//------------------------------// // At odds // Story: Foal Necromancer: Soul's Rebirth // by Bold Promise //------------------------------// ~~~ ⚕ ~~~ Cross Heart’s language link wore off after a few more moments. I drew attention to that and Cadance replaced the effect, however it appeared that the vision link was beyond her ability similarly to the therapist. It didn’t matter. I could handle myself well enough even if it wasn’t so uneventful. We hadn’t moved from our spot in the castle hall, it seemed Shining had a few grievances he needed to share as soon as he could, notably aggressively in tone I would add. “Why did you attack those guards?” It was understandable. A high rank can’t be achieved easily without dedication. A dedicated soldier would need to hold authority close to his heart, he would need to take to the mental conditioning of his training like fish to water. I wasn’t getting away with my reckless actions easily. "It is as I’ve said earlier. They went after me first. I merely fended them off.” “Wrong answer, I guess we can just discuss your punishment and be done with it.” “Of course you would say that,” I sighed. He was definitely not budging on the issue. “Before you indulge too eagerly in your bias and decide on the nature of the just ‘punishment’ you already want to visit on me, may I present my defense?” “I've already asked you four times. I hope you realize that an actual court of law would not have had this kind of patience, especially with your attitude.” ‘Well, perhaps if you asked me in a civil manner those first three times, instead of surrounding me with a mob and then interrogating me, then maybe I would’ve been able to offer a more satisfactory response.’ “Very well then, I will be to the point,” I bowed my head in deference. “There would be the matter of your soldiers’ insufficient training very definitely costing lives very soon. Their own, mine, as well as the lives of bystanders, all because I inadvertently brought danger with me in the form of beasts originating from the same realm I came from, apparently hunting me for some unknown reason.” “I was under the impression that Cross Heart was left to guard you, and that you ran away while she was distracted with defending you from said beasts,” Shining retaliated. “Oh, that makes everything better, doesn’t it? Your soldiers aren’t properly capable of the task, so a therapist was charged with my safety instead.” He was likely about to argue something in return, I wasn’t interested. “That said, as much as my own safety is a priority, the fact that I am indirectly responsible for the imminent injury, death and worse of innocents leaves a sour taste in my mouth, so I decided to try to take matters into my own hands. Certainly we can agree to this much common ground, Shining Armor?” “So is that why you tried to escape the castle?” His momentum faltered, but he was not giving up so easily. “I did consider trying to escape your custody, but I could not forget about the seals your princesses have on me in order to keep tabs on my whereabouts. Quite bothersome, honestly. I also wished to attempt to draw out any entities that might potentially be behind these creatures being sent after me by isolating myself from any potential meat shields, but that didn't work very well. Since you wouldn't let me leave and minimize the risk to anyone aside for myself, I decided to see if your men were capable of handling their own against the beasts. So far, I’m not convinced.” “That may be true,” Shining admitted, “but the way you went about it was still disruptive and unnecessary. You could’ve asked in a civil manner, instead of commiting nothing short of assaulting officers of the law.” “Perhaps you didn’t hear me when I explained how urgent this is.” “And perhaps you took me for a foal. Cut the chaff, kid. From that cruel smile on your face during the act, it was pretty clear your motivations weren’t as noble as you’re trying to make them out to be.” He was very eager to push his point. “If you don't agree, then it just means you don't want to understand. I get it, kid. You have issues you need to deal with. But this isn’t any kind of justification. Either you apologize for what you did, or undergo disciplinary action.” "Excuse me? Leaving aside your blatant patronizing behavior, what am I being ‘disciplined’ for?" That seemed to have made him stumble in his impetus, if I were to guess by his brief delay and increasing anger in his response. "Disrupting the peace, assault and battery, resisting arrest, assaulting officers of the law, attempting to escape custody. Should I go on?" "Alright. But what are the laws against having these things done by someone that never agreed to your laws? I never signed anything, I'm not even a citizen." As far as I could sense, he was getting tired of my belligerence. He may be a soldier, but patience for adversaries and discipline only intersect so much. "So you’re claiming diplomatic immunity, or maybe you’re claiming to be a minor as well? Either case directly concerns your mother. So which one is it?" I would’ve chuckled at the attempt to disorient me if it weren’t for the rising restlessness in the soldier’s tone. "I don’t care