> Royal Relations
>  by DamagedQ
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia’s sun emitted a faint, yellow light as its glow splintered over the horizon. Luna’s moon was still visible on the opposite side of the sky, although significantly less prevalent.

Prince Spry observed all of this from a chariot heading towards Canterlot, the esteemed capital of Equestria, with his father, the ruler of Makuria. Makuria was a small kingdom just northwest of Equestria; although, it was nearly dwarfed by the grandeur of Equestria, the largest country in the world.

As the only royal heir, the young prince was destined to take the throne from his father in the somewhat near future.

“-are you even listening to me, Spry?” the prince’s father asked irritably, snapping him out of his thought.

He had stopped listening to the old king soon after he had begun his lecture on the princesses of Equestria. It seemed strange that there were no queens or kings, just two princesses, but he didn’t question it, as to not seem rude. The king looked at his son intently, waiting for an answer.

“Sorry,” he replied feebly. His father gave him a stern look for a few moments and sighed.

“You’re never going to make a good king if you aren’t even able to listen to your own father,” he scolded the boy, “Equestria has been good friends of our nation, and they have been for many generations. You must become acquainted with them as well by the time you inherit the throne.”

“Why?” he asked quietly.

Honestly, the thought of being the king of Makuria threatened the teenager; although, he knew he had a while before that would happen. It would be at least ten years, he reasoned, before he would have to take the throne for one reason or another.

“They’re the rulers of Equestria,” he replied sternly, “Our acquaintance with them helps our kingdom more than you know.”

The young prince nodded his head slowly, humoring his father.

An uncomfortable silence ensued for the next few minutes before their arrival in at the castle. The chariot landed gracefully, making almost no noise on the soft clouds below it.

He rose to his feet with a disgruntled groan and hopped out of the chariot. He ignored his father’s glares for acting so informal and walked leisurely towards the large castle doors before meeting a guard at the entrance.

He got strange and weary looks from nearly every passerby, but that couldn’t be helped, with the way he looked. The small kingdom of Makuria was the only place where people were accustomed to his strange appearance; although, that didn’t make the people of his home-country any more accepting.

After habitually ignoring the stares, he proceeded into the castle behind a couple of guards.

> Chapter 1 - Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually, after what seemed like several minutes of walking, he arrived at his room. However, there was a slight misunderstanding, and rather than staying on the Celestial Tower, like his father, he would be staying in the Lunar Tower, on the opposite end of the castle. He pondered it as he lay on the blue-sheeted bed in the center of his room.

There are four towers that make up the castle: the Celestial Tower, the Lunar Tower, the Private Tower, and the Common Tower. The only visible differences between them were their colors. The Celestial Tower was a stunning alabaster, while the Lunar Tower was a dark blue, accented with a deep purple. The Private Tower was a light purple, almost lavender. And the common wing, where the general public came when in need or hosted, was a mix of beige and off-white. It was also where the throne room was located.

Wow, I must’ve actually been listening to him… he thought incredulously as he remembered these bits from his father’s lecture.

There was a loud knock on his bedroom door.

“Come out here, Spry. It’s already nine o’clock, and I have yet to introduce you to the princesses,” his father called from the opposite side of the door.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” he replied in a dull tone as he continued to lie on the bed with his eyes closed.

He sighed before rolling off of the bed and standing up. He lazily shuffled towards his closet and opened it. It swung outward with a low creak.

Inside was a small selection of clothing, which limited his options, but it didn’t really matter. He picked out a white, collared shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. It was casual, but not so casual that it looked like he didn’t care.

The prince soon abandoned his room and made his way to the throne room, staying close behind his father. He figured that these princesses were going to be the same as all the other royalty he’d met; pretending as if they were better than their subjects by the very nature of their being.

He and his father slowed to a stop as they approached two large, wooden doors, which tapered to an end about twenty feet above their heads.

The young prince could already sense the magical presence of two highly skilled magic wielders inside the next room, both of them very strong, even for supposed alicorns.

The guard standing in front of the entrance showed no sign of noticing them, but as they got closer, he swung the large doors open and stepped to the side, allowing the king and prince to enter into what was probably the most magnificent room the young prince had ever seen. His father seemed unmoved by its grandeur, but Spry felt dwarfed by the room; although, he didn’t show it, gazing straight ahead with an emotionless stare and only daring to explore the room with his periphery.

Curtains, stained glass windows, and various murals lined the walls, each of which having some depiction or symbol related to Equestria or the princesses. Manikins sporting overly decorative suits of armor stood along the base of the at least fifty foot high walls, and located along the center was a long, red carpet with golden fringe. It ran the entire length of the room, from the door where they entered to thrones on the opposite end, where two alicorns sat, smiling at him and his father.

Spry’s jaw clenched as he took notice of them. They were exceptionally beautiful for royalty, and they sat casually, as if the decisions they made didn’t directly affect the largest country in existence, and most of the world along with it.

They smiled at the prince, but he didn’t smile back. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but the sight of an alicorn wasn’t anything special, Spry being one himself.

There was no way to tell they were alicorns besides the size of their wings. Their wings were larger than most pegasi’s, and their magical abilities were assumed to be greater than that of the average magic user, since they were alicorns.

But the princesses’ wings still didn’t reach the full size of his, and a mutation of certain genes caused a handful of alicorns in Makuria’s history to have black, leathery, bat-like wings, rather than normal feathered wings. Another recessive mutated gene affected Spry’s dental complex, making each of his canines protrude out about half an inch more than usual. Spry was the first person in recorded history to have both of these mutations concurrently, making him appear very different from his father, whose features expressed neither.

According to everyone who would be honest with him, he appeared almost inhuman, and his extremely slim figure didn’t help to rebut that statement. Needless to say, he hadn’t many friends, and as a result he formed somewhat of an inferiority complex.

These mutations, however, did have some benefits. He possessed an extremely heightened sense of motion that helped him to observe and react instantly to almost anything – something very few members of the Makurian royalty could claim to have.

“Good morning, King Brisk,” Celestia said in a ceremonial tone, pulling the prince’s wandering mind back to reality. The formalities irritated him, but he’d definitely heard worse.

Both of the princesses’ gazes were on the prince the entire time, which was somewhat expected.

“Greetings, your majesty,” his father replied. Spry joined him in a curt bow.

“Please, call me Celestia. This must be your son,” she said as she motioned towards the teenager. The attention unsettled him a little, but he managed to show no sign of it.

“Good morning, Princess,” he said in response. His voice held no tone, and his head was cocked slightly as he stared at the elder princess disinterestedly.

