"Thistle!"
"Eep!" Thistle jumped back from where he'd been following Full Lance, eyes wide. After panting briefly, he managed squeak, "How'd you notice me?"
"I felt a tingle on my spine," Full Lance responded, aloof. Inside though, he was quite relieved that he wouldn't have to search the castle for Thistle tonight. Still, if thistle had been in this room... "I daresay the real question is how long you've been here, listening."
Thistle looked down at his light brown hooves sheepishly. "Well... uh..."
Full Lance paused to think. Several hours, Thistle had been missing for several hours. That probably meant that he'd heard about Equestria.
That didn't have good implications. Even among the closest of Bell's service, 'Equestria' was a closely guarded secret. If ponies knew that their Duke Bell claimed to come from a far off land where some magical princesses controlled the very sun and moon, it could very well undermine her credibility. Both Full Lance and Sweetie knew how deadly that could be to a monarch.
Still, even if Thistle let the secret out, Full Lance doubted that the gossip of a child would be taken with any credence.
He can be very convincing though, Full Lance thought. And if his rumors travel to someone who knows them for the truth...
Perhaps it would be best for Full Lance to somehow deceive Thistle? Tell him that he'd been dreaming? No, Full Lance thought. I'd not be able to live with that on my conscience.
So perhaps the best--
Just then, the sound of a door opening echoed through hallway. It was followed by distant, heavy hoofsteps.
Full Lance snapped back to reality. He looked around for the source of the hoofsteps, but he soon discovered he could only barely make out the vaguest shapes of the hall. The only real light source in the room was the stained glass window --which gave off only pale, colorful ambiance-- and the last remaining candle up near the throne, both of which were on the opposite end of the hall. Despite this, he saw a simmering movement on the left side of the hall, seeming to move towards the throne.
Full Lance needed a place where he and Thistle could talk without being interrupted or overheard, and it needed to be somewhere they could get to without being seen by anypony.
Luckily, Full lance knew just the place.
On quiet hooves, Full Lance started towards the right edge of the hall, motioning in the dark for Thistle to follow. Full Lance doubted the pony who'd entered the hall could see them, even if they wanted to, but the great hall was unusually echo-y, so Full Lance wasn't going to take any chances by speaking.
Full Lance and Thistle were most of the way across the hall and hidden behind a pillar when Thistle suddenly tapped on Full Lance's shoulder. Thistle pointed slightly ahead, where a just barely visible pile of blankets was hidden. Full Lance realized he would've tripped on the nest if Thistle hadn't warned him. Full Lance nodded his thanks as they skirted around it, soon reaching a locked door at the edge of the hall.
Thistle looked towards the shape of the door and shook his head, pantomiming what Full Lance assumed was pulling a handle that wouldn't move. Full Lance held his hoof out behind him in a placating gesture.
Slowly, quietly, Full Lance placed his hoof on inside surface of the twisted wrought iron bar that served as the handle to the door. Then, he gradually applied pressure, the handle pulling out on curved spikes embedded into wood of the door. To most ponies it would seem that door was locked, however the truth was that as long as the handle was inserted into the correct pair of holes in the door, it couldn't move.
With a slight woody rasp, the handle came free of the door. Full Lance replaced the handle in of set of identical holes located close enough to originals that the decorative plate attached to the base of the handle would cover them, but far enough from the edge that the spikes did not enter the wall.
Silently opening the first door, Full Lance could just barely make out the handle of the second door, lying only a couple of feet away in the near darkness. He could still hear the hoofsteps of the pony who'd entered the hall not long before, but they didn't seem to be getting closer. Not significantly anyway. Full Lance shook his head.
The second door operated on much the same principles as the first, but the handle twisted out mostly upwards instead of sideways. Once he had "unlocked" and replaced the handle of the second door, Full Lance ushered Thistle into the chamber beyond, closing both doors behind them.
Inside, it was pitch black, but after fumbling around the perimeter of the room for a bit, Full Lance found a table with a lamp and spark rocks. A few swipes later and--
"Ah," Full Lance said as the lamp's wick glowed to life. "That's better."
