1 From the Nation Across the Sea

Ginger P.O.V.

I was falling through the thick warm summer air toward the edge of a dark, quiet forest below. My wings hurt like all get out, as I’d been flying since yesterday morning with a satchel as big as one of my wings. I was trying to find some place called Ponyville, a far walk from my hometown, Starling Bay.

Shaking out my curly mane, I gently fluttered down onto the largest treetop I could find. The waxy leaves were cool on my hooves, and I decided to use them to soften my aching wings. Resting up, I sighed and looked as far into the yonder as my poor eyesight would let me. In the further of the glade and on past a few hills, lights flickered gently. I knew that the place was my final destination, so I stood and heaved myself back into the air. I got really lucky that I have my mum's big wings, and unlucky that I got her round middle. But I can fly, so I'm not gonna whine about it too much.

As I glided over the encroaching hills, the gate of the small town opened slowly. I wanted to just fly over it, but figured it would be rude to whoever opened the door. So I halted in midair, and skidded to the dirt path, leaving small clouds of dust in my wake. Clipping through, I saw that the little town seemed to be dead. A restaurant was open, and there were two ponies talking on a park bench near said establishment. But the rest of the town was oddly quiet, especially since the fuss that had gotten me to show up here was, in fact, not there.

I heard a sudden crash, like the clatter of thick glasses onto plates, and I whipped mechanically around. I let out a breath of summer air as I found what I was looking for. A small wooden plaque engraved with a mug read 'Taproot Tavern'. The crash came from inside, soon followed by another and a southern sounding yell.

I galloped farther over and pushed through the swinging door, the soft gold and mahogany lights shining off of my orange coat. The whole tavern was warm and quiet, aside from the crashing noises in the kitchen. I looked to the door, and a shock of cerulean-dyed hair followed by a near indistinguishable brown hide clattered in with glasses aplenty.

"Hey Tom! Long tail, long time huh?"

The stallion looked at me, his ears pricking forward. He smiled, and then set all of the mugs down in a precarious pile on the counter. Trotting up, he threw a rag to the shiny table.

"Why Ginger, look at that mane!" he said. "You'd think you've got a cloud of fire on your head."

I looked at him coyly, and flicked my tail. "You're one to talk. Your hair is blue and defies gravity."

"True 'nuff." he chuffed, and went back to his spot behind the counter to polish it. I took a seat on a cherry red barstool, and reached into my blue satchel. The scroll, yellowed and wrinkly, crackled quietly in my hoof.

"Here ya go, little lady."
I looked up, and saw a frothy mug of fresh-from-the-tap root beer. I smiled, then dug back inside the blue bag for my coin purse.
"How much will that be?"

Tom held up a hoof and shook his head. Giving me a closed-eyes grin, he whinnied, "On the house, sweetheart."

"Thanks, Tom!" I say as I pull the mug to my lips after setting my scroll down. The foam on top slipped up to my top lip and the root bear ran in a cool stream down into my belly. I let out a long-held breath as I wiped the bubbles from my muzzle.
"I meant to ask, what was all that crashing earlier?"

Tom stopped polishing the counter with a pained look on his face. Putting his head down and blocking his mouth with his hoof, he whispered, "New employee. Not real good at waitin' tables or working the register. He's stuck on the night shift washing dishes."

I nodded, and went back to my mug. "Where's he from?"

"'Round here, I reckon."

Finishing the root beer, I pushed the glass away and retrieved my scroll. Tom looked at it curiously, and put the rag behind the counter. He leaned against the table top and gestured at it. "Who else from Starling Bay got the summons?"

"Ummm… Nuke, Glacie, and a few more you don't know." I held the scroll out to him. He took it, breifly glancing over it.

"What's it about?"

I shrugged, tucking it away again. I looked at the clock on the wall; midnight on the dot. "They should all be here soon." I sat the satchel on the stool to my left.

Tom nodded, and then jumped as another crash was heard from the kitchen. Stomping back and forcing his way in, he gave an uncharacteristic yell. "For the love of Celestia! Be careful Patch; we only have so many plates and glasses! It's a bar, not a porcelain factory!"

I laughed, and the front entryway swung open. Ruffled brown hair and pale gray fur accompanied by steely eyes wandered in. The figure shook out, and trotted nonchalantly up to the counter.

"Ginger Snap!" I turned, and tucked my wings to my side.

"Nuke, how's a brother been?" We walked up to each other, and gave a quick half-hug/bro-hoof.

He shivered, and took a seat next to my satchel. "I got off of a crowded train and met Neo in Wickerwood. We just got out of Everfree Forest and my hooves are on fire."

Sitting down on the fake-leather stool, I reached into the back pocket of my blue satchel. A small plastic puck sat in my hoof's palm. I held it over to him, and he unscrewed the top as his horn glowed a pale green.

"It's an aloe mix I got from work. It relaxes muscles and numbs overworked nerves. I'd put it on my back if I didn't have feathers." I say as he dipped his hoof and worked it into his soles.

After a minute or two of that, Tom came back in looking flustered and with a new set of mugs.

"I'm sorry, Ginger. That boy's thicker than a redwood."

"Hi Tom."

The brown-gold stallion looked up, surprised. "Nuke, you've gotten so tall!"

The gray unicorn grinned half-heartedly, and continued to try and soothe his aching hooves. "Nice hair."

I socked him in the shoulder, earning a yelp. "Don't be rude, X-Butt."

Nuke looked at me part sorely and part deviously. He magically screwed the top back onto the aloe, and slipped it into the satchel again.

It occurred to me to ask where the others were. "Didn't you say you arrived with Neo? Where is he?"

Nuke scratched under his chin, and looked across the counter to the menu carved into the wall. "He's waiting for Glacie outside the town gate."

I shook my head, mane tickling my muzzle. "Sure is a whole lot of waiting today. If I have to wait anymore, I'm going to starve." I clacked my hoof gently to the countertop and gained Tom's attention. "Can I buy some food? I haven't eaten since this morning."
Tom nodded, and pulled out a steno pad and a pencil. "What can I getcha?"

"Whaddya want, Nuke?" I ask my stallion-friend as I turn my gaze toward the menu myself. "I'll order after you."

He tapped his lip and his stomach gave a loud, sonorous growl. With a grin and a cocky shake of the head, he said, "Funnel cake. Extra sugar."

I smiled and said, "Make that two, Tommy. And some root beer."

Tom scribbled it down, and went back into the kitchen. I heard a younger voice whining, and then the sound of the oil in their fryer start to pop. Nuke sat there for a second, and started to fool around with his hair.

I turned toward him and said, "I would've walked with you guys, ya know."

Nuke, mildly surprised, glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. He dismissed it breifly with a flick of his hoof. "Nah, it would've made you crabby to be stuck in the crowds we were stuck in. You already have ownership over my soul; I'd like to keep it in one piece."

I laughed, and then put my head onto the countertop. I was tired, but too tired to sleep. Do you ever feel that way? You've worked so hard or stayed awake so long that you can't drift off, no matter how weak your muscles are or how jaded you feel.

The thick and greasy smell of batter frying wafted through the window that breached the bar and the kitchen. Both of our stomachs growled in unison, and I sat bolt upright. We heard Tom knocking around in a pantry, and the worker, whoever he was, getting out plates. Nuke was tapping impatiently at the counter with one hoof, his head resting on the other.

Suddenly, a pen resting on the other side of the counter slid over to us. It floated in the air, and gave me a gentle whap on the nose. I took note of the soft green glow coming from inside the pen's cap, trying to remain hidden. Nuke hid his smirk to the other side of his face, but I knew it was there. The pen twirled one more time, and whipped over to pick my glasses from my nose.

As it did, I gave a one-inch punch and cracked it back. My glasses landed on my satchel, and the pen slapped Nuke's right cheek. He winced, and whipped over to give me a playful glare.

Boredom will do strange things to you.

Tom pushed through the kitchen door with two funnel cakes on his back. Steam rose in thick wispy tendrils from underneath the snowy white powdered sugar. The stallion slid them acrobatically in front of us both, and grabbed two large mugs from behind the counter. Placing them to a nozzle in the wall, he filled them to the brim with the foamy and syrup-colored liquid. He placed them next to the plates, and then wiped away the nozzle with his overused rag.

"Enjoy, folks!" Tom chirped, and vanished back into the kitchen.

Nuke had already started digging into his funnel cake, the steam curling around his muzzle as he gulped it down. Sugar was staining his nose and fluttering down onto the counter. My mouth watered, and I picked a generously sized chunk to release the heat trapped inside.

I bit into it, and some of the powder sank down to my darker-colored hooves. I made a pleased 'delicious' noise, and shoved the rest of the piece into my maw.

