> Inheritance > by 00Colt > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > From my Grandmother to I > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [POV: Nicholas] Nicholas Sanders sat and just starred at the trinket, a necklace, that supposedly held significance to his grandmother. Glancing over at the note that was given with the necklace once again. Gee Gran, you must've really lost it before ya' kicked the bucket. he thought, letting out a small sigh. This necklace, a little bit of gold painted metal with six fake-looking gems in it, each in a differing hue, was the only thing that his grandmother said was for him through her will. Well, that and the note with it. But the note was odd, as if the old bat was trying to make his brain hurt, and it was doing wonders. Picking up the note for the fourth time Nick readjusted his glasses and began to reread the somewhat long note. Dear Nick, I know that you will get this when I'm dead and buried, and you're sad for my passing, but don't be. I've lived a happy life. But this note isn't to help you cope with losing me-you're strong enough to do that yourself mister- no, this is to tell you about the necklace that I gave you. You see that necklace has a history about it, a long and tedious one my arthritic hands wouldn't like to write, but has a history none the less. Nicholas smiled again, even in writing his grandmother is a crazy old lady, but a funny one at that. Letting out a small sigh he continued reading. All you need to know is that specific necklace has plenty of myths about it, the biggest one being its ability to send you to a whole new world. Ironically, the most far-fetched myth is true. I know what you're thinkin', 'She's just a crazy old who's-whatsit' but stop thinkin' and read. This necklace has been passed down, from grandparent to grandchild in our family for a long, long time. You are the lucky grandchild. I might've said I don't pick favorites, but you're a lot easier to handle than your cousins and brother. Nick chuckles, being the eldest grandchild did have its perks. Looking back to the note he rereads the crazier section of it. Anyways, there is something you need to know about this other world. You won't believe me at first, I know, but trust me when I say I'm serious. When you put on that necklace you will go to this other world, but know that it's very different from ours. The biggest difference being the natives, you'll understand when you see them. But I have two requests before you go there, one; leave a note for your parents, make up a lie or something, your call mister. And two; when you get there tell Celestia 'The phoenix has burned, only to be born anew,' she'll know who you are, or at least who you should be. I don't have much left to say beside this letter is killing my hand. Have fun Nick and tell Celestia I said 'hi'. And so Nick stood, confused by his usually silly, and crazy, grandmother. Torn between carrying out her final wish of putting on this silly medallion and be whisked away to a supposed different world or leave the thing on a shelf or in a display case or something. Folding the letter up and putting it into his pocket he looks back at the necklace. Having a history doesn't make it important. Kind of like Native American trading beads, something interesting to look at but not of much significance. But who's this Celestia person that she mentions? She sounds like some sort of hippy-type of person just like if you said 'hey meet my friend Moonbeam!' he thought, carrying the conversation out in his head. A daily occurrence for the crazy teen. From what Nick has speculated in the past, crazy is a gene passed down from parent to child and everyone in his family has multiple crazy genes, himself especially. Nick decided to try and humor his deceased grandmother and held the necklace in his hand and felt an odd attachment to it. The hell? The necklace ain't a hot woman, Nick. Calm down. he thought, humming. But what if she was telling the truth? Nicholas' grandmother was the one who always tried to keep everyone smiling with full tummies, but she had her own way of keeping everyone smiling. Randomness to the max. But even with her odd ways when she said she was serious it was like a tiger stole her skin and had started hunting prey in it. Long story short, His tiny grandmother was scary as hell when she wanted to be. Setting the necklace down Nick began searching for three items he always kept with him; his I-pod, his ever-present notebook, and his favorite pair of white and navy blue headphones. The reason behind bringing the notebook was that Nick never left home without it. It is his most sacred possession because of what he had inside of it. I know My family won't appreciate me going missing so soon after Grans funeral, but I just need to...be free? he asked himself, Yeah, to be free. I need time away. With everything Nick wanted to bring with him, he picked up the necklace to once again feel the attachment to it as before, but also excitement. Deciding to stop stalling Nick made to put on the inherited jewelry on, but hesitated. This could be the last chance for him to right any wrongs, fix relationships, profess his love... "Yolo Nick! Do it!" he shouted to himself jamming his head through the hole in the band, closing his eyes felling a lurching sensation in his stomach. [POV: Celestia] "You were the one who crashed through my roof you feather brain!" shouted a stout, brown earthpony stallion. "You shouted at me! You don't just distract a pegasus while he's flying dirt for brains! I broke a wing because of you!" responded the black pegasus stallion. Celestia cleared her throat, ceasing the two stallions bickering. So far it's just been another average Wednesday afternoon were a few feuding groups were able to bring their problems to Celestia to help end it. So far she's sat through fifteen other arguing groups. The current one with a pegasus who received a broken wing after being distracted by an earthpony and crashing through the roof for a building. And right now, she just wanted it to stop. Celestia may be an all-powerful goddess, but even mortals can get on her nerves. "I have listened to both sides and have come up with a solution." she stated calmly, "Thunder Lane, I believe that you should have been paying more attention to where you were going, so you will pay half of the cost to repair the damage. Now don't let this happen again. You can leave." she dismissed, with only minor grumbling. Once the two had been escorted out of the throne room Celestia was finally alone for the times being. Slumping down in her throne Celestia massaged her temples with her hooves. "Is thy court session over Tia?" Luna asked entering the throne room, taking her time walking over to her sister. "Yes Lulu. Thankfully. I have been governing this kingdom for over a thousand years yet still my little ponies go and do something stupid and refuse to get over it." Celestia grumbled crossing her forelegs. "Thou sounds distressed. Let Us take care of thy daily court." Luna said, taking her place beside her sister, "Thou hast been ruling with no respite." "I don't need a break, Luna. I just need a distraction from the daily routine." Celestia said looking to her sister, "I've missed you, Lulu." "Thou hast said that many times before Tia, but We have missed thee as well." Luna responded her features softening. "Holy hell. I must be high, in a coma or mentally insane. It actually worked!" said a male voice. Turning her head Celestia saw a familiar body shape. A human. she thought, It has been thirty years since I have seen one last. "Halt strange creature! What art thou doing in the royal throne room?!" Luna shouted at the human, that was exceptionally larger than both her and Celestia, who turned around and looked directly at the two monarchs. "Whelp. I believe that introductions will be necessary even if y'all are possibly apart of my broken down mental state. At least I think I'm crazy, with you two multicolored miniature horses sitting on thrones in a castle, yelling at me in ye ol' english." the human said, rubbing the back of his head, and letting out a little chuckle. "Name's Nicholas Sanders." "Greetings Nicholas, I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister Princess Luna." Celestia said, calmly stopping her sister from pouncing the innocent human. "It is nice to meet you but why are you here?" The human laughed and gestured to a pendant around his neck that was familiar to Celestia, "Not sure, my crazy Gran said that this necklace will bring me to a new world. I guess that this is the new world, but I didn't expect freakin' two adorable blue and white monarch horses!" Celestia was taken aback. Of the many humans she has meet since Luna's banishment, not one has complimented her in such a manner. Most of them just freak out and curl up in a ball on the floor. This human is definitely different. Celestia thought to herself, a small smile forming on her muzzle. "Oh!" Nicholas exclaimed, as if he just remembered something, pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket. "You said your name was Celestia, right?" Celestia nodded, "Well, uh, here it is! 