It’s still dark in my room by the time I open my bleary eyes. Although since there’s only just enough light to see by, it must be early morning. I’m still quite tired, but I don’t particularly feel like going back to sleep. Instead, I shift over to the edge of the bed and slip quietly onto the floor. The carpet muffles my hooves as I wander to look out the balcony door. As I stare out over the distant horizon, I think back over the previous night’s events. What happened back there with my horn?
I glare upwards to where I can only just make out the tip of the appendage. I really hope that won’t become a common occurrence… Not wanting to dwell on it further, I let my attention drift back out through the glass. I can just about make out the light of dawn peeking out from the distant mountains. Not sure how to pass the time, I turn back to wander through my new room. My new home. My new life.
I glance over at the bookshelf up against one wall. There’s quite a few books there, but it’s not like I’d be able to read any of them. Heh, I wonder how that book is doing under the bed. The thought keeps me entertained a mere moment before I let my ears droop. I idly wander into the bathroom. The novelty of being here is already starting to wear off, and I’m getting bored. There’s just nothing much to do in this castle. If I’m going to go to a new world, I want to be out there, seeing the sights. Not sitting around relearning how to read.
Glancing into the bathtub’s floor depression, I see that it’s been drained since the day before. No hot bath waiting for me this morning, and I just can’t be bothered to try filling it myself. I re-enter the bedroom. Why am I even here? And why as this? I don’t need wings, I most certainly don’t need magic.
I let out a long sigh and push my way out into the living room. The rush of cold air is refreshing, but it only lasts a moment. I drop down heavily onto the chilled sofa and stare out through the glass wall. The moon hangs lonely in the sky, the stars long since drowned out by the oncoming dawn. In the distance, I can just about make out two small shapes flitting about in the sky.
Squinting, they look like ponies, dark in coloration. I watch as they soar through the air, twisting and turning playfully about one another. As friendly as everyone is here, I can’t help but still feel alone. I miss my old life. I miss my friends, my family. The two ponies disappear behind a lone cloud, they don’t come back out again.
I continue to lay there on the long sofa for a moment longer, before releasing another sigh and getting back to my hooves. Maybe I could explore the mini kitchen or something. Wandering over, the kitchen is not like what I’m used to. There doesn’t appear to be many kitchen appliances. No microwave or toaster. Not even a fridge or freezer. At least there’s an almost normal looking oven; normal if not for the fact that the controls are all inlaid with gemstones. Not sure how I would use any of this with my hooves. I doubt I could even open any of these cupboards.
Bored of the kitchen, I retreat back to my room. Although this time, I head over to the balcony doors. Maybe some fresh air will help, it always has done in the past. I try to push open the doors, but they don’t move. Peering closer, I see a thin latch holding them together. Hmm, maybe I could use my horn. Lowering my head to the latch, I slip my horn into the gap and flick it up. Latch now open, I trot outside.
A cool breeze blows over me once more, but this time, it lasts. Walking to the edge, I rest my head against the railings while slumping down. The wind ruffles my feathers lightly as it passes. The feeling, whilst alien, is still somewhat calming and relaxing. My wings twitch as I straighten back up. Bringing my hooves up onto the railings, I lift my head into the air, relishing in the wind blowing around me. My mane and tail flick this way and that in the subtly changing air currents. And my wings lift softly from my sides.
And then the wind stops, and my mane falls limply into my eye. It was fun while it lasted. I hold my pose for a few more moments, in the hope that the wind might pick back up again, but nothing seems to happen. Either way, it was just what I needed. Hopping back to all fours, I turn and head back inside, half-open wings brushing against the either side of the opening. Eh, they’ll probably sort themselves out or something.
A light pressure suddenly forms against the side of my head. Twisting my head, I find that little puff of cloud once more. Huh, it’s still in here I guess. I pull it to my chest, feeling its softness between my hooves. Then I shift it under one foreleg and return three-legged to the balcony door. Releasing it, I nudge it gently in the direction of the open skies. I watch it for a moment as it idly drifts towards the amber hue in the distance.
