Chapter One
Oh how Titus hated attention. He never liked it, even back when he was a Paladin of Azeroth he had problems talking to people. It wasn't his thing, and he didn't seem to be getting any better at it here in the capital of Equestria, Canterlot. Ever since the encounter with the damned Shadow King back in the abandoned kingdom that princess Luna had ruled, Titus had found himself as a celebrity around the land. He personally wanted to keep a tight lip about it, but Lyra gloated about it every chance she got.
It was always about how the Beacon had stopped the land from dying. How they had defeated armies of skeletons and shadows on their way to the Shadow King. Titus couldn't do anything, he was always tongue tied when trying to speak out to her in public when everyone was watching. He was with almost everyone, and he tried hard to be more social, but he just didn't think it was in his blood.
Lyra's gloating, coupled with the praise that Luna had put on him shortly after their adventure had put him in the uncomfortable position of accepting a royal invitation to Canterlot's royal castle, where he and Lyra would be staying as guests of the princesses. He really didn't want to go, and he tried desperately to think of any excuse, but found none that would satisfy Lyra's set mind.
So here he was, sitting on his behind, at the royal table in the royal castle's dining hall. He was poking at his salad, still trying to get use to the change in diet since he arrived in Equestria. It was a challenge, but he managed to pull it off, and he prided himself in that. He was getting use to something at least, he thought as he grabbed a cucumber slice and placed it into his mouth.
He looked around the table, where the many princes and princesses sat around chatting with one another, obviously ignoring him. He didn't mind, as long as he didn't have to talk to anybody he was fine. He was sitting near the end where the Princess of the Sun, had placed herself. Her sister, Luna seated far to the opposite side of the table.
He wanted to lean an elbow on the table, but found it too uncomfortable while sitting flat on the floor. He looked over to Lyra seated next to him, she was trying to scoop up her food with her hooves, but grunted in frustration every time it fell out of her non-existent grasp. He had no idea why she was trying to act like him so much, but he brushed it off, assuming it was caused by the affection she had developed for him since they first met outside of Ponyville. He didn't mind it, he liked it actually and found her company comforting, even if she did go overboard sometimes.
He was about to place his head on the table in sheer boredom when Celestia spoke to him in her strong voice.
“How has our society been treating you, Beacon?”
He brought his head up suddenly, and almost accidentally brought the whole table cloth up with him on his sudden movement, to Lyra's laughter. “Uhm, its going pretty well I suppose.” He managed to get out, trying desperately to keep the table cloth secure upon the table.
“That's great to see.” She said smiling politely. “We all thought you'd have a difficult time integrating into our kind of society. Luckily it seems you came from a world similar enough.”
Titus put his hand behind his head shyly. “Do you guys have any mead here, by the way?”
Celestia looked at him curiously. “Why, I have never heard of that. Is that a sort of food?”
Titus sighed. “Yes, kind of. Never mind actually. I don't need any mead...”
The night continued on, and the chatting followed in suit. Titus fumbled with his thumbs silently under the desk and noticed Lyra at times trying to mimic his actions. He soon stopped his nervous habits and just began to rest his eyes. Nobody would mind if the Beacon took a quick little nap while he was being ignored at the royal table. Nobody would mind at all.
He closed his eyes for just a minute and was met with an all too familiar hoof in his face. He shot up in frustration and managed to cause a tremor through the entire table, knocking everyone's plates about. He apologized hastily to all those seated and quickly glared at Lyra.
She looked down at the ground shyly. “Sorry about that. Just didn't want you to fall asleep again...”
He sighed in pity, and gently patted her on the head. He turned back to the table and noticed everyone's eye still trained on him. “Is everything okay..?” He asked nervously.
One of the austere royalty finally spoke up, taking off his monocle. “Of course, we were just wondering if you would prefer to be elsewhere?”
Titus glared at them. “No, no I think I'm fine right here, thank you very much.” The nerve of these people he thought.
The aristocrat simply shrugged. “So be it.” and went back to his previous conversation regarding fine art and the state it was in.
Titus couldn't believe he was still here, sitting at a table with royalty from another world. It was a humbling thought, especially considering that what he had done for this world was completely by accident on a wild goose chase after his friend Eleii, who had never been here in the first place. It still made him sad to think about but he pushed it to the back of his head, he hoped that somehow she was still alive, even though that was extremely unlikely, he couldn't seem to tell himself that she was dead.
