A/N: Chapter proofread by CrossoverManiac. My deepest thanks to him.
Chapter 3:
Second verse/New Kingdom
Piles of books and dancing motes of falling dust soon fell under the brilliant rays of the rising sun. This mesmerizing blanket of illumination slowly rose as the last vestiges of night were chased away by the early sunrise. The day's first rays washed over the untold number of books and tomes left haphazardly unkempt upon the wooden floor of the library. Silently, they strode forwards with the passing of time, second by second revealing more and more of the private study room in which a lavender figure lay sleeping. Next to her slumbering head, upon the small oak desk, the fading smoke of the diminished candle was the only indication of her long night of study. Upon the sound of the first bird song for the day, her eyes fluttered open, signaling a gentle return to the land of the waking.
With sluggish intensity, the unicorn moaned, content with a night well spend and sleep well slept. She yawned, groggily rubbing sandman's dust from her eyes. Minutes passed and she laid waiting, quietly amassing her resolve for the final transition between dream and reality. Finally, she rose; hesitantly she pushed herself off the wooden table and onto her hunches. With a deep breath, she stretched content at the sound of popping vertebra and cracking joints. Rising to her hooves, she took care to maneuver around the mess of books and notes with aim of approaching the far side of the small room where the window lay. Drawing the simple violet curtain aside, she peeked upon the new day, silently praising its wondrous magnificence. There were new opportunities to grasp, new adventures to live, and of course, more knowledge to gain. Twilight sparkle smiled.
She gazed back, taking in the chaos she had unleashed upon her study room, and frowned, realizing she had much to do and arrange before she could seize the day. At the very least, she reasoned, she would not have to do it alone.
"Spike," Twilight called in a voice scarce more than a whisper. Softly, she exited the study, carefully closing the door behind her and soundlessly moved across her house searching for very special straw basket in which a very special creature slept. "Spiiike!" There it was. Next to her bed the basket lay and within it, a softly snoring bundle of sheets moved rhythmically up and down perfectly in synch with the breaths of the draconian child it contained. "Wake up, you sleepyhead." She giggled gently nudging the tiny bed. "It’s sunrise, and we have a lot of work to do."
The infant dragon, however, made no attempt to awaken. The bundle grumbled and mumbled, snorting angrily before rolling away. Twilight Sparkle frowned, not surprised but irritated. She huffed with indignation and lowered her head, biting gently at the mass of blankets and pulling it away. Now that the tiny emerald and purple form was exposed to the elements, the hatchling coiled itself within the straw basket, still refusing to forsake his dreamland for the day.
"Come on Spike," Twilight moaned. "There's no way you can be comfortable like that. Unlike you, I’m hot-blooded, and it’s still a bit chilly even for me." Raising one hoof she finally nudged her begrudgingly emerging aid. "That's right, how could I start the day without my number one assistant? Get up and we can move on to some warm ups." She smiled and watched as the dragon slowly sat up and yawned.
"Warm ups? I’d much rather have breakfast." He said, eyeing the mare suspiciously. "Don't think I forgot what you said last night."
Twilight, for her part, was entirely at a loss.
"Last night? What are you talking about?" She asked, internally scavenging through her mind for memory of any such an exchange.
"Twiiilight. You couldn’t have forgotten." The dragon whined, visibly disappointed.
"Sorry, I have no clue what you're talking about." She giggled, finding her assistant's childish antics more than a little adorable.
The hatchling in response simply pouted, crossed his arms, and gazed at his supervisor with annoyance. All that he accomplished, however, was unintentionally eliciting yet another soft laugh from the mare.
"Fine, fine. Just remind me what I said I’d do and I’ll do it. Honest." The mare seemed to pause and rethink. "Within reason, of course." She added, eyeing Spike warily.
"You said and I quote, 'I'll stay late tonight. I know it will be hard cleaning all this up but I promise to make your favorite, tomorrow morning'." It was now Spike's turn to stop and consider. "You even told me you'd deliver it to my basket."
"Spike-"
"What? You did." He stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh fine, you lazy little dragon." She said, sounding more amused than annoyed. Twilight turned, beginning to walk towards the door. "Just wait here and don't dare fall asleep while I’m cooking."
