Three days had passed since Discord showed up on my doorstep. Honestly, the night after he visited me... I hadn't slept very well. The only reason I had slept at all was Scootaloo, who, for a change, was allowed to sleep over again for a few days. It was just something about the way he just up and left, with all of that anger clearly bottled up inside of him, that was unnerving me. Why was he angry with me in the first place? I mean, it was a kind offer, but an offer that I just wasn't ready to accept. Surely the only reason he had been angry was that he himself wanted that portal.
Or, perhaps, because his prank didn't go as planned. Yes, that must've been it.
Anyways.
It was the weekend of the same week, a Friday to be exact. Fortunately, I didn't have to work because Applejack gave me the day free for some reason.
Yes, I was still working for Applejack. Since it wasn't exactly the right time to harvest delicious red apples, I instead helped her fix some things around the farm. From small holes in the roofs of their various barns, over to rotten wooden fences that needed to be replaced; whatever it was that needed to get repaired, I helped her at. Surprisingly, I was also rather good at it.
...Okay, I might have made some mistakes, some of which may or may not have cost Applejack a lot more bits than she anticipated. That loft in one of their old barns did look like it could hold my weight. It wasn't my fault that it, well, couldn't. Thankfully Applejack thought that the few splinters that caught themselves in my legs and the pain they inflicted was enough of a punishment.
Oh, that and the few barrels of Apple Cider I had to carry down the basement later on. One hell of a punishment, let me tell you. Those barrels weight a lot more than one would think.
But I digress.
So, since Scootaloo didn't need to go to school, and I didn't have to work, that meant that we had the whole day for ourselves. A whole day we could've spent doing anything we wanted. And we did spend it rather well, in my opinion.
I woke up, showered, made breakfast for Scootaloo and me -thankfully I finally got around doing some grocery shopping- and then, right when we were seated at the dining table, Rainbow arrived in a desperate need to escape the boredom she was experiencing in her own home. To be honest with you, I also think she arrived because she wanted to steal my omelets.
...In which she succeeded.
So, after w-no, wait, everyone except for me finished their delicious omelets (I had to eat cereal...), we went to the living room toooo....
Yeah, right, chill.
I didn't want to do anything outside since it was way too cold and snowy, neither did the other two, so we chose to relish in the comfort of our soft couch and the warm fireplace. It wasn't until noon that something unique, something strange happened. Something that hasn't happened to me since I arrived in Equestria.
I received a letter. You say that isn't strange?
Yeah, alright, it is normal and it definitely wouldn't have been that strange if it hadn't been for the way it had been delivered to my house. Or, shall I say, in my house?
One moment, I was on the couch, half asleep with Rainbow Dash lying somewhere on my legs and Scootaloo on my chest, and in the next moment, there was a loud crashing sound and the window to the left of the front door shattered open.
I sprang up on my legs, throwing the two snuggle ponies from me in the process as a shout of absolute shock escaped me, "HOLY SHHHH-"
It was only by a miracle that I managed to shut me up right then and there, given the circumstance that a gray pegasus mare just crashed through my window, or else I would've said words that weren't meant for little Scootaloo's ears. I didn't want to be the one to teach her bad words.
"SHIT!" Scootaloo finished for me, now sitting at the edge of the couch with her mouth wide open.
...And there goes that.
Both I and Rainbow Dash instantly turned our heads to look back over our shoulders, glaring at Scootaloo, chiding her for using that bad word just with the looks we were giving her. She grinned nervously, and I was about to give her a throughout explanation on why she shouldn't use that word ever again when I was reminded that there were more important matters.
The gray, snow-covered pegasus on my floor, for example.
"Melons..." The familiar-looking mare muttered, slowly lifting herself off of the floor. Fortunately for her, it looked like she was unwounded and not full of shards of glass as one would've expected after what just happened to her. All she did was shake her head once she was back on all four of her hooves, seemingly trying to fight some kind of dizziness, check with one of her hooves if the saddlebags were still on her back -which they were- and that was it. Once she made certain that everything was where it belonged, she quickly looked back over her shoulder at the broken window to see what she just crashed through, before looking forward again, looking at us for the first time since she crashed oh-so-gracefully into my home. "Oopsie..."
Then it hit me why she looked so familiar to me. That lazy eye was something I have only seen before once on a pony. I definitely met her before. She ran into me or something like that. 'What's her name again? Deepy? Denty?'
"Derpy?" Ah! That was it! Thanks, Rainbow!
"Hehe, sorry" She apologized, bashfully rubbing her head with one of her hooves before her right eye finally settled itself on me. She let her hoof fall back down to the ground. There was a short moment where she looked like she was confused, followed by a second of thinking before her face lit up and she pointed at me excitedly. "Hey, I know you! William, right?"
"Uh, yes." I answered as she sat back onto her haunches, unsure of what to make of this situation. "If I may ask...why did you crash in through my window?"
"Well, there was a cloud, then there was the sky, everything started spinning and then BOOM-" Both of her hooves sprung outwards in a dramatic fashion. "-next thing I know is that I am here. Weird, isn't it?"
I just nodded my head slowly.
"Anyways, I've got mail for you, Mr. William!" She turned her head to the left side, opening the bag in one swift move and then rummaged through it for a few seconds. With a victorious "Aha!" she lifted her head back out of the bag, a scroll now held between her teeth. "Isfh you couldsh take ish?"
"Uh, okay." I walked over to her, pulling the scroll out from between her teeth with the help of my left hand. Once it was in my hand, I inspected it, noticing that it was held together by a single piece of red string and a fancy-looking golden seal. The seal had a sun engraved in it, much to my growing confusion.
"I gotta go!" Derpy closed her saddlebag again, turning around. "Hehe... Sorry again about the window! I'll send someone by to fix it! Pinkie Promise!"
And with that and a strong flap of her wings, she lifted herself into the air, and flew, heading straight for my door. I was about to shut my eyes so that I didn't have to see my door also get knocked out of its hinges before she suddenly stopped, just shy of the door, much to my relief. With some slight adjustments to her old flying path, she finally exited through the shattered window.
I shivered as a sudden wave of cold hit me from outside. That sure was going to be a problem. I just had to hope that Derpy was going to stay true to her word or else I was going to have a really cold night ahead of me.
"Okay, that was weird." Rainbow stated after a whole ten seconds of silence.
"Tell me about it." I muttered, still shivering a little as I looked down to the scroll in my hand. I walked back over to the couch, motioning for Scootaloo and Rainbow to make place so I could sit down, which they quickly did. I sat myself down, looking at Scootaloo and then at Rainbow once before back down to the scroll. "Do you guys know who this is from?"
"Hmm..." Rainbow leaned a little closer, the seal especially drawing her interest before a sudden gasp escaped her. "That's from Princess Celestia!"
"Really?!" Scootaloo started bouncing up and down on the couch in unfiltered excitement, all the while chanting "Open it open it open it!"
"From Celestia? Really?" I wrinkled my forehead, ignoring Scootaloo for the moment, looking at the scroll like it was some kind of alien life form. "Why would she send me a scroll?"
