//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 - Burn - I mean, building bridges 
// Story: Golden Grace, Headless Headaches 
// by Thadius0 
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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...