The Stallion in the Library

by leonidas701

Whining and Dining

“Twilight!” Pinkie yelled as she rushed into Twilight’s hotel room. She stopped in front of the unicorn and started bouncing from hoof to hoof.

“Pinkie, what’s the matter?” Twilight asked.

“IReallyNeedToUseYourBathroom!”

“Uh, yeah. Go ahead.”

Pinkie dashed into the lavatory.

A couple of minutes later, she came out. “Phew, thank you so much!” she said.

“Anytime. Uh, Pinkie, what was wrong with your- Uh, Card and Rarity’s bathroom?” Twilight asked.

“Rarity won’t get out and she’s been in there for two hours!”

“Really? Is she sick?”

“No! She just said that she needed to make absolutely certain everything was perfect before the dinner!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, at least she won’t be in there for much longer. We need to leave in twenty minutes.”

“YAY! I can’t wait!” Pinkie started bouncing around the room. She stopped when she noticed a lump on one of the beds.

“Is he still asleep? That’s amazing, the moon woke up before he did! Wait, why are the sheets all wet?”

“That was me,” Twilight admitted. “I was trying to wake him up, and threw some water on him. It didn’t work.”

Pinkie settled down next to the bed and stared directly at Card’s closed eyes, with a massive smile on her face.

“...Pinkie, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“I want to thank him for what he did last night the moment he wakes up!”

Twilight shook her head, rolled her eyes, and decided to leave Pinkie to her own devices. She went off to go check if everypony was ready to go to the dinner.

She popped into Applejack and Fluttershy’s room.

“Are you two ready yet?”

“Ah’m waiting on y’all,” Applejack said.

“I’m ready, I think…,” Fluttershy said.

“Okay good, go down to the lobby.” Twilight decided to check on Rarity.

Rarity had gotten out of the bathroom and was fiddling with the violet dress she had decided to wear.

“Oh, Twilight!” she said upon seeing her in the doorway. “Perfect timing! What do you think; should I have the sash over the right side or the left?”

“Uhh…”

“Yes, the right side, of course! Thank you darling.” Rarity used her magic to levitate a thin, dark blue sash onto herself.

“...So, are you ready?”

“I am now.”

“Good, head down to the lobby. That just leaves Rainbow Dash and Trixie.”

“Are they still not back yet?”

“No, and we have to leave soon.” Twilight glanced at the clock on the hotel room’s wall, 8:20.

She went back to her bedroom, to try waking up Card again. She found that Pinkie Pie was apparently serious in her desire to thank Card the moment he woke up, as she was still sitting motionless on the floor, her eyes fixed directly on his eyelids.

Twilight decided that they did not have time for Card to wake up on his own. She attempted to levitate Card out of his bed, hoping that the feeling of quickly rising into air would startle him out of his dreams. But when her levitation spell, a spell she had been doing since her age was still in single digits, reached Card’s body, it fell apart. This was nothing new to Twilight in and of itself, after all, spells that she had yet to master or that were particularly strenuous to cast broke down often. But this was different, this wasn’t some brand new spell and it certainly didn’t require very much of her magical power. Even the way it fell apart was strange, usually a failed spell worked initially and she just couldn’t keep it up, and she was left feeling tired and dizzy. Not this time though, this time there was no initial success or aftereffects. The spell hit Card and the magic just vanished.

Twilight was so bewildered by this, that she didn’t notice that Card was stirring from his sleep.

His eyes opened up, and instantly he heard a loud,

“Thank you!!!” from roughly the same direction, perhaps a little bit lower, as the pink pair of eyes that were six inches from his face.

Card smacked his lips a few times.

“Are you the raspberry fairy?” he asked.

“Tee-hee~! No, silly! I’m Pinkie!” said the mare.

“Damn.”

Pinkie was taken aback by Card’s blunt dismissal. “Did I do something wrong?”

Card sighed. “No, no it’s nothing.”

“Oh good I thought for a second that my thank you had made you angry which seems to happen a lot for some reason but I don’t know why and anyways thank you!” Pinkie said, not once pausing for breath.

