It didn’t take long for Daring Do to find her fellow dimensional travelers. They hadn’t moved during the ordeal, staying on the other side of the square from where Ubara fell. They introduced themselves to the soldiers, who , surprisingly, were not surprised by them. The soldiers had watched a pegasus take down a giant, so anything less wasn’t as impressive. Even so, they welcomed the ponies in a similar manner that Homer did.
“I am Homer, captain of the Vathy guard,” he said, introducing himself to Lyra and Diamond Tiara. “It’s an honor being able to play host to creatures such as you three.”
“Thanks,” Diamond Tiara said, the filly shaking the captain’s hand. “I’m Diamond Tiara. Thanks for letting us stay here, and for saving me from the monster.”
“As much as I hate admitting it, I didn’t have anything to do with it,” he replied, nodding to Daring Do. “The pegasus was the one who took defeated the beast.”
“I know, but I was talking before that. Some soldiers stopped him in a street. You gave me chance to run from that.”
Homer tapped his chin. “I don’t remember doing… Oh,” he waved a finger to a guard off to the side. “That must have been Commander Ajax. His men were on the west side of town when the beast came. You should be thanking him, if he actually did anything important.”
Diamond Tiara nodded, trotting off to the aforementioned guard. Lyra walked up to Homer before shaking hands with him. “And I’m Lyra,” she said with a smile, “The unicorn of the group.”
“Ah, another imaginary creature I get to meet today,” Homer said, chuckling. “It’s a pleasure.”
Lyra nodded. “Ditto. Could I ask you a favor?”
“Sure. What’s this favor?”
“I dropped my instrument when the giant went after us,” she said, pointing to the distant hill she had tumbled down earlier. “Could you send someone to get it?”
“That won’t be a problem.” Homer barked a quick order to two of his men, who then went off down the road to fetch the lyre. “They’ll bring it to the palace.”
Daring Do noticed the sun was now completely hidden by the hills, though it was still light enough outside to walk around. “Hey Homer,” the pegasus said when she found the captain in the battalion crowd, “Do you think we can head to the banquet now? It’s getting late, and I’d like to get something to eat.”
The captain nodded. “If you wish. We’ll be early, but I think Bakkos wouldn’t mind. The fat lard eats all day as it is. What’s a couple hours difference from snack to dinner?” Homer turned to his battalion and raised his voice. “Men, time to head to the palace. Get into escort formation for our guests. They’ll be dinning with the king!”
All the soldiers gave a salute before scattering in all directions. They formed two lines behind the ponies and Homer, and marched forward once the front started walking. The captain started walking, leading the battalion and ponies through the square and out into a street that went deeper into town. The soldiers remained stoic, but Homer wasn’t afraid to get chatty.
“I have to ask, what’s with the markings on your body,” Homer said, looking at Daring Do’s and Lyra’s flanks. “You have a compass, and you have a lyre. Is there anything special about those?”
Lyra was the first to respond. “They’re our cutie marks! They represent our special talents. I can play the lyre, so I got a lyre.”
Homer nodded. “Interesting. What about your compass?”
“Just general exploration,” Daring Do said. “I do go out on adventures, but I have a few other talents. For instance, I’m a writer by trade.”
“Ah, a writer. You should meet my wife, in that case. She loves writing plays.”
Daring Do nodded. “That sounds like a pleasure.”
Homer looked down at Diamond Tiara, who walked between him and the pegasus. “You don’t have a… cutie mark. Is there a reason for that?”
Diamond Tiara looked up at the captain, and glanced at her flank. “I just haven’t found my special talent yet.” She grinned at Homer. “But I know I’m going to get it soon. Just you wait.”
Homer nodded as the group turned a corner. “Do all ponies get cutie marks then?”
“Yep,” Lyra bust out, “Though, I think they’re rather annoying. Ponies like to think that a cutie mark is all there is to you. If you have a cutiemark, then they expect you to be good at whatever job you do. And if they find someone better than you, they’ll just toss you away, and no one will hire you if you don’t have the cutie mark they need.”
“Sounds brutal,” Homer noted.
Daring Do shook her head. “Don’t listen to her. She’s being overdramatic.”
