Chapter 9 - I'm not sure if this is better or worse
The Mirror of the Displaced, as I called it, had spat out several artifacts lately. I would need to write a subroutine into its spellwork so that it would just absorb the artifacts and store their unique energy for later review.
Did not need another diamond hitting me in the head in the middle of the night at high speeds. That stung.
Though it wasn't nearly as bad as the time the length of chain had somehow ended up on the bed and Measured walked in with my usual morning coffee.
That had led to a wonderfully awkward conversation. Still not sure if I got the idea of me liking that sort of bedplay out of her head totally.
So many Displaced...
But today! Today was going to be a good day! Today was going to be a day where Twilight and I actually talked to one another!
I walked through my door and ended up on the first floor. Tapping the center symbol three times led to all the lab doors being opened at once. What few Djinn there were came out to the first floor, and I nodded at them.
"No experiments or lab work today, though I would appreciate one of each as a companion. I'm headed into town to do something long overdue, and the one I'm meeting has already proclaimed interest in studying my powers. If you lot would be so kind?"
Most of the Djinn left, but four nameless joined me. Venus and Mars on my back, Mercury on my horn, and Jupiter hovered. I nodded and set off, leaving the tower in Measured's care.
Hopefully this wouldn't be too much of a hassle.
-----
Surprisingly, things were actually going my way for once.
If only because Twilight and I didn't know where to start a proper conversation.
It had only been two minutes before I entered the town proper before I'd been accosted by a gaggle of mares. (Is that the right word? Gaggle?) Rainbow Dash had been on weather duty, seen me on my way into town, gotten a hold of Pinkie, and between the two of them, all of Twilight's friends had assembled rather quickly on the route I was taking.
Not halting or slowing, I informed the mares that I was on my way to Twilight's so we could find an appropriate word to describe the size of the hatchet between us, and then bury it.
...I don't know what I was thinking when I said that, but I really should have realized Pinkie would pull out a half-dozen hatchets 'in case of hatchet emergency' once I finished talking.
No, I don't have any idea where they came from, where they went to, or why the idea of Pinkie wielding a hatchet chilled me to my very bones.
Wait, strike that, I knew that one. It was the conflicting imagery that I got when I looked at Pinkie wielding a hatchet. It just screamed 'I'm a crazy pony wielding a hatchet! Ain't I adorable?'
Thankfully, whatever pocket dimension (no, I refuse to believe that she has THAT many stashes of EVERYTHING around Ponyville!) Pinkie pulled them out of, she returned them to when she saw our uneasy expressions.
Another few minutes of walking got us to the library, and I hung back while the mares knocked on the door. Spike answered after a short delay.
"Oh, hey. Sorry, but Twi still doesn't want to see anypony."
At this point, the mares parted like the Red Sea and I walked up, staring the drake in the eyes. His narrowed, mine held.
"Well then," I said, "I suppose my apology will go to waste."
Spike's eyes widened again, he held up a claw, worked his jaw a few times, and closed the door. Sounds of...something rummaging around in the room just beyond met our ears, and then, Twilight opened the door.
The first thing I noticed was that she looked like crap. Not crazy, just...unkempt. As though somewhere along the way, she stopped caring about her appearance. Feathers were out of place on her wings, her mane was all askew, her eyes had significantly larger bags under them...
She was a mess, and she was staring at me. I blinked a few times, then motioned with a hoof for her to go into her library. Seemingly catching on to my intent, she backed up, allowing me and the girls access.
"I'll go put some tea on. You like tea, right Auric?"
I merely nodded to the drake while motioning to the nearby table, and Twilight took up a chair. I immediately took up the chair opposite her, and the Djinn riding me hopped onto the table. In the case of Jupiter, that one hopped onto a nearby bookcase.
Neither Twilight or I had spoken a word to each other, and I knew why:
So many wanted to be said, it would be hard choosing the right ones to use.
Eventually, Spike came back with a tea tray for the other girls. After a few minutes, he returned again with another one, this time for Twilight and me. I took a tentative sip and smiled.
No, I'd not had tea before. I was more of a coffee kind of guy. But now that I'd had it, I could in fact appreciate it. Another sip calmed my nerves and made my stress ooze away.
I placed my cup down and looked up to Twilight, trying to frame the words. Before I could, though, I was interrupted by Jupiter.
Sire, if the purpose of your visit here was merely to take tea, then it was wholly unnecessary. Lady Measured has kept the tower stocked whilst you have been away...and unresponsive.
I sighed and rolled my eyes before directing a glare at the Djinn. Twilight flicked an ear at the voice, but didn't respond to it. Either she refused to acknowledge it, or thought answering it would be detrimental at this time.
I looked back to Twilight and cracked a wry grin. "Djinn, eh? Can't live without 'em, and sometimes I'm not sure if it's worth living with them."
Twilight cocked her head to one side before blinking slowly. "That's right, Princess Celestia did say that they were called Djinn. And that not everypony could see them. But why did you bring them with you?"
"Uh, Twi?" Applejack had apparently been lost. "There ain't anythin' there, sugar."
I shook my head at Applejack's statement. "Not true. Elemental spirits known as Djinn exist all over Equestria. It's just...if you can't wield Psynergy, if you can't use the powers of the elements...you can't even see the Djinn. The Djinn are a good quick test to see if someone's an Adept: if you can see them, you're an Adept, no questions asked."
I waved a hoof at Twilight. "One of the Jupiter messengers I used told me that both Celestia and Twilight started when it delivered a message, meaning that it was likely both of them could see it. This confirms it, though."