"I don't know. Open it!" She said, suddenly becoming the second pony to bounce up and down on the couch in excitement. "Open it open it open it open-"
"Jeez alright alright..." I broke the fancy seal and slowly unfurled the scroll in front of me.
"Read it!"
"Jesus fu-alright! But stop bouncing! Both of you!" Both of them stopped mid-air instantly, hovering for half a second before falling down onto the couch again. Seeing both of them finally still, I cleared my throat loudly, preparing myself to read aloud.
"Dear William,"
"I hope you are faring well and that your time in Equestria has been enjoyable so far. I know from a letter Twilight wrote me a few days ago that the ponies of Ponyville had troubles accepting you in their little community, and still have, but hopefully, that will change with time."
"Booooring."
I glared at Rainbow to shut her up. It was super effective.
"But that isn't the reason why I wrote this letter. As you might know, Luna nor I really know anything about you, even though you saved my beloved Twilight and her friends. We really would like to get to know you a bit more, and for that reason, I have enclosed a little something in this letter." I looked down to the end of the scroll, seeing three little golden pieces of paper with a train symbol on it hanging down from it. Train tickets, apparently. How I hadn't noticed them when I opened the letter is beyond me. Maybe they were enchanted to appear once I had read the letter or something like that. Regardless of how, I carefully plucked the three tickets off the scroll, holding them out in front of me.
"Wow, these are golden tickets for the train!" Scootaloo said with a spark of wonder in her eyes. "Those must've cost a fortune!"
I gave her a questioning glance. "What are they for?"
"Well, the train, duh." Rainbow oh-so-helpfully answered.
"Thanks for your really helpful input, Rainbow." I said with a roll of my eyes.
She waved me off with one of her hooves. "No problemo."
I just sighed and shook my head, not sure if she really was that dense or just playing.
"Those are, like, lifetime train tickets!" Scootaloo said, finally giving me the answer I really wanted to have. Thank God my daughter wasn't as dense as Rainbow. "Only important people have these!"
"And we've got three of them." I said, mostly to myself. I paused for a few seconds, deeply looking at those golden tickets, before directing my eyes back at the scroll. "Let's see, where was I..."
"Blah blah blah...Ah, there!" I exclaimed almost victoriously, pointing one finger at the sentence I was searching for. "These three tickets are for you, your daughter and Rainbow Dash.
I blinked, giving Rainbow a dumbfounded look. "How does she even know you would be here?"
"I dunno." Rainbow answered, shrugging. "Maybe she has some crazy psychic powers and can see into the future?"
"I'm sure that by now, Rainbow has already explained to you what they are there for." I continued, letting the sentence linger in the air for a few seconds, glaring at Rainbow from the corners of my eyes. She just chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head with one of her hooves.
"Now that you have the means to get to Canterlot whenever you want, we want to invite you to our castle this weekend. You do not have to worry about accommodations. We have a few spare rooms in our castle and you can stay as long as you want to. If you can't make it, please let us know."
"PS: I sent this letter to your friends, so do not worry. Everyone will be informed and will probably meet you at the train station."
"The princesses invited us to Canterlot?" Scootaloo asked unbelievingly, looking at me and awaiting my confirmation. As I nodded my head in response, her face instantly lit up in childish glee. "We are going to Canterlot, we are going to Canterlot! We are going to-"
"Wait wait wait." I interrupted her, stopping her before she was getting too excited and started bouncing around the room. "I'm not too sure if that's a goo-"
Fortunately, Rainbow was there to help me. "Sure thing, kiddo." She grinned at me, a big, wide one. "We're going to Canterlot."
I blinked. "Wait, wha-"
I wasn't even able to open my mouth to form a sentence that could've stopped Scootaloo. In the blink of an eye, she was bouncing around the whole living room, jumping up and down, up and down, chanting, "We are going to Canterlot!"
Slowly, very very slowly, I turned my head to Rainbow. "I hate you so, so fucking much right now."
"Why, I don't understand?" She smiled innocently, tilting her head to the side in a way that almost made me want to 'aww' and cuddle her. Well, if it hadn't been for the fact that she literally just forced me to go to Canterlot and thereby, fucked me over.
"How do we know when the next train's going to come anyway?" I questioned.
"The train to Canterlot arrives every two hours." She stated, turning her head to the right to probably take a look at the clock on the wall. "If we hurry, we can get the next one. It's going to arrive in about thirty minutes."
I groaned in annoyance, standing up and lifting one hand up to my forehead. Rainbow, after apparently sensing my honest discomfort, flew up to me, playfully delivering a light punch to my shoulder in an unavailing attempt to lighten my mood. "Come on big guy, what's so bad about that? You'll have your first taste of Canterlot!"
"You serious?" She looked reluctant to admit it, but she slowly nodded her head. I sighed, rubbing my forehead with one hand in exasperation. "You really can't think of any reason why I wouldn't go to, you know, a whole city full of ponies that don't know me?"
Rainbow visibly tried her hardest to think,
"No, I-" Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh. OH."
"Yeah." I said, letting my hand fall back down to my side. My shoulders slumped as my head went through every single possible scenario that could happen in a city full of ponies that don't even the slightest hint who and what I was. None of them were particularly good.
What if some ponies tried to take matters into their own uh...hooves, and go after me? What if they hung me in the middle of the streets? What if they demanded from the princesses to throw me behind bars and lock me away forever? What if the princesses didn't comply and they started revolting?
What if, what if, what if. So many possibilities, none of them good.
"Hey." Rainbow whispered, barely audible over the constant happy chanting of Scootaloo, hovering up to me and putting one hoof on my shoulder. "C'mon dude, nothing bad will happen."
"Yeah, well, you say that." I retorted with a roll of my eyes. "You're not a six-foot tall alien that just so happens to be a carnivore in a world full of herbivores."
"Dude, the ponies there see Minotaurs daily. There are griffons literally everywhere in the streets. Tartarus, there are even some Diamond Dogs. Honestly? I don't think they'll even notice you." She explained, looking at me with a gentle smile. "Besides, if anypony tries something, I'll be there to protect you, big guy."
I sighed heavily, thinking everything through once more, my eyes meanwhile following Scootaloo's bouncy movements for a few moments. I felt my mouth curve upwards into a half-smile as I saw her unfiltered excitement, feeling a little sense of happiness of my own in seeing her that happy. I turned my eyes back at Rainbow, searching those rosy orbs for an answer. Fortunately, they had one for me.
"I-uh..." I clicked my tongue, pondering for another exact ten of Scootaloo's bounces, which was about one second. Finally, I groaned in defeat. "Ugh, alright."
"BUT!" My hands quickly shot up to Rainbow to stop her from exploding in excitement. Fortunately, I was quick enough to grab onto one of her hindlegs, successfully stopping her from flying up to the ceiling just yet. "We're only staying two nights! We gonna drive home no later than Sunday evening!"
She didn't even think twice before nodding her head. "Alright, deal!"
I let go off her leg.
"WE'RE GOING TO CANTERLOT!" She joined Scootaloo in her quest to destroy my ear drums, dashing around the living room so fast that I momentarily feared she might break something, or herself.
