“Scruffy”, the celestial diarch started, her tone a mix of worry with a hint of amusement as she turned towards her travel buddy.
“Hngh,” Scruffy grunted back as he glanced over the rim at the swiftly changing landscape below them and tightening his hold onto Celestia’s barrel.
“I promise you won’t fall…” she soothed the old stallion, affirmatively tugging him closer with her wing. He was pressed tightly against the royal pony, only his head peeking out from under the blanket of feathers wrapped around him. The sight would have been adorable had his trepidation not been evident on his face.
“Hrmh.”
“…and even if you did, I would catch you. You have nothing to worry about.”
Scruffy simply nodded, the words doing little to assuage his anxiety, or to lessen his grip. He peeked downwards again, and cursed himself and his own damn curiosity for doing it.
“I-I know. Just…there not mutch t-to, uh, hold to…”
“You are holding on to me,” Celestia said with a hint of smile and laid her head on top of Scruffy’s in an effort to calm him down.
“Uh, mean there no…belt, or…roupe.” Celestia considered why a belt would have made Scruffy feel safer than being held by her wing. “Neever laik high, or flai, but not scare before.”
“I’m sorry my friend, it did not occur to me that flight on a pegasus chariot might make you feel uncomfortable,” Celestia said remorsefully.
“It…okay. I sure felt…feel beatter, when, um, r-r-graund.”
There came a short lull in their conversation as Scruffy closed his eyes, breathing in deep and slowly letting it out. He did not let go of his safety blanket of feathers, though.
“Have you flown before then?” Celestia prompted after a while, lifting her head to gaze towards Canterlot.
“Mmm. Have flai three taimez…ta-times when must. Prefer not, laik other way better.” Scruffy managed a small smile, and while Celestia did not see it, she could hear it. She gave a silent hum back, and considered for a moment.
“Hopefully it was a more pleasant flight than on this chariot ride.”
“Um, little. Not fli on s-sa-saariot, but fly on matsine.”
“I see. Was it a hot air balloon, perhaps?” There was a note of curiosity in Celestia’s voice. When Scruffy’s face showed a blank stare, she conjured an image with her magic, something that her student mentioned in one of her letters.
“No,” Scruffy shook his head. “Would, uh, not go fast, and…njot sure like high. Fly on mashine, made…of…?”
“Of.”
“…of meetal. It fly high, but there roof, not fiil wind, and not fall. It make go to place fast. I not like, but…need go then.”
“I see,” Celestia nodded, her gaze wandering as she mulled over the information. “I will make sure to offer you a train ticket first next time, although I do believe there is a hot air balloon aeronaut in Ponyville, should there be no trains available or you need to travel via the sky.”
“Mrmh.”
“Or if you want to simply admire the landscape. The view is lovely high up above.” Even if Celestia felt bad for the old stallion’s uneasiness, the way he tightened his hold on to her each time he peeked at the ground was most certainly delightful.
********************
“Thank you, gentlecolts. You may retire the chariot and return to your regular duties." The two royal guard stallions gave respectful nods to the diarch and left to take the chariot into storage. Celestia turned towards her companion, who had sat down on a nearby bench with a heavy sigh.
While the flight had not been all that long, Scruffy was still happy being firmly on the ground again. Had the slight feeling of nausea not been there, he would have ran giggling into the city to explore all the majestic, spiraling towers and white marble buildings he had seen on their approach, but any quick movements would have most likely resulted in a poor first impressions to the residents and extra work for janitors. Celestia sheepishly tiptoed her way next to him and encouragingly ran a wing up and down his back.
Once the vertigo and complaints from his stomach had passed, the two of them continued their way towards the castle interior, Celestia enjoying the pure fascination on Scruffy’s face towards everything he saw.
“I take it you have never been to a royal castle before?” she asked with an amused, but calculating, smile.
“No. Never see, place, like tis. Visit old place, uh, broken place…”
“A ruin?”
“Yes, visit k-kaastle ruj-ruijn, a-and know there be place, um, not broken, but not laik this. It amazing, it so...so...” Scruffy waved his hands around, unable to think of a word to describe the city.
