//------------------------------// // More questions/ Meeting with Royalty // Story: The Priest of Nalarath // by Pigrangler //------------------------------// Twilights house (7:32am) Gregory's POV The sunlight pouring into the room from the window didn't wake me. Neither did the burp and sudden smell of something burning, What did wake me, was the feeling of something landing on my face. It wasn't heavy thankfully. But it was still unexpected and I might have overreacted. Ok I really overreacted. I started flailing my arms and screaming "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" It didn't help that I had been dreaming of colorful spiders just previously. So many colorful legs... Even though it didn't feel like a spider, I was still too dazed from being awoken to differentiate between the two. After a couple of minutes of useless flailing and screaming, I finally decided to rip the foreign object from my face. It felt like...paper. A rolled up scroll to be more exact. "Uh Gregory?' I turned my still blindfolded face to the owner of the voice. "Can you please calm down? Its just a letter. Its not going to kill you you know." A letter? Since when do I get mail?... Death? Don't look at me. If I need something from you I'll just talk directly to you. Through your head. Right...Is it from a soul? Doubtful. Considering that they cant really touch anything in the material plane. Well besides us and the floor. So I don't think its from a soul. Try feeling the middle of the scroll. I do as Death asks and feel...a seal. A royal seal? Is it from King Varkoth back in Nalarath? No wait...this isn't the same symbol. Who sent it then? Before I can ponder further on that subject, I feel the letter leave my hand. "Thank you Gregory, I'll just take that. It must be from Princess Celestia." Oh right...her mentor and ruler. I almost forgot. I hear the letter open and Twilight hum to herself as she begins to read. Spike groans from the edge of my bed while she reads. Rough night sleep huh little guy? Me to... Suddenly Twilight gasps at something, causing Spike and I to simultaneously ask "What?" "Here read this!" I feel the paper enter my hands once again. Though this time, it's unfolded. But I still have a blindfold on. Seems like Twilight is forgettable so I feel it's time to tease her a bit. I clear my throat and prepare my sermon voice. "Ahem... Dear Twilight Sparkle. I can't read this because I have a blindfold that I can't take off unless I want to get a headache. Which I don't. Sincerely Gregory." I finish with a smirk. I hear Spike giggling and Twilight give me a sigh. "Funny..." She says full of sarcasm. Once again the letter leaves my hands and floats over to Twilight. "I'll just read it for you smart guy. Ahem..." My Dearest Student Twilight Sparkle, I am sorry to hear about the sudden cancelation in your plans for the slumber party. Luna and I were looking forward to seeing you again.. Speaking of Luna, I also feel the need to apologize for answering your letter so late. Just before your letter, Luna and I felt a powerful surge of magic, and we were working on pinpointing its location. This information about a 'strange creature' sounds like it may have something to do with what we felt. Especially if what you say about it falling from a hole in the sky is correct. I ask that you keep the creature contained in a magical aura until we arrive. Luna and I plan to be there around 8 am if everything goes according to schedule. We were able to free up some time. Just enough to study the creature in full detail. I have faith in you Twilight Sparkle. Just be careful around this creature, we have no idea what he is capable of. My sister and I have not felt such a surge in magic since we first met Discord. We will be there soon. Princess Celestia. PS. This creature sounds really hot! I cant wait to meet it and take it to my dungeon so that I can fu- DAMMIT DEATH! SHUT UP! HEEHEHEHEHEHEE! "So wait...Celestia and Luna will be here in...15 MINUTES?!" Questioned Spike with what I could only assume was a worried look. (7:38am) "Close Spike. We have 22 minutes until they get here." I said, reading off of the mental clock in my robe. "How do you know that?" asked Twilight. "Uh...gut feeling?" I responded meekly. I forgot about not telling them too much about , the robes, the gloves, and Death. I almost let it all slip. I'll have to be more careful next time. Wait a minute...The two most powerful rulers will be here very soon. Maybe they can tell me about Star Search! Surely they keep some sort of record of all the ponies here." You think that's a good idea to tell them about a dead pony? Along with that whole serial killer thing? I'm pretty sure they would be devastated to hear such news. Not to mention they would put you as the number one suspect since you are the alien here with a strange magical aura. And then you would have to prove your innocence by telling them everything. Me, the robes, the guantlets and what they do. But would they even believe you? And if they did believe you...what then? ...Damnit. So basically I'm on my own here? Oh don't