Chapter Ten
It had been a few days since the latest attack on Canterlot. So far, Exdeath and Alex had been quiet, nor had the remaining Archfiend tried anything.
So of course, Bahamut was concerned. One would think they’d attack while they were tired and worn out. Not letting them rest up.
And then there was Celestia. He’d given her a Class as a means to save the planet from a Meteor, and while he’d thought about taking it back… well, it was a decent olive branch to extend. Mind, Luna was pouting up a storm that she didn’t have anything.
So Bahamut corrected that. Celestia was now an Adept of Fire and Earth, and he gave Luna the power of Wind and Water. After that… well that was Auric’s problem now. He was the master Adept, so he could handle their training.
Speaking of… he wondered how they were doing?
Luna panted as her horn pulsed with magic. “This… what was it? This strange magic? It is most difficult to perform.”
“Psynergy, and it should be,” Auric replied. “Your world hasn’t been awoken with it’s power yet. So it’ll be a little harder to shape the forces you need through your magic. You need to reach out to the water moisture around you, shape it into a form, and let it loose.” He pointed at the small puddle. “If you do well, you might manage to turn this to ice with it. Frost is a basic skill for Mercury adepts.”
“What would be the point?” the dark alicorn frowned and froze the water with a spell. “See? A simple freezing spell is far easier.”
“Hmm,” Auric mused. “Okay, let’s try something different then. You should also have Jupiter in you. And one of the skills of Jupiter is to read the minds of those around you. Surface thoughts only, but if you ask someone a direct question and they try to lie to you, you should be able to get an answer if you focus your mind on hearing theirs. Try it on your sister.”
“Hmm?” now that was interesting. “What should I ask…?” she mused and smirked. She stepped closer and cleared her throat. “Sister?”
“Hm?” Celestia looked up, having been playing with the Venus djinn powers. “What is it Lulu?”
“Do you have a crush on Bahamut?” Luna asked suddenly, making the white mare blush and blink.
“I… what? Where did that come from!?” she spluttered. “O-Of course I do not!”
<I mean, honestly. He’s better than I thought and perhaps if he were a little more tolerable and…>
“How interesting~” Luna mused, smiling widely. “Nevermind Tia. Have fun,” she smiled as she trotted away, leaving Celestia flustered and rather confused.
“Ohoho, I like this power,” the dark mare chuckled as she returned to Auric.
“Jupiter is definitely about buffs and debuffs, but what few attacks they have, they do very well in,” the robed human informed her. “Increasing resistance and speed, sealing foe’s Psynergy away. When they attack, they do so through massive whirlwinds, bolts of lightning, or even plasma. Gust is actually a fairly useful starter power, able to remove vines covering things so it’s easier to manipulate them or the leaves hiding a secret passage. You should give it a go.”
“Hmm, a gust of wind? Again, I could do that with my normal magic,” Luna pouted as she looked at Celestia. The white mare had some vines lashing about her, striking a few targets. “And of course she’s better than me… what else is new…”
“‘Gust’ is just the name given to the first level of whirlwind magic,” the robed human clarified. “It might not be powerful as it stands, but it’s the stepping stone to learning how to manipulate the air. Try using your psynergy to make a whirlwind, see what you learn from that.”
“Fine fine,” she muttered as she closed her eyes. It was hard, trying to separate this new power from her existing own. Especially since this power was weak, trying to find it amongst her own vast ocean of magic…
“This is hopeless!” she snarled, her eyes flashing with anger. “Celestia as usual, makes it look so damned easy! I will never compare to somepony like h—”
And that was Auric, holding her mouth shut and looking into her eyes. “Stop comparing yourself to her,” he told her flatly. “If you want me to do it for you, fine. Yes, your psynergy will be weaker than hers. But that’s because we’ve yet to find and destroy the last fiend and free the Djinn of Mercury. She has twice the amount to focus on, so it’s going to be easier for her. And even when you do get Mercury, it’s not going to look like much. Yes, Mercury is about healing and restoring your health to normal. Venus can raise the fallen. So if you keep comparing yourself to her, you’ve lost. But I think I know why it’s hard for you to find your power. Are you still willing to listen, or are you going to be a spoiled brat of a princess?”
She glared at him for a moment. How dare he address a Princess of Equestria like that. But… the more she thought about it. The more sense he made. Celestia was the older sister, she was… supposed to be stronger. All this stuff about Djinn and whatnot still confused the lunar alicorn. But Auric had made it abundantly clear he was skilled in this art. She closed her eyes, taking a breath in through her nose and nodded. “Fine,” she murmured once he released her muzzle. “I suppose… I lost my head. T’was not proper conduct for a princess. ...We apologise.”
