Chapter 85 - "Preoccupied"
"I've never dined with the Princesses before," marveled Bound Shield as he, Curved Swords and the two ex-Freelancers walked towards the dining area. "Only the most esteemed guests are invited to private dinners with them."
"I'm not sure if we're esteemed guests," Carolina uttered quietly as she stared ahead, trying not to focus too hard on Washington who simply plodded along after her. "Besides, don't the Princesses have guards with them at all times?"
"Well,yes, there are guards with them, but they never eat with them in situations such as these," he insisted giddily. "The only times they get to eat with the Princesses is when they are off duty and at a party. Being invited to a private dinner without having done anything particularly noteworthy? This is something for the history books."
"I hope you can control yourself during the dinner. This attitude is not very becoming to royalty," Curved Swords smirked slyly, watching as Bound Shield stopped instantly, instantly putting on a stone face. "Heh, I was kidding. I'm sure the Princesses are used to people gushing at them. Remember, during dinner you aren't their guard, you are their guest. I'm sure they'd appreciate it more if you were yourself rather than act how you are on duty." Bound Shield let out a sigh and relaxed slightly while Curved Swords shifted his gaze to Washington. "Hopefully you can put a smile on for this occasion, hm?"
Washington flashed Curved Swords a quick smile to appease him, then returned to staring blankly ahead. He was putting all he had into piecing his situation together, trying to think of a way to adapt like the others, but he kept coming up short. He can't just not think, but he can't think too hard about it either. He had to find a balance between faith and facts that he could work with for a long time.
Within a minute, the four of them stopped by a large white-gold door with various intricate swirls lining it, giving it a regal texture. Two guards stood by either side and nodded at them, knowing what they were there for. Pushing the doors open, one of the guards smiled at Curved Swords and told him to watch his tongue. Curved Swords told him he always did and walked alongside Carolina into the room. Bound Sword flanked Washington and walked up to the door and gave the other guard a nod, which was met with one of his own.
Inside the room was a seemingly impossibly long table, stretching nearly seventy-five feet. On the table was a dark red tablecloth that appeared to be made out of linen. Dozens of candles sat unlit along the length of the table, bar a few that were at the end. There were well over thirty seats on either of the long sides, as well as two larger chairs on the short sides, and either of the chairs was currently being used by the Princesses who smiled warmly at the guests.
"You may have a seat, dinner will be served shortly," Princess Celestia said, bowing her head. "I hope you found the room easily."
"It helped being escorted by people who know the place really well," Carolina said, walking towards the end of the table. "Plus the guards out front are sort of a dead giveaway."
"I suppose they are," she said with a smile. Her gaze then shifted from the two guards then back to her. "I take it your watchers are treating you well?
Carolina turned her head slightly. The Princesses thought she was looking to the guards, but instead she was looking at her body. The unicorn doctors of Canterlot patched her up as best they could in the short time she was there, making sure that her bruises were nice and covered so the Princesses didn't notice.
"Yeah, they're easy to get along with," Carolina said finally, taking a seat two seats away from the Princesses. "They've been pretty helpful with any questions I've had. You should be proud to have these men- er, stallions working for you."
"We only trust the best," Luna chimed, smiling at the two guards, happy that they've been doing their jobs.
"Maybe not the best, your Highness," Curves Swords said modestly, bowing his head and closing his eyes after taking a seat next to Carolina. "There are many better than I, and we should all yearn to be better than we are. Nevertheless, I am honored to have been chosen for this duty. Carolina is not only a stand up mare, but the few hours I've known her I can already tell she is as ambitious as she is resilient."
"What do you mean by resilient?" Luna inquired curiously.
"Erm, that is..." Curved Swords chuckled nervously, rubbing the nape of his neck before shaking it off and regaining his composure. "I simply meant that she is adapting to life in Canterlot better than most. She doesn't seem keen on telling us where she's from, and I respect that choice. Even if you hadn't told us she wasn't from around here, I would have guessed as much within a few minutes of meeting her. However, she seems to want nothing more than to adapt to where she is rather than worry about the past, like many homesick ponies would be."