'The phoenix has burned, only to be born anew.' I don't know if that means anything to you but my Granny said that you aughta know what that means." he said placing the parchment back in his pocket. "Tia." Luna whispered, "Canst thou explain what is happening and what manor of creature this is?" "This is a human, a descendant of the ape. And this certain one is the grandchild of a great friend." responded Celestia, in a loud and clear voice. "And he is here to continue his families tradition. A legacy of sorts." "Great friend?" Nicholas asked, confused "So you're saying that you knew my grandmother? And what's this about a legacy?" "You shall understand in due time. So young Sanders, what do you think you're here for?" "I'm not sure. My Gran was crazy so...Yeah." "Did she tell you of that necklaces' history?" "The letter she left said something about a long history, and her arthritis, so I paid it no mind. I have enough history lessons while in school, don't need any more outside of it." he stated, but gasped, "Shit! I forgot I had a history report due! Awww! Wait, why am I worrying about school when I'm in some fantastical land of talking technicolor miniature horses with wings and horns?" Celestia blinked, wondering if the human was going to continue ranting or not, but he seemed finished. "Well, on that note do you want me to tell you?" "Nah, I would rather not know, go out adventuring, come back confused and demand for you to explain. Just like in the story books!" he exclaimed. "So you don't want to know how that necklace fell into your hands?" "Pfft, I know how I got it, I just don't care to know how my ancestors got it. Watch how you word things there Celly." the human said with a smirk. "You caught me misspeaking?" Celestia wondered, My my, Betty Ann. You know how to mold a grandchild in your own image. But I have to say I like him already, very courageous to give me, a Princess, a nickname in my presence. Not to mention correcting the way I speak. "Yep. You implied that I didn't know how I received this necklace when I indeed know. You were talking about it's past owners before, so yeah, ye' misspoke." "Very logical of you, Nicholas. But if you do not wish to hear the history of that specific necklace, so be it." Celestia said, smiling, "But know that you will be needing a place to stay, and like your ancestors will live here at the castle until you wish not to." "What?!" shouted Luna and Nicholas simultaneously, Luna a bit louder. "So you're saying that I'm gonna live in a castle?" "You're going to let this thing stay with us?" "Yes and yes. Luna, you and I will talk later, Nicholas," Celestia said, walking over to the exit of the throne room, "I will inform the guards of your presence, in a few moments you will be able to roam freely." Looking over her shoulder Celestia smiled to Nicholas. "Welcome to Equestria." > Loving Classical Music Just a Little Bit More > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [POV: Nicholas] "What's your name Bloo?" Nicholas asked his guide and personal guard, who was assigned to keep Nick 'out of trouble' as Celestia put it. This guard in particular differed from most of the other guards though, with his coat being a shade of sapphire blue and a curly mess of a white mane under his golden helmet that had a hole large enough for his horn to protrude through. "My name in Sea Crest." he stated, his tone emotionless. "Sea Crest? Do all you ponies have such odd names?" Nick asked, gesturing to the ponies walking by-some who were stopping what they were doing to look in Nicholas' direction-trying to get a conversation started as they walked to a concert hall that Celestia suggested going to after a comment from Nick about his love for almost all music. "To you our names may be odd, but 'Nicholas' is an odd name to me." Sea Crest said with a hint of a smile. "Oh really? Would you prefer if my name was Hernandez or Yuzuma?" "What?" "Never mind." The two lapsed into silence, and Nicholas took this time to look around. Canterlot was, in short, breathtaking. The buildings made of pure marble, occasionally dotted with gold. Elegantly carved statues and fountains were common and the ponies themselves, often covered in clothing that looked more expensive than half the stuff Nick owned. But there was one problem; "Are all ponies so painfully colorful?" he asked taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. Sea Crest looked over his shoulder to give Nick a perplexed look, "What do you mean by painfully colorful?" Nick put on his once more, "I mean that all of you are a bunch of super bright colors. I swear I've seen three ponies with neon colored coats! It hurts my eyes!" he moaned, acting as if he was blind, stumbling about. Sea Crest rolled his eyes and continued forward, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like 'Why me?', with Nick in tow. It didn't take much longer for the two to arrive at the large, open roofed music theater that could easily fit a football field comfortably, with rows and rows of plush chairs. Several ponies were setting up instruments like cellos, harps, violins, trombones, trumpets and even a piano and tuba. How any of them would play those with hooves, Nick didn't know, but Celestia said that some of the greatest musicians in Equestria were supposed to preform later that night and Celestia, after the music loving comment, decided to let Nick in early to get a private performance of sorts. Sea Crest stopped and looked up at Nicholas warily, "Go to the front row and stay there. I will speak with the conductor, and help her organize a few performers to play, so for the love of Celestia stay out of trouble." Nicholas gave Sea a deadpan look and asked, "Do you think I'm an accident prone teenager who's overly curious or something?" "I don't know how old you are, but you sure do seem immature enough to be only a teenager." he quipped with a smile before walking off to speak with a coconut brown unicorn mare with a black mane styled into a bun, who was running about on the stage, telling other ponies what to do. With a shake of his head Nicholas walked along the rows of seats, finally arriving at the seats with full view of the entire stage up close. Sitting down in one of the seats he savored how plush and comfortable it was and closed his eyes, listening to the performers as they set up. "Excuse me, Mr. Sanders?" asked a feminine voice. Nicholas opened his eyes to see the conductor and Sea Crest standing in front of him. "Uh, yeah, that's me, what is it?" he asked, sitting up. "My name is Ivory Baton, the conductor for the Canterlot Orchestra and I wanted to tell you personally what an honor it is to be conducting for you." Nicholas just gave her a confused look, "Um, okay...?" That seemed to satisfy the mare, she gave Nicholas a smile and walked off. Nick looked over to Sea who was watching the conductor as she walked off. After she began to work with the performers again Sea looked back to Nick, who still held his look of confusion. "What?" he asked. "Did she really just say that it was an honor to be conducting for me?" "Yes, why so surprised? It's not every day that you see a human, let alone give him a private showing in the most prestigious city in Equestria." Nicholas cocked his head to the side and gave Sea Crest a look of disbelief, "Are you serious? So you're saying that I, a skinny, annoying, middle class human without even one collage degree, am basically a noble in my own right?" "A little long worded, but yes. Humans are the rarest sentient beings in Equestria, oftentimes disappearing for years before another of you show up." Nick sat back and stared up at the stage, where most of the preparations seemed to be finished, and contemplated that. So I'm one of few-if any at all-humans in Equestria..Huh..Neat. Tap Tap Tap Nick looked over to Ivory, who had a baton at the ready, with a quintet of brass playing ponies in seated directly in front of her. She looked over her shoulder and gave Nicholas a smile before bringing her attention back to the five ponies in front of her, raising her baton... "Wow..." Nicholas whispered, in a breathless voice. For what felt like two hours Nick sat, listening to the amazing performers that played in front of him, playing songs that would make angels themselves cry. But there were two performers that stood out amongst the rest who, after bowing out and Nick asking, introduced themselves as Octavia Philharmonica and Lyra Heartstrings. The two had played an amazing two instrument piece. Octavia, a grey 'earth pony' mare, as Nick was told, with an expertly styled black mane and tail and a treble clef 'cutie mark', played an elegant oak wood cello and Lyra, a mint green unicorn mare with a messy, yet still stylish, green and white mane and tail, played a golden lyre, which she insisted was not a miniature harp, which was also her cutie mark. "Wow indeed." Sea Crest said, interrupting Nick's thought, "I have to say, you have good taste in music." "I never said I love classical music above all else," Nick said, readjusting his glasses, "But I'm glad that I still like it anyways." "Regardless." Sea said, getting up, "The show's over and I have orders to bring you back to the castle after the performance." Nick sunk back in his chair, reluctant to leave, but suddenly had an idea. "Okay, I'll go, but can I speak with Octavia and Lyra first?" Sea Crest Looked up at Nick, "I don't know about that..." "Shush you, I want to talk to them, and you won't stop me!" he exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and running away from a very confused Sea Crest, who quickly gave chase. "Did I lose him?" Nicholas asked, peeking his head out from behind one of the many ponies packing up their instruments. It didn't take overly long to confuse Sea Crest after dashing away. All Nick had to do was hide under one of the thousands of chairs and shimmy under every row to