“Good morning, Prince Spry,” she responded, being playful by copying his dead tone. The prince had no response.

“So you’re the next in line to rule Makuria,” she mused aloud. “How has his training been going, Brisk?” she asked curiously, turning back to his father.

“As well as it can get, I suppose. It seems he has a talent for flying, and his intelligence is remarkable. We’re just working on…well, social skills, for the time being.”

“Oh, I see. We had the same problem with Luna for a little while,” Celestia remembered, “After such a long absence, there was much to re-learn.

“Hey!” the other princess interrupted, “I’m right here,” she stated ungraciously.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Celestia turned to her sister and chuckled.

Spry was surprised to see an interaction of such a nature in between the two princesses. Celestia soon reassumed a more serious expression before turning back to the king.

“I could help, if you’d like. I have the next week off due to Winter Wrap-up, minus certain necessities and other small urgencies of course, but I would be happy to try to get him motivated.”

The prince continued to give Celestia an emotionless stare, hoping that either she would retract the offer or his father would decline. This didn’t sound like something of particular interest to him.

“That sounds like an excellent opportunity for Spry, if you honestly don’t mind, of course,” the king replied, trying to sound less excited than he was.

“Of course not, it’d be my pleasure. I’d really like to meet him anyways, so it’d be a good opportunity for me as well,” Princess Celestia replied.

“Thank you very much,” the boy’s father replied with another curt bow.

Spry mentally cringed when he saw his father suck up to them like this. It was simply ridiculous; surely a king held more status that a mere princess. But there was nothing he could do now, he had already been dragged into this, and there was probably no getting out of it.

---

The prince wandered around the castle in search of a place to be alone. His room back in Makuria worked well, but he couldn’t trust foreign places like this. He never could.

Eventually he found a doorway that led outside. Although it was still on castle grounds, it appeared to be somewhat secluded. He figured he could lie down for a little while and doze off. There were still a couple hours until sunset and he felt like relaxing outside while there was still light.

He sighed before walking out into the garden and lied down in the thick, soft grass. The crisp, post-winter air felt good running through his nostrils, and he took deep breaths to clear his mind. He wasn’t thinking about anything in particular; he simply dozed off and daydreamed, spreading his wings out on either side of him in order to stretch them out.

His mind wandered towards the princesses. He was supposed to meet Princess Celestia at nine o’clock the next morning. Although, he wasn’t sure where. Not that the location wasn’t specified. It’s just that Spry had stopped listening after his father decided to force him into the meeting against his wishes.

He tried to divert his attention from these things and think about something else… maybe his flying. It had been going well; he had just recently been able to break the sound barrier, whether it’s in the form of a sonic boom or the more difficult thermal breach. Luck was the only thing determining which of those he could achieve, at this point.

He was without a doubt the quickest and most agile flier in Makuria, and probably Equestria as well, he surmised, but he wouldn’t flaunt it. How was he supposed to brag, anyways, when he couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with another person?

His father made him practice his flying often, and he knew that he was going to make him get up early tomorrow to practice before he had his ‘lesson in social skills’ with Princess Celestia. Practice wasn’t going to be fun either. It never was. It merely consisted of him performing difficult maneuvers at high speeds while his father yelled at him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot down the right half of his body. He resisted the urge to cry out and merely muffled a groan as he retracted his wings back to their resting positions; realizing that one of them was the source of his agony. His eyes shot open to see Princess Luna looming over him, seemingly shocked by his presence beneath her.

“Oh! Prince! I-I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there,” she pleaded, continuing with countless apologies as the prince sat up and looked around.

How did she not notice me? he thought, narrowing his eyes a bit in concentration, Well, she certainly seems sincere enough…

He realized he was sitting in a rather open field with very few trees or shrubs – not exactly a location where he would be difficult to spot. He then turned his attention back to reality, where a princess was relentlessly apologizing to him for stepping on his wing.

“No, stop. I’ll… get out of your way, princess,” he said indifferently as he started to get up.

“No, please. I mean, er, don’t get up. It was my fault,” she insisted, “I didn’t expect anyone else to be here.”

He lied back down, letting his wings slightly unfurl. Princess Luna sat down next to him and sighed.

“Anyways, call me Luna. We are equals, aren’t we?” she asked rhetorically.

“Equals?” he half-chuckled, not elaborating any further. There was a short pause before Luna asked another question, much to the prince’s discomfort.

“What makes you question such a thing?” she asked curiously. The young prince sighed and closed his eyes as he thought of something to say. After a few moments, he heard Luna shift upright and groan softly in annoyance.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” she asked flatly. He opened his eyes and looked over to her in response. She was facing him, lying on her side with an arm propping her head up. Luna took notice of his bright blue eyes for the first time, as they were usually covered by his medium-length, black hair.

“We are hardly equals,” Spry said very softly, almost a whisper, “You are Equestrian royalty, and I’m a sad excuse for royalty at all.”

“What?” She asked incredulously.

He looked towards Luna and made eye contact with her for a moment, only to look back up at the sky again with a hint of regret for having given her more reason to keep talking.

“You are no sad excuse, Spry,” she continued sharply, “In fact, I heard you’re an exceptional flier. Maybe I could see for myself. Your father mentioned that you were going to practice tomorrow morning.”

Of course he did…

“You really shouldn’t,” he responded, trying to draw attention away from himself.

“Why not? Are you shy?” she giggled at the sight of his apprehension, “It’ll be fun,” she chirped.

“Of course it would seem so…” he mumbled to himself.

“What was that?” Luna asked curiously.

“I didn’t hear anything. Anyways, princess, why have you come here?”

Don’t you have responsibilities?

“I suppose just to… get away from the usual schedule, I suppose,” she replied timidly.

He sighed empathetically as he turned his head to make eye contact with Luna. He can undeniably relate, but he couldn’t say he particularly cared about her problems.

He continued to stare for a few seconds until the sound of movement nearby averted his attention. “Sister, are you back here?” a voice called.

“It’s Celestia,” Luna mumbled to the prince.

He decided to lie back again, putting his hands behind his head, and see how this played out. Celestia soon came trotting up as she caught sight of the two of them.

The prince wondered how Luna could have approached him earlier without his noticing. She must have been considerably stealthier than her sister, considering how much noise Celestia was making.

Luna stood up urgently, turning to face Celestia.

“Oh,” Celestia started, “I was going to ask if you’ve seen Prince Spry, but he’s here too. I’m glad to see you two are getting along. I just wanted to let Prince Spry know that our meeting tomorrow has been moved from nine to ten. It’s still in the courtyard. No big deal.”

