Twilight yawned happy that the day's meetings were done. It was tiresome and sometimes the nobles of Canterlot would annoy her with the smallest of problems but at least at the end of the day she always felt that she did what was best for Equestria. As Twilight made her way towards her personal bedchambers, she was soon joined by her secretary Violet inkwell.
"Good evening your majesty."
"Good evening Violet. Any word from Spike yet."
Violet grimaced wishing that the princess would address her in a more professional manner as she had her mother Raven inkwell before her retirement. "Yes, your majesty, I received a letter from him. Spike is in the badlands as we speak and most likely meeting with dragon lord Ember."
"That's wonderful and have my friends replied to my letter about having to delay our meet up?"
Violet nodded. "From all but Rainbow Dash but I believe that Pinkie Pie might still be showing up on the original day planned." Twilight raised her eyebrow wondering what she had meant. "Pinkie's letter was filled with quotation marks around several key words and this flip book had arrived with it." Violet levitated the object in question to Twilight who had taken it into her own magic. Flipping it showed an animation of Pinkie and a small filly winking at whoever was holding it.
Twilight giggled as she handed the flip book back to Violet. "Well, Party Poppers drawing skills have drastically improved."
"Yes, according to Pinkie's letter, she is just as rambunctious as Pinkie was as a child."
Twilight smiled as she thought about how much she would love to be able to visit all of her friends and spoil their children with gifts more often but a princess's job was never finished.
"Your majesty, would you like to see the details of your meeting tomorrow?"
"I am quite tired and wish to head to bed right away, so I will look them over during breakfast tomorrow."
"Of course, your majesty I will prepare your private study with your current reading material."
Twilight chuckled "You know me very well don't you. Thank you, Violet, that would be much appreciated." Violet Inkwell nodded to the princess before hurrying along ahead of her disappearing around a corner.
Once inside her bedchamber Twilight removed her regalia and moved on to the bathroom to wash up for the night. Her relaxation was cut short as the sound of thunder interrupted her thoughts. "That's strange, I do not believe that a thunderstorm was planned for tonight." A moment later she heard a yelp from nearby. Moving quickly Twilight opened the door between her room and the connected study. "Violet what was that…" Twilight's sentence was stopped by the confusing sight before her.
Violet Inkwell was before her currently unconscious and bottom rung of a strange dog pile. On top of her was an equally unconscious strange creature and on top of it and fortunately the only conscious one was a cat. Looking on Twilight could see a hint of curiosity in the cat so she called out to it. Motioning with her hoof for it to come to her. The cat after hooping off of what Twilight could only assume their owner, walked up to Twilight and started rubbing against her legs and purring. "You're an affectionate one." Kneeling down to the cat's level she took a look at the cat's collar. On it she noticed two things, the first one was a strange charm with a marble in the middle that seemed a little oversized for the cat the second was a simple tag with a single word. "Book? Is that your name?" The cat's response was to meow back at her.
Twilight then turned her attention back to the other creature. Enveloping the creature within her magic and gently picking it up Twilight noticed a worried look flash across the cats face. "Don't fret I'm only going to put them somewhere safe to make sure they are no danger to us." Twilight felt a little silly trying to explain this to a cat but something about Book’s expressions and strange intelligence Twilight felt the need to.
“...Dangerous to himself...”
Twilight quickly looked around thinking she heard a strange whispering voice. Seeing no one else around she looked down to the cat that just meowed at her. Figuring she was just hearing things her attention turned back to the strange creature in her telekinetic grasp. Its body was devoid of fur with its skin being a soft gray in color. The face had very soft features to the point where it was almost featureless. Judging by its body structure being similar to other bipeds in Equestria she had to assume it was a biped. Its hands did not match for some reason the right hand had five slim fingers while the other seemed to have three larger formed fingers covered in some kind of armor.
Focusing her magic Twilight teleported the unknown creature to one of the holding cells in the castle for safety. Looking down and seeing a somewhat shocked look on the cats face Twilight reassured it. "Don't worry like I said they have only been moved somewhere safe."
Twilight laid down allowing the cat to jump onto her back. "We will be checking up on them once I have made sure Ms. Violet is okay." Twilight moved over to the still unconscious pony and gently nudged her awake.
Startling awake Violet quickly looked around. "Your majesty, there was this strange sound and the next thing I knew I was being awoken by you." Violet was obviously in panic mode judging by how quickly she was talking and trying to straighten herself out.
Twilight chuckled remembering how she used to do that when something unexpected would come up when Celestia was around. "No need to worry Violet, I have taken care of it for now. Though I will need those notes immediately as other responsibilities have now cut into my reading time." Violet nodded before quickly realizing what the princess wanted and dug through her bag producing a small stack of notes. Taking the notes Twilight dismissed Violet and returned to her room. As Twilight approached her desk Book had leapt from her back and proceeded to make themselves comfortable.
Twilight smiled at the small animal before writing a letter to the head guard of the cell block that Twilight had just placed their visitor in explaining the situation to them. Twilight spent the next half hour pouring over Violet's notes before she stood up, gaining the resting cat’s attention. "Come Book shall we see how your owner is doing." The cat had flashed a moment of confusion before meowing at Twilight and hopping on her back again. As Twilight entered the cell block she was immediately greeted by shouting in a foreign language.