"Very good," Luna said with a small smile. The smile tightened as she glanced to Washington who simply sat next to Carolina quietly.
Before she could make any inquiries of him, a bell rang from the door opposite the entrance. All heads turned to see a long, wheeled tray pushed through the doors with several covered dishes atop of it. Washington watched idly as half a dozen mares and stallions began to grab the trays to place on the table. With each one being lifted, they explained what the dish was, but Washington merely nodded at them passively, not actually hearing what the dishes were. He only came to attention when a small bowl was placed in front of him.
"And here is our chef's lovely vegetable soup," said the mare with a merry tone. "Hope you enjoy."
"Thanks," Washington said, offering her a small smile. Everybody else had already begun eating, leaving Washington to his thoughts. He gently shook his head and quickly realized that he was more than peckish. Glancing to the right he saw multiple utensils. With a shrug, he hovered his hoof over the smallest spoon.
"That's the wrong spoon," came a voice. Looking up, Washington saw that Luna was looking at him, a small smirk on her face. "That's the tea spoon."
"Oh, uh, sorry," Washington intoned dryly. He then began to reach for a separate one and looked at her.
"That is the desert spoon," she said, smiling more warmly, then raised a brow. "Not one for etiquette, are you?"
"Where I'm from, I never needed it," Washington said simply, then grabbed the third and final spoon, then looked to her. She looked pensive for a moment, then nodded at him.
With an impatient sigh of relief, he placed his hoof on it, then raised his hoof upwards. To his expectations, the spoon remained on the table, albeit moved a few atoms to the right. He bit his lip in frustration. He tried again, this time squeezing it as hard as he could. Much to his surprise, he lifted it. He smiled satisfactorily, having conquered the spoon dilemma. He then submerged it into the soup and tried to raise it back to his mouth, but dropped it midway through the motion. The two guards looked at each other but said nothing and slowly returned to eating, watching Washington out of the corner of their eyes. Washington bit his lip harder this time as he got off the chair and picked up the spoon, placing it angrily on the table. As soon as he hopped on the chair, he glared at the spoon, then to the bowl. With a dismissive shrug, he placed his hooves on either side of the bowl and lifted it up, drinking straight out of the bowl.
"You're in the presence of the Princesses," Curved Swords said sternly as Bound Shield's eyes went wide, looking to the princesses. "Eating like that in front of them is disrespectful."
"It's quite alright," Luna said with a chuckle, nodding to the two guards. "He's from Eastern Equus. That is their custom, and we are nothing if not a place accepting of others' cultures."
"I... Very well," Curved Shield said with a nod. Looking to Washington, he frowned. "I apologize for that. I'm almost as unaccustomed to this situation as you are."
"It's fine," Washington grunted.
Soon afterwords, the mares and stallions returned and took away their empty bowls, promising the next course would be out within five minutes. Celestia began to talk to the two guards about their duties and Washington quickly reverted back to silence, wondering that if everything he does here will be criticized. He could only imagine how different he must act from the other ponies, and this made him slightly annoyed. Soon, a new dish was placed in front of Washington. It was a small little salad, seemingly nothing too special. He looked to the utensils, not wanting to offend them, but had no idea which one to use. He quickly blanked out, focusing on other things as the others started on their meal. As he looked into nothing, he was vaguely aware of the voices around him. It wasn't until everything went silent once more and a noise kept repeating.
"Agent Washington?" Celestia repeated hesitantly, noticing how he was staring at his plate.
Blinking quickly, he looked up from his plate and noticed that everyone had already finished their salads.
Clearing her throat, Celestia looked at him and uttered again, "Agent Washington?"
"Hm?" Washington intoned lightly, ears perking lightly. Shaking his head clear of thought, he looked at the white pony to his right. "Sorry, I'm... Sorry. What'd you say?"
"I asked if you were alright?" she repeated. "You haven't touched your food."
"No, it's... I guess I'm just not very hungry right now," Washington sighed. "Kind of feel a headache coming on. And if ti's all the same to you, I think it'd be better if I just go to my room. Just need some time alone right now"
"That's quite alright," Celestia said with a sympathetic smile. "Would you like us to send your food to you?"
