Godly
Chapter 17: To Wanori City

With this bad feeling now gnawing at the back of my mind, I just sigh and wait for the mares to finish preparing the new meal while Chrysalis picks up a few wooden cups from some crude looking shelves and carefully fills five cups with wine from the keg. She then levitates three of them over to the three zebra stallions across from us and one to me while levitating the last in front of her face.

"What is this?" Jintawa asks eyeing the dark purple liquid.

"Wine made from grapes, I guarantee you won't find better wine anywhere else," I tell him and take a sip from my cup. I don't know if I can get drunk quicker than normal with such a smaller body than I would with a human sized one, but I'm not going to get drunk as I still have a job to do here.

"What do you plan to do once you have helped the changelings?" the elder asks me with a raised brow.

"Stay with them, it's my home where my friends and family live. I have no reason nor want to leave them," I reply. Chrysalis happily hums and leans down to nuzzle my head with her chin.

The next hour is just idle chit chat as our new fresher food is served and eaten. Jintawa also tells me of a story passed down about a supposed old god sealed deep within the tallest mountain in Zebrica by Discord himself. Legend states that the old god came outta nowhere and started devouring anything living to grow stronger, and Discord fought it tooth and claw until finally, Discord managed to contain and bury it deep under the ground and dropped that mountain on top of it.

Just to be sure, I'm going to leave it alone as I do not want to fight something that gave Discord himself a run for his money.

I leave the hut with the others following behind me back to the lake in progress, the rain has stopped and the clouds dispersed a good twenty or so minutes ago, so now the heat is bearing down on us again.

Arriving at the lake, along with the foals now back and watching, I change to He Bo and resume filling the lake.

"Where are you getting the water from?" Jintawa asks in awe.

"I believe it's my mana being converted into water, which is why I need breaks to replenish the mana I use," I reply and wince as the heat is starting to make me, well, heat up again.

I remember that I wanted to check if it was the sun so I stop and change to Ra, confusing the others. But hey, the heat is no longer bothering me.

"What are you doing now?" Chrysalis asks me with a raised brow.

"I thought earlier if the sun was truly responsible for this heat, so I thought I'd use a sun god and, kind of ask the sun if it is," I reply making the zebras even more confused.

"Ask the sun?" Jintawa says in disbelief.

"I can become gods and goddesses of the sun, and in doing so connect with the sun. Same with the moon as well," I reply and look straight at the sun.

I can just feel the sun focus on me, as if its looking down right at me from orbit. I've no doubt the sun and moon have souls or minds of their own, whether or not they're intelligent and sapient will have to be seen.

'Are you the cause of this drought?' I ask it in my head.

And surprisingly, it feels like the sun is shaking its metaphorical head for no. A few seconds later, a soft ray of light shines down farther to the west as if pointing.

'Thank you,' I tell the sun making it shine brighter for a second before turning its gaze elsewhere. "Banawey? What's over there?" I ask him looking at where the light is pointing.

"Errr... That would be Lake Yoguna, our main source of water. Why?" he replies and asks.

"The sun says its not responsible for the drought, but whatever is over there is causing it," I reply and change back to He Bo to finish filling the lake.

Banawey frowns and looks back to the light as it slowly fades away. "Could the roars we heard before be the cause?" he mutters to himself.

"Most likely, and once I've done my part of our deal, I'll go see what's over there and try to either fix it, or remove the problem," I tell him and focus back on making water.

The foals keep their distance from Chrysalis until she uses her magic and changes into a slightly taller zebra, complete with Mohawk. I smile in amusement as she sits beside me and the foals slowly approach her.

"Are you really a changeling?" one of the colts asks her.

"I am," she replies and leans her head over to him.

"Can you turn into a lion!?" one of the fillies asks her.

Chrysalis just smiles and with a flash of green fire, she's now a large lioness just staring at the foals who back away a few steps before the filly that asked her walks up and pokes her flank with a hoof.

