• Published 18th Dec 2012
  • 6,212 Views, 252 Comments

Aether, Heir of Chaos - Arcane Anonymity



Discord retired, the devious jerk. Who could have guessed 'nice' guys were so chaotic?

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Strike the earth!

Wait, what?

...

A what?!

...

Where in the nightmarish blazes of the darkest pit of the Collective did they get a-... my house! Ow! My ribs...

...

No, no, (ow, that hurts) I'll get it. I don't want to leave the Cutie Mark Crusaders unsupervised with one of those. They know the stuff in my personal collection is 'ask first', no exceptions.

...

Of course! But I'm going to need concentration, could you please take this to another room?

...

Eh, whatever, use it? I've told you this story before, and more than just show you what happened, it'll give you a little additional insight - just as long as you don't pause... well, this button here allows you to edit things, so I guess you can go at it in whichever way you like.

*****

Is this thing on?

Uh... alright... what is supposed to go next? Oh! The light is on.

Uhm... after- after being made fun of, Aether sighed. He started thinking.

He can be strange, but it's that same quality that allows him to predict when something is about to happen. He made a guess.

"Pinkie, you can come out now." He said out loud.

"Aww... how did you know I was here?" The pink pony's head appeared from inside a hay bale.

"You just told me." He replied with a smirk.

He guessed correctly.

"How long have you been there?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I juuuust got here!" She replied cheerfully, sticking her hooves out of the bale and tipping it over. She trotted over to the table wearing the hay, and nopony gave her a second glance.

"Did you know Twilight's family is nobility?" Aether asked, curious to know if Pinkie had divination powers.

"Ha! Called it!" Pinkie pumped a hoof into the air triumphantly. "Are you a duchess?!"

"Marquise." Aether corrected.

"Shoot! So close!"

"Do pray tell, what tipped you off?" When he's shapeshifted into a prince, his speech patters turn... interesting.

Pinkie made a dismissive gesture with her hoof. "Come on. Foal-sat by a princess? Even though real-Cadence is super-nice and all, it would be a little hard for her to convince those meanie-pants upstairs to let her be a foal-sitter for just anypony - I mean, they would be all over one another trying to get a princess to foal-sit their kids!"

Twilight's eyes widened. That had made a surprising amount of sense for Pinkie.

"Besides, I keep mailing them cake from your parties, and Derpy said that the address is in one of the fancy districts of Canterlot!" Pinkie added.

Twilight let out a tiny 'oh, that'.

Pinkie's head and legs retreated inside the hay once more, before making it burst from the inside. All of the hay turned into flower petals, bubbles, and colorful sparks, making everypony turn to Aether with a questioning look on their faces.

He gave them a tiny smile, and made a halo glow behind his head.

In any case, Pinkie had two boxes balanced on her back. Placing the smaller, gift-wrapped box to the side, she presented the larger one with a flourish.

"A baker's dozen special cupcakes! The deepest, darkest chocolate possible for ponies!"

Aether brought the box inside his air bubble and sniffed, then blinked out a stinging sensation.

"Pinkie, these things can clear my sinuses from the smell alone, and I think they are burning my nose hairs."

"These are the favorite chocolate cupcakes of the princess! Chocolate and hot sauce!"

"F-five skull monster sauce?" Twilight stammered, reflexively taking a step back.

"Yepperoni!" She said, producing a bottle from... somewhere... and drinking a mouthful. She coughed a little, and her eyes watered, but didn't seem to have any trouble withstanding that thing. I would be crying for mercy. At the hospital. It's the spiciest sauce you can buy or make without meddling with alchemy and magical ingredients in Equestria.

"Did you add the secret special ingredient?" Aether asked.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.

"Ah! Exxxcellent..." He rubbed his hooves together as a mischievous grin spread through his muzzle.

"So... what's with th' present?" Applejack asked, motioning as if to poke the ribboned box, but hesitating and retracting her hoof; being wary to not set it off it it was a prank was wise, but she needn't have bothered.

"Here!" She slide the box towards Aether. It was a pretty little thing, wrapped in a glossy sky blue paper with a royal blue ribbon.

"For me? Why?" He grasped it in his hooves and stared at it, before turning to Pinkie. She was smiling softly. No large, toothy grin, no ear-to-ear smile... just a kind, warm smile. She stood next to him, and spoke.

"You have the eyes I used to have." She said, hugging him across the barrel with both hooves.

The others looked puzzled, but none were surprised the same as him. He gaped, before he began to chuckle. Low, soft chuckles that come from the content happiness that warms the heart and reminds you of all of the kindness that exists in the world. He returned the hug with his awkwardly-long legs, but that was the way he knew, and I bet Pinkie knew that back then. He also draped his wings over her.

In this case, it means something like... 'you are the wind under my wings'. Pinkie hit home, and did so with just a glance and a few words.

"I should have guessed you'd know..." He used a wing to brush tears out of his face. He is a sensitive stallion- man... he's kind. Some clouds let out a short drizzle, emotion having affected his control for a moment; Ponyville was mostly clear, though, so few ponies even noticed.

