//------------------------------// // What a weasel // Story: Casting a Shadow // by Ssendam the Masked //------------------------------// Idly, I pulled at the shadow code that I'd made, and froze. Somebody had retroactively gotten rid of my beautiful coding. I scrambled along it madly, pulling at the back doors that hadn't been there when I'd programmed my universe. I wondered how this was possible before I froze. There was only one other being who I both knew and would have the motive to do something like this. Umbra... Wait. How did he even know that the code would only go from the moment I'd added it unless... I facepalmed. I had been so taken by his useless fool act that I'd overlooked the bleeding obvious- he was a SysAdmin. Of COURSE he had Understanding. "Umbra has understanding. I cannot believe I fell for that. I literally cannot believe I was that stupid." Well, no more being nice. I pulled out the Vahi and started pulling for more shadow coding. More and more detonators piled out at my feet, until I was absolutely, positively sure that it was all gone. I then pulled out the explosive itself, and scanned it for more. More and more explosive shadow bombs came out of my mask. I applauded his thoroughness, but at the same time I was slowly seething at myself. I'd been taken for a fool by a SysAdmin, but I had to say that I was actually having the last laugh. After all, the universe was now... protected against destruction... I had to check that. Mentally cursing Umbra for everything he was worth, I pulled on my Olmak and tore open a portal to the Void. This done, I examined the code. How sneaky of him; it was exactly as I'd expected. Still, I ran a dozen checks over it, just to be sure. Then, I picked up my stray code, and then started coding anew. He already tampered with everything I'd worked so hard on; admittedly, most of that was tampering with an obvious mistake that a SysAdmin shouldn't have made... I then realised that I'd been taken a fool. By my own arrogance, no less! I was kicking myself with that revelation, and now I was even more enraged with my stupid, stupid arrogance. Just because I'd been working on my powers for four thousand years, didn't mean that others hadn't been using that time productively as well. Umbra's little bid to retroactively put himself back in the head admin position and leave back doors in was deleted, and replaced with me retroactively becoming the Admin of my Equestria. I then started adding in as many redundant firewalls and anti-hacking measures I could. Of course, this was immensely power consuming- after all, I was basically tearing into the multiversal code and rewriting it to suit my own whims. I was running on fumes now, but this needed to be done. I reworked the anti-virus system, and then retroactively applied it to the whole universe. Any Admin who tried to enter or alter this code apart from myself would be regarded as a viral consciousness and would subsequently be reincarnated. I tiredly smirked, before going back in. As I did, I noticed a blue crystal in my chambers. As soon as I appeared, it relayed a nice little message for me, in the form of a holographic Auric Fulcrum. I took a moment to admire the craftsmanship before he started speaking. I listened to his message with curiosity at first, then slowly growing admiration and horror. This was... exactly what I'd wanted. Just not now. This was not the time for Auric to man up- I needed him later, when the plan was almost complete. "Teridax, I send this to you for one reason. To tell you I will not fight you." He deliberately paused for five seconds there- to emphasize his own point. "At least, not in your world. Nor, I think, will I permit you to fight me in mine. In the first case, t'would be folly for me to come to your world to fight you. It'd be like setting foot into the lair of a lich and expecting no traps to spring. And in the second, there is too much here that I hold dear that could suffer...collateral damage. "No, instead, by the time you receive this, I will have worked out the details of a staging ground with Umbra Shadow-Walker. If you truly wish to fight me, he can lead you there. Fail to arrive...and I may have to alert your world's alicorns to your potential plans. "Oh yes," and here he grinned, a grin that set my spine shivering in excitement, "I know all about that. Not only have I gone through similar here, but my Mirror forecasts potential futures. Yours seem to revolve around a point where all magic is lynch-pinned to one...lavender...mare. Like I said, fail to come, and I will just have to...warn them." His eyes glowed a bright blue, to contrast my glowing red ones. "Your move." With that, the message ended. I stood still for a while, shaking. Not from fear, oh no. From excitement. I was finally going up against somebody worthy of my power and intellect. He had already likely warned the alicorn princesses; he would be a fool not to. I'd hoped for him to go to me, but now, I was having to majorly revise my plans. Twilight Sparkle had ascended to alicorn level; I needed more time for the Plan to work- I froze. I then mentally grinned. "Oh, Auric. Thank you for your kindness." I then picked up a Makuta stone, and imposed my will on it. "Auric Fulcrum, I accept your terms of engagement. However, I must also say that I will be needing more time to prepare. And one more thing, Auric." Here I paused, shapeshifting back down to human form. "Thank you. I've never had so much fun with any other living creature before. And I have one request, should I die." I frowned. This was going to be hard to say, but it had to be said. "If... if I should die, then I want you to ignore my children. They're the only reason besides yourself that I haven't ended it all already. I will respect your own wishes not to harm your own universe, but... I hope you will respect my own wishes. Thank you." With that, I hurled the Makuta stone through to his Canterlot, after priming it to only be activated in his presence. I then sighed. I needed more allies. It was just then that a coin plunked next to me. I picked it up, turning it over in my massive clawed hands. There was some sort of helmet on one side. Well. Can't be worse than what had just happened today. I flipped the coin, watching it turn round and round...