“Mmm,” went Card, his eyes still half-lidded. He got up out of bed and walked over to Twilight, who was still standing deep in thought.

“You okay?” he asked as he straightened his jacket.

“Huh?” Twilight asked. “Oh no, I’m fine.” Twilight got a look at the clock. “We have to leave in five minutes! Where are Rainbow Dash and Trixie?!” she yelled.

“We’re right here,” Trixie said, popping her head into the room. “We got back a couple minutes ago.”

“Where were you two, I thought you were supposed to be done at 7!”

“We were, then we got invited to the afterparty. I only barely pulled Rainbow Dash away in time for us to make it back here.”

“Well where is she?!”

“In our room, putting away this poster she got signed. You should’ve seen the way she was guarding it on the walk back, like she thought the street posts were going to try and steal her precious roll of paper.”

Twilight bolted out of the room, just barely avoiding Trixie’s head, probably to go yell at Rainbow Dash and drag her down to wait in the lobby.

Card suddenly noticed Trixie standing there.

“Hey Card, how’re you?” she asked.

“Good. Little hungry, little drowsy, but good.”

“!” Pinkie rushed out of the room, saying, “I can fix that!”

She came back into the room two seconds later, holding a massive chocolate cupcake.

“Here! Cupcakes always give me energy!” She brandished it in front of Card.

Card apparently thought he couldn’t spare the second it would take to remove the cupcake from Pinkie’s hoof, because he just stuck it into his mouth, and ate the cupcake off of her.

Pinkie took it surprisingly well. “Hehehe~, that tickles.”

When he was done eating, Card’s eyes flew all the way open. He stood up on his hind legs and streeeeeeched his back and forelegs out.

“Ah, that felt good, thank you very much Pie! Come on, let’s head down to lobby before Twilight panics herself into a hernia.” The two mares and him went down the lobby, making it just in time to keep Twilight from ripping out her hair. The lavender mare pushed all of her friends into the limousine and they were off to the castle!

-----At the Castle-----

“Oh wow!” was the general consensus of the ponies as they got their first close-up look of the castle.

Twilight gave them a few minutes to stare at it. She could still remember the first time she had gotten this close to the castle, the long minutes of just staring in awe. Not just at the sight either, but what it had meant to her. When she had first seen the castle, in all of its glory, was the first time she really, truly, understood what it had meant that Celestia had chosen her as her apprentice.

Twilight wondered what her friends were feeling as they looked at the castle. Still, eventually it was time to go in.

“Come on,” she said, snapping her friends out of their reverie, “let’s go in.” She shepherded her friends into the entry hall.

“This place is really confusing, and it’s really easy to get lost,” Twilight said as she lead her friends through the hall’s of the castle, “so make sure you don’t wander off.”

“Too late!” Pinkie cheerful said.

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. “What do you mean, ‘Too late’?” she asked as she whirled around to face her friends

“Card left a looo,” Pinkie stood up on her hind legs and made a wide arc in the air, “ooong time ago.”

“What!” Twilight started to panic.

“Calm down, Twilight,” Trixie said, “you saw how he was acting in the car. He probably just went off to go pee.”

“But what if he’s late, or gets lost, and then the whole dinner is ruined, and the Princess will be mad and she-”

“Doesn’t this castle have guards?” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “I’m sure he can just ask them for directions.”

“Yeah. You’re right. It’ll all be fine,” Twilight said, trying to reel her mind back in. After a few calming breaths, she turned back around and continued leading her friends to the dinner room.

When they went through the dining room’s ornately decorated, obscenely massive, double doors, the herd of mares saw that a few ponies were already in the room.

There were naturally a few guards positioned around the perimeter of the room, but there was also a small group of four standing next to the table and talking to each other. Two pegasi, a white unicorn, and a pink alicorn.

When the doors slammed closed, the group’s attention was drawn to the new arrivals.

“Twilight!” said the pink alicorn as she walked over to the mares. “Hello.”

“Hi Cadence.” Twilight gave her ex-babysitter a big hug.

When they finished their hug, Cadence asked, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Oh! This is Trixie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, pointing at each mare in turn. While Cadence shook each mare’s hoof, Twilight said, “This is Cadence, my old babysitter.”

