//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - The needs of the one outweigh - that is not how that saying goes. // Story: The Lost Chronicles of Auric Fulcrum // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// It's the next morning. The eternal youth wakes up and kisses his wife good morning, which she returns sleepily, and then enthusiastically once she realizes what's going on. "Mmmmm. Good morning, Frank." The boy smiles and runs his fingers through her mane. "Morning, Measured. How about breakfast?" The mare hums for a moment. "I could eat, yeah. Pancakes?" The boy smiles. "Nobody can resist pancakes. Juice?" "Orange. Ever since you introduced me, I was hooked." The boy chuckles and smiles before going through the door, ending up in the kitchen. The mare eventually wakes up and makes her way to the door as well, ending up in the bathroom. A quick breakfast later, it's his turn in the shower. She comes out of the door and starts in on her plate, whereas he's just finished his. "I think I'm going to experiment again today, love. Probably with crystals, psynergy, and magic. Maybe a bit of Alchemy for fun. What about you?" She sighs and shakes her head. "I should look in on the other life-capable worlds and see how they're getting along, along with the ones I'm trying to terraform. It's been long enough for problems to sprout, though naturally, hope springs eternal." The youth smiles and scratches her behind the ears. "Don't take too long getting back, okay?" The mare flicks her ears. "Why? The only upcoming thing is my sea-" Her eyes pop and her mouth drops, before the boy reaches out and closes it with one hand. "You'll catch flies, dear. And yes. I said 'no' then and there because I knew that this was our destiny. But here, I'm willing to try for you. And who knows? Maybe our kids will share our weirdness." The mare works her mouth a few times before what can only be described as a lusty smile spreads across her face. "You'd best look into stamina potions, love~" she sing-songs as she skips out the door. The boy smiles and shakes his head before going to the Black Lab. He frowns as he picks up a crystal and looks at some of the decor. So many memories in a place like this...so many... ----- (We have to go back to the past, Marty!) I frowned as I stared at the Alicorn Amulet on the table before me. It had been far too easy to get a hold of. Something like this deserved to be under the magical equivalent of bulletproof glass. Magic-proof glass? An interesting idea. Note to self: look into magic-repellant glass. "Auric? You've just been staring at it for a few minutes now." I jerked my head up and looked at the gathered trio of Alicorns before me. Luna, Cel, and Twi had agreed to my plan, but only as long as they supervised. If this test went well, then the sisters Celestial had more than a few artifacts in their blackest of vaults that they could stand to see drained and destroyed. I was still cautious, though. If it didn't go well...I didn't want to think about it. I sighed and responded to the lavender alicorn anyways. "It's...It's not an easy thing to think about, Twi. The power and curse this thing holds. Both are great, and I fear for my self. What if-" That was when Measured grabbed a hold of my right foreleg and slammed my hoof down on the amulet. "Then don't think about it," she succinctly stated. Power instantly started to flood into my being. I could feel the drain going into effect from the second my hoof made contact. And then I heard the damn whisper. All things could be yours...you need not drain it to restore yourself...merely wear it, and you will be yourself again. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Able to protect everything you hold close to you. I recognized the voice as 'not something I would say' and mentally snarled back at it. At what cost? For any would be far too high. Better to drain it and see it wither and die than fall to the trap it proffers like so many before me! There was a silent scream, and the crystal in the amulet cracked and turned to dust as the last of its power drained into me. I blinked, rapidly feeling out the power I'd just regained, and smiled widely. "Hot damn! From high single digits to high teens! An Alicorn Amulet is worth ten percent! Still not anything worthwhile, compared to the bare minimum of what I really need, but damn if it wasn't effective!" I cast a glance at the sisters, who were sharing a small laugh at my outburst. "Please tell me the artifacts you've picked out are at least as strong as that." They sighed and Luna replied. "Nay, what trinkets we have are far less potent than that accursed amulet. But thank you for destroying it, finally. And what they lack for in quality..." Celestia finished with a grin. "They do not lack for in quantity." I blinked and turned to Measured, talking as though in a daze. "I...might be busy for the next bit. Would you please stay with Twilight at nearly all times while I take a quick jaunt up to Canterlot? I would hate to pass this opportunity up, put you in danger, or leave you alone