Over the coming weeks has seen Yeeticus at his busiest. One part of it is building a trap for Weylan while the other part is finding a way back home. The first part is easy once he built the bait he wants to use to lure the sorcerer out of wherever he could be hiding. Celestia has been forwarding any information that could be of interest to him. A lot of is just junk really. It seems his old enemy has been keeping a low profile, but not quite low enough. Ponyville has been having reports of a 'hairless minotaur' roaming on the outskirts of town late at night. To Yeeticus, this means that Weylan is still hanging around the Everfree. Which also means it will be a perfect bait area to draw him out.
The second part has been proving rather difficult however. The bait is just the malfunctioning prototype of a portal device that he had brought plans with him to keep protected. Plans that have now been shared with Celestia, Luna, and eventually one Twilight Sparkle after a rough round of her asking one thousand questions in one minute. After answering each and everyone the best he could, he settled to show her how his little pet project works. Since then they've been exchanging letters with ideas, formulae, and schematics for all sorts of inner workings for the machine from arcane matrices to using specific gemstones to power the gate itself.
It's almost perfect, but Yeeticus is feeling like something is missing.
His room is currently in a state of mess that only a mad being to comprehend. Plans, schematics, formulae, theories, ideas, blueprints all lay sprawled across his floor and up his walls. It's organized in a way only the goblin knows how to decipher. He's getting a little more than frustrated that whatever he does isn't helping to make the gate work, instead opting to stare at the jar of Wild Magic on his desk from the floor, on his back, upside down. His brain is chugging hard at any prospect of ideas to get his project working.
A knock at his door draws him from his daze, figuring it's Celestia coming to check on him.
"Yeeticus? Are you in here?"
Right on cue it would seem. "Yes."
The door opens wider as the Princess lets herself in. "You haven't eaten yet today." She comes in with a tray of food floating beside her.
Admittedly, the goblin has been so focused on his portal that he would forget to eat. If it weren't for his friend coming to make sure that he was fed, he'd have wasted away. "Regrettably, yes. I apologize for causing you any worry."
"It's quite all right." She has a warm smile when he sits up to face her, setting the tray down in front of him. Curiously there's two plates instead of the one. "I think you should take a break, you've been at this for weeks."
Yeeticus just nods a little while looking down at the plates of two very similar meals. Pasta of a sorts, something he's never seen served in the castle. Gently taking the utensil up in his fingers before his eyes flick up to her after staring at the meal for a full minute. "What time is it?"
"One in the afternoon, thought you'd like some lunch I made myself." Celestia smiles as she settles on the floor across from him. "And some company. You've been cooped up in here for weeks with your work."
"I suppose so... Guess a small break couldn't hurt." He replies as he takes a fork full of pasta and shoves it into his mouth.
"A 'small break?' Anneto, you deserve a vacation with months or years of progress condensed down into just a few weeks." She retorts as her magic engulfs the other utensil and mimicking her small green friend.
Flavor exploded in his mouth that he wasn't quite expecting. It's (for lack of a better term) really really good. So good in fact that he just had to vocalize it. "By the gods, Celestia, this is delicious!" He eagerly takes another forkful and shovels it into his mouth.
Celestia giggles to herself at how eager he's eating the food she made for the both of them to share. "Thank you so much. I did receive a letter from Twilight Sparkle today."
"How wonderful, how is she doing since I last saw her?"
"She's doing just fine. She's planning to come visit with her friends to see how you're doing."
He stops eating to look at her, a brow slowly raising. "Has it really been that long since my last letter?"
"No, no. Of course not." Celestia smiles at him with her usual award-winning grin. "I may have told her it might be good for you to get out after all the work you've been doing."
Anneto just simply nods as he chews, recalling the brief encounter with the Elements after waking up. Each one being more than a little weary of the strange creature that had just teleported their entire group. Understandably keeping their distance for the most part, save for Twilight Sparkle who was a little more than ecstatic at learning about possible other universes. Getting a promise of being shown his view on top of whatever answers she got seemed to have curbed anything further. Her friends may not be as on board about that idea.
"I see, this should be interesting since I don't think any of her friends have warmed up to me." He responds.
"Give them time. Maybe you should take time to get to know them, they are wonderful mares." The alicorn shoots back at him.