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” Cadence said. Her eyes lingered for a brief moment on Pinkie Pie.

“What, no hug for me, sis?” Shining Armor asked.

“Ah! Sorry.” Twilight hugged her brother, then prepared to introduce all of her friends again, “Shining this is-”

“I heard the first time,” Shining Armor said. “I’m Twily’s big brother. Thanks for watching her for me. Name’s Shining Armor.”

“Why, do my eyes deceive me, or are those the Elements of Harmony?!” said one of the pegasi, a dark yellow stallion, with a thick spanish accent. He and the other pegasus, a magenta mare, came over to speak with them.

“Oh, it appears to be my turn for introductions,” Cadence said. “This is-”

“I am Bolero di Amoré, and this is my wife,” Bolero said in a booming voice as he gestured to the other pegasus, “Sonata. Of course I know who you all are! It is a pleasure to meet the saviors of our Kingdom.” He gave a deep bow to each of the elements in turn.

“Excuse me, I do not wish to appear rude, but is there something wrong with your ear?” he asked Pinkie.

The focus of attention suddenly became Pinkie’s left ear, which had been flapping open and shut since she had entered the castle. Pinkie reached a hoof up to feel it.

“Huh, that’s new!” she said, completely unperturbed by her ear’s autonomous action. “I wonder what that means?”

Suddenly the doors burst open again.

“Hello to all of you,” Celestia said as she walked through the doors. “Thank you for coming.”

Every pony in the room knelt down at her presence.

“Please rise, there’s no need for that,” Celestia said.

After the ponies rose, Cadence asked, “Where is Princess Luna?”

“She’ll be along shortly, I just wanted to make certain that everything was ready before we began,” Celesia said. “Speaking of which, we seem to be missing a few ponies.”

“Are you really surprised?” Cadence grumbled, “When is he ever on time?”

Shining Armor tossed a surprised look at his marefriend.

“It’s not only him I speak of,” Celestia said, “Twi-”

Suddenly, Pinkie screamed out, “Cover your eyes!”

Those who were either too startled or too slow to react in time were blinded by a sudden piercing white light. When it faded, a large, white, unicorn stallion was standing in the middle of the dining room.

“Still have all the subtlety of a peacock, I see,” Cadence said, glaring at the unicorn.

“Yes, it’s very nice to see you again as well cousin. My day was fine, thanks for asking.” the blonde, white, unicorn replied, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

“You’re late,” Cadence said, her voice the closest to spiteful it had ever come.

“Oh, I’m so very sorry, my dear cousin. You see, some of us are unfortunate enough to have actual duties and responsibilities attached to our titles, and I am afraid that mine kept me busy for quite some time.”

He turned to Twilight and her group of friends, saying, “I am so very sorry, where are my manners? I am Prince Blueblood, Marquess of the province of Eligval.”

“Hhhhh,” Rarity sighed as she fell back and fainted.

Blueblood let out a small, muted groan and rolled his eyes, before his expression went back its usual boredom. He turned his attention back to his cousin.

“Anyways, I am here now. Oh, who is this?” Blueblood’s attention shifted onto Shining Armor. “Your lover, I presume?”

“Yes, actually. I am,” Shining replied tersely. Something about this stallion just rubbed him the wrong way.

“Do you have a problem, cousin?” Cadence asked.

“No, no problem,” Blueblood replied. “I was just wondering why you had bothered to come at all. Aren’t there some pre-schoolers somewhere whose love lives need meddling, or a teenager who needs your brand of passive-aggressive ‘help’?”

Before the sibling rivalry could escalate, Celestia interrupted, continuing her thought from before Blueblood’s arrival.

“Twilight, I had assumed that Card was coming with you?”

“Oh, uh, he did…” Twilight explained, “But then we got to castle and I kind of… lost him.”

The assembled royals all reacted to this with some level of visible shock, but the worst by far was a certain pink alicorn.

“WHAT?!” Cadence yelled, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders. “YOU LOST HIM! WILD IS WALKING AROUND SOMEWHERE, ALONE, WITH A FULL MOON UP!”

