Silphen, a Soft Metal Furred Wolf of Silver, and Archmage attendant to Twilight Sparkle, yawned as he stumbled out of bed. He hated mornings, but also understood the “Infernal Day Star” was needed for life to exist… Much to his frustration. He made his way downstairs to the library, checking to see if his charge, a fellow Displaced that shouldn't have been in his world, was still there. And that Twilight Sparkle herself had actually made it up to her own damn bed last night.

After confirming both to be true, he made his way to the kitchens, greeting the draconic assistant and younger brother… Son…? Spike. He greeted Spike with a grunt, grabbing a couple oranges, some fake bacon, and a few slices of bread before heading to a teleportation rune and getting some proper meat from the Old Castle. Celestia tried blasting him, as usual, but the same spell that had protected him and his pony wife that fateful day outside of Ponyville stopped the beam of death once more.

“Morning, Princess. Morning, Lilu. How's the zoglin farm today?” Silphen asked as he rummaged in a chest, deliberately making sure to not gaze into the abyss that was a Minecraft Chest.

“Hmph… Still functional, Dark Mage… Is my husband still at the library?” Celestia asked in return, gently rocking Lilu, her daughter, back to sleep.

Silphen grunted as he nodded once more, pulling out a few steaks and munching on them. “Something like that, yeah. Should be up and running in a bit. Still can't believe he was possessed by a Voidling…”

After eating his breakfast, Silphen floated out of the castle, heading for the heart of the cursed forest once more, still a touch agitated that he had to do this daily, now that his partner was no longer a proper Displaced. If he didn't do this, then the undead hordes would expand out of the forest’s heart into the rest of the world, ending it in the worst possible way Silphen could think of, aside from the world falling into the void itself.

“Fucking hate this job… Burning rotten flesh takes HOURS to fucking get out of my fur…” Silphen grumbled as he splayed his hands and used a classic fire spell… Burning Hands.

After ensuring nothing was left but ash and boiling ichor, Silphen dropped down far enough to gather the resources and plant a few more seeds of Purification Grass. An item Sam made using various pieces of the world's peoples. Feathers and fur clippings from the ponies and griffins, scales from the dragons and hippogriffs, hoof shavings of yaks, and chitin from changelings. How that all made a seed, neither of them knew. But it was helping with the dangerously chaotic energies of the forest, and whatever Dark Magics had been worked upon before Discord’s creation.

As Silphen planted the seeds, his eyes flicked as behind him, he heard something being opened. The Dark Mage sharply turned around and gazed upon a blue circular portal. It hummed with energy. It wasn’t quite magic from what Silphen detected, but it had similar properties. The portal hummed more before a red blur shot out from the portal. Silphen didn’t need to dodge as they dashed right past them. The blur planted their feet down and skidded to a stop, a grin on their face.

“Woo, that’s some speed!” The red blur laughed and turned around to face Silphen. The blur is identified as a boy who’s five-foot-eight. He wore a red patchy potato sack as a hat and had a red vest, followed by baggy shorts that mimic the same color. His shoes, however, were black. The boy had lightly tanned skin and black hair, his eyes were an almost predatory yellow. The boy clad in red took a bow, “Hello, Silphen, Dark Mage of Equestria, and Bane of the Undead. I am Jessie, nice to meet ya!”

Silphen glared briefly, trying to get a better sense of the beings' magic before sighing and giving up. “Look, just because I can use dark magic, does not inherently make me a dark mage… Though Bane of the Undead is a new one. How do you know me, by the way? Haven't been summoned in a good long while.”

“One,” Jessie raised a finger, “If you cook at a restaurant, you are considered a chef. Two,” he raised another finger, “I know a lot about you. I know you have a Steve Displaced friend that’s married to Celestia. But anyway, that doesn’t answer your question; the answer is that my King informed me about you and sent me to recruit you.”

“King? A King? Your magic doesn't feel like one that belongs to this plane, so you traveled the Void to get here. Means you're a Displaced too, yeah?”

Jessie started to laugh, “Haha! Wrong, Silphen, my brother,” he shook his head, “I’m an Eliatrope. Native to my Equestria. I am a representative of the United Equestrian-Eliatropian Kingdom.” He put a hand on his hip and smiled.