say it like that! I mean hey! You got me! ...So basically I'm on my own here? Yep. I cant give you all the answers and hold your hand the whole way. Well can you at least give me a direction? North-East ...Fuck you. You know what I meant. Fine... How about that creepy forest? Maybe there are more souls there? And who knows...maybe when you read there past life, you can get some info on that killer! I get souls and you get answers! Its a win win! But...Star Search... Look I hate to sound like an uncaring dick, (not really I enjoy it fully),but GET OVER IT! He died, you freed his soul, you cried like a bitch, it happened. If you focus too much on the past then your going to trip over something in the future and end up dead. I thought you said I cant die? No I said you can die but that I would just give you the same judgment. Plus you still get to feel the pain of how you die. Not even your fancy new get up can prevent that. So just face forward and keep your focus on the task at hand. You should know that It's alright to ask why something happened, but its more important to ask, 'What do I do now?' Wow...I...thanks Death... I didn't think you knew so much. What you just said was deep. HeHeHe. You said 'deep' Aaaand just like that your back...Good to see you again. You to. Now pay attention. Ponies are freaking out and I wanna know why. As I tear myself from my mental call with Death, I notice other voices. I probably didn't hear them because of the mental discussion/breakdown I was having. They sound really freaked out. Especially Rarity. Something about not having enough time to measure me for a proper outfit. What's wrong with...Oh right I'm meeting royalty. Applejack seemed to be trying to calm down Twilight who was muttering something about being punished by Celestia. Pinkie was talking about...throwing an introduction party for me. Fortunately, everyone else was ignoring her. I think I could make out Fluttershy whispering something but it was hard to tell through the noise if it was her or a mouse squeaking. And finally Rainbow Dash was...snoring? Huh...guess she didn't get good sleep last night. That or she just doesn't care about royalty being...,(7:55), 5 minutes away. Wait...5 MINUTES?! WHAT DO I DO?! OH CRAP! Well first you could stop screaming in your head. The only thing that's doing is pissing me off. Second take a deep breath and think calm thoughts. Remember, if you think negative, bad things will happen. But if you think positive, you will be less likely to screw up. I take a deep and calm breath to ease my mind. It only helps slightly. Still better then nothing. After a few seconds of just breathing I try to think of nice calming thoughts. A dark well. A black cat. Bacon. Cobblestone with a bit of moss growing from it. A dark red door. Bacon. The void. A solar eclipse. A void full of bacon. Aaah that's better... Before I can have more calming thoughts I hear a loud banging at the front door. All the noise seems to be sucked away in an instant at the sound. "Open up! This is the Royal Guard! We have you surrounded! Come out with your hooves up!" Good feelings gone... In a desperate act of salvation, I utter an (un)manly scream and jump up from the bed to escape via the window. Unfortunately I do not remember where the window is. So instead of making a daring escape, I instead run full speed into wood. Yep that's definitely wood. Outside of Twilights house (8:00am) Princess Luna's POV Tia seems real worried about this strange creature. I am a little too, but I'm sure that it will all work out in the end. Twilight alone should be able to handle this strange creature with her magical spells. And if not, Celestia and I could easily detain it. She must have managed to hold it all night, judging from the fact that her house is still perfectly in tact. I imagine that whatever caused the strange being to be here has caused their powers to drain. I can still feel a strong magical presence, but it is nothing compared to what Celestia and I felt in Canterlot. Wow Celestia looks stressed. I think I should ease the tension. And what better way to do that...then with a prank? Before my sister can prepare herself to knock on the door I begin to bang on the hard wood, startling her. With the best impression of her royal guard I shout, "Open up! This is the Royal Guard! We have you surrounded! Come out with your hooves up!" The effect is immediate as Celestia is giving me this worried look and I'm just smiling at her. My smile fades however as I hear a shout and a loud bang. That could be bad... Twilight's Living Room (11:46am) Princess Celestia's POV Of all the idiotic things that Luna could have done...That had to be the top on the list. And that excuse...relieve stress. How can she not be worried about this? And if she isn't then she at least needs to take this seriously! It could have been some sort of demon from Tartarus for all we knew! Not that we couldn't handle a demon. It's just that its generally not a good idea to make one mad. I am relieved to find out that it is not a demon but instead something called a 'human'. As to why it