Respawn?

It was apparently a better idea to go to one of those high society dinner places instead of a karaoke bar I had seen on my way here, which was a shame, as I knew some songs that I was sure Celly would love. “So, what’s the food like where we are going? Just an FYI, I can’t eat hay or flowers.” I had seen them eat that stuff, and while I had no qualms with it, my stomach sure did.

Celestia nodded thoughtfully, “I know of a sushi place that has been received well by the ponies, even though they are...vocal, about their misgivings for eating fish.”

I nodded, “Well, fish is fine for me, and from how you phrased that, I assume the same is true for ponies?”

She nodded and I smiled slightly, “Thanks by the way.”

She frowned, “For what?”

My smile widened, “For being a good person. I know how a dire situation can change someone. All that craziness from how I was acting when we first got here? That was...well, a coping mechanism for a truly hopeless situation for us. Your kindness kinda gave us the hope for a future here that we needed.”

She smiled, “And thank you, for not letting my ponies cruelty towards you darken your heart.”

I frowned, “Trust me, there’s plenty of dark in mankind's hearts already, probably why Dark magic doesn’t affect us, we just are used to that little demon of darkness on our shoulders, whispering in our ear, trying to tell us what to do.”

Celestia frowned as well as we got a table “You? Darkness in your heart? I have not seen it.”

I sighed “The way we handled Grumble was less than noble, for one, when I see someone being mistreated just for the way they are… or being forced into something they don’t want… I get extremely angry.”

Our waiter came up and smiled to us, yes, smiled, because she was NOT a pony, but a kirin, her scales were an alabaster white, and her ‘mane’ was a bright orange red, with golden orange horns. “Thank you, Both of you. I heard from the guard what you both did. If it weren’t for you, us mixed bloods would still be barred entry from our homes.”

I smiled weakly, “Thanks, er… I’m sorry, I don’t see a name tag.”

She smiled even wider “That’s because you are the first to to care what my name was, most people just either called me slurs or by species. You really are different from most!”

I clenched my hand angrily before a thought struck me, I didn’t see any chefs around here. “Your name? What is it?”

She frowned with worry, “Er… It is Bright Mind, sir. My parents said I was clever, so they named me that.”

I looked to Celestia “And, as a prince, I can hire a personal chef, yeah?”

Celestia smiled knowingly, “Indeed, you can.”

I looked to Bright Mind and grinned “I want you to make your favorite dish to make, and serve it to me, if I like it, I will make you my personal chef.”

She grinned at that and ran off, before a loud cry of joy was heard. As she got to work, I looked to Celestia, who was smiling. “What? I wanted to help the poor gal, you heard her, she was being treated like shit.”

Celestia chuckled, “It seems that your darkness has little hold over you. Because all I see right now is a good man.”

“Ugh, this impure bitch takes forever with our food.” A light grey pony with a much darker mane said haughtily from the table behind me.

A faded yellow mare with a two-tone white and blue mane nodded haughtily, “Of course, I hope her impurity does not taint our meal.” she spat.

I calmly turned to them and frowned, “You do know that it is a universal rule not to insult the person prepping your food, right?” The two ponies were about to respond, when they were cut off.

“You never know what they might slip in accidentally. It might cause a distinct decline to your overall health.” Celestia said, clearly miffed at their racism.

They both shot out of their seats and bowed, which Celestia had them hold for the rest of the conversation. “Common sense dictates that you treat others as you wish to be treated. Perhaps I should make a royal decree that you are to treat others how you see them treating other people.”

“Um, Princess, I never dictated anything like that, but I approve, I shall quote you on that.” a scholarly looking unicorn said as he left the establishment.

I put a hand on her shoulder, “Now now, Celly, that would be a step in the wrong direction, I say you should simply have them apologize to all the people they were racist to, in the town square. With everyone watching.”

“I think that should be your first Princely decree, flex your metaphorical wings a bit.” Celestia responded.

The two ponies flinched, and the guy said, “This CREATURE is going to be a Prince of our country!?”