He nodded slowly before the princess walked nonchalantly in the same direction from which she came.

“I suppose I should retire back to the palace now. Until we meet again, Spry,” Luna said, turning to follow her older sister. Left with nothing else to do, Spry closed his eyes and began to think.

> Chapter 2 - Social Skills
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Faster, darn it! You’re not going to get a thermal breach like that!’ the king yelled to his son.

The prince dove down as fast as he could, his eyes watering from the sheer air resistance of flying at such a high speed. A cone shaped air bubble appeared around the prince as he descended, but as he started to break the sound barrier, his exhaustion took over and he eventually gave up, slowing down to gently land on the ground. He slowly approached his father and spoke softly.

“I… I think it’s time for me… to go talk to Celestia,” he said in between gasps for air, his hands on his knees for support and his head drooping down in between them.

“You’re right, but you’re not leaving until I see fire,” he replied adamantly.

His father was referring to breaking the thermal barrier, of course, which was what the prince had been attempting for the past hour or so, but to no avail.

“But I’m tired,” he pleaded weakly.

“No. A good king doesn’t give up, and you’re going to be a good king, so I won’t let you give up. Simple as that,” he replied confidently. 

Luna had walked up to him and his father, but the prince ignored her for the time being. Brisk cleared his throat and flicked his eyes over to Luna for a split-second before addressing his son again.

“Maybe the observation of Princess Luna will give you some motivation. Now show me a thermal breach so you can hurry to Celestia.”

“Fine,” the prince conceded softly before walking about ten yards from his father and the princess.

He set up with a new found incentive to perform correctly, that being the fact that he wanted to get away from his father’s ridiculous training as quickly as possible.

The young prince sprang up in the air and darted upwards for several seconds. He slowed as he reached the arch of the dive before turning downward. His body was perpendicular to the ground as he thrust his bat-like wings with all his might and plunged downward.

A pang of exhaustion hit him hard as he approached the sound barrier’s breaking point, but he pushed forward anyway. The tiredness quickly subsided and was replaced by the feeling of adrenaline pumping.

He heard a loud crack as he ripped through the heat barrier, breaking the sound barrier by proxy and leaving a trail of bright, orange flames in his wake. Once the prince was a short distance from the ground, he turned at an almost ninety degree angle and shot parallel to the ground at a very high speed.

The prince slowed to a stop in front of his father. He grinned as he came to a halt, standing just a few feet from his father. Luna simply gaped at him, obviously shocked that something like that could even be possible. Then his father made a sudden realization and laughed.

“Now we just need to figure out how to make you do that when a princess isn’t watching.”

Luna giggled softly at the joke and Spry simply hid his embarrassment by covering his eyes with his hair.

The adrenaline wore off, leaving Spry to fall backwards in exhaustion, sitting on the ground and trying to catch his breath.

“He’s quite the flier, Brisk,” Luna noted, “We should be getting to Celestia, though. I can show Spry where she is.”

“Okay, thank you, Princess. He can catch his breath on the way there,” he remarked as he noticed Spry’s incessant panting.

The prince caught his breath while his father walked away, leaving Spry to sit there next to Luna.

“That was seriously awesome. I’ve only heard of someone breaking the thermal barrier before. I’ve never actually seen it,” Luna told him.

“Well now you have. Shall we go see Celestia?” he asked, barely audible.

“Yes,” Luna replied after a brief pause, “She told me to come too, so we’ll be late together.”

Spry stood up followed Luna along a path around the perimeter of the palace. Along the way, the prince noticed several Cherry Blossoms blooming, which was rather uncommon for this time of year. These trees lined either side of the pathway and foliage from them littered the ground with red petals.

Eventually, they entered into what looked like a garden, consisting of many foreign and exotic flowers; although, something of this extravagance was almost expected from Equestrian royalty.

“Hello, Luna,” Celestia’s voice was heard as the two walked into the courtyard, “and Spry,” she added as she noticed him trailing behind Luna.

Spry greeted Celestia with a slow nod as he moved to Luna’s side, making himself visible. Luna walked over to her sister and sat down, facing Spry, who placed himself across from the two princesses.

“How are you doing, Spry?” Celestia asked.

“Fine,” he mumbled in return, shaking his hair into his eyes.

“He reminds me of Fluttershy,” Luna commented.

Spry stared blankly, unsure of the reference. Celestia stifled a giggle for a moment before looking back to her sister.

“That’s why we’re helping him,” she replied mirthfully.

“Okay, I thought we’d start with something basic,” Celestia began. She then paused to see his reaction but was dissatisfied with his lack of one. Spry maintained his emotionless stare.

“How do you feel about your shyness? Do you want to be more outgoing?” she asked cautiously, “We’re not going to make progress if you don’t want progress to be made.”

He shrugged his shoulders, looking off to the side, “I don’t know. It’s fine,” he said softly.

“Spry,” Celestia deadpanned.

He flipped his hair a little in the opposite direction so that it fell over his eyes.

Celestia frowned slightly before looking back to the withdrawn prince.

“The point your father wanted to make and what I’m trying to help you with is this:” Celestia continued, “A good ruler must be able to socialize, and in many situations, even relate to their subjects.”

Spry looked back at her silently, moving his hair out of his eyes with his fingertips and sitting up straight.

“I… suppose posture is a start,” she responded hesitantly. “But I think we need to have a proper conversation.”

Darn, I suck at that.

“I won’t expect you to start just yet, but how about we have some Q&A?” Celestia offered. The prince didn’t reply, and Celestia took it as permission to continue.

“How old are you, Spry? I don’t believe it’s ever come up in conversation with your father,” Celestia thought aloud.

“Fifteen,” he replied as loud as he could muster, which was just below a hushed tone.

“Wow, that’s much younger than I thought,” she mumbled thoughtfully, “Okay, it’s your turn now.”

He opened his mouth slightly to reply, but he closed it as soon as he noticed it was open. He struggled to think of anything, but something eventually came to him.

“What do you do that’s not related to being a princess? For fun,” he asked, tilting his head but keeping his emotionless stare. The princesses smiled at his cooperation.

“Unfortunately, being the co-rulers of Equestria takes up more time than we’d like. Although… I believe one interest both Luna and I have in common is astronomy. Luna enjoys reading often. And magic, of course.”

Interesting enough, I suppose…

“Okay, my turn,” Luna began, looking distant for a moment and then focusing again. “Well, I expect we could ask you the same thing. Do you like anything besides flying?”

He thought for a moment, and it didn’t take long to think of a few things. Now, all that was left was to tell them. It was easy, but impossible at the same time.