“It’s fine, at least you learned. And hey, I have a little tip for you to help you find your power easier. One that you might even find easy to use,” he casually told her. “See, it’s a well known fact back home that the moon controls the tides. It exerts a small gravitational pull on the waters of the earth, creating high tide and low tide as it passes by.” He waited for a minute before smiling. “And while it might not be as strong, air is just another sort of fluid it has a minor influence over. It’s even been posed that if my world back home suddenly stopped spinning, the moon would be the reason it would start again. So don’t discredit yourself, and see if you can’t feel out that connection.”
“The moon could truly do all that?” Luna gasped. She knew it had the effect over tides, but the air as well? “Interesting… Tell me, Bahamut says you also come from Equestria, just… one in another dimension. What is it like there? Are monsters such a threat like they are here?”
“Not as much, no,” Auric replied, holding out a hand and having his staff return to it. “The ponies at large have had a Psynergy awakening. So the monsters have become wary. After all, who wants to try and eat a pony when they could shock, freeze, burn, or simply encase you in earth? And while we might have had some...small bumps in the road, they’ve been dealt with. Largely because the Djinn seek out those that can see them and bring them back to me so I can teach them control of their powers.”
“So, you’re a teacher there too hm?” she asked him. “And… what about the sun and moon? Who commands them?”
“Another version of you both there,” he chuckled softly. “Ones that took my initial appearance...less kindly than you both.” He pondered for a moment. “Though, to be fair. When you arrive somewhere as a headless, suit of armor with a flaming neckhole and it seems like you’re a necromancer’s pet project, then I can see why they might say I needed to be destroyed.”
“Like a giant black dragon summoned by a mad being of Chaos and vapourised an entire village?” the dark alicorn huffed, recalling their initial encounter with the self-proclaimed ‘Dragon King’.
“Something like that,” Auric nodded. “I had a few...teething issues with my power. But once I worked out what I could do with it, I only used it to punish ponies that had gone astray.” He shrugged. “To be fair, being able to do everything kind of makes you cautious about doing anything because you’re afraid of blowing something up.”
“Mmm, yes. Celestia and I were the same when we ascended,” Luna said. “Right so… what’s your method for finding my power? It’s… hard to feel as my own magic is drowning it out.”
“Feel your connection to the moon,” Auric suggested. “Feel what it does to the air and water. Look for it’s resonating within your magic...there should be something there that also responds. A lesser light, a candle to the lighthouse compared. But let me know when you’ve started. Also, you might want to close your eyes.”
Luna nodded and did as he instructed, closing her eyes as she reached out to get in touch with her moon. Her horn pulsing a soft blue as she bit the inside of her cheek. Her magic was there, she could feel it. But where was that other power? It seemed to be easy when she was using that Mind Reading. But now she couldn’t sense it at all.
“Ggrrrr,” she muttered, her face contorting into a frown, then a scowl. “Come on come on!”
And then she felt something wholly unfamiliar to her. Something had grabbed ahold of her horn. Before she could protest, it started feeding a tendril of power into her...and then, lit up like a lamp, she could sense that other power. Not just the wind power, always floating on top and trying to hide, but also there, deep under her other magic, the water power burned like an ember left in a fireplace.
“One would normally remove the appendage that dares touch my horn,” Luna said as she located that power and grasped it. “For now, I shall let it slide.” Then he felt a Gust whirl around him, mussing up his robes as they blew up in front of his face.
“It’s why I told you to close your eyes,” Auric chuckled as he drew his hand back. “If you saw me coming, it wouldn’t have worked. You’d have likely impaled me with it for daring to try. Now, if you’d thought to ask your Djinn to help you find the power on your own, it would have worked as well. They could have fed a tendril of power into you, and you could have traced it until it joined up with the mass you have.” He shook his head. “As it stands, on your own, you’re a decent Adept. With your Djinn helping you however...you could be a terror.”
“I have Djinn?” Luna blinked. “Oh, those small fairy-like creatures? How do they help again exactly?”
“Djinn help an Adept by boosting and amplifying their powers with their own,” Auric explained. “It helps the most with their own types, of course, but if you were to gain some Venus djinn, you would find yourself being able to borrow their powers, combine them with yours, and make something entirely new.” He hummed for a moment. “Of course, with these Djinn, they don’t remember their names, so…” Seeing the blank look on her face, he explained. “Names are like Cutie Marks to Djinn. They need to know what they’re best at, to know what they’re supposed to look like, to know what power to lend you. It’s part of the maturation process. As it stands, they’ll still be able to amplify your own power, but they won’t have a specific power to lend you.”
“I see…” she said, looking at them. So, consider them like blank-flanked foals then. Lots of potential, but no clue on how to direct it. “Perhaps I should focus on that first,” she murmured. Her power could only grow so far on her own right?