Once she realises that she's fine, she rears back and places her fore-hooves onto Chrysalis' back and giggles as she hugs the furry feline changeling queen. Said queen's tail is now softly whipping side to side just like a house cat's does.

The other foals now amused and no longer afraid all get close and touch her as well, asking her questions and asking her to try other forms.

While that's going on I can't stop smiling as this is helping us show that changelings aren't monsters, parasites, or evil as the foals play with Chrysalis.

"She's good with foals," Jintawa says watching them.

"She's had hundreds of siblings and young of her own for decades, I would think she's learnt a thing or two about caring for them," I reply and sigh as I need to take a break, so I change into Khepri making the foals gasp at my size and surround me to get a better look. The lake is now half-way filled and shouldn't take more than two or three more hours to fill fully.

I get an idea while letting my mana recover and look to the foals. "Who would like to see what it's like to fly?" I ask them making the parents nervous.

One little filly gasps and raises her hoof. "Me! I have always dreamt of flying!" she yells in excitement.

I chuckle and look at the others. "Anyone else?" I ask but they all shake their heads. Looking back to the filly, I smile and wave her over. "Then let us take to the sky," I say making her giggle and run over.

I carefully cradle her on my front legs and once I'm sure she's secure, I turn to Chrysalis. "Chryssi, could you fly alongside me and catch her if she falls?" I ask her making her change back into her normal form.

"Of course," she replies and with that, I slowly open my back plates as my wings extend and gently take off from the ground getting 'Ooos' and 'Ahhs' from the others.

The filly gasps and I barely see the massive smile on her face as we do a few laps over the village where she just looks around the landscape. I've had to tell her to settle down a few times but it was a gentle flight all in all. Chrysalis stayed close by just in case the filly got too excited and slipped off.

Now that I feel my mana has recharged, I head back to the lake and softly land before letting the filly down where she ran up to a very relieved mare and was jumping around her.

"Mother! I was flying, I was flying!" the filly says and then goes still and wide eyed as the adrenaline finally wears off. "I was flying..." she says and with a massive smile falls face first on the grass gently.

Others laugh while her mother sighs and carries the over excited filly back to the village on her back.

I change back to He Bo and continue with the water.

At the end of the day, the lake is full and this should last them a good while until I can sort out the cause of the drought. After I finished with the lake, I spent the rest of the afternoon just playing with the foals with games like tag as Ratatoskr and hide and seek. I even created a playground using Geb's earth shaping to make play houses and with some old wood and logs, some swing sets, those small merry-go-round things, and see-saws.

"Thank you for all this, The foals have never been this happy before," the elder tells me as we head back to his hut.

"It's alright, Jintawa. I love kids and I had fun as well," I reply as we reach his hut still as Ratatoskr.

"Please rest for the night before heading out to the next village, the guest room is to the right," he offers us and I nod.

"Sure, I'm tired and a good night's sleep sounds good," I reply and enter the hut with an equally tired Chrysalis next to me.

Jintawa and the two mares who made us meals today go through the left curtained door while Banawey and Onaka go through the right, I guess the other warriors are bunking elsewhere tonight. I hum and smile as an idea pops into my head.

I change to Ganesha and place the objects in my hands on the stone table to the right side of the room next to the doorway before leaning back in the middle of the room where my cloud forms and I relax on it. Chrysalis flutters up and lands softly on my belly where she snuggles into me and rests her head to the right of my neck.

My trunk and four arms wrap around her back and I smile as she sighs. "Goodnight, Carl," she tells me.

"Goodnight, Chryssi," I reply and we both eventually fall asleep.

After getting up and having breakfast from my own food and water, and making some of Cupid's hearts for Chrysalis, we head outside where the sun is barely rising. Natural sunrises and sunsets look so much better than what Celestia was forcing it to do, moving so fast there was no time to just enjoy it.

In my boredom, I use Terra to create a small garden with flowers and rose bushes behind the elder's hut where I change to Khepri and wait with Chrysalis for the others to awaken.