what you tell Luna, I wouldn’t care what you would tell my actual mother if you were to contact her from beyond the grave. You could convince Luna to fashion some alternative punishment for me, something suitably humiliating to suit your tastes, but it would not work towards making me more humble, it would only work towards alienating me further. You fail to recognize the root of this issue, that being not a lack of firm guidance, but a lack of any patience for your soldiers’ arrogance. I need a lot of familiarity to develop anything resembling sympathy, Shining, and so far, I have no reason to give two scabs about any of you. Luna is getting there, but you and your men?” “And why should anyone want to have anything to do with you?” he shot back. “I recognize you do not owe me the patience to suffer for my impatience, but you yourself fail to admit that I owe you and your precious order of hierarchy exactly just as much patience as you, in turn, are currently showing me. All you have to do is to not force your will on me just because you may feel I am stepping out of line, but apparently that’s too difficult for you. You don’t see me trying to make you submit to anything, you don’t see me forcing you to apologize to me for the unnecessary way your men tried to manhandle me, but you’re unable to admit that your role is not that of the victim. We're both at odds with the other, we both ask the other for something the other can't accept. But I'm the only one willing to meet the other halfway. You argue my reasons are unfair, that my justifications don't matter and that my motivations are the only relevant things in this dispute. But you're not that honest yourself, are you?” “Excuse me?” ‘How nice, now you’re actually on the defensive.’ “You’re incensed not because I hurt those men, but because of my act of defying your laws in itself. You see me rejecting your faith in your order of law, and it infuriates you. You want me to fall in line, so as to reaffirm your faith with either the ‘returning to the fold’ or the ‘just punishment’ of someone as controversial as I am. To reaffirm your self-assurances regarding how the world falls in line with your wishes as long as you’re on the side of righteous good. Shining Armor. While a dislocation is still a very serious medical matter, with your magic-using doctors, complete recovery would take less than a week at most. If you don't back off, I'll make sure you would take a lot longer than that to recover.” “You really do talk a lot, don’t you?” I was about to charge him, when I was suddenly reminded that Cadance was still present by a couple of hooves holding me in place, and a surprisingly cold tone coming from behind me. “Shining, is there a reason why you are antagonizing him so much, aside for what reason he suggested?” “I…” He actually started to fumble. All that confidence, crumbling when he didn’t have his bias to fall back on. Fair enough, he did do a good job of steeling himself, ”Honey, he’s not just some colt making a mess, he’s an alicorn! He’s supposed to symbolize something for Equestria, not even considering what influence he will have on the world with his magic! You have the Crystal Heart, Celestia and Luna have the sun and moon, if we don’t fix his attitude, he might turn out to be the next Discord!” I briefly noticed familiar magic flaring in the background. “Discord, really? You mean the mad god, right? So you’re saying you want me to cease my evil ways before it’s too late? I didn’t take you for a zealot, Shining.” “Coming from a misanthropic anarchist that we’re supposed to trust with the responsibility of an alicorn? Look me in the eye and tell me why I should trust you with that kind of responsibility!” It dawned on me, “...Wait. Are you actually looking to guide me as someone to look up to? This is too precious.” A throat clearing drew our attention to our left. ~~~ 🌙 ~~~ I teleported in, to find my charge arguing with Shining Armor. “So what did I miss?” I asked, after I drew their attention. “Oh, aunt Luna! It’s really nice to see you again.” The younger princess’ stuttering attempt to wrestle our discussion’s focus couldn’t be more evident. Luckily my charge decided to cut to the chase after I picked him up from Cadance. “I beat up some presumptuous guards and Shining won’t stop griping about it. The guards wanted me to behave obediently and wait on others’ constant supervision and direction, and I wanted some time to myself after extended talking to a professional on the field of taking others’ life apart. You can decide to ‘discipline’ me, but it would only yield negative results.” “...I see.” “I would discuss this matter in further insight later once Shining isn’t participant in the discussion, I don’t want to encourage him beyond his groundless self-assurances and ego. Give a zealot an inch he’ll tie you to the stake.” It seemed the former captain missed the meaning behind the insinuation directed at him. After all, stake-burnings haven’t happened since before Discord’s rule. I took the initiative, “Really now? I was under the impression that you two got along well, at least last time you spoke to each other.” Shining took the opportunity to jibe in return, “That