//------------------------------//
// Resistance and Discussion 
// Story: Inheritance 
// by 00Colt 
//------------------------------//


[POV: Sea Crest]


"Not this again." Sea Crest groaned. For the second time, Nick is refusing to get out of bed. The human, wearing a tank top and sweat pants that for whatever reason he deemed to be pajamas, was amid a cluttered pile of pillows and blankets, sleeping or otherwise ignoring the lively and waking world. I guess he knows that I'll just drag his sorry flank to breakfast again. Humph. He should be glad I care about his well being. rolling his eyes and removing his helm and setting it aside, preparing himself for the mission of rooting through the palace of comforters to reach the wily man. 
Shifting a few blankets, he heard some rustling under the covers and saw movement. With a small smile he donned his helm again, believing that Nick was going to be cooperative this morning and get to breakfast, but that wasn't the case. Although Sea had heard of human sign language, the sign that reached out of the impromptu blanket fort was just one finger, the middle finger to be precise, risen. After about ten seconds the arm and the unfamiliar hand sign disappeared inside the mess of blankets and pillows.
Narrowing his eyebrows, Sea let out a grunt and took a deep breath. Removing his helmet, once again he decided to stop playing nice and started pulling away at the blankets to try and reveal the noble pain. The further he got the more the human shifted around, soon enough Sea saw one of his feet sticking out of his cocoon of bed sheets before it quickly pulled deeper into what Sea Crest could only imagine to be a cavern of pillows and bed wear.
Taking another deep breath, albeit much slower, Sea decided to stop playing nice and engulfed all of the blankets in his magic. With a small motion of his head, he lifted all of the bed wear with a slight struggle to find Nick curled up in a ball still hanging onto a blanket. "Are you going to let go?" Sea asked.
"Leave me be...Too tired..." Nick moaned, trying to wrap himself up again. Sea didn't give him the chance and lifted the sheets higher and shook them, not violently, but hard enough to make Nick lose his grip. With a soft thump he landed on the mattress, curled around a pillow he grabbed. Sea was beginning to reach his wits end. 
"Nick," Sea said in a voice hiding his annoyance, "Will you stop resisting? Princess Celestia would like to-"
"Sun Butt can wait...so small...sleep. Need...dreams..." the human whimpered sleepily.
One of Sea Crest's eyes twitched. "No more," he declared in a deceivingly calm voice that caused Nick to open one of his bleary and bloodshot eyes to look in Sea's direction. Lighting his horn once more he wrapped his magic around Nick's arms and tugged him out of the bed with some effort. Soon enough Sea Crest was dragging the pillow-hugging human down the long corridor to the private dinning hall with a fair amount of resistance. "Why are you struggling?" Sea growled, ignoring any other guard or maid that they passed.
"Sleep..." Nick moaned.
"That's not and answer."
Nicholas just moaned and weakly attempted to escape. After a few more moments the dining hall reserved for the crown and ambassadors or ponies of importance came into sight.
"Let go of me!" Nick shouted, shocking Sea into nearly letting his magic grip fade.
"And why should I?" Sea questioned, not looking back. There was maybe another minutes worth of a walk.
"I was sleeping and it's, oh, I don't know, Saturday! Ya'know, international sleep-in day? Ever hear of it?"
"And yet you are still expected to up and functioning at seven a.m. anyways."
"By who?! Unless I'm mistaken, I have no job, I have no plans for the times being and have no responsibilities. I'm living the rich life, damn it! So who here has this outrageous idea the I aughta be up this early on a weekend?"
"I would like to know who has an expectation for Nicholas here as well, Corporal." said an angelic voice that could calm insane stallions and halt wars out of admiration and fear. With wide eyes Sea Crest turned around to be faced with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing beside her. While Celestia was standing tall and proud, Luna seemed just to be just as tired as Nick, her posture not as stiff and proper as it usually is, as she stood weakly staring in the direction of the food hall.
Taking a quick, calming breath Sea answered, "I had you and the nobles in mind your highness." with a salute.