The clay lamp --little more than a ovoid shape with two holes for the wick and replacing the oil-- was sufficient to light the tiny chamber Thistle and Full Lance now found themselves in.
"What is this?" Thistle asked, his hazel eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"It used to be an outhouse," Full Lance gestured to the middle of the floor where a wooden disk now covered a cesspit. "But since Sweetie had the Great Hall built, it's now a kind of safe room that only a trusted few know about." Full Lance narrowed his eyes pointedly at Thistle. "A trusted few, you're now part of."
"A trusted few?" Thistle asked, puzzled. "Does this have something to do with that 'Equestrian' stuff you guys were talking about? Is it going to turn out that you're going to make me sit and watch you dance around in frilly dresses while 'sipping' hot, flavored water?"
Full Lance was taken aback for a moment. "Wait, you mean tea? Thistle-- wait, Frilly dresses?" Full Lance's eyes crossed.
"Eh," said thistle, "hot, flavored water, tea; they're same thing."
"On second thought, never mind." Full Lance refocused, sitting down on the cold stone floor. He looked at Thistle.
How do I tell him the truth, and make sure he doesn't go wandering off exposing it?
...Full Lance blinked sleepily at Thistle.
Thistle blinked back.
Finally Full Lance came to a decision. Hopefully Thistle didn't think he was crazy. "Thistle, what we're about to talk about is a secret, okay?"
"Alright." Thistle shrugged.
"It's a serious secret. That stuff Sweetie Bell and I talked about... that's not something you're supposed know about." Full Lance raised an eyebrow.
Thistle assumed a serious face.
"In fact, what you were doing --eavesdropping-- is very rude."
"Oh," Thistle said, "sorry?"
Full Lance sighed. "Close enough. I just want you to be aware that if you talk about 'Equestria' with ponies other than myself --or ponies I tell you you can talk about it with-- you could get both of us into very big trouble."
"So you're telling me I should keep my mouth shut?"
Full Lance nodded. It wasn't exactly an oath of secrecy, but Full Lance hadn't known Thistle to be bad at keeping secrets. Well actually, he hadn't known Thistle to have secrets in the first place. That was probably a good sign, right?
Thistle sat down and thought, nodding slightly to himself. "So, just what is Equestria?"
"I assume you already picked up that it was a kingdom of sorts?"
"It's the place where Sweetie Bell --who is Duke Bell-- came from?"
Full Lance nodded. "Most ponies call her 'Duke Bell' because she usually doesn't tell ponies her full name. It's something about an 'Image of masculinity?' She says it give her more authority, but I'm almost certain it only confuses ponies." Full Lance folded his forelegs on the ground, plopping his chin atop them. "It makes sense when she explains it."
"I think I get it: it's because you don't typically see mares ruling places very often, right?"
"Basically, yes. If ponies picture her like a stallion then they don't question her right to rule. However, you can see how that would get confusing."
Thistle nodded. "Isn't 'Equestria' ruled by a mare? Some 'Princess Celty' who, like, controls the darkness somehow?"
"Princess Celestia, and her sister Princess Luna. Together they control the sun and the moon." Full Lance looked up at Thistle quizzically. "I guess I can see where 'control the darkness' may have gotten confused in there..."
Thistle ignored the latter comment, but regarding the former, his eyes narrowed as he stood up. "So wait, are you telling me they control the moon and the sun?"
"Yes and no," full Lance rolled over to his side, though he was having a hard time getting comfortable, not only because the floor was literally hard as stone, but also because it was only barely big enough for him lay down in it lengthwise. "You see, they do control a sun and a moon, but they don't control our sun and moon. Apparently Equestria is at least on a different planet. Perhaps even another kind 'plane of existence.'" He shrugged. "Twilight's never been clear about it."
"Different planet?" Thistle asked as he moved the lamp off of the table and onto an unoccupied stretch of floor.
"Yes," Full Lance watched as Thistle tested the structural integrity of the table --or nightstand really-- before resuming his explanation. "You're aware of how the world is a sphere?"
"You mean how it's round like a ball?" Thistle began trying to hop onto the table.
"Not just like a ball, it is a ball. It--"
Full Lance was interrupted by a rather loud, rather grating sound of wood scraping on stone.
