Chapter Eight
Bahamut awoke and stretched, his spine popping in several places as he sighed contently. The couch was uncomfortable to say the least, but Auric refused to sleep alone with Cadenza around, he was taking no chances.
Speaking of… he looked over and already saw Auric wide awake and sipping a mug of something, most likely coffee
“Damn, do you wake up before Celestia or something?” the dragon asked as he sat up. “And if that’s coffee, hand some over.”
“I’ve learned to not sleep in when there’s danger about,” Auric said as he slipped a second cup over. “And I think Cadence here is the very definition of danger.”
“You didn’t sleep?” Bahamut quirked an eyebrow as he took the mug and sipped from it. “Cadenza isn’t that bad… Stop looking at me like that.”
“I don’t need much sleep anyways,” Auric muttered. “I don’t even trust her sleeping state.”
That was when the door flung open and Cadenza walked in. Her mane was curled cutely and her eyes sparkled as she smiled sweetly.
“Oh, you two are awake already?’ she said in a giggly tone. “Are you looking forward to Hearts and Hooves Day today? I can’t wait, it’ll be so super fun~” She giggled again and did a little twirl before leaving.
Bahamut blinked, looked at his coffee mug, then at the retreating mare.
“…The fuck was that?”
“Whatever it was, I saw it too,” Auric muttered and stared at his mug. “I’m pretty sure this is just coffee.”
“It must be, because I can’t get drunk for some reason, yet I still wake up with a hangover…” Bahamut rubbed his head. “Well, might as well see what’s up. Let’s go Golden Boy, I might need a meat shield.”
“I get the feeling that today is going to be very, very confusing,” Auric muttered.
The day was only just getting started. At the breakfast table, everyone was staring at the surprisingly bubbly and polite Cadenza. Even Celestia looked weirded out, an expression that Auric was going to commit to memory for the giggles.
“Cadenza?” Luna finally spoke up. “Art thou addled in the head?”
“Don’t be silly Auntie Lulu,” Cadenza giggled and waved a hoof. “And please, call me Cadence okay?”
“Sister…” Luna said and scooted closer to Celestia. “I’m scared.”
“As am I,” Celestia replied and put a wing around her.
“So… where are the girls?” Bahamut asked as he looked around. Rainbow and Flutters were here, but his three fillies were absent.
“They said something about today being pointless and that they wanted to study,” Rainbow said and poked at her pancakes. “Man, and I wanted to play or something. Instead, they’re hiding in that ‘Bookfort’ of theirs.”
“We could send Cadence in to get them,” Auric suggested.
“I already tried, but those fillies are rather difficult to get through to when they’re like this,” Cadence said and moved next to Auric. “Also, I am terribly sorry for my behaviour. Can you forgive me?”
“As long as you don’t do it again, sure,” Auric said, edging away slightly.
“Of course,” Cadence smiled and nuzzled him.
“This is creepy as hell,” Bahamut shuddered at the pegasus that had somehow flipped a personality switch. “So… I guess I should hand these over.” He produced a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates for the mare. Cadence gasped and took them before kissing the dragon on the cheek.
“They’re wonderful, thank you Bahamut~”
“And for you two…” Bahamut said to Celestia and Luna. “I got these while I was in Ponyville.” He pushed two small boxes forward, each containing a large and very ornate cupcake decorated in their colours.
“These look delicious,” Celestia said, her mouth watering at the sight of the cake. “But… why?”
“I dunno, feeling generous I guess,” Bahamut said and shrugged. “Now I should go and get the girls. Auric, Flutters, Dash? Let’s go.”
“Yeah, sure,” the human said, polishing off his breakfast before following after the dragon. Bahamut scooped up the two fillies and seemed to be in quite a hurry to leave, practically shoving the human out of the door and walking, almost running down the hall.
“I want to stay, but we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy that later,” he chuckled darkly.
“Why do I get the feeling those treats will come back to bite us in the ass?” Auric asked flatly.
Bahamut just responded with a maniacal laughter that filled the halls.
When they reached Twilight’s room, the dragon opened the door to find… a surprisingly impressive fort actually made of books. It took up over half the room, and several guard towers and even an illusionary moat surrounding it.
“I… don’t know if I should feel proud or sad at this sight,” Bahamut said.
“Awesome, if a more than a little eggheady,” Rainbow commented.
“I like the pretty water,” Fluttershy smiled and nodded.
“I’m a little surprised that some of the books aren’t acting as guards,” Auric said.
