Chapter 6
“Who?”
“Sister, please move calmly to my side. Now.”
“Luna, why are you being so- Oh.”
The Princess of the Sun was looking at a creature that had surely never seen its brightness. It was pony-shaped, but pale white, with gossamer, bat-shaped wings and large red eyes without pupils. Behind it, dozens more stood, looking unblinkingly at the Princesses. They all stood just within the range of their light spells, and seemed unwilling to come closer.
The one in the front began to speak. Its voice was simultaneously raspy and gurgling, like the sound of river rapids that splash fiercely against the rocks, and vaguely masculine. It contrasted fiercely with the refinement of his words.
“How might we assist the Princesses?”
“Not to be a few miles underground looking at a face like that would be nice-”
“Sister!” Luna cut Celestia off with a hoof. She turned back to the creature that had spoken.
“We’re searching for two colts. Of... our kind. They may have found their way down here sometime yesterday.”
The leader cocked his head to the side and said, “Yes, we observed the younglings.”
“And? Where might they be?”
He smiled unsettlingly. “Back among your kind.”
“You didn’t eat them?!”
“Sister! Really, now, I don’t think that is-”
The creature, however, was puzzled by Celestia’s comment. “Do you think we eat ponies?”
“Well, I don’t know. You do have the whole ‘primitive feral, eaty- chompy- scary feel going on down here. How did you lure them down here, anyway? I know the entrance was unblocked, but it’s dark, and I doubt two colts would’ve come all the way down here on their own.”
He looked reproached. “Lure them? Of course not. They were following the light.”
“Which light? There is no light down here! Without this spell, I wouldn’t be able to see my buckin’ hoof in front of my face!”
“The flying light. The one that floated on the air.”
“No offense, but I think you all might be seeing things. Maybe there’s some kind of underground gas or something-”
“It floated into the cave after them, and they quickly began to follow it, deeper and deeper. It was drawn on the currents of the air, light as a feather.”
“Where is it now?”
The leader gestured to a creature behind him. Without a word, the second one came forward, holding a bag. With a jerk of its head, it tossed the bag in front of the royal sisters.
Celestia bent towards it, but Luna pushed her away and picked it up in her magic. She pulled the drawstring at the top, releasing a bright glow that some of the closer creatures shied away from. The Princesses peeked inside.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me...”
*** *** ***
“So you’re helping with the kitchen staff? Why am I not surprised? Your cooking is kickflank!”
Bonbon smiled kindly. “Oh, it’s a bit more than that. I’ve been brought in specially for the Gala tonight. I have a friend who knows the Princess quite well, and she got me this ‘consulting’ job. But-” she glanced around the kitchen- “so far I’m the only one I’ve seen cooking. In fact, you two are the first alert ponies I’ve seen all morning. Or afternoon? The sun is a bit odd today.”
Vinyl and Tavi exchanged glances. “Yes, we noticed,” said the cellist. “Did you happen to be present last night?”
Bonbon shook her head. “No, Lyra and I got in fairly late, and I was tired. We got a hotel room by the train station, and I went to bed. Lyra took a camera and went out; said she wanted to get some good shots of Canterlot.”
Vinyl broke in, saying, “Oh, Lyra’s here, too?! We haven’t seen you two since that crazy party in Manehattan. You remember that, Tavi?”
“Vinyl, that was a charity soiree I took you to that Miss Heartstrings happened to be playing at. It was not a ‘crazy party’ until you hooked her instrument up to an amplifier, produced your decks out of Celestia-knows-where, and consumed enough alcohol to make you forget all the rules on etiquette I had given you the hour before.”
“That wasn’t the alcohol, that was not being a snooze. And, well, the alcohol helped.”
“And this is why I can’t take you anywhere.”
Bonbon broke back in with a smile. “I remember, Vinyl. I was doing the catering, Lyra was doing the music. We were hired together. It did get a lot more fun after you started things going, though.”
Vinyl smiled triumphantly at Octavia, who rolled her eyes in exasperation. Bonbon went on.
“Anyway, when I woke up, there was a note at my door from Lyra that said she had stayed the night in the castle, and that she had gotten some great shots of the Princess. I came up here, found nopony around and the kitchens unguarded, so I set about making myself breakfast. Then you two walked in.” She frowned suddenly. “By the way, what was that loud bang I heard just before you came in?”
A low moan came from the other side of the door.
Vinyl grinned. “We may have... knocked out Celestia’s great grand-nephew with a door.”
Bonbon just looked at them, disbelieving.
“Well, we did!”
She sighed, then smiled. “Same as ever, Vinyl. Well, let him in, so we don’t all get exiled, and we’ll feed him.”