“Says the published adventurer who’s set for life,” Lyra muttered.
They chatted for a little longer. They told him a small amount about Equestria, and he told them a small amount about Greece. The tiny giants were actually called humans, and they were scattered all over the Mediterranean Sea. He heard that there were humans in more far distant lands, but he had never seen them.
They walked up to a large, white building in the center of town. It was far larger than the one from the market square. It filled up the entire space between the four streets that bordered it. Pillars completely surrounded the building, holding up a roof that was higher than the market building. Square windows lined the walls, blocked off by wooden shutters.
The majority of the battalion stayed outside. Only the ponies, Homer, and three other guards walked in. Daring Do assumed that one of them was Commander Ajax, and the other two were only there as escorts.
When they entered the palace, they were greeted by a large stature of a soldier, standing on a stone pedestal, in the middle of a court yard. Upon closer examination, Daring Do saw that the statue looked remarkably similar to Homer. The statue Homer held a spear high above his head, as if he was about to strike down an imaginary enemy that had entered the palace. He looked down at the guests with beady eyes, his mouth curling down in a snarl.
Homer noticed the pegasus eyeing the statue, and smiled. “Do you like it?” he asked. “King Bakkos had it made for me to honor my well fought victory in Leucas.”
“It’s...” Daring Do paused as she thought up a proper word, “Overbearing.”
“You can say that,” Homer nodded as he replied. “The sculptor made it a tad intimidating, I’ll admit. But it does get a message across.”
Lyra walked up to the base of the statue, craning her neck to see the top. “Is the message, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’?”
Homer let out a dismissive grunt. “It’s actually, ‘Ye who enter here have never seen such a handsome man.’ I guess the message can be misinterpreted.” One of the guards, presumably Commander Ajax, walked up next to the captain and whispered something in his ear. Homer gave a confirming nod, and looked at the ponies. “I must ask all of you to wait here. I’ll go tell King Bokkos of your arrival.”
The captain left the courtyard and entered the building, followed by the commander. The other two guards remained with the ponies, standing at attention at their commander’s orders. Other than that, there were few other people outside in the courtyard. Only a couple of pockets of two or three humans were scattered about. Those groups were composed of important looking officials, who were deep in the conversations they were having. They looked up only a couple times to gawk at the ponies, but for the most part they kept to themselves.
Lyra circled around the statue, examining every part of it as if it were an alien. Her eyes fell on the hands, which gripped the spear, preparing to strike. “Are hands supposed to be like that?” she asked to no one in particular. “They look… icky. I really don’t want to be touched by one of those.” She perked up when she remembered the guards, and flashed them a quick apologetic smile. “Sorry, uh, no offence.” The guards didn’t respond, instead choosing to stay standing at attention.
Diamond Tiara looked around the palace courtyard, taking in every inch of the large stone building. “Are we going to be staying here?”
Daring Do shrugged. “Don’t know, kid. It depends on what this Bakkos guy has to say about it.”
“Well, say that we did,” the filly said, sitting down next to the pegasus. “Don’t we still need to find a way back home?”
“Yeah, we do, don’t we?” Truth be told, this was the first time the thought of trying to get home crossed her mind since they plummeted out of the void. She went traveling abroad so much that she didn’t consider any place really home. She had her cottage, but that was more of a base of operations than a real home. Now that she thought about it, there was something nibbling in the back of her mind about this place, something she didn’t consider before.
Daring Do’s jaw dropped when the thought punched through her head like a brick. “Holy crap, we’re in a different world!” she yelled. Her voice carried over through the courtyard, interrupting the conversations of the small human groups. They looked up with annoyance, glaring at the pegasus.
Lyra stood up from behind the statue, looking at the pegasus from between its legs. “No way, Sherclop, how’d you come up with that crazy idea? Did the human’s clue you in about that? Or was it the rampaging giant yelling shlock about killing us because fate says so? I thought there was something otherworldly about that old lady.”
Daring Do rolled her eyes at the unicorn. “Yes, I know we’re in a different world. It just didn’t fully occur to me until just now.”
“What makes it so different from your other adventures?” Diamond Tiara asked. The pegasus looked down to meet the filly’s questioning gaze. “You explore ancient ruins all the time. Aren’t they different from Equestria?”
