Chapter 2 - Sending messages
The boy looks at the mirror out of the corner of his eyes and sighs before joining his wife in bed. The unicorn notices his discomfort and shifts around to look him in the eyes. "What's wrong?"
The boy's eyes flick to the mirror, then his sword, before returning to her eyes again. He gives an obviously fake smile. "Nothing."
She waits for a beat before replying. "You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"
The boy looks to the ceiling and nods once. "I...I can't help it. He came closer than anyone else, before or after, to actually doing permanent harm to me. Or you."
The unicorn puts a hoof on his shoulder and forces him to look in her eyes again. "We pulled through. Eventually. And now we're elsewhere, elsewhen. He's a memory, let him stay in the past."
The boy blinks once before nodding and holding his wife closer. "I still don't like those memories, but I'll try to not let them get at me as badly."
His eyes flick over to his mirror again, and he drifts off, remembering...
-----
(In a Multiverse a long, long ways from there...)
Auric sighed and motioned to the blackboard he'd asked Twilight to conjure up. He had to explain himself to the ponies. They didn't take it too well when he said 'I need to drain power into myself to make myself immortal again as soon as possible.' Especially not so soon after Tirek was a Thing that Happened.
"Alright, let's take it from the top. When I started life, I was an ordinary human. No magical reserves whatsoever."
The other ponies (and drake and draconequus) gathered in the main council room of Twilight's new Palace/Library nodded. Auric pointed at the next series of pictures. One of him clutching his head, one of him picking up a sword, one of him wearing a suit of armor.
"I Answered the Question, picked up Eureka, and was wearing my Dullahan outfit to a party."
Pinkie brightened up a bit at the last one, and the ponies nodded to confirm their understanding again. Auric pointed at the next image, which was just an explosion with the word 'MAGIC' over it.
"Then someone or something drags me to Equestria..."
Auric pointed to the next image, which was everyone's favorite suit of headless armor. There was also a gauge that looked remarkably like a thermometer next to it.
"And turned me into the costume I'd been wearing. It also gave me a form of magic, otherwise I'd not have been able to move at all. The sword was the reason that I had any inflow of magic when I was naught more than a spirit, and a good portion of my outflow was concentrated on making the armor move to my whims. In fact, without the sword, my armor became my prison."
The ponies winced at that, but Auric moved on to the next image. One of a huge light shining on the armor, and splitting a human form from it. Both of them were crouching and slightly faded.
"Then the Golden Sun happened. It tore apart the magics that bound me to the armor, but that's not all it did."
The next image was of the armor and the human standing up again. The armor had a normal gauge next to it, while the human...
Well, the human's was ridiculously large.
"Dully was finally accepted by Equus as a whole, so he got his own inflow. He didn't need the sword anymore, which is why I took it. I, on the other hand, got an insane amount of power."
The final image was a more detailed look at the human's gauge. Certain levels were marked off on it.
"However, I can't use it all at once. Here," the unicorn tapped the halfway marker, "Is how much I kept on me, subconsciously, so that I remained immortal. And when I saved Measured from certain death, I broke down that barrier. Amongst other things."
A quiet chuckled echoed around the table. Auric pointed at the next marker, the one between halfway and zero.
"This is my estimate on how much power I'll need to have to fight off Equus' natural Harmony field and return to human form. I also estimate that at that point I'll gain a minor healing factor. It won't be anything like when I was immortal, but it should keep me from bleeding out to normally debilitating wounds."
Auric tapped the top portion of the gauge again. "And once I do recover, I'll start stockpiling power so that I can do great feats of Transmutation and Alchemy again."
The unicorn held up a crystal-blue hoof for the gathered masses to see. "I naturally drain excess magic and psynergy into my personal stores, and any overflow from that goes to that huge empty gauge that follows me around. The sword helps by acting as a natural drain on Equus' magical field, but it won't be enough to get me to twenty-five percent, let alone fifty, before I think I'll have to confront the...person I saw. So I need options."
Twilight spoke up then. "So how much do you have right now?"
Auric hummed and tapped near the lowest end of the gauge. "About...eight? Maybe nine. High single digits."
Jaws hit the floor across the room. Measured Thought spoke up first, sadness tinting her voice. "That little?"