"And remember! It’s the red gems, not the blue ones!" He said. The dragon sat there in his little basket, watching blankly at Twilight’s rapidly retreating back. When, finally, she was gone and Spike could faintly hear the sound of her hooves going down the stairs, the infant Dragon yawned and quietly sunk back into his bed.
---
In her library's small kitchen Twilight Sparkle happily cooked. She hummed a merry tune as hay, flour, eggs and gems floated lazily around her. With a small nod of her glowing horn, two eggs were guided towards the frying pan. The two magically levitated eggs struck themselves on its rim until their hard shells cracked. The supervising unicorn moved the oval objects over the pan, finally emptying their contents in its rapidly heating interior. She smiled, pleased with her work.
Cooking breakfast for a change, Twilight mused, was not so bad after all. Oh, sure, Twilight was no foal. She knew full well that her assistant had probably fallen back to sleep the very moment she left the room. He was probably snoozing even as she considered it while here she was working to feed them both, but maybe spoiling the little guy once in while was okay. Twilight did promise, and she really did leave quite a mess in the study last night, not to mention, that cooking breakfast for a change really was not so bad after all.
Twilight was just about to add spike's favorite gems into the mix, when a gentle rapping of hooves against wood interrupted her from her thoughts. Levitating all the orbiting ingredients to the ground and setting the pan off the stove, she quizzically set off for her library's main entrance.
It was rather unusual for her to have a visitor in these hours of the day, she contemplated curiously. Very few of the ponies she knew tended to be
awake this early in the morning. It was still a bit too soon for Ditzy to show up for the morning mail, Fluttershy rarely left her cottage until the sun was well into the sky and Applejack at the moment would probably be getting ready for the day's harvest . So who else could it be? She really hoped this wasn't about some other, new emergency she and her friends would eventually be called to deal with. While Twilight enjoyed a good adventure every once and a while, things had been especially crazy lately. Really, solving these problems wasn't even her job. Was it really that much to ask for the royal guard to just deal with things for a change?
A few moments later, Twilight found herself more than a little pleasantly surprised at the sight of Applejack's friendly visage standing patiently in front of her door way. She looked slightly troubled, her emerald eyes downcast and her shoulders tense. Still, Twilight tried to be positive about this. It was probably just a social visit, nothing troublesome or worrying. Her hardworking friend probably wished to get something off her chest.
Her hopes were brutally and swiftly crushed, however, as soon as the apple family member opened her muzzle.
"Hey Twi, sorry to bother ya this time of day, but Ah overheard something Ah reckoned Ah should warn ya about."
Twilight just sighed and ushered her friend in. With quick thanks from the farm mare, the pair moved to the living room. Applejack found a seat by Twilight's small coffee table while the lavender unicorn excused herself to the kitchen to both prepare some much needed hot tea and turn off the stove she had previously left unchecked,
Applejack however, didn't seem to want to postpone the conversation more than it had to be.
"Hey, Twi?" Her voiced called from the living room.
"Yes Applejack?" Twilight responded whilst placing an ornate teapot to boil.
"Do ya remember that house by old Peppermint's spice shop?"
Twilight paused for a moment to think.
"The one that's been undergoing renovations?"
"The very same."
The unicorn nodded knowingly. A while back, Peppermint's had been fairly well known store in Ponyville. He used to sell the best quality food dressings in three hundred miles. About a year ago however, the old Peppermint had declared his retirement. With the money Peppermint had gathered over the years, he and his family moved to Manehatten where he had opened a decently successful store for his son. The house next to his shop had been the place where Peppermint's sister, Spearmint, had lived before the entire family decided to move.
Although now derelict and abandoned, it was easily one of the largest houses in the small town. Recently, there had been rumors going through Ponyville that some rich noble had bought the house and was currently repairing it to use as his own. True enough, Twilight herself had seen the construction taking place a few days ago. Judging by how thorough and expensive they seemed to be, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that somepony with a considerable amount of inheritance had undertaken the task. The entire town was absolutely livid with the thought of a member of royalty moving to a small backwater settlement like Ponyville. They were lucky the residents weren't setting up a parade. I mean, sure, Twilight herself was also considered as a member of the Canterlot elite, but her arrival hadn't been anywhere as fussy or eye-catching as this, Nightmare moon incident aside.
