//------------------------------// // Recovery, Accepting the job // Story: New Life of a Crow // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Celestia POV That display was more than terrifying, but I don't blame Griever for his actions. The spell was successful for the most part, but thanks to my nephew, no, Blueblood's interruption, the spell backfired and while Misty's mind has been restored, her body is now stuck like this. Contrary to what the captain wants at the moment, Griever doesn't deserve to be punished for this, I doubt he would have reacted any different had he been in Griever's place and Twilight or Cadence been in Misty's place. I pulled away from the hug for a moment to speak to Griever. "Griever, I believe it would be best if we brought Misty to the infirmary." "I understand, no permanent damage would be nice." "I believe I should come along as well your majesty." Crystal Light said. "I was about to ask for it anyway. Misty, can you walk, or at least stand?" "I'll*cough* t-t-try." she said in a very strained voice, she probably feels as bad as she sounds She tried, but was barely able to do so alone, falling over only to have Griever catch her. I will make Blueblood pay for this out of his wallet if there is any damage at all. "If you can't do it that's fine, I'll carry you if I need to." Griever told her, she tried to respond only to have Griever silence her and lift her as a stallion would his bride just as quickly. "Luna, I need you to teleport to the infirmary and tell them to expect a patient that may need medical attention. I would heal her myself, but I don't want to risk doing anymore damage to her in her current fragile state." Griever told her, to which she did so almost immediately. "We shall make certain she receives the best treatment possible." she said before teleporting. Luna POV I can't believe this, we were so close and that fool has to go and almost ruin the best chance we may have at a worthy knight and possibly more in the past millenia. I think I'm going to enjoy watching Griever kill him as this 'Giant Dad' far more than I should, as a bonus, this may also help keep the other nobles in line. I shouldn't dwell on these thoughts as there are more important things at hand. "We have a patient likely in need of immediate medical attention arriving in a few minutes." I shouted in the RCV to all the staff. "I'm sorry, but what is the problem princess?" a nurse asked "To summarize, a spell meant to help somepony return to their original form and restore their mind was interrupted as the body started to change back and said pony is on the way with a few guests, my sister included." "Everypony get a room and the equipment ready!" all available staff followed the command, quickly might I add "Is there anything else you think we may need to know?" "The patient is the wolf sir Griever arrived with, she can't stand on her own and she has extreme difficulty speaking. None of us are sure whether or not this is caused by the pain or having not spoken in so long because of the body and mind regression. We didn't want to risk teleporting her here in her current state which is also why none of us tried to use magic to heal her. I should also inform you that archmage Crystal Light is coming as well." "Thank you. I'm going to help with preparations, it's a good thing she is being brought here physically then as she would likely be hurt by any magic at the moment. Please if you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask." "We are all grateful for your service miss?" "Tender Care." Griever POV I think it goes without saying I am absolutely livid. I didn't wait this long to get her back only to have some spoiled piece of shit almost, if not completely take her from me depending on the lingering effects of that failed spell. I honestly hope memories are transferred as well so I can think of more ways to torture him, Dante's nine circles of Hell, Agony, and the Tsukuyomi would be paradise compared to what I will make him suffer. I take a quick look at Celestia and see she looks like she wants to say something, but doesn't think it's a good time. I'll ask her about it later, I hope that something isn't related to the spell or else I'll need a barren wasteland for a few hours. "The infirmary is just around this corner." Celestia said, breaking me out of my thoughts "Good." We barged in and were immediately met with the medical personel who seemed to have everything set up already. They gently put Misty on the bed and took her to the ER as Crystal Light went with them. I didn't expect the ER for an uncertainty like this, but I'm not exactly surprised either and not just because of Luna. We let them do what they needed to do and waited in the lobby. I looked at Shining who was more than weary of me and noticed he also looked like he wanted to say something. I think I"ll hear it, but first. "Celestia, is there a sound proofing spell? If so I need you to cast it." "Alright." her horn glowed and a barrier formed then disappeared just as quickly, a sound bubble maybe? "It is up." "Good, now to business. It looked like you and Shining had something to say so starting with the person who's most likely piss me off, let's hear it." "You realize how much trouble you're in right? Even knowing dark magic is illegal, using it to try and kill a prince isn't just illegal, it is a guaranteed death sentence. I also thought you said you could only use elemancy." Shining said "And I didn't lie, I do not lie, I only speak half truths, whole truths, and I may bend the truth, but I'm not a liar. To clear some of this up, darkness is an element. I've been using dark magic since before any of the other races even existed, I already went through this with BOTH princesses and they basically gave me a free pass and you couldn't punish me for dark magic anyway as it needs to be illegal at that time. I started learning elemancy before laws were even a thought as far as the races of this time go. Either my dark magic is different from yours, or I am highly resistant if not immune to it's corruption. I doubt knowing dark magic is illegal as if you