“Cadence, we’re back!” I shouted as I slammed the crystal palace’s main doors open.
“Is that really necessary?” Luna grumbled as she held her head.
“It’s now my fault you decided to drink too much.”
The tour around Equestria had taken about two weeks. The country was recovering from the attack and seemed to be taking nicely to the idea of Luna being the ruler. The fun part was that our last stop was Las Pegasus, and Luna decided to connect better with her subjects by getting wasted. I love drunk ponies, they are so much easier to annoy.
“Welcome back!” Cadence came charging at us and hugged Luna then me. “How was it?”
“Please keep your voice down.” Luna grumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Cadence looked at her with concern.
“She partied too hard.” I explained. “Isn’t that right Luna?” I raised my voice.
“Urgh.” Luna growled before her horn glowed and a book appeared in front of her. She flipped through it until she began to read.
“What’s that?” I asked before yanking it out of her magical grasp. It was that book Celestia wrote about me. Looking at the chapter I smiled. Post Cider Day was the title. I began to read it aloud. “After drinking the large amounts of cider from the Apples it is inevitable that Sean’s being a loud mouthed pest mode will go into overdrive.”
“True,” Cadence said. I glared at her.
“The simple cure is to hide for a day or so. The other more extreme move is to lock him in an electric box.” I finished reading. “She promised to never do that again!”
“You have two choices Sean,” Luna said while giving me a cruel smile. “Cage or silence.”
“I really don’t like you.”
“So bored!” I slammed my head into the table. Luna had dragged me into the meeting room so that we could discuss the rebuilding of Canterlot.
“It’s your home too.” Luna gave me an irritated look.
“Why do I need to be here? Aren’t you just going to do whatever you feel like?”
“Actually no, I was thinking we would work together to rebuild the city. That way we can both leave our mark and have a home to enjoy.”
“Seriously?” Luna nodded. “Let’s do this then!”
“Sean, Luna how’s the planning going?” Cadence slowly opened the door to the meeting room. She gasped as she peeked into the room.
The place was littered with crumpled papers, there were a few scorch marks across the walls, there was a chip out of one wall and the chandelier had been thrown across the room.
“You’re crazy if you think that’s balanced!” Sean shouted.
“I’m the princess, so it is!” Luna retorted.
Cadence lifted a nearby crumpled paper to look at it. It was a drawing, on it there was a dragon that resembled Sean’s form holding the moon between its hands.
“Screw you!”
“Careful, before I get the electric box!”
“You wanna go moon butt!?” Sean slammed his hands on the table. His finger nails had lengthened and his eyes were green.
“Bring it scales!” Luna’s teeth had sharpened and her eyes were white.
“That’s enough!” Cadence shouted. The two turned their gaze to look at the princess.
“Hello Cadence.” Luna attempted to sound friendly and calm. Though the image was diminished by her pointed teeth and soulless eyes.
“What’s going on here?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on, this crazy night freak is being completely unreasonable!” Sean glared at the blue alicorn. Luna glared and threw a crumpled paper at his face.
“I’m the unreasonable one? You’re the moron who thinks dragons are better than my moon!”
“You can’t really think a glorified rock is superior to fire breathing lizards.”
“That’s it!” Luna then leaped at the human, knocking him to the ground. Cadence sighed before pulling the two apart.
“Sean, please go into the hall for a minute,” Cadence ordered calmly.
“Fine.” He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
“Good thinking niece.” Luna nodded in approval. Her eyes returning to normal. “Getting rid of that-”
“What was that all about?” Cadence interrupted the night princess. Her voice was stern.
“We were working on the new symbol of Equestria.”
“Ok, why were you two fighting?” Cadence looked at another drawing. On this one the moon filled the sheet while a small dragon was visible on the top.
“He kept trying to make his stupid reptile outshine my wonderful moon.”
“I see.” Looking at another sheet Cadence saw another moon with a barely recognizable dragon made of craters. “While you were trying to make your moon outshine his dragon?”
“I was doing no such thing.” Luna glared at Cadence.
“So all these drawings where a giant moon fills the page while barely showing a dragon were made by Sean?”
“Well, no.”
“That’s what I thought.” Cadence turned to the door. “Sean, come back in!”
“You can’t seriously be buying this one’s story,” Sean said as he reentered the room.
“I want you two to talk this out.” Cadence looked at both of them. “You guys are friends, a silly emblem shouldn’t tear you two apart.”
“Her stupid sky stone is the problem.”
“No, your glorified geckos are.” Cadence sighed as the two began to argue again. Levitating a piece of paper she began to draw.
“One fireball could destroy that stupid pebble of yours.”
“Why you-”
“Could you two stop for a minute?” Cadence interrupted them.
“What is it?” Sean asked impatiently.
