//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: Travel Plans // Story: The Ginger Changeling King // by TTV_KingPhoenixEmbers //------------------------------// Chapter Five Wherein Travel Plans Are Made There was an almost stifling silence. Mirror Vanity closed her eyes at her king’s blunt answer, unsure as to how he became king with such a lack of subtlety. Steelfury took the momentary calm to cover his ears with his hooves. “Ghastly Gorge,” Shining Armor stated calmly. Far too calmly for Mirror to feel comfortable. “Your hive sits below Ghastly Gorge.” Mirror and Steelfury glanced at each other, as the other guards in the room did the same. It was never, ever good when the Day Guard Captain was quiet like that. Especially when his eye was twitching like that. "The same Ghastly Gorge that is only minutes away from Ponyville." Phoenix took another sip of his coffee. "Is there another one that I don't know about?" Cadence growled. “You have been minutes away from Ponyville, the home of not only the Elements of Harmony, but my sister-in-law, and you come here asking for peace?!” “It’s also home to a very good bakery,” Phoenix commented idly. He paused as a thought occurred to him. “Which reminds me, I have an order of cupcakes to pick up...” “Wait, you’ve actually been to Ponyville?!” “Duh. I was there when it was founded." Now that caught the attention of the ponies, and made them glance at each other for a moment. Cadence decided to take the proverbial leap of faith as the king took a bite of his toast. “You... were there when it was founded?” Phoenix nodded, taking a moment to swallow. “I’m not a nymph, Princess Cadence. I’m much older than I look; I was there at the groundbreaking ceremony of Ponyville.” Celestia found herself frowning as she recalled that moment as well. It had been quite sometime ago, perhaps about two hundred years. She couldn’t quite remember the face of every pony that had been there, but she was certain that there hadn’t been a changeling there, especially not one of the royal caste. Celestia was about to ask where he’d been at the time, but Luna beat her to the punch. “If I may ask, Phoenix, approximately how old are you?” “Why, Princess Luna, asking somepony you hardly know for their age?” Phoenix grinned to Luna, making her roll her eyes. “If you must know, I’m a little over two thousand years old. So not that much older than you.” Shining choked on his coffee for several moments, his wife rubbing his back as he fought to swallow the black nectar. “You’re over two thousand years old?!” “That’s right, captain. So I’m not as young as you seem to think.” “And what about your hive?” Luna asked. “How old is your hive?” Phoenix took a moment to think. It wasn’t very often that he was asked such a question, after all. “My hive is approximately fifteen hundred years old. And before you ask, yes, it has been beneath the Ghastly Gorge the entire time that it has existed.” Celestia was keeping a close eye on her guest as he answered the questions he’d been asked. Looking him in the eye, she was mildly pleased to notice that he didn’t look away once, even as she searched for even the smallest hint of deception. It took some time, but at last she was satisfied that King Phoenix was telling the truth and nodded to him. “Very well, I accept the invitation to visit your hive.” Celestia smiled. “I look forward to seeing your hive. Did you have a specific date and time?” “Well, if you would be able to, I was hoping to take the train to Ponyville later today.” Luna and Celestia looked at each other. After only a moment of silent conversation, the two of them nodded. “That can be arranged, King Phoenix,” Luna smiled to him. “It will take some time to prepare our leave, however. The soonest would about noon.” Phoenix nodded. “Take your time, there is no rush.” With a final sip of his coffee, Phoenix placed his cup down and stood. “If I may, would it be permissible for me to browse your library? It has been some time since I had the pleasure of reading some pony works.” Celestia paused, but nodded. “I am alright with you browsing our library, but I must ask that you disguise yourself. Some of my ponies are not quite... ready for your presence to be revealed.” “Fair enough.” King Phoenix had to focus for only a second in order for blue flames to coat his body, before flickering away to reveal his tall, cream-colored disguise. Luna finished drinking her tea, and stood as well. “I’ll show you the way, Phoenix. I need to head there for some studies myself.” “I am curious, what are you studying, sister?” Celestia asked. “I overheard a pair of my guards having a conversation, and one of their comments intrigued me, so I’m going to go research a few laws regarding it.” “I see. I wish you luck on finding whatever you are looking for, sister.” “Thank you, sis.” Luna smiled to her sister. “Shall we meet at the castle entrance at noon?” After Celestia nodded, Luna turned and headed out the door. “Come along, King Phoenix. I must make as much progress as I can before we leave for Ponyville.” Phoenix followed closely behind. The ponies staying at breakfast for a bit longer could already hear them begin to talk. The instant the door closed, Cadence turned to her aunt. “Auntie, why did you agree to go with him so quickly? How did you know he was telling the truth? I mean, he’s a changeling! Lying is in his nature!” Celestia took the time to refill her cup and sip her tea before responding. “Because he has no reason to lie. King Phoenix came all this way in order to free a single changeling from our custody, and in the process, has proven that several of his subjects have been living among us with no ill intent towards us.” Shining frowned. “Several? I only recall him proving Winter Day and Summer Nights as such.” His line of thought continued unspoken. ‘Even if he obviously wasn’t telling the truth then.’ “Because according to Luna, an entire squad of her night guards approached her during her night court and removed their disguises.” Mirror blinked in surprise. “Really? They did?” “Really, really,” Celestia confirmed. “She showed me the memory of it happening. They all swore their allegiance to her as well.” Shining’s eyes narrowed. “In what way did they swear their allegiance?” “Through a blood and magic oath.” Cadence’s jaw dropped, as did Shining’s. The Alicorn of Love was the first to recover. “Wait, wait, wait -- how can that be? Can’t you only do those separately?” Shining shook his head. “No, there’s one oath of that kind, and it’s taught only to royal guards. It’s usually reserved for times of extreme emergencies, such as war, when loyalty can be questioned. We didn’t do it after the first changeling invasion because we thought that all of them had been blown out of Canterlot.” “Well what’s the difference between this oath and others?” Cadence asked, looking from her husband to her aunt. There were several moments of silence between them, and it was Mirror who responded. “Because when you use this oath to swear your allegiance to somepony, it’s for life. If you go against your oath.... You die.” Cadance stared in horror at Mirror. “Y-you die? How?!” Celestia shook her head. “It’s not something that should be discussed in detail over breakfast in short, the oath ties a portion of your magic to your physical heart as a part of the binding, which is why the blood is necessary. The rest of the oath uses your magic to tie your allegiance to whoever you swear it to.” Cadence swallowed dryly. “I... I see. So by doing that, they’ve proven that they’re not here to cause trouble.” Celestia nodded, and finished drinking her tea. Shortly after, she put her cup down and stood. “It’s about time that I head to court anyway. I might as well get through all the appointments I have today as quickly as I can. Better to be ready by noon for the trip.” “Good day, auntie.” As soon as Celestia was out of the room, Mirror and Steelfury glanced at each other. A solid minute of awkward silence passed. “So!” Steelfury exclaimed, in an attempt to end the silence. “Um... I suppose Mirror and I should... go check in on Starlight!” Mirror glanced at her husband, and nods rapidly in agreement. “Yes! I do believe that, um, it’s time to relieve the foalsitter!” Cadance frowned. “But, you don’t have a foalsitter.” The two of them slammed back their tea, gently set the tea cups down, and headed towards the door as fast as they could. Noticing the way they had left in a hurry, Shining sighed. He suggested to his wife that they head back to their room and prepare for a trip to Ponyville, something Cadence agreed with wholeheartedly. ‘If anything, this pointless trip will prove that king’s guilt,’ Shining mused. ‘And I’ll get to see my L.S.B.F.F. in the process.’ The preparations for travel didn’t actually take all that long. The closing of day court was fairly swift and, although Celestia was certain she would hear no end of it from the nobles later, she was able to walk away headache-free. She had no doubt that her headaches would return with a vengeance when she returned, but for now she was happy to walk out unscathed. When Celestia reached the castle entrance, she found the rest of the little entourage waiting for her. Luna and Phoenix seemed to be deep in conversation, while Shining and Cadance, and Mirror and Steelfury, were ignoring each other rather awkwardly. Celestia noted that both Phoenix and Mirror, thankfully, had the state of mind to be in disguise. “Are we all ready?” Celestia asked, noting with some amusement that Luna and Phoenix jumped in surprise. Luna spun around, attempting -- and failing -- to not appear like she’d been snuck up on. “Sister, we did not -- I mean, I did not... oh shut up.” It was at this point that Luna had just given up while her sister laughed. Phoenix chuckled to himself, and it was at this point that Celestia noted that he was still disguised. “Shall we leave then, Princess?” he asked. “Yes, we shall.” Shining noticed the lack of guards. “Um, princess?” “Are you wondering where my personal guards are, captain?” Celestia guessed. She continued when he nodded. “There are three guards here. That will be enough for this trip.” Shining frowned. He wanted to disagree, especially considering the fact that none of them were properly equipped, but he could tell from the look on her face that there was no point in trying to argue. He sighed. “Alright. Cadence and I are ready, princess.” Celestia beamed. “Excellent! Then let’s head over to the train station, I have already reserved seats.” Luna gave her sister a displeased look. “Please tell me we are not using that garish royal train.” Celestia giggled and remained silent, choosing to simply lead the way. Luna groaned and followed, deciding to ignore Phoenix’s chuckle at her misery. Luna was just thankful that they weren’t going to be stuck in that ugly thing for too long...