“Yeah, but those ruins were touched by ponies in some way. This place just seems…” she paused. If it weren’t for the humans, she would say that they were in Cloudsdale. The pillars and statue reminded her greatly of that pegasus city. Yet everything was different in just some way. Stone replacing clouds, humans replacing pegasi. “…Off,” she finally said. For all it was worth, these humans could be made of floating eyes and teeth and she’d feel just off as she did right now.
“Says the published adventure,” Lyra said, leaning against the statue’s left leg. “Out of all the exploring you apparently do, you’re weirded out by a different world that’s inhabited by humans?”
“That’s just it, we’re in a world of humans,” the pegasus said glancing at the guards. “I’ve been exploring places that, in one way or another, were made by”--
“Ponies!” a voice screamed from across the courtyard. Everyone, ponies, guard, and human groups, looked over to see a single person standing at the entrance to the main hall. This human looked different from the guards the pegasus dealt with so far. The human had longer hair, and had a subtle curvature with its body. Daring Do took a wild guess and assumed that this was the female variety.
The female cusped her hands over her mouth when everyone in the square turned to look at her. She stood there for a moment before walking across the courtyard. When she walked up next to the statue, her hands fell to her hips and she bowed for the guests. “I’m sorry for the outburst. Please call me Phoebe.”
Lyra hopped down from the statue, going up to Phoebe and shaking her hand with her hooves. “How do you do, Phoebe? I’m Lyra, the bard in this campaign. The little one over there is Diamond Tiara, I call her Dia.” From behind, the unicorn could hear a muffled ‘hmph’. “And the pegasus you see is called Daring Do. She writes down everything about my adventures and serves as the group pack mule!”
“Haven’t I punched you in the throat enough today?” Daring Do said, giving Lyra a nasty glare.
Phoebe stared at Lyra as the unicorn stuck her tongue at the pegasus. “It sounds like you’re an interesting group,” the human remarked. She clapped her hands together and rubbed them in front of her face. “So, King Bakkos has agreed to invite you to dinner, and to let you stay in the palace as long as you need to.”
“That’s wonderful,” Daring Do said. “We’re grateful for his generosity.”
“Think nothing of it,” Phoebe said, shaking her head. “It’s our honor to be able to host,” she paused, glancing a Lyra, “Ponies such as yourselves. We’re glad the gods have sent you to answer our prayers.”
Lyra thought she picked up on a disingenuous tone at the mention of ‘gods’. “Sure,” the unicorn said. “The gods didn’t give us much of a choice anyways.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Phoebe led the ponies through the palace, and soon they found themselves in a large dining room. Columns bordered the entire room, standing over anyone who sat at the long table. Tapestries hung from the ceiling, displaying intricate patterns of human soldiers doing battle.
Several humans were already sitting down along the table. They were all idling chatting to each other before the ponies walked into the room. One by one, heads turned to see the odd creatures sent down by the gods. Whispers hopped around the table as Phoebe led each of the ponies to a designated seat. The whispers ceased when Lyra smiled and greeted them in their language.
Near the end of the table, Phoebe indicated which chairs the ponies would be sitting in. “Bakkos has requested for you to sit near him,” she explained. “Take any of the three seats at the end.”
Diamond Tiara was the first to take a seat, choosing the one at the corner. Lyra walked up to take the one next to her, but decided against it when the filly gave her a disapproving frown. Lyra allowed Daring Do to sit between them.
As the ponies got comfortable sitting in chairs not made for ponies, Phoebe placed her hands on Lyra’s and Daring Do’s chair backs. All the ponies present turned to look at her grinning face. “So, how’d you get here? Did Poseidon get sick of you guys and kicked you out of Olympus?”
Daring Do tried to make eye contact with Phoebe, but something about her face made her look away towards Lyra. The unicorn took this as a go-ahead to talk, which made Daring Do regret looking anywhere at all. “For the record,” Lyra said, looking up at Phoebe, “I have no idea what these gods you humans keep referring to, let alone this Poseidon fellow. There’s only one god, and that’s Princess Celestia, god of the sun.”
Daring Do ran her hooves across her face. “Oh, don’t do this now,” she mumbled.
