons? Large, soft cookies with chocolate chunks in them. Inter-pony disputes, say, Cloudsdale and Manehatten not agreeing on pricing for weather? Small sugar cookies. Dragons getting a bit uppity? Sapphire and almonds work wonderfully.

The fact that we had an array of cookies before us meant that we had stumped even them. Which I took great pleasure in.

At least the tea was still delicious, and I had sampled all the cookies. Except for the sapphire ones, as I still liked my teeth and organs. I was partial to the chocolate chunks, though.

Celestia was looking at the scroll, her eyes darting across it at impressive speed. Occasionally, she winced as she read one of the grievances that was listed. Finally, she lowered it, and looked at me, then the four at the other end of the table, then back to me.

"I am willing to allow those who inhabit Newvale to come to me with their grievances, and I will attempt to resolve them to their satisfaction."

I nodded at her. "That sounds reasonable enough, provided that I sit in. I don't think they'd trust your judgement alone anymore."

There was a tugging on my shirt, and I turned to see Shiver glaring at me. I leaned in, and he whispered in my ear. "We want to see the slavery ring demolished."

"Oka-"

"We want to do it ourselves."

I blinked a few times, then slowly nodded and turned back to Celestia. "It would appear that there are those in Newvale who still wish to enforce justice on your ponies. Most notably, that first grievance on the list. Those gathered here wish to resolve it for you."

Celestia blinked a few times, processing the information. "We do owe each other debts, I suppose..." She leveled a glare at Shiver, who did not flinch, and one at Silver, who returned it. "We will have to go over all the details-"

And that was when the window shattered, and Queen Chrysalis flew in. I flicked a hand at the glass, and it vaporized into sand in an instant, getting into the tea and cookies, but noticeably not giving anyone any lacerations. I gave her my best stink-eye, and she was not impressed. Or even looking at me. She only had eyes for Cel.

"Celestia, I need your help. One of mine has gone missing."

"Must be pretty important, Chryssy," I said as I put my teacup down and shoved the saucer and the cookie I had been nibbling on away, "to warrant the interruption of a diplomatic meeting. Who is it that's gone missing?"

Chryssy turned to face me. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

I grinned then. "Technically, yes and no. Auric Fulcrum. But you were saying?"

She blinked and turned back to Cel. "My daughter gave her guards the slip the other night. Normally she comes back by dawn, but since she hasn't I can only assume something's happened to her. I need your help, your cooperation to search your lands for her while I search mine." She took a deep breath, then bowed her head. "I call on your aid, Princess Celestia, to help me find my heiress."

I blinked at that. "How long has it been? A day or so? How can you assume something bad has happened to her? Maybe she's just touring Equestria."

She turned back to me and glared. "We have something similar to a hive mind. A connection we all share. Mine is strongest as I am the queen, and my will permeates it. I can tell where all my changelings are, and my daughter has the second-strongest connection. But not long ago, her connection vanished. That does not just happen."

I sighed then. "I don't know of enough magic to help you find her, nor do I know enough to help mediate this meeting anymore. I need..."

My eyes widened, and I pulled out the coin I was given from my pocket. I turned it over, looking at the symbols on both sides, before I gripped it and sent a pulse of power into it and Beyond.

Hey. Hey Typhon? I could use some help...

Author's Note

Dun...dun...DUUUUUUUUUUUN!

Chapter 7 - "Great, now there's two of them." - Celestia

(Penumbra Sanctum)

It was… solid.

If there was a way to describe it, he would say that the space around the world had been turned solid. Trying to force entry would be pretty much impossible for anything less than a bona-fide reality warper.

There was a hole, though. Not entirely dissimilar to the bubble of distorted reality that followed him so long as he wore all Four.

It felt… deliberate. The ‘line’ connecting him to the coin went through there, so it was a simple matter of entering through there.

Anything to get away from the beings that lived Between.

Bunch of whiny children and spoiled brats, the lot of them.

There was no great flash of light, or awe-inspiring burst of power. He was like the air.

Just there.

“Ow, my eyes… and ears…” Typhon took off his glasses to rub at his eyes. “The air is weird - is someone actually in front of me, or is it just me hallucinating?”

Well, a deep voice more intoned and rumbled rather than stated, technically, yes, there is someone in front of you. And I’m curious as to why there is another boy in front of me. Wait...that garb. Auric did give me a name...Typhoon, wasn’t it?

“Typhon, the one that named them.” Typhon straightened. “Now, suit of armor without a head - Dullahan, right? I was asked for help, apparently.”

Dullahan did his version of a nod towards the boy. Yes, I ‘heard’ the Call, seeing as how I sit near the hole betwixt this world and all others. The boy is in Canterlot, mediating the dispute all of Newvale have with her royal sunness. Something must have come up if he asked for your help, though.

“As long as it doesn’t involve Greater Dragons - getting close to Tiamat just for her pictures was bad enough the first time.” Typhon shuddered slightly.

Dullahan merely chuckled. I doubt it, we’ve defended ourselves from the Dragon Migration and Lady Skycleaver, so it’ll not be that. Likely, there was a complication with some of the matters. And he’s got not a smidge of experience in diplomacy, really.

“The games of shadows and honeyed words… well, I can do that. If he has the coin - and isn’t vacuum-sealed, - appearing in front of him is just a matter of wanting it.” Typhon crossed his arms. “Should I wear something more formal?”

It is doubtful, I’ve yet to see the boy wear anything beyond what you gave him. Would you like an escort to the entrance? The mountain can be tricky if you know not where you’re going. Partially because it also serves as a mine.

“That won’t be necessary; I can follow the ventilation shafts out.” Typhon waved. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Dullahan.”

And you as well, Typhon. Do come back for a more relaxed visit sometimes. Oh, and if you’re the friend he was talking about that could duplicate or replicate items? I would appreciate a copy of the sword he now wields. It feels wrong to not have one.

“For sure. I’ll get on to that. Be seeing you.” Typhon then dissolved into blue lines, which faded from view as they followed the path with the freshest air.

(Canterlot - One of many sitting rooms)

Auric sighed and put his head in his hands. Typhon would hopefully be here soon, the headache of trying to organize this meeting was getting to him. Bad enough the ones from Newvale wanted to get on the ring right away, but now Chryssy was getting on Cel’s case, and nobody present knew how to properly or accurately track down a changeling yet. If just one of the issues were resolved quickly by someone, then that would free up the resources to do the other.

And that was when they heard the unfamiliar voice. Well, unfamiliar to everyone but Auric.

“Holy smokes, the air is loud here.”

Everyone looked around for the voice, and only one got it right. Namely, Auric, because he’d pulled a similar trick this morning.

“This is where the Sun shone, right?” Typhon was up on the ceiling, ‘sitting’, while rubbing his eyes and cleaning his ears.

Everyone else took notice of where Auric was looking, and the reactions were...mixed. Chrysalis cocked her head to one side in confusion, Celestia sighed and muttered ‘there’s another one, goodness gracious.’ Auric grinned, and the ones from Newvale were...more high-strung. It was probably the training and living near the Everfree that got to them, but ShiverSpine and Silver Cross let off a small bolt of lightning and fireball due to the sheer shock. Aboyami reared up as though to do her infamous ‘attack of the spirits,’ and Snow Fluff merely raised an eyebrow.

All in all, it could have been worse. But not by much.

Typhon snapped his fingers. Air friction caused a small spark of electricity - natural lightning - which provided a different path for the bolt, while a vacuum snuffed out the fireball from lack of oxygen and magic. Before Aboyami could complete her attack, Auric held up a hand at the ones from Newvale. They found themselves encased in a golden glowing field, and Auric leveled his best gaze at them.

“Guys. Chill. This is Typhon, a friend I called here to help me with mediating this thing, since I’m getting a headache thinking about it and only had one cup of joe today.”

“You should be grateful you’ve got a head that could ache.” Typhon chuckled, floating down and righting himself.

“True enough.” Seeing the confusion on some faces, notably Chryssy’s, Auric decided to explain. “When is two equal to one? When you add another one. The Dullahan you knew is the two, and the Dullahan of today is one. I’m the other one. Auric Fulcrum, once a spirit bound to the armor, now free to do my own desires, O Changeling Queen. We’ve technically met.”

Comprehension flitted across her face before it was replaced by righteous anger again. “And this helps me how? My daughter is still missing!”

“Hmm… do you have something of hers right now?” Typhon said, fishing in his pocket for his wallet. “I think there are spells for that.”

The changeling queen shook her head. “We’re not all that big on material possessions in the Hive, what with living off love and all. Money doesn’t buy love or happiness. The only thing that she had to set her apart was one sky-blue ribbon, and she was wearing it when she vanished.”

Auric interjected then. “You know, even with her being your daughter, her being gone this long and provoking this sort of reaction that you’d drop everything to come to what was once a foe’s fortress and beg her for help tells me something else is going on. What is it?”

The queen took a few deep breaths, then sighed. “She is the only one who can match me in wielding Mercury’s might, Auric. We were to study the waters of Hermes and the Light today, and she never misses a chance to do that.”

“If that relates you, it could be possible to track her through your blood.” Typhon held two small books in front of him, one of which had a bell etched with runes tied to the silky bookmark.

Auric facepalmed as he realized the solution. “Law of Contagion, I should have known! I used it just the other day!” He then cast a, not quite, glare at Typhon. “Y’know, if you could make some sort of massive list of the rules and properties of magic as you know them, I’d at least have a starting point.”

“Well, I could copy these two books; these are some of Starswirl’s notes from before his last spell killed him, and Clover before… whatever happened to Clover.” Typhon waved the books. “They are a mix of what my Artifacts told me with Equestrian magic.”

Celestia appeared shocked that anyone had had that much contact with Starswirl, but sighed and motioned to the ponies, and dragon, and zebra, from Newvale. “While these two help the queen, I will talk with you about your grievances.”

Auric merely nodded and looked at the books. “Good thinking, Cel. You four, with her, and try not to set anything on fire. We can’t afford to replace it.”

The ponies, and dragon and zebra, filed out the room, leaving two humans and a changeling queen.

“Can’t be worse than the time I sneezed indoors.” Typhon shrugged. “That doesn’t happen anymore, or rather, it doesn’t blow everything to Tartarus.”

Auric gave Typhon his best deadpan. “That unicorn and dragon? They represent the ones that lit Mars and Jupiter in this land. Chryssy here was Mercury. I’m pretty sure if they applied themselves, they could set the mountain on fire. And to answer your earlier question, yes, this is where the Sun shone. We’re lucky to still have a mountain.”

“No wonder Seiryu was telling me the land felt odd.” Typhon tapped his foot. “He’s the Wood Dragon, and has the mansion of the Root; he knows his soil.”

Auric shrugged. “Well, when you come up with a way to stop a mountain and the city on it from sinking into the earth that doesn’t involve a rush job with an Alchemical Device, lemme know. Now,” and here he turned back to Chryssy, “We have a job to do. An heiress to find.”

“I have something with range, but it’s meant to find islands, which are notoriously large. And sessile.”

Auric put a hand to his chin. “Hmm. Chryssy, any information you can give us would help.”

Chrysalis gave both the humans a careful look. Judging from the way the one in blue spoke, he was more powerful than anyone gave him credit for, and Auric...she didn’t want to think about it. “Well, the other hives did report that some of their drones, most notably scouts around the capitol here, had gone missing. Their connections to their Hives had also been severed, which, again, does not just happen. The fact that the same has happened to my daughter…”

“She will be found.” Typhon said solemnly. “The more we narrow it down, the easier it should be to track her. The bond between a mother and her child is much more powerful than anyone gives it credit for; not even the gods of madness can break that alignment.”

Auric looked a bit shocked then, and leaned in towards Typhon. “Remind me to tell you about the Triad when this is over.” He then stood straight again. “So. The only thing I can come up with is a Law of Contagion tracking spell. But that would only tell us so much. Could you cook up anything else?”

“You could use a pendulum. Spelled right, and anointed with a few drops of Chrysalis’ blood, it would help once the resolution gets too bad on the larger-ranged spell.”

Auric nodded. “So, first we use yours, narrow it down to a section of the city. Then we use mine, narrow it down further. Then we use a pendulum, and find what we’re looking for. Sound like a good plan?”

Chrysalis nodded and extended a foreleg. “Sounds fine, just don’t take too much ichor. I need it to live, not unlike love.”

“It shouldn’t be too much; a couple of spoonfuls, at the most.” Typhon said, taking her foreleg.

A green card appeared in front of him, and he took a knife out of it. With great care, he pinched a hole and squeezed slightly.

Placing the knife back from where it came from, his now-free hand took out a black pocket watch, suspending it over the pooling ichor. The changeling blood flowed upwards, making a tiny sphere the size of a lemon.

“That should be enough.” Typhon, released her leg, then reaching for his pendant.

“Seiryu? I need a Room.” The air around him was gently pulled towards him; a glass-like cube appeared in the middle of the sitting room. The four walls were aligned to the four cardinal directions, and the floor and ceiling were perfectly level.

He took a bottle of maroon liquid from his wallet, and downed a gulp. The coppery scent made him grimace.

Typhon flew up, taking out the small brush he had used to replicate the spell on the coins. He gently pressed the perpetually-wet ink to the center of the ‘floor’, and allowed it to flow out.

“Let the blood seek the blood; the unity of the spirits a light that none can extinguish, piercing the thickest of shadows and revealing the path.”

The ink started to adopt small geometrical designs, and climb to the sides of the ‘room’. Typhon allowed the clock to hang from its chain, and made an amber-colored bottle appear on his hand.

Drinking from it, he stowed it away and continued taking more magic from the ambient.

“Let the dedication to the blood be a source of strength, fortune bless the search, and their love flood their souls. Their unbreakable bond become a beacon for their reunion.”

The eastern side had, among the writing and the circles, the image of a tree shaped like a dragon; the southern side, a flame in the shape of a bird; the northern side, a turtle; the western side, a tiger.

Typhon was starting to sweat. He really should have waited a little more before trying magic. He nonetheless pulled the sphere of blood closer, splitting it in half, and taking half to the ink.

“Now, for the ‘piece of land’ that will find our ‘island’.” Typhon touched the green ichor to the black ink, and the two mingled until the whole design was now colored green.

On the ceiling of the room, a circle drew itself. Inside of it, there was the silhouette of the head of a pony, split down the middle. One side a pony, the other a changeling.

The whole thing began to flow inwards, as if it were rushing back to the brush.

In the end, Typhon was left ‘holding’ a small floating circle of green, like a clock’s face, only with letters and runes instead of numbers of the hour, with the face down the middle. A thin green needle pointed towards Chrysalis, while another… elsewhere.

“OK, now someone with actual magic should hold this thing.” Typhon said, floating back down. “Did my best mixing the Filial Affiliation spell to track descendants with the island spell. It steers like a drunken cow, but so long as she doesn’t move much, it’ll help.”

Auric took the circle and nodded. “Any ichor left for me? I think I can help when we need a more refined location. A few ideas come to mind…”

Typhon held the pocket watch up, the other half of Chrysalis’ blood tailing behind it.

“Genbu has a good hold. Blood is Water’s ‘shadow’, so it’s no problem.”

“Excellent. This thing seems to be pointing us towards,” and here Auric turned and tried to remember the city as he and his had tromped through it on the wedding day, “The...market, I think. Or beyond that, to where they store their goods. Might be. It’s been a while since I paid a proper visit, after all, and she,” and here he jerked a hand back to point at Chryssy, “was the reason.”

Chrysalis had the sense of mind to look a little sheepish at the accusation, but then the fury returned to her face. “If this is one of Celestia’s precious ponies holding her captive…”

“It’ll be a pony holding her captive; nothing more, nothing less. They are not a hive mind; even the herd impulse cannot make somepony adopt the actions of another as their own.” Typhon made a gesture with his hand, trying to make her settle down.

Auric, meanwhile, had placed his hand on the hilt of his blade. “I swear to you, Chrysalis, by the Golden Sun, if anyone, pony or not, has harmed her, they will be made to Understand what they have done.” At the word Understand, the blade glinted a bit, as though the sun was a little brighter on it. Or perhaps it had shone from within. “I have only used Eureka on two others willingly, and I think you’ll agree with the results.”

Chrysalis looked at Auric with a bit of shock, surprised by the strength and ease which he had made the vow. “Why would you promise something like that?”

Auric looked off at nothing in particular. “I was a brother once. I know how protective my parents were, but when they got her down, she came to me.” He shook his head, clearing his mind. “Let’s find your daughter.”

“I know. When Wind Whistler died…” Typhon sighed, and even the air in the room felt heavier. “I was so… lost? I was hurt, and angry, and the Air? We made such a storm… But I couldn’t let others get injured, no matter how much it hurt, because I knew they would feel the pain I was experiencing. Still bored a groove in the ground, and frightened all of Everfree city, but, well, bloodloss killed me.” Typhon shrugged.

The trio made their way out into the city at large after that, nothing more needing to be said amongst them until the situation changed.

(An unassuming warehouse, approximately thirty minutes later)

The two humans and changeling queen had made quite a stir in Canterlot. It was a bit of a contest with them to lighten the mood on their rather grim mission to see who could get the most ponies to faint. Although to be fair, Chryssy did have a bit of an advantage, as she had actually attacked the city at one point. All she would have to do is open her mouth and look at a pony, and they would run away screaming.

Auric would not be outdone, though, and had repeatedly ‘set himself on fire’ with his power, just to garner a reaction. The first time was hilarious until a pegasus had dumped a cloud’s worth of water on him. The second time was still fun. By the third time, the ponies had caught on, and he began thinking of more devious tricks, such as inverting his own gravity field. Or those of others.

Typhon did some more classical ghost tricks - things moving on their own, attracting the attention of the ponies away from them, then causing a small spark to shock them on the rump. Once, he made a mare jump into the hooves of another, only to shock her, too, making her jump, mare and all, on top of a stallion; who promptly fell down and was squished by the mares.

Eventually, the trio ended up in front of a somewhat dilapidated warehouse. The words ‘Canterlot Research Academy - Overflow Storage’ were barely discernable and peeling off. It looked, quite honestly, like there had been no building inspectors to determine if it was safe to enter for a while. If ever. The pendulum was pointing straight at the doors in front of them.

“Huh. CRA storage, eh? Well, there must be a reason she’s here. Either she’s just looking, or whoever took her here has some sort of connection with them.” Auric scratched the back of his head and looked at the warehouse, taking note of its deplorable condition. “Looks like they haven’t used it in years, though.”

“Kinda cliché.” Typhon scratched his head. “It does seem to need someone to cast a Structural Analysis spell on it just to make sure opening the doors won’t cause it to fall.”

Auric closed his eyes and extended a hand. “Let’s see how far I can push this…”

A golden stream flew from him and wrapped around the building a few times, faintly visible in the light. After the whole building was surrounded in a golden aura, it flashed a few times, then vanished. Auric sagged as the information flooded into his mind. “Whoo. Okay, if I ever try to do that again, someone punch me. It is not pleasant.”

“You could have waited five minutes, then let me drive a discreet Breeze through the cracks.” Typhon pointed out, and Auric shook his head.

“I saw how much you went through back at the castle. Consider it my way of taking on a bit of the burden as well. Anyways. So long as we don’t knock out any walls, we should be fine. Whatever passed for load-bearing walls are weaker than they should be.”

“I can call lightning to shock threats, so there’s no need to knock anything into anything else.” Typhon held out a hand, and static electricity jumped between his fingers. “And I don’t need magic to do this, only physics and good old fashioned contact.”

Auric nodded. “We all have our little gifts. Now let’s find Chryssy’s little nymph.” And with that, he carefully pushed the doors open a crack so they could filter in.

Inside, unsurprisingly, it was dark and filled with dozens of crates under tarps. Dust filled the air, and the scent of age was prevalent everywhere. “Fan out, keep your eyes peeled. We’re looking for anything that looks off. I have no idea what that is, but we’ll know it when we see it.”

Typhon nodded, and made his way through the warehouse. The air was too altered from the Golden Sun, so his range expanded much more slowly than it ever had, but small claps still helped. All it would take was a hollow section, a draft, or a discontinuity close to him, and he’d know.

About two minutes passed before Chrysalis screamed. Instantly, Auric was rushing towards the sound, and only when he got there did his mind process why would she be screaming in here. It wasn’t the worst thing imaginable, but it was pretty close.

In front of her were five changelings, all laid out in a row, all with their eyes closed. All dead.

Typhon coughed; it seemed a draft had taken the smell away from the part they were searching in. “Well, they couldn’t have put them in here just like that; there should be another entrance around here.”

Auric nodded. “I’m pretty sure some pony, guard or not, or other would have seen someone with a changeling body walking through the streets, so either the one who did this is a master ninja, or they have their base of operations around here.”

Then they noticed that Chrysalis was still staring at the bodies and hadn’t said a word.

“She’s still alive.” Typhon placed a hand on her shoulder. “The bond between spirits, remember?”

She gulped down some air, breathing deeply, and looked Typhon in the eye. “It’s not that. I just… I know. I know that whoever did this to these changelings, is doing it to her. I had hope the other five were still alive.” And then her eyes burned with a fury that few can say they have ever been witness to. “And when I find whoever did this, they will pray to whatever they hold dear they never heard of me.”

Typhon inhaled, and he was wreathed in blue. “Then we better find them fast, it’s unbecoming of Royalty to keep their ‘guests’ waiting.”

Auric looked at the nearby walls, inclining his head slightly. “Hey...these walls seem...fairly new. As compared to the rest of the place. Do you think…?” He walked up to one and started tapping on it, listening for that telltale sign that someone had hidden a passage behind one.

“Wait, tap that again?” Auric obliged. “I think that’s hollow… can you use Alchemy to make an arch? Don’t want to bring down the whole place down on us.”

Auric frowned and put a hand on the wall. “I can try...Problem is, I’m either shattering the bonds between the atoms in the wall, or I’m Displacing it somewhere else. So long as I try to keep the shock to a minimum, we should still have a building around us…”

The wall flickered for a few moments before a portion of it just dissolved away, revealing a tunnel into the earth. Auric sagged again. “Again, ow. I felt that one. I think the drain from keeping the mountain up is stronger than I thought. That, or my antics earlier today depleted more of my power than I anticipated…”

Typhon sighed. “I think I made a… no, that got sacrificed to the gods of discovery by Clover… did I remember to make more shockers? Dang, I don’t have… sorry, I don’t know how to help you. I could lend you a shield, but as for the mountain thing, I’ve got nothing. Trees won’t help, and earth is one of my weakest affinities; other than maybe getting the earth to help you, which it sounds like you are already doing, I’m blank.”

Auric waved him off. “I would need some sort of Psynergy Stone, and I’ve yet to find a large enough one to count. All Newvale finds are shards. One that doesn’t crack and dissolve under use has yet to be located, which sucks. The only other thing that helps is rest, but we can’t afford that.” He straightened and made a motion to the tunnel. “Ladies first.”

Chrysalis snarled. “With pleasure.”

Auric and Typhon followed after, and what they saw...shocked them. The tunnel opened up to a circular room that had what looked like every mad doctor’s dream machine attached to the ceiling. The very sharp tips of every single appendage were coated in changeling blood. An operating table was resting beneath it, and strapped in was a very injured, barely breathing, highly emaciated nymph. Nearby was an earth pony stallion who was looking at her while being held within an iron cage built into the wall and floor, saying things like ‘my princess, I will save you’.

Chrysalis rushed to the bench and undid the restraints, quickly cradling her daughter and pouring Ply into her to try and heal her wounds. Auric looked around and noticed the only other door out on the other side of the room. Pointing at it and inclining his head, he silently asked if Typhon would follow.

Typhon drew Cooperation, splitting it into Rivalry, and nodded. He wreathed himself in blue, ready to feel any big disturbances in the air that could signify another being close to them.

The tunnel twisted and turned, but ultimately led them out of the city near the train tracks. Nobody else had been sighted nearby, and Auric groaned at that. “Oh great. Just bloody great. Whoever it was either heard us coming in the city and packed up everything they needed except that apparatus and the ponies there, or abandoned it a short while ago. Let’s hope it was the latter. The former implies things.”

“Breath has some slight healing properties, I should see if Chrysalis needs help.” Typhon said, scowling towards the tracks for a moment before doubling up; trying to track a train, even when flying, could cause a scene if they got it wrong. Auric merely shook his head.

“She’s the one who lit Mercury, remember? Mercury has Ply and Wish. I’d be surprised if her daughter wasn’t already physically healed by the time we walked back to them. Mentally...would be a miracle.”

“Breath calms down agitated spirits, or moves stagnant ones. It represents quests, the drive to undertake them, and the courage to overcome them. Plus…” Typhon tapped his head. “No more lies and illusions helps. I just hope she’s not a vengeful one, or I’m not going to make much progress.”

Auric nodded a bit. “Well, your reasoning is sound, but I will be surprised if she doesn’t walk away from...whatever happened without some mental scarring. Still, shall we? As the only one who has survived whatever happened, I need to know what she knows. I only hope Chryssy understands that and doesn’t begrudge my questioning.”

