Finally, we reach the main hall. That one with all the big tapestries. Unlike the last time we had passed through here, the area is now filled with ponies; many of whom are dressed in expensive-looking finery. It seems that the vast majority of ponies are wearing some form of dress, suit or jewelery. Although most only cover the front half, leaving their back-ends exposed. Thinking back to my saddlebags, I realise that they’re quite plain in comparison. Much of the dress I am currently witness to seems a bit over-decorated and a little gaudy. Where before, I thought the rubies on my bags were overdoing it, I can now see why they were added. Are gemstones really that common here, it seems like every single dress in this hall has some set of precious stones to adorn it.
As we pass the ponies admiring the massive chamber, a few cast curious glances our way. I suppose we are being escorted by a royal guard afterall. Luckily, they lose interest quite quickly and we don’t get much attention. I don’t think I could deal with all that for a second time today…
Either way, the massive doors to the outside world are drawing closer, and that brings much more excitement than pony-watching. Finally, my first time leaving this stuffy old castle since I’ve got here. And no, the gardens don’t count. It’s a shame that I’ll have to come back when the day is done, as I’m much more of an outdoors person (or should I say pony?)
I gaze out at the clear blue sky, craning my neck as the final few arches loom above us. A cool breeze blows forth from the opening, tugging lightly on my mane, and tickling the bottom of my wings. The quiet tap-tap of hooves on tile is soon replaced by the crunch of gravel as I finally break out into the gardens, Snow and Sandy right behind me. I halt momentarily, to take in a breath of the fresh mountain air. I’m pretty sure that this city is somewhere up in the mountains. And yes, I can see a steep cliff-face reaching up into snowy peaks, extending from behind the castle and curving off into the distance.
Resuming my trot, I gaze around the gardens. Unlike my previous visits, the place now feels so full of life. There’s ponies everywhere, admiring the flowers or chatting amongst each other. The wide gravel path meanders only a short distance before reaching the gatehouse, a block in the long white wall that cuts through the open field. Over the wall, I can just about make out the tops of strange buildings. As much as I like the open outdoors, unique architecture also intrigues me. Don’t get me wrong, the castle is great and all, but it’s just too samey and bland for my tastes. Too big as well.
As we get closer, my excitement grows too. I begin to pick up my pace. Where before the portcullis was tightly closed. It now hangs open, providing a clear view to the city beyond. Every building I see is unique, the only thing shared between them being the white and gold colour-scheme. Ponies bustle through the packed streets, many glancing longingly back towards the massive castle behind me. A large crowd has formed just outside the gates, obstructing a large portion of my view. There are at least eight armoured ponies under the archway, all bearing the golden uniform of what I assume to be the day guard.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve broken into a run now, the exit is so close… Suddenly, I feel one of my hooves strike something in the pebbly path. This, of course, causes me to lose my balance and tumble face first into the rough ground. Before I can pick myself up however, my ears perk to the sound of snickering. Lifting my head, I glance towards the noise. Huh, it’s one of the guards, a unicorn stallion. He stops when the mare beside him knocks into him roughly. Not enough to throw him off balance, but enough to shut him up. Apart from that slight movement, she remains motionless at attention and staring straight ahead with a neutral expression.
A crunching of hoofsteps comes up from behind, before my vision is tinted green and Snow’s magical aura hoists me back onto my feet.
“Jon, are you okay?”
“Yes Snow, I’m fine. Thank you.”
She looks at me with a concerned expression.
“No problem. but please don’t run off like that and actually watch where you’re going.”
I nod my head. Sandy Hooves trots past us into the gate house, nodding to each of the guards as she passes, holding her gaze over the stallion who had laughed for just a moment longer than the rest. Snow trots after her and I follow behind. We have to swerve out and around the throng of ponies gathered at the entrance. A few cast a concerned glance my way, but most ignore us.