"I've been thinking," she says making me turn from the sun to look at her.

"Sounds painful," I reply getting a giggle and a light smack from her.

"If you're going to be a god the whole world will know, perhaps you should have a more godly name? Celestia and Luna's names are not their birth names. I remember Amore telling me their real names were Sunflower and Moonbeam before they changed them after ascending, and that hers was Heartsong," she tells me.

I frown in thought, she's right. Carl isn't exactly a godly name...

She smiles as she nudges me out of my thoughts. "Careful, you looked like you were hurting yourself," she tells me teasingly. I chuckle as she looks at the rising sun. "How about, Pantheon? You did tell me that you were basically a bunch of different pantheons in one, so it fits perfectly," she suggests.

"Huh, I guess it does. But you can still call me Carl when we're alone," I tell her and carefully rub my cheek against hers.

She returns the nuzzle as the village begins to awaken. After about half an hour Banawey and his warriors find us and look ready to go.

"I take it we're leaving already?" I ask him as I stand up.

"Yes, the faster we get there the faster we can solve the problem at Lake Yoguna," he replies.

"Then I shall do as I offered before, I shall carry you and Onaka there myself. At least there is no ocean in the way this time," I tell him with a chuckle.

"Very well," he says and turns to his warriors. "Head for Wanori, we shall meet you there," he tells them getting bows from them as they turn and start running.

"Do you want me to send you back, Chrysalis?" I ask her making her hum in thought.

"No, I haven't travelled in decades, and this is a good opportunity to do so," she replies and smiles.

I return the smile and look to Banawey. "Also, I've decided to take a new name for myself. From now on, call me Pantheon," I tell him making him raise an eyebrow.

"Is there a reason for changing your name?" he asks confused.

"It just sounds more godlike and serious than Carl," I reply and cradle my legs under me. "Set up some blankets and cushions then we can head out," I tell them and they both start piling their blankets and cushions on my legs.

Once done, they get on and make themselves comfortable. I then open my wings and slowly take off and pick up speed while Chrysalis follows beside me, fluttering her own wings.

We fly over the running warriors who briefly look up at us before looking forward again. From up here, I can see everything around us. The largest mountain said to be holding an old god under it. The long stretch of the dried up river bed, more bowls and craters that looked like they held water now bone dry.

Tall trees mostly looking withered and dying, very few animals out and about like antelope, lions, even hyenas.

To our left is the Rainforest in the distance, and even that is beginning to look like its dying. For hours we fly at a fast speed as the land below blurs by. I use my head as a windshield for my passengers so they're not blasted in the face by the strong and blisteringly hot wind.

We finally arrive at the next village around midday where most of the residents go into hiding at the sight of Chrysalis and I coming in for a landing. Zebra warriors surround us with bone or stone spears pointed at us.

I let Banawey and Onaka off where the warriors now look confused but still point at us.

Banawey explains what's going on to them and the village elder while I change to Chaac so I can repeat the same as I did for the last village. I made it rain and then began creating their new lake as He Bo.

Once finished, we spend the night in the village and then make our way to the capital of Zebrica.

The flight is made in silence as I can see a very large city coming up. It looks like a good five or six mile radius wide with a log spiked and mud/clay brick wall around it. It's nowhere near as intimidating as our wall, but it keeps the wild beasts out at least.

Around the wall is a lot of farmland with small villages around them with moving dots I can only assume are zebras working the fields, trying to keep their crops alive.

The river still looks dried up even past the City and off into the distance to where the sunlight shone down upon.

The buildings within the wall don’t look very big, some two-story structures and a large warehouse looking building are near the middle, but the rest look like the same as those from the villages we stopped at.

I do see the trading area Banawey told me about just north from the centre of the city.

A little while longer and we land in front of the City's wall at one of its four gates. The zebra warriors once again surround us with spears while I let my passengers off.