“Of course. She’ll come out changed, and it will take time, but if she’s anything like her mother, she’ll manage. Change is nice, the Air likes to change, as does Water.” Typhon patted his pocket.

The two walked back through the tunnel they had just exited to find Chrysalis cradling her now-awake and slightly hysterical daughter.

Typhon raised his hand, it would be best to start slow. “Breathe, little queen.” His hand was enveloped in blue, and he pulled fresh air from the exit. “You are free now, see? Don’t you want to taste the Breeze of freedom?”

Slowly, the nymph drew in the fresh air and began to calm down. It took her a few minutes, but her tears dried up and the sobs became wimpers. Auric approached them and stopped when the queen glared in his general direction. “Chrysalis, I need to ask her questions. I need to know who did this. I need to know what happened here. I have to Understand, to prevent it from happening again.”

“Breathe, young queen. Can you feel that? You mother is here; she ran herself ragged to get here. Let your fears flow… I know you are scared, but if you let it grip you, you won’t be able to hear your mother’s Breath even on your ears.” Typhon made slow gestures, trying to get the nymph to follow the rhythm with her breathing. “From the place I come from, there is a tradition; a pegasus would speak of all of their troubles, and all of their pains, to a feather; they would fly as high as they could manage… and let it drift away. Let it drift away…”

The princess gulped and nodded and began her tale. “When I left the Hive, I came here to see what was so special about Canterlot. I had barely began to look around when there was a sound from an alleyway. I got a little closer, and then there was this...this cold voice. It said…” and here her face scrunched up with the effort in recalling what she’d heard, “‘Changeling identified, hive identified. Badlands, also known as those under Chrysalis.’ After that, it all faded to black.”

She gestured with a foreleg to the room. “When I woke up, I was in here, and then...the pain began. She used that machine to stab me, over and over, and drain...something out of me. Study me. She kept going on and on about Psynergy. I think she’s either studying it...or looking for a way to steal it.”

Typhon closed his hand, the fist held up for a few seconds. When he opened it, a murky ball was between his fingers. “See? You did good, small queen; I will take this high into the air - higher than any pegasus I’ve ever heard of before, and scatter your fear and your darkness away. There are some great fliers in Cloudsdale, last I heard, you could become friends with a few and get them to help with this.”

Inside, Typhon was rather worried. He couldn’t help - there was no scent, or the sound of the voice of this mad scientist… it would have to depend on the little nymph’s memory alone… wait.

“Can you imitate the voice of whoever did this to you?” He asked, as cordially as he could. “It would help to have more people recognize it.”

The nymph nodded once, and a flash of green surrounded her throat. She then spoke with an older mare’s voice, but one that was noticeably devoid of any emotions or accent. “This is how she sounded, but she always said things like...’Specimen six is remarkably resilient’ and ‘I am coming close to understanding these powers thanks to the extraction process.’”

Auric shuddered once. “Well. That doesn’t sound reminiscent of GLaDOS at all,” he said. “What worries me most, though, is that not that she killed five changelings looking for one with Mercury’s might. Or the pain she put the young princess through.” He paused for a moment. “It’s that any good scientist tests all variables. And there are three other elements she’s yet to try.”

“Well, you’re going to have to implement the Buddy system.” Typhon ticked off with his fingers. “Everypony is to have a tracker at all times, but nothing so easily noticeable… if they can be actually enchant themselves, or donate a bit of their blood to make more Pendulums, it could be better.”

Auric began to nod, then froze. “Wait. Those train tracks. I...oh sweet gods. I know. I know where this scientist is going next. I’ve been there. It was the first Light. It would be the next logical choice.” He began to facepalm and called up a portion of his power before nodding at Typhon. “You were a great help, friend. But I know where I’ll need to be next.”

“Very well; just let me…” Typhon took out his tablet out of his wallet, and tapped it with a finger. “Let me draw your sword; I did promise Dullahan a replacement, and this way, it’ll be a simple sword instead of having any Association with Eureka that might cause trouble.”

As Typhon drew the blade, Auric paused. “That’s right, I promised you something. Very well.” He dismissed the power for a moment and held a hand to his chin. “Like us, there are others out there in other Equestria’s, but there are three you need to be aware of. I call them the Triad of Madness. The Lady, Alice, with her Vorpal Blade. Then there’s Pyramid Head, with his Knife. And I’ve only heard of him, so I don’t know what weapon he uses, but Jack of Blades is out there as well. I’m...well, my blade holds the moment of realization I experienced...and any who touch it do as well. But I’m getting better about that.”

“Hmm…” Typhon tapped his chin as he stored his tablet. “I don’t have something physical; it was my eyes and ears what got the realization I experienced… I don’t think I want to find out if Truth can mix with that. I’ll be on the lookout, however. I don’t want to test my Dersite portion.”

Typhon shuddered.

“Still, I’ve either found friends, or at least been made aware of parallel worlds; I’ll pass the message.”

Auric nodded and was about to go again before he grinned. “Oh! On your way out, tell Dully this: This one has the approval of the Golden Sun. Should let you at the tablets, besides the big ones.”

And with that, Auric vanished in a flash of golden flames, leaving Typhon, Chrysalis, and her daughter in the room that the mad scientist had abandoned.

“Come, let me at least see you home, young princess… do you want to see how fast I can climb before getting rid of this?” Typhon said, holding the little sphere of tainted Breath.

She shook her head. “I...I just want to go home with mom...I just want my ribbon again...I think she took it off when she took me…”

“It can be found.” Typhon nodded. “It’s yours, after all.”

And with that, they turned away and left that dreadful place behind to rot in their memories.

(Penumbra Sanctum)

“Dullahan.” Typhon nodded, handing him a card and placing two books on the ground. “Journals for Auric and the copy of the blade… with a little extra. I mixed an image of Luna’s crown, making it a dark blade; should hold shape better than plain metal.”

The headless armor took the card, and was surprised to find a blade in his hand once the two connected. Well. I see he did not understate your powers. This should prove a fine blade to defend the village with, should it ever actually require it. What was that saying the boy had bouncing around in his mind? The best blade is one you only have to draw once?

“Perhaps…” Typhon said, but turned serious. “Some mad scientist is experimenting on Psynergy users, and might even come here, should Auric foil her plans but not catch her… tell them to always stay in sight of each other, and to stay away from any strange machines.”

The hand holding the blade twitched; it would seem the tic for indescribable anger had remained with both Dullahan and Auric. They that would treat their fellow sapients as nothing more than lab rats...they who cross the line from innocent experimentation to mad science...they who DARE walk in the darkness shall fear me, for I AM ALREADY HERE!

“Spoken like a True Shadow.” Typhon chuckled darkly, not perturbed at all by the slight jets of blue fire coming from some of the seams. “I am forget- oh! Auric said to tell you that ‘This one has the approval of the Golden Sun’, and something about tablets.”

The armor visibly calmed down and gestured to the wall behind the chair it sat in. Engraved upon those tablets are the summoning rites for all manner of creatures. If he believes you worthy, then you may access any of them. The two most powerful are already locked away. Do you have a favored element?

“Wind, of course; I think that translates to Jupiter.”

The armor pointed to one tablet. The first is Megaera, goddess of vengeance. He shifted his hand to the next. Flora, flowers and springtime. The one next to her is Moloch, spirit of winter. The armor pointed at one on the next row. Then we have Eclipse, the dragon that can blot out the sun with his wingspan. Following that is Coatlicue, guardian of the waters of life. And here the armor pointed at the last tablet on the wall. And then, well, it’s more of a concept than an actual spirit, but I will admit. Catastrophe gets results.

Typhon nodded, staring at each tablet and tapping his glasses. “Thank you - I don’t need to take them, simply taking a few pictures can get me copies… don’t worry, they will be kept safe, in a place no-one will even find them if I do not allow it.”

The armor shrugged. What you do with the knowledge afterwards matters not. Auric trusts you with it, and I agree. Fare you well, boy. May the darkness part for you.

“May the Winds of Fortune be at your back.” Typhon nodded one last time, and downed a red and a black vial.

With that, he vanished as quietly as he had appeared.

Like air; there one moment, gone the next.

Side Chapter 1 - I think the universe just shivered

Author's Note

This chapter done by Isaac3924.
And the reason the chapter is titled like it is is because...
Well, you'll see.

Side Chapter 1 - I think the universe just shivered

Pyre woke to the sun streaming in through the window of his house. Grumbling a bit, he tossed over to the other side of his bed so as to get away from the infernal light. Sighing with his eyes still closed, he began to drift back to wondrous, wondrous sleep.

Until another light began to exude from the direction he was now facing.

Cracking open an eyelid, he stared straight ahead at whoever was causing the disturbance. His bloodshot eye shot around the room a bit until finally focusing on the glowing red-yellow figure in front of him.

The Mars djinn cackled to itself in amusement, brightening the light it was producing now that it knew for certain that Pyre was awake.

Pyre stared at the little bugger for a full minute. His one eye glaring at it, until finally he leapt towards the immature little prick denying him his rest.

Only to be met with a wall to the face.

Pyre groaned in pain as he slumped to the floor.

The djinn laughed uproariously from behind him.

"Notveryfastforapegasusareya?"

Pyre seethed at the djinn's words before exhaling deeply.

The djinn had entered his house maybe a few months ago and had not ceased to bother Pyre from that moment onwards. It would follow him around town usually riding along his back, which Pyre now tolerated seeing as it was too quick to catch. When it first began doing this Pyre would try anything from throwing it off with his wings to, when he got bothered enough, bucking about trying to shake it loose. It would just jump off then hop back on when Pyre had his back turned.

Pyre realized it was just more pragmatic to accept it.

Not to mention it was almost incomprehensible to understand. It spoke so fast that its words almost blurred together. Pyre was getting better at understanding it now, but it was still a bother.

Pyre just decided to get up and move on with his day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After getting ready and having a nice breakfast of waffles, with the djinn's inane prattling going on in the background, Pyre stepped out the door with the djinn on his back, taking a deep breath of fresh air, ready to start the day.

Until he was blind-sided by a brown blur crashing into him and knocking him onto his side.

Pyre and his assailant rolled onto the ground into the middle of an intersection where a number of ponies stopped to stare, while a good amount of them continued on with their day already used to the shenanigans taking place.

They tumbled a bit more until their momentum died down and they settled onto the road with the blur atop Pyre's prone form.

"Yeesh, you'd think after all this time you'd remember to look both ways when you leave your house." Said the voice above him.

"I mean I wasn't even hiding this time!"

"Grr uff of mph Amph-erf."

"What was that?"

"I phaied," Pyre swatted his wings against the one holding him down, causing them to jump off to avoid them, allowing him to raise his head, "Get off of me Amber."

"Aww, don't be so mad Flare." Amber chuckled to herself, "It's all in good fun. Besides we wouldn't want to break with tradition now would we?"

Pyre made to speak up but Amber kept rambling, "Why, because of our traditions we've kept our balance for many, many months, here in Newvale. If we didn't have our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as.... as....." She pondered for a bit, tilting her head to the side before perking up and slapping a fist into her other paw, "A filly on the roo-"

A hoof quickly entered her mouth stymying her rant.

"That's enough of that," Pyre deadpanned, his eyes half-lidded. "I get it, you're not going to stop."

Amber then spat out his hoof and gave him a mock glare. "Don't you know where those hooves have been?! All over the ground!" She points an accusing claw at Pyre, "And you decided it was okay to insert it into my oral cavity!?" She threw her paws up into the air, "I'm going to have to sue you for emotional distress!" She began to look around, "Where's Common when you need him?"

Pyre slapped a hoof to his forehead, with the djinn giggling in the background, having jumped off his back the minute he was blind-sided.

"You done?" He asked, letting the edge show in his voice.

Amber shrugged, "Just about. Might have a bit more rhetoric in me later...... Maybe even a tirade!"

Pyre sighed, "Whatever, let's just get going, I have a few things to pick up at the market."

Pyre turned and trotted away towards the market, until his tail was grabbed and pulled back by Amber.

She spun him around to face her and gave him a bit of a strained smile, "Actually..... I could use your help with something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We're going to what?" Pyre asked, his voice loud enough to echo a bit, denoting the absurdity of what he was questioning.

Amber dug into her ear with one of her claws twisting at the volume of Pyre's voice.

"This is the third time I've explained this, how can you not wrap your head around it?"

"Humor me." Pyre growled out. The djinn on his back hopping about hanging from his wings and mane on occasion.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiine~~~," Amber groaned out. Trudging through the trees with Pyre beside her, heading to their destination.

She cleared her throat and began, "Aboyami came up to me yesterday, asking for a favor. She wanted me to head to Ghastly Gorge to get some...... quarray eel droppings."

Amber looked to the side and could see the stallion glaring at her.

"There's a reason as to why!" She exclaimed. Taking a deep breath, she began, "You see, the eels digest some of the crystals in the gorge along with whatever other animals they might catch. When they're done digesting it, and... you know," She shrugged her shoulders, "Doing as nature intended, they excrete this yellowish crystal-clay mush." She waved her arms in a motion as if describing its shape, "When Aboyami gets her hooves on them she can make a sort of mortar that when laced with a mixture of water and blueberries dries instantly." She got a grin to her face, "So it can work as a sort of portable clay, slap it onto a wall, smoosh something onto it, splash the water, and you've got a permanent addition." She eyed Pyre, "Due to the bonus that the mortar is nearly impossible to break when dry, it'll also work as great construction material."

"So why can't Aboyami do it herself?" Pyre asked, glaring at the djinn, who was now swinging off of his tail. "She's more familiar with the area anyways."

"She said she needed to head to Canterlot today with Shiver, Silver, and Snow. Something about confronting sun-butt or something."

They both paused and spat to the side thinking of the princess, while neither really hated her, since both were accosted by the guard. However, it was still the princess's guard, and so she was still at fault in a way.

"That the reason why Silver was going around asking about our grievances a few days back?"

"I think so," Amber nodded. "But she came to me due to the whole beacon thing, and you know, its effects."

Pyre nodded, staring at the little entourage of djinni that surrounded Amber. About a dozen or so Venus djinn were around here, some wild, some from the village. They were sitting complacently on her shoulders, or sometimes swimming in the very ground.

There was always one djinn around Amber though, her personal favorite, named Crust. It looked like a regular Venus djinn, but seemed to be covered with a layer of hard rock making it appear a bit bigger than the others, but not by much. His ability was pretty self-explanatory. He allowed Amber to cover herself in a suit of rock, crystal, really any nearby earthen material, that increased her defense and strength, at the cost of some speed. It had really helped out a few times when heavy materials needed to be moved about the village.

After she had been used by the star, more and more Venus djinni seemed to flock around her, drawn by some sort of force or another, she also seemed to have better control over her Venus psynergy as well, so that much was obvious as to why her services were required, but there was still one more thing.

"But why am I here?" Pyre asked, his right eye twitching a bit due to his own frustration and the nameless Mars djinn pulling at his right ear.

"Because of those wonderful appendages of course!" Amber pointed down to his wings.

"See, while I may be a diamond dog, that doesn't mean I can dig through diamonds, or solid rock for that matter," she began explaining, "While I could use psynergy to break through, I'll need whatever energy I can have to fight off those eels. And," she lifted a clawed finger from her paw, "A fun fact about Ghastly Gorge and quarray eels, while the gorge itself is completely made up of rock, old quarray eel tunnels tend to get filled with dirt and are usually connected with newer tunnels, the problem is finding them, they're a little few and far-between. So," she tapped a finger to her forehead, "You got it memorized? Or do you still want to complain some more?"

Pyre harrumphed loudly, but continued trotting along, the Mars djinn now laying on his back.

"You know," began Amber, a smirk on her face, "you're really picky when it comes to the things you complain about Flare."

Pyre gave her the stink eye, "What are you going on about now?"

"Well, it just seems to me that there are certain things you choose to let bother you." She explained, "You don't blow up about it unless you get really upset of course, letting things sort of simmer and build pressure, before," Amber moved her open paws out to the sides, "Ka-blooey!.... It's probably not all that healthy, but that's not my point. Anyways, my point is, how come you've never complained about the whole pouncing thing?"

Pyre's eyes widened a bit, but only a margin, "What are you talking about, I told you to get off of me just today."

"Yeah, but you never complained about it." She waved her paws in front of her, "You know, like tell me to stop or berate me or anything. Seems a little strange..." She trailed off a bit, smiling.

"Th-" Pyre was sweating a bit, by the end of Amber's questioning, but quickly regained composure. "That's because I know you wouldn't stop even if I asked." He muttered. "And I know you enjoy it, so I'll suffer a bit."

"*pfft* Don't lie to me," Amber crossed her arms, "If you hate it so much why are you always smiling while I tackle you?"

"Wh- what?"

"Can't fool meee~~~!" Amber teased, booping Pyre on the nose, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

He stood there slack jawed for a minute while Amber continued onwards whistling a merry tune to herself, before he finally came to his senses.

"Lies! All lies!" He shouted out.

Amber just laughed and kept on walking, Pyre behind her, grumbling to himself the whole rest of the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, I'll be in there for awhile Flare, you can go ahead and look around the gorge a bit if you want. There aren't any other predators around here, because of the eels, mostly just smaller animals."

Pyre nodded and watched as Amber dug into the dirt hole he had found, higher up into the gorge. He turned in the air and proceeded in a sedate pace going the opposite direction of the river's current at the bottom.

The djinn was pulling on his mane a bit, "C'monyagottagofaster.Thisissoboring,whyareyousoboringandslow?Yougottagozoomzoomzoom!"

"Look you little speed-freak." Pyre growled out at the annoyance, "I can do whatever I want, and you can do whatever you want, so just get off my back, and run around as much as you want, and just keep running and running and running until you're far away from he-"

Pyre stopped as he heard a shrill shriek ahead of him.

An orange blur was falling from the top of the gorge hurtling to the ground.

Pyre's eyes widened as he realized someone was falling to their death right in front of him.

"Sol dammit!" He began to beat his wings faster trying to get to what he could now tell was most likely a filly due to the size and the screams.

The wind was blowing in his face his mane swept back from the rush of the air, but still the filly fell faster, he wasn't going to make it.

"Thisstillisn'tfastenough." The djinn added his two cents. "You'rejusttooslowyou'llnevermakeitintimeshe'sgoingtodieandit'llbeyourfault."

Pyre grit his teeth, not even bothering to turn to the diminutive djinn on his back and yelled out, "Then help me already!"

The Mars djinn smiled to itself, "That'swhatI'vebeenwaitingfor."

The djinn poured its power into Pyre and he felt something build up in his wings, "What's going ooooOOOOONNNN?!?"

Pyre blasted forward heading straight towards the screaming filly, a trail of flames behind him. His wings were wreathed in fire, with several small jets of flame propelling him forward. Pyre's lips were pulled back from the speed he was going.

"Don'tflap!Justguide!" The Mars djinn yelled out.

Pyre barely took notice, orienting himself towards the flailing filly, grabbing one of her hooves at the last moment, "Gotcha!"

The filly looked up wide and teary eyed at her savior, her purple mane blowing from the speed they were now traveling. Until Pyre took note of the wall he was now heading towards at unheard of speeds and let loose a scream which caused the filly to notice the new impending doom she now faced and screamed as well.

"Flareyourwings!Flareyourwings!" The Mars djinn shrieked.

Doing the exact opposite of what years of flight told him to do, Pyre took the Mars djinn's advice and spread both of his wings as wide as he could.

"Nowmakethejetsmorepowerful!"

Pyre focused on the flames willing them to grow in intensity. The jets immediately responded turning blue and pushing back Pyre in the opposite direction. Straight into another wall.

"Notthatpowerful!"

"I'm trying!"

Pyre took a deep breath and oriented the spouts of fire on his wings in the opposite direction of the wall he was now heading towards, the filly gripping tightly to his neck.

He eased up on the power slowing down as he approached the wall until finally, his flank hit the wall lightly. Sighing in relief, he hovered there in mid-air suspended by the flames.

"That. Was so. AWESOME!" A tomboyish voice yelled out, directly next to Pyre's ear, causing them to go flat in pain.

"I was all like, 'aaaah no, somepony save me,' and then you were all, 'I'll save you!' And then you zoomed in and whoosh and catch and, and," the orange coated filly just stared at Pyre in awe, "Just wow."

"Uh-huh," Pyre grumbled as he carried the filly up to the top of the area where he saw her falling initially, only to be met by two more fillies who upon seeing the one in his forelegs jumped forward and latched onto her and Pyre, shouting about how worried they were and scared and all the other general things while Pyre began to tumble a bit, trying to adjust the flames due to the suddenly added weight.

"Off. Off. Get off!" Pyre yelled out, wobbling over the edge of the gorge.

The fillies finally jumped off of him and landed a foot or so away from the edge while Pyre allowed himself to land as well, a little bit closer to the edge.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to the fillies and was about to question them, right before he was interrupted by the yellow one that had a pink bow tied to her mane, "Thanks fer saving Scootaloo, mister."

"Yeah," piped up a squeaky voice coming from the white unicorn filly, "We were really scared...." she trailed off a bit, sniffling, wiping away the tears in her eyes. Now that Pyre noticed, he could also see that the earth pony's eyes were red as well.

"It's fine, I just want to know what you three are doing out here, this isn't the place for fillies to be all by themselves."

"Well ya see mister, uuuhh..." The yellow one began, pausing, not knowing the stallion in front of her.

"Pyre."

"Right! Well ya see mister Pyre," the yellow filly picked up again, "Me an' my friends here, Scootaloo," she pointed a hoof at the orange pegasus that was still looking at Pyre with a sort of gleam in her eyes. It was a bit freaky to be honest, "Sweetie Belle," the white unicorn was indicated and gave him a big smile, before her eyes drifted to a bright red and yellow blur on Pyre's back that quickly zoomed off down into the gorge, leaving the unicorn blinking owlishly. "An' me Applebloom," the earth pony indicated to herself and flashed a toothy grin. "Are tryin' ta get our cutie marks, cause we're...." her hooves reached around the other two fillies who took notice and inhaled deeply along with Applebloom in the center.

Pyre was beginning to feel a bit apprehensive about the whole situation, when, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!" The three fillies shouted from the top of their lungs making Pyre almost fall off the edge, his back left hoof actually hanging off it for a bit before he regained his footing.

"I think I've officially gone deaf in one ear." Pyre muttered as his right ear began to flop back and forth trying to regain its hearing.

He addressed the fillies again, "That still doesn't explain why you were out here, and why you," he pointed to the orange pegasus filly who looked a bit embarrassed, "Were falling to your death."

"Well, we were tryin' to get our cutie marks in cliff climbing." Apple Bloom piped up. "So we could be," she took in a deep a breath followed by the other two.

Pyre's eyes widened having a general idea of what was about to come, but was too late at raising even a single hoof to his ears.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLIFF CLIMBERS, YAY!!!" the combined shout echoed across the gorge causing some of the nearby slumbering eels to violently jolt awake, one of which hit the ceiling of its nest and promptly fell back into unconsciousness.

And the yell also caused Pyre's left ear to now give out, "That's okay, really, I didn't want to hear anyways." Pyre turned back to the fillies, shaking his head, so as to restore his sense of hearing, "So you decided to find your special talents," the three fillies nodded with smiles on their faces, "By going to a tall gorge," once again they nodded, "And throwing yourselves off said gorge-"

"That's not true!" Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah, we had rope!" Scootaloo motioned to a ratty rope that was barely holding together at the seams tied to a tree. "It just didn't hold." She folded her hooves across herself, a smug smile on her face, sure that she had proven that the trio had taken the correct precautions.

Pyre stared at the rope for five seconds.

"Fine. You threw yourself off a cliff, with what used to be a rope."

"Bu-"

"And then promptly fell to your death." Pyre turned a cold gaze at the orange filly. "You were lucky anybody was here at all." he continued with a quiet whisper from Sweetie Belle to Apple Bloom asking, "Doesn't he mean anypony?", who shrugged just glad that Scootaloo was getting the brunt of the lecture for now.

"And all for butt-marks?"

The three fillies gasped in unison, "Hey, ya'll don't know what you're saying!" Apple Bloom lashed out. "You jus' don't remember what it's like to be called a blank-flank, since you've already got your cutie mark!"

"Yeah!" Squeaked out Sweetie Belle. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you can trivi- trivial-..... make fun of cutie marks!"

Pyre sighed, "I'm not, it's just that throwing yourselves off cliffs doesn't seem the right way to do it."

"Well how else are we supposed to find out what were good at?!" Scootaloo's wings were buzzing in anger. "Everypony else knows what their good at besides for us!"

"What about everybody else?"

The three fillies quieted down after hearing Pyre's response. "What do ya mean 'everybody'?"

"What about the griffins, minotaurs, dragons, diamond dogs, changelings, donkeys, and even manticores?" Pyre questioned, "What about them?"

