To Be a Princess

by SpiffyPony

Chapter 9

"Oh, Princess, you know that's not true!" Twilight said, moving forward to give her friend and mentor a hug. "Besides, they weren't lost from you forever. Well, I guess Discord's not exactly like this guy in the story anymore...but he isn't completely evil anymore, right?"

Celestia returned Twilight's embrace with a slight move of her mouth that was almost a smile. "I appreciate your kind words, but even for someone like me, a thousand years can feel like forever."

~  ~

After lingering outside of the door for a few more moments to gather my thoughts and to clear my face of tears, I rounded the corner to meet up with my friends, the ones that actually existed and (hopefully) still liked me. The Professor hardly looked at me and simply gestured for me to join the others.

"Better late than never, as they say. But, I suppose you did pass," the Professor said with his familiar frown.

That admission surprised me. How long had I been in the room? It was as if I had lost all sense of time and space while in there, so I didn't have the faintest clue. I glanced at my friends, managing to mostly hold back a flinch as I laid eyes on them. Even though their expressions were blank, the memories of those glowing eyes and that menacing smile continued to haunt me in the back of my mind.

Since I was curious, I quietly asked them both, "How long was I in there?"

The two both shrugged. Luna responded, "I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention. But...it felt like a while, I guess."

"Yeah. I thought you might never make it out," Discord muttered with a hesitant laugh. Even he had not fully recovered from his own traumatic experience enough to joke about the situation. I also assumed that my own expression did not exactly inspire confidence in either of them.

"Quiet!" the Professor hissed. "Sombra, you're up last."

Without a flinch or any slight indication of hesitation, Sombra confidently stepped forward and entered through the door. Within seconds, we heard horrible noises emanating from the inside of the room, as if someone was either dying or being tortured...or both. The source of the screams was unclear. Whatever was happening, however, it was clear from the Professor's reaction that this was not a normal occurrence.

"What...? But...this is impossible!" he said to himself as he stepped towards the shaking door. His horn was lit up in anticipation of shooting a spell of some kind if it proved necessary to stop this problem by force of magic.

Right as he was about to open the door, it burst open in a bright explosion. Those of us outside had mere fractions of a second to brace ourselves for the impact of the door bursting open and shattering upon the impact from the other side. Once the dust had resided, Sombra stepped forward, a slight smirk on his face that quickly faded to his usual scowl.

Looking into the room in front of us, I hardly recognized it as the same room that held my fears. No longer was it a white abyss of nothingness; it appeared no different than any other room in the castle. Sure, rubble and wooden pieces of door were thrown about randomly, but the room itself was free from enchantment. Whatever Sombra had done in there, it seemed that he had broken the magic of the room.

The Professor struggled to regain his stance, exclaiming, "How? But...the Princess and I enchanted this room ourselves! Even the two of us were not immune to its horrors! Just...how?" We all turned to where Sombra had been standing to await any kind of response, but he was no longer in sight.

"Wonderful, just wonderful..." the Professor continued, cursing under his breath. "At least I had enough sense to put him last..." Eventually, he escaped his personal monologue and addressed the rest of us. "You three are free to go. If you do manage to find that Sombra, tell him that the Princess has requested your presence at dinner tonight. You will be escorted to her dining room. And...watch your back. That one scares me." He shivered and then stumbled into the room, salvaging what he could from the wreck. Thinking it was better to leave him to it, we decided to head back to our own rooms.

At the very least, this strange business with Sombra served as the perfect distraction to our previous melancholic feelings. Luna and Discord returned to their crazy theories while I attempted to inject their theories with a bit of reason, hoping that I was not offending them. There was no way that I wanted the horrors of the room to come to pass.

"Maybe he turned into a shadow when he entered, so it confused the room to the point of madness!" Luna suggested.

"While I do like the idea of madness -" Discord said, then flinched. I raised an eyebrow. "I mean, my theory is that he was so scary himself that the room itself was afraid of him!"

"How can a room be afraid?" Luna asked, challenging his theory.

"In the same way that a room can be confused!" he said, reminding Luna of her own theory.

"Maybe he didn't do anything at all," I pointed out. "It is possible that the room just malfunctioned. Magic is not infallible, you know."

Discord scoffed. "Didn't you notice that 'you'll never prove I did anything!' smirk on his face? I know that smirk; it is a personal favorite of mine that just seemed so much more sinister on his face... And if I know that smirk, then I also know that there is no way that Mr. Sombrero is innocent."

To be honest, I had noticed that smirk and if anyone knew how to recognize mischief, it was Discord. "Fine. Maybe he sabotaged it somehow. Has anyone figured out his cutie mark anyway?" He and I turned to Luna.

"What?" she said, confusion evident on her face.

Discord and I glanced at each other and then back to her. "You are the only one who has actually spent any time with him. Any clue what his talent is?" I asked.

Luna paused, thinking through her time practicing with him. "Well, it wasn't like we talked much. Or at all, really. I just assumed it had something to do with shadows."

As I was about to inquire more about what these practice sessions had entailed, Discord suddenly had an inspiration that he had to share immediately. "I've got it! What if his talent is fear? Lots of ponies are afraid of the dark, so maybe that's what it represents? And if his talent is fear, then obviously he wouldn't be affected by a room of fear! I bet it was as much of a paradise to him as the legendary Castle of Candy that lies next to the fields of frosting is to me...."

