1- An Unexpected Encounter
Chapter One: An Unexpected Encounter
Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is a school that sat just off-side of the castle that stood stoic over the capital city of Canterlot. Hugging against the mountain of which the city had been built upon, this school was known for it’s exceptional students, professors and the research that came to benefit all of Equestria.
Now despite the schools roots to the older princess Celestia, it has much more become a private institution relying on tuition and private donors to fund it’s many projects as it had grown in size since it’s founding 700 years prior.
On a particularly warm summer day, there was a special guest visiting the schools administration. A wealthy and influential unicorn whom was coloured with a white coat, blue mane and had the cutie mark of three crowns upon his flank. This powerful stallion was known to all as Fancy Pants.
Despite the mockery he had suffered as a young colt born into a wealthy family, he had grown to become a success on his own accord. It was his eye for talent and beauty that allowed him continued success, some ponies even believing that he had the ability of clairvoyance.
Even if he had such an ability, it would not have prepared him for what laid ahead of him this particular day as he moved quickly through the halls on his way out of the school after dropping off his contribution to the future of magical ingenuity for Equestria and it’s continued survival as the nation grew.
It was at this moment, a particular dark coated pony was dashing through the halls towards the nearest little fillies room after one of her best friends had somehow managed to blow up a pomegranate. She cursed under her breath, fretting over her white mane being run through with black soot.
She was typically quite good and keeping herself clean as well as avoiding the disasters that seemed to follow that particular friend like a shadow, but she certainly did not expect a piece of fruit to explode in a burst of ash and flame.
Upon rounding a corner, she felt as though she struck a wall, falling onto her backside in a cloud of black soot. She coughed fitfully as the dust settled and she looked up to lay her eyes upon the one stallion that she never would have thought to meet, let alone cover in the filth that she was so desperate to clean herself of.
“I do say,” Fancy Pants spoke between coughs, “that is certainly one way to get someponies attention.” He had starting getting up to his hooves, his pristine white coat now a dark gray with the fine layer of ash in his fur. His horn glowing a soft yellow as he set his monocle back over his left eye.
Royal jumped up to standing, panic filling her mind as she realized just who she had run into and a list of dire consequences started being filed and arranged in her mind in order of likelihood. The top of the list being expulsion for attacking one of the largest donors to the school.
The mare coughed a few more times as she tried to form an apology, stopping suddenly when Fancy Pants asked, “Are you alright my dear? You look as though you climbed down a chimney.”
She stood at a loss for words, her jaw flopping open and closed in an attempt to form something related to a coherent sentence. Royal gritted her teeth, looking to the hard marble floors before taking a deep breath.
The mare then looked back up to the unicorn before her and blushed when she realized he was looking right at her, not with anger or annoyance but, with genuine concern in his eyes. She thanked her dark coat for hiding her blush as she nodded while saying, “Um, yeah.. I, I’m fine.”
“Oh good, well I certainly can’t go out looking like this,” Fancy Pants smiled, “is there any place we can go and get cleaned up?” Despite being here on several other occasions, he now realized that he had no idea what the layout for the school was. He then wondered how he managed to come here so often and yet never needed to use the colts room.
‘Finally! Something I can work with,’ Royal thought to herself, smiling as she pointed down the hall behind the stallion. “The restrooms are down that way,” she responded, “I was heading that way myself so I’ll show you where.”
“In that case,” Fancy Pants smiled, “lead the way, m’dear.”
Royal was more than happy to oblige, it helped to distract her from that awkward feeling she had just standing there in his gaze. There was a reason he was known as the most powerful pony in Canterlot and just looking into his blue eyes was enough to make her knees wobble.
“Seeing as we are travelling companions at the moment,” the stallion’s voice caused Royal to jump, “I believe introductions are due. My name is Fancy Pants, but you may call me Fancy. You are?”
The mare had done her best to avoid looking to her right, where Fancy was walking next to her but now that he was addressing her, she had to look at him. “I’m RoyalLoyal,” she answered, only glancing up to the stallion next to her as she spoke, immediately turning her head forward as they rounded a corner and came upon their destination.
“We’re here,” Royal declared, turning around to give a quick bow of her head to Fancy. “I’m sorry for running into you like that, I should have been looking at where I was going,” she apologized.
“That’s quite alright,” Fancy nodded his head as he spoke and they parted way, entering their respective restrooms.
Fancy Pants wasted no time moving himself to the closest sink with a mirror over top. His horn started to glow at the same time as taps turned on, water flowing from the faucet into the porcelain bowl and down the drain. He horn continued to glow, grabbing paper towel off of a nearby counter and putting it under the spray of water to moisten it before cleaning himself.
He looked into the mirror, thinking of this chance encounter. He thought of how it came to be that he was just at the right spot at the right time to run into a ravishing young mare. Her brown eyes revealed a careful intelligence and the way she walked with grace was a posture rarely seen amongst those outside of nobility. She had grace and it was a refreshing for his eyes and mind.
The unicorn nodded to himself in the mirror as he finished cleaning himself off. He needed to know more about Royal. ‘Perhaps some tea would help her open up?’
Meanwhile, in the opposing restroom, Royal stood over a sink before a mirror as well, scrubbing out the ash in her coat and combing her mane with her magic being sure to restore the natural luster of her hair. It was her pride and joy and the day she runs into Fancy Pants, of all ponies, it was mangled.
But it hardly seemed to concern him though. The way his eyes looked her over with genuine warmth and concern was almost off-putting. She couldn’t quite describe it but it was almost like her stomach was twisted with soft silk when she looked at those blue eyes.
Royal shook her head and looked back into the mirror, glaring at herself for having such odd thoughts. They were almost alien. She was always so focused on her studies yet instead of thinking about how she was going to get back to class and make up for the lost time, she found herself thinking about those eyes-- ‘No!’ she thought loudly to break the train of thought, ‘if we do see him again, we’ll make sure to leave a better impression than we gave.’
She smiled to herself as she checked over her mane. Satisfied with her work, she stepped out to see Fancy Pants standing in the hall.
“There you are, I was worried that you may have left without me getting a chance to ask,” he started to speak with a cool confidence, “would you care to join me for tea?”
There were those stomach flutters and knots again, Royal noted as she smiled up at Fancy. “I’d be delighted to,” she replied, trying to contain her exuberance and surprise at the unexpected invitation.