//------------------------------// // 56. Chariot ride // Story: Kill Me Now // by Golden Script //------------------------------// The next morning we woke up and got our stuff together. When both our suit cases were in one area we stood there, the four residents of the library. Spike, Silver, Fixinit, and I were in the lobby waiting for the chariot to arrive. “There should be food in the refrigerator for the next few days, if that runs out there are some bits on the counter. Stay out of trouble and keep each other safe. There are instructions in the cupboard in case there is an accident.” I turned to Fixinit “maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, something might happen to them!” he put his hooves on my shoulders. “Calm down, they’ll be fine.” I took a few deep breaths and looked at them. “If anything goes wrong write directly to me. You got it?” they both nodded their heads “good, and don’t forget it.” there was a knock at the door. “That’s our ride.” Fixinit stated. “Bye, Spike and Silver. Be good.” And with that we went out the door. Standing right outside were two royal guard pegasi. They wore the standard issue metal armor for the soldiers under the royal sisters’ rule. It was enchanted to that even the chinks were protected by small magical barriers. As I walked by I noticed the guards watching Fixinit like he might try to pull a move or something. When I reached the chariot we stepped on together and the pegasi hooked themselves up. After a minute we were in the air. After a minute more we were out of Ponyville and above the Everfree forest. Fixinit looked over the edge of the chariot and watched the trees wiz by. We were far above the tree line but one could still see the individual branches. We flew in complete silence. When we were only a few minutes away one of the pegasi turned back and said “five minutes, Miss Twilight.” “Thank you.” I replied as we neared our destination. We landed on the landing pad outside of the palace. Both of us grabbed our suitcases from the side compartments as we touched down. When the vehicle rolled to a stop we stepped off and tipped the stallions that flew us here. Then we headed straight for the palace. After a few minutes of walking through seemingly identical halls we came to what looked like an entrance hall. There were already six ponies gathered, I recognized all of them. Octavia, EQ, Vinyl, and Presto were off in their own group while Rarity and Fedorian were murmuring to each other about the décor. I approached them. “Hey, guys.” They all greeted us in their own ways. “I didn’t think you would come to a dress convention, dear.” Rarity said in a confused tone “actually, you wouldn’t be the last pony I would think to see.” She whispers to me as she looks over to Vinyl, the DJ scowled back. “Well I'm sorry if I was told this was going to be a music festival.” She said in a sarcastic tone. “Why are you here, Twilight, what were you told?” Octavia asks me with utmost curiosity. “I was straight up told by the princess to come to the palace. I was also told that my friends would be here, and not that you guys aren’t my friends, but I was expecting the elements of harmony. It looks like two of us are here, where are the other four?” Rarity chuckled a little. “You mean three of us are here.” I gave her a questioning look, and then I heard a voice come from around the corner. “Is that…” I trailed off as the pony stepped around the corner, it was Fluttershy. “Fluttershy!” I ran up and gave her a hug, she eeped, but as soon as she saw who it was she relaxed. “Hello Twilight, have you met Cloudy Skies?” she asked, I backed off and noticed who she was with. He was a gray Pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane and even darker highlights, his eyes were an earth brown and he stood a little taller than me and Fluttershy, his cutie mark was three flowers; it was a wonder how he didn’t intimidate her. Then I got my answer when he spoke. If you could take a soothing spring waterfall and make it talk, you probably couldn’t tell the difference. “Hello, Twilight, Fluttershy speaks highly of you.” he seemed so laid back and soft spoken. “h-hi.” I stammer at the absolute serenity I'm listening to. “Cloudy has been helping me with the animals for the past few days. He arrived at my cottage in the worst condition, his wing was broken and he was limping on one of his hind legs.” “I wasn’t that bad off.” He assured me. “You looked terrible! I could heal the physical wounds but the mental wounds must be devastating.” “I was fine, and Fluttershy tended to my injuries until I was fully recovered without any complaints to how much of a bother I always was.” “You were no bother, really! He only needed a glass of water, some food and help to the bathroom and he was fine.” The usually timid mare assured me. By this time Fixinit had joined us and was now listening in next to me. While she was explaining how Cloudy had given one of her more rowdy bears a back massage she caught his eye and shrank back to her normal self. Cloudy noticed this and acted immediately. “Fluttershy, I want you to meet Fixinit, he was one of the ponies I traveled with through the Everfree. He is a good friend of mine.” Fixinit put his hoof out for Fluttershy to shake, she slowly took it. “H-hi, Fixinit.” She was obviously still too shy to be herself yet. “Hello Fluttershy, it is a great honor to meet you. We were actually going to see you today at your cottage, but this took precedence and here you are.” “I-it’s an honor t-to meet you too, Cloudy told me how you made all of those contraptions with nothing but sticks and leaves.” “Oh, that stuff was nothing.” He assured her. “Well, I thought it was kinda cool.” “Well thank you.” he nodded to her. “So, how did Cloudy get to your house?” I asked Fluttershy and Cloudy “when Fixinit arrived he was covered in mud, though his coat is brown so it might not have all been mud.” I pretended to look him up and down. “Well that’s a story.” Cloudy said simply. “And it’s one I would love to hear, if we have time, that is.” I sat down, Fixinit followed suit. “Fine, but get comfortable.” Fluttershy and Cloudy Skies sat down in front of us. Fluttershy started us off “it all started on a cloudy night…”