Finally outside the castle, I feel my spirits rising once more. My wings shuffle slightly, seemingly in response to my feeling of freedom. Sandy and Snow once more take positions either side of me at a respectful distance as we walk through the street. Looking at the buildings on either side, I find that I can’t identify what they are. The structures on this street seem quite sedated in relation to the ones I can see towered behind them. And I mean, literally towers. Tall cylindrical towers, with winding staircases and arched bridges connecting them. So many stairs… For a quadrupedal species, I can’t see why they’d choose to have so many. I suppose it’s the only logical solution for tall towers, but then why build them as towers in the first place? Maybe stairs are a problem only I have.
The sun is still high in the sky, so we have plenty of time to explore. But where should we go? My stomach grumbles. Oh right, it’s lunch time, so I suppose we should be looking for somewhere to eat. Although it’s not like I can read anything. How am I supposed to know which buildings serve food? Aha, that building there has tables outside. A small roped off area filled with tables, under the shade of large umbrellas. It definately looks to be some kind of restaurant. I wonder what sort of food they serve there. Despite it being a few buildings away, I can still see with crystal-clear clarity when I focus over there. Since when was my eyesight that good? I guess these ponies do seem to have larger than normal eyes. Maybe that has something to do with it. Despite my improved vision, I’m still just a little too far away to make out the tiny specks on the plates of the over-decorated customers.
“Snow, do you know what food they serve over there?”
Snow glances over to me, then comes alongside me.
“Ugh, that place, it sells fancy stuff. The overpriced kind with tiny portions. We could still go there if you want, but that stuff isn’t very filling. Sadly, most places in Canterlot are like that, but I do know a good place we can go!”
“Yeah… I think I’ll take your advice on that, lead the way!”
If this place is one of those rich upper-class cities, then I’m doomed. I can only trust that Snow can steer me through safely. Still, the unique atmosphere has been interesting so far.
I take another bite out the pizza slice balanced on my hoof. It’s like nothing I’ve ever eaten before. Who would have thought a spicy pizza could taste so good? Still, eating with hooves is difficult, especially since I can’t grip anything. The restaurant Snow found is called The Tasty Treat and it’s quite the exotic place. Its colourful interior and exterior and fun atmosphere contrasts sharply with the plain white-and gold of the rest of Canterlot. It’s located quite a bit away from any major street, tucked away in a quiet corner of the city.
Despite all that, it’s still extremely busy and I’m surprised that we could even get a table. Overall, a pleasant surprise of a place. I wonder if we’d be able to order food like this back to the castle. It turns out that the place is highly regarded amongst the castle staff and that both Sandy Hooves and Snow Blossom come here regularly. I hope to be able to too, this place is great. But it’s also very warm in here, and my wings are starting to itch.
Snow is the one to pay the bill, pulling a small bag out of her mane and dropping down three golden coins onto the table. It’s not like I have any money myself, maybe I should start looking to get a job at some point, although my status as a ‘certain species’ could be of hindrance to that.
Once more, we step out into the cool air outside and I sigh in relief. The colder air out here soothes my wings. But the question now is, where to next? Shopping? What, no. I don’t even know why I’d consider that. I hate shopping, and it’s not like I have any money to begin with. Eh, who cares, aimless wandering is what I’ve always done and what I shall do now. Right, down this alleyway I guess. Nevermind, it’s a dead end…
“Snow, Sandy, any suggestions for places we could visit?
Snow is the first to answer.
“We could go shopping?”
“...……Any other ideas?”
Sandy makes her suggestion.
“Maybe you might like to see the Canterlot train station?”
So ponies have trains? Now that is something I’d like to see. And hopefully in the not too distant future, experience.
“Sounds like a plan, Sandy!”
The train station is much further away than the restaurant was. Unfortunately, it seems that the city is in a kind of tiered layout, and as such, there are a number of staircases I have to carefully inch my way down. On the way, there’s plenty of interesting architecture to examine. Soon, we come to a park; a medium-sized strip of field cutting straight through the city, and split by the occasional street. We decide to take a short break there, as I need to rest my legs. The park is filled with activity, much more so than the castle gardens.
