//------------------------------// // Chapter 03: Foood // Story: Lunar Eclipse // by Ephemeral Memory //------------------------------// Daniel’s PoV As the princesses and I exited Celestia’s room, the white alicorn reminded me that none of the other castle’s inhabitants had seen me yet. Almost immediately, the guards and I caught sight of each other. They wore standard gold armor and looked eerily similar to each other. Blame magic, I guess. Furthermore, compared to the princesses, they were rather short. Maybe non-princess ponies were just three to four feet tall. Anyway, when they shifted their steady gazes toward their rulers, finding their new companion (me), their eyes widened. I figured that if I had been alone, it would have been a matter of time before they subdued me. They were guards, short or not, after all. One of them stumbled forward, kneeling and calling, “Your Majesties! We did not realize any thing had snuck into your room! Please forgive us for our blunder and punish us as you see fit!” I felt my left eye twitch in annoyance. Here we go again with “creature this” and “thing that.” Then again, they’ve never seen a human before, so I can’t blame them. “All of you, calm down,” rang out Celestia’s voice. “This,” she patted my back with a hoof, “is Daniel, a human, and as far as I have seen, he bears no ill will toward anypony. Furthermore, none of you deserve any disciplinary actions because it was I who asked Princess Luna to teleport him here.” At this, another guard cried out, “But Princess! We should have-” “Please, guards,” Celestia cut in, “don’t worry yourselves over this. You had no control over the situation. Also, Daniel has free passage throughout the castle in the unrestricted areas, so please spread the word to the others.” “But-” stammered the first guard. He paused and seemed to understand that he wasn’t getting anywhere with the conversation. “Yes, Princess!” shouted the guard, saluting along with all the others. Celestia smiled at their display before replying, “Excellent. Now, my sister, Daniel, and I shall be off to the dining hall. Keep up the good work.” With that, the three of us continued walking down the corridor. Apparently, the guards were pretty diligent and expedient when it came to their jobs since none of the other stone-faced ponies bothered us again. The couple of curious servants that we met, however, did stop to stare a bit before moving on with their jobs. All in all, I was expecting much louder and exaggerated reactions to the presence of some unknown creature wandering the halls with the princesses, but perhaps they’ve seen stranger. God knows what’s happened before with magic available. After a couple more minutes, the aroma of food greeted my nose and almost sent my starving stomach on another growling frenzy. Almost. What stopped that, unfortunately, was the sound of disgust coming from some white unicorn strutting towards us from the other end of the hall. “Ugh! Those dim-witted servants should know by now that I want my Royal Porridge at exactly 82.7 degrees Marenheit! I mean, I’m already lenient enough to allow for a 0.1 degree difference, but nooo, they actually had the gall to mess up by twice that amount this time! What if they had burned my royal tongue? How could they sleep at night knowing that they just performed such a blatant act of treason!” huffed the unicorn. I was less than a second from laughing -especially after I saw my companions wrinkle their noses in distaste after hearing the pony. During our all-nighter talk, Celestia had warned me about some “arrogant little nephew” of hers, advising me to keep as much distance from him as possible. Unfortunately, that was impossible now that the prince was gawking at me. “Aunty Celestia!” drawled whatshisface, “Did you obtain another pet without letting me know again? You know your fire chicken dislikes me for no reason. If you don’t mind me suggesting, I think it’s for the better if we find a pet that has proper manners. Or perhaps you were fortunate this time to find a decent creature. What is this thing anyway? It looks like a monkey, and -” “Nephew,” called Celestia, ending the pony’s nonsense, “This is Daniel, a human, and he is not a pet. Also, yesterday, I believe you left your Royal Saddlebag in the lavatory next to the maids’ changing room.” What. Oh, wow. I did hear some stories about this guy, courtesy of Celestia, but this, this pony was just Pathetic. I hoped, for his sake, that my sleep-deprived brain was just being mean to him. As I continued to stifle my unbearable laughter, the prince blubbered some more nonsense before trotting toward wherever his royal bag was. When he was finally out of view, I let loose my guffaws, while Luna facepal-hoofed. It was funny how ponies did that, too. I figured it would hurt more with a hoof. Celestia only let out a resigned sigh and continued walking forward. Luna followed, and it took me a moment to regain my sanity before I, too, accompanied them. Celestia’s PoV Oh..where did that little kind foal go? Never will I stop wondering what happened to change