Chapter 27
The sun shone down on the Canterlot Mountains, making the snow-covered peaks sparkle. The fresh powder was blown about as the Friendship Express steamed its way up the mountain passes.
“It was very nice of Twilight to invite us.” I said, looking out the window at the stands of tall evergreen trees that grew close to the rails.
“Sure was.” said Applejack. “Canterlot’s really somethin’ durin’ Heart’s Warming time.”
“I’m sure it is.” I nudged the quiet pony next to me. “You okay, Brae?”
“Hmm?” He looked up from the book he’d been reading. “Oh! Yeah! I’ve never been to Canterlot. There must be a lot to see there, huh?”
“There sure is.” said Applejack.
When the train entered a tunnel, and the interior lights were the only source of illumination, I stood.
“I’m gonna to stretch my legs.” I said. “Brae, you wanna come with?”
“Sure.” He got up too, and followed me towards the tail end of the train.
We meandered along, occasionally bumping against each other when the train shifted slightly on the rails. We passed a number of ponies, all almost certainly headed for the capitol to spend the season with friends and/or family. We stopped in the observation carriage, which was the last car in the train, as the train reemerged from the tunnel. I sat down by a window, and Brae sat across from me. After a long silence, I spoke.
“I haven’t been to Canterlot for a long time.” I said it so quietly, Braeburn leaned forward to hear me better. “Not for a millenia, Brae.”
I gazed out at the glistening snowscape. The sun had started its evening descent, and the western faces of the mountains looked as though the snow had caught fire. It was beautiful, and glorious. But I couldn’t really appreciate it under the weight of my thoughts. And the entire time, Brae waited patiently for me to speak again.
“I worry, sometimes.” I continued after a while. “That I can’t fit in. I’m… an anachronism. I’m from a different time, Brae. I’m not ‘out of date,’ but I just… I don’t know…”
Braeburn got up and sat down next to me. He put an arm around my shoulders, and nuzzled my cheek with his soft nose. That made me smile, at least a little.
“It’ll be okay.” he said, giving me a gentle squeeze. “In a way, Ah am too. Ah’m from a little backwater town that’s nowhere near as advanced or as… sophisticated as most of Equestria.”
He gave me one of his toothy grins, and that got me to smile a bit more. “Ah guess we’ll both be out of place, won’ we?”
“Yeah.” I hugged him. “Guess so.”
_____
When we came out of the last tunnel, I was dumbstruck. Canterlot was huge! The little town I’d known had been barely one tenth this size, and that in itself had been miraculous. The conditions up here had been so severe, and the route upward before the tunnels had been made had been hazardous at best. At worst, during the winter, it had been almost deadly. The city I saw now blanketed the mountainside, peaking with a magnificent edifice I assumed must be the Royal Palace.
“Sure is something.” Braeburn said quietly. I could only nod in agreement.
When the train pulled up to the station, the sun was nearly at the horizon. The city’s lights had been lit, bathing the mountainside in a soft yellow-orange glow. The two of us disembarked, and looked around for Twilight, Spike, and the other Apples. The platform was very crowded, so it was difficult to see more than a few feet in any direction. The press of ponies was making me feel panicky, and my breathing was getting shorter and sharper. Braeburn must have sensed this, because he gently took my hoof and led me to some benches off to the side.
“See them?” he asked.
“Not yet.” Then I spotted something that I felt was almost as good. “However…”
Giving the crowd on the platform as wide a berth as was possible, I led Braeburn over to the pony whom I’d spotted. When that stallion saw me, he grinned.
“North!” exclaimed Shining Armor, grabbing me in a tight hug. “It’s so great to see you!”
“It’s great to see you too.” I said, after he’d let me go and I’d gotten my breath back. “Shining, this’s Braeburn, my… um…”
I faltered slightly, feeling somehow embarrassed. “He’s my coltfriend.”
“Nice to meet you, your majesty.” said Braeburn. They shook hooves. “‘T’ain’t every day you meet the Prince of the Crystal Empire.”
Shining waved his hoof. “While you’re here for the holidays, I’m not a Prince, okay?”
“Oh… okay?” I bumped Braeburn’s shoulder gently with mine. His smile relaxed, and became a little more genuine.
“Have you seen?” I asked Shining.
“Not yet.” he said, using his greater height to look out over the now diminishing crowd.
“There they are.” said Braeburn, pointing towards the front of the train.
The five of them were carrying an assortment of luggage, including mine and Braeburn’s. We hurried over to relieve them of our things.
“Sorry we took so long.” said Applejack, while Twilight enthusiastically greeted her brother. “We almost forgot some stuff on the train.”
We assured her it was fine, then the group walked through the station to the road.
“Are you guys hungry?” asked Shining.
“Famished!” said Granny Smith. “Trains these days don’ hardly carry enough food fer one pony!”
