Chapter 10 - ...they have their entrances, and their exits...
Trying to get used to using Concordia was a bit like...
Hold on, lemme find an analogy...
Ah! It was a bit like getting used to having a third arm. No, wait, not quite true. I can 'dismiss' Concordia and send it back into myself. Which still stings, by the way. Hmm...
Oh! Better: It was a bit like getting used to my unicorn horn when I was a unicorn. That's more like it! Previously I would just think about things happening and instinctively channel my power through my hands. You should have seen me glare at some of the magic exercises that Measured set out for me in the rehab clinic after my unwanted transformation. I'd just stare at a stone, or worse, point at it with a hoof.
Eventually I got used to my new bone growing out of my head and channeled my magic through it. All I would have to do to get used to my new staff is channel magic only through one hand...at least, to start.
Invoking the more abstract concepts would take a while of practice, though. And it would appear that I'd missed one, as Discord informed me while I was playing with a bit of Mercury's power.
"My boy, I do hope you intend to dispose of that...thing, when all is said and done."
I turned around to see the Draconequus lazing about in midair. As his statement sunk in, I rose an eyebrow at him. "Really? I would think you'd enjoy the idea of more artifacts of power lounging about."
Discord actually shuddered at that. "True, but that one's just so...ordered! So structured! And that's with your blood and a bit of your power in it. It's like you didn't even leave room for anything fun or chaotic in it!"
I turned the notion over in my head and realized that no, there was no Chaos in the staff. Probably for a good reason...
...But damned if I could remember what it was at the time. I slowly leveled it out between us and raised my other eyebrow. "Y'wanna add your sigil then, Dissy?"
He blinked at that for a few seconds. And then he grinned...and then grimaced. "While I would love nothing more, I'm afraid I can't. That thing is nearly saturated with magic as-is. Plus it would upset your delicate system."
I shook my head at that. "The system isn't that delicate. And I think I can come up with something..."
Focusing on the staff, I lit up the elemental runes, all of them, at the same time. Multiple swirls of energy surrounded it, going from bottom to top to inside at the top to out at the bottom and the cycle continues again. Discord extended a paw to the staff and nodded once. "Yes, that'll work. Now all I need to do is..."
He extended a single digit on his paw and engraved a symbol on the staff that was too fast for me to see. He then placed his paw on it and closed his eyes in concentration. With a snap from his eagle claw, the deed was done, and he withdrew. I let the power die as I look at the new symbol and nod approvingly.
Interestingly enough, the feel of the staff had changed, but in a positive way. It took me a moment to realize why.
There can be no harmony without chaos to offset the established systems. Now the staff is more complete. I bowed to Discord in thanks. "Much obliged, Dissy."
He grinned and returns the bow. "Oh no, the honor is mine."
I turned and began activating one of the more obscure runes when I got the distinct impression that someone was calling for me.
This was followed by the sensation of a telephone ringing in my head, and it was then that I realized that someone was calling for me, or more precisely, something.
Apparently, my Mirror had a paging function.
-----
I appeared in my Black Lab, slightly irked. I'd been doing important training! Whoever this was had better have a damn good rea- Oh. That Lord of Time character? What was his name...“Oh, Fara-" No wait, Nicolas! I remember now! "I mean, Nicolas. How are you?”
He responded with a simple smile. “I believe that I am better than ever before. I also believe you know Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic. Say ‘hi’ Twilight.”
“Hello.” She smiled, too, as she looked into the mirror at me.
I blinked in shock. If they're together, then... I let out a wide grin as I realized he'd gotten his other 'half' under control. “Well, this is fantastic! I’m glad you’ve got your ‘self’ under control. Whereas I…” my grin dropped a bit as I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. “Well, I maaaaay be doing the opposite. Just a tad. A little bit.”
“Why, what happened?” he asked, sounding more than a bit concerned. I sighed, beginning to recall my tale.
“Well, I was transported to Equestria as...well, a possessed suit of armor, to be frank. Problem was, it had its own spirit as well. I was...the filling, the conscious desire, whereas the armor itself had a separate spirit in control of the more...brutal instincts. There came a time when we split from each other, but the split wasn’t exactly...a clean break. I came away with a good bit of his rage, and he came away with a good bit of my control over my emotions. Recently, we’ve merged into what you see before you in an attempt to gain more power for the upcoming fight, but also fix this issue.”