“Oh, I forgot, we just got another god. Princess Luna, the moon god! She’s the moon god, right?” Lyra glanced at the pegasus for conformation, but all she received was a glare.
“Lyra, lean in for a second” Daring Do said, beckoning the unicorn to come closer. The pegasus wrapped a foreleg around Lyra and whispered in her ear. “I want you to use a little common sense. If the strange creatures that are feeding you think you were sent from one of their gods, don’t say their god doesn’t exist. That tends to end very badly.”
Lyra nodded. “Yeah, I can see how that might end badly,” she whispered back. “But Luna’s the moon god, right?”
Phoebe leaned in between the ponies. “You know that I’m still right here,” the human whispered, “And I can hear everything you’re saying.”
“I know,” Daring Do said, glancing at Phoebe through the corner of her eye, “I’m trying a new tactic to stop this mare from saying stupid stuff.”
“Hey,” Lyra said, recoiling back, “When did I ever say something stupid?”
Daring Do leaned back in her seat, nodding to the filly next to her, who had been idly playing with her silverware.
Lyra gave a deadpan look. “Point taken.”
“I’ll be honest with you,” Phoebe said in a hushed tone, “I don’t think these ‘gods’ actually exist. I just play along.”
“See, no harm done,” Lyra said, flashing the adventurer a smile.
The pegasus rolled her eyes as she leaned forward. “Say that when you find a spear poking out of your neck.”
“Anyways, how did you get here?” Phoebe asked again. “I highly doubt you three were sent here by the will of whatever gods these guys believe in.”
Daring Do cut off Lyra before the unicorn could say anything. “A rip in space and time sucked us in and spat us out on a hill nearby.”
“And if the gods did that to get us here,” Lyra said, “As opposed to simply asking, then I would love to give them a piece of my mind”
A deep voice interrupted the conversation. “Ah, Phoebe, I see you’re enjoying the company of our fine guests.” The three ponies, and Phoebe, looked up to see Captain Homer standing across the table, with a female human standing at his side. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, it really is, but you currently have a duty for the king, and standing around making merry with our guests isn’t part of that duty.”
Phoebe stood up straight, and gave Homer a quick bow. “Yes, sorry sir, I got distracted.” She leaned into her bow just enough to give a quick whisper to the pegasus. “After dinner, meet me in the courtyard. I’ll show you something you might like.” She snapped back upright and scurried away to perform her duties.
“I apologize for that,” Homer said, looking at the ponies. “The servants here can hold quite entertaining conversations, though sometimes at the expense of their work.” The captain turned to the female next to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “I would like you to meet my wife, Anastasia. She’ll be dining with us tonight.”
Anastasia gave the ponies a curt nod, greeting them with a quiet voice. “It’s a pleasure to meet creatures such as yourselves.”
Lyra cocked her head when she noticed that Anastasia, out of all the humans, was the first to not have an extreme reaction to meeting them. She had a calm demeanor, a subtle grace to her movements, and a soft smile strewn across her face. Another aspect the unicorn found odd was how young she looked compared to Homer. Ana had to be about half the captain’s age. Lyra smiled back and nodded. “Likewise.”
Homer and Anastasia sat across Daring Do and Lyra, respectively, leaving a single spot at the end of the table. “Our pegasus friend here,” Homer said to his wife, “Says she’s a writer. I’m sure you two would have fun discussing the secrets of your craft.”
Daring Do shook her head as her eyes led her to the end of the table. “There’s not much to talk about. I write about my adventures, and ponies seem to enjoy reading about them.”
“But I’m sure there’s plenty to discuss,” Homer said. “I’m always fascinated with what Ana comes up with. Tell her about the play you’ve been creating, my darling.”
Ana shied away from her husband, looking off to the guests that were taking their place next to them. “Can we forget about that blasted play, just for tonight? I’ve been working on it so much that it’s driving me mad!”
“As you wish,” Homer said, nodding. “Though, you should talk more about your profession. You’ll enjoy yourself more if you indulge your ego, even just for a moment.”
