//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Dealing with Tirek // Story: The Lost Chronicles of Auric Fulcrum // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// The lonesome tower sits on a planet where the dominate life is not even more advanced than plants. Yet. Give it a few million years, that could change. The eternal young adult lies atop the tower, sighing as he observes the constellations from his new home. "Some days I wonder." "Oh?" A new voice speaks up from apparently nowhere. "What do you wonder?" The boy turns to see his unicorn wife walking up to him. He smiles and gestures for her to be closer, and she complies. He rewards her with a scratch behind the ears as he continues his statement. "Sometimes I wonder what being immortal means if we're to be constantly alone, save for the others. How are they, by the way?" The mare hums. "Celestia and Luna are doing well on Pivot, they've basically remade Equestria on it, but they hope that this time, they can avert some of the problems it once had. They're in charge of the rotation of night and day still, and they took your suggestion: without them, the planet would be tidally locked, and when they do rotate it, it's not even half as draining as moving a star around." The boy nods and switches out the scratching for petting. "Twilight?" The mare chuckles. "Cataloging everything about Pivot, naturally. And once she's done there, she's made several not-so-subtle threats that she's coming here next, mostly to observe the plants, but also to ask you why you're doing things this way." The boy shrugs. "Worked out for my world. Cadence?" "Several nations are being founded on Pivot right now," the mare dryly responds. "She's kinda got her hooves full trying to manage their emotions so that Pivot's history doesn't start with all-out wars or diplomatic incidents of unprecedented scale." The boy nods again. "And Dissy? Assuming you saw him." The mare shakes her head. "I saw him once, and he gave me a very cryptic saying. 'When Twilight comes, on the third day, look to the east, Auric Fulcrum. I might be there, I might not.'" The boy pauses in his lavishing of affection on his mare and lets out a loud, barking laugh. He wipes a few tears from his eyes and smiles. "Ah, Discord. Ever making references that only I will get. Nice to see that even for an agent of chaos, he hasn't changed." The night wore on, and eventually the boy and mare returned to their room. Before he turned in, the boy picked up a journal and began to read, before pausing and frowning. This journal. It was a most amusing one, yes. It chronicled his life in Ponyville while he was, briefly, a pony. A unicorn. But it also detailed a few...other events. Like when a prisoner escaped from Tartarus. Of course, that day was memorable for...other reasons, as well... ----- (A long, long time ago...) "Open these doors and let me in, pony!" Measured and I stood atop the walls and glared at the centaur that stood outside. He'd been running around, draining magic for quite some time now. Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns alike had fallen to his strength. And now he wanted mine. Fortunately, I'd warned Newvale, and they'd put up a strong enough barrier to repulse him, for a time. And then Dullahan had managed to figure out how to Cloak the whole town. Apparently, if you feed the power of a large Psynergy Stone into a Power Stone, it would create a much larger and wider version of it, centered on the stone. Which gave me some idea as to how the Anemos had vanished, back in Weyard... But I digress. The centaur had been beating his head against the wards on the tower for half an hour now. He'd done it every time he'd absorbed the power from one particular race, to no avail. Granted, he made the most impressive dents on this go around, when he'd taken the power of all three tribes for his own, but no real progress. "Dear, do you hear something?" I cupped a hoof to an ear and leaned towards Tirek, pausing for a few seconds. "Oh wait, that's just the sound of an impotent villain." At this, Measured snickered and Tirek roared. "Fine! I will take power from the last tribe, then, and your tower will NOT stand before me!" I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Dude, this thing stood up to an angry Twilight. If need be, it could stand up to the end of the world, if it had to. Probably. Haven't tested that, and with good reason. Point is, you're not getting in, and you're not getting my powers. Face it, you lost the moment you decided to come here." The centaur roared and galloped off, cursing and swearing and vowing all the while. Measured paled and shook me slightly. "The last tribe? But he took the power of the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. What could be left, save..." My eyes widened as I ran over the possibilities. "While there are so many other races, only two options come to mind. I doubt he'd go all the way north to the empire to power himself up on love and emotion, that just doesn't scream 'villain' to me. Which leaves..." Measured and I shared a Look. "The Alicorns." ----- We'd quickly sent a letter off, of course. And Celestia's last act before she enacted her plan was to reply to me. To Auric Fulcrum, my ally and friend, I know of what you speak. We have been monitoring the situation, and thank you