"Your majesty, your detainee has only recently woken and has been shouting nonstop." Off to Twilight's side was the head guard for this area. "As far as I can tell they are repeating the same lines in different languages one of them that they cycle through is Equestrian." The guard looked down the hall that the shouting was coming from. "I must warn you that occasionally they stop shouting it's usually followed by…" the guard's sentence was interrupted by a very loud explosion. Looking down the row of cells she could clearly see black smoke pouring out of one. "It seems you have caught a volatile one this time."
Twilight nodded. "It seems so. Though if the circumstances were reversed and I awoke in some strange cell I wouldn't be too pleased either." As soon as the smoke cleared the yelling began again. It started off as this guttural language that kind of devolved into barking. As Twilight approached the cell did the speaker finally start using Equestrian.
"I want to speak to the manager! I know my rights! You don't know who you're dealing with! The guild will have your…" the yelling stopped as Twilight came into view.
"And just who am I dealing with?" Twilight asked as she looked upon the speaker. Twilight found herself surprised as the creature inside the cell while wearing the same clothing as before looked nothing alike what she had put there. Its features before were barely there now took on a quite angular face, its mane being short and white was now long and golden, its ears before were not even noticeable were now long and pointy, and its skin that was exposed was now more of a peach in color. In fact the only thing that seemed the same about them was the singular armored arm.
"I am Coop acting guild master of the house of Cannith, and I'm guessing from the fancy shit on your head that you are the one in charge." The creature took a step back and bowed. "Now if you'd be so kind and LET ME OUT!" As the creature yelled the last part their body changed all at once becoming bigger and stronger looking taking on a green color, its jaw took on an underbite with several fangs now jutted from its mouth, and its mane shrank to a short size turning brown in color. It had also slammed its five fingers fist into the magic barrier right in front of Twilight.
Twilight didn't flinch through years of practice she had learned how best to hide her reactions and instead chose to speak calmly. "If you want out you're going about it the wrong way. That barrier was made by me personally and nothing living or magical and pass through it so you are not getting out without my say." The creature stepped back from the barrier.
"Nothing living or magical huh." The creature suddenly reached out with its three fingered hand. Twilight stayed where she was as she expected it to hit the barrier but was left speechless as the hand passed through unobstructed and snatched the crown off her head before retreating back into the cell. The creature smirked at her. "How about a trade then you let me out and I'll give you your crown back."
Twilight was shocked, that crown was a gift from princess Celestia herself. "And what happens if I don't."
"Well, my guess is that the barrier that covers the window is the same. So this crown might just take a short flight out of it."
Twilight narrowed her eyes at Coop. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me princess." Then in a childish manner Coop stuck their tongue out at her. Twilight was shocked beyond words and her thoughts were currently a jumbled mess so she did the only thing that came to her mind and stuck her tongue out back at Coop. That was when Twilight heard a sigh come from next to her.
"You know I expected this kind of childish behavior from Coop, I did not expect it out of the ruler of a nation."
Twilight looked to her side and next to her was an Abyssinia. Twilight shook her head to clear that thought. It would have been easy to mistake it for an Abyssinia but its face was much more feral looking as well as taller and lankier than the average Abyssinia. It wore a heavy robe around its body. Though its fur around its face told Twilight what to expect for its age, she could sense a large amount of magical power coming from it.
"Richard! I didn't know you were here." As Coop spoke their form seemed to deflate in size and its skin returned to a peach color, its teeth returned to normal, and its mane became short and jet black.
"Of course, I'm here. I go wherever Book is because he is my connection to the arcane." Said cat chose that moment to come out from where it had been hiding to join Richard at his side. Richard then turned to Twilight. "My apologies for hiding myself earlier I was only doing the same as you did when you locked Coop up making sure there was no malicious intent towards us and for my companions actions. I'm afraid he has the special skill to turn off his brain just when he needs it the most." Twilight took a moment to recompose herself, she then looked to Coop and teleported her crown back to herself.
"No offense taken, it is after all reasonable to protect yourself." Twilight responded absent-minded as her thoughts were now shifted to trying to figure out what was going on with these two. One that seemed old and frail, had so successfully hidden himself that Twilight had no idea he was anywhere near her until he had introduced himself. The other seemed to be able to not only shift his form like a changeling but also managed to take her crown through a barrier that repelled all things living and magical. Twilight could tell that if these two wanted they could be very dangerous.
"Great, now we are all introduced, can someone please let me out."
Twilight ignored the annoyed sounding creature in the cell to ask a more pressing question. "So may I inquire as to why you two have come to my kingdom."
"Yea, why are we here Book." Coop had called out from the cell.
Richard shot an annoyed look to Coop seeming to not like the fact that his companion had addressed a cat over himself. "I'm afraid your majesty that there was no grand scheme of things that sent us tumbling into this realm. It was merely a prank gone wrong."
