Day two: Neutrality Vs The Aristocracy (Part one)
(I feel as if this chapter feels like it's missing something for some odd reason...I just can't place my thoughts on it, though. Maybe you can? And no, not the fact that it's been divided up into two parts, that's just silly!)
Neutrality yawned in annoyance as he woke up, the morning sun's rays seemingly brighter than usual, as if angry. He wasn't surprised, though, after the telling off he got yesterday night by both his sisters, as his ears unfortunately remembered. It wasn't really his fault, though, Gydina was too slow in telling him what the alarm was going to do, and frankly, who wouldn't want to pull the latch on that red box? It simply begged to be pulled. 'I mean...It was so shiny and out of place.' He thought. Groaning, he got off his bed and started to shake his numb limbs, which slowly began to warm up. Celestia and Luna had decided not to punish him, which was a good thing, since hearing them yap on and on about the mistake he made was tiring enough. He sighed irritatingly, and walked out of the guest room. He still didn't have his own personal quarters, but that was the least of his worries now. Today, he was to meet with the aristocracy, and judging by the distasteful ways that his sisters spoke of them, he was sure that he wasn't going to enjoy this very much.
He walked down the hallways of the castle, intending on getting to the dining room when he stumbled across a statue. Normally, statues wouldn't have interested him; they were, after all, mostly about ponies who did some great service to ponykind and then left in the history books to collect dust. However, this statue seemed to reach out to him, for some odd reason. He didn't register who the pony was, however, until his eyes wandered down to the cutie mark of the pony, and then, memories of this pony flashed back to him like a torrent of water. 'What was...Ah, Twilight Sparkle, I presume? I'm not surprised you got your own statue, and in your own likeness, as well. I wonder how you felt when you turned me back to stone?' The statue gave him no answers, and he doubted he ever would get any answers from a motionless statue. Still, he watched the statue in it's eternal pose, looking for any sign of an answer. He pulled away when the statue offered none.
Continuing on his way to the dining room, he wasn't surprised when he saw more statues of the Elements of Harmony; there was even one of the pet dragon that Twilight Sparkle had for an assistant. 'The carver who made these statues must have very good taste and eye at detail' thought the Alicorn. Eventually, however, he stumbled across a statue of himself being turned back into a statue. 'Oh, the irony', he thought dryly, looking at the statue with interest. 'Did I really look like that when I was turned back into stone? Curse this stone carver, whoever they were, they made me look bad!' He wasn't kidding, either, as his features were far too exaggerated on the statue. The stone carver who made this statue of him must've had a particular dislike for him. Finally, he moved on from his statue to look at others not related to the former bearers of the Elements or of him that were along the way to the dining room.
One can only be interested in cold, lifeless stone statues for so long, and he was reaching his limit. In his lament of the seemingly endless statues littered throughout this hallway, however, soon enough, he gave a sigh of relief as he paused at the entrance to the massive dining room. Celestia and Luna gathered too many statues in their spare time. Rolling his eyes as he remembered the last time he entered the dining room, he supposed he should expect the same silence from last time by the ponies eating breakfast. However, upon striding into the dining room this time, it was only the aristocracy and guards that didn't see him yesterday that cringed at seeing him, which was a relief, because quiet places full of normally loud ponies unnerved him. He made his way to the little private dining room off to the side, and nodded slowly at the two ponies already inside, the pegasus Vidhwansak and his sister, Luna. His sister waved a hoof at his direction lazily while the pegasus glared at him. Ignoring the pegasus, he sat down next to his sister, who was chewing on the last remnants of what appeared to be a waffle. Vidhwansak cleared her throat, and sighed.
"Neutrality, are you planning on doing anything else that'll cause panic and damage? I mean, the floors are still damp from the sprinkler systems yesterday, and you ruined the pajamas I was wearing." The Alicorn rolled his eyes. He should've figured that somepony would've brought up yesterday eventually.
"I assure you that there will be no more incidents like that for today, at the very least. Celestia and Luna here have told me to go and visit the aristocracy today and get used to their bickering. I'm not looking forward to meeting them, but I suppose it's necessary."
Luna rolled her eyes, and gulped down the rest of her waffle. "Oh, trust me, you'll be screaming in rage soon, Neutrality, once you meet them. They're worse than spoiled stallions like Prince BlueBlood."