“Can we feed us, too?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Vinyl shrugged in agreement, and Octavia crossed the room, opening the door. Blueblood stumbled in, a bit dizzy. He managed to stammer out “Auntie... Telling... I...” before collapsing on the floor and sitting there, dazed.
Bonbon glanced at him, and said “Alright, you three, I’ve got french toast cooking. I think I’ll make a lot of it, since I’ve got the entire Canterlot kitchen at my disposal. I’m hoping now that the aroma will help wake up all the ponies I’ve seen snoozing everywhere. Even the guards! The Princess should discipline them more harshly.”
Octavia nodded. “That’s a fair idea. Heaven knows where the Princesses have even got to, and the Gala is in a few short hours. This castle must be set to rights.”
Bonbon pointed them to a small table at the end of the kitchen, and carried them three plates of french toast. Vinyl and Tavi helped Blueblood to his place, where he looked at the dish, confused, before licking the table.
Vinyl started giggling. Octavia sighed. Bonbon just pushed the plate closer to him, saying “Eat this.”
She returned to the rest of her cooking. Vinyl looked at Octavia.
“How hard d’ya think we hit him?”
“And just what do you mean, ‘we’?”
The DJ grinned. “All for one and one for all, Tavi!”
“...I see. I’ll need to remember that next time the chores need to be done.”
“Aww...”
“Now, what are we going to do?”
“About what?”
“Anything!”
“I don’t know, but this french toast is delicious. That mare can really cook.”
“Vinyl! It’s imperative we discover what transpired last night, and assist the Princess in getting the Gala together and functional before this evening!”
“...You use longer words when you’re angry. It’s cute.”
“Ugh.... And will you stop eating Blueblood’s french toast?”
“Well, I finished mine, and he’s too busy trying to eat the table. I- Hey, wait a sec!”
“What?”
Vinyl turned towards Bonbon and shouted “Did you say Lyra wrote that she had pictures of the Princess?”
“Yeah, she did! Why?”
The DJ turned back to Octavia. “Don’t you get it? Lyra probably has pictures of whatever happened last night!”
“Oh, you could be right! Good thinking.”
“So all we have to do is find her and her camera!”
“Well then, why ever are we waiting here? Let’s go!”
“What about Bluebonnet here?”
“Bonbon can look after him.”
They got up, leaving their plates on the table, and crossed to the door, saying goodbye to Bonbon as they went.
Blueblood let out another moan and shook his head as if to clear it. His eyes refocused a little bit.
“I’ve told you, my name is Blue- Who ate my breakfast?”
*** *** ***
“Hey, Snails! What time is it?”
“I dunno. Why?”
“Well, look at the sun. Doesn’t it look a little... weird?”
“I dunno...”
“Well, it does. Hey, look at me!” Snips pointed his horn at the sun, and extended his wings. “I’m Princess Celestia!”
Snails snorted laughter and joined in. “And I’m Looner!”
“Uh- you mean Luna?”
“Oh, yeah, her.”
“Well, then, c’mon, Luna, we gotta raise the moon! It’s time for night!”
“Uh, yeah, Celestia! You gotta lower the sun first!”
“Right!”
Their horns lit up. The sun dropped below the horizon so fast it was almost comical, and the moon shot up to take it’s place. It was night.
Snips and Snails abruptly stopped laughing.
“Uh...Did we do that?”
“I- well- huh. I dunno.”
“Uhhh... should we do something?”
Snips leapt into the air, beating his wings with agitation. “Yes! Yes! Do something! Fix it!”
Snails flew up to join him. “Whadya want me to do?”
“I don’t know! It’s your fault! You were pretending to be Princess Luna!”
“It’s not my fault! You were pretending to be Princess Celestia first!”
“But I-” Snips moaned. “We need to fix this! Focus again!”
Their horns lit up again, and the sun soared into the sky once more. The moon sank beneath the horizon, only to pop up again as if angry at being sent back. It flew up to cover the sun, creating an eclipse.
Snips and Snails opened their eyes.
“No! That’s not it, either! Snails, why did you put it back up?!”
“Sorry! I felt bad putting it back down there alone.”
“Well, don’t! We could be in huge trouble!”
Snails’ horn lit up a final time, and the moon sank back beneath the skyline. They both breathed a sigh of relief. Snips looked around.
“Um, d’ya think anybody noticed that?”
*** *** ***
“WHAT THE BUCKING HELL JUST HAPPENED?”
“Woah, Tavi, I don’t think I’ve ever-”
“VINYL. THE SUN AND MOON JUST HAD A MINOR SKIRMISH.”
“Well, maybe the Princesses are having a sisterly argument-”
“No. This is disastrous! Don’t you remember? I don’t think Princess Celestia has total control over the celestial bodies any longer.”