I suppose that’s mostly due to the sheer number of foals running around, little tiny ponies with eyes disproportionately large. There’s even a few closer to my size. While I don’t think that I’m technically a foal(?) I’m still not really an adult either and as such, I’m not quite as big as a fully-grown pony.
Wait just a second… Of all the ponies I can see, more than half of them are unicorns. And of the others, the majority are pegasi; meaning that there’s barely any earth ponies. And now that I think about it, it’s a trend that I’ve been seeing across the whole of Canterlot. None of the younger foals running amok are flying or using magic, I suppose they’re a bit too young for that, but it seems that every one of age is doing so at every chance they get. In the distance, an older group of ponies are playing a game with a ball.
It appears that they’ve split into two groups, one spectating and one playing. The playing team has six ponies on it. Two pegasi hover above the field and two unicorns levitate buckets over their heads. There is only one earth pony on the field, mirrored by a pegasus on the ground. I assume that there’s supposed to be two earth ponies, but with how little I’ve seen of them, I guess they don’t have enough to complete the team.
Not really interested in sports, I let my gaze sweep over the field, where I see a group of unicorns resting under a tree. The majority of their group are mares, although there is also a stallion. They’re all holding books in their magic, sharing one between two. Most of the other ponies seem to steer clear of their group. Suddenly, one pony puts down her book and steps out from under the tree. The rest of the group turn their attention to watch her light her horn. She fires a beam of magic towards an apple resting on a stool. When the light fades, the apple is gone… And in its place is what looks like a miniature carriage of the same colour? Did she just turn an apple into a carriage?
Suddenly, the carriage starts to vibrate, before spontaneously exploding in her face. The other ponies appear to laugh at her, although I cannot hear them from this distance. Luckily, she begins to laugh with them too. The stallion walks over to a bag resting against the tree and brings out a new apple. Another mare then walks over to the stool and fires her own spell, successfully recreating a new carriage. To further demonstrate her skill, she then reaches out a hoof, bringing it down onto the miniature model’s roof and pushing herself up off it; demonstrating its strength. However, being a model carriage, with wheels… Well, you can guess what happens. Of course, it suddenly slips out from under her hoof, flinging itself off the stool and into the grass. She, of course, falls onto the stool, knocking it over and tumbling to the ground.
Once more, the rest of the group laughs at her. Picking herself up, she holds her head high, swishing her mane back into place. But it seems that she can’t hold back the giggles for long either. A group of ponies practising turning apples into carriages? Wow, it seems that magic is more potent than I realised.
Suddenly, one of them glances in my direction and our eyes meet. Wait, did she see me? I quickly look to the side and start examining a patch of grass. After a moment, I risk flicking my eyes back towards them. Wait, she’s coming this way?
“Hey there!”
She seems quite chipper; a violet unicorn mare with a silvery mane and yellow-grey eyes.
“Umm, hi.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before. I also couldn’t help but notice how interested you seemed in our little group. Wanna hang?”
I glance nervously towards Snow, she smiles and waves her hoof at me in a ‘go on’ gesture. I can’t see Sandy anywhere though.
“You coming or what?”
The young mare gestures with her head towards the group. Reluctantly, I get up off the grass to follow her.
“Sooo, you new in Canterlot?”
“Umm, yes?”
“Ah. Will you be attending Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns?”
Celestia runs a school? Actually wait, I think Snow has mentioned that before.
“I don’t think so?”
She stops suddenly to look me in the eye and I almost walk into her.
“Seriously? With a horn like that, I can’t see why you wouldn’t.”
“W-what do you mean by that?”
“A horn of that calibre and length isn’t exactly common, you know. I’m surprised. You’re at least going to attempt to enroll there, aren’t you?”
She sets off again at a trot.
Is my horn really that long? I’ve never noticed it being particularly long, although I guess I never gave it much attention in the mirror.
“Well, I wasn’t planning to…”
She cuts me off.