"We haven’t eaten food like this since the North Thicia fair!" Nuke mumbled through his mouthful, polishing off his first third.
I nodded vigorously and licked the powder from my lip. "And think about it, this town can have 'em all year round!" I wiped my mouth, and chased down my first bit with a big gulp of the freshly-made root beer.

The front door was breached by two blue shapes, one pale gray-blue and one navy, both with dirty brown hair and wings. The female was laughing uncontrollably, and as soon as she saw me, shot over as she propelled herself with her wings.

"My Kouhai!" she giggled as I was pressed against two other barstools. Her gray-blue coat shone under the lights, and her white hooves were pressed to my clavicles as her icy eyes stared giddily into mine.

Pushing her off, I gave her a hug with my wing. "Glacie, how're things in Atmosphere City?"

She hugged back before taking a seat on my right side. "Really really wet. The summer has us make a whole lot of rain."

I nodded, and then pushed part of my funnel cake over to her. She looked at it like a rabid wolf, and promptly started to gulp it down. Grease snuck its way onto the bridge of her nose as she scarfed the deep fried pastry down her throat.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked around to Nuke's side. A burly navy-blue pegasus stood there with a cocky smirk on his face. A pair of blue and black headphones hung around his neck, and his marigold-brown mane was spiky and sort of unkempt.

He backed up as I walked forward. We stood on our hind legs, and then knocked our foreheads together quickly. "Bonk!" we said, and then I settled back into my seat.

"Neo, what took you guys so long?" Nuke piped up.

He had been busy stuffing the rest of his order into his mouth so nobody else would have a chance to pick at it. It occurred to me that I should probably finish up mine before Glacie ate it all. I snatched away the last fourth as the blue mare washed a mouthful down with some of my root beer.

Neo remained standing, his wings twitching occasionally. "We forgot where to go. We thought we were supposed to go to the library."

Nuke sighed, and was trying to wipe the sugar residue off of his face and hooves. "I remember telling you specifically, 'There's only one tavern in town. We're meeting there; that's what Ginger said the scroll told us.' I told you before you flew up to the gate to wait for Glacie."

Neo dismissed it with a flick of his ears, boredly trotting in a small circle. "We're here. Don't fuss."

"Not everybody's here." Glacie said. I had missed her digging through my satchel to find my scroll. She'd unrolled it, and then began to read it aloud.

'Greetings from Equestria, Great Gray.

It is in this time of great need that we call on Thicia for assistance. An ancient evil has arisen from the rim of the ocean separating our kingdoms. It is mentioned in only one manuscript, and is called the Grimmlock; it is the devourer of all things living and dead, and will consume all when it breaks fully out of its dimensional prison.

We will need six elites (You being one of them.) of your classes to organize our armies and our preparation.

We have sent summons to the following five ponies, including you to complete the six.

The War Historian- Neo Retro
The Battle Strategist- Nuclear Horizon
The Seer- Glacie Tundra
The Scribe/ Weapon-Designer- Ginger Scribble
The Fighter- Silver Luck

We apologize for including Silver Luck, as she is your only daughter. But she is the best in her class, and this war will almost surely be lost without her.

The Princesses Celestia and Luna will have you escorted to the castle in Canterlot. Please send the other four Thicians to Taproot Tavern in Ponyville. They will be escorted to Canterlot the following morning at 9:00 sharp.

We wish you the best of luck on your journey here.

- Princess Twilight Sparkle, Equestria Ambassador

The room went deathly quiet. I paled, and shrank back into my skin. Glacie dropped the paper to the floor with a look of frustration, fear, and confusion on her face. Nuke looked near the exact same, but Neo looked angry.

"What?" he spat, and turned the paper over viciously. Eyes darting across the parchment, he snorted and threw it back at me as I slid down to the floor.

"Ginger, what is this? Why didn't you tell us?"
I tried to keep my emotions balanced between anger and degradation. My wings were puffing out uncontrollably. Taking a deep breath, I replied, "I was going to, on the train to Canterlot."

Nuke got off of the seat and stepped forward. "Why didn't we get invitations like that one? All ours said was that we were being summoned for Equestria."

I closed my eyes, trying to hide my bitter shame. "You know I work in the castle with Great Gray, albeit as his writer and as a medic."
"So?" Neo scoffed gently.

"Guys, Gray is like a father to her. You know how she and I learned in his elite mapping corps, but what you don't know is how close we got with him." Glacie stepped up, and draped her wing across my back. "And since Gray is so close with Ginger, and she works as the castle, it would make sense that she'd be given this."

I stood there trying to muster up courage to speak. My tongue was knotted, and my wings shook angrily underneath my orange and brown-ish plumage.

Neo thought for a second, then nodded, letting out a rough and crumbly sigh. "Yeah, I guess. Now where are we sleeping?"

Glacie tucker her wing back up, and we all turned our heads as Tom stepped awkwardly into the room. "Uh, folks… I don't mean to interrupt, but you'll hafta sleep in the lounge."

Nuke looked over our shoulders. "Where?"

Tom cantered over to a large curtain, slightly more golden than the wall on either side of it. He pulled a drawstring, and sticking a hoof inside, turned on a light.

We four traversed across the floor, and ducked into the lounge. We all promptly fell into the cushion of a floor. As we looked, the whole room was a cozy circle with pillows upon pillows. The wall was cushioned halfway up to the sconces, the floor was cushioned, even the cushions were cushioned. It looked so squishy and comfortable, we all just walked into separate areas to spread out.
I kneeled down against a pillow and the wall. Tom waved goodnight.

"G'night ladies. You too, gentlecolts. Bathroom is down through the kitchen, and if y'all get hungry, don't eat anything that's marinatin'."

His blue-haired head disappeared, and left the four of us to stew in the awkward that had been created. Neo had his back facing the rest of us, and Nuke was curled up in a bundle of long legs and a rough tail. Glacie was primly wrapped in a ball, her tail over her nose. She breifly lifted her head to give me a quick 'it's okay' smile.

I gave a forced twitch of a grin, and cupped most of my sides in my wings. I covered my eyes with my mane after setting my glasses aside. It took over an hour, but I did eventually drift off.

Ch. 2: On the Train

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The train shook as the puller-stallions at the front started to tug at the cars. We all shifted in our seats as we started to move, the car we sat within ghostly quiet. Glacie was sitting on my right, twiddling her hooves and looking out the window at the slowly passing concrete and manicured shrubs. Nuke sat across from me in a gray and brown slump, blue eyes clouded with sleep and a half snore rumbling in his throat. I felt the suspicious eyes of Neo boring through my fur and into my head.

I sighed and sunk back into my seat, and pulled the satchel I had brought into my lap and rested my arms across it. The generously sized compartment echoed all of the breathing and short snorts and the kicking of our back hooves in the spacious amount of leg room. Glancing sideways out the window, I saw the long grass of a field pulling slowly into view. I heard the heavy and angry hoofbeats of the pullers in front drumming rhythmically against the earth, and the hissing of the metal against itself as we plowed onward. Glacie sighed audibly, and then flopped over to lay against me. Irritated, I almost pushed her away, but decided against it; as a hugger, she gets very physical with her friends.

The door to the compartment slid open with a click, the glass panels clattering into the slot of the walls. A mare stood before us, a small smile on her face. This was the pony who had fetched us a little over an hour ago. She had earned the chagrin of Neo almost immediately when she stepped on his short-trimmed tail upon entering.

Glacie sat up and stretched, and scooted over to the other side of our bench.

"Morning, everypony! Sorry to wake you up; I know you arrived to Ponyville late last night." her voice was clear and to the point, a bit too cheery for anybody but an Equestrian-native. As she stepped in, the door shut behind her. She sheepishly wiggled in to sit between Glacie and I, her purple fur shimmering in the passing light.

I noticed she had large wings like me, spending a bit more of the space available on the bench. Then I in turn noticed the horn emerging from her purple and pink bangs. An Alicorn? I've heard of Alicorns not being royals before, but just to have one seem so utterly normal rubbed me odd. She was very pretty and fluid, almost doll-like. She seemed… perfect. I suddenly got this self-conscious pit in my stomach as the lithe mare smoothed her shiny lavender fur.

"Ahem, anyway… I'm Twilight Sparkle, your Ambassador for Equestria." she said, taking a quick look at all four of us. "I've been instructed by Princess Celestia to… 'get to know you'. For… sentimental purposes."

Nuke and I exchanged a 'what-does-that-mean' look, and then returned our gazes to our new car-mate.

"So you need to know how we got our Cutie Marks?"

