//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Meeting Royalty... Again // Story: Fire and Steel // by shirotora //------------------------------// Leo and I made our way back to Ponyville proper, still a little damp from washing in the stream after our... activities.  As expected, the size difference between us prevented us from going all the way, but we found other ways to scratch each other's itch. And, damn, did Leo need it. "You know, you really don't need to go so long without," I said. "I'm sure Yomega will help if you ask." Of course, Leo blushed. "Yeah, new topic; you guys got plans when you get to Canterlot?" I considered teasing her, specifically with mine and Ember's plans once we get some alone time, but I figured I'd give her a break. "We're probably going to hit up whatever research place specializes in unusual creatures. I want to know more about my body." "What if Celestia finds it weird that you don't know anything about it?" Leo asked. "Do you really think she hasn't figured at least most of it out by now?" I asked, seriously. "I'd bet my right arm she at least knows what we are is related to those summons you mentioned." Leo winced at that. "Yeah, she probably suspects that we're not from this world, but she can't have figured out that we weren't always what we are." "I suppose." I couldn't help but wonder why they were so adamant about not letting the ponies know. It was a strange, almost unnatural fear. I sighed. "I'll just tell them that I've never had the kinds of scans done that they can do." "Thanks," Leo said. "I know you don't like lying to them. We just... we want to tell them ourselves, our way." "There you guys are," came a familiar voice. I turned to see a flareon coming our way. His metal leg immediately catching my attention. I gave him a smirk. "Okay, I think we need an intervention. The piercings were bad enough, but your body modification has gone too far." Zann smiled at me and said, "Just wait until I get the glowing red robot eye and tank tread back legs." I gave a sad chuckle. "I just wish I was poofed with you guys. I might have been able to do something." Zann shrugged. "Maybe, but then you never would have met Ember and your dragon friends. Plus you might have become an eevee, too." Leo looked at Zann with a curious expression. "Actually, why weren't you zapped with us? You said you were transported here by a light that came from our house. That was probably what sent us here, too, so why were put so far away as a completely different pokemon?" "Maybe it was an accident?" Zann reasoned. "Like, it was only meant for us, but it had too much juice and reached too far, but not enough juice to do it the same way, so it just threw him wherever it could and turned him into whatever Pokemon he was most compatible with and seeing as he was into all that chi stuff with taichi and qigong it decided lucario was the closest." I stared, slack jawed for a moment. "I thought fire needs oxygen." "I'm pretty sure he's learned to absorb oxygen through his skin," Leo replied. "Pinkie probably taught him." Either Zann didn't hear us or didn't care, because he just continued on with, "Anyway, Lulu said you're needed at the boutique for adjustments to your new outfit. Ember and Smolder are both done." "Already? How?" I asked. "Magic," Leo and Zann said at the same time. "Of course," I rolled my eyes. "I forgot magic is everywhere here. Back home, Ember's the only one with it." We started towards Carousel Boutique, making a bit of small talk. "So, how many new moves have you learned?" Leo asked. "From the list, not one," I said. "I've been trying to learn psychic, but all I can do is make things wiggle a little. I've figured out a few new ways to use my aura sphere and bone rush, though." "Oh?" Leo was intrigued. "Show, don't tell." I smirked. "Well, there's this one..." I formed aura in my ha- paw, stretching it as I would with bone rush, however, instead of a long, straight shaft, I flattened it, curving it backward and sharpening the edge. "I call it, 'blade rush'." "Woah," Zann looked on with a huge smile. "That's why you're trying to learn psychic! Because you already have a lightsaber!" "N-no!" I said. "Oh my god, it is," Leo realized and started laughing. "Seriously?" "Not entirely," I said, a little more convincingly. "Okay, yeah, part of the reason is because I want to pretend to be a Jedi. But that's only a consolation prize. Mostly I want to learn it because it's the most useful ability on the list." "Yeah, okay. I can believe that," Leo said. We reached the boutique shortly after. I vaguely remembered it from the show. God, had it really been a year? Or, month. Equestrian time really makes things weird. Days and weeks are the same, but a month is a moon, a year is a month, and four years is a year. That meant by Equestrian time, I was only eight years old.  