Lakeside

by Steadfast Bulwark

Something Found, Something Lost

The mansion was every bit as grand as one could imagine, it had taken Sir Constance several hours to show them just a few of his homes many points of interest before hunger drove them to seek out the dining room.

After seating them at the table, Sir Constance excused himself saying he had some business to conduct before dinner was ready, leaving them to chat amongst themselves.

“Did you see the size of that staircase?!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “Do you think Constance would let us take a mattress down it?”

“Ah don't know Dash, something tells me he wouldn't be too keen on the idea of us possibly wrecking his stuff.” Replied Applejack waving her hoof dismissively in the air. “But it would be awfully fun.”

“I know right?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, practically vibrating in her chair. “We could tie the mattresses together to make like a huge mattress fort and push it down the stairs, with us inside!”

“Sounds dangerous.” Fluttershy said, shaking at the idea of careening down those stairs inside a mattress fort. “I’m much more interested in the indoor garden up on the fourth floor.” She seemed to shrink into her chair. “But mattress forts are interesting too.” She finished softly.

“I agree with Fluttershy.” Twilight said, lowering the most recent book she had chosen from the large stack of books beside her chair. “I saw many rare alchemical herbs and plants growing in that garden and I’d like to study them, if Constance allows.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Really Twi? And here we all were about to take bets on which room was your favorite.”

Twilight glanced sheepishly at the pile of books on the floor. “Well, I couldn't help it that the library encompasses three stories and contains books that even the Royal Archive does not have.”

“No kidding, we practically had to drag you out of there sugarcube.” Applejack said, chuckling at Twilight's flushing face before it disappeared behind her book.

“I quite enjoyed the rooms we will be staying in.” said Rarity, bringing both fore hooves to her mouth in barely controlled giddiness. “Did you see those beds, oh the styles clearly dated but the pattern on those sheets, the intricacy of the stitching, simply to die for. Oh, I can not wait to wrap myself within their sweet embrace.” She sighed loudly, falling back in her chair with a wistful look on her face.

“Geez Rarity. Calm down.” Rainbow Dash said with a laugh. “They're just sheets, no need to get all worked up over them.”

“You may think differently once you feel them yourself, Miss Dash.” Sir Constance said as he entered through a side door. He pulled up a chair at the head of the table just next to Rarity who was to his left. “They are quite lovely.” He finished with a wink towards Rarity.

“Constance, if I could just say what a magnificent home you have. I speak for all of us when I say thank you once again for inviting us.” Rarity said, sitting up in her chair and turning in Sir Constance's direction.

“Think nothing of it.” He replied, smiling broadly. “I am happy to have all of you here. It's good to have others in this house other than Scyphos and myself.”

“Surely you must receive regular visitors?” Asked Rarity, saddened by the thought of Constance all alone.

Sir Constance nodded sadly. “Occasionally but they're mostly scholars wanting to study the area or the mansion itself, rarely do I get visitors who actually want to see me.” His face visibly lit up as he once again smiled. “But that's not important right now. I have six lovely guests and I would be a poor host indeed if I left them hungry any longer!” He clapped his fore hooves together loudly. “Scyphos!”

A door behind Sir Constance opened and Scyphos stepped out pulling a long cart laden with all manner of delectable dishes. He pulled the cart alongside the table and quickly but carefully placed various dishes on the table. Once the cart was emptied, Scyphos exited through the same door he had entered, seconds later the door again opened and another cart was wheeled out, this one stacked high with bottles and crystal glasses.

Scyphos placed the bottles on the table as well as placed a glass before each guest and produced several bundles of silverware seemingly from nowhere and placed them beside the glasses.

“Will there be anything else, sir?” Scyphos asked, bowing low.

“That will be all. I'll call when we are ready for dessert.”

“Very good, sir.” Scyphos then collected his cart and disappeared through the open door, closing it softly behind him.

“Dinner is served.” Sir Constance said happily. “Eat to your hearts content.” Picking up his silverware, he pulled a nearby plate filled with what looked like steamed tubers towards him before sliding it in front of Rarity. “Here try the ‘Tossed Tubers’ it's a delicacy in the Griffin Kingdom, or so I'm told.” He finished with a chuckle, pulling another plate, this one piled high with boiled potatoes drenched in a red sauce, towards himself.

“Thank you.” Rarity said, picking up her own silverware and prodding the tubers with her fork. “It looks delicious but...what is it?”

Sir Constance smiled behind a mouthful of potatoes. “I honestly haven't a clue.” He said after swallowing his food. “I think Scyphos grows them in the garden, but I could be wrong.” He shrugged lightly as he scooped up another bite of potatoes. “Never question a griffins cooking.”

Rarity looked back down at her plate and speared a piece of tuber on her fork before tentatively putting it in her mouth. No sooner had her mouth closed over it did her eyes light up with delight and an involuntary gasp escaped her lips.

“My goodness!” She exclaimed breathlessly.

Sir Constance let out an amused chuckle at her expression. “That's the exact reaction I had when I first tried those.” He said, scooping up another forkful of potatoes. “I've eaten at quite a few meals, but nothing compares to those prepared by Scyphos.”

