Spike and I entered the dining room. It was the same one that I had been teleported to the first time I woke up. We were originally going to go through this room to get to the kitchen, but once we saw what was going on, we realized we didn’t have to.
The long table was filled to capacity with all kinds of junk food. There was cake, jello, dumplings, doughnuts, and so much more. Our mouths were salivating, as we gawked at the spread. Before I could jump onto the table, and eat as much as I could fit into myself, I heard a faint sob coming from the other side of the wall of food.
“Do you hear that?” Spike asked, trying to find the source of the crying.
“Yeah, and I think I know who it is.”
With a heavy sigh I made my way around the table to find Celestia and Luna sitting near a, particularly large, banana split. Luna had her head buried in her arms on the table, softly crying into them. Celestia was rubbing Luna’s back with a hoof to help calm her down.
“Whoa, what happened to her?”
Spike’s little outburst brought the attentions of both Celestia and Luna to us. My eyes met Luna’s. Her face scrunched up a bit and she started to wail into her arms, all over again.
Celestia could only continue to rub Luna’s back. “Shhhhhhh, It will Be all right. You’ll see.”
I looked down to the little dragon next to me with disapproval.
“What?”
‘Sigh’ “She’s in mourning for a friend she lost.”
“Oh?” Then, my words seemed to catch up to him. “Oooooooh. So, what was that look that she gave you then?”
I lowered my head to the floor in shame. “I may have, sorta, kinda, indirectly, brought it up.”
“So, this is your fault?” Spike crossed his arms and gave me the stink eye.
“No! Not really, anyway.” ‘Sigh’ “It’s hard to explain. Let’s… just go see if we can help cheer her up.”
I trotted over to the two sisters, hoping that my presence wouldn’t make things worse than they already were.
“Are you alright, Luna?” I winced. Stupid question.
She sniffled a few times to help calm her cries of despair. Between broken sobs she was able to moan. “We only want, what is best for thee.”
‘Sigh’ “I know.”
“I thought you said this wasn’t about you.” Spike whispered to me.
“Quiet, Spike!” I whispered back. I then brought my attention to the crying princess. “I know you just want what’s best for me, but in doing so, you would keep me from actually living.”
Luna began to calm down a little. She sniffled a few more times, and managed to look at me in curiosity. “How so?”
“Think of it this way. If you were to teach me everything that you know about magic; what would be left for me to learn on my own?”
She calmed a bit further giving a small sniffle. “Nothing, thou would already know all there was to learn.”
“Exactly. You would give me all the answers on how to become an alicorn. Correct?”
“WHAT!?” Spike exclaimed.
“Quiet Spike! This is important.”
“But, you could be an alicorn?”
“I’ll tell you about it later, if the princesses allow it, but right now I need you to let me finish talking to Luna.”
Spike looked up to Celestia for an explanation, only for her to shush him to stay quiet. He grumbled to himself, but didn’t try to ask anything else. I looked back to the depressed princess for her answer to my earlier question.
“What thou said would be true. What are thou getting at?”
“What I’m saying, is that you would be taking away my sense of accomplishment. I think being an alicorn is something you should earn, not something that can be given away.”
“But… Thou art a novice when it comes to magic. If thou continues at this rate, thou will become mortal again.”
That’s a possibility!? I don’t want that.
‘Sigh’ “Fine. How about a compromise then? Why don’t you teach me, just enough, about magic, so I can continue being immortal. That way, I won’t die of old age before I can earn my way to become an alicorn. How does that sound to you?”
Luna looked at me with her bloodshot eyes, contemplating my proposal. ‘Sigh’ “Deal.” Her horn began to glow, and my eyes widened in horror.
Shit!!!
“No! I didn’t mean now! I’m not…”
It was too late. The beam from her horn connected with my own. That same disorienting amount of information came flooding into my brain. My body tensed up, and I squeezed my eyes closed, waiting for the ungodly amount of pain to assault my nervous system.
…
…
It never came. I was having trouble thinking straight, but I knew I should be feeling intense pain at the moment. However, the worst I could feel was a small headache. The rush of information was flowing into me, assaulting my brain, but it wasn’t causing me any sort of major discomfort.
After a little while longer the beam faded out, disconnecting Luna and myself. I stumbled a bit and lost my balance, falling to the tiled floor. It didn’t hurt, but I was having trouble getting a hold of myself. The room kept moving around, like we were on a boat, being thrashed about in a massive storm.
Celestia was the first to ask. “Are you all right, Honor Bound?”
“I.. I think so.” I rubbed my eyes in order to see straight again.
“Will somepony tell me what’s going on!?” Spike yelled.
I lowered my head to the floor, and covered it with my hooves. “Tell him what you want. I think I’m just going to lie here, until the room stops spinning.”