The three fillies' mouths dropped open as if never having contemplated what it was like, as a certainty, not ever knowing what their special talent would be, and how others even dealt with that.

"No answer right? Typical. I'll tell you," Pyre continued, "The other species of our planet get by just fine without knowing for sure what their special talent is, because they've waited and learned on their own. They don't need a special symbol or something to tell them that, and you three don't either."

"For all you know, you could be doing your special talent every day, and you all are none the wiser." A smug grin was on his face by the end of his explanation, staring at the fillies' shocked expressions as they digested the truth that was laid in front of them.

He had to get back to business though, "Now, I'm sure someone from your town is worried about you, so you should hurry back along." He turned around ready to glide down to Amber, sure she was finished by now, until he felt a tug on his tail.

"Not until you answer some of our questions." Scootaloo asserted, puffing out her chest trying to appear more intimidating. Combined with puppy dog eyes from the other two fillies behind her.

It was quite cute to be honest.

Groaning Pyre conceded, knowing true power when he saw it. "Fine. But only three."

Apple Bloom started first, "Where are ya from? The next batch of zap apples is coming in and I'd like ta send ya some, for helping Scootaloo here. If ah can convince my big sis."

"Newvale, and if anything just send us seeds and instructions on how to take care of them, it'd be more beneficial for the town."

"Sure can do," Apple Bloom beamed, "I'm sure Applejack wouldn't mind if we...."

The rest of what Apple Bloom was saying was lost on Pyre as he realized that this filly was sister to one of the elements. Sweating a bit, he tried to rack his brain to think of a way out of a catastrophe involving a certain brewer back at the town.

"Um, actually," he began hesitantly, "Your family is probably working all the time right?"

The filly nodded, "Eeeyup, there's always some sort of chore to do around the farm."

"So, well.... why don't you send it to my town by mail? You got a mail-stallion or mail-mare in town right?"

"I don't know, Derpy tends to lose a lot of packages." Apple Bloom thought aloud.

"Trust me," Pyre said, "It'd be better that way."

".....Well alright, but if it gets lost there's nothin' more ah can do for ya."

Pyre let out an internally held breath glad for having dodged that crisis.

"How'd you do that flame thing?" Scootaloo butted in, pushing Apple Bloom aside, who let out an indignant, "Hay!"

"It was so awesome, and fast, and cool, not as cool as a sonic rainboom, but just wow!" The pegasus filly beamed, awaiting an answer.

Pyre ground his hoof into the ground a bit thinking as to whether or not he should answer. On the one hoof, the less ponies that knew about psynergy the better, on the other, it was probably going to be pointless in a few years time as more and more adepts were born due to the beacons' influence.... and the psynergy stones they were already selling.

"It's something called 'psynergy'," Pyre demonstrated by lifting a hoof and igniting a flame causing Apple Bloom and Sweetie to jump back a bit, while Scootaloo loomed in with a, "Coooooool...."

"And before you ask, no, it's not magic." He willed the flame away and set his hoof down, "And only a few people can do it," he added, "You'd need to be able to see a djinn."

"Is that what that thing that flew off your back was?" Sweetie Belle piped up.

"Wait, what?" Pyre turned his head around to look at his back only to see that the Mars djinn had indeed left at some point during his conversation.

"Why that no good, stinking little!" Pyre fumed for a bit, before calming down. "Whatever, and yes," he turned to Sweetie Belle who was busy arguing with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom as to whether or not the djinn was really there. "And it looks like you're an adept. Congratulations. Just make sure you don't approach any weird creatures that your friends can't see in the wild. Those are wild djinn, and it's best to steer clear of them." Sweetie tilted her head to the side not really understanding but deciding to heed the advice.

"Right, last question, and hurry it up, I've got places to be."

Sweetie raised her hoof, expecting for Pyre to call on her. When he didn't and just stared at her, she lowered the hoof to the ground smiling sheepishly, before asking "I was just wondering Mister Pyre sir, how did you get your cutie mark?"

Pyre's eyes widened remembering the moment he had gotten his mark and repressed a shudder of remembering what led up to that moment of his life.

"Ooh that's a good one Sweetie!" Scootaloo said, "We haven't heard a good cutie mark story in a while."

"That's right," Apple Bloom added, none of the fillies noticing Pyre's face as it darkened a bit. "Ah'll bet mister Pyre here's got a doozie of a cutie mark story!"

The fillies turned to Pyre only to see him about ready to leap from the gorge and glide down back to where he came from.

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle cried out, her voice cracking, "You haven't answered my question!"

"I choose not to. That's not a story for little fillies as yourselves. Besides I already answered your question about the djinn, that's three right there."

"Can't you tell us something?" Scootaloo asked.

Pyre turned his head and looked at the three fillies who all took a step back at the look of weariness in his eyes, as if he had aged physically in front of them.

"Let's just say not all cutie marks have a happy story behind them and leave it at that okay?" He gave them a small smile, and turned his head back.

"I just hope yours do."

Pyre then leapt from the cliff and dived down, spreading his wings halfway, gliding back to Amber, leaving three fillies to ponder the words he left them with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What took you so long, Flare?" Amber asked, as Pyre landed in front of her, folding his wings to his sides. "You really enjoy the scenery that much?"

Pyre shrugged as he went to pick up some of the bags filled with eel droppings. "Just met a few locals from Ponyville. Maybe got a new source of food from them, don't know how good it'll be."

"You mean the town of ponies that houses the six closest mares to Celestia, not to mention a new princess?" she asked, one of her eyebrows raised questioningly.

"I.... guess so?" Pyre shrugged, his expression a little squeamish.

Amber snorted in amusement, as Pyre continued to pile on the saddle bags.

"For someone who claims he's antisocial, you sure do know how to make strange friends."

"It's not like I try to, it just sort of happens." Pyre grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, speaking of friends," Amber grunted a bit as she hefted a backpack over her shoulders, "What happened to your little buddy? You two were practically inseparable," Amber snickered, causing Pyre to give her a pointed look.

He was about to respond when suddenly, "Watchout!Ihaven'tlearnedtobrakewiththesethingsyet!"

He was bowled over by a red blur that slammed into him, and caused them both to skid a few feet hitting the gorge's wall.

Pyre's eyes rolled in their sockets a bit while Amber rolled on the ground laughing her arse off.

Once his eyes were back to normal, he looked down at his barrel, to see a somewhat familiar sight in front of him.

The Mars djinn had come back but this time it had some additions. It seemed a bit more streamlined, aerodynamic. But the most notable aspect about it were the jagged wings protruding from its sides. They looked mostly ridged, but it seemed that they could be folded up, but they definitely were not designed for flapping. Instead, it seemed the way the djinn gained speed and moved through the air were from spaces in between the bladed wings that exuded jet flames that propelled it forward.

Shaking its head, the djinn looked around and then visibly brightened when its eyes landed on Pyre.

"Iknewyou'dbeabltohelpmeoutIjustknewit!" It gushed rapidly. "Iwasjustmissingthatonepiece,andyoushowedmewhatitwas!I'dneverhadbeenabletothinkofthat!"

Pyre was about to remind the djinn that he could only ever understand half of what it was saying, and to speak in smaller sentences only for the djinn to speak up again this time much slower.

"Sorry, boss. I've still sort of got to get used to this."

Pyre's eyes boggled out of his skull, as he stared at the mars djinn as it finally spoke at a normal speed.

"You mean to tell me," Pyre paused to gather saliva in his suddenly dry mouth, "That you could speak normally this whole time?"

Pyre wasn't sure what he looked like at the moment, but judging by how the djinn shrunk in on itself and the general feeling of sheer malice that was rolling through his eyes right now, made him think for no reason in particular to call it a 'shooty look'.

"Whoawhoa calmdownbossI-" the mars djinn paused and took a deep breath before continuing. It seemed to almost be straining to speak slowly. "Look, I could only dothis until now, I sort of learned earlier upthere in that whole youknow lifeordeath situation what I needed to know."

Calming down a bit, and a little curious as to what the Mars djinn was getting at, Pyre asked "And what was that?"

"Control." The djinn immediately answered, "See, I always thought thatspeedwas what mattered most, but it was like Icouldn'tgoany faster at a certain point, and Istillcouldn't learn my name." The djinn continued, "So I beganlooking around in Newvale for an adept that couldhelpme progress in life, andloandbehold, I found you." It nudged a wing at Pyre.

"At first I was wondering astohow you could help me, and I really doubted thatyoucould. But still a djinn's noseknows. So I decided to stick with you for a while seeifyoucouldhelp me figure itout. And then," the djinn spread its new wings as far as it could small jet flames spurting out "You showed me what you could do ifyouasserted control! I learned that speed is great, butit'snothing without being able to control it!"

The jets suddenly flared up more, causing the djinn to spiral about in the air before it cut the power and landed in a heap in front of Pyre.

"ObviouslyI'vegottoworkonitalittlemore." It straightened itself out, and looked to Pyre, "That's why I'll be staying with you for a good long while, asadebt and to better learn howtocontrol myself."

"...... Does this mean, that you won't be waking me up at seven AM every morning?"

"Ofcourse!" Pyre sighed in relief, "Nowit'llbesixinthemorning! Fortraining!"

One could almost hear glass shatter as Pyre processed what was said and his face twitched at the thought of waking up at six every morning. Knowing that he had no choice but to accept his awful fate.

Amber giggled a bit at what was transpiring, "Sucks to be you doesn't it Flare?"

"Thanks for caring, you fleabag."

"Eh," she shrugged her shoulders, "I try. Now c'mon! Daylight's a-wasting!"

Hefting the bags up, Pyre regarded the Mars djinn. "So what do I call you now?"

"What?" the djinn asked.

"You know," Pyre began to move forward, "Your name."

"Ohright!" The djinn hopped onto Pyre's back, twirling around a bit, "Call me Jet."

".....Well it's fitting I suppose."

Jet nodded enthusiastically and took to the air with a "Wooooo!" doing a few flips and tricks.

Pyre caught up with Amber and asked, "So how much of those droppings were you able to get?"

"A good amount, but to be honest they won't last us all that long, seeing how useful it is. So," Amber reached into a side pouch of her backpack and dug out a roughly oblong shaped sphere, "I snatched this!"

The sphere's surface was rough and mottled with splotches here and there upon it.

"Is that an egg?" Pyre asked, a little trepidation in his voice.

"Got it in one!" Amber smiled, "I read that the minotaurs domesticate quarray eels, and they grow much smaller. Probably due to being in a different environment or something. This also holds more than one eel in here, probably four, eel eggs tend to do that. Anyways, this means we can get a steady supply of the droppings rather than having to go all the way out to the gorge and risk getting eaten!" Amber smiled at her accomplishment while Pyre seemed a bit more skeptical.

"And where exactly did you find that egg?"

Amber shrugged, "It was in that abandoned nest you found for me, the eggs are pretty hardy, and tend to go into a sort of suspended state if there's nothing to keep them warm after a while."

"And you're sure that we won't be attacked or anything on our way out?"

"Weeeeeeell...."

Pyre's right eyelid twitched, "Well, what?"

"Sometimes, mother eels who just laid a clutch get a little maternal, and will adopt an egg from another clutch if they find one." Pyre glared at her, "But the chance of that happening is like one out of ten, so we should be fi-"

A cracking splitting sound was heard behind them, causing the two to turn and look as to what caused it, only to be greeted by a purple-pink fin heading directly at them, attached to the much larger eel that was currently burrowing towards them.

"Time to run!" Amber yelled frantically, already speeding away as fast as her legs could carry her, Pyre right on her tail.

The eel let out a roar as its prey began their escape.

"I hate you!" Pyre called out loudly, only to be met with Amber's wild laughter as they continued to run for their lives, "I hate you so much!"

"Then stop smiling!"

Chapter 8 - Crystaline capers composed of confrontation

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 9 - Libera Mentem Tuam

The worst sensation in the world that I have ever had the displeasure to experience was...well, the moment contained in Eureka. No physical pain, true, but I never quite recovered from that mental agony. I can always go back and look. The wound is still there, my friends and family just helped me cover it up. I've gotten better about it.

The second worse sensation has got to be what happened immediately after the crystal exploded in my face. Because I can't recall it. All I know is that the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed, with a wide variety of machines beeping around me. I shifted around a little bit as I went over my own memories and realized what had happened, then began to curse out the stallion in my head.

A polite cough drew my attention, and I saw that near my hospital room was a crystal pony wearing a nurse's cap. She had a white coat and blue mane and tail, and naturally it had all been given the crystal treatment, making her seem something like a diamond-and-sapphire combination. She smiled once she saw I was awake and paying attention to her, and she pulled a clipboard out from the front of the bed I was on. (Where they got a bed my size, I haven't the foggiest.)

"Well mister Auric Fulcrum, it looks like you're going to make a full recovery. It was a bit touchy for a minute, but once we got all those shards out of your face, your own magic helped us along. Were you any po- er, one else, I can't say what would have happened."

I nodded as the words sunk in, realizing suddenly that I had far more power than I had when I was knocked out. Checking, I found that the drain from keeping the mountain up had decreased by half. I probably should look into that, but I was stopped from doing so when I realized the nurse had stopped talking.

"I'm dreadfully sorry nurse..." I prompted.

"Oh! I'm Nurse Touch. Soothing Touch," she replied, giving me a small nod of her head.

"Soothing Touch. A wonderful name, m'dear," I replied, making her blush a bit (which looks completely weird on a crystal pony). "But I was thinking of something else at the moment."

"Oh it's not a problem at all, Auric Fulcrum," she replied. "I was merely asking if you required anything."

I smiled and held up my right hand. "Two things. One," I extended my pointer finger, "Call me Auric. Just Auric. Was never one for the whole full name or formality business."

She giggled a bit at that. "And the other, Auric?"

I extended my middle finger then. "Could you get Shining Armor in here, please? I have questions, and I believe he'll have answers."

She nodded at that. "I think he wanted to be told anyways. I'll pass the word along."

It was a boring half-hour wait, during which I located and donned my clothes and noted that they had returned to their Day coloration, but Shining and Cadence eventually showed up. And then something happened to me which I would never expect to have happen.

Just as I swung myself half off the bed and prepared to stand up, Cadence rushed me and began hugging the life out of me.

Seriously, I was afraid for my life, she was hugging so hard. I noticed Shiny looking quite amused at the door, and I shot him the nastiest glare I could manage while being suffocated.

Eventually the two of us pried her off me, and she apologized over and over once she saw how blue my face had become. I held up a hand to stem the tide of apologies as I recovered, and she sat down while I regained my breath. Eventually, I felt well enough to form words and sentences again. "What," I gasped out, "was that all about?"

"You saved the ponies from that mare. You helped me realize what I needed to do during the time of crisis. I felt the need to thank you somehow."

I popped my neck to work out what I was sure was going to be a kink later. "Yeah, but typically you don't suffocate those that you're thanking."

As she looked abashed for a moment, I turned to Shining. "So where's the mare?"

He frowned. "Being treated just a few doors down. Physically, she's fine. But mentally, she's got no activity. Whatever you did, she's not waking up, and we don't know why."

I blanched as I realized just how bad the crystal had been to the mare. I pushed both of them aside and saw Soothing Touch standing outside. "The mare that was brought in with me! White coat, black and grey mane, flask for a mark, where is she?!"

Surprised at the ferocity of my question, she pointed down the hall to the right, directly at a pair of crystal guards standing outside a door. Hearing the commotion and seeing me as the source, they lowered their spears and scraped at the ground. "Oh I do not have TIME for this!"

I thrust my hands at them and called up what I could of Whirlwind that would not blow out walls. The guards were thrown down the hall by the force of the wind I had conjured, and I burst into the room they had been positioned in front of.

The mare I recalled was strapped into a bed with various monitoring devices attached to her. Her heart rate was fine, but her brain activity had dropped to near non-existent levels. I drew my sword and began to focus on what I could recall of my brief fascination with Latin.

"Cogito, ergo sum," I muttered, and Eureka glinted, shining from within. I was on a right track, then. "Et sic praecipio tibi, intellege te ipsam."

Or, for those of you without any Latin, "I think, therefore, I am. And thus I command thee, understand thyself."

The blade practically shone, then, and I brought it to rest on the mare's head. The shine transferred from the sword to her, and for a few seconds, it was like there was a second, mare-shaped sun in the ward. The light lasted for about thirty seconds, and in that time, the guards, Shiny, and Cadence had appeared at the door. It eventually dissipated, and then the monitors showed the result I had been hoping for.

Her brain activity spiked. It took a moment, but her eyes opened and looked around. Once she caught sight of me, she gasped, and I swore I saw tears starting to form. Her horn lit up, the things attached to her flew off, and she jumped up at me. Instinct demanded I catch her, and so I did, and was the recipient of my second pony-hug. All the while, she was crying, and when she wasn't, she said the same two words over and over again.

"Thank you."

I turned to Cadence and Shining, and they seemed vaguely amused by my predicament.

I was sitting in the throne room, with Measured Thought laid across my lap.

What? It was comfy for her, and made it easy to get at her ears, which appear to be a weak point of most ponies. As long as you know what you're doing, that is.

Don't give me that look, I tried to get away from her, but from the moment she had managed to stop crying, she didn't want to let go of me. I swear, this mare was less like a pony and more like a limpet. I may have set her down once she stopped weeping all her fluids over my back, but she kept right by my legs on the walk to the palace. And she hopped up onto my lap the moment I sat down.

Seriously, this level of attachment was unhealthy. For one of us at least.

Cadence and Shining sat at the opposite side of the table, and I prodded Measured with my other hand, the one not busy scratching behind her ears. She blinked a few times, but turned towards the leaders of the Crystal Empire and began her tale.

Apparently, she'd been a researcher at the Canterlot Research Academy for a good portion of her adult life. One day, she had been offered a post in the newest department, that of researching moi and the powers I used. This was back when I was still Dullahan, mind. She was performing an experiment on some imported soil from the Crystal Empire when her superior came up behind her and...

From then on out it was like a living nightmare. She saw the worst actions she'd been forced to perform while some other stallion used her body like a meat puppet. Trapped inside her own body, screaming inside her own head, begging for freedom in one fashion or another. When I had yanked the crystal out, it was during one of those rare moments when she was aware of everything going on, and the last thing she saw was me yelling at her puppeteer.

Then, it was darkness. She had retreated inside her own head rather than even attempt to wake up from her nightmare. She couldn't believe that she could ever truly be free or forgiven. She wallowed in the darkness that she had been forced to perform.

And then there was light.

She suddenly Understood that she was not at fault, nor would she be held accountable. Probably from me tapping her with Eureka. From then on, she wanted to live, and fought to wake up. When she saw me standing over her, she felt nothing but gratitude. Apparently, I had saved her twice over, and she wouldn't be leaving my side anytime soon.

Cadence giggled at that, and even Shiny let out a snort of amusement. "Well, you seem to have a new fan, Auric."

I rolled my eyes and resumed scratching at Measured's ears. "So long as she doesn't become a creepy obsessive fanmare stalker, I'll be fine. And even if she did, I have quite a bit of power on-call."

I poked her in the ribs, causing her to let out a squeak, followed by a huff of indignation. "Y'hear that, little miss? Don't mess with me, or I'll get creative. I've dissolved things, y'know."

At first, she blanched (somehow), but then she started grinning. "Really? You can shatter the bonds that hold all matter together? I would love to see a demonstration."

I sighed, rolled my eyes, and looked to Cadence. "Is there nothing that you can do? I mean, having an admirer is fine and dandy, but one that cannot leave me be is going to get annoying, fast."

Cadence put a hoof to her chin and hummed again. "Didn't you found a town? I think my aunts told me it was called Newvale. Can't you bring her there? She'd be in good hooves, or at least, amongst those that also like you."

I shook my head. "That is the opposite of a good idea. If we were to draw a line between that idea and a good one, it would describe a line too big to fit in the constraints of the universe."

Shining actually laughed then. Apparently, he thought it was a joke. And funny. Note to self: buy him a joke book.

I sighed and put my head in my hands, causing Measured to whine a bit as the scratching stopped. "What I need is someone versed in psychiatry. I can't just dump her anywhere, my heart won't let me do that until she's capable of going five minutes without me."

At this, Cadence got the biggest grin. I am not joking. It was so large, I felt the idea before she said it. And when she opened her mouth, it only intensified.

"Well," she said, "my sister-in-law has been said to be the smartest filly in Equestria. I'm certain she'll be willing to help you and her out."

I made the connection and groaned out loud, much to the ruler's amusement and Measured's bemusement.

A good while later, Measured and I had arrived via train in Ponyville. The first thing we did when we got off the train was orientate ourselves and find the library. It didn't take too long, seeing as how it was literally the only tree-building in town.

Once I entered, though, I was met with, not a dragon, nor a pony, but an owl. I stood there for a moment before said owl hooted and pointed at the table in the middle. Looking at it, I saw a note.

Dear Visitors,

Today, Spike and I are going to the Everfree Castle, in search of any artifacts or books that have survived the past thousand years. We expect to return within a day or two at most. If you desire a book, please write your name and the book you desire on the check-out list.

Much appreciated,
Twilight Sparkle
-And Spike!

I turned towards Measured and sighed. "Well, let's make ourselves comfortable and look after the library for them while they're out, then."

At this, the owl hooted, and I turned towards it and raised an eyebrow. "What, do you not approve of my plans?"

The owl considered for a moment, then shook its head. "Oh, so you were thanking me?"

It nodded, and I smiled. "Well, you're welcome. Get some rest, aren't owls primarily nocturnal creatures?"

The owl nodded, hooted, and flapped off to some other corner of the library. I turned back to Measured Thought, who was already perusing the shelves, but the moment I sat down, she sidled up next to me, to where I would have an easy time if I wanted to scratch behind her ears, and looked up at me expectantly.

I merely sighed and began to give her a little scratch session. "You're lucky I find ponies adorable," I said.

And thus, we waited for the librarian and her assistant to return.

Author's Note

All of the Latin you see here was pulled offa Google Translate: I did not take any courses in the language. I DID, however, run all my phrases through both ways to make sure it read exactly the way I wanted it to read.
If an ACTUAL student of the language wants to come in and correct me, feel bloody free.
I'm still keeping up with that 96% rating, and the fav counter reads...714!

Chapter 10 - The storm before the hurricane

The scene Sparkle came back to would probably be remembered by her as one of the more weird things she'd experienced in her life. It was getting to the point where I wouldn't even bat an eye at it, but at the time, it was still slightly uncomfortable for me, too.

I mean, I stopped seeing ponies as animals the moment I realized they were the dominant life form. So treating Measured Thought like she was some sort of oversized cat or dog as she lay on my lap was sort of...well, I felt like it should be degrading to her, and thus, felt like it should be weird for me.

The fact that she let out little moans of enjoyment when I switched up the patting for scratching didn't help alleviate said weirdness.

I looked up from the book I was reading as I idly kept petting Measured to see Sparkle's confused face and Spike barely holding in his laughter. "Well, Miss Sparkle, we meet again."

At that, the drake couldn't hold in his merriment anymore. It took him a few minutes of rolling around on the floor, but eventually he got himself somewhat under control again. The three of us regarded him with slight looks of bemusement before he could finally say why he was laughing so hard.

"You..." He wiped a tear from one eye. "You sounded..." He dusted himself off and managed to look directly at Measured and me and started to chuckle again. "You sounded like a cheesy villain from one of my comics!"

I blinked for a few minutes, then smiled and resumed petting Measured while dropping my voice into a terrible villain's voice. "Zo, agent Spike, you haff come into mah laaaaair? Prepare to pay ze penalty!"

At this, Spike collapsed again, while Twilight let out a slight sigh and rolled her eyes. "Stallions," she muttered. Measured, meanwhile, had this most adorable look of confusion on her face as she glanced from Spike to me, then back to Spike. I closed my book and waggled a finger at Twilight.

"I am proud to say that I am not a stallion. One hundred percent upgraded human."

Twilight rolled her eyes again, but this time, she was clearly aggravated. "Fine. Males, are you happy?"

I nodded and put my book on a nearby table. "Better. Now, do you have time in your busy schedule for a small interview?"

Her horn glowed and from upstairs came a schedule that she quickly perused. "I think so. So long as we keep the amount of questions and the responses to them short, then I can get to my studying without too much delay."

I sighed, typical Sparkle. "One of these days, m'dear, you're going to need to learn how to cut loose and..." Then I grinned. "Y'know, I just had the wildest idea. Spike, c'mere."

Twilight looked a little apprehensive, whereas I could see the spark of mischief in the eyes of the drake. I leaned in and whispered my plan to him, causing Measured to squeak a bit as I essentially near-smothered her. I leaned back up and Spike grinned and nodded at me. "Sounds like an excellent plan," he said.

Twilight looked from me to Spike, then back to me. "What did you two just plan? Should I be worried?"

Spike looked to me and grinned, and I nodded. "Well," he began, "Auric here agrees that you're too wound up and committed to your schedules and plans..."