"Yes. I'll take notes, and then I'll sketch your Cutie Marks out on the end of your section." Twilight sat there awkwardly with a faint smile on her face as she nodded, trying to infect the rest of the room with friendliness. "So… who wants to go first? The trip is pretty long, so we have some time." Just like magic, she had a notepad and a quill floating in front of her, poised to take notes. I knew she seemed like the note-taking type.

Silence stayed, it's hooks dug deep into the train's car.

"I'll go."

Glacie chirped from the other side of the purple Alicorn, peeking over with her straw-gold and brown mane flicking gently in her face. She crossed her back legs and tucked her wings back behind her to try and gain some room. With a deep and steadying breath, she began.

"I'm Glacie Tundra, born and raised in Starling Bay. I'm a pegasus, obviously. " the quill scratched against the surface of the paper. It must have been some form of shorthoof, because it took note extremely fast.

"After flight school, Ginger and I decided to take studies and try to get a major in Tontaro; sort of like what Canterlot is to you." Glacie stated. Twilight nodded, and checked her notes quickly before letting her continue.

"We studies geography for a while, under Great Gray. We le-"

"Great Gray taught a geography class?" Twilight's quill stopped moving. She looked back and forth between Glacie and I with widened eyes. "If I had known about that I'd have-"

"Ahem." Neo cleared his throat impatiently, and tapped his hoof to the floor. "Business first, Sparkle."

Twilight shook her mane embarrassedly, her ears slicking back as she grinned. "Hehe, sorry. Gray's just the best geographer that ever lived. You're lucky that you got to study under him." Glacie and I smiled a bit, the warm fuzzy feeling called bashfulness buzzing up into our throats. Twilight waved her hoof in a circle as her quill became poised. "Continue, please."

Glacie giggled, and said, "Under Great Gray, we both earned a major in geography. Ginger also majored in cartography and writing. Needless to say, I didn't want to be left behind. They're always doing classes in Atmosphere City; again, our equivalent of Cloudsdale. Our weather factory was low on workers for winter, so I was stuck in the Flurry sector during the first month or so."

Glacie's eyes suddenly lit, and a smile graced her face. "That's when I discovered I loved spreading snow. See, to make it snow, you have to chill the air and keep it moving so it doesn't get warm. You also have to distribute the snow evenly across the tops of clouds; this is the difficult part. Because we have to keep moving and the clouds are as white as the snow, it's hard to tell how much is spread across them. I have exceptional eyesight, so whenever snowstorms are due, they call me for all the extra work. That's how I got my Cutie Mark."

She breifly stood and gestured at her flank, where a cobalt snowflake twirled against the slate gray-blue of the rest of her coat. Glacie flicked her tail proudly, and sat contentedly back into her seat. Twilight's quill gave a final dot, and the notepad turned a new page. The Alicorn looked up and around the three that had yet to tell their tales.

"Who's next?"

Neo and Nuke eyed each other with a bored grin. Pointing a hoof at me, Nuke leaned forward and sleazed, "Ladies first, Miss Scribble."

Twilight turned expectantly toward me, quill and notes floating up near my face. She blinked, and tried to give me a calming smile. Shooting an acid glare at my unicorn-stallion-friend, I sighed and turned back to our escort.

"Like Glacie, I was born and raised in Starling Bay. And also, like she said, after graduating flight school we decided to earn a major in Tontaro. I loved being in Great Gray's class. While Glacie stayed only long enough to learn geography, I didn't want to leave."

I looked at my hooves, and gently rubbed them together as I tried to bring myself back to that time. "I saw he also taught cartography- map making, for those of you who don't know. I started taking that class as well, and that's when things got even better."

I felt my wings shake, as if gripped by a strong and turbulent wind. I could practically smell the cool autumn air of that first day. "Great Gray would take our class out to fly over the moorlands to practice mapping. We could only land on the clouds to stop and begin mapping. Drawing landscapes, scaling everything, things like that."

"I thought you majored in writing too." Twilight commented.

I held my tongue's backlash. "I'm getting to that." I half-hissed. Calming myself down, I continued, "When we were done with mapping out the bits of land, Gray had us write down descriptions of plants and wildlife. Gray said he noticed I had a certain skill with words. After passing the cartography class, Gray put me in his writing class. I'm not going to lie, it was just his off block, so nobody else was there."

"I won so many contests because of his coaching. One of my short story books is due to be published soon. That's how I got my Cutie Mark."

I now felt a little better. When I looked up to find Twilight staring at me intently, I felt my ears go back. "Uh, what?"

The quill gestured at my flank. I had neglected to lift my wing; which was so long it covered my Cutie Mark. I held it up, and Twilight peered at it before telling the quill to sketch what she saw: a quill feather fading from sky to pale blue, a line of purple and aqua trailing in a swirl behind it.

I quickly shut my wing down like a clamp. I then looked slyly over at Nuke. He went from neutral to shrinking back into his seat like I did.

Twilight looked up as her quill finished sketching my butt-tattoo, as my mom affectionately called them. That permanent faint smile lingered across her face as she then turned toward the two stallions on the other side of the room.

"Nuke, since you volunteered me, I will so graciously volunteer you." I purr smoothly, and lean against my satchel.

The unicorn pooched out one of his lips, then regained his composure. "Fine, but it's not as fancy as you two's." Cracking his neck, he settled back down and sighed. "Nyaright."

"Same and same, raised in Starling Bay like everybody in here. I didn't study as hard as these two did, and I obviously didn't go to flight school. I was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Go to a school and get a major, open a business… I just didn't know what."

Nuke crossed his hooves. "I was living with my brother; after Ginger went to get her geography major, I couldn't hold up the apartment. Every day, I cleaned the house, did dishes, cooked most of the food. But what my brother did to let me off was fight. Not real fighting, fighting in video games. Deadly Kick-Punch, Hero's Call, Brass Gear Liquid, Road Fighter 2, he was all for those kinds of games. I sucked at them though. Even though it was just a game, it really bit at my thoughts, like I couldn't stop thinking, 'If he beats me at a game, how can I be successful at life?'"

His gray face was wrinkled in a scowl, and he had his muscles clenched. "I know it sounds stupid, but it was my motivation, and it did work pretty well. I wanted to conquer this little obstacle before I went and tackled the real world like my friends were doing. I went to a little place in central Starling called 'Insomniac Game Bar'. I practiced for hours during the day, when I could slip away at least. With the help of some seasoned veterans that showed there regularly, I sharpened my game until I was ready."

Twilight looked at him confusedly. "I thought you were a strategist. What does this have to do with strategy?" The quill paused midair.

Nuke shushed her by lowering his hooves. "I learned to strategize because I knew my brother, and the players he hung around with online. He, and every one of his buddies, played dirty. They knew everything that I didn't, and exploited spots that were hidden because I died to early to explore the place myself. I had to put myself in his head in order to win."

I noticed the cocky blue shine in his eyes as he opened them, and punched his front hooves together. "And that's what I did. I demolished them!" he exclaimed. "I found I had a talent for getting inside other people's heads. I guess that's how I got mine: I psyched my brother out at video games."

The quill sketched his Cutie Mark on the bottom of the information scrawled about him: a circle slashed with an x, all over the natural patch of brown own his flank.

Twilight, seemingly getting a little bored of the storytelling, yawned. One of her wings nearly slapped me across the head, and it took all I had not to return the blow. Nuke held back a sputtering laugh, and Neo let out what sounded like a horn getting stabbed by a moose. Twilight smoothed the hair she had ruffled down nervously, a sheepish smile on her face. I flicked my head away, irritated, and petted it back into place. Glacie meanwhile, was fooling around with her ear, flicking it boredly.

Twilight tried to regain her composure by fluttering her quill back and forth in the air. "Uh, okay then. We're almost done except for… erm… what's was your name again?"

"I'm Neo Retro." the pegasus scoffed, and gave the Alicorn a stern look. Twilight recalibrated her quill and pressed it to the paper.

"I was born in Atmosphere City, unlike everybody else here. I never really fit in well, and I stayed indoors. This was also because my navy coat attracted more heat, and I hate bright sunlight and heat. When I was just a foal, it was pretty good. My family still thought I was cute and tolerated any trouble may have caused around the house."

Neo chuckled, and gritted his teeth. "That all changed when I went from foal to colt. They started pestering me, talking behind my back. You may think I'm being extreme, and I guess I am to some degree. But being a growing colt all alone in a good sized family… it'll do things to you. Not to mention, I was running out of things to do inside. I couldn't do much anymore, as I was losing room to move around in with my wings growing. One day, I uh…. I broke a huge cabinet of china…"

The pegasus rubbed his shoulder awkwardly. "My dad flipped and told me… told me I was adopted. I sort of figured it out beforehand, but… the fact that they'd hide something like that from me that long just drove me out." He gritted his teeth. "I just up and left. I flew (Very badly) down into Starling Bay. I started from the ground up with my life."