Next to him, Luna mumbled, "Mmm...frosting..."

For me, while his theory was actually quite convincing, I still wasn't ready to completely believe it yet. "But is it even possible to have a talent that is so...broad? Vague?"

Discord stopped me before I could go any further with the raise of a hoof. "Listen here, Sun Butt. I have traveled throughout much of Equestria and have seen ponies with talents that are ridiculously specific and some that are vague enough to mean anything. I met this one tailor in Manehatten, who, consequently, is no longer a fan of mine after I turned all of her polka dots to plaid and vice versa... Anyway, her cutie mark is three buttons in a triangle that, as she explained, represents her special ability to, wait for it, put buttons on the sleeves of shirts. She is the best seamstress in all of Equestria for the application of those buttons that you see on the ends of fancy shirts, but that is literally the extent of her special talent. Conversely, you do remember that my special talent is chaos, right? What is clear about that?"

I was stunned. A reasonable, well-thought out argument coming from Discord? What had happened in that room when he went inside? "That...actually makes a lot of sense. Fear it is then. That's a, uh, frightening talent!" I said, waiting for a laugh from Discord. He just stared blankly back at me.

"You should leave the jokes to me, dearie."

~  ~

That night, after relaxing in our rooms due to the mental stress of the day, a guard came to fetch us for dinner with the Princess. As we followed behind him, Discord and Luna tried to ask the guard questions to no avail. Unfortunately, the room had not stopped their interest in their crazy conspiracies, but I refrained from saying anything, fearing what would happen if I did.

"So do you guys get vacation time? I'm sure the Princess gives you long hours and not many off days. So, what, you get someone to cover your shift every now and then? Because, honestly, who is gonna notice a difference?" Discord questioned with a laugh.

The guard did not respond to anything and continued with as much personality as, or maybe even less than, a statue.

"Well, you're no fun at all," Discord resigned.

None of us had seen Sombra earlier in the day, but somehow he had received the memo about dinner and was seated beside the Princess, albeit quite a few seats down from her. We took our seats on the other side, keeping our distance from him as much as possible. The Princess was seated at the head of the table with a placid smile as she waited for us to take our seats.

"Thank you all for joining me here tonight. I know that you all have been very busy today," she glanced over at Sombra, "but I have some crucial news to share with you all. I could have just sent a guard to let you know our exciting news, but I missed seeing your lovely faces! I have been so busy lately with plans," Discord and Luna shared a glance with raised eyebrows, "but I am finally ready to announce to you four that this year's Gala will be coming up in a week!"

The three of us smiled widely at the news, eager to finally experience the famous gala that anyone who was anyone in Equestria aspired to attend at least once in a lifetime.

"Ooh, is there going to be fancy food? And fancy dancing? And fancy ponies? Especially the fancy food," Luna said, presumably dreaming of the types of delicacies that could be present. I, for one, was looking forward to tasting that glorious cake we had tried on our very first day as students.

"Of course. But it also will be an opportunity to show you four off to the citizens of Equestria. Because of this, I expect you all to be on your best behavior with proper manners." After saying this, all of us turned to Discord.

"What?" he said with a knowing smile.

"With that in mind, tonight's dinner is served! Act as though you are at the Gala and you will be rewarded with an extra helping of dessert."

That got Discord and Luna's attention. If our dessert tonight was that cake, I admitted to myself that I would be right there with them. Not that I wouldn't use my best manners anyway, regardless of the bribe! But that cake was heavenly...

After a night that surprisingly - or not surprisingly considering the weight of the bribe - passed without issue, we were excused to our rooms, full of the extra dessert we earned.

"As much as I like a bit of mischief to liven up any event," Discord said, "I will shamelessly admit that I can be bribed with sugar."

As Luna nodded beside him, I smiled at my two friends. "I'll have to remember that one in case I ever need you two to do anything..."

I liked how everything was going and didn't want anything to change among us. While we might have escaped our worst fears for the rest of the day and managed to return to a state of normalcy that night thanks to a generous helping of sugary delicacies, the visions that I had seen earlier would never leave my mind. I would not let my fears come to pass. At least, not without a fight.

Comments

[Foxler]

This is interesting, this is good.

But dear lordy this story needs TAGS.

I was terrified to read it, is it dark? sad? comedic? etc...

Please put some tags on it. And submit to some groups too! Let more people read your work!

[SpiffyPony]

4234325 Thanks for the comment, and I definitely agree with the problem of my lack of tags... I was hesitant at the beginning to use any because I wasn't completely sure which direction I was going in (and I think a lot of the tags work for some parts but not others), but I think I have a clear enough picture now to actually make use of the tags!

And I hadn't even thought of joining any groups, so I will take you up on the suggestion!

[Commander Rainstorm]

This is a great story!
There are some minor mistakes, but that can be fixed easily if you proofread.
Sorry, I am a perfectionist.
Still, awesome story. I would love to see more.

[SpiffyPony]

4237924 Thanks so much!

I am currently in the process of going back over the chapters in an attempt to catch the little things that I overlooked, so hopefully I catch them all! I cringe every time I find another one haha...

[Commander Rainstorm]

4241659
Awesome!
Doing great!