Sitting with the Princesses during a royal banquet should’ve felt like an honor. For Will though, he felt like a zoo animal on display for the masses.
Each of the ponies sitting at the four long tables that stretched through the dining hall stared, gawking at the strange alien creatures sitting next to their rulers. In some regard, the room looked kinda like the sorting hat scene from Harry Potter, minus the floating candles. There were even banners displaying the sun and moon hanging from the rafters above, flowing slightly in the breeze. The scent of roasted vegetables wafted from beyond the kitchen doors while the muffled murmurs of the crowd hadn’t died down since Will and Nick took their seats.
“Well, this is sudden,” Nick whispered to Celestia. “How long have you been planning this?” Will barely was able to hear Nick from where he sat with two alicorns between the two of them.
“We sent the invitations a week ago. Luna gave me the idea. Most of the ponies here are relatively well-known business ponies. Of course, there are a few farmers and commoners as well, but they are very influential in their communities.” Celestia pointed with her white hoof to a well-built earth pony mare sat at the middle-left table with her back turned toward the royal table. “For example, Ms. Oakhammer is one of the most gifted blacksmiths Equestria has ever seen. Her and her apprentice make nearly all of our guard’s weaponry and armor.”
“And she does mighty fine work,” Captain Hurricane added.
Will looked between his two table neighbors. He hadn’t known Clover nearly long enough to make any sort of meaningful connection with her. Aside from a comforting hug, that is. He looked to Princess Luna who sat to his right.
“Was all of this necessary?” Will asked. “What is this even for anyways?”
Luna leaned down to whisper directly to Will, probably to keep Celestia from overhearing. “We may or may not have noticed that thou were not happy being stuck to the confines of the castle, and we may have brought this to our sister’s attention.”
“Would’ve like to have known that there was a dinner being held where I was going to have to speak.”
Luna sighed. “Yes, our sister tends to be a bit… spontaneous at times. Which leads to her forgetting to tell those her plans affect the most.”
Celestia shifted on her cushion. “Shall we get started then?” Celestia asked.
“I believe thou has made the ponies wait long enough.” Luna nodded. Clover gave Will an encouraging smile.
“You shouldn’t worry too much. This shouldn’t be too bad.”
Will nodded, pushing back from the table and giving a short whistle that got Nick’s attention. Nick gave a thumbs up that Will saw peek from behind Celestia giving Will a wink.
Celestia stood, rising tall above the table as she flared her wings wide. At the display, the tables quieted down over a minute as more and more ponies paid their full attention to their solar princess.
“Now, before the banquet begins, I’m sure you all are eager to ask your questions. I request that a queue be formed through the middle aisle. We will attempt to answer as many as possible before dinner is served.”
Will swore internally. Why couldn’t they have eaten before all this?
With little decorum, nearly everypony got up from their tables, flocking to make a line through the center of the dining hall. With a whistle from Captain Hurricane, a guard approached, that listened intently as he received orders from the captain. In but a moment, he approached the part of the line that reached the end of the middle aisle and stood in the line. He began turning ponies away, keeping the line at a reasonable level. However, that still left almost 50 ponies.
When the stragglers took their seats, Celestia sat back down while folding her wings back to her sides. “Will the first petitioner step forward?”
The hall went silent as a unicorn stallion stepped forward, bowing, then standing before the royal table. His bespectacled face and skinny features suggested he was some sort of scholar. He spoke with a slight rasp to his voice. “Scrawl, head of the Equestrian Scribe’s Guild. Forgive me your highnesses, but it appeared that you were conversing with these creatures. Have you discovered a new species capable of speech?”
Celestia, instead of answering motioned to the two humans at the table.
Will could feel the tension in his body build up. His hands started shaking. He wasn’t ready for any of this. Nick was pretty quick on the draw. He cleared his throat, getting the stallion’s attention.
“Excuse me, we are completely capable of common speech. It is great to make your acquaintance. My name is Nicholas, my friend is William. We will be happy to answer your questions to the best of our ability.”
Shocked mumbles shot through the crowd, but Scrawl excitedly drew a scroll of parchment and a quill that quickly began writing in Scrawl’s telekinetic grasp. “Fascinating! This is simply incredible. Where do you hail from? What foods does your kind eat?”
Luna’s hoof struck the table with a loud ‘thunk’ quieting the scribe before he began rambling and caused the dining hall to go silent once again.
“We believe there are other ponies wishing to speak, scribe. Please, think of them as you return to your seat.”
“Of course your highness, forgive me,” Scrawl huffed. “Perhaps you shall permit me to continue to take my notes while I listen?”
At that, Luna gave a curt nod. “That seems acceptable.”
“Thank you, your highness.”
And with that, the questions continued in rapid succession: ‘How did you get here? Why are we only hearing of your kind now? How long have you been here?’ Each one was met with a quick and simple answer from Nick.
It was after about 20 of those questions that a purple coated unicorn mare with a short-cut blue mane stepped forward followed closely by a much younger pony of similar colors. The older mare bowed, and the younger mimicked as best she could before looking up at the royal table with the biggest golden eyes Will had ever seen. Before the mare could introduce herself, Clover spoke up from Will’s left.
“Amethyst, it is so good to see you. And Jewel, this is a pleasant surprise. Are you giving your mother a hard time?” Clover smiled good-naturedly.
“Nope!” Jewel squeaked in an incredibly high pitched voice. Will clutched his heart as it seemed to seize.
“So adorable,” Will whispered.
Celestia smiled down at the young filly. “I’m glad you decided to attend, Amethyst. I know that you have been rather busy as of late.”