I frowned, “You just insulted royalty, bucko.” I looked to Celestia, “Is there some punishment for that? A fine, perhaps?”

“There is a punishment, but it has been so long since it was used, that I don’t think any of these MORTALS remember it. Would you like to know what it is?” she asked the two, who nodded, “Why then, its the complete stripping of all titles and rights guaranteed to nobles by the Crown, along with seizure of all lands and finances controlled by said noble family. Of course, this doesn’t affect any illegitimate children who have no inheritance, and all of the families’ holdings go to the member of the royal family they insulted, and that member of the royal family can give the title and holdings to someone of their choosing.” she smiled sweetly at the two, and continued, “Of course, this law is enforced on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the member of royalty you insulted.”

I smiled, “I think I’ll do it. Add their title and holdings to… hmmm… Ah! Applejack’s family, they could use more money, maybe afford to help their Granny live a bit more comfortably.”

I then looked to Celestia and smiled, “So, now that tweedle dunce and tweedle douche are dealt with, how about we talk out how to fix some of those problems? I’d love to see the racist nobles squirm for a bit as they are forced to live in the same city as, say, a minotaur.”

She hummed thoughtfully, “Yes, I agree, we should. After we eat though, as sir Bright Mind has come with our-OH SWEET FAUST THAT’S A LOT OF FOOD!”

I looked to Bright Mind and gasped, “Dayum, kiddo, You went for the gusto!”

She blushed, “Heh, well, I’ve always wanted to be a chef for a kind person, someone who not only genuinely complimented me, but was kind enough to stand up for my draconic heritage… A-and… you are the kindest man I’ve m-met in this city…”

I grinned, “Well, it seems that there are no other patrons here, so how about you eat with us? I can’t possibly eat all of this. And Celestia, while many things great and marvelous, is not a bottomless pit.”

Celestia blushed a little and nodded, “Y-yes, I have no problem with this.” I felt her kick my shin “Why’d you have to phrase it like that, though?”

I shrugged, “Because you are enchanting, m’lady.”

We then sat and ate, enjoying all of our company and getting to know Bright Mind until the majority of the food was gone, and our stomachs could hold no more. “Blurgh… I can feel my stomach expanding…” Celestia groaned.

“Using magic can burn off food you ate, right?” I asked Celestia, and I grinned. I focused on the room around me, burning runes slightly into each of the chairs and tables, along with the silverware. I enchanted the silverware to return to the drawers they come from if they left the building in the care of anyone apart from the owner. The chairs were set up so that, aside from the initial charge I gave them, they would use whoever’s magic that sat in them to teleport a set of silverware to them. The tables were enchanted to keep whatever food was set on them at the correct temperature, regardless of them being hot or cold.

I felt less full than before, so I figured it worked, and Celestia’s horn lit up, teleporting us to the balcony of her room. She cast another spell, firing a ball of magical energy high into the air, which promptly exploded, showering the city with hundreds of thousands of golden sparks. The ponies that had been outside cheered, and Celestia lowered the sun as the moon rose from the opposite horizon. We watched the stars wink into existence, one by one, as Luna painted the night sky.

I then felt something pulling at me from the city, it felt like I was being called, beckoned even, and I looked to Celestia, “Can you teleport me to the town square? I have some stuff I gotta do. Oh,” I looked to Bright Mind and smiled “Stay in the castle until I get you to leave, okay? We’ll leave in about three days from now.”

As Bright Mind nodded eagerly and walked out into the castle proper, with a guest pass courtesy of Celestia, I looked to Celly and frowned after the door closed, “Something is calling me, and it feels strong. Whatever it is, keep a feel out for my magic, if it gets snuffed even once, put the city on high alert.”

She nodded and cast a spell on me, my mark from her glowing slightly before going back to normal. “There, I have you being tracked by the spell. Now just be careful okay?”

I nodded and let her teleport me before I began walking to the back alley by the town square, this one having a bookstore of all things. I walked in and heard an eerie laughter, a small old mindflayer behind the counter, which was an immediate red flag. “Welcome, welcome child of the infinite! It has been too long since one such as yourself has graced my store, come, come! We have many books that you may enjoy!”