“And once we do get the Mercury Djinn, which I’m hoping happens any day now,” Auric continued, “I’m going to need to borrow them all from you for about a day. It’s plain to me that our foe doesn’t want to fight fair. So I’m going to do something to help this world fight back, for once.”
“What you and Tia were discussing yes?” Luna asked him. “Releasing the power of Psynergy or somesuch?”
“That was the plan,” Auric nodded. “If I can unleash Psynergy on the world, then you’ll likely get other Adepts and Djinn showing up. Meaning the average pony will be able to help fight back against the monsters.”
“Or give our enemies yet another advantage,” Luna snorted. “Sorry to say, but not all ponies are… as wholesome as those three fillies. And I worry that such power would be… misused.”
“True enough, there was a bit of trouble about that exact thing back home,” the human nodded. “That’s why I took care of it. Really the only thing you would have to worry about is if I started lighting the Lights of Psynergy. Then we’d be getting into me unleashing Alchemy on the land. And that’s not something I want to do, because Alex might try to abuse it. Again. The only one I might be tempted to light is Mercury. The water of Hermes that can cure all ills and restore your body? Something tells me that would be something you all could desperately use.”
“Hmm, that does indeed sound useful,” Luna murmured as she sat down. “This… Psynergy is exhausting to use,” she said, taking a few breaths. “How do you make it look so easy?”
“Practice, you’ll have a small pool as you start, but using the Djinn to amplify your powers will mean they can go further,” the human pointed out. “Right now I’m running on no Djinn myself, but I’m cheating. Something I don’t advise you to try.”
“Oh? Cheating how?” the alicorn inquired. If he had a faster way to get stronger. She mused as she used Mind Read, in case he dodged the question.
“Basically, I did what I’m trying not to do here, I unleashed the light of Alchemy,” the human answered easily. “I would need to make four elemental stars, find the places on your planet where they resonate, shine their light, and then get back to the peak of Canterlot mountain before they all merged into the Golden Sun. Again, something I’m not keen to do for two reasons. One, Alex would likely abuse it. Either the forming sun or the lights, since he is a Mercury Adept. And two…” He stared at his hands. “I can’t promise that it’d work on anyone else the way it did for me. I was a hollow shell waiting to be filled at the end. I tore down a god as the light shone on me. I dissolved, and it was only because I was in the direct epicenter of the immortality-granting light that I came back. I’m not keen to see how it’d work on anyone else.”
“Agreed, please do not do that ever,” Luna nodded at him. “Honestly, that sounds foolish to do the first time. You are either the luckiest fool in existence… or, well… I cannot think of another term. You are simply a lucky fool.”
“Well to be fair, the Wise One was coming because my powers were acting like a magnet to draw him in to my reality, and he would have asserted his dominance over those of us that could use Psynergy, to make sure we could not use Alchemy,” the human pointed out. “It’s kind of ironic that I did the one thing he was designed to prevent me from doing and tore him to pieces with it.” He held up a hand that was wreathed in glowing flames. “Limitless knowledge? Try limitless understanding.”
“That… sounds like a very dangerous power and I have the suspicion that you are far more powerful that you let on…” She looked at him. Honestly, she was starting to wonder if she was conversing with a God.
“I think it’s a good time for a break,” Celestia said, looking rather tired. “I know I could certainly use one.”
“...Agreed,” Luna sighed. “How about you Sir Auric? Shall we do lunch?”
“Yeah, I could eat,” Auric replied. “Helped your Djinn find any names yet Celly?”
“Not as yet no,” she said. “They’re rather quiet actually. The little Fire dears seem to feel bad about nearly destroying the planet.”
“Oh for the love of-” Auric turned to the Mars Djinn and motioned them closer with a hand. Once one of them tentatively approached, Auric used his golden magic to pull them all close. “Now you listen here,” he lectured them. “The fact that you were freshly made and still managed to pull that amount of power out? That’s impressive. I don’t blame you for what you did. I doubt any of the Djinn back home would either. You’re Mars Djinn, fire is literally what you do. Should you be upset you were used like that? Yes, of course. You shouldn’t let it happen again if you can avoid it. But locking your selves up, locking your power away because you’re afraid to open that floodgate again? It’s not going to help anyone, least of all Celly here. You have to open up to her, let her help you, or else when she needs your help, you’ll let her down. And that’ll be worse than what you did when you had no control.”
The Djinn looked at one another, silently conversing as they considered his words.
“All in good time,” the white alicorn smiled. “They’ve been through a lot Auric. And if what you said is true, then they’re little more than children. Let’s give them a little time to acclimate before pushing training on them too hard mm?”
“Oh I understand that, I just want to nip any self-esteem problems in the bud while I can,” Auric replied. “So! Some food! I could do with it. One of my upgrades was not becoming immune to the ravages of my digestive system.”
