CCC-To Find Her Place

by Fresnor

Who are you really

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

If there was any time that I would need to talk to one of you, now would probably be that time. While I still dislike most of the nobles I have met, things of changed a bit in relation to one of them. I had always thought that Duke Okami was a waste of space like many of the others, yet recently my thoughts on him have changed. It all started with a sparring match, which ended with an unusual situation that I don’t want to talk about, and from that point on things just felt odd.

The biggest thing that I started to notice was that he was no longer acting like he always did whenever I would see him. While he still seems to be keeping tabs on me like before, he hasn’t been as annoying about it as before, he has actually been nice in fact. While I was unsure of what his game was the first few times, I actually started to enjoy myself around him, especially when he lent his assistance with some of my studies. In fact I was surprised with how much he knew, especially when it comes to the various languages used in the library. Not only does he speak most of the common languages that I know from your world, but he even has mastered a few from some of the others linked to the kingdom. I’m starting to suspect that there is a lot more about him that many don’t know and few suspect, though the Admiral had warned me not to underestimate him.

I’m really not sure what to think about him now, especially after how different he seems now compared to the first few times I met him. At first I thought he was just another noble like Blueblood, albeit a lot more charming, but now I’m rather confused. I’ve actually started to want to speak with him more often now that that he isn’t pushing me away like he does everyone else. At the same time he isn’t trying to draw me into his faction but instead avoids politics when speaking with me except during the usual meetings. I’d almost go so far as to call him a friend lately instead of and annoyance that I’m acquainted with. Whatever is going on though I just hope it’s not a sign of something that I should be wary of. I’ve tried talking with the Admiral about what has been going on lately, yet for some reason he declines to comment on any of it, and instead he just watches and I’m sure I’ve seen him laughing about it as well. At least if something is going on he’ll warn me before it does so I suppose I may just be worrying too much.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I was taking a short break from sparring with Duke Okami by watching a few of the guards go through their own practice. It’s been a long time since anyone has tried to hassle me about my choice of weapon, though if it’s because of my actions that day those years ago or if the Duke Okami has been keeping them away. Either way it’s nice that he has been taking time to help me out with my training, though he’s obviously been getting better now as well. Strange how they always were heckling me about what I was doing, but watching them now I’ve learned that they really aren’t that good themselves. In fact I think most of them might be even worse than the Equestrian Royal Guard was when I first saw them. They haven’t had a reason to fight in so long that they barely go through the motions now.

I turn my head to look towards the other side of the training grounds to see the few exceptions to the rule. The one kitsune who yelled at the others during my first test of my weapon I learned was the commander of the guard. I never learned her name and from what I hear it’s a closely guarded secret known to only those she respects. Because of this she goes by many other names given to her by the guards such as; Commander, Lady Ruthless, and That Crazy Psycho Bitch. Looking over her grey form I can believe some of the stories I’ve heard, though it just impresses me more considering she is in the ranks of the nobles.

Learning that she was outside the usual hierarchy wasn’t that much of a surprise to me after seeing her in action. While I knew that Duke Okami was still taking it easy on me, though I have surprised him a time or two to his regret, I knew that I was far from being able to take her on in a sparring match and I don’t think there were many that could. It didn’t matter what weapon she used either as she was always able to wield whatever she had as if it were part of her own body. I was getting close to that state with my rosary whip, but even then I still would have years until I would stand a chance.

I started to wonder when Duke Okami would return as he had been gone a while after saying he needed to speak with me about something. I was intrigued enough about him actually asking me to wait for him to speak as he usually would just blurt things out so I decided to humor him on this. Of course if I knew he was going to take so long in returning I would have asked him to set a time and place to meet.

Just as I was about to head out elsewhere while leaving a message for him I spotted him padding his way back with his usual grin on his face. “You sure took your time getting back. I could have done a quick lap around the city and still had time to spare instead of just sitting here.” I half-joked at his approaching figure which makes him look a bit abashed. “Sorry, it took me a bit longer than I thought to get permission. Now come on.” With that he starts walking away leaving me confused. “Permission? For what? What’s going on?” He just smiles and grins without saying anything I just grumble as I get up to follow him as I recognize the mood he is in and realize he won’t say anything until we get to wherever it was he had planned for us to go.

Nothing is said as we walk towards our destination, him because he is being secretive and me as I was sulking a bit. I never could figure out how he could cause some of the reactions I had to him, but he always managed to somehow do it. Eventually we arrive at our destination and I look on it in surprise. “This is one of the portals to the edge of the kingdom, why are we heading out there?”

His grin somehow manages to get even larger as he explains. “Well you’ve been talking about wanting to study more about the portals linked to the kingdom, so what better way than to actually go out to one that is about to open?” I just stare at him for a moment, trying to process what he just said, before letting out a little squee and dance around a bit in excitement. I immediately start blushing at my loss of composure as he starts chuckling at me.