“How’s this?” The pink alicorn held her drawing in front of her. On her paper there was a large moon in the center, but coiled around the circumference was Sean’s dragon form. She smiled as the two looked at it in shock.
“That’s actually very good,” Luna finally said.
“Oh come one!” Sean held his face in his hands. “We’ve been here for an hour and she makes a good one after thirty seconds.”
“It’s probably because I’m an impartial source.” Cadence smiled.
“That will work.” Luna nodded before looking at the biped behind her. “Sean?”
“Yeah.” Sean looked away. “It’s good.”
“Great!” Cadence smiled. “Now you two can put this behind you.”
“I was thinking we could go for a somewhat more gothic feel,” Luna said as she showed me some basic blue prints of her idea for Canterlot.
“I like it, though we shouldn’t go too grim. It needs to still fit the rest of Equestria.”
“I know, but Canterlot’s old freakishly pristine look always bugged me.”
“Me too.” I nodded. “So let’s give it the different feel without going overboard.”
“Of course.” Luna then showed me her idea for the palace. “So I was thinking we go for symmetry instead of that jumbled mess the old palace was.”
“Good call.”
“It will be mostly rectangular for the body, then we’ll have four large towers that serve as bedrooms. One for me, one for you, and two for important guests.”
“Clever.”
“Now on to the deeper details.”
“Finally, the defensive wall around the city will be enchanted to avoid any weak points like the old one had,” Luna said as she finished her design plans.
“Sounds good.” I nodded. “Definitely better than the old one.”
“Thank you.”
“So, should we go talk to the construction guys?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, those rocks work fast,” I said as we entered the main gates of the new Canterlot. It had been two months since the construction ponies were given the assignment and they had already finished the city. Exactly to Luna’s specifications.
“That they do.” Luna’s smile was huge. “Now we can began to truly repair Equestria.”
“Yep.” I began to look around the new Canterlot. It still had that big city sort of vibe, but instead of the clean blinding white look of before now it was grayer. Not to the point of depressing, just less pristine.
“Ah, Princess Luna.” Looking ahead I saw a crystal pony in a hard hat come running up. “Welcome to the new Canterlot.”
“Thank you for your help.” Luna gave him a polite nod.
“It’s our pleasure.” The pony smiled. “Come on, let me show you around your new palace.”
“Here’s the front gate,” The pony said as we reached two large gray doors. In the center was the new symbol of Equestria, Nicol Bolas coiled around the moon.
“Nice.” I nodded. As the doors opened the full castle came into view. Like the rest of the new city it had a gothic feel without going overboard. It was gray, the majority of the structure was rectangular with four columns, one on each corner. A moat surrounded the structure to offer better protection.
“It looks great,” Luna said as we neared the castle.
“Thank you princess.” The worker smiled. “Now then, shall we go inside?” He asked as we reached the main doors. Just like the gate the new emblem was imprinted on them. “Would you like to do the honors?” The pony asked Luna.
“Certainly.” Luna’s horn glowed and the doors began to open. Once they had fully opened we entered, the main corridor contradicted the outside, it was mostly white and clean. The walls were lined with several torches that illuminated the room nicely.
“Wow,” I said as I looked around.
“The princess said she wanted the inside to be like the old palace,” The construction pony said. “Let me give you the grand tour.”
“This is the lead to the princess’s room,” The pony said as he gestured towards a spiraling staircase that was built inside one of the columns. “After you.”
“Thank you.” Luna nodded before she began to climb the stairs. Quickly following I was surprised. The walls were all black, but they were lit with many small lights that made it look like stars, causing the walls to resemble the night sky. As we followed the stairs up we eventually reached a door, it was made of black metal and in the center a large crescent moon was carved in and glowing blue.
“They put a lot of work into this,” I said as Luna opened the door. The room was huge, being at least the size of two good sized ones. The walls followed the same star pattern as the hall and there was a large moon roof. It was fully furnished with black and silver furniture.
“This is incredible.” Luna looked around the room in awe. She then ran towards the massive bed and flopped onto it. “This is so comfortable.”
“Glad you like it,” The worker smiled.
“So what about my room?” I asked.
“Ah yes, follow me.” The pony then turned and began to walk down the stairs.
“Here we are.” The pony gestured towards another flight of stairs. This one was on the other side of the castle from Luna’s. “You first.” Walking up the stairs I was disappointed by how dark it was, there were no real lights. I was forced to adjust my eyes to see well. From what I could see it was apparent that the walls were stone. As we reached the top I turned to the worker.
“Ok, what’s up with this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Luna got some awesome star light thing and a fancy door. Mine is a stone corridor with a metal door.” I heard a chuckle.
“Let me show you something.” He then walked past me and pressed his hoof on the center of the door. I had to cover my eyes as there was a sudden flash of light, once my eyes recovered they quickly widened. Along the walls there was the outline of three serpentine dragons made of fire, following them I reached the door. Which now had the outline of Nicol Bolas’ head in the center glowing red.
