I nursed feelings of worry as he wouldn’t stop ranting. The looks we received from the few guards and castle staff we’d met on our way had been about as bad as one would expect. I tried to focus on the curiosity with which they regarded the presence of both a horn and wings on my charge, but I couldn’t ignore their reactions at his hyperactive behavior. Under normal circumstances, such excitement would not have seemed out of place, but his wretched appearance only succeeded in giving them less the idea of childish innocence and more that of a disturbing tragedy.
Suffice to say I was not intent on leaving his appearance as it was. I didn't know how he could stand starvation. Necromancy? Wasn't he incapable of casting anything, though? Regardless, I was intent on taking care of it, one way or another. I also intended on getting him to drop his seals in order to regrow his eyes. Certainly there was some way to make him see sense?
...I cannot belive I just wrote that. Tia would likely have a fit of laughter if she read that last part. As would my charge, apparently...
At any rate. The castle was large enough, but thankfully the banqueting area wasn’t too far away from me and my sister’s individual quarters. There were only a couple short hallways leading to the entrance of my chamber. The length offered me some time to consider what had just happened, however I was distracted by my guest’s unrelenting chatter.
I couldn’t blame him for it, though. It appeared that all he wanted was just to talk, even if it was perhaps a bit tiresome. It also presented reason to worry for his sanity, but that was just something to focus on later. I had planned on visiting my therapist today; see if she could tend to him as well, or at least offer a proper recommendation.
‘Perhaps this was just a coping mechanism?, I considered. ‘Certainly a few decades of isolation would’ve rendered him scarred, maybe this was his way of holding on to sanity?’ I suddenly felt far less confident with devising a punishment for his earlier behavior. ‘Perhaps just a minor scolding. Hopefully until I get to figure him out better. I will need to make an effort to evade any attempts at misdirection that he will most likely pursue, intentionally or not. At least he’s certainly more reasonable than most nobles and politicians in that regard - including my sister.’
As we rounded the second corner and I saw the two day guards at the end of the hallway, he finished going on about the importance of properly arming large forest dwellers (I’m certain the Sibearians* would just love to agree with him), showing extensive knowledge of a wide array of weaponry and ritualistic equipment, and then started explaining how a battle between ninja bears and octopirates would go…
Whatever reasoning he was following, he at least seemed content enough. Suffice to say, however, that I was not reassured with regards to his sanity. I finally had enough as we nearly reached the guards, deciding I could at least offer him a meaningful basis regarding what he did wrong for now, and start from there.
“Do you know who Spike is?”
He stopped his ranting immediately. It appeared that he certainly was attentive and reasonable after all, for an insane follower of the dark arts, I’ll give him that. Apparently he really did just want nothing more than to keep his mind active and distracted.
“You make it sound as though it’s someone I should care about. Who are you talking about again?”
He was certainly not going out of his way to be polite. “I suppose you couldn’t have known,” I mused patiently, considering what to say next.
I paused the conversation here, as I offered a short nod to the guards at my chamber, and told them of the deliveries they were to allow through, before continuing inside. “Humor me. Try recalling the look on Tia’s face upon mentioning Spike’s name. What did it look like?”
He answered after the guards opened the doors and I stepped us through. “I seem to be picking out some underlying distress in your tone. I assume the look on your sister’s face was important?”
I weighed his words carefully. So far he was indeed dissociated and driven by interest. If there was any empathy, it was not plainly obvious. Still, I relented for now. “Very well. It’s not out of the question for ponies to exa-”
“People,” he corrected.
“…Let’s just say you were in the heat of the moment, and couldn’t discern you were upsetting the demigod who could vaporize you at a moment’s notice.”
“If you wanted to kill me, it would’ve been a funny decision to finally do it now. I’d wind up laughing at it all the way to the afterlife.”