"What the fuck is wrong with them?" I asked myself, trying to wrap my head around what was going on but quickly giving up on that. There was no way I was going to figure out what was wrong with them without going crazy myself.
****
You know, one advantage over not owning as much as I had back on Earth was, well, that I didn't really have anything worth taking with me. That fact made packing my things a lot easier than it would've been back on Earth. The only thing I took with me was a set of the new clothes Rarity made for me, which fortunately meant that it fit into the small suitcase Rainbow picked up from her home so I didn't have to buy myself an own one.
Honestly, I didn't even know why Rainbow needed to take a suitcase with her in the first place. Scootaloo didn't pack anything, why did she? I mean, it wasn't like she needed any clothes or something like that. Hell, when I asked her what she packed, all she did was stutter nervously and tell me that it was nothing special. I didn't even get to put my clothes into her suitcase, she insisted that she'd do it for me. If I didn't know it better, I would've said that she was going to kill someone and there was a sniper rifle in that suitcase.
Lucky thing that there was no such thing as rifles in Equestria, eh?
So, after we packed everything (which fortunately only took about ten minutes) and I made sure I had my bits and the three tickets on me, Rainbow and Scootaloo led me to the train station. It wasn't a long walk, maybe another ten minutes at most, but what was kinda annoying was all of that snow. Actually, I think they had more troubles going through it than I had, that with their size and all that. Once we did finally arrive at the train station -Rainbow and Scootaloo looking like they were actually freezing-, we quickly went onto the only platform of it since we didn't exactly know how long it took us to pack our things and get there. Luckily for us, our fears of missing the train turned out to be just that, fears.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were already waiting for us, a mountain of suitcases, even taller than I was, standing in the middle of the small circle they formed, but neither of them noticed us yet. They were too busy talking to each other, too enthralled in their conversation.
"Hey girls!" I said as we got closer, effectively gaining their attention. I gave them a wave coupled with a smile, to which they all replied with one of their own and a 'hello'. "So, I take it you guys got mail from Celestia too?" They all nodded their heads, Pinkie Pie so hard that I thought she might kill herself - fortunately, that didn't happen. I then was about to stir up a conversation about the weather, when I noticed that something was amiss. We weren't complete. Two ponies and one little dragon were missing.
I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, paired with a little bit of anxiety that they hadn't been able to make it. "Where are Rarity, Twilight and Spike? Weren't they able to make it?"
"I am right here, darling!" A white head with a curly indigo mane atop of it peeked around the mountain of luggage, blue eyes locking onto mine. I gave her a small smile in greeting, which she gladly returned. Rarity then pointed a hoof up the mountain in front of me that was maybe a head taller than me, effectively preventing me from seeing what was up on it. "Spike-Wikey is up there, resting a little."
Slowly, I followed Rarity's hoof,
A purple clawed hand flopped over the top of the highest suitcase, waving lazily at me. "Hey, dude."
"Uh...hey." I said awkwardly. A second later, Mount Suitcase as I decided to call it, shook violently, momentarily making me worry that it was going to fall on me. But, instead of burying me under its weight, the shaking stopped and I came face-to-face with a certain purple dragon.
"Hey, I'm taller than you are." Spike pointed out with a tired-sounding chuckle. He looked at me for another few long, uncomfortable seconds, before asking, "What's up dude?"
"Nothing." I raised an eyebrow at him, kinda getting worried for the little guy. "You alright? You look a little...exhausted"
"Nah, I'm fine."
"Rarishfy?" Rainbow suddenly asked, the disappointment audible even through the handgrip of the suitcase she had between her teeth. Realizing that speaking without that obstacle in her mouth would be easier, she walked up to my side and carefully put the suitcase down. "Did you make Spike carry your luggage again?"
Rarity gasped, stepping around the mountain to show herself completely. "Darling, I would never do such thing!"
Everyone in our little circle deadpanned at her, even Fluttershy, and that must've meant something. Well, everyone except for me, because I was still busy trying to figure out why Rarity would need so many suitcases. Those weren't even small suitcases, they were rather big. Well, at least bigger than the one we had with us.
"I merely-" Rarity began explaining but was quickly cut off by Spike.
"I offered to carry her suitcases!" Spike chimed in as he swiftly climbed down from Mount Suitcase, jumping down from it once he was sure he would land safely. He landed beside Rarity, looking at her with a smile. Rarity smiled back, seemingly relieved. Now, why could that have been?
"And where's Twilight?" Scootaloo asked just as I was about to ask Spike the same.
"She should be here any minute." Spike waved his claw lazily at me as if to tell me not to worry. "She said she needed to grab a few things so that Celestia could help-"
As if on cue, Spike was interrupted by an almost inaudible pop. I didn't even get to blink before Mount Suitcase in front of me exploded. Actually, I feel like the term 'erupted' fits better, because that's what essentially happened. I didn't exactly feel the need to shield myself as the mountain spew suitcase after suitcase because it, in the end, wouldn't have mattered. If one of them found my face, I sure as hell would've gotten knocked out. So, Instead of trying to shield myself, I just counted every second, eyes wide open as I watched on.
After exactly ten seconds, it was over. All of the luggage that was once in the middle of our little group was strewn across the whole train station. Some suitcases landed directly behind us or in front of us, others flew over our heads before landing several meters behind us. But by some miracle, no one got hit. Well, at least I thought so. No one was screaming for help, so that was a good sign.
"-Aaand there she is." Spike finished lamely as if nothing special happened.
"Oopsie." Twilight Sparkle, the purple that was standing where once Mount Suitcase stood, said. A blush formed on her face as she muttered, "That shouldn't have happened."
"Jesus." I muttered silently as I regained back control over my mouth. After staring at Twilight for another second or two, I shook my head, trying to focus on the matter at hand. Instinctively, I took a look at Rainbow and Scootaloo over my shoulder. Much to my relief, they seemed perfectly fine. More than fine, actually. They looked like they were amazed.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked as I looked back forward again
A collection of yes's followed.
Spike, instead of being angry or something like that, actually whistled as if he was impressed by what had happened. I mean, he was literally standing right beside Rarity's luggage, and there he was, impressed by what easily could've hurt him."Nice entrance, Twilight."
I blinked my eyes, looking at the aftermath of Twilight 'nice entrance', as Spike oh-so-lovely put it. Suitcases, lying all around the rail station, some of them still closed, others not. It was a mess, one that I definitely wasn't ready to clean up.
Fluttershy gasped, putting a hoof to her mouth in shock of what just happened. "Oh my."
Rarity looked like she was about to faint. "By Celestia! My luggage!" ...And she actually fainted. Good thing Spike caught her before she actually hit the ground. I think I even heard her quietly whisper, "Thanks, Spikey.".
"That.Was.-" Rainbow, whose eyes were still wide open, stopped, probably for the dramatic effect. "AWESOME!"
Applejack's first instinct was to say, "Ah ain't gonna clean that up!"
Pinkie Pie was, unnervingly enough, just bouncing in place, that huge smile that I'd come to fear still on her face. At least she was silent, eh?
