//------------------------------// // Metaphysical discussion is not amusing. // Story: The Godking is NOT Amused // by Zemez //------------------------------// "What?!" These words echoed throughout Canterlot early the morning after Nightmare night. Those that identified the outraged voice as Princess Celestia's would privately conspire that all her precious sugar was stolen as a Nightmare Night Prank. The reality? Luna had just told her that Veretus had made Spike a knight upon the dragon's own urging. Apparently, according to laws which neither Luna nor Veretus knew of, which dated back to before the unicorns created Equestria with the earth ponies and pegasi, since Spike held no titles in Equestria, and now held the title of squire in the Holy Dragon Empire, The kingdom in which Veretus used to rule, Spike was now firstmost a citizen there, and now was a secondary citizen of Equestria. Both of them looked at her blankly. "This means spike is now subject to extraterritoriality in Equestria..." Still, the two looked at her blankly, Celestia sighed. "This means spike is no longer subject to Equestrian laws unless he does something damaging to the kingdom." Still the confusion from both the Lunar Diarch and Godking. "If spike commits a crime that is illegal here, and legal in Veretus's world, he cannot be prosecuted." The Solar Mare said with great exasperation. "I do not think we get what you are trying to say Celestia, Spike is now a Dragon Squire, not only is he unable to do any evil in fear of having the title rescinded, Spike is a good drake, and I doubt he would knowingly commit a crime." Veretus said assuredly. He took measure of the dragon, and he knew Spike only felt unable to help. "What if spike, in his pursuit of justice, damages property?" Celestia asked. "Then he will pay for it, or the pony will forgive him and doesn't require it. If it is beyond his purview to pay, I will do so in his stead." Veretus assured resolutely. Celestia merely looked at him deadpan. "With what bits?" Veretus couldn't help raising the edges of his mouth a little at this question before waving a hand in front of him. In a blink of an eye, a linen sack fell to the floor with a thud and the sound of metal clinking together. Both mares looked at him in surprised exasperation, for Veretus had just conjured their currency out of thin air. "how-" "what-" Both mares began saying before just falling silent. "The ability to create is a minor trifle for the Divine Spark, I could conjure a hundred times this. It is the deities whom have domain in creation that are impressive. Nissa, the goddess of machinery, has created an entire army of clockwork golems in the time it takes a mortal to blink." And Veretus was telling the truth. His domains made him amazing at combat or settling disputes, but in other aspects he wasn't that great when compared to other deities. The two mares took their time removing their jaws from the floor. What helped with this was that the false alicorn of love had just walked in. "Auntie Luna, you're back from holiday already?" the false alicorn asked. Veretus didn't pay attention to the two Diarch's responses, and he didn't particularly pay attention to the ensuing conversation. This Mare was fake; how could he tell? Her tether was different. To be clear his ability to see the lifespan of creatures, or tethers as he called them, came from his connection to the law of life. In these tethers he could see approximately when they would die of old age, this didn't mean they would live that long if someone interfered, but assuming no serious harm befell them, they would die naturally then. He could also tell their current age and race from it, even when polymorphed. That last one was usually useless since few creatures ran around in disguises. This Alicorn was both too old to be the Alicorn of love, and they were never an alicorn to begin with, they were a Changeling Monarch. Searching through the knowledge he first acquired when coming here gave him little information besides that they fed upon emotions, were an insect-like race, specialized in Illusions, and that they lived in a caste society. Workers with barely any rights were at the bottom, all the way to the Ruling class, which usually was a single monarch and their offspring. The question was, what did they do with the real alicorn of love, and should he do anything about this? Firstmost, he felt no pressure to help out, he had already angered this world's will by making Spike a squire, doing anything about this would most like compound upon that. Second, this creature had done their homework, they acted like the Alicorn of love, talked like her, even walked like her. Veretus had no means of reverting a creature back to its original form, and without a method to do so, he would have to draw blood. The downside to that is that he had no idea if this was an illusion or a physical change, and regardless of either option, if the effect would be expelled upon loss of concentration or death. Maybe he could- "Veretus." The voice of Luna called out. He focused his attention on her. "Is there something on your mind? You were silent when I said good day." "Of course, spike's training." Veretus lied with a straight face. He was the god of vindication, not truth. "Good day Luna, I shall talk with you about it when you wake." "We still must speak about that Veretus," Celestia spoke up as Luna left the room. "let it go auntie, I'm sure Veretus was only trying to do good." Both Celestia and the Godking looked at the false alicorn in surprise. Celestia, most likely because she remembered how only days ago Veretus had put her in a depressive slump, and Veretus because he knew this mare to be an imposter. She had no reason to step up for him, in fact, she had every reason to sow discord amongst the two rulers. "I-" Celestia only sighed, "very well Cadence, I shall let it rest." "Don't think I haven't noticed that you seem to like to avoid interacting with the wider world Veretus, if Spike causes an Incident, I will treat it as a diplomatic matter." the mare sternly said as she turned to Veretus, he