Royal Duties

by biasedeyes

Return to Ponyville

After breakfast, where Twilight had gotten so tired of eating in silence with Luna that she’d asked her to finish her story, which, thankfully, seemed much shorter toward the end, Twilight followed Luna’s directions to the office of Lane Layer.

It turned out that Lane Layer was an earth pony with light yellow fur and even lighter hair. His cutie mark depicted a cutaway of a cobblestone road, but Twilight noticed it only after she noticed the dark irregular splotches over the front of his coat. She spent the first few seconds after meeting Lane looking at said splotches and wondering if Lane was somehow related to a zebra, or if there was some genetic peculiarity she was unaware of which could cause ponies to develop multicolored coats. It was only after Twilight figured out that they were ink stains that she spoke to Lane, who was by then staring at her unexplained intrusion.

“Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle.” she said.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle, I should have guessed.” said Lane, seeming relieved and turning back to his work. (He really should have, reflected Twilight. There were only, what, four alicorns? And it seemed like most of Canterlot had attended her coronation the day before yesterday.) Lane’s workroom was quite messy, papers and maps strewn everywhere covered with some of the ink spots which adorned their owner. An antique map of Equestria hung on the wall, and Twilight spent some time studying it until the yellow pony called her attention back to him by saying “Just a moment...” Twilight swung her gaze back to see him rummaging around in some drawers and select a scroll, then set it down on a desk, grab a quill from the inkwell in his mouth, and trace some lines on the scroll, not without some of the ink splattering (mystery of the ink splotches solved!). Lane handed her the paper, which appeared to be a map of Canterlot (an area which Twilight knew quite well already) and Twilight took it with her magic and folded it into her saddlebags.

“There you go,” said Lane brusquely, “and I’ve sent for an escort, they should be arriving... now.” he said, in a somewhat relieved tone, as two of the white-coated honor guard which had escorted Twilight for her coronation poked their heads around the door. “Just follow the map, train leaves in an hour, should get there on the dot, here are the tickets” Lane said, holding out the tickets. “Go! Go!” he exhorted as Twilight took the tickets with her magic, waving Twilight on with a hoof. Puzzled at his seeming exasperation, Twilight turned and left, and the honor guard fell into step on either side.

***

“Where are you going?” asked one of the mares accompanying her, as Twilight continued stepping down the street at a near canter (she was going faster than most of the other ponies on the street, despite the fact that this city earned its name a thousand years ago for the frenzied pace of its citizens compared to their rural counterparts). She and Twilight’s other escort had stopped at an intersection with a side street. Both of them were still wearing their platinum blond hair in the same curl slightly reminiscent of Fluttershy’s mane, (maybe emulating it actually... Rarity would know for sure whether Fluttershy had made that much of a splash in the fashion world.) the standards they had worn for her coronation were replaced with saddlebags though, making it clear that they were both pegasi. Twilight was just glad that she didn’t seem to be expected to fly to the train station.

“The train station’s this way!” she replied, pacing back and forth forth slightly, split between abandoning her guard and running to the train station. A small thought was hanging in the back of her mind like a little gray cloud. They were going to be late.

“No, this way’s a shortcut. Look at your map!” called the other guard. Her voice was slightly deeper, and Twilight was reminded of Rainbow Dash. She hastily grabbed her map from saddlebags and studied it as she paced back to the guards. She frowned as she saw that it did indeed detail a right turn from where her escort was standing, and continued studying the map as she turned down the alley and the two pegasi fell in behind her.

Twilight frowned as she finished studying the map. It had a line going straight through the long building south of the train station, which, if Twilight remembered correctly, was the Canterlot Courthouse. The issue being that Twilight had covered every inch of the courthouse open to the public, back when she had written a report on the practice of Equestrian Law, and she had never found any connection between the front of the courthouse and the adjoining alley. Perhaps they had changed the area open to the public? Twilight began to walk faster, urged on by her feeling of lateness and her sudden realization that things might have changed in the years she was gone. Her honor guard kept pace, until they were nearly running through the narrow street. Twilight soon saw the end of the alleyway, where it diverged into two wider roads. There was indeed a door there, and she rushed up and tried it with her magic.

It was locked. Twilight was stunned. Taking off from the Canterlot Gardens was one thing, and would certainly reveal that she lacked the flight skills of most pegasi, but taking off here to hurdle a building? With so many walls in the way? Come to think of it, Twilight didn’t see very many pegasi flying over buildings...

The guard next to Twilight began fishing around in her saddlebags and pulled out a key, which she used to unlock the door, and the other guard opened it. They took the lead as the party squeezed into a narrow hallway.

The back of the courthouse was decidedly more spartan than the front. Judging by the types of rooms they were passing, Twilight guessed it functioned as a staging area for the various activities performed there. They walked quickly down the corridor, then through a door which led out onto the large entrance room to the courthouse, which was a familiar expanse of marble and spiral staircases. Twilight’s guards smiled at the guard on duty and then they were outside, approaching the train station two and a half minutes before they might have gotten there otherwise.

And there was the Friendship Express, steaming at the station! Or at least Twilight thought it was the Friendship, but glancing up at the clock confused her again. It was two minutes past, and Twilight thought the train left on the hour. Perhaps they’d changed the scheduling? It must have changed considerably, because the conductor was just standing around outside the only open couch, and, getting closer, it looked like there were ponies inside the others, so the last train’s passengers hadn’t yet disembarked. Or... wait.

As they passed the conductor with another couple of nods from her guard, slipped inside, and found their seats in the empty coach, Twilight began to feel terribly embarrassed. After a few moments the train began to roll, confirming her suspicions. She blushed and recoiled in her seat at the thought of having inconvenienced so many ponies.

As the train left Canterlot though, her embarrassment began to subside, somewhat. Enough so that Twilight realized with a start that she was just staring at the two whitewashed guards across from her, and that they were just staring back.

“So...” she coughed nervously, “what are your names?”