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// Chapter 16: Dinner with the Princesses 
// Story: Life,Death,and Rebirth 
// by Shadow-Dancer 
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Chapter 16: Dinner with the Princesses




The castle kitchen involved less guards and the like. Sure they were surprised, but apparently they were told by couriers that a ‘Bipedal creature that calls himself Marcus will be around, you are to treat him as if he was a foreign dignitary.’ I was honored that both of the princesses unofficially extended the status of foreign dignitary to me but it felt odd and even uncomfortable for me as a soldier, to have that type of privilege. 

After a short lunch of a lettuce and tomato sandwich with some water I walked on to my own room. The inactivity after dealing with the guard fiasco let me think and that was one of the last things I wanted then.

 As I walked through the identical halls a stray thought came across my mind, how the hell was I to get enough protein in my diet to survive? I doubted they had protein supplements, it would probably take an absurd amount of eggs and beans each day to get the protein that way, so the last option was obviously meat. The problem came in acquiring that meat, seeing that ponies simply did not eat meat I couldn’t go to the market and buy it.

 ‘Guess I could ask Celestia about the problem, damnit that’s just one more thing that I need to rely on others help getting. First a place to live, then magic, and now my source of protein. Soon enough I will be able to regain full independence. Just need to get settled down in this new place.’ I mused 

I felt odd as I thought about the terms ‘settled down’ and ‘new place’ I knew I would have to live the rest of my life here even if I tried not to think about it. But at the same time I wished I could go back home where I felt comfortable, where I did not have a four legged immortal ruler claiming she was my birth mother, where magic was just fantasy that I read in a book and back to ignorance.

That moment was when I reflected once more on the meaning of the saying, ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ and in this case it was bliss. If I did not come here or learn about my fathers journal I would have just continued to believe the lie that was my life. That was an over simplification of the events that landed me at that point but it was true. My thoughts on the subject were broken when I arrived at my room and had to open the door. 

I sat on the bed and looked on the nightstand and saw the journal of my father and just looked at it for a while just thinking about all the things he kept from me. Then again would I have believed that my birth mother was a immortal ruler of a nation on some other planet or universe?  But he could have tried to explain it to me, showed me a journal entry, or just told me a story about his time in Equestria, just anything to try to give me the truth. 

My thoughts got more and more frenzied as I thought about what dad could have done so that the shock would have been lessened but each excuse got more and more outrageous. In my frustration I threw the journal across the room and into the dresser where it just landed on the floor undamaged as if to spite me. ‘Just some damn magical shit to make it almost impossible to destroy’ I laughed at what I just told myself less than a year on the planet and I laughed at how fast I used magic to explain how the journal survived the throw instead of just that it was well made or I did not throw it hard enough.

I walked to the room’s balcony and looked out into the city below and the forest that I was in during my first days on Terin and a wave of memories washed through me with the same regrets and mournings as I looked at that forest. I had to force myself to look away and let my memories and regrets recede back into my head. I knew I technically asked for a second chance and here it was, I was alive and in the Equestrian military. I just had to make the most of it, I knew that I needed to let go of my regrets but couldn’t find it in myself to do so. 

A knock on the bedroom door startled me and I instinctively reached to my right hip for a pistol that was not there. I sat there a moment realizing what I was about to do when the knocking resumed once more this time I tried to relax and remind myself that every knock and step was not someone that wanted to kill me. I once more let my legs and arms loosen up I walked over and opened the door where a royal guard in their almost blindingly gold armor stood and said, “Sir I’m here to escort you to the royal dining quarters.” with all the personality of a corpse.

“Well then lead on.” I said gesturing forward with my hand and the guard turned around and walked forward towards where I guessed the dining room was, not that I remembered where it was. 

The trip dragged on as we traveled through the labyrinth of a castle and I was considering trying to open a conversation when the guard spoke, “We have arrived at the royal dining quarters.” 




I looked up at the doors and recognized the same large white and gold doors that I had seen the last time I was there. I shrugged and opened the door in front of me and entered. As expected Luna and Celestia were waiting at the end of the medium sized table, food already out and the two rulers, eating a salad and drinking what looked like red wine from wine glasses. (Who would have guessed?) 

I sat at a chair near the two and said, “Thanks for having me, I have some questions still from that story you told me about how the two of you met but those can wait,” I gestured towards the food in front of us. “First lets enjoy this food.” With my proclamation we ate while talking about our day. With Celestia and Luna they had the normal meetings with nobles that wanted this or that and said that the scouts they sent did not find out much about the Changeling Queen’s location.

I told them about my run in with the guard and how that went, using that set of events to avoid talking about my musings that I had in my room. The princesses said that they did receive a notice about the incident with Shining Armor and verified with him that I was indeed supose to be part of the guard, and that I was indeed the pony known as Shadow Dancer, they gave a watered down version of the truth but enough to give the important part of the story.

I was told that Captain Shining Armor was going to hand off his office to one of the commanders below him so he could spend more time with his now wife. I smiled and said that I was happy that he would be with his loved ones, but at the same time I felt a pang in my chest at my mention of loved ones as the brief flash of my past went by me. I suspected that Celestia did indeed notice. “Anyway Indicus, what were the questions you had about my story of the first time we met your father?” Celestia said. 