“Awesome!”
“Glad you like it.” He nodded. “I hope the interior is to your liking as well.”
“We’ll see,” I said before gripping the door handle and opened the door.
I will admit I was pleased. The room was massive like Luna’s, though everything was mostly made of stone. Along the walls there were carvings of dragons. I saw a large stain glass door, on it was once again the new Equestrian symbol.
“This will do.” I nodded.
“There is one last feature,” The pony said as he walked towards the glass door. Following him I opened it to find a large balcony that looked over the landscape.
“Cool.”
“That’s not the best part.” He then put a hoof on a nearby crystal ball, there was a flash and we were teleported. When we rematerialized everything was pitch-black.
“Where are we?” As I asked that several torches suddenly lit. We were in some kind of cave.
“The princess talked about how you always wanted somewhere private you could go.” He gestured towards the cave. “This is your personal den.”
“Finally!”
“Is that what I think it is?” I pointed at a large rock. After the construction pony had left and Luna had dragged herself from her new bed we went to investigate the new gardens.
“Indeed it is.” Luna nodded. “A sunning rock.”
“You are officially the best pony alive!” I said before running to the rock and lying on it. “Oh Bolas, it’s so warm.”
“Glad you like it,” Luna said as she came to stand next to me. “It’s enchanted to absorb the heat of the sun, that way it can remain warm even at night or when the sun is blocked”
“It’s like I always dreamed.”
“I don’t see why my sister would never let you get one of these.”
“Because she was lame.” I sighed.
“Fair enough.”
“This is the best thing ever,” I said as I enjoyed my new rock. “I’m going to nap here everyday.”
Maybe that’s why Celestia never got this. You may never move again.
“Whatever.” I yawned and closed my eyes.
“Hmm, let’s see.” Luna mumbled as she flipped through the Sean guide. “Parties, parties, aha!”
Guide to Sean: Social Activities
1.) Festivals (300-302)
2.) Carnivals (303-304)
3.) Migration (303-305)
4.) Birthdays (306-307)
5.) Biannual social etiquette classes (308-312)
6.) Royal Events (313-322)
Luna quickly flipped to the designated pages for royal events.
Our resident human is many things, but a social butterfly is not one of them. Royal events are where this really shows. In scenarios like the Grand Galloping Gala he will zone out and glare at anypony that nears him. If the plan is for him to enjoy it there has to be cupcakes and something he can amuse himself with (much like a foal). If you want to be taken seriously at these it gets harder. The first step is to get him into something presentable. This is difficult due to having to listen as he WHINES about how everything is touching is skin, that the fancy clothes have lice because it’s itchy, once he even tried to pass his tail off as a snake in the tuxedo so he could rip and destroy it, and there was the time he took little Twilight and shoved her in his jacket claiming it was a tumor. After that you need to drag him to the event, if you want him to be social just blackmail him. Visit page 413 for a list of easy exploits.
“Screw you!” I shouted, digging my heels into the floor.
“You will come with me and get dressed!” Luna growled as she yanked at my arm with her magic.
“No! You’re not the boss of me.” I growled before draining the magic and making a break for it.
Wow.
“Shove it, I am not wearing a suit.” Then there was a flash and Luna appeared in front of me. Quickly stopping I looked her in the eyes and glared. “I’ll fight you over this.”
“Fine, don’t wear it,” Luna said as she turned and began to walk away.
“Wait, what?”
“You heard me. Dress as you please, don’t show up at all. I’ll just make up for your lack of activity with a few stories.” She gave me an evil look.
“What kind of stories?”
“Nothing too exciting, maybe about your three hundredth birthday.”
“Who told you about that!?”
“Celestia.” Luna kept her cruel look. “I must say, based on what I read you were quiet-”
“Don’t say it!”
“Become presentable and come to the party and I will not bring it up again.”
“You’re evil.” I grumbled as I followed her to my room. “What is this party for anyway?”
“It’s sort of like a grand opening for the new Canterlot,” She said before opening the door to my room. “We are having some very important ponies come.” Luna began to rummage through my closet.
“That’s it?”
“No, the hope is that some of them will want to move here, we need to refill the city.” She pulled out a black suit. “Here we go. Put this on and be in the gardens at 8:00 sharp.”
“I’ll show you something sharp,” I grumbled.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“I hate this thing,” I growled, attempting to stretch my arms. “It’s so restricting.”
Would you shut up already!?
“Bob’s right, you’re complaining is getting rather annoying.” Luna glared at me.
“How can you hear him?”
“The book.”
“Of course.” I rolled my eyes. “I need to destroy that thing.”
“Just go mingle, get ponies hooked on the city.”
“Fine.”