get to the stage then hide up there. But while Nick was hiding the practice time had apparently come to an end, and ponies all over the stage where packing up. "Lose who?" the stallion asked, looking behind him. "Bah, never mind. Do you happen to know where Miss Philharmonica and Heartstrings are?" "Um, Octavia usually goes to the muffin shop down the street, after practice, and she and Lyra are friends,why-" Nick never heard the rest of that sentence because he immediately walked off, looking for Sea Crest to get the blue boy to show him where this muffin shop was. After about a minute the back of Nick's T-shirt was yanked back, effectively stopping him in his tracks. "There you are!" came Sea Crests voice from behind Nick, "You really are an overly curious teenager. Now, to the castle." Sea said, taking the lead while Nick was dragged along by some mysterious force. But one odd thing was that Sea's horn was surrounded by a yellow aura. "I'm twenty years old, thank you." Nick grumbled before speaking up, "Do you know where the nearest muffin shop is?" "And why do you want to go to a muffin shop?" Sea asked, "Not planning on running away again, are you?" Nick leveled his gaze at Sea, "What do you do at a bakery, besides bake? You eat. I'm hungry." Sea, who's horn was still glowing, looked over his shoulder at Nick, who was still ensnared by that mysterious force, and stated, "You try any funny business, and I will drag you back to the castle, whether you like it or not. Got it?" "Yes mom." Nick said with a roll of his eyes. After his shirt was finally released, and Sea Crest's horn stopped glowing, he began to follow the hard ass pony to, hopefully, the muffin shop. "Hey Bloo?" Nick asked, impatient and hating the hole in the conversation, "What's up with your horn? It was glowing a second ago." "Glowing? You mean my aura? I was using magic to restrain you." Sea stated in a serious tone. "Magic? Well, makes just about as much sense as anything else in a country of colorful talking pegasi and unicorns. And watch the headphones man!" Nick said, readjusting his headphone that were around his neck. "Ah, be quiet. Just be happy that I'm taking you there." [POV: Lyra] "Thanks for letting me play with you today Tavi!" Lyra exclaimed, nearly knocking over her muffin and coffee, "I never thought I would get the chance to meet a human! My dad always said good things about them, well the one he meet at least, but one's enough right?" "I wouldn't say that Lyra," Octavia said in her usual calm tone, and a smile upon her face, "But he did seem to enjoy our piece, well, that is if his open mouth was an indication." Lyra waved a hoof at Octavia, "Whatever, I'm just giddy that I could play for a human, a human, one of the most intelligent and rarest species in all of Equus!" "I think you're blowing this out of proportion Lyra..." "Tavi, Tavi. You do know that we have the train because of them? We have it because they invented it and one of them and one of them knew how to start making one and left note on how to build one before leaving to go wherever humans go to. And don't even get me started on their contribution to science!" Octavia chuckled at her friend, who's had a pastime of trying to find the next human for as long as Octavia could had known her. "You've given me this speech a thousand times, you don't need to give it to me anymore." Lyra just shot Octavia a pout, the speech she gave so often was a speech she put a lot of effort into. "But Tavi~" Lyra whined. "Maybe some other time Lyra, right now, I just want to sit and relax in the calm of the muffin shop...But where's Derpy?' "Wow! This is one fancy muffin shop!" said an excited tenner voice by the entrance of the shop. "Yeah, it is, but how about we just go to the counter and get your muffin or whatever you want and leave?" said another masculine voice. "Oh Bloo," the first voice chided, "You can't just rush me, if I want to eat I'm going to sit down and eat like civilized human being." At this Lyra leaned out of her booth to look at who was speaking to find the same human, who's name was still unknown to her, from before talking with a blue unicorn in royal guard armor. The guard groaned, "Fine, but if we're in here for more than an hour, we're leaving, got it?" "No problemo Mr. Hard Ass!" the human said. The guard groaned again and lead the human to one of the empty booths and sat on the opposite side from him, thought it looked like the human had to squeeze into his seat. "You're a real pain in the flank you know that?" "If I wasn't I'd be a really boring person, trust me when I say my skills in annoying anything that can understand me is what gives my personality, oh what's the word...pizazz!" "Pizazz, more like pain in my ass." the guard retorted "See? You already caught my little pun! You're learning!" "Lyra? What are you looking at?" Octavia said, interrupting the humans conversation, and brought his attention to the booth that Octavia and Lyra were currently occupying. Lyra and the human locked eyes and she could see a childlike wonder in his eyes and, as odd as it sounds, a playful gleam. He was big, really big sporting a plain black t-shirt, blue and white headphones around his neck with a wire leading to one of his pants pockets and a small pair of glasses. A small smile graced his face before he turned back to the guard across from him. Lyra jerked her head back into the booth and looked back to her lifelong friend, whom she trusted like a sister, with a dumbfounded expression. "Lyra?" "H-h-he's r-right there." Lyra mumbled. "Who's 'right there'?" "The human!" Lyra blurted out, making Octavia flinch and turn around to look over the top of the seat at the human, who was in a seemingly entertaining conversation if his wide smile was any indication. Turning back Octavia decided to set Lyra straight, "I'm sure it's just a coincidence." And I'm sure it's not a coincidence! Lyra thought, biting her tongue she leaned out of her seat to look at him again before bringing her attention back to Octavia. "Look Octavia, you may not be all that interested in humans in any way, but I am!" "Lyra, think about it, what if a pony, just like you, has already gone up to him and bothered him? As far as we know he doesn't even care for ponies much." "Excuse me ladies." a voice sounded, both mares jumped and looked over to the new speaker and were shocked to find the same human that they performed for standing right next to them. Now that Lyra got a better look he seemed to be at least six hooves tall, in other words, huge. "But I couldn't help but notice that you two where the ones who played that lovely duet for me." "Nicholas, either get your flank back in this booth right now or I'm going to drag you back to the castle!" the guard shouted, silencing the soft babble of other small groups conversing in the bakery. The human, apparently named Nicholas, shushed his guard and continues what he was saying, "I know you two introduced yourselves, but I didn't. My name is Nicholas Sanders, and I just really wanted to say that your performance was amazing. And I was wondering if we could ever have a time where all three of us could talk, sometime?" "Okay, that's enough! Back to the castle!" the blue guard shouted, getting up from his seat and tugging Nicholas away with his magic by the midsection. Nicholas rebelled and latched onto the table, that was bolted to the wall, and said, "Swing by the castle tomorrow at around noon, I'll tell the guard to let you in!" before getting yanked off the table and through the door after his very irritated looking guard. "Octavia?" Lyra asked, her eyes still wide after the whole fiasco that just occurred. "Yes Lyra?" Octavia responded, looking as surprised as Lyra. "Do you have any clue what just happened?" "Not an inkling..." > First Pony Friends > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Time: 7:20 a.m.] [POV: Sea Crest] By the gods, how is he still asleep?! Sea Crest thought, biting his tongue to avoid shouting out his frustration. To Sea Crest it seemed that, even while sleeping, sleeping, the human that he was charged with to guard and guide, was intent on giving him a hard time. The reason; for the past twenty minutes he's been trying to wake Nicholas up, even going so far as to give him a good slap to the face, with no luck, and slightly grinded teeth. "Forget it," he growled, "If he won't get to breakfast on his own, I'll bring him there myself." so, with one little spell Sea Crest was walking to the dinning hall with the one and only human, who was only clothed in genitalia hiding boxers and his necklace, sliding along the floor behind him, snoring softly. "Jeez, how much does this guys weigh?" Sea asked, starting to struggle with the numskull that he was currently dragging behind him. "Just half way there Sea, get to the dinning hall then you can dump his sorry flank on the princess', for a little bit." With a few minutes of dragging, pulling, yanking (Oh, I'm sure you get the gist of it) Sea Crest got Nicholas, who was still sleeping like a bear with a full stomach during hibernation, to the dinning hall with only one nervous glance from a passing maid. "I have Sir Nicholas here." Sea said the the earth pony guards at the door, who raised their eyebrows in unison. "Won't wake up." was his simple response to the unasked question, and, with a simultaneous shrug the guards opened the elegant double doors to let in the guide and his human. The first thing Sea Crest noticed was that Celestia and Luna were sitting on the same side of the