We walked in to see Ember folding some cloth and putting it into her armor and Smolder looking at a couple dresses, trying to be discreet. "Ah, there you are," Rarity greeted with a smile. "We have very little time. The princess sent word, she's sending a chariot to pick you up." Well, that was certainly nice of her. "Come, stand here," she ordered, pointing to a short pedestal surrounded by mirrors. As I made my way up, Ember leaned in and sniffed me. She shot a knowing smirk to Leo, who blushed fiercely. "I really would like more opportunities to work on your wardrobe," Rarity said as two dozen different objects flew with a supernatural precision. "I so rarely have an opportunity to work on non-ponies and can give quite the discount. You would only have to pay for or provide materials." She was speaking to all of us, but her eyes wandered to Smolder. "I'm sure I can come up with something both elegant and fierce." Rarity worked quickly, but not at the expense of quality. Even then, the chariot arrived before she was finished. Luckily, the pegasi that would be pulling us were patient. Not much longer and my suit was finished and safe in a complimentary garment bag. I couldn't help but notice Smolder's bag was quite a bit thicker than mine. I smirked. Maybe I could convince her to model her dresses for me. I said goodbye to Leo, Zann, and Lulu, who were talking amongst themselves, and followed the ladies onto the chariot.  I eyed up the open air transport nervously. "I take it there's some kind of enchantment to keep us in?" One of the pegasi's ears twitched, probably surprised by my method of speaking, but took it in stride. "Yes, sir. You don't have to worry about falling." As we took off, Ember sighed. "I'm really getting tired of being carried everywhere. I wonder if I can heal my wing with magic?" "I would speak to the ponies in Canterlot about that," I recommended. "You wouldn't want to accidentally make it worse." Ember laughed, "Yeah, try to heal it but instead I, like, make it like a fledgling wing." Smolder and I laughed at that, too. There was something funny about the image of Ember with one regular size wing and one tiny one. Canterlot Palace was, as one could guess, so much more splendid in person. I mean, there's only so much a cartoon can do to capture the beauty of a place like that. Our ride landed on a large balcony that catered specifically to air chariots. As we did, we all disembarked and palace servants quickly saw to our bags. Something Ember misinterpreted.  She grabbed one of the ponies by the collar of their uniform and growled, "Are you stupid? Trying to steal from a dragon right in front of them?" I quickly interposed myself. "They're palace servants. They're taking our bags to our rooms for us." Ember blinked slowly as it set in. "Oh..." She set the pony down, straightening out his collar. "Sorry about that. I'm new here." "O-of course, your highness," he stammered.  "'Highness'?" Ember questioned. "Y-you're Princess Ember, of the Dragon lands, aren't you?" She sighed. "Yeah, I guess, but drop the formal stuff. Just call me Ember." "As you wish, Lady Ember," he gave a quick bow and scurried back to his duties.  Ember groaned, brushing her claw across her face. "Not even here a whole minute and I'm messing it up." A rather large white unicorn stallion with a blue mane in purple and gold armor approached us, smiling as he said, "Don't worry about it, Miss Ember. We won't hold it against you." He extended a hoof, "I'm Captain Armor of the Royal Canterlot Guard. I'll be your escort." "Escort?" Smolder asked, sounding a little indignant. "Why do we need an escort?" "I don't know about you, but I don't know where our rooms are, much less anything else," I said. "That is my primary duty, as well as to ensure ponies don't react poorly to your presence," the Captain said. "Sadly, many ponies here believe certain stereotypes about your people." Ember shrugged. "It's not like most dragons have done anything to make friends with ponies." "But you are, and you're an important dragon," he replied as we left the 'hangar', for lack of a better term. "But, we can talk about that later. Let me show you to your rooms so you can freshen up. The Princess would like you to join her for a private dinner. She'd like to get to know you better before introducing you to the other ambassadors." "Woah, woah, woah," Ember stopped, holding out her claws. "We're just here so I can learn how to better use my magic and how to give it to others, not play politics." "And we will do everything we can to make sure you can focus on that," the Captain assured. "But the fact that you're here means you are your people's representatives. Trust me, it'll be better this way. That won't  be until tomorrow, anyway. Today, she just wants to get to know you. "Anyway, these are your rooms. Miss Smolder, you're here," he gestured toward one door, "and we were told you two would be sharing a room." He looked to Ember and I for confirmation. We both nodded. "Then you'll be in this one. There's a door connecting the rooms that can be locked from either side. Your bags should be on the beds. You don't need to dress up if you don't want to." "Thank you for the hospitality," I said with a smile. "Will you be escorting us for the entirety of our stay?" "Just today," he replied. "I'm afraid my other duties are too important to delegate any more than that." "So, you're a pretty big deal, then, huh?" Smolder asked.  