//------------------------------// // Calling the side // Story: Casting a Shadow // by Ssendam the Masked //------------------------------// Once I'd worked off my frustration with Auric, my head felt remarkably clear. I breathed in, deeply, only for effect. I then examined my inner sanctum. Couldn't let him walk in here like I did. With a wave of my staff, I mentally started strengthening each and every single ward I had on the base. I made it so that no carbon-based being except those I allowed through could enter. Simple as that. I'd shaken him with that message in the coffee pot. Now all I had to do was wait for him to do what I knew he would do. And it was when I heard his voice coming that I mentally smirked. "To those of sound mind, sound heart.  To they that would stand against evil, in the face of Armageddon.  To the warriors and heroes, both celebrated and unsung.  To my fellow Displaced, I call on you.  I am Auric Fulcrum, Knight of the Eclipse, wielder of Alchemy's might.  All I hold dear is being threatened by another Displaced.  I know not why he seeks to fight me, but as I am, I cannot fight him and win.  I require allies while I repair my self.  I call on you to aid me, and promise you this: should the side of Light prevail, then I will grant they that aid me whatever boons I can as rewards, within reason.  I hope that is not the only reason you choose to fight for me, but in my experience, you motivate more people with a pile of treasure and a kind plea than a kind plea alone." That got a little chuckle. I'd rattled him. Rattled him badly if he was doing that. Sounded confident, but when the enemy was in your own home, which had several powerful wards on it already, and they just bypassed them, then what did that mean for your safety? Absolutely nothing. I picked up my Makuta stone, paused, then started speaking. "Friends, villains, countrymen. Lend me your ears. I, Makuta Teridax, have a dream. A dream that, no matter what interference, will become reality. I call to you, those who want to dominate, to rule the world with an iron fist, I call you. I am Makuta Teridax, the Void, the Shadow of Evil, the Corruptor, he who is Anger and Hatred. And if you want to win... to dominate everything...then stand by my side, and I guarantee you... I cannot say, for I believe that my enemies may be eavesdropping on this, just as I did his... but regardless, come talk to me and I shall let you know. But the information I shall give you will NOT be spoken of. Or, if you want more... immediate rewards, I can grant those too. After all, power always comes with a price." With that, my call resonated through the multiverse, and I mentally smirked yet again. I then tried to enter Auric's tower again, but the wards detected me. I quickly exited before he could catch me, and I smirked. Again, exactly what I'd expected. But how would the wards deal with a simple message? I quickly gripped a stone tablet and carved a message into it. Your move, sexy. I scowled, but it would do. I chucked it through the dimensional hole, and closed it. That done, I turned, feeling something respond to me. “Intrude.” I then quickly shrouded myself in darkness and put a field of Silence up, to ensure that Auric would have no idea who my new ally was. The wall seemed to ripple and sway slightly, which was impossible considering the materials it was made with. It moved faster and faster, slowly gaining speed until it caught fire, but not the kind of fire one would expect, rather than reds and yellows it was different shades of blue. A clawed hand came through and grabbed onto a part of the wall not on fire, a body following shortly after. It wore a very tacky and torn green and red striped sweater, a ruined hat on its head and an unsettling grin. It was one of the icons of modern horror- Freddy Kreuger. I looked at him. “Freddy Kreuger. What brings me the pleasure? As I do not need to sleep, this is hardly a dream. May I presume that you are like me, a man displaced from Earth and granted the form and powers of the greatest nightmare who ever lived?” “Ugh, you sound so polite, how sickening. Yes I am one of these…. what the fuck did you call it?” He seemed crude, but I sensed a mind filled with torture and pain. I could use an ally like him. “Displaced. We who have been torn from our homes by outrageous misfortune.” He raised an eyebrow, or what I could assume was meant to be one considering he had none. “Do you always talk as though you’re giving a speech?” I leant down so that we were eye level. “Yes. Yes I do. If you have a problem with that…” I drew up to my full height. “Then I won’t point you in the direction of a juicy target.” His claw moved to his chin, stroking the blades across the scarred flesh. “What a hard choice, help the guy who will most likely let me have my fun, or the guy more likely to stop me due to…” He let out a groan “morals…” I gave the impression of smiling. “Yes, morals. I don’t have those. In fact… I’d say that you know which target I consider… juicy enough for you to go at him. But one thing, Freddy.” I leant forwards, projecting a field of darkness. “Don’t kill Auric in his sleep. Let him suffer. Maybe give him a scar. But I will be the one to kill Auric. Don’t forget that.” He chuckled at this, tipping his hat upward slightly to give a full view of his face. “You two seem so much alike, yet your fears are almost completely different. I’ll be sure to have my fun with him, don’t you worry.” “No killing or limb removal. That would bring suspicion on you and me. And DON’T reveal your identity. Disguise yourself as me when interacting with