//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Discovery // Story: Fallen Princesses // by Bellex //------------------------------// Ugh, my head. What the hell did I hit? And why is it so warm? Oh, that's a blanket. Wait a sec. I don't recall falling asleep. Or did I? The human snuggled into the softness underneath him. This is NOT my bed or couch. He pondered on this for a moment. Damn it, I've been mobbed... Let's hope I'm here because a kind girl saw and took me to her place. He gave a silent chuckle. Right. Ok eyes. Show me how lucky I am. His eyes slowly slid open, taking in the details before him. Directly in front was a small circular table, with a few books on top. Looking right he saw a hearth with logs on their last flames before becoming coals. To the left was a window, set fairly low. After this was when he actually took note of the room. It wasn't made of wood, plaster or brick like in modern homes and had a reflective blue shine. The entire room was made up of it. So I'm somewhere where they can afford to make a stone room. No, not stone. Crystal? He reached out of his current bed and rapped on the floor, giving an answering tink. Yes crystal. Nowhere I've ever heard about has something like this. So then, where am I? Figuring he wouldn't get the answers lying down, he sat up and stretched. "Whoa! The hell am I naked?" He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself, looking around to see if anyone was hiding in the room, then silent to see if anyone heard. Ok. Strange place. Naked. Not good. He sat there. silently going over as much detail in the room as he could. Upon seeing the book again he decided to take a look. If nothing else it'll give him a hint at where he was. Grabbing the closest book he brought it over and popped it open. What greeted him was horse shoes, horns, stars, comets, and horse heads. "Great, I'm in a jokesters house." He fell silent again and listened. Nothing. I need more info. He got up, heading towards the window. On the horizon was the sun. Well since the fire hasn't been tended to, I'm guessing it's morning. Upon looking down he saw a peaceful landscape, filled with a large plain, hills covered in snow, a dirt road headed somewhere and in the distance a strangely vertical mountain with a city on its side. So strange was the sight he did a double take. ...O...K. I've gone from mugged to drugged. He continued to stare at the strange city for a few moments before turning around. Strange things aside, that is a comfortable couch. Speaking silently, he near whispered. "Ok, first, I need to get out of this room. After that I'll make it up as I go." With that decided he looked for a way out. "So, only way out is the door and window." Since he was right at the window he looked straight down. The sight was not encouraging. "Well I'm not going that way. Door it is." Now at the door he took a moment to press his ear against the side. He couldn't hear anything, either because it was crystal or there simply wasn't anyone on the other side. Bracing for a fight, he gently grabbed the door knob and turned slowly. It made no noise, which he was silently thankful for. When it was turned all the way, he pressed his hand against the crevasse of the door, with the blanket draped across his shoulders. Easing it open, he peaked out when he saw there was no one on the other side. "Score." He said louder than he wanted, but it didn't matter. No one would be grabbing him. Encouraged, he opened the door fully and stepped out, pulling the blanket over him again and looking in both directions before shutting it just as silently. He noticed the hallway was also made of the blue crystal. Innie, minnie, mynnie, moe. He stopped, his mind hand pointing right, so he went left. Down the hall he went until he spotted a staircase, which was only 3/4 his height. Glancing up, he saw the ceiling was a normal eight feet. Hmm, this makes me think of a castle. But it's not of European design, nor Asian, and I don't think Russians would make something like this. So that just begs the question. Where the bloody hell am I? With no answers forthcoming, he crouched down and entered the stairway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Princess, it's time to get up." Cried Twilight's personal maid, secretary and regrettably alarm clock, a one Ms Schedule, a mist grey unicorn mare with a rosy red mane, whom was selected out of dozens suggested by Celestia and hoof picked by Twilight herself, not realizing she would have to give up all night study sessions to keep the unholy spawn that was her maid happy. And firing her was not an option at this point. On the other hoof, she made quite good tea. "Mmmhmm, five more minutes." Twilight lazily said, rolling over to face away from the maid. "Princess, you have a full day ahead of you, including the extra hour given so you and your pet could bond, which I doubt will be happening if the both of you do nothing but sleep through the hours." Twilight turned around again, this time looking straight at her maid. "So he hasn't awoken yet?" A shake of the head. " Very well, could you tell me what's for breakfast?" She asked as she got up to do her grooming. "I believe Chef Biscuit is preparing a plate of flapjacks with an assortment of berries and cream." The Princess's belly gave a royal rumble. "I'll tell him to double it." Embarrassed, Twilight quickly left the topic of food behind. "And how about my friends? Have they arrived yet?" "Yes, all except Miss Dash, are in the dining hall waiting for you, Princess." "Ok, I get it, I'm late. Give me a moment more and we'll be off." Annoyed, she put on her crown and left her room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Going down three flights of stairs in a blanket isn't tiring. Doing so as quietly as possible and occasionally tripping on said blanket less so. On entering the latest floor the human sees many enclaves filled with busts, vases, paintings and other such objects typically found in a castle. I must be getting close to the more public sections if I haven't already. Down on the right was another staircase, but much larger. And going up. Well I'm not going back up so left I go. Before making it twenty feet he heard voices behind him. Looking back he saw no one, but the voices were getting closer. Too late to head back