don't study it you won't know how to efficiently deal with practitioners of it. How can you counter something if you don't know what to expect? As for attacking the prince, I was torturing him, not killing him as I wanted to wait for the duel to do so, and BOTH princesses basically gave me a free pass on that as well. Now let me ask you something that will surely change your perspective on this." "I doubt it." you're going to regret that "What if Cadence had been in Misty's position and you in mine? I see the way you two look at eachother. I was once so fucked up mentally and emotionally that I could have made the most evil people you can think of, real or not, look like saints even heroes in comparison. I felt no love for anything even my own family, I hated everything and everyone including myself. I felt the only way the world could be saved was through subjugation or destruction, to become the new God of the world and strip free will from the equation or remove any 'errors' from existence, and if there were too many 'errors' then I simply would have erased everything and restarted, but I didn't have the power, or any of the powers I have now so I did nothing. Misty saw something in me and after all these thousands of years I still can't figure it out. She saved me and by extension the world from me, and what you have seen her as was her reward. I became immortal and overpowered while she became a highly intelligent animal who assuming her life expectancy hasn't changed will live up to around 80 or 90 I think was the average for humans. I've been waiting for a chance to save her longer than anything on this planet has lived and that prick has to go and possibly ruin it. Can you in all honesty say you wouldn't have reacted the same way? Knowing this, would you expect a different reaction from anyone else after possibly having so many years of waiting to save the only thing you have go to waste?" "I..I don't ev-" he stuttered, Cadence now trying and failing to control herself now latched on to me only to be met with a strong enough breeze to put her back in her chair. "Thank you for proving my point. Now Celestia, what did you need?" "I was hoping to hold this off for a few more days, but I was thinking of how to approach you about becoming the first knight of Equestria in over 1,000 years." "I already told you and Luna you could ask anything of me. Even if it turns out the spell failed thanks to Blueblood, you still upheld your end of the bargain and didn't try to twist the deal so you now have a friend who will never raise a weapon against you. Though I can't promise such a thing for your subjects who cross the line like those last ones and your nephew." "Please, don't refer to him as my nephew, he has gone too far in too short of a time frame." "Speaking of Blueblood, are memories and powers/ abilities transferred? If so I hope you don't mind me imprisoning or killing his friends, I think I would be more surprised to find he wasn't involved in any illegal activity." "I'm not sure as the last Duellum de Messorem Iudicium was when Luna and I were still fillies, but if they are transferred then that may have been one of the things father meant when he said to the fighters before the match started 'you keep what you kill'." HAH, that reference lives "If memories are transferred, do not hesitate to point out any crimes he or others have committed. My sister and I shall pass judgement immediately as we can also give visualization to memories, and his memory would be more than enough evidence." "Glad to see we're on the same side in this." "Thank you for accepting this responsibility, the knighting ceremony will be held in 6 days, a week before the gala." "Princess you can't be se-" "That's enough captain Armor! Celestia has my support on this so the decision is final." Luna said, I forgot she was still here, or rather I thought she went somewhere else "Don't you think this is too soon? I'll still be there, but becoming a knight in less than a week of meeting you and before my existence even becomes common knowledge I would expect to have a lot of backlash for this." I asked "Perhaps, but at this point I just want to see Blueblood's face when he hears about this." I like you almost as much as Luna now "I also want to see his arrogance turn to fear during the duel." And Luna is far ahead again, I look to the side and saw a nurse and Crystal trying to get our attention and asked them to remove the bubble "Is she alright?" "She'll be fine, there isn't any permanent damage and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her aside from the pain, but that should be gone within the next 2 days at the most. We have her on pain killers so she can talk just fine now." "Can I see her?" "Yes, but don't make too much physical contact." I heard her say as I almost ran through the door to see her on the bed looking right at me "Hey." "Hi Ryan." "It's Griever now, but you can still call me that if you want." "You always did like that name." "I did, didn't I?" "You used it as your username in every game you played." she giggled after saying that "Hey, I used other ones too." "And I remember them all: Winter Wolf, Dark Harvest, Final Requiem, Crimson Symphony, Crimson Skies, Seventh Sin, Roaring Dawn, Pecking Order, Scion of Sorcery, God Hand, False Tongue, Umbra's Lament, Muramasa, Darkwraith, Forlorn Hope, Endless Despair, Void Gazer, Child of Ash, Raven's Call, Fluffy Uni-" "Okay that's enough. Some were joke names anyway." "And the ones that weren't were usually edgy, some beyond all reasoning. How many did you actually think of?" "A few." "Even after all these years you're still so easy to mess with." We both shared a laugh. "I've waited for this for so long." I said, my eyes tearing up. "So have I, but what about-" She started. "Don't start, I'm just happy to have you back, I don't care that you're not human." "You really don't?" she asked, her eyes tearing up "You're still you, or back to who you were right? Besides, you're not just drop dead gorgeous, but cuter this way anyway." she cried into my shoulder, neither of us could be happier about this reunion.