//------------------------------// // Couches and Stairs // Story: Grace in Equestria // by BleedingRaindrops //------------------------------// *THWUMP* A wisp of smoke hung in the air where Grace had stood a moment ago. It lingered a moment, then dissipated, leaving a very startled Tedd Verres catching flies with his mouth… at something completely unrelated to Grace’s unexplained disappearance. Tedd turned to find his friend Elliot plastered face down onto his basement floor. Even more odd, however, than Elliot tripping down the stairs, was the sudden and severe lack of any staircase at all. “Um, Tedd? Should I be watching where I step?” Elliot asked, picking himself up off the floor. Tedd's mouth closed for a moment, then opened to speak. “Um... maybe, but not for the reason you're thinking.” “O… kay?” Elliot raised an eyebrow, meanwhile rubbing his new bruises. Tedd threw his hands up in the air. “All I know is Grace and I were designing and loading a new form into the TG gun! Do you remember Akiko’s birthday party?” Elliot frowned. “Nanase’s little sister?” “Yes,” Tedd replied, straightening his glasses and walking over to the missing staircase. “She turned eight a few weeks ago and I designed a pony form for Grace as a gift for her.” “Wait, how is that a gift for Akiko?” Elliot asked. “Oh, it’s actually pretty simple. Akiko likes some show called My Little Pony, so Nanase asked if Grace could change into a pony for her party. I didn’t see the harm, and Grace thought it sounded fun, so we loaded one up.” “Uh-huh,” elliot nodded, joining Tedd by the missing staircase and staring up at the open doorway near the ceiling. “It didn’t come with the ability to make stairs appear magically out of nowhere, did it?” “No, it just had a horn. We weren’t sure why but Nanase said it fit better with Grace’s telekinetic abilities. Apparently the horned ones have telekinesis.” “So, which one were you testing out now?” Elliot asked, still staring up at the living room ceiling. “Oh, that. Turns out some of the My Little Ponies have wings, and can fly. We wanted to see if we could incorporate it into the already existing form. We were just about to load it when you… fell… in. Speaking of which, where in blazes are the stairs to the upstairs?!” Elliot tapped Tedd on the shoulder, then pointed to the opposite end of the room. “Um, Tedd. You said Grace was down here helping you, right?” Tedd blinked, then grinned triumphantly at Elliot “Yes, brilliant. we can shoot grace with the winged form and fly out of here. And then figure out where my basement stairs went. Elliot shook his head. “No, Tedd. Forget the stairs. Where’s Grace?” Tedd finally turned to inspect the room behind him, and found nothing but his computer in the otherwise empty basement. “For that matter,” Tedd added, scratching his head. “Where’s my couch?” ~ ~ ~ “Luna I already told you, I don’t know where the couch came from.” Both Princesses rounded the corner from the main atrium toward Princess Luna’s personal chambers. “A student from the university was probably practicing a teleportation spell. Let’s just return it and get on with—” Princess Luna shook her head. “Sister, this has nothing to do with the couch—which I fully intend to keep, by the way; it’s quite comfortable. No, there is a wooden stair leading up from the summit of the Lunar Tower. They have been found to lead nowhere, though we have tried opening the door at the top. We thought perhaps it might contain a portal to some other realm.” Princess Celestia rubbed her head. “Well, let’s just leave it for now. It isn’t in the way is it?” “Neigh, but we sought your counsel hoping you might know where it came from.” “No, Luna, I don’t, but let’s keep an eye on it. Quiver?” Princess Celestia turned toward Quiver, who had just returned from escorting the squirrel-pony to the train station. He looked up upon mention of his name, ready for orders. “Yes, Princess?” “Head up to the Lunar Tower, you should find a wooden staircase there. Monitor it and report to me if it does anything strange.” She turned and followed Princess Luna toward her chambers. Quiver promptly saluted and waited until the Princesses had disappeared around the next bend before heading off to follow Celestia’s orders. The Lunar Tower was just across the main courtyard, up through the library. He took a few slow steps and looked around as he entered the quiet, empty hall of books. Quiver never got to tour this part of the castle, except when Celestia would visit Twilight Sparkle in here. He’d won some kind of lottery getting assigned to Princess Celestia’s personal guard, and rarely left her side other than small fetching assignments like this one. Come to think of it, Celestia had really never sent him anywhere beyond a hundred yards of her before now. How odd. Still, it was nice to be able to visit the Lunar tower. Quiver could always just fly up there himself, but it was off limits to all but the Lunar Guard and Princess Luna herself. He had to admit, curiosity had itched at him many a time, but at last all his patience had paid off. Quiver exited the library on the upper level, through a large oak door with a midnight blue crescent emblazoned on it. Oh, who forgot to light the torches? A deep blackness beckoned to him beyond the oaken door. Quiver made a mental note to inform Princess Luna that one of her guards had forgotten to light the torches to the Lunar Tower as he stepped inside. The steps looked like ordinary stone. Odd. The steps to the Celestial Tower shone from within, as though they were all miniature suns, and the walls were every color of the sunrise. As Quiver stepped up onto the first gray stone step, the large oak door shut itself behind him, enveloping him in pitch black. Then, as his hoof touched, the stone lit up, glowing a gentle white and illuminating the walls around him. Huh, nifty spell. It only took him a few moments to grow accustomed to the strange glow effect of the stairs, and then he noticed another magical phenomenon. The walls were designed to sparkle—no, they twinkled, lit by thousands of little specks of light littered across the circular walls of the long spiraling stair. But never directly next to him; only ever across, up or down. It was as though he was the moon, lighting up the night sky. Lunar Tower. Clever. Eventually he reached the top of the staircase, and opened the door out onto a small balcony, where he was met with another staircase. “Oh come on! Who puts a staircase at the top of—” He stopped, just noticing that the staircase was wood, and clashed horribly with the surrounding architecture. It turned toward the roof of the tower, which was too steep to stand on anyway, and had a pink door at the top. He trotted slowly up the stairs, wincing as the seventh one creaked loudly. Finally he reached the top, and gave the door a nudge. It swung open easily, but didn’t appear to lead anywhere other than onto the roof of the tower. How odd. After flying around and examining the staircase from every angle he could think of, Quiver grew bored and looked down over the castle below. Looking through the moon window, he could see the Two Princesses entering Luna’s bedroom chamber. Heh, they must be in for another night of fun, He thought to himself. As one of Princess Celestia’s personal guard, Quiver was often given the assignment of watching the door to Celestia’s private chambers while her sister was over. The doors to the outer chamber were soundproof, but the inner doors weren’t, and Quiver was usually stationed near the inner door. Quiver chuckled to himself as he watched Princess Celestia tackle Princess Luna to the ground, the latter having been immobilized by magic. Oh the secrets you could enjoy as a guard. Of course, he wouldn’t be on the Princess’s personal guard if he wasn’t ever so vigilant even with such distractions. He turned back to the staircase he was meant to guard and kept a close watch on it, not that he expected it to do much. Such an odd assignment, guarding a staircase that led to nowhere.