“Ooh! I just remembered!” Lyra burst, nearly hopping off her seat. “I write stuff too. I write stuff all the time. Just last month, I scribbled down an idea I had about a big mega space battle between an army of purple alien giraffes and a giant pudding cup.” She waved her hooves in front of her, mimicking out her imaginary war in the stars. “The giraffes went, ‘pew pew pew,’ and the pudding cup went ‘Kablamo!’ but then it splat up into a storm of angry pudding stains, and”--
Homer, Ana, and Daring Do stared at the unicorn as she retold her story about giraffes and pudding, flailing her arms about as her epic space battle took place. Lyra was so engrossed in the act that she didn’t notice the humans that were present give Daring Do a confused look, as everything she said went over their heads. The pegasus groaned as she ran a hoof down her face, silently praying to Celestia for the mare to shut up.
--“And Sir Combo Breaker swoops in and saves the stallion in distress, flying away as Planet Turquoise explodes in a mass of pudding dropps behind them.” Lyra slammed her hooves against the table, shaking the silverware on it. “I’m calling that story The Grand Spudnugget of Sammy the Stallion! Do you like it?”
Nobody said anything for a full minute. Ana squinted at Lyra as if she was trying to use psychic powers to figure out how sane this mare was. Homer’s mouth cycled between open and closed as he tried to piece together anything that came out of Lyra. Daring Do gave the unicorn a deadpan look.
Then, with a dry voice, the pegasus answered her question. “Lyra, I want you to know that I have the utmost concern for you, as much as anypony else. And you should also know if you have any questions regarding what I’m about to say to you, I will answer them in excruciating detail. So please, for the love of Equestria, take my advice to the fullest extent possible.” She placed a hoof on Lyra’s shoulder, and looked her dead in the eye. “Stop speaking stupid.”
“Hey, just because I’m not a published author, like you,” she pushed Daring Do’s hoof away, “Doesn’t mean I can’t write whatever I want. I have you know, I’ve been working on Sammy the Stallion for three months now, and I’ve made a ton of progress on it.”
Daring Do cocked an eyebrow. “Really? How much have you written so far?”
Lyra stared at her for a moment. “Uh, two sentences on a napkin... But I wrote the entire musical score that’s going to be in the movie! Has the published adventure written her movie score yet?”
At this point, the deadpan look was become the default expression whenever Daring Do talked to this unicorn. “Two of my books are already movies.”
“I-uh… oh.” Lyra’s hoof tapped out a melody on the table. “When?”
Daring Do looked over to Diamond Tiara, who was still playing with her silverware. “Hey kid, do you know when my movies came out?”
“Sapphire Stone came out six years ago, Griffon’s Goblet came out three, both of them were top ticket sellers for two months straight,” she said, not bothering to look up.
The pegasus looked back at the unicorn. “Now, are you going to stop speaking stupid, or will we have to ship our dead brain cells to the morgue?”
Lyra shrugged. “I still have my music score.”
Anastasia let out a light cough, bringing attention to her. “These 'movies,' how long do the music scores for them tend to be?”
“Uh, they average out to about an hour and a half,” Lyra said. “Though, my music score could last for eight movies.”
“And how long did it take you to make you music score.” Lyra noticed that Ana was leaning towards her. The unicorn couldn’t help but smile when her ears picked up on the interest brimming in that soft voice.
“A few days,” she answered. “I was a little pressed on time, but I managed to write most of it down when I was working. You won’t believe how much spare time a lyrist gets. It’s as if my conductor didn’t want me to play.”
Ana nodded. “Would you mind if you came to my house tomorrow and help me on my project?”
“Sure,” Lyra said with an enthusiastic grin. “If you’re stuck on writing something, space pirates can always spruce things up.”
“No, that won’t be needed,” Ana said, “I just need some musical help.”
“Oh sure, I can do that.” The unicorn glanced at Homer, who was finishing up talking to a servant. “Hey Homes, do you know what happened to my lyre?”
Homer looked over as the servant walked away. “Your lyre? I believe my guard delivered it to the room you’ll be residing in. If it’s not there currently, it should arrive while we feast.”
“That’s good. Thanks again for that.”
“My dear, it’s nothing to make a fuss about. Now, if I may.” Homer stood up from his chair, and then knocked on the table with a fist. Everyone along the table looked up and gave the captain their undivided attention. He raised his voice enough to be heard from the farthest reaches of the room. “All rise for our lordship!”
