Reggie, Zaephir, and Thomas kept close to me as we wandered through the party, getting awkward congratulations from almost everyone. Twilight had asked for the chance to review the constitution and recognition letters, which I had grudgingly allowed on the grounds that Red stay with her so they didn't get lost. I was actually enjoying the masquerade I had going, convincing everyone I was gone.
It had started hours before, when I had locked myself in my chambers under orders that I wasn't to be bothered until the party started so I could prepare for the trans-dimensional trip. Only I, Machina, D, and Nightmare knew the real plan, and the majority of work was going to be on Nightmare's shoulders.
The hardest part was creating a Nightmare/Sarah duplicate that could exist without my direct control. For that, I needed to give as much freedom to Nightmare as possible. Unfortunately that left her with only enough power to ponify me, not disguise me. With peach colored fur, a long black mane, a metal right foreleg, and the Nightmare Seal as my cutie mark I wasn't going to get ten feet into Ponyville without getting caught. Fortunately Machina's time out and about had left her with a huge library of characters to dress me up as, as well as power and materials to spare for fabrication. The Little Pip character from some horrid post-apocalyptic Equestria was a great choice as the blue jumpsuit covered my conspicuous fur and cutie mark quite well. In addition, Machina had managed to fabricate a one time use invisibility device that slotted into the clunky metal bracelet on my right arm... leg... whatever.
The thing lasted until I was on the edge of the Everfree, and then I just walked into Ponyville. The number of disguised Night Guard around town was worrying, I had already had to slip past almost a dozen in the Everfree and was in no hurry to test my disguise under close scrutiny. All I really needed was to go around and be seen by a few ponies, and maybe get some candy for D since he couldn't come with me. I'd been hoping I could "bump into" Twilight Sparkle, to lend credance to "Seeker", but I couldn't get close without running into a pair of guards. After almost an hour of trying, and a few awkward conversations with other ponies like Clockwork, I gave up and headed for the haunted house.
Every room had me hissing at Nightmare not to waste her power making such terrifying illusions, and every room had Nightmare screaming that none if it was her doing. The trick with the invitations was cool, and I screamed my head off on the roller coaster ride, before finally ending up back in my castle. I found it hard to believe the effort the Ruby Rovers had gone through just to get me a couple dozen ponies for the party, and I promised myself I'd do something to properly reward them when I had the chance.
The party was, quite possibly, the most fun I'd had in ages. Between chatting with Twilight Sparkle, away from her guards at last, to watching the song and dances everyone had practiced being pulled off so well it was the most relaxed I'd been in a long time. This close to my double, Nightmare could focus her energy more on putting on a good show and not just maintaining the illusion. She had gotten quite a charge off of the haunted house, and the show she put on only used up what she considered excess energy. The raffle was a bit of slight of hoof as well, all the pieces of paper were blank. Nightmare had simply filled the boxes during the first part of the show and called out names of ponies I'd talked to or creatures I knew.
I wasn't the only one hiding in plain sight either, Machina and D had disguised themselves as costumed foals, loaning Nightmare the use of more impressive and intimidating doubles of their own making. Similar to Nightmare however, D and Machina had put a lot of effort into the doubles and not thought as much about their pony forms.
D was disguised as a young unicorn that was dressed, ironically, as D. He had a long dingy grey cloak, a paper mache skull face mask, and horns made of pipe cleaners and paint. The costume would have been much better if the pipe cleaners weren't wrapped around actual horns, the skull mask was more than a thin layer of paper mache over a real skull, and the dark smoke and shadow that was his body would stop leaking out from under the cloak.
Machina wasn't much better. Her costume's body and head were cardboard boxes, and the rest of her looked like somepony doing a mummy costume with aluminum foil. The cheap wrapping only mostly hid the metal limbs and joints, and she claimed she couldn't keep her eyes from glowing that electric blue.
Still, they had to look after themselves for now. I had to focus on keeping the three council members from guessing who I was.
"Some of these laws are really extensive." Twilight said, flipping back and forth through the constitution. "Creatures seeking sanctuary within the castle are exempt from extradition as long as-" the Ponyville Librarian rambled on, while the canid council member just stood by, looking out over the crowd and lost in her own thoughts.
Lulu was supposed to sing my mom's part in the show. Red thought, But she came up after the song all dishelved, her makeup half gone. So then, who sung with me?