“Don’t give them ideas,” Bahamut sighed as he walked through the moat and knocked on the door. “Girls, you in there?” He waited for a few moments, but got no response.
But he did get an idea.
Bahamut took a step back and then let out a loud roar. “I am a ferocious dragon, all your forts are belong to us!!”
And that was when he was struck by a Thundara spell, knocking him across the room.
“We’re trying to study in here!” Sunset yelled from within the fort. “Also, that grammar was physically painful.”
“You know that hurt right?” Twilight grumbled. “And sorry Bahamut, but we’re busy today.”
The dragon sat up and sighed. “Well, I guess I could give this candy I got you to Flutters and Dashie…” He counted backwards from three before the fillies were lined up in front of him, looking at him expectantly.
“Aww, I have you so well trained,” Bahamut smirked and rubbed Twilight’s head. “Good puppy.”
And with a glow of magic, Bahamut found himself reduced to the diminutive state of his 10% form. He looked down at his short, round form and sighed. “Seriously?”
“That’s what you get for teasing me you butt,” Twilight smirked back. Bahamut glowered and looked up at Auric.
“Not. A bloody. Word.”
“You could give the candies to me and I could tease them, she has no hold over me,” Auric pointed out.
Then Auric was exposed to The Cute in triplicate. Three adorable fillies staring up at him, eyes wide and their bottom lip pouting a little.
“Ack, too much cute!” the human grunted, holding a hand to his chest. “Too… much… I can’t… last!”
“No hold huh? ,” Bahamut chuckled. “Now come on girls, the study can wait a day. What do you say we catch a movie, then see Golden Boy here unleash some Djinn?”
The three huddled up and whispered amongst themselves, before turning back to the males.
“You have yourselves a deal,” they nodded.
“Oh great, well… just give me some time and I’ll see about it,” Auric sighed. “It won’t be the easiest thing.”
“I can imagine,” Bahamut nodded. “In any case, we have a mov—”
“BAHAMUT!!”
“Ohh,” Luna and Celestia did not sound amused. That yell rattled the whole castle. Bahamut guessed his joke cupcakes kicked in. “Fillies and human, time to escape the castle for a bit.”
“Maybe for you,” Auric said, before vanishing into thin air.
“That sonova—” Bahamut bit his lip and then jumped onto Twilight’s back. “Hihoh! Starswirl. Let's book it!” Given her choice between kicking Bahamut’s flank or facing whatever it was that made Celestia and Luna so mad, Twilight and her friends decided to run for it.
“What… did you do… this time?” she asked as they ran down the halls.
“Ohhhh…. Nothing much,” Bahamut chuckled. “Just gave them cupcakes that would swap their coat colours.”
“Hehehe, nice,” Sunset snickered. Ahhh Sunny. He could always count on her to appreciate a good prank.
Outside the castle, they'd somehow managed to lose both alicorns. The three fillies were exhausted from running though, evident by the way they lay on the ground, panting heavily.
“See, Hearts and Hooves Day will get your heart pounding… also, you girls need to exercise more,” Bahamut tactfully pointed out.
“Go suck a sock,” Twilight grumbled.
“He has a point,” Rainbow didn’t look fazed at all. “I mean, i didn’t even break a sweat.”
“You’re also part Earth Pony,” Fluttershy pointed out.
Bahamut chuckled. “So… milkshakes?” the dragon suggested and jingled the bag of bits he pilfered from Celestia.
“Milkshakes!” they cheered, recovering instantly and Moondancer looked around.
“Where did Mister Auric go? Did he get caught by the Princesses?”
There was no reply. Apparently he hadn’t come with them.
“Whelp, I'm gonna enjoy some peace from the Snark Lord of Shininess,” Bahamut said and looked around. “You know, I haven't actually been around Canterlot before. Where should we get milkshakes from?”
The three looked at one another and nodded.
“Donut Joe’s!!” They cheered in unison and dragged the dragon off.
As it turns out, it wasn’t quite as bad as Bahamut was expecting. And Twilight released more of his power so he could act as a proper chaperone that adult ponies could take seriously.
As in, other cafe goers sat as far away from the dragon as they could. The annoyed glares he was giving them probably didn't help either.
“Bahamut, at least try to be nice to them,” Twilight sighed as she sipped a massive chocolate milkshake.
“Why?” the dragon retorted. “They’re the ones that are trying their hardest to get away from me. All I’m doing is sitting here.”