Celestia attempted to recall any nations that did not have any ostentatious palace grounds, or heavily fortified castles that would leave an impression. This only brought to mind a few city states outside of Equestria that were either too poor or too practical to waste bits on lavish decorations for their seats of power, none of which seemed likely to be Scruffy’s homeland. Then again, she did not quite know his frame of reference. Or perhaps he had simply meant the size, or that the entirety of Canterlot was of similar design to the castle.
Celestia’s musings were cut short when she spotted a group of ponies who, judging by their subtly quickening steps towards her and competitive glances amongst themselves, would soon swarm her. Nobles in fancy clothing, aides with clipboards and stacks of paper, and several dignitaries from different cities.
“It seems that my presence is needed,” Celestia said with a smile, nodding towards the horde of ponies that were about to clamour for her attention. “If you don’t mind, I’ll have to postpone the promised tour for a bit.”
“Oh. It fine, seem you be busy,” Scruffy said with a brief chuckle.
“It won’t take long, I promise. Perhaps you’d want to explore the castle by yourself in the meantime?”
“Hmm...I not get lost?” The princess let out a chuckle at that.
“As long as you don’t wander too far, I doubt that will be a problem. You can also always ask the guards to-...” Celestia cut herself short when she spotted a certain pink mare daintily trotting behind the mass of ponies. “Ah, then again, there is another pony here besides Luna who I think would be delighted to see you.”
Scruffy followed Celestia’s gaze with his own, and soon spotted the mare with the royal regalia. She had a pleasant smile on her muzzle, which only widened when their eyes met. She eyed at the crowd and seemed half tempted to simply jump over the road block and glide over to them, but decided to allow Celestia address her subjects first.
“That is my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She is the wife of Twilight’s older brother,” Celestia informed, before standing upright and taking a few steps forward towards the group, who formed a semi-circle around her and opened their mouths simultaneously.
Scruffy did not even bother to try follow what was discussed. With so many voices speaking all at once, he was not sure if Celestia even understood half of what was shouted at her. A few curious glances were given towards him, but as he did not seem to be anypony important, he was promptly ignored. Several of the aides held their gazes long enough to give a polite nod to Scruffy before focusing back on to Celestia.
Cadence seemed to be much in the same boat as Scruffy. Her ears swiveled about in hopes of finding at least one thread of conversation to latch on to, before seemingly giving up with a show of rolling her eyes (to which Celestia smirked just the tiniest of amounts). She instead turned back towards Scruffy, and, seemingly deciding it best to allow Celestia to be swallowed in the cacophony of voices, trotted up to him.
“Greetings.”
“Hellou.”
“I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire, although I prefer just Cadence. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Mmm… I Scruffy. Nice meet you.”
“Ahha! I was wondering if you were!” she beamed. “Twilight has told me about you in her letters. It seems the two of you have hit it off well, even if she’s gotten herself into a bit of a tizzy trying to figure out you and all of your mysteries,” the alicorn finished with a giggle. Scruffy simply nodded along.
“Learnt many thing with Twail...Twilight. Make meni freend too.”
“I did hear something about you making quite the impression on a certain ‘dreamy’ alicorn,” Cadence said with a playful smirk, the intended meaning of which was lost to Scruffy.
“You te-each Twilight too?”
“Hm?”
“Um, hear Selestia is, uh, Twilight teachir. You knowt Twilight, when you teach her?”
“Oh. Well, I suppose you could say that I taught her. I used to be her foal sitter when she was just a little filly. We keep much more regular contact now, regardless of the fact that I’m married to her brother.”
Scruffy blinked a few times, before asking the princess to repeat herself slower.
“Twilight brother, hmm… Shhaaainiing?”
“Shining Armor.”
“She tell abbout Shh...Shaa...Shaing...Armmor, uh, few time when talk. He here?”
“He is staying at the Crystal Empire to overs-” Cadence halted, remembering Twilight’s advice to use as simple words as possible. “...umh, to look after things while I’m here.”
“Hmmh. Maeby meet other time.”
“I’m sure he would like that.”
“Niece Cadence.”
The two of them turned towards Celestia, who seemed to have finished placating the crowd.