“So where were you planning to go then?”
“Actually, I’m… not sure.”
Yeah, I don’t actually know where Celestia is sending me. I guess I assumed she would have had me taught in the castle, but now I’m not so sure.
She stops once more; I’m not directly behind her this time so I’m not at risk of walking into her again.
“Do me a favour and make sure you at least try! It’s like, only the most prestigious magic school in the whole of Equestria, run by the princess herself! You’ll be seriously missing out if you don’t.”
Magic school? Really?
At this point, we’re only a few paces from the tree, and the whole group has definitely noticed me now.
“Alright girls!... and also stallion. This is… Ugh, I forgot to introduce myself.”
She turns to me.
“My name is Moonlight Melody, and you are…?”
“Jonathan.”
“Jon- a- than? That’s a weird name… Where are you from anyway?”
“Earth.”
The ponies just stare blankly back, uncomprehending.
“It’s outside of Equestria.”
“Oooh,” they all go in unison.
“So, does this mean that you know special magic?” one pony asks.
I tilt my head at that. Special magic, what do they mean?
“Like, you come from a far away place, so you must have a different culture, and therefore different magic,” another, with glasses, supplies.
“I don’t think so? Maybe? I really don’t know.”
“Girls! Introductions first, magic talk later! Alright, Jonathan, whatever that means…. We here, are a magical study group from Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns! And if you decide to change your mind and actually apply as I strongly think you should, then you’ll soon be joining our ranks. For this afternoon however, you can be an honorary member! Now to introduce you to the group.”
The group in question turns out to be about eleven mares strong, plus two stallions; one of whom isn’t actually here today.
“So, you were going to show us some magic from your homeland?” A yellow mare with a purple mane (I think her name was Temporal Wisp?) prompts. They want me to show them magic? But I don’t know how to do that?
“Yeah, show us what you can do!”
“Show us your magic!”
The group begins to fan out, surrounding me from all sides.
“Are you okay?” asks Moonlights. “Is there anything you need for your spell?”
I try to take a step back, but the group keeps closing in. My ears fold down.
The blue stallion, Meta Sample, seems to notice.
“Girls, I think you’re…”
But he is quickly cut off by another mare.
“Hush, he’s starting.”
Why is my forehead feeling so hot right now? The faces around me are now illuminated in pink light. Oh no, my horn? What’s it doing? Suddenly, there’s a crackling sound, followed by a loud pop and a bright flash of light. It takes a moment for my eyes to readjust. But all too soon, the silence is broken.
“So…. what exactly did you do then?”
Huh, it feels like my horn has stopped. The mares glance at each other in confusion.
“Hey, what’s this?”
Collectively, the heads turn to the voice from the back. Curious, I walk round the pony cluster to see what they’re looking at; a small pink-hued lump on the trunk of the tree.
“So, what is it? What exactly did you do?”
I know next to nothing about magic, I’m just as lost as they are, if not moreso.
“Not sure…”
Moonlight reaches a hoof tentatively to poke at the pink stump.
“Feels just like regular wood, but I can’t say much else than that. I’ve never seen anything like it…”
She glances up to the sky, where the sun is a lot lower than it was before. I’d judge there to be at least a few more hours of daylight left. Has the day really passed that quickly? For all I know, this place could have with different length days. Not to mention the possibility of the celestial princess having a hoof in the process…
“Sorry everypony, it looks like we’ll have to leave this mystery for another day as I have to be heading home now. Study session is officially over.”
She turns to me.
“I hope to see you again soon. Please, consider my suggestion, you’re sure to find it to be a worthwhile experience.”
Using her magic, she collects all the books off the grass and levitates them into a neat pile in her sand-coloured aura, before setting off.
Temporal Wisp trots up to me.
“So, you wanna stay and help the rest of us try and figure out this magical lump you left on the tree?”
I’m not exactly sure when I need to be back at the castle, and this situation has been quite uncomfortable already.
