Fire vs Ice
"And you were worried." Jason smirked at Twilight.
"Yeah, well... I'm just glad it all worked out," Twilight responded, sipping at her drink. "So... how's being a dad treating you?"
"Pretty good." Jason smiled, watching the yak representatives enjoy one of Pinkie's biggest parties yet. "At least they don't cry in the middle of the night, though they have a habit of sneaking into our bed."
"So I've heard," Twilight said with a giggle. "I've also heard you had an altercation with King Aspen."
Jason snorted. "Fuck that guy. The Everfree is not his private forest." He slammed back the rest of his drink, placing the empty cup on the table.
"Hey uh, guys," Dash called, gliding over. "My talons are uh... tingling," she said, hovering slightly above the ground. "Like when I open up a portal."
"That's weird," Twilight said, rubbing her chin, "If you didn't open a portal then that means..." She looked back at Jason, he eyes wide in worry.
"That means something very bad is about to happen." Jason said, looking around. He put his hand into his hypercube, wrapping it around the hilt of his sword. The party came to a dead stop as the ground started to shake. Turning their gaze to the horizon, a large shape rose up amongst the mountains, its body seeming to light the sky on fire. It stood taller than the mountains, its body wrapped in flames.
"Feeble creatures of Asgard!" it roared, its voice deeply masculine. "I am Surt! Ruler of Muspelheim! You have trespassed into my realm and I shall punish you for this transgression!"
Jason whistled, getting the attention of the panicking populace. "Everyone just calm down! There is no reason to panic! Wonderbolts!" he snapped, causing said ponies to salute. "You will stay here and protect the town, the princesses and I will deal with this." Jason turned to the Elements. "You girls sit this one out, keep the party going!" he ordered, rushing out of town with Twilight and Celestia on his heels.
"Oh no you don't!" Dash shouted, darting after them. There was a boom, then a portal ripped open behind her. "Uh...I didn't mean to do that..."
A blur of green and gold tumbled past Jason, landing in a heap with a massive groan. A timberwolf landed much more gently next to it, bending its head down to nudge the prone form.
"Did somebody get the number of that... hells, I don't even know what just happened," a feminine and somewhat squeaky voice spoke. The figure revealed itself to be a small humanoid with a rounded face and long, pointy ears, almost like the typical depiction of a Christmas elf... if you squinted a bit. She slowly dragged herself to her feet and looked up, eyes seeming to lock onto the form of Surt against the skyline.
"What," she spoke in a dead, emotionless monotone. She glanced back at Jason and the other ponies, then her gaze shortly returned to Surt. It was in that moment that her gaze changed from a deadpan to a scowl of pure, untamed fury.
"How the actual fuck did a Primal show up? Equestria doesn't have the means to create or support one."
"Hi," Jason said, looking down at the little creature, "And that's not a... primal, that's Surt, and he sounds really, really pissed."
She shook her head in response, practically tearing the heavily decorated book from its loop on her belt. She snapped it open in one quick motion, making a small crystal on a guide rail pop up and light with a magical glow.
"We can argue terminology later. This 'Surt' needs to be destroyed as quickly as possible. He's probably going to get stronger the longer he stays in this realm."
"That's... not how that works." Jason said, sighing a bit. "You do realize you're in another universe?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Point still stands. Do you really want that thing around any longer than it has to be?" she fired back, flipping rapidly through her grimoire. "I really wish my Carbuncles weren't still out delivering letters. It would make this so much easier."
"She is right," Celestia agreed, magicking her custom armor on, levitating her scimitar into the air. The little elf shuddered at her voice, quietly muttering something under her breath.
"He's still pretty far away," Dash added. "Wish I had my armor..." she grumbled softly.
"We need a game plan here," Jason said, trying to get them to focus. "We can't just rush him and hope for the best." Jason reached into his cube, his armor appearing on him.
"Best bet for that is to find and try to contain him in a place where his power is weakest. Basically, the place with the strongest Water or Ice affinity. Whether or not there's one on Equis... I honestly can't say. Multiverse theory is weird," the elf admitted, still shuddering a little as if trying to contain her emotions.
"I already told you, that's not how things work here," Jason argued, pulling out his sword, extending it with a flick of his wrist. "This universe is based off Norse mythology not... whatever the hell you're talking about."