Before he could start again, Glacie and I exchanged a glance and applauded Neo breifly. Twilight looked confusedly at us, and went back to her notes.

Neo grinned. "Anyway, I was wandering around for two weeks before it occurred to me to find a job. I started washing dishes, raking, whatever jobs needed doing. It was easier to me because of the shadow of the floating city covered my new town, making it cooler outside. The work was hard, but after I got my apartment, I figured I deserved a little treat. I bought an old gaming system… unfortunately I couldn't use it with my hooves."

"I found a solid job at a place that scrapped and melted metal components. With some help from all the other workers, I recalibrated it to fit my… anatomy. That's how I earned my mark. But I didn't stop there! In the process, I saw so may different weapons that looked cool. I started to study them more and more, eventually getting down to the bare bones of war history. I know every battle, every scuffle, what started it and what soldier ended it. All because of me trying to recalibrate a videogame."

Nuke nudged him with a bony elbow. "And we met at a gaming tournament. It was beautiful; I found my new room-mate."

"And he introduced me to Ginger. So we're all a dysfunctional little family." Neo said victoriously.

The quill quickly sketched the Cutie Mark, a rectangular gray controller with red and black buttons.

Twilight's quill vanished away into her plumage, and she sat up to stretch her wings. Her lavender fur glittered as she stepped through the door after opening it with her horn. Before leaving completely, she stuck turned her head back in.

"Thanks, you guys! I'll send this to Celestia immediately. We'll arrive in Canterlot in about two hours." and she whipped out, cutting the door with a loud bang.

Neo melted in his seat, one leg stretching out over Nuke, who pushed It onto the floor immediately. "Thank Celestia and Gray. I thought she'd never leave."

"Yeah, and she can't control her wing boners very well."

Chapter 3: The Throne Room

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The sound of the hissing brakes jolted me from my sleep. My head knocked against the side of Glacie's wing, in turn startling her awake. I blinked, my glasses sitting crookedly on the bridge of my nose and leaving me temporarily blind. I heard Nuke yawn loudly, and slip from his seat onto the floor with a small click.

All three of us pegasi stretched out our wings, the plumage slightly ruffled and the teeniest bit dull from our sleep. We heard the light and brisk clip of another pony coming from the far end of the car. The silhouette on the other side of the door was familiar, and my assumption on who it belonged to was proved correct. Our Alicorn escort from earlier in the trip was back to fetch us.

"Alright, everypony! We've arrived in Canterlot! Follow me so we don't get lost on the way through the castle. We've still got a bit of a walk until we get to the actual castle itself, but I do hope you'll like the scenery."

Twilight smiled at us again, plumage shiny and uniform against her sides. The mare turned and started a brisk trot out toward the door of the train car. I headed the group as we followed, groggily stepping along and watched the exit draw closer and closer, wondering what was outside. Our view from the train car had been blocked off by a concrete wall littered with posters.

Twilight slipped fluidly from the car, going down the small staircase in one quick sweep. I carefully looked at each of the three steps, trying my best to go down them and not hold up the rest of my group. The bright sunlight greeted my eyes, causing me to quickly raise a wing and block it with an irritated hiss.

My eyes adjusted, and I was instantly speechless. A long and winding cobblestone path flanked by manicured lawns and trees led to a large moat. The water was crystal clear and wavered slightly with a gentle flow, and I followed the stream to magnificent pond and waterfall snaking down from the large and steep purple mountain. And that's just the scenery beside the castle.

I heard the rest of my little pack give audible 'wow's along with me as we saw the pristine white, gold, and purple structure jutting from the side of the mountain. There were a whole lot of swirled rooftops and bi-color stripes along them, nearly each and every one if not all topped with some form of sun, either an artist's rendition or a compass-rose shaped variation thereof. Pink banners lapped gently at the breeze, and the largest spire obscured the bright light of the sun. The white ivory of the walls counterbalanced the gold and royal purple of their roofs, some simply the colors, others underlines with extravagant designs of swirl and paisley.

We were jolted from our awe by our escort, who's cheery, chirpy voice stated, "Beautiful, isn't it? Just wait until you see the inside; come on." She started to again trot briskly toward the entryway. We shook ourselves out, and followed suit.

Clipping past the puller stallions, Twilight, Glacie, and I gave soft 'thank you's and bowed our heads, to which they returned a head-dip and a few small grins. Our two stallions in turn did the same, minus the small speaking. We straightened out, and then continued down the cobblestone road, populated by various ponies of various species.

The sound of the flowing water drew closer, and the dauntingly large and shiny castle grew even greater in size. The Alicorn ahead of us gave us yet another smile, and began to speak to us again as she saw our expressions of daunted awe.

"It's not as big as you think, at least the city before the castle isn't. The opening has a long bridge that leads over the pools that circle underneath the whole thing, so it takes up more space than an actual city." She said, the gave us a look back over her wings.

The entryway was towering overhead, and the large bridge over the water was the gate, laying horizontally down and brushing the top of the stream by a hair width. Our hoofbeats resounded gently over the water, the sound of the waterfall reminding me of the many streams and outlets of my hometown. Two sentries outside of the actual gate to the cities straightened up as our escort passed.

"Morning, Princess Sparkle." one of them, black and gold, greeted our Alicorn friend. I practically stopped in my tracks, and Nuke bumped into me as I did.

Princess? So this Alicorn was a royal. Why was she sent to come and greet us?

"Why did you stop, get moving!" Nuke hissed, brushing past me and following the escort.

Twitching my ears, I did a quick gallop to catch up, and promptly hissed in his ear. "Did you hear what that sentry said?"

Nuke gave me a quick look, trying to dismiss conversation for the sake of absorbing the light and look of the city. "What? He said hi."

I butted my head against his neck to get his attention. "He called her Princess."

Nuke pushed me away, and whispered. "I kind of figured that, Ginger Snap."

I quickly punched him with my left wing, sending him off balance a few feet. "It's Scribble." I hissed, and sped up to a trot to get ahead of him, my curly mane bouncing in ringlets as they shined in the sun.

I heard Glacie flutter up behind me, and her soft landing next to me as we reached the end of the gatehouse. "It's okay, just calm down. Don't get your feathers ruffled before we meet the Princess."

I gave her a sideways glance, and then looked ahead at our escort. Her neat and uniform mane and tail were flowing gently as she broke into the cityscape. I sighed, and then closed my eyes as we fizzled into the sunlight of the city.

The white walls of the houses were only broken by the golden doors ad balconies. A few upper-class ponies waved down at us, their heavy jewelry and fancy clothes chiming gently as they moved. Neo heavily landed next to Nuke, and then looked back at me with confusion and disgust.

I looked at the pegasus-stallion questioningly, and trotted up to him. "What's the matter?"

His navy coat rippled as his neck tensed. "These ponies are aristocrats. Got way too much and didn't work for one single bit of it." His wings were quivering, as if he just wanted to rocket into the sky and fly all the way back to his gaming bar in Starling Bay.

The floor dropped out from under us and we instinctively started to hover as we gave a loud yell of surprise. Our wings beat against each other as we failed to gain any balance, and we fell forward down a crunchy concrete slope.

I kicked out off of it, and opened my eyes as I fluttered rapidly again. I saw that there was a large, slim bridge curving in a soft hump down to another entryway. Our guide as well as Nuke and Glacie were looking up at me as I hovered above the slump that caught me by surprise. Neo meanwhile had gained his footing as quickly as he had lost it and was cantering downhill.

I followed the bridge with my eyes, and almost locked my wings as I saw the wall it connected to. The castle was magnificent , stretching into the sky like the spine on a dragon's back. The door had magnificent sconces, and the marble flooring inside only led to a courtyard, which I could not see from there.

My group had already started to cross the threshold, so I quickly glided to try and meld into their vicinity. Folding my wings again, I tried merge back into the fold, and began to take in more and more of the scenery surrounding me. Most of it was white marble, but there were paintings so detailed you could practically see the movement of the water, the gleam of the sun, or the twinkling of the stars.

"Okay, everypony. We're going to walk through the courtyard and meet up with the other two ponies that Princess Celestia has summoned. After that, we're going to the Throne Room to meet her." Twilight said in the sickly sweet tone I had attached to her since we met her this morning. She gave her tail a quick flick, and trotted out to the other side of the door.

