Celestia Goes West

by DungeonMiner

Chapter 3

Sunny Smiles huffed. That idiot pegasus from earlier really got under her skin. For some reason beyond her, that pegasus had first blown her off and then assaulted her not a few seconds later. Who in their right mind would do that?

Luckily the rest of the trip to Canterlot was quiet, with no significant issues or problems popping up until they got to the capital. She considered heading up the palace to speak with Twilight, but she already had a letter that explained everything.

She already sent it up ahead, anyway. The Princess would be informed of her plans without anypony needing to go out of their way. Besides, she really didn’t have the time to deliver it herself. She had another train to catch.

Her next ride would take her down to Las Pegasus. From there, she’d catch the boat the University chartered and head West to the jungle frontier. Once she hit the shore at the ruin they were going to, she’d stick around long enough to see if anything interesting was happening before she went off on her own.

Overall, the plan was solid, but she reminded herself to keep her options open. The last time she did something like this, she had planned to go to Everfree forest but wound up traveling up and around to the Unicorn range that they, well, named after her disguise that time around. The point was that sometimes the plan fell apart, so she needed to stay flexible.

The more critical problem on her docket was what spells to actually use. Sunny definitely had Control Matter, and she definitely was good at it. She threw the stallion from the last train ride off of her, which meant that Sunny had to be somewhat skilled to get that much force behind her telekinesis.

Typically speaking, the effort needed to accomplish whatever the spell was doing needed to come from somewhere. The caster typically provided it from a spiritual ‘muscle’ that all ponies had. Unicorns were more aware of it, with their natural inclination toward magic and—

“All aboard! Next stop Ponyville, with connections to Las Pegasus, Appeloosa, and the Abyssinian border!” the conductor yelled, and Sunny quickly moved onto her car.

Time already? The minutes just ran past her sometimes.

Regardless, if Sunny managed to be efficient enough with the Control Matter spell, then she could undoubtedly throw her weight around with it. Now the big question was if she knew any other words.

An argument could be made that she knew all of them except for Transform and Destroy and just wasn’t good with any of them, but she’d played too many jack-of-all-trades types before. She wanted something a little more specialized. Create, and Energy again made their case, but typically using those spells got her into a habit of shooting magic lasers all over the place. “Which, well, let’s face it, just isn’t as fun.”

She interrupted her own thoughts as she began walking down the car, passing the large open carriages, to the closed-off, closed cabin car that had her seat. Hopefully, she’d have someone to talk to in her cabin. The last one was empty, and she spent most of the trip trying to decide if Sunny was the journaling type or not.

No, despite its utility, she wasn’t going to use either of those components. She needed something else. So no Energy, at the very least. Maybe Image? Making illusions had promise, but that meant she was stuck to slinking around and hiding.

There was Body.

There was Body.

Body spells would be interesting.

Keeping with the Control theme meant Sunny would be able to manipulate living things. Moving plants out of the way, dissuading animal attacks, or even making her own body act the way she wanted. She could, in theory, force it to increase her healing rate—always a valuable skill to have—or even push her muscles beyond their natural limits.

That...that sounded like a good skill for an adventuring unicorn.

Of course, then the question was, did she want to take any more techniques? Control was fine, Destroy and Transform were not well known enough to be used, so maybe a—

Sunny Smiles reached her cabin door and blinked.

Inside sat another pony, a pegasus—the same cream-colored pegasus from the last train.

Sunny narrowed her eyes and shut the cabin door.

Well, that was...unlucky. Here Sunny was, hoping that she could share the trip with somepony, and it had to be this jerk. Could this get any worse?

“Maybe we can get our seat reassigned?” she thought to herself. Celestia certainly could have, but would Sunny bother? A part of her said that yes, she would do something to avoid being in the room with the jerk, but another part argued that Sunny wouldn’t want to fuss with the train staff and instead take care of herself.

Before she could think about it any further, the door slid open. “Ah, Miss, if I may….”

She stared at him.

“I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was legitimately trying to keep you from being hurt. I’m sorry.”

Would Sunny forgive him?

That was the first thought Celestia had, and she immediately sighed when she had it. The deep part of her, the part that used to rule over them, wanted to let this pony have his second chance, even though Sunny really didn’t want to like this stallion.

Not even a day into the trip, and she already had to settle.

She strode into the cabin, pushing past the pegasus, and moved to sit down on the bench opposite him. “Apology accepted,” she muttered darkly.

The pegasus blinked before slowly sitting back on his bench.

The silence between them sat thick enough that Sunny could cut it with her machete.

Sunny let the silence sit there and chose to stare out the window with her time. Besides, it forced the stallion to stew a little, which suited her just fine. The pegasus fidgeted for a bit. “Uh...well...what a coincidence, huh?”

Sunny continued to stare out the window.

“I’m Marble, by the way.”