"What about it?" Twilight inquired, now in the process of pouring the steaming water to her vintage teacups.
"Well...Ah might have overheard something about the owner you might not like."
Twilight paused.
"Don't be silly Applejack. You know I wouldn't have a problem with somepony moving to town. It’s not like I have any enemies or anything." A certain fiasco with a 'great and powerful' midnight blue unicorn went unmentioned.
"Ah know you’re a good mare Twi but..." Applejack's voice paused, probably considering how to properly phrase her next words. "Wait, let me start from the beginning."
"...okay?" Twilight reluctantly responded. Without really looking, she levitated two teabags, a jar of honey, and cup of cream into the tray.
"Okay, so, you know how the mail usually reaches my farm first?"
"Yes, the mail office usually wants to be done with faraway estates first thing in the morning, doesn't it?"
"Indeed it does. Well, as Ah was saying, Ah woke up a bit early today since it was my turn to make breakfast for the family, just like you were doing just earlier, when somebody knocked on my door. Now, ah figured it was probably the mail so ah went downstairs to say good morning to whomever it was that was assigned to bring it today. Ah opened the door and who do Ah see but Ol' cross-eyed Ditzy, smiling a huge smile as if she had just won the lottery. When Ah called on her on it, she told me that this was the last day on the job."
"Oh no...Don't tell me she was fired!" Twilight asked, sincerely worried. Ditzy already had enough problems as it was.
"No, no. Far from it. Apparently a...friend of hers found her a better job somewhere else." Applejack assured, albeit somewhat hesitantly.
"That is very nice of him!" Twilight smiled finally trotting out of the kitchen.
"Yeah...It is mighty kind Ah'll admit. But...Well...When Ah asked who it was..." Applejack paused, struggling with the right words.
Twilight frowned as she levitated the tray over her head. Why was Applejack so hesitant to talk to her about this?
"Come on." Twilight urged. "You can tell me."
Applejack seemed to hesitate for a second longer before finally relenting.
"Okay, okay. But first, do you remember what happened at last month's annual talent show?"
A deafening crash startled Applejack straight onto her hooves. With her heart pounding loudly in her chest, the farm mare swerved around towards the source of the commotion. What she came to face was a stunned Twilight Sparkle, surrounded by pieces of now shattered fine china and drenched in boiling hot tea, staring at her in mute horror.
"Ahhh...Twi...Are you...alright?" Applejack tried, now felling more than a bit worried by the lack of any response to pain stimulus from her friend. There was steam literally rising from her coat and the farm mare could already see a bump growing on her head.
Twilight herself, though, seemed a lot more focused on the implications of her friend's words. In a burst of teleportation, the lavender unicorn latched upon her friend with her hooves and shackled her by the shoulders at, literally, blindingly fast speeds. Her expression frantic, her mane was already becoming frizzled by her raw panic.
"Don't tell me that..."
Applejack could only chuckle nervously.
---
"Vinyl! Vinyl! Stop this insanity this instant!"
"Sorry but no dice, Octi. I'm moving to your place and that's final!
"Just wait a bloody minute so we can talk about this! You are being even more unreasonable than usual!"
"Don't care. We’re roommates until this blows over. Now shut up and help me with my records. Canterlot's a long way for one pony to carry all this!"
"Hmph! To think that you of all ponies would act like this."
"I have zero idea what you’re blabbering about."
"What I am 'blabbering about' is that you’re practically running away with your tail between your legs!"
"No I’m not!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I’m not!"
"Vinyl!"
"Look Octi, you know me right? We've been friends since music school. You know I’m not the kind of mare that just backs off from a bad situation. However, I do draw the line in being recklessly stubborn when somepony’s out to kill me!"
"Oh come on, he isn't out to kill you!"
"He threw a SWORD at me!"
"I am sure it was just a perfectly reasonable accident."
"HALF MY TAIL IS MISSING!"
Octavia just signed.
"Look Vinyl, shall I be...'frank' with you-"
"What? Sick of being yourself?"
Pause.
Octavia just groaned.