Laughter shot out of the cell "oh man this is a good one who got us. Wait, don't tell me it was Hammer…" Coop seemed to be rolling in laughter in his cell to the annoyance of Richard.
"No Hammer is intelligent enough to know that you don't use dimensional travel stones as a prank especially not the unstable prototypes that you made. It was that buffoon of a friend of yours, Keep." The answer was apparently not what he wanted to hear as soon after his laughter turned into groaning.
"Man, Keep is never going let me live this down."
"So if Coop made the original then does that mean he could make another one to send you both home?" Twilight felt relieved that these two dangerous creatures would be leaving soon.
"No problem." Coop spoke out right away.
"Slight problem." Richard countered. "Firstly the original prototype was made using an artifact that we had taken from a bunch of cultists. Secondly the prototype stone has left some sort of mark on us making travel between the realms impossible, otherwise I would have sent us both back home before you had found us."
"What are you talking about Colonel was just fine when we tested the stone out on him."
"Yes, but it also took us two years to find that chicken and the only reason he was still alive is because the natives of that plane took care of him until we found him." Richard shot an angry look at Coop before looking back at Twilight. "I am afraid that we may be stuck here until I can unravel whatever is locking us down." Richard took a moment to bow to Twilight. "So if your majesty would be so kind as to grant us stay until we can make our way home we promise to make ourselves useful."
Twilight weighed her options if she said no and they were just as they said trapped here then they would have to leave somewhere else and do who knows what, but on the other hoof if she allowed them to stay they would be here in the palace where she would be able to place guard details on them but also keep an eye on them herself. "Coop will be useful as well?" Twilight looked over in Coops direction to see him bowing as well.
"I promise, he may seem like an idiot but you will meet no finer Artificer he did not get to be acting head for the house of crafters for nothing."
Twilight nodded. "And yourself?"
"While I might not have a fancy title like Coop I am one of the most powerful wizards of our city which is no easy feat."
"I see. I am princess Twilight Sparkle. Current ruler of the nation of Equestria." Twilight introduced herself "and I would be honored to have the both of you stay within the palace until such a time as you two are able to find your way home." Twilight gave a curt nod and the two strange creatures both returned to their standing positions. Twilight removed the barrier allowing Coop to exit. But instead of walking out the strange creature dove out of the cell forcing Twilight and Richard to step back to avoid him as he had scooped up Book.
"Oh Book its so good to see you. I was worried when I woke up and you were nowhere." Coop had transformed mid dive into a cat-like creature similar to Richard. Coop had been nuzzling his face against the cats despite its obvious protests.
Twilight cleared her throat getting Coop to stop what he was doing and breaking Richard from the frozen stupor of his companions erratic actions. "Perhaps you would like to leave the cell block and take this to a better location."
"Your majesty, if I may, judging by the amount of light I have seen since coming here I can only guess that it has been a long day for you. If you could spare a single room for us we will be content to stay inside while you get your rest and figure out what to do with us in the morning." Richard offered
Twilight shook her head. "While I agree that it may be best to retire for the night and start fresh in the morning but there is no need for you two to share a room we have plenty available." The truth was that Twilight wanted them separated just in case. Coop who was back in his previous form gave a slightly uneasy look in the direction of Richard and Book.
"That is very generous of you, your majesty." Richard replied.
Twilight led them out of the holding cells area and over to where a few guest rooms were always prepared in case of surprise guests. " I know they are not much but I hope that they will do until a better arrangement can be made." As Twilight opened the door with her magic Coop quickly stepped in.
Coop gave a whistle of approval. "Man we haven't been in such a luxurious place to stay since we left for Karrnath."
"Karrnath?" Twilight repeated.
"Just a country that we agreed to help in return for supplies." Richard quickly stated. Richard then turned to Coop. "By the way Coop do you have an extra book I can use?"
Coop looked up from where he had been checking out the bed on the other side of the room. "Sure thing." He then pulled a small sack from his side. "I just got to find it." Twilight doubted it would take long as the sack seemed to be mostly empty. As Coop opened it up and took a look inside he soon reached in after digging a little his arm then went impossibly deep into the sack where he seemed to dig some more. "Dang it, I think they got buried."
Coop then sat the sack on the floor where he reached both arms into the opening and began pulling out all manor of objects. At first it was small objects, some coins made of different materials, a book that when it landed open had some strange diagrams in it, a bar of some kind of food that he now had in his mouth. Then he started pulling out things that were bigger: a full mace that was taller than the bag was, several crates of bottles filled with an unknown liquid, and a mass of metal that appeared to be in the shape of a dog. Twilight's jaw dropped a little more with every object that he pulled.
Coop suddenly stopped looking into the bag. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh? What's wrong." Twilight heard Richard ask but was unable to tear her eyes away from the sight before her. Coop reached into the bag, both of his arms being swallowed as he dug deeper until he pulled out a very heavy looking metal chest piece followed quickly by more armor and weapons of different sizes and materials. Coop just stared at the pile for a few seconds holding a fist in front of his mouth.
"I have everyone's equipment." His eyes darted between where Richard and Twilight were standing and the pile in front of him. "I really hope they won't need any of it."