“Aunty Celestia.”
“It is wonderful to see you again.”
“And you as well.”
“How are things in the Crystal Empire?”
“Everything is fine, although I’m sure we can talk more about that during the summit or the luncheon.”
“Very well,” Celestia acknowledged with a smile as radiant as the sun. “Could I ask for a favor? I promised our dear friend here a tour of the castle grounds. However, since there seem to be a few ‘urgent’ matters I need to attend to…”
“Of course. I would be more than happy to show you around, if you want,” Cadence offered to Scruffy.
“Jes, I like see kastle.”
“Wonderful! Then come with me! Ooh, I wonder what I should show you first,” Cadence giddily cheered and lead Scruffy towards the castle grounds.
Scruffy’s jaw was practically scraping the floor the entire way as the two of them walked. Everything around him was so fantastical, from the gilded marble walls to the meticulously kept gardens, the banners… There was no one bit that did not evoke some sense of wonder in him. Cadence could only giggle behind her hoof at his expression. She recognized the look well, as she had seen it many times on her husband’s face whenever his more ‘idiosyncratic’ interests were discussed.
She first took him in to the gardens, as it was the closest, but it also provided them shelter from the wandering dignitaries that could and would disturb them if they noticed her.
“It very pretty,” Scruffy happily pronounced as he surveyed the flora before him. He recognized many of the flowers in the beds, but there were blooms aplenty which Scruffy could not tell whether he had ever encountered them, or if they only existed here.
“They are,” Cadence remarked poignantly.
“...But?”
“Buuut… I have seen them so many times, they have lost some of their luster for me,” she shrugged sheepishly. “Besides, I have always thought flowers are more beautiful when they are wild and not arranged neatly. More tasty too.”
“Hmmh,” Scruffy hummed with amusement. “Trick is not make pretty sheip. When in s-shaip, see it, not flauwer.”
“I see,” Cadence nodded to hide her smile at how he pronounced some of the words.
“It what...waife say, when plant floower. Me, not care, they all pretty all same.” Scruffy barked a short laugh.
There was a tugging feeling in Cadence’s cutie mark, but before she had time to ponder the meaning behind it, two ponies made their presence known with loud bickering. The two of them shared a look, and scampered off with Cadence in the lead before they were seen.
They took a few moments to observe the hedge maze and the variety of statues strewn about it from a distance. However, once ponies started to take notice of them, they headed inside the castle once more before anypony could make their way to them. They barely made their way in when a posh voice called out.
“Princess Cadenza!”
Cadence clicked her tongue in mild annoyance, her plan to avoid the nobles now apparently ruined. She turned towards the hallway the voice had come from, spotting a green unicorn stallion striding towards them. His muzzle was held up high and he was scanning the ceiling as if he had spotted something more interesting in the rafters than the princess he had just called out to. His immaculately crafted vest and overly designed golden pocket watch firmly established which stratosphere of nobles he belonged to.
“Ah, Mister Copper Flame,” the princess greeted sweetly, washing away any indication of her feelings regarding his presence from her features.
The unicorn’s eyes slowly trailed downwards from the ceiling, as if he had just ‘seemingly’ noticed the princess for the first time. His eyes flicked to Scruffy, and if his muzzle had not already been pointing towards the sky, he would have no doubt turned his nose up and scoffed. The latter he did regardless.
Cadence was almost certain that if she let him open his mouth again they would be doomed. He would either talk their ears off regarding the summit and all the ‘ideas’ that he undoubtedly has, or say something so incredibly inane, most likely directed towards aunty Celestia’s guest, as to make the second entry in Cadence’s list of ‘nobles I have punched’. So she made a snap decision.
“Excuse me, I didn’t notice you immediately as I was talking to the ambassador here.”
This seemed to give the noble pause, as he stopped and gave a more thorough once over to the odd being.
“Ambassador?” he questioned with pursed lips, and only a swift nudge stopped Scruffy from asking the very same question.
