Cabinet Sitter
By Lucen Aurora
Canterlot castle was a much odder place than most ponies realized. When your average pony thought about that huge shining castle, way up on that mountain, they usually envisioned their ethereal goddess, sitting in luxury, surrounded by tea, and cake, and the lot.
The servants of the castle knew better. Oh, the castle was up on the mountain all right, and they put in a ton of work to keep it gleaming both within or without. But at any given time, you could find the oddest things going on. If it wasn't Princess Celestia hiding in a closet and gorging on cake, or Princess Luna blowing up her latest flat screen TV in a rage due to, 'the incompetence of her allies', it was Prince Lucen up to who knows what.
Today, he lay atop a tall cabinet that was used to hold cleaning supplies. It was located in a well trafficked hallway where visitors to the castle often trod. One hoof hung lazily off the front of the cabinet and he swung his head back and forth, first peering down one side of the hall, then the other.
The staff didn't question it, the Prince was known to do odd things all the time. And considering some of the more destructive pranks his mother and aunt indulged in, they where just glad it was such an innocuous activity.
The visitors to the castle, however, regularly paused to gawk at the Alicorn prince, with his beat up old brown work hat and vest. For his part, Lucen would gawk right back, often matching their expressions perfectly and causing them to scurry off in whatever direction they happened to be going.
One brave earth pony colt, having wandered away from his parents, approached the cabinet and addressed the Prince.
"G'd mornin' yer highness," he called out, paired with an awkward bow.
"G'd mornin' yer lowness," Lucen replied.
The earth pony colt screwed his face up into a frown, not sure if that was right or not.
"I'm yer lowness?" he asked uncertainly.
"Well, yeah. I'm up high and your down low. So I'm your highness and your your lowness," Lucen replied in a tone that suggested it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh. I see," the earth pony colt replied sagely, though secretly he was thinking that didn't seem quite right.
"So, why are you lieing on top of that cabinet your highness," the earth pony colt asked
"Because I'm watching this hallway," Lucen replied.
"Yeah, but why are you watching it up there," the colt persisted.
"Because it's the highest point around," Lucen replied, smiling patiently.
The earth pony colt mulled this over for a moment before persisting, "I don't get it."
"It's simple, really. Whenever you want to get the best view you have to go to the highest point around, and since I'm watching the hallway, I need the best view," Lucen explained.
"Oh," the earth pony colt mulled this over for a moment more, and was just about to reply when an earth pony mare rushed up and swept him off his hooves and onto her back. She smiled thinly up at the Prince, and he smiled magnanimously back at her. She gave a little bow, a muttered apology, and shimmied away while grinning uncomfortably.
Lucen went back to looking up and down the hallway.
A little later in the day, as the court of the sun let out, a flood of nobles came tumbling and chattering down the hallway. Most paid the Prince no mind, though whether because they where used to his odd behavior or because they simply where too engrossed in themselves it was up for grabs.
His ears pricked up as she watched a dark grey unicorn mare with a cutiemark depicting a test tube with neon green goo bubbling out of it. She looked nervously up at him and he smiled a she met his gaze. She quickly turned away and hurried off down a side corridor. Shortly after the unicorn mare had disappeared, a single straggler from the throne room, a pegasus mare, came flying up to him, hovering a few heads height above him.
"Hello your highness," Lucen greeted her cheerfully.
The pegasus mare looked at him, clearly amused by the greeting.
"If I'm your highness, what does that make you, Lucky?" she asked.
"Why, your lowness, of course," he replied nonchalantly.
"And why is that?" she asked, feigning surprise.
"Because I'm down here and you are up there, obviously," he replied.
"Obviously," she agreed, giggled, then burst out laughing.
He laughed as well, at what, it probably didn't matter.
"Oh, Lucky. You always crack me up. I heard from one of the servants you nearly gave some poor earth pony mare a heart-attack earlier," the pegasus mare replied as alight on the ground.
"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. I've only been giving ponies smiles today, so I wonder how that happened," he wondered aloud.
"Gee, I really don't know. Say, are you up for hayburgers at Olive Oyl's later? I have to run a meeting to brief my crew on the latest set of tricks we will be practicing for the summer sun celebration, but after that I'm free," she gossiped.
"Oh, I love Wimpys hayburgers. But you sure you can even have them? Didn't your second in command have a fit last time you had one?" he asked.
"Oh, Skyfire, yeah. But I'm the captain, and if I want a freaking hayburger, I will have a freaking hayburger. Wimpy's burgers are SO worth the extra flight training." she declared.
"Well, I like Wimpys hayburgers too, so yeah, I'm in. When do you want to meet?" he asked.
"How does six o clock sound?" she asked
"Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing," he intoned, "Sort of like that, I think. So, when do you want to meet at Olive Oyl's. I think six o clock would be good."
The stifled a giggle and sighed," Yeah, six of clock is fine... I mean, six o clock would be good."
"Okay, I will meet you at Olive Oyl's at six o clock," he replied.
"By the way, I didn't know the Wonderbolts where going to be preforming at the Summer Sun Celebration this year, what's up with that?" he asked as she turned to leave.
"Oh, your mother wants it to be extras special since it's the twenty five hundredth anniversary of the event," she replied.
"Is that all?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's all," she replied.
"Okay." he said as he yawned and stretched his wings.
"See you later, Lucky." she said as she turned away, shaking her head.
"Bye Ducky, see you later," he replied.
The Prince stood up atop the cabinet and slowly stretched his legs one at a time, several groups of servants, the morning shift most likely, ambled on by talking and laughing and taking no notice of him. As soon as the servants where out of sight, Lucen got up and hopped down from his perch, taking the same path the dark grey unicorn had taken a bit earlier.