The chamber itself was humble, as far as royal housing went. It was large enough, mostly sporting colder and darker hued marble and carpets. Several desks and nightstands presented schematics, magical and otherwise, musical measures, and a multitude of star charts which further made up most of the many books in the room. There were also a few clockwork trinkets here and crystal baubles there, strewn about. I then realized that it was a bit messy.(**)
The entire ceiling was a domed depiction of the night sky, which I would tinker with in order to find other possible designs. The walls were further adorned with star charts (which I often needed to keep digging up again for reference) and impressionist art far older than most anypony, or should I be saying anyone, in the castle. Said tapestries would’ve undoubtedly faded away by now if it weren’t for their preservation wards still active since before my banishment. I appeared to have been fortunate enough that my sister recast them during my time away.
My charge seemed impressed enough by my simple accommodations, but what appeared to have caught his eye the most were my collection of stuffed animals, if his perplexed look in my bed’s direction was anything to go by.
"...What?" was my reaction to his judging stare. He'd yet to relent. "What?" I asked again, more persistently. To this, he sighed.
"Nothing..."
I continued eying him curiously as I moved closer to the offending bed. I placed us more comfortably and started in a more serious tone, "Regarding Spike, he was a baby dragon which my sister took care of only recently. She took what time she could out of her schedule in order to help raise him as he were her own. Thanks to your less than gentle observations, she had finally realized the serious mistake which she had been doing without even realizing.”
“You’re welcome, by the way.”
I ignored his remark. “Why exactly did you react the way you did? You couldn’t possibly have been that revolted by the revelation.”
“Well,” he started off-hoofedly… unless that figure of speech was specist as well, “I could argue that such behavior would make room for further harm, but that would be presumptuous. Instead, let me ask you this. How would you react if you found yourself stranded in a new world, and your self-appointed ‘keepers’ offered evidence of bias towards other races? Especially if you technically weren’t really a part of their race?”
“So you were just concerned with your safety? Nothing else?”
“No, I was also bored, actually.” I gave him a look, before he continued, “Beside that, however, I was also looking to get to know you better. After all, what better way to get to know someone than by instigating conflict with them?”
“We could talk, like civilized pon-”
“People. Also, no. That would be boring.”
I sighed, got up and walked over to the windows on the eastern wall. “Let me ask you this. Are you capable of civilized life at all, or not? Because so far, you made me suspect you’re just better off on your own in a cave.”
“Aww… Are you giving up on me already? I thought you had a point to prove. Something about turning me better, according to whatever standard you had for a normal life. Surprise, princess! I’m not a normal person, so normal life might not be my thing.”
“So I’ve found.”
I looked out the windows and admired the view. I admired the spires that sprang out to one side, tall enough to give the impression that they were threatening to cut the sky. I viewed down to the city stretching along the foot of the mountain. In the distance, I regarded the makings of the small town of Ponyville.
He continued soon enough, seemingly not very particular of the lull in conversation. “It seems rather peaceful. You said no one took a life here in millennia. Mind sharing how you managed that, leader?”
I regarded him from the corner of my eye. “I hope you’re not likening me to that swine king who ruined your life.”
He hummed thoughtfully. “To be fair, you and your sister are quite the oddity to me. Your confessing to invading other people’s dreams did not help in that regard either.”
“Sometimes, people do seemingly bad things, but for good reasons. I’m certain you’ve lived long enough to know about that.”
He regarded my general direction impassively, objectively. I turned back to the window and let him consider my response. He deliberated, thinking out loud, “You mentioned of dark creatures threatening your ponies during their sleep last night. You also explained in your tale that you’re the sister that protects against those creatures. That’s all well and good, but invading other people’s dreams? That is a bit objectionable, even if it’s to defend against malevolent forces that might affect you in your sleep.”
“I’ve been told,” I answered tiredly, studying the bags under my eyes in my reflection in the window.
The snow shone as it decorated the castle and city. The sun was near its zenith. It was still far too long a ways until nightfall. I was supposed to be asleep at this hour.
Fatigue did hold as strong against me as it would against most other creatures… emphasis on most. Another thing about alicorns, the higher rank you are, the less mortal-like you become. Unlike my third-tier sister, I did not reach that far, so sleep deprivation was still an issue for me.
