"Missing guards? Princess going crazy over silverware? Sombra actually having decent table manners?? I'm with Discord on this one! Something weird is going on," Twilight said, flailing her hooves in the air.
"You're right, Twilight. Something strange was going on, but for a long time, I was in denial. Surely the Princess, someone I looked up to and respected, couldn't be hiding something from her students..."
~ ~
The morning after the disastrous dinner lesson marked the start of our first weekend at the castle. During such a time, we were given a break from our lessons to relax and practice what we had learned so far in the week. Having only attended one lesson, it didn't give us much to practice, and personally, I was convinced that the Professor was insistant on taking his usual days off like he would while teaching at his school. I would definitely spend some time practicing teleportation magic so as not to embarrass myself at the next lesson, but I also hoped that the others might be interested in taking a tour of the Castle grounds. I had heard tales of these magnificent gardens, specifically that they contained some flowers so rare that they only grew here in Canterlot. If this was the case, then I was eager to meet the unicorn responsible for the upkeep of such delicate plants, since it must take a great deal of magic to ensure they grew healthy and happy.
I shared my plans with Luna, and she was just as interested as I in perusing the gardens. She remembered hearing stories about a particular kind of flower that blossomed only in the moonlight and was supposed to hold special magical properties of some kind when viewed under the full moon. The two of us prepared ourselves quickly and then went to see if Discord or Sombra was interested in joining us.
Discord was already outside, staring with deep concentration at one of the castle towers in the distance.
"Good morning," I said pleasantly. "What are you looking at...?"
"Huh?" he said, breaking concentration and noticing our arrival. "Oh, I was just trying to see if I could magically enhance my vision to see across large distances. I keep spying a figure that kind of looks like the Princess walking around that tower over there, so if I could see that far away, then maybe I could see what trickery she has been up to..."
"Still convinced that the Princess is up to something nefarious?"
"Of course, I'm convinced! What still eludes me is the reason why you aren't convinced," he said, squinting his eyes to see farther. "But that is another matter, I suppose. Where are you two going?"
"We're going to walk around the gardens!" Luna said with a smile, ignoring what had been said about the Princess. "Would you like to come? Oh, and we should probably invite Sombra too..."
"He's gone already," Discord said. "I didn't even hear him leave! I just woke up this morning and poof! No Sombra. He's probably just off practicing his shadow magic or going to nearby playgrounds to bully little fillies. But I'll come! I've always wanted to see the new sculpture garden, but I haven't had a chance to sneak past the guards since it has been created. Don't have to worry about that anymore!"
With these plans in mind, we headed off in search of the gardens. We asked the guard at the bottom of our tower - the guard from the night before, not the missing one - for directions, and proceeded in the correct direction.
"So the old guard still hasn't returned..." Discord said quietly, but still loud enough so Luna and I could hear. He didn't press the subject further, however.
After a little while of walking through the nearly deserted castle halls, we arrived outside at the gardens. It was the perfect day for exploring the gardens and just a beautiful day in general. The sun was high in the sky, the pegasi had cleared away the clouds so the sun's rays shone brightly, and a light breeze passed through the air. The garden itself was astounding, filled to the edge with flowers of all colors and sizes. Some grow uncontrollably like jungle vines and others were perfectly preened to the last petal according to what was most aesthetically pleasing.
With the other two close behind me, I strode forward to examine a small bush covered in tiny white flowers. I lit up my horn with the intention of breaking off a single flower for my mane, but was interrupted by a loud "STOP!"
Almost picking the flower anyway out of surprise, I managed to stop the spell as I turned around abruptly. I found myself face to face with a mint green pegasus with a yellow mane and a cutie mark with the image of a flower.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, raising her eyebrow at me.
"I - I was just hoping to pick a flower to put in my mane. They were just so beautiful and -"
"Yes, they are beautiful," she interrupted, "right where they are! You didn't think that each flower might have been especially selected to bloom right where it was? And did it not even cross your mind that if you had picked the flower, it would completely mess up the presentation?!"