"So," I picked up, "Unless you take one day each week, say, Saturday or Sunday, and go at it without a schedule, then I won't answer your questions that week, but rather, find Lyra, and we'll have an exclusive Q & A session."

"And," Spike continued as Twilight's eyes shrank to pinpricks, "I'll tell him when he shows up if you did or not, along with any blowouts you may have had because you stuck to your schedule."

Twilight was breathing rapidly, and her eyes were flitting back and forth as she contemplated the plan I had all but forced on her. Stuck between an immovable object and an unstoppable force, she started to panic. I poked Measured, and she hopped off my lap, letting me up so I could begin soothing the rabid Twilight.

"Shh," I whispered to her as I began stroking her neck. "It's okay. It's okay. It's not the end of the world." Then I got a wild, evil idea. One that would persuade her. "After all, the world existed for a good fifteen hundred years before you. If you don't plan out all your days, I'm pretty sure the sun and moon will keep shining."

Twilight's breathing started to normalize and her eyes slowly returned to normal. "You're right," she said. "I hate it, but you're right." She turned to face me full on and gave me her best glare. "Can you answer one question, though?" I nodded, and she continued. "Why do you want me to do this?"

I stared at her for a few minutes, then pointed at the emblem on my clothing. "Uh, hello? Knight of the Eclipse? All about balancing things out? My dear, you're one step away from snapping, constantly. That is not how a healthy pony lives. You're so...ordered! Structured! You need to learn how to let loose once in a while! Have fun! Be spontaneous! I don't see any of your other friends living to such a rigid schedule, and they seem fine!"

There was the sound of a balloon deflating, and with a flash, Discord was standing behind Twilight. "Indeed," he said, "Auric makes a fine point. It was bad enough when you were a unicorn, but now that you're an alicorn, you need to learn how to take days for yourself. Otherwise, the resulting blowout..."

He and I shared a grin while Twilight looked at him with a perplexed expression. "How bad?"

"Put it this way," I interjected, "How fond are you of this side of the planet?"

Twilight's eyes began to shrink down to pinpricks again, so I went for the ears. She sighed and closed her eyes, then began leaning into the scratching. "That feels good," she muttered. "How did you get so good at this?"

Measured let out a small giggle. "I had practice," I deadpanned. "Lots and lots of practice."

Twilight sighed again, then opened her eyes and glanced at both me, then Discord. "So, how do you two know each other?"

"Pfft, that's easy. He was the only one not afraid of me when I showed up."

Discord nodded. "If anything, I was cocky, overconfident, and intrigued." He then pulled a face of disgust. "Of course, that backfired the moment I touched your sword..."

I pulled a faux glare. "Hey! I told you not to! But noooo, the spirit of chaos just haaaad to touch the sword. Hell, I knew it was magical, you just confirmed how bad it was!"

Discord nodded. "True, true. And I think if I could do it all over again, I'd probably do it again." He then smiled slightly. "I never blamed you, you know."

I sighed and stood back up and headed back to the chair. "I sorta suspected not, but it does the mind good to hear it."

I sat down, Measured leaped back into my lap, and I glared at her a little bit. "Seriously?"

She only nodded, and I sighed and resumed petting her. I looked over to Discord and grinned a little bit. "So, I noticed that the drain from keeping Canterlot stable has gone down considerably. You wouldn't happen to know why that is, would you?"

Discord smiled at me then. "Well, apparently there was some sort of crisis, what with the Tree of Harmony getting taken over by Plunder Vines, both Celestial Princesses vanishing, and having to return the Elements of Harmony to where they came from. All that delicious chaos..." Here he hugged himself. "It was invigorating! So I used what I could spare to help you. Half the mountain is stable now."

I blinked a few times at that. "Right. We'll go over the details later. What's important is, more of my power is freed up."

Twilight coughed slightly, and both of us turned towards her. "I, uh, have a few more questions, Auric."

I nodded. "Fire away."

Here she pointed a hoof at the puddle of mare in my lap. "Just who is she?"

"Ah," I said, and picked up the mare like one would a cat, causing her to squeak. "Measured Thought, meet Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, it is my honor to introduce you to Measured Thought, the mare that won't leave me be." Here I put Measured back in my lap, where she merely sat and started to blush a bit.

"Aaaaand why is that?"

I chuckled a bit. "Well, it may have something to do with being freed from the mind control of a truly evil pony, or perhaps showing her that she will not be held accountable for the things she did. Or perhaps my knowledge of the weakness of ponykind."

Here I scratched her behind the ears for a second, which caused her to hum. Twilight blanched at the mention of mind control. "How...bad was it?"

I gave her my sternest glare. "She was a meat puppet, Twilight. None of her actions were her own."

At this, the newly-made alicorn began pacing. "Something like that...would require a medium, a transmitter. An object of great power, both at the location of the subject and the location of the controller..."

I held up a hand, and Twilight turned to face me. "There was an object, a crystal with eight facets, shaped like a D8, implanted just under her skin. Except for numbers, there were runes of power carved into it, and it controlled all her voluntary functions. It's a subtle sort of magic, you don't notice it unless you're really looking for it, but once you do, you can't not see it."

Twilight had pulled out a scroll and quill and sketched out what I had described, and Spike was off to the shelves, looking for a book that would help her in her search. Measured merely looked up at me. "Um," she questioned, "How long have you and Discord known each other?"

He and I laughed at that. "Good golly. Well, we're not exactly the closest of friends, but he and I get on great because we're both creatures of chaos. Though, I do have a bit of sanity to balance me out. It's fleeting, but it's there."

Discord nodded and conjured up a glass of chocolate milk to drink. "Indeed, it's a wonder our friendship survived this past millennium and a half. You didn't write at all!"

At this, Twilight stopped her search and turned, slowly, to face us. I didn't notice, though, and if I had, I would have fled. "Well it's not like I could have done anything, chained up in the basement! Gods, why did they even have chains in their basement? Were they into BDSM?"

Discord and I cringed at the mental imagery I had just conjured, and Discord turned his glass into a toilet brush and began ramming it through his ears. "Must clean the brain, must clean the brain."

Twilight stood in front of me, her wings splayed, her hoof scraping the ground, her hair and fur frizzed, and her eyes alight with some sort of fire behind them. I took notice of this just as she began to speak. "You mean to tell me you and that Dullahan and the Dullahan of today are all connected? All of you are responsible for the actions that he committed?"

I put a hand to my chin, not quite aware of the danger yet. "Well, up until the Golden Sun shone, there was only Dullahan. Afterwards, there was him and me. But I was always the one in control."

"So it was you who broke into the library."

I noticed where she was going with this. "Yeeees..."

"And ponynapped that stallion, and took the generator."

"True, but we returned those."

"And burned down half the Archive."

The air was thick with tension and magic, so I made an executive decision. "Bye!"

Grasping Measured close to myself, she and I teleported away.

We reappeared at the edge of Newvale, to see something quite startling. Namely, Dullahan out and about.

Ah, Auric, I was hoping you'd return.

Then I looked behind him, to see that the town was under a Ward-Guard bubble, and a huge mirror was behind him. "What's with the security? And the mirror?"

Just as I asked that, I heard a magically amplified voice from behind me. "CITIZENS OF NEWVALE, THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! SURRENDER YOURSELVES TO THE C R A NOW, OR WE WILL TAKE YOU IN BY FORCE!"

A chill went up my spine then, and I turned around to see approximately forty ponies on the road behind me. All of them with glazed-over eyes, except for one at the back. They were about two hundred and fifty feet away from the bubble, but even then, I could tell two things.

One: they could wield Pysnergy. It was getting to the point where I could tell when someone was an Adept or not when I came into range of them. Which leads into number two.

That they should not be capable of it. It felt like someone had twisted a pony into an Adept.

The mirror is here because I heard a Call, one that could help. A female said, 'Residents of the Multiverse, on behalf of Lord Nocturne Overlord of Tartarus I bid you welcome and pledge the support of any who would stand against the stagnant status of the world. For as darkness and shadows may not exist without light, so too can light not exist without shadows. So if you ever have need of a demon to bolster your skills, an ally that will be there whenever you call simply find a reflective surface and call us. We will answer.' And then a male said this rhyme. 'If you ever need help, just remember this phrase. Take a look in a mirror to see a choice made clearer, invite a demon to dinner and become the fight's winner.' As such, I asked for a mirror to take with me, just in case this fight was too much, and then instructed those in the town to protect it.

I looked from the armor, to the mirror, to the ponies down the road, and then back to the mirror.

"My world has all sorts of fables about those that deal with the devil and dance with demons, but I'll take what help I can get. Besides, just because one is a demon, doesn't mean one is evil. I'm willing to give everyone a chance to prove themselves."

I strode up to the mirror and placed my hands on it, then did what I thought would work best.

"Lord Nocturne, this is Auric Fulcrum, Knight of the Eclipse. If you can hear me across the Void Eternal and That Which Fills It, I call on you and yours. Help protect me and mine. No price is too great to help bring back the balance between the light and the dark."

The mirror shimmered a bit at my words, and I only hoped he would hear me.

Author's Note

Beep, beep! Incoming crossover!
Camlio asked to do one with me from his story of So, I'm supposed to be an overlord now?, and I finally found a way to write him in.
It might take us a while to hammer out the details, but we'll strive to make it worthy of you guys!
(Plus it'll give me time to myself while he gets back to me.)

Chapter 11 - The Defense of Newvale

Netherworld, Tartarus. Nocturne’s World

Nocturne could feel the world around him ripple as he walked through the gates of Tartarus. The words ringing in his ears were that of a summons, he would be able to tell them anywhere as he never forgot that his people by their nature were summoned familiars at their core.

As the words rang out he placed a hand to his throat which let his next words reverb through all of Tartarus. “Oh… this’ll be fun. Sandy, Abigail, Freya! We’ve got work! Get my weapon and the troops loaded up! Oh…and wake up one of our top tier dragons! I think we’re gonna need the big guns!” Was all he said as the world around him rippled further before a glowing silver mirror the length of his body ripped itself into existence which would lead him to his army.

After deciding on his choice of action he commanded a list of demons to find their way to the gatekeeper. Seven fighters, Four Monks, Six Mages of each color. Three were Skulls (Male mage demons), the other three the females as both genders specialized in certain spells. He had summoned five clerics as he did not know how many foes would clash with his forces, and he needed to be sure that he kept those he was defending safe and alive.

In the back of his group was Sandy wielding her Rifle and the Twins, Abigail and Freya both of which weilded a polearm. Behind the twins was a massive creature of unbridled dark energy, the Dark Dragon Bahamut.

“So then… let’s get to work shall we?” He said as Sandy handed him an odd weapon, it looked like a harp at first glance until it unfolded into a massive greatbow. After he made sure the weapon was ready the world rippled as he heard the gatekeeper call out.

“Your pleas are heard, THE CONTRACT IS SEALED.”

Newvale

The air was charged with energy as those words rang out. The mirror seemed to ripple like the surface of a lake after a stone was tossed inside before red hair parted the reflective surface. This red hair was soon followed by the rest of the head of a creature, humanoid in shape but entirely it’s own.

“Well… this place is nice, it feels roomy enough.” The creature said with a smile as it continued to pry itself from the mirror.

“It should, Dully here dragged a mirror out of the town limits before it sealed itself up,” Auric rejoined. “If the outdoors isn’t large enough, either you need a diet or to deflate your ego.”

The creature huffed slightly as it fully emerged, it stood at a rather… short five foot seven at least compared to the size of the creatures that came through the mirror behind it. Including a sand colored mare like woman who stood easily nine feet tall. Auric whistled at the sight.

“Well, I knew you came from a different Equestria, but just how different, I wasn’t aware. Still, pretty impressive.”

The mare giggled softly at that. “Why thank you sir, Sandy Beaches at your service. Now where is the enemy?” She asked as the demons just continued to pour forth from the mirror like a tap had been broken and allowed water to flow freely. All of them humanoid in shape besides a MASSIVE Dragon that ripped it’s head from the mirror and would look like the bastard child of the Eclipse summon crossed with the Tiamat summon.

Auric visibly gulped, whereas Dullahan remained staring at the road. Down the path lie forty ponies, all being controlled. One of them is not.

Auric nodded as Dullahan’s words got through to him. “Yes, and there are ten of each alignment. Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter. If you can, please, don’t kill them. There will be a small crystal embedded just under the skin, where the skull meets the spine. Drain it of its power, remove it, and they should be free. Be careful, the guy on the other end likes to blow them up in faces. I only ask for one of those so I can try to figure out the pony behind it, and the one who doesn’t have one delivered alive.” Here he gained a wicked smile. “How alive is up to you.”

The smile that flowed onto the leader’s face was creepy to say the least. “So… no casualties, bring back the enemy tech, and bring back their leader? OOooooh you drive a hard bargain. We can do that though.” He smiled as his fangs glinted in the light and his wings flowed outwards with sprays of blood behind him.

Auric shrugged. “They’re innocent. And the crystals have a great amount of power behind them. Though, if you want, I might be able to arrange a small...meeting, in the Sanctum after, between you and a summoning tablet or two. Provided ol’ headless here agrees.”

The armor merely did its version of a nod. Should they prove capable, I will have no objections.

The demons that came through last, a pair of succubi which appeared to be twins with red and blue as their color schemes and holding lances smiled as they caught the word summoning. “Oooh, this world has summoning! Can we stay and see if we can establish a breeding network after?” The red haired demon with blue eyes said almost far too happy for this kind of environment.

“That’s up to them, but that’s also after we work… Bahamut… knock on the door.” The leader said as he pulled a large harp from his back that unfolded into a massive bow.

Auric pulled his sword from his sheath and then suddenly realized his small problem. Namely, the mare that had been set nearby. “Um. Well, this is awkward. Measured, please stick near the mirror. I think it’s probably the safest place here.”

The large sand colored mare smiled. “Don’t worry sir, we take great pride in our work and keeping non-combatants safe from harm. Simply send anyone who you need protected out towards me and the healers and we’ll do our best to keep them safe.” She said with a kind tone. Her golden eyes looking much like those of the mint mare he’d met briefly the other day.

Auric nodded as Measured trotted up next to Sandy at a measured pace. He then turned to face his enemy and scowled. “Dully, shall we introduce ourselves to our foes and allies?”

The armor drew his dark blade and nodded. We shall. He strode forward a pace and pointed at the brainwashed. I am the shadow, the darkness, the elemental wraith. For fifteen hundred years I was imprisoned, and the values of the boy slowly became mine own. No longer am I a mindless watchdog. I am the protector of Newvale and those that dwell within, the dispenser of justice for the wronged. You who threaten this town and its peace, I call you mine foe. I am Dullahan, and there is nowhere you can run, for in the shadows, I am already there.

Auric motioned to the leader of the demons he’d called then, as though telling him to go next. The demon smiled and leaped onto the head of the massive dragon. “HEAR ME MORTALS!” His hand going to his throat to create an effect of amplifying his voice. “FROM THE PITS OF TARTARUS I HAVE STRODE FORTH AT THE CALL OF MY SUMMONER TO FULFILL THE CONTRACT SIGNED IN MANA AND WRIT IN THE BLOOD OF THOSE YOU HAVE TARNISHED.” He said as he pointed at the brainwashed leader and removed his hand from his throat to do so. “I am Overlord Nocturne, the master of Tartarus, the king of demons, and the slayer of darkness. For none shall be darker than me that are allowed to walk these lands.”

Auric pointed at the leader and intoned in a low voice, but one that seemed to stop all other sounds. “I am Auric Fulcrum, wielder of Alchemy and Eureka, known as the blade of Understanding. I existed as a shadow of myself for so long, and the spirit embedded in the armor corrupted me as I corrupted it. No longer am I the scared boy who ran from everything. To those that threaten the balance, I promise only one thing.” And everyone noticed his clothes change from their Day colors to the Night version. “Enlightment.”

There was silence for a moment, and then the leader of the brainwashed laughed. Long and low and mockingly, he laughed. “Two I prepared for. Three will be no more difficult. All of you will fall before me, and those in Newvale will be mine.”

This got a laugh from Nocturne, which started tame and extended to the point that it became borderline psychotic. “O-Ohh that’s rich… you really don’t realize how fucked you are… Bahamut, show them… MAGIC CRUSH!” He said as he leaped off the dragon’s head and allowed it to breath a strange black flame over the ponies causing a blue glow to encircle them before a strange symbol appeared around them much like a bubble with an x through it.

The leader growled. “You may have sealed their magic…But as is repeatedly demonstrated...PSYNERGY IS NOT MAGIC! VENUS ADEPTS, QUAKE!”

The ten in front reared up, their forehooves glowing brown, and then slammed the energy into the ground, causing a wave to rush towards the assembled defenders through the very ground.

The demons shook and rocked as some of them looked to feel the pain more than others, obviously weak to the earth based magic though there were some who appeared invigorated by it, namely a strange humanoid wielding a staff in the back who appeared to be wearing a skull mask. “Ooooh that’s cute, they think they know earth…this power is nothing! GEOHENGE!” A large spiked stone flowed up from seemingly nowhere and launched towards the ten who caused the quake, embedding itself before them and then erupting into an explosion that seemed to drain the mana from their control devices. Their eyes closed and they collapsed.

“Magic, in any form, is food. That is what we demons believe. Even the magic that gives life or power. Mana sustains you, mana defeats you, as all of your kind exist as we do. Mana is life.”

The controller growled again. “You will not best us. Jupiter, PLASMA!”

Ball lightning erupted from the third line, and rushed towards the defenders. Auric and Dullahan hit the dirt to dodge the massed lightning. The lightning slammed itself into a large wall of pure energy as the five robed figures standing near the mirror were chanting some kind of spell, the healers were currently using all their might to create a barrier that allowed attacks out but not in. Said barrier wavered as one of the healers actually screamed out and erupted into flames before vanishing.

“Oh… now you’ve done it. I believe it’s time for the kid gloves to come off. Fighters to the fore, take them alive, I want the mana of those control devices!” Nocturne shouted as with a roaring battlecry the amassed horde of melee warriors charged forward like a wall of hungry death.

Auric and Dullahan growled then. Impressive, for something without vocal cords. Before Auric could take a step, Dullahan was calling on a technique he’d not used before. You who would turn Psynergy against this town, pay the penalty! Dark Contract!

From the third line erupted a mass of shadows that were drawn towards the sword of Dullahan. He then pointed it towards Sandy, and the shadows rushed into her. The energy of mine foes is mine to draw and redirect as I will. Indeed, the third line seemed more woozy than it had a moment ago.

Sandy blushed as she held a hand to her chest, her face looking quite flustered. “My, my, so forward. Don’t you know it’s rude to play with a girl’s mana till the third date?” She said with a teasing yet sultry tone before she quickly leveled a massive rifle easily the size of her own body to her hip and let out three rounds at the line of mercury adepts. Each shot exploding above the fourth line and raining a weird energy onto them, that caused their fur to turn grey and their eyes to wander… the same effect that was known to be associated with the power of Discord.

The armor shrugged. I figured you would know better what do with it, seeing as how I’ve no need of the power of the living anymore. E’er since the Sun separated me and the boy, the power of the land itself has been enough to sustain me. I would say the world has accepted me, but I did not desire it.

Auric stalked forward a step, but was quickly rebuffed. “Mars, BEAM!”

Ten hot lances of fire appeared and began to carve across the ground towards their opposition. Auric deflected one, and Dullahan took another to the chest, causing him to stagger.

The beams of fire ripped through the ranks of melee demons, those who didn’t merely absorb their energy were torn asunder and vanished in a flash of flames and energy as they wailed in agony.

This didn’t seem to affect their leader at all as he only seemed to become more enthusiastic with each troop fallen. He slowly reached behind him as he placed the bow onto his back, returning it to its harp like form. “I think this party could use a little music.” He said as he pulled his instrument of choice from… wherever he got it and began to play. The mercury adepts who were under the effects of whatever Sandy had done were suddenly snapping to attention.

"Oh I’m a puppetmaster, and I’ve just found your strings, and when I play this instrument we’ll see how much that stings, see how much that stings." He said with a smile as he sang the possessed Mercury Adepts under his control unleashed a wave of healing energy into his forces, mainly onto his own healers to strengthen their efforts.

Auric looked at the Mars Adepts in front of him, trying to decide how to best get past. “Mars...Mars and Venus share a relation...Jupiter might work, or might just fan the flames...DIAMOND DUST!”

A wind whipped up, carrying the hints of water and ice on it. They slowly grew to head-sized chunks and battered into the Mars line, knocking several of them right out and dazing others. “Hit the next line with something of Earth, they’ll be weak to it, it’s in their nature!”

The way Nocturne’s grin just widened even further, now stretching his face in a manner similar to Pinkie Pie, was meant to be unsettling to both his allies and his enemies. He’d learned early on that the scariest thing to an enemy was to know how little they seemed to care about your efforts to stop them. “Okay then! Geomancer, unleash it now!”

The brown mage from before nodded as a large rock wall slammed up from behind the third line and from the front of them as well before simply folding together with a loud crash of stone on stone. Though as the two halves faded they revealed no crushed ponies, only that the walls had ripped the crystals from those caught between them with seemingly no effort, due the alignment of the magic.

Dullahan merely nodded as most of the ponies in front of him blocking the path to the one in back had been dazed. It would seem like now is the optimal time to ensure that they stay down. Would you prefer to, or shall I? Thus saying, he turned towards the leader again and gestured with his sword.

“Oh please be my guest sir, I’m simply the summon.” Nocturne said with his smile even wider than before now, his eyes glinting with demonic energy as he continued to play his instrument, though it seemed to do something different this time. Mainly cause the same effect that his Geomancer had performed, revealing him to be the reason the crystals surfaced from their hosts. They seemed much duller than they should have been, like all forms of magic in them were absent, leaving them as simply pretty rocks.

Dullahan turned back to the crowd and raised his sword to be parallel with the ground. Ye who would use Psynergy against me, against this town, know now the flames, the heat, the Storm of my anger! DJINN STORM!

A wave of light erupted from the armor and washed over the ponies, and each one it impacted dropped like a stone. Their psynergy had been drained, their magic blocked. Only the one in back had been far enough away to escape the blast.

Speaking of, he growled as well. “I will not be bested by you and yours! I have been infused with as much Mars as I can hold, my power burns as bright as my conviction!” Thus saying, the pony seemed to catch fire, and Auric sighed.

“Got any Mer- er, water or ice?”

“Gallon or Ocean?” Nocturne replied with a smile as he motioned to the lance wielding succubus with the blue hair. “OMEGA ICE!” She said as she leveled her spear with the walking inferno before the sound of something ringing filled the air and a massive flash of blue light occurred blinding everyone not used to the display. When it subsided, a massive pillar of Ice that easily eclipsed the trees in it’s height was present, the burning pony trapped in it’s base. Auric whistled again.

“Not bad. But he’ll break out fast if he’s really ‘imbued with Mars’ might,’ like he claimed. He might not even be able to control it. Best option, someone drains his reserves, we put him to sleep, and someone else rips answers from his mind.”

“That’s all?” Nocturne said as his smile faded to a business like expression. “And I thought this would be hard. Then again, ponies have lost so much of their fighting instinct while I was locked away.” He said with a short sigh as he walked up to the pillar of ice and put on a new glove that seemed to cause the air to waver with heat.

“Keep in mind, the power I can feel from him is nearly as much as is contained in an Elemental Star. Sure you can handle it? Oh, and he’s a fanatic, willingly. He’ll resist.”

“I hope he does… oh please let him resist.” Nocturne said with a smile as he reached into the ice and literally dragged the pony out through it as if it was just water, his hand tightly gripped around the pony’s throat as his eyes flashed and he proceeded with the draining. His body glowed brightly as lines flowed from him to every single demon that was still standing till it hit Sandy and then a line connected to the mirror.

“My lord the energy bank connection has been established.” The female voice that had spoken of a sealed contract before he appeared called out, easily heard as if she was present.

“Good… now then, scream for me, crazy pony.” Nocturne said as he moved his hand from the pony’s throat and bit into it with an almost feral glee like some kind of energy vampire.

The pony only said one thing before he did as Nocturne asked. “You will never get any answers from me, you de-” And then, he managed to use up nearly all of his vocal cords as he felt his energy ebb away from him, causing an untold amount of pain to his system.

The lines of energy pulsed and burned brightly with all the energy stolen from the overlord’s prey, even causing some of the demons channeling it to burst into flames as they ‘Died’ from the raw power rushing through their forms. Though the stallion’s screams would only increase as Nocturne showed off just how cruel he could be and started to not just drain energy, but info as well, ripping into the stallion’s very soul like a juicy apple. Eventually, he dropped the, now drained of all useful things, stallion to the ground. “He doesn’t know. His superior administered the infusion to him, and all he knows about that is that his boss has a boss, who also has a boss. There’s a chain of command, and he’s only one rung above the lowest.” The overlord paused for a moment. “Though, where they’re getting this energy is concerning. They seem to have imprisoned several elemental spirits.” The pause was longer this time. “And four wielders.”