Literally, all the jaws save mine dropped. I took solace in this moment by drinking some more tea. Quite lovely, this. Going to have to look into tea blends at a later date. Eventually, Twilight got her voice back.
"So what you're saying is, I'm a practitioner of an entirely new sort of magic, that, before you came along, Equestria didn't have. And I never knew about it?"
I shrugged in response. "Most ponies don't know about it until either their powers activate or they meet a Djinn. Heck, Sweetie didn't know she was a Mars Adept until she set a friend of mine on fire."
Rarity let out a gasp while every pony looked towards her. "My little sister, set somepony on fire? While she and her friends are rambunctious and destructive, I hardly think she's that malicious at all!"
I looked to her and arched an eyebrow. "Tell me, have you noticed things around her catching fire before now? Or things just being subjected to more heat than usual?"
Rarity put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, there was the time she managed to burn an entire breakfast she was trying to cook for me."
"I'm not sure how-"
"Even the juice," Rarity deadpanned.
I blinked at that before smiling. "Proof, then! And the other Crusaders could join her, if given the right...nudge, I suppose you could say."
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity looked to one another before putting on very large and very false smiles. "And what would it take to convince you not to give them that nudge, dear? Because they cause enough catastrophes and damages without any extra help."
I shook my head at that. "It's out of my hands. If they get exposed to enough Elemental energy in any form, then we'll have some new Adepts in town. And at that point, it'd be better to train them. If only to minimize collateral."
The mares exchanged another look and sighed, realizing the matter was as closed as it was going to get. I turned my attention back to Twilight, who had been making a few notes, and smiled at her. She realized I'd seen and attempted to put the notes out of sight, but I held up a hoof to stop her.
"In all honesty, that's a bit of what I'm here to talk about. Feel free."
She actually seemed to break for a moment while her brain processed what I'd just said. I smiled at her and timed how long it would take. Ten seconds after I'd finished talking, I got a response.
"You...don't mind?"
I shook my head. "Nope. If anything, this helps, having more viewpoints than just Measured's." I shot a glare at her, and she winced at my next words. "I just didn't care for how you went about getting that data previously. But if you're willing to try again, properly this time, then so am I."
Twilight blinked a few more times, then smiled and slowly extended a hoof. "Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Student of Celestia in the magic of friendship."
I smiled and met her hoof with my own. "Hi, my name is Auric Fulcrum, wielder of Alchemy, master of Psynergy, and also a dimensionally displaced former biped."
And from there, a proper friendship / case study began. On both our parts.
-----
So the first thing we learned about me was my coat. Rather simple. Dash was the unwitting test subject.
Apparently she didn't take my 'master of psy-whatever' to mean much, and made to sneak attack me. To test my reflexes. And 'awesomeness.'
Totally calling it: she just wanted to see if I would be a good sparring buddy. It wasn't her ego at all.
At the last second, I felt something off with the air behind me, and my coat reacted.
Her hoof impacted the back of my head, but there was no pain. Just a dull 'tink' sound, and a strange current of energy that flowed through both me and my coat.
I twisted my neck to cast an eye on Dash, who was frowning, upset that she'd not garnered the response she was looking for. She moved to attack me again, this time on the leg, and we all got to see what happened this time.
Just before her hoof impacted me, there was a pulse that rippled through my coat, a slight drain on my reserves, and the coat where her hoof impacted...merged, and gained this metallic sheen to it. Again, there was the noise as hoof impacted coat, if it was that anymore.
Dash removed her hoof and I looked at the spot, watching the merged strands unravel back into individual hairs. I looked back to Twi with a grin.
"So we've just learned my coat is a reactive suit of armor, which would explain quite a few of those strange readings you got from it."
Twilight merely nodded, her eyes focused on the spot. A quill and scroll hovered nearby, rapidly noting the phenomena down. I can only guess that she's making some sort of Compendium Auric with such findings. Dash was bemused, Pinkie was excited, and the rest had dropped jaws again. I swear they're going to lose their jaws if they keep dropping them.
Pinkie rushed over and began poking me all over. Surprisingly, there was no reaction from the coat at all. "Oooo, will this trigger it? How about this? Or this?"
Needless to say, she eventually poked me in the ribs, and I didn't quite manage to stifle a giggle. Pinkie paused in her poking proclivity and turned what I can only term an evil smirk with a raised eyebrow up to me. I answered her unasked question with two simple words.
"Ribs're ticklish."
Dash and Pinkie shared a glance, and now they both sported evil smiles. I caught on to their intent far too late, though.
Before I could raise a word of protest, the library was filled with my laughter.
...And all in all, I would look back on this day fondly. Despite the fact that none of the mares let up, all of them joined in, and it became an all-out tickle-war. Followed by an all-out pillow-fight when Pinkie pulled a few out from hammerspace.
...It was still the first legitimate unplanned fun I'd had in my new form. And I liked it.
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Hammerspace pillow fight. Yes.
^at 1:49
Awww, a nice little moment for Auric and the Mane 6.
HAMMERSPACE!!!!!!!!!!!
Why is it a necessity that to be a friend of Twilight you have to be willing to let her experiment on you? I thought Auric avoiding being a test subject was the whole point of this arc.
YES, yes she is
and we all love her that way
thanks for teh update! waiting for more
This story had heart.
I don't.
4399325 welcome to the club
Sweetie Belle the arsonist.
New head canon acquired.
That was fun. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Saw that you wanted to make me known, posted this.
Also, the person who wanted to use my OCs has already contacted me. And yes, all four are mine.
I do not understand your strange obsession with Italics.
4515067 everyone uses italics for emphasis, or pointing out things.
D'awwww.