"Okay, so if that's the case... then the only 'Plan' that would even work is hitting him until he dies. Unless if you can create a vacuum at will and simultaneously sap all of his magic. Which I heavily doubt. Now excuse me while I burn off some of this rage before I completely snap." The little humanoid gave Jason a smile that didn't seem entirely sane, then turned back towards Surt.
"It's funny, really. I never found a proper use for this spell before now. There was never an enemy strong enough for me to have a need for it." She laughed, a pulsating green aura flaring up around her body. "I developed it as a contingency, just in case something like Bahamut appeared on Equis."
She raised her book, pointing the crystal at Surt. Streams of magic flowed into her from all directions, twisting around and passing through her body into the crystal, which shone like a miniature sun.
With a scream of mindless fury, all of that magic was unleashed in a barrage of a million or more blasts of... nothingness, each surrounded by a shell of blinding white light. They all homed in and collided with different points on Surt's body, exploding violently like fireworks. This went on for a minute or more before the little elf snapped her wrist down, cutting off the spell. Surt just stood there, smoke pouring off his body, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"Oh, he looks pissed," Dash said, gulping audibly.
"Whew," the little humanoid breathed, shaking out her hand. "It's a really good thing most of that was just ambient magic, then. Okay. I don't even know if I can get my other major technique to work here. Either way, we've got the big guy's attention, so let's get him somewhere we won't have to worry about collateral damage."
"There's nothing around for miles besides Appleloosa," Twilight pointed out, "Only place more desolate is the Badlands."
"Okay, you're a spell caster," Jason said a loud, running scenarios through his head, "You ride on Celestia's back and keep him busy. Think you two can do that?"
The little elf winced at Celestia's name, but nodded nonetheless and approached the armored alicorn.
"If things change, I've got some other Jobs I can switch into. Paladin, White Mage and Dragoon. Don't know if you know what any of those are, but pretty much call out if you need an alternative Tank, Damage or Healer," she advised.
"I'm Jason by the way," he said holding his arm out, "Sorry we had to meet like this."
The little elf snorted, shaking her head. She took Jason's hand and gave it a firm shake, then hopped on Celestia's back.
"Call me Kikiru. Trust me, you aren't the first ally I've met like this. Knowing my luck, you probably won't be the last."
Jason chuckled. "Same here. Omnitrix, activate ultimate mode." It chirped in response, moving from his arm to his chest. "Twilight, Dash, back them up," he ordered before running forward. Once he was far enough away, he channeled Way Big's power, growing in size, then cracked his neck.
"That watch truly is a masterpiece," Celestia commented, spreading her wings and taking to the sky, followed by Dash and Twilight.
"Seems like it might be. Haven't seen enough of it to really form a proper opinion," Kikiru admitted, starting to draw in more magic from the atmosphere.
Jason rushed forward, swinging his blade, which had grown in size with him. Surt slapped the blade away, punching Jason in the face, sending him stumbling backwards.
"Child of ice, we may be kin but you will find no mercy from me if you wish to throw in your lot with these creatures." Surt snorted, catching Jason's blade, kneeing him in the stomach before tossing the sword away.
"Yggdrasil you hit hard..." Jason coughed, stumbling back, catching his breath. Surt took a step forward, only for Celestia and Twilight to blast him in the face. Kikiru was not one to be left out either, aiming for Surt's eyes with a repeated trio of poisonous and corrosive spells.
"Begone!" Surt snorted, letting out a gout of flame from his mouth, sending the two alicorns scattering to get out of the way. Jason caught his breath, rushing at Surt, slamming his fist into the fire giant's chest. Surt took a step back, grabbing Jason's arm and throwing the young Jotun a good distance away.
"Damn it," Kikiru muttered, watching this from her perch atop Celestia's back. "Times like this I really wish I'd put a little more effort into finding the other Soul Crystals."
"Is that truly your best?" Surt snorted, taking several earth shaking steps toward Jason.
"Fuck off!" Jason shouted at him, firing off a Flare. Surt took the blast, grabbing Jason and hauling him to his feet. He proceed to beat the ever loving hell out of him, denting and scorching his armor. He sent Jason back to the ground, the Omnitrix deactivating and returning the Jotun to his original size.