Auric pulled her close and whispered comforting words in her ears. "Shh. It's okay. I chose this. I'd do it again. You know this."
Auric then looked to the other ponies and smiled a sad smile. "Though it may be less than I 'should' have, so long as I have some power in there, then I'm ageless. Time'll not take me. So while I literally have forever to work on this, I don't think that...person, will be as accommodating."
Twilight nodded. "Do you have any ideas on what you could use to get yourself back up to at least some semblance of strength?"
Auric hummed. "Perhaps. I would need either a source of great magical strength that wouldn't be missed, or some large Psynergy Stones. And, not gonna lie, for a little bit, that second one won't be an option I'll take."
"What? Why would you not use one of your options?"
Auric shot a small glare at the interrupting Dash. "Because, for every city that can have one, I'm going to give them a Psynergy Stone, molded to whatever they desire, so as not to leave any wandering Adepts hanging should they need to replenish their powers. If I touch any Stone, I'd begin to drain it, even the large ones that are supposedly undrainable."
The ponies realized then the magnitude of the task Auric was facing. He hummed again and turned to Twilight. "That Alicorn Amulet. If I could, I'd drain it. It'd get rid of a dangerous, corruptive artifact. I might need to take care to ensure its curse doesn't pass on to me, but it wouldn't be any worse than having Dully in my head telling me to not show mercy."
Twilight nodded once, slowly. "I'll go talk to Zecora and ask Princess Celestia if there are any old and powerful artifacts she would like to see destroyed that she has or knows of that you can...'eat'. But she's going to want to know why."
Auric sighed and ran a hoof through his mane. "The world I saw, the one I saw...it was dark because he was making it that way. And he's doing it for a reason. A purpose. I don't know why, but what little I saw unnerved me to no end. And he knows of me as well. I couldn't get much more than that before he obscured the connection. I'd like to be as powerful and prepared as possible as soon as possible."
Twilight nodded again, this time quickly. "I can understand that. If she asks, I'll tell the Princess that you're worried about something you saw. I'm sure she'll understand then."
Auric nodded and waved a hoof around. "Don't just ask Cel. Ask Luna, Cadence, Shining, Chryssy..."
The ponies blanched at the last name. "WHAT?!"
Auric shrugged. "Well, Luna might know of artifacts from a thousand years ago or even older that Cel forgot about. Cadence and Shining have access to an empire that was literally temporally displaced, who knows what could be up there, and Chrysalis is from outside Equestria's borders. She or her Hive could know about things out there I could use. Frankly, I need all their help, but you're the one with the connections."
At that, Twilight blushed a bit and waved a wing dismissively. "I'll...I'll see what I can do."
Auric nodded, stood, and motioned for Measured to join him. "Good. In the meantime, I'll be studying in my tower."
-----
Auric yelped and dropped his coffee tin, causing Measured to come over and look at the commotion.
Inscribed on the inside of the lid was a simple phrase. One that he'd not put there. One that hadn't existed before yesterday.
White moves first.
Auric held a hoof to his chest and breathed deeply, in and out, until he was under control again. He looked to Measured and gulped once. "I...I'm scared."
Measured held her beloved close. "Why?"
"He was here. The wards mean nothing to him. I'm scared for you. If he's after me, you've got a target painted on your back, and I can't let anything happen to you. But something will happen, and I'm afraid."
Measured held Auric closer and sighed. "I'm scared too, but I know something you seem to have forgotten."
Auric sniffed once. "What?"
"You're Auric Fulcrum. Properly restored, there's not a thing you can't do. And even now, you're thinking of something, I'm sure. Just calm down and reason this out. What do you need? What can we do?"
Auric breathed deeply. "Specialized wards. Here, the Sanctum, the Black Lab. We move the Mirror to the Black Lab, just in case he used it to get in. We set up monitoring spells around here and the sanctum to detect and block any non-carbon-based life-forms. We work on figuring out if he's vulnerable to anything, from electromagnetism to heat to cold. And we double the wards on the Black Lab."
The Black Lab was the only laboratory that wasn't on the first floor. It was a peculiar lab that Auric had built into the basement of the tower. It had no door, no visible way of entering it. Only if you knew the combination, and knew where to enter every part of it, could you enter. And those entering and leaving the lab were subject to the protective spells laced into the tower's walls.