Richard rubbed the bridge of his nose "why do you have everyone's stuff." Richard sounded annoyed
"Well we had some down time before our job for Karrnath, I wanted to upgrade everyone's shit."
"Do they know you have disappeared with all their stuff?"
"I may or may not have wanted to make the upgrades in secret."
Richard let out a long annoyed sigh. "Coop the book please."
"Right." Coop quickly began digging in his Pinkie Pie levels of space warping bag. Coop quickly produces the book and tosses it to Richard where the book is caught in a strange glowing hand in front of Richard. Twilight watches as the magic hand floats over to Richard fusing with his own hand therefore leaving him with the book.
"Thank you, Coop." Richard then turned to leave as Coop began to carefully place all the objects back into his bag. As the objects disappeared so did Twilights shock, deciding to leave the questioning for later.
"Shall we your majesty." Richard bowed and motioned towards the door.
"Oh there's no need to bow." Twilight went to put her hoof on his shoulder but he quickly jumped back and stood up out of her reach quicker than she would have expected given how he walked with a cane. His face seemed calm for a little bit before it turned to shock.
"Oh yea, Richard doesn't like to be touched." Twilight looked over to Coop who had yelled but he had gone back to packing his bag again.
"I do apologize, your majesty."
Twilight looked back to Richard who was now looking calmer again. "No it is quite alright, I should apologize for I did not know." Twilight turned to walk out the door before she stopped. "I must ask that neither of you leave your room tonight." She then stepped out with Richard following her. In the room next door Twilight allowed Richard to enter first watching him as he took in his surroundings.
"I would like to offer you my humblest thanks for supplying us in our time of need." Richard stopped in the middle of the room, turned to face the princess and placed the book down in front of him. Book the cat also joined him sitting down between Richard and the book. As the cat's eyes and the charm on his collar started to glow, a glowing translucent quill appeared in Richard's hand. Bringing it down he started inscribing symbols onto the cover of the book. Twilight watched him curiously until he opened to the first page and started to repeat the process.
"May I ask what you're doing?"
"My spell book got left behind in the accident that sent us here so I am transferring its contents to this book."
"I see." Twilight watched fascinated as he seemed to be drawing the same symbols on every page. Twilight wondered if they were part of some code and if it was how he had managed to memorize an entire book to the point where he could copy it.
Richard briefly paused his inscribing and looking up to Twilight. "If your majesty is interested I would be more than happy to show you my book once it is finished."
Twilight nodded "I would be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by the prospect of your magic. "
"Judging from the way you used your magic earlier I am doubtful that it is compatible."
"You are probably correct in that regard." Twilight watched as Richard went back to inscribing symbols in his book. " I will have a guard posted outside your door if you need anything." With that said Twilight left. Stopping a couple of guards she relayed her orders that the guests were to stay in their rooms but to fetch anything that they requested. Twilight proceeded to retire in her own room dwelling on whether or not she made the correct decision before falling asleep.
Author's Note
I don't have the best grasp of grammer so if you feel gracious enough to offer corrections that you find I will be more than happy to make them
Twilight yawned as she got up and raised the sun for the day. Pouring over Violet's notes she remembered about her guests. Twilight contemplated what to do about her guests in the meantime. Ultimately deciding Twilight figured it might be nice if she at least invited them to join her for breakfast. Upon leaving her room Twilight is immediately joined by Violet.
"Good morning your majesty. I have your itinerary for today all ready." Violet levitated a stack of papers to Twilight.
"Thank you Violet." Twilight levitated the itinerary into view looking at it she noticed that her usually very tight schedule had a few gaps in it particularly towards the start and end. "What is this?"
"I have heard the news about your unusual guests and figured you would want some time to monitor them yourself."
Twilight chuckled "you know me so well Violet."
"I will take that as the highest of compliments." Violet bowed to the princess. "If you will excuse me I have other duties to attend to." with that Violet made her way down a separate hall.
Approaching the room that she left Richard in Twilight looked to the guard. "How has our guest been?"
"There has not been a single noise since you left, princess Twilight." Twilight nodded before knocking on the door. After half a minute of silence Twilight opened the door, inside she found Book lying upon the bed but no sign of Richard. Book pushed up into a sitting position disturbed by Twilight's entrance. His eyes glowed for a second as he looked to the nearby door to the washroom. The door opening on its own revealed Richard as he made his way back into the room. Richard stopped as he noticed the new figure in the room.
"Oh good morning your majesty. What do I owe this pleasure of seeing you this morning?"
Twilight smiled. "Good morning to you too Richard. I wished to invite you and Coop to join me for breakfast."
Richard Chuckled. "I would be more than happy to join you, as for Coop we will have to see if he is awake as he does tend to sleep in." Twilight nodded then led the way out of the room. As they approached the room with Coop in it Twilight posed the same question to the guard.
"How has our guest been?" The guard looked up at Twilight, his eyes seemed worried.
"Well actually Princess, he put in some unusual request."
"Unusual?" Both Twilight and Richard said at the same time.