"Thistle," Full Lance sat up, "Please don't break that thing. The walls are thick, but the doors aren't entirely sound proof."
"Oh, eheh," Thistle tipped the nightstand upright. "Right. Anyway, the world is a ball?"
"Yes. Basically it's a ball in a sort of ocean. Have you ever heard of planets like Venus or Jupiter?"
"Yeah," Thistle said as he successfully managed to mount the nightstand.
"Also balls." Full Lance settled back onto the floor. "Equestria is on another planet; another ball, except it's somehow really really far away. Well, the other planets are far away, but the one Equestria is on is even further. Perhaps even orbiting another star, but that would be confusing, because if it's in orbit, then how does Celestia control the sun?"
"...Mirrors?" suggested Thistle, now perched like a cat atop his nightstand.
"Can you make a mirror," Full Lance frowned, "bright enough to reflect the light of the sun that well?"
"Well I've heard that a good mirror can be like looking through a window, so..."
Full Lance yawned. "Yes I suppose that could work. It'd certainly be easier than moving an entire celestial body through space... That would make a fair bit of sense, I think I'll bring it up with Twilight."
"Not even your supposed Twilight knows?"
"Twilight was the pony who first explained all this to me, actually. She always said it had something to do with the key to Celestia's power or alicorn magic or some other nonsense... It was not uncommon for ponies to worship Celestia as the almighty sun goddess."
"Well I mean, from what you've told me, she is." The face Thistle put on a dumb face as if to say, "duh."
Full Lance shook his head, putting a hoof to his forehead. "It's a whole bowl of worms. It'd be best not to dive into it."
"Sooo, if Equestria is far away, how did Sweetie Bell and Twilight get over her in the first place?" Thistle raised both his eyebrows for emphasis.
"'Teleportation magic.' That's pretty much all I know. Also, it wasn't just Sweetie and Twilight. There was also Scootaloo and Applebloom."
"Riiight, because I know who those ponies are."
"They're from Equestria. Together with Sweetie Bell they were 'The Cutie Mark Crusaders.'"
"Like The Crusades?"
"No," Full Lance nestled more comfortably on the floor.
"But if the only way to get to and from Equestria is teleportation magic, how on Earth do they know about the crusades?!"
Full Lance tossed some hair over his eyes. "'Dunno. Sweetie Bell tells me she didn't know what the word actually meant." He yawned. "It's weird that some of our words are similar to Equestrian. So is English," Full Lance murmured to himself, slowly closing his eyes.
"So wait, are you from Equestria?" asked Thistle.
Full Lance minutely shook his head. "I was born and raised here in The Holy Roman Empire. It's just Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo, Appleboom, and Twilight that are from... Equestria."
Thistle yawned now. "And you're sure there's no one else?"
"Not to my knowledge..."
"Hey Full Lance?"
"...Yeah?"
Thistle frowned. "Are you going to sleep?"
"...Yes." Full Lance shut his eyes.
"Uhm, could you not?"
Full Lance didn't respond for a while. "...Why?"
"Don't we still have to find that one pony, Alis? And you know, I'd actually like a real bed?" Thistle frowned down at Full Lance pointedly.
Full Lance cracked an eye open and saw Thistle's frown. Finally, his better judgment kicked in, and he slowly got off of the floor. "I suppose you're right... Before we do that, is there anything you're still unclear on? Now would be the best time to talk about it."
"Well," said Thistle, "you said Twilight can do magic? Could she, like, teleport us all to Equestria right now if she wanted?"
Full Lance shook his head. "Apparently this planet has no magic. And Twilight has something of an... ailment let's say, that wouldn't let her do magic if if this world did have magic. Anything else?"
"Uhm, yeah actually..." Full Lance fidgeted ontop of the nightstand. "What year is it?"
"Oh, thirteen-sixty-something." He yawned. "Why?"
Thistle was about to open his mouth when Full Lance put a hoof out.
"Actually never mind." He took a deep breath. "Is there anything else you need to know?"
"Uh, will we be able to talk about this again?"
"Sure," Full Lance said warmly.
"Then, I guess that's it for now..."
"Good." Full Lance pushed open the first door. "Let's find bed."