“Yes. We were on our way to meet Princess Luna,” she replied, but then took on a surprised look. “You...do know who he is, correct? Forgive me, you are always so well connected that I simply assumed-”
“O-oh but of course!” the stallion replied, puffing his chest slightly and turning his nose up again. “I simply hadn’t had a chance to talk to him before, so it, uh, took me a moment to...know who we were talking about,” he said and coughed into this hoof. “Uh, but you were off to see Princess Luna, so, um, don’t let me stop you! I’m sure I’ll have a chance to rub shoulders with the ambassador later during the summit.”
Copper Flame gave a respectful nod towards the princess, and after a moment of hesitation, to Scruffy as well, before hastily walking away. Scruffy raised one eyebrow at the stallion, before turning it towards his innocently smiling partner. She gave him a quick wink.
“Come, there are many things to show inside the castle, and we only have so much time before somepony else finds us.” With that, she took the lead again, with Scruffy attempting his best not to gawk at everything... too much.
Due to the throne room being in heavy use during the entirety of the summit, Cadence took Scruffy to the other impressive, if less glamorous, attractions of the castle. A quick visit to the royal archives, a sneak peek into the grand dining hall and the catering the many chefs of the castle were working on, and few detours to see what Cadence considered to be the more interesting works of art strewn about in the many hallways, with the last stop being a grand hall of stained glass windows.
“I like these, uh, kolor wiintoows. See few pefore, but not so big.”
“They are very beautiful, especially when the sunlight hits them right and their colors bloom.”
“Mmh,” Scruffy nodded, looking over each one carefully. “See you have one own too,” he said and pointed. Cadence rubbed one of her forelegs with the other.
“Aheh, yes. It’s a bit embarrassing to be honest.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s there and everypony can see it! These windows mark special moments in Equestria’s history, acts of bravery, harmony, and magic, and every time I see myself depicted there I can only think of how badly I was in a need of a shower that day. Or how I emptied most of the banquet table by myself when nopony was looking.” The alicorn blushed slightly and her mouth formed a straight line.
“You say...all here happen?” Scruffy asked and waved his hand at the various images on the wall.
“Yes, although they are obviously only artistic depictions of those events, so don’t take them completely at face value,” the alicorn replied with a giggle.
Scruffy gave a nod in reply as he gazed at the windows, taking particular note of the one that had a creature very similar to the one he saw not too long ago, and to the one that had a rather striking dark pony in it. He then turned back towards Cadence.
“What happen when you, uh, got wiintoow?”
“It’s…” she began, brow furrowing and nose scrunching. “Bad things happened that day, and even if it all ended well...I would rather not talk about it,” she gave the creature a small and apologetic smile. “It might be better if you asked Twilight for a book about it, or maybe if she wants to explain it herself.”
“Mhm.”
“There you two are.”
The pair turned around to see the diarch of the sun approaching them in her usual reserved gait. Two aides were following her, one looking at a clipboard she was holding with her wing and saying something to Celestia, the other focusing on a stack of papers she was levitating with her. They both put their work aside as they approached.
“Seems like you were able to escape the mass of ‘tar ponies’,” Cadence quipped with a cheeky grin.
“Eventually, yes. I very nearly needed to bring out the rolled up newspaper,” Celestia replied with her usual smile almost evolving into a giggle. “How has your tour gone?”
“You have huge home. Not whant think how longt take klean,” Scruffy shrugged nonchalantly, but quickly relented with a laugh. “It very am-aamaazing. Better what I could think! There so many place, could go all day, still fint more wanderful thing to see.”
“I’m very glad that you have enjoyed yourself.”
“But, maibe better, uh, look kastle other time agein, when less pony here and everypony not busy.”
“You are most welcome to come visit on a later date as well,” Celestia nodded. “Shall we go searching for my dear sister? Perhaps we can untangle her from all the ponies that are undoubtedly vying for her attention.”
“I am sure she wouldn’t mind you saving her. Whoops, I meant ‘diverting her attention to something less stressful for a few moments’,” Cadence said, trying to look like she had not purposefully said the first part. “Unfortunately I can’t join you as I also have a few ponies I need to get ‘tangled’ to. We’ll talk later at dinner?”
“Certainly. Good day, Cadence.”
“Talk to you later aunty. See you again, Scruffy.” Cadence gave each of them a brief nod.