"Well, that really isn't good," Kikiru commented, standing on Celestia's back. "Sorry, but I've got to bail here."
With that, Kikiru's body was engulfed in white light, replacing the green robes she'd been wearing with dark violet armor covered in bladed protrusions. She Jumped off of Celestia's back and landed next to Jason's prone form, managing to lift the Jotun with her enhanced strength before leaping away yet again. Once they were in some semblance of safety, Kikiru's clothing changed once more, this time into a set of white and red robes.
"Probably should have given you the full rundown before we started this, but I suppose that's just me not having my head in the game," Kikiru admitted, taking her new white-winged staff in hand. Jason's body was soon covered in a pale green glow, healing his visible injuries and revitalizing the fallen Jotun.
"I'm not sure how many more times I can bring you back like this, but we need to find a way to finish this."
"Oh I agree..." Jason said, getting to his feet. He sighed as he took stock of his armor. "The Dwarves are going to be pissed."
"I really don't envy you in that," Kikiru chuckled dryly, casting an additional pair of spells that wrapped Jason in a pair of reactive barriers. One would serve to reduce the injuries taken, while the other was meant to stop them outright. "The Soul Crystals automatically managing my wardrobe is both a blessing and a curse at times."
"What do we do now?" Dash asked, flying over. "He just kicked Jay's ass!"
"Well, Jason's back on his feet now, so we're not entirely out of luck yet," Kikiru responded, frowning up at Surt's face. "I'm not sure if we can even do any permanent damage to him right now. If I could use Soul Drain we might have a chance, but... well, let's just say it operates similarly to the Elements of Harmony. There's nobody around that I've formed a strong enough bond with to actually activate it."
"Let's not do that," Jason said, shaking his head. A moment later, Celestia slammed into the ground, groaning in pain.
"Celestia!" Twilight shouted, zipping over to her former mentor, eyes wide in panic. Kikiru was quicker on the response and Celestia was soon sharing the same array of healing and barriers that Jason had received. As a side effect of proximity, both Twilight and Rainbow Dash were also quickly covered by the reductive barrier.
"Calm down. I've still got plenty of magic left and I can technically revive the recently deceased. A little smack like that is nothing," KIkiru told her before applying the secondary barrier to both Twilight and Rainbow.
"Man that feels weird," Dash muttered, shuddering a little.
"Okay, so...You're something from one of the Final Fantasy games, right?" Jason asked as he pulled his helmet off, letting it drop to the floor.
"I…" Kikiru paused for a moment, shaking her head. "I know I wasn't always a Lalafell, but my old memories are hazy at the best of times. Quite frankly, I think I might be better off without them these days, but that's not exactly relevant to our current situation."
"Oh no, it is..." Jason said, conjuring up an Ultima spell, "Because this particular version of Ultima can destroy a planet..."
"Sounds about on par with the Ultima Weapon from Eorzea," Kikiru deadpanned, Job Changing back into Dragoon. "Pro tip. Don't miss, or I will be extremely annoyed."
Kikiru stared up at Surt once more, frowning and trying to sort out any possible weaknesses in the Fire Giant. It was already heavily impressed upon her that this wasn't her Equestria, that many of the natural laws she knew just didn't apply. The trick was finding a Multiversal Constant between their different worlds that could actually help in this situation and allow her to do something to help take him down. Surt may not have been a proper Primal, but in terms of raw power he matched one or even surpassed it.
"Jay... is this a good idea?" Dash asked, eyeing the multicolored distortion with a gulp.
"Nope, that's why you are getting out of here. I'm not getting a pregnant woman killed."
Dash opened her mouth to argue before sighing. "You'd better not get us killed." She spread her wings, taking off back toward Appleloosa.
"Okay. I've got a possible way to up the power on your Ultima. It's crazy, stupid… and might get me killed, but it's worth a shot," Kikiru said, turning to Jason with a fierce look in her eyes.
"You got a way to send me into a trance powered by thousands of souls?" he asked, looking down at her.
Kikiru blinked in confusion, shaking her head.
"Not quite. It all depends though, how does your Ultima activate? Is it a ball cast and detonation on contact with the enemy? If so, I can up the impact force, possibly making it detonate inside of Surt."
"It's more of a... wave that cuts through the enemy and explodes. Like I said, it can destroy planets." Jason said, letting the distortion grow.
