20: Caesura
Fang and I sat side by side across from Princess Luna and Drum Cadence, the dim light of the carriage providing just enough light to see each other. “So what is the agenda again?” Luna asked which made me sigh while rolling my eyes.
“We’ll be on the train for approximately twenty four hours and then we’ll be going to the Mitchell Hotel. They’ve already had the hotel swept for any potential threats so it is secure. Now, when we get to the station, we’ll be meeting up with the Vanhoover Police Department and the Vanhoover division of the Lunar Guard. They’ve said that they’ll have an armored carriage waiting for us.” Luna looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.
“We do hope they don’t plan on us riding in that carriage during the parade. Our subjects will hardly be able to see us if we are in that beast.” Fang and I exchanged worried glances before looking back to Luna.
“Forgive me, Your Highness—” Luna snorted in slight annoyance of my way of addressing her “—but the security risks are too high. The parade route is almost five kilometers. There’s no possible way we can secure the whole route from potential threats.” Luna looked at me again with a look of annoyance.
“Swing, we will not ride in that carriage. Please, we are asking as a friend, find us an open carriage. It is not fair to our subjects and it is not fair to us.” I looked at Luna for several seconds before letting out a sigh.
“Fine, I will see what I can arrange but I will make no promises about anything. And let it be recorded that I obeyed under protest as I consider it a huge safety hazard.” Luna nodded that she acknowledged it and I set about making a note of it on my papers. The carriage suddenly lurched to a stop and we looked out the windows to see Luna’s personal train outside and ready to go. The door opened and we saw several Lunar Guards lining the path to the open door on the train car. We all stepped out (with Luna going first of course), and trotted down the small path to the waiting train. Slowly climbing the steps, mostly because it was awkward with my prosthetic, I boarded the train and took a seat on a rather large couch with Fang climbing up next to me.
“Only the best since this train is for long trips. If we are to travel, let us do it in comfort,” Luna said as she sat down on a large, red velvet covered easy chair. Luna began to hum a small tune that made Drum Cadence giggle.
“What’s so funny about that song?” Fang questioned as Luna continued to hum. The tune sounded very familiar to me and I suddenly realized what song it was, making me laugh and begin singing along to the tune.
Fang seemed slightly mortified but quickly began to chuckle and smile at the silly song. Though the song soon ended and Luna smiled at us, none of us noticed that the train was now traveling towards the edge of Canterlot. “Does anypony else know some songs? Now that we think about it, there is a piano in the viewing car. Let’s go back there and have some fun.” Luna jumped up out of her chair and led us all to the last car of the train which had large skylights and windows letting one get a beautiful view of the moonlit countryside just outside of Canterlot. Dim lights helped illuminate the car with plush cushions along the floor by the windows with small reading lights built into the spaces between the windows. In the middle of the car though sat a baby grand piano and I trotted over, taking a seat on the small bench in front of it. Pressing one key, I listened to it play the note in the otherwise quiet car.
“Thank you and goodnight,” I said with a smile which earned a small chuckle from Fang and Luna. “But in all seriousness, here’s a beautiful song that I once heard in one of Ponyville’s many nighttime watering holes.”
The song made Luna, Fang, and Drum roar with laughter as I ended it and took a small bow. “Thank you and remember to tip your waitresses.” I told them before sticking my tongue out. I slipped off the piano bench and back onto the plush carpeting of the train car. “Lu, I couldn’t help but notice how quiet this train car is.”
“That’s because we put a noise reduction spell on it. Typically it’d have a noise cancellation spell to silence all outside noise but we find the click-clack of the rails to be rather soothing. We would just use a lullaby but that doesn’t work on the pony who is singing it,” Luna explained as she took a seat on one of the cushions.
“A lullaby?” I questioned as I took a seat on a cushion across from her.
