Twilight checked her crown in the mirror one last time, stretched her wings and then folded them neatly on her back. No random twitches she promised herself I will not knock anything over or whack anyone by an accidental wing twitch. She almost believed herself.
Twilight left her apartment and headed to the diplomatic suites. She had memorized which rooms where which guests so that she would not be embarrassed if any of the Ambassadors from the other visiting nations that were still in the capitol emerged and she had to talk with them. Luckily for her, not that many were still there, and she meet nopony before she arrived at her intended destination. Knocking on the door to the suite of Prince Gallant Heart, she waited after hearing 'just a moment' from behind the thick door. It wasn't too long before Gallant opened the door, his mouth opened slightly when he saw who was there, but he recovered quickly
“P-princess Twilight Sparkle I didn't expect to see you.”
“Please call me Twilight Prince Gallant heart” twilight said with a nervous chuckle “I hope I am not intruding?”
“No of course not please, do come in,” Gallant opened the door further and backed up so that she could freely enter; the room was not exactly clean as there was some uncleared plates from breakfast which had been brought up earlier by the castle staff, but it wasn't really unclean either “While I am surprised to see you, it is a pleasant one.”
“I'm glad, I was hoping that I might offer you a tour of Canterlot, and informal one, as there are more formal activities scheduled, a banquet tonight of course, but I thought it might ease you into things if I showed you around first. Canterlot can be a bit intimidating if your not familiar with it.” At least that’s what Apple Jack had said, only her words were more along the lines of 'if somepony don't know what its like in a big city full of folk what aren't like him, he might get a bit skiddish and bolt.' And since Princess Celestia really wanted to open up friendly relations with Uniconia, Twilight did not want Prince Gallant to bolt.
“That's very nice of you Princess Twilight, I would be Honored to have you show me around.”
“Ahem, Pardon your Highness'” Interrupted a smooth voice, and Twilight turned to see a jet black Unicorn stallion with sparkly black hair and coal black eyes step into the sitting room from one of the side bedrooms “but while I am certain Prince Gallant would be safe with your highness, it would be irresponsible of me not to ask that you be accompanied by a guard. I can go with your highness' if Princess Twilight Sparkle does not have other arrangements?”
Twilight blushed a little, she had rather forgotten that she should take a royal guard with her, but surely taking one of Prince Gallants Guards would work just as well. “That would work quite well for me, umm-”Twilight realized the Guards name had not been on the roster she had read that morning and so she did not know his name
“Dark Strider your highness. I will put on my armor and then be at your disposal.” and I will be able to keep an eye on my Prince not only for safety, but to ensure my King's plan succeeds.
“Thank you Dark Strider”
~~
Twilight was glad she was showing Gallant around, he had relaxed quite a bit around her, enough so that both of them had dropped prince/princess and the secondary names, now she was just Twilight, and he was just Gallant. She had taken him around to all of her favorite spots, the knoll where she liked to do her afternoon studying back when she was at school before going to ponyville, Joe's Donut shop, Several Museums, the best library, and now they were in one of her favorite Cafe's enjoying a salad and a drink.
“Canterlot is quite the city”Gallant remarked as her sprinkled almonds on his salad “As you may know, the Citizenry of Unicornia is all Unicorn, so its amazing to see so many earth ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns all mingling around so causally.”
“It is?” Twilight’s brow furrowed “ Are other pony types unwelcome in Unicornia?”
“No, There just aren't any, I am not really sure why. It's very different there, here I can sense the ley lines but they are so think and so abundant, its almost more like a ley fog. Though really that’s too spotty...”
“I guess I never thought about it; I study Ley line magic of course, it was in one of Star Swirl the Bearded books, but I never really had to practice it much, Equestria has a lot of ambient magic, though, I believe there is a large node stone under Canterlot Castle. Night Bloom the weird supposed that the reason Equestria has so much ambient magic has to do with Celestia and Luna, as their elemental magic was shed much like the light from the sun and moon, and since Luna and Celestia make their home here, we have a concentrated supply. Of course, he wasn't called 'the weird' for no reason.”
“you have studied a lot about magic haven't you?”
Twilight blushed again “Yes, well, magic is my special talent, So I have tried to learn about it as much as possible, though lately I have been focused on the Magic of Friendship.”
“Friendship is magic?”
Just then the city clock tower struck three, and startled, Twilight's wings jerked out knocking over a glass on the table next to them, and whacking a passing pony. “Sorry!” As she pulled her wings back in, she managed to not inflict further injury to anyone, but unfortunately overcompensated for people and knocked the glass, plate and remaining food from the nearby table onto the ground. Twilight flushed with embarrassment and I had done so well up till now, stupid wings! “Sorry!” She put some bits down to cover both their meal and the neighboring tables, as well as a generous tip, and left with Gallant before things could get anymore embarrassing. “Sorry about that, I am still getting used to the wings.”
Gallant frowned “I don't understand, weren't you born with them?”
“Oh I thought you knew! No, um actually, I was born a unicorn, I gained my wings recently, becoming an Alicorn and a Princess.”
“That sounds like it would take a lot of adjustment, I cannot image going from, well, me, to me with wings. Is flying anything like levitation?”
“No not really, I mean you would think the principles would be the same, since you know you are propelling your own mass into the air, but levitation is more akin to changing your body mass ratio in order to defy gravity, while flying with wings is muscle mechanical movement and so requires more coordination then mind power.”
“Using muscled you already had in a new way, or entirely new muscles?”
Dark Strider suppressed a sigh, he was glad they were headed back to the castle, this conversation about wings and flying was beginning to sound like a long boring topic.
---------------------------------
“So then, Rainbow assures me that its really more like swimming, she's laughing wholeheartedly the whole time you understand, and I am trying to figure out how to get either my head up through the cloud or the rest of me down under it, but because clouds are much more solid to pegasi ponies and Alicorns by extension, it feels like my wings and middle are stuck in cotton candy-”
“Ooo I love Cotton candy!” exclaims Pinky pie popping up just as they cross the inner courtyard “I should totally include that in your welcome to Equestria Party! Eeee! Which is going to be totally awesome!” She places a hoof over Twilight's back and another over Gallants “this is going to be so much fun! I love having new friends! Oh twilight Rainbow said to remind you your suppose to go flying with her this afternoon, and Rarity wants to do another check on the hem for your dress for the dinner.”
Thanks Pinky,” she smiled at Gallant “I guess that means your on your own for now unless,”
“Unless you come with me silly bean! After all, who knows more about having fun around her then me, right? Don't worry about it twi, I got this!”
“Then I will see you three later.”
“Omygosh! That’s right!” Pinkie bounced over to Dark Strider “I almost forgot about you mister tall dark and sneaky! Don't think your not invited to the patter too mister!” she gave Dark Strider a deep glare and then she grinned “Nopony should be without a Pinkie party! Follow me I wanna know all about you.! Lalalala.”
Dark Strider and Gallant shared a look, and followed the effervescent pinkie into the castle.