"Perhaps it is better for you to see for yourself." Twilight nodded before entering the room. Inside was Coop sitting at a desk, with odd and end parts in the immediate area around him. A few objects were recognizable: a compass from a ship, the handles from the bathroom shower, a miniature sundial, a map of Equestria, and several books from the library that ranged from economics to beastly guides. Other objects were not as recognizable as they had been completely dismantled. Whatever he was working on now was hard to see as he was currently hunched over it.
"Coop what is going on?" Richard asked. As Coop turned his head Twilight noticed on top of it was one of the toy replicas of her own crown that they gave to foals whose parents were there on business though Coop had added some sort of glowing object to the top of it. The grin on his face was the next thing Twilight noticed as Coop quickly stood and turned around there was an object in his hand. The moment something came shooting out of it Twilight reacted quickly and put up a shield. After a few seconds Twilight opened her eyes to see that what had come out of the strange object was a small stream of water like you would get from a spray bottle. Coop himself was busy manically ranting in some foreign language. Twilight adjusted her shield to where it was now collecting the water instead of letting it hit the floor.
Richard sighed. "Coop if you're going to declare a prank war and subsequent victory you should at least do it in a language they know."
Coop stopped his ranting as he seemed to be dumb struck by the logic of what Richard was saying "right Elvin, I forgot." In Coops dumb struck moment Book had leapt off a nearby desk snatching the crown from Coops head and severing a line that lead from it to the object in his hand causing its water to slowly stop.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Prank war huh?" Moving the water she was holding over Coops head Twilight continued. "You know I have two friends who would enjoy such a thing." Twilight then dropped water allowing it to thoroughly soak Coop. "But I haven't had as much patience for such things as they do. Now come along, you're joining us for breakfast." Twilight stated, turning around to leave.
"Yea sure give me a second." Coops said looking at his now soaked clothing.
As Twilight got to the door she then heard Richard speak up. "Umm your majesty, you may want to cover your ears."
As Twilight opened the door she saw Book scramble out of the room, turning back she saw Coop with some device strapped to his five fingered hand. Looking around she could no longer find Richard so she decided it might be best to do as suggested and used her magic to create a soundproof shield around her. Coop raised his hand out in front of him and the strange device started to light up as he pressed two of his fingers together. There was a quick motion from his hand and a loud boom and an extreme amount of air pressure that centered on him came blasting out. The force and volume that Twilight was unprepared for was almost enough to shatter her quick shield. Twilight lowered her shield now looking at a mostly dry Coop. Twilight knew the technique that he had used to dry himself, it was something that a lot of military unicorns used. a low energy telekinetic blast used to displace the water from their fur. It took exceptional control to use it in a successive way and even more to not hurt yourself. Looking around the previously organized room there were objects everywhere and several of the furniture around the room had been upturned. Twilight was shocked, if what he considered a low energy did this much damage she would hate to see what he could do if wanted to destroy things. Twilight suddenly found herself surrounded by a herd of guards.
"Are you okay Princess."
Twilight shook her head to clear it. "Yes Sargent I am fine. Our guest here was simply drying off." There were a few confused looks among the guards but most of the unicorns had a look of shock, understanding what had happened. As the guards pulled out of the room Twilight heard murmurs about how they were sure that all of Canterlot heard the boom.
Twilight then turned to Coop having noticed that he had not moved from his spot and had been simply looking himself over "I must ask that you refrain from doing that unless you can show more restraint."
Coop looked at Twilight confused. "What?" He suddenly yelled.
"I am sorry your majesty this is not the first time he has done this and I am afraid that one of the side effects is that he is going to be deafened for a while." Richard now standing in the doorway produced that magic hand from before that grabbed Coop's shirt. "I suggest we just move for now as any complaint right now will not be heard." Twilight nodded walking behind Richard being followed by Coop who was being dragged by a magic hand. On their way to breakfast Twilight looked back at Coop who most likely was still deaf as he was currently trying to dig something out of his ear.
"Tell me is Coop always so…" Twilight paused searching for the right word but Richard seemed to understand what she was going for.
"Silly, nonsensical, crazy, reckless, foolish, brainless, ludicrous." Twilight could swear that she heard a fondness in his voice grow with every word as he talked but it suddenly disappeared. "Yes but not usually to this extent, I guess we all grieve in our own way." Before Twilight could dig further Richard stopped in his tracks. "But that's a different story best told another time perhaps because it appears we have reached our destination."
Twilight looked ahead to see the dining hall doors already open.. "indeed we have." Twilight entered the dining hall first and took her usual seat, next to her sat Coop and on the other side of him was Richard. "Please order anything you would like." As the maid came by to take their order Twilight ordered her normal breakfast. As the maid reached the now hearing repaired Coop his order was simple.
"Coffee."
"Food too Coop." Richard's replay was so quick and automatic that it made Twilight think this may have been a common occurrence.
"And meat."
"Coop." Richard's voice sounded a little annoyed.
"Actually that is a fine choice, we get many dignitaries that eat meat so we have a very capable staff of cooks." Twilight interrupted. She then turned to Coop. "Just let them know how you like it prepared and they will make it for you." Coop nodded, turning to the maid and started to explain the details of his order.