“Wha- What’s wrong? What did I do?” Twilight was terrified.

“Put her down!” Trixie said.

Cadence seemed to realize what she was doing, and put her down.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “It’s just that… last time Wild was completely alone with a full moon out, he… Well…”

“What did he do?!” Rainbow Dash asked, intrigued by what could have possibly happened to make an alicorn this worried, along with most of the rest of the royal family. Even Princess Celestia seemed a little perturbed.

“Well... He may have… Kinda…”

“Oh for the love of,” Blueblood said, rolling his eyes, “He demolished downtown Las Pegasus.”

“What!?” said everypony who didn’t already know.

“Yeah,” Cadence said with a sigh. “Remember that tornado that tore through that city a few years ago? That was him. You see why I don’t want him walking around alone at night, that doesn’t need to happen again!”

“Oh calm down cousin,” Blueblood said. “You give him far too little credit. It’s been four years. I’m sure that by now he would be able to wreck half of the city, at the very least.”

“You are not helping!” Cadence said, backed up by the nods of everypony else.

“I’m not trying to, it’s far too much fun to watch you- How does Wild say it? ‘Flip out.’”

The rest of ponies looked to Celestia for guidance, and saw that she had taken a seat at the table and was watching the exchange. They followed her example, watching the proceedings like a tennis match.

“Agh!! Who knows what he could be doing!?”

“You know cousin, ponies are capable of making good decisions without you constantly there to hold their hooves.”

“Oh, don’t you have a farmer somewhere to be evicting!”

-----As Much Fun As It Is To Watch This Little Bout Of Sibling Rivalry, Let’s Go Check Up On What Card Was Actually Doing-----

Even with all the lights, the ponies still flee from the night. Why? I wish I could tell them. What is Tia thinking? Even if they are family, how many of them could possibly wish see me? At their ages, they hast doubtlessly grown up fearing me. And I cannot blame them. Luna was snapped out her pity party when she heard footsteps coming up the path. Quickly she donned her usual disguise. Well it’s not really a disguise, she just makes herself invisible.

Who could still be wandering the gardens at this hour? she thought. She turned and saw a brown blob coming towards the statue she was standing in front of. Even with the full moon, it was difficult for her to make out any details until the figure drew nearer. When it had made its way up the path, it went straight for the statue, stopping directly in front of her. She was now able to make out that the figure was merely wearing a brown jacket, and was in fact, orange. It sat down on the ground in front of her, and looked up at the statue.

“Would you mind?” the figure said, in a distinctly male voice. “You’re kinda blocking my view.”

Luna was shocked. “THOUST CAN SEE US?” she asked in her traditional Canterlot voice.

“Just for the record, I can hear you too,” the figure said as it massaged its ears.

“OH! Ah, oh. My humblest apologies,” Luna said as her face flushed purple in embarrassment. Celestia kept telling her that she needed to break her habit of slipping in the traditional voice when she was startled. “How canst thou see us?”

“You’re standing right in front of me. It’s not that dark. Speaking of seeing, you’re still blocking my view, so if you wouldn’t mind?” he said.

Luna sheepishly took a couple of steps to the side. How couldst he see us? Have our skills lapsed so far in our exile? she thought.

“Ugly thing, isn’t it?” the stranger said, referring to the statue.

“He ist not ugly!” Luna said. “He ist most charming, and quite regal of bearing!”

“Maybe, but his eyebrows are the size of small dogs,” he shot back.

Luna was getting annoyed, “Well if thou finds his visage so unappealing, then why art thou even here?”

“I can’t really explain it,” the stranger said, “It’s just… I don’t know, it calms me down to be near him. You wouldn’t understand.”

Luna understood what he meant. She also went to this particular statue when she felt worried, but she doubted that the stranger shared her reason for finding it soothing. It then occurred to her how very odd the whole affair was.

“Why do you not fear me?” she asked the stranger. Couldst it be that he knowest not whom I am?

The stranger just turned and looked at her like she had just suggested that birds live underground.

“Should I be?” he asked.

Luna didn’t know the answer to that question.