in a tower that we aren't sure is safe or not anymore." All three alicorns blinked at that. They'd apparently grown used to the idea that my tower was absolutely, completely impervious to all influences. Frankly, so had I. Measured slowly nodded as I finished my statement, and pitched in an idea of her own. "What about if I were to look in here for more warding and prevention spells, specifically designed ones, while you were away?" I hummed a bit at that and nodded. "It's a good plan, I fully approve. Just...please? Stick within yelling distance of Twilight?" Measured nodded, and we shared a hug. I pulled away and made my way to the train station for an overnight train to Canterlot. ...Had I known, I would've asked the sisters to teleport me. I shouldn't have fallen asleep that night. ----- I was standing outside my tow- no, wait. This wasn't right. I had just been on the trai- I was dreaming. This was a dream. Which meant that now that I knew, I was in control, right? I experimented and successfully assumed my human form. Yeah, in some form of control. I looked to my tower and noticed that its proportions seemed a bit off. And then I heard a noise from behind me. "It took a lot of work to get here, Frank DeFontaine. Jumping realities. Making a deal with the robot devil to get your Luna distracted. Forcing my way into your dream, which is ridiculously reinforced, by the way. Had to drop my damn disguise to just get in." I turned to see what would have any normal human shitting their pants in fear. A man in a striped sweater with claws for hands and a very familiar hat on his head. Freddy Kreuger. Even though his form started to blur and be replaced with that of the robot I'd seen, a quick squint and some reflexive dream-magic (Reveal, I love you) showed me the truth of the matter. Normal humans wouldn't even try to stand and fight this monster. ...Then again, I wasn't normal. Oh, yeah, I'd had a fear of Freddy when I was younger. And then I went 'round the bend when I Understood everything. After that, I'd had a dream where Freddy begged me to let him out, and I just couldn't be afraid of him anymore. Dream-walkers rarely deal well with the insane. As Pyramid Head had helped prove. "But it'll all be worth it. Y'know, he doesn't want me to hurt you too badly. Just a scar or two, to mar your pretty little face." Freddy clashed his claws together, producing an unholy shrieking noise of metal on metal and sending sparks to the ground. "I think I'll see how far too far is myself. Now let's have fun with your sleeping mind, Frank." He took one step towards me, and I snapped my fingers, a dream-representation of Eureka in my hands in an instant. Freddy froze, instantly wary. Apparently, I shouldn't have been able to do that. At least, according to him. But since when did I play by rules, let alone anyone else's? "Look. I don't care who you were. I don't care who you are. But know you this: this is MY MIND. MY DREAM. I ALONE determine what happens here. You could be allied with God Himself, and I would still call you out on it. But if you really are as aligned to Fear as the one you portray, then this is your only warning." He snarled at me. Actually snarled! "Or what, pretty boy? Gonna stab me?" I laughed at that, which seemed to confuse him. "Nope. This is a mind realm. Mine was broken long ago. You either leave now, or you get to see what drove me insane. Heads up, if you're working for the robot, we carry the same burden: Ultimate Understanding. It's not pretty. It breaks minds quite quickly. You have to the count of one." Freddy paused for a moment, seemingly going over his options, then raised his claws and took a step forward, apparently calling my bluff. "I'm not one to leave a job half-do-" That was as far as he got. Above us, a hole appeared, and it shone with the radiance of the heavens. It froze with the deep vastness of space. It burned with all the fury of the stars. It was my memory. And Understanding always, always, dispels Fear. No matter what form it may take. Freddy screamed a satisfying, bloodcurdling scream, and vanished from the dream. I dismissed the memory, but not before a song wafted through my mind. One that I recalled from long ago. ~One, two, Freddie's coming for you~ ----- I jolted awake in a cold sweat before realizing that I'd fended off the invader and sighed. Great, just great. Now I have to worry about Freddy? What other allies has that damn robot recruited on his crusade against me? Cel and Luna greeted me at the platform, and when I informed them of the need for haste, they agreed that teleportation would be our modus operandi that day. Which is why in the next second, I found myself in front of a table stacked high with artifacts that just oozed dark magic. After taking a moment to get my stomach settled, I looked to the sheer size of the collection and raised an eyebrow at the sisters. Cel shook her head and pointed to Luna, who sighed. "Tis something of a hobby of mine, these days. I seek out dangerous relics from before mine time as the Nightmare and gather them to be held or