"Your majesty, you expressed an interest in my magic before, perhaps now might be a good time to show you one of my tricks." Twilight looked at Richard questioningly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Twilight nodded the go ahead for Richard. Book quickly jumped up onto the counter, dropping the book from last night on the table and Flipping it open. Richard began muttering and making some simple hand movements. Book who was still sitting on the table nearby, eye's began to glow. After a few seconds of this Richard gave one final wave of his hand over the spot in front of him and revealed a plate of food that hadn't been there before.
Twilight was stuck by curiosity. "Was that some special form of teleportation?"
Richard shook his head. "No it is not, I merely created the food from magic." As the maid moved over to Richard he smiled. "Nothing for me as I have food now but if you could get a piece of smoked salmon for Book I'm sure he would appreciate it." The cat meows loudly as if to agree.
"That is fascinating." Twilight then turned to Coop. "And are you able to perform similar feats of magic as well?"
Coop shook his head. "Not quite. While ultimately similar the feats I perform are powered through magic but performed through science. I am not gifted in the area of magic."
Now that had Twilight's interest. "And your ability to change shape at will is that through science as well."
Coop shook his head "Well no and yes your majesty, it is an innate magic that belongs to the biology of my species known as changelings." Coop paused for a second seemingly choosing his words. "If you would like a demonstration of my abilities I must suggest we do so in a more appropriate venue as much of my arsenal is aggressive in nature."
Twilight couldn't agree more after that small display he put on in the room. "That is interesting we also have a native species here in Equestria that is able to change form at will also known as changelings."
"That is interesting, tell me are your changelings also looked down upon with suspicion and distrust?"
Twilight could smile at this. "Not anymore, they used to be but since king Thorax took over they have made great strides for Equestria and are now seen as trusted allies."
"Then I hope that my world may be as progressive as yours one day."
"Is that why you stay in that form rather than your natural one, because your kind is viewed with suspicion?"
"It is, Princess. Though it could be argued that this is a natural form for me because it is one that I choose and is of my own design."
Twilight nodded. "That does have a nice sound to it and while we do encourage our changelings to be happy with how they are born I may just pass your words onto them."
Coop smiled. "You honor me princess." Soon enough their food had arrived. Twilight's had been her normal breakfast of a small coffee, a daisy sandwich, and a few breakfast scones. Coop's coffee was black as he refused any milk or sugar and the meat that he had requested and prepared to his directions came out exquisite looking, apparently even the sides and garnish were in his directions making Twilight think he may have some noble roots. Richard, who had already had his food, had been lightly picking at it during their conversation and Book's smoked salmon had been placed on a plate on the table at Richard's request.
"So your majesty, tell me what are your plans for the day."
"Oh nothing too exciting. I just have a few noble requests to hear out, a budget meeting and a trade deal to attend."
Richard looked up at the princess as his food and plate both disappeared in a quick plume of smoke. "Then may I make a simple request. Please bring Coop along."
"What?"
"WHAT!?"
Both Twilight and Coops spoke at the same time though Coops had been a bit more vocal.
"Allow me to explain. Coop is an excellent statistician but he needs more experience in how to make deals with others in a less aggressive way."
Twilight smiled as it seemed Coop needed a friendship lesson, something she was an expert in. "If Coop needs such teachings then I would be more than delighted to assist."
"WHAT!" Coop's annoyance seemed to increase as he stood up and stared at Richard. "Look I do things the same way as my … as the previous head did and it has always worked."
Richard calmly looked at Coop. "While those ruthless tactics work in Sharn, if you plan to make a name for yourself outside the city you will learn how to at least fake kindness."
Coop stared at Richard for a long time, obvious annoyance written all over his face. "Fine." Coop sat back down accepting defeat.
"Good now if either of you need me I will be in my room." Richard stood up and left with Book by his side.
Twilight herself stood up heading out to the throne room being followed by Coop. "Tell me Coop if you are so opposed to the idea then why were you so willing to admit defeat.
Coop sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, he is right and His advice is always sound."
"So you don't mind listening to him?"
Coop smiled "not at all in fact he actually used to be the adviser to my…" Coop's smile disappeared. "... to the previous guild head."
Twilight could tell by how his face suddenly changed that there was something painful in that topic so she decided it was best not to press the issue. Other than a few strange looks as Coop entered the throne room with her the first noblepony meeting went just fine. Coop kept staring at them but the noblepony despite being a little uncomfortable with the attention managed to get through their meeting without saying anything. The second meeting went similarly though Coop proved to be a bit bigger of a distraction. At some point Coop had gotten bored and started spinning around in his seat. At one point Coop was upside down in the chair, Twilight could only just barely see him out of the corner of her eye but it was pretty impressive how smooth his motion was and how he had perfectly balanced himself in a chair that was right side up. Twilight watched as Coop covertly produced a small object about the size of a bit from that bag of his and placed it upon the bottom of his chair. Twilight had to keep herself from chuckling at the look upon the noblepony's face as Coop began to levitate into the air and spin in a manner akin to discord. Soon Twilight noticed that the noblepony had stopped to stare at Coop and Twilight knew she would have to put a stop to it.
