//------------------------------//
// A horrible, horrible moment 
// Story: Casting a Shadow 
// by Ssendam the Masked 
//------------------------------//

I stared at my generals. 
"...what?"

Tavish looked at me, the ground, the ceiling, back to his fellow Generals and then back to me before responding. "Weel, ya see... we want ta use th' energized protodermis, si-"

I waved him off. "Don't call me sir. You owe me nothing. You're your own people, but can I ask something?" I leant in to Tavish, glaring at his singular eye. "Why?"

Tavish sighed. "Weel, we know that you're launching an offensive on this 'Auric Fulcrum' fellow, ya see-"

I winced. I'd spent a busy night planting insidious whispers around the sleeping populace of another universe, keeping a Princess of the Night distracted by it, and then Freddy had informed me that he'd been thrown out of Auric's mind. Honestly, I hadn't expected Freddy to survive for long in a mind that wielded the power of understanding, but it was something good to know. Regardless, I ordered Freddy to keep a low profile in his own universe, keep out of trouble and don't get sealed away. 

Auric was uninjured, and he was regaining his power relatively quickly. Fortunately, time had been progressing well. My own monitoring of the Tirek situation revealed that he was gaining strength just as rapidly, and that the Crystal Empire had reappeared. The Changelings had made peace with the Princesses, and that was good. I'd also taken the time to slip three of my shapeshifter Rahkshi in to keep an eye on the Princesses. So far, they were paranoid as all hell, jumping at shadows and listening for my voice everywhere. Hmm. May be the time to put more spy creatures in Ponyville, make sure that Twilight was still living there. 

But Tavish brought my attention back. "Yes, we know you're attacking him, and we know that we're never going to be a match for him, but... we want to help." 

That didn't sound good, especially in the context of what he was talking about. Whatever it was, I felt mildly queasy, as if I'd eaten some food that was off. I looked at him. "I've told you all before, you don't have to serve me if you don't want to. I won't be angry. You can make whatever decision you want."

Tavish glared at me. "Ya may be the one who made us, but we follow you because... it's kind of hard to explain, but it's just not right for us not to follow you. We lead your armies, don't we?" 

I nodded. "That's true enough, but you don't have to get more powerful just for me-"

"We're not just doing it for you." 

I looked at Sek. His arms were crossed, and he looked around. "We're doing it so that we don't get totally curbstomped with every confrontation we face." He looked around. 

"Three Rahkshi were summoned for a fight between a couple of anthropomorphic ponies that were rebelling against a man who would be hard-pressed to find his arse with both hands. And yet we were almost useless. We barely defeated them. Hell, Venom's legs were crushed by one of our supposed 'allies!'" 

Venom glared at Sek. "Yes, we all know that. Can we please stop bringing it up all the damn time?"  He then realised that Sek was glaring daggers at him and deflated somewhat. "Um, sorry 'bout that, I'm just a little... antsy 'bout that thing, alright? We cool?" When Sek didn't answer immediately, he proffered an armoured green fist to him.

Sek nodded, accepting the fist bump for its worth as a gesture of peace. "We cool." 

I was about to explode with fatherly anger. "No! I forbid you from going to the energized protodermis! It'll likely kill you, and then where will you be? Where will the Centuries be?" I knew that I would likely never convince them, but I had to try. 

With a thought, the lid was pulled down by a combination of my magnetic and gravity powers. I looked at them. "N.O spells no. Please don't..." It was then that I started feeling sleepy. Strange, normally I would never feel sleepy. I worked for 24 hours a day with my plotting and scheming, and before now I'd never, EVER felt tired. This was artificial, but right now, I didn't feel like fighting it. I briefly paused on that thought, then shook my head. I refused to give up right now! I stumbled around drunkenly, trying to fight the feeling of tiredness off. A ball of molten plasma appeared in my hand, and I scanned my sons for the attacker, ready to hit all of them if it meant getting him-

I halted, and just stared at myself. What was wrong with me? This was my family. I was seriously contemplating attacking my own family? I saw the fear in their eyes, and in that moment I felt so... small. I let my arm drop, and the plasma in my hand disappeared. The tiredness grew and grew, until it was all I could do not to just collapse on the floor.

"Sorry father." I turned to Morpheus, the Rahkshi of sleep. He was concentrating on bringing me down with his power. I have to say, I was mildly impressed with the Rahkshi. It was then that I remembered what they were planning to do and I found new resolve. With my last vestige of awakeness, I sprawled myself over the vat. 
"I... can't. I refuse to let you throw your lives... lives..."
I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, slumped over my own vat of energized protodermis. 

When I came to, it was to see all of my Generals crowded around me. I blinked, sluggishly, my mind trying to get back up to speed. They looked... different... 

I felt as if ice water had just been dripped down my spine as I shot up. Each and every single one of my Rahkshi now had silver and gold armour added on to their bodies. Also, it may have been my imagination, but they seemed to be... taller than they once were. They were all looking anxiously at me, including Morpheus. The maroon Rahkshi stared down at me, extending a yellow limb. "Father, are you-" 

I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "Don't you ever, EVER dare to do something like that again, do you hear me? NEVER! AGAIN!" I was so angry with them right now, but at the same time I was relieved to see that they were alive and alright. If I'd been human, I would have been crying. As I was, I kept the hug up for a while, then patted him on the back stiffly and got back up. 

Tavish was the first one to speak. "Uh, are you alright, sir?" 

"Don't call me sir, Tavish. None of you should call me sir. Call me Teridax, or Makuta. Either one of those would be better than sir." I turned to Tavish and my other Generals. "You're my children. Because of that, nobody is your superior. Not even me. You all have free will and intelligence. Use your gifts." With that, I looked around, nodding in approval. They'd taken such a risk to be useful, I really couldn't stay mad with them. In fact, I think I needed to make something again. The muse had come with me now. 

I pulled up a canvas and paints, stared at it for a while then got to work. My obsession with Auric needed to get to another level. I needed him to constantly be on guard. If I could distract him with meaningless creepiness for long enough, I could stop him from ever interfering with my plans. Thus, why I was painting a nude of him emerging from an Earth smashed in two, a bit like Aphrodite arising from the sea. What can I say, I'm a sucker for classical imagery. 

I then grabbed my Olmak, found his world and just for fun I snuck right outside his tower. It was nighttime, and nobody was around. I leant the painting against the door, and turned back for my world. I wondered how he would appreciate my gift, but it was likely he would react with terror. Keep him off-balance, keep him scared. I wouldn't need such paltry tactics when I'd absorbed the alicorns. Then, I would probably write him messages in the sky or something. 

I didn't know what I would do, and that thought exhilarated me to no end. I was excited about doing things I couldn't predict. That's what it was like, facing another being who understood. Completely, utterly unpredictable. A bit like the roller-coaster of love in a way. It was a love of sorts- neither of us could really block the others' advances. And the thought that he might be able to beat me... that excited me.