"Know what, darling?" Rarity tilted her head at the pair.

The two of them exchanged looks, and Aether nodded. They separated, and Pinkie turned to her friends while Aether sniffled and gingerly took the present, weighting it on a hoof. It was heavy, and made him very curious as to what had the strange mare just given him.

"He had a rough fooooaaa-.... childhood?" She asked, turning back to him in time to see a nod of confirmation, and turned back. "That. Childhood."

"Yup. I wasn't born in any Canterlot, that's for sure." He said, still eyeing the present. "Did you know that even the trash is clean in there?"

He moved as if to speak, but decided against it, then again, and again he kept quiet.

"You could say... friendship helped a lot." He finally said. What was the harm?

"Got in a lot of trouble?" Rainbow asked, her expression softer than her usual smug confidence.

"I was poor, back when I was little." He scratched his head, since he's not very comfortable with speaking about himself. "Dad was never home, didn't send enough money... cramped apartment. The works."

"I was... less than four I guess... sometimes, all I had to eat was an egg for the day."

"Wait, only one?" Applejack asked, incredulous. She shook her head. "That's no good, a growin' foal-"

"Not a foal, but the message got through." He interrupted. "But there was nothing more. Hell, sometimes not even that. Mom got really sad whenever that happened."

He sighed.

"Still, I met another boy back in kindergarten, and we became friends; we traded lunches, you see." He chuckled. "Even though it was just a sandwich, he managed to get his mom to meet mine over them. She would sometimes invite mine over for coffee and some toast... that's all she had some days."

Pinkie went for another hug, and Rarity furrowed her brow.

"I don't know how, but we moved to a larger house. It was cold in winter some times, but it was way better. Things got better, much better, so stop it with the sad faces." He ruffled Pinkie's mane affectionately. "Mom got a very nice job, thanks to a friend of grandpa."

I remember he told me the whole story.

"You must miss your family." Twilight said, ears flat against her head.

"Oh, Discord is crafty." Aether said in response. Of course, the statement confused them. "He is very, very clever; if there is something he can do regardless of his situation, is find loopholes."

Seeing that the others still couldn't make out the meaning behind his cryptic comment, he added. "He made absolutely sure that picking me wouldn't cause a disturbance, lest the Elements block him."

"Besides, I really, really needed a big change in my life."

Here's a list, lemme see... fifth point of consideration: Able to take a loss, and big changes. Not to say he actually lost anything... I don't know if I should say more, since it really isn't my place to tell.

He carefully undid the ribbon with his magic, and gently peeled off the wrapping. The white box laid before him, and he felt a peaceful warmth inside of him.

A gift.

For him.

All because somepony wanted to make him feel better over something she had no control over.

He is still surprised by ponies like that.

He opened the box slowly, since he knew that, if anything, the contents would be surprising. Indeed, the box contained three cogs, made of a smooth, rust red stone polished to a nice shine; one was the size of his human palm, the others the size of his hoof.

"Pinkie, are these... you seriously..." He, again, had a goofy smile on his face. He knew exactly what they were.

Twilight looked into the box and scratched her head. She, too, recognized the stone, but the reason or Aether's excitement was lost on her.

"Some sort of bauxite mechanism?" She said, likely trying to see if voicing her thoughts could bring order to them.

"Yes!" He yelled, holding one of the larger ones high in the air. He then began to laugh, getting a few odd glances from ponies around, but all they saw a new unicorn and Pinkie, put two and two together, and figured she had done something weird again.

He knew he shouldn't cause a scene, so his horn glowed and a transparent bubble encased them again.

"With these, we shall make the blood-of-earth answer our call!" He bellowed at the heavens, shaking the carved stone at them. "Our forges will be mighty! Our problems shall be answered! All will tremble before us! Neither sieges nor carp shall trouble our fair citizens with this power!"

He laughed like a fool for a while until his sides ached. Then he fell back, stone still in hoof, and let out some more loud guffaws.

Dash was confused at first - she hadn't gotten this kind of reaction from him with her awesome prank which ended in Rose, Lily and Daisy getting really puffy hairdos- but a few stones and now he was rolling on the floor? Well, I liked that prank, but this surprised him very, very much!

His laugh was contagious, and even Rarity giggled a little seeing his enjoyment despite not quite understanding it.

He calmed down eventually, and the bubble popped.

"Whew! Pinkie, I'm not going to ask how did you know this would work, what I am going to ask, is where did you get them?" He gasped and panted, before forcefully righting himself. He doesn't like getting dirt or dust on himself.

"Well, I know a pony who knows a pony..."

"And- wait, do you have Aluminum?" He asked, changing the mood suddenly once more.

"It's-" Twilight began to explain, but he cut in.

"Really expensive and rare?" He smirked, clutching the stone tighter; that grin of his only grew wider when he got a confused nod in return. "Oh boy, if I play my cards right, with my SCIENCE!" A small peal of thunder...err, thundered from nowhere as he pointed dramatically towards the sky. "I will become stupidly rich. I just need some... connections."

