The Life and Times of an Alchemist Turned Pony

by Thadius0

Chapter 12 - Tying up loose ends feels different than I'd thought

A day or so later, I had a visitor at the tower. A highly predictable lavender visitor.

"Twilight, do you promise to go at my pace while you're in here?"

She chuckled a bit and scraped at the ground outside the door.

"I probably should have done that to begin with."

I arced an eyebrow at her as if to say 'no, really?' She let out a sigh before nodding up at me on my walls.

"I do so promise to go at your pace."

I smiled and opened the doors to the Tower. "Well then Twilight Sparkle, please come in."

We entered the first floor together, and Twi let out a small 'squee' noise and went to one of my lab doors. I held up a foreleg to block her before she got too close or got too many ideas. "Ah, no. Not yet. Labs will be last, otherwise you'll not learn how anything works in here."

Twilight huffed a bit at that before rolling her eyes. I walked over to the door and opened it, demonstrating that it was magic by showing the kitchen on the other side. I then closed it, then opened it again, showing off Measured's room.

I don't think Twi's jaw could have dropped faster. "Is that an unstable portal? And you've harnessed it to be a door?"

I sighed as she started to examine the door's frame. "More like...I linked all the doors together and gave them a rudimentary intelligence. They take you where they want to, save if you ask politely."

Measured's ears perked and she turned to face us, bowing politely towards Twilight before speaking. "Ah, Auric, Princess. To what do I owe the honor?"

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Twi's here to learn, naturally."

"Naturally," Measured rejoined while straightening. "So which would you like to learn first, your majesty? Of Psynergy, of Alchemy, of Auric, of Djinn?"

I perked my ears at the third statement. "Wait. You have notes on me?"

"Considering you're the only one of your kind," Measured said without facing me, "I would think not taking notes on you would be the more offensive thing to do."

I rolled my eyes again. "And what have you learned about me, m'dear?"

"Well, besides the fact that you have more conflicting mannerisms than Discord and like your coffee to be powerful enough to wake the dead and put them back under, not much."

I had to suppress a laugh at that. "Well, at least we've tested both those things, so good on you. I assume the rest is just hyperbole or hypothesis then?"

"Which I will one day test."

Twilight had been looking back and forth as we traded barbs. "Are you two...sure you aren't married?"

Our eyes widened for different reasons as we looked to the lavender princess before catching each others' gaze again. Twi picked up her statement again at that point. "Because you certainly argue like a married couple. And you're living together."

I sighed and pointed a hoof at Measured. "Comes from saving her life so many times and her being the only remaining scientist at the CRA who's qualified to study Psynergy or Alchemy. She's got two images of me in her mind, I think. On the one hand-"

"Hoof," Twilight corrected automatically.

"-I'm this valiant savior, willing to sacrifice so much about myself just to see her safe. Due to the trauma she's suffered, she feels safe around me and only me. She's gotten better about it, a bit. I think. But on the other hand-"

"Hoof," Measured corrected this time.

"-Once she started living with me and working with me, she saw my more casual and relaxed side. The side that, despite what any and all sources might tell you, isn't obsessed with battle or revenge. And I'm not sure it's a good thing that she has. After all, I can be quite a different person, depending on if I'm in public or not."

"Which are part of the notes I have on you. If I ever compile it into a proper book, I'll send it to the Princesses, so that Celestia stops shining the sun through the east windows directly into my eyes at six o'clock in the morning."

I smiled and rubbed my temples. "Oy, I know the feeling. You could just do what I did."

"Getting thick black drapes for all the windows is not solving anything, it is merely delaying the problem." Measured looked at the floor Twilight and I were on. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go to the kitchen for a snack before I have to head up to Canterlot."

And then she leaned in, grabbed the handle of the door with a hoof, and pecked me on the cheek.

I was so dazed that I didn't react before the door closed. Twi's giggle broke me out of my stupor, and I shook my head before glaring at the doorway. "You know, if I didn't know that you'd stop me, I would open you up and chastise her."