“Indeed. You see, some of the alicorns from long ago, like us, were given the gift of song. With night alicorns, we are able to sing lullabies that can put ponies to sleep. It can be both a blessing and a curse as us simply singing quietly while in bed with Drum Cadence has caused her to fall asleep on us.” Drum immediately began blushing and gently swatted Luna on the foreleg. Luna smiled at Drum’s embarrassment and looked out the windows at the night sky, her face suddenly taking a slightly depressed appearance. “Tell us, why do ponies not like our night?” Fang and I looked at each other with worry before looking back to Luna.
“Lu, ponies do love it. They write songs about it, they find it the most romantic time; ponies adore your night. It might not seem like it but ponies truly do love your night. It is beautiful. Here, come with me.” I stood and gestured for Luna to follow me. I trotted out onto the small observation stand that was on the back of the train. Taking a seat, I watched as Luna sat down next to me. “Luna, tell me what you see when you look up at the sky.”
“I see the stars and the moon and the darkness,” she replied with a sigh as though they were insignificant things.
“Wrong. Look at the sky. It's not a black void and without character. The black is actually deep blue. And over there—” I pointed to a part of the sky “—lighter blue. And blowing through the blues and blackness, the winds swirling through the air and then shining, burning, bursting through: the stars! And you see how they roar their light. Everywhere we look, the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes. The night is beautiful, Luna. Don’t you ever forget that or think ponies don’t appreciate it.” I looked over at her and noticed a tear running down her cheek. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, we’re quite alright. We’ve never heard a non-bat pony speak so kindly of our night,” Luna replied as she wiped the tear away. “Thank you, Swing. Though I do believe you stole that from a Doctor Whooves radio program.” A small chuckle escaped her and made me smile.
“Hey, you referred to yourself differently.” I said as I suddenly noticed that she hadn’t referred to herself in the usual way.
“Indeed. My sister had a discussion with me before we left. She told me that it would probably be a good idea to start referring to myself like most ponies do with themselves; that it might improve my popularity among the masses.” I nodded slightly as I looked out over the tracks that were behind the train. “Now, I’ve got a twenty year old bottle of Collines red wine in the refrigeration car. How about we crack it open?”
A young, tan pegasus mare with a turquoise mane slowly walked into the public section of the palace, her hoofsteps echoing off the walls of the grand hall. Her brown eyes glanced around until she found a night guard standing at his post. “Pardon me, but I was hoping I could speak with somepony.”
“Of course ma’am. Who would you like to speak with?” The guard replied in the usual stern voice that they used.
“I was hoping that I could speak to Swing Rhythm,” she replied as she glanced around again. “I was told that he is here.”
“I’m terribly sorry ma’am, but Corporal Rhythm is currently on a trip to Vanhoover with Her Majesty Princess Luna. If you would like, I can take a message and leave it on his desk for when he returns” The guard said so with a smile. “Or, I could just get your number and we go from there.” He wiggled his eyebrows and leaned towards her. A loud clang echoed in the hall as she quickly spun around and bucked his helmet, the impact knocking him out cold.
“Not on your life Private Snafu,” she muttered as she stepped over him to leave the palace and head for the train station.
Luna squinted her one open eye as she focused on the object just ahead of her. With her magic, she brought the pool cue forward and into the cue ball, sending it crashing into the eight ball which then dashed across the billiards table and into the left corner pocket. Luna stood up and looked over at Drum with a smug grin. “I win,” she gloated as she put her cue onto a rack that hung on the wall of the train car. “And you know what that means.” Drum rolled her eyes as she looked at Luna.
“Fine, I’ll do that thing you like tonight.” This made Fang and I look up from our board game at them.
“Do we want to know?” Fang questioned as he raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s just say it involves lots of leather and you boys might want to sleep with earplugs tonight.” Drum replied which made Fang and I shudder.