“I, umm…” he began in a whisper, “No.”

“Oh, come on,” Celestia countered immediately, causing the young prince to gasp lightly, “I don’t believe that for a second, Spry,” she continued warmly, “Tell me what it is you do all the time when you’re not flying.”

Spry looked down and took a few moments to think.

“There’re a lot of books in my room back in Makuria,” he replied softly, “and I suppose it’s fun to skirmish with some of the guards every once in a while in the barracks.”

“So you like to read, and… occasionally fighting?” Luna asked smugly, pleased to get some more information on the prince. Spry nodded his head once, in response.

“I really wouldn’t take you for a fighter,” Celestia mused aloud, “but we have everything here at the palace to accommodate your interests if you ever get bored, and Luna or I would be happy to help, should you ever need anything.”

“Thanks,” he replied softly, shaking his hair into his eyes again.

“Stop that,” Celestia responded, “How can you even see with your hair covering your eyes?”

Celestia reached out and traced her fingers just above his eyebrows, pushing his hair to the side again. Spry watched her curiously, blushing, but said nothing.

“One more question, Spry. You can stop after that if you want,” Celestia offered.

“Well, alright…” he replied, looking down slightly to think of another question. He remembered something that had been bothering him, and he decided it was worth a shot to ask the princesses about it.

“How old were you when you began ruling Equestria by yourselves?” he asked softly, mainly addressing Celestia.

“Oh,” she immediately responded, looking pensive, “I guess I was eighteen at the time, but it’s been three years now, so I’ve had some time to get used to it. Luna is still three years younger than I am, and she’s taken on several duties around the castle.”

Spry looked down in thought. He’s already fifteen. Would he be ready to take his father’s place in just three years?

“Will that be all, then?” Celestia asked. Spry silently nodded his head, “Alright then, I trust you can find ways to entertain yourself until supper time. We’ll be eating in the main dining hall around six o’clock. I should get going to day court. I look forward to our next meeting, Spry.”

Spry silently nodded again as both princesses stood up to leave. Spry did the same and watched them return to the palace.

“Oh, and we’ll have a few more guests for dinner. Six of them, actually,” Celestia said as she walked through a small entrance to the castle.

> chapter 3 - Exploration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spry looked around and decided he might as well explore the palace. It was much larger than the one he lived in back in Makuria. He walked slowly along the wall of the castle until he came to another entrance, with two guards blocking it. He wearily approached them with his usual non-expressive features.

“Identify yourself,” one of the guards demanded.

Spry took a little while to examine the guards before he replied. They were almost completely indistinguishable. They possessed the same stature, skin tone, a similar build, and they wore the same armor. It seemed uncanny to the young prince.

Perhaps they are identical siblings? Or maybe someone in Equestria has been able to develop a safe way to create clones…?

“My name is Roí Spry Villanueva… of Makuria,” he said after nearly a minute of staring.

“Right this way, Sir,” The guard responded instantly after Spry had mentioned Makuria. The prince found it peculiar that neither of them recognized his name, but he didn’t mention it.

“Thanks,” he said softly as he passed through the large doorway. The guards bowed to him, but he disregarded it and moved on.

The entrance immediately turned into a hallway, and the door shut behind him when he was only a few steps in.

The only sounds were his own footsteps resonating throughout the wide hallway. There were no doors on either side for a long time, but he kept walking. By all logic, the hallway had to lead somewhere, eventually.

After another minute or two, he spotted a tall archway coming up on his right. He slowed to a stop in front of it and peered inside. It was a library. The massive room probably contained miles of bookcases, along with millions of books. He took a few steps inside and looked around a little.

It won’t do any harm to look around a bit.

He glanced over a key posted on the wall to see what kind of books he was dealing with. Mostly old tomes for research, apparently. However, there was a small section of mild interest to the prince.

Luckily, the section he was looking for was very close. He skimmed the signs above the shelves until he found '700-950', which according to the key, marked mythology. He slowly walked down the first isle of interest, skimming spines of books until he found something worth reading.

He picked something after a few moments. The cover read ‘The Crystal Pony Empire: Forgotten Wonders.’ It sounded interesting enough for the Prince to read.

He kept the book in his grasp as he walked, moving towards the back of the library. He wondered what was back there concerning magic textbooks. Maybe there were books with teachings foreign to his homeland of Makuria.

Once in the back, he noticed another door, but it looked old and generally unused. There was a red cloth covering a sign just above the door. He flew up and lifted the fabric. Underneath was an almost ancient looking inscription that read, ‘Forbidden Magics.’

Oh, why not?

He shrugged to himself, letting the red cloth hang back down and landing in front of the door.

He reached out and tested the knob. Coincidentally, the door was unlocked.

Not forbidden enough, obviously.

It creaked as he opened it, but he entered as quietly as possible, carefully shutting the door behind him. There was no light switch, but a window on the far side of the room provided some natural light.

There were only two medium sized bookshelves inside, which was as good a start as any, the prince thought. He carefully read through the spines of several books:

The Creation of Dark Magic- Illusions… How to: Create Unrestricted Illusions… Incapacitating Spells…

He picked out the last one, flipping through the pages and getting in idea for its contents. The book contained many spells for sleeping, paralysis, and even a few death spells. It was definitely not misplaced when it was put in the room labeled ‘Forbidden.’ He grabbed it up and put it on the floor next to the bookcase, looking for another spell book.

Spry traced the shelves with his finger so he wouldn’t lose his place, reading aloud a title when it perked his interest.

“…Demonic Illusions: No Constraints…”

Sounds like it has potential for some bad things, he thought wearily before picking it out and placing it on top of the first book.

Immediately after he looked back up, another book suddenly caught his eye. It was a very small, red-leather bound instruction book. The title read Complete Control: All Five Senses.

Controlling all five senses at once? He thought eagerly, excitedly flipping through all the pages.

As the title suggested, the book seemed to contain methods for controlling all five senses of a person at once. But before he could do that, he needed to learn how to control a person’s sense of smell. The book must have been made for very powerful Illusionists, as only a handful of people in the world could even separately control all five senses.

He immediately added the book to the pile, looking back up and continuing his search. He almost got to the end of the last bookshelf and hadn’t seen anything else of interest. He decided it would be alright if he didn’t find anything else though, because he had enough already, but he wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else he wanted to look at.

A loud thud suddenly sounded from behind him, breaking his concentration. He whipped his head around in surprise, only to find that a book seemed to have fallen from the desk behind him and onto the floor.