“Goodbye,” Scruffy replied, waving his hand as Cadence left towards the direction the white alicorn had come from.
Once Celestia had given instructions to her aides and they had left as well, she unfurled one of her wings towards the other end of the hallway, leading Scruffy back outside after a few twists and turns. While she held her smile the entire way, her mind was meticulously ticking away like clockwork.
“Did you come upon anything particular that caught your interest during the tour?” she asked, basking in the sunlight as they stepped outside.
“Hmm,” came a hum and a scratch of a beard in response. “Kolor wiintoow not think to find. Library, big hall, gaarten, think all are part kastle.”
“But not that hallway?”
“Mmhm, not in where live. Uh, I live.”
“Tell me about your, home.” There was a pause between the words, just noticeable enough. Celestia was unsure what she was expecting from the conversation, but centuries of meticulously constructing her every sentence with care and caution prevented her from being simply straightforward.
“...It...tifferent. Where live, there no magic.”
Celestia nodded. She had read about this in Twilight’s letter.
“And, not so many kolor. Koolorf-kolorf-...”
“Colorful.”
“Kolorful...k-colorful. Here, all, uh, bright, fine.” Scruffy furrowed his brows, searching for the words. “It calm here, not busy all time. Heh, unless big thing ha-appen in Ponyville,” he chuckled.
“Calm?”
“Where live, everypony all hurry, all rush. Feel, not have time for calm.”
“I can assure you, ponies are busy here as well. You have yet to experience the early morning rush of Canterlot,” Celestia hummed in amusement.
“I knov, but feel that pony-...ponies have time to…”
“To just be at ease?” One blank stare later, Celestia continued. “To sit down and enjoy the moment.”
“Yes.”
Celestia closed her eyes, letting her thoughts wander and allowing her companions words to bring forth thoughts of distant worlds.
“There no meny matsine here. Pony have magic, so no need all matsine. Where live...where I live, have many matshiene to help. Big and noisi.”
Celestia though back to the drawings and diagrams Twilight had made of the various objects she had observed. Many of them seemed advanced, yet mundane at the same time. While Twilight had, to put it in professional terms, ‘enthusiastically gushed’ about the device that projected moving pictures, Celestia’s interest had been on the advanced cooking appliances she had described. A greatly improved icebox would certainly make many ponies’ lives easier.
“And not tink all good. Some are help, but...not help. Hard to tell.” Celestia heard him shuffle, and imagined him shrugging.
“Hard to explain,” she gently corrected. There was a grunt in response, and a minute of silence.
“But not all tifferent. Where I live, uh, n-na-naatioon?”
“Nation.”
“Natioon. Have many forest, large, in all part of natioon. Importtantt. Many like vishit for forest, and, uh, nature. Many leiks...lakes too. My kind like have home, or, other home, near lake. Visit when summer, for…”
“For calm. A place to relax and find peace.”
“Mmh. Where live, many not live near other… I not live near anypony. Take time when want visit others. Go with...uhm…’carr-c-carriege’ when visit tauwn sometime. A quick matsine, go like when, uh, fly here. Othervise, take over hour walk there. Not want all, uh, no… Not want each day walk that longt.”
“I can see how that could get inconvenient for a stallion of your age.”
“Hmph.”
“Your machine… It must make it easy to visit any larger cities as well, if there is something you can not get locally.”
“Yes. Would not want walk that far.” There was a chuckle and a shake of a head.
“Perhaps you could visit Canterlot for any such shopping in the future? It might be quicker to travel here, as it is not that far from Ponyville. At least if you take a pegasus carriage.” Celestia opened her eyes and flashed a quick, sly smile to Scruffy. “Or a train,” she added, and closed her eyes again.
“Hmh, not know if Kaantterlot is quick visit, um, when think other place, but sure want visit again. Want to see what can find here, maybe buy thing to take home.”
Outwardly, Celestia smiled and nodded. Inwardly, she was busy contemplating Scruffy’s descriptions and calculating.
“Canterlot is certainly a large city. I am sure there is something here to pique your interest. Unless you are accustomed to a city of this size?”
“Not visit big place often, but you not think I not know how travel. I not that old that get lost,” Scruffy said indignantly.