“Well, maybe you look kinda scary to them?” Moondancer offered. “Oh! Um, not that I think you’re scary…”
“He’s not scary, Bahamut’s awesome!” Rainbow nodded and turned her head to poke her tongue out at the other adults.
“It’s fine,” Bahamut sighed. Who needed friends anyhow. He had a bunch of adorable fillies, any argument was thusly invalid. “Enjoying your milkshakes?”
“Mhm, thanks for bringing us,” Twilight smiled as she slurped up the last of her drink. Sunset did the same and let out a loud belch that had the dragon chuckling and high-hoofing her, followed by Dash.
“Charming,” Twilight rolled her eyes as Moondancer giggled. The purple unicorn turned in her seat to face Bahamut. “So, now that you’ve dragged us out here, what’s next on the agenda?”
“Hmm,” Bahamut tapped his chin. “Honestly, I have no idea. As I said. I’ve never explored the city before.”
“Library?” Sunset asked hopefully, Moondancer and Twilight’s expressions mirroring hers.
“No,” Bahamut facepalmed. “I just got you eggheads away from books. Let’s try something fun hm?”
“Awwww,” the three pouted.
“How about… a movie?” Sunset suggested. “Kinda like a book. Still has a story at least.”
“Urgh, but movies for kids are so… lame,” Twilight grumbled.
“What about the ‘King of Rings’?” Moondancer piped up. “The books were kinda good. Well, the lore was anyway. Too bad the writer was terrible.”
“Those movies are rated too high,” Sunset said. She made airquotes with her hooves. ‘Too violent’ for somepony our age. I mean, come on! We fought a bucking zombie horde!”
“Language,” Fluttershy and Moondancer scolded her, though Sunset didn’t listen.
“True…” Bahamut blinked and got an idea. “Hmm, what about an illusion spell? Make yourselves look older?”
“Only if security doesn’t catch us,” Sunset muttered. “I’ve tried that before.”
“Well, Plan C it is then,” Bahamut grinned. “I like Plan C~”
“What’s… Plan C?” Twilight asked.
Twilight’s expression killed many pans that day. A low, constant groan filled her throat as she followed Bahamut and the other fillies into the cinema.
“So that’s your big plan? Threaten ponies with fire?” Twilight said, more pans died in vain.
“I like that plan.” Sunset chuckled darkly.
“It worked didn’t it?” Bahamut shrugged.
“I’m with Twilight on this one,” Moondancer piped up. She hoped that poor cashier at the ticket counter would be okay.
“Bahamut, you are a terrible individual,” Twilight said. The pans were silent, none survived the brutal genocide.
“And yet, life moves on and we get to see a movie,” Bahamut replied with another shrug. “Come on Starswirl, live a little.”
“My. Name. Is. TWILIGHT!” she yelled, bouncing with each word.
“Ahahaha, I thought that guy was gonna pee himself,” Rainbow cackled from her perch on Bahamut’s shoulder. “I really liked the ‘chewing on his bone marrow’ line.”
“Well I’m very disappointed in you Bahamut,” Fluttershy scolded him. Ah crap, her angry face was equal parts scary and adorable.
“I’m sorry,” the dragon said. “I just wanted you girls to see the movie you wanted…”
“And I understand that and it’s very sweet, just… try not to be so…” she paused to find the right word. “Forceful.”
“Who cares…” Rainbow groaned. “Come oooon! We’re gonna miss the movie!”
“Calm down Zippy,” Bahamut mused as they stopped at the concession stand to load up on popcorn, drinks and sweets. Was it a good idea to load up young fillies on so much sugar? Eh, That was Future Bahamut’s problem.
Right now? Present Bahamut corralled five fillies into a movie cinema, ready for the widescreen experience…
“I don’t get it, why is Gondork afraid to use the ring?” Bahamut questioned. “Too much power? Um, isn’t that a good thing when you’re ridiculously outnumbered?”
Shhh!” Twilight whispered.
“Seriously? That’s it? It turns you invisible? I mean, where’s the city-destroying megaton blasts? How about mass mind-control? Hell, basic flight is more useful. Moondancer is a more credible threat than an invisible midget!”
“Shhhh!” Moondancer and Twilight hissed.
“A giant bird? Why don’t they just fly over the bloody volcano and drop the ring? Save us all hearing hours of you morons droning on and on on how impossible this all is…”
Rainbow shared a hoofbump with him as Sunset joined in on the shushing.