It was very large and looked like it had been used recently, which came as a surprise. It had no title on the spine so he picked it up and turned it over to see the cover. It was barely still readable, but it could make out the words alright. It was called Basic and Advanced Curses: From Foreboding to Hellish.

“…way to be subtle,” Spry mused softly. He opened the book and took a look at the first paragraph.

A curse is the effective action of some power, distinguished solely by the quality of adversity that it brings. A curse may also be said to result from a spell or prayer, or other imposition by magic...

The prince shut the book there and placed it on top of the small pile.

Spry lifted all five books, including the one he picked out from the main library, and studied the stack he held. The four he just picked out contained copious amounts of Dark Magic, which was strictly forbidden, but he figured as long as he kept them to himself, there wouldn’t be a problem. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, after all. The opportunity to gain power like this may not present itself ever again. It wasn’t like him to misuse any such power, anyway, so he figured no harm could come of it.

He stepped out of the room slowly, careful not to alert anyone that may have entered the library while he was in the forbidden section. He carried the small stack of textbooks back with him. To the front of the library, where he looked around and spotted several wooden tables, each with four chairs neatly tucked under them. He chose one in a location where he could see someone entering before they saw him. It was a habit of his in order to avoid undesirable situations. He went over to it and sat down before opening the book he picked out first from the mythology section.

Finally, a quiet atmosphere…

The quietness was only disturbed a little over an hour later, when Spry heard another person’s footsteps echoing down the hallway. He shifted his eyes to look up from the book, making no other movements as he watched the library’s entrance carefully.

Eventually, the person revealed herself, stepping into the room with a dainty smile. Spry eyed her closely for a moment. She had long, purple hair with a single pink streak down on side. Not out of the ordinary for Equestria. She carried a shoulder bag of some sort with her, immediately emptying the contents on a table by the entrance. She had a purple mage’s glove over her left hand, which Spry had only seen before on those who practiced magic profusely or scientists who studied its properties.

She looked through the contents of her bag for a moment before glancing up and looking around. He flicked his eyes back to his book before her gaze reached him so he wouldn’t look interested. Inevitably, she eventually took notice of him with a gasp. He used his illusion magic to change the covers of the dark magic books, so she wouldn’t take notice of the forbidden books lying on the table in front of him.

“Oh, hello there,” she said amiably. Spry finished the sentence he was on before setting his book upside down on the table to keep his place.

“Hello,” Spry said softly in return.

“Sorry for interrupting,” she immediately apologized, “No one else usually comes here. I’m Twilight Sparkle, it’s nice to meet you.”

The girl walked over and extended her hand to the prince. This was rather unexpected for Spry, and he was hesitant before returning the gesture, placing his hand in hers before completing the handshake.

“My name is Spry,” he said. “And the feeling is mutual,” he added out of politeness. The girl glanced downward for a moment at the book Spry was reading.

“Oh, really?” she said, lighting up a little, “So you’re the prince from the kingdom of Makuria, right?” she asked, looking back up at him.

Spry’s eyes widened a little when she recognized his name, but he managed to repress any other reactions. Who was this girl? Did she have any affiliation with Equestrian royalty?

“That is correct,” he replied. “Do you work here in the palace?”

“Oh, no. I’m actually the resident librarian of a small town pretty far from here. I learn under Princess Celestia, so I’ll be joining you at dinner tonight,” she answered with a smile.

“Interesting… It’s a pleasure, Ms. Sparkle,” he said before lifting his book from the table.

“Please, Prince Spry, just call me Twilight,” she insisted.

“Then simply Spry will do for me,” he replied modestly, looking back at his book.

“Alright then,” Twilight chuckled, “I’ll let you read then. Catch you later, Spry.”

The prince gave her a half-wave before she went back to taking care of her own business.

The student of Celestia… her title rings a bell.

---

Twilight had left the library soon after she returned some books to their proper place. Apparently, that was all she had come for.

Spry took another five minutes to finish the book on mythology and returned it to the shelves before flipping open one of the textbooks on Dark Illusion Magic.

He studied the writing; it looked incredibly old – so it probably contained ancient magics as well – and had someone else’s notes taking up the majority of the book’s margins. The ink had ironized and turned a brownish color over time, revealing its age.

He studied this book and a few spells in particular for another hour before eventually leaving the library. He continued down the hallway in the same direction he had started going a few hours ago in hopes of finding something new, with the four new books in tow.

He stepped through the quiet hallway once again, but soon heard muffled voices of people talking and joking. The voices continued to grow until he came to a more open area, like a large foyer. This area had several more rooms and hallways branching out of it, and he walked towards the one where the voices resonated from.

Setting the books down just outside the entrance and casting an invisibility spell on them, he tucked his hands nonchalantly into his pockets and stepped in front of the large, open doorway and saw several men jesting with each other, seemingly having a friendly conversation. Most of them appeared to have just showered and were in some sort of locker room. A few still had armor on, while others were in casual dress clothes or t-shirts, conversing freely. There were two still fighting, and one more waiting to join in.

Although no one had yet noticed Spry, the room suddenly grew silent and the ones fighting momentarily stopped and looked over at an unseen distraction. He wondered why they had stopped talking for a few moments before the distraction stepped out. To be specific, an officer of some kind stepped out in front of the guards, preparing to say something. Spry watched with unexpressed interest as he began to speak to them in a slightly authoritative, but very friendly tone.

“Today was really great, you guys. All of you have improved greatly, and I look forward to our next sessions after the Winter Wrap-up break. You are dismissed,” he said professionally.

He seemed above rank in the others, but as soon as they were dismissed, some of the guards approached him casually and talked with him. He was young, but still old enough to be respected.

“Hey Armor, come get some drinks with us tonight, we’re goin’ down to the Forest Tavern,” one of the guards in a t-shirt asked him, moving next to him and putting his hand on one of his shoulders.

“Sorry guys, I gotta attend a dinner tonight. Some royals are visiting from Makuria and it’s mandatory,” he said indifferently.

“Really? Visiting royals?” the guard asked. “Why haven’t I seen any of them?”

“One of them has been standing in the doorway for a while now. I take it none of you noticed him,” the officer replied mirthfully. Inevitably, several heads immediately turned towards the prince. “He’s rather quiet, or so I’ve been told.”

Spry tilted his head at the strange looks he got form the guards, which only caused most of them to flinch. He could easily guess why, but he wasn’t concerned.

“What… What is he?” one of the guards said softly.

“Private Graywing! Mind your superiors,” the officer quipped immediately.

Spry’s expression didn’t change. He really didn’t care.