Turning my back, I make to go back inside. But a sudden gust of strong wind causes me to hesitate. Turning my head one last time, I am struck in the face by the white fluffiness. But then it bounces up towards the ceiling before I can respond, where it settles just out of reach. I guess it’s here to stay then…
Outside, it appears that the sun might finally be ready to show itself so I wander out onto the balcony one more time. As I wait for the sure spectacle, I glance to the side where I see two large ponies step onto a nearby balcony, side-by-side. Luna’s horn ignites. And just on cue, the moon suddenly accelerates, completing its night-time journey. Then Celestia follows suit, followed by a sudden wave of brightness as the break of first light floods the castle grounds. Somehow, my eyes don’t get blinded, and are able to recover quickly in time to watch the shadows retreating hastily towards the distant mountains.
Wait, so they actually do move the sun and moon? Not really sure how any of that is supposed to work, but now I can see why they’re so well respected I guess. Let’s see what the new day brings to Pony Land this time. Shortly after exchanging moon for sun, the two diarchs make their way back inside. And so do I. Just in time to watch an olive-green unicorn slip silently into my room.
“Oh, you’re already awake, your Highness,” squeaks the pony.
What? I don’t recognise this pony, and why’d she call me that?
“Please don’t call me that. Also, who might you be?.”
“Oh, well, my name is Granola Mist, young prince. I’m a room maid, I was just here to prepare your morning bath. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”
“Nah, you’re fine, but I’m not a prince either. Just call me Jonathan, please.”
“Oh, but I assumed you were, with the being an alicorn and such, y’know?”
Oh right, alicorns… princesses… stuff…
“I’m not from Equestria, and neither am I royalty. I would prefer it if you don’t address me as such.”
“Oh, well… umm… okay then, well… I’ll just head into here and prepare your bath then.”
Once again alone in my room, I settle down on one of the floor cushions and wait.
After some time of waiting, the olive pony backs quietly out of the bathroom. She bows at the bedroom door, before slipping out as silently as she’d come in. I suppose I could go for a bath then, I’ve no idea how long it is until Snow comes to get me. The door opens just as I’m standing up, however. A pinkish-white head with ice-blue mane pokes through, swiveling left and right before seeing me. Oh, there she is.
“Good morning, Snow Blossom,” I say.
“Good morning to you too Jon, I see you’re up bright and early today. Here, I brought you some breakfast!”
I guess a bath can wait, let’s see what there is to eat. Snow wheels in the trolley with her green-hued magic. Some salad, two (blueberry?) muffins, an apple and a glass of water. Once again, a good breakfast.
After that, Snow suggests I get a bath. I once more decline her offer to assist, and head inside. Still no lock, I might see about getting one installed in the future, if I end up staying here that is. Not that ponies seem to wear much around here, they all have fur.
After another relaxing bath, me and Snow head out into the castle. Once again, another guard follows us, this time a female earth-pony.
“So what do we do now, Snow?”
“Well, I could take you to visit the castle spa?”
“Spa? You never mentioned a spa during the tour yesterday.”
“Well, I guess I forgot about it. It’s part of the guest pool area. Normally us castle staff aren’t supposed to go there unless accompanying a guest. Princess Celestia does open them for us on off-days, however; it’s quite the commendable experience.”
“I think I’ll pass for now, might there be anything else we could do?”
“Well, nothing is planned until your scheduled fitting just before lunch. But I’ll try to think of something… Anyhow, it’s nice to see that you’ve finally got your wings out.”
Wait what? I twist my head round to find my wings uncovered. Have I really been walking around like this? Thank goodness we haven’t passed anyone.
But just as I think that, I hear a gasp. Turning to the noise, I see a dark-green pony standing next to a plant pot. She’s holding a watering can over it, but doesn’t seem to notice the pot overflowing onto the floor. Seriously, it’s a big pot… How can that watering can have so much water in it? The unicorn is shocked out of her stupor as the growing puddle reaches her hooves. Realising what she’d done, she shoves the watering can down behind the pot in an effort to hide it while displaying a strained smile.