"Okay." I looked Twilight in the face, who was now rubbing her left frontleg nervously. Rarity, meanwhile, recovered and got back up on her hooves, giving Spike a small hug. "Sooo...care to explain what just happened?"
"I, uh, teleported but may have forgotten about Rarity's luggage." She answered curtly, refusing to look me in the eyes. "Basically, I teleported into it."
I looked at her for another few, very long seconds, an awkward silence reigning over us. Was I angry at her? No, not at all. Strangely enough, I didn't feel anything remotely negative. No fear, no shock, no nothing. It was weird. "Alright."
"Alright? I could've hurt one of you!"
I shrugged. "You didn't though, did you?"
"But-"
"No buts." I firmly interrupted her. I gave her a small smirk, almost evil before looking at the station's clock at the far end of the platform. "You have about six more minutes until the train arrives. You better hurry."
She looked at me, then at the clock, and then at Rarity, my words slowly starting to sink in. Her eyes went comically wide and in what was barely a second, she was teleporting across the whole platform, picking up suitcase after suitcase with her magic as if her life depended on it.
My fun was cut short when someone decided to poke me on the shoulder. I didn't even turn my head to look at who wanted to get my attention because I knew it could only have been Rainbow. "You think we should help her?"
I watched Twilight rush across the platform, picking up five more suitcases before returning them back to Rarity, who ordered a grumpy Spike to pile them back up. With a chuckle, I answered, "Nah, she got this."
****
Fortunately for Twilight, it was Just like I said. She did manage to collect every single suitcase before the train arrived, which definitely was something she couldn't have achieved without the help of her magic. If it hadn't been for that little horn atop her head, I'm a hundred percent sure that Rarity would have needed to leave behind some of her luggage - which, to be honest, wouldn't have happened. Rarity was really...determined to not leave anything behind. And poor Spike offered to carry everything for her to the castle. How he was going to do that, or why he offered that in the first place while Rarity could've probably carried her luggage on her own -she had magic too, after all- was beyond me.
Anyways.
So, after our tickets were checked and Rarity somehow managed to convince two unicorns conductors -yes, both were stallions- into loading all of her her luggage into one of the train's baggage cars, we boarded the train and waited for it to depart. Since we seemed to be the only passengers, we had a great choice of cabins to choose from. In the end, we settled for a big one where all of us were able to fit in, without us having to split up into several groups. Maybe not the best choice, but I wasn't one to question their decision. And hey, at least I was quick enough to take a place right by the window.
Once everyone was seated, or, more accurately, squeezed onto the two benches that faced each other, I heard the train whistle twice. You could literally hear the train slowly starting to gain on speed, its wheels squealing uncomfortably, making me wonder just how old this train was. My thoughts on that were suddenly interrupted as the train jolted forward and started moving forward more quickly before finally settling into a steady speed.
Five minutes in, and I realized something. It was bumpy - a little too bumpy for my taste. The train also didn't seem to go that fast, and then there was the problem that I couldn't even relax because it was so freaking loud. I mean, the train was steam-powered, but that was a little too much, even for a train like that. And, if Twilight wasn't trying to get some kind of revenge, it was going to take another fifty-five minutes before we were going to arrive in Canterlot. Another fifty-five minutes of headache-inducing sound and bumpy tracks.
Yay.
If the benches at least would've been comfortable enough to relax a little, but nooo. They just had to be made for a pony to comfortably sit on, which meant basically that I had to awkwardly sit on them, my knees higher situated than my butt. You know, like a really tall dude sitting on a chair that was made for children. Then there was also the fact that Rainbow, the only pony sitting beside me, decided that she just had to take a little nap and thereby take up a lot more space than she normally would've needed. I sat there with a frown on my face, arms crossed over my chest, as Rainbow's head slowly fell into my side.
The others were, of course, not shy about pointing out how hilarious I looked while giggling like some little girls. At least they were having a blast on that god-forsaken train, I guess. Luckily, since I had a spot on the window, I could, at the very least, distract myself from their constant giggling and, later on, chattering with the rather beautiful landscape Equestria so generously offered for my viewing pleasure. But even that got boring after a while.
Fortunately for me, the train ride didn't take forever. We did, eventually, arrive.
****
"We're here!" Twilight exclaimed happily as the train finally started to slow down, awakening me from my half-slumber.
Sure enough, the train whistled twice, seemingly announcing our immediate arrival at Canterlot's train station. Twilight stood up and excitedly pushed her way to the window, nearly knocking Spike off his seat in the process and forcefully waking Rainbow up, before everyone else followed her, huddling close together to get a look out of the window.
I just sat there, confused as to what could be that exciting about Canterlot that they were so eager to see it through a small window in a train. I raised one eyebrow, slowly turning my head to look out of the window and see for myself.
I instantly understood why.
Canterlot was, without a doubt, the most beautiful and strangest city I had ever seen. Built into the side of a really tall mountain it stood a majestic city, reminding me of fairy tales like so much else in Equestria. Beside that very city, running down the mountain it was built into, was a waterfall that sourced from somewhere high up the mountain and plunged into the depths of a deep sky blue lake. The lake was, with the exception of the immediate area around where the water dropped into it from above, completely frozen over, showing that Canterlot, too, was struck hard by the cold and unforgiving winter.
The city's architecture was something I had never seen before. It was like a more pompous kind of Russian architecture, reminding me of the Kremlin with its various conical-roofed towers, only that the colors of those towers and the city as a whole were completely different. Under the thick layer of snow I was able to make out two colors; gold and some kind of really dark purple. The purple was, in fact, so dark that I couldn't decide whether it was actually purple or some lighter shade of black.
Sadly enough, I couldn't stare at the city long enough to actually decide on that, because the distance to it was rapidly decreasing before we were finally too close for me to see it as a whole. What I did see, though, was the train station at which we were slowly coming to a halt - and with that, certain fears started to come to mind.
"William? Ya comin'?"
I blinked hard, slowly coming back to Equestria. Once I regained back complete control over my brain, I realized that I was the only one still looking out of the window. A look to my left confirmed that, except for Applejack, everyone had left our cabin already.
I stood up, arched my back, and then said, "Sure, let's go."
Applejack and I swiftly exited the train. Once I set one foot onto the paved platform of the train station, I took a second to inspect my surroundings. In front of me was, of course, the train station itself, a big clock just over the entrance to the building. The platform I was on appeared to be completely devoid of any ponies - except for the girls, of course. Speaking of the girls...
They had formed another little circle, while Rarity was a little off to the side, once again, on the task of persuading two poor unicorn stallions into unloading her luggage from the train. Rainbow appeared to already have picked our suitcase out of the luggage wagon, as did the others, which was a real achievement considering the amount of Rarity's luggage in that wagon.
"William!" Twilight declared aloud as I came closer, looking at me while seeming to be barely able to contain her excitement. "What do you want to see first? Maybe the Canterlot Archives?"
Rarity apparently decided to join us, stepping in front of Twilight, much to the purple pony's dismay. "Darling, you just have to see the Opera House! It is simply smashing!"