Sunny hummed. A response she gave explicitly to let the pegasus know that she didn’t really care. Her inner Celestia frowned disapprovingly. All ponies were important, and all ponies had their reasons. They may not be good reasons, and this Marble definitely didn’t have any, but that didn’t give her the right to not care.

Meanwhile, the inner Sunny argued that she did not have the few thousand years of experience of ruling to discover that and made her mistake happily, mainly with an even deeper part of Celestia siding with her.

Marble stood for a second before climbing back into his seat and pulling out his book again. He sat back down to read, though Sunny noticed his eyes flashing up to look at her now and then. Sunny ignored him, though, and she took a tiny amount of pleasure watching him squirm.

Celestia couldn’t get away with this. She’d never be able to get away with this. She had to be proper and polite and act as a mother to every pony in the country. But this was the whole point of these vacations. This was her chance to ignore protocol, to live without having to worry about stepping on another pony’s hooves. She could let that tiny little voice in her finally say, “treat them like they deserve.”

Before, you know, going to see if they can save the world.

Luna always did so well for these. That mare plotted character arcs for her vacations. She morphed herself to be the worst fit possible and then let her character change until they meshed wonderfully together.

No, Celestia reminded herself that this was her chance of getting to not care, if only for a little bit.

She slumped a little further in her chair and let the train rattle on until Marble stopped fidgeting and accepted the silence.

Perceive, Celestia decided. She’d take the Perceive Technique. Sunny could use it with Body to find plants to eat or even lost ponies if needed. With Matter, she could locate powerful or missing artifacts, which she could very well use in the depths of the jungle.

Yes, that sounded like a good idea. That was it, then. Those were going to be the spells that Sunny was going to use. She could work with those.

---☼---

Marble stuck his nose in his book and hoped the unicorn wouldn’t say anything else. He finally felt that he started recovering from her strange...acceptance of his apology?

He still wasn’t sure what exactly happened there. The unicorn simply said yes, pushed past him, and then proceeded to give him the cold shoulder for the rest of the train ride. He still wasn’t sure why.

The conductor came by a few minutes later. “Tickets please?”

Marble presented his.

“Mr. Marble Venture?” the conductor read.

“Yes, sir.”

“Be careful now,” the mare said from the opposite bench. “He gets a little testy around paper.”

Marble didn’t rise to the bait. Besides, he did deserve a little bit of it. He had overreacted fairly severely, though he couldn’t really be blamed for that. His reactions needed to be sharp. After all, he had to jump into all sorts of dangerous ruins, most trapped to Tartarus and back. That was the one thing those Daring Do books got right. The creativity and density of the traps in ruins turned out to be the most accurate part of the book.

His ticket stamped, the conductor returned it and then turned to the mare. “Ticket?”

She handed hers over.

“Sunny Smiles?”

“Yes, sir.”

Sunny Smiles, huh? That was the name of the she-devil that cursed him, now? The irony in such an optimistic name being a source of misery probably gave someone a laugh.

The conductor handed her the ticket back, and she took it with a nod.

“We hope you have a pleasant trip. Mr. Venture, Ms. Smiles.”

“I will,” Sunny said. “So long as nopony tackles me.”

Marble said nothing and turned the page.

---☼---

The train finally pulled into the station, and the trip to Ponyville came to an end. Sunny smiled as she stepped off the train. She only had two more legs to her journey now and an afternoon to spend in town before her next train left.

Marble took the abuse without a word. In fact, he soldiered on without even glancing up at her. Sunny almost started feeling bad for treating him before she remembered the phantom soreness in her back and shoulders.

At the end of the day, no matter what solidarity he had, he still was a jerk. Perhaps a jerk with a hero complex if he actually believed that he was saving her from the bag that one time, but a jerk nonetheless.

More importantly, she had a town to explore. The ever-important yet still backwater town of Ponyville. How so many ponies refused to see how vital this tiny spit of land was baffled her. Sure, the city itself was the home to farmers and hard-working ponies. But considering the rail ran through from Canterlot to Las Pegasus and to the southern border, it should be one of the most important towns in the south of Equestria.

In fact, three hundred years ago, Ponyville would have been the most significant settlement around just because it sat at the crossroads. Not to mention its proximity to their old ruling palace that still sat in the Everfree. Yet despite that, no one in the modern age saw the town as anything other than a bathroom stop they could use as they traveled to the entertainment capital of the world.

Of course, that meant that nopony built anything in Ponyville, which said there was very little to do. Because there was nearly nothing to do, most ponies didn’t think of putting any business there, and the cycle continued and spiraled down into uselessness.

Still, Celestia was sure she could find something to do to pass the time.

Sunny wouldn’t find the Library, simply because they still hadn’t rebuilt it since Tirek’s attack. When Celestia still ruled, she’d received a letter from the Mayor of Ponyville, turning down the funds for a new one.

“I’m not sure Princess Twilight would appreciate having a new one built so quickly after losing her home of four years,” she said. And apparently, Twilight never got back to her about it.