“Huh… Odd, but interesting. Alright, I'll bite, recruit me for what, exactly? A war?” Silphen glanced behind Jessie, taking note of the wraith that was angrily swirling around in a pocket of corruption, quickly dispersing it with life magic before launching a Seed to where he spotted the issue.

“Not a war, but an event. A special event where you fight, have fun, and celebrate if you win the whole thing. What I’m talking about is…” Jessie raised a finger high, pausing dramatically before bringing his hand to point at Silphen, “...The Displaced Tournament!”

Silphen blinked in confusion, “Displaced… Tournament…? What are you… I have never heard of such a thing… But, I do have a small issue… I can't leave my world for more than two weeks before–”

“Well, every hour you spend in our world translates to a minute here,” Jessie explained, “So, at the very most you’ll be gone for ten hours. Twenty four hours is unheard of unless you wanna just hang out for a little bit.”

“I’ll correct myself; Two weeks outside. Time pauses here, it seems. Two weeks then I get yanked back. Not pleasant. I am interested though!”

“Well, it should last two weeks,” The Eliatrope put his hands behind the back of his head, “Unless something comes up, it should be close to two weeks but not actually two weeks.” He started to walk around aimlessly, taking a look at the surroundings. “Let me guess, you and Twilight are friends and you consider Spike to be your brother and/or son.” He turned back to Silphen.

“Close, but not quite. Twilight is a friend of mine, but Spike is her… Assistant? Brother? Son? Honestly, not even they know for sure one way or the other,” Silphen replied with a shrug, turning and tossing a few more Seeds out to finish his duties.

“Oh, and do you want anyone to come with? We allow guests, there’s an inn you can all stay at, and everything is paid for.” Jessie said.

Silphen hummed in though briefly, unsure whether to invite Aurana and Jade or not. “Much as I would love to, I’m not sure if I can. Like I said, time pauses when I’m not here.”

Jessie opened his hand, his palm started to glow blue, and he conjured a portal next to him, “I can easily bring you and your friends to my world. You don’t have to use a token or anything to do so.”

Silphen’s eyes widened in surprise, not expecting the temporal fields to be stabilized so easily. “Huh… In that case, yeah! Lemme go get Aurana and Jade, I’ll be right back here, ok?”

“Actually,” Jessie walked over to Silphen and made another portal in front of him, the other one closing. “I’ll be with you,” without warning, he pushed Silphen through the portal and followed after.

Silphen stumbled briefly, but caught himself, looking up to see Jade, the young half-changeling smiling up at him briefly before leaping up into his arms for a hug. “Daddy~! Sis, look! Daddy’s here!”

Aurana stepped out of the kitchen and smiled at him faintly, her horn glowing as she worked on something in there. “Morning, hun! You’re a bit early though, everything go ok?”

Following out the portal is Jessie popping his neck, he looked at Silphen and put a hand on his hip. Silphen ruffled Jade’s mane a bit before setting her down with a smile of his own, turning to Jessie and starting introductions, “Aurana, Jade, this is Jessie. A representative of another realm. He is here to offer a way for you girls to come and watch me fight in a Tournament with other people like me. Other Displaced.”

“Representative of a Kingdom in another realm, but yes,” The Eliatrope nodded, “I have a way for you guys to come and support your guy.”

Jade’s eyes glimmered in excitement as she turned to Aurana, silently begging to be allowed to go. Aurana, for her part, sighed and put the pancake mix in the fridge, humming softly to herself as she came up to Silphen and motioned for him to lean down, giving him a kiss on the muzzle when he did. “You had better make it worth my while, big wolf.”

Silphen smiled softly and returned the kiss before straightening up and nodding as he said, “I will. And hopefully I’ll learn a few new spells while I’m over there, eh?”

“Now then,” Jessie conjured a portal behind him and stepped out of the way, “After you.”

Silphen smiled and gathered up the two ponies that would be cheering him on, Jade sitting on his head like a hat, and Aurana in his arms almost like a pet as he stepped through the portal with smiles of their own. Jessie followed after and closed the portal with a smile.

Author's Note

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