isn't locked in the basement with several holding spells, is because Twilight says it is harmless. Apparently this 'human' can speak. And its name is 'Gregory'. Strange name...So simple. What could it mean? Another good reason that he isn't locked up is because apparently he has a nasty bruise on his head. I'm pretty sure that was Luna's doing with the whole royal guard scare. I'm going to have a nice chat with her about that when we get back to Canterlot. There is some good news though. The other elements had apparently spent the night here instead of heading home last night. Even in this strange time they managed to have fun. It warms my heart to see how well of a friendship these ponies have made. I'm glad they could still find a way to have a sleepover. I'll have to thank Spike later for that. If what Rarity said about it being his idea is true. I'm begging to grow worried though. It has been some time and there hasn't been a change in his condition. I hope he didn't hurt himself too bad. As per Twilight's request, she asked to explain the situation before allowing me to see him. After hearing her plea, I thought it best if we just wait for him to wake instead of disturbing his slumber. Though I am starting to question that idea. We only have so much time to be away from Canterlot before we must return. I hope that he awakes soon. "IVE BEEN AWAKE THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME AND NO ONE IS LISTENING TO ME!" A voice shouted so suddenly behind me that I jumped and let out an un-lady like yelp. When I returned to a sitting position, I saw a strange bipedal beast with two different colored arms. It looked like a small minotaur in dark robes. Along with the robes it had on...a blindfold? This must be Gregory. Judging from the expression on his face I could tell he was upset with something. I hear it mutter something about 'stupid robes'. How long has he been standing there? Have we really just been ignoring him? I look to the other ponies in the rooms and see the same expressions. Shock. Ok so we weren't ignoring him...he just popped up. But how? I thought he was recovering? I then look to Twilight's clock on the wall. 12:12.Great...Only a few hours of questioning... Guess I should start with the obvious Before I can find a polite way to ask how he suddenly appeared before us, I hear Rainbow yell "WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM?!" ...I need a vacation. Twilight's Guest Room (9:31am) Gregory's POV Uuugh...This has to stop. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have some kind of aneurism if this keeps up.... The pain I wake up to isn't bad. In fact, it's so NOT bad that there isn't any pain. Guess the robes are starting to work again...what time is it? (45:48383574:ampm o'clock Decemberteenth) ...Or not... Pulling the covers off myself, I decide to call for Twilight. "Twilight! Twilight where are you?!" *POP* An image of the library is suddenly thrown into my vision. At first I almost panic because of the colors, but they soon begin to fade away until almost all of it is gone. The image I'm left with is a black and light grey outline of the library. As I focus on the image further, I notice that there are a lot of blobs in one of the rooms, and the outline of a blob in the guest room. Guess that's me... Which one is Twilight? *POP* Just as I have that thought, all of the blobs but one disappear. It appears to be sitting near the middle of the room. Guess that's Twilight. Why hasn't she started to check on me after I yelled for her? Is she ignoring me? "TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!" ...Nothing. Great...that's just great. She didn't even budge... What about the others? *POP* The other blobs in the living room appear before my 'vision'. And...they're just sitting there. Quietly...Why are they quiet? Are they just sitting around thinking? WHY CANT THEY HEAR ME?! WHAT COULD THEY BE THINKING ABOUT?! *POP* ...Ah hope Gregory's alright. That looked like a nasty bruise. Although...it was kinda funny seeing him run into that wall. Ooh poor Gregory! I hope he wakes up soon! That wasn't very nice or smart of Luna. But...I think I'll just keep that thought to myself. Ooh man I knew I should have gotten more sleep... Guess it's too late now. Cuz the Princesses are here and catching up with us while Gregory recovers in the guest room. He moves pretty fast for running on just two legs. Didn't help that he ran into a wall though hehe. Well this is certainly a turn of events. I thought that for sure the Princesses would be upset with us for not keeping Gregory contained. But then again...I didn't expect Luna to pull a stunt like that. Or for Gregory to act like that. The poor dear. Ok I just have to remain calm. I've successfully managed to tell Celestia and Luna why we should trust Gregory enough to keep him out of bindings. This is good. I just have to keep the conversation going long enough for him to recover and he can introduce himself properly...I hope that happens soon. #!$%&T*5118#U21$@@#%&R@*$%$#)N#!!$%^&$(I)#@456422##54&T#@^^&#O$^*&*#@#$F45678#*(%#@^F!##!