He was about to fall asleep again from his monologue when a Pegasus suddenly darted into the room, frantically trying to inform Celestia of something dire. “Princess! Princess!”
She looked at the Pegasus panting violently by her. “Yes?”
“Something horrible has happened! We can't explain it! Hoofington has frozen over, along with everyone in it!”
The table went silent from the sudden news. Celestia stood up. “Is this the work of the Windigoes?”
The Pegasus looked around the table and back at her. “We don't think so. We've had reports of pale beings with the touch of ice.”
“How peculiar...” She muttered. “Do they remain in Hoofington?”
“No, your majesty. They mean to march on Ponyville, I believe.”
That got Titus and Lyra listening. That was their home (as much of a home as Titus could get out here), and the thought of it suddenly freezing over and being inhabitable was not a comforting thought. They leaned in on the table, waiting to hear more of the unfolding events.
She turned to her guests. “I'm afraid we must end this evening early. I apologize, but I must go and see what exactly is unfolding in my land.”
With that, she promptly left. Titus sighed, and brought himself up, along with several of the other guests. He had made it through the whole evening, and he could finally retire to his guest quarters within the castle. Although the thought of town suddenly frosting over right in the middle of the summer was disconcerting, he put it the back of his head. If a princess was going to go solve the problem herself, then there was no need for him to worry about it. He just hoped that the others in that other town were going to be okay. He hadn't heard any mention of death, so it must have been a temporary state they were in.
Luna stood up at the other end of the table. “We trust you all know where your quarters are?” and the guests all nodded their heads in confirmation. “Very well. Our sister's absence will hopefully be short lived, but until her return we shall be governing all events within the city. Have a pleasant night.”
Everyone got up and left then. Titus quickly pushed ahead of the others and found himself in a series of winding halls. It was very daunting and confusing to him, how could royalty live in such an impractical building?
“It's okay, I know where our room is.” Lyra said coming up behind him. “What would you do without me hmm?”
“Fall over and die, I'm sure.” Titus said flatly.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Lyra said with a smirk and she trotted off in front of him. “Let's get going!”
Titus was lead through hall after hall, and winding staircase after winding staircase until he assumed he had made his way to one of the towers within the castle. At the top of the last staircase lay the door to their room. It was adorned with all kinds of mosaic markings indicating the quarters of a person of high importance. Titus sure hoped the beds were bigger than the one back at Lyra's house, resulting in his continued sleep on the hard ground.
The beds were, in fact, not any bigger and Titus found himself lying on the hard stone floor looking up at the ceiling of their quarters. Lyra wasn't happy about it either as she was stuck on the rotund bed by herself. Still, as the last candlelight was snuffed out on the nearby dresser, they found sleep rather easily, and Titus was soon under the trance of a dark, dreamless sleep.
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The guard posted out at the gates of Canterlot was trying desperately to stay awake and on his hooves. He hated the night shift, why did he always get the night shift? The other guards probably thought this was funny to make him sit out here in front of the gates on the other side of the moat every night. No unicorn should have to sit out in front of the gates every evening, waiting for nothing to come.
He sat down, finally tired of standing at guard. Nothing was going to happen, nothing ever did. Canterlot was so far out of the way as it was nested on the side of a mountain that it seemed so unlikely that anything bad could happen, and even if there was something bad, it was usually more than something one guard standing at his post could have prevented. He remembered the panic at the royal wedding months back. The changelings had wreaked so much havoc on Equestria's capital, but as always, peace was restored thanks to someone that wasn't just a lowly guard sitting at his post.
A hoarse voice cut through the air suddenly startling the guard back to a standing position. “Another friend... How pleasant...”
He looked across the bridge transcending the small moat surrounding the city, but found nothing but what looked like a white mist and some snowy trees. Snowy trees? What were those doing there? It was the summer, there was no way there could be snow this time of year. But there it was, the entire area on the other side of the moat as far as the eye could see was covered in features that this climate could not provide at the time.
The air around him began to lower in temperature suddenly and he felt some strange feeling knot up inside of his stomach. Was it fear? No, it couldn't be.. Nothing had happened to him. But that voice... He sat back down, pondering what had just happened.
Soon he felt a cold wind blowing right down his neck, and he wanted to whirl around, but found he couldn't. He was frozen in place. He couldn't alert anyone of the strange pale being circling him, frosting over whatever it crossed.
“Enjoy the gift my friend.... I must go spread the joy with the other inhabitants...”