Introduction (7)
Introduction
"Are you feeling alright?" Celestia asked Alex at breakfast. She had unsummoned him in the morning, letting him roam as he pleased, as he was thinking clearly again. He barely touched his food, despite being hungry.
"I guess I'm not." He replied. Since he wasn't a familiar at the moment, he was not required to follow Celestia's 'do not lie' rule, but being one to normally speak his mind, he wasn't going to hide anything by deadpanning 'I'm fine'.
"I hope I'll be able to see them again, and I'm worried about them. They must be missing me terribly right now. I wish there was a way to send them a message, but I guess I can't." He said sullenly.
"You are very kind, to be in such a predicament, but only worrying about others." Luna complimented.
"They're my family, I love them. I don't want them to suffer. They must be sick with worry and it's eating me up inside." He replied.
"It's alright Alex. Today I'll show you to the institute of magic and science, give them the book with strict orders not to summon anything animate or to spread the knowledge, and have them start working on it. They are some of the most brilliant minds in Equestria, I'm sure they can come up with something. Until then, we should probably get you acquainted with the castle layout, and introduce you to the guards so they don't go throwing you in the dungeon for trespassing." Celestia tried making light humor.
"Thanks Celestia." Alex was grateful for any attempt, even if it didn't help at all.
"By the way Alex, while in our secluded company, forgoing formality is fine, but in the presence of others, I suggest using our titles. We are royalty, and so must keep face with the whole of Equestria." Luna added.
"Of course Princess Luna. I understand that you and your sister have an image to keep." He said rubbing his eyes. Knowing that he would have the finest minds in Equestria working on his case made him feel better, and so he regained his appetite. He hungrily devoured his eggs and salad.
"That was delicious. Maybe after I get a tour and get used to castle happenings, I could do something to help out around here. After all, I have no idea how long I'll be staying, and I don't want to be a burden." Alex suggested.
"I wouldn't dream of asking you to do that." Celestia interrupted. "I brought you here, you're my responsibility."
"With all due respect, I can't stand being a freeloader, regardless of situation. Besides, you both have duties to attend to. I'll get awfully bored if I have nothing to do, and rather than say.... skateboarding off the roof of the castle, I think I'd rather do something constructive. Besides, if you ever need me, you know how to call. In fact, I can just go to my room, then you can summon me. That way I'm rooted to a safe place. After that, I can go and do pretty much anything without you worrying about me. If I really am stuck here, then there's no use crying about it. I might as well make the best." He said with a sigh.
Other than Alex's main hobbies of cooking and woodworking, he had several other minor hobbies, such as skateboarding, archery, and free running which he did on occasion, all of which could get him into a great deal of trouble. He had always been athletic to some degree. He wasn't superman by any measure, but he was rather fit. Other than that, he was also a rather skilled musician. What originally got him into woodworking was that he didn't have enough money for a violin, and so decided to make one. It wasn't a striking piece of craftsmanship, and did not hold the beauty of a professionally made one, but it did work quite well. After realizing he had a natural talent for the work, he decided to stick with it. He loved nothing more than the feel of wood under his hands, both of which were satisfied by crafting an object with lumber, or crafting a song with an instrument.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First we have to let everypony know that you aren't a scary monster."
After assembling the castle's various workers, chefs, artisans, guards, renovators, scholars and the like, Celestia began.
"My faithful subjects, I have called you here today to discuss a matter of great importance. We have a new arrival here in the castle, a being from an entirely different world. He is currently trapped here, and while we search for a method of returning him to his place of origin, he is a guest in our castle. Please treat him with the respect and dignity you show each other."
"Thank you Princess Celestia. Hello everyon..... everypony. My name is Alex. I'm a human, which is a kind of hairless primate. I come from a civilization somewhat similar to yours, and while there are a few differences, I'm told that I act in pretty much the same way you do. I.. um, I hope we get along? I guess that's it." Alex was nervous with all the pairs of eyes staring at him, untrusting, despite what the princess had said.
"Oh, there is one more thing. Princess Celestia is able to summon me to her side at any time, so I may suddenly disappear. If that happens, don't be alarmed, because I'm with her. I hope that after I get to know you all a bit better that I can start helping out around here, maybe make all your lives a little easier."
