//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Expectations // Story: Alicorn Kings and Better Things // by RandomCommentor //------------------------------// A mysterious voice speaks, “Interesting… that method, those ideas… if only you weren't a Deoniyas. Perhaps… perhaps I may fix this problem. If I am allowed.” The voice seems to dislike saying Deoniyas, spitting the word out like it put a bad taste in its mouth. Focus: Ventian two days after chapter one “Prince! The King requests your presence in the throne room!” Ventian looks away from the metal he was working with and faces the guard in the doorway. “Alright, i will be right there.” Then he walks towards the door and out of the room as the guard follows. huh, i wonder what this is about? As they get to the throne room doors, Ventian can hear his father speaking through the doors but cannot hear what is being said. The doors open, and a cloaked pony walks past out of the room. As Ventian walks towards his father, he sees four ponies, some of which seem to be researchers of some kind. “Ventian. I have decided you have been cooped up in this castle for far too long. I have made some preparations for an… expedition outside of the capitol. The destination is quite far away and will take a while to get there on hoof.” Ventian’s eyes widen in shock. WHAT?! I was not expecting that! An expedition? To where? He decides to voice some of these thoughts. “Father, to where is this ‘expedition’ going?” The king looks over at the gathered ponies for a moment and then back to his son. “These ponies can tell you on the way, now get prepared to leave. You may take whatever you wish from your quarters but make sure whatever you bring is… replaceable.” Ventian looks at the gathered ponies and turns to leave whilst saying, “Alright… guess ill get some stuff from my room. Where shall i meet you all, in here or…?” One pony steps forward and says “Prince, you may meet us outside the main castle doors. We shall wait for you there.” The prince nods and walks towards his room, thinking very hard all the while. okay. This was out of the blue, but i can manage. Luckily i just finished my Project with that new material. But should i bring it? Father said to make sure whatever i bring is replaceable, but it could be useful… Getting to his room, Ventian prepares to leave the castle by grabbing a saddlebag enchanted with a Dimensional Compression spell that allows many things to fit in a smaller space(its bigger on the inside) and placing the Project into it, as well as other items that might be useful. As Ventian exits the castle, he is greeted by the four ponies who were all in the throne room earlier. Two unicorns and two alicorns. The two unicorns seem to be siblings as they have similar coloration, one light purple with a dark green mane and one dark purple with a light green mane. The first being a stallion and the other being a mare. The alicorns are both mares, one being white with a pink mane and the other dark blue with a grey mane who is holding four large bags in a red aura. The unicorn stallion speaks “Hey, theres the Prince. We can go now.” Ventian, wondering what their names are, asks “So, before we start… can i have your names?” The two unicorns look surprised a bit for some reason, but the white alicorn responds quickly to the question with a happy demeanor. “My name is Rose Petal, im a healer, the unicorns are Leva and Livar who are siblings and my friend here is Vedaria. Its nice to meet you, Prince Ventian!” She says with a small bow at the end. Well, she seems nice. Maybe this ‘expedition’ isnt such a bad thing after all… “Well, its very nice to meet all of you. I hope to get to know you all better as time goes on.” Rose seems to smile more at this, while the unicorn stallion, Livar seems to mutter to himself, “yea right, i doubt that” “Okay…” Ventian starts “what next? Where are we going?” The blue alicorn responds by walking away while saying “Alright then, follow me everyone.” As the group begins to walk towards the front gates of the capitol, Ventian seems to become nervous. oh dear. Ive never been outside the walls before… ive barely ever left the castle! Maybe father was right, ive been kept in the castle too long. Maybe this will be good for me? I dont really like this… odd feeling like… i dont know! Why do i feel like something bad is going to happen? Am i nervous? It feels like its more than that, like… like… Livar was always a very independent person. Always keeping a lookout for anything threatening, keeping his dumbass sister safe from any monsters she happens to locate in her eternal quest for more information. “Research is progress!” She liked to say. Livar didn't like the capitol, he didn't like the noble alicorns always flaunting their status and power, he didn't like most alicorns. Rose and Vedaria are tolerable, but he finds it aggravating that Rose is still magically stronger than him even though he has more experience. And when he discovers that THE KING demands them come to him to “teach his son how to survive in the outside” he has no choice but to comply, but boyyy does he hate it. He hates royalty with all his heart and now, he has to deal with a prince for the next WEEK OR MORE?! No, abso-fucking-lutely not. But, he cant say no to the king. Nooo, that would be TREASON. So now he has to keep an eye on his sister and make sure the prince doesnt kill them all. Just… fucking… perfect. Leva always loved new things, loved to make new