"Sister, the way you keep talking about them makes me feel like I should prepare for the most annoying ponies ever, since you." It was a very cheap shot, but also a very satisfying one, as the look on Luna's face was more than enough to prove. Vidhwansak choked on whatever she was eating, and quickly began downing a glass of water to hide her slip-up. Neutrality smiled. That was one win for him, if the pegasus 'agreeing' with him proved that much.
"Fine. Be that way!" Luna stormed off, leaving behind a spluttering pegasus and a smug looking Alicorn. Said Alicorn looked at the pegasus, curious as to why she was here. She and Gydina seemed to be your average unicorn and pegasus, and there was no reason off the top of his head why they would ever be here. 'There must be a secret reason', he silently thought.
"Vidhwansak, tell me, I'm rather curious as to why you're here in the castle, and, forgive me for saying this, but you don't seem to be an important pony or with an important duty." The pegasus looked up in surprise, and quickly composed herself for an answer.
"I'm here on behalf of Luna as a guest, Neutrality, Gydina, on the other hoof, is just a friend that's 'tagging along' while I'm here at the castle."
"I see. Well, why did Luna invite you here to the castle? There must have been something that you've done to make her notice you, after all, it just must have been quite an attention-gathering event for that to happen."
"Well..."
"HOORAH, BOW DOWN AND LICK THE HOOVES OF THE EVERLASTING GLORY THAT IS THE ONE AND ONLY ME!"
"...And that would be Gydina." The pegasus sighed.
True to her word, Gydina appeared, smiling as if she had won the lottery. Vidhwansak sighed, and flatly expressed her discomfort.
"What the hay did you do NOW, Gydina?"
"You know how you said that whatever you write down in your-"
Neutrality was then entertained by a completely random, amusing and slightly arousing spectacle of two mares wrestling on the dining room table, the first move surprisingly made by the pegasus, who launched herself forward at the unicorn and forced Gydina's head down on the table, telling her to 'Shut the buck up!'. The pegasus kept screaming in the unicorn's ears, something about a story. There was something that the pegasus wasn't telling him, and stopping Gydina from talking about it was proof enough to confirm his suspicions. He opened his mouth in what would most likely have been a vain attempt to stop the fighting had not a voice beat him to it.
"Cease this fighting, Vidhwansak, Gydina."
Both ponies and Neutrality looked up to see the unamused and unsmiling Celestia. Both ponies sprang apart from one another like a spring, quickly compiling with her orders while shooting each other one last glare. Celestia sighed, and over at Neutrality.
"Forgive me, brother, but I wish to discuss something with them." Knowing it was useless to argue with his sister no matter how much he wanted to, Neutrality gave a rude hoof-gesture at his sister before leaving. Casting a disappointed look over at both of the ponies left in the dining room, she sat down at the table, levitated a bagel over to herself, and started to chew slowly on it. Vidhwansak and Gydina exchanged a confused glance at each other, then looked back at the princess, who looked at them with irritation.
"What? Can't I eat breakfast without ponies wondering if they'll be sent to the moon?" Celestia sighed, and placed down her bagel on a plate. She magically shut the door leading into the little side room, and placed an anti-listening spell on it, much like last time. "I'm not going to send either of you to the moon. However, Gydina, be careful about what you say, Neutrality must not know anything about the story that Vidhwansak is writing."
"Huh? Why's that? It ain't a clopfiction, if that's what-"
"Gydina, I don't want Neutrality to read the story and then think that everything that's happened so far is some kind of sick joke. Why did you two start fighting, anyway?"
"Because, I was going to tell Viddy that I typed that I won the lottery, then, I checked my bank account, and-"
"YOU DID NOT JUST PERVERT MY STORY FOR YOUR OWN GAINS-"
"LET ME FINISH!" A few tense seconds passed between the two, and Gydina sighed. "It didn't work." Vidhwansak gave a sigh of relief while Celestia rolled her eyes. Gydina then spoke up again, all giddy.
"I did, however, get a new pair of headphones! I guess this magical story has its limits, huh, Viddy? That doesn't really matter, though! Imagine all the free stuff we could get by using this!"
The pegasus in question facehoofed hard into both hooves, while Celestia muttered something unintelligible. She then spoke up.
"Well then, now that I know what's going on...Gydina, this isn't something to abuse, and I'm glad that extreme life-changing events can't occur just like that. Vidhwansak, I want you to change your password on that account. As for me...Well, I suppose I should get started on introducing Neutrality to the aristocracy...What fun that'll be. Good day." The Alicorn got up, and took her half-eaten bagel with her. Gydina stared after her, and rolled her eyes.