“Hey, you think that’s why Tia and Luna can’t get a boyfriend? Cause they’d have to sacrifice their immortality?” Bahamut suggested. Twilight actually paused to think about that for a moment before shushing him once more.
“Hah! And that girls, is why you don’t put a flipping mage in the front row,” Bahamut pointed out. “Then you get taken out like a pussy. Cadenza is a much more useful meatshield.”
“SHHH!” All five fillies hissed between their choked up tears of sadness.
“Wait, that’s it?” Bahamut blinked. “It’s not even the whole…” he paused and read the program. “There are three of these bloody movies? Who in their right mind would willingly sit through this more than once? I could think of much better ways to spend four hours. Like… beating my head against a wall, or throwing myself from the top of Mount Canterlot. Hell, even Starswirl’s lectures are more interesting.”
“SSHHHHH!” the entire cinema hissed at him in a single collective voice.
“Why? The movie is over, thank the gods for that,” Bahamut groaned as he stood up. “I think my tail is asleep…”
The dark cinema lit up from Sunset’s Thundara spell.
“Again. Ow.” Twilight resumed her single-hoofed annihilation of the pan race. She shook her head and perked up. “Well, that movie was amazing, Bahamut’s running commentary aside.”
“Mhm, the effects were great and those locations? Ahhh!” Moondancer giggled giddily.
“At least they’re somewhat close to the books,” Sunset nodded. “Unlike some movies…” She let out a few coughs, and said something that rhymed with caviar. “Which completely ignore an amazing story and produce something I wouldn’t use to wipe my a—”
“Eh, the fights were pretty cool,” Rainbow shrugged. “Still, it’s hard to be impressed when you’ve done it in real life though.”
“True that,” Bahamut nodded. “Seriously, if it was us handling that ring business. We’d have it done before lunch and be home in time for snacks.”
“It’d take that long?” Rainbow chuckled and she and Bahamut shared a hoofbump.
“You two are impossible,” Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Even so… thanks for bringing us Bahamut.”
“It’s cool,” the dragon shrugged. “Hmm, I wonder if it’s safe for us to return to the castle yet?”
“You seriously pranked the Princesses?” Rainbow chuckled. “That takes balls Baha.”
“Rainbow, language!” Fluttershy scolded her, the prismatic pegasus just smirked and poked out her tongue in response.
“Alright, alright. Let’s head back and see if Sunbutt and Moonbutt have calmed down, maybe…” Bahamut stretched and sighed.
Though upon reaching the exit of the cinema, the group came face-to-face… mostly. Bahamut was taller, with a dozen Royal Guard.
“Hmm, I guess they haven’t calmed down yet,” Bahamut concluded.
“And so, after the leniency we showed you, this is the thanks we…” Celestia frowned as her starry mane floated in front of her face. “Bahamut! Would you stop laughing!”
“Bwaaahahahahahahaa!” the dragon rolled around on the ground at the base of the raised throne. To picture it in his mind was one thing, but to see the palette swapped Princesses in the flesh, oh it was just too much.
Their Cutie Marks stood out even more, Celestia’s bright sun on her now midnight blue flank, while the dark splotches and moon against Luna’s whitish-pink coat.
“Beheading thy lizard seems like a good solution,” Luna muttered, though her pouting just spurred Bahamut’s mirth.
Celestia sighed and shook her head slowly. “How long is this going to last? We cannot hold court while looking like this.”
“Aahhaha… f-full dayyaaahhhahahah!” Bahamut continued.
“I hate you so much,” Luna grumbled, staring at her rainbow-hued mane.
“Love you too Lulu,” Bahamut snickered, Rainbow Dash also having caught a serious case of the giggles. Sunset just smirked, while Flutters, Twi and Moondancer looked horrified that someone would do this to the Princesses.
“It matters not,” Celestia suddenly said and Bahamut paused. “After all, while it’s an annoying prank, it’s still a harmless prank none the less…”
“Sister!” Luna started.
“One we shall return at our leisure,” Celestia ignore her and smirked. Luna blinked and then she slowly started to smile as well.
“Ahhh, crap,” Bahamut gulped, his good mood suddenly dashed by the prospect of princessey revenge. “Where’s Auric? I feel the need for a meat shield.”
“I do not know,” Celestia shrugged. “We have not seen him all day, that said, we haven’t gone anywhere in case somepony saw us like this.”
“He’s in the gardens~” Cadance sung as she skipped into the room. “I believe he is meditating, so I haven’t disturbed him.”