One of Celestia's eyebrows rose and she looked to Nick, who still looked fatigued, but rather irate as well. "Did you? It seems to me that Nick feels rather strongly against it. "
Nick made a sound of agreement and crossed his arms, "You're right on the mark Celly. Now could you get Sea to let me go?"
Celestia nodded, and Sea did what was implied, letting his magic fade and letting Nick free. He stood up nearly bearing his full height, slouching somewhat. 
"Nicholas, may I speak with you?" The princess asked, nodding her ever-flowing rainbow mane towards a nearby room. Nick looked over to the room for a few seconds before slowly making his way to it, Celestia following suit. When the door closed Sea  Crest could only hear muffled voices, neither being distinct enough to tell apart easily.
Resisting the urge to put his ear to the door, Sea turned around to be faced with Princess Luna. Royal guards are trained to not fear any possible enemy, but Luna looked absolutely terrifying at the moment. Swallowing past the iron lump in his throat he gave a small respectful bow to the princess before standing at the ready at the side of the door. Luna was still glowering at him before he asked in as calm a voice he could muster, "Is something wrong your highness?"
"How...?" she mumbled.
"Pardon you majesty?"
"How?
"Could you please explain Princess?" 
"How can you care for that beast?"
Sea blinked in surprise, never had he thought that one of the princesses would think so lowly of a human, "Princess Celestia has ordered me to care and oversee the human known as Nicholas Sanders until he bids otherwise." he answered professionally, ignoring the part of him that wanted to scold the princess of the night like a filly that said a curse in school.
Luna's eyes narrowed and she huffed before walking away to the dinning hall without another word. The encounter itself left Sea befuddled and alone to his thoughts about what just happened. How in the world can princess Luna so openly hate Nicholas just for being human? I'd understand not liking his personality, but why call him a beast...? I think I may have to talk with princess Celestia about this...
Sea sat in near silence, listening to the muffled conversation between his charge and his princess, standing dutifully by the door way for a while until he heard shouting, loud and clear coming from inside the room. "I've told you already Celestia!" The door burst open, making Sea flinch a bit before Nick strode out, murder in his eye.
"What happened?!" Sea asked, trying to keep calm, even though he had no idea what had just transpired.
"Leave me be before I chuck your furry hard ass out a window." he growled, stomping his way back to his room scattering a few maids away in the process.
Sea was about to run after Nick and find out what happened when he felt something touch his exposed shoulder. He turned his head to see the Princess with her normally present calm smile, trying to hide the sadness in her eyes. 
"Let him calm down for a few minutes, then talk to him." she said.
"Princess, what happened? Did something happen or-"
"Don't worry about me Corporal, I'm fine. But I'm sure Nicholas would appreciate somepony other than me to talk with about this matter."
Sea felt like his head was being tossed around. What happened? "I'm afraid I don't completely understand, you Majesty."
"Just go to him and listen to what he has to say." Celestia responded cryptically, giving him a reassuring smile and walking away to the dinning hall.
Sea stood for a long time. He didn't know how long, but quite a while, just staring where the princess was moments prior. Eventually he snapped out of it with a furious shake of the head. He took long, deep breaths and tried his best to collect his thoughts. After a few minutes he made his way to the room of the fuming human. The walk wasn't long and Sea was standing in front of the door to Nick's room, practically able to feel the pure emotion behind it, pulsing every so often with the occasional curse or rustling.
With a final deep breath Sea rose his right foreleg and calmly knocked three times. The flowing emotion seemed to halt, freezing over within seconds, leaving only a cold chill present. 
"I already told you Celestia, I don't want to talk to you right now unless you can change it." Nick calmly shouted. Though the tone itself was calm Sea Crest knew that it had an underbelly of malice and daggers. 
"Nicholas, it's Sea Crest...Can I come in?" Sea asked hesitantly.
The ice in the air seemed to retreat at the very least as Sea heard shuffling and footsteps. The door opened to show Nick holding the door open with one arm, his hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot and a none-to-happy look on his face. "What do you want Sea? And yes, you can, but I won't let you." he said, obviously annoyed.