"See, see!? You just KNOW I’m in a bad way when I start making stupid cliché jokes like that!"
"You’re always making stupid cliché jokes..."
"Oh you did not just insult my sense of humor!"
"Regardless, what I’m trying to say, dear Vinyl, is that, although regrettable, I don't believe I can help you in this whole escapade."
"Why the hay not!? This is why I called you here!"
"Don't get me wrong. While any other day I would love to oblige your usual paranoia and crazy conspiracy theories-"
"Hey! That happened only once and only cause it was cider season!"
"-my band and I have an extremely important and complicated concerto to prepare for, that simply-"
"DON'T CARE! There is half-crazed sword-flinging psychopath moving in two houses down the street and I kinda value my life, thank you very much!"
"But my concer-"
"With all due respect Octi, at this point you and you concert just go f-"
---
"-focus on this too much Twi...Ah'm sure that everything is going to be fine." Applejack tried.
Twilight, apparently, would have none of that. She was pacing around the room like a chicken with its head cut off. (Applejack took a moment to wince at the imagery.) Eyes downcast and brow creased in intense concentration, Twilight kept moving back and forth across the room muttering what sounded like gibberish to herself before finally turning to respond.
"Fine? FINE?! HOW CAN THIS BE FINE?" She all but screamed.
"Jeez Twilight, what's all this noise about? How's a dragon supposed to...Oh...Hi, Applejack." Applejack turned her attention to the top of the stairs, completely at loss on how to contain the entire situation she gazed hopefully at the dragonling sheepishly rubbing his eyes. Surely HE could calm Twilight down long enough to talk about this like reasonable ponies. It was rather unfortunate that Twilight didn't seem to notice him, so caught up as she was in her rant.
"He's a weird colt I never heard about that appeared out nowhere, announced his undying love for me, turned my magic show into a comedy act, AND THEN THREW A SWORD AT SOME RANDOM PONY FOR ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD REASON!" She screeched sending Applejack's ears flattening against her skull. Distantly the blond mare could swear she heard the sound of glass breaking.
"Whoa, whoa! Easy with the sirens Twi! What are you talkin' about?" Spike complained, his hands pressed tightly against his head to shield his delicate ears.
Finally the purple unicorn turned to acknowledge her assistant, not however in the way Applejack had hopped.
"Remember that stallion from the talent show?" She exclaimed poking a hoof at Spike's direction.
"Who? Mr. Fabulous? What about him?"
"HE'S MOVING TWO STREETS DOWN THE ROAD!"
"Wait wha - Ah no, nonononononono! Not in my neighborhood!" Spike exclaimed, all but stomping down the stairs before turning to move towards the tree house door. "About time I gave that guy a piece of my mind."
And that was just about as much chaos as Applejack was willing to take for the day.
"Oh no you don’t!" She surged forwards grabbing the infant dragon by the tail and dragged him back to the coffee table. "Now stay put, ya hear?" Spike moved as if to argue, but ultimately he just scowled and crossed his arms over his tiny chest, staring off angrily into the distance.
"Good! Now, here’s what’s gonna happen!" Applejack shouted glaring at the pair. She was glad to see that her actions left Twilight stunned for the moment.
"You," she growled, waving an angry hoof in a startled Spike's face, "are going to refrain from any further acts of violence and go cool off in your room. AH! No objections! And you!" She spat out turning to Twilight. "Are going to calm down and-"
"But-"
"YOU WILL CALM DOWN, AND WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE MESS LIKE THE RESPONSIBLE, CIVILIZED, ADULT MARES THAT WE ARE! You got that?" Applejack growled and all but head-butted her friend.
"I..." Completely derailed from her tantrum and faced against the farm mare's ire, the lavender unicorn found herself all but wilting. Her bottom sunk to the ground and her ears flopped lifelessly around her downcast face.
"I'm sorry Applejack..." She sniffed. 'It’s just...I don't really know what to do in a complicated situation like this. This is the first time that a violent and possibly insane colt that confessed to me moves in what can practically be considered as next door to me..."
"You get used to it after the first couple of times..." Applejack muttered darkly to herself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing." The orange mare said waving her off. "Anyway, Ah'm sure it was all just a huge misunderstanding that is gonna blow over as soon as Rarity and Pinkie are done with their visit to his home today."
