//------------------------------// // The Cat in Canterlot Castle // Story: The Cat in Canterlot Castle // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// Ever since the royal sisters made their decision to retire and informed the Elements of Harmony about their decision, Celestia and Luna had been busy. Not just with the final preparations for transitioning their reign over to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, but also because the two of them had just returned to their duties after their royal vacation. Even though their trip was rocky to start and both of the sisters had different ideas as to how they wanted to spend their time off, both of them found a way to make amends and enjoy their trip to the fullest. Now it was the day after they came back from their trip and today, they planned on using the day as a chance to recuperate. They already made sure that there were no meetings with any delegates arranged and even made sure to cancel Court for today. Twilight and her friends had already returned to Ponyville too, which was a relief as well. Unfortunately, not everything was going well this morning. For as both sisters were about done with breakfast, they got an unexpected interruption, “P-Princess, I apologize, but there’s a situation in the throne room that requires your attention!” The pony who was speaking was Raven Inkwell, an earth pony that was one of Princess Celestia’s most trusted aides. If Princess Celestia wanted something to be done, then Raven was the pony who would help see it through. Yet this morning, she looked as if she had been running from a parasprite swarm as both Celestia and Luna looked to one another, “In the throne room? Court’s cancelled for today though.” “I’m well aware of that,” Raven nodded, “Yet, this involves a different matter. It’s about your nephew, Blueblood.” Luna herself had the urge to groan at the mention of his name. Despite being a member of the royal family, Blueblood was nothing like Cadance or Shining Armor. He treated others with very little respect and only cared for himself, not to mention that some of his outlandish choices, including ordering several guards to remove her pet opossum Tiberius because he thought of it as a street rat, really made her think that the unicorn was not suited for the responsibilities that his title came with. Not to mention being thankful with entrusting their kingdom to Twilight instead of him. Celestia though, just let out a small sigh as she tried to remain composed, “What seems to be the issue this time?” “Well, he’s demanding to have the guards take part in the immediate removal of a hostile monster that’s in the throne room,” the earth pony explained, shuffling through papers on a clipboard that she was holding in her hoof. What Luna only assumed was the ‘complaint’ that Blueblood made, “Yet, upon taking a look at it myself, it appears that the monster that he’s referring to is what appeared to be a house cat that was sitting on your throne. Presumably while you were on your vacation.” “He’s wants to have the guards just remove a cat?” Luna asked as the two sisters rose up from their seats at the table, “Surely, you must be joking.” “I assure you, Princess Luna, I’m not,” Raven insisted, “If the circumstances were anything different like his previous outburst involving Tiberius, then I would’ve just ignored it and carried on with my duties. However, there’s something different about this.” Both sisters looked to one another briefly, before turning back towards the aide as Celestia was the next to speak, “How different?” “Well, the cat had a book that was with it and it appeared to be moving on its own,” the earth pony began to explain a bit as she set her clipboard down on the table in the dining hall, “Then there was the fact that it actually could speak.” Upon hearing that, Luna flinched for a moment, “You heard this cat… actually speak? Like actual words?” “I swear princess, I am not making this up,” Raven Inkwell told both of them, “Can you help with this? I fear that these recent developments would have Blueblood try to-” “Did it say a name?” both Luna and Raven were caught off guard by the sudden interruption from Celestia as she looked towards her personal aide, “Raven… did the cat say a name?” “I-I think so,” the mare replied, “I think she called herself… Yuumi?” The answer from Raven was all that Celestia needed to hear, “Allow me to handle this,” she spoke, before immediately proceeding to trot out the door. Both her sister and the earth pony were caught off guard by this, unsure as to what sparked the alicorn into acting so quickly. Luna herself was unsure if whether or not everything that they were told was true as she tried to catch up with her sister. Yet, Celestia herself had heard about Yuumi before. Two separate letters from Twilight Sparkle had described in detail about her encounters with the magical cat and the book that was with