"OROROR!!-" Pinkie's face was in front of mine. She took a deep breath as if to calm herself (thank god) and exhaled audibly. "-We go and get something to eat!"
Just as suddenly as the pink, physics-breaking pony appeared, she was shoved away again just for Rainbow to take her place. "No way! He definitely wants to see the Cloud Stadium first!"
For a few seconds, there was a silence before I heard Applejack, Fluttershy and Scootaloo starting to snicker to my left. Deciding that they were the only ones that could help me, I turned my head to give them a help-seeking look, but they just shook their heads, leaving me alone to give an answer. Well, at least Fluttershy did look like she felt a little bad for me. But the other two...
"Uh, if it's okay with everyone, I'd just like to get to the castle first..." I said sheepishly, hoping that they were going to accept that as an answer.
Rainbow stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, slowly narrowing her magenta eyes, before finally concluding, "Fair enough."
"I guess that is acceptable." Rarity huffed.
Pinkie beamed just like she always did. "Okie-Dokie!"
Twilight seemed rather downtrodden. "Okay..."
"Alright,-" I started with a hint of uncertainty in my voice, once again breaking the ice. "-shall we..."
I trailed off when I saw two ponies in golden armor that reminded me a lot of those of the Romans stepping onto the platform. Those two seemed to belong to the royal guards, if what Twilight had told me about them was true. One of them, a dark-gray coated pony, was clearly a unicorn, the horn that stuck through the golden helmet right in front of the silver crest being a dead giveaway. The other one appeared to be a normal earth pony with a coat of pure white at first, but when she got closer, I saw that she actually was a pegasus, her wings tightly folded to the side and almost unnoticeable behind the bulk of armor.
They looked around the platform for a second before they lay eyes on us, or, more accurately me. And by the looks of it, I was just the one they were looking for. Two minutes in Canterlot and I already was about to get arrested. How great.
Once they stood in front of us, they gave a curt bow. "Princess Twilight, Elements, Miss Scootaloo and-" The unicorn, clearly a stallion if his deep voice hadn't been enough of a hint, greeted before his eyes locked onto mine. He paused for a second, looking me up and down as if he was uncertain what to say, before finishing with an uncertain, "-Mister Wright?"
I nodded my head in a greeting, relieved that maybe I wasn't going to get arrested yet. The others followed up with their own greetings, a chorus of hellos.
"It's an honor to meet you. I'm Corporal Eclipse." He pointed a hoof to his left at his partner. "And this is Private Zephyr."
"We are here on behalf of Celestia to escort you to the Palace." Private Zephyr, clearly a mare, stated lamely with an indifferent ruffle of her white wings. Something told me that Miss Zephyr wasn't too keen on escorting us. Funnily enough, she also sounded a lot like Rainbow.
"Hang on, I got this." Rainbow whispered into my right ear, though I wasn't too sure what she meant by that. Well, at least at first.
"Rainbow, it's cool, let them-" I tried to stop her as I saw her heading for the guards, but she was already long gone, up right in front of the two guards.
She gave me one quick glance over her back that told me that she will get rid of the two - not that I exactly wanted her to do that. I mean, if Celestia sent them to get us, there must've been a pretty good reason why she did it.
"Nah, it's fine. We don't need your guys' help." Rainbow told the two guards, a determined look on her face. "We can protect ourselves, y'know. We saved Equestria a couple of times, sooo..."
Twilight facehoofed. "Rainbow..."
"What?" The mare in question asked, giving Twilight a frown. "It is true! We saved Equestria, like, a lot! Why wouldn't we be able to protect ourselves?"
"I'm sorry, but this is not open for debate." Private Zephyr said, visibly suppressing the urge to grind her teeth in frustration. "Whether you want us or not, we're coming with you."
Rainbow puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, turning back to us for help. I just shrugged.
"Fine, you can-" She made some kind of air quotes with her hooves, glaring at the mare in front of her. "-'escort' us."
"Alright." Corporal Eclipse said, content enough with Rainbow's answer. He and his partner swiftly turned around, motioning for us to follow with his hoof. "If you were so kind as to follow us? Your luggage will be brought to your chambers later on."
His last sentence was definitely directed towards Rarity.
****
The fifteen-minute walk to the castle was hell. Why?
Well, first off, because a certain purple princess decided to give me a spontaneous and very in-depth history lesson about the creation of Canterlot. It was only because we reached our destination that she had to stop talking. But that was the least of my problems. I was able to drown her out just fine.
The bigger one was that, in order to get to Canterlot Castle, we had to use some of the most-used streets in whole Canterlot.
Honestly, at first, that didn't seem to be that much of a problem. In the first few minutes, everything went just fine. Of course, ponies gave me the occasional glance, or even started at me and whispered amongst themselves, but besides that, everything was just fine. That moment actually did make me hope that I what Rainbow had said back in Ponyville was true. I mean, I did indeed see some griffons (they're pretty cool-looking, if you ask me) and even one or two minotaurs, so Rainbow could really have been correct with what she told me.
But then we progressed into the more fancier-looking part of Canterlot, and everything changed drastically.
The ponies there were not afraid to show me how disgusted they were of my appearance, even though some of them looked like they got a stick up their asses - they even walked like that! But the worst about those ponies was the fact that some of them went out of their way to make me feel bad.
Some of them told me to get out of Canterlot right now, others told me to stop breathing their precious air because I wasn't worthy enough to breathe it. Then there were those that even went as far and insult me and threaten me with imprisonment.
Of course, my friends and my daughter were there to tell me otherwise and distract me from their angry words, that they weren't in the right to judge me and that they appreciated me... Loved me, in Scootaloo's case. But, you know how it is; bad words win over the good ones, always. If someone tells you that you're ugly, that you are a monster, and another one tells you that you that you aren't, what would you think?
The whole rest of the way to the castle, all I was able to think about was that they were, somehow, right in what they said. That I was ugly and that I wasn't worthy enough to breathe. That I wasn't worthy enough to be happy.
Finally, our little tour through Canterlot came to an end.
So lost in thought of every name those names I was called, I suddenly found myself staring at a big, two-colored gate that had two insignias on both sides. The left door was a dark purple and its insignia was the moon, while the right one was a sparkling gold, its insignia being the sun. All around the castle's snow-covered grounds stood tall iron fences, nearly four times the size of me, protecting what stood behind it from anyone who couldn't fly or use magic to teleport.
While I was busy admiring the outside of the castle, Eclipse and Zephyr walked up to the gate and talked to the two unicorn guard stationed there to protect it from any unwanted visitors. After a short conversation between the four of them, and a hoof pointed into our direction, the guards at the gate lit up their horns and slowly opened the big gate.
Slowly, almost agonizingly so, the castle revealed itself to me. From where I stood, I was able to spot at least three different buildings, though I knew that there were at least three more from Twilight's little history lesson earlier.
First, there was the huge main building with the white facade and the golden cupola as roof. I followed a huge set of white marble stairs up to right up to its huge set of doors. The huge, sturdy-looking double door that built the entrance to the building was opened widely, welcoming every pony that managed to make it through the main gate. I wasn't able to really see into the building itself, but I already had a good guess on what was in it.