him.” I chuckled. “Let him make false assumptions about what I can and cannot do. Now that’s out of the way, I shall tell you my plans… and where you fit in with them.” “You’re such a control freak aren’t you? And if you dreamt, it would make you far too easy….” He laughed as he began walking around the room, inspecting various things. “I’ll make sure Auric doesn’t know what hit him… even if he’s the one doing the hitting.” I nodded. “Good.” I picked up a block of protodermis and started carving it idly as I continued. “My plan has two stages. First stage, I plan to absorb all of the alicorns’ magic here. That means NO INTERFERENCE. If there is, I will get… angry.” He nodded, clenching his clawed hand slightly as he waited for me to continue. I did so. “The second stage relies on Auric making a move against me. He’s powerful, very powerful. With him fighting me and any other allies I make- which will include yourself, naturally- I plan to use the energy from the conflicts to Ascend out of the universe. The best part is, if he doesn’t show I can still Ascend with my own power.” I turned to him. “Fight for me, and I’ll give you weapons and free reign over the dreams of any… dissidents here. You will strike only the dissidents. Otherwise, you can spread light terror. It will be your personal bolt hole. In exchange, I require you to observe Auric and any allies he gathers, and drive them near crazy. Is that fair?” He raised his claw, holding up two of his bladed fingers. “Two conditions. I want blades made of that material.” He pointed towards the block of protodermis I was carving. I had a good approximation of his face on there. I squinted, then nodded. That was reasonable enough. Finest protosteel for him. “And the other?” His grin would have been menacing if he weren’t so below me. “After this is over, I want to have free reign over any who survived being on the other team, so to speak.” If I had a mouth, I would have grinned. “I agree to those conditions. Now, let’s see about those blades.” I eyed him over, getting a feel. I then walked off to my forge, beckoning him to come. “This is protosteel, one of the finest metals in the multiverse.” I gripped a block of protodermis and threw it into my forge, watching it melt. I then pulled it out and started hammering it into shape, pulling strips off and shaping them. “If you want a strong sharp blade that will keep a damn fine edge, you’ve come to the right place.” I started folding the carbon-rich metal, pounding it rapidly to ensure it stayed in shape. When I’d repeated the process several times, I plunged it into water. “Those blades can cut through solid stone with a little effort, and that edge will stay for a long time.” When they’d cooled sufficiently, I handed them to him with a bit of a flourish and pride in my work. “If you were to meet God, he would be cut.”   His eyes seemed to sparkle as he took them, turning them over in his hand. “Yes, these will be just perfect.” He slowly moved towards the still-flaming wall,  eyes glued to the blades. “There is still one problem though.” if he asked for more, I wouldn’t give it. “If you ask for another condition, no. Otherwise, what is it?” He chuckled as he turned to me, taking off his hat and tucking the blades away inside. “You misunderstand, I’m talking about a hindrance. You know of Princess Luna’s capabilities correct?” I nodded. “Dreamwalking.” It then hit me; I had almost forgotten. “I see what you mean. Can you evade her easily?” “I could break her down into a shrivelling mess, in fact I already have. But yes, I could avoid her. Though it will be difficult if she is not sufficiently distracted.” I pointed at him. “Breaking Princess Luna in Auric’s dimension may draw unwanted attention to you and to me. Though it would help, I dare not. Auric may use that as justification to get the remaining alicorns on your case. I will create a couple of distractions for her, don’t worry. I can’t dreamwalk, but I can leave suggestions and whispers… enough to draw her away from you.” He nodded, reaching into his hat and pulling out a pair of tattered gloves before throwing them towards me. “Cut off the fingers, burn a piece of those gloves if you believe the coast is clear. I’ll give you my trust on this one.” I nodded. “In which case, I will make sure not to betray that trust.” Another ‘ping’ on my stone pulled my attention. “Apologies, Freddy, but another being seeks my attention. I don’t like to cut a meeting short, but I must fly. See yourself out, please. But don’t touch anything.” He smirked as he placed his hat back onto his head. “I’ll make sure to remain a secret, even from your own side. So sorry, friendly-fire is on.”  I sighed. At least he was on my side. Better to keep him close-by then to let him slip into Auric’s hooves. “Be safe” He laughed as the fire picked up before whipping towards him, giving a final bow before being flung back towards it and exploding into ashes. I then responded, opening a portal to its location and stepping through. I was confronted by a pale unicorn, staring up at me in a curious fear. I probed his mind, using one of my cheapest parlor tricks. “Well, well, well. I thought I would be summoned by a human, but you will do just as well… Inkwell, head of Ellura, who seeks to make a new world order with a virus from another dimension…” He blinked, looking at me as he processed everything I’d said. While he was still confused, I continued. I idly tapped my staff with my long fingers as I continued. “You kidnap ponies and subject them to mutant strains of various viruses. I could use some of these… B.O.W.S of yours.” Again, he