Auric blanched. “We only sent out four trained Adepts, to spread the word of our town. Do the words ‘Newvale Adventuring Troupe’ trigger anything?”

The overlord nodded sadly. “Yeah… they looked like hell though. Here… take his memory, I don’t need it or want the damned thing.” Nocturne said simply as he coughed into his hand and a translucent sphere of sound and pictures appeared there which he held out to Auric. The boy reached out and grabbed the sphere, then his head as the foreign memory integrated into his own, his clothes fading back from Night to Day as the pain momentarily overwhelmed his senses, and he blacked out for a moment.

Sandy ran over to the boy and grabbed him before he could hit the ground, hugging him tightly to her chest. The demons that survived the battle cheering for their victory as gold lettering seemed to flow over them in waves, showing the words “Level Up” over and over.

Auric was slammed back into the world of the living as he realized he was being smothered by, what he would define as, “Something that never happened to me, nor would I expect to have happen to me, especially once I landed in magical pony land.” Namely, the set of flesh only females were known to have. He blushed quite quickly, and there was a growl from Measured Thought that sounded more at home at a Timberwolf than a pony.

Sandy blushed as she heard the growl. “Aww, don’t be like that sweetie, I wouldn’t take another mare’s mate. It’s not my style… besides, I’m betrothed to an Overlord. Who needs to date another human when I have grandfoals with one?” She said simply enough as she did take the extra moment to hug Auric just a bit tighter to her breasts before letting him go.

Before Auric could speak up and deny anything, one of the crystals that still had some juice in it spoke up with a different stallion’s voice. All eyes turned to it as it began to rant.

“You think yourself invincible? You think you can stand against me? Nothing can or will! The sun itself will one day grow cold and dark, the moon shall stop and fall into the seas, all pony life will one day die, and magic itself will fade! The four Alicorns will one day die, why do you think yourself any better?!”

“Because of one simple thing, you half-bred horses’ ass.” Nocturne said as he grabbed the crystal and swallowed it like it was a candy. “Demons will exist as long as people who are evil do. It’s the law of the world.” He said as he let out a burp as the magic that made the crystal began to dissolve into his body, drawing everything from it into himself and then projecting it like a flare outwards as it attempted to detonate.

Yet another turned on then, but Auric grabbed it and held it to his face. “Listen to me now, my foe. I am Auric Fulcrum. With the power of the Golden Sun, I truly am immortal. The world may die, but I will live on. I have tested this by having swords jammed into my lungs and getting up again. I will live long after you are dust. I merely hunt you to expedite the process.” And with that he idly drained the stone so as to stop the detonation he knew would happen and flicked the energy towards Nocturne.

“Well if you’re going after this guy. I want in, nobody gets to be more evil than me on my watch, it sets a bad precedent for demons across the multiverse.” Nocturne said as his demons went about collecting the crystals and ingesting them, using the energy to fix the damaged and formerly possessed ponies through what could only be called making out with them at first glance.

Auric shrugged. “It’s something I’ll consider, surely. Especially if I face a force like this again before I’m back to full strength, keeping a mountain from sinking into the earth is a REAL drain.”

“Well…. I could have a team of Geomancers take a look at your… mountain problem but, it’ll cost you extra.” Nocturne said with the tone and expression of a seasoned businessman.

Auric looked at him with what could only be called an expression of hope. “Oh? How very nice of you. I think a few Psynergy stones with things like Growth or Cure or the like could be worthwhile. You could use them to teach said techniques to anyone, and afterwards, they’d even make a nice snack. I think we have two of both I can freely give stockpiled.”

“You sir have a deal. Abigail, you and your sister go take our fighters back and send seven Geomancers over. Dominic and Sandy will be staying with us.” He explained as the sand colored mare had gravitated over to Measured Thought and struck up a conversation.

“So, what do you like most about him?” She asked with a smile. Measured blushed a bit as she replied.

“Well, he did save me twice over. And he’s pretty good with those hands of his. Plus he’s got power like no other, did you know he can break things apart on the atomic level?”

This got Sandy’s attention. “My my, well I think that’s definitely impressive enough to warrant attraction, now how about a gift between us girls while the boys discuss their toys hmm?” She asked motioning for Measured to follow her as she walked out of earshot while the demons moved in formation to follow their lord’s orders, and the smaller mare followed.

Auric motioned towards the mountain in the distance. “Discord patched up half of it, but Canterlot could still use some work. Damn thing is like a backpack on my shoulders all the time. Even with a totem or two, it’s still a drain. Don’t know how bad it’d be if I had to hold it up without.”

The geomancers, who all looked vaguely similar to their leader, the so called ‘Dominic,’ all nodded and began to walk in formation towards the mountain, chanting some kind of arcane dialect that made little sense, and even less so when they smacked themselves in the forehead with their staves in unison.

Auric slapped his forehead. “Oy! You lot! Don’t let any ponies see you! They aren’t even accepting of me or Dully, really! More bipeds being seen would only incite a panic I do not need!” He then turned to Dullahan, and the armor nodded before rapping on the lavender bubble in a sequence. It dissipated, and he walked in to retrieve the agreed-upon payment.

“You don’t need to worry about Dominic and his boys being seen, after they get out of the forest they’ll be traveling underground. The roots here are too thick for them to do so without disrupting and angering the forest.” Nocturne explained in a very calm manner for someone who just a scant few minutes ago was draining a pony like one does a juicebox.

Auric sighed and sagged. “Thank goodness. I don’t need Sunbutt on my butt for more than Typhon.”

“Typhon? You mean like the big badass eagle thing?” Nocturne asked, his pointed ears flicking twice.

“Sorta-kinda. See, there are other Equestrias than just yours and mine. Typhon is known as the Heir of Breath in his, and he...sorta, kinda, God-Tiered. He’s even the one who made my clothes. He’s a nice guy with too much trouble on his plate. I should know, I helped him with one.”

“I see, well if you ever feel the need, drop my call sign to anyone who you think might need some help.” Nocturne then actually reached into his chest and pulled out a slightly blood stained coin looking object designed to look like the medal he wore. “When polished and placed near a mirror I can hear whoever is calling me, no matter where they are.”

Auric carefully took the object and placed it in a pocket. “And for this, I will give you the most valuable commodity. Information. There should be, somewhere in your world, a black book and a golden coin. The book will have Dullahan’s name in it, and the bit will have my symbol,” here he pointed at the eclipse on his shirt, “on one side, and on the other will be a see-saw with the atomic symbol of gold above it. Hold it and call for me or him, and we will hear you.”

“That’s really cool, I’ll have my people look for them then.” He said as there was a loud rumbling noise in the distance as the tectonic plates aligned and repaired themselves under the not so gentle prodding of the Geomancers. “And that’s why Dominic has a name when there’s so many demons without. The guy is good.”

The sound of shifting metal announced the return of Dullahan, with four gems clasped in his hand. Two were distinctly amber, while the other two were jades. Auric picked them up and held them to the demon lord. “And another, far more valuable. There are, again, others. Ones I refer to as the Triad, who have their own weapons of Madness. Alice, with her Vorpal Blade. Pyramid Head, with his Knife. And Jack of Blades, though I know not his weapon. Mine own, Eureka, may be counted among them, were I incapable of controlling it or asking it to control itself.”

As Nocturne took the gems and pocketed them Dominic’s group would return, as well as Sandy and Measured Thought. “Well then, looks like we’re all settled up then. Time to head home,” he said as the Geomancers walked into the mirror and began to vanish.

Indeed we are. May the shadows part for you, Nocturne.

Auric nodded as well. “May the Golden Sun illuminate your path.”

“Aww… that’s no fair, I don’t have a catchphrase…” Nocturne said with a sigh. “Oh! Hang on. May the blood moon shine brightly in the darkness and the netherworld’s grip never reach you.” He said with a smile.

Before Sandy and Nocturne walked back through the mirror, Auric looked down at Measured Thought. “So, do I get to know what you two talked about?”

Nocturne simply shook his head and chuckled as Sandy gave a conspiratorial wink towards Measured. “Oh...nothing much. Just a few spells. Recipes. Techniques. Maybe I’ll show you one day.”

And with that, Sandy walked through before Auric snapped his fingers. “Oh damn! Nocturne, wait! I owe you a thing! A summon or so! C’mon into the sanctum!”

The demon blinked twice as he’d almost forgotten about that and pulled his body back out of the mirror and placed his hands in his pockets as he casually strode after Auric into the mountain/mine/sanctum located in the back of the village. “Wow… the magic in here is as thick as my girl’s hips!” He said with a whistle.

Auric smiled. “Don’t let her hear you say that. Now, do you have a favored element?”

“I do a lot of healing and battlefield management, as well as controlling others on the field with buffs and the like… what’d that equate too?” He asked as he looked around.

Auric pointed to one of the tablets on the bottom. “Coatalicule, guardian of the waters of life. When summoned, all your allies will regain health per turn. More is granted the more you are aligned with the wind and the water.”

“That… is seven kinds of badass. You are now my best friend in the multiverse.” He said, actually hugging Auric in a very, more than friendly way if the way he squeezed his ass was anything to go on.

“Yes, well, just touch the tablet. It shouldn’t shatter, we made these to be more sturdy than their counterparts.” Auric coughed awkwardly as he realized the hug was less than chaste. “Keep in mind, it won’t last forever, but it will last for quite a while.”

Nocturne nodded. “Well if my track record with dealing with foreign magic is anything to go on, my body will just adapt it to my spell list and then it’s mine. No time limits needed.” He explained as he let go of Auric and walked up to the tablet placing his hand upon it with a smile as his whole body burned brightly. The runes on the tablet lit up and burned like they were lightbulbs as the name flashed three times. Then, the entire tablet faded and the glow around Nocturne faded.

“Did it work?” Auric questioned.

“One sec…” Nocturne said holding up a hand and then tossing down something that looked like… a ball of water. Which ended up turning into a miniature form of the summon he’d just received. “Oh yeah! I can even make minion versions of it!” He said with a smile like a kid who’d just found the best toy in existence.

I am now afraid. Let’s not let him at Charon or Isis. Not that we would, anyways.

Auric nodded. “Agreed. Maybe some of the others, perhaps as repayment should I require your services again.”

Nocturne nodded with a smile as he picked up the miniature summon and placed it on his head like a hat. “That… would be most excellent. Thank you.”

Auric nodded. “This is the place where the boundaries are most thin. Do you still require your mirror?”

“Well… not really, the mirror is more like a temporary doorway that opens with my influence, the Gatekeeper connects all worlds and is a living doorway in her own right. You should meet her, she has a soft spot for demons or disembodied spirits.” He said with a chuckle and wink towards Dullahan.

I will keep that in mind. Auric, shall we?

The two native bipeds came together and clasped their left hands, opening a dark hole that was more than just darkness or a hole in the roof of the Sanctum.

“Well it was nice doing business with you both. I hope we do this again soon.” He said as he leapt through the hole and back to his world with a smile. Leaving a strange stone and a note beside it.

“This stone is a gift from Sandy, it prevents possessions though it must be placed in an area like a church or something.”

Auric merely chuckled and yelled into the Void, knowing those that Listened would be able to hear. “You only want to get your mitts on our summons!”

And with that, the hole closed, and the worlds were separated once more.

Overlord’s Castle, Tartarus.

Nocturne sat upon his throne with Sandy sitting beside him, leaning into the well placed scratches of his fingers behind her ears. Something that apparently transcended the multiverse; ponies melted when you scratched their ears just so.

“You know Sandy, I’ve been wondering… what did you give that mare back there?” He asked, only receiving a smile from her.

“Well… let’s just say he hasn’t seen the last of anthro mare boobs and leave it at that~” Sandy said with a giggle.

“Eh, whatever happens, you get to run damage control on it this time.” Nocturne said as he waved his hand and the image of him and his throneroom faded from view.

Item Get!: Demon’s Thumbnail. This stone prevents possessions when placed in the church of one’s home town and is based on the legend of the gargoyle. Shaped like the nail of the beast’s thumb.

Author's Note

And it's done! Let's give Camlio and his story a round of applause!
Tune in next time to see how deep the rabbit hole goes!
Originally this chapter was going to be released tomorrow, but then I heard about the Lunar Eclipse and thought 'Well now seems appropriate.'
This DOES mean, though, that I am still going to take some time for myself, away from writing.
I think until Friday sounds sufficient, my batteries should recharge by then. If I'm feeling merciful, I might come back Thursday.

Chapter 12 - Home is where you make it

After the successful defense of Newvale from the CRA, I decided I could use a shower. And then I paused, realizing something vital.

What with all the excitement, I hadn't had time to properly make a home for myself.

I mean, granted, I had Newvale, but there was no house specifically for me. Or I could have used the Penumbra Sanctum, were it made for, y'know, the living. And that time I crashed at Twi's didn't count. Both because that night, I didn't sleep, and that I couldn't actually go there for fear of the second coming of The Crazed Purple One.

So, yeah. No proper home, and I needed one. Nothing for it, I would have to make one. I idly scratched behind Measured's ears while I mused about my conundrum out loud. "Huh. I've only just now noticed I don't have a place to live."

At this, she jerked her head around and stared at me. "What."

I shrugged. "Things've been hectic. Phenomenal power comes with phenomenal responsibilities, and mine have kept me going from place to place so much that I only just now realized my predicament."

She blinked a few times, clearly not expecting a reasonable answer to her statement. And then she got the creepiest grin.

"You know, my place in Canterlot has a guest room. I could-"

"No." I shot that idea down before she even voiced it fully, causing her to frown, then pout slightly and give me puppy dog eyes. Fortunately, I'd had a younger sister, so I could put up with a reasonable amount of pouting. "Not just no, but hell no. There is not enough no in all the world. I want my own place, thank you very much, where I can do experiments with my power and not have to worry about the neighbors. And with all this crap that keeps coming up, it'll need to be defensible as well. That's pretty much the definition of a Keep, and I'd like to take over and refurbish one than build one."

Measured's frown increased as her brows furrowed. "There are no vacant keeps, besides the Castle of the Royal Sisters in the Everfree."

I sighed and ran my hand through her mane. "I doubt they'd let me take that over, it's sort of a relic at this point. Which means..."

And here I got a wicked grin.

"I get to make one. Now all I need is to decide on a location, and really, it's a no-brainer."

"Oh?" That head cocking thing people do when they're confused is adorable on a pony.

"Yeah. Only problem is making it alicorn-proof."

At this, Measured grinned. "That's not really a problem, considering your unique situation. I know of a spell or two to cancel out magic. If I provide the framework, you can provide the energy. Combined, the theoretical applications are limitless."

And at this, I turned to her and turned my grin up to eleven. "Mah dear, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

(3rd POV - Twilight)

Everything was normal in Ponyville, surprisingly.

The sun was shining, the foals were playing, the weather was just perfect.

Twilight sighed to herself as she began to plan around the day Auric had all but forced her into going at without a schedule.

He had said nothing about making general plans, or plans around the day after all! She could still have some form of structure, just not one as rigid as she normally used! It was technically not cheating, just exploiting a loophole he'd accidentally left open!

And that was when the earthquake struck.

Casting a spell to stabilize all the bookshelves so that none of them fell over onto her, or worse, spilled their contents, Twilight braced herself as well as she could. The drain of keeping the library stable was starting to show just as Spike started to bounce down the stairs.

"What's going on?!" Fortunately, Spike's scales protected him from too much damage as he slammed into various things. The same could not be said of the objects that he was unlucky enough to hit.

"I don't know, Spike! Just hang on to something!"

After five minutes of non-stop shaking, the world settled back into something resembling normalcy. Spike crawled out from underneath the table he'd managed to crawl under, and Twilight ceased her spell, wiping her brown in the process.

"Phew. Well, whatever it was, it's over now." Twilight looked around the lobby of the library, noticing that the damages from Spike being jostled around weren't any worse than Rainbow Dash crashing in. She looked over to her number one assistant and sighed. "Well, we should go see if anypony else needs any help."

Spike climbed up onto Twilight's back and nodded. "I don't think Dash will need help...or have even noticed. Pinkie's probably fine. Applejack will probably appreciate the shaking if it got any apples off her trees. That just leaves Fluttershy, who'd be more scared than anything, and Rarity," and here the drake's eyes widened, "and all her needles and scissors and...we gotta go now, Twilight!"

Twilight blanched at the mental picture Spike was painting. "You know, for once, your crush pays off."

Spike was too worried to even correct her as they ran to Carousel Boutique. As they ran through the streets of Ponyville, they noticed a few of the citizens were coming outside to see what, if anything had caused the sudden quake. A few were holding hooves to bruised parts of themselves, and every so often somepony would come out with a smashed item. Spike and Twilight were too engrossed in checking on Rarity to notice a common theme: after a few houses, ponies would be staring behind them with their jaws wide open.

The bell chimed as Twilight and Spike ran inside. "Rarity? Rarity are you in here? Are you alright?"

A voice drifted down from the upstairs. "Twilight dear? Oh thank goodness! I could really use your help up here!"

Twilight and Spike raced upstairs. "Where are you, Rarity? Is everything okay?"

Rarity's voice emanated from behind her bathroom door. "Everything is most certainly not okay!"

Spike hopped off of Twilight's back and rapped the door a few times. "What's the problem?"

"Spike? Oh Spikey, don't open that door!"

Spike blushed a bit and stepped back. "Of course not, m'lady."

Twilight took his place and pressed an ear to the door. "What's the problem, Rarity?"

"Well, I was getting ready for my usual spa date with dear Fluttershy, when that ghastly quake struck! Before I could so much as cast a spell, all my shampoos and conditioners and dyes and...everything just fell on me! I'm afraid to look!"

"Do you want me to?" Twilight had her hoof going for the doorknob before she even finished her question, and was quickly rebuffed by Rarity's response.

"Absolutely not! Nopony must see me like this! Or dragon, either. I have a plan. Spike, if you would be so kind as to go downstairs, please?"

Spike nodded and scampered off. "Now Twilight, if you could close your eyes, I will open the door and come into contact with you. Do you think you could teleport me to the Spa's lobby like that?"

Twilight turned the idea over in her head. "Yes, I think I could. It isn't how I would normally do it, but it is doable."

The alicorn shut her eyes. "I'm ready whenever you are, Rarity."

There was the sound of a door opening and a hoof coming into contact with her coat. "Ready, dear. And do tell Fluttershy for me why I couldn't pick her up, please?"

"That was our next stop," Twilight responded as she charged the spell to send Rarity on her way. There was a bright flash through her eyelids, and when she opened them, the unicorn was gone. The bathroom, however, was a disaster area, and Twilight cringed at the thought of Rarity being coated in that mess.

She made her way downstairs to see Spike gawping out the window at something. "Spike, what is it?"

Wordlessly, Spike pointed, and Twilight followed the line his claw made until she saw it.

Straddling the border between the town and the forest was a huge stone tower, taller than any building had a right to be, though not nearly as tall as Canterlot Castle. Sticking out of it at base level were several smaller additions, and surrounding it was a stone wall just as tall as any house, with a set of wooden doors that seemed to be thick and sturdy.

Rarity's shriek from across the town punctuated the sudden appearance of the tower and its wall perfectly.

"THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE THING!"

(POV - Auric)

I grinned as I stood atop the wall surrounding my new home. It wasn't easy convincing the earth to move, but once it started, the problem was getting it to stop again, and exactly how I wanted it to.

Seriously, if I hadn't managed it, Ponyville would have had a new mountain on its borders. And that wouldn't have been good living space at all.

Measured looked up at me and managed to put her jaw back where it should have been. "I think I seriously underestimated the amount of power you have."

I shrugged. "Hell, far as I know, there's not a limiter on the amount or ways I can use it besides what I can think of." I scratched the back of my head as I turned that last statement over in my mind. "Okay, well, technically there is a limit, and when I was fooling around in Canterlot, I nearly hit it. And there are rules and laws about things I cannot do, which is why I try not to do them. I mean, besides my own morals."

I waved a hand at the wall we were standing on. "Anyways, the wall should be full of gemstones. Tower too. Equestria just seems to be a more gem-rich place than I'm used to. If we use them to store whatever spell you have in mind, it should hold for a lot longer."

Measured nodded at me and charged her horn up with some form of spell. "There, the framework is laid. All it needs is power, and this tower will be secure from all manner of things." Here she grinned at me. "Alicorns included."

I reached out with my right hand and clasped her horn, letting power flow from me into the spell she had prepared. And that was when I heard a very familiar voice.

"Auric? Auric, you get down here right now and explain yourself!"

I turned to see Twilight coming up to the front gate and smiled. "Ready, Measured?"

She nodded and prepared to loose the spell, but I waved at her with my other hand. "Not yet, I want to do something that will drive her bonkers first."

Measured blinked a few times in confusion, and I turned to face Twilight, channeling what little I could of Ian McKellen.

"You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Balance, wielder of the Flames of Alchemy. Your magic will not avail you, Twilight of Ponyville! Go back to the village." Here I nodded at Measured, who let loose the spell. It took hold in the wall, and then rushed upwards to the heavens, creating the illusion that there was, temporarily, a huge golden firewall in place of the regular one. After a moment, it dissipated, and I drew in a deep breath, attempting to use my own version of the Royal Canterlot Caps Lock.

"You! Shall not! PASS!"

Surprisingly, that echoed far more than I thought it would. Apparently, just like music is sometimes magic in Equestria, so is drama.

Twilight shook her head a few times and glared at me. "Get. Down. Here." She bristled at me, and I put a hand up to my chin.

"Hmm. Nah, I don't think so."

"Auric, get down here, or I swear to Celestia, I will-"

I smiled at her. "Will what, Twilight? Go on, try. I'm not coming down."

At this, her horn lit up, and a huge bolt of purple magic rushed at me.

The moment it crossed the line the wall made, though, a rush of golden flames reached up and sort of...ate away her spell. Twilight blinked a few times, then tried it again, only to get the same result. And then, only when her anger had been replaced with confusion, did she walk up to the wall and put a hoof on it. "What sort of magic is this?"

I nodded to Measured, who took it as her cue to begin telling the story. "I know of several methods to make dwellings or rooms secure from all manner of hazards. Comes with being a researcher. When Auric said he wanted to make the place he would make secure from 'just about everything,' I cobbled together all my theories and known spells together into making one huge security spell. The only problem is, it would normally be uncastable. It would require power held only by those with a talent for such spells, a highly powerful unicorn, or one of the Alicorns."

"Which is where I come in," I interjected. "I've got more power than I can shake a stick at, and the wall itself has so many gems embedded in it. Combined, we pulled it off, and the spell is self-sustaining now. Now, only anything either of us invite in can get in. Including you and your magic, Twilight."

The gears turned in her head, her jaw dropped, and Twilight's wings started to twitch in irritation. "Yooooooou..."

Spell after spell flew from her horn at us, only to vanish in a flash of gold as they crossed the boundary. I smiled smugly at her, and that just seemed to infuriate her all the more. She let out an inarticulate scream of rage as she realized I had set up a barrier she could not breach.

I merely turned to Measured and sighed. "Let's tour the place, shall we?"

Measured nodded and winced as Twilight started ranting at me. "Yes, let's."

Though there were eight stories to my tower, and four laboratories on ground level, there were no stairs. Or excess of doors.

I forget which book I'd taken it from, but the thought of a door that constantly changed which room it connected to was one I admired. There was, of course, a loophole: if you ask it politely, it would connect you to where you wanted to go.

The only rooms not connected to my door network were my laboratories, which would not even open for anyone but me if I were not in there. It'd be far too dangerous if anyone just walked in, after all. I'd be meddling with things just as primal as nature itself, and one stray hoof could spell disaster.

While it was currently very bare in here, that could be remedied eventually. Either by making furniture from the nearby woods, or by Measured saying she intended to move in. I glanced at her when she said that.

"Isn't that a little fast? We've not even gone on a date!"

She blushed at that. "It's...not just that. It's just...you make me feel safe. You saved me, after all. And it doesn't look like Twilight is in any hurry to do you any favors. So she's probably not in a rush to help me with that either."

I grimaced as I heard another scream through the stone. "Yeah, fair enough. Well, I think the tour is pretty pointless until we get some defined places placed, such as your room, mine, the study, the kitchen, the dining room, and the like."

Measured nodded and opened her mouth to say something when we heard a sudden hush fall outside. We'd grown sorta used to Twilight and her angry rambling that when it vanished, it felt odd.

And then there was the ringing noise from the doorbell I'd installed. Well, it was more of a bell-pull, but it served its purpose.

I reappeared atop the wall and looked down to see Celestia looking at the gate. I coughed to get her attention, and she looked up at me without batting an eye.

"And what does the mighty Sun Princess need from me?"

She actually sighed at that. "Auric, can I come in?"

I put a hand to my chin. "Can, certainly, I have every faith your legs are capable of locomotion. May? That's another matter. Why do you want to?"

She let out a wry grin at my statement before it faded as swiftly as it came. "I need to enter Newvale. And I want your help in doing it."

