//------------------------------// // Your Princesses Are in This Castle // Story: That Others May Live // by CptBrony //------------------------------// Your Princesses Are in This Castle The train arrived at roughly one in the morning. As the passengers exited their cars, they went about their personal business. There was no rush, because there were almost no ponies waiting to get on such an early train. Duke and Frost stepped off with their gear and looked around. Nopony seemed to notice them, but they also looked extremely groggy. The men were as well, of course, but did their best not to show it. Amel came up shortly behind them, rubbing her eyes and grumpy about having to get up at such an absurd hour. “Where to?” Frost asked no one in particular. “We should find some place to stay for the rest of the night,” Duke said. “We can deal with whatever we need to later today. It would be best to be rested for it.” “Sounds good to me, boss,” Frost said. Amel stepped in front of them. “Should we go?” she asked with some impatience. “I don’t think the workers like us standing around here.” Duke nodded. “Yeah, let’s head out. Don’t want to cause a scene.” The trio made their way off the platform and toward the city. The station was only a little bit aways from the city, giving enough space so that the sounds wouldn’t carry too far but not so far that it wasn’t inconvenient to get there. The ponies who got off the train all had some form of transportation waiting for them, but Duke, Frost, and Amel had to walk to the city. Having taken off first, the ponies who passed by them give them curious looks as they went by. As they approached the city, the men couldn’t help but be impressed. The first thing they noticed was how exceptionally clean it was. There was no trash in the streets, and the cobblestones that made them up shined in the lights and looked brand new. The sidewalks were all perfectly flat and looked untouched by rain, snow, or cold. The Saddle Arabian Capital had been positively revolting in many parts, and Baltimare wasn’t that great either, so this place blew them out of the water. The buildings were all several stories tall, and Duke noticed that they got a little bit taller at certain intervals as they approached what looked like a path up a hill to the castle up top. It was a stroke of genius; if the city were laid siege to, the defenders would continue to have the high ground up until that path. After that, it was a wide open space with grass and the dirt path, leaving attackers exposed. Even though it was so nice and clean, though, the men advanced with caution and took the front and back. In an unknown city, you never know what might come out at you, especially in a foreign land. People might try to take advantage of your lack of knowledge of the culture, or jump you if you aren’t watching. No matter how nice the city, that kind of stuff could always happen. They approached an intersection and Duke had them stop. There was a map of the city on one of the corners. Duke motioned for them to go over to it, and they did so with haste and caution. Once there, they congregated around the map and tried to figure out where they were. “Duke, it looks like we’re here,” Frost said, pointing to an area at the right side of the map. “There are twenty-six rows of buildings between us and the path to that castle on the map, and we’re just in from the train station.” Duke looked at where the train station was. “Frost, we’re at least two streets in from the entrance from the train path,” Duke said. “It puts us more like here-” Duke pointed at an intersection on the map. “Where it says there is a map of the city.” Amel looked up at it. “That mark, it means there is a map there?” she asked. Duke nodded. “But that mark is at every spot on this side of the map...” Duke looked again at the map. Sure enough, there was one mark at every spot. Instead of using marks for figuring it out, Duke decided to go with the names of major stores of landmarks to see where they were. When he took a glance at the building in front of him, he saw a sign that read A Fleur in the Thornbush. Looking again at the map, he was able to find the store and determine where they were. “Damn this puny print,” Duke muttered. He turned to his friends. “Alright, we’re here-” he pointed at the spot. “It looks like we’re going to go...” He took one more look at the map to find a hotel. Tracing his finger around the glass over the map, he left an oily streak mark to know which way he had gone. It wasn’t on purpose, but it worked nicely. “This way.” “And which way is that, Duke?” Amel asked, unable to see where Duke was pointing on the map. “We need to head in that direction,” Duke said, pointing down the street in the opposite direction of the train station. “We go five blocks, turn left, and then one more block. The description of the hotel was that it’s cheap enough for anyone to vacation in Canterlot, so that’s what we’re taking.” “Sounds good to me,” Frost said, jungling the bag of money. “I bet it’s not quite as cheap as it says.” “That’s