“Ehem, well what are we waiting for then? Though why would we need permission just to travel out to examine one of the portals?” He just shrugs as he begins to activate the portal towards our destination. “We really didn’t need it, but it’s nice to have it just in case. You wouldn’t want to accidentally trip and fall through forcing you to be stuck somewhere that you aren’t familiar with for the rest of your life.” I just glare at him lightly before shaking my head at his attempt at a joke as we walk through the now active portal.

Seeing as this is my first time using one of the portals between the city and the edge of the kingdom I stumble a bit on exiting. I recognize the feeling from it as being similar to teleportation so it wasn’t as bad as it probably could have been. Looking over to the Duke I notice a disappointed look on his face as he watches me, causing me to tilt my head in confusion at him.

“I could have sworn that I heard that you never used these portals before since you arrived. Usually the first time involves collapsing upon exiting the portal.” My look of confusion turns into a glare of annoyance at his attempt at a prank like this. “Well I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve had experience with teleportation spells which cause a similar reaction then.” A look of shock crosses his face at this. “Wait, you mean it actually is possible to jump around between places without using something like this?”

My look of annoyance changes to one of exasperation at once again hitting a topic that shows how far behind they are in their collection of common spells; even with all the knowledge they have of other places. “Sometimes I wonder what the kingdom does with all the knowledge they have in the library. While it’s not exactly common it is a pretty well-known spell back in Equestria. It just takes a good amount of power to actually be able to cast it as well as a lot of training. I’ve actually never been able to get it to work completely right myself. I’ve ended up in too many trees thanks to that spell.” I roll my eyes as he laughs at this bit of information. “Yeah, laugh all you want but at least I actually know how to cast the spell. Though if it’s really as similar to that portal as it felt then I may have some new ideas to try with it.”

I briefly catch sight of him rolling his eyes at me as think on this while following him to where the portal is about to open. My musings stop when I feel some kind of pressure building up in the direction we are headed. “What in the world? Is that the portal preparing to open up? I haven’t felt anything like that before.” At his nod I try to study the phenomenon though it’s hard to get a good read on it. While I had never seen the portal that Twilight used I did hear a bit about it. Unfortunately because I never saw it I had no idea if it felt similar to this one or not.

Soon enough the feeling reached a peak and the very air itself was torn asunder as the portal ripped its way into reality in front of us. I watched in awe as this happened and gazed through it to see an entirely new, to me, world. We had to jump out of the way though as diamond dogs and a couple of kitsune started transporting crates of something through it. “Right on schedule, the portal to the city is already open so you can head right on through without any delays.” Duke Okami directs them over towards that point as I examine the portal from various angles.

It’s strange to say the least as it just hovers there in place, but when viewed from the back it’s like it isn’t even there. It’s tempting to try and see what happens if I try to pass through it from the back, but with all the activity going on it would probably be a terrible thing to try testing right now. “So what do you think?” I turn to see the Duke walking back towards me after he finished directing traffic towards the portal. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. Even the one that I took to get here was nothing like this, though I can probably guess why. I wonder if there is a way to stabilize these things so they can stay open all the time like that one.”

He winces as I say this which leads me to believe that it might have already been attempted. “That is actually a really bad idea. That other one is only like that as it was opened to link to this pocket reality which didn’t exist until that moment. It has been tried with some of these other ones but always ended in disaster in some way depending on the destination. One of the attempts was located in a volcano and when the portal collapsed it caused the volcano to erupt destroying the town below it which we found out when the portal opened again on its own. Usually though it causes the portal to rubber band on itself causes strange time dilation issues depending on how time flows when the worlds aren’t connected. Sometimes time just stops on the other side until it opens again, and other times centuries or even millennia pass instead of the normal months or years. A couple of those latter situations were forced on some of the worst exiles.”

Something about what he said bothers me for some reason, but I can’t figure out why. He continues his little speech turning towards this portal. “This one is one of the rare few that are pretty consistent in when it opens. Every other week we have supply runs there and backs and even better is that right the area the portal open into is uninhabited. The beings that live on that planet are a long distance away and it would take them decades if not longer to get to it at their current levels of technology. They don’t even have any magic over there either.”

I turn towards him at that as I had wondered about that issue before. “If there is no magic there then how can the portal even open there let alone let us use magic there?” He chuckles as he sees that he has caught my interest. “Well it’s not really that bad, you just have to ration your magic a bit as you can’t recharge anywhere near as fast. In fact using magic seems to leave a trace of it in that world meaning that the kitsune there now can use more magic than the first few there. The stronger the magic used the more that seems to bleed into the world until eventually it starts spreading on its own and growing.”