The courtyard itself was comprised of a large white concrete circle attached to the side of the castle. It had a few manicured trees, and a wonderful view of the surrounding land that would make any pegasus' wings shiver with want to fly out over them into the sky and never look back. I also noticed where the stream we had crossed earlier fed into: an enormous circle connected underneath the castle, pooling the water and then letting it fall perilously into the chasm below, but beautiful all the same.

There were two shapes looming at the edge of the giant balcony-like structure, both with horns, but one with wings large enough to rival the circular floor on which we all stood. Their silver fur glittered in the harsh sunlight, and the larger of the two was tall enough to have painted the whole of the castle a sparkling chrome the way his coat reflected the bright light.

"Well, this is where your groups will meet. This is Silver Luck and-"

"GREAT GRAY!" I couldn't help but interrupt our Alicorn escort to go and see the Alicorn of my own. I burst out of the cluster of blue and gray, past the purple standing in front of it, and flew toward the looming gray shape.

His head turned, and I saw the fatherly old eyes I had grown accustomed to over the years. They shone blue, and a smile slipped onto his face as he rotated to greet me. He leaned down and spread his two front hooves, almost like a dog waiting for play.

"Ginger, nice to see you again!"

"I've missed you, Gray."

I gently butted the side of his head so as to avoid the horn he sported, and backed away. I had the biggest goofy smile on my face, and my wings were held high and proud, something I was unaccustomed to.

I heard a clear and somehow snobbish voice, accompanied by a gleaming coat and skinny frame. I looked, and to Gray's right stood a unicorn mare with his coat color. Her mane was mostly white, but there were a few swipes of red throughout, giving the illusion of a peppermint. Her Cutie Mark completely stood out from the rest of her coat: a four leaved clover, forest green with paler highlights.

"Dad, who's this?" she looked down her nose as me, which is an odd feat to say the least, because I was just as tall as she was.

Gray straightened up, and nudged me back toward my group. He kept his voice cool and smooth as he addressed his daughter. "Silver, this is Ginger, writer at Crimson Castle."

"Pleasure." I say, voice dripping with fake sincerity.

"Likewise." Silver answered equally as fake, and trotted on past me.

I straightened up, feeling the hairs at the base of my mane bristle. I quickly clipped back over into my cluster of friends next to Glacie and Nuke. Glacie tried to pat my shoulder with a tentative wing. Then she looked at me confused, and whispered in my ear.

"Have you not seen him in a while? I thought you worked for him at the castle."

I shook my head, casting a cold stare at the silver mare ahead of me. "I work for him yes, writing my books and organizing his libraries full of paperwork, but I don't see him that often. He still teaches geography and cartography."

Glacie nodded, and then gestured at the Alicorn ahead of us. Well, the purple Alicorn ahead of us. "Alright everypony, let's get going to the Throne Room."

I clipped again, following behind Neo and Twilight, trying to dismiss her bad attitude, as well as mine. We left the courtyard in a mostly gray and blue pack, going inside to meet the cold marble flooring on our hooves. The lights overhead were a nice change from the brutal sunlight we escaped from outside, as they were soft and dim.

The reality of what we were going to do hit me headlong in the face. I felt my stomach leap into my brain and got the instinct to preen myself better than any diva known to pony-kind. The corridors were long, filled with lights and paintings too gorgeous for anyone but royalty. Gray eventually slipped back and nudged me, a smile on his face as he covered my body with an enormous wing.

"I'm sure she's lovely, don't worry about it, Ginger."

I gulped nonetheless as he migrated back toward the front of the group, and looked ahead to the seemingly endless hallway we walked down. I saw two royal guards dressed in golden armor, spears at their sides, and I knew that the door they held was the Throne Room.

All the pegasi instinctively started to preen through our feathers and make our plumage shiny and presentable, and the unicorns slicked back their fur and manes. The two guards straightened up, their armor and spears clinking together as Twilight knocked against the door. It opened like a vacuum seal with a heavy clank, and more light gleamed from within to make our fur several shades lighter.

We refrained from shielding our eyes from the bright light within the room, and began to trot shakily forward through the door. The hall was grand and slickly done, the floor's marble pure white with the middle cut gently by tiles leading up to the throne. On either side of the middle path were extravagant stained-glass windows, each depicting a moment in Equestria's history.

One told Nightmare Moon's accent to power, another the unity of both Luna and Celestia. The next showed the reawakening of Discord, and the Elements of Harmony and their wielders turning him back into stone. Then the… turning of Twilight from unicorn to Alicorn. Huh, so that's why she has wings…

And at the end of all the stained glass windows and white marbled tiles stood an even whiter mare. Her hair flowed endlessly in an aurora of colors, and the heavy necklace of gold some around her neck. Her purple eyes were somehow soft and sharp at the same time, and she greeted us with a small dip of her head.

"Greetings from Equestria, Thicians."

We all bowed as Great Gray stepped forward to greet her face to face. "Hello, Princess Celestia. Greetings to you as well."

We all stood upright and looked up at her as she surveyed each of us in turn. She looked back up at Gray, and smiles softly at him. "Thank you for coming all this way to the castle." and she added with a look to her Alicorn escort. "And thank you for bringing them here, Twilight."

"Your welcome, Princess."

Looking back up at her, she had taken Twilight's notes from earlier, and began flipping back to the beginning. She then stepped up to Glacie, who visibly shrank into her feathers.

"Hello, Glacie. I see here that you are… a seer." Princess Celestia looked gently down at her, and then her eyebrows creased questioningly.

"Yes ma'am." Glacie said, and gulped again.

"I see you're a pegasus. How are you a seer?"

"Well…" Glacie looked down, and her wings quivered breifly.

Gray stepped up, holding a wing over her back breifly before addressing Celestia. "The letter came before she mastered it, Princess. She's unsure, but I'll train her before time goes past too long."

Before moving any more pages, she glanced at the navy snowflake on her flank. She went back to her pages.

I looked curiously at her, and silently questioned why she could 'see' into the future, if that was what the letter had meant by 'seer'. I had pondered over that for the longest time, as I had known Glacie long enough for her to be my sister in all but blood, but she had never mentioned any seer-like ability to me on our chats up in Atmosphere City on her off days.

I tensed and folded back my wings as the Princess approached me, flipped to my page and then gave me the same soft smile she had given my friend. "Ginger Scribble. You are the…" she looked down my page. "Scribe and the Weapons Designer. According to what Gray's told me, you are indeed a wonderful writer."

I looked up, and straightened my wings. "I-I'd like to think so, ma'am."

"How does that make you a weapon designer?"

I thought for a second, and tried to stand even straighter, if possible. "In my studies of the animal and plant life during cartography class, I've observed their advantages and disadvantages. What makes them tick, so to speak. I've seen what birds fly fastest and why, and what plants have poison spores to preserve their species. I'll try and take these elements to form weapons and use them to our advantage."

Celestia gave me a slow nod and the same slow smile. "I see. We'll welcome your insight in battle."

I dipped my head. "Thank you, Princess."

Looking at the sky-blue, aqua, and purple feather on my flank, she moved on to the unicorn-stallion friend on my left, and flipped to his page.

"Nuclear Horizon. Interesting name."

"My parents were interesting people, ma'am. But you can call me Nuke, if you'd like."

"Thank you. I see that you are the battle strategist."

"Yes ma'am. My brother and all of his friends play as dirty as the Diamond Dogs. I've tested my skills time and time again, and they haven't faltered."

"You do know that battle mechanics of games operate differently from real life?" Princess Celestia said gently, lifting her head back up momentarily before looking back down at the ash-gray unicorn next to me.

"Yes ma'am. I'll train for it as best I can." Nuke puffed out the soft fur on his chest. I'd never seen him so proud.

"Thank you, Nuke. I'll see to it that you do." As she walked on, I shivered on that last line of speech. She'll see to it then…

"Neo Retro. Thicians do give ponies interesting names."

"Interesting isn't bad. Uh, respectfully, Princess Celestia." the navy pegasus said, voice as clear as he could manage.

"Of course. And I see… historian. Rather different from what we've seen so far. But I do see that you have studied war history." She turned her purple and rose gaze toward him again, the white sheen of her fur tinted with pink.

"Every battle. Even the ones barely scoured over."

"What caused the Battle of Cihlderoy?"

Neo stood straight up and answered matter-of-factly, "The earth ponies and unicorns were having a dispute over the territory of a river and a field. The earth ponies won, and have had the land ever since."

Celestia nodded, and breifly fluttered her wings, as large as Great Gray's. She glanced at the gray and black rectangle on his flank. Then she turned to the next in line, Silver Luck.

"Silver Luck, I've already met you."

"Yes ma'am."