“Quite, immortal as we may be, we still hunger,” Luna agreed as they headed back towards the castle. “Hmm, what shall we have?”
“I’m thinking pasta,” Celestia said. “We could use the carbs after expending all that magic.” She looked at Auric. “And some of us could gain to add a few pounds.”
“I know right!” Luna said. “Every time I see him, I want to offer him a sandwich!”
“Har har, it is to laugh,” Auric rolled his eyes. “Let’s just eat before Bahamut finds out we’re having lunch. I swear he has the stomach of a black hole.”
“That he does,” Celestia chuckled. “Well, hopefully he hasn’t cleaned out the kitchen yet.”
When they got to the palace… a most curious sight awaited them. Seems that they had some visitors. In the form of a filly Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Them, plus Bahamut, Moon, Sunset and Twilight were seated at the dining table with a plethora of food spread out.
“Oh, hi ladies,” Cadenza waved a wing at them. “Have fun playing outside?” Oh right, she tended to watch her tongue around the kids.
“Just getting these two acclimated to their powers and companions,” Auric replied as he took a seat in roughly the middle of the table. “Luna needed a bit of help finding hers, which I was happy to do for her. I didn’t even end up impaled from it!”
“Huh?” Cadenza tilted her head.
“He grabbed my horn,” Luna said as every unicorn in the room fell silent. And Auric noticed a blush on the dark mare’s face.
“Oh…” Cadenza said and chuckled. “Well… congratulations then? Didn’t think he’d be so forward.”
“I needed a direct access to her magic, to help her find her Psynergy,” Auric sniped. “What, would you have preferred I grabbed her Cutie Marks?”
And that was everyone gasping and blushing.
“Honestly, you think he’d have stopped at the marriage proposal,” Cadenza mused.
“Wait what?” Auric blinked. Marriage proposal? Wha—
“When two unicorn wish to marry, one way of announcing so is crossing horns and linking magic,” Cadenza informed him. “Much like what you did. Obviously you lack a horn, but you did touch hers and link your magic yes?”
Auric.exe has suffered a fatal error and will now shut down.
The human just sat there, not even blinking or breathing as the weight of that crashed down on him.
“Pffftt… ahahahahah!” Cadenza doubled over, cackling as Luna started snorting too. “The look… on your face… is priceless!” she howled.
“You just got played,” Bahamut said as he sipped his coffee.
Auric’s brain slowly rebooted, before he glared at the pink pegasus. “Not. Funny,” he growled out.
“I dunno,” Dashie snorted. “It was pretty funny.”
“Hilarious actually,” Cadenza laughed.
“Well… it was a little mean… maybe,” Fluttershy said, coming to his defense. Guh… that face was so cute!
“Thank you, Flutters,” Auric muttered. “Okay. Let’s not freak me out like that again.”
“I don’t know… it was pretty funny,” Bahamut said to him.
“And that is a legitimate proposal,” Celestia said to him. “However, none of us are quite foolish enough to think you actually meant it like that.”
“...Mental note, don’t grab any more horns,” the human muttered to himself.
“That would be for the best, unless you wish to form a herd with your existing wife,” Cadenza snickered as she turned back to her food.
“What’s a herd?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s when someone has lots of special someponies,” Fluttershy said to her.
“Ick,” Rainbow snorted. “Love is gross.”
“Agreed,” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes. “I understand that it's necessary for reproductive purposes but, urgh. It doesn't make it any less ick.”
“Ah, to be young again,” Auric sighed wistfully.
“Agreed,” Luna chuckled as she sat at the table and started to gather food with her magic. “So, what brings such young fillies to the castle anyhow?”
“Apparently Fluttershy’s mother works in the Guard,” Bahamut said as he wolfed down some bacon strips. “And the girls wanted to spend time with their friends…” he looked at them, then to Tia as the white alicorn blinked and nodded once.
“Yes, it would be good to make such wonderful friends,” she agreed as she sat down.
“We really need to work on that whole monster issue,” Auric grumbled. “I’m pretty sure if I could look at it objectively for five minutes, I’d be able to pinpoint something about it. Then they could visit their friends whenever.”
“Monster are as much a part of this world as everything else in it,” Celestia said. “Have been for a thousand years. Trust me, I’ve looked. This world is the way it is however.”
“Mm… I’m curious though,” Bahamut said as he held up a clawed hand. “Pony magic… or more specifically, natural Equestrian magic, isn’t too effective on them. Sure, physical weapons can work… provided you’re good enough with one.”
“Yet, the magic you’re teaching us works fine,” Sunset said. “Well, that and the weird magic Auric uses.”
“I’m cheating, don’t follow my example,” Auric replied. “It’d take a lot of effort to introduce my brand of magic to this world. And until I can guarantee it won’t make things worse, then I’d need to hold off on doing it.” He sighed as he picked at his food. “If only there were some way to just...introduce it to the ponies, and not the world in general.”