I walked up to the counter and he smiled, “You may choose two books of four, take no more, for the elder ones are always watching!”

I looked to the various books, seeing two that caught my eye, and grinned. “Summoning and Contracting, a Step by Step Guide… and The Gift of the Architect.”

The mindflayer nodded and opened the two books as a torrent of information flooded my mind, to which I promptly booked my shit out the door, bumping into William. At that moment, I blacked out and woke up in the Canterlot Castle. I heard his voice in my mind, sounding oddly pleased. “Thank you for choosing well, may the knowledge serve you well!”

[P.O.V. William]

After having all of the unicorns in the guard constantly throw spells at my shield for hours, I felt an odd pull on my magic. If I had to describe it, I’d say that someone was trying to pull me with a thread, uncomfortable, but not painful. I tried to teleport to the source, but was only able to get to the end of an alley that exited onto the street. I headed down the alley, noticing a sign with books on it, which seemed to be the thing that was drawing me. I moved to enter the building, but bumped into James. I stumbled back slightly, as that guy’s armor weighs a ton, and he collapsed, blinking out of existence.

I tried to trace the teleport, and it clearly went to the castle, so I assumed it was safe. I entered the bookshop, noticing a mind flayer in the back of the shop, behind the register. “So, why did you draw me here?” I asked it.

“I drew you here because you’re not native to this dimension, like me,” it said. “You may take two books of four, but no more, for the Elder ones are always watching.”

“God damn it, I knew the Eldritch ones were real,” I sighed, “So, Ag’thuuzar, why are you in the realm of ponies? Did James and myself’s arrival trigger one of your prerequisites for becoming active?” I asked. He flinched slightly at my use of his name, and nodded. “Nice, shoulda guessed something non-native to this section of the multiverse as I understand it would be a trigger. Anyway, let’s see what we got,”

I picked up a book titled ‘Spoken Law’ from the pile and set it aside, and Ag’thuuzar looked pleased, “So, you’re technically a book, yes?”

The pleased look left his face as soon as the words left my mouth, “How did you know that?” his voice hissed, both in my mind and aloud.

“Oh, I just studied the Lovecraftian mythos on my world. It mentioned Ag’thuuzar, the personification of the book that knows all. Technically speaking, you are the fourth book in the equation, so I’ll take your physical form, to summon and order as I see fit.” I said smugly. It was a bluff, since technically that bit of information wasn’t SUPPOSED to be canonical to the mythos, but from his reaction, it seemed I hit the nail on the head.

“Damn Lovecraft, spreading the Elder Ones’ secrets,” he hissed in frustration.

“Well, my first order is not to harm anyone, physically or otherwise, unless I give you explicit orders to do so. Otherwise, for example, if I were to order you to protect a building, you would make any intruders simply fall asleep rather than harm them.” He sighed, seemingly in relief. I teleported us back to the castle, and turned to him, “Can you take book form?” He popped into a dark purple book with a green geometric pattern covering it. It was actually rather small, but then again, that was all the better. I stuck it in my bag of holding and went to find out how the unicorns were doing.

[P.O.V. James]

I had been feeling sluggish as I went through the new knowledge in my mind, I knew that this stuff was WAY more intense in power than anything I had before. Together with my other powers, I was a force to be reckoned with, as I could now do Sagecraft on a level before unthought of. Not only that, but I now had the ability to form a contract with an eldritch being, once I met another one… I then got up and walked to Celestia's chamber to give her the all clear.

When I reached her bedchamber, I decided to make her something nice, so I grabbed a ruby, amethyst, and lapis and formed them into a very beautiful flower. I knocked on her door and smiled as she answered, “Why hello James, I take it all is well?”

I nodded, “Just had to deal with a minor eldritch being, he gave me some new knowledge. Also, I made you something.”

I handed her the flower, and she gasped, only to teleport the flower and me into her room. “Tell me everything.”