//------------------------------//
// Chapter 35 - Canterlot Again 
// Story: My Family and Other Equestrians 
// by Blade Star 
//------------------------------//

The next morning, I was awoken by a terrifying monster. Seriously, I was. Once again, I was partially forced from my slumber by Celestia’s unnecessarily bright sun. However, what returned me to a state of consciousness was the white hoof which persistently shook me by the barrel. I did my best to return to the land of nod, but it was not to be, as the noises of the train hurtling along the tracks made it impossible to drift off. Finally, I heard a voice calling me, with some impatience I might add.

“Blade Star! Quickly, darling, we’ll be in Canterlot in half an hour!” When this proved less than effective the voice switched to a more simple command. “Get up!”

At that precise moment, my eyes opened just enough to be dazzled by the sunlight. My eyes flew open with the pupils shrinking to pinpricks in a desperate effort to regulate the light. I quickly raised a hoof to my face and blinked to clear the spots.

“Alright Rarity. Ah’m up,” I said groggily. I moved my hoof away as the black spots on my vision began to clear. 

That was when I saw it. A foul pony like monster with strange green eyes and a green face too. Its hair was held back by cylinders. A frightening image at any rate. Needless to say, I jumped out of my berth, and I promptly had an unhappy reunion with the floor of the car. As I cried out, the voice spoke again.

“Darling, are you alright?” she asked.

If nothing else, the blow to the head had made me lucid again, and I quickly realised that the frightening apparition was just Rarity applying her many beauty products. She removed the two cucumbers from over her eyes and looked down at me. 

“Ah’m fine Rarity. Ya just startled me is all,” I answered as I got to my hooves. “Now what did you say?” She sighed in consternation.

“I said we are almost to Canterlot. So do be a dear and make yourself presentable, hmm?” Evidently the fashionista mare was a little cranky in the morning. 

I quickly went to the other end of the car and pulled out the washbasin. Splashing some water on my face completed the process of waking up. I didn’t actually look too bad. I hurriedly fixed my mane removing what my father frequently termed a ‘hen’s arse’. And I removed the sleep from my eyes. I then went back to my berth and lowered my suitcase to the floor. Magic was starting to become an instinctive thing now, requiring far less of a conscious effort, at least so far as simple tasks went. I still felt teleportation was a bit of a stretch. 

I threw on my waistcoat and quickly smoothed out any obvious crinkles. It was a bit of a shame that I didn’t have a nice little pocket watch to go with this. Maybe I could drop a hint to somepony for Hearth’s Warming. 

With that all done, I briefly returned to the mirror to give myself another quick once over. I looked just as I had the last time I had been to this city. Although I was now perhaps a little wiser and I had been through a few changes. Still this would be the first time I had been to the city proper; it would be nice to see the capital in its entirety, even if it was populated by tiresome, self-serving snobs. The princesses exempted of course.






Roughly half an hour later, after emerging from the long tunnel which led up the mountain, our train pulled into Canterlot. The conductor came through with a call of ‘all change’ and we disembarked. 

Naturally, I was obliged to help Rarity with her many bags. While she insisted on looking after those which contained her newly designed dresses, a large portion of the rest were left to me. While my use of magic may have become more and more instinctive, it didn’t lessen the mental strain of levitating ten different bags, including my own. However, I did not have to carry them far, just from the station to the cab rank. As with any railway station, lined up outside the front were a number of cabs. Of course, as Equestria relied upon the proverbial pony power, these were rickshaws and dogcarts. 

In spite of spending most of my life out in the middle of nowhere, one of the few skills I retained from urban living was the ability to hail cabs. I quickly engaged a rickshaw on the rank. The cabbie quickly unhitched himself to help Rarity with all the bags. No help for me though, no, muggins had to move all of his bags either onto the roof or into the cab himself. The cabbie went back to the front and re-attached himself.

“Right, now where to, my dear?” he asked Rarity. In spite of vocation, he still possessed a Canterlot accent, which struck me as a little odd. Rarity leaned out to reply. 

“Get us to the Equestrian Imperial, please,” she said. The cabbie nodded and we started off. 

I kept an eye on the fare meter as we went. Just because Canterlot was full of the rich and famous did not mean it was above your cheap scams. In this case though my concerns were unfounded. We stuck to the larger roads of the city. It was a magnificent metropolis, but I could not see myself living here. I briefly wondered what had possessed Celestia all those years ago when she decided to move her home and seat of power out of the old castle in the Everfree and out to the side of a mountain. The Everfree Forest was dangerous enough, but building an entire city on an almost vertical cliff face seemed beyond the pale. Though, I suppose anywhere was preferable than the place where you imprisoned your own blood in a black and silent hell. 

As we continued on, we passed a few roadworks, apparently another universal constant. The area around the site was slightly charred from heat. Perhaps where a Changeling had landed not so long ago. It certainly reminded me of London. There was a noticeable guard presence throughout, a consequence of an honourless attack by a cowardly and conniving race. 

At length, we pulled up to the hotel we would be staying at. The Equestrian Imperial Hotel, as the sign on the front of the building proclaimed, was indeed Equestria’s answer to the Ritz. As soon as we pulled up, a couple bellboys jumped into action to help us with the many bags. I was certainly grateful for the assistance, though Rarity did insist that she would carry the dress bags. 