“I suppose we both still retain more than enough questions for the other.”
I enforced the filter spell on the windows, slightly darkening the room and making reflections more visible. Not too dark, but dark enough for the sake of my own relief, and possibly just enough to encourage rest in my charge, hoping that he was at least half as tired as I looked.
I turned back to him and spoke again, “Just to make things clear, not one of our subjects had yet to issue complaints regarding general etiquette. They didn’t feel segregated, as they knew that by being called a pony as well, they were being called a peer.”
“Still sounds specist,” he offered casually. I merely smiled in return.
“Perhaps it is,” I offered as I walked over to one of my desks, “which is why I promise that we will be bringing it to the attention of the other counselors, and maybe even pull a few ears in our meetings with the other nations.”
“That’s very… thoughtful of you,” he offered with no small amount of reservation. He still seemed to be struggling to give me the benefit of a doubt, I noted.
I yawned as I got to distracting myself with my work. I was meaning to tweak a bit on a few constellations. I also had plans on making a surprise for my guest, but I was still deciding on what it was going to be about.
I got to answering his previous question. “Being thoughtful and caring for your subjects was one of the ways we led, but not only. Far from it. It was not easy, as I’ve already told you last night.”
“You made sacrifices,” he cut in.
“We did. We also made mistakes. But we learned, and we did better. And today we live off the fruits of those lessons.”
He proved remarkably patient. Apparently he really was trying his hardest to understand his new surroundings. I figured I could afford to give him a few more minutes to himself as I made a few tweaks I’ve been meaning to make since last I left my desk. I could wait to confront him regarding his death seal, he wasn’t going anywhere.
After a while, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I invited.
In came a couple servants from the royal kitchens, together with Dr. Seamless’ two colleagues which had taken his shift for the day.
Subtle Beat, a light blue, purple-pink maned unicorn mare with a heart and pulse lines for a cutie mark, was one of the doctors who entered. I’ve heard good things of her, of how thoughtful with her patients she would be. Apparently she also had an amazing voice, as well as a colt of her own.
In contrast, her colleague, doctor Cracked Potion, was a rather eccentric and hazardous old unicorn stallion, which preferred teaching when he wasn’t called to the operating room, or wasn’t tinkering in his lab. He was an old copper-yellow stallion with gray hair, unkempt facial hair and a permanent frown on his face, whenever he was in a good mood. He had a cracked, conical beaker containing some boiling substance for a cutiemark.
Apparently they arrived with the medicine I’d asked for, most likely with the further intention of meeting the new prince… Which reminded me that the prince in question most likely didn’t know about how we elect our royalty around here.
If he were to become a regular prince, there wouldn’t have been any problem beyond offering such a title to an unstable, intelligent sadist. There are princes by right of either adoption, or our extended familial trees. But him being an alicorn prince does pose political issues.
So far, the only explanation we could offer to the populace, which is to say, the only one agreed on by the governmental deputes, was that our new addition to the royal family is a reward given by the powers that be to our harmonious race, and a declaration that we’re ready for a form of evolution. Considering the nature of alicorns, it’s likely that they’re not far off.
The reasonable answer would’ve been hiding his wings, but that wouldn’t have been a permanent solution. Turned out the best answer was for one of the royal family to adopt him and reeducate him. It was now only a matter of how I was going to do that…
And unfortunately, hypnosis didn’t seem to be an option, what with his mental seals.(***)
The old physician was apparently in the midst of a heated discussion with one of the guards when he came in, something about not liking having his way barred despite being summoned. “…Like I’d have time to waste my whole day waiting at her door just because you feel you can’t be too safe! She’d already told you to let us in, why do you still have to follow your redundant safety measures anyway?!”
While the guards attended to the old eccentric’s mostly-foul disposition, I got up to walk over to the bed to try explaining in the last minute what being a prince might entail. I was surprised to find my charge visibly perturbed at the intrusion, despite any attempt to hide it. His head was a little lower, his eyebrows were raised in a studying manner, his breathing became steady, mechanical, his fur was a bit raised as well.