her. She might have been a cat, but Yuumi had enough power to not only outlast King Sombra, but also defeat him when he re-emerged in the Crystal Empire. Now she had emerged in Canterlot and Celestia hoped that her nephew did not do anything to provoke her. Yet, it was as the doors to the throne room was opened that the two sisters saw what was playing out. The cat that they had heard about only mere seconds ago, Yuumi, was trying to hold onto the book while Prince Blueblood was trying to use his magic to take it from her. “You can’t have Book, Blueberry!! Let go already!!!” “How many times do I have to tell you that IT’S BLUEBLOOD!! And you clearly stole this book from the archives! It does not belong to you, you filthy street cat-!” “THAT’S ENOUGH!!” the shout from Celestia startled them both as it had Blueblood’s focus on his magic falter and let go as the book floated by the cats side. “Oh Aunty Celestia, I’m so glad you here,” Blueblood let out a sigh of relief, his tone changing dramatically as he looked back towards Celestia, “This fiend found their way past the guards and-” yet, before he could say anything else, a quick glare from the alicorn stunned him. “A-Aunty?” “How shameful of you to act this way, Blueblood,” the princess addressed her nephew in a disappointed tone, “You treat another creature, one that has not even done anything to show itself as dangerous, as if they were a threat.” “That’s because they are, aunty! We don’t know what this… thing is capable of. Not to mention that the book they keep insisting belongs to them must have been stolen from the archives,” the prince immediately retorted as he tried to argue his point. “Book belongs to my master!! How many times do I have to tell you that, Blueberry!” the cat pouted as the books pages began to move on its own. Which led to Celestia letting out a deep sigh as she looked back to her nephew. “While it is true that the Canterlot Archives are home to numerous magical artifacts, I can assure you that the book that she has is not one of them,” Celestia explained to him, “In addition, I had received two different letters from Princess Twilight that explain about Yuumi here. Therefore, your claims of her being a threat are unjustified.” “Oh, so you’re Twilight’s master,” Yuumi commented, before shaking her head for a moment as she tried to correct herself. “Oh, right uh… What she said Blueberry!” The whole exchange that was going on right now tested Luna’s effort to stay composed. Mostly because of the amount of times she wanted to just break out in laughter over how Blueblood was getting beaten at his own game. That and Blueberry seemed more like a proper fit for his name rather than Blueblood, if she were entirely honest. “T-this is outrageous! I can’t believe you would side with that… thing over your own nephew!” Blueblood snapped in anger as his horn glowed again, “Have you have lost your mind!?” “I am not going to repeat myself on this, Blueblood,” Celestia glared at her nephew, before turning to Yuumi as she thought of something new to ask, “Did you even ask her why she was here?” “Wha-? “I said… did you ask here why she was here?” the alicorn repeated herself, “You were so quick to accuse her of doing something wrong that you didn’t even ask her, did you?” “What point would there be in asking her about that? Surely she would not just openly tell us what her reasons would be-” “A-Actually, I kind of… need help,” the cat admitted, looking away for a moment. Much to the surprise of both princesses though, it was then that the book that was with her floated up to Celestia and words began to print on the page. Perhaps it would be better for me to help explain. You see, we were with four others and were fighting together. However, we got caught in a massive explosion of magic from a Nexus and found ourselves here. We overheard that you were home and after remembering what your student told us about you, we believe that you can help us find our companions. Unfortunately, when we came here looking for you, we ran into your nephew instead. “Huh… I see,” the alicorn replied. “You found out something, sister?” Luna asked. “Well, according to… well,” Celestia paused, before looking back to the book, “What do you call yourself?” Just Book is fine, your highness. “According to… Book, it seems they were caught in an explosion of magic wherever they were from and found themselves here,” the princess continued, “It appears that they also had some friends get caught in that same explosion, so its more than likely that they are here in our kingdom too. Yuumi wanted to ask for my help, but happened to encounter you instead, Blueblood. Which led to your earlier fiasco.” “Pfft! You actually believe that!?” the unicorn looked back at his aunt, baffled that she would go as far as to believe them based on a few words inside the book, “If there were others, then where’s your proof-?!” Before anyone in the room could