Well, it worked!
The dinner went pretty well, and we are permitted to leave our cell and explore the palace a bit. The place was HUGE! An absolute playground for us to explore and enjoy the things inside! And the thing that stood out to me the most was the fact the building was SO BIG! It was so large it could have fitted most of the homes of my old coastal town or indeed Bridlewood inside and there would still be space!
We were placed on the bottom floor of the palace where the guest rooms where. I could only assume the Royal Family had once been bigger, as such an enormous building for only three ponies to live in hardly seemed like a sensible use of funds. That or they had guests all the time, which would probably require a tea delivery service at all times.
I wonder what the pegasi would think of unicorn tea? I noticed they drink a fair bit of tea, as well as coffee in the morning, but that was hardly something revolutionary in my neck of the woods. Tea, after all, is supposed to be both refreshing and cooling, which is pretty nice.
Zipp didn't seem to think that the hugeness of the place was all that special. Then again it was her house, so she was likely just used to the place by this point. I had no clue how long she'd been in that body, but it didn't really matter. She seemed to know this place pretty well, so she often served as a guide.
The layers of the building were pretty impressive. Staircases seemed to be a minimum, with long sweeping ramps that connected the floors and allowed for traffic up and down. According to Zipp, when the place had been built that had been done to allow luggage trolleys to be pulled between the floors without any need for unloading them, carrying the things to a different trolley, reloading them, and then continuing on the way.
I tried going up one, but it was very slippery, and I slid backwards more than once. Pipp (who seemed to be more friendly than before) stated there was another reason. During balls, ladies in big dresses need to be able to pass without crashing into each other, which is why they were so wide. And stairs would increase the risks of them tripping up!
What was most fun was the vending machines. There was a place where you could get coins to use them, but I found that by pushing the buttons, each played a different note. This was very exciting to me, as I love making music!
Before long, I was going backwards and forwards, hitting the buttons in different patterns trying to make a melody. Before long I had a halting but clear rendition of the My Little Pony theme from Generation 4. Having Sunny turn up and provide a harmony line by pushing different buttons made my life easier.
So much happened in the week since we arrived in Zephyr Heights, that I can't tell you everything that happened. Not least because I didn't witness everything that happened, and of the things I did see telling you all of them would take me so long we'd still be here when Discord comes back!
Wait, he's already come back? Thanks for warning me.
Anyway, one place I quite liked going to during the day was the Royal Garden. This sat in the middle of the Palace, flanked on two sides by the North and South towers. It was a calm, relaxing, peaceful place, filled with lovely plants and some animal sounds. Although to ensure the plants grew properly, the top was open to the sunlight.
I liked this place because it reminded me of the Elizabethan Gardens back in my former hometown of human world. The gardens here had mock castles, a rockery, and even an artificial stream and waterfall. I wonder how much water they used, or if they just derived their water from some sort of cloud conversion system?
The number of pathways was amazing. This would be a great place for hide and seek, and I could bet Pipp and Zipp had played in here when they were fillies. I must ask them if they did.
But anyway, I popped around the corner and saw something I wasn't expecting to see. Sitting in front of the artificial river were two figures I was hardly expecting to see interact.
It was Pipp and Misty! Misty was closer to the water, and Pipp had one of her wings around her shoulders. Clearly the two were bonding as friends! I quietly smiled and backed away. Truth be told I hadn't interacted with Misty anywhere near as much as I probably should have. Although the poor dear hadn't divulged much of her past, from what I can remember Opaline probably had a big part in making her the way she is- seemingly petrified of making friends and jumping at any loud noises heard anywhere. Seems as though Pipp wasn't as prejudiced as she seemed at first.
I made my way through the garden and stopped behind some more bushes to look at some other plant life when I suddenly heard something angelic floating through the air. I recognized it pretty quickly. It was Pipp! She was singing!
I dashed back to look, and saw Pipp was gently singing to Misty, clearly some sort of cheerful tune to calm her. At least that was my guess. She had the voice of an angel- and the wings to match. I had to figure out precisely why her wings looked like those of no other pegasi. Perhaps this was just something that happened to younger pegasi, and they eventually shed that layer in favor of ones more like Zipp or Haven?
It was rude to stare, so I simply got on my way and went to another part of the garden to relax. Besides, I had some macaroni art to work on, as I was planning on giving it to the Queen at the celebration!
Another night, I woke up in the middle of the night. Well, I say middle of the night. It was actually four in the morning, about three hours before I normally wake up. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I felt something was wrong. Very wrong.
I got up out of the bed (how do they make them this comfortable?) and headed into the corridor. My sparkle detector was running crazy. I was detecting some serious dark vibes from the next room, and as such I went and knocked on the door.
I heard a shout, and moments later the door opened. Sunny was staying in that room. She looked a mess. Her mane was all over the place, and her fur was wet. It seemed like she had been sweating pretty heavily, which is odd as the rooms are climate controlled for the weather. Seeing as it was summer, it should've been pretty difficult to start sweating. Unless...
"I- is there something you want?" Sunny asked, her voice sounding odd. Her eyes darted about as if looking for something. Or somepony.
"I sensed your sparkle was pretty dark and wanted to see if you were OK," I replied.
Sunny nodded and stepped back, inviting me in. I closed my own room's door and locked it before popping into hers and shutting the door behind me. I then took a seat in the chair and looked. "I'm guessing you're not OK."
Sunny shook her head, still looking pretty frazzled. "I- I had a bad dream."
"How bad? The 'I forgot my things for school' type of bad, or worse?"
Sunny sighed. "Worse." She then described the details to me. "Izzy, i- it was horrible! I don't know if it's just my imagination playing up or whether watching Invasion of the Tripods in the dark with Zipp was a bad idea, b- but I can remember every detail! What sort of dream does that?"
I hopped out of my seat and hugged her. "We all get bad dreams," I said, calmly, and in a soothing voice. "Everypony gets them. But we have to remember that dreams are exactly that. Dreams. They aren't real. Things that live in our dreams can't hurt us, because they don't exist. Our friends can see us through. And that's what I'll do."
Sunny replied, with relief in her voice. "Thanks, Izzy. I really do feel better after that. I'm glad I met you."
"The honor's mine, Sunny," I replied, as we separated from our hug. "I can give you some sleep tea if that would help you sleep."
Sunny checked for bags under her eyes. "Hey, it's better than nothing. I'd like to try some if that's possible."
I went to get some, and brought it back, mixing a bit into Sunny's mug. It seemed to do the trick, and she nodded off in minutes.
Something was up. I just knew it. But what?