his personality so much. My ears heard Daniel’s uncontrollable sniggering. “Well, at least a certain human seemed to enjoy that encounter,” I wryly thought, as we stepped into the dining hall. I took my usual spot at the center of the lengthy table, Luna sat on my right, and Daniel sat across from me. Before Nightmare Moon happened, Luna and I would usually take both ends of the table, but ever since my sister came back, it seemed as if the whole experience had driven us closer together. I had had enough of sitting alone at the head for a thousand years, and the day after she returned, without even a word about our seating arrangements, we just sat together in the middle. I smiled at the memory. “Um..excuse me, Princess Celestia,” began a maid, snapping me out of my thoughts, “Would you like the usual today?” I recalled her name quickly and replied, “That would be wonderful, thank you, Beam Dancer.” Beam Dancer, seeming overjoyed, turned to Luna. “Princess Luna, is it the usual for you, too?” she inquired. Luna confirmed, "Yes! The usual meal is the most satisfying of all meals! Then, she faced Daniel and switched her eyes to me for a brief moment. Poor mare must be confused. “Uh...what do you want...um..” started Beam Dancer. “Name’s Daniel, and I’ll just have whatever Celestia got. Thanks... Beam Dancer, was it?” “Of course, sir! Yes, sir!” she replied hastily, and then called to all of us, “Your meals will be here shortly!” “That was interesting,” commented Daniel when we were alone again. He went on, “By the way, is it true that you have a fire chicken for a pet?” Luna got a giggle out of that one, and I facehoofed for the second time within five minutes. It seems today is just dedicated to facehoofs. “Phoenix,” I corrected and felt a slight frown form on my face, as I explained, “Philomena is my pet phoenix, and she dislikes my..nephew because he is always bothering her by prodding her in an attempt to force her to spontaneously combust. Unfortunately, Prince Blueblood believes that Philomena doesn’t have to follow her natural rebirth cycle and can just burn at any moment for his entertainment.” “Oh. I’m sorry Philomena has to deal with that,” said Daniel with a conciliatory grin. After several more minutes of idle chatter, Beam Dancer and another maid scrambled back with our meals balanced precariously on their backs and wings. I levitated all the dishes and placed them in front of their respective diners. “Oh! Princess Celestia, you didn’t have to help us!” cried out Beam Dancer. The other maid, Feather Shine, added, “But we appreciate your benevolence anyway and hope that the meal is satisfactory!” Without waiting for a reply, the two rushed to their places along the sides for further orders. I gave them a smile, and the two grinned back sheepishly. Then, I turned to my breakfast, which consisted of my favorite chocolate cake with the right amount of strawberry icing on the sides, two layers of cream between the chocolate, regular icing slathered above, and the perfect cherry to top it all off. I’m ashamed to admit that my mouth watered at the thought…No, I’m not. Cake is one of the best inventions that I have had the luck to behold in my long life. The other parts of my meal were just regular items in a typical breakfast, namely: sunny-side up eggs, several slices of apples, and a stack of pancakes with maple syrup. The last of the list was another favorite, but the cake still outshined everything put together. And since the cake was the best, I always saved it for last. Daniel’s PoV I looked at the breakfast before me. Cake? For breakfast? Really, Celestia? I realize that I’m in a completely new world, but I have a feeling that even this was unusual. I mean, just look at the size of that thing! It wouldn’t even look out of place in a wedding! Then again, Celestia did ask for “the usual.” I have no idea what to think. I gave a questioning stare to the white alicorn, but she seemed too preoccupied with the lord of all cakes. Dang..she’s drooling, too. I glanced back at my own pastry. There’s no way I’m going to finish this, but the other stuff looks decent. On the other hand, Luna’s breakfast, or dinner, included what looked like Caesar salad, some garlic bread, some type of soup, and a main course that had noodles and a sauce I wasn’t familiar with. Overall, it looked pretty delicious. All three of us, who were already hungry, began eating with gusto, and soon enough, our plates were mostly empty. I left the giant mother of all cakes untouched, and Celestia eyed the thing. Just how much cake does she eat? “You can have it if you want,” I told her. “Oh, I couldn’t. You should eat it,” replied Celestia. “I would, but I can’t eat another bite.” “In that case, I will alleviate you of your burden and take it upon myself to make sure that cake does not go to waste.” The cake then glowed with a golden light and hovered to Celestia, who began going at it as quickly as she did the first time. I gave an impressed whistle that the princess ignored. With a small smile on her face, Luna remarked, “Thou hast always enjoyed