"No, I honestly had not considered that... I didn't mean any harm. It's our first time visiting the gardens, you see," I said quietly, hoping to not upset this mare further.
Apparently whatever I said worked. In an instant, her expression of utter rage turned to one of genuine happiness. "Well, why didn't you say so? I'm happy to show you around!" she said, adding, "but if you don't follow my rules, I will make sure you never set another hoof in this garden again. You follow me?"
We all nodded.
Her smile returned. "Good! Now, why don't we introduce ourselves? The name's Tulip Petal - although most ponies just call me 'Tully' - and I am the gardener of this here establishment!"
"The gardener? Are you the only pony working here?" Luna asked.
"I am proud to say that I am! Sometimes it's a difficult task dealing with all of these flowers on my own, but I know that nopony knows flowers better than me! In fact, I impressed the Princess with my gardening abilities so much that she hired me even though I'm not a unicorn!" she explained.
Discord's ear perked up as he heard a reason to be interested in this conversation. "What do you mean by 'even though you're not a unicorn'? Surely there must be other pegasi working here!"
Tully shook her head, but retained her same proud smile. "Nope! Just me! You aren't going to find any earth ponies either. The Princess generally doesn't like to be surrounded by ponies that can't do magic, but the way I take care of the ponies, it almost is like magic."
"That's great! You really must have showed her something special," I said, congratulating her. Discord, however, was still fixed on the lack of pegasus ponies and the complete absence of earth ponies.
"None at all? Ever? Don't you think that is suspicious?" Discord asked.
"I guess I never really thought about it much. As long as the Princess wanted me here, that's all that mattered! But it is a little odd now that I think about it," Tully said. She appeared deep in thought for a quick second, then returned to her pleasant demeanor. "So who are you all supposed to be, then?"
We each introduced ourselves and mentioned that we were the new students of the Princess.
"Herstudents? How fascinating! She must be an interesting pony to learn from," Tully said with a smile.
"'Interesting' is right..." Discord said under his breath. I ignored his comment and expressed my thoughts instead. "Yes, it is wonderful! We haven't learned much from her yet, but just being here at the castle is inspiring!"
"That's for sure!" Tully said. "Now is there anything in particular you were hoping to see here? We got lots of exotic flowers and vines and such..."
"Do you have the moon flower?" Luna asked. "The one that only blooms at night?"
"Oh, you mean 'The Lunatic'?" Tully laughed at some private joke. "Actually, it's just called 'La Luna', like your name! Except without the la... But yupp, we've got it! It's such a pretty flower on a normal night, but don't go near it during the full moon. Crazy stuff happens, I promise you. Crazy eeeevil stuff, if you ask me! But I'll show you it anyway."
Tully walked Luna over to the flower while I stayed behind to look at some of the flowers nearby. I leaned down to sniff one of the more appealing blue flowers and instantly started to feel drowsy.
"Oh, and by the way," Tully called back, "don't smell any of the flowers without asking me first! Some of them mess with your mind! I think we've got one that makes you sleepy somewhere nearby here..."
Now she tells me... I thought as I lost consciousness.
~ ~
When I finally woke up, the light was much dimmer, so clearly it was almost nighttime. I was laying sprawled out on my bed, as if someone had tried to lift me on to the bed with magic unsuccessfully.
My head felt heavy as I lifted it, and it didn't help that a loud voice said, "Well, look who finally decided to wake up!"
I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust to the light and noticed Discord standing in the corner surrounded on the floor by pillows and various other random objects.
"What happened? I smelled the flower..."
"...And you fell asleep. For eight hours. That flower sure was a doozy! Luna freaked out at first when she saw you, but when Tully explained that you were only sleeping, we decided to finish our garden tour. Then we brought you up here!" he said, proud of what he had accomplished.
I could have gotten angry at him for just leaving me on the ground while they toured the garden, but I was still feeling a bit drowsy and not in the mood for arguing.
"Sorry that you were in a bit of an odd position... I guess it just shows that I have to practice my levitation. But not to worry! That's what I've been doing while you slept. I can lift multiple objects at once now!"
That explains the mess... "Where is Luna?"
