//------------------------------// // Appointment // Story: Sky Pirate Cowboys // by Ghost wolf //------------------------------// Today was the day that I would meet up with Rainbow and head out to Canterlot. Last night, we spent some time hanging out and talking about my life back on Earth. Rainbow wasn't the type to talk about personal issues, so I didn't let it get deeper than "I'm sad I'm not home," which was fine by me. It was still a cool time though. We did some late evening flights, but ended the night early so that we could be ready for the train ride. Since I had woken up quite early for a morning flight, I decided to just head to the train station early. I got us both a ticket for Canterlot since she hadn't shown yet, and sat down on a bench. The train should be coming into the station soon, but I wasn't too concerned. Even if Rainbow and I missed the train, I would just wait until the next one came by. I took out my Walkman to listen to some music while I waited for her. "Ah yeah, Retrofile, forgot I had this in here. Hell yeah, I'll listen to them." I throw on my headphones and start the cassett. I pull out my sketch book and began to draw whatever came to mind. Took me a minute to start sketching, but I decided to just draw a large boat cruising on water. It was a little awkward at first when I picked drawing back up to use a claw to draw, but I eventually got used to it and it became natural. I spent maybe another twenty minutes drawing before taking a break to see if Rainbow made it. As I do so, I realized that she had been sitting next to me watching me sketch. I take off my headphones. "Oh, hey there. When did you pop up?" I ask, surprised. She puts a hoof to her mouth as she suppresses a giggle. "I don't know, maybe like five minutes or so. I was gonna say something, but you looked like you were in your own little world. Nice sketch by the way, looks real." She points her hoof towards the page. I give her small smile. "Thanks, decided to pick it back up since I've had nothing else to do. Oh yeah, by the way, I got you a ticket. Hope you didn't grab one yet." I put my satchel on my lap as I grab her ticket from one of the pockets. "Oh sweet! Yeah, I was about to ask when we should grab them. Train should be leaving soon, wanna find a spot before everypony takes the good ones?" She asks. "Yeah, sure. Lead the way." I put my sketch book and Walkman back in my bag and follow her. The train ride went by fairly quickly. Canterlot wasn't really that far away, maybe an hour or so by train. I decided to spend that time thinking about how I want to ask the princess about the progress on sending me home without sounding too pushy. Rainbow chose to spend her time sleeping. Sleeping quite loudly, actually. She had her whole body spread out on the seat and was snoring up a storm. She's such a goober. Anyway, we had just left the station and set hoof in Canterlot. I haven't been here for a while, and I didn't really get to explore when I first arrived here so I chose to let Rainbow lead the way. "Alright, you know the way, dude?" I ask. She nods. "Yup! Here, follow me." With that, she flew up. I followed suit. We flew only for like two minutes before she looks behind to me with a smirk on her face. "Wanna race? See that spire over up ahead? That's near the entrance to the castle. Last one there has to pay for lunch. Alright, readygetsetgo!" She took off like a bullet towards the spire. Dammit. "God dammit, Rainbow. Wait for me!" I tried to catch up to her, but the rainbow pegasus was way to quick for me. Took me a few minutes to make it to the spire. As I flew up, I saw the mare flying on her back with her hooves behind her head. "Took you long enough, Mav. Been sitting here for like twenty minutes!" I shook my head. "More like two minutes, but sure. Pat yourself on the back." We land on the ground at the gate leading into the palace. It was guarded by two white guardponies in golden armor with spears in hoof. They didn't say anything as we entered the gate. I assumed it was because of who I was in company with. She is the Element of Loyalty after all, would be strange to be difficult with one of the heroes of Equestria that sees the princess pretty frequently. Can't believe she's one of my friends to be honest. Anyway, it takes us another ten minutes or so wondering through the palace before we ended up near the throne room. Out front of the throne room was a grey earth pony mare behind a desk filing away some paperwork and typing away at a typewriter. The pony had her black mane up in a bun and she wore red glasses that fell down to the end her snout. She must be the secretary pony. Cute. We walk up to her. "Hey Raven! It's nice to see you," Rainbow props her forelegs into the desk as she gave the mare a greeting. Raven only moved her eyes upward to see who spoke to her. "Oh. Hello, Ms. Rainbow Dash. What can I help you with this time?" She looked uninterested. Rainbow didn't take the hint. "Weeeell, my friend here, Maverick, has been trying to contact the princess for a while now. You see, there's been a whole thing where he was kinda taken from his home from a messed up spell and now the princess has been helping him get back. Was wondering if we could speak to her about some updates?" Rainbow put on a large smile as she looked expectingly at the other mare. Raven was unfazed. "If it isn't a matter of great importance, like Equestria being attacked by another villain, then you need to schedule an appointment for an audience with her like every other pony." Damn, shot down instantly. "Oh come on, even if it's for me?" Rainbow flew up to Raven's face with an even bigger smile on her face. Again, Raven was unfazed. "Especially for you, Ms. Rainbow Dash. Now, the soonest appointment we have is... about two months from now, December 11th at 9:00 Am. You can always come by to see if somepony canceled for a closer spot." Yeah, no way. I decided to interject. "Hey look, I know you're just doing your job, we ain't special or anything, but I do really need to speak with her about this. Princess Celestia told me that I could come by any time to see what's going on, I'm just taking her up on her offer. Could we maybe