“Hey, that’s kinda cool! She’s Celestia, and she controls the celestial thingies.”
“...Did you truly not catch that before now?”
“Uhh... no.”
“I don’t think I can say I’m surprised... Well, it’s of no consequence at the moment. We need to find Miss Heartstrings.”
“Yeah. Hey, she’s a musician, right? Maybe she’s with the rest of your band!”
“Ensem- nevermind. Even if she were, we don’t know where they are, either.”
“Oh, right. Okay, how about this? We’ll go meet up with Celeste, like we said before, and maybe she can help.”
“I suppose that’s the best we can do. Alright. Where is her room?”
“Ummmm....” Vinyl squinted and looked in all directions. The mares were back in the main hall where they had found Blueblood. She pointed in a direction. “There?”
“Vinyl, that’s the front door to the castle.”
“Oh. Uhh...”
Octavia sighed. “You understand what we have to do, right? Who we need now?”
“Oh, come on... I’m sure we can find it without him...”
“Perhaps, but not in this century.”
Vinyl sighed. “Alright, Bluebells. You can stop hiding now.”
“It’s Blueblood, wen- um, Miss. And how did you know I was following you?”
Octavia answered without turning around. “You scream like a filly.”
“I do not! …So?”
Vinyl answered. “So you screamed louder than Tavi here when the sun and moon flipped out.”
“Well, if that hadn’t happened, you would never have known I was here. I’m rather nimble on my hooves.”
“Also, your hoofsteps are really, really loud. And you slammed the door behind you when you left the kitchen.”
“Well, I... Look here, would you like to get to Auntie’s room or not?”
“Lead the way, Bluebottoms.”
“I will have you exiled, or worse, for this, you know.” Blueblood trotted off towards some stairs.
Vinyl smiled at Tavi. “Isn’t this just fun?”
*** *** ***
“Really, Sister?”
“How is this my fault, Luna?”
“It’s your glow-in-the-dark quill.”
“Yeah, but who knew it would come down here?”
“You did throw it off a balcony instead of disposing of it in the manner of any normal pony.”
It was true. In the bag sat none other than Pheather, Celestia’s faithful broken quill. The spell the Princess had cast so that she could write in the dark still worked, and the feather was giving off a bright golden light.
“Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would be blown into a cave and lure two colts down here to be eaten by these things!”
“...Sister, thy name is not political correctness.”
“Excuse me. I’ve already said that we don’t eat ponies.” The leader of the creatures sounded angry.
“Yes, we know.” Luna turned back to him. “I do apologize for my sister. She had a difficult night.”
“And my headache’s coming back looking at this light. I can understand why you guys stay holed up down here, the dark does wonders for a hangover, but-”
“Sister. Cease.”
“Fine, whatever. Hey, whatever happened to the colts if you didn’t eat them, anyway?”
Luna agreed. “Yes, that’s what I would like to know. How did you get them back above ground?”
“They flew.”
“Flew? How?”
The leader smiled widely, revealing sharp teeth. The effect combined with his wide red eyes was beyond disturbing.
“You don’t remember us, Princesses, but long ago, before the two of you ruled, we were already here. We lived beneath the ground even then, practicing our magic. In fact, we-”
Celestia yawned loudly. “We don’t need the history lesson. Get to the point.”
The leader frowned angrily. “The point, Princess, is that there is old magic down here. And with an attitude like that, I’m even more pleased we did what we did.”
The Princess of the Sun felt a real chill go down her spine. “...What did you do?”
“Made trouble for you.”
“How?”
“You haven’t seem them yet? We instructed them to search you out.”
“Who?”
Luna broke in. “They already did. She doesn’t remember.”
Celestia turned to her sister. “What? You know something about this? What the buck?”
The leader spoke directly to Luna now. “Oh, did they now? What did she do?”
“The sun is now out of alignment. I shall leave it at that. I just wasn’t sure what had happened to change them like that. I know now that it must have been you.”
“Indeed, it was us.” He mused for a moment. “Now that I know they have control, though...”
“Who? What? Where?”
He ignored Celestia. “...I think it would be much more entertaining to have them take power for a few years or so. They’ll learn to rule soon enough. Of course, that means you two will need to stay down here for a little while.”
Luna backed up, grasping what was about to happen. Celestia didn’t, but she backed up all the same.
The leader spread his wings, suddenly, and the light from Pheather went out. The Princesses, who had extinguished their light spells when the quill was revealed, were thrown into momentary blackness. A voice floated out to them.
“Won’t you stay awhile?”
*** *** ***
***Author’s note:
Yeah, for some reason I didn’t catch the ‘Celestia - celestial’ thing either until the second I wrote that joke. Don’t laugh at me.
Aryn