She handed off the notebook to a servant, a yellow-tinted mare with a horn the same color. Twilight had apparently left during the introduction proceedings. Celestia turned toward the servant and said, "Please take them to their corridor in the East Wing."

"Yes ma'am." the mare said, and then gestured for my group of four to follow.

I looked at Silver Luck and her father follow Celestia up to the throne, and the stained glass windows seemed to pass by exceedingly fast. The door again closed with a loud clunk, and my four followed the small yellow unicorn through the seemingly endless hallway.

I must have looked down, because Glacie nudged me with her wing. "What's wrong? At least you had something to talk about." she nickered, referencing her earlier explanation of her title.

I looked at the pinkish-purple carpeting against the marble floor, and shook out my mane again. "Not that. I know Great Gray is leader, not to mention.. Ya know, King of Thicia… but…"

"It's hard seeing his daughter and knowing you aren't first priority."

I felt an indignant chill run up my spine, and my wings lifted of their own accord. But I knew it was true; while we were close, he was still first and foremost, the ruler, a teacher, and a father. While he was metaphorically a father to me, we all saw he had an actual daughter, and some sort of fighting prodigy at that. I was second page, and I didn't think I was.

"Yeah, I know." I sigh, and put my head down to try and cover my face with my mane.

We soon came to a large corridor, and the yellow mare at the front pushed the door open with a hoof. It creaked into a single room with four doors and a window, and she gestured for us to go inside.

"These are your rooms. The Princess will be expecting you tomorrow at seven in the morning sharp. Until then, you have run of the gardens and library, fly where you will. Dinner will be brought to your rooms at eight o'clock." the mare said, and walked out of the corridor, closing the door behind her.

We all looked at each other, dazed. We all stood there awkwardly, shuffling our hooves and fluttering our wings. Nuke took a gulp, and broke the silence.

"Well… that happened."

We all laughed our nervousness and fear out, eventually heaving for breath and wiping tears from our faces. Neo was practically flying up into the top of the room and swinging from the elegant chandelier. Glacie was the first to hush the hysterics.

"I guess we should pick our rooms, huh?" she whinnied, and dashed hastily to the first door on the left.

With a playful glimmer in my eye and a nudge so Nuke could have a fair chance, I propelled myself forward with my wings to the room next to hers. I pushed the door handle and tumbled in a brown, black, white, and orange ball. In a flurry of feathers and curls, I stood and shook it all out of my face and trotted back to the door. I craned my head to the left, and called out.

"Who's on my left?"

The ashy gray face and blue eyes peered back at me. "I am, so Neo's stuck on the end."

"I don't mind, are you kidding?" the blue stallion called, and peeked out with ears pricked.

"Well, what now?" Glacie asked loudly, and clipped back into the corridor itself.

I followed her example, and sat down. "I don't know; anyone know what time it is? We were on the train for so long, I have no idea."

"You normally have no idea, Ginger Snap. So what?" Nuke playfully purred, and gave me a swift and firm punch on the shoulder.

I, on the other hand, cuffed him over the ears with my wing. "I haven't 'snapped' yet, if that's what you're implying."

Glacie trotted back from the window ledge and informed us, "It's late afternoon, around four. We still have a while before dinner gets here."

"That waiting-mare said something about a library. I bet they have every book known to pony-kind in there." I said, swiping a few feathers back in place.

"I'm going for a fly. Get my bearings around the castle." Neo said, and beat his wings in the air a few times, and began to trot out towards the doors.

"I'm coming with ya!" Glacie called, doing a sprint to catch up.

"Don't get lost; this castle is huge!" Nuke yells out behind them, his voice echoing in the tall hallway after the two blue pegasi. Neo gave a dismissive flick of one of his wings, and he and Glacie continued to pander down the hallway.

I look at him as I stand, stretching out my legs and wings. "What are you gonna do? Canter around the gardens or run around the pathway?"

Nuke shook his head and arched his back like a cat. "Nah. I'm gonna take a nap while you guys do that. Have fun." he said, and turned to his room.

I rolled my eyes and decided to find my way to the library. After the directions of a few servants and guards, I found it, a floor down and two or three doors over from mine. I brushed quickly past the section labeled 'romance' and into the 'adventure' logs.

For the first few shelves, here was nothing but titles written by A. K. Yearling: 'Daring Do and the Griffin's Goblet', 'Daring Do and the Rings of Scorchero', 'Daring Do and the Emerald's Eye'.
Not finding any to my taste, I drifted into my favorite: the 'horror' section.

I flipped through the first few titles, none of them or the authors grabbing my interest. I finally reached someone of substance: Steve Bachman, one of the greatest horror tale-spinners in the whole world. He had written as many books on spooks as A. K. Yearling had written on her Daring Do.

I looked for something that wouldn't take too long to read, and settled on a short story book titled 'Life is Eventual'. I plucked it from the shelf, and having seen no librarian whatsoever, decided to simply take a load off in one of the done-up window seats.

The circular seat was extremely cushy, and I settled in nicely against the pillows (Most of them purple, as I found the rest of the castle to be.). With the sun creeping in through the stained-glass window and me nestled into the cushions, I dug like a tick into the book.

Several stories passed, each of them exceedingly more gruesome than the last. A stallion paralyzed in the autopsy room, unable to speak as the surgeons prepare to cut his 'cadaver' open. Another stallion unsure whether or not he's losing sanity as a finger, a horrifying sight for a pony on a good day, stretches from his bathroom drain, scratching at the sink and walls as it grows, knuckle by knuckle.

After about an hour of reading, my eyes grew droopy from the lack of sleep. Alright, granted, it may seem like a normal amount of sleep I'd been getting, but when my schedule gets hectic and my times get switched, it's like no sleep at all. So I slipped off with the book laying against me into the cool pillows under the window.

I paid for it though. I was rudely awoken by who assumed to be the librarian at 8:30, and shooed back to my room without the book. Sore I had missed a hot meal, as soon as I reached my room, I looked at the dining cart outside each of ours.

Apparently, it had been some sort of clover and sesame salad with water and some sort of bread-cake topped with vanilla sauce for desert. I hated vanilla.

While I did take the cart into my room, I looked outside to see everyone's door shut. I even tried Glacie's knob to find it locked. So after eating the salad and drinking the water, I was puzzled on what to do. I saw the waiters who brought the cart back out, and thanked them for the food. Afterwards, I started to walk the hallways aimlessly as the moon rose and the sky grew darker. At some point I had ended up outside on the courtyard, and saw the soft blue lights planted on the pond near the gatehouse we had entered by.

I breathed in the warm summer night air, and thought maybe a quick fly would alleviate the awake-ness in my muscles. Quietly fluttering my wings so as not to wake the rest of the castle, I rose silently into the night sky. I rose as high as the tallest spire, and looked out over the land I now rested in. I saw the huge valley, and far away in the distance the dim homey lights of Ponyville. I smiled, and thought of Tom and his tavern. Doing a few swoops and twirling in the wind, I looked up to the moon, and felt a pressure that I knew only magic could exert.

The glowing rock seemed to rise into the sky at a previously unknown speed, and I hovered confusedly in the air. It reached its peak and rested lazily within its nest among the stars, and I wondered what that magic pull had been. As I turned to do a few more swoops and reawaken my feel for flying, I saw a pair of eyes the color of the blue around the moon from the peak of the highest tower. Startled, my wings faltered and I fell a few hoof-lengths before looking back to make sure I still held my sanity.

I was correct, and saw the eyes attached to a face similar in shape to Celestia's, only instead of a pearly pinkish-white, was the color of the night sky. Her mane was the epitome of the stars, instead of resembling them, the purple flow looked as if it actually housed them. She wore a silver necklace emblazoned with the moon, striking against the deep blue of her skin.

My mouth gaped, and I hastily did a mid-air bow as I realized: this was Celestia's sister, Princess Luna. Just as much responsibility rested on her shoulders to lift the moon as Celestia's to lift the sun, and I had flown right through the middle of it like a moron. I let myself drop a few more lengths, feeling the burning blue gaze of the Alicorn above me. In a moment of haste, I shouted out.

"S-sorry!"

I saw the eyes slowly close, and the head give a graceful dip as I heard a voice as smooth as silk. "It's quite alright." And watched as she slipped back into the castle.

Letting out a major huff of breath, I flew clumsily down to the pond that fed into the moat over the bridge. I landed in the manicured grass, and padded up to the edge of the water. I was still breathing quickly and heavily, but my mane didn't look more out of sorts than it usually did. I huffed again, and collapsed against the ground in a nervy pile.

I just made a fool of myself in front of one of the Princesses… not the first time I've done something this stupid.

