//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - A pesky persistent purple princess // Story: Golden Grace, Headless Headaches // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// 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.