The Lost Chronicles of Auric Fulcrum

by Thadius0

Chapter 6 - Nosce te ipsum

The boy writes out a formula, stares at it for a moment, sighs, and pulls the ink off the page with a slightly-glowing hand. He writes it out again, but doesn't even get halfway before he shakes his head and pulls the ink off again.

He casts a gaze to the sword leaning up against a wall of the Black Lab and quirks a smile at it. "We did have the best of times, didn't we? Even when..."

The boy purses his lips, recalling when he had the brilliant, or as some would say, completely moronic, idea...

-----
(Years ago, but not many)

Auric stared at the painting that had been dropped off outside his tower. "He...he just doesn't stop. Why. Why does he do this."

Measured Thought came up and gently stroked his mane with a hoof. "Dear, just because he's disturbing, doesn't mean you have to give in to his attempts to upset you."

Auric sighed and breathed deeply a few times, his right eye only twitching occasionally. "I...I need to know. To figure this out. There has to be a thing I can do..."

He mulls the question over in his head, then gasps. "I...Oh Sol, I think I have an answer. Measured, come with. We're going to see Twilight."

As the two run into town, Measured can only question her new husband's sanity.

...Moreso than usual.

-----

"You want me to do what."

Auric smiled and nodded like a madman. In the last ten minutes, he'd raced into Twilight's new home, bolted up the stairs, and when Measured Thought had finally shown up, she caught the tail end of the conversation, and sadly, only the tail end. Fortunately, Twilight was good at recapping.

"Auric, while I can understand you wanting to gain more power for your inevitable fight. And I can also certainly comprehend trying to get a better grip on your strength. Doesn't that seem like a potentially excessively harmful shortcut?"

Auric shook his head, still smiling. "It makes perfect sense to me! It's been done before, numerous times...granted, in fiction. But! If I can figure out the true extent of what I can and can't do with a little soul-searching, then I'll know just how much help I'll need in the future."

Twilight sighed. "Measured, back me up here. Doesn't the very thought of it send at least some portion of your mind into panic-mode?"

Measured held a hoof up to her chin and pondered, then shook her head. "If there's anyone who can pull it off, it's Auric. Either because he's too crazy to have this change him, or because it'll work just like he thinks it will."

Twilight shook her head again. "You two...are perfect for each other."

It was then she caught sight of the diamond rings on their horns and gasped. Auric smiled and threw a hoof over Measured's withers, drawing her closer. "Yep, just the other night. It wasn't because we were thinking 'this could be our only chance', it was more of a...'this feels right, why haven't we done it yet?'"

Twilight let out a little giggle. "I assume you at least put some thought into it...and held it away from Ponyville, seeing as how Pinkie didn't send out invites for a new party."

Auric winced at that. "Weeeeee'll have another ceremony later. Probably let Celestia...or maybe Luna officiate it. That way, everyone's happy."

Twilight let out a small smile, and Auric put a wicked one on. "Nice try, though. Will you or won't you?"

At this, the lavender alicorn sighed. "Yes, fine. For you."

Auric nodded and held himself still. Twilight's horn lit up, but with a quick shake of his head, she let the glow die and came closer.

"Eheh, right. Actual contact. Forgot."

Carefully, she lifted up one of Auric's forelegs with a hoof. Licking her lips nervously, she inquired, "Just...how close do I have to be to the hoof, do you think?"

Auric hummed a bit at that. "Don't actually touch the hoof at all, that's a given. As close as you feel comfortable getting."

Slowly, the foreleg is moved around so the hoof is touching Auric's chest. His horn lights up and ink and quill go to work on parchment, writing a quick phrase. It's levitated over once finished, and Auric gives Twilight a few more verbal instructions.

"Start with this phrase, then talk about everything I told you about, and make sure the key word is in there."

Twilight eyes the scrap of paper once, nods, takes a deep breath, and says the phrase.

"Nosce te ipsum, Auric Fulcrum. Think about your powers, your Alchemy, your Psynergy, your magic. Recall the time you went mad and rework what you saw to take magic into account. Think deep, Auric Fulcrum, and Understand yourself and the world in doing so."

The hoof flashed once, Auric's eyes lit up like high-beam lights, his mouth dropped in a scream that never came. His joints locked up, but his mind...

Ah, that's another matter entire.

-----

"You came."

I looked around to see a representation of my tower. In front of it was another version of myself, but this pony...

He'd been badly wounded. There was a scar over his barrel that seemed quite fresh. He caught me looking and snorted. "Yeah, I have you to blame for that."

I blinked and looked at him a little more intently. "Just...what part of me are you?"

He snorted again. "I'm your subconscious, naturally. The voice on your shoulder, no matter the situation."

I nodded slowly. "That makes sense." I then looked to the tower behind him. "So..."

Sub rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's a representation of your power." And here he narrowed his eyes at me. "DON'T get any funny ideas. Your little stunt in breaking our Immortality cost me, y'know. I'd been holding on to that power so we'd never die, and you go and knock me out in desperation to save that mare. Next thing I know, I'M injured, the level of power in here is so low as to require CONSTANT maintenance, and there's an influx of memories from outside of reality!"

I snarled at Sub then. "Oh really? And you would have done anything else to save her? Because Psynergy was doing SO MUCH! Even letting her slip away once and trying Revive would have been unconscionable if it hadn't worked!"