The princesses softly chuckled at me. “Very well. Spike, what you are about to learn, is a state secret. You are not to mention this to anypony. Do you understand?” Celestia asked.
“I understand princess.”
“Make him pinkie promise!” I interrupted, pointing a hoof at Spike. “Under penalty of Pinkie Pie’s wrath, you will not say a word to any living creature.”
Spike visibly shuddered at the image of an angry Pinkie Pie. “Wait… How do you know about the pinkie promise?”
Shit! I didn’t think that far ahead.
“Um... Let’s just say, that I know more than I should, and leave it at that.”
“Ah. Spy stuff. I get ya.” He winked at me.
The princesses were confused, and looked to me for an explanation. He thinks I’m a secret agent. They both nodded with an expression of understanding.
Spike shrugged. “If it’s that important; I pinkie promise, not to tell anypony what I’m about to learn. Cross my heart, and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.” He did the hand motions that go along with the words as he said them.
Satisfied with the promise, Celestia continued. “Good. Now, when a unicorn develops enough magical energy; they become an alicorn.”
Spike raised his hand, like he was in a classroom getting the attention of the teacher.
“Yes, Spike.”
“Only unicorns can become alicorns? What about the other races?”
“Unicorns have been the only race, who has shown the ability to harness the necessary amount of magic, to ascend to the ranks of an alicorn. That is why this is a secret, to prevent the races from fighting among themselves.”
Spike raised his hand again.
‘Sigh’ “Yes Spike.”
“Does that mean that you and Luna were once unicorns a long time ago?”
“We were. Now, as I was saying…”
While Celestia continued to explain the secret of becoming an alicorn, Luna came over to me to ask her own questions.
“Honor Bound, Are thee sure thou will be well?”
“I’ll be fine Luna. It didn’t really hurt this time. Just a little disorienting is all.”
“We are glad to hear this. It means that thou hast settled into thyself.”
“But, you didn’t know that, before you hit me with that beam again. Did you?”
“We admit. We did not.”
WHY!!!!!! Why does she want to hurt me so much!
“Think of it as revenge for bringing up fresh wounds.” Luna nudged me in a playful manner, giggling a bit.
If her attempt at causing me extreme amounts of pain is her being playful, I don’t want to be around when she’s pissed. I need to make sure she stays happy.
“Are you feeling better at least?” I asked.
“A little. Though, we would feel better after we break one of thy legs.”
I looked up at her in horror. Luna had a grin on her face that indicated all I needed to know.
Looks like Celestia isn’t the only one who likes to troll.
My stomach decided to make itself known at that moment. It has been an undetermined amount of time since I last ate anything. The room had stopped spinning by now, and I was feeling brave enough to attempt to stand to get something to eat off the table.
I stood up with only a slight stumble, and made my way over to the smorgasbord of treats. “Were you planning on eating all of this?” I asked Luna in awe.
“We were going to attempt to, before thee had intruded upon us.”
“I’m sorry for bringing up painful memories.”
Luna looked down mournfully. “The memories are not what is painful. It is knowing that we will be unable to make any new memories with him that hurts so much.”
So, she wanted to turn me into an alicorn so she could fill the empty space that Star Swirl left behind.
“Not entirely.” She interjected.
Crap! I keep forgetting she likes to read my mind.
Luna continued. “We miss Star Swirl greatly, but we wish for all ponies, who have the capability to become alicorns, to do so. Thou does not realize how rare a pony, such as thyself, is. Even rarer, for them to actually amass enough power to become an alicorn.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I will do my best to learn what I can, so I can be one of those few. It might be a while, but I will make it there. I promise.”
“Thank you.” She nods her head to me. “The knowledge we bestowed upon thee should be accessible the next time thou wakes from sleep. For now, though, let us eat. Thou have been eyeing those donuts for a while now, and we would hate for thee to die of hunger.”
I had to tear my vision away from the tasty treats to look to Luna.
She still seems so sad. There has to be a way to get her to smile. What would Pinkie Pie do?... Be random!
A smile spread across my face.
“What are thou…”
“There is always time to eat.” I interrupted. I used my magic to grab two donuts, and I brought one over to me, and ate it. The other, floated over Luna’s head, and I dropped it. It landed perfectly so Luna’s horn pierced the donut’s hole. “But wouldn’t you prefer to have a little fun?”
Luna was shocked, at first. Then, she picked up a little bit of whipped cream from the banana split, and rubbed it on the end of my nose. She smirked at me. “Is this how thou intends to cheer us up?”
“Only if it works.” I licked the whip cream off of my nose, and used some magic to grab some more off of the same dessert that Luna had. I then proceeded to whip it on the end of her nose.