“My apologies for my subordinate, Prince Roí Spry Villanueva,” the officer said. The guards swapped hesitant glances at the prince’s name before looking back to the boy. “My name is Shining Armor, captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard.”

The boy slowly stepped forward with the usual expression on his face until he reached the captain. This one was much more informed than the rest of the palace’s inhabitants. He knew the prince’s full name and recognized him immediately.

“Just Spry will do. It’s a pleasure,” he said in a contradictory tone, taking the already extended hand of Shining Armor.

“Would you like to see the barracks for just a moment? I really have nothing to do until dinner,” he said amiably, in a similar tone as the girl from the library. Spry glanced over to the three still sparring.

“Sure, I suppose it would be interesting,” he replied softly.

What’s the worst that could happen?

> Chapter 4 - No Más, No Más
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Great, follow me,” Shining Armor chirped. Some of the guards began making their way out, while others stayed and watched, still curious about the prince.

Shining Armor showed Spry around the barracks with a short summary of most things, somewhat intriguing to the young prince.

“This looks very similar to the barracks in Makuria, but admittedly a little better constructed,” the prince commented after a few moments.

“Thanks, I suppose. It’s not very usual for a prince to know his barracks very well,” he replied, surprised.

“Well, I train with the guards a lot. My father says it’s good for me, and it’s kinda fun, anyways,” he replied, still staring straight ahead while walking with the captain.

“Really now?” he replied smugly. “Then we’ll have to see which one of us is better sometime.”

“I suppose we will,” Spry responded with the faintest hint of a smirk.

“It’s a deal then,” Shining Armor told him. “Well, it’s just about five thirty, so what do you say we head on over to the dining hall?” Spry nodded his agreement before they went off.

---

“Luna, have you seen the young prince?”

Luna turned to her sister, “Spry? No, I have no idea where he is.”

“Well, we’re just waiting on him and Shining Armor,” Celestia replied. “But I suppose everyone did get here a bit early, so they have some time.”

King Brisk squinted his eyes in an inward pout, upset that his son was the cause of some disturbance, no matter how small of one it was. His mood lifted, however, when the two doors across the room opened to reveal the two missing people.

Everyone was already seated and most of them were busy conversing with one another. Celestia was seated at the head of the table, and everyone else was lined up on either side. Two seats were left open for Spry and Shining Armor.

The prince and captain split ways, as their reserved spaces were on opposite ends of the table, the former of the two getting curious looks from everyone he had not yet been introduced to. He took his seat in between a fair-skinned, pink-haired pegasus and another girl with curly, darker pink hair.

He had convinced Shining Armor to let him drop off the books in his room before they went to dinner, and he agreed, following him the entire way. Spry, of course, never let him see the true identity of the books he had in his possession.

He noticed the order in which the attendees were placed seemed to be from more composed –starting with Celestia- to less mature, based on the way in which everyone was conversing. In his current situation, Spry felt as though he had been tossed into the kids table with several hyperactive, young girls. Spry looked to the one person near him that he recognized, the girl from the library. The pink-haired girl next to him gasped rather conspicuously when she saw the prince. Spry winced uncomfortably and leaned away from her just a little, refusing to acknowledge her presence by looking at her.

“Hey Spry,” the purple-haired unicorn chirped. “How’ve you been?”

“Hello, Twilight, I’m doing well. I presume you’ve been doing alright since our previous encounter?” he asked while keeping his emotionless stare.

“Yes, of course,” she replied happily. “These are my friends Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.”

Spry looked to each one as they were introduced, committing their names to memory for later.

“Howdy.”

“H-hello…”

“Sup?”

“Hi!”

“Why hello, darling.”

“I’m pleased to make your acquaintances,” he said softly, keeping his emotions hidden behind a straight face. There was a short pause before anyone spoke. It was the girl with the impossibly-colored rainbow hair.

“It’s sure doesn’t look like it,” the tomboyish pegasus commented, looking away a little bit. She was immediately nudged and reprimanded by the pale, purple-haired girl next to her.

“That’s no way to treat a new friend, Rainbow Dash,” she growled, “Especially a prince.”

“I’m sorry… It’s my fault,” the prince said barely over a whisper, looking anywhere but at the girls he was addressing.

“See, Rainbow. He’s not mean, he’s just shy… like Fluttershy,” Applejack said, holding back a snicker. Again he had been compared to the one called Fluttershy, and he still did not know why people found her so similar to himself. At least he had finally been introduced to her. He looked over to the girl who had been introduced as Fluttershy and examined her for a moment.

“Are you sure?” Rainbow Dash countered, “‘because it looks like he really doesn’t care.”

After a few seconds of being examined by the prince, Fluttershy flipped her hair a little and hid behind her long, pink hair. Spry realized he was staring and lightly grunted before he did the same, covering his eyes with his black hair and looking off to the side.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash said in realization. “I kinda see it now.”

Spry and the girls looked towards the other end of the table when the elder royalty stopped talking amongst themselves. Princess Celestia, who was seated at the head of the table, stood up out of her seat and prepared to address the company.

“Hello everyone, we’re sincerely happy to have you all here tonight. For those of you who haven’t met our guests, here we have King Brisk Villanueva, along with his son, Prince Roí Spry Villanueva.”

Of course, she pronounced it perfectly… Spry thought to himself as his father stood as well and cleared his throat.

“Thank you, Celestia. And now a toast, to the very persons who invited us to their great country. To Princess Celestia, whose sun gives light to all the nations of the earth, and to Princess Luna, whose moon’s magic rays move the tides of the world,” he spoke in his slight Makurian accent. All of the elder royals responded in murmurs of agreement before lifting their own glasses and joining the king in a sip of champagne. Spry merely stared disinterestedly at them as they finished and talked cordially among themselves once again.

“Your father’s quite the gentleman,” Rarity told the prince.

“I suppose he always has been,” he replied softly and then sighed.

Several attendants, waiters, and other relating staff members suddenly flooded the room and began placing dishes of various Equestrian cuisines along the center of the table, careful to do their job both quickly and without fail.

Captain Shining Armor was the first who Spry saw to take a portion of something, soon followed by the young woman sitting next to him. Everyone else did the same, feeling that it was okay to take food after a couple others had done it first.

Two armored guards rushed in as the rest of the staff were leaving, causing several heads to turn their way. They efficiently made their way to Shining Armor before standing at attention.

“Captain,” one of them began breathlessly. “A prisoner escaped into the palace while being transported to a different cell by a new recruit. Actions are currently being carried out to apprehend him, but nothing’s been sent back yet. Do you suggest we put an alert out to the entire staff?”