All the humans at the table stood up simultaneously. Daring Do stood up as well, once she realized what was going on. Lyra looked around in confusion, getting out of her chair moments after the pegasus just so she didn’t stand out. Diamond Tiara continued to play with her silverware, though no one said anything against this.
From the side of the room nearest to the other end of the table, two guards opened a large double door, revealing a dark room behind it. Lyra could make out shadows moving around in the room, though she couldn’t tell what they were doing. Homer’s voice rolled through the dining hall once again. “I present the host of our banquet,” he pointed his hand at the room, “Our honorable ruler of Vathy and all of Ithaca Isle, King Bakkos.”
A large, chubby man stepped out from the dark room. A white sheet billowed forward with every step the king took. His bald head twinkled in the light as he moved out from the shadows. Upon further inspection, Lyra saw it wasn’t just his skin that twinkled. He wore a ring of golden leaves as a crown, letting it sit above his ears.
Bakkos stopped several feet away from the dark room, smiled at the crowd, and stretched out his arms. “Ah, I’m glad everyone could make it,” he said in a bouncy, cheery voice. “It’s always a joy to have friends join me for the Harvest Banquet.” He dropped his arms and walked around the table. “Though let’s be honest, you’re all here because it was either this, or eating at home, and at least here you won’t die alone if the food is poisoned.”
A light chuckle cropped up from the guests. As King Bakkos passed by the humans at the end of the table, another person walked out of the dark room. The person was a she, a tall, dark-haired woman that stood a foot above the king. Her face was solid as stone as she followed the king around the table.
Lyra heard Ana whisper at her from across the table. “That’s Tatiana,” she said in a low voice, “The king’s wife.” The unicorn watched as the woman ignored the guests, keeping her eyes straight as she walked behind Bakkos.
“You can all sit now,” the king said as he walked past the halfway point of the table. Lyra hopped back on her seat while everyone else sat down in a calmer manner. “I can’t imagine how tiring it is to stand around all day and listen to my voice. How does Homer do it all the time?”
“With generous amounts of wine, my lord,” Homer called out.
“Oh, I can’t be that bad, or maybe I can.” He stopped behind a guest that was only a few places down the table from the ponies. “I implore for all of you to sit back and enjoy the bountiful harvest to come this season. Our fields have been shaping up nicely over the course of the year. We’ll be feasting until all of you look like me.” Bakkos drummed his large belly, causing a few of the guests to laugh.
“Now please, eat up, and”-- Bakkos went dead silent when he glanced to the end of the table where the ponies were sitting. Lyra shifted in her chair, giving a nervous smile as the entire room looked down at the table’s end. Then, a wide grin grew on Bakkos’s face. “By Zeus almighty,” he said as he started walking to the end. Without warning, he broke into a scamper and squealed, “That pony is so adorable!”
He scurried across the room in a mad dash for the ponies. Both Daring Do and Lyra both instinctually braced themselves for whatever the wild-eye king was about to do. Diamond Tiara, on the other hand, was too engaged with her silverware to notice an incredibly round man running towards her.
The filly let out a surprised squeal when Bakkos scooped her up, her eyes bulging as he gave her a bear hug. Diamond Tiara cringed when the large man yelled, “She’s so cute!” right into her ear. Her whole world spun out of control as Bakkos swayed left and right. She could hardly scream as her ribcage was almost crushed by a fat king.
“Put… me… down…” Diamond Tiara managed to sputter amidst the royal assault.
Her words fell on deaf ears, evident by Bakkos’s non-stop pony swinging. “She’s soft, and warm, and plushy, and soft! I’m going to name you Princess Softy, because you’re such a softy!”
“Bakkos! Cease this nonsense!” The king stopped swinging Diamond Tiara in his bear hug, much to the filly’s relief. Everyone looked at Tatiana, who bore into the king’s skull with a nasty glare. “Put the horse down.”
“But she’s soft, and pink, and soft,” Bakkos said with a frown. He held out the filly above the table, who looked like she was about to buck the king in the teeth. “Isn’t she cute? She even comes with her own tiara.”