“I already regret that he asked,” I said with a glance over at Fang. Outside of the train car, the eastern horizon began to take on a dark blue hue, indicating that morning was nearly upon us. With that, Fang and I retired to the sleeping car for the day to get some much needed shut eye. The room that we’d been given was rather luxurious for something that you’d find on a train but that can be something you’d expect on a train made for one of the royal sisters. And while I’d never seen it, I’d heard from day guards that Celestia’s personal train made Luna’s look extremely modest in comparison. While the kitchen on Luna’s train used stainless steel utensils for each meal, Celestia’s used golden ones. While Luna had a car just for books and relaxing, Celestia had one filled with the most expensive art from around Equestria. It was rather odd that in my months working at the palace, I’d only met Celestia once despite working with her sister every day.
Fang and I climbed into the queen sized bed and covered up with the blanket, quickly snuggling up to one another to keep warm. “So what’s planned after this trip?” Fang questioned as he wiggled a bit to snuggle closer to me.
“Well, we’re supposed to visit a tribe of the Buffalo Nation near Las Pegasus and meet with Chief Wakita about setting aside more land for the tribe,” I explained before thinking again. “And then after that it’ll be a couple weeks but then we’re headed to Ponyville for a meeting with Princess Twilight so you’ll get to see my old apartment where I grew up.”
“I’d love that!” Fang giggled as he kissed my nose. “Alright, let’s get some sleep my little cherry blossom.”
The tan pegasus mare sighed as she looked out the window of the train. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and she began to feel sleep tugging her eyelids down. “Coffee ma’am?” a voice asked which made her jump slightly and turn to see an older stallion in a steward’s uniform smiling softly at her while next to a cart filled with coffee cups and small breakfast items.
“Oh. Um, yes please. Four creams and two sugars.” The stallion went about pouring her cup of coffee and adding the cream and sugar before giving her the small porcelain cup which rested on a saucer.
“Anything else from the trolley, ma’am?” he asked with another smile at her.
“No, thank you,” she replied with a smile in return. He slowly began to push the cart along the aisle to other ponies who were just then waking up for the morning. The mare began to sip her coffee while watching the prairie that seemed to glow orange in the morning light.
“Beg your pardon, but is this seat taken?” A stallion’s voice asked, causing her to turn and look at who was attempting to join her. Next to her seat stood a handsome unicorn stallion with a white coat and a slicked back blonde mane. He wore a midnight blue vest with a golden watch chain dangling from one pocket.
“No, please, have a seat,” she replied with a smile as he began to sit down.
“I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been awake all night like I have,” he said as he levitated his own coffee cup to his lips.
“I have been. What’s kept you up?” she asked as she looked over to him.
“Been busy finishing up a business presentation I’m giving in downtown Vanhoover to some new investors in our company. You?” He took another sip of his coffee as he looked over at her again.
“It’s a long story. I wouldn’t want to bore you with it,” she replied as she looked down at the floor.
“Hey now, you’d be surprised. I’m a very easily entertained stallion,” he said with a chuckle. “But I would like to get your name if we’re to be traveling together even for a little bit. I’m Bar Graph.”
“I’m Gypsy Jazz,” she stated as she smiled at him.
“Now, Gypsy, what’s got you going to Vanhoover?” Bar asked as he set aside his now empty coffee cup. She let out a small sigh as she grabbed her saddle bag that sat by the seat and rummaged through it until she pulled out a black and white picture. On the left of the picture stood a stallion with a shaggy mane.
“That’s my father. He just recently passed away. All his years of partying and drinking caught up to him. When he passed I found out that he had relatives all across Equestria, one of whom I just found out is in Vanhoover this weekend for business. I’d really like to meet him if I can.” Gypsy stated as she put the picture back in her bag.
“Swing, wake up. It’s time for breakfast,” Fang’s voice said gently as I felt a hoof nudging at my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes and felt the rays of the setting sun streaming in onto the bed. “There’s pancakes and toast in the dining car.”