The way he stressed that word made Rarity's ears flicker, and in no time at all she was smirking.

"I'm going to treasure these forever." He said, making surprisingly dexterous use of his hooves. He's rather aware of his own magic flow, so I guess it wasn't that hard for him to figure out the fingerless ways. "Bauxite mechanisms are too precious."

"Is that 'nother human thang?" Applejack adjusted the hat on her head.

"Eh... more like an obscure reference." He looked over the stone. "A game assigned certain properties and values for the different materials in it, and the only reasonable option for a stone which wouldn't melt in magma was bauxite, leading players to hoard it with a vehemence that would rival a dragon's. It's long since been updated, making it less important to guard it, but I've been playing since before that. It's sentimental."

The others understood him a little better then. Not much, but progress was progress.

The stone itself had teeth as wide as they were tall and long, the whole thing being about an inch thick. All of the corners were beveled.

He inspected the other large gear, looking just like the first and, turning it around, could see that it was very different. It was engraved. Each tooth had a symbol carved on it! A flame, a feather, a drop of water...

"Pinkie, how did you get these things engraved only a little over an hour after my arrival?" He admired the back, which had six snowflakes engraved on the sides of a tooth and the remaining two had a circle and eight triangles -a sun- and a 'black' circle with a crescent inside. "It's very precise - the order is the same and everything."

"My friend was busy with work, sorry it took so long." The pink mare shrugged.

He took the smaller one, now knowing what to expect of it. Each... this thing says the top of the tooth is called 'top land'... each one had a five-pointed star engraved on it, while the bottom had each of the symbols that adorned the space between points on his own star.

"Seeing this kind of work, and the time it took, tell your friend that I'll know who to ask for in the future." He said, making Pinkie grin widely. "Though I am slightly uncomfortable knowing that you got this good a look at my cutie marks."

"Wait, cutie marksssss? As in, more than one?" Rainbow Dash asked, eyes widening in horror. She was imitated by Rarity and Applejack.

"Seeing that one is the symbol of chaos, I am pretty sure it was given to me by Discord, and is thus something not in the interest of the Crusaders." He tapped his chin in thought. "Besides, maybe it'll remind them of the Cutie-Pox too much to ask me about it." His words calmed the other mares.

"What does this mean?" Twilight pointed to the smaller gear. It's much more polite than pointing at his flank.

Nice as it may be.

"It means 'Om'." He began chanting the syllable repeatedly for a few moments, closing his eyes and putting on a neutral expression. In this mock-meditative state, he added. "I take it to mean that, while humans in my world don't have the ability to externalize their power, they do have something, as they do the means to control it."

"And this one?"

"The taijitu used to symbolize the concept of Yin-Yang. It means internal and external, light and dark, mental/spiritual and physical, female and male; it is used to describe duality and harmony. Representing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world; how they originate from each other as they interrelate to one another. Complementary forces interacting to form a whole greater than either separate portion." He paused and blinked several times. "Wow, I sound like an encyclopedia."

He shrugged. "Those two are Eastern symbols and concepts, while these others are Occidental in origin. It's more than a bunch of magic and mystical symbols; this is a mixture of them, each meaningful in its own right... I have always been told I'm quite creative, but a good portion of what I do is mix things..." He looked up, his train of thought carrying him far away.

He might depend on his willpower and imagination powers to bridge over some gaps and smooth some rough-hewn edges, but he is very, very good in magic, as well as inventive and versatile. Everypony (regardless of their talent or skills) has a favored way of shaping magic, discussions of such can be varied and devolve into pointless arguments quickly, but Aether... well, one might think he favors fire and its associated metaphors, but he's more about air.

He explained the zodiac of his world to me, and 'Libra' is an air sign... when he uses magic, he makes it sing. Sure, his time in the human education system made his formulaic magic very impressive, and once human technology got thrown into the mix? It's beyond words!

But... his true intent when casting a spell is to make the magic sing and shine. Be it in a way that dazzles and speaks of power, or in soft tones and colors for less intense situations.

His musings about combinations of magic were interrupted by Pinkie's sounds of excitement.

"Hey! If you cutie mark is mystic, then you can help out Sweetie Belle open an optic clinic and help them become 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Occultists'!" She bounced in place.

He laughed while the others stared in shock.

"I think you mean 'oculists'!"

*****

Hmm... this should be enough for now. Now to edit-

Huh!? I can't believe I said all that! This has to go. And this too.

"Hey, you alright?"

Ah!! I mean! YES!

"Let's see what you've got."

No!

"Aww... must you delete that? I think it's cute."

It's embarrassing!

"Well, at least keep one of the comments of my physique... that one!"

Eep!

"Look, if you edit out too many things, it takes away that personal touch! This isn't Starswirl's Treatise of the Three Tribes, you know."

F-fine! Doesn't the patron of monster ponies have better things to do than-

"Not any more! Come back here, please."

Eep...

Author's Note:

One of the assistants helped with this part.

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