I glared at Celestia. "You can not be serious."
Celestia just looked back at me evenly. "You know, for somebody who wishes to protect this world, you know as much about its people as a mollusc knows of Neighspeare."
I was honestly confused. "Why would I need to know about them? I'm here to protect them from big things. If I know who they are then I would have preferences."
Celestia just shook her head. "Now come on, Teridax. Be rational about this. If you do not know who you are supposedly protecting, you may do something foolish."
While I knew that she was giving me rational, level-headed advice as a friend to another, I still glared at her. Pride is a hard habit to shake off. "If you are trying to manipulate me for some ulterior motive-"
Celestia actually looked hurt at that. "We are friends, Teridax. And I believe that you shouldn't seclude yourself off. You don't even have to get involved. Just talk to them. Try and make friends."
For a moment, I just didn't say anything, instead preferring to look around at the Everfree, where I had agreed to meet Celestia. The forest really was quite beautiful at this time of spring. The flowers were blooming, great splashes of red and blue and pink dotting the green, grassy ground. Golden sunlight shone through the ancient trees. Birdsong was present throughout the forest. When I had come here, a long time ago, the forest had been unwelcoming and harsh. Now, I could not say whether there was any place I would rather be at this exact moment.
Still, I eventually had to say something. "There is no point to me interacting with the people of this world. What would I talk to them about?"
"Just talk. They may teach you something new about the world."
I snorted at that, and Celestia shot me a reproachful look. Still, Celestia didn't seem to be budging on the matter of her approval of my plans. I would have to do this... ridiculous farce of social interaction. "Very well. If I have to do this ridiculous request of yours, I will. This world's safety is paramount. Even if you don't know of the threats that exist outside your universe, I am well aware of the threats that may threaten this existence."
Celestia smiled. "Most excellent! It'll do you some good, getting out of that fortress of yours." She looked at me closely. "You are closer to the creatures of this forest than you are with civilisation. A king of the forest needs something to keep his mind sharp."
I just nodded and turned to leave. Now that I had confirmation that I had Celestia's approval to enact my plans, I was content to leave. Most of my defensive measures were there for hostile encounters, but I also would need allies. Through my own judgement, I would select allies that heard my call, and they would be available to call at a moment's notice.
I took the scenic route back. Though civilisation at this point in time leaves much to be desired, the beauty of the Everfree was uncorrupted and simple. Nature is a lot simpler and more understanding than civilisation. In nature, the only rules that really have to be there are the principles of survival. Why civilisation has to complicate that is beyond me.
I prefer nature because it is both beautiful in an aesthetic sense and also because it has a set of principles underlying it that I agree with. Civilisation is just messy.
The man who would become Teridax stood up, and looked around the barren wasteland he had been deposited in. He was an ordinary young man of about twenty- pale skinned, black-haired, thin as a rake. His eyes were black, and piercing, and behind his mask it was almost impossible to see that they were tearing up in the corners. They had seen too much- looking into those eyes you saw madness and loneliness and pain. All around him there was no life.
Matthew Bates looked around, and cried a wordless cry, born of sheer loneliness. His knowledge of the universe, of EVERYTHING, told him exactly how small he was. There was nothing here. Not even a tree. Nothing but the wind and the sand already working its way into his clothing.
Knowledge of the awesome power he now possessed still swam. He had the power of a Makuta now. With his power, he could do anything. He could change the world.
But his heart ached for companionship, and without a second thought he drove a hand into his gut. He grit his teeth, concentrating, focusing his essence. He pulled out a kraata, gold and red. As it blinked, looking around it at the world, Matthew hugged it. Already concentrating on the wound, trying to regenerate his body. He felt tired, and he was probably going to die. But he would not be alone now. Even though this tiny creature didn't know- would never know- his exact plight, he would still be proud to call it his child.
Teridax waded through the scrim of the three massive armies vying for dominance. He had tracked down a universe where he could start laying the seeds of one plan. He needed a piece of the Tree of Harmony. In order to get it, he had specifically searched for universes where his powers were the only thing that could really help.
In this universe, the Fire of Friendship had only kindled a long-lasting friendship in the original three leaders and their aides. The other ponies, not willing to take the possible hallucinations of six ponies frozen into a cave by the long winter, had started warring with each other even more fiercely than before. Thus, they have gathered their forces and are making a massive three-way clash for the area known as Equestria. The leaders are trying for peace but to no avail. Teridax then stepped in, and offered them a chance for peace- to create a common enemy that they would have to defeat through teamwork.