I was stunned for a moment until she pulled out of...somewhere a blue crystal that resembled the control crystals I was unfortunately familiar with. With a burst of magic, she activated it, and it played a message in that familiar stallion's voice.

"Princess Celestia, I hereby give you one week to abdicate your throne, to ensure that there are none in line for it, and to get all of your affairs in order while I take care of that settlement known as Newvale for you. After that, I shall come for Canterlot. And I will take what I want and lead ponykind to a glorious new era. Else my name is not Omega, Master of Psynergy!"

I growled at that. "His arrogance knows no bounds." My look of anger was quickly replaced with confusion. "But why does that necessitate your visiting the town?"

"Because," she replied, "I wish to protect it and those that dwell within."

I blinked a few times and facepalmed. "Cel, I've already thought of three ways that can go wrong. No. Just...no. Don't do this. Please don't do this."

She merely smiled her insufferable smile, and I groaned.

Chapter 13 - The first step is admitting you're wrong

Apparently, actually stopping Cel is something I need more practice in.

It had been a few days. Measured had moved in to the tower, I'd gotten the labs all set up, along with my bedroom and the other utilities, and the larder was fully stocked. I'd pay Measured back for that later, despite her saying it wasn't necessary. I was getting the study furnished and thinking of ways to dissuade the solar alicorn when I got a message from Dullahan through Eureka.

Boy, the Solar Sister is here with a wing of her guards.

I sighed and went to find Measured, who was currently trying to make everything fit in her room. I snuck up behind her and gave her a quick scratch behind the ears. She let out a low hum of approval, then turned to look at me with one eye. "What is it? You almost never initiate."

My shoulders slumped a little, but I didn't stop. "Cel's at Newvale with her guards. I need to mediate, otherwise someone will get blasted straight to Tartarus."

Measured blanched a bit at the imagery I was painting for her, but nodded all the same. "Will both sides listen to you?"

I chuckled a bit as I gathered my power. "Listen to me? Likely. Listen to reason? That's another matter. Who knows?"

I reappeared near the borders of Newvale to see a crowd of angry ponies and other assorted species, a headless suit of armor, a wing of impassive guards, and what looked like Celestia.

I say the last one like that because normally, Celestia has a mask she puts on when she's with another pony besides her sister. A mother who is unfazed by anything, who only wants what is best for her children. Kind, caring, loving.

I didn't get to see much of that side during my time as Dullahan, what I got was Celestia the hunter, the one who sought out threats to her ponies and dealt with them. She can be damn relentless and scary if you're on her bad side.

This side, though. This was a side of her I never got to see. Granted, I had been cracking that armor of hers, making her act like a normal pony with my antics, but these sorts of results?

Cel's bottom lip was quivering, and I could see the excess moisture in her eyes as the crowd in front of her hurled insults and jeers, or even zapped the ground near her hooves.

The crowd wasn't blaming her, per se. They were telling her exactly where she went wrong, what she could have done and what she did do, and were yelling it anyways. They had gotten past blame.

And it was tearing her up.

I stepped out from the treeline and took a spot between the solar alicorn and the crowd. I then turned to face the crowd and bellowed in my loudest voice. "ENOUGH, YOU SORRY MAGGOTS! WHY, IF MY SISTER SAID EVEN HALF THOSE THINGS, I'D HAVE HAD HER WASH HER MOUTH OUT! WITH DETERGENT!"

No, I actually wouldn't, I just needed to shock the crowd, and a quick Soldier impersonation was the fastest way I knew. Indeed, my projected anger and volume was enough to reach into the minds of those assembled, find the switch labeled 'You done fucked up now,' and flip it. I kept at it, trying to really get them to realize where they'd gone wrong.

"IS THIS ANY WAY TO TREAT A MARE WHO IS SORRY? IS THIS ANY WAY TO SHOW THAT YOU'RE A BIGGER, MORE MATURE PONY THAN HER? BY ATTACKING HER BEFORE SHE CAN SAY HER PIECE? BY SCREAMING AT HER UNTIL SHE GOES AWAY? BECAUSE IF SO, HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?"

A good majority of them actually looked ashamed as I kept ranting at them. True, I'd gathered a bunch of Celestia-haters and put them together in a small community, but I'd not expected this sort of reaction to her presence. At most, I'd hoped they'd ignore her or give her a cold look. One final twist of the knife, though, would probably help make my case, which would pave the way for Cel to make hers.

"NOW SO HELP ME, CEL HERE IS GOING TO TALK TO YOU, YOU ALL ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY LISTEN, AND BY THE GOLDEN SUN, IF YOU DO NOT, MAY DULLAHAN HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL, BECAUSE I WON'T!"

At some point during my ranting, my hood had changed colors, which meant I'd gone from Day coloration to Night again. I'm still not quite sure what triggers it, honestly, but I'm getting better about finding out. The ponies in front of me were shocked into silence, some staring with their mouths open, others looking at the ground between their hooves, and a few...a rare few....were actually looking at Cel.

Cel stepped forward a pace and, thankfully, her first two words were not the ones the town did not want to hear.

"No matter what I say, no matter what I do, today, I acknowledge that you all have legitimate grudges against me. Whether by arrogance or ignorance, action or inaction, today I admit to all of you that I have wronged you. You...and so many others. Because if I am wrong about how I have treated you all, then who is to say that I have not always been wrong, always harmed more than I have helped?"

She looked down at the ground and breathed deeply a few times to get herself under control, then raised her head and addressed the crowd again.

"Some of you have sought reparations with me, and these I will freely give. It is, after all, the first step in mending any relations between us. I have wronged you, and I must pay to make up for it. So not only will I seek to make things right by words and deeds. I will seek something even more basic than that."

And here she actually laid on the ground, baring her neck to the stunned crowd. Her guards bristled at the action, but she ignored them and said one word.

"Forgiveness."

The silence was broken by Dullahan walking forward and pointing at her. I was always there, you know. Sleeping, waiting. Occasionally guiding the boy. And he never once truly hated you. I believe his saying regarding his relationship with you was something along the lines of..."Should she ever truly, publicly acknowledge where she went wrong and ask for my forgiveness, then I would freely give it."

The armor walked forward and helped Cel to her feet, which confused her for a moment. I'd say that this qualifies, and since he and I were one and the same for so long, his values and mine are...mixed.

The armor let out a chuckle as Cel tilted her head slightly in confusion. Thou art forgiven, Celestia. You always were. At least, by me and the boy. The villagers may be another matter, but since you have won both me and the boy over, time, word, and deed shall do for them, eventually.

"The only question that remains now," I interjected, "Is, can you forgive yourself?"

She looked from me to Dullahan, then back to me, and slowly shook her head. "No. I don't think I ever will be able to."

I chuckled at that. "Never is quite a long time, Cel, and I'll be there to hound you every step of the way until you do."

She opened her mouth, possibly in shock and to question how I could make such a claim, but I held up a hand to shush her and turned to the villagers. "What say you, Newvale? She is genuinely, truly sorry. Will you let her make it up to you? Will you let her pay for what she has done? Will you at least attempt to forgive her?"

Silver and Shiver stepped out of the crowd and glared at Cel. She actually flinched from the intensity of the glares they were directing at her. Silver nodded once, briskly.

"It's a start."

Shiver snorted. "It is indeed. Remember what I said, Celestia. In time, I, too, may yet forgive. But not now. Not today. The best I can promise you is that I will tolerate you."

Cel nodded, and the approval of the priest and the dragon seemed to have an effect on the other ponies. They too begrudgingly nodded at Celestia, and she let out a wan smile.

"My first deed to attempt to make it up to you all, then, is to place Newvale under the protection of a wing of my guard."

A murmur ran through the crowd, and I held up a hand to forestall any accusations. I motioned for her to continue once the muttering had died down.

"Someone who goes by the name of Omega has stated he will attempt to take Equestria in a week's time, and that he will 'deal' with you all by then."

"Judging by the memories of the pony who attacked us not too long ago," I interjected, "he wants you, all of you, alive and captured, because a living adept can produce more psynergy that he can drain to power those that follow him. More than a djinn can, at any rate."

Integrating those memories had not been pleasant at all.

Cel looked at me with a bit of shock, but nodded grimly once the shock had passed through the crowd. "And to protect you from suffering such a fate, I will tell this wing of my guard to live here, become familiar with the town, and aid you should you find any suspicious characters."

Will they answer to orders I give them?

Cel looked at Dully with a raised eyebrow. "They will be told to act as guardians, defenders of the town."

I am the guardian, defender of the town. If they would work here, even under your orders, then they will answer to me. Besides, I very much doubt they've any experience working with psynergy or adepts. The armor let out a low chuckle at that, which only grew as the ranks of guards actually looked at one another in a slight panic.

Cel nodded slowly. "Your idea has merit. Very well. Guards, your mission is to aid Dullahan in the protection of this town, following any and all reasonable orders he gives."

Muttering from the ranks was silenced by a raised, gauntleted hand. I will not interfere with whatever command structure you have in place. I will not order you to do reckless, foolhardy things. All I ask is that you be reasonable with me, and I will be reasonable with you.

The guard's muttering subsided, and I smiled. "Meanwhile, I'm going to find the lair of whoever's doing this and stop them."

"And how will you do that?"

I grinned at the solar alicorn and nodded to Dullahan, who...reached inside himself, fished around, and pulled out a side-bag. The Tokens, the books the Heir gave you, and the crystals we saved. Should be enough to find wherever they originated.

I nodded and slung it onto my left shoulder. "Take care, Dully. Try not to let the madness get at you."

A low laugh echoed around the town. Kind of hard for it, considering what we've been through already, Boy.

After a day's worth of travel, I paused for the night in a glade and went through the Tokens.

A coin, the Heir. A card, the Lady. A clasp, the Twins. A soapstone, the Knight. A pair of gauntlets? I didn't recall that. Still, they fit, weren't too heavy, and protected my hands. I'd figure out who they belonged to later.

I spent that night going over some of the more exotic theories posed by Starswirl in his book before laughing and going to Clover's instead. She at least was willing to consider that she could be wrong, and only wrote things as observations first, then later as facts and laws once experimentation had proven them.

The morning dawned, and just as I was about to get on my way, there was a rustling sound. I turned around, my senses telling me there were more twisted-adepts around.

And then they stepped into the clearing, and I thought, briefly, that I was facing pony-shaped elementals.

From the north, a mass of stone. From the east, an animate fire. From the south, clouds that were charged with lightning, and from the west, a freeform mass of water.

All shaped like ponies.

I could feel the sheer power contained in them. It was somewhere between a Star and the actual Light.

This...this could prove difficult. I didn't want to kill them, but with that much energy on their sides, they could do some serious damage to me, enough to knock me out, at least. And then they'd continue on their way to Newvale.

The reason I didn't use my Alchemy to do something is it requires concentration and time. If I knew them, they'd likely not give me enough time to do anything, nor would they allow me to remain undisturbed for long enough. I would need to find a way to knock them out long enough to deal with their powers.

That was when my eyes caught the inscription on the back of the gauntlets. On back of the left hand, it read 'GILGA,' and on the back of the right hand, it read 'MESH'.

Gilga...mesh...Gilgamesh? Are these the Genji Gauntlets, then? Hmm. I wonder if he'll respond to a Call. He always was a hammy character...better make it count.

I drew and raised Eureka. "Master of battles and weapons, wielder of dangerous magics, a worthy foe who seeks adventure and challenges! It is I, Auric Fulcrum, Knight of the Eclipse, Wielder of the Flames of Alchemy! I call on you, for I am in a bit of a spot of bother right now, and I could really use your help! I SUMMON THEE, GILGAMESH!"

The air itself seemed to ripple...

Chapter 14 - Summons and why not to mess with them

“THIS TIME I AM PREPARED!” boomed a voice as the ripple in the air opened into a hole in reality. Immediately afterwards a figure dropped out, laughing maniacally as it fell to earth, landing on it’s feet. Inexplicably, music started to play as the armored warrior stood up and began to spin his weapon and strike several poses.

“To you who have called me, prepare to bear witness to my magnificent power, my dashing form of grace that inspires all who see it! To you who I face, prepare for the most spectacular defeat you could have hoped for! I am he who lives for battle, whose armor is soaked with blood, sweat, and dust! Entire armies, dragons, demons, and gods fall before my might! Your defeat is assured, for you face the one, the only,” he finally stopped spinning his weapon, holding it behind him as his other arm extended forwards. He rolled his head three times before proudly shouting “GILGAMESH!”

No one moved. I swear I saw a tumbleweed go by.

“Um…” I began.

“LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!” he shouted before launching himself like blur at the earthen pony, both of his feet slamming into it as a massive shockwave rang throughout the air.

The pony blinked a few times, and the small crack that had appeared on one of his legs was sealed with a burst of Psynergy. I sighed at the display.

“Y’done? Cause if so, I have info you’re gonna want to hear about these guys before you go charging into a terrible situation.”

He jumped back and took a defensive stance beside me.

“Ahem. Yes, well, perhaps I was bit too hasty. I suppose I was just a bit too excited after my most recent victory. Please, any information at all would be helpful.” Rather than sounding fearful or frustrated at his attack being more or less useless, he seemed more embarrassed than anything else.

I nodded and pointed at the one he’d just attacked. “Venus, Earth-aligned. Hard hitting, capable of taking hits as well. Slow, though.” I went around the circle in a clockwise fashion. “Mars, Fire-aligned. Pretty good at hitting multiple targets, is often compared to a living weapon. Vulnerable to non-physical attacks. Jupiter, Wind and Lightning. Status effects are status quo. Fast, but physically vulnerable. Mercury, Water and Ice. Capable of healing status and physical effects, typically physically vulnerable.” I pointed Eureka at Mercury, then Venus. “I’d suggest starting with Mercury, then going to Venus, seeing as they of earth typically have some minor healing abilities as well.”

“Hold on, this sounds familiar… Oh hey, this a Golden Sun Equestria, huh? Man I haven’t played that game in… well, more than fifteen-hundred years!” He sighed. “And I just realized I’ll never know if they made a sequel to the third one. I made myself sad.”

I snorted. “The first rule of Golden Sun is we don’t talk about the ending of the third game. And yeah, I may be sorta responsible for that. Remind me to tell you after. It’s a good story, involving this sword, a suit of armor, and lightning.” I turned to face Venus. “Think you can handle Mercury while I distract the living earth golem here?”

“Just one question. I think I know that answer, but I just want to be sure. Are they living beings I have to worry about killing?”

I sighed while I considered his question. “Technically, yes. There’s a pony under there that’s...fused to his power. A power he should not have. I can deal with that...probably. Never had to, before. But these ones aren’t being controlled, so they won’t go willingly. Knock ‘em out if you can, but don’t be gentle. They won’t return the favor.”

I was surprised to find he actually hesitated. “That wasn’t the answer I was expecting, actually. Hm. Well, considering the earth one was able to take my kick, I guess I shouldn’t worry too much. But for now,” he spun his weapon before charging the Mercury pony. “LET’S MAKE A SPLASH!”

I nodded and pointed my blade at Venus. “Let’s get ready to rumble.” I was about to call up a quick burst of wind, maybe Plasma, but then I recalled something highly worrying. Venus has access to Ragner-

Indeed, a huge ghostly blade materialized and started to rush towards me. My eyes widened and I had to try to parry it. “Watch out!” I screamed as I managed to send it over my shoulder.

Gilgamesh turned his head mid-stride to see me deflect the blade. As it headed towards him he quickly thrust his hand forward and shouted “MISSILE!” Sure enough a missile appeared in front of him and fired at the sword. The two objects met and both exploded, the force sending him crashing through the trees and out of sight.

I sighed at the display. “Well, that went we-”

My sigh of resignation was interrupted quite rudely by a beam of pure fire, followed up by a lightning bolt. As I took a knee to recover from the sudden attacks, I saw the Mercury pony raise a hoof that was suddenly solid ice. Well brain, it was fun while you were in my cranium. Guess we get to test out that immortal thing again.

“PENETRATING BEAM!”

A laser of red energy shout of the forest, vaporising the part of the trees it hit before hitting the Mercury pony, causing it to shake in what appeared to be pain. Gilgamesh dashed out from the forest and stopped right next to it, positioning himself with his weapon held behind his head like a bat.

“Hey, hothead! COOL OFF!” He shouted and swung the weapon hard. It didn’t connect, but instead unleashed a massive gust of wind that sent the Mercury being into the Mars pony. He then turned to me and pointed. “And only I’m allowed to make bad puns!”

I grimaced as my power reacted to my wounds and healed them. “Hey, when the city names are puns based on Earth cities, you quickly get in the mood for puns.” I paused as I stood back up. “And drama. And drama delivered like puns. Christ, Rarity could write Shakespeare with more flowery language than he could.”

“Yeah, point taken.” He turned to our opponents and his eyes widened. “Whoa. Hey, is that what I think it is?”

Indeed, both the Mercury and Mars pony were quickly trying to disentangle themselves, but the ‘damage’ had been done: part of their normal bodies were visible again. I groaned and slapped my head in frustration. “Of course! Opposing elements would be the best thing to hit them with! Now that I’m looking for it, their powers and their transformations are tied together!”

“Really? I wasn’t even planning that, I just kinda wanted to make a pun with my attack.”

I let out a wry grin. “Well, seeing as how many literary rules this world seems to follow, it looks like it might have helped. Now, what elemental attacks do you have? I’ll plan around you.”

“Well, you saw Penetrating Beam, that’s fire. I’ve also got Earthquake, Wind Slash, and Aqua Breath… So yeah, I’ve got everything.”

I nodded at his words. “Well, that helps. Let’s see about taking out Jupiter then; if he gets off a Seal, we’ll be in deep shit. I’ve no idea how it’ll react to my powers, let alone yours, but it tends to target magic and psynergy indiscriminately.”

“In that case, let’s get ready for the finale! Protect, Shell, and Haste for both of us!” He declared before casting the three spells on us both. The tingle of the spells washed over me, enhancing my speed and strength. At least, that I could feel.

“Mighty Guard would’a been nicer, but take what you can get, right?” I pointed my sword at Jupiter, then turned to face Venus. “I’ll take this one for a bit, you take that one. If we can get them to make mistakes…”

“Then we can make the wind scatter the earth! Now for an overwhelming victory!” he shouted before dashing at the Jupiter pony, spinning his weapon as he went. He stopped just in front of it before slamming his blade into the ground, causing dirt and rocks to fly at it like bullets.

I called up what I could recall of Plasma and channeled it into Eureka. The blade lit up with lightning dancing across it. I dashed towards the Venus pony, blocking his hooves as he kept swinging at me. I was waiting for an opening, and he gave it.

Another ghostly blade materialized above him, and I quickly parried it again, sending it over my shoulder. “Heads up, Gilgy!”

Though it wasn’t headed right at him it was still close. I couldn’t see his mouth because of his face guard, but I got the feeling he had the widest grin ever on.

“TIME TO KICK REASON TO THE CURB AND GO BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE!”

I almost couldn’t believe what I saw next. He reached out and, before the sword hit the ground, actually grabbed it by the handle. He then jumped into the air and raised the ghostly sword above his head.

“FUCK YOU, PHYSICS!” He shouted before hurling the psyenergy blade at the Jupiter pony, which then promptly exploded. Once the dust cleared, it was plain to see that the pony had returned to ‘normal’ and was merely knocked out due to a sudden lack of energy. I blinked a few times at the spectacle before remembering I had a Venus pony to deal with. Fortunately, he was just as distracted as I was, so hitting him in the back of the head to daze him, then zapping him with the blade like it was an impromptu cattle prod served well enough.

“Two down,” I said as Venus’ power-fueled transformation flaked off, “Two to go. You want Mercury or Mars?”

He chuckled before rocketing towards the fiery equine, laughing like a maniac before shouting “LET’S SEE WHICH ONE OF US IS MORE HOTBLOODED!”

I sighed and turned to face Mercury. I barely took a step before I realized something was wrong. My extremities were noticeably colder than they had been a moment ago. Looking revealed a small layer of ice building up on them, and I blanched at how good his control was.

Most people are aware that the human body is a good portion of water wrapped around a calcium skeleton. Wouldn’t you know it, my body had the same dependence on water. The only question now was, would he- yep. That’s my blood freezing. What an interesting sen...sa…

“Jeez, I guess you really did need my help!”

I was shaken out of my stupor when I felt something hot hit me and knock me over. As I regained my senses I saw it was the Mars pony who, despite not really being able to see his face, looked dazed. I turned to see Gilgamesh, one of his hands smoking.

“If you’re that cold, then here’s a hand warmer!”

I blinked a few times and looked back to Mercury. “Well that’s a nasty trick you have there, and it’s not in the usual repertoire. Meaning…”

I picked up the Mars pony and threw him at Mercury. “Didn’t you hear? Opposites attract, ya bastard!”

The sizzling the two made as they came into contact with one another signaled the end of their transformations. I motioned to them with my left hand as I sheathed Eureka. “Care to knock them out? I’ll gather the other two and we can put them all together, it’ll make dealing with them a bit easier on me.”

He chuckled as he clipped his weapon to his back, casually strolling up to the former Mars and Mercury ponies. He picked them both up by their necks, thankfully not choking them. “Hey guys, here’s a question for ya. What kind of butt isn’t soft?”

“Bwuh?” one of them mumbled.

He then slammed his forehead into them both, instantly knocking them. “A headbutt,” he finished before dropping them to the ground. I unceremoniously dumped Venus and Jupiter nearby and focused my power, my hands lighting up with that familiar golden flame as I searched for answers deep within their minds. Or if not that, then their physiologies.

What I got was enough to make me scream in rage.

“You MOTHERBUCKERS! You imprison Djinn and drain their powers, toss them aside when they're of no more use to you, then graft their stolen energy to yourself! They’re living creatures too!”

My rage overcame me as my clothes shifted to their Night coloration, but I was past caring. I drew Eureka again and glared at the gathered former elemental ponies before me.

“There will be no mercy. No justice. Not for you. You. Will. Understand.”

The blade glowed from within as I brought it swiftly onto each one’s head in turn, causing them to slump to the ground, fully out of it. Only a low whistle from the warrior broke through my rage-induced stupor.

“Damn man, I expected that kind of righteous divine punishment speech to come from Luna or even Celestia. Looks like they really pushed a button of yours.”

I sighed at that, recalling why it angered me so. “Terra, Dracen, Puck, Newton. The first four Djinn. They were my companions fifteen hundred years ago, and they helped me imbue the tablets, they made the Stars...and when I was locked away, they found how to propagate their kind. All Djinn know of me, in some fashion. So when any are mistreated, it irks me.”

I looked down at the foursome. “They’re being forced to understand their victim’s pain now. Hopefully it’ll break through whatever fanaticism they’ve got. Seeing as they were some of the ones to actually drain the Djinn and go out hunting for more, I can only imagine what they’re feeling.”

“Whoa, whoa. ‘Fanaticism?’ Just what in the hell is going in this universe?”

I rolled my eyes. “Long story short, I unleashed Elemental Lights to craft a Golden Sun, so I could stand against and defeat the Wise One. Now it seems someone is trying to corner the market on Psynergy. These were four of his more devoted followers. He seems to think he can take Canterlot. He already tried to take the village of Adepts I gathered, and failed. I’m tracking him down, and I will deal with him.”

The warrior scoffed. “You absorbed the Golden Sun, defeated the Wise One, and some shmuck thinks that he’s going to rule over all Psyenergy? Pfft. The only way I see him taking Canterlot is if you let him. Speaking of, you’re trying to help the Princesses?”

I shrugged. “I’m sorta over that whole ‘Oh, we imprisoned you while you were Dullahan because we couldn’t see past our own snouts,’ thing they did. Forgave them a long time ago. All they needed to do was ask, which meant that they needed to see where they went wrong. Which I took great joy in showing them. Repeatedly. Also, yeah, I’m always trying to help. The Sisters just never saw it that way until recently. I think I ‘redeemed myself’ in their eyes when I stopped Canterlot from sinking.”

“Wow, you really are the master of Psyenergy, huh? And yeah, it is kinda fun, to show them they’re wrong about something. Though in my case, I was never really angry about the whole ‘sealing me in stone’ thing. In fact I let them do it, let them think they beat me. Of course, the thing I’m showing them is how weak they’ve gotten after their age of so called ‘peace.’ I mean, seriously, how peaceful can it be if the Changelings are going to come banging at the Canterlot doors in a few months. Plus, me whupping her flank gave me an excuse to call her fat for eating too much cake.”

I stared at him for a moment. “You know things. Okay, well, this world already had that invasion. I think the latest thing was something...about the Tree of Harmony? Yeah, that sounds about right. At least, I think so. I never did ask Dissy for details. Anything I should be aware of?”

“Wow, you’re already into season four? I’m still near the beginning of season two! But yeah, season four wasn’t all the way done when I got warped out, and I don’t remember much, seeing as I didn’t watch those episodes as many times as the previous three seasons. Unless you’re helping with personal issues, like when Luna helps Sweetie Belle with her sister problems, the only thing I could probably warn you about is that Tatzlwurm fiasco. And, that’ll probably get handled on its own if you didn’t have anything to do with helping with the Tree of Harmony.”