“No,” he replied immediately before taking a brief moment to think, “There shouldn’t be any unneeded interruptions to this dinner. It’s barely begun. I’ll come with you for a moment. There mustn’t be any time wasted.”

The captain stood up and turned the guards before looking back to the table. “My apologies, but an urgent matter has come up that must be attended to. It shouldn’t take long.”

“It’s alright. Make sure the prisoner is dealt with,” Princess Celestia said dismissively.

“Spry, go with the captain and help out,” Brisk said suddenly, turning in the direction of his son.

“Yes, sir,” was all the prince said in reply, standing up and pushing the chair out from the table.

“Brisk, are you sure about this?” Princess Celestia asked immediately, “There’s potential for this intruder to be dangerous.”

“Spry can handle himself,” the king replied dismissively.

Spry stepped out from the table and turned to the captain. “Shall we go, then?” he asked politely. The captain nodded wearily and followed the guards quickly across the room. Spry followed leisurely, but remained close.

Before Shining Armor could get even halfway to the door however, it suddenly burst open as an unfamiliar man ran through them, dressed in black pants and a black shirt with a white number across it. Based on the man’s appearance and captain’s reaction, Spry deduced that it was the prisoner. With a shortened battle cry, the two armored guards were the first to rush at him, each from the same side. Spry turned his head and looked back at the dinner guests, thinking how inappropriate this situation must have been at the moment.

The intruder easily dodged as one guard flung himself through the air and countered the other guard’s tackle with a swift undercut to the stomach. With both guards on the ground, the room grew silent as everyone at the table watched intently. Celestia was astonished and embarrassed that something such as this would happen in the presence of visiting royals, but she remained relatively composed. The captain hesitated slightly, stopping to look at the intruder.

Spry’s expression, however, didn’t seem to change at all as he slowly shuffled over to the unknown assailant. The intruder looked at him crossly for a moment before examining him.

“What are you, some sort of bat?” he spat, ready to take him on. The unknown man bounced around, ready for a fight, as the prince stared at him with a straight face.

“Stop staring at me like that!” the unknown man shouted, becoming infuriated at the prince’s disinterested attitude. Spry considered for a moment the mental stability of this man.

“Ahh! I’m going to kill you!” he finally spat, charging at the young prince. Spry was nearly certain at this point that the man did not have everything right in his head.

What’s got him so worked up? Spry thought before easily side-stepping the man’s punch, almost causing him to stumble. He slowly recovered and looked back to the prince.

“Now I’m angry!” he yelled heatedly.

The prince sighed.

“What do you want?” Spry asked calmly.

“What did you say?” the intruder responded angrily, cooling off a little bit due to confusion.

“Why would you think charging into a room with both of your princesses present would be a good idea in your situation? Aren’t you trying to escape?” he asked, thinking of no logical reason for the current situation. If he ended up here, he most likely got lost on his way to wherever he was trying to go, and he was rather pugnacious, which indicated further towards an unstable mental condition. Either that or he was just immensely stupid.

“That’s none of your business!”

The man tried to charge him once again, readying a punch and aiming it straight at the prince’s face. He was nearly a few feet away from the prince, and the prince had made to sign of moving. The man drew back and hollered, ready to connect, before thrusting his fist forward.

The prince still did not move, keeping a steady and rather bored expression. The man was mere inches away from his face, putting nearly all of his weight into the strike.

The man pushed forward, punching the air and stumbling forward onto his stomach. Spry was now behind the man, still watching with his bored expression.

“What in tarnation just happened?” Applejack muttered to herself, astounded, breaking the silence at the table.

The man stood up and spun around as fast as he could to look at the prince.

“How did you do that?” he demanded, “Was it teleportation?” he yelled at the boy.

Spry gave no answer, angering the intruder even further. The man staggered to his feet and charged at the prince again. This time, however, he didn’t put as much weight behind it so he would stay on his feet if he missed. He did miss, and looked extremely shocked when he saw the prince blur out of existence in front of him. To those who couldn’t follow his speed, it was impossible to tell where the prince really was. He was sure his father could see through it, but he doubted anyone else in the room could; certainly not this prisoner.

The intruder caught something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head, just in time to see the prince’s foot heading straight for his face. He called out for a second before he was cut off by the kick and was knocked backwards several yards before basically rolling to a stop. The prince wasn’t too strong, but the force he was able to achieve by rotating his body by flapping his wings was immense, and enough to end the fight with one blow.

The prince landed from the kick before standing up straight. He sighed and walked over to the sprawled out body that lay about twenty feet away. The prince nudged him in the side with his foot, eliciting a tired groan, before bending over and picking him up.

He tossed the pugnacious intruder over his shoulder quite easily, which seemed contradictory to his seemingly frail stature, and walked back to the two armored guards, who had managed to recover during the prince’s short fight. The prince presented the body to the guards, who stared at him for a moment before eventually snapping out of their thoughts and taking the incapacitated intruder.

“O-Oh, right,” one of them exclaimed before snatching him up. Both of the guards carried the body out of the room, shutting the door behind them on their way out. Spry turned around, facing his father.

“You’ve been out of practice too long, Spry,” his father said in a disappointed drawl.

“Yes sir, I know. I’ll work on it tonight,” the prince replied softly with a curt bow to his father.

Prince Spry then returned to his seat at the same time as Captain Shining Armor. Shining Armor, feeling that the silence was getting awkward, decided to speak up.

“Remind me never to catch Prince Spry in a bad mood,” he chuckled, attempting to put humor back in the situation.

“I’ll say,” Princess Celestia said softly, but still in a serious tone.

He didn’t even use any magic, the princess thought seriously.

“Whoa, you have to teach me how to move that fast!” Rainbow Dash demanded, leaning over the table slightly to get closer to him. From that point, conversation slowly started up again, mostly on the elder side. Spry could hear many embarrassed-sounding apologies coming from the elder princess while Brisk insisted that it was of no consequence.

“Perhaps…” the prince replied softly. “I don’t know how well I could teach it… or how well you could learn it.”

Rainbow Dash sat back in her chair, but still looked at him accusatorily.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked indignantly. The prince stared at her for a few moments before replying.

“I came up with the technique myself. I don’t know if someone with anatomy so different from mine could perfect the same thing,” he explained, “At the very least, it would have to be altered to fit your body type.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m the fastest flier in Equestria,” Rainbow Dash boasted proudly.

“Even after what you just saw?” Pinkie Pie asked with a giggle.

Rainbow Dash faltered, “Yes, Pinkie!” she growled. Pinkie Pie ignored her friend and turned to the prince sitting next to him.