register what was happening, what looked to be a glowing orb flew past the back of Blueblood’s head before redirecting itself and slamming across Blueblood’s face. The impact was enough to knock several of the prince’s teeth out as he was sent crashing into a supply closet. Yet, before Celestia could speak up, a small portal popped open from the floor as someone new emerged. It was a bipedal creature that had a long mane that closely resembled that of Celestia and Luna, just with the colors of a setting sun. A strange necklace was around their neck along with several trinkets as they giggled a bit. “Man, there are so many weirdos here. This place is awesome!!” “Zoe!!” As the figure turned around, Yuumi pounced off of Book and landed in their arms. Which led to Zoe laughing in glee at the sight of the magical cat as well as her petting the cat, “Yuumi, you’re here too?! This is amazing!! Who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good kitty?!”  “Would… that happen to be one of them?” Luna now asked as she looked towards her sister, before noticing some more words being printed on Book’s pages. Actually, yes, the words on the page formed, That is Zoe. If what I happen to know about her is correct, she’s the embodiment of mischief, imagination and change where we are from. Known by a few as The Aspect of Twilight and The Everchild. Many things that she is capable of are beyond understanding. “Now doesn’t that sound awfully familiar,” Celestia thought to herself. The last few words reminded her of Discord and the many things that he could be able to do with his own magic. Yet, the only difference was that Zoe here appeared to be forever young while Discord would be around the same age as her and Luna. Of course, what they did not expect was for Zoe to notice them as the Everchild let out a gasp and pointed at Luna’s mane, “Hey! Your hair flows just like mine!! Who are you guys?” Now Luna decided to take a turn to answer for Celestia, “I am Princess Luna and this is my older sister, Princess Celestia. You must be Zoe, I assume?” “Yupperoni!” She said, before letting out a gasp and diving through a portal that she created out of nowhere and then reappearing right next to Luna, “Your hair looks so pretty!! Can I pet it? Can I!? Pretty please?” Now it was Celestia’s turn to try and hold in her laughter after seeing how Zoe was acting around her sister. Yuumi herself was enjoying it and even going as far as to encourage Zoe to go ahead and pet Luna, much to the night princess’ dismay. However, it wasn’t until the cat noticed Book’s pages shuffling a bit that she floated off for a second. “Oh, come on Book. We have time.” “Is… something wrong?” Celestia asked, before looking at the open page for Book. As I was trying to tell Yuumi, we should try to spend our time finding where our other companions are instead of messing around. We only met Zoe by chance, but I really doubt that we will find the others the same way. It was as Celestia finished reading what was on the page that a knock was heard on the door to the throne room as they heard a voice speak outside, “Pardon me, your highness, but are you busy? I heard you talking with somepony on the other side of the door.” Both sisters looked to one another for a moment, before Celestia looked back to the door. “No, we’re fine. You may come in.” As the door opened, a light teal pegasus mare with orange eyes and a green mane. Luna recognized the mare, for she was with her when they originally brought Cozy Glow to Tartarus after what the filly tried to do at the School of Friendship. “Guardian Angel,” Luna addressed her by her name, “What brings you to our chambers this morning?” “Ooh, Another cute pony!” Zoe gasped in joy, “Her helmet looks like Pantheons!!” The pegasus took a moment to try and process what she just heard, before letting out a sigh. Despite her… numerous questions regarding the creatures that were in the Princess’ own chambers, the lieutenant had a job to do as she let out a small breath, “Your majesty, we received a report from the Sheriff of Appleloosa about a recent disturbance that happened in the area,” the guard used her wings to open a paper scroll that contained the report, “The locals were mentioning they spotted small biped creatures along the border of the town as well as them carrying weapons-” Immediately, they heard Yuumi gasp as the cat realized what that meant, “Yordles!! My friends must be out there!!!” “Yordles?” Luna asked, before turning to her sister, “Have you heard of them before, sister?” “Unfortunately, I have not,” Celestia replied as she shook her head, “Though, if Yuumi happens to know who they are, then it would be best for us to assume that they might be here too,” with that though, she looked back towards Luna as an idea surfaced in her head. “If you would excuse me, there’s something I need to retrieve from my quarters that could help with this. I think I have an idea”