Behind the main building, there were the two towers. Those were the same two towers I was already able to see from the train earlier that day, and they were pretty much built like any other tower in Canterlot, only taller. One of them, the one to the left, had a little observatory built into its side, while the right one had a spiral case going up its outer wall, all the way up to the top. The left one also looked like it had a bridge coming out of its side, though I couldn't really see where it lead to.
"Awesome, eh?" Rainbow asked rhetorically, walking up to my side. I noticed that now, she was carrying the suitcase how I would probably carry it when I had a hoof; hoof through the open little space between the handgrip and the suitcase itself. "Wait until you see the throne room then."
Suddenly, something hard poked my lower leg, making me direct my attention to its source. It was none other than the mare guard, Private Zephyr, whose armor-clad hoof was still up in the air. She glowered up at me. "You can look at it all you want later on, but the Princess is awaiting you now. Better not let her wait, if you ask me."
She then promptly turned back around and walked up to the set of stairs with the rest of the group, leaving me and Rainbow behind.
"What the buck is wrong with her?" Rainbow asked, a frown on her face.
I shrugged my shoulders, not understanding either why exactly she seemed to hate us so much. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if that hate was directed towards me or all of us. "Beats me. Let's just follow her."
Rainbow and I quickly caught up to our group, following them into what soon turned out to be the throne room - just like I had thought.
The throne room was huge. There was a red carpet rolled out, all the way up to the, to my surprise, immense throne that seemed to be built on a golden altar. On both our left and right, built in rows to support the weight of the massive roof above our heads, were white marble pillars. Between each and every pair of pillars, there were stained glass windows, each one of them depicting an event of Equestria's past. I knew that because one or two of them seemed familiar to me from Twilight's various history lessons.
Finally, we stood only a few feet away from the throne.
"Alright, that's it." Corporal Eclipse announced, stopping and swiftly turning around to face our group as Private Zephyr walked up beside him. "The princess will be with you shortly. Now, If you'll excuse us, I and the rookie have to get back to our duties."
Private Zephyr's face contorted into a small frown after hearing Eclipse's words. Nonetheless, she and his partner gave us one last salute before heading for a smaller door to the left of the throne, swiftly disappearing out of our sight.
Right when they disappeared, Scootaloo and Spike walked up closer to the throne, staring at it with wide eyes and uttering a single, "Wow."
"So, William." Rarity said aloud, trying to stir up a conversation as everyone else placed their suitcases onto the ground. "What do you think of Canterlot so far?"
"I don't know, to be honest." I answered, my eyes never leaving Scootaloo, watching over her like a hawk watched over its prey. I didn't want her to do anything stupid, like trying to get up on the throne. While Celestia wasn't my leader, she still was Scootaloo's by law. Though I highly doubted that Celestia would have taken offense to someone getting on her throne. "It's beautiful, but some of the ponies..." I sighed, looking if Scootaloo or Spike were in hearing range. Deciding that they weren't, I ended my previous sentence, "Well, some of them are real assholes."
Fluttershy and Rarity gasped by my choice of words, though the others seemed unfazed. They even looked at me apologetically.
"If it makes ya feel any better, the nobles, as they want ta be called, sure don' like anypony 'sides themselves." Applejack stated before her apologetic look turned into a frown, pointing one hoof at Twilight who stood to her left. "Ah mean, they even treat Twilight 'ere, a princess, without any kin' of respect, not ta mention any others."
I gave Twilight a puzzled look. "Why's that?"
She shrugged. "I don't know why they hate everyone and I can only take a guess and say that they hate me becau-"
"They are mad that Twilight was made an alicorn and they weren't!" Rainbow threw in before Twilight was able to give me her complete opinion on the matter.
"Oh, that's silly!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, finally seeming to spring to life. She had been rather silent for her standards the whole time we were walking through Canterlot. "Why would they be mad because of that? They should feel happy and congratulate her! They should have thrown Twilight a 'Wow You Are An Alicorn Now'-party!"
I just shook my head at the sheer silliness of Pinkie Pie. "Twilight, what do you think?"
"Well, Rainbow is right." She said, to which Rainbow nodded her head proudly. "Kind of."
And that was it with the proud look. "Whatcha mean kind of?"
Just when Twilight was about to give her answer, she was stopped by the door to the left of the throne creaking open, accompanied by a familiar white alicorn that, not a second later than after the door was opened, walked through it.
Everyone bowed down, except for me and Scootaloo, the latter hastily retreating her hoof back from the golden surface of the princesses' throne.
"Please, there is no need for that." Celestia said, referring to the ponies that bowed in front of her, her almost motherly smile faltering a little. Once everyone was on all their hooves again, she greeted, "Hello, everypony. I am pleased to see that you took on mine and Luna's invitation." She then looked at Rainbow Dash. "And what Twilight meant to tell you, Rainbow Dash, was that, while some nobles are indeed envious of her new powers, most of them simply are not okay with the fact that she is a princess now."
"How did you know what we were talking about?" She asked suspiciously, taking a moment to look around the room to possibly spot any potential spies.
"Please, I am old, but I am not that old." Celestia said, faking offense as she put one hoof to her chest. "I can assure you that my ears are still perfectly capable of fulfilling their task."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It is no problem, Rainbow Dash." Celestia walked closer to our group, her eyes locking onto mine. For a moment, her smile seemed to get bigger, but when I blinked and re-opened my eyes, she was back to her usual motherly smile. "William, I am pleased to see you too!"
I nodded my head at her in a greeting, awkwardly answering, "Good to see you too, P-." Her smile faltered again. I coughed into my hands the moment I noticed it. "-Celestia."
She looked around, searching for something before she turned her attention towards Spike and my daughter, the two of them still standing right next to the throne. Both of their faces went pale when they noticed that the princess was looking right at them.
"I hope you two didn't touch my precious throne?" She asked in a tone that suggested that the two of them were in trouble, though I realized that Celestia was just joking. She appeared to be barely able to contain her laughter, the corners of her mouth occasionally twitching up.
A single chuckle of mine was muffled by a hand that shot upwards to cover my mouth as the two frantically shook their heads in response, too afraid to pay attention to Celestia's expression.
"Hm? Are you sure?" They nodded their heads up and down, so quick that I almost thought they were going to faint. Celestia lit up her long white horn, coating it in a golden aura. "Well, maybe I should just take a look if somepony touched it. I am positively sure I can see some clawprints right there..."
I didn't know how it was possible, but both of them paled even more at that. Fortunately for them, Celestia couldn't hold it any longer. With a rather unprincesslike snort, followed by -dare I say- cute giggles, the shimmer around her horn vanished. It was a good thing that she wasn't able to hold it any longer, too, or else I am positively sure that either Spike or Scootaloo would have fainted.
It took a moment for Spike and Scootaloo to realize what has happened, and by that time, everyone, even me, had joined Celestia in her laughter.
Spike crossed his arms, looking off to the side, angrily muttering under his breath.