"Well, I don't like it eitherwa-wait...what was that last part again?" Spike blurted out while gazing at Applejack with horrified eyes.
Applejack sighed, quietly bracing herself for the imminent shit storm.
---
"It certainly is a fairly impressive residence." Rarity muttered under her breath.
"Well, from what I heard from Carrot Top, this guy's supposed to be stinking rich, a baron or something or the other." Pinkie exclaimed, not really paying as much attention to the house itself.
"Darling, that would already be fairly obvious from the sheer amount of reconstruction projects this place has been going through these last few weeks." Rarity explained. Silently, she turned back to the tall house in front of them, appraising it with a slight frown. "Still...I didn't expect it to be made THIS big. It almost seems as if the owner is...bragging."
"Oh, that's not important. The house doesn't really matter. It’s the pony within that does!" Pinkie cheered.
"If you say so darling..."
"I have to say, Rarity, I’m kind of surprised you came with me here." The hyperactive mare admitted.
"Oh, why is that?"
"Well...You don't usually come with me when I’m trying to issue my party invitations. Even when I come by the boutique to ask you always seem so busy!"
Rarity seemed to consider this for a moment.
"Well, dear, I’m rather sorry about that. However, it is quite true. I AM usually too busy to just go around town to give singing telegrams to random ponies. This case is quite different, though. If rumors are to be believed, this new stallion is royalty dear, royalty!"
"What does that have to do with it?" Pinkie asked, seemly confused.
"You see Pinkie; ponies of high society tend to be rather fond of their garments and always tend to be well connected within their respective
social circles. Remember those dresses I made for Sapphire Shores a while back?"
"That whole deal with the gems? Yeah, of course I do."
"Even that had been enough to spread word of boutique all the way to Canterlot. Although famous and wealthy, dear Sapphire doesn't really have any connection or relations in the royal court. THIS stallion however, most likely will." Rarity said. "If I make a customer out of him..." She breathed out shuddering at the untold implications.
"Ah, I understand..." Pinkie sounded a hesitant.
"Something the matter darling?"
"Not really, it’s just that figured you were here about that whole incident during last month's talent show."
Rarity's eyebrows creased in concentration.
"Yes...Yes, there's also that." She finally replied. "I admit that I’m both curious and worried of the stallion who's eyes were caught by Twilight. Some of the wealthier ponies tend to be a bit...inappropriate in their relationship or in their pursuits of one, and our mutual friend, though intelligent, is quite ignorant on the intricacies of romance."
"Blueblood?"
"Blueblood." Rarity nodded sadly.
"Well...He DID throw a sword at a pony."
"He threw a sword at a pony." Rarity concurred.
"Oh cheer up, Rarity. We have a job to do! Plus, I'm pretty sure this guy will be different than what we think."
"I hope you are right dear. Well, might as well get this over with."
Mustering her courage, Rarity moved to knock upon the heavy oak door of her new neighbor. The response that followed was some muffled shouting from within the house, but none appeared to actually answer their call.
After a few minutes of waiting, the white unicorn repeated the act of knocking once more.
"Coming!" a female voice sounded.
How odd, the voice sounded...so familiar...
With soft creek, the heavy door drifted open, just as a familiar face came to view.
"Okay, how did it go again? Oh yeah. Welcome to the residence of the one true king of - Rarity? Pinkie? What are you doing here?"
Rarity felt her jaw touch the ground.
"Lyra?"
---
"Lyra! There's somepony at the door! Could you get that? I'm kind of busy at the moment."
The mint-colored unicorn that was Lyra Heartstrings slowly raised her head, grudgingly dislodging her honey-colored eyes from the ornate lyre glistening between her hooves. Really, didn't ponies know how important it was for a musician to fine-tune a new instrument? Celestia dammit, she hadn't had a single moment to herself ever since she got the thing a few days ago. How was she expected to perform like this?
"Can't you take a second to take care of it, Red? I'm working here!" Lyra complained, hoping her voice was loud enough to carry over. Why was this house so damn big? How were ponies supposed to communicate with each other when you had to shout your throat raw just so you could get the message across from the living room to the kitchens?