I received a better idea. I walked over to the doorway just as the old doctor reached the apex of his ranting. “Thank you for your timely arrival, doctor Potion. Would you mind if you let me administer the serum, however? My charge and I are tired, and we’d hoped to get some rest.”
The servants went ahead, placed the meals inside and left. The old stallion seemed to have wanted to object, but doctor Beat quickly took the initiative to cut him off, “Of course, Your Highness. There’s no issue, is there Potion?”
Her colleague shot her a glare, then he levitated his saddle off and towards me. “Of course not,” he answered impatiently. I took the saddle out of his field as he continued, “It wasn’t like I didn’t have anything better to do than waste my time around your door.” He tilted to the side and took a short, bored glance around me. “Though I’d suggest you turn him back in. From the looks of things, his kidneys seem to not be working.” He turned around and started walking away. “No wonder there was so much of Seam’s serum left. His digestive system isn’t even working. But if you’re not concerned with that, then I’ll just be off.”
The others gave the departing stallion incredulous looks. Doctor Beat looked around me as well, adjusted her glasses for a double take, then turned to me concernedly. I cut her off before she said anything. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious…” I trailed off, then turned around to give the colt a look of my own. “Right?”
Annoyed, the colt-turned necromancer laid his head on one hoof and waved me off. “I’m not a big fan of needing to excrete. I don’t need treatment for it, only a reason to activate my digestive system. And a very good reason at that.” He gave me a glare. Apparently he was well aware that I was going to try to convince him to do just that.
I turned back to the doctor. “We’re fine. Thank you again for your help,” as I magically closed the doors in her face, releasing a tired breath afterwards.
I inspected the saddle. Everything seemed already arranged, all I had to do was strap the smaller receiver crystal around his foreleg. I decided to leave that for after our meal, and levitated the saddle over near the bed.
I walked over to the covered trays, already starting on that particular discussion. “While I can sympathize with your pragmatism, I still think not eating would be a little extreme.”
“Forcing someone to eat if they don’t need to is extreme,” he countered confidently. “You don’t feel the pain of starvation unless your digestive system is ever in use. I don’t need to sustain myself in the natural way, I have soul seals in place to do that more efficiently, without any drawbacks.”
“Impressive,” I admitted.
“Hardly,” he countered nonchalantly. I uncovered the plates, and he burst out confusedly, “What is that?”
“Apparently my sister has taken a liking to you.” I smiled as I levitated what appeared to be his meal closer for a better look. A bottle of formula, complete with rubber cap. There were even a baby hat and apron, a diaper and changing equipment and a sucker.
“What’s that at the end of the bottle? It looks perverse,” he muttered confusedly.
“Nothing for you to worry about.” I chuckled nervously as I pulled the sucker off and smelled the substance inside. ‘Yep, it’s definitely milk. Hilarious, Tia.’ After a few moments of thought, I just decided to use the milk with my coffee. It wasn’t really actual breast milk, after all.
I uncovered another plate and found she actually did have the decency to send us a real meal as well. Some steamed vegetables and a light noodle soup. No harder grass or plant stalks. Reasonable enough for someone who never used his most recent stomach before. Now to convince him to eat it…
I stared him down, bowl of hot soup in my aura. He didn’t have eyes, but he did all he could to stare at me back.
“I’m not eating that.”
“Yes you are.”
I stared more intensely, he was not impressed in the slightest.
“I promised I’d look after you, but I’m not going to put up with appearing like I’m starving you intentionally. I will force-feed you if I have to.”
“Then I suppose we’re at an impasse. I actually find I like this appearance,” as he opened his eye sockets at me. “It gives me a visual advantage.”
“The only advantage you need is on me, and I’m not taking this type of manifestation very well.” I floated the meal in front of him.
He stared at it, then whined, “But I don’t wanna…” I rolled my eyes, he went again, “And stop doing that, it’s making me dizzy!”
I couldn't help but let a chuckle through. “A compromise, then. While you eat, I’ll answer another question, but then you need to answer one of mine.” He looked at me expectantly. “…And I’ll try to remember not to make you dizzy again.”