"So not cool..." Scootaloo murmured, pouting at me.
I shrugged -though it probably looked more like I had a seizure-, still giggling like some idiot, pointing an accusing finger at Celestia. "Hey, not my fault you just got fooled."
After a minute, everyone had seemed to calm down. There were some last giggles here and there before it was silent once again.
"Now that we all had a good laugh, I wish to escort everyone to your chambers." Celestia motioned for us to follow and turned around, heading for the same door she came in through. Everyone picked up their suitcases and then followed her, though I felt bad when I saw Rainbow struggling to think of how exactly she was going to carry it.
I moved over to her, taking a hold of the suitcase before she was able to bite onto it. "Here, I'll take it."
She looked up at me for a second, her cheeks reddening a little, before she found that the ground was a lot more interesting. "T-thanks."
"Well, my clothes are in there too, not to mention my bits." I said, giving her a small smile. "It's only fair that I get to carry it too, right?"
She nodded her head before the both us hurried after Celestia and the rest of our group once we saw that we were the only ones still standing in the throne room. Walking through the door, we entered a hallway with a black marble floor. The walls were made out of some simple white stone. I instantly spotted the others, just a few feet ahead of us, just passing an armor-clad statue of a pony. I and Rainbow quickly managed to catch up to them in the rather narrow hallway.
"We might have a problem." Celestia spoke aloud after seeing that we finally joined them. "Unfortunately, we only have four rooms available because of a small...accident involving cakes." Her cheeks flushed a bright red for just a second before she coughed into one hoof.
"Cakes?" I repeated, slowly raising one eyebrow.
She nodded her head. "Cakes."
I chuckled. "Who lost?"
"That doesn't matter." She answered swiftly with her best poker face. "To get back to the matter at hoof, these four rooms all have one single double bed."
"I don't think that'll be a problem." Twilight said. She glanced down at Spike who was walking beside her. "You'll sleep with me, alright?"
He rolled his eyes. "Alright mom."
"OH OH OH! I call dibs on Will and the Squirt!" Rainbow exclaimed aloud, her hoof shooting up into the air eagerly. She then suddenly stopped and looked at me with, if I hadn't known better, an almost pleading expression on her face. "I mean, we'll take one room, right?"
I took a quick glance towards Scootaloo, silently asking her if she was okay with that. I didn't even need to ask her because she eagerly bobbed her head up and down.
"Yeah, right." I simply told Rainbow.
"Awww yeah!" She hoofpumped, jumping up into the air. "This is going to be sooo awesome!"
"Yeah, awesome." I muttered sarcastically. "Not cramped, awkward or uncomfortable, no..."
Rainbow's ears perked up, swiveling into my direction. "What's that?"
I sighed. "Nothing."
"Fluttershy and I can take one room too!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly, bouncing up to Fluttershy's and poking her in the side. "Right Fluttershy?"
"Y-yes, I guess." She answered timidly.
Poor Fluttershy. I couldn't be in the same room with that pink demon for longer than maybe an hour before I would choke myself - not that I hate Pinkie. She was just...too much sometimes.
"Ohhhhh we are going to have so much-" Pinkie jumped up, throwing confetti up in the air that she somehow pulled out of her mane. "-FUN!"
Kinky, Pinkie Pie.
"Well, ah reckon me an' Rarity can share a room for a lil' bit." Applejack spoke up, not seeming that excited about sharing a room with Rarity - which was understandable. I wouldn't like to share a room with Rarity either when she had that many suitcases with her.
"And I guess I can share a room with you, dear Applejack." Rarity huffed, lifting her muzzle into the air. "I call dibs on the wardrobe in our room."
"Then it's settled." Celestia stomped one hoof onto the ground - a little too dramatic if you ask me. There was a small crackling sound, and when Celestia lifted her horseshoe-clad hoof back up to inspect what happened, I saw that there was a small crack in the marble floor. Holy shit, how did she manage to do that? She looked at it for another second before saying, "Let us continue to your rooms."
****
Canterlot Castle was a maze. That's something I realized rather quickly.
Well, that and the complete lack of guards patrolling the corridors.
One would think that the place of residence of the two most important political figures in whole Equestria would be a lot better protected, but, apparently, it was like that only for that evening, as Celestia assured me. The guards had a two-hour training session every month, on some randomly chosen day, to stay fit and combat-ready. In my opinion, I think that sending every single guard in the castle off to training at the same time wasn't that good of an idea, but who was I to question a princess.
Right?
All in all, It took us a good five minutes to get to our destination; a small corridor that was hidden behind an old-looking wooden door.
First thing I noticed was that, fortunately, all rooms were next to each other. That meant that if Rainbow decided to start annoying me, I could just throw her into the room of one of the others.
After everyone chose a room, the next thing I noticed was that my previous worries of not having enough space, that it would be too cramped inside the room, were for none. The room Rainbow, Scootaloo and I had was extremely spacious -so spacious that I will actually call it chamber from now on-, coming with its own bathroom, a small living area with a couch and a bedroom that was even bigger than mine back home in Ponyville. The bedroom even had a small balcony!
But, the best thing definitely was the bed. Oh my god, the bed.
It wasn't bigger than the one from my home -actually, I think it was a little smaller-, but damn, if it wasn't the most comfortable bed I ever sat on then I don't know what was. My butt was in heaven the moment it sank into that soft piece of art.
That actually sounds a lot worse when you speak it out loud.
Nonetheless, the bedroom wasn't the only awesome thing about our chamber. The bathroom was also rather spacious and had everything one would need, plus fluffy wool towels, but what really was awesome about it was the giant bathtub in the left corner. It was so big that someone my size could have comfortably fit in three times, and even then there would've been a little bit more space.
The only thing that really bothered me about our chamber was the floors. They were, just like pretty much every other floor in this castle, made out of black marble. I knew already that one thing I had to deal with was cold feet.
Cold feet are the worst.
So, after I stored my clothes into the small wardrobe we conveniently had in our bedroom, and I made sure that my bits were stored somewhere safely, I was about to beat Rainbow to it and take the first turn in the bathtub (just because) before suddenly, someone knocked at our door. Grumbling angrily for having been denied a little bath, I opened the door but stopped immediately. It was Celestia and the others, much to my surprise. After talking to Celestia for a second, it turned out that she invited us to dinner with her, my friends and her sister, Luna.
Free dinner? And with my all of our friends and two princesses nonetheless? Of course, we were quick to accept her offer.
After following the princess for another two minutes through hallway after hallway and at least two set of big, heavy steel doors, we stood in front of our destination; a small, almost hidden, wooden door.
I quirked an eyebrow. I would've expected a door a lot bigger and better secured for the princesses' dining room than what I saw. As Celestia pushed it open with the help of her magic, and we walked inside, I found out why it seemed so unimpressive.
I was a little bit...underwhelmed.
I honestly excepted something huge, a big hall in the same style as the throne room with huge banners decorating it. What I saw was a rather boring, though still bigger than average, dining room with a long wooden table in the center and seven chairs on each side. The walls were, unlike the rest of the castle, made out of simple gray stone while the floor was made out of some dark wood. There was also a fireplace at the far end of the room, right beside another wooden door just like the one we had just walked through, at least bestowing the relatively empty room with a comfortable atmosphere.