“You mentioned that my father was not the first human you encountered, something about a Starswirl the Bearded and a Windigo Crisis?”


The two looked deep in thought for a moment before Luna this time spoke up. “Ah yes Starswirl the Bearded, Celestia and I met him before we became rulers of what is now known as Equestria. At the time we were passing through the unicorn kingdom. Keep in mind that the three pony races were separated into three tribes that had very strenuous relations but still depended on each other to survive. Now that you know this, you can only imagine the reaction from the guards when two unicorn-pegasus cross-breed’s walks through the kingdom.” Luna enveloped the wine glass in her magic and took a sip of wine. “Needless to say we were arrested and questioned quite quickly after we arrived. The questioning was harsh and food barely nourishing. Then on the fourth day a strange creature walked by the ruler of the time Princess Platinum, upon seeing us he said something to the ruler and they argued before the creature we would later know as a human walked up to our cage and opened the cell door.”

Luna took a sip of her wine and Celestia continued the story. “The creature then asked us to follow him, we were fifteen and seventeen at the time and scared so we complied out of fear of what the creature could do despite how gentle his voice was. But as we timidly followed him he asked us questions about ourselves including our names, and about where we came from and why we were traveling through the unicorn kingdom. We answered the basic questions with fear and avoided answering any involving our parents or where we first lived. Once we reached his study he told us that his name was Merlin Vindex and that he arrived when Princess Platinum was twelve which was ten years before that day. He offered to teach myself and my sister in the arts of magic which he was proficient in. We hesitantly accepted not wanting to go back into the prison cells.”

Luna once more took over the storytelling. “Now about the Windigo Crisis, skip five years into the future and tensions between the pony tribes grew. At this time we considered Merlin a mentor, were much more adept in magic and our raw power grew past even Merlin’s. That particular day was also when the leaders from each of the three tribes met, in this case Princess Platinum took Merlin with her, of course he cast an illusion that shown him as a pony to everypony else, but that is irrelevant. Short version of the Windigo Crisis also known as Hearths Warming to most of our subjects is that…”

I interrupted knowing about the story from the lessons Twilight gave me during magic training. “I know the story. The three tribes almost froze to death from the Windigos presence due to the overall anger and hatred between the tribes, Merlin or Starswirl as he is know as helped reduce the hostility between the tribes leaders, getting rid of the Windigos there and later everywhere else creating a knew era of harmony between the three pony tribes.”

“You are correct, Indicus but please do not interrupt me like that.” Luna said with a snort and a soft growl. 
I looked over at Celestia who barely hid a small smirk and then back at Luna who regained her neutral composure but I still saw the irritation in her eyes. “Anyway did the story satisfy your curiosity on your long dead ancestor?”

When I was about to answer some of the kitchen workers went up to the table and took off the scraps of the dinner we had and I smelled the sweet aroma of chocolate cake, hot pastries and pie just before other workers pushed a cart of chocolate cake, hot pastries and pie (Once more who would have guessed) near the table, where the desserts were lifted via magic onto the table and the workers left, heading back where I presumed the kitchen was. I could feel my mouth salivate in anticipation for the treats I had not ate for many years if i had ate them at all. I looked at my hosts and could see Celestia’s eyes fixated on the cake while Luna was looking at a stack of cookies covered in powdered sugar in a way to replicate a full moon. Before I could even reach over to get myself a slice of pie the Alicorns attacked the desserts with a fury that rivaled a group of starving men. Fortunately I was able to get a few slices of blueberry pie and a couple sugar cookies before Celestia and Luna ate it all, even fighting over a couple items in the process.

In my wide eyed surprise I only said, “What the fuck just happened?”

 I had seen a lot of weird and crazy shit and at one point I thought that not even if Jesus himself sat down next to me in a tye-dyed shirt and some jeans and drank a beer would surprise me, but that took the metaphorical cake for the first time in a long time was I surprised. The princesses suddenly remembered me and despite their visible attempts to regain their dignity their faces turned red especially Celestia’s.

Celestia spoke up soon after my own statement. “I am very very sorry that you had to see that, my sister and I you see have quite the sweet tooth.” Celestia got even redder from her embarrassment. 

As I let the situation that just occurred sink in, my surprise turned to laughter, and they went from embarrassment to confusion. My sudden laughter lasted for a minute or more before I calmed down and spoke. “Sorry it’s just both of your sudden reactions to remembering that I was in the room after eating like that. It was priceless, I promise I won’t let what I saw here go out of this room it’s just I needed that.” I looked at a clock “Well it seems we have been here awhile and I am getting tired. Thanks for inviting me to dinner Luna and Celestia.” I walked out the door and asked a guard to show me the path to my room. The guard this time a mare was in light blue armor with sharper edges, wings on her back and slitted eyes. Putting one and one together I figured they were here as Luna’s guards or they just worked the night shift perhaps both.

The guard did escort me and moments later I was back in my room with a smile from the shenanigans that I saw today helping to buffer the violent and unpleasant memories that lurked inside my head. I still wished that I could have talked to dad about this and still both loved and hated him at that moment. I had a lot ahead of me at that point, many choices, a hell of a lot of baggage behind me and yet to forgive myself for something I never had control of. But that night I was one step closer.