table, which had many open seats, usually only filled during large gatherings. The second thing was the smell, along with the smell of perfectly made pancakes, hash browns and other breakfast delights there was an unfamiliar scent, tainting its companions. "Oh, Corporal Sea Crest, good morning. Where's Nicholas?" "Right here," Sea responded, sliding the unconscious human into one of the seats parallel to the princess, "He wouldn't wake up and I didn't want him to be late for breakfast." Mostly because he'd probably annoy me because he's hungry that he didn't get any food and him without food...I don't want to experience him hungry again...Eesh! Yesterday was a nightmare! Sniff Sniff "I smell food." Nick said out of the blue, not opening his eye, "Don't tell me my nose is lying when it says there's bacon near." With a small chuckle Celestia confirmed Nicholas' suspicion, and he opened his eyes to behold the tasty sight that was before him. Looking up Nick saw Celestia and Luna and blinked, "Celly? Luna? Are you two behind this meaty delight?" Princess Luna just let out a 'harrumph' and looked away from Nick while Celestia gave him a small smile and nodded. "I know that humans are omnivores, so I had the chefs prepare a meal that you may enjoy entirely." "Enjoy I will," Nick said rubbing his hands together and licking his lips, "But the only question there is, is this; did your chefs prepare enough?" [Time: 7:50 a.m.] [POV: Nicholas] "Ahhh, that was good! Props to the chef, I don't think I've eaten this much food in a while!" Nick said with a satisfied sigh and a pat of the, bare, stomach. Licking his lips and sliding down in his seat Nick looked at what was left of the royal breakfast, which wasn't saying much. Within a half hour he managed to eat most of the food that was prepared, which could have easily feed another seven people, with room to spare, if Nick had a normal appetite. Glancing up Nick saw a wide eyed Celestia and Luna, "I have only seen Pinkie Pie eat anywhere near that much, maybe she couldn't even eat that much" Celestia whispered in an amazed tone while Luna just let her loosely hinged jaw hang. "Something wrong Celly?" Nick asked, sitting up. With a little shake of her head Celestia responded, "No, just surprised with how much you ate." "Yeah, that tends to happen when I don't eat the night before," Nick said, turning around in his seat and giving Sea Crest an empty look before turning back to Celestia with a smile, "Don't worry, I don't usually eat as much as I did just now." Sea Crest mumbled something behind Nicholas, "What was that Bloo?" Nick called out. "I said 'You would have eaten last night if you weren't acting so out-of-place in Madam Ditzy's Muffin Shop!'" "Corporal." Celestia's soft yet firm voice sounded, snapping Luna out of her open-mouthed trance and bringing authority into the room, "Did you not let him eat at that establishment?" "I-Uh, you see Your Highness-" "I was acting a little worse in public than I should have," Nick lied, looking back at Sea Crest giving him a wink, "I think it might have been a delayed reaction to leaving home so fast, and Sea Crest here brought me back before I did anything too extremely bad. He was just doing his duty." Sea Crest must have caught on and quickly responded, "He's right, Your Majesty, I was concerned for his own safety." With the look Celestia gave the pair she seemed to be analyzing the very air the two males were breathing, Nick held his composure and look of honesty, even though the thought that lying to a monarch might not be that bright of an idea flew around in his head. "Well you should have eaten something when you got back last night instead of barricading yourself in you room, and if you don't mind me asking, why did you do that?" Celestia said in a 'I'm suspicious of the lie's you're feeding me, but I'll let it slide for now' tone. Silently letting out a little sigh of relief, Nick answered honestly, "It's a force of habit, when I get home, or at least where my bed is, I lock myself away." "And why do you lock yourself away?" "Reasons," Nick responded vaguely, "I did find some pencils and stuff though," he hinted. As Celestia tried to figure out what Nick was hiding behind a closed door Sea Crest walked up to Nick's side, "You didn't have to lie for me," he mumbled almost inaudibly. "And let you take the heat? No way, I might like to be a pain in the neck to you, but I won't let you be fired for my misbehavior." Nick responded, barely moving his lips and in the same quiet tone. "Well...Thank you." Sea stated curtly, almost as if he was embarrassed. "No problem," Nick said with a little devilish smile, "Corporal Hard Ass." Sea Crest let out a quiet groaned, "I don't know how those two nice music mares will handle you at noon." Nick zoned out, his head fell to the side his jaw dropped and his right eye was twitching, and the only thought running around in his head was; I forgot, I forgot, I forgot, I FORGOT! "I forgot my flash drive, I forgot my flash drive," he whispered in an insane tone, recovering he brought his attention to the princess in front of him, "Hey Celly?" "Yes Nicholas?" "You don't mind that I invited a couple of the performers from the private show to the castle to chit chat, do you?" [Time: 8:30 a.m.] [POV: Octavia] "Octavia! Tavi, wake up!" Lyra shouted barging into her friends room. Octavia let out a groan and rolled on her side, putting a pillow over her head, Celestia, in all your power and grace, please make her leave! Octavia begged. "Go away Lyra." Octavia said, muffled by the pillow atop her head. "Tavi~!" Lyra whined, "But you promised to go with me." "Go where?" Octavia asked, setting her pillow under her head and bringing her attention to her guest, because with her in the room, Octavia was most definitely not going to go back to sleep. "To the castle, remember? Nicholas invited us to talk!" Lyra squealed, as excited as a schoolfilly on a sugar high. "I can't believe it, I mean, what do you think he want to talk about?" "I don't know," Octavia yawned, sitting up, she cleared her throat, "But if I recall, he said to go to the castle at noon." Lyra just waved a hoof at her friend, "Yeah yeah, whatever. We need to get ready!" she exclaimed, grabbing Octavia and all but hauling her out of bed to get ready. This is certainly going to be an interesting day... Octavia thought. [Time: 9:53] [POV: Nicholas] "What is this?" Nick deadpanned, looking at Celestia while holding the disgusting garb in his hand with piles of other outfits behind him, clothed in only his boxers, and wearing the necklace that brought him here "Because if this is what I think it is than I'm going to wear my clothes again." One may wonder why Nick was holding a pair of stomach hugging mom-jeans, but he had a reason; he had no clean clothes, and Lyra and Octavia were supposed to get to the castle in just over two hours and all Nick and Celestia have been doing is look through the absolute treasure trove full of old time clothes. Some from before the revolution, some from the Industrial Revolution, and Nick swore that he saw something that resembled a Native American feather headdress. "You won't have to do that," Celestia reassured him, "There's still plenty of other clothes, but I don't understand why you don't want to wear any of these." she said gesturing to the racks that neither of them have touched because Nick said 'No' immediately. "You see these?" Nick asked, bringing the amazingly ugly 70's pants to Celestia's face, "These are called mom-jeans. Ugliest kind of trousers in existence, purely because of the time period that they came from. Blech." Celestia looked them over, but just shrugged in response. "How many frickin' outfits of human clothes, clothes that can't even fit you without dragging like crazy, do you have in your castle? I mean seriously! We've spent the last, what, three hours in here?" "I would tell you, but you said that you didn't wish to know the legacy behind that necklace of yours," Celestia responded with a smirk. Gonna play that way, eh? M'kay. Nick thought, keeping his thought to himself, but saying one word, loud and clear; "Troll." Celestia gasped, and raised a hoof to her chest, looking at Nick with shock, "Am I really that ugly in your eyes?" Nick, who was looking through another rack of clothes, stopped, and turned around to see the priceless look on Celestia's face. Three, silent and awkward, seconds passed before he burst out laughing, explaining to her that 'troll' was a modern term for someone who enjoys screwing with another for fun between giggle fits. He continued chortling until he saw the new look the graced Celestia's face. An angry face, it's safe to say that Nick wasn't laughing anymore. "You know Nicholas," she started, a fire dancing in her eyes," Equestria doesn't work exactly as Earth does, and one thing that's different is that I control the sun and my sister controls the moon." It took Nick exactly 3.25 seconds to proses that, and what came to mind was him being thrown into the sun, "So you're saying I should start running?" "Yes." "Will you give me a head start?" "No." "Whelp, See ya!" And with that Nick dashed off, Celestia in hot pursuit. I'm so boned! [Time 10:10:59 a.m.] "Apologize!" Celestia shouted, still pinning Nick to the ground, arm twisted behind his back. "Never! My ego is too inflated to ever admit defeat!" Nick retorted. After running through the castle as fast as possible, juking the alabaster princess out like a pro, accidentally shattering a vase and running into a patrolling