“Where exactly did you meet him?” Twilight asked, in between spoonfuls of vegetable stew. “The Princesses have several dozen servants who attend to the castle cooking and cleaning and I find it amazing that you have only the one.” The others nodded their agreement on the matter but opted not to speak in order to keep eating.

“I wouldn't call Scyphos a servant.” Sir Constance said, pushing away his empty plate and pulling a bowl of stew towards him. “True he is my butler but only because he wouldn't have it any other way.”

“How come?” Rainbow Dash asked, using a corkscrew to pull the cork from a bottle she had chosen at random.

“Now that is quite a story.” He said, putting his spoon down and placing his hooves on the table. “I'd be happy to recount it if you're interested.”

“Sure, who doesn't love a good story?” Applejack said, reaching an empty glass over so Rainbow could fill it with a burgundy liquid.

Sir Constance picked up his own glass and asked for the bottle from Rainbow Dash. After passing it down to him, he proceeded to fill his own as well as Rarity's. Raising the glass to his lips he lightly sniffed it. “Ah, ‘Ponot Noir’, a very good choice.” He quickly tipped the glass back and downed its contents in one gulp, viciously shaking his head afterwards. His eye began to water. "I don't know what Scyphos adds during the aging process, but it sure adds a kick."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared an evil grin before gulping down their own glasses.

“Whoah! You weren't kidding!” Gasped Rainbow Dash as tears rolled down her face. Applejack likewise was wiping tears from her eyes though she didn't seem to be affected as much as Rainbow.

“Twi, you have got to try this!” Applejack said, reaching for the bottle of ‘Ponot Noir’ and pouring herself and Rainbow another glass.

“I'll stick to water thanks.” Twilight said, using her magic to juggle her silverware and another book that she was currently reading. Fluttershy, nodded in agreement with Twilight while she sipped her own glass of water over her salad.

“Oh you wimps! Gimme that bottle!” Pinkie Pie said, snatching the bottle from Applejacks hooves. Before anypony could protest, Pinkie put the bottle’s mouth to her lips and guzzled the entire thing in three enormous gulps. She placed the bottle back on the table with a smack while she licked her lips.

“Idontseewhatthebigdealwasitwasntthatbad.” She said, exhaling the words, as she grabbed another bottle, this one of water and likewise guzzled it.

“Now that was impressive.” Sir Constance said with a low whistle.

Rarity chuckled slightly as Pinkie finished with the bottle of water and was in the process of retrieving another one. “Pinkie Pie’s known for that.” She picked up her own glass and delicately sipped it, feeling the liquid burn down her throat, but only just. “Now I believe you were going to tell us how you met Scyphos.”

Sir Constance smiled. “Of course.” He leaned back in his chair, placing his fore hooves together in front of him. “It was about ten years ago. I had joined a surveying expedition that was headed into the Crystal Mountains. I was only hired help, but the pay was good. Some noble in Canterlot funded the whole thing and sent us up there looking for anything of value. Gold, gems, crystal deposits. Anything we could stake a claim to that would bring in the bits. About a week into the mountains we stumbled onto an old Monolith, and when I say stumbled I mean it. One of the miners literally tripped over the top of one of the spires and broke through the ice and fell inside. Of course at the time we didn't know it was a Monolith, we thought he just fell into some cave.”

Everypony at the table had ceased eating and were all leaned forward, completely engrossed in his tale, even Twilight had set her book aside.

“We set camp and a few of us flew down to get him. Well, once we were down there we realized it was no mere cave, massive pillars stretched out in all directions, further than our lights could reach. After we got the miner back topside, he'd broken a leg in the fall you see, we told the others of what we found. Well, as you could imagine this got the higher ups excited. By nightfall, we had moved all the equipment down into the Monolith and built a crude elevator out of the carts we had brought.”

Sir Constance shook his head at the memory. “It wasn't pretty, but it could lift a manticore and then some. Anyway the next day we set out exploring the Monolith. We were extremely careful, never going anywhere alone, and always looking out for anything dangerous. Well, the group I was with came to this long narrow hall that had a single door at the end. We used some sticks we had gathered to test the floor in front of us as we went. Precautionary as word that we had lost a miner to a pressure plate rigged to spikes had gotten around the camp.”

The six gasped loudly, causing Sir Constance to nod his head sadly. “Yes, it was a terrible loss. I spoke with a few of the ponies who were in that group and they said it wasn't pretty. So we used these sticks to prod the floor ahead of us in case they were rigged, well we got all the way to the end of the hall without setting anything off and found a small stone button set in the wall next to the door. One of the boys hits it and the door slides upwards completely silent. Inside was a small round room that rose up step by step to a raised platform. And sitting dead center on this raised platform was a statue of two ponies, chiseled out of a ruby and set with diamonds for eyes.”

“Amazing.” Whispered Rarity, the others looked on with amazement.

“We thought the same thing. Looking back, we acted foolishly. Two of us ran inside before checking for traps.” Sir Constance sighed sadly. “They made it to the pedestal just as the poison in the darts took effect.”