“Okay then, I only have one question. Where’s the chamber pot?”
I took far less time to register what he asked than you’d expect. I used to use one myself a thousand years ago, after all. “There’s a thing called a bathroom in the adjacent room that we have. I’ll show you later. Now eat,” I said more forcefully than I initially wanted.
He sighed and grimaced as he swallowed it as quickly as he could. Stubbornly, he forewent savoring the meal which the royal chefs put effort into, instead wanting to just spite me for my imposing normal, equine living conditions on him. He even almost choked from lack of practice eating.
'This is ridiculous. I'm practically force feeding a starved child! Such insanity is even below Discord, for the love of the Gods...'
I pulled the plate away from him. "Easy now, lest you get sick."
He stopped suddenly, an anxious look on his face. I eyed him critically.
"...You were planning on retching all over my bed, weren't you?"
"I am neither confirming nor denying your ridiculous and insane inquiry."
"Mess up my bedchamber and you're sleeping in a dog house."
"I've slept in worse conditions, princess... when I decided on sleeping at all, that is."
I sighed and rubbed my temples. My head began to ache from his tirades. The colt didn't appear intent on stopping. "I believe it was your turn to ask a question."
His smile gave me the distinct impression that he knew what I've been trying to ask him. I sighed, for the nth time, and just got it over with. “What will it take for me to convince you to drop your death seal?”
"Ah, that," he drew away, faking surprise in order to further aggravate me.
“You’re as charming as a coffin, you know that?”
“I do my best,” he nodded and bowed dramatically. “Allow me to answer your question with a better question. Why don’t you have any defenses yourself? Certainly over your long life, you couldn’t have possibly not come across forces that could affect your mind or soul.”
He made a good point. I shifted in my spot next to him. “Alicorns are stronger than you know. I had time to train those parts of me in other ways. We don't use necromancy, instead we strengthen ourselves directly through focus and attunement.”
“And is there a reason you haven't suggested this before now?”
“There is. If you'd pay attention, I said only alicorns can train that way. You're in the body of one, a body which is connected to this world's aethers only superficially. If you were to let your synching run its course, then yes, I could instruct you.”
"Sounds convenient." He eyed me suspiciously.
Enough was enough. Nothing I'd say was going to get through to him. "What will it take for you to believe me?!" He flinched in surprise. I merely went on, "You have so much to gain if you'd just let me help you! This wasn't just a second chance, it was a miracle! Instead of embracing this opportunity, you stubbornly refuse, preferring to see a threat in every corner you can't see! This isn't your old world!"
He sunk his head into his hooves in thought. He took a few moments then turned to regard me by the corner of his eye. "Tell me. Why do you want me to be a child so badly? Why do you care so much about my seals?"
"I already told you, I intend on protecting you. That means from anyone that would mean you harm, as well as from your own folly."
"So you're afraid I might suddenly decide to off myself. You're really set on this, aren't you?"
He's changing the subject again. I drew away with a heavy sigh. "Nothing I say will get through to you, will it?"
"...So show me instead."
I looked back at him curiously. He continued, "Let me see the fruits of you and your sister's labors and mistakes. Let me see how your subjects live, if they're really as happy and peaceful as you keep saying they are. Let me study this world, and let me decide for myself what to make of it."
"And if you're still not satisfied?"
"Then we'll work something out. We're both reasonable adults, after all." I deadpanned, he immediately grimaced at his own choice of words. "...Relatively speaking, that is."
I let out a breath in thought. "I suppose it's a start."
“Let's just move on. I’m still not convinced I’m willing to entrust myself to you in the manner you expect me to, but I suppose I don't have anything better to do for now than to at least give you the benefit of a doubt.”
I eyed him curiously. “You say that as if you're actually willing to give me a chance."
“I know what you’re trying to do for me. I actually tried it once for someone else in the past.”
“You tried to help someone else?”
He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short by his stomach growling loudly. His face turned pale and he got up from bed.
“You were saying something about a bath-chamber?”