"Sure," he said, giving her a fleeting smile, not wanting to seem too antisocial. Bound Shield looked to him curiously and began to shift out of his chair. "Don't worry, I can find the room by myself. You should stay here and enjoy your food."
Bound Shield nodded at him and rested back in place as Washington disappeared out the door, slowly making his way down to his room. Carolina sighed as she turned from the closing door back to the others. Looking at the royal sisters, she saw Luna clear her throat lightly and look to Celestia. Celestia nodded firmly at her, then smiled at the guests to resume conversation. "I don't suppose you want to join him?"
"No, he just needs some time to himself for a bit," Carolina said, then looked to her plate and muttered under her breath, "I hope."
Stats
Page generated in 0.037 seconds
Total duration
791 users online
1,031,721 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
4807698
Thought I got that one. But thanks, m8.
Poor Wash
Here's to hoping he'll get it together soon.
Somewhere, in America, I am yelling FUUUUUUU because there aren't anymore chapters. >O<
Well looks like washiton is abought to snaps.
Carolina/Curved swords = Caroled Swords?
Curved lines?
I kinda ship it.
Also Washington/Luna = Washingtuna, is going well I see.
Ah, chatting with the tech guy. Most people find that rage inducing because the other person is far too condescending. For me, it's annoying because I usually know more than the other person.
"Have you tried resetting the router?"
"Bitch I built the fucking router what the fuck do you think!"
Yea...anyway, good to see Luna attempting to help Wash, though by this point I think it's probably just breaking him more. I think he really just needs a good long hearty Twilecture.
It won't answer any of his questions, but it might bore him enough to get him to stop asking.
4808023 WHERE DO YOU GET DESE SHIPS!? I mean the Wash X Luna one I could see, and of course wanted to see, BUT *looks back at it* oh, I get it... carry on, and I ship it too.
4808409 It's not my fault it just happens!
I might have been on tumblr for too long, it really affects a person.
Also we NEED fan art of human washington and human luna as friends hanging out.
Damn. I'm feeling really bad right now, watching how Wash is simply trying to grasp what the hell is going on. But there isn't much that he can actually do, neither for amusement (because I'm pretty sure that he's to focused on what's going on right now) nor job related (on the grounds that he doesn't have a job as of now). Hmm... I'm wondering if they have any pesky corpses that Wash could, uh, inspect.
4808409
4808547
I don't get.
Still agree about the whole Luna/Washington ship though.
4808832 yeah... actually now I think about it though I don't get the Carolina X Curved Swords one ethier..
4808023
Now we need to give Carolina some curved swords.
Curved. Swords.
(see if you catch the reference with that final line)
4808023 NO IF HE SHIPS IT THEN IM NOT READING THIS STORY NO MORE AND REASON WHY IS BECAUSE I PROBABLY JUST JUMPED OFF MY ROOF!
I'm worried about Wash. Is he gonna be okay?
4813023 I have decided to scuttle that ship because SOMEONE *glares at your coffin* couldn't stay alive.
4817728 yaaaaa being a ghost sucks.......but at lest I don't have to be bothered with while doing things like: playing video games,reading fimfiction like this one and.....(tries to think of other things to do while not being bother with)AND IF ANY OF U THINK I MEANT FAPING THEN SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH U I CANT EVEN FAP WHEN IM A GHOST
wow, filler chapter that i skipped over 80%, thrilling, nothing really happened this chapter, it was just a dinner with the princesses and wash's usual paranoid angst
4819946 Imma just let that one go.
I think a chapter about Lopez and o'malley is needed... :)
Washingtuna shipping NAOW and I finally caught up phew
[quote "No, it's... I guess I'm just not very hungry right now," Washington sighed. "Kind of feel a headache coming on. And if it's all the same to you, I think it'd be better if I just go to my room. Just need some time alone right now" ]
4837622 Shall we wash a tuna?
I thought it was Curved Swords.
6296940 No, we shall be washing a tuna. There's a difference.