Oponi

Divine Intervention

The sisters were receiving the latest reports from one of the army mages. The teleportation distance had worn him out, so the information came between heavy pants.

"One is a... *huff* it looks like a white timberwolf. The other is a... *huff* sort of like a diamond dog but only with hair on his head, he also doesn't slouch like they do. It appears they.. *huh* haven't harmed any of the men, besides getting them all to drink far too much alchohol, which we still aren't sure of how they procured."

Celestia was uncomfortable with the news that the white wolf had been real and not just a trick by her eyes. "Are they dangerous?"

"It's hard to tell, your majesty. The tall one had a sword but we confiscated it until further notice. The other one didn't have a weapon, being a wolf and all. They seem like they may have used trickery or unfair advantage to subdue the soldiers until our arrival."

A creak from overhead got their attention, the pink man from earlier was pacing around the rafters of the throne room, looking at the various pieces of artwork around the room. "Who goes there?" Asked a member of the solar guard positioned by the door, he had certainly not let him in.

The man turned his head and looked down on the ponies below him. "Give me a moment, the artwork in your castle is magnificent. It will only be a second."

Celestia saw no harm in letting him stare at the walls for a few moments but the guard was apparently not sharing her opinion. "Come down right now!"

The man sighed and hopped from his position, slowly drifting downward until landing on the carpet that formed a walkway to the sister's throne. "I'm down with what you say, pun intended." A deep groan seemed to come from the walls at the impressively terrible pun. He looked at the neutral faces of the ponies around him. After coughing into his hand, he continued. "excusez-moi, they sometimes just come out of nowhere like that."

Celestia was going to tell him it was really no problem, but the guard beat her to the punch yet-again. "Identify yourself, intruder!"

He rose up onto one foot, raising his hands to the sky. "Hark! The earth, the sea, the very heavens themselves! They summon me forth on my quest to defeat evil and serve the gods!" He did a simply fabulous spin on his single shoe and ended facing directly at the princess. "Waka, the gods' gift to man is here, Bonjour!"

Amaterasu didn't like these animals, they weren't natural. She had been attacked by wooden wolves while heading through the forest, that immediately set-off warning bells, considering that all animals loved the divine mother. Whatever they actually were, it wasn't made by nature, it was made by hand. They had formed a circle around the sun-goddess, intending to surround her.

Worse mistakes are seldom made twice.

"I have introduced myself, now tell me who you are, a queen?"

Celestia shot a glare at the guardsman before he could talk again. "I am princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria along with my sister, Luna." She noticed the raised-eyebrow Waka wore as soon as she said her name. "Do you find something odd?"

He checked himself. "Just a coincedence. I'm here to tell you that my compatriot will be here soon. I suggest letting her in immediately, she will probably be a little wound-up after her trip. She will also be carrying your guardsmen a... Shining Armor, oui? He passed-out and we decided to take him here."

He was lying, but it was obviously lying in a way that made it difficult to call his bluff on anything specific. "Why is the captain unconscious? He has never had difficulty in his duties, even when he had to repel the entire changeling army."

"He attacked none-other than moi. We put him under for our own safety and decided it would be best if he came here. You do have a place to put him, oui?"

"Of course." She hardened her gaze. "Now tell me why I shouldn't banish you for knocking-out one of my most loyal officers."

Waka pointed his flute at the princess. "Because, Celestia, until you show us otherwise, this land belongs to us and you will treat it with the respect it deserves for as long as we are here."

Celestia responded quickly. "This land is not yours nor any others. This land belongs to the ponies of Equestria. We have existed here for thousands of years."

"Although it lacks a certain, délicatesse, we were here before your people or any others that were here. We are responsible for your land."

"Ridiculous, there are only two of you, what right do you both have to any of the lands under me and my sister?"

Waka may appear to often be a cryptic smart-arse with questionable loyalties but if any part of his character was concrete, it was his devotion toward the celestials. "Were you here when this land was created? I'm guessing not, seeing as how I didn't see you there when it happened. I have lived just as long as this land and longer. I was there when the gods came, when the celestials appeared, when peace existed in every form." He continued his monologue, keeping his voice at an indoor-level.

"I was there to defend this land when the serpent Orochi attacked, and I was the one who prophesised that we couldn't defeat him ourselves, which led to the goddess leaving this place to find the chosen mortal." He didn't continue into the next event, the slaughter of the celestials aboard the ark of Yamato.

"I have seen this land grow, I have kept this land safe long-enough for your ponies to live here. Don't think that we plan on evicting you, that would only serve to sully this land's heritage further. Until otherwise, you will settle down. I admire your devotion to your people, that is certainly magnifique, but until we can be sure that you have not desecrated our home, we will be content to watch from the sidelines."

"Do you have proof of these allegations?" Although his words came normally, they still had bite. He was telling the truth, at least whatever parts he had actually said.

"All the proof I have comes when my companion arrives. Until then, I suggest you settle down, get some tea, and let us have a civilized conversation."

Amaterasu had gotten some testing done with her powers in this world. She had quickly discovered that all of her greensprout abilities worked on basically everything in the forest. She now shot herself out of the canopy every few seconds, attached to vines that seemingly came from nowhere, Shining Armor still somehow managing to not fall from her back as the branches whipped his drooling face.

After three broken branches across his face, Shining Armor began to stir. "Where... OW! Ow ow ow ow OOWWWW!" The branches kept coming, Ammy basically in autopilot at this point. "Stop, stop it! Why don't you stop? Can you hear me?!"

"Row." She could, in fact, hear him.

"Aren't you going to at least slow down? This hurts!"

"Row." She did, in fact, not care.

Waka sat cross-legged at a table he had basically dragged in front of the sister's throne, sipping tea calmly with his eyes closed. It was one of those awkward silences in which only one side was actually bothered by the quiet.

Celestia wasn't sure if she should start another conversation or try to have him arrested, she doubted it would do much if he had managed to enter the castle undetected. "Sooo..."

"You're palace is very nice, very quiet. Did you choose the location?"

"Huh? Oh, yes I did, I thought the mountain would provide a good view over the kingdom, it is also far from the wild animals and other problems." She was actually quite proud of the castle, the symbol of the sisters could be seen from almost anywhere in the kingdom.

"Mmmm." He sighed with his eyes still closed. "You can hardly even hear the town, also your plan?"

She couldn't help but blush at the observation. "Well, after all of the court hearings each day, it's nice to be able to just have some quiet for a little bit."

"Mmmm. I had a similar problem when deciding on a location for my headquarters in the city. The noise made it impossible to command the troopers."

"What did you do to fix the problem?"

"I put the building hundreds of feet above the city in the clouds. It also helped me to decide which troopers were good-enough for their positions." He finished his story with another draft of tea. "Did you tell the guards about my companion's arrival?"

"Yes I did, there shouldn't be any problems besides maybe some stares. You said that it had my captain traveling with it?"

He removed his mouth from his cup for a moment. "She." He finished his cup and began pouring more. "Technically, she doesn't have a gender, but her current reincarnation is female, while the last one was male. You may as well refer to her as a she."

"Reincarnation? That sounds like something out of a story."

He couldn't help but find the hypocracy in that statement from an apparent immortal. "Of course she can reincarnate, if a god couldn't reincarnate, what would happen every time something happened? It would be madness."

She stared at him as he continued to sip his drink. "God? The wolf? No, just no. If I don't believe your first story, convincing me that the wolf I saw was a god is a complete different ballpark."

"Hmmmm." He sighed to himself. "Then I guess we'll have to just keep waiting until she is here, oui?"