Clearing her throat to get both of their attention. "I'm afraid Coop that isn't how we do things here in Equestria and I'm going to have to ask you to tone down the theatrics for now."
"Fine." Coop reached up and pulled the object off of the chair causing both him and the chair to suddenly fall. Coop landed on his feet and caught the chair with his three fingered hand to stop it from falling on him before placing it back down to sit on, Twilight was sure that he practiced that move with how smoothly he was able to pull it off.
After urging the noblepony to continue, the meeting was quickly wrapped up and Twilight had some time before the next one. "So how was your first taste of Equestrian politics?"
Coop laughed. "You call that politics?" Coop shook his head. "Your first meeting wanted to build a low cost public pool to help their community beat the heat. The second wanted to build a farm to help feed and employ a nearby struggling village." Twilight felt proud that her little ponies were looking out for each other. "There was no subterfuge, no life or death situations. Hell no death or death situations."
"Death or death?" Twilight questioned, sounding worried.
"Yea death or death, make choice A and people on side B will die or make choice B and people on side A will die."
Twilight looked him in the face with as much seriousness that she could muster. "Then you go with option C and save both sides."
Coop tried to match her serious stare but ended up just shrugging it off. "So what next princess?"
Twilight pulled out her Schedule, checking it really fast. “After a quick break it's a budget meeting with the Mayor of Manehattan.” Twilight enjoyed her break, having some water and a light snack brought to the two of them while they relaxed in the throne room before the next meeting. Soon enough there was a knock at the doors announcing that the next appointment arrived.
“Announcing Mayor Longington of Manehattan.” Announced one of the guards standing outside the door as it was opened.
Longington walked in bowing before the Princess. “Good Afternoon Princess Twilight...and Guest?” He looked slightly confused as he laid eyes on Coop.
“Coop here is a temporary guest that is learning some diplomacy just act like he isn't here.” Twilight had informed him
Longington nodded. “Yes your majesty, I do hope to not take up too much of your time. You see, one of the main roads into Manehattan has seen extensive use due to a higher than normal amount of tourists seen these last few years. My accountants have figured out that a small thirteen percent increase to the toll to use the road would help fix the road while keeping the toll at an affordable price.” Longington gave his best smile to the princess that lasted until Coop spoke.
“He’s lying.” Twilight and Longington turned to Coop in shock.
“I would never lie in the presence…”
“He is definitely trying to hide something.”
Longington looked over Coop in Anger. “I am a very respectful individual but you are calling my character into question, I can tell you are not a native to Equestria so how would you know that I am lying.”
“When you lie your left ear twitches and you lift your right hind leg just a couple of centimeters off of the ground. It was hard to find at first but you have a similar tells to another race from my world.” He stared at Longington for a while before Twilight interrupted them.
“Does his statement hold any truth Longington?” Twilight gained the mayor's attention. Under the princesses stares he seemed to wilt.
Removing his hat the Mayor relented. "I didn't mean to deceive you Princess. Just before I arrived at the throne room doors I had received a message from my team that we could do the Job for only a seven percent increase but I had practiced my speech for thirteen percent. I didn't want to stumble on my words so I decided to keep with the original.” He bowed before the Princess. “I am sorry for lying.”
“I see, well Longington in light of this news I would like to give you an extra day please go over your notes extensively and we will pick this back up tomorrow.”
“Thank you for understanding your majesty.” Longington spoke as he backed out of the throne room while bowing.
Twilight looked to Coop confused. “How did you learn to read if somepony is lying so well.”
Coop grabbed the upper arm on the left side. ”I was taught a lesson about figuring out what the truth is at a very young age.”
As Twilight watched him shake slightly she could only guess at how much pain was caused by whatever he was remembering. "Would you like to talk about it?"
Coop looked to Twilight, the memory seemingly gone as he smiled. "I appreciate what you're trying to do but in the end things turned out better, so there is no need." Twilight could see something about it was still hurting him but if he didn't trust her then there was nothing she could do until that changed.
Twilight looked to the clock nearby seeing it was nearly time for the trade deal. “Now Coop this trade deal is with the minotaurs from the eastern badlands. They are a known aggressive species. Please don't do anything rash that could cause a fight.”
Coop silently nodded as assistants started bringing a table with a map that they would need to discuss trade routes as well as chairs for the minotaurs. After everything was set up Twilight welcomed the minotaurs as they entered the throne room.
“Good afternoon. Nuofen Stonestep, Kuomin Stoutspeaker, and Chief Minkus Bearhorns.” Twilight knew all of them by name not just because it was on her notes but also this was not the first meeting with them for this matter. In fact this was the fourth meeting with them, the first three having been pretty much failures with little progress made. “Now where did we leave off?” Twilight asked knowing that this particular group was not the type to beat around the bush with pleasantries.
“The beginning.” Stoutspeaker grunted.