“I could, like I did with Tia and Luna,” Bahamut said. “But that would have to be one pony at a time and we don’t have enough Djinn to go around.” he sat back in his seat. “I think taking care of ExDeath and that fruity femboy is a higher priority though.”
“Oh believe you me, when I get my metaphorical hands on him…” Auric growled. “I have designs. He thinks he knows alchemy. I’ll show him what it means. There’s more to it than altering matter like he’s doing. The Ancients on Weyward managed to make vast devices with it. One could even blot out the sun in a large radius. I’m sure coming up with something to hinder him will be child’s play.”
“Well, right now they have the advantage,” Bahamut said. “We don’t know where they are, or what they’re planning. A new contact by the name of Gilgamesh offered assistance. But I think keeping the interdimensional visitors to a minimum would be best…”
Besides that, if Gilgamesh then betrayed them, Bahamut knew that even at full power, he’d not stand a chance of stopping him.
“I’ll come up with something,” Auric promised. “Give me an hour and a lab, and I’ll build something. Whether it’ll work or not will remain to be seen, but I am not going to let him get away with these...horrible acts to innocent Djinn.”
“Well, we still have the Water ones— if my guess is correct— to worry about,” Luna said as she started to eat.
“Yeah, and that last Archfiend, who’s also a shapeshifter,” Bahamut said as he looked at all the ponies seated. “For all we know… one of us could be the one.”
“Hmm,” Auric hummed. “Well, that’s not ominous at all. But I’ll try to make that my first project. Some sort of...djinn detector. So that when he does show up, I’ll be able to pinpoint him. Something that finds djinn and tells you what sort there are. Anything made of Mercury djinn will be suspicious.”
“You can do something like that?” Twilight and Sunset were suddenly in his face, staring with wide, sparkling eyes. “Can we help?”
Okay, the talking in unison thing was a little creepy.
“Iiiiii’ll probably be transmuting most of the materials for it myself,” Auric offered. “It’s likely going to end up like a big magical dowsing rod. Not exciting at all.”
Their eyes were only getting wider.
“You mentioned. Magic. Experiments and Invention in the same sentence. You won’t shake them now, no matter how hard you try,” Bahamut snorted. “So yeah… best of luck with that golden boy.”
“I can teleport,” Auric pointed out. “I’d like to see them follow.”
Bahamut chuckled. “Sure. Go ahead and try. Short of going back to your home world…”
“Um, didn’t that mirror break?” Twilight asked. “Can he still even return home?”
The whole table fell silent upon that question, all eyes turning to look at the human mage.
“Ordinarily, you’d be correct in it being difficult for one to find their way back to where they came from,” Auric answered. “The Multiverse is...a big, jumbling, constantly shifting mess. Finding one planet, in one universe, and not any of the myriad alternate realities that you could fall into, is like finding a grain of sand in a desert in the middle of a sandstorm. I, however, have an anchor there that I can easily follow back.” He frowned slightly. “The problem is, I don’t have such an anchor here. If I left, I might not be able to find my way back quickly. Time is...fluid while you’re in transit. You could make the journey quickly and find that you actually took a few months. Or you could take forever, only to find that you arrived just after you left. It’s...tricky.”
“So, not a journey for mortals to take,” Bahamut said with a chuckle and he ruffled Twilight’s head, making her frown and fix her mane with her hooves. “And girls? You should leave him to his work.”
“Awww…”
“We still need to train,” The dragon continued. “Cadenza saved your flanks last time, but she might not be there the next. Our enemies are… tricky.”
“I just wish I could help,” Auric added. “I mean, I can help you find the next fiend, easily. But I wish I could do something for the common pony while I’m here.” He sighed and held up a hand, picking up a piece of silverware in his magic and watching as it hovered in his golden glow. “Phenomenal cosmic power...no way to use it for anything practical,” he muttered, as the silver spoon turned to gold in his magic’s grip.
“I swear if you’d ended that sentence differently…” Bahamut sighed as he stood up and hopped down from his chair. “Celestia, we’re using the target range for a while. Notify the guards please.”
And everyone paused. Did… did Bahaumt just say please?
“....what?” the small dragon asked, raising an eyeridge.
“...Okay, someone check him for signs of magical influence,” Auric said. “I’d hate to be the one to let something that can influence a dragon through their scales slip past.”
Bahamut yelped as several of the spellcasters scanned him, making his scales itch as he shook the magic off. “Would you all stop being idiots!” he yelled.
“Be right back,” Auric said, holding up a hand, before vanishing.
“For the love of…” Bahamut sighed and shook his head. “Alright hornheads. Let’s get going.”