The door, if it can be said doors can grin, gave off an aura of doing so. I merely sighed and turned to Twilight. "Let's do some testing."

Her eyes lit up in fascination.

-----

"You know," Twilight groused, "When you said we would do some testing, I thought I would be doing the testing."

"Nonsense," I said as I attached another wire to her head. "You've already tested me extensively; now, I get to test you as to what affinity you possess before you manifest it."

"Wouldn't it be obvious? Isn't there some sort of standardized test for this sort of thing?"

"Well," I said as I prepared to turn on a machine, "Yes, but this is more satisfying."

Twilight let out a yelp and I got...oh Sol. Those readings.

I still remember those readings.

"That actually stung. Was that supposed to happen?"

I said nothing, my mouth still slack. I heard the ping of magic behind me as Twilight freed herself from my many, many devices.

"Um, Auric, you've been really quiet for about a minute now. What results did you get?"

I heard her walk up behind me and look at the readings. The readings that should have only had one spike, maybe two.

There were four.

Let me go over why this is impossible.

The machine stimulated elemental charges into the test subject and recorded the reaction, thus generating a spike. Normal Adepts, the Adepts I was used to working with, had one spike. Rarely an Adept would have two spikes, meaning they had a predisposition to mixing some elements. Most common was Venus with Mars and Jupiter with Mercury. Opposites rarely if ever could be mixed.

Ergo, three was unheard of, as it would involve mixing conflicting energies, and one of the conflictors would win out. Four was impossible. Four was me sorts of power.

Four spikes were staring me in the face. I dropped the ream of paper and looked up to Twilight, finally managing to work my mouth. "How...how are you possible?"

Twilight stepped forward and looked at the results, clearly lost. "What does this mean?"

I pointed a hoof at her. "No, no no no no no. You don't just get to do that. You don't just get to ask what something means. The living impossibility does not get to question this! That is my right!"

Twilight actually backed up as I advanced with a manic grin. "Y'know what? We're going to run some more tests."

...Huh, so that's what it looks like when Twilight corners me. Except in reverse. Interesting...

-----

An hour and an exhausted Twilight later, I finally figured out the main anomaly behind the readings I had been getting.

Before each spike in the readings was a slight dip. Since the spikes were meant to measure reaction to elemental charges, it wasn't unheard of for an Adept to absorb some elemental energy. Her absorbing each type before the spikes came in rather than just negating or flat out resisting, that told me her body was reacting to the energy as it was introduced.

"Okay," I said to Twilight as she started to catch her breath, "I have a theory."

"Please...." she panted, "do share."

"Your body reacts to energy as it is introduced, but your affinity fades after the energy does. Meaning that while you have a great amount of potential, you'd need a power source, such as a Djinn, to stick around to maintain your affinity. In theory, your potential is unlimited. You could even wield all four elements."

She merely sighed and nodded. "But isn't that...somewhat impossible? At least as...you've been complaining?"

"Not exactly," I replied. "I have similar results, but I don't need a Djinn to maintain my affinities. Whereas my power is bound to me, yours is highly more unstable. I'm calling you an UnBound. Hopefully the only one. I don't know why you became what you did. I'm going to blame the influence of the Stars, seeing as how you lived in Canterlot for all your life, especially for your formative years, and are in fact highly talented in all forms of magic. Psynergy is seen as another form of magic, so it makes sense that you would be talented in it to some degree."

Twilight managed to get her legs back under herself, even if they were slightly shaky. "So where do we go from here?"

I hummed a bit. "From here, I'd say try to find a Djinn of each element that wants to be with you. From there, you could actually train in all of the elements."

Twilight nodded, finally stable again. "And how would I go about doing that?"

I smiled. "How did you go about making your friends?"

A spark caught in her eyes. "So if I were to make friends with elemental spirits..."

I smiled even wider at her. "Then the testing could continue in earnest."

She let out a little 'squee' at the thought and did an adorable little dance in place at the thought of learning something entirely new. I cleared my throat and waved a hoof at her. "Was there anything else?"