At hearing that this creature was going to be helping them with their various tasks, should they allow it, they eased up a bit. That and the fact that the princess could call him to her at any time basically meant that he was an extension of her, and that he was okay to be around. That also meant that he was probably going to be spying on them and reporting how well they did their jobs to her, which made them nervous all over again.
Thankfully, somepony broke the tension. It wasn't a good somepony however.
"So, this animal is going to be spending time in the castle, living amongst we elite?" A white unicorn stallion asked with an air of pompous arrogance. Alex thought it ironic that a pony, which was considered an animal in his world, was calling him one, so instead of getting offended, he just smiled.
"Why yes, I am. Oh dear, I'm sorry, it seems that in my arrogance I have missed your name." Alex responded with a regal air. The other, less stuck up ponies stifled a giggle, as they all knew that he hadn't even given his name, and the emphasis or 'arrogant' was like a needle sticking in the stallion's head.
"I shall forgive it, this time. I am Prince Blueblood, and you would do well to remember your manners." The bleached unicorn scoffed.
"Your kindness is matched only by your grace m'lord." He replied, giving an overly dramatic bow that made Blueblood blush and Luna giggle. The prince was getting a little upset that his attempts to make a mockery of the newest arrival were being blown off that easily, but at the same time, couldn't help but be impressed at the level of regality he was expressing.
"I'm Stone Chip, the castle's head mason, and you should probably just stay out of it. It's a lot of work keeping this place looking good, and structurally sound at that. Unless you're a bricklayer, it would be best if you just stayed out of the way." A grey earth pony introduced himself. He wasn't being rude, just informative.
"Ahm head chef Ladle, and you'd best remember to stay out of my kitchen. I don't take kindly to midnight snacker's, and if you get in the way during the meal rush, you're likely to end up in a pot of soup, accidentally or otherwise. This here's my sous chef, Flay." Said a deep earth unicorn with a scowl, pointing at a white, red maned one who looked like she had a temper, both mares.
"I am Fiddle Stick, and I have to say that you are fascinating, just fascinating! Oh, I forget myself, I am the head of magic development at the institute. I do believe we will be spending a great deal of time together oh yes." A lemon yellow unicorn, with colours vibrant yet faded at the same time, said in a tone reminiscent of a kind old wizard.
'Finally, someone with a warm welcome. I always liked old people, they know how to take things slow, and they have the best stories." Alex thought, giving the ancient stallion a warm smile.
"I'm Widget! Head of the mechanical section of the technological department of the institute." Said a steel grey pegasus mare with an iron red mane, pulling off a pair of steampunk-esque goggles. Her cutie mark being a gear. She offered a hoofshake, seeming a little too happy to see him, which he accepted, only to find his hand full of grease.
"Oops, sorry 'bout that, call was kinda sudden, forgot to clean myself up." She said perkily, pulling out a hoofkerchief for him to wipe himself off with.
"And I'm Suds, the janitor. Please tell me you're tidy, I practically have to stalk Widget around here, just to keep the place from being a total mess." Said an olive green unicorn stallion in a defeated tone.
"Don't worry, I clean up after myself. He replied with a knowing look. He did have a sister after all, who just so happened to be a slob. He was always cleaning up her messes.
"I AM COMMANDER GRISWOLD, HEAD OF PRINCESS CELESTIA'S ROYAL GUARD! YOU WILL TREAT ME WITH RESPECT, AND YOU WILL NOT CAUSE ANY DISTURBANCES. IS THAT CLEAR MAGGOT?" Barked a bleach white pegasus in golden armor. The guards behind him were wearing similar gear, but his had blue plumage on the top of his helmet, while the others had none, and a select few had red.
"SIR YES SIR!" Alex stood at attention, giving a salute. He resisted the urge to grin stupidly at the absurdity of a pony half his size giving him orders like that, but then again, this pony could probably kick his ass.
"I'm sorry about Griswold, he just doesn't like new arrivals." Whispered a dark grey bat winged mare in silver armor who came after him with a smile. "I'm Commander Serenity, head of Princess Luna's royal guard. I expect you won't be any trouble?" She said sweetly with a wink. Apparently, the moon princess's guards were a lot friendlier, and several times quieter. Probably used to trying not to wake up the whole castle.