destroyed, as the case may be. But if you can drain them of their power safely, then we need not worry about proper storage procedures. Or destruction procedures. Investigation procedures." "Um," I tried to interrupt. "Case studies, peer reviews, applicants to the School for Gifted Unicorns attempting to discover something new about the artifacts, letters to the student's next of kin," "Um," I attempted to interject again. "But most importantly," and here Luna's eyes gained a glint to them that would send lesser men looking for an exit. "We will not have to worry about that thrice-cursed Tartarus-damned paperwork!" I blinked. Cel blinked. We looked at each other and shared a blink. We looked at Luna, blinked, and then we couldn't hold it in any more. We proceeded to laugh our flanks off. After a moment of her huffing at our antics, Luna joined in softly. It took a good five minutes for us to calm down, and afterwards I was smiling widely. "Well then, noble lady moon, permit me to slay the dreaded duo known as Bureaucracy and Paperwork in the name of my own Immortality!" Another shared laugh, and I stuck my hooves right into the pile. Instantly, I was struck with whispers. This was actually the best plan I had come up with. See, while one voice can dominate your ears, walk into a crowded room with about ten different conversations going on at once, and you'll never be able to follow them all! Just as one finishes, another starts, and another is right in the middle. Similarly, the whispers all competed for my attention, but not hearing any of them clearly meant that their offers were unintelligible and therefor quite easy to resist. I was done in ten minutes after making sure all the artifacts I had been presented with were drained. I proceeded to check my levels and let out a low whisper. "High teens to low twenties. Those things weren't your run-of-the-mill things. They were no Alicorn Amulet by a long shot, but they were all strong in their own right." The sisters nodded sadly, and I trotted a bit closer to them. "Hey, even this much is a help. I'm actually considering quite a few things now that I'm close to human form again. I'll let you know which one I decide on, and you can tell me if its doable or not." The sisters shared a Look, smiled, and turned back to me before nodding again. "Do return some time in the future, Auric," Cel said while her horn glowed. "Indeed," Luna said, firing up her own horn. "Just...not while the fate of the world hangs in the balance." "Yeah, I've had enough of that as well," I snarked. The three of us shared a laugh, and then I was in front of the new library crystal tree palace thing. The moment my eyes adjusted, Measured practically flung herself at me and hugged me close. "I missed you," she said. I ran a hoof through her mane to comfort her. "I missed you," I rejoined. "Find anything of worth?" She nodded and a few books floated out from her saddlebags. "I should be able to institute those specialty wards when we get back. Strengthening them will take a bit of work, though." I shrugged my shoulders. "'ey, as long as there isn't a robot in my house when I'm not there anymore...or when I am there, come to think of it..." Twilight let out a giggle, and I deadpanned at her, which caused her to get her giggles under control very quickly. I sighed and pulled Measured along. "Come along, dear. We've a home to protect again." ----- Adding a new spell to the wards on the walls: Theoretically easy. Was it easy in practice? No, no it was not. Under the advice of Xante, we'd finally altered a few patterns to make more efficient use of the power, but tying a new spell in was proving...bothersome. Apparently it was having trouble reconciling 'nothing gets in without permission' with 'no robots get in ever'. I finally found a way to word it, though. 'Illusions shall be dispelled within ten feet of this wall, shapechangers shall assume their natural form, and robots must be invited in three times, lest their power become drained from them and added to these wards.' Of course, just because we knew how to do it, didn't mean we could. Measured and I took a look at the three parameters we wanted to tie in and decided the last one was the most important for now. Combining our power left the walls, tower, and Black Lab theoretically robot-proof. We would have to test it. Hopefully, not soon. The Black Lab had been emptied of everything but the Mirror, and when I saw the words it was displaying, well... Your move. ...Yeah, I replayed the last few hours of relative time and found that Teridax had called for allies as well. Which not only explained the how and why of Freddy finding me (I'd had my suspicions before, now they were confirmed), but it spoke of things to come that would be equally if not moreso unpleasant. And then words displayed on the glass. Umbra Shadow-Walker seeks permission to enter. Confirm/Deny. I slowly inched a hoof forward to the Mirror and thought one word. One word I hoped I would not come to regret thinking. Confirm. The sound that happened next can only be described as a VWORPLE...