group of royal guards the alicorn finally caught up. All those years of track and field, and my downfall is a group of unaware, waist-high ponies and a god that controls the sun that only reaches my mid chest. Wow that sounds cool...and oddly short... With one yank Celestia pulled Nick's arm even closer to the back of his shoulder, almost to the point were he could touch it, "Ow! Ow, okay! I'm sorry! I consed!" he whimpered, "J'abandonne!" Finally finding it her heart to spare him, Celestia got off of Nick and let him stand up, seriously, for a pony around two thirds his height, Celestia was ferocious when she wanted to be, forget that whole benevolent ruler thing, she was hell spawn if she chose to be. "Do you know prench, Nicholas? It sounded like you spoke prench for a second." "I don't know what prench is, but I know a little french, mostly just 'I give up' which is 'j'abandonne' and 'stop' which is 'arrêtez'. The only reason I know that is because of my two french friends who just love mercy taught me." "Mercy?" Celestia questioned, "I believe that I'm unfamiliar with that." "Well, it's pretty much just a game were you have to get the other person to admit defeat, usually with a twisted arm or something that annoys the other to no end. It's also called 'Say Uncle'." Celestia took the information without commenting on it, but started walking away, gesturing to Nick to follow. As they walked Nick looked around the spacious hallways, with many beautifully crafted banners, murals, paintings, ceramics, so in other words, art aplenty, but he winced when he saw the broken remains of the vase he knocked over. "Sorry about the vase Celly." he apologized, " I was just a bit frightened." Celestia chuckled, "I'd say that you were a bit more than a little frightened, but it's alright Nick, no harm done. That little piece of pottery was from a noble who hoped to gain my favor for a law he wanted passed." Nick let out a sigh of relief, "You know Celestia," he started, paying attention to the decor of the hallways he was running through not a minute before more than anything else, "I've only seen a little of this city, but almost everything I've seen has this amazing artistic feel to it. So I was wondering if you could find an artist, of any sort, that'd be willing to teach me a few things?" Celestia hummed for a second, as if she were thinking of possible candidates, "Well, there is one artist I know of. Very talented young stallion. He specializes in portraits, but he's also a very imaginative author. I'm sure he wouldn't mind teaching you a few tricks on how to paint." Nick just smiled as the duo finally got back to the eminence human clothes closet of the Canterlot castle. As the two went back to searching for clothes that Nick found appealing to his tastes, he let his mind wander back to what Celestia said on the way, This is great! he thought, happy as can be, I actually get to learn more about art! Finally! Those God forsaken college art classes just weren't clickin' well with me. Now I actually get to have a one on one lesson with a professional artist! Oh, I can't wait! "Hey Nicholas, how about this?" [Time: 12:00 minus 20 minutes] [POV: Lyra] "Oh come on, Tavi! You look great!" Lyra exclaimed, walking side by side with her light grey friend on a path to the castle, examining her friend in her sleek black silk gown with a few fashionable frills at the hem of it, her mane triple brushed and in even more elegant curls than usual. In the past three hours the music mares have been spiffing themselves up and making themselves as presentable as possible. Though Lyra was never one to dress up she was currently wearing a simple navy blue dress with a pin of her cutie mark on her chest and her mane in it's usual fashion. It had taken a while to convince Octavia to get in one of her own fancy dresses but Lyra had said that since they were going to meet one of the few humans in existence that they should make an effort to make it seem like he matters and that they aren't just thinking that this visit was nothing special. "I still don't know Lyra, are you sure that we need to go to such an extreme?" Octavia whispered, looking around to see some of the stallions, and even a few mares, holding their gaze a little longer than they should, "You know I don't like to go out in public dressed up like this. A small formal party near my home with at least with a carriage ride at night, sure, but in the middle of the day? No." Lyra felt a pang of guilt for her long time friend, to try and help she wrapped a hoof around Octavia for a long hug, keeping pace with one less foreleg, "I know. How about this; after we get back to your place I'll make you dinner and help you try and find a good special somepony for you soon, how about that?" Lyra asked, knowing that Octavia was still looking for an active relationship, hoping for a nice stallion. A small blush formed on Octavia's cheeks, but she gave her friend a quick hug back and a small smile letting out a quiet "Thank you" as they continued on to the castle. [Time: A few minutes after noon] "What do you mean we aren't allowed in!" Lyra yelled at one of the calm, stoic pegasus guard who were blocking the main entrance to castle grounds with their spears. After arriving at the castle, she and Octavia were stopped and told that unless they had someone with clearance or a scheduled visit than they weren't allowed in the castle. "I've told you three times already," he said in a standard, emotionless tone, "unless you have proper paperwork or are accompanied by a pony with clearance to enter the castle, I am not permitted to allow you in." "And I told you already that Nicholas said to get here at noon! It's noon now, and you're saying that we can't keep our word?" "Lyra, I don't remember promising him that we we going to come here." Octavia added before getting a quick glare from Lyra. "I have heard no word about letting a Miss Heartstrings or Philharmonica into the castle to meet with Sir Nicholas." the guard responded, looking at the pair of mares with the slightest bit of suspicion in his eye. "Sir Nicholas?" Lyra asked, cocking her head to the side at the new title the only human she's meet seemed to have. "Ah! There you two are! I was wondering if you'd make it!" said a somewhat familiar tenor voice. Looking around the frustrating guard Lyra and Octavia saw the rather well dressed human, Nicholas. The tall being was wrapped in an old time-y looking suit and jacket that seemed to have seen a few better days, but was still fashionable, along with well polished black dress shoes and a small purple bow tie. At his side was the blue unicorn guard that dragged Nicholas away in Ditzy's shop and in his hand was a small notebook with a pencil inside. Stopping behind the guard Nicholas knocked on his helmet twice to get his attention.The guard turned to see Nicholas and his fellow guard, "Corporal," he greeted the blue guard with a nod, "What are you doing here?" "I'm here to make sure that you let in these two mares for a meeting with Sir Nicholas here." the corporal said, gesturing to the human beside him, who gave him a confused look, and using his magic to pull out a scroll with the royal symbol, "Princess Celestia herself has permitted it, and Miss Lyra Heartstrings and Octavia Philharmonica are permitted to enter the castle at any time if accompanied by Sir Nicholas." Taking the scroll and opening it the guard read what was on it before looking to the two mares in front of him before telling his fellow guards to let them through. "Sorry about the problems madams." Letting a large smile appear on her face Lyra bound over to where Nicholas seemed to be writing or drawing something in his large notebook. When Lyra neared he looked up and gave her a smile, closing his notebook with the pencil inside. "Hi," Lyra said, smiling and restraining the urge to see if what her dad said was true that all humans are great huggers. Nicholas smiled a little wider and nodded to her. Out of the corner of her eye Lyra saw Octavia and the corporal walk up to them. "Hello Sir Nicholas, it is an honor to be meeting you here." Octavia said in a formal tone, giving a small bow. Nicholas just raised an eyebrow at Octavia, confusion written on his face, "You do know you don't need to be as stiff as the formal board, right? And you don't need to call me Sir or Nicholas. Just call me Nick. I don't know where the 'Sir' title came from but you don't need to use it. I invited you here for casual conversation, not to a ball. Honestly, I thought I was getting a little overdressed for it." he said, gesturing to his suit. Octavia blinked, and looked at Lyra with a smug, 'I told you so' face. "If that's what you want me to refer to you, so be it." she responded with another small bow. Nick's eyebrow was still slightly raised, but with a shake of the head and a small chuckle he walked further into the courtyard, waving for the three to follow him. Though Nick was looking around and taking in his surroundings with a smile, Octavia was starting small talk with the stallion guard and Lyra was paying equal attention to the scenery as Nick. He must be at least six and a half hooves tall! she marveled as he continued to walk, I wonder what his history's like? If he knows where the other humans are or if he's a sort of delegate from the humans? Is he immortal or mortal? So many questions! As questions ran unanswered in Lyra's brain she didn't notice that the small group had entered the Canterlot Castle and that the corporal was taking the