a safe assumption,” Amel said. The group moved down the street quickly but carefully, making sure to stay in the light and keep their eyes in as many places as possible. Frost took the sides and Duke took the front, while Frost would just listen for any suspicious noises that came out from behind them. Amel walked in between them, nervous and tired. They arrived at the hotel unhindered and entered calmly. As they walked in, the men looked around. There was no one in the lobby, not even a receptionist at the desk. Duke and Frost looked at each other and silently decided that they would need to find someplace else. Amel, though, decided to find the receptionist. “Hello?” she shouted. “Is anypony here?” “Amel, no one is here,” Duke said. “We can find another place to sleep-” “Wha?” A voice came out from behind the desk, and shortly thereafter, a stallion rose up. “Can I help you?” Frost looked to Duke and shrugged, and the two men approached the desk behind Amel. “We need a room for the night,’ Amel said. “Yeah, sure, of course,” the stallion said, not noticing the humans in front of him. “Twenty bits for a night.” Amel turned to Frost. “Sounds fair,” she said. “Alright then,” Frost replied. He dropped took a moment to remove the bits from the sack attached to his side. Amel took them and put them on the desk. “There you go,” she said. “Thank you,” the stallion said with a yawn. He dropped a key on the desk and took the bits. “There’s your key. Room number seven. Enjoy your stay.” With that, he dropped back below view and started snoring from underneath the desk. The trio moved along and walked down the hall to their left, all the way down to the final room. When they opened the door, they weren’t overwhelmed. It was nothing like the hotel they stayed at in Baltimare. However much nicer this city was, it was definitely much more expensive for the same thing here. There was one bed, which would naturally go to Amel. She entered and dropped her share of the gear, and the men walked past her to drop their gear by the wall. There was no window in this room, leaving them only the door to escape. It was a ridiculous fire hazard, but the men weren’t worried about it. Amel climbed up onto the bed and crawled into the center, taking up as much space as possible. The bed looked like it was built big enough for two ponies, but given that Duke and Frost were a bit bigger than most of these ponies, there was no reason to even consider trying to share. The men took a spot on either side of the bed and paid down. “We heading up to the castle tomorrow?” Frost asked. Duke nodded, mostly to himself. “Yep,” he said. “We’re heading up there, and hopefully, we’ll talk to one of these princesses.” “Is it a good idea for us to just waltz up there, unannounced?” Frost asked. “I don’t think they’ll appreciate it so much...” “With any luck, Sauri sent them some kind of message to tell them we would be here,” Duke replied. “No idea if he told them we would be here at a certain time, either. All I’ve got is that I hope he did send them something to tell them we were coming. If not, this could be harder than expected.” Frost sighed. “Greeeat,” he said slowly. He turned to face the side of the bed and went to sleep. Duke didn’t sleep right away. There were still a few things on his mind. Would the ponies ask the men to live nearby, or even in the castle? They might live on military bases or be given special living quarters. They could be limited to who they interact with as well. It was even possible that they would have restricted interactions with Amel. While Duke could get over that loss, and he didn’t doubt Frost could as well, Amel had grown on the both of them. They would at least try to keep her around. That brought on the question of where she might stay. Odds were that she wouldn’t be staying with them all the time any more. That was fine, though. They could visit when time permitted, assuming it did. Duke also thought about who they might end up working with. They had to train new soldiers for Sauri, but from what few things he got from them over there, it sounded like Equestria was much more capable as far as their military capacity. They could end up with a unit that already existed, probably getting support personnel for operations. They had seen pegasi around, so they might have an Air Force. That would make the men incredibly happy. Duke thought about how to greet the princesses and whatever politicians there would be. The princesses would command some level of respect, to be sure, and it was a safe bet that they would have to be courteous to others to earn favor. A bow was safe and easy, it seemed pretty universal. Handshakes probably weren’t going to happen, though. He had seen horses back home cross their necks to show affection, but Duke and Frost had normal necks, so that was out as well. There was so much they didn’t understand about this culture. Saddle Arabia had a culture that at least resembled that of Saudi Arabia back home. Equestria was clearly extremely different, and varied greatly all over the place, if