"The orange one called me a 'varmint' as soon as she seen me." Anneto seems to mimic the tone of the apple farmer with unusual accuracy. "Not to mention the rainbow one was ready to kick me through one of the stained glass windows in the hall."
Celestia chokes a little on her own words. "Yes... well... they're lovely when you get to know them. I promise."
"They said that before it came to light I understood them and could speak." He dryly states. "The only three to have no reacted as negatively were Twilight, the yellow one, and that hyperactive pink one.... who of which I'm convinced is some kinda reality warping being."
The Princess is left speechless. Her smile fading just a bit. "I hadn't realized." Her tone is quiet, almost regrettably so.
"It's nothing new with my kind. We always face some kind of prejudice." He remarks, twirling the fork in the air. "Twilight also did reprimand them for their outbursts before it was revealed I could speak ponish."
The rest of their lunch would have gone the rest of its way in silence were it not for the goblin making faces at the Princess like some sort of child. It does what he intended it to do and raises her spirits up while getting her chatting again. They joke, jab, and chat with one another about the minor things. Her plans when she's away from the throne. The weather plans. All that cool stuff just to keep her going. She is his friend afterall is said and done, crown or no, doesn't seem to matter that she's the reason he's even still here. Alas, their lunch does have to come to an end. Celestia gathers up the dirtied dishes on to the tray, giving her little green friend a parting hug and nuzzle for his efforts. Then leaves him to his things.
Anneto turns around to his desk, glancing at the jar of lightning as an idea starts to form. "I think I got it..."
The door to the chamber swings open, the sounds of boots hitting stone fills the void as torches begin to ignite on their own and driving the dark away. Slowly the contents of the chamber are revealed; the wreckage of a steamjack piled in a far corner and a strange device built by hand that resembles a circular gate. Anneto, or Yeeticus as is his true name, approaches the gate with something renewed inside him. As if the forge that's in his core is burning brighter than before. His eyes stay focused on the gate before him, going over all the necessary upgrades made to it in his time here. Runes activate around his wrists this time before shooting out around the room and slowing time to a crawl.
Tonight is the night his Multiverse Gate will work.
The gate itself has been upgraded and improved from it's original, admittedly bulky, design to something a little more sleek and slim to take up less space. Improved magical circuits, more powerful arcane matrices, gems that Twilight Sparkle recommended. There's even a mix of Equestrian magic and his own to get it up and running, but he felt something was missing. No matter what upgrades he made, how much he improved it, even changing the gems, the gate always shorted out. He feels he found the missing piece. With careful and precise movements, he reaches for the jar of otherworldly lightning strapped to his hip.
The goblin starts to approach the device, going over to one side and flipping a lever. The machine comes to life with a low thrum as power courses through it. He takes a few steps back as the hum of energy starts to light each gem one by one. His hand wraps around the jar, pulling it from his side and laying ready fingers on the lid. He continues to watch as the last gem comes to life, arcane power being focused towards the center of open space, forming a ball of energy. The lid comes off with a rather audible pop and the lightning surges forward from its confines, cascading at high speeds until it crashes with the current mix of magic inside the gate. Anneto sees the orb of pure energy collapse in on itself after about a minute of the wild magic intertwining.
"Son of a-"
A burst of the mixed magics comes rushing out in a gloriously loud explosion that sends him flying a few feet back before landing on the cold stone floor. Thankfully the explosion doesn't knock him out but does leave him with a bit of pain. A low groan leaves his lungs as he starts to sit up, rubbing the back of his head. When his eyes open and looks towards the device, the sight before him is stark from just seconds before.
It's beautiful.
The portal is stable, more stable then it ever was since he started this whole project here. It's a shimmering pool of iridescent light displayed as though it were a mirror. Anneto rolls on to his side to push himself up off the ground, his eyes never leaving the gate. Once he is back on his feet, the goblin slowly approaches the glowing gate as it hums with life. A quick flick of his wrist and the time dilatating spell ends to bring him back to speed. Hours of work usually done in minutes, now minutes done in seconds. one of his hands raises as he gets closer, brushing against the surface. It moves and bows under his touch much like water would. The he pushes his hand forward causing his arm to sink more in, watching it be engulfed by the soothing energy. With one step of finality, he disappears to the other side of the gate.