Sub blinked and looked askance for a moment. "O-okay, yeah. Got me there. I was just thinking that with your Immortality, you wouldn't have to worry about that robot...but there are some things worth the price."

I nodded as I made my way to the door. "And Measured's one of them and always will be." I snarled as I made my way to the front door. "Stopping...or if need be, killing Teridax, is a close second."

The ground floor was as I remembered it. I looked from Lab door to Lab door and sighed. "Gonna guess my knowledge of any particular element's powers are contained within."

Sub nodded and moved to stand next to the unmarked door. "Yup. You can look, but I'll only allow one door open at a time. Too much and you go blind, as you well know."

The mention of 'too much and you go blind' brought a niggling concern to the forefront of my...heh, mind. I looked to the door, then the insignia under me. "Would I be correct in assuming that under me, in the Black Lab, is...?"

Sub nodded. "That's the only place I can contain it safely."

I looked from door to door. Only one at a time? But I needed them all open. I needed to know everything I could do. If only there were some comm-

I looked carefully over to the door that Sub was standing next to and lit up my horn. Making sure to finish both motions at the same time, I stamped my hoof three times while inputting the code for the Black Lab by simulating knocking on the door with slight telekinetic bursts.

All four doors opened, and beneath me, my memory surged. Sub called out in an attempt to stop me, but it was too late.

I was washed up in the rivers, oceans, geysers of knowledge and power and wisdom and Understanding. It was nearly too much for me to handle, but I persevered through sheer stubbornness, even though it felt like I was about to be worn away, washed up, torn apart, at any given second.

The worst part was, it wasn't just my mind I was drawing this Understanding from. I could feel them. There, on the fringes of my fraying sanity. A million, billion, no, infinite amount of alternate versions of me. Each one slightly different. Some small, some large. Each one tossing in a bit of knowledge, some secret about the powers we all contained that the others hadn't thought of. I could feel my own contribution leak out, the idea of combining two Psynergies at once. This impromptu council hurt, but I couldn't deny it would help as well.

Finally, the lights dimmed, the flows ceased, and I breathed deeply. I could feel it, each and every version of me had been...refined. Distilled. Made better at our powers. It was...indescribable. All the knowledge. All the secrets. Alchemy, Psynergy, what I could do with my magic. All of it laid bare, and yet, something was missing.

Something important, that remained the same in every reality. A hole in my heart I'd unwittingly formed.

I opened my eyes and looked at Sub, who had dropped his jaw and nearly popped his eyes out staring at me. "You'll catch flies," I told him.

He put himself back together and managed to ask a question. "Why did I never think of that?"

I shrugged. "I only just now thought of it. But even now, I'm noticing an important fact."

He nodded. "And this is another reason it's good to stay in human form. We need to get it back."

I sighed and shook my head. "He's not gonna go for that..."

And then the vision ended...

-----

Auric came to, gasping and sputtering. "Easy now," he heard, "You've been out for a good two hours. Take a breather first."

He focused his eyes and noticed Measured sitting next to him. Close by was Twilight, taking notes on a clipboard. Auric shook his head a bit and focused his gaze on Twilight. "I need to gain that last four percent that's stopping me from being human ASAP. Think you can help?"

Twilight jolted a bit, but nodded. Her horn lit up and she took careful aim. "The hooves, right?"

Auric nodded as well. "I'll keep an eye on the levels and tell you how close I am."

A beam of pink energy shot from the tip of her horn and impacted his right forehoof. He half-closes his eyes, tracking the prowess of the power he's been gathering. "21.5...21.8...22.1...22.4..."

Twilight's forehead starts to sweat a bit at this, but she keeps going. "22.7...23...23.3...23.6..."

She's clearly straining, but doesn't let up. If Auric needs this, and she can provide...then she will. It's not like she won't recover eventually. "23.9...24.2...24.5...24.8..."

And then the room was bathed in a brief flash of light as the requisite power was achieved. Once the light faded, Auric in his human form was found lying on the bed in a highly uncomfortable position. He got up, stretched, wiggled his fingers, made sure to check that Eureka was still on his belt, and walked over to Twilight before encompassing her in a hug.

"25.1. Thank you."

He then went over to Measured Thought and picked her up. "You," he said, holding her up to face-height, "Are going back to the tower while I do this next bit."

She blushed a bit at being picked up so suddenly. "What's the next bit?"

His eyes dimmed a bit. "Newvale. I need to talk to someone there."

Comments

[Mike32oz]

an I was going to bed. but NO... no sleep for me. all hell Sleep is for the weak

[elderwrath]

He's going to get the summon's or the summon Charon. That or dully has something that Auric didn't get a copy of when he ascended, that or I'm way of course and am missing something cause I've never played the game his powers are based off of.

[DJSkywalker]

Wow, won't Kat be in for a surprise when she comes over.

[shinigamisparda]

4654641 I'm assuming you've already planned how the chapters you haven't written turn out?

[Dubious]

Aaaaaaaaand Auric be human again, praise the Galactic Center/Super Massive Blackhole. Let's see your precious sun beat something that is so mass-ive that a galaxy formed around it.

[SeventhBrony]

All I can come up with is, WOW.

[Regreme]

Another epic chapter, my friend.:D

[DJSkywalker]

4655264 Yep, and she will be reappearing in this story, or so I have been told. Might even be sticking around for longer than a chapter due to the results of the end of Gravity of the Situation. That's all up to Thadius0.