lead. "Sooo, Nick?" Lyra said, trotting up to his side, determined to get some answers. But she knew she had to be slow and work her way up to the more complicated questions, "How long have you been in Canterlot?" "A day, yesterday was my first day in the capitol of multicolored equines." he said, adjusting his glasses. "How do you like it?" "Oh, it's real nice so far, but give me a day or two and I'll tell you if I love, hate or feel neutral towards Canterlot. What about you?" Rounding a corner Lyra responded, "It's okay, I'm just staying with Octavia for the week." "Did somepony say my name?" Octavia spoke up. Looking over his shoulder Nick responded, "Yeah, but don't worry Strings," "Strings?" "I have a tendency to give people nicknames, " he said with a shrug. Octavia just rolled her eyes and continued her conversation with the guardspony. "But anyways, back to what we were talking about. Why are you staying at her place? Something happen?" Nick asked, a tinge of concern in his voice. Aww, he's so sweet, Lyra thought with a small smile, "No. Well, yeah, kinda. My roommate, Bon Bon, got a new boyfriend." "And that's a bad thing?" Lyra let out a groan, and facehoofed, "For me it is. She's so bad at keeping a stallion. Every time she get's a new coltfriend they stay together for a month but the first week is the worst." "I'm assuming that she like's to get to home base fast?" "Fast isn't fast enough to describe it." she replied with a giggle. The corporal stopped, halting the rest in the small group. The guard walked into one of the rooms in the large hallway and Nick followed. Unsure where they were going Lyra and Octavia followed to find a very comfortable room, with soft carpeting, several large, plush couches, an elegant recliner, a fireplace with a burning fire burning happily and two small bowls of what looked like mints on a birch wood coffee table and similar side table. Nick went straight to the recliner, and sat down with a happy sigh, while the corporal took his place standing beside Nick. Glancing at the two music mares Nick arched a brow, "You goin' to stand around or sit on the comfy furniture?" turning in his seat he addressed the guard, "That means you too, Blue," After 'Blue' took a seat, sitting exactly where he was standing, the four of them began to converse. Nick more with Lyra and Octavia more with Sea Crest, as Lyra later learned he was named. For hours the group talked about many things, but Lyra noticed that Nick had been asking about a lot of things she likes, and when she asked him about it he said that he was trying to figure out a nickname for her, but nothing was sitting just right. Well, that is until Lyra took a mint from the bowl on the coffee table. "Finally!" Nick exclaimed, stealing the attention of everyone, "I know what to call you now Lyra!" "What is it?" she asked, using her magic to pop a second mint into her mouth. "From here on, you shall be dubbed, Minty Green!" No one made a sound until Sea Crest broke the silence, "Is that the best you could come up with? Really?" > Nick's Art Lesson and Lyra's Average Morning > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [POV: Nicholas] "I still don't understand why you want to get an art lesson." Sea Crest said, walking at Nick's side, showing where the artist that Celestia mentioned yesterday lived. His name was Blake Art, which Nick thought was one of the strangest names he's come across so far. Seriously, the guys last name was Art and he's not just an artist! This little thought sparked a small argument between him and Celestia, mostly just going back and forth which one's kind had the weirder names. In the end it boiled down to the fact that, to one, the others' species had the stranger names. But either way, Celestia, with her ability to schedule things quickly, (Being a monarch may play a role) got Nick a meeting with this Blake Art guy. Nick, who brought along his trusty, handy, dandy notebook, stopped drawing and looked at the absolute misery of a sketch of the blue hard ass beside him. Frowning, Nick responded, "Because I like to draw what surrounds me and I can't draw any of you ponies for a pile of cow pie. It aggravates me...to no end." "Really?" Sea asked, slightly interested in what Nick's said, "And is that why you've had your nose buried in that notebook of yours?" Glancing at Sea Crest Nick flipped to the barely recognizable sketch of Sea, letting him soak it in, in all its horrific beauty. After walking for a few seconds with Sea looking at the picture, he burst out laughing, "That's supposed to be a pony?" he chortled, "It looks like a dog with an overly fluffy tail covered in mud!" Nick's face flushed a bit as a few passing bystanders looked at the two of them with more than just a look of awe, more just confusion, "It's supposed to be you," he mumbled. If Sea heard Nick, he either didn't mention it or didn't care. "I see now why you want help," he said, mirth still noticeable in his tone, "That's just not a good drawing." "Gee, thanks Mister Supportive, real confidence booster, you are." Nick mumbled, his-usually suppressed-British accent somewhat noticeable. While Sea continued to chuckle a little, Nick took it upon himself to mark the corner of the page with Bloo on it with an very visible X to remind him that he needed to fix it. Closing his notebook, he decided to distract himself in the artistic beauty that is the very essence of Canterlot. Humming one of the few tunes he could remember, Nick continued to let his gaze wander, but after a few moments he noticed a few ponies with an odd look on their faces. It looked suspiciously like...Disgust? Leaning over Nick whispered to Sea, "Uh, Bloo? What's up with the bystanders?" Looking to his left and right Sea seemed to notice the few too, "Some ponies didn't like humans long ago, " he explained in a hushed tone, "As unreasonable as it is, a few ponies carry that unjust hatred. If any of them say anything, you tell me or another guard. Ponies like that have been known to be rather...Physical." "Ah...Racism." Nick sighed, running a hand through his already spiky hair, "The worst mindset for any being." Sea nodded and was visibly looking at passerbys more carefully. Though the thought of being assaulted for senseless racism was concerning, Nick did his best to try and put that tid-bit behind him. After that last comment the duo's conversation had lapsed into silence as they continued into what was supposed to be the residential district, which wasn't as elegant in architecture or material as the business district that the two of them went through two days ago, but it was still nice to look at. But one question popped into Nick's head and it left his mouth before he knew it, breaking the silence, "Why is it that this guy is going to give me lessons at his house?" Sea Crest glanced at Nick with his-practically signature- look of 'stop asking these questions because I don't want to answer them'. "I don't know and I don't care. But we're here," he said, stopping and looking at the house to his left. Nick stopped to see one of a higher-end looking two story houses made out of marble and what looked like black granite. In front of the house sat a small courtyard surrounded by a whitewashed stone wall and a small iron gate, which was wide open, with an insignia of a pencil and paintbrush crossing one another one each side of the gate. Nick let out an impressed whistle, "Wow...This dude's gotta have skill and money to burn if he's got a place like this." he said in a little, awed, tone. "Ah! You must be Sir Nicholas!" Came a rich accented voice, and the accent Nick couldn't put a finger on but sounded English. By the doorway stood an alabaster unicorn stallion with a short black and red striped tail and a spiked mane styled up and set to one side of his horn, and a cutie mark identical to the emblem on the gate, "I knew what I have been hearing of another human in Canterlot had to be true. Come, come!" Sea Crest just glared at the stallion and turned to Nick, "Well, seems that we know your new tutor knows you." he said, "And it just had be him. I knew I recognized that name." he added almost inaudibly. "Meh, come on Bloo, we're wastin' daylight!" Nick exclaimed. "But it's not even nine o-Hey!" before Sea could finish, Nick wrapped one of his arms around Sea's barrel and hefted him in his heavy-as-bricks armor into the mansion. "Nicholas! Put me down, this instant!" Sea shouted flailing around in Nick's grip. "What's the fun in that?" Nick grunted, entering the household, "But one thing, take it easy with the squirming...you're heavy..." [POV: Lyra] Lyra was having the most wonderful day ever, she'd just played her best solo of her entire life for all of Equeastria and even the princesses themselves. The concert hall that she'd been playing in was large enough for everypony to sit and listen to her play. The applause was nearly defining, as Lyra took a bow, and set her lyre aside. Beep Beep Beep And as soon as the dream was just getting to the part where the princess bow to her, Lyra's ever-lovely, away from home, alarm clock signaled the end to dream land adventures. Groaning Lyra swatted at the beeping menace trying to hit that pesky off switch. But alas, Lyra knew she was too far into the world of reality to go back. Finally finding the right switch, Lyra quieted the little hell box, and lazily sat up in her bed, yawning and stretching her forelegs over her head, her spine letting out several satisfying cracks. Rubbing one of her eyes Lyra looked around Octavia's guestroom