“Of course.” Twilight stated. She of course knew that but she had hoped that some of what they had talked about last time had time to sink in on how good it was and would have been accepted. Twilight motioned to the map as they all gathered around it. “So as you know the stone that is from the minotaur’s quarry is in high demand right now in Equestria, in trade we shall be sending twenty crates of crops that are hard to grow in the southern badlands."
Minkus nodded with a grunt of approval.
Twilight took this as a sign to continue. "Now I've taken some liberties to plot out the most optimal route for this trade line." Twilight lit up her horn and started to draw a line on the map. The line traced the proposed route but as it closed in on the badlands Stonestep slammed his fist down on the table.
“That land belongs to the dragons. Minotaurs will go nowhere near dragon land.” Stoutspeaker grunted.
Twilight sighed. “We have been over this, the dragons are allies of ours and moving through their territory would prove to increase the safety and speed of this trade.”
Stonestep used his finger to draw their own route as Stoutspeaker spoke up again. “This route better, it allows Minotaurs to better protect their goods from greedy dragons.”
Twilight took a deep breath and calmed herself preparing for another meeting of nothing productive happening as this was the same topic that killed the last three meetings with the Minotaurs rejecting all routes that wasn't the one they suggested every time. “I understand your hesitation and wanting to use the route your tribe knows but that route will take two weeks longer than most other routes.”
“Minotaurs know badlands best.” Stoutspeaker interrupted. This conversation went on for two more hours of back and forth with Twilight trying to persuade the Minotaurs into changing the route. “Pony knows nothing of Minotaur way.” Stoutspeaker Raised her voice slightly.
Finally Coop had had enough. “And you Minotaurs know nothing at all.” Stoutspeaker turned to Coop.
“What would you know, you scrawny weakling.” She angrily huffed.
Coop's annoyance seemed to rise as did his stature, his body suddenly growing much larger fur starting to sprout on any exposed part of his body until he was two full heads taller than any of the Minotaurs in the room. Coop himself had become a Minotuar himself though like with Richard he was much more feral looking than the average Equestrian Minotaur. Stoutspeaker now looking up in awe at the new form before her. “I know that the value of the stone you are trading is only valued at a quarter of what the Princess is offering to you.” Stoutspeaker tried to interrupt but Coop had literally Shut her up but closinging his three fingered armored hand around her snout. “I also know that the route you are suggesting is so horribly unguarded that after the first Gynosphinx or Nightwalker attack you will lose everything.”
Stoutspeaker finally having recovered from having her muzzle clamped freed herself before shouting. “I know not you but I show you that we Minotaur are strongest tribe. As Stoutspeaker and Stonestep both seemed to be getting ready to charge Coop, Coop himself had reached back into his bag that seemed to be where he kept his magical devices. Twilight knew she was going to have to stop this before somepony got hurt.
“ENOUGH!” Twilight had resorted to her last resort and used the royal canterlot voice to get all eyes on her. “There will be no fighting inside the royal palace. Coop you are too back down now!” Twilight lit up her horn and forcibly moved Coop away to stand behind her. Stoutspeaker and Stonestep seemed ready to fight still but Chief Bearhorns stepped forward and stopped them by placing each hand on one of their shoulders.
“The Princess is correct.” Chief Bearhorns spoke which had surprised Twilight as he hadn't spoken in any of the previous meetings. The other two Minotaurs stepped back giving him space to speak his piece. “Princess we do things your way.”
It took Twilight a moment to realize that he was talking about the trade route leaving her confused. “What made you change your mind?”
“We Minotuar have old tradition of following the strong.” the Chief spoke. “Make us hard headed sometimes but show of strength needed for trust.” The chieftain turned and led his two companions out of the room leaving a bewildered Twilight.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief before turning and seeing a grinning Coop. “You knew…How?”
Coop shrugged “A Minotaur is a Minotaur no matter where you are apparently.”
Twilight studied Coop, finding a new admiration for his ability to read anypony. “You may have helped this time but I will find a way to teach you the magic of friendship.”
“Whatever you say Princess.” Coop spoke as the two of them made their way out of the throne room. After walking for a little while Twilight noticed Coop no longer next to her looking back down the hall a little ways she found him leaning against the wall asleep. As Coop started to fall, Twilight prepared to catch him before he suddenly stopped and lightly floated off the ground a little. Looking the other way she saw Richard and book at the end of the Hall
“Ah I see Coop's sleepless night finally caught up to him.” Coop's unconscious body floated over to Richard where it hovered a couple of feet off the ground. “I believe we should perhaps put him to bed.” Twilight nodded before walking with Richard to Coop's room.
“Tell me Richard, why is Coop grieving?” Twilight asked. Twilight wanted to respect his privacy but had hopes that maybe helping Coop with his Grief could lead to a friendship lesson.
Richard hummed to himself for a moment as Coop floated over into his bed a magic hand like before appeared moving the covers up over him. “Coop has only recently become the acting head of his guild. The previous Guild head had been bugging him about taking over for the last few years. He always declined, preferring his life as an Artificer for hire; he only recently accepted temporarily until he can find a suitable replacement after the last guild head was murdered…” Richard turned and headed out of the room with Twilight. ”...but he is having trouble finding someone who can lead the same way that his mother had.”