I shook my head. “As far as I’m aware, I don’t leave too large a footprint in the world. I meddle, surely. But I try to keep whatever narrative is being told ‘on the rails,’ as it were. I was in the Empire when the world went topsy-turvy for that.” I turned towards the ponies that were still knocked out. “We have their superior, Omega, to thank for that. At least, that’s what he calls himself. I’d best alert Dullahan to their location, he’ll come up with some sort of plan to deal with them, surely.”

I then turned to the warrior and gave a slight bow of my head. “So. Shall we tell each other how we came to be who and what we are in our own respective Equestria-branches, or would you rather I thank you for your work?”

He shrugged. “If you’d like. I’ll be honest, as much as I would like actually being able to talk to someone without them trying to attack me or run from me, I’m cool either way. Although, you said Dullahan? He’s here in addition to you? And you’re working with him?”

I chuckled and waved my hand. “Long story short, that was my costume, the blade is the reason I’m here. Apparently when I was brought here, I became the overriding will, and Dullahan was more of the...instinct. Thanks to the Wise One and Chryssy awakening my anger, he and I developed separate personalities, and when the Golden Sun hit me, we separated. Now the headless armor guards Newvale, the town I founded out of ponies and other Adepts who really don’t like Cel, and I’m alive again. You have no idea how much I love that last bit.”

“Heh, I’ll bet. Also, ‘Newvale?’ Nice. As for my own story, well…” He took a deep breath before taking a deep breath and striking a pose. “Though I would be delighted to tell you all the details of my grand epic, you seem to have some business to attend to so I shall give you the cliff notes version.” He began constantly switching poses. “I, the Mighty Gilgamesh, arrived in Equestria sixteen-hundred years ago, my time of course, during a time of great war and strife. The Minotaur Nomads, the Griffon Kingdom, and of course the ponies of Equestria all vied for supremacy over Equus. My great strength soon proved their efforts to be futile as none, not even the mighty Princesses of the Sun and Moon, could best me! After one hundred years the three warring factions put their differences aside to overpower me! I was so impressed with this that I allowed the Princesses to seal me in stone with the Elements of Harmony… after a land-reshaping epic battle, of course. After fifteen-hundred years I have returned, seeking to battle once again with the mighty celestial diarchs! Unfortunately, rather than increase in power, the two alicorn’s might and grace has waned, so much so that even in my weakest state I could easily best them. In addition, during my imprisonment, they separated me from my many weapons, and with them they also took away my ability to transform. I now seek to regain my lost weapons and power and also convince the Sisters to regain their former splendor for another glorious battle. In other words, I’m gonna get my shit back and whip them into shape before whupping them again!”

I chuckled at his hammy speech. “Geeze, into character much?” He pouted a bit before I waved my hand at him. “I get it, I get it, you’ve got a heart of gold. I could help you with that whole search of yours, but I want two promises from you before I do.”

“Name them, mighty mage of the five Elements!”

“First, you will not misuse your strength. Frankly, this whole Omega thing is getting to me. And second, that you will at least try to make peace with the Sisters. Maybe say you could be their personal trainer, or a drill sergeant of the Guard, or something. Swear on what you hold most dear, and I will try to make something for you.”

He chuckled. “Good sir, what you ask is what I already intended! But if you must hear me say it… I, the Mighty Gilgamesh, mighty warrior and ronin of the Multiverse, do so solemnly swear, upon the very wind that gives me the freedom I cherish, to never use my magnificent strength to oppress or abuse any creature… aside from the occasional prank. I also promise to become allies to the Sisters, and all forces of good in Equus… once I can actually convince them I’m not trying to start another globe spanning war. I guess the Changeling invasion could help with that.”

I nodded at him. “Good enough. Now let’s see how far I can push transmutation.”

I sent my power into the earth, seeking out iron ore deep beneath the surface. Finding just enough for my purposes, I pulled, ever so slightly, on it. It came out of the ground in a liquid form and pooled in front of me. I then molded some nearby wood into an appropriate carrying case and pulled some groundwater and sand up as well. With a little work and know-how, and a lot of energy, I had molded a compass, after a fashion. I then turned to Gilgamesh and opened it up. “Look familiar?”

I hoped it did; I had tried so hard, but apparently remaking Captain Jack Sparrow’s compass was not a task to be undertaken lightly. The warrior still let out a low whistle; I had apparently impressed him.

“What a wonderful reality this is for the most powerful beings in all the realms to be geeks,” he happily remarked before taking the compass. “You have my undying gratitude.”

I shook my head. “Not done. I only made it, I haven’t put the spells on it yet. Hold out your nagatina, if you would?”

The warrior unclipped his weapon from his back before standing it up like a flagpole. “Whenever you’re ready.”

I took the compass back and drew my sword as well. Carefully touching Eureka to the nagatina, I focused on the energies of both my sword and his weapon. “Law of Contagion...Resonating energies...a piece disconnected from the whole is still a part of the whole…”

There was a bright golden flash in the clearing, and the needle of the compass was now pointing firmly at the nagatina. I sheathed my blade and walked away a few steps to see the needle turn to face the weapon and smiled. “Would I be correct in assuming all your weapons are like a part of you? You did say they took your power and transformations when they sealed you and took your weapons, I just wanted to be sure that this will work for the others.”

“Yup, that’s right. I managed to recover one, not counting the naginata here, and I felt my power increase as it disappeared inside me. However, it seems I can’t transform until I have all of my weapons for that particular form back. Which is probably for the best really, I don’t want to embarrass myself by attacking with Excalipoor.”

I smiled and closed the compass up, walking back to the warrior. “This should give you a heading to either the nearest weapon, or the weapon you want most. I’m not certain, I’ve only just now field-tested it. But! In the case of it not functioning well, I will also gift you with valuable intel on the Multiverse and other Equestrias! Which would you like to hear first, the good side, the bad side, or the side that might actually pertain to you?”

“Hm… Hit me with the good, the bad, and the relevant, in that order. I’ll probably remember it best that way.”

I nodded as the warrior reclaimed his weapon and compass. “The good part is composed of a demon lord named Nocturne who answers calls through mirrors...for a price. Along with some sort of Heir of Breath named Typhon, he appears to have gone God-Tier. I suppose if you Call or answer their Calls, they might be welcome allies on the battlefield. The bad is composed of what I call the Triad; Alice with her Vorpal Blade, Pyramid Head with his Knife, and Jack of Blades.”

“You mean the American McGee Alice? And that Pyramid Head?” I actually saw him shudder. “I think I felt a chill.”

I nodded grimly. “The same. They form the Triad of Madness, their weapons can induce it...just like Eureka did.” Here I fingered my sword’s hilt and sighed. “I suppose, were I incapable of controlling myself or it these days, it would instead be a Quartet. I’ve learned to ask it to play nice, though.”

“And I’m sure every creature that has not had their minds broken by having a staring contest with The Rift thanks you for that.”

I shook my head. “I prefer to call it the Void Eternal, but whatever. And for the bits that actually pertain to you: there should be, somewhere in your world, since either you are most definitely a worthy holder or because of the nature of infinity, a coin with my symbol on it,” here I gestured to the eclipse emblazoned on my clothes, “And a black book with Dully’s name in it. They’re our Tokens, much like I suspect these gauntlets are yours.”

“Actually, I already found them both. They hit me in the face mere minutes after I got released from my prison, while I was in the middle of my Freedom Dance. It was one of the reasons I jumped to help you when you called. I didn’t call on you guys ‘cause, quite frankly, I thought it would’ve been selfish. That and I didn’t want Tia and Lulu freaking out about more incredibly powerful entities after I was able to pound her Royal Sunness to a pulp.”

I smiled at him. “Tia’s used to my antics by now, so you coming over here isn’t an issue for me. Typhon helped with that a bit, I think. Still, give me like a week to figure out this Omega guy and I’ll come if you need me. I’ve tested my functional immortality already, it seems to work. Or, if you need help right away, Dully’s experimenting with sending ‘copies’ of himself to others in the Multiverse.”

“Damn, you got some friends in high places. Well, I’ll try to see if I can get on my own for the most part. I kinda doubt I’ll need your help anyway. Also, speaking of this whole doom and gloom stuff with ‘Omega’,” he shook his head, “Seriously, ‘Omega’? Why doesn’t he just come straight and call himself ‘God’? Anyway, I thought you might need a laugh, or at least a chuckle, so here.” He grabbed my wrist and hoisted me up. Once again, music started to play out of nowhere.

“FRIENDSHIP LEVEL UP!”

I actually chuckled at that. “You’re right, I did need a laugh. What was that phrase? I seem to have forgotten...Ah well, it’ll come back to me. Godspeed, you crazy, crazy ronin.”

“And a fond farewell to you, my shiny friend. May the winds of freedom always carry your wings.”

“And may the Golden Sun illuminate your path.”

And with that he cut open a hole in the air above him. “GILGAMESH AWAY!” he shouted before jumping inside, the hole closing behind him almost immediately. I muttered to myself as the hole in the fabric of reality sealed itself.

“Crazy hammy bugger. Useful in a fight, but I almost feel sorry for his ‘Tia.”

Author's Note

Let's give a hand to shingamisparda and his story, The Mighty Warrior of Epicness. Without him, this chapter would have been far less fun.

Chapter 15 - Bunker Busting

I was never one for wargames back on Earth. I knew next to nothing about tactics or the best way to search for opponents. All I had was a magical signature and a vague direction guiding me.

What I also had was unending pessimism and fear, which actually helped me quite a bit. Fear helps keep you alive. If you aren't capable of feeling fear, then you're way too cocky for your own damn good. If you can't name off the top of your head something that scares you, along with your counterplan to deal with it when it comes up, then chances are, someone is planning to get the drop on you right now.

...I mean, granted, I had functional immortality, but I was still getting used to that. Fear responses would be the norm for some time.

After two days of trudging through the damn forest (Why is it always the forest?), I reached the border between Equestria and the Badlands again. Only this time, where I was had something that was definitely artificial.

A small hill had a pair of wooden doors set into it, with the ground in front devoid of grass and looking much more firmly packed. It clearly saw a great deal of use. I went to pull the door open, thinking this was where I wanted to be, when I felt that sensation again. Three this time, closing in from all sides. Their power was less than that of a Star, but it felt...oh no.

I looked up and locked eyes with one of my attackers, feeling his power. A good bit of Mercury with a small bit of Jupiter to serve as a foundation. Otherwise known as a Wizard, he who heals and hits with the fury of a winter storm. A pulse from my right revealed a good bit of Mars with a Venus foundation. A Chaos Lord, he who hits hard and takes hits and thrives on combat. A pulse to the left told me of a Mars beginning with a good bit of Jupiter layered on, also known as a War Adept. Fast and full of deadly magic, capable of using both damage and status effects, War Adepts trained for battle.

Whoever this Omega was, he was starting to mix and match elements. If these three knew what they could do, I would be in deep shit. I drew my blade slowly, and I could feel their power react to the sound of my blade unsheathing.

"Now then, colts. We can do this one of two ways. The easy way, or the hard way."

The Chaos Lord snorted. "We'll take the easy way."

I paused for a moment. "Really?"

The Wizard nodded. "Yup. We'll just kill you and be done with it."

At that, I looked at each of them in turn. "Did...did he not believe me when I said I was immortal? Cause, believe me, I've done the whole song and dance before. It sucked."

The War Adept let out a noise indicating he didn't believe me. "Puh-lease. Anything that dies stays dead. Like those elemental spirits."

My eyes narrowed. My clothes changed color. A familiar feeling burned within me as my sword lit up with my power. But it wasn't golden anymore, the flames had turned a familiar cobalt blue. It was then I identified the sensation in my gut.

It wasn't indigestion or an ulcer, it was something I had reserved all my life that was now burning freely.

Hatred. Wrath.

My anger was spiraling out of control.

And I liked it.

(3rd POV - Dullahan - Penumbra Sanctum)

No, see, the spirits these tablets call on aren't beings that are currently alive. More like, they're incredibly powerful manifestations of power. In the right combination and with the right foreknowledge, you can unleash some cra-

The armor trailed off as he felt a tug on his being. Aboyami looked at the armor with a measured glance. "Is something wrong?"

The boy. He...is drawing on those powers unique to me. I know not why...or how...

(POV - Auric)

I raised my blade to eye level and pointed at each of the stallions surrounding me in turn. "You shouldn't have said that."

The Wizard backed up a step, likely thinking that this was no longer a good idea. "Guys, maybe we should just cut our losses and report back..."

"There will be no mercy, no justice, not for you. You have awoken the heat, the flames, the Storm of my anger."

The sword flashed once, and a small sheen of light coated it. I wasn't done, though. "To you who have sealed a Dark Contract with the one known as Omega, I tell ye now that the time has come to pay for what you have done."

The blade flashed again, and a layer of darkness obscured the previous sheen. At this, the Chaos Lord backed up a step. "I'm not so sure this is a good idea anymore..."

"To ye who have captured and drained the Djinn, then tossed them aside when they are of no more use to you, I Condemn you!"

The sword was basically throbbing with power now, and even the War Adept backed up a step. He quickly rallied, though. "I am NOT afraid of you! I will NOT be bested by you!"

I glared at him, deciding that yes, they would fear me and be bested by me. "Oh, you will. And when you arrive on the shores of the Styx and meet the ferryman Charon, you will finally Understand your victim's pain!"

I hefted the sword and felt the power I'd stored in it gather at the tip, making for a shining cobalt spark on the end of my sword. Acting on instinct, I brought my blade down and stabbed the very earth.

And that was when everything exploded for a moment.

When I came to, I first saw that the sky was still a lovely shade of blue, and that my power was coming along nicely back to the level it had been before my little encounter.

Then I recalled some details of the encounter and made to sit up, wincing a bit as my body complained. I could see scattered around me the trio that had accosted me. All of them still breathing, barely, and all of them facing away from me, as though they had attempted to run before being caught in an explosion. I checked myself over to see that my clothes were in their usual Day coloration and still intact.

I then noted that the doors which had been set into the hill had been blasted open, and I made my way over to them. Looking in revealed naught but darkness, while looking back at the ones who had tried to stop me told me that their powers were gone. Severed, somehow, probably by whatever caused the explosion. My memory wasn't behaving; something about my clothes shifting again, and me spouting off some vague speech about morals or some such was all I could grab.

Sheathing Eureka, I went into the cave that had been uncovered and lit my hands up with my power, casting eerie shadows across every surface. The first room was empty enough. It was the second that caused me the first bit of distress.

In huge glass tanks were collections of Djinn, floating in some semi-see-through green fluid. Sitting near the middle of this cave was a smaller version of the extractor machine I had seen before. Going from tank to tank revealed the Djinn were still alive. Barely. I focused and removed the lids by turning them back into sand, then I pulled each elemental spirit out and gathered them in a pile before me. A Jupiter Djinn focused a bleary eye on me. Who...what...why...

I placed a hand on its head. "I am Auric Fulcrum, formerly a part of Dullahan. I wield the Flames of Alchemy and have come seeking he that did this to you. Can you move?"

A collective groan arose from the pile. No...we are...we are drained...many of us will not last...

I called up what I could of my strength and focused on the Djinn before me. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

The wave of golden light impacted the spirits, restoring vitality and energy to those it touched. I panted a bit as the power left me, and momentarily, it was harder to breathe. It was also worth it, as the spirits seemed to perk up with renewed vitality. The Jupiter one that had spoken to me before looked me in the eyes as it started to hover a bit. Why? Why would you save us by sacrificing a portion of your own power?

I smiled at him. "Because if I can save any and choose not to, that is a greater wrong than placing you in this position in the first place."

The Jupiter Djinn was momentarily stunned, so I looked to the rest. "Can you move? Are you alright now?"

A few muttered that they were alright at my question, so I continued. "Do any of you know where Newvale is?"

The Jupiter Djinn had recovered. I do, I was headed there before this happened.

I looked at him. "Can you lead the others there? Dullahan and a community of Adepts are there, they've fended off attacks from this one before. They'll be capable of aiding you and shielding you until you are back to your full power."

The Djinn nodded and made a motion with one of its wings. Come along, it's a ways away, this town. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish.

The Djinn filed out of the cave, not quite as fast as they could be, but better than being on the verge of death like they had been. I turned to the next room and mentally prepared myself.

No amount of preparation would have ever been enough.

I actually lost what my stomach had in it as I viewed the scene before me. Playing games, seeing things like this, thinking about it, nothing compared. I think it was the smell. The smell reached into my mind and made me realize that this was real, that someone had done this to other sapient beings.

The fact that strapped down to four tables that had extractor equipment above them were the still-animate bodies of the NAT...that only made it worse.

I...eventually got my stomach under control and approached. Talos turned his head and looked at me with his good eye. "Who..." He coughed, and a bit of phlegm as red as blood hit the table. "Who're you?" he croaked out.

I looked the others over then, noting that the injuries inflicted on them were too numerous, especially considering my latest endeavor. "Someone who should have been here a while ago," I replied. "I...I cannot save you all. I doubt I can save one of you. I just finished saving the Djinn, and by the time my power recovers enough to save you..."

Moonfire spoke up next then. "If you cannot save us...kill us instead. Release us."

I walked over to him and put a hand to his face. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes," Frostfall pitched in. "A quick death would be preferable to a slow wasting."

I nodded slowly at their logic. "Still, there is every chance I could do something. That anyone could help. I should at least think of something to try while I wait."

"No," Flare interjected, "You shouldn't. We have suffered so much that an end to this pain seems like a treasure. They injured each of us to see how we would react, how our Psynergy would react. When they realized that some of it instinctively seeks to keep us whole at all costs, they kept us injured at all costs. When they found our emotions and memories could make for more powerful bursts, they tormented us by researching our lives and dangling the promise of escape in front of us with names from our past. Grant us that peace, please."

I looked at all of them, briefly catching their eyes staring into mine. "If that...is what you want. Truly want. Then I will oblige."

I held my blade to Talos' throat and looked at him. "Know you this. You will be remembered. You will be avenged."

He nodded, and with a quick slice and a spurt of blood, he sighed his last.

The process was repeated three more times.

"Frostfall, Flare, Moonfire, Talos. I add your names to those that I carry with me, until such a time as the one who did this to you is found and brought to justice for his crimes."

...I may have broken down weeping at the 'mercy' I gave to them for a little while.

Eventually I composed myself again and walked to the next and final room.

It resembled an office crossed with a lab, was the first thing that ran through my mind. Papers and diagrams scattered everywhere, with a desk near the back.

The second thing that crossed through my mind was: Found you!

Sticking out of the ceiling was a huge blue crystal, softly glowing. It seemed I found the other end of the control crystals. I looked up to the thing and noticed the gap between me and it, frowning at the thought.

I pulled the desk over to underneath it and reached up with one hand, barely contacting the crystal at its lowest point. I sent a tendril of my power into it, and got a rush of information out.

Yes, this was the control crystal. No, there were no others. No, there were no small control crystals currently in use. But there had been an order sent out to one, one that had been embedded into a member of the Guard in secret. The order would remain hidden until activated, and once it was, the one that activated it would not need this crystal to control the subject.

I took note of all that information, then drained the crystal dry, making sure to take a sample of the magic that had created and controlled this vile thing. I kept it separate from myself and slowly, sedately walked out of the bunker and back into the forest.

There I crafted another compass and imbued it with the magic I had taken, shaping the magic to function like the last one I had made.

I would find the stallion that had done this.

And afterwards, I would come back and burn this place, burn even the very stones if I had to, to make sure every last trace of what he had done was gone.

But for now, the compass was pointing me towards a mountain I could barely see. One that I had visited several times, that had needed saving.

If you really are there, Omega, I will end this now.

Chapter 16 - Canterlot Clash

It took me another day before I felt like I had the power to Teleport again, but when I sensed that my reserves were back up to snuff, I quickly did my disappearing act, reappearing in front of Canterlot Castle in a swirl of golden flames.

I hadn’t even gotten ten steps down the road following my compass before I hear the first crash and shriek from further in the city.

My powers reacted, telling me there were more twisted-Adepts, and that the combinations were greater and coming from three beings. I rounded a bend and found myself staring down three more stallions. They had been marching down the street, demonstrating their strength to any that would stand up to them, and a more refined pulse to each one told me what their ‘classes’ were.

The one in the middle, Mercury base with Mars and Jupiter layered on. Warlock, he who knows all destructive spells, save for that of the earth itself. The one on the right, Mars base with Venus and Jupiter layered on. Ronin, the earth, the wind, and the flames are his weapons and shields. The one on the left, Venus base with Mars and Jupiter layered on. A ninja, and not just any ninja. At those levels of power, a Master ninja. Swift as the wind, and capable of attacking with all the fury of a thunderstorm.

All of them scared me. My only saving grace was that none of them would know any healing techniques. I drew my blade and began thinking about how best to deal with the situation, and that was when something drifted down from above to stop in front of me.

A bright glowing sphere, roughly a foot and a half in diameter, with a translucent image of a mask taking up a large portion of the center. I touched it, and felt that it was connected to something- no, someone else. Someone in yet another Equestria. Running a hand along the image it felt almost flat, despite the appearance being near-perfectly found. I pulled a little on the orb to bring it closer to me, and it resisted. I frowned at it. Is this your game? I need to bring you to me to understand who you belong to! That mask seems so familiar…

I pulled harder, and that was about when things started to get crazy again.

In an instant, there was a brief, near-blinding flash of pure, white light, that when it cleared, showed a slowly solidifying shape, that soon took on colour from the ground up.

Spiked metal boots, followed by crimson cloth that continued up, revealing an armoured torso and more crimson on the hooded cloak. Finally the face, or rather mask became visible. It was only then that I put together who this was. The cloak, the mask, the colours. I pointed Eureka at the one before me.

“Jack of Blades, is it? I will say this, I had hoped to not have to meet you. However, I am apparently out of other options, so if you would lend me your aid, I would be most grateful, member of the Triad of Madness.”

With a slow, deliberate movement, he turned to face me and said, “It would be both unbecoming and unwise to deny the request of another of the Void, would it not?” before chuckling darkly and raising his blade.

“True, those of us who once were normal humans should stick together. But know this, I know your character. I would have preferred to never meet you, but better you than Pyramid.”

“Pyramid? I am not familiar with-,” he cut off as he was hit with a Quick Strike from the Ronin, making him stagger a bit.

“Right, discourse later, battle now. That one,” I said, pointing to the offender, “Will be vulnerable to water and ice. As will his friend,” I said, now pointing to the Master Ninja. I then turned to the Warlock. “He will be vulnerable to the Earth. Which would you prefer?”

Curling his left hand, several loud pops sounded and he replied. “How about we see through chance,” and thrust his unarmed hand down, causing several golden, ethereal blades to appear and fly randomly at each of the opposing stallions.

The Master Ninja managed to dodge all save one, which nicked his back left hoof, causing him to wince. The Warlock let out blast after blast at the blades, shattering several, but severely depleting his powers. The Ronin, meanwhile, merely coated himself in a lavender aura and let the blades shatter on him. I leveled Eureka at the stallion in question. “You’re going to be a bitch and a half to take down, aren’t you?”

Jack turned to the Master Ninja and raised the dark blade to point at it, saying, “I have killed gods and demons alike. You will be nothing in light of what I have faced,” before he began to take on a red aura and rise off the ground.

This would soon prove to be a Bad Idea. The Master Ninja grinned and pointed at the now suddenly cloudy sky above Jack. Jack would have time to look up just before a huge lightning bolt slammed down from above, right into him.

I, meanwhile, turned to face the Ronin and tried to gauge when he would next attack. If I could just goad him into using his Swift Strike, or any Venus-based power…

“So, Omega sends three colts out to the castle, in hopes they will be able to overthrow the Sun Princess?”

The Ronin snorted. “If that were his goal, we certainly would not tell you.”

“Yeah,” the Warlock said, trying to focus enough to stand up without any wobbly limbs, “You’ve meddled in his dealings for long enough. High time you...and all your other freaky friends...were removed from the picture.”

The Master Ninja was apparently satisfied with his work, and turned to face me. “Now, how about we help you see that you’re mortal, just like everypony else?”

His smug smile soon vanished as he barely ducked in time to keep his head as Jack swung his blade from the stallion’s right, losing a portion of his ear. He screamed as he felt a sudden rush of pain and held his hoof to the suddenly lighter load on his head. “You motherbucker, that was my good ear!” He then seemed to put two and two together. I was standing in front of him, my sword was in plain view...he turned to his right and saw Jack standing there.

As he looked to Jack, he screamed, “How are you still standing?!”

Jack, instead of answering, took another swing, this time imbued with Will, so when the stallion dodged, there was an arc of energy that continued towards the pegasus, severing his right wing. The stallion screamed and fell to the earth below, twitching and cursing as he felt his new stump bleed.

