Royal Relations

by DamagedQ

Chapter 1 - Introductions

Eventually, after what seemed like several minutes of walking, he arrived at his room. However, there was a slight misunderstanding, and rather than staying on the Celestial Tower, like his father, he would be staying in the Lunar Tower, on the opposite end of the castle. He pondered it as he lay on the blue-sheeted bed in the center of his room.

There are four towers that make up the castle: the Celestial Tower, the Lunar Tower, the Private Tower, and the Common Tower. The only visible differences between them were their colors. The Celestial Tower was a stunning alabaster, while the Lunar Tower was a dark blue, accented with a deep purple. The Private Tower was a light purple, almost lavender. And the common wing, where the general public came when in need or hosted, was a mix of beige and off-white. It was also where the throne room was located.

Wow, I must’ve actually been listening to him… he thought incredulously as he remembered these bits from his father’s lecture.

There was a loud knock on his bedroom door.

“Come out here, Spry. It’s already nine o’clock, and I have yet to introduce you to the princesses,” his father called from the opposite side of the door.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” he replied in a dull tone as he continued to lie on the bed with his eyes closed.

He sighed before rolling off of the bed and standing up. He lazily shuffled towards his closet and opened it. It swung outward with a low creak.

Inside was a small selection of clothing, which limited his options, but it didn’t really matter. He picked out a white, collared shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. It was casual, but not so casual that it looked like he didn’t care.

The prince soon abandoned his room and made his way to the throne room, staying close behind his father. He figured that these princesses were going to be the same as all the other royalty he’d met; pretending as if they were better than their subjects by the very nature of their being.

He and his father slowed to a stop as they approached two large, wooden doors, which tapered to an end about twenty feet above their heads.

The young prince could already sense the magical presence of two highly skilled magic wielders inside the next room, both of them very strong, even for supposed alicorns.

The guard standing in front of the entrance showed no sign of noticing them, but as they got closer, he swung the large doors open and stepped to the side, allowing the king and prince to enter into what was probably the most magnificent room the young prince had ever seen. His father seemed unmoved by its grandeur, but Spry felt dwarfed by the room; although, he didn’t show it, gazing straight ahead with an emotionless stare and only daring to explore the room with his periphery.

Curtains, stained glass windows, and various murals lined the walls, each of which having some depiction or symbol related to Equestria or the princesses. Manikins sporting overly decorative suits of armor stood along the base of the at least fifty foot high walls, and located along the center was a long, red carpet with golden fringe. It ran the entire length of the room, from the door where they entered to thrones on the opposite end, where two alicorns sat, smiling at him and his father.

Spry’s jaw clenched as he took notice of them. They were exceptionally beautiful for royalty, and they sat casually, as if the decisions they made didn’t directly affect the largest country in existence, and most of the world along with it.

They smiled at the prince, but he didn’t smile back. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but the sight of an alicorn wasn’t anything special, Spry being one himself.

There was no way to tell they were alicorns besides the size of their wings. Their wings were larger than most pegasi’s, and their magical abilities were assumed to be greater than that of the average magic user, since they were alicorns.

But the princesses’ wings still didn’t reach the full size of his, and a mutation of certain genes caused a handful of alicorns in Makuria’s history to have black, leathery, bat-like wings, rather than normal feathered wings. Another recessive mutated gene affected Spry’s dental complex, making each of his canines protrude out about half an inch more than usual. Spry was the first person in recorded history to have both of these mutations concurrently, making him appear very different from his father, whose features expressed neither.

According to everyone who would be honest with him, he appeared almost inhuman, and his extremely slim figure didn’t help to rebut that statement. Needless to say, he hadn’t many friends, and as a result he formed somewhat of an inferiority complex.

These mutations, however, did have some benefits. He possessed an extremely heightened sense of motion that helped him to observe and react instantly to almost anything – something very few members of the Makurian royalty could claim to have.

“Good morning, King Brisk,” Celestia said in a ceremonial tone, pulling the prince’s wandering mind back to reality. The formalities irritated him, but he’d definitely heard worse.

Both of the princesses’ gazes were on the prince the entire time, which was somewhat expected.

“Greetings, your majesty,” his father replied. Spry joined him in a curt bow.

“Please, call me Celestia. This must be your son,” she said as she motioned towards the teenager. The attention unsettled him a little, but he managed to show no sign of it.

“Good morning, Princess,” he said in response. His voice held no tone, and his head was cocked slightly as he stared at the elder princess disinterestedly.

“Good morning, Prince Spry,” she responded, being playful by copying his dead tone. The prince had no response.

“So you’re the next in line to rule Makuria,” she mused aloud. “How has his training been going, Brisk?” she asked curiously, turning back to his father.

“As well as it can get, I suppose. It seems he has a talent for flying, and his intelligence is remarkable. We’re just working on…well, social skills, for the time being.”

“Oh, I see. We had the same problem with Luna for a little while,” Celestia remembered, “After such a long absence, there was much to re-learn.

“Hey!” the other princess interrupted, “I’m right here,” she stated ungraciously.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Celestia turned to her sister and chuckled.

Spry was surprised to see an interaction of such a nature in between the two princesses. Celestia soon reassumed a more serious expression before turning back to the king.

“I could help, if you’d like. I have the next week off due to Winter Wrap-up, minus certain necessities and other small urgencies of course, but I would be happy to try to get him motivated.”

The prince continued to give Celestia an emotionless stare, hoping that either she would retract the offer or his father would decline. This didn’t sound like something of particular interest to him.

“That sounds like an excellent opportunity for Spry, if you honestly don’t mind, of course,” the king replied, trying to sound less excited than he was.