“Good morning Dew Drop, I hope you haven’t been over-watering the plants again,” Snow says.
So these two know each other? I guess it makes sense since they both work here. Dew Drop’s ears drop and she blushes slightly in embarrassment.
“This is the seventeenth time this month, Dew. But don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anypony. Here, let’s get that cleaned up.”
Snow’s horn then lights up, causing the puddle to be surrounded in magic before floating all up into one big glob, which she dumps back into the under-sized watering can. Dew, having recovered, then speaks up quietly.
“So you really are a new alicorn? Wow, that’s just wow… So, ummm, prince what’s-your-name… What exactly are you a prince of again?”
“Nothing, I’m not a prince. Just because I happen to look like this, doesn’t mean that I’m royalty.”
I turn to Snow. “How much exactly do the castle staff know about me?”
“Well, not much really, Jonathan. Only that there might be a new alicorn staying here from somewhere far away and that word of them is not to leave the castle under any circumstances.”
“So, I’m pretty much being kept a secret? Can you at least ask the ponies not to think of me as royalty. Just because I happen to be an alicorn, doesn’t mean I want ponies to treat me differently.”
My ears droop and I sigh once more. Dew’s ears also drop a bit and she sits across from me.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I offended you. Is there something else I should call you? We won’t call you by royal title if you don’t want us too. It’s something some of the younger princesses request us to do quite a bit. Heh, especially Pr– Twilight.”
“Thanks. So, any suggestions for things to do around the castle? I’m kind of bored right now.”
Her ears perk up again.
“In terms of stuff in the castle, not much… But I have a few board games in my room, we could play a game together, if that’s alright with you? I don’t really have any other jobs for today either, so it’s not a problem for me.”
“Well, I guess I have nothing better to do. Snow, is that alright with you?”
“I think it sounds like fun! Me and Dew haven’t played together in a long time, it’d be nice to catch up.”
“Well, I suppose that’s settled then. Dew, lead the way.”
Dew Drop takes the lead. She steers us down the first set of stairs. We keep going down, at least 3 floors before we reach a door. It’s a small door, quite inconspicuous, probably for the castle staff. Dew procures a key from her mane using her teal magic and opens the door for us. The stairs here are once again the steep kind and I have to take my time on them. Snow and Dew make it look so easy.
Reaching the bottom, we come out into a narrow hallway. It isn’t nearly as lavishly decorated down here, but neither is it in any way an uncomfortable place. The floors are carpeted and the place is well lit. In fact, the closeness of the grey walls is kind of a refreshing break from the massiveness of the rest of the castle, everything here feels much more pony sized.
Still, that doesn’t make it any less of a maze than the castle. There’s no windows or signs and every hallway looks identical. Due to the small size of the hallway, we have to walk in single file. Dew and Snow walk ahead and the guard trails behind. I feel kind of exposed with nothing to hide the fact that I’m an alicorn, but luckily the castle staff hurrying back and forth through the tunnels seem too busy to pay us a second glance.
I hear a gasp from behind me. Okay, I definitely spoke too soon. Not that I was speaking… Time seems to come to a standstill as I look behind me. A cherry-red pegasus is stood pointing towards my exposed back. Another pony stops next to her and follows her gaze.
“Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is that an alicorn?” he whispers.
“Can’t you see, he has both a horn and wings,” she replies.
“A male alicorn? I didn’t know those even existed,” a yellow pony contributes.
“Surely it must be some kind of prank,” whispers the unicorn behind them.
“Have you not heard the rumours,” the red pegasus rebukes.
“Hey, what’s with the hold-up, some ponies have jobs to do here!” a voice shouts from the back of the crowd.
More voices start adding to the clamour from the growing crowd behind us. I just stand there, frozen in shock until a green aura starts tugging on me.