“Think about it, you’d be one of the first ponies to ever live in the new Canterlot.” I put my arm around a rich looking unicorn. “Your family could go down in history, you would be one of the most influential houses in the city thanks to your early investment.”
“I can’t argue with that.” He looked at me enthusiastically. “I’ll do it.”
“Excellent.” I turned and headed towards Luna. “That’s six.”
“Wow you’re slow.” Luna smirked. “I just got to eight.” I noticed she was avoiding looking to the right. Looking that way I spotted a pegasus giving her an honestly creepy smile.
“You seduced him didn’t you?”
“Just some simple flirting. Males these days are very weak willed.”
“That’s cheating, I can’t hit on these ponies.”
“It’s not cheating, it is utilizing all the resources at my disposal.” She then began to walk towards a crowd of nobles.
I know what you’re thinking, and it won’t work.
Why not?
You can’t scare these ponies into moving here.
Why not? She’s using her skills.
Not the same thing. She’s giving them dreams that will not be safe for her to view. You would be giving them nightmares.
Fine.
“I got 42 ponies.” Luna looked at me smugly. “What did you get?”
“37.” I grumbled. After the party ended Luna and I sat down to compare the number of ponies we convinced to move to the new capital.
“I win!”
“Only because you’re female.”
“Just keep telling yourself that, maybe I just have natural charisma.”
“Don’t you have more princessy things to do?” I glared at her.
“According my royal schedule I still have ten minutes of gloating.”
“Well you can gloat to the wall.” I stood up. “I’m going to bed.”
“Aw, you’re such a baby.” Luna chased after me. “Just because I’m better doesn’t mean you have to be such a poor sport.” Similar mockery continued until we reached my door.
“This proves once and for all who the better pony is.”
“Since you’re the only pony here that wasn’t much of a contest.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Nope, too late, you already said it!” I slammed the door in her face.
It had been a month since the new Canterlot was built and things were going well, all the ponies Luna and I had talked to moved in and more. Cadence and Shiny had also been kind enough to give us some of their servants and guards to get Equestria back on its feet.
“What a great day for a nap,” I said, curling up on my sun rock. “Not too cloudy, yet not too bright, with the perfect amount of heat.” I closed my eyes. “This is going to be a relaxing day.”
Luna was pacing in her room hyperventilating, today had just become extremely stressful. She looked at the scroll, reading it again. The red letters weren’t hard to read, it just didn’t seem real.
“I have to tell Sean.” Luna looked at a nearby clock the hands telling her it was currently 2:00. “Curses, he’s napping right now.” Growling the princess levitated her guide and began to flip through it. Eventually she reached the section she was looking for.
Guide to Sean: Sleeping
1.) Nighttime (132-133)
2.) Meetings (134-136)
3.) Spontaneous Bursts of Unexpected Unconsciousness. (137-142)
4.) Naps (143-148)
Once again flipping to the correct pages she began to quickly read.
There are certain times of day that Sean will go and nap. The designated times are 2:00 and 6:00, though after long trips, meetings, or courts he will often take one. The best course of action is to not disturb him during his official naps. Like a child he will throw a tantrum, though his end with more than a headache. However, if it is absolutely necessary to wake him there is a right way and wrong way. Here are two examples.
A.) Something urgent has come up, you need Sean to watch the castle for a bit. You hunt him down and violently shake him, rudely waking him. If you picked this option. Congratulations! You’re dead! The only pony known to get away with this is Twilight. Others trying this is why we had to rebuild the entire west section of Canterlot.
B.) Something urgent has come up, you need Sean to watch the castle for a bit. You hunt him down, once you find the human you calmly and peacefully wake him, inform him of your problem. If you picked this option. Congratulations! You are alive! All there is a tired and grumpy Sean instead of a violent destructive dragon.
“Sean wake up.” I felt something carefully shaking me. “This is urgent.”
“What?” I opened my eyes to see Luna standing over me. “What do you want?”
“Read this.” She dropped a scroll on my face. Rubbing my eyes I began to read.
Luna, if you’re reading this it means the spell worked. I don’t have a lot of time to go in detail, the changeling’s are searching for me. I need you to grab Sean and come save the elements and me. Have him follow the magical trail this spell created. Please hurry, it’s taken a lot of blood to wright this.
-Celestia
Sniffing the paper I nodded. “Yep, that’s definitely Celestia’s blood.”
“What are you waiting for? We have to go save her!” Luna looked at me urgently
“Don’t you find it odd she was strong enough to escape and send this but too weak to escape and get us?”
“Who cares how she contacted us?” Luna glared at me. “My sister is in danger.”
“I’m just saying-”
“If you won’t help I’ll go by myself.” She then turned and began to walk away.
“Ugh.” I lowered my head. “Wait up, you don’t even know how to track her magic.”