"Right. There goes Plan A," Kikiru grumbled, "Okay. Charge the spell up as much as you can. I'm going to run interference for a few minutes, then pop back and put as much of my energy as I can into it. Times like this I'm glad my Magical reserves aren't used across all of my Jobs. Sound good?"
"Sounds good..." Jason said, nodding.
"I shall come with you," Celestia said, spreading her wings.
"I'll stay here with Jason," Twilight said, trotting over to him, her horn glowing as she started to pour her magic into the spell.
"You should stay and help charge it too," Kikiru added, deliberately avoiding Celestia's name as she pulled Gae Bolg from its place on her back. "I'll be fine alone, and the more of a charge we can give the Ultima, the better the end result."
"I do not like the idea of leaving a comrade to fight alone," Celestia argued, frowning a little.
"Please… just… don't," Kikiru's voice shook with barely-contained emotion. If one looked closely, they could see the tears beginning to run beneath her dark visor. Without another word, she leapt toward Surt, covering an impressive distance with each bound.
Surt snorted, looking down at the Lalafell. "Show me, little creature, show me the strength that gives you the confidence to face me!"
Kikiru gave a dark chuckle in response.
"I don't know about Strength or Confidence. Maybe I just don't have a self-preservation instinct anymore. Either way, let's see just how tough that hide of yours really is!"
Kikiru's body rocketed forward on the force of a single jump, nearly breaking the sound barrier with its speed. The strike connected, but didn't pierce. Still, the little Dragoon wasn't worried, using the redirected momentum to repeatedly bounce herself up Surt's body from thrust to thrust.
He growled, the angry giant trying to swat her away. Kikiru laughed as she continued to gain height on Surt's body, making extra certain to deliver one of her strongest attacks right to where the nethers would be on a normal human. She didn't really expect it to have much effect, but she felt it necessary for thoroughness.
"Annoying insect!" he shouted, his body erupting into flames of various color and intensity. Kikiru rolled her eyes at the admittedly hammy declaration, making a mental note of just how many times she'd heard that in the past.
Kikiru leapt away from him, but kept up her assault. She formed Javelins from concentrated energy and launched them at the Fire Giant, making sure to never stay in one place for too long. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep this tactic up for too long, but hopefully Surt would drop his fire aura soon so she could get up close and personal again.
He snorted, sucking in a rush of air, then unleashing it in a torrent of flame. Kikiru took one long leap back to give herself a little more time to react, then Job Changed to the final job in her arsenal and the only one she hadn't used since breaking free of her prison. Her body was surrounded by white light, which quickly resolved into a suit of shining silver armor with a pristine white surcoat. She drew the blue and white broadsword from its place at her hip and tugged the shield from her back, then raised both in salute.
A quick pulse of magical energy showed that the action had some additional effect and was followed by several more seemingly useless actions that all produced some manner of magical action around her. Just before the fire actually struck, Kikiru smirked and crouched behind her shield.
"You are skilled," he admitted, looking down at her, a look of slight respect in his eyes. "I would know thy name, warrior."
"I am Kikiru Kiru. The ponies of my Equestria decided to give me the title of Warrior of Light. I have to admit you're putting up quite a challenge yourself. Much more than most of the enemies I faced before my imprisonment," Kikiru replied, rising from behind her shield and flicking her sword down to dispel the ring of flames still smouldering around her body.
"Come Kikiru, let us engage in glorious battle!" He conjured up a black bladed sword, its blade igniting. He drew his arm back, bringing it down with all his might.
"Oh I am not getting hit by that," Kikiru said, flicking her sword out to the side and raising it to the sky. The air around her distorted with a new barrier and several hexagonal plates, just in time to intercept the hit from Surt's attack and repel it. With the short time she had before the barrier wore off, she leapt onto Surt's blade and began running up it. Time was running out and Kikiru knew she had to make a decisive move here.
The Lalafell lobbed her shield ahead of her, impacting Surt's face with heavy force. She didn't bother catching it, instead sliding her broadsword back into its sheath and focusing all of her power into the blade. The intent was to hit Surt in the face with her knockoff version of Zantetsuken. How much damage it would do, or if the technique would even work at all, was a different story. She'd never had a need to use it on an enemy before, much like Ruin X. With a howl of pure fury, Curtana was released from its sheath, cleaving across Surt's right eye in a trail of blinding light. Kikiru saw an opportunity and followed the momentum of the strike, spinning and stabbing Surt in the face before releasing all of the power left in the blade.