“Jonathan, come on, let’s go,”
Pulled from my stupor, I continue after her. I can hear the sound of muffled hooves as the ponies behind begin to follow. The guard tries to hold them back, but they ignore her and push around either side. I barely notice a pink spark flying out in front of me. We speed up into a brisk trot. I stumble slightly, not used to going faster than a walk. Unfortunately, it makes little difference as the other ponies match our pace. We pass a lime earth pony who watches us in confusion, before noticing the mob and breaking into a run back the way we came.
Suddenly, I am yanked round a corner by Snow’s magic and in through the first door. Dew kicks it closed behind us, swinging the latch down with her magic. The rush of hoofsteps outside increases in volume for a moment, before fading into the distance. I simply let myself fall backwards into a sitting position whilst my brain tries to catch up with what just happened. A random spark of pink crackles and fizzles against the wall. Wait what?
I watch as another drifts down in front of my face. Tentatively, I reach my hoof towards my head, but it’s caught in a green aura before it can reach my horn.
“Jonathan, you should never touch a lit horn! Not even your own.”
“What’s happening with my horn?”
Snow opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted as the room is flooded with harsh pink. I shut my eyes in reflex, trying to block out the intense light. Ugh, what is going on with that horn? How do I make it stop? No, I can’t let myself panic. I need to calm down. Deep breaths. In and out. In and out. Gradually, the piercing light fades to a dim glow and I can open my eyes.
“Uh. What just happened?” Dew asks while trying to rub the spots from her eyes.
“I’m not quite sure… it looked, almost like a surge,” replies Snow.
“Umm, what’s a surge?”
Dew is the one to answer.
“It’s what foals have while they’re still trying to get a grasp on their developing magic. It happens when a pony has an excess buildup of mana and hasn’t yet developed a proper connection with their magic. An important part of a foal’s childhood, but very rare for a pony your age.”
“Since when did you know so much about magic, Dew?’ Snow remarks.
“Since we learnt about it in magic school, Snow. Seriously, don’t you remember anything?”
“So, do any of you know why this is happening with me, and more importantly, how to stop it from happening again?”
“I have no idea, water is my speciality. Also, your horn’s still glowing,” Dew answers.
“It is? How do I turn it off?!”
“Just relax, ignore it and it’ll go out on its own, probably. So board games anypony?”
Dew’s quarters are a lot smaller than my own. And her front door has a lock. Why doesn’t my room get any locks? Anyway, the entrance leads straight into a narrow and highly cluttered kitchen area. Passed that is a small crossway with two doors either side, and the living area/bedroom straight through. On one side, there is a small pile of cushions and a mini bookcase. And on the other side is a bed built over some sort of storage. Not a cloud bed, but a normal bed. There are no windows throughout the tiny space, probably since we’re right in the heart of the castle.
Dew keeps her board games in one of the top cupboards in the kitchen. Somehow, she is able to levitate them out without even looking. She drops them from her teal magic right into the center of the living room where we are each sat on a small cushion.
“Alright everypony, choose a box!”
I can’t really read the titles, but I can see the pictures. There are five boxes to choose from. Hmm, that one looks kinda like chess. And that one has a picture of a gaudy, pink steam engine on. Dew picks one which is decorated like a jungle and Snow chooses the train one. Unsure of what any of the games are, I go for the one which looks like chess. It’s the only one I recognise.
“Alright everypony, we have each selected a game. We will play a little of each game. Whoever wins the most rounds wins overall… Also, wasn’t there another pony with us before?”
Snow stands suddenly.
“Oh no, I forgot about our assigned guard, I’ll be back shortly. You two go ahead.”
I watch Snow hurry out the door.
“So, fancy a game of chess? It’s the only two player game here so one of us would have had to sit out either way.”
Dew grabs the box in her magic, dropping the others over her bed, before opening it and laying out the board. It looks mostly like the chess I know, except that all the pieces are different.
“Alright, I’ll play blue and you take pink. You know the rules or do you need a quick run through before we begin?”