"Heartstrings! I'm currently in the process of recreating an incredibly obscure and imprecise ancient Sumarerian recipe for tonight's dinner. I am, literally, up to my head in tomatoes. If you don't help me out here, by Celestia's possessed mane, I’ll spike your share with laxative! Now, get going!"
Realizing how little choice she had in the matter, Lyra could only pout in response. After living with someone like Bon Bon for as long as she had, a pony learned that pissing off the cook was absolutely the worst possible thing one could do. The unpleasant repercussions of a particularly bad argument about Lyra's preference of muffins for breakfast over Bon Bon's trademarked chocolate sponge cake, had been more than enough to teach her that. Unfortunately for the poor musician, from what she knew of her, the estate's new chef, Red Pepper, was even worse when it came to short fuses and their disastrous results. With a long suffering sigh, the mare gently lowered her new solid gold instrument on the bed of lush pillows she was perched upon.
"Hey, Willow, watch my lyre for a second, would you?" She called out as she leapt to her hooves. "Can't really leave it alone with all the gold crazed ponies running around in this place."
"Sure thing beautiful." The brown burly stallion offered back.
Lyra just smiled in response. The stallion flashed her a shy grin before turning back to tending the palm trees. Willow Wisp, the estate's gardener, was a nice guy all things considered. He was just the type of kind and dependable colt that many mares would be willing to commit first degree murder for. It was nice to know a stallion like that had a crush on her. Unfortunately, he wasn't really Lyra's type. One of these days she really had to explain to him that she wouldn't be able to return his feelings, but for now, it at least marked him as trustworthy.
Regardless, now she had to move quickly, there were ponies waiting for her to let them in, and she had already wasted enough time chatting. Settling into a light trot, she quickly swerved around the indoor fountain, taking care to avoid colliding with the myriad of ponies that were darting around the place, taking care of this and that as their jobs demanded. In a matter of seconds, Lyra cleared both the living room and
the entrance hall, coming to stop in front of the main gate. She hadn't moved fast enough, however. Her visitors were already knocking on the door for a second time as she arrived.
"Coming!" Lyra shouted, frantically trying to straighten up her work clothes. She hated the damn things to be honest. They were far, far too gaudy for her tastes. Still, the boss had made it pretty clear he wanted his hired help to look 'presentable' at all times, so she had little choice.
"Okay, how did it go again?" She muttered to herself as she moved to open the door. "Oh, yeah. Welcome to the residence of the one true king of - "
It was then that Lyra noticed the two familiar faces openly gawking at her.
"-Rarity? Pinkie? What are you doing here?"
"Lyra?!" Rarity stated dumbly.
"Girls! How long had it been? I haven't seen you guys around since Princess's Candace’s wedding! How's it going?" At the sound of her voice Pinkie seemed to snap from her reverie in that instantaneous one-hundred and eighty degrees shift of attitude only she could pull off. Rarity, on the other hoof, just kept her eyes transfixed on Lyra's person.
"Oh wonderful! Did you hear! We have new pony in town! I get to throw A WELCOME PARTY! I almost never get the chance to do one of those! There are just so few ponies moving to Ponyville, you know? Small rural town and everything." Pinkie gushed, visibly ecstatic.
"New pony in town? Oh! You must mean Gil."
"Gil?"
"Lyra," It appeared that Rarity finally woke from her stupor. "What are you wearing?" Well, kind of.
The mint unicorn looked down at herself, silently appraising the silken toga and more importantly the sheer mass of jewelry that seemed to envelop her form.
"Yeah, I know its kind weird, but Gil said it reminded him of home and hey, he's the one writing my pay checks. So, you know whatever, right?"
"Is that...all of that, gold?"
"And platinum, yeah. A bit over the top, I know, but Gil insisted that the musician of the King of Heroes should be dressed up for the part, whatever that means."
Rarity just sputtered.
"Soooooo, is Gil home? Gil, that's a funny name. Sounds foreign. Where's he from? Is it far? Is he really a king there? Does he like parties? Are parties different there? Does he host them? Cause it would be REALLLY awesome if-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there girl. I don't really know all that much about the guy. I just work here. You can ask him yourselves. Come on in guys, I’ll give you the all-round tour of the house." Lyra explained making way for her friends to enter.