“Is there coffee?” I asked as I slowly sat up in bed. He nodded that there was and I rolled out of bed to follow him to the dining car. He giggled as he looked up to my mane which stuck out wildly in all directions. I reached a hoof up and immediately toppled over as I’d forgotten to put on my prosthetic. Fang rushed over and helped me up, the whole time making sure I wasn’t hurt. “I’m alright, hun. Just need to get my leg. I’m not much good when I’m hobbling along without it.” Fang helped me up onto the bed and gave me my prosthetic which I then slipped on like I always did. It was to the point that I’d almost forgotten what it was like without it. It’d become a regular part of my life really.
With my prosthetic now on, I climbed back off the bed and followed Fang to the dining car where Luna and Drum were waiting for us. “It’s about time you two arrived. We’ve been waiting for you,” Luna said as a waiter brought out plates of food for us. He used his magic to remove the silver lids and I looked down at my plate to see pancakes, hay bacon, and toast on the plate. He bowed to all of us before trotting out and back into the kitchen which was sealed off from the rest of the car. We all began to eat, idle chit chat filling the time between bites. “So Fang, I have been wondering something?” Fang looked up from his plate at Luna as he swallowed a piece of hay bacon.
“Yes?” Fang asked.
“Are you by any chance an acrotomophile?” Luna questioned which made Fang, as well as Drum and I, raise an eyebrow as none of us knew what that was. Luna seemed to catch on though as she cleared her throat. “My apologies, it means to have a sexual attraction to amputees.” Her words made Drum and I spit out our drinks and made Fang slightly choke on a piece of a pancake.
“Luly, you can’t just ask ponies questions like that!” Drum said as she turned and looked at Luna who sat confused at our reactions.
“Why not?” Luna asked as she looked at Drum.
“Because even if he was, that’s his business.” Drum said before looking over at Fang. “Though now I am curious about that,” she stated with a smirk. Fang’s face was beet red and he glanced around at all of us. I grinned as he looked at me.
“It’s okay if you do find that attractive hun,” I reassured him.
“I’m attracted to Swing yes, and he just so happens to be an amputee. But no…no I’m not.” Fang replied calmly to which Luna simply nodded.
“Very well. Was just curious,” Luna said with a small smile as she lifted her tea up to her lip and whispered to herself. “Though your dreams would sometimes say otherwise. But that’s none of my business.”
Gypsy Jazz sighed as she looked out the window of the train car. Bar Graph looked up from his seat across from her, looking over his horn-rimmed reading glasses at the mare. “What’s on your mind?” he asked as she looked out at the sun setting over the mountains, the purple and orange sky reflecting off the snow covered peaks.
“Just thinking about meeting my relative. What if he doesn’t want to meet me? What if he wants nothing to do with me?” Gypsy wondered aloud as she looked over to Bar who removed his glasses and slipped them into a pocket on his vest.
“Now tell me, why are you worried so much about if he’ll want to meet you?” Bar questioned as he set his papers aside on the seat.
“Well, let’s just say that our blood relation is pretty close. I grew up with a pretty small family; it was just my parents and I so any more family is great. I always wanted to have more relatives and now is my chance to have that. To have the family I always dreamed of.” Gypsy sighed as she shook her head. “I know it must sound stupid but-“
“No, actually it doesn’t. I grew up with only my older brother and my mother who raised us all by herself. I always wished I could have a real family like all the other kids at school. Two parents, lots of siblings, a big family; but I came to realize that family isn’t just blood. It’s friends too. And it’s because of that that we all have a big family of sorts. Heck, I’d even consider you to be family at this point.” Bar said which made Gypsy smile a bit. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he’ll want to meet you. Now, it’s getting late. May I treat you to dinner in the dining car?”