She giggled at my actions. “So be it.” She was smirking at me again. After looking at her in confusion, my head snapped forward from a sudden impact. I felt something gooey running down my neck.
Did she just…
I rose my head back up, and a pie plate fell from the top of it. I looked at it in surprise.
She did! Oh, it is on now!
Before I could grab my next projectile, Celestia’s voice interrupted our fun.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Luna and I looked over to find Celestia gazing at us in disgust, while Spike was staring on, in wide eyed wonderment. We looked back to each other and grinned.
Team up?
Luna nodded. We both grabbed a morsel of food with our magic. Keeping it levitated over our heads, while we sized up our competition.
“No! Don’t you dare, Luna!” Celestia demanded once she realized what was about to happen. She was trying to back away from us in a futile attempt to get away.
Luna was the first to attack, throwing a scoop of ice cream at her sister. Celesta was able to catch it with her own magic, but was unprepared for the piece of cake I had thrown afterwards. It hit her right in the face.
She was stunned into silence. Spike on the other hand was doing a bad job, trying to stifle his giggling. I decided to put a stop to that, so I through another piece of cake at him. It smacked him in the side of the face, stunning him. He didn’t move, as it slowly slid down his face, and onto the floor.
Luna and I couldn’t help but to roll on the floor, laughing. I didn’t even notice that over half the food on the table was being levitated behind us. Luna did, though.
She leaned over to me and whispered, “Run.” She then proceeded to galloped away.
“Huh?” It was too late. I now know what it’s like to be buried alive in food. It was everywhere! I could faintly hear Luna, laughing her pretty little head off, outside of my mound of food.
I slowly crawled out of the heap of deserts, to find Spike creeping up on Luna while she was laughing at me. He raised the punch bowl he was carrying, over his head, and dumped its sugary contents all over Luna. She gasped loudly, as the cold liquid seeped into her coat.
She turned on him, like a viper ready to strike. She brought over a glob of pudding and lobed it at Spike. Either by instinct or quick thinking, Spike breathed his fire at the projectile, which quickly evaporated into smoke.
I watched as the smoke traveled across the room, over to where Celestia had just finished whipping the cake from her countenance. She looked up at the swirling smoke in confusion; it coalesced back into pudding, and landed on her freshly cleaned face.
I couldn’t stop from laughing, so hard, my sides hurt. Spike was chuckling a bit as well. That is, until Luna brought a bowl of jello over, and dumped it onto his head.
I levitated some of the food in my pile up, and tossed it at Luna. She had just enough time to put up a force field to block the attack. The food splattered against the semi-spherical wall, and stuck there.
Celestia decided then, would be a good time to launch her own attack at Luna from behind. The pie smacked Luna in the back of the head, disrupting her magic. The food, which her force field was holding above her, came down onto her head.
We were all laughing like idiots at this point. Food was being thrown this way and that. We all needed a bath, but none of us really cared anymore. This was just too much fun.
All of us froze when we heard a loud gasp from the entryway. We froze and slowly turned our attention to the door. There stood Hors D'oeuvre, with his mouth hanging open in shock.
I bet he never thought royalty could act like this.
Celestia and Luna were quick to react. Both used their magic to remove all of the food from their coats and manes. They didn’t even look sticky anymore.
“Honor Bound, I trust you will clean this mess, which you and Spike caused, before too long.” Celestia said with an air of authority.
“Huh?”
“Once thou are done with that, We will expect the both of thou to come before us, in the throne room, for thine punishment.”
“But...”
The two alicorns didn’t even bat an eye. "No buts, You caused this mess, so you have to clean it up."
They then proceeded to walk out of the room with their heads held high, as if they had no part in the food fight a moment ago.
What just happened? And, why am I getting punished for it?
I looked over to Spike for answers, only to find that he had a similar expression of confusion on his face. We then glanced back to the door at Hors D'oeuvre. He shook his head to remove the shock from his face.
“Sirs, I do not know how you created such a mess, but as the princesses have decreed. You will be the ones to clean it up. I will go get you some cleaning supplies. One moment.”
As Hors D'oeuvre left to fetch us something to clean with. Spike and I sat in our piles of food stunned into silence. We didn’t even move until Hors D'oeuvre came back with a couple of mops and buckets, along with a few trash cans. He placed the supplies in a pile in the middle of the room.
“You have what you need. Good day.” With that he left closing the door behind him.
“Great! Look what you got us into.” Spike whined.
I proceeded to look over the mess that we were to clean. My vision came across some food left untouched on the table.
I shrugged “At least we can eat the leftovers.”
Spike sighed. “Fine. Less to clean up, I guess. Pass me some of those éclairs.”
We got up and headed to the table, and ate to our hearts content.
It is good to have something in my stomach. Especially before having to work my tail off to clean up this mess.