//------------------------------// // Adjusting // Story: The Element of Chaos // by JakeDrake //------------------------------// The Element of Chaos By JakeDrake Chapter Ten Adjusting As Jake walked down the spiral staircase to the main floor he was able to see the stained glass looking out onto what looked like a garden. The glass showed many different ponies in many different scenes. He kept looking until he felt himself stumble and start to fall. He yelped in surprise as his face started to get closer to the stone stairs. He fell forward and started to flip head over heels as he bounced and for about five minutes, he fell and finally stopped covered in bruises and groaning in pain. “Ow...” He groaned out holding his head when a shadow fell over him, he looked up and saw celestia standing over him biting her lower lip. She looked over at a few guards and they nodded using their magic to lift Jake up and placing him back onto his feet. “Thanks...” He said using the wall to support himself, “you need some hand rails on those or something...” He rubbed his side in pain from the bruises. “I’ll try and remember that.” Celestia said with a slight snicker, “Now...One of my guards will show you too your quarters. Try not to get hurt...” Jake rolled his eyes mumbling, “Not like I’d try...” He cracked his neck and looked around and saw a white unicorn with a blue mane. He was in a red uniform that made him look like he was some sort of commander. The unicorn looked at him carefully as Jake looked at him nervously, knowing how the other ponies had reacted he was hoping he was not going to be impaled by the horn. Finally the unicorn cleared his throat. “Hello, I’m Shining Armor.” He said holding out a hoof as Jake leaned down to shake it carefully, “I’m the Captain of the Canterlot royal guard.” Jake forced a smile looking nervous and said “I’m Jake...I’m like...some sort of spirit I guess...” His voice pronounced his nervousness and he pulled his paw away. He gave another smile rubbing the back of his head before making a small hiss pulling his hand away. “I’ll show you to your room...maybe then get you some ice.” Shining Armor said walking to a small doorway having Jake follow him, he used his magic to twist the handle and open it for them both. He walked down a long hallway with nothing truly decorating it. Jake found it rather bland for his taste, Shining Armor soon stopped again in front of another staircase. “Just up there is your quarters.” Shining Armor said looking up, the stairs were dirty and dark. If Jake wasn’t able to walk down a set of well lit stairs without falling, how was he supposed to walk up these? “Do you have some kind of...light I could use?” He asked smiling nervously looking up the stairwell seeing it spiraled a good way up. Shining armor rolled his eyes and then stepped onto the first step light the way when he saw it was full of cobwebs and dust. Jake blinked and half looked disgusted at the sight. The unicorn looked at Jake and said “Why don’t we just...get you that ice first?” Jake gave an uncertain nod as he saw a spider the size of his hand crawl onto one of the webs before he saw the unicorn was already a far way down the hallway before nearly running to catch up to him. Shining armor turned a corner before Jake caught up to him and he ended up in a small corridor...with five hallways that were all full of ponies coming and going. He looked around the bustling groups of ponies, all giving him nervous and strange looks before he walked down a random hallway, he kept walking until he noticed most of the ponies in this hallway were in some sort of uniform. He saw maids, butlers, and a few cooks. He saw a small door and ducked into it and saw he was in some sort of large dining hall. He looked around and saw most of its walls were glass overlooking the city, it looked about sunset and he smiled cracking his neck a bit, having not realized how long the flight here took or how long he was out of it. He smiled slightly enjoying the view of the city below before he heard the sound of somebody clearing their throat. He looked back to see dark colored pony with a dark starry mane with a long horn and two wings. She was looking at him sitting on the other end of the very long time, clearly having been eating a rather tall plate of waffles. She looked at him before putting down the silver wear she was holding up with her magic. “Um...” he blinked a little looking at her nervously, “Hi...” He said nervously looking at her as she dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “I’m guessing you’re the one my sister woke me up to pick up from Ponyville.” She said dryly, “Well come and sit down already.” Jake looked confused to say the least, he was half expected to get something thrown at him or something...he walked over and looked at the strange chairs and shuffled to get into one. He sat there looking half at the smaller darker pony, getting a better look at her small black crown. “I’m sorry...but...who are you?” He finally asked looking at her and at the plate of food in front of her, clearly remembering he hadn’t eaten anything in a good while. “I am Princess Luna, Celestia’s younger sister.” She said looking at him carefully finally having to started to cut the waffles, which were covered in syrup and butter making them smell delicious. Jake heard his stomach growl when he said “Uh...Nice to meet you...I’m Jake...the draconequus, I think.” He was looking at his own paw again when he heard the two much larger doors opened, he realized he had came in from the hall the kitchen was in so it did not have to be as large. He saw that Celestia was walking in, looking tired as she closed the doors behind her. When she saw Jake she looked a little surprised before taking another seat closer to Luna, when he saw they were more like royal thrones than anything else. He saw he was sitting in a different one than the ones they were sitting