“I think I’ve played before, but all the pieces are different, so maybe you could quickly run me through in case any of the rules are different too.”
“Ok then. The goal is to take out the alicorn princess. That’s the large one with the crown by the way, not the small one. We each take turns to move one piece… ”
After explaining the rules of the game, which it turns out were exactly the same as what I’m used to, we have our first game. Being out of practice, Dew is quick to beat me on round one. Round two lasts much longer, but Dew still manages to defeat me. It’s midway through the third round when Snow comes in with the armoured earth pony. But I’m too distracted by the game to pay much attention.
I nudge a unicorn piece 5 spaces diagonal, and my trap is set. Hopefully Dew doesn’t notice. She jumps a pegasus, taking one of my earth ponies. Good, let her take it. I pump my pegasus into position, now she’ll have to move her alicorn out of the way. She wraps it in teal, before realising her predicament. The only place she can move it would put it in front of my unicorn, but not moving it would leave it for my pegasus. Her magical grip releases from the piece as she contemplates her next move. The seconds pass, maybe I’ve won… She smiles, moving a unicorn I had forgotten about to take my pegasus. Noo… Maybe I can still save this…
I push my tower forwards, but accidentally knock it over with my hoof. Oops. I pick it up and place it back in position. Now she’ll still have to move her alicorn. Or she could just slide it out of the way again…
The game continues on, until we’re down to our last few pieces. She has more left over than me, but with less variables to keep track of, I think I can do this. I slide my unicorn in front of her alicorn, hopefully she’ll take the bait. She doesn’t, instead moving it backwards a tile. I line up my tower behind. She moves out of the way once more. I pull my unicorn back a tile to make space for my other tower. She can no longer move her alicorn… Her smile has long since faded for concentration.
“Okay, check-mate, you win. Congratulations!”
We shake hooves. That was fun.
“Now that everypony’s here, who’s up for a game of Temple Temptations?”
Once again walking through the castle, having left Dew Drop behind, I think back over the morning. Snow was pretty fun to play against and she seems to have a really good memory. I thought Dew was good at strategy in our chess game, but the guard (who’s name turned out to be Sandy Hooves) was an even greater strategist. I found myself falling behind in most of the games, but it was great fun regardless.
Not sure how I even managed to play those games with hooves… Wasn’t one of them a card game?
“We’re here!”
Distracted from my thoughts, I take my bearings. I know this place, it’s the room where I had my measurements taken.
“Up, up, Jonathan,” Snow says as she nudges me towards the center pedestal. It’s barely been a day, how can they have gotten something made in such a short time? What even is it?
“And for the second half of your surprise…”
I feel something land on my back and straps wrap around my waist (or whatever ponies call it). I look over my shoulders.
“Your new saddlebags. Princess Celestia had them commissioned shortly after you were brought in, they’re designed to help cover your wings out in public.”
Wait, cover my wings in public? Does that mean that I’ll be allowed out of the palace? Looking over the bags, I see that they’re made out of a smooth, brown leathery material. Not quite leather though. It looks durable, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel too heavy. There are two pouches on either side and– wait, are those rubies?
“Made of a durable and hardy bark-based fabric from yak-yakistan. Strong, yet lightweight. Inside lined with soft velvet for comfort and with a wooden frame to keep it off your wings. Four storage compartments across its length and a few rubies for the finishing touch.
“You’ll have to wear this any time you leave the castle, or at least until the princess announces you publicly.”
“Thank you so much. I’ve been dying to leave the castle, do you think we can go out today?”
“Of course, would you rather head to the cafeteria before we go or find lunch outside?”
“I think I’d like to eat out, and see what this city is all about. But I must ask, what’s with the rubies, aren’t those expensive?”
“They are a little, but it’s no matter. Canterlot, being the capital, is quite an elite city. No piece of clothing is complete without its own bit of sparkle. So, are you ready to go?”
“Yes please, I can’t stand being in this castle any longer!”
Hopping down, I follow Snow out.