the two cities they had seen were anything to judge by. There was more variation in the residents of this world than Earth, there was much more for them to learn. Even if they were forced to spend a lifetime here, Duke doubted that they could possibly learn it all. But those thoughts were proving to be too much effort for no return. Duke set them aside for a time when they might actually become relevant and tried to sleep. It took some time, but sleep took him, and the typical dreams were flowing freely. **************************************************************** Everyone woke up at roughly the same time, which was odd to say the least. Amel took several minutes to be able to put together a coherent thought, but by that time, Duke and Frost were already up, putting their things together. “Hey, boss,” Frost said. “Yeah?” Duke asked. “You have any weird dreams last night?” Frost asked. Duke blinked. “Yeah, I did,” he said. “What were yours about?” Frost shook his head. “Some blue horse with wings and a horn came to talk to me. I don’t remember all of what she said, but I remember that she mentioned talking to you at the end.” Duke stopped and looked over to his partner. “That’s weird,” he said. “Same horse in mine, but she didn’t mention you.” “She was in my dreams as well,” Amel added. “I believe that it was Princess Luna, the princess of the night. She controls the moon and dreamlands.” The men looked to her, then each other. They could hardly remember talking to this princess, but at least they had an idea of who she was. “Did she speak to you?” Duke asked. “Yes,” Amel said. “She asked me about you two, and who I was. I told her only what I thought you would be okay with.” “What kinds of things were those?” Frost asked with some concern. Why couldn’t they remember their conversations, but Amel could? “She asked me for your names; Duke and Frost; where you came from; another world; what you do; you are special soldiers; and various things about how I came to be with the two of you.” Amel nodded her head sleepily and yawned. “She seemed very excited.” “I imagine,” Frost said. “It isn’t every day that you get guys like us dropping out of the sky.” Now, Duke had even more to think about. The princess of the night had opted not to make her conversations with the men very memorable. Duke could remember bits and pieces and remember refusing to tell her a lot of things, but what had they told her? Why couldn’t they remember what they told her? And most importantly: Could they trust her? “I think that getting to that castle sooner rather than later is a good idea,” Duke said. He looked at the clock, which read half past seven. “The early bird catches the worm.” “I’m up for it,” Frost said, already packing his share of the gear on. Duke and Amel loaded up their shares and they left their room. As they exited the building, the desk stallion looked wide-eyed at them and his jaw fell to the ground. He hadn’t noticed them the previous night, so seeing them now was a bit of a shock. Out on the street, the area was way too bright and shiny. Neither man had his sunglasses, not having packed them for a mission that was supposed to be finished before the night ended. The white buildings had them almost blinded as they walked out, forcing them to stay there for a moment to acclimate. As they stood there, they noticed the massive amount of noise around them, and quickly, they noticed that the noise was quieting down a bit. When they could finally see, they were greeted by a huge crowd of ponies, standing around and staring at them. Uncomfortable with the situation, they removed themselves from the area and started on their way to the castle. Ponies moved out of their way as they walked. None of them appeared to be afraid of them, but extremely respectful. Many were in awe. It was as if the coming of the two men had some sort of extra meaning to them. Maybe it had something to do with the other guy who had supposedly been here? Duke reminded himself to ask the princesses about that at some point before they left for home. They were waiting t an intersection to cross when somepony approached them. “Hello?” he said. Duke and Frost turned around. The guy was big, really big. About as tall as the men. He wore a fancy tuxedo and a monocle, and spoke with a british accent. At his side was what appeared to be his mare, an equally tall, very slender one with a light coat and pink mane. The stallion had a white coat and a blue mane. “Yes?” Duke asked in return. “Might I inquire as to where you are headed?” the stallion asked. Duke pointed up toward the hill. “We’re heading to the castle,” he said. The stallion nodded. “It’s a long walk,” he said. “Why don’t I call you a cab and have them take you there?” Duke and Frost both smiled, and Frost replied, “Thanks, that would be great.” The stallion hailed a cab and the men just watched. Everypony around seemed to stop for this guy. He was clearly very important, someone respected and liked by most. He might have been a noble or politician, but few people liked those guys, so that