While she thought about it, he turned his attention back to the statue.

A few minutes later, the stranger stood up and walked away, but not before smacking a hoof against the statue’s paw and talon.

Luna remained at the statue for a little while longer, turning over the question in her head. Eventually she left to go to the dinner party.

-----Speaking of the Dinner Party-----

Trixie was feeling a touch nervous. Ever since she had arrived she felt out of place. The guards eyes lingered on her longer than they did the others, and when Bolero was greeting the group he passed over her. Blueblood was also ignoring her, but she was less bothered by that because he was ignoring everyone. Her feelings weren’t helped by the fact that, between all of the noble ponies wearing such fancy clothes, even Shining Armor was in his captain of the guard apparel, and Celestia insisting that the other mares wore their elements, she felt, well, naked.

What am I even doing here? she kept on asking herself. She wasn’t one of the royal family, and she wasn’t a savior of Equestria. She was only here because Twilight and Card wanted her to be. And Card wasn’t even here!

At this point, Celestia had finally decided to intervene in Blueblood and Cadence’s squabble, pointing out that it was time to take their seats along the long dinner table. There were sixteen places put out. Seven of them were along one side of the table, with six across. There was a single plate at one of the heads of the table, presumably for Luna. Oddly enough, at the other head of the table, there were two dining places set up next to each other.

While everypony else seemed to know where to sit, Trixie was completely lost.

Suddenly, the massive double doors swung open again.

“Hey everyone, sorry I’m late,” Card said.

“How dare you lie to me,” Blueblood jokingly said.

Cadence shot her cousin a glare. “Don’t worry, we were just taking our seats.”

Card walked over to Trixie, “What’s up?” he asked.

“I have no idea where to sit,” Trixie said.

“No problem, just sit next to me.” Card walked over to the table and sat at one of the two places at the head of the table. He motioned that Trixie should sit down on his right, just around the corner from him.

When she did, those who knew the significance of the gesture were appropriately shocked. Even the guards eyes widened slightly. Upon seeing the look in Card’s eyes, no one decided to speak up about it.

The rest of the ponies took their seats, Twilight fretting over her choice briefly before choosing to sit across from Trixie as opposed to sitting next to Celestia.

Once everyone was settled in, Luna walked into the room, looking as shy and timid as a 6’5’’ dark blue alicorn could. Before she could even open her mouth to speak, a noisemaker went off.

Pinkie Pie had stood up in her chair, and was shaking and blowing on as many noisemakers, kazoos, and vuvuzelas as she could hold in three hooves and one tail.

“Hooray!” she said, “The birthday mare is here! Happy birthday!!!”

Almost everypony looked mortified, including Luna herself. Rarity, who had ended up sitting next to Pinkie after finding she had been too slow to sit next to Blueblood, tried to make her friend come down.

Suddenly, a chuckle rang out. Luna was covering her mouth with her wing, trying to smother the noises of mirth. When they subsided, all traces of her former nervousness were gone.

“Thank you, youngling,” Luna said to Pinkie Pie with a smile on her face.

After that, everypony sent Luna their “Happy birthday”’s and “Good evening”’s.

Eventually, everything had subsided and Luna took her seat at the head of the table, across from Card, whom she didn’t recognize in the bright lights of the dining room.

Celestia looked a little bothered, saying, “Well, I suppose we should begin. There’s no more point in waiting.”

“Aww, come on Aurora. You wouldn’t really start without me, would you?”

With everyone’s attention on Celestia, no one noticed the sudden appearance of a large, yellow, alicorn stallion. His hair was red, but became blonde near the tips.

After everypony recovered from the shock, Celestia spoke up again.

“Ah, yes. It occurs to me many of you don’t know who this is. This is Solaris, My and Luna’s elder brother.

“The King of Equestria.”

Author's Note:

        A/N: I just realized, if Rainbow Dash ever grew her hair out, she could make the most psychedelic braid.

Comments

[Silver Page]

What?
...What?
Am I drunk or was my mind just blown?

[Anal_Destroyer_0706]

Man. You are so good at sudden surprises!
Words cannot describe how much I love this story!