It was a good, solid plan. It had yet to be seen if it would work or not, because the moment the Mirror had been moved to its new home, Auric was struck with an idea. He placed his hooves on the frame of the Mirror and concentrated.
"To those of sound mind, sound heart. To they that would stand against evil, in the face of Armageddon. To the warriors and heroes, both celebrated and unsung. To my fellow Displaced, I call on you. I am Auric Fulcrum, Knight of the Eclipse, wielder of Alchemy's might. All I hold dear is being threatened by another Displaced. I know not why he seeks to fight me, but as I am, I cannot fight him and win. I require allies while I repair my self. I call on you to aid me, and promise you this: should the side of Light prevail, then I will grant they that aid me whatever boons I can as rewards, within reason. I hope that is not the only reason you choose to fight for me, but in my experience, you motivate more people with a pile of treasure and a kind plea than a kind plea alone."
Auric stepped back from the mirror and nodded once as his call echoed throughout the Multiverse. Hopefully, it would be soon that he got an answer.
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Oh, man, looks like Auric ain't got his immortality back. That's not a fair fight, T! You're unkillable, but Auric ain't! Wait for a few millennia! Sheesh.
Also, I couldn't stop myself from reading this, so I just lost my inspiration. Dammit, Thadius! You and your amazing writings.
4632036
Lets just wait and see what will happen. We aren't near their fight yet, so some stuff is undoubtedly going to happen between now and then.
4632051 But it's implied to be happening soon. At this rate, Auric won't be immortal.
'Course, that's not saying magic won't happen and he'll get his immortality back first, but it is saying that it's unlikely.
4632107 It's called Following the writer.
You get notices of things
Wait a sec. I'm starting to get some mad The Good Guy Always Wins vibe from this.
Ssendam senpai, make it a worthy fight
Just so happened to stumble across Teridax when the story was first published, and now it's caused this story to come back.
Woo.
Jeez, this came out of nowhere. I'm gonna have to make room for this. There's not way Gilgy will ignore this call. Hopefully it'll be some time though.
I'm gonna need to factor this in somewhere, it kind of interrupts my plans but I'm sure I can work it in somehow.
4632436
It will be.
Oh boy.
I'm at the metaphorical edge of my seat.
Your featured streak has returned mr Thadius
4632436
While the good guys always win, the bad guy may actually win something out of that confrontation.
4633649 If Ssendam is writing his Teridax anything like the original then Teridax will win for a time then quite possibly be defeated by a combination of his own actions and that of his enemies.
I can see Gilgamesh showing up
I can sense a few awesome character come to scene.
anyways you can count with the Tallboy's Compound bow to fight in your side.
Allow me to share what I just experienced with ol' Teridax's chapter...
i.imgur.com/3CFcHZU.gif
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/613/016/2f7.png
t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSED1vcYImjOaoHiGFVeFf-tpIQcrXAncWyklWffuLg0zc0D--aaw
Shit is going down, and I can't wait to read about how the Multiverse will crumble and quake.
4632436 Well, duh! If he loses, how can he live to tell the story for us? You noticed that this story kinda use the future protagonist to tell the story of the pass protagonist?
...
Alright, i'm contacting you in PM now, so be sure to check it :P
4634787
>One can lose and not get brutaly obliterated.
>There's a thing called a 'draw'.
>If I'm not mistaken, it's implied in the second story that he kinda sorta would go to that white plane dimention if something happens. Again, might be mistaken, I haven't reread it.
4635518 You seriously expecting a draw in a 'kill or be killed' situation????
4635528 Expecting? No. With these two as authors there's a thing about the unexpected. You should know that
Even though the main story is on hiatus, the Lutece twins are free to help you.
4635572 Then why expect the unexpected at all?
4636123 Never expect anything, but expect everything at the same time.
Wait... That made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
4636304 *Speak in Vulcan voice*
It's only logical.
Clever addition at the end.... Wonder if his opponent will do the same.
4636304
reminds me of a scene in the novel "Q-squared":
Picard sees several alternate versions of himself in a mirror, then says: "Worf, be ready."
"for what?"
"for anything."
"i always am, sir."