"High-Shaman Banawey!" one of the warriors bows in respect to him.

I change to Chaac and look at Banawey. "I'll go around the wall and make it rain on your fields then meet you back here," I tell him and he nodded in reply.

"High-Shaman, what is that creature and why is a changeling here!?" one of the warriors asks him as I get ready to make the first batch of rain clouds.

While he explains yet again, I start making dark clouds appear which quickly cover the area making everyone here go silent as the first drops fall.

Chrysalis hums as the water cascades over her chitin relieving her from the heat before she flutters up behind me and wraps her forelegs under my arms and picks me up. She flies along the wall to the next area not covered in clouds where I repeat the process over and over. It takes me an hour or two to go around the whole wall and the fields, but once done, we find Banawey and other elderly zebras waiting for us at the gate.

"This is the god you told us of?" an elderly mare wearing ceremonial looking robes with bones and herbs attached asks Banawey.

"He is, Mianya. With everything I've seen him do, I doubt it no longer," he replies to her question while the rain is pouring down around us.

Mianya walks up to me eyeing me harshly while glancing at Chrysalis now and then. The other robed and elderly looking zebras remain silent while this mare examines us.

"Banawey tells us you wish to form a friendship between us and the changelings. Why should we interact with those who were exiled for murdering another they called friends?" she asks me harshly.

I frown at her and get right in her face which surprises her.

"One: Celestia only saw a changeling standing over a pony. She never gave the changeling a chance to explain and just killed them where they stood before chasing the rest away from the Crystal Empire, a territory she doesn’t rule over. Which, by the way, Empress Amore regrets letting Celestia exile the changelings from her empire. So we'll never know what really happened to that pony,"

"Two: The changelings under my care no longer need to take others just to survive anymore as I provide enough love for them to survive comfortably from now on. And for the last seven months I've been with them, they haven't hurt or killed anyone."

"And three: Don't insult or even think about harming Chrysalis or any changeling in my presence or I will retaliate," I threaten her. "I came here in hopes of making friends with those we share the world with. I offered to help your people with your water problem and find the source of the drought, but if you wish to be hostile and judge my mate and her race because what one insane mare said a hundred years ago, I will just leave and let you figure out what to do yourselves," I finish my rant making her back up a few steps as I grip my axe tightly.

I feel Chrysalis rear up and wrap her forelegs over my shoulders and her hooves rest on my chest.

"Calm down, you can't expect to change the views of everyone straight away, so don't let her grouchy attitude get to you. You promised to help them. Remember the first village? How the foals were so happy, the villagers thankful, they are the ones that matter, not this grumpy old nag," she tells me right next to my ear making Mianya glare at her angrily.

"Still your tongue, Monster!" the elderly mare says to Chrysalis with venom in her tone.

My expression looks calm but my eyes are burning into the mare for insulting my girl. "Banawey, if you want my help still, you'll escort this mare away from us before I do something I might regret," I tell him, my knuckles turn white as I grip my axe even tighter.

"Mianya, do not insult our guests again. I asked him to come here and while I do still have some doubts about the changelings, Empress Amore and Princess Cadenza trusts them and so far they have not show any hostility. Return to the Communal Hut and wait for us there," he tells her making her look insulted.

"You trust these monsters not to harm any of our people? A Changeling Queen here is bad enough, but now they have a physical living god helping them! How do we know he won't turn on us later!" she demands making my right eye twitch.

It seems Banawey noticed my anger building and nods to a few warriors who carefully pull the senile mare away.

"How dare you treat a High-Shaman like this!" she says and continues to curse and shout as she's gently escorted away.

"My apologies for her behaviour, she supports Princess Celestia and Luna's actions about the changelings," he tells me with a sigh.

I huff out my nose and change to Mercury. "Just keep her away from us until we head back home, I'm not in the mood to deal with someone who's about to lose her marbles at her old age." I sigh and shake my head. "Instead of making a lake right now, I'd rather find out what the problem your main lake is having. Which direction is it?" I ask him making him point north-west.