in, or the ones down the table. It had a longer back and a slight grey color with a few things seemingly random coming out at the top. “Good evening Jake.” Celestia said smiling lightly, “I assume someone brought you down for dinner?” She gave a light chuckle before looking at Luna, “Or breakfast to some.” “Um...no actually, I kind of got lost on the way to get ice when I lost Shining armor in a crowd full of ponies.” He said looking sheepish, “And then I accidentally walked in here...” He looked away seeming to try to change the subject when he looked outside, “Night sure is coming on fast isn’t?” “Well yes, for waking up my sister early I arranged for night to come earlier.” Celestia said a short earth pony rushed in looking at the two without food and placed two menus in front of them before he scurried back out. Jake suddenly jerked his head toward Celestia and asked, “Wait...did you say arranged for night to come earlier?” He looked very confused looking toward the menu and the two sisters. Celestia was already floating the menu in front of her face, she didn’t answer for a minute before lowering the menu and said “I am in charge of raising the sun, while my sister is in charge of the moon. What are you going to have?” Jake looked at her surprised with the tone she said it, as if it were as simple as saying that the sky was blue, or that the sea was blue. Jake blinked and looked at the menu and saw the large amount of odd food, most of it vegetarian in nature before he said, “I’ll...just have waffles...haven’t had breakfast or any real food in a while...” Luna looked at him carefully before she swallowed another bite and said “So, I assume that my sister had brought you here to the castle for a reason?” Jake looked surprised and then looked at Celestia who cleared her throat and said “He’s the new Spirit of Chaos.” Her short response clearly surprising to Luna. “B-but...the last time...how? What?!” Luna said quickly, “Impossible, Discord was the spirit of chaos.” “And I stripped him of that power.” Celestia said making Luna stop sputtering, turning to Jake who held his menu up hiding his face. “We can talk about this later...” Luna said looking at Celestia carefully before she started to eat again. Soon the small pony scurried back in letting Celestia and Jake to tell him what they wanted to eat. They sat there before suddenly a small crashing sound came from the hallway. “What’s that?” Jake asked while he started to hear someone yelling from past the larger set of doors. “My nephew...” Celestia said dryly before the doors opened showing a white unicorn stallion with blonde hair with a disgusted look on his face. He looked at the two guards behind him trying to stop him and said “How dare you try to interrupt my dear aunt’s dinners with their...” He looked at Jake with a slight disgust clear on his face, “Guest.” The guards looked at Celestia as if asking for permission to take him away before she shook her head sighing. “What do we owe the...pleasure Blueblood?” She asked forcing a smile while Luna simply kept eating ignoring the interruption while Jake watched the two talking waiting for his food, taking a drink of water that the unicorn had brought for them when he took his order. “I was coming to visit my dear aunts of course, can’t I come to see you and your new...guest?” He asked forcing a smile thinking very highly of himself, while he walked over to Jake and said “I am Prince Blueblood,” He gave a smirk with the title and asked, “And you are?” “I’m Jake...” Jake said looking at the pompous pony in front of him, noticing that his hair seemed to be gelled into place by far too much hair-gel. “Right...” Blueblood said curtly before looking at his aunt, “I didn’t know there were any other of Discord’s kind. Was he trapped in stone as well?” Jake was not sure whether to be offended or not but the look of annoyance on Celestia’s face made it seem so. “No, Dear Nephew,” she said forcing her voice to stay in a tone of respect, “He is the new addition to the royals living at the castle.” She gave a light smile drinking a bit of her own water. The stallion looked madder than an old wet hen when her heard this and said “H-him? But surely you could find a more...civil and upperclass pony to join you in the castle.” He forced the words to have a hint in there clear to Jake he wanted to live in the castle. “No, I can’t think of anyone.” Luna said suddenly snickering a bit, “Now would you please leave? You are interrupting our meal, or would you perhaps like to come with me to visit my pet bats?” She looked at him glaring a little before Blueblood shook his head. “I am sorry dear aunt, but I’m afraid I must be going...no time for visiting pets, many errands to run, things to do, ponies to meet and all of that.” He said as he nearly ran out of the dining hall. Luna started to laugh a little as Celestia smiled. “Thank you Luna...but aren’t your pets with the Element of Kindness having a checkup?” Celestia asked looking at the younger sister who was now laughing a little. “Yes Dear sister,” Luna said taking another bite as a pair of unicorns brought in plates of food for Celestia and Jake, “But our ‘dear nephew’ doesn’t know that.” The sarcasm was clear in her voice showing her disdain of her nephew making Jake smile a little at the joke, which was clearly a product of mutual dislike. “You always are good at finding what is the best way to spooke a pony, but enough chatter.” Celestia said, as the food was placed in front of both of them. “Let’s eat.” Jake nodded in agreement and started to eat, having had grabbed his fork and knife, dropping them three times because of his new hands, and was ready starting to eat as civilized as he could. Realizing he was eating with what was most likely the equivalent of gods in this world, with both of them having a seeming taste for jokes. He looked outside and thought to himself, “What have I done to deserve this?”