“Let’s see,” Celestia said under her breath. “We have Quills and Sofas, Sugarcube Corner, and Carousel Boutique.” She ran down her mental list of stores she knew about off the top of her head as she continued to walk down the main street. “I don’t need any sofas, but I might want to pick up a quill or two if I want to write back home. Sugarcube corner had some delicious cakes, if I remember right. I could pick up a few before I leave. As for Rarity’s shop…” she said, glancing over at the two-story, round building. “I might pick up something rugged to wear. Maybe a good belt or something similar.”

She nodded. That sounded like a fine idea.

---☼---

Caramel Swirl prepared another venti cookie mocha frappuccino and sighed. Another day working in the corporate machine, and another day making basically nothing. Sure, he could try to get a job somewhere else, but the competition in Silver Shoals was fierce with the influx of tourists coming into the town.

So here he was, making cheap coffee sold for too-high a price and acting like everything was fine.

He hated that he wanted this at one point.

He wanted to serve warm drinks, to own his own coffee store, maybe with some books on the walls and some tables in the back for someone to play O&O. He’d serve coffees and teas, shape the foam into art, and choose only the finest coffee beans to grind down, so the aroma filled the entire room.

Instead, he opened a bag of pre-ground beans, strained through the espresso machine, and used a can of pressurized whipped cream to cover the cup. Once finished, he handed it to a mare that thought the over-sweet, brightly-colored breezie frappuccino was a good idea and slowly hoped that someone would put him out of his misery.

He sighed again as his storefront cleared.

He needed to get a better job. No matter what it took, he needed to get a better job.

A flash of light and pop reminiscent of muted thunder shocked Caramel from a stupor he didn’t know he was in and blinked.

Lady Luna stood right in front of his counter, beaming with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “Caramel Swirl, yes?”

Caramel shrunk beneath her gaze. “Uh...yes, your majesty.”

“Ladyship is the correct term, but now is not the time,” Luna said. “When I was here last, thou said that thee needed a player, correct?”

“What?”

“Ogres and Oubliettes,” she explained. “Thou said that thee had finished a campaign and needed a tank, correct?”

“I...uh...I guess I did.”

“I would like to play.”

Caramel blinked. “You…”

“I would like to play.”

Caramel blinked again.

This...he was not ready for this today.

“I...I mean, I’m not the one who you really need to ask. Who you really need to talk to is Rolling Ivory. She’s our game master and—”

“Where is she, that I may speak to her?” the alicorn asked.

“I...uh...I think she’s at her job right now, but now that I think about it, are you sure you want to join us? I mean, I know I gave an invitation to your sister but—”

“Art thou saying I’m not invited while my sister is?”

Caramel’s eyes went wide. “No, no, no, no, no!” Caramel said. “I...uh...I honestly didn’t expect either of you to take me up on it, is all. The...the truth is that we don’t really have a lot of room for either of you. The dining room table is almost too small for us, and the room’s almost too small for the table.”

“How big should it be?” Luna asked. “I certainly can accommodate.”

Caramel felt his eyes grow wider. “Are you volunteering to host us?”

“I’m sure ye know where to find us,” Luna said. “There are few other manors in Silver Shoals.”

“Your Majes—er, Ladyship, I...uh... I’d have to talk with everyone about it. But...uh...are you sure? We’re just a bunch of normal ponies trying to play a game and—”

“And I would play with thee,” Luna replied. “After all, that’s what I’m asking, is it not?”

“I...uh...suppose, your Ladyship.”

Luna nodded. “Then go speak with Ms. Rolling. I would invite both of you to speak with me at my manor. So that we can better plan this out and make any decisions we need. Does that sound agreeable to thee?”

“I, uh, suppose, Your Ladyship.”

“Wonderful, I shall prepare and see thee later tonight,” Luna said before she popped out of sight and away.

Caramel blinked and glanced around. One of Caramel’s coworkers glanced at him from inside the door of the “back” of the store. A few customers stared at him with wide eyes from the store proper before they slowly turned back to what they were doing.

Caramel sighed and turned to his coworker. “I need you to watch the counter. I need to take a break.”

She nodded before slipping up to the counter.

He didn’t get a lot of time to gather himself up again, but he only had two more hours on his shift. He worked till the end before leaving the counter behind to try and find Rolling, who he managed to catch during her lunch break.

“Caramel, is that you?” she asked as he approached her in the Hay Burger.

“Hey, Rolling.”

“What’s going on?”

“I might have jokingly invited Lady Celestia to our game, and Lady Luna took me up on it before offering to host.”

Rolling, to her credit, only blinked in response.

“I’m sorry.”

Comments

[djthomp]

Oh, my mistake last chapter, Celestia starts way too into D&D.

[MoonlightRift]

Marble took the abuse without a word. In fact, he soldiered on without even glancing up at her. Sunny almost started feeling back for treating him before she remembered the phantom soreness in her back and shoulders.

I assume that is meant to be bad?