“You’re a king, Bakkos,” Tatiana seethed. “I expect you to act like one. Now put the horse down.”
Bakkos gave his wife a sad look, and then nodded as he placed the filly down in her chair. He didn’t even notice the daggers Diamond Tiara was staring at him with. He walked over to the tabled end, covered his mouth to cough, and smiled at the guests. “I apologize for that. I don’t know what came over me. Shall we eat?”
Homer nodded before signaling a servant to start bringing out the food. Bakkos took his seat at the end of the table. Tatiana sat down at the empty spot next to him, which put her right in front of Diamond Tiara. They both looked away from each other, doing their best to avoid eye contact.
Soon after, a regiment of servants walked into the dining hall with ceramic food platters. They started placing platters at the far end of the table, working their way up towards the king. Bakkos gently rocked in his chair as he watched the servants do their work. “Can you sing any songs?” he asked the filly as he rapped his fingers on the table.
Diamond Tiara turned to face the king, and then leaned back when she saw his goofy little smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out Tatiana silently glaring at her. “No, I don’t really sing that much.”
Lyra jumped out of her seat, flying halfway across the table, waving her hoof in the air. “I do,” she squealed, “I know songs, and can sing them. I know a happy one! ‘Strapped down, to my bed, feet cold,’- Ack!”
Lyra cringed when Daring Do pulled her back and slammed her into her seat, sending a loud, audible crack out as the chair almost snapped apart. Diamond Tiara looked away from the scene and shook her head. “No, I do not know any songs.”
“Can you dance?” Bakkos asked, eliciting a glare from his wife.
Diamond Tiara sighed, rolling her eyes as she ignoring the borderline beat-down Daring Do was putting on to keep Lyra in her seat. “No I can’t dance, either. Are there any other talents you want to ask about?”
“Well, I was hoping you could come to my court tomorrow and be cute,” Bakkos said with an innocent smile.
The filly’s face mimicked Daring Do’s deadpan look she had been giving most of the day. Her ears twitched back when the unicorn’s scream filled the dining hall. “Fish! We’re eating fish! What are we, griffons?”
Diamond Tiara turned just in time for a servant to place a ceramic plate in front of her. On this plate lay a fish, or what was left of a fish. It lay, decapitated, in a pool of black oil, skin peeled off. Its flesh had a light brown coloring to it, as if it had been thoroughly cooked. The filly recoiled when the stench of the fish hit her nose. It wasn’t as bad as the giant’s stench, and it was quite different, taking on a salty quality as opposed to a sweaty one. But Diamond Tiara’s stomach turned all the same. She cusped her mouth when she felt an ominous pressure in her throat.
Bakkos gave the filly a concerned look. “You barely touched your meal and you already look sick,” he said, tilting his head. “Don’t you like fish?”
“I’m sorry if my friends here are acting rude,” Daring Do said to the king in a calm voice. “Ponies don’t eat meat. In fact, we tend to see it as a horrible thing to do. I wasn’t aware humans were carnivores.”
Bakkos shook his head. “No need to apologize. I didn’t think about this as I should’ve. The banquet was already cooked, and I’d assume you’d be fine with it. But alas,” Bakkos paused as he glanced at the filly, who sunk in her chair, “It was a mistake on my part. Any guest, be it mortal or sent from the gods, should have a good meal no matter where they are from. I’ll have the chefs prepare something for you immediately.”
Diamond Tiara slumped out of her seat, standing up on the ground. Her mind waved in the fishy stench. “I wasn’t all that hungry to begin with,” she muttered. “I think I need to sleep. It’s been crazy today.”
“Oh, um, I understand,” Bakkos stammered. “Giants and all, from what I’ve been told. Pheobe, can you show our guest to her room?”
Out of nowhere, Pheobe showed up next to Diamond Tiara. She beckoned the filly to follow her, and they walked out of the dining hall.
Lyra turned to look back as the filly paced herself across the floor. She cocked an eyebrow when she noticed something about her gait. Diamond Tiara didn’t walk slowly and haphazard like a mare that was about to be sick. Instead, the filly walked carefully and loosely, with a bit of sadness in her step. The unicorn watched as the filly walked out of the dining hall, led by a human to where ever her quarters where for the night.