Princess Celestia threw the grand doors wide open, and Twilight stepped into the majestic hall for the first time. She had never been inside the royal courtroom before, and was relishing the new experience. The first thing she noticed was how empty it was. Granted, she didn't expect there to be many immortals in Equestria, but the sheer amount of empty seats was staggering. She surveyed the crowd; counting herself and Princess Celestia, there was Princess Luna and Princess Cadence, no real surprise there. There was Discord, that was somewhat unexpected, but, Twilight thought, since he had reformed, obviously he would be here. He was an immortal, after all. What was really surprising was the fact that he was having a lively conversation with Queen Chrysalis. The princess had informed her that these Council meetings were times of truce, and that truce was protected by unbreakable magic, but it was still a bit off-putting to see her in the same place as the princesses and not try to overthrow them. There was another figure standing in the shadows, but Twilight couldn't make out who it was. She squinted, spotting only a pair of green and purple eyes before Celestia had taken her seat as the chairpony of the meeting. She banged a gavel against the table twice for silence, and motioned for everyone to take their seats.
Twilight hopped into a chair alongside the other princesses, and the rest of the immortals settled down. Except for the shadowy figure, who remained standing in the shadows.
"First order of business," Celestia began tersely, "I would like to welcome newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle to the Council of Immortals,"
Twilight was almost embarrassed at her title, and ducked her head as the ponies clapped politely. Except for Discord, of course, who objected, "Oh, come on now; she's not even immortal! I can see her aging," he emphasized.
"She is a Princess, and that earns her a seat on this Council, and you will respect her as an equal member," Princess Luna immediately reprimanded, sending Twilight a reassuring smile.
Twilight smiled back. Discord rolled his eyes, but remained silent. Queen Chrysalis leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and they both shared a chuckle.
"Next order of business," Celestia continued, "Roll call; I am present, Luna is present, Cadence, Twilight, Discord, Chrysalis, and..." she leaned over and looked into the shadowy corner where the figure stood, staring at them with malicious eyes. She nodded in affirmation, "and Sombra is here-"
"What?" Twilight interjected, whipping her head around to look at King Sombra in the shadows. She swore she saw an evil, sharp toothed smile in the darkness.
"While Sombra is imprisoned in the void over the crystal empire," Princess Cadence explained, "He is still an immortal and is present during these meetings. However, since he is not physically here, he must stay in the shadows to sustain his form, and cannot actively participate in the Council proceedings."
"Oh..." Twilight said hesitantly, off-put at how calm everypony was in the midst of such powerful beings, dark and light alike. How strong could this magical truce possibly be?
"Third order of business," Celestia continued, pausing to sigh and close her eyes, as if disappointed by what was next on the list in front of her, "Deathless is in legal trouble again." every creature in the room save Twilight groaned; even Sombra rolled his eyes.
Twilight looked back and forth, "I don't understand," she said quietly.
Princess Celestia looked up at the grand doors on the far side of the courtroom and gestured for somepony to come in. The doors swung open and a pair of royal guards walked in, somepony Twilight had never seen before between them. It was a Pegasus; a stallion. He wore a deep black overcoat, and his hooves were in shackles. He resisted the guards, a look of frustration on his face. His fur was golden, and his mane was long and scarlet. His eyes were blue, and they stared daggers at his captors, who walked forward solemnly and indifferently. They deposited him in front of the Council, unchained his hooves and walked away. He fiddled vainly with his shackles, muttering something to himself as the guards walked away. Twilight thought she heard something along the lines of, "worthless, copy-and-paste piles of fake law."
Twilight was about to ask who that pony was, but the Princess cut her off, reading aloud from a list, voice rising in intensity with each item "Breaking and entering, destruction of property, petty larceny, littering, attempted assault and battery, taking a hostage, attempted suicide?!" Celestia threw her hooves in the air and shook her head in confusion at the pony, "What were you thinking?" she demanded.
The pony set his jaw stubbornly, "I never littered," he argued.
Princess Luna had taken the list and read over it, and now she spoke, "It says here they're trying to charge you with verbal abuse, saying you were quoted as calling the plaintiff a, 'dirty, no good, twisted merchant not worth the two bits he grubbed together in a day'?"
Discord started laughing.
The pony looked her in the eyes innocently, "It's not a lie," he defended.
"Deathless," Princess Celestia reprimanded, "You are an immortal; when will you learn that you have different responsibilities than normal ponies? You cannot keep acting so irresponsible!"
'Deathless' looked very miffed at that statement, and he stated definitively, "I help ponies!"
"Taking the law into your own hands like some sort of wild vigilante is not helping anypony, certainly not yourself," Celestia scolded, leaning her head on her hoof and sighing, "What am I going to do with you?"
"Excuse me," Twilight interrupted, "Who's that?"
Princess Celestia looked at her, realizing she had never introduced the two. She gestured to Deathless and said, "This is Deathless. He's-"
"I can introduce myself, Princess," Deathless interrupted. He turned to Twilight and mockingly gave her a grand bow, "Greetings, Princess Twilight," he said warmly.
Twilight was off-put at his sudden show of respect for her, "Hello," she greeted unsurely.
Deathless stood back up and gave her a brilliant smile, "I'm an Immortal," he explained, "And in the eyes of the law, I'm a troublemaker."
That got a laugh out of Twilight. She smiled and said, "It sure sounds like it,"
Deathless smiled back, "I don't see myself that way, though," he said, "I'm just trying to have a bit of fun with my eternity." He suddenly winked at Twilight, "But you'd be surprised how much fun stuff is illegal."
"That's enough of that," Celestia cut off before Twilight could respond. "The real question here, Deathless, is what am I going to tell the police to keep them from throwing you in jail? Again?" she added.
"Tia, anything you can think of that hasn't failed before, I'm okay with," Deathless said informally.
"That's no way to talk to the princess!" Twilight suddenly reprimanded, "You are to refer to her as Princess Celestia during these formal proceedings!"
Deathless gave her another exaggerated bow, "My sincerest apologizes, your highness," he said insincerely.
Twilight was surprised at his sudden show of respect again, but she recovered faster and nodded, "Don't let it happen again."
Princess Celestia smiled at her, "Thank you, Twilight," she said to her, then turned to Deathless and said, "I've made my decision," she said suddenly.
"Oh, come on!" Discord suddenly interjected, "Why do you even invite us to these things if we don't get a single say in anything?" Chrysalis nodded along with him.
Celestia looked at him, "We are not letting you take him in as your student of chaos, Discord," she established, "The last thing we need is two spirits of disharmony in Equestria." She turned back to Deathless and continued, "No, I've decided to send you away from Canterlot-"
"Like that's worked before," Deathless and Discord muttered in tandem.
"-to live with Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"What?" Deathless and Twilight reacted in tandem.
Celestia nodded, "I'm making you legally responsible for anything Deathless does," she explained, "you will become his legal ward. I have the utmost confidence that you will keep him out of trouble; you've never failed me before."
"That's going to end," Deathless said rather loudly.
"Princess, I can't take care of another pony, much less so an immortal!" Twilight argued.
"You will do fine," Celestia looked her in the eye and smiled, "You're my star pupil."
Deathless rolled his eyes.
Twilight, knowing there was no real way out of it if it was an order from the Princess, nodded slowly, looking at Deathless. He smiled and waved a shackled hoof innocently. This won't end well.