The party moved around them. Minotaurs were dancing, Twilight had gone into full study mode and was taking notes, and in the dim torchlight Red's keen eyes could see every creature around her. All but one.
"Mom?"
"An that's when we got the idea to put a lot of traps all over the forest. We figured if we could catch D then he and Sarah could make up." Apple Bloom said, waving her hooves excitedly. The costumed pony beside her nodded along, clearly paying more attention than most adults gave the crusaders.
"You are such a brave little filly, wandering a forest, tracking monsters, talking to creatures from beyond this world. I bet you are a wonder to your family." the pony said.
"There ya are!" Applejack said, trotting over. "Ah been lookin all over for you. Don't go botherin other folk with your crusading tales."
"Oh, she's not bothering me at all Applejack." The pony said with a smile."She's been telling me the most wonderful tales of her adventures, reminds me of when I was ... younger."
"Thank ya kindly miss." Applejack said. There was something about the costumed pony that was familiar, but she couldn't place it.
"You should be proud of how you've raised her to be honest, hard working and creative. I...your parents would be very proud of you, of both of you. I-" there was a tear in her eye. "I have to go. Give my best to Big Mac and Mom- Granny Smith." The pony ran off.
AJ shook her head smiling. "Heh, you meet all kinds at costume parties I guess. Come on sis, we ought ta get some snacks before they're all gone." She turned, and her little sister fell in step behind her. "How long were you telling stories for, ta have told her all about me and Mac and Granny?"
"But I didn't," Apple Bloom said. "I only told her about Sarah. I didn't even mention Sweet Apple Acres at all."
"Then how..?" AJ pondered for a moment. "Huh, must be an old customer or friend from outa town.
The costumed pony sat in the back, away from the crowds and the dancing. A figure in a dark cloak moved up beside her.
"Go away. I want to be alone."
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT I CAN DO?
She looked up at the creature wrapped in black cloth and shook her head. "If only I could tell them, could hold them."
THAT IS NOT HOW THIS WORKS
"Can't we go already?"
THERE ARE OTHERS THAT ARE STILL VISITING AND BESIDES, he looked around the crowd, I STILL HAVE A PICK UP TO MAKE.
"And I was all 'Oh my gosh there are so many new ponies and not-ponies to meet and we should throw them a party' but then I realized we were at a party and I thought it was kind of a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party except instead of Ponyville it was Castle Spooky and have you thought of changing the name because-"
The is not my first encounter with Pinkie Pie, but I had somehow managed to forget that, while some ponies mastered magic or sewing or growing food, Pinkie had mastered the art of never stopping for air. As far as I could tell she was still on the same sentence she had started when I walked up five minutes ago, even though the subject had changed a dozen times. The only solace I had was that the council members and the few other ponies around, Clockwork, Ditzy, Applejack, and Moon Dancer, seemed just as in awe.
"-And I was totally waiting for Sarah with cupcakes like the next day but she never came back to Ponyville and I thought it was dumb since the gease was broken almost as soon as it was cast and-
"Wait, what?" Moon Dancer asked, finally bringing the pink chatterbox to a halt. "What do you mean the gease was broken almost instantly?"
"Well, duh. I mean, if you think about it, the only hard part was the whole 'ponies voluntarily staying', and the princess covered that by asking guards to volunteer."
"OK," I said, "But weren't there other parts to the gease?"
"Oh yeah, she couldn't leave till she finished the castle. That was done in an instant."
"Sugarcube, Ah think you're a might confused. No creature could have fixed this place up in an instant."
"No its like, um, you see..." Pinkie trailed off. "Hang on, I need a visual aid." She turned and dashed for the snack table.
"She is very.... excitable." I said with tact.
"She runs on sugar, and apparently is responsible for demolishing half the snack table."
"But, but we made that to feed a hundred creatures." Reggie said.
"If I ate at such a rate, I would be in a coma state." Zaephir said in awe.
"Hi! I'm back!" Pinkie yelled, popping up behind us all. She had two cupcakes with her. "Now, I'm going to finish this cupcake!" She announced before devouring it whole. "And now, to finish this cupcake." She said, lifting it high in the air, before setting it down We all stared at it for a bit.
"Well?" Applejack asked.
"Well what?" Pinkie replied.
"Aren't you going to finish it?" I asked.
"I did, I am finished with it."
"But you have not done anything to it." Moon Dancer protested.