“Yeah yeah,” Sunset rolled her eyes and followed after him, Twilight and Moondancer following suit. Celestia also took her leave, she had to run a Kingdom…
It was five minutes later that Auric reappeared in the dining room, holding up a silvery grey wand with some gems embedded around the base. “Okay, I have a preliminary Djinn detector made and...they all left, didn’t they,” Auric deadpanned. “Transmuting the aluminum was not easy. And I had to find some gems that would resonate with the four types.”
“You also did just give a speech about the Multiverse having dilations on time,” Luna said, the only pony left in the room. She sipped her coffee. “They assumed you might have taken a while… I think.”
“I stayed in this universe!” Auric snipped at her. “I work fast. Something like Bahamut being polite meant we needed to check for things like an imitator. I’ve met changelings before, I would recognize if one were trying to impersonate him. So I needed this. And now I can’t wave it at him!”
“I highly doubt the dragon is an imitation,” Luna said with a chuckle as she stood up. “Come friend, we’ll go and locate them and you can show him your stick.”
“...Okay, that sounded wrong,” Auric muttered as he followed the mare. “...This is revenge for grabbing your horn, isn’t it?”
“Who knows,” she chuckled, shaking her moon-coated butt at him as she headed towards the door.
“Your control over second-tier spells is getting good,” Bahamut commented as he watched Sunset blast a target to ash with a Fira spell. “Aim is pretty good too Sunset.”
Sunset blinked and her cheeks flushed lightly. “Oh um… thanks?” she said. This was weird. Why was Bahamut being so nice?
The dragon walked over to Moondancer, who was healing some guards minor wounds. “Well, good thing about these monsters… you’ve always got someone to practice on,” Bahamut chuckled. “How are you doing?”
“Okay I think,” Moondancer said as she stopped and took a breath. “I have Cure down. As well as Panacea. I need to work on…”
“Shell and Protect,” the dragon interrupted. “White Magic is good for healing yes. But they also have some good support skills too.”
“Oh… I didn’t know that,” she said. The dragon snapped his claws and walked off… coming back a few minutes later with a box. “I forgot that Gilgamesh gave me this,” he said as he opened it. He pulled out some tomes and flicked through them just as Luna and Auric walked in.
“Okay, let’s test this thing,” Auric said, waving the wand at Bahamut. “If it works, then we have a problem.”
Though the wand failed to do much of anything… so, he wasn’t a fake?
“Hmm, there’s a letter in here too?” Bahamut said as he took it out and read aloud…
‘To the Warriors of Light and those that aid them, my name is Gilgamesh. Bahamut and Twilight recently arrived in my world and have informed me of the situation in your world. Though I would love to send my own forces to aid you, Bahamut informs me that so much power in one place will awaken a foe you are not prepared for. Therefore, I give you tools and advice to help you in your goals, as well as few gifts.’
He saw some cassette tapes and rolled his eyes. These would have been great… if Equestria had cassette players. “Shoulda used records,” he mused.
‘I wish to voice my opinion to Celestia and Luna for continuing to distrust Bahamut despite his obvious concern over Twilight Sparkle and the extent he has gone to help protect your world.’
STOP. BEING. STUPID.
Luna frowned and snorted at that one. Who did this Gilgamesh think he was? Giving a Princess orders like that?
‘I would like to offer Cadenza a suit of armor used by the most elite of our pegasi forces. This armor will conform to your features and is durable enough to withstand a blow powerful enough to level a small mountain before it begins to bend, though the same cannot be said for the user beneath so do not think that you are invincible….’
“Ookay, how did he fit all of this in here?” Bahamut said as he pulled out the armor with some small difficulty.
“Probably having something to do with playing with the laws of space and time,” Auric quipped, stowing the wand for now. “If you mess with one, you mess with the other. I’m sure there’s a spell for it.”
“Yeah… he was weird,” Bahamut agreed as he read the last part.
‘Fifth, I wish to offer you these tomes on spellcasting. Twilight Sparkle will be able to explain how they work and what they contain.’
Twilight clapped her hooves with glee as the dragon held the books back for a bit.
Sixth, I offer you all these Ribbons to wear. They will protect you from every negative status ailment that may afflict you (poison, blindness, etc.) and reduce the damage you take from magical attacks by 50%.
Finally are some notes on how to properly organize your party both before and after battle. These ideas are rather simple, but I believe having a solid base is more important than having so called “advanced techniques.”
I wish you all the best and I know that if you all work together and have faith in each other you can pull this off. Stay vigilant.
Gilgamesh
P.S. Twi, don’t forget about what you-know-who gave you. And Bahamut, get smarter and don’t forget what I told you about the your enemies and the other fillies.
P.S.S. Hi Auric. Long time no talk. Glad to know you’re still helping others. Or maybe this is before you started keeping to yourself. Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey and all.’