devouring thy pastries.” Celestia stopped munching for a moment and blushed. “It’s not my fault that they taste so heavenly.” The princess continued digging into the confectionery. “But doth it not worry thee that those sweets will accumulate upon thy figure?” asked Luna, giggling with a hoof over her mouth. Oh, you did not just go there. Celestia looked up. “I exercise enough,” replied Celestia curtly. “I am unsure if sitting around during thy Day Court is considered as exercise,” returned Luna. Ouch. The older sister was starting to look annoyed now and ruffled her wings, a movement that seemed to match her expression. A brief flash of nostalgia went through my mind, as I remembered all those times my sis tried to get under my skin like that. I noticed Celestia grinning mischievously, and a not-so-small slab of the cake flew straight into Luna’s mouth. And around it. And kind of everywhere on her face. “You only had to ask if you wanted a share, Luna. My little sister, of all ponies, should know that,” said the perpetrator smugly. A piece of the thrown cake slid down the night princess’s face, and anyone could see the fire in her eyes. A second later, all of the cake near Luna glowed blue and became airborne again, landing on Celestia’s face. “Oh, no. Thou art mistaken, sister. I did not wish to partake in eating thy cake,” retorted Luna. The maids, who had gasped at the first throw, were beginning to panic, so I decided to throw in my two cents at this point. “Uh, Celestia, Luna, I know it really isn’t my business and all, but don’t you two, as princesses, have to, you know, run the country instead of starting a royal food fight? And if this is what you guys eat usually, then shouldn’t you be used to this and get along by now?” I saw both of their horns glow before cake blinded me. At least it tasted good. However, for some reason, as I heard their snickers, I felt as if they staged that argument to make me say something that would end up with a pastry-covered face. When we finally cleaned up, with some of the maids’ help, Luna excused herself and teleported to her room to catch some z’s. During this time, Celestia had talked briefly to the skittish maid named Beam Dancer. She was a light blue pegasus with bright yellow eyes and a short purple mane. The tattoo on her butt, or “cutie mark,” as Celestia had called it during our conversation, was a small sun (compared to the one on Celestia’s butt) that had yellow rays extending from it. Celestia then turned toward me and said, “Well, I must attend the Day Court and, as you so aptly put, ‘run the country.’ In the mean time, though, Beam Dancer will be your guide.” “Sounds like a good plan. Guess I’ll talk to you later, Celestia” I answered. I still needed to ask her about getting back to Earth, after all. She nodded and exited the dining hall. I turned to Beam Dancer, who was looking at me with wide eyes. Well, wider than the normally large pony eyes anyway. Scared of me, are we? Idea time! I grinned as evilly as I could and asked her in an intimidating voice, “Sooo. Where shall we go now, Beam Dancer?” To my dismay, the maid started giggling. I was confused, to say the least. “You’re quite the actor, sir. I mean, did you see the look on your face? Even without the makeup, you could pass for a clown like that!” she chortled. “Huh. Guess I found a new occupation,” I flatly replied, dropping what I thought was a creepy grin, making her giggle even more. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up! I’m gonna go explore the castle now. Hasta la vista, Beamy!” I had already made my way out of the dining hall before I heard her hooves clopping behind me. “Wait up, sir! Princess Celestia told me to escort you!” Listening to my inner jerk, I just ignored her and kept walking..somewhere. She caught up soon enough though. I turned right at some random hall intersection. “Um..this way leads to the maids’ changing room,” squeaked Beam Dancer. I froze with a foot raised, pivoted 180 degrees with my other foot, and continued walking as if nothing happened. “Well, now I know where to find Bluebutt,” I thought idly. Now that I think about it though..why would the ponies even need - I shook my head. Luna’s PoV (Because Wynaut.) I laid upon my bed for the longest time, staring at the ceiling, which was painted to mimic my glorious Night. Alas! Nopony can ever match its perfection with but an easel and brush. I used to be content in knowing that only I could weave together the brightest of stars and the most distant of galaxies into one limitless masterpiece. But times have changed, and now I sleep peacefully, knowing that more citizens than...before...appreciate my art. Tonight, though, the sky and its admirers do not dwell in my mind. Nay! It was that..human. He hath proven to be of no harm thus far. He containeth no magical skill and doth contribute to the levels of fun. Nevertheless, I shall not be caught unawares by him! This night hath been a most curious experience. “Most..curious,” I murmured before shifting into a more comfortable position, letting sleep overtake me.