"So?" Pinkie asked. "Its my cupcake, it's done when I say it's done. Just like how this castle was Sarah's and it was done when she said it was done." Pinkie frowned. "I was really hoping she would figure out the loophole the princess put in and leave the next day."
WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Freedom was within our grasp for MONTHS and we were just too dense to realize it!
"Of course now," Pinkie said, "She has all these new friends she has to take care of, and I doubt she could just leave them alone without someone to take care of them." Pinkie pointed at me. "That's where you come in Seeker."
I nodded, trying not to visibly wince at the tirade Nightmare was screaming in my head. "Thank you Ms. Pie, that was most informative. Maybe once all this is over and things have settled down a bit you could come out and hold a birthday party for some of the little ones here in my castle." I grinned sheepishly. "Wow, I'm never going to get used to saying that. If you'll excuse us, I still need to meet a few more of the gryphons and minotaurs."
Applejack smiled at the new "Princess" as she walked off, happy to see a pony who was trying to take charge of such an odd situation that had been thrust upon them.
"Oh my." Moon Dancer said, startled. Applejack turned back around to see Pinkie Pie shaking, flopping, and jerking about.
"WoOoOaAaAhHhH!" Pinkie jittered before finally coming to a rest. "That was some doozie!"
"Your highness," a gryphon, flanked by four others, bowed low. "May I say, you have certainly won the grandest prize I've ever heard of at a party." The sarcasm in his voice was sharp enough to knife someone.
"Thank you Mr....?" I was racking my brain trying to identify this offensive feather duster, but I knew he was trouble with the way Reggie was glaring at him and his goons.
"Black Talon." He said, placing a claw on his breast. "I hope you recognize the contributions me and mine have made for the care of this castle."
"To be honest I'm not sure what everyone brings to the castle." I lied smoothly. "I can guess from the tunnels that brought us here that the canid populous provides safe transit. The minotaurs seem well suited for harder labor, but I'm not sure about the zebras and the gryphons."
"We provide security and general labor, though the zebras do most of the grunt work." A smirk crossed his beak. "When they aren't lazing about." Zaephir shot him a glare.
"Security? I thought the castle was safe." I said. Lazy? The few zebras we have here have done more work in a week that you and your friends have in three months!
"We patrol the outer walls to keep out uninvited guests." He said smoothly. "We also help to keep the other races in line. Wouldn't want there to be any accidents."
"Oh really?" I was a little incredulous in my response. "How would you keep the other races 'in line' so to say?"
"Strength in numbers." Talon said with confidence. "We gryphons outnumber any other race here. You would do well to listen to my advice."
Is he trying to set us up as a puppet? You have been "crowned" not an hour and he's already testing your rule?
"Your advice?" I asked, looking to Reggie, "I thought Reggie here was on the council, not you."
"The council is redundant. With us by your side, everyone will follow our commands."
I had enough of this. Turning to Thomas I asked the question that would shut Talon up. "Can you give me a ratio of other races to gryphons in the castle by population?"
"I can answer that for you," Talon interjected gruffly. "No need to bring this horn head into it. We are closest matched by the rovers at five to four. For the other races we outnumber them anywhere from five to one and up."
"When one counts wealth, do you only count the silver or do you account for gold, jewelry, art and land as well?" I asked Talon before turning to Thomas and nodding.
"The gryphons are outnumbered by the other races nearly ten to one, depending on a number of transients." Thomas said, "Now that the castle is open to pony visitation and with the relative closeness of towns and uniqueness of our habitat that number is likely to raise to twenty to one or higher."
Talon boggled, not realizing exactly how outnumbered he was. I could see him deflating as he realized there would be no way to keep the other races both divided enough to conquer them and cohesive enough to rule by force.
"Thank you Mr. Talon, I shall keep your words under advisement." I said, deciding to make a few concessions. "Since your forces are already acting as security you may stay on as captain of the guard, though in the future I hope you will learn to utilize the strengths the other races can bring to securing this castle."
"T-thank you." Talon said, somewhat shocked at being allowed to stay in power, even if that power was much diminished from what he had believed moments ago. Talon puffed back up at that, believing that he had impressed me enough to earn some level of rank and power.
"Just make sure we don't have any security problems during this transition," I told him, "and everything will be fine."
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING IN MY CASTLE?!"
The music stopped, and everyone turned to look at Lord Harold, standing in light armor with a pair of swords on the main stage, shouting into the microphone.
"Black Talon," I said, "you're fired."