"Just follow the river north-west for about five hours, you cannot miss it," he tells me.

"Alright," I say and turn to Chrysalis. "Wait here, I'll run over there in just a few minutes and open a portal for you okay? Unless you want to stay here and look around?" I tell her and ask.

"I'd rather go with you, I just don't trust some of these zebras after the nag's outburst," she replies eyeing the zebras, all of which have a variety of expressions.

"Fair enough, call you in a sec," I reply and before anyone could speak, I've already shot off along the river bed while leaving a dust trail in my wake.

It takes me a minute to arrive at the lake and what I see makes me go wide eyed. In the centre of the dried up lake is a large five foot tall and three foot wide ruby like gem or crystal floating a foot off the lake bed as it rotates clockwise slowly. Its giving off tremendous heat, greater than even the badlands or back at the zebra city.

I then spot what seems to be a few burnt and old crispy corpses of zebras near the crystal, where the ground is also burnt black around the crystal.

I change into Sol and slowly fly down towards it. I won't bring Chrysalis here as I don't think she can withstand the heat, especially if she doesn't even like being near our forges.

When I get just ten feet from it, a large amount of flames bursts out from the crystal and spins around it. It slowly gathers above it until the shape of a large dragon about eighteen feet tall forms and roars at me. It has four horns pointing backwards and two large wings on its back. It has no lower body as it floats above the crystal.

"What are you doing here?" I ask as Chrysalis told me what little she knew about dragons, mainly that they are intelligent and can speak what’s known as common.

"That is not your concern, Elemental. Return to Volcanica," it replies.

Elemental? Volcanica? These are questions I want answers to.

"I'm not an elemental, I am a god, and you will answer me, dragon," I reply and connect to the sun, who instantly focuses on me.

"Not an elemental but a god you say? There is only one true god of this world, and neither you, Discord, or those alicorns are it," he replies and takes a deep breath before exhaling a large amount of flames at me.

I just deadpan at him as the flames envelop me, so I absorb them making the flaming dragon look surprised.

"Then I'll show you what makes me a god!" I tell him and gather mana in my hands for a Stellar Burst attack.

I throw my right hand out like I would throwing a baseball. The little ball of fire soars at the crystal while the dragon also seems unamused and does nothing to stop it.

As soon the ball hits the crystal, it explodes where a ring of super hot fire expands making the crystal crack just a little bit and the land to shake mildly, shocking the dragon and before he could react, the ring implodes back into the crystal cracking it further.

"INSOLENT ELEMENTAL! YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR BETRAYAL!" he roars out and this time fires a beam of fire that rivals that of my body. I fly out of the way and the lake bed where I was is glassed. I start throwing more Stellar Bursts at the crystal where the dragon takes the defensive and detonates them with his own fireballs before they reach.

"Alright, Asshole. Let's see you stop this!" I say and use Sol's ultimate, Supernova.

The sun gets brighter and responds by firing eight consecutive beams of fire at the crystal.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" the dragon yells as he watches the beams coming down at him rapidly. He quickly uses himself as a shield to cover the crystal where the first five hits are blocked by his body, but the sixth beam blasts through him and cracks the crystal again.

"NOOOOOO! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS TREACHERY LOWLY ELEMENTAL!" he yells at me before getting extinguished as the last two beams shatter the crystal and the heat slowly dies down.

I sigh and stretch my limbs with a smile, while not getting the answers I wanted, I have something to do now while helping the changelings grow.

With that sorted I take a piece of the crystal for Chrysalis to look at and change to Janus where I make a portal back to the zebra city.

Author's Note

Longer chapter than normal and I'm now really getting into this story. I know I said I would focus on Terracana, but this one seems to have my attention the most right now.

As many have suggested, I've given Carl a second name he will now be publicly known by.

Pantheon, God of the Changelings.

If you spot any errors, please point them out and I'll fix them.