merely nodded. So then he set out back to ponyville. Ultimately, he decided to do nothing about the imposter. Cadence, as he just learned her name, was an alicorn, and from discussions with Luna and their fight, Alicorns seemed to be built to withstand punishment, being able to sustain themselves on their magic itself. Of course, this still brought on bodily damages, but an alicorn would be in better shape than a normal pony. If the real Cadence was not found within a month from now, he would tell the Diarchs regardless of the future harm to him. With this resolution, he landed outside the ponyville library, which was an oak tree, its trunk expanded to make it big enough to live in. It was still living, which made him stand there and marvel as it reminded him so much of home. As he reached towards the oaken door, ready to enter, a flash of purple light blocked his path. When it was gone, the purple unicorn, twilight, was standing there. She was between him and the door. While he could just step around her, her glare told him that he would be attacked for his trouble. He opened his mouth and- "No." The mare seethingly said, not even giving him a chance to say something. "Pardon?" Veretus asked. He was confused at this hostility from her, last night she wasn't exactly cordial, but they were at least amicable. "No, you aren't seeing Spike. I won't allow him to become some warmonger!" She shook her head vehemently at him. "Why would I-" "He told me everything. How your subjects beat up your criminals, how you kill them if they won't change! How much of a tyrant you are to use magic on the souls of your subjects! I won't-" "Twilight sparkle." Veretus said calmly, but to anyone nearby it may have been a thunderclap. He wasn't angry at the mare, but he was upset at her. She was using her own society's values to judge his own. "Thou art not a meek peasant who believes everything their lord says, thou art twilight sparkle, student to diarch of the sun, leader of the elements of harmony, and element of magic itself." Veretus began, "and we will not suffer these blind accusations-" "Blind-" "Yes twilight sparkle, blind. You know nothing of our culture, of our laws and threats. Quite frankly, if any mortal from my world heard you, they'd rip you limb from limb for merely insinuating what you have blatantly said." "Because you enslaved them!" "Because I have given everything for them!" Veretus was now seething. His wings were fully outstretched and tensed. "I had been trapped inside a prison with no escape for them, I have killed gods, demons, and angels for them, I killed my brother for them, I have even lost my son for them twilight. do not-" "Enough!" the childish voice of spike interrupted him. Both of them looked towards the doorway where spike was standing, dressed in a pink frilly apron. "Twilight, I asked him to make me a knight. And Veretus, please don't talk to twilight like that." While Veretus nodded, his bubbling anger cooling. Twilight however apparently felt differently. "But he's a killer! It's too dangerous, what if you get hurt?!" "Then I-" spike began before Veretus interrupted him. "Please spike." Veretus was kneeling down to eye level with twilight. "What..?" Twilight began to ask before he pulled out his sword. Twilight reared back before he stabbed it into the hardened earth road in front of her before releasing it. "If you truly see me as the monster you depicted me as, that I would control my subjects, and turn spike into a monster, that I would seek to impose order through any measure... Take my sword, strike me now so that I may never get back up. As a killer of millions, I would deserve it, would I not?" He held his head down, his lack of helmet meant his neck was exposed. He didn't raise it when she took his sword in her magical grasp. While Luna's blade could barely cut into his bone, his own sword was an artifact, and would cut into his neck like a butter knife. This meant that he was serious, he wouldn't raise his head, for he truly did think he was a monster, not for the reasons she listed, but he wouldn't end it on his own. He would continue to follow his own conviction forever as penance until someone else ended it for him. "I- but? I can't" twilight stuttered, she was looking at him conflicted, this being that Celestia had repeatedly warned her couldn't be trusted, who came from a world of tyranny and murder, who was powerful enough to defeat both Luna and Celestia... Was asking her, a simple student, to judge him. "Twilight..." Spike said imploringly from behind her. She barely heard him. Could she do it? Could she condemn somepony to death for unforgivable crimes? Were they crimes in the first place? Or did they just sound like it? She looked down at spike hugging her leg. The sword fell into the ground once more as it fell from her magical grasp. She wasn't this god in front of her, she wasn't somepony who wanted to decide if he could live or die. Perhaps he liked it, or perhaps he was thrust into that position long ago, regardless... "I can't, in fact, I won't." Twilight finally said, Veretus looked up at her, Spike smiled. "So you have decided that I am not what Celestia, in her stubbornness, believes I am." He was about to get up when she spoke again. "No, I have not..." She shook her head before holding a hoof out. "But I learned with my friends early on to not trust first perceptions and another's word on how somepony is... I'd like to try to be friends first." He looked at her pausing... And he took her hoof. While she was shorter, and couldn't actually help him up, he at least gave her the illusion she was. "Thank you twilight sparkle. I accept your offering of friendship, new as it may be to me." He bowed his head once in acknowledgment. "Surely as old as you are you had many friends throughout time?" Twilight asked, surprised. He shook his head. "I have had four companions in all my memories... Hm... I suppose that would mean something different here. Companions are like friends, but they fight and die together, completing quests of grave peril come life or death." "That is... Extreme. I suppose I really