To watch him fight, you wouldn't think he was doing anything at all except walking. A gallant if foolish earth pony tries to charge his legs, only to be reduced to ash by a precise blast of heat from his eyes. Another tries to sneak behind him, only for his head to implode as a tiny black hole is temporarily created in his brain pan.
Teridax is here to create peace through devastation. The point of the brutal, cruel deaths is to impress on the ponies that he cannot be beaten alone, but only through teamwork. As he cuts a swathe through the armies, he spots the leaders readying themselves. He gets his thespian attitude right and he steps before them.
"You are the leaders of this pathetic people, are you not?" he roars, loud enough for the three armies to hear.
Platinum, still terrified of him but smart enough to put the dots together of his plan, manages to say, "Yes, you great lout, and you shall be rendered scrap through our combined power!" Thunderhoof and Puddinghead nod in agreement.
Teridax hams it up. "Pathetic. Not a single ONE of your soldiers could ever harm me. What can YOU three do, that they can't" Inside, Teridax is bored, and checking his watch. He has safeguards set up- he knows that the Fire of Friendship could very well kill him.
That's why it won't get the chance.
As they ready themselves, and the fire takes form, he wills his Vahi to his side, invisible. As they unleash the fires on him, he slows time for them to the point that it seems to almost be stopped. Then, he makes his move.
He dumps a heap of scrap metal in front of the blast, holding it together with magnetism. Then, he teleports away to watch the fireworks, turning invisible and rendering himself entirely silent.
As it impacts, he can feel the relief and the newfound friendship of the ponies in the land as this common threat is vanquished. As the leaders deliver a speech on the values of friendship and social equality, he disappears into the Everfree with teleportation.
He finds the Tree of Harmony, and he talks to it. "My payment for services rendered." The tree seems to look at him, then it feels like an accord is made. A tiny granule comes off.
it is never more than that, but Teridax can understand. It is literally a piece of an artifact of immense good, and it knows what he's like, and he knows it knows, and it knows he knows it knows, and he knows it knows he knows it knows he knows it knows. Teridax takes it and leaves for the universe he calls base.
If it had not been for me taking the long route back to my fortress, I would not have found it. It was a puzzle ring, made of a brilliant silvery metal. The tiny, silvery rings were delicately interlocked, and made for a rather large hand. I stopped, intrigued as to what such a thing was doing here in the Everfree. In spite of its beauty, the ring felt off. The sensation was akin to walking in the midst of a thunderstorm, and feeling the sheer power about to be unleashed on the Earth. I gently bent down and picked it up.
I was treated to a reshowing of Understanding. The sensation I was used to, having experienced it once before. No new insights presented themselves to me, so I can assume that the ring was meant to be such a device of inflicting Understanding on unsuspecting people. Such a tiny thing presenting so big a gift... I was intrigued. I scanned it mentally, trying to detect any intent to attack. None; the ring simply wanted to spread its destructive gift of Understanding across as many people as it could. Not even maliciously, but simply because that was what it was meant to do.
I turned the interlocked rings over, and I saw the signature.
Teridax.
Frowning, I gripped the ring. An artifact of Teridax had found its way into my hands. I would have to take great care with it. As I left, I was careful not to put it on. Teridax had been a genius, but even I had thought that making a Ring of Power was beyond him. This would necessitate further investigation.
For now, though, I was going to find this village near my fortress and...
Well, talk to the locals I guess.
Faust walked into an area that most the multiverse over would call 'Hell.' There's no point describing it- simply imagine what Hell looks like and you have an image that is incomplete and complete. Even if it isn't its own dimension, there is still a concept for most worlds that melds together and coagulates in parts.
Faust's form was her typical form when she walked in her universes- a tall, cream-coloured alicorn, with a straight red mane and pale blue eyes. The entities of this plane of existence thought about stopping a goddess, even one from a rather weak reality, then thought again of it when they looked at her properly.
Instinct and intuition and asking questions directed her to the object of her attention.
He was chained up at the moment, suspended above lava. Faust looked at the soul, so incredibly inhuman and twisted- so like a Makuta's, even though he had once been a man - and felt... something. Not pity, or remorse. Just sheer rage at the perversions of reality that he had enacted.
Teridax Prime, as he was known to his alternate selves, looked at Faust in her appearance. His death had opened his eyes beyond what an ordinary three-dimensional being could see, and he saw her truest form, the true culmination of her being, and something like a smile appeared in his form. He spoke in a deep baritone voice, snakesmooth in its diction. "Hello, Lady Faust. And what do I owe this immense honour?"