As I watched the wavering light of the moon dance on the surface of the water, I got the strangest urge to go swimming. I don't usually swim because of my mane and tail being so curly, and whenever they dry from swimming I haven't fixed them, and they frizz out so that they're bigger than I am. But since I just twirled in the moonlight like a moron, I saw no harm in going for a dip.

The water was so clear I could see the bottom; or so I thought. When I went straight for the center, I was consumed completely by the pond, and it swallowed me in one huge gulp. I sputtered up to the surface, mane in my eyes and my wings pedaling water in place of my front hooves. I shook it out of my face and started to dog paddle around the pond, kicking out against the non-existent bottom.

"The air tastes sweet tonight. Like honey." I heard Nuke's voice from somewhere behind me.

"So gingers can swim." I heard the crack from shore, and looked back over.

Nuke was sitting on the pebbly shore, tail curled neatly around and his head cocked to the left. I paddled up and pushed the first half of my body from the pond. I angrily shook the water from my mane, some of it frizzing out, as expected.

"Of course we can. We just choose not to." I respond matter-of-factly, watching as he shifted over.

"Did you see the moon go up too?" He asked, swiping one of his hooves over the front part of his mane.

I bit my tongue as I was reminded of my clowning during the lifting. "Yeah, really pretty."

"Where were you? Neo and Glacie were wandering around trying to find ya."

I gave him a 'really?' look as I crossed my front hooves. "Did any of you bother to check the library?"

He shrugged. "We couldn't find it." And I bit his arm to promptly drag him into the pool. He gave me a startled yell, and clamped his mouth shut as we went under.

I used my wings to swim back so he wouldn't hit me when he lashed out, but I knew he could swim, so he was fine. When he eventually got his balance back, he glared at me and lunged forward. I dived under and weaved behind him as he tucked a few feet into the water. He turned around and dived under with his horn glowing green. I felt a tug on my ear, and saw the olive hue emanating from my head. I gritted my teeth as he held me in place before butting my ribs with the side of his head.

My ear was released and I plunged under water again. I gripped his head with the arm of my right wing as I sank, and as my tail grazed the bottom, I kicked back up and released him. Bursting out of the water like a balloon, I stepped onto the shore, all of the moisture in my hair weighing me down. I huffed and puffed and I angrily shook the water from my main and tail.

Nuke climbed weakly out of the water, sputtering and mad. "What in Gray's name did ya do that for?!"

I puffed again, my mane in front of my face. "You looked bored." I said with a grin, and turned to see the valley and lights within it again. A sudden though hit my; another one of my epiphanies.

"Ya know what?"

"What, two face?"

"I just realized I never paid Tom for the funnel cakes."

Ch. 4: Force of Habit

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Neo began frantically slipping through his history books in attempt to find evidence of a certain border scuffle as Nuke practiced his targeting. I, on the other unfortunate hoof, was stuck at a drawing table on the castle courtyard. Not only that, but the system I used for drawing is very hard when there's wind blowing every three seconds from your fellow pegasi flapping their wings in attempt to better their own sanity under pressure. Oh, sorry; did that sound bitter?

But still, though the view was beautiful and I had plenty of ammo to work with, my gears just wouldn't click right. Every day I was given a different animal to base a weapon or combo-weapon off of, and at the end of the it all, I had to log out the team progress in our training book.

Today's animal was the March Hare, and I had a pretty good idea of what to do with it: kick-out boots for earth ponies or unicorns. The allowed you to jump higher, that was granted; but they gave you super charges for extra speed that load up sporadically so the enemy won't know what's coming… then again, we don't know who the enemy is exactly.

Neither Great Gray or Silver Luck would spill anything, as they were the ones in conference with Celestia most of the time. And Princess Luna had yet to be seen for more than thirty seconds, so needless to say my team wondered what she was doing. All we had heard about was a titan called the Grimmlock, whatever that was. And the letter Gray had sent to me had ruffled my feathers enough by telling us that there was literally one manuscript about it (Which the Princess had never let us see, by the by.)

Suddenly, I was overshadowed in my frustrations, the sun being blocked from burning against my back and sending shade across my paper. "How… new! I love it!"

I looked back and smiled at the silvery tower standing over me. He ushered me aside a small bit to look at the paper and the charcoal pencil I was using to draw with. Gray's blue eyes looked fluidly up and down the page, and he tapped his hoof to his chin in contemplation. Then he gave me a teacher's glance as he asked, "Any room for suggestions?"

I clipped off to the side and stretched all my limbs to rid them of the sleepy feeling that settled there. "Be my guest."

Gray took my pencil and a ruler with his horn, and the soft white glow pressed them down and changed a directory, and recalculated to center the balance of whatever pony wore them; something I had neglected because I didn't know how to do myself.

The gears in my head began turning again, prompted. "So you lean forward when charging to make the charge itself faster?"

Gray nodded, and set the pencil and ruler down onto my work table. "Exactly; less stress on the metal and spring system."

He then looked up and cantered over to center-yard so everyone could hear. "Alright, lunch break! Food-trolleys will be here in about two minutes, so get near the doors and wait."

I continued stretching as I clipped behind him, and moseyed over to the stack of books and parchment that eclipsed my pegasus friend. Gray walked on past toward Nuke who was trying to configure some sort of gun. I peeked around the edge of the stack, and saw his wings flapping fervently, stirring scrolls and the like.

"Lunch time. C'mon; otherwise I'll eat everything myself."

"This heat is killing me." Neo said bitterly, shading his head with a wing and looking for another paragraph on the subject he researched.

"Then get a drink, come on. I'll try to drown you like I did your unicorn-buddy over there." I bit at one of his secondary feathers, earning a swipe over my head.

"Come oooonnn!"

And I trotted impatiently off with wings held up slightly and my mane shielding my eyes from the sun. I saw Nuke already under the marble doors, grooming himself lazily with a hoof. I browsed over, and didn't see Glacie yet; I started to poke my nose where it didn't belong immediately.

When I was shaded from the sunlight's glare, I weaseled my way up past Nuke and tapped Great Gray on his shoulder… or rather, as far up on his leg as I could reach.

He looked down. "Hmm?"

"Where's Glacie? And uh… how's that training coming?"

Gray looked away, slightly annoyed. He glanced back down, and his ears twitched breifly before he mumbled, "It's… no worse."

I tilted my head to the side, and fluttered up to breifly look him in the eye. "How does this work again? She's a pegasus like me. How is any of this ever going to work with us being so unbalanced?"

Gray looked disconcertedly away. "I can't say, Ginger. Celestia's orders."

I tried to keep suspicions down, I really did. But it's a bad habit of mine; if I have reason to be suspicious of anything that you do, I will be. So with all these secrets being kept, I was jumpier than spider on a stovetop.

There was no talking to him about matters like this, I supposed. So I begrudgingly landed with a clipping sound against the warm marble balcony, and looked up to see if Glacie was coming down from wherever she was being coached. The sun glared against my eyes, and obscured my vision; but even then it appeared that my life-friend wouldn't be joining us for lunch that day.

The doors opened, and glittering silver trays were pushed on carts made of brass. The waiters looked contented, as they always did whenever they appeared in public. They were all earth ponies pushing the food out, except for the little mare unicorn who was bringing out tea and lemonade with a table of glasses on her back.

I'd never seen a cuter little filly in all of my life; I have a soft spot for the chubby ones, I guess. She had a rosy pink coat and violet hair with nary a Cutie Mark in sight. She had that look in her eye of someone who had never been outside of where she lived, and viewing strangers was a rare spectacle.

As they all bowed and left the carts, the little filly walked around and offered her two pitchers and the glasses she had on her back. Nuke chose the tea; anyone from Thicia would choose tea over lemonade.

As the rosy unicorn walked up with a twinkle in her eye, she said in a squeaky little voice, "Tea or lemonade?"

"Tea, if you please."

She summoned her glass, and poured it near to the brim. I thanked her, and took the edge in my teeth; I'm terrible at balancing things on my hooves. As she walked away with the tea pitcher mostly drained, I put my tea on a cart before it could drop.

As I looked around, Gray had disappeared into the castle somewhere, and Neo and Nuke were leaning against the banister munching away on whatever sandwich the royal cooks were serving today.

I lifted the lid of my tray to find the exact same thing: a wilted clover sandwich on toasted bread with what looked like cheese-powder on the inside. I pushed my cart closer to where my two team-mates were chatting it up with bits of clover flying everywhere. Lifting my tea glass to the edge of the banister, I returned and took a chomp out of my sandwich.

"What're you guys talkin' about?"

Nuke wiped his mouth and sucked a bit of clover out of his teeth. "I uh… I hit a bird. It fell on some aristocrat's head."