“That will never not be weird,” Bahamut shuddered at the sight of a ‘happy’ Cadenza. “Well, I guess I’ll go and see what he’s up to.” He turned and left, still wondering what kind of payback the alicorns would dish out.
Outside, several ponies working in the castle were watching Auric from a distance, none having seen anything quite like him before. Bahamut slowly approached, curious as to what he was doing.
Either meditating… or napping. And given he hadn’t slept out of fear of Cadenza…
Bahamut shrugged and moved a bit closer, sitting down and mimicking his posture. The castle workers treated to the odd sight of the human and the bipedal dragon sitting opposite one another, eyes closed.
“The land is very stubborn,” Auric said after a minute.
“Mm?” Bahamut groaned, having started to doze off. “Whazzat?”
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with the spirit of the world,” Auric replied. “Meditating and focusing my energies on finding the world’s consciousness. I have a question to ask of it before I take any action. It...has been evading me.”
“You, can do that?” Bahamut asked, opening his eyes. “Huh? What does the Spirit of the planet sound like?”
“Like an old, grumpy man trying to ask me to get off its lawn,” Auric quipped. “At least, that’s my impression from how it’s been evading my notice. It apparently doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“Huh…” Bahamut closed his eyes again, he wondered if the Spirit was a summonable creature. He knew of a few Earth elements, but not if they existed. The fact that he knew their names confused him as well, as he didn’t know how he knew.
“Then again, I might be being a little presumptuous in thinking that I am worth its notice,” Auric sighed. “At this rate it’ll be weeks before I can talk to your world.”
“So stubborn and egomaniacal,” Bahamut chuckled. “Sounds like you should be talking to Luna instead.”
“I might make more progress if the others asked, true,” Auric mused. “They’ve been here longer. I’m just a visitor.”
“Ah, I meant that Luna is just as stubborn… ah never mind, moments gone.” He stood up and stretched. “So, I assume this has to do with the Djinn thing?”
“Trying to ask if the world would mind if I introduced some Djinn, yes,” Auric replied. “I could awaken the potential of the land, but it would be a slow thing. And I don’t want to upset the land.”
“Yeah, this world is plenty pissed off enough as is,” Bahamut said. “But, I had a thought regarding that, correct me if I’m wrong though.” The dragon paused for a second to gather his thoughts and nodded. “So, we’ve established that something is copying summonable creatures from your world yes? And creating those artificial Djinn.”
“Something, someone, aye,” Auric replied as he continued to sit there.
“So, if you awaken these Djinn, to make yourself stronger. Would it not make this unknown enemy stronger as well?”
“I was more interested in awakening the potential of the land, the Djinn, so that the common pony could perhaps gain the power of an Adept and stand against the monsters of the world,” Auric returned. “To gift it with Psynergy, to give ponies the power to fight back.”
“I guess that wouldn’t be a bad thing… but how would it affect the monsters. You say that your… abilities came from a game yes? Did that game have monsters that could use Psynergy?”
“...Fair point,” Auric sighed. “It would just be heaping trouble atop trouble. Mayhap a mass release of power is not the way to go.”
“I’m just worried… monsters didn’t exist in this world until Discord summoned me. So either I somehow brought them along for the ride, or they were Discord’s final ‘Fuck you’ before he was sealed.” The dragon sighed and shook his head. “I dunno. Psynergy would be cool, but I worry if the monsters here would learn it too.”
“Eh, we could try the way my world learned, but that’s...highly abusable and would take forever,” Auric replied. “Not something I want to risk if I can avoid it.”
“Oh?” Bahamut asked. “Yeah, that’s probably asking for trouble. Plus… I don’t want to give Tia and Luna that kind of power just yet.”
“You know, your world probably would be better off if you did decide the alicorns were worth the time and trouble to grant Light Warrior privilege to,” Auric mentioned.
“But…” Bahamut groaned. “They locked me up for a thousand bloody years! And besides… I don’t like them.” He folded his arms and pouted. Actually pouted.
“So, how are you any different from Discord if you don’t act like it?” Auric questioned.
“I don’t warp the minds of others for amusement!” Bahamut yelled, flames licking at his lips before he caught himself and calmed. “Celestia and Luna keep me around because they can’t stop the monsters. If I give them the power to, what’s stopping them from sealing me away again?”
“Two ponies, versus an entire world of monsters? Coupled with their royal duties to see to Canterlot and raise and lower the sun and moon? Yeah...you’d need to give them an army before they could conceivably do anything about the monster population in the world,” Auric pointed out.