“I know how you feel when you say you were two souls in one body. I still have Michael in the back of my mind, he just seems happy staying there.” he said with more than a little understanding. “If there’s anything I could do to maybe relieve the stress, just tell me.”
Wait, does he think that we had no choice? “Oh, no, we did this willingly. And we can also undo it when the time comes. But…” I sighed as I turned to look in the approximate direction of Canterlot. “It’ll take Cadence, possibly this world’s Twilight as well, to help untangle the mess that is both our minds, and make sure we both come out whole this time.”
“Okay. Well, no reason to cry over something I can’t change. I do hope that I haven’t missed the battle, did I?”
Sarcasm-nade, away! “Nope, I decided to go around with a dark spirit in me afterwards for kicks.”
“I didn’t know if you were stuck like that because of the ‘we can’t untangle ourselves without help’ or whatnot, but there’s no reason to be sarcastic.” ...Oh, believe me, there's a need...
“Sarcasm and jokes are one of the way I keep myself sane right now. So forgive me if I crack a few. Ever since I ran off a version of Kruger, my sleep, when I take it, hasn’t been exactly peaceful.”
“Kruger? As in, Freddy Kruger?” he asked with more than a slight tremble to his voice. I merely nodded as my expression fell further.
“Yeah. Bastard made the mistake of tearing into my mind and trying to give me a nightmare. What he didn’t quite get is that Fear always loses to Understanding. I could hear him scream as I pulled out that memory.”
“Remind me never to piss you off.”
“Who’s Freddy Kruger?” Twilight asked with obvious confusion. I shared a look with Nicolas as he asked me the question.
“You want to take this one? I’m having trouble keeping my cool as it is.”
I held a hand up to my chin and hummed. “Okay, so, the way I can describe what he does is simple. I’ll not share the legend of how he became what he is, it’s...rather dark. Even by human standards. That okay with you, Twi?”
“I… guess that I could deal with it. Me and Nick will talk about it later.” She looked up at Nick with an expression that promised not only a talk, but a Talk. I let the hand drop as my expression became rather grim, even by my standards.
“Okay, Twi, picture Princess Luna, and her abilities to dream-walk.” She nodded, that was simple enough. “Now, turn her back into Nightmare Moon, and let her keep those abilities.”
Twilight's eyes shrunk as she gasped deeply, as though trying to inhale all the air in the room. I wasn’t done yet though. “And worst of all, give her a new one. One that transferred any damage done to the dreamer to reality.”
The gasp repeated itself, and I shuddered at the thought of Luna going 'round the bend again that I'd just painted in our minds. I finished with a simple sentence. “Now, if it were a male human with those abilities and personality, I would say, ‘That is Freddy Kruger.’”
“Um… Nick, have fun with your friend. I’ll be downstairs.” Her face was a mask of disgust and horror as she slowly walked out of the room and, presumably, downstairs. Damnit, the first thing I do to his Twilight is scar the poor girl.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’ll go and get her something from Sugarcube Corner when we’re finished; y’know, try to cheer her up.” He did his best at a comforting smile. It didn't work.
“Yeah...just...tell her it’s all a story? Tell her that he’s not real? Or if she insists that he is because I ran off a version of him, tell her he has his own world, and that if he was going to target anyone in yours, it’d be you? Just...tell her that he’ll not come for her, that the circumstances I outlined won’t happen? I...I hate exposing ponies to our home’s culture. It ends up like this half the time.”
“I’ll be sure to do that. But,” he clapped his hands, making his voice a little more upbeat, “We have much to talk about! I am still willing to help you in your endeavours, just ask and I will attempt to provide.” he finished with a broad smile.
I looked at what I could see of him in my Mirror and frowned. He must be using...like, a bathroom mirror. Not nearly big enough. “Okay...but you’re going to need to procure a mirror that...like, the Princesses could use. When the time comes, I...might? Be able to pull you to the staging ground through such links. It’ll take effort, time, and power on my part, and if you can easily walk through the ‘door’ that I make, it’ll make my job so much easier. Plus, and this is a big one, you need to have some sort of Anchor in your world. Be it a personal attachment to someone there, or just...an object that is uniquely, definitively yours. It’ll make putting you back possible with almost no margin for error.”