“My apologies, it was not my intention to insinuate anything of such. I merely thought that since you mentioned many of your kind are apart from each other, there wouldn’t be many cities of this size close by to you.”
“Hmm, where live, have big sity too, but, when tink of other natioon, much biiger place there.” He snorted, but she could hear the smile in his voice. “Twilight not believe when tell her there big place.”
That there are seven billion of your kind? It is hard to believe.
An errant gust of wind blew past them, making Celestia’s mane billow. She focused on the feeling and the scents the wind brought, relaxing and clarifying her many crisscrossing thoughts spurred by the conversation. She opened her eyes again and turned to Scruffy with a warm smile.
“Your home certainly sounds interesting. Perhaps I need to visit you as well some day.”
“You welcome to visit all time,” Scruffy replied with his own smile.
Whatever would have come next was stopped by the sound of doors slamming open and hooves hitting the tiled floor. The pair curiously turned their heads to the right to see what was going on, and the sight made even Celestia’s heart skip a single beat. It was not often one saw an uninhibitedly charging alicorn heading straight towards oneself, and it does not matter at that point whether the alicorn in question is a sister you love greatly or not.
The blue alicorn was heading straight towards them, her mane swishing around wildly, and her hooves like thunder as she galloped. Had she been on ground, she would have kicked up a dust cloud large enough to block out the sun. It was only Celestia’s steel nerves that prevented her from jumping out of the way or flitting into the sky.
Mercifully, she slowed down the closer she got, switching to a canter, and then a brisk trot. They also spotted an earth pony advisor trailing far behind Luna, wheezing and gasping for air as he tried to catch up.
“Scruffy!” she finally called out after taking a second to catch her breath. “Uh, f-friend! I had no idea you were going to visit Canterlot today. I-I would have certainly come greet you earlier had I-”
“It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision,” Celestia interjected, causing Luna to click her mouth shut and look from one to another. “It was just something that came to mind while I was at Ponyville,” she continued sweetly. There was a thump behind them as the aide finally caught up to the moon princess, graciously collapsing on the ground to catch his breath.
“Hjello Luna,” Scruffy greeted with an amused smile as Luna tried her best to swiftly make herself presentable.
“...Hello friend.”
“Sorry, kome visit when everypony busy.”
“No, no it is, it is most fine. There’s always time for a friend when they visit, even on busy days.”
“Without a doubt,” Celestia added.
“The royal summit has had each of us running around like there was a fire under our tails,” Luna snorted, visibly trying to relax.
“You do fine, I sure.”
“Oh, um, of course we will. It’s not like we haven’t done this a hundred times. I, uh… W-would you perhaps like a tour of the castle grounds? We could-”
“Ah, have tour with, um, k-ka-kaddensa? Go see many place in kastle, there many intteresting thing to see.”
“Oh…” Luna muttered, seemingly deflating.
“But, not see all. Too many poni here, but when visit again, then show place I not visit today?” Luna perked up immediately, giving a bright smile.
“It would be my pleasure.”
“As much I hate to be the one to rush things along, we only have limited time before we absolutely must return to our duties,” Celestia reminded.
“Unfortunately,” Luna scoffed, again attempting to relax herself by breathing deeply in and out.
“But, there is enough time for us to have tea and something light to eat. We’ll definitely need the energy to work through all these meetings, and I am sure you must have worked up some appetite by now as well, Scruffy,”
“Yes.”
“A salad and a bagel would be nice.”
“Why don’t you take our friend to the tree, and I’ll ask the kitchen staff to bring us refreshments.”
“Very well. Come Scruffy, we have a perfect spot in the garden.”
Celestia watched the two go, and turned towards the earth pony aide who had finally managed to climb back to his hooves.
“Quick Note, would you kindly go to the kitchens and tell Miss Leek to prepare a light snack, salads and bagels for three, and to bring it out to the garden in our usual place.”
“Certainly, Princess.”
“Oh, and another thing,” Celestia said as Quick Note turned to leave. “Would you also find Raven, and tell her… Tell her to go to the archives, and see if she is able to find any location, in any map of Equus, that matches the following parameters…”