“Of course not, it’d be my pleasure. I’d really like to meet him anyways, so it’d be a good opportunity for me as well,” Princess Celestia replied.

“Thank you very much,” the boy’s father replied with another curt bow.

Spry mentally cringed when he saw his father suck up to them like this. It was simply ridiculous; surely a king held more status that a mere princess. But there was nothing he could do now, he had already been dragged into this, and there was probably no getting out of it.

---

The prince wandered around the castle in search of a place to be alone. His room back in Makuria worked well, but he couldn’t trust foreign places like this. He never could.

Eventually he found a doorway that led outside. Although it was still on castle grounds, it appeared to be somewhat secluded. He figured he could lie down for a little while and doze off. There were still a couple hours until sunset and he felt like relaxing outside while there was still light.

He sighed before walking out into the garden and lied down in the thick, soft grass. The crisp, post-winter air felt good running through his nostrils, and he took deep breaths to clear his mind. He wasn’t thinking about anything in particular; he simply dozed off and daydreamed, spreading his wings out on either side of him in order to stretch them out.

His mind wandered towards the princesses. He was supposed to meet Princess Celestia at nine o’clock the next morning. Although, he wasn’t sure where. Not that the location wasn’t specified. It’s just that Spry had stopped listening after his father decided to force him into the meeting against his wishes.

He tried to divert his attention from these things and think about something else… maybe his flying. It had been going well; he had just recently been able to break the sound barrier, whether it’s in the form of a sonic boom or the more difficult thermal breach. Luck was the only thing determining which of those he could achieve, at this point.

He was without a doubt the quickest and most agile flier in Makuria, and probably Equestria as well, he surmised, but he wouldn’t flaunt it. How was he supposed to brag, anyways, when he couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with another person?

His father made him practice his flying often, and he knew that he was going to make him get up early tomorrow to practice before he had his ‘lesson in social skills’ with Princess Celestia. Practice wasn’t going to be fun either. It never was. It merely consisted of him performing difficult maneuvers at high speeds while his father yelled at him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot down the right half of his body. He resisted the urge to cry out and merely muffled a groan as he retracted his wings back to their resting positions; realizing that one of them was the source of his agony. His eyes shot open to see Princess Luna looming over him, seemingly shocked by his presence beneath her.

“Oh! Prince! I-I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there,” she pleaded, continuing with countless apologies as the prince sat up and looked around.

How did she not notice me? he thought, narrowing his eyes a bit in concentration, Well, she certainly seems sincere enough…

He realized he was sitting in a rather open field with very few trees or shrubs – not exactly a location where he would be difficult to spot. He then turned his attention back to reality, where a princess was relentlessly apologizing to him for stepping on his wing.

“No, stop. I’ll… get out of your way, princess,” he said indifferently as he started to get up.

“No, please. I mean, er, don’t get up. It was my fault,” she insisted, “I didn’t expect anyone else to be here.”

He lied back down, letting his wings slightly unfurl. Princess Luna sat down next to him and sighed.

“Anyways, call me Luna. We are equals, aren’t we?” she asked rhetorically.

“Equals?” he half-chuckled, not elaborating any further. There was a short pause before Luna asked another question, much to the prince’s discomfort.

“What makes you question such a thing?” she asked curiously. The young prince sighed and closed his eyes as he thought of something to say. After a few moments, he heard Luna shift upright and groan softly in annoyance.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” she asked flatly. He opened his eyes and looked over to her in response. She was facing him, lying on her side with an arm propping her head up. Luna took notice of his bright blue eyes for the first time, as they were usually covered by his medium-length, black hair.

“We are hardly equals,” Spry said very softly, almost a whisper, “You are Equestrian royalty, and I’m a sad excuse for royalty at all.”

“What?” She asked incredulously.

He looked towards Luna and made eye contact with her for a moment, only to look back up at the sky again with a hint of regret for having given her more reason to keep talking.

“You are no sad excuse, Spry,” she continued sharply, “In fact, I heard you’re an exceptional flier. Maybe I could see for myself. Your father mentioned that you were going to practice tomorrow morning.”

Of course he did…

“You really shouldn’t,” he responded, trying to draw attention away from himself.

“Why not? Are you shy?” she giggled at the sight of his apprehension, “It’ll be fun,” she chirped.

“Of course it would seem so…” he mumbled to himself.

“What was that?” Luna asked curiously.

“I didn’t hear anything. Anyways, princess, why have you come here?”

Don’t you have responsibilities?

“I suppose just to… get away from the usual schedule, I suppose,” she replied timidly.

He sighed empathetically as he turned his head to make eye contact with Luna. He can undeniably relate, but he couldn’t say he particularly cared about her problems.

He continued to stare for a few seconds until the sound of movement nearby averted his attention. “Sister, are you back here?” a voice called.

“It’s Celestia,” Luna mumbled to the prince.

He decided to lie back again, putting his hands behind his head, and see how this played out. Celestia soon came trotting up as she caught sight of the two of them.

The prince wondered how Luna could have approached him earlier without his noticing. She must have been considerably stealthier than her sister, considering how much noise Celestia was making.

Luna stood up urgently, turning to face Celestia.

“Oh,” Celestia started, “I was going to ask if you’ve seen Prince Spry, but he’s here too. I’m glad to see you two are getting along. I just wanted to let Prince Spry know that our meeting tomorrow has been moved from nine to ten. It’s still in the courtyard. No big deal.”

He nodded slowly before the princess walked nonchalantly in the same direction from which she came.

“I suppose I should retire back to the palace now. Until we meet again, Spry,” Luna said, turning to follow her older sister. Left with nothing else to do, Spry closed his eyes and began to think.