$^# Well uh...that's something. So apparently I can read minds...literally. But do they have to appear in different colors? That's just to help you identify who's thoughts are who's. Every one has there own colored thought pattern. Yours' happens to be black on black. Which is another reason I like talking to you. Black on black is so soothing to the eye sockets. You like talking to me? But wait...Isn't it impossible to read black on black? And I thought that you were just hearing my thoughts and using some kind of telepathy to project your own into my head? Since when were you actually READING my thoughts? Of course I like talking to you. Your so easy to upset. It's great seeing you over react. Nice escape plan by the way. You're a genius when it comes to thinking things through! As for your second question, you can perform many impossible tasks when your an immortal shade of darkness. And to answer your last questions, I can do all of that at the same time. Wow...that's kind of cool. And maybe someday you will figure it out. But for now you have to deal with the colors. But wait...Why cant I read the Princesses' minds? Is it because there so powerful that they can prevent such a thing? Heck no. Not our mental tapping anyway. Were working on different levels of dimensions and a whole bunch of other complicated crap here. Mind readers share a common problem. They can easily be stopped because they try to focus in only a few directions. Enough directions for someone with an attentive mind to find and set up a sort of mental ward to keep them out. But when you think in MILLIONS of dimensions, then you are much more successful in finding your goal. Being a servant of me, is making you not only think in different dimensions, but move through them as well. As we speak, you are standing in the same room as them, invisible and silent. Thanks for the mind reading lesson. But that still doesn't answer why I cant see what those two are thinking. Also...WHAT?! IM INVISIBLE?! Is that why they've been ignoring me? You get used to it Gregory. Just don't think about it too hard and you'll be fine. Also, remember how I said everyone has a color pattern to their thoughts? Yeah... Well Celestia's is a light yellow on white. It's even lighter then Fluttershy's yellow. And Luna's is a Royal Blue on Royal Blue. You wont be able to read it because your not thinking in enough dimensions. I can give you enough to read normal beings minds. But these two are defiantly more above normal. Celestia appears to have a weaker hold on her mental ward however.Why don't you give reading her mind a try? Just try to think of several angles to thrust into her cranium. Then penetrate her thought pattern with your 'thought rod'. And before she suspects a thing, grab what you can and get out. ...Why do you make everything sound so dirty and wrong? I have no idea what you're referring too. Now then, get to practicing. It's already 10:00. Find out what she's thinking before 12:00 and I'll give you a reward! Fail and you get punished. Punished? Why? Because if I'm going to help you, then you need to actually take my advice and do what I say. The promise of a good punishment should be enough incentive for you to get the job done. That and I'm kinda bored. So yeah...get to reading her head. I sat there for who knows how long, thinking of all the different ways to enter her head. I finally made progress after some time. Apparently if I thought about different methods, angles, approaches, tools, and a sprinkle of bacon, the text became easier to read. I guess that's just their default setting and I have to find a way to make it easier to read...hmm Lets see what she's thinking... Though I am starting to question that idea. We only have so much time to be away from Canterlot before we must return. I hope that he awakes soon. YEAH I DID IT!! I READ HER MIND! Congratulations! You almost did it! 12 minutes too late! Now you get punished! ...You waited an extra 12 minutes...just to see me succeed...so you could tell me I failed...Why? TO SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE! Now move over, It's time I had some fun! I feel myself shrink even deeper into a dark void. When I'm done shifting further into this strange place, I notice I am in a room with a comfy black couch and some strange device in front of it. It is very large, flat, and black. It seems to take up the whole wall. Before I can wonder more about this strange device an image on Death appears on the once blank screen. Bastard almost gave me another heart attack! Take a seat Gregory! I'm about to show you how to have a good time! And I think using your body will be the perfect punishment/form of entertainment! And don't worry about the colors. You're so far back in the recesses of your mind that they shouldn't even faze you at this point. Anyway...LET THE FUN BEGIN! Oh god why... With nothing better to do, I take a seat on the couch and watch as death yells at Celestia. After a moment of awkward silence, I watch Rainbow Dash exclaim, "WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM?!" ...I need a vacation