was before I learned that he’s actually a reclusive murderer in disguise.” Of course, the death mage in question decided to state his disagreement. “Reclusive? Definitely. Disguise, perhaps circumstantially. But ‘murderer’ is such a loaded word. I would rather consider myself a civil war veteran that had to defend himself after his side lost. I also believe such descriptors shouldn't be used in a hallway, where anyone could overhear and interpret your accusations in the worst manner possible.” “Suddenly you care about what others think of you?” “Not really. I just don’t want to get poisoned by an overzealous pony because of rumor. But what do I know? Ponies don’t murder… except they did try it on Luna once upon a time.” That seemed to have given the former captain pause. After I briefly checked for eavesdroppers and finding none, I teleported us to the royal dining room, considering that a meal would serve towards more amiable demeanors. “I was not aware you took part in a civil war,” I pointed out. “It didn’t come up. Besides, it failed. And if you want to be technical, you need to be part of the winning side in order to be called a veteran." I tried to keep things light, but it didn't work. I looked to the side, "People died and nothing changed. It doesn't change anything here either. I’m still no less a risk to your people, I’m still undergoing rehabilitation; or at least I was until your psychoanalyst went and said there's nothing she can do for me until I lay my past to rest.” Cadance took this opportunity to pass along the language link my way, and to explain what the colt was talking about. “We talked to Doctor Cross Heart briefly, she said that there’s an issue in particular that he has been having trouble coming to terms with. She made it sound like a pretty serious turning point in his life.” My charge started in response, “Personally, I think she just wanted to get the last word in.” Cadance strode past the unfriendly remark, “I don’t know, she did make a good point. I can’t imagine dwelling on your past would ever be helpful in any way. You could’ve tried to hide, or leave the country and try to retire. You didn’t even need to do it in a social environment, just find someone to settle down with on a farm… I see that I’m touching a nerve. You tried it, didn’t you? You’re a widower- what happened?” While she spoke, she noticed my charge's demeanor suddenly take a turn for the worse. I clarified before he had the chance to do so instead, in a less than civil manner, “Alicorns gain different abilities through their attunement. Celestia has a profound foresight that could often be considered prophetic, which she uses to great effect combined with her insight into other people and their personalities. I have a connection to the dreamworld and can travel through it under astral projection, an ability which I use in order to regularly safeguard dreamers from various entities beyond the veil. Our fair Cadance, however, can perceive the connections between people. Relationships of affection and hatred, but over all else, love. She can perceive your connection to those you care about.” “I must seem like a tangled knot of frayed strings then.” He was placated, despite his foul tone. The colt seemed set on making his dissatisfaction known, “Perhaps you’ve truly never heard of a particular act of common decency used among rational, reasonable people. It’s called respecting another’s privacy. It’s commonly described as the act of not tearing into another’s private affairs.” Ever-patient Cadance continued to ignore his derision. I certainly wouldn’t have, and it seemed that there was more than perceived ‘zealousness’ that kept him and Shining at odds. “I’m just concerned about you. What happened?” Impressively, the colt stifled his temper on his own, replacing it with a cold weariness. “Your… sympathy, has been received. However I would rather let the matter lie.” “We could discuss less troubling matters, if it weren’t for some of them being relevant. I would rather get them out of the way.” Having finished shoring the sight and language links, I took a seat at the table and sent a message for the servants to bring in tea, suspecting our discussions were about to take longer than they should. After the castle servants set the tea plate on the table, one of them moved to fill our cups before Cadance took the set in her magic and did it herself. Once the servants left, I cast a privacy spell on the chamber. Recalling my promise to enchant a set of spectacles with vision for my charge, I pulled out the accessories from my holding pocket and got to work. While I kept busy, I started speaking, “We’ve discovered why there are creatures from your previous realm pursuing you. It would appear that your arrival here wasn’t without its issues, the world itself perceives you as an invasive entity. Similarly to a living creature, it’s now trying to develop antibodies of its own by ingesting more benign instances of what type of risk it perceives you pose. It would seem that it’s in your best interest to acclimate as soon as possible. The longer you take to establish yourself as helpful rather than hurtful, the more you endanger the lives of