The great giant let out a growl, taking a step back, covering his face. "I will crush your bones into powder!" He reached out, trying to grab her in his giant mitts. Kikiru let herself fall towards the ground as the barrier from Hallowed Ground ran out. She was tiring too quickly, a sign of just how much her Zantetsuken and Spirits Within combo had taken out of her. Only a last-second thought allowed Kikiru to Job Change back into Dragoon before hitting the ground, narrowly avoiding ending up as a tiny red smear.
"Well, it's been fun, but if you're just going to rage like an infant instead of fight like a proper warrior, I'm out," Kikiru chuckled, then leapt back to her allies. She stumbled on the landing and fell face-first at Jason's feet.
"You on?" Jason asked,"I'd cast a few Cures but... my hands are still kinda full."
"Cures won't do much for me at this point. I burnt through my energy… forgive the pun," Kikiru dragged herself back into something resembling a standing position, then Job Changed back to Summoner. "I think I ticked him off with that last comment. Pretty much insulted his status as a warrior. So yeah, we might want to speed this up."
"We've poured as much as we could into this spell," Celestia said, panting heavily. All three of them looked exhausted.
Kikiru nodded in understanding before adding her own power to Ultima, sending streams of green light into the distorted ball of power. After less than a minute she stopped, falling to her knees and spitting a small amount of blood into the dirt.
"Gave it… all I could…" she coughed out. "End it, Jason."
Jason let out a war cry before releasing the spell. It flew through the air, colliding with the giant in a massive explosion that shook the ground for miles. Jason covered his eyes, shielding them as a mushroom cloud akin to a nuclear device filled the sky.
"You still with us?" he asked, looking down at Kikiru.
"Not for… much longer," she laughed, which quickly turned into another coughing fit. "Think I put a little too much into it."
He sighed, drawing on what he had left, casting a few Cures on her before he collapsed next to her. Kikiru sighed, shaking her head.
"Anybody want to go see if Surt's still around? Not that it's likely for anything to survive an Ubercharged Ultima to the face, but still," Kikiru commented. "I'd go, but I'm still a hair away from coughing up my lungs again."
Before anyone could answer, Surt's sword came bearing down from the smoke. A burst of darkness heralded the arrival of Hel, who caught the blade between her fingers like it was nothing.
"You really need to stop spying on me..." Jason coughed, internally grateful that his grandmother had stepped in.
"Why can't I have a badass grandma that can double as a Deus Ex Machina?" Kikiru whined, weakly punching Jason's shoulder. "You're lucky as hell and you complain about it."
"You dare interfere, Hel?" Surt demanded, coming into view as the smoke cleared.
"Know your place Surt," Hel snapped, glaring up at him. "Return to Muspelheim, now."
Surt snorted, withdrawing his blade with a look of hate. "Do not think I will let this transgression slide." He slashed with his sword, cutting a hole in midair. "We will end this, prepare for that day." He turned his back to them and stepped through the hole, which sealed up behind him.
"Such a hothead." Hel snorted, running a hand through her hair. "You all alright?"
"Been better… been worse, hard as that may be to believe," Kikiru volunteered, staying in her prone position and weakly waving a hand. "Call me Kikiru."
"Nice to meet you," Hel said, grabbing her hand and helping her to her feet. Kikiru gave a quick nod of thanks and stepped back, still a little wobbly on her legs. "Well, if that is all, I think I shall take my leave, do stay out of trouble, Corypheus," Hel said before vanishing in a flurry of darkness.
"Love you too grandma..." Jason said, getting to his feet, "Hey... Kikiru, mind if I get a scan off you?"
"Uh… sure, whatever you mean by scan," Kikiru replied, tilting her head at the odd request. Maybe it had something to do with his transformation power. That would make sense. Jason held out his Omnitrix arm. The device chirped, passing its beam over her.
"Now... what's a good name for a Lalafell?" he asked, still panting.
"Depends, really. There are a bunch of traditional naming conventions for Dunesfolk Lalafell, but it's generally a syllable repeated twice, followed by a third syllable that's shared between both the first and last name," Kikiru frowned, considering a few possibilities.