Meanwhile, I took Jack getting up again as the perfect distraction, and punched the Warlock in the face. It was a good punch. My left hand still hurts sometimes when I think about it. Seeing as how he’d already used up a good deal of his power, the Warlock dropped right into unconsciousness.

I glanced over just in time to see Jack reverse his grip on the Sword of Aeons and remove the Master Ninja’s other wing. The stallion really screamed then and looked up to Jack. “You motherbucker, when Omega gets his hooves on you, you are going to pay for that! Buck, when I get up, you’ll pay for it!”

Crouching down over the pony, I barely heard him say, “What makes you believe you’ll be getting up?” before doing something I never expected.

Reaching up he sat the Sword of Aeons along his back, and as he lowered his arm, his hand paused over his face. While I wasn’t at a good enough angle to see under his hood, I did see his mask as he sat the ‘face’ of it on the stallion’s muzzle.

The world seemed to stop as the pony let out a screech like no other and an aura surrounded him. Just as the aura finished forming, it seemed to drain from him and into the mask. Even his comrades stopped fighting to watch as the Master Ninja had his soul drained from him.

It took only a few seconds for the aura to completely drain, and the scream never ceased until it did.

Finally standing from the lifeless shell, Jack once again put his mask on, saying, “You never had a chance. Your soul was mine as soon as you tried to hit me.”

I blinked a few times at that. “Um. Well. I, uh. I’ll deal with that later.” I mentally pushed aside the issue of Jack stealing some pony’s soul and turned to the Ronin. I quickly grinned, thinking of something that could very well work. “Okay, now you have two options.”

He looked from Jack to me, and back to Jack. “And they are?”

I smiled. “Either you tell me what Omega’s plan here was and I’ll deal with you by cutting out your stolen Psynergy…”

He gulped at the thought. “Or?”

I gestured to Jack. “Or I turn you over to him, and he might tell me. No big loss to me if he doesn’t, I’ll figure out what it was eventually. I have tracking magics.”

The stallion turned to Jack and blanched at the thought of Jack dealing with him. “I...I refuse! Come at me! I will not fall! Omega will succeed!”

I sighed and turned to Jack. “He’s clearly a distraction. Would you like to deal with him while I hunt his boss?”

Instead of answering, he simply thrust his hand out, sending a ball of Will racing into the pony, causing him to go sprawling.

“Go,” he said, striding over to the shaky legged pony as it tried to regain its bearings.

I nodded and took out my compass, seeing it point, surprisingly, right at the damn castle. I chuckled a bit, realizing that it made a semblance of sense. “I have Princesses to see, possibly save.”

“Wait,” he called.

As I paused, he held an Orb in both his hands and started pressing them together until they met. Taking them apart, he held a small ball-bearing like object that soon reshaped itself into a Silver Key which he then threw to me.

“Channel some magic in and turn it, and I’ll join you again if I can.”

I chuckled again and tucked it into my sidebag before turning back towards the palace, remembering at the last moments to give Jack some parting words.

“Try not to break him too badly. And do see yourself out when you’re done. Oh, and if you see Alice, give her the regards of Armor Boy, would you?”

I didn’t hear him reply, as the earth pony he’d been menacing began screaming…

(POV shift - Jack)

As Auric ran off towards the palace, I turned back to the pony who looked much steadier and somewhat afraid.

Reaching up past the Sword of Aeons, I grabbed my long sword and said, “I’m going to take my time with you, I think.”

I grinned behind my mask as he started to back away.

Channeling Will into my body, I blurred across the distance separating us and drove the blade into his leg, just above the fetlock… and twisted, causing him to sit back on his haunches and yell.

I didn’t twist too far before I felt the bone split and I pulled the blade out and repeated the action with his other foreleg.

As I pulled the blade free he collapsed, unconscious and breathing sporadically, so I grabbed his mane, lifted him to eye level and sent a pulse of Will into him, just enough to wake him.

He was hyperventilating at this point, but I didn’t care as I told him, “In the Equestria I’m from, I’m considered the single greatest calamity to ever come to the land. I wonder if I can attain that status here.”

As I spoke, there was, for lack of a better word, a voice in my head. It wasn’t the boy’s, but it was...familiar. An image of a headless suit of armor with blue flames dancing out of the neck accompanied the words.

The boy told me of you, or rather, he and I share memories, Jack of Blades. Do what you were called on to do and no more, lest ye have the Headless after you across dimensions.

Chase me as long as you like, but find me in the Void and I WILL destroy you.

You seem to need an introduction. Very well. I am he who stalks the darkness, I am the elemental wraith. I am Dullahan, protector of Newvale and the Hole between dimensions. Should you make the boy regret calling on you, I WILL hunt you. I WILL find you. And I WILL unleash our most powerful techniques on you.

You think I am afraid of Death? I have been killed before. It makes little difference to me.

No, you are not afraid of death. But that is not our most powerful technique. Isis, goddess of rainbows. Summoning her brings life. I could, and should I find it necessary, would, restore you to how you had been to strip you of your powers if I need to.

William Black said much the same before he went mad. But you need not concern yourself. The affairs of worlds not my own hold little interest to me.

I can’t exactly go mad, you know. The boy’s blade holds his moment of madness, and for so long, we were one and the same, and thus, I have been afflicted with his Understanding. Still, thank you for yours.

As the foreign ‘voice’ faded from my head, I noticed that what seemed to be a full conversation had taken no more than an instant, and I was still holding the pony by his mane.

Shifting my grip, I threw him to the ground and with a slight flourish, removed his head.

Not staying in place long enough to see his blood, I made my way to the Warlock, who was starting to regain consciousness.

Once again taking the Sword of Aeons, I placed the tip of his horn into the thin gap running the length of the blade, forcing him to see the power I held. He stared at the metal with crossed eyes, following it back until he saw which of his foes held it, then briefly looked around at the remains of the other two stallions, before looking back with far more fear than before. “What...did you do? What are you?”

“I am Jack of Blades. I came from the Void, was second on the Court, killed by William Black, immortalised through my mask and ruled as an icon of fear in the land of Albion.”

Lifting it away from his horn, I continued my speech. “I am he who corrupted the Crystal King, Wielder of the Weapon of Madness known as the blade of Power. I am your downfall.”

With that, I thrust the blade through his barrel and into his heart.

Withdrawing the blade, I looked it over and thought to myself, ‘Not a drop of blood. There never is.’

Stepping away, I looked to the sky and shifted my essence into Will and returned home.

(POV shift - Auric)

As I ran through the palace, following my compass, I noticed that one of the hallways was significantly darker than the rest. I didn't think much of it until the shadows surrounding me starting oozing a darkness that moved on its own and pooled in a single point. After it had grown into a pile roughly the same size as an average man, the inky black substance just fell away, revealing a horrible, off-white figure, that moved with an aggressive air about it.

“Where is he?!” it demanded.

I hefted my sword and made to defend myself from...whatever it was going to pull. “I know a lot of male figures, you’ll have to be more specific.” Shit! The power of this one is greater than the Wise One! I think...oh damn. Alice had her god. This must be Jack’s.

“Where is Jack of Blades?!”

“Ah, him,” I replied, keeping my sword between us. “I left him back in the streets to deal with three that would distract me. As you’re currently doing. Begging your pardon, but are you a god?”

This thing was suddenly in front of me and latched onto my shoulders.

“I am. And you had best not be lying you miserable little...”

Despite my situation, I smiled. “Fantastic! See, I would like to run two experiments real fast.”

And with that, I focused on Eureka, causing it to glow, and brought it around to hit the creature that was on me. “Let’s see how you handle Understanding, bitch!”

Before the blade made contact it screeched and pushed me away, screaming, “You’re one of them!”

I smiled. “Yes, and do you know what I did to my ‘god’? I tore him apart on the subatomic level! Your kind is not welcome here, your kind is not wanted here! After all, what is a god, to a non-believer?!”

“You cannot do such things to me. I AM the darkness and all it contains.”

A voice rung out through the sword then. And I am he who stalks the darkness, the Elemental Wraith. The boy speaks true, Invader. Leave, or we will BOTH hunt you, like I promised to hunt Jack afore he acquiesced and absconded.

With a growl, it said, “Very well. I have spent too long here anyway.”

Before he could leave, I sheathed my blade. “Tell your brethren, they that watch over Alice and Pyramid, this. I am the Knight of the Eclipse, slayer of the Wise One. Threaten me or mine, and you will share his fate. I do not believe in you or your ‘right’ over your champions.”

As it faded into the darkness, it chuckled and made one final statement. “Do you really think it will be so easy? The ‘Wise One’ was among the weakest of our number.”

I smiled then. “Good. More of a challenge. I just love pushing my limits. Let’s see how far Alchemy will take me, should we e’er meet again.”

Boy, he’s already gone.

I shrugged. “It was said ‘God works in mysterious ways’ back home. I’d expect these ‘gods’ to be no less devious.”

It was only a few minutes after my little run-in with that particular 'god' that I managed to finally track the magical signature down to one room in the palace.

I did not like where I was.

I threw the doors open and looked at the bed, staring at the dark alicorn lying atop the sheets. Her eyes were wide open, she was clearly panicking, not understanding how someone else could possibly have the strength to restrain her.

The stallion nearby had orange fur, a red mane, green eyes, a unicorn horn, and emitting from his horn and front hooves were golden flames.

A similar set of flames were holding the Princess down to her bed and were surrounding a familiar small blue crystal, which was hovering just behind her head. A few canisters nearby held some sort of...viscous, colored fluid. Blue and violet. They resonated with the powers of Mercury and Jupiter.

I looked from Luna to the stallion and narrowed my eyes. "Omega, I presume?"

He smiled at me. "And you must be Auric. Take another step, and the first thing I'll do when I've got the Princess under my control is order her to kill you."

Author's Note

So a portion of this chapter was done as a crossover with rikusorasephiroth and his story The Masked Face of Fear.
Also, we finally meet Omega! Why does he have golden flames? What would his grand plan involving the princess of the night be?
And finally, just what will his fate be?
Tune in next time!

Chapter 17 - Necesse est omnia finiantur.

I growled at the stallion before me. "So you're the one who is responsible for...well, everything I've had to deal with."

The damn smile never left his face. "Indeed. And seeing as how my plan is very nearly complete, I'm feeling generous and kind. Go ahead, ask your questions."

My scowl only increased as he mentioned two aspects of the Elements of Harmony. "Why the crystals?"

Omega's smile fell a bit. "Normal Adepts could not be controlled by any means, their Psynergy fought it off. So my underlings knocked out non-Adepts, inserted the crystal, and then we infused them with the extract taken from Djinn and Adepts. Thus making controllable Adepts."

I actually nodded at that. "Makes a semblance of sense."

Omega looked shocked. "Wait, you're agreeing with me?"

I glared at him. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I loathe your very existence, but I can understand what little logic there was behind your actions. Speaking of, why did you do any of this?"

The unicorn in front of me frowned. "I was a colt in the school for gifted unicorns, and I was reading in the Archives one day when I noticed a door to a room of artifacts. A small violet spirit flew in and landed atop a case covering a sword. And when I levitated the case off and touched the sword, my mind..."

He trailed off, and I filled in. "You saw the Multiverse and all its glory. The Void Eternal and That Which Fills It. Everything, from the smallest speck to stars in the sky."

The stallion slowly nodded. "The blade showed me all things, but most importantly, it revealed to me that I was an Adept. That I could command the elements. And it showed me how they worked. How combinations worked."

Here he looked to the flames emitting from his hooves and smiled. "And it showed me that when all were combined, the powers of Alchemy would be unlocked. It took me a while, but I created a golden sphere and absorbed it. Those that believed in me were given smaller doses, of not all four combined."

I growled at him. "Why? What was your endgame?"

He chuckled. "True immortality. With the power of the Princesses, some Flames of Alchemy, and some Water of Hermes, the water of life would become the Water of Eternity. I would need them both under my control and imbued with sympathetic Elements, but it could be done. Ponies would be able to live forever. Ponies that believed in me, anyways."

I held a hand to my chin. "So you created a False Sun, and would have used Psynergy and magic to bring immortality to your chosen. You murdered so many Djinn, were responsible for the deaths of changelings, ponies, and even a griffon."

He snorted at me. "A false sun? The power it granted me is as real as the one that shone over Canterlot."

I smiled. "Oh, you may wield the Flames, the same as me. But I can feel your strength from here. You wield them, but you do not Understand them. Your power is so much less than mine. You didn't even notice that the crystal is in my control now, did you?"

Omega jolted and looked to the crystal, just as it turned to dust. He yelped and jumped back to the canisters, but was encased in a golden glow. My golden glow. The stallion squealed as I pushed him against the wall. Luna jumped up as the power holding her down faded and shattered. "We thank thee, Auric, for your efforts. We shall bring this pony before our sister-"

"No."

Luna turned towards me with an expression of shock. "Thou canst be meaning to say you wish for us to set this monster free?"

"Oh I'll set him free," I snarled. "I'll set him free in the truest expression of the word. You won't want to be here for this, Luna. It might trigger some...unpleasant memories."

Luna slowly left the room, clearly curious but also taking my warning to heart. Once the door closed I set my sidebag down and took off my gauntlets. "For your crimes, Omega, I sentence you to the worst punishment I can devise."

He actually laughed. "Do as you will, you pretentious biped. I will not be cowed. I will not fear you or what you stand for."

The Genji Gauntlets dissolved into a storm of golden motes, which hovered between us. "The first of seven, the Gauntlets of the Warrior of Greatness."

The sidebag opened, and each of my Tokens floated out. I named them as I broke them apart into their component particles.

"The Medallion of the Demon King. The Card of the Lady of Madness. The Key of the King of Power. The Clasp of the Twins of Space and Time. The Soapstone of the Knight of the Sun. The Coin of the Heir of Breath."

Each one dissolved into a storm of golden dust, and as each connection broke, I felt a pang in my heart. The air between us was ringed with gold...and something else. Something we could not focus on, for when we tried, our eyes could not see anything. Void-energy. The absence of any and every thing that could be classified as something that existed in a reality. I only knew it was there because I could feel its presence.

"Each one of these Tokens were touched by the Void Eternal. And now I use its essence against you."

"You think your adherence to your petty lies will save you, colt, but it will not! You too will die one day!"

I cocked my head at him. "Petty lies? Oh, you must mean Justice, Balance, Mercy. Those things."

The stallion snorted in rage. "Grind up the entire universe and show me one speck of Justice, one atom of Mercy, one iota of Balance! Then I will listen to you! The blade showed me that all things must end, that all things will end! If Justice, Mercy, or Balance were capable of saving ponykind, then there would be a way out! But there never is or will be!"

I merely shook my head at him. "For last words, those are pretty terrible. I hereby sentence you to be exiled to the Void Eternal, never again to darken any of That Which Fills It. You will wander the infinite nothing forevermore, home to the Eldritch things beyond all realities. Pray that they will have mercy on your soul, for this is as much as I will grant you."

I made a motion with my hands, moving the motes that ringed the Void-energy, thus moving the energy itself. Just before the Void-energy impacted him, he smiled at me. "You never did find that guard, did you?"

My blood ran cold as Omega vanished. My mind was filled with one thought. Measured!

I focused on Ponyville and vanished again.

I appeared in Ponyville Market in a rush of golden flames to a scene I had hoped not to see.

A pegasus Guard had Measured hostage with a spear to her throat.

The Bearers were nearby, all of them shocked into silence that one of the Guard would do this to Measured. I noticed the slight glaze on his eyes and realized that this was the one who was being controlled. I slowly walked over to Twilight. "Do you know this one?"

She gulped and nodded, never taking her eyes off the scene before her. "That's Flash, Flash Sentry. Why is he doing this?"

"He's not. It's the last commands of a madman to a control crystal embedded within him that's making him do this. Why aren't you dragging him, his spear, or Measured away from there?"

"His armor, something about it counters magic on him and anything he's touching. And he reacts when any of us get close, even when he shouldn't be able to see us."

Omega must have done something to his armor, I would have to handle this directly. I walked into Flash's field of view, and he jerked his entire head to follow me. "You! Come any closer, and I will..."

He trailed off and shuddered, then one of his eyes lost the glazed look. "Who...what..."

I smiled then. It would appear that it was possible for this one to fight the control. Perhaps he was an unawakened Adept, or maybe the crystal required its master? I'd have to look into it. "Flash? Flash, you need to keep fighting. Don't let the crystal control you."

He looked up at me with his clear eye. "I'm...I'm trying. But it's so hard. It wants me to...kill this mare...if you don't surrender."

I sighed. "That's going to be very hard for me to do, Flash."

"Why?"

I looked him dead in the eyes. "Omega's gone. Banished, forever, from all realities. There's no one to surrender to."

That was, apparently, the wrong thing to say. His eye glazed over again, and the spear was thrust into Measured's neck. A spurt of blood, a gasp.

I bumrushed Flash and tore the crystal out of him before it could make him do anything else, then crouched near Measured. I could see and feel her life slipping away from me with every second that passed. I poured what healing powers I could into her, and it did nothing. She still grew weaker.

My eyes narrowed. "I have moved mountains, dealt with mad gods, crossed realities, and ended threats against this world. I will not be bested by this!"

I felt something snap, deep inside, and felt a rush of power in my very being. I kept up my rant. "No price is too great, no debt too steep! I will not let this mare die! I forbid her to die!"

I could hear something that sounded like fabric tearing all around me as I poured golden fire into Measured Thought. I saw the wound close, her breathing stabilize.

...And then everything went white.

I came to and looked around. Everything was very...white. A blankness, a void, an empty canvas in all directions. And then I heard a voice. A very familiar voice.

"Oh right. I'd forgotten about this. Hmm, means I might get some things wrong...screw it, life's more fun with mistakes."

I turned around to see...

Me.

"What the fuck?"

The other me nodded. "Yeah, that was my reaction too. And you're probably wondering how, where, why, all that good stuff."

"The thoughts had crossed my mind," I dryly replied.

"Put simply, when you saved Measured Thought, you sorta, kinda, broke the fabric of reality."

I blinked a few times at that. "Okay, that raises more questions than it answered."

My mirror laughed. "Yes, I figured that. Okay, when you called up the power to save her with the intent that no cost was too high, you ended up reaching deep inside yourself for the power that kept you immortal."

I nodded, recalling the feeling.

"And then you broke it."

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "Well. That would do it."

My dopple nodded sagely. "Most of it was used on her to save her, though enough was left behind in you to keep you ageless. And the stuff left over in her once she was safe pooled together to form a similar agelessness in her as well, mimicking what was left in you"

I then waved a hand around at the blankness around. "And this is?"

My image blinked a few times. "Oh! Right, the best analogy is, think of the pages in a book. You can only read the pages, you can't cut open the covers and read what happened before there were pages or after they finished telling their story. But this place is like that. It is beyond and yet before space-time was a thing that was happening."

I turned my head around slowly. "Looks sort of empty here. And how did you end up here?"

My other self shrugged. "It's sorta the point: all other things are gone. And all the immortal end up here eventually. In time, your power, along with the power in Measured, will grow back into true immortality again. This place is Beyond the Oblivion that awaits all worlds, yet Before their Origin. Here, all things can be possible. Those that make it here have an infinity of choices, but their first priority is to close any open time loops from their world of origin, so as to keep their world, and thus their own existence, stable. Dissy, Lulu, and Cel are going over that now, Twi's busy cataloging this whole phenomenon, while Cadence and Measured are talking." He then shuddered. "I do not trust those two together, but I wandered off because I thought I was forgetting something, and lo and behold, it was me."

I nodded slowly, so far it made sense. "So...what happens now? I mean, I have to go back at some point, assuming that you are in fact a future version of me."

My other self nodded. "True enough. The power you unleashed when you broke reality and your immortality will wane soon enough, snapping you back to your proper place in the time-stream." And here my other self gained a wolfish smile. "I could help you, you know. Seeing as how this is all technically my fault."

I did not like the smile I was giving me. "No no, that's fine, we can wait."

The other me smiled even more and raised his right hand back, palm facing out. "No no, I insist."

And with that, I became the first recipient of a bitch slap into Reality from myself.

What really sucks is that I'm going to have to do it again.

Chapter 18 - An ending, a beginning.

Y'know, if you were to ask anyone, anyone who has ever been severely wounded enough to land themselves a stay in the hospital what their most hated noise was, then they would all tell you the same thing: the sound of a heart monitor pisses them right off.

And now I can see why. The ever-constant beeping! Dear lord, it gets on my nerves!

Upon waking, all I felt was pain. Pain...and the sensation that something was dreadfully wrong, and I hadn't noticed it yet. Hell, the pain was so bad, I felt disinclined to even open my eyes. I did, however, find the position that I'd been forced into felt both odd and natural.

Once I waved in the general direction of the beeping, I heard a voice. A very familiar voice. "Nurse! Nurse, he's awake! Somepony get the doctor, he's waking up!"

I groaned and waved in the general direction of the voice. "Measured, keep it down. My everything hurts."

"Oh. Sorry."

There was silence for a minute, until the sound of hooves on tile caught my attention. "Well, Auric, this is quite the predicament you've landed in, isn't it?"

"Tell me straight, doc, how bad is it?"

There was a chuckle. "Well, whatever you did to save Measured Thought had some serious backlash. What all do you remember?"

"Saving her, and from then on...well, things get weird. But between saving her and now, nothing I can accept as genuine."

"Hmm. Well, she was stabbed, but whatever you did stopped her from dying. We kept her for a night to observe for side effects, but she's fine. You, on the other hoof. It took you two days to stabilize, but you seem to be fine now."

I sighed in relief at that. "I assume I have at least one curious lavender visitor? Perhaps a certain pegasus Guard wishes to pay his respects as well?"

There was a chuckle from every pony present. "A bit more than that, but I can tell those two that you're ready for them if you'd like."

"Yes, please, start me off slow."

The sound of hooves walking away filled my ears for a few minutes, until I picked up on the fact that there was still the sound of breathing coming from nearby. "Measured?"

And then my left shoulder was promptly punched. "What the BUCK were you thinking, Auric?!"

I winced in pain. "Ow! That anything was worth your life? That if I could, I would save you? How could you think anything else of me?"

She sighed. "Yes, well, be that as it may, no more life-or-death situations, mister! You are going to take it easy!"

I sighed as well, but in resignation. "Yes, mom. If I eat my vegetables, do I get to go out and play after dinner?"

Before she could offer a retort, there was the sound of rapid hooves approaching, and the door opened. "Oh my goodness, he's awake? And alright? No trauma? His mind seems to be intact?"

I rolled my eyes under my eyelids. "Hello Twilight. Would you like to calm down?"

There was the sound of sheepish laughter. "Eheheh. Right. So, Auric, how are you feeling?"

I tried to shrug. "Could be worse. I assume Flash is here as well?"

There was silence for a beat before I heard a reply. "Yes, I am. And I would like to apo-"

I cut in before he could finish that sentence. "It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. You did all you could, you did all anyone could in your situation. The only way you could place the blame on yourself is if you willingly got that crystal implanted into you, and I don't think you did. So do not apologize, do not grovel, do not beg for forgiveness. In the end, it all turned out well."

Silence reigned for a moment before I heard Flash speak up again. "I...Thank you. I needed to hear that."

"It would appear the backlash did not alter the way he has with words, so that's a plus..."

I turned to face Twilight's approximate location. "Why does everyone go on about the backlash? I mean, yes, there would be some from doing what I did, but is it really so bad?"

It was Measured who spoke up next. "Well, yes. It would appear that whatever body your powers of Alchemy constructed was tied in deeply with your power. So when you did...whatever you did to deplete your power so, your body...changed."

I felt a knot in my stomach. "Changed. How?"

Twilight interjected. "Well, seeing as how your body wasn't native to Equestria, without any power to maintain it, it altered to become something more...suited for you and the world."

An icy tingle of fear ran up my spine. "Are you...mirror. Is there a mirror in the room?"

There was a tingle of magic, and Twilight spoke up again. "There is now. Just...take it easy, Auric. It'll come as a shock."

I breathed deeply once, twice, and then forced my eyes open.

I did not like what I saw.

Staring into the mirror in front of me revealed a unicorn stallion with an orange coat, a black mane and tail that turned to gold at the tips, crystal-blue hooves, golden eyes, and a cutie mark of an eclipse on his flank. He was currently lying down atop a hospital bed, and standing next to him was Measured Thought. The dots were connected at lightning speed.

Without any power to maintain my human form, I'd become a pony.

I wanted to scream, yell, shout, but that twinge of fear kept running up my spine. I gulped and nodded at the image before me, and it vanished, revealing Twilight and Flash had been behind it. "So. One question that I need you to answer. Did you tell Celestia?"

Twilight cocked her head to the right in confusion. "Yes, but why..."

A call reverberated through the hospital. A call said by an eerily familiar voice. "Oh Siiiiiilver Liiiiiining, I'm coming for yooooooouuuu!"

Aw HELL NAH!

Author's Note

Short chapter. Really more of an epilogue.
Buuuut I am considering making another story in the series.
No promises.