“…Stop using logic to beat me,” Bahamut frowned and sighed. “I’ll consider it okay?”
“‘S all I ask,” Auric replied as he finally stood up. “Well, your world isn’t talking, so I won’t do anything regarding Djinn and Psynergy yet. Meaning I get to be unique and weak in a world filled with things trying to kill me.”
“Eh… not everything. That said… Lulu and Tia are kiiinda pissed off at me. I dumped cute fillies at them for now. So I think we’re good.”
“As long as I don’t get hit by the crossfire,” Auric replied as he called his quarterstaff into his right hand and leaned on it. “It’s...frustrating, thinking of whoever it is behind this and not being able to do anything to stop them.”
“Eh, we’re winning pretty easily so far,” Bahamut shrugged as he stood up. “I mean, they’re picking a fight with the king of dragons, so it’s no wonder they’re going to lose as long as I’m around.”
“If you could see me at the height of my power, you wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss me,” Auric chuckled. “Well… at least Cadence didn’t hit on me today.”
“Yeah, she’s still being all freaky nice. I think it has something to do with the day,” Bahamut shrugged. “Maybe we can get Hearts and Hooves Day everyday if this is the result.”
“And that’s venturing into mind-control territory,” Auric tapped the dragon on the head with his staff. “Bad Bahamut. No warping other’s minds, remember?”
“Aww, but she’s actually tolerable this way, not to mention kind of cute,” Bahamut replied with a smirk. “Unless you liked the vulgar brat?”
“Bahamut!” a voice called out as Twilight ran towards them, Cadence and Celestia in tow, the latter still under the effect of the palette swap potion.
“This one’s all you,” Auric chuckled as he stepped well away from the dragon.
“He made me do it!” Bahamut pointed at Auric.
“And that’s a blatant lie,” Auric replied. “I’ve been here for the few times I’ve been here.”
Twilight giggled at the banter as Cadence shrugged.
“It’s not that,” Celestia said with a curt tone. “For a while now, I’ve been sensing an odd power, so I thought the pair of you might have been in some kind of trouble…”
“Eh, nothing’s been happening, much as I might have wished for some notice when I asked for your world to hear me when I talked,” Auric replied. “So...I have no clue what you could possibly be sensing.”
“Ah, that would be me,” a refined voice said as a tall, young-looking male with long blue hair appeared out of thin air. “Looks like this world’s Celestia is sharp as a tack. Kudos to you.”
Auric stiffened before looking at the others. “If I tell them to run, it’s going to be pointless, isn’t it?” he questioned aloud.
“Hmm, probably,” the man shrugged. “You don’t seem afraid, Auric of the Golden Flame. Even if you are weaker here.”
“To be fair, I’m not quite afraid of you,” Auric retorted. “I’m afraid for them, and what would happen if we tussled. I took out the freakin’ Wise One, I’m pretty sure I could handle you. The collateral, though, wouldn’t be acceptable.”
“Oh, is that all?” the human mused. “Adorable.” He held up a hand, a golden fireball igniting in his palm. “You think your world was the only one with a ‘Wise One’? Well, it might be now. I blew mine up. Whoops~”
“Yeah, see, the difference between you and me,” Auric replied with a smug smirk. “My Golden Sun wasn’t tampered with.”
“And yet, I can still do things you can’t,” the man replied. “Like all those toys of mine you keep breaking. They aren’t easy to make you know.”
“There’s a difference between can’t and won’t,” Auric retorted. “A thin little line called morals. Because who else will hold me accountable but me?”
“But where’s the fun in that?” he chuckled. He turned to the ponies and smiled. “Ah, where are my manners. I am called Alex. And I am the true wielder of the Golden Sun.”
“Spend a millennium trapped in a suit of armor as nothing more than a spirit,” Auric returned with a bite in his voice. “I earned every scrap of power I have, and used it for just ends, even if my world didn’t exactly see it as such at the time.”
“Ahh yes, you started out as Dullahan, how… quaint,” Alex mused. “Still, this Equestria is far more entertaining than most I’ve seen.”
“Just what do you want?” Celestia demanded, her horn firing up with a powerful golden glow.
“Me? Hmm, that’s a difficult question to answer,” Alex hummed and tapped his chin.
“He orchestrated the return of Alchemy to Weyward, just so he could acquire the power of the Golden Sun,” Auric replied so that the ponies would be informed. “The fact that it saved that world from being ground away into nothing was probably nothing more than a footnote to him.”