can't judge your standards if your friends had to go that far..." The mare said sheepishly, Veretus chuckled. "They would not be companions if they had to. They were companions because they wanted to. They believed in what we were doing..." He sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, time changes much, especially when you grow apart in capability and station. Or perhaps it is I that no longer saw them in the same light." "Right..." Spike interjected. "As much as it was traumatizing to see twilight put in that position... I do have to ask, am I still allowed to be a knight?" "Squire." Both of them said at the same time. "Alright spike, but I'm coming with," she turned back to Veretus. "And no real weapons!" Veretus had to chuckle at that. And that is how they found themselves at the same field from last night. Twilight at the side, three parchment scrolls and five quills in her magical grasp, each writing at the same time different observations. If he couldn't outright see she was a mortal unicorn, he would have asked her if her domain was knowledge. Spike for the past hour had been squatting. Veretus was pretty impressed at that, and Spike had attributed it to always carrying around large stacks of books. If his balance also improved due to that, when spike grew his wings he would be an impeccable flyer. Even with nothing going on, twilight's quills had been writing the entire hour. Spike looked as if he was now tiring out, and truly Veretus had grown bored in the first ten minutes, but he had learned to endure hundreds of years of boredom, an hour wasn't that bad. "That will be enough spike. Now, we will cover how a dragon fights." Spike collapsed on the ground, before getting back to his feet with a second wind at the mention of more dragon lore. Twilight summoned with a flash of magic two more parchments and seven more quills. And Veretus was seriously wondering how she multitasked that easily without cheating with magic or psionics. "First of all. In my reality, all dragons have the ability to weaponize an exhalation of energy from their throat. This varies from dragon to dragon however, and can even be consciously trained and changed in some instances. Dragons may breathe an effect of cold, to fire, poison, and there have been dragons who have exhaled breaths of magic before." "Well, I can breathe fire and send stuff to-" "Hold it!" Twilight interjected, her quills writing so fast he could see the letters being blocky with too many right angles than the flowing script the ponies used. "How can a dragon breathe magic?! That should be impossible! And probably no tactical use!" "Calm thyself Twilight. Our laws of magic are similar at the grandest scale, so this should be applicable to you two as well. Greesh, one of my companions, once told me magic is the most stable in a high energy state, of which he theorized that in this state, magic is both invisible and free-flowing. When a wizard casts a spell, they move the energy, causing magic to change to a lower state, and thus making it more malleable." Veretus looked worried at twilight, in the time it took him to say that, five more scrolls had appeared, and Twilight's writing was becoming unrecognizable in her haste to write stuff down. "But that would take intense control and focus! you'd never be able to do anything else while casting a spell!" Veretus nodded. "Not all of the mortals in my reality are born with innate magical power, unlike the creatures of this realm. In fact, usually, wizards have none, so instead of manipulating magic internally, they do so outside themselves, observe." Veretus helps his hand up, palm facing upwards. Soon, the air above it was filled with a small cloud of his multicolored magic. He would have been unable to do this in his own reality since whatever magic was actually composed of was much harder to manipulate there. If an actual archmage had found their way to Equestria, he feared what manner of spells they could make if they actually survived the world's retribution. "So? that's just levi... ta... tion..." Twilight's words died in her throat as the cloud of magic soon turns into a stream of liquid that cascaded into his hand, and then down off of it. Her jaw had dropped, While she currently knew of no application of liquid magic other than as a storage medium for spells, but this. Changed. EVERYTHING! Veretus was confused, all the quills had simultaneously stopped writing. All the utensils and scrolls were still inside her magical aura, but her eyes had gone... Unfocused. He waved a hand in front of her once, there was no reaction. "I... think you broke her Veretus." Spike called out. He seemed quite unworried considering his adoptive sister was blatantly catatonic. "Is this... normal for the mare?" he asked, now worried. "For her? absolutely. You just showed her something she didn't know was possible. Right now she's probably thinking faster than Rainbow dash can fly." "Who?" "Rainbow mane, blue fur?" Spike raised an eyebrow at him, which to Veretus just looked odd on a dragon. "Ah, her. I take it she is fast then?" He asked. "Oh yeah, She's so fast that she can perform a sonic rainboom!" Veretus looked at him blankly. He had no idea what a sonic rainboom was, and he hoped Spike would remember that he was not native to Equestria, or this world. "Oh right," he replied to Veretus's stare sheepily, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, she's really fast, she can clear the skies over ponyville in ten seconds." This he actually learned watching the citizens of Canterlot. Apparently, Pegasi could touch clouds and break them apart into water vapor with little effort. He had tried to do so himself, and it took hundreds of attempts of either going right through the cloud or breaking it apart with the slightest force to learn how to surround himself with enough magic to replicate the feat. Clouds were surprisingly soft, at least as soft as the silk sheets he had when he was mortal. "I do not think she will recover before the time she allotted into her schedule is up. Let us continue. Breath fire on me spike." And so he did.