Twilight blinked and her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Yes! I've written up a few theoretical spell-forms that could help you in your exploration of alternate worlds. Perhaps one could help you find a way back to where you came from?"

As she levitated a file's worth of parchment in front of me, my mind temporarily halted all operations to focus on this conundrum.

Namely, the one of Did I WANT to go home?

A thousand aspects to that question ran through my mind in an eyeblink, but the answer was clear from the outset. I smiled at the lavender alicorn and gently took the notes from her.

"Thank you, Twilight. It was nice, you doing this. And it'll probably help me greatly. I understood the more technical side of it, but I've little experience with the magical side, even though I am a unicorn and wielder of Psynergy. Still, thank you."

Twilight smiled at me and nodded. "Once I find a Djinn, do you think I could return so that you could train me?"

I smiled, even as my mind considered all the applications of her wielding any of the elements. "If you can make friends with them, certainly."

She trotted off, and I went up to my room. I had a mirror to consult.

-----

Damn that gravity shifter girl! She seemed determined to not change her ways!

...I tried. That's what mattered, in the end. And at least the chance of her settling things wasn't non-zero now.

I held a hoof up to the mirror, with a folder of notes written in both Equestrian and English in my magical grasp. There was a warning written on the front of it.

To you who find this folder-

If you are reading this, you are what I refer to as a Displaced. Some of us are being held here, in worlds not our own, by one known as The Merchant, a Void-Dweller of great power. If you can use these notes to find your way back to your relative home, I wish you the best of luck. Either because The Merchant is not to be trifled with, or because finding your relative Earth in all the Multiverse is like trying to find a grain of sand in a sandstorm.

Personally, I do not desire to leave. True, abandoning my life on Earth seems cowardly. But the power I now wield confers a responsibility, one that I fulfill willingly. And life in Equestria is more likely to be peaceable than life on Earth.

To those that want to return, I wish you the best of luck, and tell you that the best of results could be gathered by using something that you brought with you.

To those that wish to remain, I tell you that these notes can easily be reversed and used to shield your home from intrusions. Most notably, Discord could find them useful.

To those of you that wish to try to fight The Merchant, I tell you that he will likely not go down easy. Your best bet is to find the one known as Xante and team up with him.

And to those of you that wish to drag us all back...

Do not test me.

-Auric Fulcrum, Master of Psynergy, Wielder of the Flames of Alchemy, Slayer of the Wise One, Knight of the Eclipse, Lord of Eureka, Blade of Understanding.

I nodded once and shoved the folder into the Void Eternal. I then held up a small tube, shook it once to confirm that the charges within were still secure, and cast the gaze of the mirror to the one place I'd not had cause to look for so long.

I smiled at the moment trapped in time, then found one slightly after it, making sure to follow the boy who had dragged me to that party.

One final correspondence across the Multiverse.

-----
(Half an infinity away...)

Richard started as a tube of laminated wood appeared on his bed. Opening it and tipping it upside down revealed four spheres. Brown, red, blue, violet. Reaching in and pulling revealed a rolled-up parchment. He began to read.

Hey Richard.

It's been a while, huh? Well, not from your perspective, I only vanished last night. But from my perspective, well, things are quite different.

Let's just say I blame you for at least half the shit I've gone through. Long story short, I turned into Ol' Dully when I disappeared. Where I am now, well...I can't exactly explain in a letter. Let's just say, it's far more peaceful here.

Time is relative between worlds. Or it can be. It's hard to tell sometimes.

I'm giving you something that may or not work. You might recognize them, especially if you look them up on a wiki.

...Sol, being able to refer to a wiki...

Anyway! Call off the search! I'm fine where I am! Presume me dead!

...And if you get lucky, fuck things up with Psynergy.

-Frank DeFontaine.

Richard reached down to the spheres and rolled them around in his hand, taking note of the slight tingle they gave him.

"...You gotta be kidding me..."

------
(Back in the reality of interest...)

Measured sighed as the Mirror rippled.