blinked, before collecting himself. “Well, I suppose I should be flattered that my name transcends my dimension alone, you know all of this about me, yet I do not know any one thing about you, mister…?” I looked down at him. Hmph, I would work with him for now. “Teridax. And you aren’t that famous- I simply pulled the relevant information out of your head. Your mental defenses are non-existent. Truthfully, you are one of billions of similar beings who seek a new world order with this virus. This version of you may succeed, or you may fail. The multiverse ensures that every possibility is fully realised. Now, let’s talk business.” He perked up at the mention of business. He would- he was running a company after all. Truthfully, he rather bored me, but again, he was useful. Thankfully, he was fairly sharp. He got a calculating look in his eye. “I suppose if you know so much about me and my company, then you also know about the thorn in our side.” I did indeed- Nemesis, a video game enemy who had brought the T-Virus to Equestria. If he was so dead-set against these Ellura people, he wouldn’t work for me. “In business, it is often custom to have something in return for services gained.” I knew that; I’d been calculating what I should give him and his company the entire time. So I nodded. “Naturally. Come through to my dimension, I can show you my own laboratory.” I opened a portal to my home dimension, only just then remembering the wards. I deactivated them with a wave of my hand, then turned to Inkwell. “I think you’ll like my work very much.” “I have incredible knowledge in many fields, Inkwell. Metallurgy, weapon crafting, painting, sculpture, literature, chemistry, biology… and of course, virology.” My lab was made of smoothed down black protodermis, with solid stone benches that were scrubbed down and sterilised within an inch of their lives. I could feel Inkwell staring at all of my highly advanced equipment. I knew that he had much the same- though I didn’t have many computers. Another time, but I had a little tour to give him. “I make viruses for fun. Usually, I can use them to create entirely new forms of life from simple biomatter.” I pulled out a handful of grass, and then sprinkled a basic virus in powder form over it. A few seconds later, the virus developed legs and little, gear-like teeth, and it scuttled over my workbench like a crab, snapping at us indiscriminately. Inkwell was fascinated by it, especially its biomechanical appendages. “The possibilities…” He was hooked by my product. I mentally smiled like a shark and continued. “This… Nemesis. He’s the source of your original virus, correct?” I looked down at Inkwell. I had his full, undivided attention. “Provide me with a small sample of his biomatter, and I can make you a specialised hunter. It’ll never stop chasing him, will have an increased healing factor, and will be totally obedient.” I would make him one… and keep several dozen for myself. That way, I would have plenty of bargaining material for later. Inkwell nodded. “And in return, you wish us to supply you with B.O.W.s?” Yes. Disposable cannon fodder would be good for me and my army. I nodded at that statement.“About a hundred to start with should be fine. And with your original virus… if you want more stable results, I think I have the perfect tool for that.” That got his attention. I really wasn’t sure about this, but I wanted him loyal and hooked to me. If it meant giving him one of my Masks of Power, so be it. So, Inkwell nodded. “If this is the extent of what you have to offer us...I think the Ellura corporation can do business with you, Mr. Teridax.” The extent? You silly little pony, I have viruses here that could potentially break down ponykind on the cellular level, of course I’m not showing you my good stuff. But I nodded to him; keep the really good stuff in case he decides to get uppity. “I’ll show you one tool I can make a decent quantity of.” I walked over and pulled my Mask of Mutation off the wall. I had several dozen of these, and I could always make more. “This is the Mask of Mutation. I don’t know if it’ll work for you, but with this…” I put it on my head, replacing my Olmak, and concentrated. I imagined the little grass-monster growing a second set of arms, and it did. “I can make whatever mutative change I want, and reverse it as well.” I turned around, already knowing what response he would give me. “Interested? Inkwell looked like Christmas had just been announced a year-round holiday. “Very. This...what you can do...it’s unheard of. Even WITH magic, the most advanced technology known to pony-kind couldn’t possibly…” His rambling was getting annoying. I was in half a mind to call off the deal when he cleared his throat and said what I knew he would say. “I mean...yes. I am very interested.” I nodded, handing him the mask. He clutched it to himself as I continued.“It’s a deal. Give me the biomatter, and I’ll have your perfect hunter within a week. I’m not sure if the mask will work for you, please tell me if it doesn’t.” I turned to him, intent on making sure that he knew where we stood. I opened the portal back to his office. “Have a good evening, Inkwell. I’ll know when you have the biomatter. I watch all of my allies closely.” He got the point. He scurried off, mind already filled with plans and planning on getting me my biomatter. Truthfully, I would use the biomatter for two things: firstly, to make the hunters; secondly, to develop a unique virus that would target the T-virus, neutralising its effects. It might be useful to sway Nemesis over to my side, should he fight against me.