“Whoah.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Whoah indeed. The rest of us doubled back and collected some heavy stones to weigh down the pressure plates, setting off the traps until they were all out of darts. Took about an hour before they ran dry.”

“Couldn't you just fly over and grab the statue?” Rainbow Dash asked, excitement in her voice. Despite the loss of life she was reminded of Daring Do’s adventures.

“We were going to try that, but somepony had a bright idea to toss a rock into the room, well it set something off as it flew through the air, causing big spears to fly out of the walls instead of darts. We didn't have enough rocks to use all those up so instead we made a long pole out of our sticks and carefully lifted the statue up and out of the room in such a way that didn't set off anymore traps.”

“Oh.” Rainbow Dash said, slightly disappointed.

“Don't be like that Rainbow, you should be happy they got out without any further trouble.” Twilight said.

“Not quite.” Sir Constance said. “My story's not over just yet. After we pulled the statue out of the room, the others had joined us by then. While congratulations were being passed around none of us noticed the pedestal slowly sinking into the floor. Only after the rumbling started did we stop patting ourselves on the backs and decide then was a fine time to leave. We bolted for the elevator as the roof started to cave in on us. Chunks of rock and ice fell all around us as we ran, several miners fell behind and were buried under rock and snow. We could hear them screaming over the sound of the monolith collapsing but there was nothing we could do other than run faster. By the time we reached the elevator, there were only about thirty of us left and the way we had designed the elevator somepony had to stay down below in order to winch it up. Being the only Pegasus to get that far, I volunteered to stay behind.”

“So you were willin to sacrifice yourself so the others could escape?” Applejack asked in amazement.

“I was hoping I would have time to fly out after winching the others up, but yes. Luckily for me a griffin had also signed up with us and he also volunteered to stay behind to help me.”

Rarity gasped. “That was...”

Sir Constance nodded his head. “Yes, Scyphos and I worked together to get the others up to the surface as fast as possible while the Monolith caved in around us. We managed to get the others topside just as the cave in reached us. I was able to get into the air fast enough, but Scyphos wasn't so lucky. A huge boulder pinned him to the ground by his left wing, I flew back down to try and shift the boulder, but it was just too big. He screamed at me to leave him and save myself, but I wasn't going to have it. I pulled a knife from my tool belt and hacked his wing off, freeing him from the boulder.”

Sir Constance lightly tapped his embroidered eye patch with a hoof. “Let me tell you, griffins lash out when hurt, especially when they’re hurt as badly as Scyphos was. One of his talons caught my eye as I carried him up to the surface. I guess it was only fair, an eye for an eye as they say. We both got out just as the Monolith filled in behind us. After we were patched up.” Here he tapped his eye patch again. “Literally, the survivors started calling us heroes. One of my group managed to hang onto the statue on the way out so the surviving higher ups decided that after they sold it, Scyphos and I would receive quadruple our pay for our heroism.”

Sir Constance began to chuckle softly. “It wouldn't have mattered if they only gave us double, after they sold that statute, there was enough bits to make everypony involved immensely rich a hundred times over. After we received our pay, which was about fifteen cart loads of bits apiece. Scyphos turned to me and said ‘You saved my life, at the cost of my wing and your eye. I can never fully repay you.’ He then gave me his share, which I tried to turn down, but he wouldn't hear of it. He then swore to serve me however I saw fit for the rest of his life, or my life, depending on how you look at it.” Sir Constance leaned back in his chair with an air of finality. “And that is how I met Scyphos.”

The six stared in silence for several moments, each letting his words sink in and the enormity of what he had experience.

Twilight cleared her throat. “That was...”

“Wow!” Pinkie said suddenly.

“Yeah. Wow.” Twilight agreed.

“Where does a pony go after such an adventure?” Fluttershy asked, her excitement evident to all.

“Well. He goes down the street from the bank to a clothing shop and orders a really fancy and expensive eye patch and then treats himself, his stalwart griffin companion and everypony on the street at the time to as many drinks as they can hold.”

He began to laugh and soon everypony at the table had joined. They all laughed until their sides hurt and tears fell freely from their eyes. Only when the clock chimed loudly did their laughter abate.

“Wow is it that late already.” Sir Constance said in surprise, looking towards the clock across the room. “My doesn't time just fly when you're rambling on.” He said with a chuckle, pushing away from the table and standing. “If you ladies will excuse me, there are matters I must attend to before the nights out.” He clapped his fore hooves together loudly. “Scyphos.”

Once again the door opened and Scyphos stepped into the room pulling a large cart stacked high with various cakes and other desserts.

“Please. enjoy dessert. Afterwards Scyphos will show you all to your rooms. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I will show you around the grounds until then I bid you all a good night.” Sir Constance said with a slight bow before exiting out the door Scyphos had entered in. The others called out goodnight before digging into the wonderful desserts placed before them. Only Rarity continued to look after Sir Constance's departure with a small smile on her face.

“Goodnight, Constance.”

Author's Note:

Something I glossed over during Constance's retelling of his adventure is just how painful it is to lose an eye. Which I can say with utmost certainty, is exceptionally painful.