"It'll be a hundred years before you'll be able to make any more, you know."

I smiled as I drew my hoof back.

"Some things are more important than instant gratification."

Comments

[Omega Delta]

[DJSkywalker]

Heh, heh. Kat got you good! Though, I hope it won't be the last time she and Auric meet. Hint, hint

[QPaysTaxes]

Nicely done!

Please tell me there'll be more crossovers. Those are fun, especially if the other author really knows their character.

[Nick Terakidan]

Please tell me we will see Auric fight against the mechant along with others later on...

[Fresnor]

Hehe, love his idea of revenge. 'Oh you got me banished to another universe where I then went batshit crazy, here have some objects that will seriously screw up your life.'

[Cheesejellycommander4]

Bananas!

[Selias]

Well, you can't save anyone. Kudos for trying, though.

[Naughty loki]

Sidestory about Richard fucking things up with psy-energy please .

[Zman537]

4432249 He pretty much guaranteed that when he wrote that tidbit into this.

[recentteen14]

I remember when these were first starting up I had a few ideas of actually writing a story about the Merchant and how he was going around screwing everyone over for fun. Never happened, but will be fun to see the universes that actually want to go back actually try and take him down. Also, fucking things up with Psynergy is fun. Richard is going to have a fun time

[Amethyst Blade]

If Richard somehow managed to get into Auric's world then it would be hilarious.

[tylerlego623]

Fighting The Merchant... The entire multiverse of stories seems to be dragging on your whim.

Thadius, dubbed master of the Multiverse and its timeline.

[Epic Brony 4 Life]

And suddenly, Dullahan has a Displaced army ready to take on the Merchant. Welcome to the Displaced Wars Saga

[SeventhBrony]

Ohhh, I can't go home, yadda, yadda, yadda!
walks over to the mirror, tosses the stars through, they land on his buddy's bed.
I blame you and here's a way to get the Golden Sun in thanks.

So much for NOT being able to get home it's more that he doesn't WANT to go home but of course now that things have calmed down and are only slightly rocky, WHY would he want to leave? As it is now, would most of us want to leave?
For me? Two of the three stories I'm trying to write up, NO! The thrird? I'm not sure since I'm having to rework the whole idea

But as for this story line, I'll stay here and read

4433195 and I'm quite sure there are even more than these stories that could squirm their way into that story group

[TGM]

Fighting the merchant eh?

well, let's see how much deeper this rabbit hole goes.

[ArchAngelGundam]

That was fun. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.

[The Shade]

To fight the merchant...
You need to get at least SIX Game Masters to write his character, because he seems like the type of guy who'dd bitchslap the Demigod Delemental.

[ShadowCelebi]

4435478 I would assume the merchant already understands.

[ZephyrStrife]

4515211 Nah, he's just got levels in the ridiculous DM-God class, where at first level he gains YES-HP, deals YES damage and has YES to hit.

[Velvet-Fresh]

Twilight, the avatar. Looool

[Divine Path]

Finally, the note is written. A new chapter finally begins, then?

[Razzy]

For a moment I was worried Twilight would become even more op.

Down with the changeling slayer!

[erictheblue]

"Which are part of the notes I have on you. If I ever compile it into a proper book, I'll send it to the Princesses, so that Celestia stops shining the sun through the east windows directly into my eyes at six o'clock in the morning."

oh, this reminds me of a silly story by one of my favorite FimFiction authors. Estee.
a very stupid teacher decided to have a, well, not a science fair, but a magic fair, with YOUNG unicorns.
one of THEM wanted to PUT OUT THE SUN because it shined in his face in the morning...
let me see if I can find the right one (Estee wrote a LOT of stories)
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/456157/proof-of-concept

[erictheblue]

4515211
oh, you reminded me of a webcomic called "magellan":
one of the villains is the leader of a gang called the "character assassins".
he KNOWS he is a character in a comic strip, and thinks he can take OVER the comic by killing "the prime character".
BUT he doesn't know WHO it is!