see her now or soon?" I ask. To be honest, she didn't exactly say that, might have twisted the truth a little, but it was true that she said that I could reach out to her any time, so close enough. The mare didn't seem to appreciate my disregard for what she said. "Again, sir, unless it's a matter of great importance, I will have to set you up an appointment with an audience with her." Ugh, this mare. Rainbow spoke up again. "Alright, look here, this is something important. It might not be "The Demise of Equestria" important, but it's certainly important for my friend here to find out why the princess hasn't given any new updates about him going home. So how about we just skip the rabble and you let us see the princess already!?" Rainbow got into her face with a growl. Raven pushed back with her own. "And I SAID you have to have an appointment to see the princess, so that's what you're gonna do Ms. Rainbow Dash!" This was getting out of control. I noticed some of the guardponies looking our way. Alright time to de-escilate. I pull Rainbow back and set her down in the chair. "Alright, I think we're going a little far here. I apologize for giving you any trouble. It's been difficult not seeing my home for quite some time, something I'm sure you can understand, and Rainbow is just concerned for me. Let's just take a breather for a sec." I also take a seat next to Rainbow. It seemed to work slightly, but the mare still looked miffed. "So, you said it would take two months, is there anything else we could do to get a better time?" I ask. "As I said, you can always come in and see if there's been any cancellations, but other than that, there's not much I can do for you." She gave Rainbow a side eye as she said this. Um, alright, think here. Is there any way I could convince her? No, not after what Rainbow pulled. Maybe some favors? Ugh, I don't even know this mare, so that's probably a no. God dammit, why do the princesses gotta be so busy... ...Wait. Holy shit. Hold on a second. Princesses? We've only asked about Princess Celestia. Princess Luna must have a court too right? I smile deviously. "Well, how about Princess Luna? Can I see her instead?" Raven gives me a blank look for a moment before looking down at her schedule and then closes it. "Um, give me a moment, sir," The grey mare then disappears under the desk. Rainbow looks at me with one of her signature smirks and gives me a slight nudge with her elbow. She leans in to my ear. "Nice, that was a good idea." I nodded back in agreement. Raven pops back up with another scheduling book from under the desk and plops it down. Dust flew off the book as it hit the desk. She opens it up and scans for a brief moment before looking back up at us. "... There's nothing scheduled for Princess Luna at this time. The night court doesn't open until later tonight, so the earliest I can schedule for is at 8:30 pm. Does that work for you, Mr... Maverick?" I give her a nod. "Yes, ma'am. That definitely works for me." She jotted it down in the scheduling book. "Alright, all set, Mr. Maverick. Have a... good day." The mare said hesitantly. "No, thank you for your time, ma'am. Have a good one also," I say with a fake smile. With that I get up and make my way out. Rainbow follows along. We didn't say anything to each other until we made it back outside. "Aagh! That mare needs to be taught a lesson. We even asked nicely! That should have totally given us brownie points. Ugh, guess I should have seen it coming. Not like it's ever worked with her before, I guess." Rainbow pouted with her forearms crossed as she hovered in the air. "Yeah, she was little stuck up, but that's her job. She can't just let anyone see the princess at any time without reason." I tried to reason it with her, but all I got was an upset look in return for not agreeing with her sentiments. Oops. "But yeah, totally, she needs to be taken down a notch or so," I say quickly. Rainbow nods her head sharply at my comment. Woo, good save. "Yeah... oh well, it worked out for the most part. Sucks that you have to wait until tonight though." "Yeah, but its not that bad. Better than two months from now. Might actually get a reply by then haha," I joke. "Yeah... Oh shoot! I totally forgot that I have to work tomorrow morning." She puts a hoof to her forehead. Damn. Well, I can probably handle it. I haven't really talked with Princess Luna before, but she can't be that bad. "Its fine, Rainbow. I was a little worried at first about meeting the princess, but I'm not a total wussy. I can handle it. I do appreciate you coming out here with though, more than what anyone else would have done." I give her a smile and a pat on the head with my claw. "Are you sure, Mav? I can totally stay. I might get in a bit of trouble for being late or something, but I don't want to leave you hanging. Especially after that thing I said before about how I don't leave friends hanging!" "Dash. It's fine, If you need to work, then go to work. Earning bread should always take importance. I didn't expect you to put your job before me to begin with. You aren't leaving me hanging, I promise," I tried to convince her, but she was hesitant still. "If I need you, Dash, then I'll be sure to come and get you, alright? I can probably fly around the same time it would take the the train to make it back." That got a reaction out of her. "You? Fast as a train? Ha! Maybe if you were on some of Zecora's spices." That cheered her up a tad. "Yeah okay, maybe haha. But still, my point still stands. I'll be okay." I put up a claw to give her fist bump. "Thanks for wanting to stick by me. It really does mean a lot." She gives a small smirk and bumps me back. "Yeah, yeah. Alright, enough about the sappy stuff. All that arguing earlier has made me hungry, let's find some place to eat. I think Donut Joe's is this way. Oh and yeah, don't think I forgot about you losing the race we had earlier. You're buying, buddy." She gives me a nudge with her flank and takes off to find some donuts. Damn, that mare is such a huge goon. I flex my wings and follow after her. Hopefully tonight will bare some fruit. But for now, I need some donuts in my life. "Alright, alright, wait for me! Dash!"