Armor tried to keep a modest expression but I could feel the pride radiating from him as he said, "You could say that. I'm in charge of the entire royal guard." "Well, I think I'm going to take a bath," Ember said. "You coming, Luke?" "As if you have to ask," I replied. "I would recommend not taking too long," Armor said. "The chefs are already preparing the meal." "So, no sex, got it," Ember said. I could feel her mischievousness peaking. The captain, though, didn't get flustered like she was clearly hoping he would. Instead he just said, "Well, you could, but then you wouldn't have time to wash. I doubt you'd want to smell like sex in front of the princess." Ember narrowed her eyes at him, disappointed by his lack of reaction. "You're not like other ponies." He just shrugged. "Blame my fiance." After a quick wash, we were led to one of the smaller dining rooms. Of course, 'smaller' is a bit misleading. It was as big as my old house, but in a palace that was small. The captain opened the door and stepped in. "Ah, there you are," came a kind, maternal voice. "We were getting worried." I walked in to see a rather intimidating sight. Shining stepped before us and said, "Princesses, may I introduce Ember, dragon princess, her mate Luke, and her protege Smolder." He turned to us and continued, "These are the princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence." "Wait, there are three now?" Smolder asked. Celestia laughed politely. "Cadence tries to stay out of the spotlight and my sister has been... away until not too long ago. Come, sit." We all made our way to find our seats. We were a little surprised to see our escort also take a seat beside the smaller pink one, taking off his helmet and setting it on a rack on the wall. 'Smaller' being misleading here, as well. She was still bigger than me, though I was used to that.  "Ah, this must be the fiance you mentioned," I said. Cadence and Armor looked at me surprised. "How did you know?" Armor asked. "I can sense the love coming from the both of you. It's strong," I explained. "You're an empath," Cadence noted. I nodded. "I apologize if it's intrusive. It isn't something I can turn off." "We understand," Celestia said, a bit of confidence coming from her. Celestia was certainly an interesting one. She had a mix of emotions coming off of her that it was a wonder she could keep such a calm mask. Curiosity, excitement, joy, a bit of mischievousness, but also worry and even a little fear. That last one was surprising. "We have heard a bit about you three," Celestia said. "Spike speaks quite highly of you." "Yeah, he's a great kid," Ember said. "More dragons need to be like him." "Thank you, by the way, for taking care of him and helping him find himself, " the captain said. "That little guy is like a brother to me." "It was a pleasure," I said. "Seeing as you've done such a great service for one of my own subjects, we would be happy to assist you with your own endeavors," Celestia continued. "We understand you wish to better understand your abilities and how you can give them to others." "Yeah," Ember confirmed. "I'm still new to the whole magic thing. I mean, I've learned a few neat tricks on my own, but you guys have been doing it forever. Plus, you guys just know more about magic, in general." "And you wish to understand how your magic works," Luna deduced. Ember nodded. "Pretty much. So far, I've just been trying things at random, seeing what works." "That is certainly something we can help with," Celestia said. "However, as for the subject of helping you give magic to other dragons... we have some concerns." Ember preempted her. "If you're worried about me giving magic to somedrake and they use it to be jerks, don't. I've already decided that no dragon currently with wings, except Smolder, will get it. I'm going to make sure only dragons raised to understand how to be good ever will. Like Spike. I would love to give him magic, one day." "That is certainly our greatest concern," Luna said. "It gladdens us to know you have given this thought. You may yet make a fine ruler." The wait staff chose that moment to emerge, trays in tow. They placed a tray before each of us, lifting the lids with a florish. I was presented with a delicious looking roast chicked with some kind of berry sauce, and a side of rosemary rice and steamed greens. Ember and Smolder had a similar chicken dish, but theirs sparkled with gems.  Celestia, Cadence, and the captain had some kind of pasta with white sauce and flowers, while Luna had, strangely enough, pancakes and what looked like sausage links. She caught my curious glance and said, "What you call 'dinner' I call 'breakfast'." "Fair enough." As we ate, Celestia and Ember began talking, mostly about the advancements in magical technology, put a bit about running a nation and dealing with the issues that come from that. I, meanwhile, was busy pondering how to go about two things.  First, how to actually ask for help understanding my body without sounding weird. Second, how to get the recipe for that chicken.