“Sorry Temporal, but I’ve got places to be. See you later, I guess.”
She looks a little disappointed, but quickly perks back up.
“Fine, but I still want to study your magic. Until we meet again, Jon.”
She reaches out a hoof. Uhh, am I supposed to shake it or something? I raise a tentative hoof. She knocks her own into it before trotting off, flashing one last grin my way before she’s gone.
“So uh, Jonathan was it? It was nice meeting you. I hope to see you in class. That is if you’re attending the school for gifted unicorns that is.”
“Thank you Meta.”
I begin to make my way back towards Snow, putting a little bit extra speed into my trot. I’m glad that’s finally over…
We’ve finally reached the train station, just in time too it seems, as I just heard a whistle. Sandy has rejoined us now, seeming to have come out of nowhere, once we were clear of the park. I glance along the platform, hoping to catch a glimpse of the train. It seems to be a single-tracked line; so they can’t have that much rail traffic if there’s only space for one train in one direction. One end of the track disappears behind a wall, in the direction of the castle. The other direction, where my ears tell me the whistle came from, leads out over a small stone bridge that crosses a stream.
It’s not long before the locomotive finally comes round the mountain. And it’s bright pink… covered in heart motifs too. That is the most girly and gaudy locomotive I’ve ever seen. It certainly stands out. It’s coming in quite fast though. Is it even going to stop? The train rushes alongside the platform, before the air is suddenly filled with the harsh squeal of brakes and it comes to a stop in record time. Wow, that stopped quickly. I guess that four legs would make you a bit more resilient to sudden changes in velocity, and it is a short train; but still, it’s still quite a sudden stop.
As steam billows out onto the platform from the pistons, ponies begin to disembark. My wings are starting to itch again… Not many of the ponies coming off the train are wearing clothes. Now that I think about it, this section of Canterlot doesn’t seem to be as richly decorated. Wandering along the platform (careful not to get in the way of passengers) I examine the train length ways. The coaches, like the train, are quite small. I guess, since it has to get all the way up this mountain, it does have to be quite agile.
A pony standing near the end of the platform glances down the length of the train before blowing his whistle. Huh, that was quick. After a few more moments, the train begins to move. A loud clunk is heard as each of the chains holding each coach are pulled taut. The train’s acceleration seems to be a bit slower than it’s stopping, but it’s still out of the station in record time.
“It’s getting late now, we should start heading back,” Snow suggests.
And looking into the sky, the sun is getting quite low.
The walk back to the castle is fairly uneventful. That is until I overheard a pair of ponies discussing some ‘interesting’ rumours.
“Hey Swirl, have you heard the rumours?”
“What rumours?”
“About the alicorn.”
“Alicorn? Oh, you mean those rumours… Really though? A male alicorn, here in Canterlot? Where even in Equestria are ponies getting all this?”
“But Swirl, Cherry works in the castle, and even she says she saw the alicorn!”
“Well, we’ll just have to wait for the coronation then won’t we. As if that’ll ever happen.”
It seems like rumours are already leaking from the castle. Snow looks a little worried after hearing it. And Sandy’s expression has switched to an unreadable neutral…
By the time we reach the castle, my hooves are quite sore and the sun has already passed below the city walls. Being in the mountains means that night time comes much earlier. Maybe that’s why there’s so many towers? Snow seems to pick up on my discomfort as she suggests that we return straight to my room and have dinner brought up. I’m not in much of a state to disagree…
After lifting my saddlebags onto the pony-shaped mannequin in the corner, Snow leaves me to go get the food. Now alone, I check over my body. First of all, I’m covered in dirt; likely from when I tripped over earlier. Secondly, my wings are damp, and they itch. Spreading them out across the floor, I look at them closer. It seems like spending all day in the confines of my saddlebags haven’t been kind to them. Despite it not actually pressing down on them, the feathers are largely in disarray and sticking out at odd angles.
The door opens suddenly and a familiar green unicorn slips in. Granola Mist was it?