"Here, let me change first," he said, popping the dial up to browse the selection before bringing it down and shifting forms. The resulting form looked much like a gender swapped version of Kikiru, with pale blonde hair tied up in a samurai-esque ponytail and brilliant green eyes. Unlike Kikiru, however, he hadn't managed to copy any of Kikiru's Jobs. Thankfully the Omnitrix had managed to produce suitable clothing, in the form of a light cloth tunic and pants covered by a leather vest and matching boots. The most striking portion of the outfit was the bright blue scarf around his neck.
"Well," Kikiru commented, "That's about what I expected. You're just a little taller than me… and it looks like you didn't get my mark either."
She subconsciously rubbed at a spot underneath her headband, then shook her head and set out to explain further.
"You didn't get any of my Jobs with this form, but Lalafells do have some natural advantages that you might be able to take advantage of. We're naturally adept at magic and any task requiring high dexterity. How you'll be able to use that, I'm not sure, but there you have it. As for a name… Hm… Well, since you're effectively my 'brother', we'll call it Jajahuru Kikihuru. If the naming conventions were any more lenient, you'd just have my last name instead," Kikiru rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Welcome to the family!" he said with a smile, hugging her, "You are now invited to that Apple-Pie family reunion that AJ and Pinkie are putting together!"
"I…" Kikiru sighed again, shaking her head. "As much as I'd like to, I can't. There's too much going on back on my Equestria and my Carbuncles are likely freaking out if they showed up at the Castle and I wasn't there."
"It won't be for a while. I'll let you know through your token, which reminds me, mind teaching me some of those moves of yours? My non-pony magic is rather lacking."
Kikiru smiled softly and chuckled to herself, then nodded.
"Alright, Jajahuru. I can spare a few hours getting you up to speed. Let's see if this works though… DISCORD!"
The sudden shout took everyone nearby by surprise, and with a shudder in reality, two Discords appeared, one looking significantly more frazzled than the other. Before anyone could say a word, one of the Discords tackled Kikiru and coiled around her in a protective hug, holding on tight.
"Confound it all Kikiru, Don't disappear on me like that!" he scolded, then coughed and looked around in confusion. "Well. This is interesting…"
"Hello me," the other Discord said, currently feeding his daughter, who was calmly suckling from a bottle. "Now all we need is Hodgepodge and we could have one heck of a time!"
Kikiru's Discord perked an eyebrow, then gave his counterpart a sad smile.
"Perhaps. Though there do appear to be quite a few differences we'd need to work out before that could happen," he said, then looked down at his charge. "Now, aside from the obvious way back home, what did you need, My Little Summoner?"
"Erm… Well, I need to give Jason the basic rundown of the Guild's Magic classes and I obviously don't have all of the books on hand, or even spare copies of some of them to leave with him," Kikiru squirmed a little in the Draconequus' grasp, a bit embarrassed to be so close to him in public. The Chaos Spirit chuckled and snapped his fingers, causing a stack of books to appear on the grass in front of Jason.
"Now, is there anything else? Food, snacks, spontaneous changes in weather?" Kikiru's Discord questioned, gently setting Kikiru down and floating into the air.
"Err… Not that I can think of," Kikiru replied.
"Oh!" Jason said, snapping his fingers. "Dis, did the Enigma berries bloom yet?"
"Yes my dear boy, they did." He snapped his talons, a basket of the fruit appearing at Kikiru's feet.
"These are Enigma berries, if you ever take significant damage, these will heal you up most of the way. Best to plant a few and grow yourself some trees, get yourself a good supply going."
"I'll take care of that," Kikiru's Discord commented, levitating the basket before making all but one of the berries vanish in a cloud of dark energy. "I'm the one providing most of her food supply these days anyhow. Silly Lalafell."
"Oi!" Kikiru snapped indignantly, "I'm not the one who went on a home redecorating spree and magically stocked all the shelves before I had any say in the matter!"
Kikiru's Discord just rolled his eyes before booping Kikiru on the nose and phasing out of existence, leaving her to grumble in annoyance at the missing Chaos Spirit.
"So... you two, hmm?" Discord asked, floating over. "I can certainly say, I am one lucky guy."