Shining laughed. “They don’t, do they? Not to worry, dinner should be ready by the time we reach the castle. Or breakfast I suppose, if you’re Luna.”
“Isn’ it a little late for breakfast?” asked Applebloom.
“It would be.” he told her. “But Luna doesn’t normally get up until at least seven in the evening. So she has breakfast.”
“Oh. Ah guess that makes sense.”
We got some taxis, which took us up through the streets towards the castle. Braeburn and I, who’d never been here before, both stared out at the lights that lined the streets, and the new buildings that were mixed with the old. At the castle, Shining took us in through a small side gate, and had us give our luggage to some servant ponies. After asking them to take our things up to our rooms, he led us through the halls to a private dining room.
Behind the golden double doors, we found the Princesses of the Sun, Moon, and Love seated together at the head of an ovaline table, with Cadence to the side of the Sisters. Upon seeing us enter, they smiled. Cadence walked over to Twilight, and Luna lept up and ran over to hug me.
“North!” she shouted happily. “It’s so great to see you!”
“It’s great to see you too, Luna!” After a long embrace, we separated. Then Celestia came up to me, and smiled.
“It’s been a long time, Polaris.” she said. “But, I suppose it’s North now, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…” I said. “I guess I just felt that ‘Polaris’ felt a bit too… one thousand years ago.”
She laughed at that. “I suppose it is.”
She hugged me too, though with less ecstatic enthusiasm than her younger sister.
“Please, join us.” said Celestia after she’d released me, gesturing to the unoccupied seats that surrounded the table. “It’s so wonderful to have you all here.”
“I’m so glad you got here when you did.” Luna said to us all. “Celestia said we should wait for you to arrive, but I’m starving!”
“You said it, Princess!” said Granny. “Let’s eat already!”
We took our seats, and Celestia called for the food to be brought in. Two servants, unicorns as they had to be in order to safely transport trays of food, brought in platters of the stuff. After asking if we needed anything else, and kindly humoring Applebloom’s request for chocolate milk, they left us to ourselves. The Ponyville Apples and Luna ate ravenously, while the rest of us caught up on each other’s lives.
There was a brief moment of worry when Luna, upon finding out that Thunderlane and I were broken up and that Braeburn was my coltfriend, gave him the same threatening glare, and ordered him to treat me well or face banishment to the moon. But it passed quickly, thanks to Cadence’s intervention.
After dinner, Luna and Celestia excused themselves, needing to go raise and lower the moon and sun, respectively. Applebloom shyly asked if she could watch, and giggled happily when they told her she could. Applejack accompanied her, while Shining Armor showed the rest of us to our rooms. They were along an narrower hallway in a more discreet corner of the castle. Small paintings hung from the walls here and there, including one I found particularly interesting. A portrait of a sloop, tackling a wave at an angle. The prow was pointed towards the viewer, and a spray of water flew away from the hull to the right. Our bags were stacked neatly by a bare wall.
After everyone else had gone to their room, Shining Armor turned to Braeburn and I.
“I gave you separate suites.” he said, indicating a pair of doors. “But feel free to share one, if you want.”
I blushed slightly, and I could tell that Braeburn felt a little embarrassed too.
“G’night, guys.” Shining hugged me good night, then left us alone in the corridor. I looked at the two doors, then picked the one I knew would have a balcony with a secluded view of the city.
“C’mon Brae.” I said, picking up my bags and nudging the door open. “It’s been a long day. Let’s go to bed.”
“‘Kay.”
He followed me inside. The rooms were simple, but very comfortable. We were in the main room, which had a pair of doors leading out onto the balcony. To our right, a door led to what I assumed was the bedroom. I walked over to it and looked inside. A large bed, made up with deep blue comforters sat against one wall. To the left, there were a set of dressers. To the right, a final door concealed what had to be the bathroom.
“That’s a really big bed!” said Braeburn, He dropped his saddlebags by the dressers and walked over to it. He tested the mattress with a hoof. “Feels really comfortable too.”
I put my bags by the dressers as sell, and joined him by the bed. I put a hoof on it too.
“Sure does.” I looked over at the bathroom. “So, shall we bathe?”
He smiled, then adopted a purposefully terrible accent. “Indeed, we shall!”
After we’d cleaned ourselves, we climbed into the bed. The mattress was really comfortable, and the sheets were soft and cool against my fur. I sighed, settling into the bed’s embrace.
“North?” Braeburn spoke softly.
“Hmm?”
Braeburn leaned over. He kissed my cheek, long and soft. Then I stretched up and kissed his cheek.
“G’night, North.” I smiled.
“‘Night, Brae.”
He snuggled against me, and I felt his warm breath on my neck as he wrapped his arms around me.
“I love you.” he whispered.
“I love you, too.” I whispered back.