The midnight blue personal train began to slow and I quickly smoothed out my uniform again as we approached the Vanhoover station. “Now remember, Mayor Power Play is going to be meeting us at the station. And he’s also going to be running for a seat in parliament this next election cycle so we need to support him. He’ll be vital to getting any of our major bills passed through without issue.” Luna nodded in understanding as the train rolled to a stop. The doors opened and I immediately noticed a red carpet laid out for us. At the end of the carpet was a white stallion with a greying-brown mane in a dark blue suit, white shirt, and a light blue tie. He bowed as Luna stepped down onto the carpet and we followed her up towards the stallion and the small crowd that was behind him. Among them were several reporters with cameras, their flashbulbs popping with each flash, and a surprising number of bat ponies. The crowd began to grow quiet and bowed as Luna drew closer until we were directly in front of Mayor Play.
“Please rise.” Luna said with a tone of authority. The crowd stood back up and immediately the flashbulbs resumed flashing and the mayor stepped forward. As he stepped forward though a commotion in the crowd got the attention of Drum, Fang, and I. We noticed that the protestors were getting more rowdy and beginning to almost get violent in their behavior. Out of instinct, we all three formed a protective formation around Luna. There were several loud pops and at first I thought they were firecrackers. A stinging in my side made me believe that perhaps one of the protesters had launched a rock at me as it wasn’t uncommon for protestors to do such things. At least I thought so until I had a metallic taste in my mouth. Looking over, I noticed that Vanhoover police officers had tackled a stallion to the ground and the mayor laid on the ground in shock as a pool of blood began to form under him.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered as blood began to trickle from the corner of my mouth and my legs felt weak. “Here we go again.”
Gypsy and Bar stood side by side on the train platform for the South Vanhoover Station and smiled to each other. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for now.” Gypsy said as she leaned in and kissed Bar Graph on the cheek. Bar reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Here’s my number, just in case you’re ever in the Fillydelphia area and looking for a date.” He said as he gave her the paper. She was about to speak when they both heard ponies go quiet and a small crowd began forming near a window in the train station. Slowly, they trotted over and stood with the small crowd as a stallion who worked at the station turned up the radio.
“Here is a bulletin from VBS News: at Vanhoover Grand Station, six shots were fired at Princess Luna’s entourage; severely wounding Mayor Power Play as well as two royal guards and a city police officer who have yet to be identified at this time. We will keep…hold on folks, more details just arrived. These details about the same as previously: four hit by shooter at Vanhoover Grand Station although we now have names and conditions of all those shot. The victims are Mayor Power Play who is in critical condition; Sergeant Blue Heart of the Vanhoover Police Department who has been pronounced dead; Corporal Drum Cadence who is in good condition after being grazed; and Corporal Swing Rhythm, Her Majesty’s personal assistant, is in serious condition with a collapsed lung from a bullet wound. We’ll bring you more information as the story develops.”
Gypsy’s legs began to shake as the crowd dispersed quietly and went their own way, Bar taking several seconds to notice her. He put a hoof on her shoulder as she sat down where she was at, her whole body beginning to tremble. “Gypsy, what’s wrong? Do you know one of them?”
“That guard, Swing,” Gypsy looked up at Bar as tears began to roll down her cheeks and her voice began to crack, “he’s the one I’m here to meet. He’s my half-brother.”
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that is all.
noice god discord is getting to me
well, nice chapter, definitely excited for the next one.
ooooooo, something bad gon' happen
....that was....interestingly amusing and shocking. The shocking part about the half-brother thing...as for the funny part....I find it amusing how Swing just says and I quote, "Here we go again," instead of, oh, I don't know, yells and says, "This stallion must be punished!" or whatever...though I feel either Luna or Celestia will say that. Explanation: Luna because she's his friend and Celestia because, I don't know, He's her sister's best(I think) friend and Swing helped Luna see that her night is more than just darkness which Celestia couldn't do herself.
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Yeah, the next chapter will mention the stallion's punishment and a rather upset Luna to put it lightly
You better not stop writing now! I'm waiting for the next chapter (s) to come!
8212867
I’m currently working on the next chapter. I’m sorry for the wait, I’ve been searching for a second job so I’ve had some slight distractions going on. I can promise that the next chapter should be done within the next week or so as I got over a thousand words written last night.
8212980
Yay!