was toward the bottom of the list. The cab pulled up and the stallion looked to the trio. “Here you are,” he said. “Have a lovely trip.” “Thank you, Mr..?” Duke said. “My name is Fancy Pants,” the stallion replied. “You can call me Fancy.” “Thank you, Fancy,” Duke said, feeling awkward saying that as a name. Duke and Frost got up onto the cab first and waited for Amel. Before she could jump in, though, Fancy stopped her. “My, you look lovely,” he said, getting a blush from the mare. “Here, for you.” Fancy handed her a very intricate, green brooch for her mane. “Oh, my,” Amel said. “Thank you.” “No, no, thank you,” Fancy said. “I’m sure that you have been very helpful.” Amel smiled and hopped up into the cab and they rode off, waving goodbye to Fancy. Once they were out of visual range, they all stopped waving and thought about who he might have been. “He was nice,” Amel said, breaking the silence. “Very generous, from the looks of it,” Duke said, pointing to the brooch. “You think he’s trying anything?” “Don’t know,” Frost said, looking suspiciously in the direction from which they came. “But I won’t trust anyone yet.” “Bet you’re jealous,” Duke teased, crossing his arms. “Yeah, yeah,” Frost replied. The ride was pleasant and smooth, and they didn’t attract much attention. Nopony was interested in seeing whoever was in the cab. It gave the men chance to observe the ponies, though they didn’t see much. They were just walking around town, holding their heads high most of the time and doing little things. When they passed a restaurant, they watched ponies eating delicate looking foods with fancy silverware. It seemed to be a very extravagant city. When they reached the path to the castle, the cab dropped them there and left. The friends looked to each other once then advanced up the hill. It wasn’t too steep, but with the added weight of all the gear, it wasn’t the most fun journey they had undertaken so far. Though it was far from the worst. As they approached the castle, they spotted the dozens of guards standing in strategic locations around them. Many were stationed next to the path to intimidate potential aggressors, and others who were well-armed, not by modern standards, though, stood on the walls with crossbows. As the trio walked down the path, they were practically being laser-targeted by the guards. Not one of their expressions betrayed any emotion, but it was clear that they were ready to attack. Even with their weapons, gear, and training, Duke and Frost could never take this group on their own. The men were sure to display a lack of aggression or threat as they walked up to the gate and watched it open. Inside, there was a large courtyard with even more guards, but also more ponies wearing fancy outfits like the nobles in old England. Everyone stopped to look at the men as they walked through the courtyard toward the castle. The men ignored it in an attempt to look official as they walked. Duke and Frost took a spot on either side of Amel at the main door to the castle. The door opened slowly, like the gate, and they entered with purpose. The inside of the castle was huge and extremely decorated, with lavish wall-hangings and gold and silver all over the place. They spared no expense in building the place. There was a carpet leading to a massive set of double-doors before them. The group followed the carpet to the door, though it did not open immediately when they approached. They ended up standing there, waiting, for several minutes before the door would open. “I guess this is it,” Frost said. “Yep,” Duke replied shortly. “I hope this works out for us,” Frost said. “I am sure it will,” Amel told him. “I have heard about them. They will help.” “That isn’t what we’re worried about,” Duke said. Just then, the door opened, revealing an enormous throne room. The carpet continued in, leading all the way to a large throne. On the throne sat a huge white horse with a horn and wings, wearing golden hoof ornaments, a chest crest, and what looked like a diadem. Sitting on the floor next to her, with a poorly contained smile, was the same blue horse princess from the previous night. Luna and Celestia. “Here we go,” Duke muttered. The trio started down the path before them toward the princesses. The princesses never moved, just stared at the men on either side of Amel as they walked up. The guards around them watched the men like hawks. They held spears vertically, ready to lunge forward and go for a jab. When the group was before the princess, they all bowed. “Please, rise,” a motherly voice said. The group rose up and looked at the princesses. They were both smiling, though for obviously different reasons. It was clear who the eldest was, the one on the throne, and who was typically in charge. They both fit well into their foretold roles; dark blue one takes the night and the white one takes the day. Duke and Frost would likely be dealing with Princess Celestia. “Hello, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Duke said. “Hello, human,” Celestia said. “We have been awaiting your arrival.”