Honestly, I would've expected a room a lot more pompous and bigger than what I was confronted with.
Nontheless, one really good thing about the table and the fourteen wooden chairs that completely surrounded it, was that they seemed pretty normal-sized to me, which meant that maybe I could sit and dine comfortably. Good thing, too, because I probably would've gone crazy if I had to sit just like I had back in the train for another hour or so.
"Is something wrong, William?" Celestia asked concerned, suddenly appearing in front of my vision. I must've zoned out again because once I took another look around, I saw that everyone was busy trying to find a chair or get up onto one.
I shook my head. "No, everything's fine, it's just..."
Celestia quirked an eyebrow, silently asking me to continue.
"I...honestly expected something a lot bigger than, well-" I motioned my hands all around me. "-this."
"I can assure you that this is not our official dining room, William." Celestia stated with a small smile. "It is mine and Luna's little secret one, so to say, where we dine with good friends. We actually have a kitchen in the back!" Her smile fell. "Sadly, we were only able to dine here twice so far."
Sensing the sudden change in demeanor and the awkward silence that followed, I decided to change the topic a little.
"Soooo." I started, idly fiddling with my thumbs and taking a quick glance at the table. Seeing someone rather important missing, I asked, "Where's Luna?"
She perked up at that. "Oh, she is actually preparing our meals as we are speaking."
"She's cooking?" I asked in honest confusion, one eyebrow raising itself almost automatically. Celestia nodded her head slowly in a silent answer. "Wait, you two know how to cook? Don't you have, like, ponies that cook for you?"
She was silent for a few seconds. I actually was afraid that I hurt her feelings, but those worries were gone when I saw her stifling what could've been a giggle behind her white-furred hoof.
"While we do have cooks, both of us like it way more to cook for ourselves." She answered, smiling warmly at me. "So yes, we indeed know how to cook."
"Ey Will!" Rainbow suddenly called from her spot on the table, interrupting our little conversation. Looking around Celestia, I saw her nodding at the chair between her and Scootaloo. "Come on over here before someone snags away your spot!"
"Rainbow Dash is right." Celestia gave me another smile, directing a glance towards wooden door across the room. "I have to help my dear sister putting the last touches to our meals anyways. We will continue our conversation sometime later. Is that alright?"
I nodded my head, smiling at her. "Sure."
"Then better take a seat before I have to teleport you there." She said with a wink before turning around and heading for the door, disappearing in what I figured out was the kitchen. It took a moment for her to words to register, and when they did, I still wasn't too sure if she had been serious when she said that or not. What I was sure about, though, was that I definitely wasn't taking any chances.
Her threat still bouncing through my head, I quickly made my way over to Rainbow, pulling the chair out for me before sitting down on it and shifting back to the table. Immediate threat out of the way, I sighed in relief, starting to look around the table
It seemed like I was sitting right in the middle of our little row. Across of me were two free chairs, though beside the left one sat Twilight. Smiling brightly, Pinkie Pie was about to scoot two chairs closer and take that spot beside Twilight when suddenly two small black signs that read 'reserved for Luna' and 'reserved for Celestia' popped up out of nowhere, right on the table in front of the two spots. With a pout, she scooted back to her old place.
Twilight smiled smugly, her horn slowly ceasing to fade. Sneaky Twilight, really sneaky.
Rarity and Applejack sat opposite of each other -Rarity beside Rainbow and Applejack beside Twilight- the former not knowing that she will regret her decision of sitting where she was sitting sooner or later. If I knew one thing about the Rainbow Dash, it was that she was one hell of a messy eater. Also, she liked to burp.
A lot.
Turning my head to the right, I saw Fluttershy looking back at me. She smiled gently at me, a smile which I gladly returned with one of my own.
Finally, my eyes ended up looking down to my right, seeing Scootaloo desperately struggling to get on her hindlegs and reach the table, nearly falling down her chair in the process. Quickly grabbing her attention by tapping her on the shoulders, I motioned for her to sit down. She did as I instructed, and right after she did, I grabbed her chair and pushed her a closer to the table.
I smiled at her. "Try now."
With a look of concentration, she reared up and then her hooves finally hit the hard surface of the table with a satisfying clack.
She smiled at me. "Thanks, Dad!"
Reaching for her ear with one hand, I gave her a curt scratch behind it. She almost purred in content, leaning into my hand before I suddenly, and much to her dismay, pulled it away again. "No problem."
"Why did you stop?" She asked with a pout.
"Because we are sitting at dinner?" I replied with a look of confusion on my face, helping her understand by pointing at the table. Seeing her face fall I then quickly added, "You can have some ear scratches later on."
"Did you just say ear scratches?" Rainbow, who was apparently paying close attention to our conversation, asked, grabbing my attention. "I get some too, right?"
"Yeah, alright, you can get some too."
She smirked. "Awesome."
****
The dinner was calm and uneventful, only curt conversations being started here and there over the delicious meal. Celestia wasn't kidding when she said that she and Luna could cook. They had easily made the best potato soup I've ever had!
I do remember one conversation with Luna in particular that made me actually wonder if she was a lunatic. It started as a normal conversation about human history, then got really into detail with all the wars, and ended with her asking me if I could build her, as she put it, "One of those atom bombs. They seem fun.".
Just...just think about that for a second. One moment, I was telling her how many people one of those bombs could potentially kill, and the next she asked me if I could build her one because it seemed fun. There had to be something wrong in her head, or is it just me?
But, aside from that little slip, as her sister called it, Luna seemed pretty okay in my book. I mean, just as we finished eating our desserts, chocolate cakes, she jokingly scolded Celestia for eating too much again. She told her that her flank would get big as the sun one day if she continued on like that.
So, Luna was pretty fucking funny too.
Once everyone finally ate up, which took about an hour (I was we were hungry, okay?) and I helped Luna and Celestia wash the dishes, everyone retreated back to their chambers for the night. It was nearing ten o'clock, after all.
Though, before me, Scootaloo and Rainbow finally managed to fall asleep, there was a little bit of drama first.
Rainbow seemed, for some reason, a little bit nervous about going to bed with me all of the sudden. It wasn't like we hadn't slept together in a bed before - quite the opposite actually-, so I was a little bit confused. So, I told her that she and Scootaloo could take the bed and I would take the couch. Of course, then Scootaloo got all grumpy because that would've meant that she wouldn't get her ear scratches, so Rainbow went all, "Nah, it's fine, let's go to bed.", which confused me even more.
Honestly, what the fuck was wrong with her?
Anyways.
In the end, I gave both Rainbow and Scootaloo their promised ear scratches. Sometime along what started as ear scratches and turned into a full-blown cuddling session, the two of them finally dozed off. I lay awake a little longer, surrounded on both sides by two furry bodies, pondering about what the next day would have in store for me.
It didn't take long for me to get tired and fall asleep too, finally joining Rainbow and Scootaloo into the world of the dreaming.