“Gonna have to find him and talk to him again,” Auric quipped. “Too bad I had to sacrifice the tokens to get at the stuff coating them. Needed it to banish someone between dimensions.”
“Sounds fun…” Bahamut looked at the books and then to Auric. “Question, could you make some of these tomes unreadable for a time?”
“Hmm,” the human mused, looking them over. “I can do an enchantment,” he offered. “One where it’ll recode the text and diagrams into gibberish, garbage text. What sort of parameters am I setting for it to be readable?”
“Mostly the advanced spells,” he said and pointed at Sunset as she cackled, blasting a target with Thundara. “You know… unless you want that learning Flare and Ultima?”
“I know that much, I’m not entirely without sense,” Auric quipped. “Hmm...there’s a slight problem with the plan,” he pointed out. “I can do it, but I won’t like it.”
“Okay… explain,” the dragon said, folding his arms.
“Basically, I’d be making the books sentient and able to judge who’s reading them,” the human pointed out. “Only if they determine if you’re mature enough will certain things unlock. I can do that, but then they become a magical artifact that you can’t determine where it’s brain is, and then I don’t trust it.”
That… actually sounded like not a half-bad plan. It would teach the girls moderation… He rubbed his jaw and nodded. “Let me think on that one,” he said. “I’ll shelve the idea for the time being. Also… what were you pointing at me when you walked in with Moonbutt?”
“My prototype Djinn detector,” the human said, pulling out the wand of aluminum. “It determines where Djinn are, what sort, and how many. Wave it at someone and you can determine how many djinn are attached to them. With you being polite, I suspected an imposter. But none of the gems lit up, so…” He shrugged, before passing it to the dragon. “You can keep it. If the sapphire lights up, ever, you have a problem.”
“Noted,” the dragon said as he looked at the wand. “So, this last one is a shapeshifter. That sounds like a pain in the ass. Especially if they get Changeling’s involved.”
“Doubtful,” Luna said with a shake of her head. “Changeling’s haven’t been seen in an age.”
“I’ve dealt with Changelings back in my world,” Auric quipped. “They were a right pain. Mostly because I was still fused to my armor, and they attacked Canterlot and beat Celestia. My...other half came to the fore then, protected her, and was about to unleash something unforgivable. I can best a Changeling Queen. I can deal with changelings. I know how to. But this foe?” He shook his head. “Changelings are simple. They want love, and they’ll do anything to get it. But this one...he’s devious. He’ll deceive you, take the face of someone you trust, and ambush you at the moment you start suspecting things.”
“He sounds scary…” Moondancer whimpered as she shied away.
“I'll crush him if he tries anything,” Bahamut snorted some flame. “He's no match for my power.”
“Well, Celestia and I shall do what we can to assist,” Luna said. “I'm worried about the border towns like Ponyville though…”
“If only I could help more directly,” Auric sighed. “Adepts aren’t as limited to the world as Warriors of Light. Anyone with the capacity can be an adept. Fire, earth, water, wind...the world could be safer if I could awaken these attributes in more of the ponies. Maybe then the monsters would think twice.”
“Or the monsters would awaken to the power as well,” Bahamut said. “You said your whole thing came from a game right? Could the monsters in that game use Psynergy too?”
“Yes, but!” Auric held up a finger. “When I unleashed Psynergy as a whole on the world, I never saw a single monster from that game in my world. They never came. All that happened was the Wise One tracking me down and me obliterating him. We’ve yet to see a single mutated rabbit in my world.”
“It's only speculation,” Luna said. “But we first encountered Bahamut when Tia and I fought Discord. He was the one that summoned the dragon, only for the both of them to be caught up in the Elements of Harmony. The monsters started appearing not long after that…”
“So Discord might be the reason?” Bahamut asked.
“Aye. And it's been so long, that the creatures are now a part of the Equestrian ecosystem.” Luna sighed. “Removal or alterations might have far reaching and disastrous effects.”
“Well, I got along well with my world’s Discord,” Auric huffed, drawing himself up. “I bet I could have a conversation with him and get some answers. And not,” he said, holding up a hand to forestall the lunar alicorn’s objection, “with letting him out of his prison for a chat. I could use Mind Read and project my questions to him, and hear his answers.”
“I'd rather you did no such thing,” Luna said. “The last time somepony interrupted a sealed being, they released a powerful dragon,” the alicorn eyeballing a trio of fillies. A trio that giggled nervously and looked away.
“Yeah… I think I'll agree with Luna,” Bahamut said surprisingly. “I know you'd take care. But I'd rather not risk it. One problem at a time and all that hm? I think between us. Exdeath and the femboy don't stand a chance.”
“But he could have answers,” the human whined. “I could find out how he broke things so badly and if there’s a useable fix.”