I recognize that as some of the symptoms of magic contamination, yet with a world that had no magic the effects seemed to not be as extreme. I guess with nothing to inhibit the influx of magic the planet just absorbs it naturally instead of trying to fight against it. “What about the inhabitants of that world, what will happen to them when magic becomes a fact of life there?” He shrugs as if it didn’t really matter. “Well if it’s like some of the other places recorded then it should enhance them in some way, how is unknown until it happens. Often sentient creatures actually get smarter with magic in their system or have some way to channel it into spells. The latter is most likely here as they seem to practice some sort of tribal rituals already so later they will have actual power behind them.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this information, but decide that it was probably a matter of time anyways with the portals opening at random and causing leakage anyways. “What do the inhabitants there look like anyways?” He smiles once again as he waves me around to an area off to the side of the portal while still retaining a decent view of it. He then conjures up a small globe and I recognize a scrying spell being cast upon it. Soon enough a view of the forested planet zooms by through the globe as he tries to focus on what I asked for. Soon enough we are shown a small tribe of the creatures and only one thing really comes to mind. “Are those teddy bears?”

<><><><><><><>

Years passed and things between me and the Duke were steadily getting more interesting. He still kept up appearances to the other nobles yet he always acted like himself whenever he was with me. It still involved a bit of the face he showed others, but I found that he overly-exaggerated those parts of himself so they would focus on that and not what parts were really him. So I should have been more prepared when he asked the big question yet it was enough to drive everything out of my head even though I still said yes. It took me a few days to realize what just happened as I was talking with the Admiral who was laughing uproariously the entire time.

Months later it still all seemed like a dream to me as I was walking down the aisle towards Duke Okami and the Lord and Lady. I barely remembered the past few months though I remember something about a linking of souls and a few other rituals that were done, but it didn’t seem important at the time. I glance down at the white dress, that was trimmed in silver, I was wearing, which matched my winter coat as we decided on a winter wedding, though I was sure Rarity could have done a better job if she were still around. My soon-to-be-husband was wearing a tunic of rich gold as he watched me slowly approach him with his usual lovable grin plastered on his face. As I joined him in front of the rulers I nervously glanced at the gathered crowd of nobles who were there as noble weddings rarely happened, the last on being a couple centuries ago.

I could barely hear what the Lord and Lady were saying as my eyes were locked with Duke Okami’s. I felt reassured a bit by his gaze though I was still questioning myself about what I was doing. I barely managed to make it through my oaths to him and the various other ‘I do’ moments when I felt the Lady’s magic settle over us. From that moment I no longer questioned if I was doing the correct thing as everything settled into a ‘rightness’ at that moment as I could feel Okami through my magic on a deeper level. My stomach decided to start objecting though at the next words announced by Lord Inari.

“I now present to you Prince Okami and his wife Princess Flarenza!” My eyes widened as the entire court burst into an uproar at this pronouncement before my eyes darted towards his tails. Doing a quick count at least a dozen times I constantly came up with the same answer of eight. Looking back into his eyes again I muttered to him so low that he probably could barely hear it over the ruckus. “You are in so much trouble during our next sparring match.”

Author's Note:

Yeah things might seem to come out of nowhere, but this isn't meant to be a Slice of Life piece so that hurts it a bit there. Now to think of what to do to old princie-boy now that he dragged her into a position of responsibility that she never wanted. Expect a bit of trying to be different and failing hard in all the right ways. As always leave any typos, comments, and flames below of which I expect many this chapter.

Also I've got plans for the next book though I'm not sure how to run some of it quite yet. One of them is a character idea though I'm not sure if I should go with twins or triplets for it though I'm leaning towards the former. This will all happen back in Equestria again so it will be ponies, and as a small hint if it's twins it will be a unicorn and earth pony, but if triplets it will be one of each type. Leaning towards the former though as the latter came to mind thinking along the lines of alicornism though there are no plans of making a new alicorn oc appear.

Comments

[doctor_n]

*caugh* the day the teddy bears had their picnic *cough*

[john117]

“Are those teddy bears?”

what is this the forest moon of endor?

[bluerock66]

7103258
eyep

[Fresnor]

9668071
Actually, if I remember right I was going for the Paw Paw Bears.

[Zapper Frost]

My eyes widened as the entire court burst into an uproar at this pronouncement before my eyes darted towards his tails. Doing a quick count at least a dozen times I constantly came up with the same answer of eight.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, what happened to seven?!?!

Edit: just reread it after reading a bit of the next chapter, and realized it was talking about Okami, not Flarenza

[Asolem2]

Soon enough we are shown a small tribe of the creatures and only one thing really comes to mind. “Are those teddy bears?”

Care Bears

[Asolem2]

I turn my head to look towards the other side of the training grounds to see the few exceptions to the rule. The one kitsune who yelled at the others during my first test of my weapon I learned was the commander of the guard. I never learned her name and from what I hear it’s a closely guarded secret known to only those she respects. Because of this she goes by many other names given to her by the guards such as; Commander, Lady Ruthless, and That Crazy Psycho Bitch.

I like her