“Well, if you do mess up, I know how to reach you.” He held the coin up again, which had been sitting on the sink. I chuckled slightly at that.
“True, but if I mess up and put you in the past, that could create a paradox. Or, if I put you in the future, you might miss something important, and then it’d very tricky to put you where you’d like to be without making one. Anchors are quite important to Multiversal travel. Most don’t realize they have one.” At least, not until the time comes when someone mentions such things to them.
“I’ll be sure to come up with something.” He smiled. “But is there anything I could do in the meantime?” I opened my mouth to deny the thought when something struck me. He'd gotten his other half under control. Maybe such exercises would help me keep Dully and my self separate as well?
“Actually...could you give me the first quick lesson Zecora gave you? I’d like to try and keep Dully and I separate as much as possible even when merged, mainly to make the final separation far less painful. We’re...blending together at an increasing rate, and it should sorta stop before it gets too far.”
“Well, the first lesson was how to keep your emotions under control. Don’t get out of check, and if you do, take a deep breath and count back from ten… or one hundred, depending on how angry you are.”
I pulled out a scroll and wrote the information down. “Thank you kindly, this’ll help greatly. I...have been getting angrier easier. Especially when that Sol-cursed robot keeps dropping things into Canterlot to get a rise out of me and…”
I did a quick double-take as I realized my emotions had indeed gotten out of control. After breathing deeply and counting to ten, I sighed and cracked a smile towards the Mirror.. “Yeah...so, thanks for that. I think I need to see my Zecora as well, when the time comes...that I have time, anyways.”
“You do that. It’ll do a world of help… trust me, I’d know.” He smiled, probably remembering something pleasant. “Anyway, if that’s all I can do for you, I’ll be on my way. It’s been way too long since I saw the other Elements.” His smile grew a little at the mention of the Elements.
I nodded and summoned Concordia to my left hand. “When the time comes, I will call for you. Feel free to answer that call at your leisure, but sooner would be better should you choose to aid me directly in combat. Fare you well, Lord of Time, and take care of your world. Someone has to besides the Sisters.”
“And goodbye to you, too. May time treat you well.”
I cut the connection again and sighed. "Soon. Soon this ends."
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I do hope Auric got Nemmy's letter.
I don't want to be left out of this fight
Crap! I gotta get to work! Kat needs to be ready! *Speeds off to get to work on the next chapter*
Wow, this is really getting to the end soon? Guess I won't need to worry about it for too much longer.
That PM is coming by the way.
Yeah, what about my letter to Auric? Won't that be in your story? (Remember my P.M.?)
4707220
4707351
I said 'nears' not 'is next.' I'm finishing up my prep work next chapter.
And afterwards, it's gonna be fun.
Possibly.
4707552 Oh! Whew, worried me for sec there Thadius. By the way, is Kat still coming to the tower soon? Or are you waiting for me to finish the story? Just wondering, since she kinda needs a place to stay after all is said and done in the story.
lolwut
Hey, I got a mention! That's nice I guess.
Nicholas/Michael will be ready for the final battle, though the story won't be to that point in time. i will eventually update to catch up with the War of Understanding; i promise!
4707633 god damn ipads being too big to fit in your pockets.
N'aww crap, now I have to pump chapters out like a motherfucker in order to be ready should I pick a side. Or actually get to work on the not-so-op-as-fuck fic and have that participate.
Interesting. But isn't Auric's power still below 50% at this point?
That, and you never replied to my message. XD
After reading these stories, I'm starting to get the urge to make one. xD. Good work, I look forward to your epic battle with Teridax.
What surprises me the most is that out of all of these types of stories, i have yet to see a Jedi/Sith... I'm honestly surprised.
4707868
Yikes, thought I found them all.
Thankye for that.
1: I would ask if my OC, Midnight Storm, could lend a hoof in the war, but my story is nowhere near complete. and, in his current state, he's nowhere near full power. So, that question got obliterated, just....demolished. Nothing left!
2: I would have no idea how to write his perspective, so there's another problem.
4713529 Of Course, I do have a character for my Claymore crossover...I just surprised no-one's done any such crossover. and if they have, I've yet to find it.
4709392 The Rise of Darth Vulcan? One of the original and founding stories of the LoHAV?