//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Sparing // Story: 117 The Eternal Guardian // by Nanofield //------------------------------// ^Equis^ {275AD} 11:00 [John] All things considered, I am not surprised Luna convinced Celestia to hold off my coronation. I don't really care. Celestia is slowly giving me more tasks to handle. Nothing too severe yet. It's hard to believe I have been here for over two hundred years. I wonder how humanity is doing; is Cortana still alive? I miss her; I miss all of them. It's Sunday so I'm not doing anything today. I'm just on my way to get lunch. I reach the dining room and I see Luna there; great. I try to be civil but it's never easy. “Good morning Luna. How are you?” “We are well. Thank you.” “Luna, you don't have to speak in traditional royal speech around me. You know that, right?” “We shall speak in any way We choose.” “Fine. You know, we don't get to talk much. I have been here for hundreds of years yet you won't carry a conversation out for more than a few sentences. Why is that?” “If you must know, We don't like you.” “I figured that out back in 52. It's 275; time to tell me why.” “We do not like you because We choose not to.” “That's not good enough of an answer. Tell me why?” “Why must We have a reason to not like you.” “Because you are a princess and an immortal. You cannot just choose to dislike a subject or a fellow royal. You must have a reason. What is it?” “Why must I tell you?” Perfect; she is slipping. This shouldn't take much longer. “Why won't you tell me? “I..We choose not to.” “Tell me why you don't like me.” “NO!” “What do I have to do to make you tell me?” “Leave this world and never return!” “You know I can't do that!” “Then drop dead!” “Can't do that either!” “Then let me help you.” Luna then shoots me with a powerful blast of magic that launches me through the wall. She shouldn’t be that powerful. I pick myself up off the ground and I see that I'm in the training ground again; the surrounding guards all look worried and snap to attention. “At ease soldiers! All is well, just 'sparing' with Princess Luna.” Speak of the devil, she walks right out and glares at me. This doesn't look good. Not that I'm worried or anything. “Guards! Seize him!” Some of the guards stir a little and a few move forward some. “Stand down. Disregard all future orders from myself and Luna till we finish sparing.” The guards all stand down and back off. Good, less liabilities in case this gets bad. “NO! Get him!” “Luna, have you forgotten? They serve me as much as you. If you want to fight, you are on your own.” “So be it.” She fires another blast at me. I dodge it easily enough. I can't shoot back because I would kill her; or at least incapacitate her. Looks like I am bringing fists to a gun fight. She fires many blasts of magic at me and it is getting harder to dodge. I can't get close enough to hit her either. Of course, she can't hit me if she doesn't know who to shoot. I activate my hologram system and send out many holograms in many directions. The system that this is equipped with allows basic control of the holograms. I have them chase Luna around while she shoots her magic at them; taking flight while she does. It doesn’t take long before she realizes that she is fighting holograms. But she keeps fighting to avoid the real me. Little does she know that I'm invisible and using this as a diversion to get behind her. Once she touches down again I pounce; grabbing her around her barrel, pinning her wings, and one hand on her horn. “YIELD!” “No! Get off of me!” “No. Yield. Now.” “NO!” She twists her neck around to try to aim her horn at me and fires a beam of magic. I create an electromagnetic field around her horn again and polarize it so that it would create a strong pull on her magic; forcing her to use her energy at full power. I aim her horn upwards so that no one is hit by the powerful magic blasting out of Luna's horn. “Aaaaauughhhhh! STOP! STOP! I CAN'T!” “YIELD! NOW!” “OK, OK! I YIELD! NOW STOP! PLEASE!” I let go of her horn and body; she collapses not a moment later. She burned off a lot of mana from that. I pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and carry her inside. I set her down on the dining room table and sit in my chair. “Now. You ARE going to tell me why you have a problem with me; then you are going to get over it. Understand?” “Yes John. I. I understand.” “Good. Now talk.” “You... hugh, You're just.... I. I can't.” “You have no choice.” “Gahh. You are too powerful, too strong, too... too perfect. You end up on a world completely alien to you and help us in our time of war. Then you make our world better. You are so powerful that our magic has almost no effect on you; yet your weapons are more powerful than any on this planet. You are winning my sister over from me and you are taking the throne as soon as Celestia gives the order. Your knowledge far exceeds what our best and brightest could only dream of. You are impossible and there is nothing I can do about it. There, happy!?” “As a matter of fact, yes. Now, if you came to me about this sooner, we could have discussed it and we could be able to get along by now instead of you trying to kill me again.” “Sorry about that. Perhaps we could start over?” “No.” “I'm sorry, what?” “No. You and I have known each other for over 200 years; I think that is a bit too long to just start over. I do forgive you however.” “Thank you John.”