“Meh, that was a game, nothing more,” Alex shrugged. “I’m much more… successful than my digital counterpart. Didn’t even get sealed away like most of you other Displaced idiots. My ponies were oh so trusting… they didn’t even see it coming~”
“Okay, so, taking that into account, you have the powers of Alex at his height,” Auric replied. “You know, he still lost to the Wise One, right? He only got a flawed Sun. Transitive property says I can still beat you.”
“Mhm, only I beat mine,” Alex mused and folded his arms. “You more than anyone should know we don’t follow the rules of our fictional counterparts. Helps that the ponies softened him up for me. Sucks they all died doing so… they missed the big kaboom in the end though~”
“There’s still one edge I have on you, though,” the golden-clad boy observed.
“Oh, do tell,” Alex mused.
“I have the full knowledge as to how these fires can be used,” Auric replied. “Helps when you were the good kind of crazy before getting shoved across the Multiverse.”
“Hmm, I guess. However, I’m not here to fight you today. I’m the end boss after all.”
“So… why are you here?” Bahamut growled, a bit more information, then he could unleash on this guy.
“Me?” Alex’s smiled turned into a malicious one. “I’m just the distraction~”
And with a loud ‘thoom’ a tear in space/time opened up above Bahamut.
“It’s time you return to the Void!” a deep, hollow voice resounded as a second figure appeared. He was clad in spiked blue and silver armour, a long flowing cape and he held a golden sword in his left hand. “Exdeath will be your end.”
“Oh please,” Auric returned, brandishing his staff as he took up position next to Bahamut. “I might not have all of my power, but I know that you aren’t as tough as you make yourself out to be.”
“Perhaps…” the armoured villain chuckled. His hand glowed and Bahamut heard a scream… just in time to see Twilight get sucked into a void of empty space. “But you cannot save everyone.”
“TWILIGHT!” The dragon roared, leaping after her as the space sealed shut behind them. The pair cast off into the Infinite Void.
“NO!” Cadence screamed, racing towards the area, but it was too late, the pair were gone, banished from the world entirely.
Auric growled. If he was going to do anything… he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk their world.
…Then again, Alex was risking it already. Decisions.
“Celestia, do I have your permission to waken the land?” Auric replied as he held his staff high.
“Do as you will,” Celestia said, firing a searing lance of solar energy at the pair, but Alex just backhanded the blast away, like one would a bug.
“Apapap! Not now. As I said, we’re the final boss. We’re just… tipping the odds in our favour. Tatah~” And with a flash of light, the pair vanished.
“Don’t worry,” Auric replied, pulling out a Garnet that looked very similar to Celestia’s eyes. “As long as I have this, I can eventually find him, and thus her, wherever they ended up.”
“How… how could I let this happen?’ Celestia sighed, her features wilting.
But she was nothing compared to Cadence. She just… stood there. Her wings hung loosely at her sides as her mane covered her eyes.
“You can’t hold yourself accountable for the actions of the wicked,” Auric told them. “They can can be predicted, sometimes, but never, ever hold yourself responsible for what they do. Vow to end them, yes, stop their evil ways, certainly. But don’t heap their misdeeds upon yourself. Because they’ll crush you with every act they take otherwise.”
“I should have stopped them…” Cadence trembled. “Twi-Twilight’s gone… and I-I couldn’t…” her body started to shake. For all her strength… she was useless.
“Hey, both of you, c’mere,” Auric said, putting his staff and the Garnet down, opening his arms up for hugging.
“No… you hate me,” Cadence said, taking a step back.
“Cadence, you need a hug right now, come over here,” Auric insisted. The pegasus took a step forward, before all but falling into him.
“Please…” she whispered. “If they’re alive. Please find them… I’ll do anything to—”
“Ap, I will get on it,” Auric replied, hugging the pegasus close. “It might take a while. But I won’t stop. Not until they’re both back.”
“…Thank you,” Cadence whispered.
“Not a problem,” Auric replied. “Now… Celestia, if they’re competent, they’ll probably try something while Bahamut is away,” the human said. “So… we’ll need to keep an eye out.”
“Of course,” Celestia nodded as she looked at the castle. “Gods, how could this happen…? And what are they going to do now?”
Inside, Luna frowned as she stared at the pony opposite her. She’d had annihilated it already, were it not for the bindings around her.
“So… this is your plan?” she said with a snarl. “It will fail. You will be defeated.”