“Oh, everything is going much better now. Jewel’s magic practice has been going along wonderfully. Thank you for that, High Mage Clover.” Amethyst’s kind words caused Clover to blush slightly. “Regardless, Jewel has a question she wanted to ask.”
Suddenly shy, the young filly stepped forward with ears pulled tight to her head, and when she spoke it was more of a mumble than anything coherent.
“Jewel, you have to speak up honey,” Amethyst encouraged.
“Do you have a…” Jewel stage whispered.
Pushing his chair back, Will began standing up, towering a head above Celestia while she remained seated. Amethyst’s ears folded to match her daughters at the sheer size of the unfamiliar creature.
“May I?” Will asked with a small smile on his face. Amethyst looked to Celestia, a near panicked look in her eyes. Celestia simply nodded, which Amethyst mirrored to Will a moment later. The human stepped around the table and descended to the floor below. Jewel looked up at the huge alien and froze completely.
When he was a few feet away, Will sat cross-legged on the floor, and Amethyst visibly relaxed. Looking at the alien in the eye was easier when he was so much lower to the ground. Will could’ve sworn that he heard the outcry of some distraught seamstress at the thought of such fabrics being dirtied by stone floors, even though said floors were polished marble tiles. He couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Hi. I’m sorry if I’m kinda spooky. I get it, I’m weird, and I’m certainly no pony.” Will stuck out a hand with his palm up. Amethyst eyed his hand with confusion, but her ears perked up in interest.
“It’s a... customary greeting where we come from.” Will peeked at Nick, who returned the glance with a small thumbs up.
“It’s called a handshake. Just place your hoof in my hand.” Tentatively, Amethyst did as Will asked. Gentle but firm, Will gripped the hoof, and moved his hand up and down. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m William, but please call me Will.”
Amethyst smiled. “Amethyst and the pleasure is mine.” Will turned his attention to Jewel who was still looking up at him with wide eyes and a slacked jaw.
“And you must be Jewel. I really like your mane.” There was a certain sweetness to Will’s baritone voice that came with his experience with younger kids back on Earth.
That seemed to bring the filly out of her shocked state as Jewel smiled wide and played with her pinkish braided hair. “Thanks! Momma did it for me.”
“Your momma must be very good with hair. Now, did you have a question for me?”
“Oh yeah!” The squeaky voice-crack nearly made Will faint from exposure to sheer cuteness. “Do you have a cutie mark?”
Will blinked. “I’m sorry, could you say that again?”
“I just wanted to know what your cutie mark was. Everypony has one! Momma’s is a pretty purple gem, Daddy’s is a pickaxe, but I haven’t gotten mine yet. They say I’m not old enough.”
“I have no idea what a cutie mark is,” Will shook his head
A shocked gasp erupted from the crowd, especially from the young filly, prompting Nick to speak up.
“If I may, we come from a place without any magic whatsoever. So if this ‘cutie mark’ has anything to do with magic, we will not have much knowledge of it. I have done my best to learn as much as I could in the short time I was here, and all I know of magic I have acquired since we arrived.”
“We can discuss this at a later date.,” Celestia said. “Jewel, do you have another question you would like to ask?” A couple of ponies left in line groaned as so much of their time was being taken up by a little filly.
“Hmmm,” Jewel thought hard looking at Will before gazing at his folded legs. “What is it like being so tall?”
A mischievous smile crossed Will’s face. “Well, if it is okay with your mother, I could show you. Amethyst, I swear I’ll be careful.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Amethyst looked down as the filly in question tugged on her mother’s foreleg with a pleading expression. “Fine. Please, be careful?”
“Of course,” Will responded. “Jewel, can I pick you up?”
Jewel nodded vigorously. The little filly practically vibrated with excitement when the proportionally large hands of the human lifted her off the ground.
“Jewel, hold onto my head with your hooves, okay?”
The little filly squeed as her rear legs rested on either side of the giant’s neck. “Okay!”
With Will now confident his passenger was secure atop his shoulders, he began to stand up. “Woah!” Jewel exclaimed as Will pitched forward slightly. Raising himself to his full height, he couldn’t help but chuckle as the little filly began giggling uncontrollably. “Momma, you look so small from up here!”
Amethyst chuckled at the sight of her daughter riding a massive alien creature. Or was it more like said creature was wearing her filly as a hat? She couldn’t tell. Some other ponies began laughing themselves as they watched the antics of the filly as Jewel just looked around in wonderment at the novelty of being near twice the height of the tallest stallion in the room. Even Celestia and Luna began giggling to themselves. Nick and Hurricane simply wore amused smiles.
“Well, I believe we have made these ponies wait long enough,” Celestia called to Will. “Amethyst, you and Jewel are invited to eat with us here at the royal table. Silver Platter,” Celestia addressed a maid standing close by. “Could you please bring two more cushions for these two.”
The maid bowed politely. “Of course, your highness.”
With two cushions brought to the royal table, Will and his rider made their way to the table with Amethyst following close, smiling at seeing her filly still laughing atop the human. When Will sat down, he set Jewel down on the ground next to him.
Amethyst insisted on taking the cushion next to the human, and Will couldn’t argue with that. Even if the tension he saw in the mare had lessened somewhat, he was still a stranger and she had to protect her daughter.
The questions continued, but the murmuring ceased completely, the anxiety of the ponies settling greatly. In no time, dinner was served and voices of merriment and laughter rumbled throughout the hall.
Jewel and Amethyst kept asking Will questions as they ate, smiles plastered on their muzzles. With everypony having a great time, the only two disappointed parties were the two humans in the room, who still haven’t seen any meat in the past month of being stuck in a complete herbivore society.