The reception was as opulent as I had expected, if not more so. The whole place was marble with deep red carpets underhoof.  We both trotted up to the reception where a pretty unicorn mare with a light pink mane greeted us with a well-practiced false smile. 

“Hello, and welcome to the Equestrian Imperial Hotel. May I see your reservations please?” Rarity fished about in one of her smaller bags and retrieved a few sheets of paper. She passed it to the mare behind the counter. Taking the papers from Rarity’s aura, she quickly examined them. “Thank you, your room is Number 242. Your bags will be brought up presently.” She then levitated a pair of room keys, one for each of us. 

Thanking her, we both headed for one of the many lifts that dotted the foyer. The hotel was a fairly large building, twelve floors all told. We were roughly halfway up, not the penthouse suites by any stretch, but a decent middling position with a large room and a balcony. Room service was naturally included as was dinner and breakfast.

Riding up in the lifts, we began to chat again.

“Well, are you excited to be here, Rarity?” I asked. There was no one else in the lift, so it seemed silly to ride up to the sixth floor in silence. 

“Of course I am, darling,” she replied. “I just hope I have a nicer time than my previous visits.” She had a point. The last time she had visited Canterlot on fashion business, she had had to endure the snobbery that filled the city outside the palace. Every other time had involved either being sent somewhere to deal with Equestria’s foes, or repelling an invasion of glorified locusts. Thinking back, I still could not understand how they were captured. They were beating the Changelings left, right and centre and then all of a sudden, they were captured. 

I was startled out of my internal rant as the lift bell rang out and the doors opened. Stepping out, we followed the various signs around the floor until we reached our room. Outside a bellhop was already waiting for us, with a trolley filled with our bags in attendance. Encasing my key in my aura, I opened the door to our room. Behind me, Rarity gave the bellhop a generous tip and must have batted her eyelashes at him. When I turned back, the poor guy was stammering like mad. 

Entering the room, we were confronted with a layout befitting its price tag. There were two, fairly large single beds, each with an attendant desk and lamp. Off to the side was a wardrobe for our clothes, as well as spare linen and pillows. On each bed was one of those little mints hotels tend to leave, the one nearest the door also had a copy of the Guard on it. Some light reading for later. 

Around the corner was a door which led to an ornate bathroom with a large shower stocked with towels and enough hair care products to make even Rarity blush. The entirety of the far end wall was windows and screen doors. These gave us a magnificent view of the city below, with the castle being just visible around the mountainside. Through the screen doors, there was a small veranda with a couple deck chairs laid out, not all that different from the one around Luna’s observatory tower. 

In short, this would certainly tide us over at any rate until early on Saturday, which was when we were due to check out. 





The fashion show was not due to start until eight o’clock that evening. Rarity of course would have to be there around seven in order for her to finalise everything. That meant sorting out the models, the music, pretty much everything, although of course, most of it was planned in advance. Rarity did seem to get a little tetchy when in a situation like this. I could recall a few times where she had almost bitten somepony’s head off. Consequently we’d have an early dinner at around six. 

At any rate, it was two o’clock now, so we had a fair bit of time to rest up before it would be time to head down. The hotel, naturally boasted a restaurant, which based on Rarity’s testimony, was something along the lines of a Michelin starred establishment. It was fancy enough to possess its own dress code, understandable in a way I suppose. The only high quality restaurant I had ever been to back on Earth was called ‘Le Coupe Chou’, translated to English the Cut Cabbage. Still it was a very nice place, nice enough for Obama to go there once or twice. 

Hopefully, this place would be just as pleasant, even if they did not serve those rare beef steaklets. I was still sort of conflicted on the subject of meat. I knew pegasi occasionally ate fish, perhaps I could try that. I would ask Rainbow when I saw her next. 

“Certainly looks like a nice place, Rarity,” I said, looking over the menu that was left for us in the room. “Been a while since ah’ve gone in for fine dinin’.”

“And so it should, Blade Star,” she replied. The restaurant was recommended by some of Equestria’s most influential critics. I’ve been wanting to dine there for absolutely ages!” Her eyes glazed for a moment. “If memory serves, even Fancy Pants occasionally dines at the establishment.” 

Ah, yes. The key to acceptance in Canterlot high society. If you could get him to like you, you’d be fine. He seemed to approve of Rarity, so I doubted I’d have too much trouble. Unintentionally, I had networked connections in the city through Rarity. Still a small part of me disliked him for calling the girls ‘charmingly rustic’. At least he meant well and was a little more accepting than others. If worst came to the worst, I had long experience of burying my anger, I would not show up Rarity that was for sure.





We spent the intervening time in our room. Having settled in and unpacked everything. I took to reading the paper provided. There wasn’t much happening at the moment. A couple of scandals and rumours were flying about but not much else. The only real story of any note was a slight political shakeup in the Griffon government. Based on what I read, it was similar to a Cabinet reshuffle, only in the case of the Griffons a few heads had literally rolled. At half-past five Rarity asked me to throw on my waistcoat while she went to change into one of her own dresses. I concurred with AJ and Spike regarding privacy. Rarity seemed to have something of a nudity taboo, since she went into the bathroom to change, yet for the majority of the time, she didn’t wear any clothes to speak of. 

“Mares,” I muttered to myself as I waited.