“Perhaps,” the pony replied. “But perhaps not. The Master has ensured a little ‘insurance’ plan. As loathe as I am to follow it, I am bound to his will.”
“I’ll kill you myself!” Luna roared, wishing she could draw on her magic. But the powerful inhibitors she wore prevented as such.
“No… no you won’t,” the pony smirked as closed the door, sealing Luna in the room alone as her mirror image turned and smiled. “They’ll never see it coming~”
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Omg, this is the first time I've ever commented positively on a story's description, but I can't just leave it.
What you've got in this story's description is Grade A Awesomeness. I read it and I immediately want to read the story. I love it!
DONT'T DISAPPOINT ME, STORY!
Nice to See an Update, It's Been Quite Awhile Huh? What Happened?
A Personality-Swap for Cadance, but only during "Hearts & Hooves Day"?
Nice to see an update.
I laugh so much during this chapter.
So even if destiny as been changed in this version of Equestria, Cadence still the Princess of Love, though only manifest during Hearts and Hooves Day.
So this Alex is the main bad guy and his an opposite to Auric. Does he come from the same series of stories as Auric or does he come from another?
And another Luna as come to mess things up more. *sigh*
Boy those multi crossover story can be hard to follow, especially if some parts are no longer available.
Okay, this story was not what I expected.
I expected a serious story about a displaced Dragon and four fillies.
What I got was a random comedy.
It's mainly for that reason that I not read any further.
There's also continuity errors. Twilight, when roused to awaken, refers to Shiny, then later it is said Twilight is an only child, which means Shiny is not a part of her life. Therefore, not somepony she'd refer to.
There are spelling and grammar errors as well, and they're a bit intrusive to the story.
So, yeah.
Talk about the Big Boss setting himself up for a serious fall.
Has Celestia met Changelings yet, and if so, implemented her simple passive history quiz each day?
The Infinite Void? I call Haxxor, I call The Blue Box.
7552581 I have to partially agree with this. It seems like Auric is pulling half the narrative along with him. I didn't come to this story to read about him.
7552778
That comment was actually after reading Chapter One.
It says Chapter Eight because I exited the chapter to mark it as unread THEN commented.
And already I have plans to ruin the end of that.
This story just made one of the biggest mistakes in the Displaced genre. It just became a multi-verse dick measuring contest.
Sorry but I lost all interest to continue. You have basically left nothing in this story but the ego fight between several displaced and I have read enough of those to know to stay away from them.
Good luck but I'm leaving this one alone.
7552578 - In order. One, Alex is a villain from my fic. He is a Displaced of my creation and has fucked up a lot of worlds. He is from Golden Sun because I love the shit out of those games and he'd been planned since I started writing this fic, Auric's presense or not.
As for the Luna clone, if you've noticed the last two bosses they'd had to fight, then this doppelganger should be obvious.
7552581 - Mind pointing out that Shiny error? I'll fix it. It's easy to lose track when you write a dozen different stories at the same time.
7552778 - Yeah, I suppose that's my bad.
7553660 - Well, sorry to hear that. Bye.
7555007
Uno momento.
Prologue:
Chapter One:
7555011 - Fixed. many thanks.
Well just about everyone started moving at once. Was there a Mexican standoff we weren't told about?
Curious about Cadance, that's an orange flag if we've ever seen one...
Keep going! ;)
7557835 - You have... the greatest avatar and username.
7557889
Thank you sir!
hmmmm... I wonder how this world would treat a space pirate...?
7604996 Thank you for cementing that idea.
The one who gives power to words are the ones who listen.
7605013
Considering they were enemies before, this shouldn't surprise you.
This is the only way he can get ot celestia without getting pulverized
Please update.
Why was this canceled?
7924697 - Because honestly, I wasn't liking where it was going. I may come back to it, and possibly rewrite it.
7927769 Ah
7927769 I hope you can rewrite this story because I really liked it.
8095236 - I did too. I honestly don't know what went wrong. I just... lost the drive to continue it.
Saw this then I saw the disc promise and then I saw the cancellation mark... Huh well guess it ended like every other displaced under thought and abandoned.
8262377
My point stands. A description would be best for those that don't know what that is.
8096077
*picks up and starts shake* moremomremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremore
8422067 - rattled A-A-A-A-Actually... I... uh... might be working on it?
8422130
Really?...YAYS *huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugs* i love your stories... the humor in them is AWESOME
Wow foalnapping Twilight, how original of the villain. Pathetic.
...what
Might wanna double check
May they rest in peace