discoveries. Meet new creatures, study them and document information. She loved it when her brother helped with things like wrangling a mutant bear to see why it grew wings or maybe he just walks around Warg-proofing the area around them with spells. Leva didnt expect much out of any alicorns she met, as they always assumed they knew everything. She doesnt like that behavior, because nobody knows everything! Theres always something new to learn. Someone new to meet. Thats why, when the king of alicorns demanded they come to help teach his son how to live outside of civilization for a while, she knew it was a recipe for disaster. An unprepared, possibly spoiled prince who had no survival skills and probably knew nothing about wildlife, living with a small group of ponies out in the wild? Yeaah, she didnt have her hopes up at all for this pony. Hopefully, if the prince dies, her execution is quick and painless. She also hopes her brother doesnt start anything, as he hates alicorns the most. five hours later Ventian begins to get tired from walking for so long. The sun seems to be setting and the sky is darkening, the forest around them is starting to make noise as well. Vedaria stops and says “Alright, we can begin to setup a camp here for tonight.” She sets down her bags (that she was holding in her aura for five hours strait.) and starts unpacking fabric and metal rods. “Hey, Prince? Do you know how to make a tent?” She asks, facing him. “Uhh… no I do not, can you show me?” Ventian responds. Vedaria then walks over and begins to demonstrate, placing each tent several meters away from each other in a triangle. As the camp is set up, a problem seems to arise, there are only three tents. “So…” Rose starts. “Who wants to share a tent?” Livar then replies to this with “Me and Leva get one, Rose and Vedaria get one and the prince is alone, problem solved.” Ventian has no problem with this arrangement, and responds while nodding, “Alright, sounds good to me.” Then everyone gets into their respective tents as it is mostly dark now, and gets into their body-cushions and goes to sleep. As everyone wakes up, the first thing Ventian thinks is wait this isnt my bedroom? Where- oh right. getting up and exiting his tent, he sees that its early morning and that he is the second to wake up. Livar is standing across the campsite from him with his back turned with his horn lit up. Huh. He must be casting a spell of some kind… better not interrupt. Reentering his tent, Ventian grabs his bags and checks their contents, deciding to grab and eat a piece of bread. Seeing that nothing has changed with the contents of the bag, he reexits the tent with his food to see Livar now facing him. “Huh. Didnt think you would be awake yet…” Leva then leaves her tent, and starts packing up the structure while saying “Good morning guys, I see we’re all early risers! Thats great. So, how was the sleeping, Prince?” “I had a very good sleep, dreamt something about vines and big spiders.” “Oh, do you not like spiders?” Leva asks, finishing packing the tent into its bag. “What? No, i love the things, they’re fuzzy and cute and I like that they have the ability to produce such a strong material. Did you know that spider silk is stronger than steel? I did. Its pretty cool.” Ventian shares with a smile. Leva and Livar look at the prince with a confused look, Livar shaking his head and walking away with the tent bag and Leva going from confused to happy. “I actually did know that! Do you also like snakes? What about plants? What kinds of plants do you like?” Leva, now realizing that Ventian is someone worth talking to, begins to converse with him about plants and animals for a while. All the while, Livar is glaring at Ventian. “Grrrr…” “Hey, Livar. Cmere a minute, I wanna talk to you.” Turning around, face going neutral, he sees that Vedaria is the one that spoke. “What do you want?” “I know you may not like him, but try not to glare a hole into his skull, alright? I can feel your anger from over here. Once his father calls him back or when the prince bails out of fear or whatever, then you dont have to deal with him anymore.” “I know, I just don't like him near my sister…” Vedaria walks past him towards the two super-nerds and tells them that its time to start walking again. Rose meets up with them, coming from… somewhere in the bushes? “I was just looking at the herbs, nothing useful.” She says with a smile when asked what she was doing. Huh. didn't even realize she was gone… she must be very sneaky. Ventian thought. As the group is walking, Ventian remembers something. “Hey, so where exactly are we going?” Rose responds “Oh! Right, we didnt tell you. Umm… the king didnt really specify?” “Wait, I thought he said you knew?” “Oh, well we do have a destination, but… his highness really only said to bring you in the wilderness to uh… teach you how to survive on your own?” “I- what? Thats not- but…” Ventian stutters, not knowing what to say exactly. Okay. I guess I should have expected that. Father wasn't very specific, and he usually is. “Okay… is there anything else I need to know?” “Not really?” Rose responds with a tilt of her head. “I mean, probably. But I don't think it matters.” Ventian decides to take in this new information, Father sends me away from the castle to… what? Make me learn to survive? That doesnt make much sense. If he wanted that, then he could have just told me. Whatever, I'm sure this is going to be a learning experience and I do like learning.