again. It was a fairly normal room with ash grey walls, a princess sized bed with an ebony frame, an oak end table with a more fancy looking lamp with a metal base and a simple dresser of the same wood. Looking back at her alarm clock, Lyra noted that it was fairly early in the day, just past nine. Letting out another yawn, Lyra slipped out of bed and made her way out of the room to be greeted with the smell of flat, circular stacks of breakfast goodness. Letting the smell lead her, Lyra, with half lidded eyes, slowly made her way downstairs to the kitchen where her cello playing friend was making Lyra's morning saviors. One of Octavia's ears twitched when Lyra finally made her way to the first floor of her friends home, and a bright and shining grey face turned to give Lyra a smile, "Good morning sleepy head," she chirped. The mint green mare just yawned as a response, only held awake by the refreshing smell of the syrup covered, heavenly stack of delicious pancakes wafting from the dinning room. "Coffee's on the table for you," Octavia called out as soon as Lyra's eyes finally fell upon her prize. Coffee and pancakes. The two saviors for Lyra's day. With a mumbled thank you, the unicorn sat down on the plush, velvet cushion acting as a seat. Immediately Lyra began digging into her pancakes, occasionally gulping down a sip or two of coffee before returning to the losing war between mouth and pancake. At some point Octavia had walked in and took her place across from her green friend, who was barley using her fork, and started slowly eating her own, albeit, somewhat smaller stack of pancakes. After several minutes, only an empty plate, a fork and an empty coffee cup lie in front of the unicorn, who slumped forward to lay her head down on the table. The silence was nearly palpable, only broken by the miniscule amount of noise Octavia was making eating her own meal. "So, Lyra, did you sleep well?" Octavia asked, to which Lyra responded with a groan. [POV: Nicholas] It had been roughly three hours since entering the artist's home, and in that time Blake's personal work room was a mess of balled up papers with two calm stallions and one rather annoyed human in the center of it all. "For fucks sake!" Nick shouted, hoping to release some of the anger that's been welling up for the duration of his 'lesson'. "How do you expect me to learn when all you do is say, 'draw me'? You're not even telling me how to make a base or how to work out the proportions!" "It's called finding your own style," Blake responded in his heavily accented voice, "You find your way, you'll rarely lose it." "It's not a matter of not having my own style, I have one already!" Nick grumbled, "It's that I don't know how!" With a small glare from his instructor, Nick was silenced, "Listen." Blake said in a more authoritative voice, taking a piece of paper and a pencil and taking a seat right in front of Nick, "How about we try this; instead of you just drawing me, you draw a pony, male or female-and it doesn't even have to be a full pony either-while I draw a human? After twenty minutes, we compare each others' drawings, and make a replica next to it to demonstrate how the other should draw it even better. How does that sound?" Humming for a moment Nick took a few deep breaths, collecting his thoughts and calming himself down. I'm not bad. he thought, Just inexperienced. I can do this! after pumping himself up Nick grinned, nodded, and started to work. When twenty minutes had come and gone the two artists, put on their finishing touches, and looked at one another while holding their work. "And so the time runs dry," Blake said, putting his paper face down on the ground before him, Nick parroting his movements. The unicorn using his magic to switch the papers around and handing Nick his work. The masterpiece, as Nick thought of it, was of a beautiful human woman with slightly curled, hip long hair that blew in an unseen breeze, wrapped in a sleeveless, knee long dress and jacket, shielding her smooth skin from the wind. Nick just made a sound of astonishment as he absorbed the amount of detail in the picture. Blake let out a small chuckle, quickly saying "I might have gone a bit overboard on it, now let's see what you've made." Before Nick could snap out of his trance to stop him, Blake had already pick up Nick's paper and was inspecting the image on it's surface. What was drawn was a profile of Nick's companion, showing a slightly annoyed look on his face, and quite a bit of the detail on his helm. One of Blake's eyebrows rose as he looked at the humans work, while Nick was trying to make himself as small as possible and failing horribly. "Much better!" Blake suddenly exclaimed, letting out a loud laugh, "Very much better than before. Seems to me that you are much more fit for drawing a ponies face than all of them, eh?" After hearing those words Nick let out a small sigh of relief. "So, when do you think you'll be offering to draw some of the pretty mares around Canterlot?" Nick immediately sputtered in confusion while the two stallions shared a small laugh at Nick's expense. > Resistance and Discussion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [POV: Sea Crest] "Not this again." Sea Crest groaned. For the second time, Nick is refusing to get out of bed. The human, wearing a tank top and sweat pants that for whatever reason he deemed to be pajamas, was amid a cluttered pile of pillows and blankets, sleeping or otherwise ignoring the lively and waking world. I guess he knows that I'll just drag his sorry flank to breakfast again. Humph. He should be glad I care about his well being. rolling his eyes and removing his helm and setting it aside, preparing himself for the mission of rooting through the palace of comforters to reach the wily man. Shifting a few blankets, he heard some rustling under the covers and saw movement. With a small smile he donned his helm again, believing that Nick was going to be cooperative this morning and get to breakfast, but that wasn't the case. Although Sea had heard of human sign language, the sign that reached out of the impromptu blanket fort was just one finger, the middle finger to be precise, risen. After about ten seconds the arm and the unfamiliar hand sign disappeared inside the mess of blankets and pillows. Narrowing his eyebrows, Sea let out a grunt and took a deep breath. Removing his helmet, once again he decided to stop playing nice and started pulling away at the blankets to try and reveal the noble pain. The further he got the more the human shifted around, soon enough Sea saw one of his feet sticking out of his cocoon of bed sheets before it quickly pulled deeper into what Sea Crest could only imagine to be a cavern of pillows and bed wear. Taking another deep breath, albeit much slower, Sea decided to stop playing nice and engulfed all of the blankets in his magic. With a small motion of his head, he lifted all of the bed wear with a slight struggle to find Nick curled up in a ball still hanging onto a blanket. "Are you going to let go?" Sea asked. "Leave me be...Too tired..." Nick moaned, trying to wrap himself up again. Sea didn't give him the chance and lifted the sheets higher and shook them, not violently, but hard enough to make Nick lose his grip. With a soft thump he landed on the mattress, curled around a pillow he grabbed. Sea was beginning to reach his wits end. "Nick," Sea said in a voice hiding his annoyance, "Will you stop resisting? Princess Celestia would like to-" "Sun Butt can wait...so small...sleep. Need...dreams..." the human whimpered sleepily. One of Sea Crest's eyes twitched. "No more," he declared in a deceivingly calm voice that caused Nick to open one of his bleary and bloodshot eyes to look in Sea's direction. Lighting his horn once more he wrapped his magic around Nick's arms and tugged him out of the bed with some effort. Soon enough Sea Crest was dragging the pillow-hugging human down the long corridor to the private dinning hall with a fair amount of resistance. "Why are you struggling?" Sea growled, ignoring any other guard or maid that they passed. "Sleep..." Nick moaned. "That's not and answer." Nicholas just moaned and weakly attempted to escape. After a few more moments the dining hall reserved for the crown and ambassadors or ponies of importance came into sight. "Let go of me!" Nick shouted, shocking Sea into nearly letting his magic grip fade. "And why should I?" Sea questioned, not looking back. There was maybe another minutes worth of a walk. "I was sleeping and it's, oh, I don't know, Saturday! Ya'know, international sleep-in day? Ever hear of it?" "And yet you are still expected to up and functioning at seven a.m. anyways." "By who?! Unless I'm mistaken, I have no job, I have no plans for the times being and have no responsibilities. I'm living the rich life, damn it! So who here has this outrageous idea the I aughta be up this early on a weekend?" "I would like to know who has an expectation for Nicholas here as well, Corporal." said an angelic voice that could calm insane stallions and halt wars out of admiration and fear. With wide eyes Sea Crest turned around to be faced with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing beside her. While Celestia was standing tall and proud, Luna seemed just to be just as tired as Nick, her posture not as stiff and proper as it usually is, as she stood weakly staring in the direction of the food hall. Taking a quick, calming breath Sea answered, "I had you and the nobles in mind your highness." with a salute. One