"Huh?" he said, caught off guard at the subject changing from something about him to someone else. "Oh, she went off with Sombra to practice her shadow magic."
That woke me up. "WHAT?!" I stood up abruptly. "You let her go off by herself with him?"
Discord shrugged. "I didn't let her do anything. When we came back, Sombra was in my room and asked if Luna was interested in a bit of practice. She felt that she needed it, so she decided on her own to join him. I had no part in it."
"But you didn't do anything to stop her! Who knows where they could have gone..." I said, looking frantically at the grounds through the window.
"Luna's a big pony; she can make her own decisions. Besides, she'll be fine. Sombra's a dark guy, but he doesn't strike me as evil. Just...quiet and sulking. And uninterested in late night confetti parties, apparently!" he said as if that last part truly offended him.
I sighed and calmed myself down. "You're probably right. But if she's not back by morning, then we're going out as a search party! Deal?"
He strode forward and stuck out his hoof. "You have yourself a deal, Celest."
"Celest?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that doesn't work, does it? Ever since meeting Tully, I've been trying to think of nicknames for us! Nothing seems right though... Ah, well."
He turned away and looked like he was going to return to his own room.
"Oh, Discord?" I asked.
He turned back around with a smile. "Yes?"
"Pick up my stuff in the corner before you leave, please."
His smile dropped. "Right..."
He started to pick up his mess when I noticed something on the edge of the pile.
"One more thing."
"What?" he said, sounding irritated this time.
"Take that telescope on the floor with you. You can spy on the Princess that way," I said with a tiny smile.
His smile returned and he dropped into a low bow. "If you insist, dear Celestia."
~ ~
That night I could hardly sleep since I was preoccupied with the thought of what Luna might be up to. To the same extent Discord was skeptical about the Princess, I was concerned about the intentions of Sombra. While it was true that we didn't know anything bad about the guy as of that point, we certainly didn't know anything good about him either. Sure, we knew that he didn't like the nickname 'Sombrero', and that he tended to be a bit on the quiet side, and that he had an uncanny ability to understand the correct rules of etiquette, but other than that, he was a complete mystery. He was a mystery wrapped up in an enigma with a side helping of confusion, and I did not want him spending time, any time at all, with my dear sister!
About an hour or so before the sun was set to rise, however, I heard a creak at the door. Luna tiptoed inside, probably hoping not to disturb me who she presumed to be sleeping. The moment I heard the creak sound, I woke up instantly.
I opened my eyes, not even bothering to get up, and calmly asked the sneaky Luna, "So, how was practice?"
She flinched and jumped around to face me upon hearing my voice. "You're awake! I thought you would still be asleep at this hour..."
"I would have been asleep if you had not worried me so much with your absence," I said sternly.
She glanced at the floor. "Oh, right. I just - I didn't think it would be a problem."
"Not a problem? You sneak off while I'm unconscious to practice with a shady pony and think that when I wake up everything will be just peachy? We hardly know Sombra! And he seems so...I don't know. Mysterious, I suppose."
Luna lifted her head high. "Yeah, but we hardly know Discord either, and yet you seem to trust him just fine."
I had never heard her speak with a tone like that. In fact, the two of us had rarely fought at all, so the mere existence of this conversation was foreign to us both.
"Well - that's a different matter entirely! We've spent more time with him, and he's told us about himself. Sombra just creepily lurks in the shadows, not saying much, but always watching..." I said.
"Then maybe me spending time practicing is a chance to get to know him so he's not so mysterious! I can handle myself, Celestia."
I sighed deeply, not wanting to fight anymore, but still upset with Luna's actions.
"So...did your shadow magic improve?" I said quietly, locking eyes with my sister. We both came to a silent understanding to drop the fighting for now, since neither of us wanted this to get any uglier. She simply nodded at my question, and then got into her bed.
I glanced up at the ceiling, still lost in thought about what was the proper course of action. Perhaps Luna could handle herself, and it truly would be a good way to learn more about him, but I didn't want my sister to be hurt. After all we'd been through, I couldn't lose her over something like this.