//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 // Story: Angel of Gold // by Magna85 //------------------------------// Tim and I were walking towards the dining hall, thinking about just what we needed for the trip. "I never expected a guy named Snow to be the leader of a bunch of elite guardsmen." Or apparently only I was thinking about what to bring. "Berserker, you need to be thinking about what needs to be brought on the trip, not about names," I said. "That's fine, I was just making an observation." As we walked in silence, I looked over at the beautiful tapestries on the walls. They described several instances of Equestria's history, all captured in a beautiful art form. Discord's reign, the banishing of Luna and her subsequent redemption, and many others. "Celedon, we're here." I was pulled from my musings by Tim's hand on my shoulder. We were alone in the dining hall, our footsteps echoing loudly in the silence. "Yeesh, kind of creepy without anyone else in here, isn't it?" Tim rhetorically stated. "It reminds me of that time we went into that haunted house. Didn't you run out screaming?" My voice had a great amount of humor in it. "Hey, dude, that 'drop-a-fake-corpse-on-your-head' trick was freaking terrifying at that age. But wait, you were standing behind me weren't you?" he retorted. "That's because I was smart," I said as I tapped the side of my head with a finger. The taps turned into bell-like tones. Apparently, that was a signal for a few servants to come out and begin putting food on the table. "Sir, madam, the Princesses are unavailable to eat with you for lunch today due to an unexpected delay. They have instructed us to seat and serve you," a random butler said in a suave voice. He had neatly cropped black hair and his red eyes stared into my own. I nodded politely. "Thank you for the information. What's on the menu for today?" The butler looked a little confused before he recovered and answered, "Well, madam, your usual is ready for you, and for Berserker here, it is a three course sandwich special. Packed food will be provided at dinner for your trip, a request by Princess Celestia. So, please don't worry about keeping some food for later, it has all been provided." "Alright, thank you." Tim and I took our seats across from each other. A golden platter with the same small pyramid of golden blocks was set before me, while Tim had a small bowl of foul smelling soup in front of him. Wait, that's right, I can't smell anything correctly anymore, I corrected myself. I distracted myself with my golden meal. How can something taste so good?! I once again thought. Lunch was a silent affair, not much talk between us. Once Tim had finished his soup, a rather fancy looking sandwich was brought before him. He looked like he enjoyed it while I was trying not to gag from looking at him eating what I knew would have tasted horrid to my own tongue. I shook my head and returned to my own meal. An unfamiliar feeling crept into my chest. Am I...jealous? I shook my head again. After finishing the meal, Tim and I decided to distract ourselves by heading out to the sparring field. I needed to get some practice in with my naginata, and I had my own combat instructor right next to me. After I summoned my staff and assumed a ready position, Tim called out from across the field. "I don't know if I'll be able to hold back!" "I'll be fine. Let's just go!" I said before sprinting forward. I tried to control my wings so that tiny flaps gave me some extra speed. I didn't want to destroy the surrounding area during our spar. Tim had charged forward much faster than I, no weapons in his hands. However, as I slashed downwards at him after lightly jumping into the air, he dodged around me and kicked me in the back. I went sprawling from the force. However, as I got up, I saw Tim holding his foot and hopping around. "Ow, ow, owowowowowowow. Geez Celedon! Warn me about that next time!" "What? Don't you remember what Twilight said? And how I refused to eat on your bed?" Did he really forget that easily? He stopped hopping and balanced on one foot. Then he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and grinned crookedly. "No...of course I didn't forget something like that." I gave him the Look. "What?" My face met my hand again. After the disastrous sparring session, mostly because Tim couldn't take me seriously without trying to kill me, we joined back up in the dining hall. The Princesses were there this time, along with eight full backpacks, two of which were noticeably larger. The backpacks were all of different colors, and six of them had familiar marks somewhere on them. Then there was the slightly larger than normal yellow backpack, mine, and the significantly larger than normal backpack, Tim's. "Aw, come on! Why do I have to get the huge one?" Tim whined upon seeing his new back-buddy. Celestia and Luna chuckled a little before the older sibling said, "I would sincerely hope that a brave, strong man like yourself would be able to handle just a few huge packages. Or would you rather Celedon take care of it instead?" I could see the troll in her eyes. Tim bristled at that statement and made to pick up the bag, succeeding easily. Then he attempted to lift mine at the same time with one arm. It didn't budge. Shocked, he looked inside my bag before I pulled his head back from it. Before I even laid eyes on the inside of the backpack, I could smell the contents. Gold! "Nice try, but I believe I have the heaviest weight after all," I said smugly before easily lifting the bag and throwing it over my shoulder. Hopefully the bag was enchanted so it wouldn't break under the heavy weight of the pure gold. Tim let out a huff and set his bag back down before sitting down at the table. The same butler from before with the smooth voice served us both, though Celestia seemed to be keeping a very close eye on him. We ate mostly in silence, a little bit of small talk here and there. Eventually, we finished our meal and brought all the backpacks to the throne room. The Princesses telekinesis was very helpful in this regard.