"Between you and me, I couldn't if I tried. For reason's I can't explain, I am physically incapable of disobeying one of Celestia's orders. You don't need to worry your pretty head at all." Alex replied, equally quiet. Quiet was good, quiet was nice, calm, soothing. It's the reason he usually stayed up late at night.
"Well, that's just about everypony, I hope you all get along well." Celestia ended the introduction. "Since Suds knows the layout the best, perhaps you should stick with him for now, that way you don't get lost." She suggested.
"That sounds good, maybe I could take a bit off his workload while I'm at it." Alex accepted. He had the feeling that he, Suds, Fiddle Stick, and Serenity would get along just fine, and figured it would be best to just avoid Stone Chip, Griswold, Ladle and Flay. He didn't know what to make of Widget.
"PLEASE do." The defeated janitor begged, clearly overworked due to the presence of Widget. "You know how to mop right?"
" I worked in a fast food restaurant before coming here. It was a terrible job, with the cleaning being the most enjoyable part. So yes, I know how to mop."
"Fast food? What kind of cuisine do you have where you're from?" Ladle asked inquisitively, clearly wondering if it would measure up with her own.
"We have all sorts of culinary arts. It's one of my passions, so it pains me to say that the slop served where I worked doesn't deserve to even be called food. I could barely take seeing that rubbish shoveled out the door day after day, so I stuck to cleaning instead." Alex said with a frown.
"Fitting." Blueblood huffed, thinking that janitorial duties and swill serving was suited perfectly to the new arrival.
"What kinda gadgets you got?" Widget asked excitedly, her eyes beaming.
"Hold on just a moment everypony, first thing we need to do is bring him to the institute and figure out as much as we can about him, get him on record for the archives, some official paperwork and such." Fiddle Stick interrupted, seeing that he was straining from being bombarded by questions.
"Yes, I think that would be best. Thank you Fiddle Stick." Alex said, thankful for the break.
Hello everypony, absolutely NOTHING happened this chapter, other than meeting a bunch of OC ponies who work in the castle. This chapter was really just to get a better feel for who we're dealing with for later interactions.
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Either way, still interesting and funny. Nice job.
make him get blueblood no HiE is a story without blueblood getting hurt, insulted, or taught a lesson
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or better yet all 3
I'm waiting for more
Please keep at it
OOH! this is good! keep working on it!
HERP DERP SIR!
translates: Good story Sir!
very interesting. I am liking the characters in this chapter, seems to have a lot of possibility!
Enjoying it, hope to see a new chapter soon.
alex should make a skateboard to troll Grisworld
I'm likin' this... Let's hope princey get his attitude fixed soon, though.
Fiddlestick... inb4 crows everywhere.
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LoL I see what you did there...
I really like this story so far.
I'd still be pissed that Celestia could order me to do whatever She wants. Then again, I hate being told what to do and would rather have the freedom to do whatever I want, using my own intelligence to make rational decisions. That aside, I'd also be pretty interested in what Widget would have to ask me.
"Thank you Princess Celestia. Hello everyon..... everypony. My name is Alex. I'm a human, which is a kind of hairless primate.
We are not hairless. They're just really short. You can see them rather easily.
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Not even if she could say, command you to allow her to tickle you?
HOW COULD I BE SO CALLOUS AS TO FORGET.
I guess that's a lot of the reason why humans invented so many things. The entire world is basically out to kill us, and it's not like we have fangs or claws to protect ourselves. We are the physically weakest species in our height and weight range. We had to be smart to make up for the things we don't have."
WRONG!
Humans are actually pretty strong for animals of our size. We just don't use it at will because our muscles would snap our bones like twigs.
WHERE THE BUCK IS SHINING ARMOR!?!?!?!?!?
After reading the bit with Blueblood, I'm wondering if you're familiar with the Two Ronnies' sketch 'Your Nuts, M'Lord'.
There was a pony named Widget in the story 'Always look before you leap into a portal'. She was also working in the tech labs, but in that story she was apple family.
.......... Is it just me, or does Fiddle Stick sound like hes about to rape someone?
The Suos Flay sounds like a food...
Griswold is a Yogscast reference, right?
'Cause I'm going to continue to read him using that voice.