Is smiled and bit into my sandwich again. "Nice."

Neo polished his off, and then swigged up the rest of his tea. "I'm trying to figure out the best strategy when we don't know what enemy we're workin' with. It's getting annoying."

"We've been here for roughly three days."

"And there's a whole library of books to look through." he retorted, wings clenched tightly to his sides.

That reminded me of something. "Speaking of which, I want to visit before this break is over. There's a couple of books I want."

Nuke and Neo shrugged. "Go ahead." the gray one responded. "But you better hurry. We're going back in at around… 1 o'clock, I think it is."

I crunched through the wilted-clover sandwich, and pushed over the rest of my tea. "Drink it if you want. I've gotta scoot."

I looked up into the sky, trying to navigate the quickest way to the library. There were many staircases and too many ways to get there from my team-mate's little corridor. I finally decided to merely fly into the air and circle for a doorway on the floor below the courtyard.

Lifting gently into the air, I swooped under the banister. My coat cooled as I slid and skimmed over the large pools of water, and I ran a hoof along the surface to distil it. I sped my wings in choppy circles to rise further up, and landed firmly on the banister to the doorway underneath the castle courtyard.

Opening the door, I began to clip inside and once again be daunted by massive paintings and lovely vases to fancy to even be looked at by the likes of me. Crimson Castle, my place of employment, was fancy in its own way as well, I suppose.

It was a giant fortress connected to a rather small castle in comparison, its fences and walls made of pure ruby and walls lined with garnets and all of it glazed over in synthetic sapphire (Clear in its purest form, so the castle still remained red). Lined with countless amounts of rebar and the structure it stood on delving miles into the earth, it was nearly unbreakable from the outside. Inside were more intricate weavings of crystal than there were extravagant paintings, holding up lamps and the upper floors.

Whereas Canterlot was very rounded and open, Crimson Castle was more rigid and focused on cardinal directions. The hallways were angular and straight instead of curved and gentle, aligned with flags and weapons. We are a nation used to war with the more angry beasts, some of them too intelligent for our good and others joining us for our dinners on platters… metaphorically, of course.

All of these thoughts ran rampant through my head as I felt my way to the library, bowing to every servant I happened upon and keeping my wings tucked up into my sides. The book room's corridor had a marble plaque with an inscription of a set of encyclopedias, signaling my time to turn had come.

Pushing against the door, I was flushed into a deep purple room with tall windows and high bookshelves that craned into the ceiling like giants. A few tables stood in the middle, a pure white stallion and a small yellow mare working on thesis papers taking seats at them with quills scratching angrily away.

It stirred within me my own want to write. Not notes or contraption ideas, put to continue the novel I had been predisposed to leave at the castle when the summons was erected. The summons.

I briefly looked over signs, and went into the reference section. Though I knew I would find nothing, I skimmed my hoof over the leather bindings of the books constricted to the letter 'g'. Gala, gnats, grim reapers… no sign of a 'Grimmlock', whatever that was. I groaned inwardly, and then decided to read farther down just for the sake of it.

At the end of a second shelf and two books back, a mahogany red paperback seemed to protrude toward me with a few little gold clamps catching my poor eyesight. A tattered old tassel hung limply from the top of it, and it swayed as I pulled it out.

The cover, old but still relatively intact, read 'Thician Royalty'. I was wondering if they kept things like this about other nations here. I knew my history already, and saw no reason to take the book with me once I left, so I hastily flipped through to find a picture of Gray to see how recent it was. As it turns out, the book was only five years old, and my Alicorn leader was the second to last entry in the book with only a page about him and the author's note behind.

I found myself muttering under my breath, as I always do when I read something intently or need to do it fast.

"Great Gray, formerly known as Berg Gray, is the current ruler of Thicia and patriarch of Crimson Castle. Under him are appointed sub-captains, hereby referred to as Vice Princes and Princesses, known as Vice Prince Helmroot, and Vice Princess Aria. Above them is the good Queen Eleinor, mother of Great Gray's two children."

I stopped dead in my train of thought's tracks. Two children? Silver Luck was the only one I knew of. Perplexed, I flung the tassel in to mark its place.

I trotted over to one of the lavish window seats, similar to the one I had fallen asleep in before, and opened up the book again.

"Silver Luck is the firstborn child designated to take the central throne if either of her parents should pass away. She is currently a unicorn, and is being trained in the art of swift combat. Gray's second child is a chestnut stallion by the name of C. B. Beer. He is assigned leadership over the Nama Desert when he has reached proper age."

I chewed this over, but thought of nothing new as I reread the sentence over and over again. C. B. Beer? And a stallion, no less? Gray must have some pretty good string pullers to get that one knocked out of limelight, especially when someone is… Well… a descendant of royalty. If it mentioned Silver Luck as heir to the throne, then the stallion would by default be younger, and we would have gotten wind of him.

Munching away at my thoughts, I slipped the book back into place in its shelf. Searching the walls of the room for a clock, I was startled to find I had only ten minutes before the lunch break ended. I hurried myself over to the horror section to retrieve the book I had lost over my nap a few days ago.

Withdrawing it and another short story book by the same author, I gripped a disposable book satchel in my teeth as I hastily made my way to the courtyard. Taking the way I had arrived by, the sun sent warmth cascading over my thick plumage and already sending me into a spiral of 'Good Gray, it's hot' moods.

Circling back, I saw everypony had returned to their spots on the giant marble deck. Landing with a hollow and loud knocking noise, I tucked the books I had checked out under my worktable and searched for my graphite. Letting out a large huff of breath, I took my seat and began to recalibrate the idiotic boots I had begun construction on earlier.

******************************************************************************

A cold hoof found its way to my shoulder, gently shaking me so that I opened my eyes drowsily. The frosty blue of my friend's coat helped me recognize her as my glasses tipped away from my nose.

"Glacie!" I exclaim with the grace of a drunken bartender. Rubbing my eyes, I adjusted my glasses and turned to her.

Her attention was posted at my mane. "You're frizzy again."

I butted her away with my head. "Yeah, yeah."

I stretched my hooves and the ruffled feathers on my wings, and I readjusted my glasses. Glacie's eyes were red, and dark circles framed the icepick blue of her irises. A small bandage was plastered to her neck, and her mane was flat and listless, a sure sign of stress.

"What happened to you?" Not the kindest greeting, I'm aware, but I felt so taken aback by her haggard appearance.

Glacie looked away, eyes flitting like a nervous bird across the pictures and wallpaper in my room. "The training is a bit rough… just a bit though."

I looked at her, unconvinced. "Are you allowed to tell me?"

She held her tongue, still sitting silent in the darkness of the room. Glancing behind her, I saw that the door was cracked, betraying a single ray of light that refracted from the metal framing of my window.

A little ruffled by the restriction, I attempted to sweep it under the rug. "Oh, well, that's okay. I'm sure the princesses have their reasons."

"They do… although they haven’t told me a thing. I don't think Gray is allowed to tell me either." she looked a little hurt, and I saw her wings quivering.

"Why are you shaking, Glacie?"

She didn't answer, but her eyes were big and frightened. She looked so small again, like she was when we first met. I felt a bit dumb for asking why she was shaking; she was obviously scared, maybe lonely as well.

Gently, I swept a wing over my upturned blankets. "Do you want to sleep in here?"

The pegasus nodded emphatically, and swiftly jumped onto the bed with a quick pump of her wings. It dipped and I scooted over to avoid rolling with it. Glacie wormed her way beneath the top sheet, the comforter having been untucked completely. One of her feathers floated down to the floor, and something in my brain demanded that I pick it up. Tilting my head, I gently took it in my teeth.

"What did you do that for?"

I placed it between my hooves, staring at the slick blue-gray and pondering the very same thing myself. I took one final inventory of my room, and my eyes rested on one of my many rolls of parchment; I took it between my teeth again, now thinking I was perhaps on to something. It was perhaps a normal feather to anybody else, but to a writer, it was a quill. I sprang down as quickly as Glacie had gotten up, and placed it in the open inkwell.

"I'm writing a letter to one of the Princesses."

"What?" Her reply rang sharply in my ears, and they twitched back in response.

"You heard me. I'm writing to Princess Luna."

Glacie shuffled uncomfortably in the covers. " I don't really think it's a good idea…"

I had already begun rigging up my writer's collar: a device that holds the quill and uses my wing to direct it, since they're a bit more dextrous than hooves. I raised the feather, testing it, then dipped it back into the inkwell and begun scribbling.

The Ambassadors

by TheJinxedJailer

1 From the Nation Across the Sea

Ch. 2: On the Train

Chapter 3: The Throne Room

Ch. 4: Force of Habit