Sea opened his mouth to answer before he stopped himself. Would he really appreciate hearing that his guard was sent to check up on him by the pony that he just finished, what Sea could only assume was a very intense argument not too long go? He paused before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, "I was just, um, checking up on you...uh, because you seemed a little...unhappy?"
If anypony could describe the look that became Nicholas' face the word really? with the question mark would be it. Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head before slowly closing the door. Sea saw it happening and jammed his hoof in between the closing door and the doorway. "Wait," Sea said before Nick could tell him to beat it. "I just want to know what in Tartarus happened. I was a bit distracted to listen in."
Sea heard Nick snort before he opened the door wide enough to be seen again, looking down at Sea Crest with an analytical face. Sea would be the first to admit that having the human stare at him in silence in the middle of a hallway where a few curious maids were beginning to gather was a bit unnerving, but Sea held his ground. Nick let out a quiet sigh before he opened the door and waved him in. Nicholas shut the door behind Sea and made his way to the bed, sitting down and letting his legs hang off the edge, his shoulders slumped. He looked defeated, saddened even, it made Sea's heart ache in pity. 
Sea Crest made his way to the bed and took his place besides the human, hesitating, but eventually rubbing a hoof up and down his back on a calming way.
"Do you know what it's like to be away from your family?" Nick asked out of the blue.
"I do," Sea responded, a picture of of his sister popping into his head. He snickered, Tidal Wave, you'd better not be in trouble,
"Do you know what it's like to not be able to see them?"
The question snapped Sea Crest out of his mussing and brought him back to the present. When he thought about it, he's never been kept from visiting them at his old home on the coast. "No, I haven't." Sea finally answered.
"Well, I hope that you won't have to deal with that ever," Nicholas said with a ghost of a smile and sad eyes. "Unlike me."
It took a few seconds, but then it clicked, "Is that what you two were talking about?" Nick nodded, "But you told me that that necklace that you're still wearing is what brought you here." 
Nick let out a short chuckle before tugging at the amulet, looking down at it, "You're right. Celestia wanted to know how I was holding up." another chuckle, except dryer, "Told her I had no clue what she was on about. But then she explained how with each new wearer of this trinket there's something like a wait period."
"Wait period?"
Nick nodded, "Yeah. Say I've had this thing for years, I'd be able to go back and forth with just a thought if I so choose." he explained, seeming to be a bit in higher spirits, "But with the wait period, I'm stuck here for an entire six months. I didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone..."
Sea's eyes widened at that. Six whole months in a place he didn't even know existed? Away from friends and family and devoid of the choice to go back, even if he wanted to? Sea could only imagine how the hard reality of this hit Nick. Now his shouting and anger from before was understandable, maybe misplaced, but understandable. 
"I can tell this is tough," Sea started, his pity changing to a new found respect. Nick may be irritating at the best of times, but Sea could tell clear as day that he cared very much for his family. "But... if you're here then it's just one good more story to tell them when you get back. Or if you end up hating Equestria, you can leave and never come back and stay in your world."
Nick snorted again, "Yeah, I'll be sure to say, 'Hey mom, hey dad! Don't mind the fact that I've been gone for six months, I've just been in the world of blindingly colorful magic talking pegasuses and unicorns because the necklace Gram gave me is magic too'." he waved his arms around for added effect.
The comment made Sea smile as he clapped Nick on the back lightly, "See my point? Might think you're crazy but it'll be a funny story now wouldn't it?" Nick let out a weak chuckle and started to straighten himself up a bit. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah."
"You want to go get breakfast?"
"No."
"What do you want then?"
"I want ice cream."
"Ice cream...?" Sea deadpanned, "It's eight in the morning."
Nick turned to Sea, his usual smile back. Leaping off the bed he pointed to the door dramatically, "It's never too early for ice cream!" he declared before rushing off, his bare feet pounding as he ran. Sea continued to sit before he sighed and made chase. 
At least Nick's back to normal. Sea thought.