"Oooooooohhhh! That would be supery-dupery-awesome!" Pinkie explained, merrily hopping after the green unicorn.
"Cool, just don't let him know I called him 'Gil', okay? Don’t really know why, but he throws a fit whenever ponies do that. It would probably be for the best if you avoided calling him that too."
It took her a few seconds, but Rarity finally managed to shake her head clear of her shock and silently follow after the pair, an unladylike grimace framing her face. If one could strain his hearing hard enough, one would hear her muttering darkly about rich bastards and all the fine material they could afford.
"Huh? Then what are we SUPPOSED to call him?" Pinkie inquired, completely ignorant of her friend's ire.
"Well, his actual name's Gilgamesh but he always tells me that he prefers that we call him 'Gilgamesh, Hero of Heroes! King of Kings! Lord of Uruk!'. So you can either go with that or just refer to him as 'your highness'. He's kinda weird like that. On second thought, those last two sounds kinda presumptuous just go with his name."
"Lyra! What happened? How did you end up working here?" Rarity suddenly cut in. "...and dressed like that..." She grumbled. Lyra was starting to suspect that she was still very hung up on that subject.
"Oh...oh, right. I didn't tell you about that did I? Well, you guys know that I've been having a bit of trouble finding a new gig lately, right? Well, a couple of days ago there was this buzz around the streets that there was some foreign royalty moving in town and was looking to hire some staff for his new house. I figured, hey, maybe the guy wanted somepony to entertain at parties. Ya know? Bon Bon was on my case long enough that I thought it was worth a try. Turns out the guy has a thing for old traditional instruments. Go figure."
"I...see....but that doesn't explain the outfit."
"Yeah, don't really know what's up with that. Not really crazy about it either. Told you, he's kinda eccentric and, to tell you the truth..." Lyra leaned in whispering conspiratorially in Rarity's ear. "...he's a bit of an arrogant flankhole."
"Lyra!"
"I know, I know, but he totally is. Still, I can't really complain. The pay's insane. He's all but giving me my weight in gold here and not just me either. Really, I have no idea where he gets it all from. So long as we do what he says and don't make some royal screw up, he's very generous with us." Lyra paused as they reached the end of the entrance hall. "Ladies, welcome to the Gilgamesh residence." She exclaimed plainly, spreading her forelegs as if to embrace the sky.
"...Palace." Corrected a one of the passing maids.
"Gilgamesh Palace!"
Rarity was just about offer a biting remark on their host's deplorable habit of flagging out his wealth when she came to an instant stop at the sight of the houses main living space, her eyes all but bulging out of her head and word dying on her lips.
Damn rich bastards
"Oooohhh...Fancy" Was all Pinkie had to offer as she gazed up at all the exotic silks and flora that seem to be all but chocking the living room.
Unlike Pinkie however, Rarity's eyes were glued upon another, more particular piece of furniture that stood in the center of the room.
"My lord! You have visitors!" Lyra shouted. For the fifth time that day she prayed to dear Celestia that she would still have her voice by the end of the day.
"Very well, have them wait for me in the living room, musician. I shall be there soon." A loud confident voice boomed back.
"Uhhh, sure." Lyra shouted back. With a casual shrug she turned to regard her friends. "Well, you heard him. Make yourselves comfortable."
"Neato!" Pinkie exclaimed and happily trotted towards the nearest fruit bowl.
Rarity on the other hand, was still busy gawking at that one particular piece of furniture.
"Tell me musician. What do my guests think of my palace?" A curious voice shouted from other end of the room.
Lyra turned to regard Rarity, who was currently making a wonderful impression of a fish.
"They think it’s a bit much my lord!"
The form of an incredulous gold furred unicorn came into view from behind one of the silk curtains.
"Madness! I decorated my new home just as my old one! Its splendor should be enough to awe the gods themselves! It’s only fitting for one such as I! What could they possibly think is 'a bit much'?"
"Well, sir, there is the matter of the three pony-lengths tall solid gold throne in the middle of your living room."
Everyone the room flinched at the sound of Rarity's insensate form hitting ground.