for telling us he is coming. It has given us the time we needed to prepare. In truth, this is something that neither I nor Luna, and not even Cadence, could best. We must place our hopes in Twilight Sparkle. Tirek will likely attempt to drain our magic, so we will give it to Twilight, that she may safeguard it. And knowing Tirek, he will present Twilight with a terrible choice, one that I hoped she would never have to make, once he realizes she holds the sum of all Alicorn magic. One that I hope she succeeds at. All our hopes rest on her, now. But should she require time afterwards, then I pray you do one thing, Auric. Do not fall to him, do not believe him, and make him regret ever trying to drain your magic. Your friend, Celestia I sighed and looked to Measured. "If he comes after us, we're the distraction. Cel has every faith in Twi, even in the face of a demonic centaur that drains magic." Measured frowned. "Were I him, I would..." And then she gasped as the plan formed in her head. My mind started to race as well, but I decided asking would be the faster way to find out. "What?" "I would ponynap her friends and force her to choose. Them, or her magic." My coat flared and changed colors as my anger grew to proportions not quite believable. "Oh, he would. And if you and I were to leave, he'd take you, hold you hostage, and make the same offer to me. Someone so...low, so despicable, that even the slime on rocks wouldn't waste the effort to spit on him..." And then I sighed and fell to my stomach on the wall. "'s no use, though. We're safe as long as we're in here, and if he ever gets at us, then we're not a distraction anymore, we're just a casualty. The only safe haven is the tower right now. And I don't know how well it'll hold against him when and if he gains the power of the Alicorns." I looked Measured in the eyes. "Just promise me one thing. If he gets me, don't try to save me. Run. I'd make the choice to save you in a heartbeat, but I've done that too many times already. And you wouldn't forgive yourself." She hesitated for a good while, but eventually nodded, and we held each other close. It could be the last time we would do so freely, after all. ----- Turns out, our concern, while warranted, ultimately proved unnecessary. The wards held against the power of Tirek for about half an hour. They didn't need to hold longer, because that was when Twilight and the other former Bearers became empowered by something from the Tree of Harmony. It was full of rainbows, magic, friendship, and screaming centaurs. No, wait, that last one was the result. My mistake. The sheer power of the blast forced Tirek's stolen magic back where he'd taken it from, right before it erased him from existence. Seriously, I saw and felt it happen. I thought only I could do shit like that! Twilight's new library-palace was impressive, though. I made a note to visit one day. My mind was a little occupied with other matters, though. Such as my Mirror informing me it'd picked up a new Token. Once the hullabaloo had died down, I'd sent a missive to Dully, to tell him that Tirek had been dealt with, in a permanent fashion. He took the news rather well, and the town became visible once more. And then I checked my Mirror, and everything went to hell in a handbasket. It wasn't that the Token had come from a dark world. I'd been seeing quite a few of those lately, and begrudgingly admitted that into every universe a little rain must fall. While I was on occasion upset that the rain took the form of a human who was dead-set on bringing their world crashing down around them, I shrugged and smiled. There are other things that lurk in Equestria and the Multiverse as a whole that 'take care of' meddlesome pests. D'you think the Fausticorn image on the 'net came from nowhere? There certainly is a Guardian for the Equestria branch of the Multiverse. What She looks like exactly, I can't say. I've only caught brief glimpses of Her while scanning, which is why I know She's an Alicorn. Beyond that, nothing. Guess the Mirror can't process what She looks like. Understandable, really. I'd hate to have to describe color to a blind guy. I didn't even mind that the Token had come from a former human intent on tearing his world down around him. After I'd met Kat and checked up on her again...I'd kinda lost hope that I'd be able to steer anyone, much less everyone, onto a path they didn't want. I could hang up all the lanterns and party streamers and put out all the sweets I wanted around the path, but if they didn't want to stay, then I couldn't...I just couldn't make people behave. I wasn't their parents. Ultimately, their decision to fall was theirs. I just hoped they lived to see what they were doing wrong and understand why. No, what disturbed me about the Token was twofold. First, when I scryed the world it had came from, I saw a ten-foot tall robot in front of a shrine to me. And seeing as how I'd never seen him before, this level of obsession was creepy. Second was Eureka reacting. I probed the connection and paled. Who or whatever this was, he understood. I could only hope his powers were not like mine; ones that were stronger or weaker depending on how well you understood what they were doing. I quickly drew up a short plan in my head. Were I to confront this robot about...anything, I would need my immortality back.