"Least we didn't get sent to the moon, Viddy."
"Yes, but maybe the aristocrats will."
"Why do you say that, Viddy?"
"I wrote down in my story that the aristocrats were more annoying than usual."
"Oh, that. Don't worry about it, I edited your story a bit to make it more interesting, really, it looked like a really dull argument, so I spiced it up a little. You know, looked around, made a few connections, made up a few ponies on the spot. I'm not sure if my editing will take place, but, why not? I didn't add anything new, just expanded on your writing!" The pegasus slapped a hoof over her face.
"You have a five second head-start to run before I come after you with this butter knife."
Neutrality rolled his eyes as Celestia explained to him patiently that the aristocrats were more than likely to annoy him greatly, and how he should simply try to listen to them with a calm face and demeanor. "Listen, Celestia, sister, I already know how annoying the aristocracy can be by your words alone, it's all you and Luna have been talking about to me lately. I KNOW they're going to be annoying. The fact is, however, is that they'll never be as annoying as you two were when you were foals." Celestia sighed. Neutrality was obviously underestimating the aristocracy.
"Neutrality, you're going to have fully-grown stallions and mares say the most idiotic things with the intelligence of a foal and then some. I will admit there are a few redeeming aristocrats, but not enough to stem the tide of stupidity that occurs. This happens everyday, I would know."
"I'm sure they have had some form of education."
"Most of them were home schooled. And by that, I mean 'Go and spend your allowance and run wild while I'm at parties, son or daughter.' I honestly don't know why you aren't worried."
"I'm not worried because I know they can't be THAT annoying compared to you two."
Celestia sighed. Neutrality was going to be in for a rough time.
"Let's introduce you to the aristocracy, then."
Gydina sighed as she was walking in the gardens, recovering from the recent telling-off from Vidhwansak. Seriously, the pegasus should get a job as a drill sergeant, she'd be perfect for the job. Luckily, she avoided getting attacked by a butter knife, but knowing the pegasus, she'd have rather have been attacked physically. She looked weak as a marshmallow, anyway. Gydina smiled at the insulting thought while placing her headphones on, and turned up the volume as the song began to play.
Unfortunately, while she was busy looking down at her playlist, she accidently bumped into Luna, who was unable to go to sleep after the incident in the little dining room earlier. Startled, Luna instinctively backhoofed Gydina, hard. Said unicorn was knocked out cold and was sent tumbling away a few feet from the amazingly quick and forceful backhoof Luna threw out. Luna looked around wildly, wondering what happened, when her gaze looked down upon the unicorn. Blushing in embarrassment, Luna set Gydina on her back, and started walking to the infirmary. 'Well, Luna', she thought, 'At least you know you still got it'.
Neutrality gritted his teeth and swore inwardly as the next group of aristocrats came by. Although he didn't think it was possible, what Celestia said was true, these aristocrats were the most annoying ponies he ever met. He groaned as they demanded for changes to be made to the economy that were apparently already rejected for umpteenth time. The last group was even worse, demanding tax cuts on everything. He didn't even want to think about the other ponies, which caused him to shudder slightly. Not all of them, however, were that bad. Admittedly, as Celestia said, there were some redeeming ponies with actual ideas that could be considered to be put in place, but they were a mere trickle compared to the flooding of senselessness. He looked at the thing on his right hoof; he remembered it being called a 'watch'. It was to keep track of time, but Neutrality swore that the time he saw on the 'watch' wasn't right. He leaned over, and whispered to her sister, who was levitating a cup of tea to her lips. She took a short draught of the liquid before turning to him, a smug look on her face.
"Well, Neutrality? Is the aristocracy too much for even one like you to take?"
"Sister, I don't remind me. Tell me, however, about this 'watch'. I don't think it's correct, it says it's past lunch time."
"Actually, Neutrality, it is past lunch time, unfortunately."
"...You're kidding, 'Tia."
"Not at all."
Neutrality was about to say something when the next group of ponies entered. Upon seeing them, he was surprised that Celestia suddenly looked a bit pale, as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Are you quite alright, sister?"
"Not these ponies..."
"You've already established that most of the ponies are annoying, how much worse could they possibly be?"
"Neutrality, these are..." She broke her voice into a low whisper, as to not offend the rapidly approaching ponies. "The descendants of Prince Blueblood, perhaps the most annoying pony ever to 'grace' my court. They, unfortunately, have the bad parts of his genes, so expect this to be much, much worse."
Neutrality rolled his eyes. "How much worse can this day get?"