"Ignore him," Jason said rolling his eyes. "Anyway, thanks for the help and uh everything else."
"Eeyup," Kikiru replied, still shuddering at the mental images Jason's Discord had just produced for her.
"You ready to go home?"
"As I said, I can burn a few hours teaching you," Kikiru replied. "I just… need a moment to recover from that… Permission to slap your Discord?"
"Nah, you'll probably upset Eris," he said gesturing to the baby.
"Right, right," Kikiru sighed, glaring at the Draconequus. "You got away this time, Discord… but know that one day, it may not be today, or even tomorrow, but one day… I will have my revenge for the mental scarring you just gave me."
"Okay, putting that behind us, you ready?" Jason asked, hoping to defuse the situation.
"Can I take notes?" Twilight asked as she got comfy against Celestia's side, having already conjured up a scroll and a quill.
"I'm leaving the books with Jason either way, so feel free," Kikiru shrugged. "We'll start with the Thaumaturge spells, which are the basis for the Black Mage Job you might be more familiar with."
"Let's do it," Jason said with a smirk, cracking his fingers. This was going to be fun.
What followed was a veritable light show of fire, ice, lightning and other spells. Jason's eagerness to learn worked well with Kikiru's eagerness to teach, resulting in a large amount of progress being made.
Once Jason had learned the basic Thaumaturgy Kikiru offered him, she moved on to Conjury. This included a few additional elemental spells, but mostly focused on healing and protection for allies. Jason again proved to be a swift learner, taking in a majority of the spells without trouble.
The final Discipline was Arcanima, which was the basis of the Summoner's abilities. Its spells focused on poisoning enemies and enhancing the Arcanist's summoned companions, the Carbuncles. Unfortunately the Carbuncles Jason summoned weren't quite as permanent as Kikiru's, likely due to some difference between the different universes. It was something to research and look into for later.
With magic out of the way and Kikiru still having some time before she absolutely had to be back home, she began to teach Jason more about swordsmanship, lance work and martial arts. It was much easier to do this while Jason was in his Lalafell form, since Laevatein somehow scaled down to fit his smaller body, likely due to a quirk in the Omnitrix or his storage cube.
"Well, you've got the basics at least," Kikiru breathed out a long, tired yawn after they finished up the last round of sparring and drills. "I'm pretty confident you'll be able to work out the rest on your own."
"Thanks Kikiru," Jason said, reverting to normal. "Is there anything you need before going home?"
"Don't worry about it Jason… just having someone to carry on the old Guild's knowledge is enough for me." Kikiru smiled sadly. "Keep yourself in one piece. I'll be testing you on what you've learned when we next meet!"
A small, seemingly normal stick appeared in Kikiru's hand and she tossed it away. A Timber Wolf materialized out of thin air to catch the stick before padding to a stop at Kikiru's feet. She quickly mounted the wolf and ran off, a rift in time and space opening not far in front of her. Without worry Kikiru rode through it, quickly vanishing from sight. Jason drew his arm back, throwing his token in after her.
"That's the third time we've been invaded in the past year," Celestia commented, letting out a yawn.
"Yeah... yeah it is..." Jason said, laying down against her. "Let's just... take a nap... someone will come get us..." he said before passing out. Twilight was already out cold, Celestia's wing placed over her.
"I hate this place, Uncle," Charmcaster moaned, poking at the fire with a sigh. Nothing had gone right since the rebellion had failed. They had been lucky, escaping Canterlot's dungeons during some kind of disaster. After that they had wandered until the centaur known as Tirek stole their magic and the chaos stone. The magic had returned, but not the stone.
"Stop complaining, you sound like a foal," Hex growled at her, staring into the fire. He quickly spun around, looking into the darkness. "I know you are there."
"Good," came a woman's voice. "I have a deal for you two. One you're just going to love," she said. As she came into view, the fire danced across her purple armor and a grin formed across her lips.
Kikiru slowly trudged back into the Castle of Unity, feeling more drained than ever. It felt like going back through the rift to her Equestria had drained what little energy and magic she had left in her. Maybe she'd consider asking Discord to bring by one of those berries once she got back to her room.
When she finally made it to the little apartment and opened the door, Discord was waiting for her with a grim expression on his face.
"Discord? What's going on?" Kikiru asked, barely suppressing a yawn as she walked forward and nearly collapsed into the Draconequus' waiting embrace.