“I am sorry, but right now? It's a risk I shall not take,” Luna said as she stamped a hoof on the floor firmly. “Now, I need to go assist my sister. Take care everyone.” And with that, the alicorn took her leave.
“Well,” Auric sighed again. “At least I have one plan. Maybe. Eventually. If we could get answers, maybe I’d be able to…” He trailed off as he looked at the fillies. “...You three released Bahamut,” he noted aloud. “...Any way you could show me where you found him?”
“Why do you need to know?” the dragon asked. “You're not seeing Discord.”
“Oh believe me, I could handle a runaway Discord, but he’s not getting out,” Auric noted. “I just want to talk to him, mind to mind. Figure out what he did all those years ago that resulted in the world breaking like this. Ten minutes, that’s all I need.”
“I only needed a few seconds to convince Twilight to release me,” Bahamut said. “Sorry but the answer is no.”
“Please,” Auric scoffed. “I’m basically Order. I couldn’t release Discord if I wanted to.”
“Auric….” Bahamut growled. He was acting like… The dragon pulled out the wand and pointed it at the human.
The wand remained inert.
“Okay, I admit it, I’m acting a little out of normal, but that’s because I’ve found something I can actually do to make the world here better,” Auric said. “Otherwise I’m just spinning my wheels here. Once your Princesses get their Psynergy under control, what good am I then? I can’t just do nothing. Otherwise I feel like I’m taking advantage of your hospitality.”
“Look… you're not--” Bahamut was cut off as Celestia and Luna teleported into the room.
“We've found them!” the white alicorn said. “Bahamut, I trust you'll assist us?”
“Damn right,” the dragon said. “Twilight. Let's go. The rest of you fillies will stay here. Auric?”
“You’d better believe I’m coming with,” the human said. “I still have some tricks up my sleeve, and I’m not about to let a shapeshifter get away with anything.”
“Right,” Bahamut stepped up next to Twilight and nodded. “Time to move out!”
Exdeath stood in front of a slowly expanding void, staring deep into the abyss. “Soon… all will return to the Void.”
“Yep,” the immortal psynergist agreed as he turned and looked at the sky. Not long now. The ponies would know they were here and that insufferable Auric would likely follow. “Like a moth to a flame,” he chuckled.
This world would fall, like all the others…
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No fucking way, this just got updated? I removed it months ago, but now that I see it's not dead, i'm gonna put this back on. ^^
…..Hmm I sense a TRAP.
9134701
YEP..... IT'S A TRAP!!!!!
"Evil is clever, and deception is its most powerful weapon."
- The Emperor/Jack's Father - Samurai Jack
Yay! The story is back! So happy right now :)
9135152 - Hopefully I can keep it going too
9135156
Things happen in life, just happy that this story isn’t in the grave deep.
9135160 - None of mine are... maybe except the Changeling one.
9135186
Huh
I look forward to reading your next chapter.
And you're starting to give me inspiration to start my own displaced story.
It's really nice to see this story back.
Anyway despite the long wait, this story is still a quality of comedy and promising adventure.
Bahamut
There's also two "changeling's" somewhere in there, when it should be referring to the plural, not possessive.
Uh... If Auric were the Shapeshifter, and made the detector, wouldn't he make it so that it would NOT detect him (and perhaps even target someone else)? So what is the use pointing it at him anyway?
Glad to see an update from you. It's been a while.
At some point I really need to go read Auric's story. I keep hearing that it's badass, but there's also so much to read.
Still, it might be worth it just to figure out some of those mentioned mechanics and try to untangle his harem...
woooooooooo! updaaaaaaaaaaaaaate
9139443
Oh...um... Ok...
post war gilgamesh is not good for stories. His OPness was tolerable when he was a goof ball but when he gets serious and his cocky attitude infects the rest of his world with arrogance it becomes one of the stories that if you crossover with you kill your story.
Gilgamesh's rainbow dash is arrogant beyond belief. Even if Bahamut could not beat gilgamesh he could still curve stomp all of them.
Gilgamesh and Jason are story destroyers.
Jason is an idiot with a protagonist complex.
Ie he thinks only he could come up with the answers of what to do and he is the deciding force on everything.
HE IS A BULLY THAT ATTACKS DISPLACED THAT DISAGREE WITH HIM.
9463698 - I mean... I can see it. Maybe.
9464972 - You say it like I haven't considered it. Tbh, I don't have a single clue for who I could ship Bahamut with... if anyone.
More?
9719266 - Honestly... the next chapter is mostly done. But I'm not happy with the fight scene. I've rewritten it a bunch of times and I just can't get it right.
9719299
K
any idea when we can expect an update and new chapter?
These types of villains are utterly annoying. "Hey guys, lets destroy the universe so their is nothing left to do. Greatest plan ever.
oi update
Probably wise