yourself and those around you.” The two guests sat down next to each other across from my seat. They were paying close attention to my explanation, their demeanors troubled at the information. My charge, on the other hoof, took to the knowledge in a clinical way. “Spirits defy the laws of nature in order to preserve people and their justice. Predation of sapient beings, the taking of people’s lives is either rejected here, or there were preventative measures taken. I wonder, is it the world itself that behaves as an organism, or your empathic species, or whatever system it is that's reacting to the likes of me?” “Further conspiracies aside, you’re taking this better than I expected you would,” I commented. “Hardly. Apparently I am perceived as a disease by the world and it wants me dead, only this time it’s literal. Sounds about par for the course. At any rate, I'm just rationalizing this new information however I am able. It makes just about as much sense as any other theory I've had. It's certainly better than my suspicion of some secretive organization of ambitious wizards on this new world wanting to draw out sources of magic from Vertigus in order to use it to their own ends; or the worse possibility of remnant fragments of the dead gods of Vertigus, having their attention drawn here and wanting to take advantage of the particular combination of my interrupted reanimation spell and this unique body, in order to come back to the realm of the living. Instead, the real reason turned out to be a side effect of my arrival here. What proof did you say you had?” I took a while to catch up, and placed his glasses down on the table. I was supposed to concentrate for the enchantments, but it would have to suffice to merely synchronize them with his aura for now. It would make binding the spell to him easier later on by a modicum amount. ”A trustworthy source, at least assuming the Endless my sister and I have summoned from your realm follow the same 'no lying' rule as is typical to them.” That seemed to shock Cadance out of her confused idling, “Wait, you mean the Endless? With a capital E? The aspects of reality itself? Those Endless?” “Is that what those auras were?” Shining chimed in. I recalled that the former captain did develop the ability to perceive magical auras, a difficult skill to train overall, however a certainly useful one to have from a military point of view. Cadance on the other hoof, did not train this ability, having been tutored by my sister in other more pressing matters during what limited time they had before my return from banishment. Understandably, Celestia wanted to prepare a few failsafes, or at least to impart as much of her knowledge unto Cadance as she could. It was my understanding that the alicorn of love was to escape through the Mirror Portal in the event of my victory in my... altered state. Truthfully, Cadance only started training her comparatively more leisurely perception of connections between soul-hearts once her schedule cleared up.(*) “Yes, you are both correct," I answered. "We have summoned the gods of the alien realm in order to express a few grievances we had with how they were running things. We were answered by the Endless of Death and Delirium instead. Of course, their kind don’t lie, so I am fairly certain of the validity of the information the older of the two siblings offered.” ‘Although she did still mistake the nature of our kind’s empathic field. Honestly, branding?’ My charge chimed in, “My necromancy is out of my reach, so it’s no surprise that I couldn’t feel Death nearby. And my divination abilities aren’t exactly as compatible with this realm’s different magic. That said, I did smell something rotten. I just assumed it was Shining’s attitude.” The former captain briefly furrowed his brows before ignoring the immature necromancer. “What are they doing now? I’m guessing they’re acting as ambassadors?” I took a sip of tea. “Right now, I believe my sister is telling them about what unaging great-grand-grandmothers usually chat and gossip about. Likely something embarrassing for someone dear to her. I’m thinking, either something from our childhood, or from her time tutoring Cadance. Or possibly something pertaining to her dear student.” “Coming from only the second oldest alicorn in the world,” Cadance quipped. I smiled and retorted good-naturedly. “I may be old, young filly, but I prefer to preserve a certain air of mystique about me. She’s the cheeky morning pony, I’m the one that hunts changeling queens at night.” “What’s a changeling queen?” my charge inquired. Our mood dropped. Each with their own bad memories on the matter. “They’re something to be discussed along with all the other magically created abominations of the world. This one certainly is not something to discuss over pleasant company.” I pondered for a different subject, then smiled as I came up with an idea. “So Shining, tell us about your achievements. I’ve heard Captain Gleam mention you and your shared exploits together often enough, what else has the former captain of the royal guard do to earn his standing?” “You mean before I got demoted to royal spouse?” he chuckled ruefully, earning an elbow from his wife.