"Your little trip," Discord spoke, his tone bitter. "You were taken from me without the slightest bit of warning."
"I-" Kikiru tried to speak up, but Discord gently placed a claw on her lips.
"I don't blame you, but I wish there was more I could do. Some way to keep you free of the possible influence these other Equestrias might have on you," He sighed and shook his head.
They stayed like that for a moment, before Discord frowned again and looked down at the Lalafell in his arms. She had fallen asleep in the pause and the Chaos Spirit was actually impressed she'd lasted that long. He carefully lifted her and tucked her into bed, making sure to place the plush incarnation of himself in her arms.
After a long time just sitting there watching her, Discord knew what he had to do. He could only hope Kikiru would forgive him if she ever found out.
He worked his Chaos magic, slowly delving into Kikiru's sleeping mind and carefully bypassing all of the barriers and traps she'd placed. It wasn't something that he could do while she was awake, since Kikiru would easily detect his presence. However, now that she was asleep and completely out of magic aside from the small ambient trickle, Discord was able to gain entry.
It only took a few minutes to bury the memories of the day and replace them with false memories of magical research and development. She had expressed an interest in developing new Carbuncles and Discord saw no reason to deny her that goal. It provided a quick and easy reason for why Kikiru would feel so tired the next morning, even with a full night of sleep.
Once the mental aspect was finished, Discord retraced his steps out of Kikiru's mind and made the necessary alterations to the waking world to support her new memories. It was fortunate that Kikiru hadn't visited Ponyville, or that would lead to much bigger problems maintaining the lie.
Once Discord was finished with his tasks, he floated back over to Kikiru and gently bent down. Discord placed a kiss on the forehead of the little Lalafell that was supposed to be his most bitter enemy, wondering just how all of fate had been twisted to make them best friends..
"Sleep well, My Little Summoner."
With one last mad grin, Discord snapped his fingers and vanished from the apartment. There was still chaos to cause elsewhere, namely that little border town he hadn't bothered learning the name of.
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6287791 Maud is a very wise pony
6287805 As the mountain speaks the knowledge might just rock your world if you simply roll with it.
Another nice chapter. Well done.^^
For anyone confused/curious about the last section, it's basically a way to keep crossovers from affecting the "canon" of Kikiru's Equestria. I tried posting a crossover there with Shagohod before and it was met with a near-instant backlash. That's not to say crossovers can't still happen, but I have to keep from alienating my readers somehow.
6288022
The first time you guys did the crossover and Shag told me about it, I told him your readers are whiny bitches and you shouldn't cave to them like that. It's your story, not theirs. (Note: I'm Shag's editor.)
6288112 A few are, but to be honest even my more vocal and honestly respected readers were hesitant about its inclusion. The comments are all gone now thanks to that chapter being nuked from orbit, but honestly I think the new crossover format works better. It takes place during off screen time, which allows me to let people like Shagohod's viewers enjoy it while also keeping it from my unenthused readers.
... On one hand, I understand why you chose to do that last bit. On the other, traveling through time and space to a reality on a different set of rules means you could literally have one Kikiru running around trying to avoid herself while the other just goes about her day to day stuff. Discord could be helping them stay separate, while enjoying the chaos and shenanigans required. One Kikiru is changed by the differing realities, while the other is slowly dealing with the differences a thousand years made in her reality. Your welcome for the cake, now get to eating it. Then again, Discord would probably split himself to have more fun with it.
6289503 The problem with that is that we'd have to keep track of the different Kikirus and how their experiences would cause them to further diverge on their timelines. It's too much extra crap to potentially keep track of, which is why I went with the memory suppression at the end there. All Kikiru has to do is see the right person (I.E.: Jason) and the memories would return.
6298253 Fair enough, but now you have a pressure vessel with tiny hairline cracks, which will be fun when the pressure is built up.
6298281 Nah. I'm sure it'll all work itself out.
Well now I'm interested in doing a crossover next with this story and my a key in equestria story. Let's see just after meeting daring do for the mane six is the timeline so far of current events in my story so the next crossover is the games i think. Can't remember the exact episode order of season 4.
That other Discord is a prick.
6942551
He's misguided in his attempts to protect someone he cares about. He's not a prick.