he hid behind a cramped vase. Scooting it ever so slightly forward to make room for himself. Just in time too, as the voices - both female - were nearly upon him. Glancing around the vases he got an unexpected sight. "Then lunch will be at 12:30 until 1, followed by an inspection of your guards, which will take an estimated forty minutes. Then at 2..." Two unicorns, one grey and one purple walked past, neither looking to either side of the hall. The purple one was wearing a crown, listening to the grey one reading off a schedule floating in front of her. It wasn't til they were both well out of earshot that his mind reasserted itself. It spoke! It bloody spoke! And the other was listening. That one could speak! I'm in the land of talking unicorns. In a crystal castle. With every completed thought, his sense of panic and worry rose. Panic because he is in the land of talking unicorns, and worry because this was shaping up to not be his world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Morning girls!" Twilight spoke on entering the dining hall, smelling the sweet, sweet smell of flapjacks. She got five answers back. Rainbow made it here in the time it took to get here from her bed chambers. She sat at her chair, enjoying the little peace between waking up and her duty. "Twilight, Twilight Twilight!?" Said the pink mare, bouncing high in her seat. So much for peace. "What is it Pinkie?" It was to early in the morning for Pinkie. A waiter placed a cup of tea and flapjacks in front of her. "These flapjacks are AMAZING!" Somehow scarfing down her breakfast while talking. The waiter behind her removed the used plate then placed a new plate with a full stack in front of her. Accustomed to at least her eating habits. There was an entire cart full of flapjacks next to Pinkie. "I must agree, they are simply delightful. I must ask the chef where he learned to cook. Perhaps Sweetie will learn something." At this time, the head chef known as Biscuit came out of the kitchen carrying Twilight's breakfast. Laughing for all to hear. "I wouldn't send Discord, let alone a filly to study under that ol' ram." Said the chef. Twilight had fond memories of Celestia's head chef, always making her a plate of cookies for a midnight snack. The sweet old ram had a soft spot for her, so maybe Sweetie would be okay. "Thank you Biscuit." Twilight told her head chef, before starting on her breakfast. "So Twilight, has the human woken up yet?" Rainbow, halfway through her huge stack of flapjacks asked. Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie did. "He's been awake for over forty minutes." Silence, pure and golden, reigned supreme. "Pinkie, how do'ya know that?" Applejack broke the silence. "Oh that's easy. See I had a knee shake, tail swish, and itchy hoof which meant I haven't given a party to someone new in Ponyville. Since no new pony arrived in Ponyville at that time, it could only be the human." She happily explained, then continued eating her breakfast, pausing only to wait for more. "Pinkie! Why didn't you say so earlier?" "I wanted it to be a surprise." She replied innocently. Breakfast forgotten, Twilight left the table with her friends following after. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The human didn't move from his spot, still immersed in his mind. His train of thought was only broken when what sounded like yelling came from where the unicorns went. Sounds like someone is in trouble. I should probably get out of here too. He was about to leave his hiding spot when a door slammed open and multiple hoof steps resounded down the hall. He pressed back within his hiding spot to wait out the coming group. Looking around the vase, it didn't take long for the purple unicorn, which he now noticed had what looked like wings passed by, followed quickly by an orange pony, a white unicorn, a rainbow mane pegasus was flying above with a yellow pegasus. That was strange in itself until a very pink pony came bouncing along. It stopped mid bounce and shivered. When it landed it quickly looked away from the human than towards. It was too late to pull his head back in, the pony saw him. They stared at each other for a moment. The human, going on stupidity, brought a finger to his pursed lips. The pink pony gave a wide smile and continued bouncing after her friends. He gave mental sigh. Thank you pink pony. "You're welcome." Pinkie said to no one. All the ponies but Twilight looked back at her. ...Are you a mind reader? "No" "Pinkie, who're you talkin to?" Applejack asked the bouncing mare. "Hey! We should play a game. How about hide and seek? We can be it." No... Twilight stopped walking but still faced forward. "Pinkie. Why would we play hide and seek?" Don't you dare. "Cause it'll be fun!" Pinkie answered, still smiling. sigh "Did we already pass him?" "I'm not teeelllllliiiiingg." You traitorous pony. Twilight looked back at Pinkie, then down the hall. She turned around fully and slowly walked back, paying attention to all her surroundings, her friends walking with her. Glancing back and forth she headed to the end of the hall. She stopped when she saw a creature hiding behind a large vase. It was the human. Her human. "Hello there. It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. What's your name?" She asked, pointing to each of the ponies behind her, waiting on the human to answer as he glanced back and forth between the six of them. Well those are some silly names. Eh, when in Rome. "Storm. You may call em Storm." He answered back, saying the first thing that came to mind. For some reason, the rainbow maned one, Rainbow Dash, sniggered. "Well Storm, why don't you come out from behind the vase." "I'm quite comfortable right here thanks." Applejack and Pinkie joined Rainbow. "Are you sure? You must be hungry. We got flapjacks." MMM pancakes. His belly rumbled. Traitor. Sighing, he moved the vase out of the way to stand before the winged unicorn. "Excellent. This way's the dining room." She turned and headed back the way she came, the others only moving when I went to follow. After the initial shock and introduction of the new guy, breakfast went by rather quickly with Storm taking after Pinkie and Rainbow with scarfing down the food. Not to bother the others still eating, he turned to the pink one. "So why did you ponies abduct me?"