//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Tundra Terrific // Story: Trash of the Royal Castle // by Netap //------------------------------// "My Prince!" A Grey-haired Yak yelled as he ran up a set of stairs on his way to a large wood and stone manor. Guards moved out of his way, and some quickly opened the doors for him as to not slow him down. "My- My Prince!" He called out as he entered the large manor, Seeing the intricately detailed wooden throne at the end of the entrance hall, and the dark-orange colored Yak sitting at a table below the throne. "Fergus," The orange Yak says as he looks at the grey-haired Yak who ran into the manor, "What meaning is there behind commotion this morning?" "My Prince!" The now-identified Fergus ran up to the orange Yak and bowed to him before speaking, "Two Ponies are at the gates, They say they've been surviving out in the cold and need to make contact with Equestria!" Fergus took a few steps back to give his ruler room. "Ponies at gate? Open gate, Let them enter! Get food and clothes ready! Ponies must be cold, They not strong like Yak!" The prince yelled before standing up from the table he sat at and made his way to the door of the entrance hall, intent on meeting with the Ponies. Starlight wasn't happy. Blueblood was right, the glow from the bottom of the cliff that they saw yesterday was indeed a city. She was ready to get something to eat, an actual bed to sleep in, and make contact with her homeland so the Princesses won't kill her when they hear that Blueblood was forced to take care of her for several days. But instead of all the good things that should have come with reaching civilization, Starlight was stuck in the snow outside the walls of the city while Blueblood was off talking with a gatekeeper. "Look at them laughing, It's like they're best friends already," She muttered to herself as she watched the Prince speak and Laugh with the Yak who was standing at the top of the wall. "Open Gate!" She could faintly hear someone shout from the other side of the wall, before the large wooden gate to the city opened, and Starlight laid her eyes on the Yak that stood beyond it. "Ponies! Welcome to Yakyakistan!" The Orange Yak with the horned-golden helmet shouted at them, a wide smile on his face. "Thank you for welcoming us," Prince Blueblood told the yak, giving him a curt bow. Starlight started walking closer to the gate so she could get a better picture of what was going on. "I am Prince Rutherford! Prince of Yakyakistan! Hope you not too cold!" The orange Yak yelled before turning his back on the two ponies and started walking into the city, "Follow me!" I adjusted my Tuxedo collar as I sat down in the great hall of Prince Rutherford's castle/manor, the glowing gem I picked up in the cave sat in my pocket. My coat was still worn by Starlight, but that was fine by me, By this point in time she's used it more than I have, seeing as I only bought it a day before arresting her. "Allow me apology for poor condition!" The Yak prince said in his naturally loud voice as he sat on his throne, "Was not expecting you today, What surprise!" "Yes, Allow me to also apologize to you, Your Highness," I told the prince, giving him a bow, "We did not expect to make it to your city either, our predicament came from a Teleportation spell going wrong, leaving my Bodyguard and I lost in the tundra several kilometers from here," "No need you apologize!" Prince Rutherford told me, "And no need bow, Yak don't need bowing," He smiled as he turned his head, Several Yaks walked into the room carrying plates of food and goblets of drink. "We shall speak more about you soon," He told us, a smile on his face, "For now, Let us eat!" Starlight looked at the plate in front of her, filled with Bread and Cheese and root vegetables and meats of all kinds. It was only a few days ago that she ate meat for the first time, and now, seeing the roasted chicken leg on her plate, next to the buttered potatoes and gravy, she couldn't help herself but everything on the plate. She was hungry okay! sue her. Looking at the prince sitting on the seat next to her, closer to the Yak prince, she could see him eating much slower than her, trying to keep a modicum of decency as he ate. Only to throw all of it out as he chugged from the goblet like a Stallion starved, Rich Golden Mead sliding down his chin as he drank the alcoholic beverage. Staring at her own goblet, she pushed it toward her new boss. She's not really a drinking type of girl, and somebody needs to stay sober for what's coming next, and seeing as both her Prince and the Prince of Yaks seemed to be in the midst of an improvised drinking game, It might as well be her. I like to imagine I have a strong alcohol tolerance, You kind of had to be good at holding your drink if you didn't want to embarrass yourself in the Navy. "-And then, And then the thieves just stood there! As if I didn't just catch them stealing *Hic* Who does that?!" I was definitely not one-hundred percent sober right now, It would be dumb to think I was. "Haha! What next? What next?" The orange Yak prince laughed loudly as he urged me to continue the story, his face red from all the drinking we'd done already. "Next? They dropped on me! And they started trying to take the painting by force! haha! *Hic* But then- then this child, little boy, maybe seven or eight, tried to get them off me," "Oh no! Did they hurt boy?!" "They did!" I yelled angrily, slamming my hoof on the table, "And I was angry at that! It's okay to beat me up, I can take it Dammit! But don't you dare lay your hands on children!" Prince Rutherford slammed his hoof on the table as well, causing a louder sound than mine, "Good! Children pure! *Hic* Must be Protected!" "Yeah! So I beat them up! All of them! They try hitting children? How do they like me hitting them?! Haha!" "Hahaha! Yes! They get what deserve!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" Starlight looked dispassionately at the two Princes, laughing like loons in a drunken stupor. "Miss, Your rooms are ready," A yak lady came and told her, leading her away from the two powerful individuals who were acting like drunk idiots, "Don't worry about your husband, we will bring him to his room soon," Starlight took a moment to hear what she was told before quickly turning to correct the Yak, only to see that they were already gone. Still hearing the sounds of drunken cheer down the hall, Starlight decided that catching some sleep will make her feel less like she made the worst decision of her life. My head was pounding, I feel like I had just drank an entire buffet's worth of Alcohol and am now suffering the consequences. "you're back!" A voice yelled as I pushed myself up from the floor, seeing my surroundings I can confirm that I am no longer in Yakyakistan. The flat empty plane of space I stood on was exactly like when I tried sleeping in the tunnels. Endless space, with stars and nebulae as far as the eye can see. "Look down here!" A woman's voice called to me, urging me to look down, seeing my hooves standing on the flat expanse of an endless nothingness. "No! Over here, to the right!" The voice called once more, urging me to turn my pounding head to look in the direction, passing by stars, clouds of space dust, asteroid belts, a decapitated head, and planets with rings around them. ...Wait a minute. I focused on the head, just laying on the ground in front of me. The head looked like a weird mixture between an Antelope, a cat, and a snake. The head was mostly covered in purplish-red fur, wide yellow eyes with slit pupils that stared up at me from the empty floor, and a pink neck extended downward before being cut off, like an action figure with missing pieces. The top of the head was covered in titanium blue scales that extended past the head like a mane of flowing hair, only instead of hair it was closer to a yellowish-green cobra hood. Topping it all off with a pair of backward-curving antelope horns. "Hi! Now we can finally speak face to face!" The body-less head said as it smiled up at me. I looked at it and blinked slowly, rubbing my eyes with my hooves before opening them again, seeing that the head was still there, smiling at me with eyes full of what looked like excitement and hope. "...I'm not drunk enough to deal with this,"