“Good evening, Jonathan. Miss Blossom requested me to prepare you a bath. And oh my, it looks like you’ll definitely be needing one. And your wings too! It almost looks as if you haven’t been preening. I may not be a pegasus myself, but do I know the importance of wing care!”
And then she’s into the bathroom. I look over my shoddy wings. Yeah, those don’t look so good. Using my long neck, I bring my head over one wing. Ugh, it stinks too. So, preening, how do I go about doing that? Tentatively, I reach out towards one particularly bad feather and clasp the edge in my teeth. Ugh, why did I just put that thing in my mouth? I tug backwards in my disgust and the feather pulls out without much resistance. Huh, maybe I just need to remove the loose ones? But maybe I should wait until after the bath, this can’t be hygienic.
Still, it’ll probably be some time until it’s ready, and I’ve seen ponies holding things in their mouths plenty already… Maybe they just have good immune systems. Actually, I’m not sure that I want to put that to the test.
It doesn’t actually take too long for Granola to finish preparing the bath and I gratefully make my way to it, thanking Granola as she leaves. Now for the arduous task of self cleaning… The bath is once again, the perfect temperature as I go about my cleaning routine. Once again, there’s nothing I can do about my mane, but I must at least do something with my wings. But not until I’m out of the bath, the water’s soapy.
Quite a few feathers came out on their own while I was in the bath, and even more do so as I get out. The water has soaked into them, and the extra weight has helped in pulling some of them straight, but it’s not done the whole job for me. Snow is waiting with the food trolley as I exit the bathroom. I trail water and feathers across the floor as I make my way over. I feel sorry for whoever has to clean all that up. Maybe I should gather them up myself before I go to bed.
“Evening,” Snow yawns, “I’ve brought up dinner, apple tarts!”
And yes, the meal does mostly consist of miniature pastries. They look delicious, and easy for me to handle too.
“Thanks, Snow.”
“No, *yawn* problem… Jon”
Her yawn makes me yawn. The food is delicious.
“So Snow, how exactly did you have those saddlebags done so quickly? You only took my measurements yesterday.”
“Yes, the final measurements. The bags were actually commissioned much earlier, leaving about a day for the final adjustments to be made.”
“Whoever it was works fast.”
“I’ll make sure to pass on your compliments.”
We eat in silence for a bit.
“So, umm, Snow. Could you maybe tell me, how exactly does one go about ‘preening’ their wings?”
“You don’t know? Uh, well. I think it goes like this… So, sometimes, the feathers on your wings may become misaligned over time. And some even become damaged. I’m not really sure of the facts, but I think you’re supposed to try to nudge the misaligned feathers back into position. And if they’re damaged, they’ll naturally become loose. Yes, they’ll fall off by themselves, but you ideally want to pull them out as soon as you can. Loose feathers rub around inside the wings and can cause them to itch or damage other feathers around them. Not to mention, you’ll start littering feathers all over the floor…”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“You’re welcome? Anyway, I best be going now. It’s late, and I’m tired. Big day tomorrow, y’know?”
Snow stands up and begins to wheel the now empty food cart out of the room. Glancing over her shoulder, she stops upon seeing my feather trail. Rolling her eyes, she envelops the litterred feathers in her magic and levitates them all onto the cart, before finally leaving the room.
Well, I suppose the feathers are taken care of. Maybe I should get the ones out of the bathtub. Another yawn escaped my muzzle. Maybe not, preening'll probably take a while. I make my way back into the bathroom before extending both my wings and making a start.
Well, I think that that’s the best I’ll get them. Not the neatest, but at least they’re no longer itching.
I wander out of the bathroom and climb up onto my soft bed. It’s been a long day and I’m tired. I subconsciously shuffle further into the middle of the cloud and then allow my wings to spread out fully. What did Snow say earlier? A big day tomorrow? Oh right, the start of my pony education. I wonder what that’ll be like.
I don’t follow that train of thought any further as I drift off into sleep.