of Celestia's eyebrows rose and she looked to Nick, who still looked fatigued, but rather irate as well. "Did you? It seems to me that Nick feels rather strongly against it. " Nick made a sound of agreement and crossed his arms, "You're right on the mark Celly. Now could you get Sea to let me go?" Celestia nodded, and Sea did what was implied, letting his magic fade and letting Nick free. He stood up nearly bearing his full height, slouching somewhat. "Nicholas, may I speak with you?" The princess asked, nodding her ever-flowing rainbow mane towards a nearby room. Nick looked over to the room for a few seconds before slowly making his way to it, Celestia following suit. When the door closed Sea Crest could only hear muffled voices, neither being distinct enough to tell apart easily. Resisting the urge to put his ear to the door, Sea turned around to be faced with Princess Luna. Royal guards are trained to not fear any possible enemy, but Luna looked absolutely terrifying at the moment. Swallowing past the iron lump in his throat he gave a small respectful bow to the princess before standing at the ready at the side of the door. Luna was still glowering at him before he asked in as calm a voice he could muster, "Is something wrong your highness?" "How...?" she mumbled. "Pardon you majesty?" "How? "Could you please explain Princess?" "How can you care for that beast?" Sea blinked in surprise, never had he thought that one of the princesses would think so lowly of a human, "Princess Celestia has ordered me to care and oversee the human known as Nicholas Sanders until he bids otherwise." he answered professionally, ignoring the part of him that wanted to scold the princess of the night like a filly that said a curse in school. Luna's eyes narrowed and she huffed before walking away to the dinning hall without another word. The encounter itself left Sea befuddled and alone to his thoughts about what just happened. How in the world can princess Luna so openly hate Nicholas just for being human? I'd understand not liking his personality, but why call him a beast...? I think I may have to talk with princess Celestia about this... Sea sat in near silence, listening to the muffled conversation between his charge and his princess, standing dutifully by the door way for a while until he heard shouting, loud and clear coming from inside the room. "I've told you already Celestia!" The door burst open, making Sea flinch a bit before Nick strode out, murder in his eye. "What happened?!" Sea asked, trying to keep calm, even though he had no idea what had just transpired. "Leave me be before I chuck your furry hard ass out a window." he growled, stomping his way back to his room scattering a few maids away in the process. Sea was about to run after Nick and find out what happened when he felt something touch his exposed shoulder. He turned his head to see the Princess with her normally present calm smile, trying to hide the sadness in her eyes. "Let him calm down for a few minutes, then talk to him." she said. "Princess, what happened? Did something happen or-" "Don't worry about me Corporal, I'm fine. But I'm sure Nicholas would appreciate somepony other than me to talk with about this matter." Sea felt like his head was being tossed around. What happened? "I'm afraid I don't completely understand, you Majesty." "Just go to him and listen to what he has to say." Celestia responded cryptically, giving him a reassuring smile and walking away to the dinning hall. Sea stood for a long time. He didn't know how long, but quite a while, just staring where the princess was moments prior. Eventually he snapped out of it with a furious shake of the head. He took long, deep breaths and tried his best to collect his thoughts. After a few minutes he made his way to the room of the fuming human. The walk wasn't long and Sea was standing in front of the door to Nick's room, practically able to feel the pure emotion behind it, pulsing every so often with the occasional curse or rustling. With a final deep breath Sea rose his right foreleg and calmly knocked three times. The flowing emotion seemed to halt, freezing over within seconds, leaving only a cold chill present. "I already told you Celestia, I don't want to talk to you right now unless you can change it." Nick calmly shouted. Though the tone itself was calm Sea Crest knew that it had an underbelly of malice and daggers. "Nicholas, it's Sea Crest...Can I come in?" Sea asked hesitantly. The ice in the air seemed to retreat at the very least as Sea heard shuffling and footsteps. The door opened to show Nick holding the door open with one arm, his hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot and a none-to-happy look on his face. "What do you want Sea? And yes, you can, but I won't let you." he said, obviously annoyed. Sea opened his mouth to answer before he stopped himself. Would he really appreciate hearing that his guard was sent to check up on him by the pony that he just finished, what Sea could only assume was a very intense argument not too long go? He paused before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, "I was just, um, checking up on you...uh, because you seemed a little...unhappy?" If anypony could describe the look that became Nicholas' face the word really? with the question mark would be it. Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head before slowly closing the door. Sea saw it happening and jammed his hoof in between the closing door and the doorway. "Wait," Sea said before Nick could tell him to beat it. "I just want to know what in Tartarus happened. I was a bit distracted to listen in." Sea heard Nick snort before he opened the door wide enough to be seen again, looking down at Sea Crest with an analytical face. Sea would be the first to admit that having the human stare at him in silence in the middle of a hallway where a few curious maids were beginning to gather was a bit unnerving, but Sea held his ground. Nick let out a quiet sigh before he opened the door and waved him in. Nicholas shut the door behind Sea and made his way to the bed, sitting down and letting his legs hang off the edge, his shoulders slumped. He looked defeated, saddened even, it made Sea's heart ache in pity. Sea Crest made his way to the bed and took his place besides the human, hesitating, but eventually rubbing a hoof up and down his back on a calming way. "Do you know what it's like to be away from your family?" Nick asked out of the blue. "I do," Sea responded, a picture of of his sister popping into his head. He snickered, Tidal Wave, you'd better not be in trouble, "Do you know what it's like to not be able to see them?" The question snapped Sea Crest out of his mussing and brought him back to the present. When he thought about it, he's never been kept from visiting them at his old home on the coast. "No, I haven't." Sea finally answered. "Well, I hope that you won't have to deal with that ever," Nicholas said with a ghost of a smile and sad eyes. "Unlike me." It took a few seconds, but then it clicked, "Is that what you two were talking about?" Nick nodded, "But you told me that that necklace that you're still wearing is what brought you here." Nick let out a short chuckle before tugging at the amulet, looking down at it, "You're right. Celestia wanted to know how I was holding up." another chuckle, except dryer, "Told her I had no clue what she was on about. But then she explained how with each new wearer of this trinket there's something like a wait period." "Wait period?" Nick nodded, "Yeah. Say I've had this thing for years, I'd be able to go back and forth with just a thought if I so choose." he explained, seeming to be a bit in higher spirits, "But with the wait period, I'm stuck here for an entire six months. I didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone..." Sea's eyes widened at that. Six whole months in a place he didn't even know existed? Away from friends and family and devoid of the choice to go back, even if he wanted to? Sea could only imagine how the hard reality of this hit Nick. Now his shouting and anger from before was understandable, maybe misplaced, but understandable. "I can tell this is tough," Sea started, his pity changing to a new found respect. Nick may be irritating at the best of times, but Sea could tell clear as day that he cared very much for his family. "But... if you're here then it's just one good more story to tell them when you get back. Or if you end up hating Equestria, you can leave and never come back and stay in your world." Nick snorted again, "Yeah, I'll be sure to say, 'Hey mom, hey dad! Don't mind the fact that I've been gone for six months, I've just been in the world of blindingly colorful magic talking pegasuses and unicorns because the necklace Gram gave me is magic too'." he waved his arms around for added effect. The comment made Sea smile as he clapped Nick on the back lightly, "See my point? Might think you're crazy but it'll be a funny story now wouldn't it?" Nick let out a weak chuckle and started to straighten himself up a bit. "Feeling better?" "Yeah." "You want to go get breakfast?" "No." "What do you want then?" "I want ice cream." "Ice cream...?" Sea deadpanned, "It's eight in the morning." Nick turned to Sea, his usual smile back. Leaping off the bed he pointed to the door dramatically, "It's never too early for ice cream!" he declared before rushing off, his bare feet pounding as he ran. Sea continued to sit before he sighed and made chase. At least Nick's back to normal. Sea thought.