“Why are you so shy? We should throw you a party so you can make more friends!” she said excitedly.

This caused Spry to turn away uncomfortably and inadvertently face Fluttershy. Fluttershy noticed him and moved her pink hair in front of her face, hiding from the prince, but still looking at him with one eye. That, in turn, provoked Spry look down and blush, also flipping his hair over his eyes. They stayed like that for a few moments, only daring to look up at each other for milliseconds at a time.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold back a snicker. “This is hilarious,” she chuckled softly.

“Aww, that’s so cute!” Rarity cooed. “They’re exactly alike; they’d make a perfect couple.”

“Ah’m sure that’s the last thing either of them are thinkin’, Rares,” Applejack interjected.

Both Fluttershy and Spry were now looking down at the table and blushing brightly, with their hair covering the top halves of their faces.

“It’s okay, I d-don’t really like parties. Well, I’ve never been to one before, but based on my preferences, I doubt it would be a particularly enjoyable experience.”

Pinkie Pie stared at him wide-eyed for several moments until Spry felt the need to shift his gaze towards her. He immediately regretted doing so, however, because she couldn’t have been more than two inches away from his face.

“Gah!” he yelped, leaning away from her.

He accidentally brushed against Fluttershy, causing her to yelp and lean in the opposite direction. She leaned a little too far, however, and grabbed the unsuspecting prince for support. The prince, being somewhat of a lightweight, wasn’t much of an anchor and they both spilled backwards out of their chairs. They landed with a somewhat disruptive thud.

Several clangs were heard as the guests set their utensils down to look over at the two of them. They both awkwardly stood up and took their seats, Spry pulling Fluttershy’s chair out for her to be polite. He nonchalantly proceeded to sit down and stab a few pieces of lettuce from his salad with a fork before eating it, pretending like nothing had happened. The royals looked at him idly before turning back to their own conversations, forgetting about the strange occurrence.

The prince looked up for a moment to confirm that everyone had forgotten about it. He saw his father staring at him sternly for a second before turning back to answer a question of Princess Celestia.

Rainbow Dash chuckled quietly but uncontrollably, and Spry didn’t like how the tomboyish pegasus found humor in all of his mishaps. Next to Spry, the pink-haired pegasus managed to fix her hair and sit up straight again.

“Won’t you please stop laughing,” the prince requested, slightly flustered. Unfortunately, no one on the opposite side of the table had a chance of hearing him due to the general noise of their surroundings. He grunted lightly as he was ignored.

“Umm… excuse me, Rainbow Dash?” the shy girl asked politely, much louder than the prince was able to. “I don’t think Prince Spry appreciates you laughing at him. I-I mean, I’m sure you don’t mean anything by it, but…”

Rainbow Dash looked over to her friend in hopes of enlightening her on the funny part of the situation, but forgot about that when she saw how genuinely concerned she was.

“Oh… Geez Fluttershy, I’m sorry. I guess that would be kinda uncool if Spry got the wrong impression,” she said thoughtfully, mostly to herself. The laughter ceased and made some room for conversation, which Spry immediately regretted. He still looked over to Fluttershy in appreciation, though. The girl hid behind her hair and blushed again.

“So, Prince Spry,” Rarity gushed. “How is it being royalty?”

“It’s… okay, I suppose,” he replied, looking down slightly.

“What kind of answer it that, darling? Do you not simply love being treated like a prince?” she asked flamboyantly.

“Well, I’m not all that… accepted in my country. Appearances make a big difference there,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh, I’m simply devastated to hear that, darling,” she replied, looking crushed.

Why is she addressing me in such a tone? Is she mocking me…?

“Now that I look at ya, you do look kinda funny,” Pinkie Pie suddenly interrupted, inspecting him at an unreasonably close distance. “…and batty,” she added, prodding one of his wings. Spry twitched uncomfortably, but said nothing and kept his blank stare.

“Pinkie, stop that,” Twilight reprimanded. Spry then looked to her, realizing that she hadn’t spoken in a while. Twilight, feeling on the spot, quickly came up with something to ask him.

“So, what were you reading back in the library a few hours ago?” she asked curiously.

“… It was a mythology of sorts; although, I’m not sure why, because according to the book, it was proven to be true…” he replied in thought. “It had to do with a race of people whose bodies are composed entirely of crystal. It was rather interesting. Apparently, they’ve gotten a new monarch, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Oh, really?” she responded, perking up a little. “You know, that’s her right over there. The girl sitting next to my brother,” she clarified. Spry turned his head and followed Twilight’s gaze. He saw the person to which she was referring, but the only male figure sitting on either side of her was Captain Shining Armor.

“Shining Armor is your brother?” Spry asked softly.

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “He’s captain of the Royal Guard.”

“So I’ve heard… I presume it’s a prestigious occupation,” he replied in thought, taking another bite of his salad, still looking curiously at the princess.

The princess caught their gazes out of the corner of her eye and turned towards the other half of the table, but it was Twilight she saw first. The princess smiled at her for a moment before turning to the prince. Her smile widened and she waved. The prince managed to change his poker face into a slight grin and gave her a nervous half-wave back. She seemed to get the message and she shook her head whilst chuckling to herself.

The prince turned back to the girls and listened to the sudden new topic of conversation. He must’ve missed the change of topic.

“I’m telling you, there’s no way that ravenous Blueblood is still walking around this castle,” the purple-haired girl argued.

“I’m pretty sure he would still be allowed in his own royalty’s palace,” Twilight reasoned. The prince ignored the fact that a new conversation had been started in literally a few seconds without his noticing, and he looked across at the conversing girls.

The conversation went on as the prince daydreamed rather than listening. It pleased him more; to stay in his own mind instead of getting involved with others who may be annoying, much like this rainbow-haired girl. He was generally an introvert. He stared at her blankly, but thought of her distastefully. She spoke while chewing, smacked her food, maintained a rather boisterous personality, and was generally loud and obnoxious. He didn’t know her very well, but he knew they weren’t going to have any sort of friendly relationship.

He shifted his gaze to the two sitting to the obnoxious girl’s left: the unicorn he met at the library and the blonde with a heavy country accent. The purple-haired girl was alright; she was intelligent, at least. The other didn’t seem as intelligent, but seemed nice enough. Spry really had no opinion on either of these two. They could be friends… or not. It didn’t really matter. Anything was possible, as he was going to be in Equestria for a while. His father had to leave after a few more days, but he was going to stay for at least the next couple weeks, probably.

Next he looked to his right. He saw the other unicorn, called Rarity, sitting next to Rainbow Dash across the table, and the girl sitting to his right with curly pink hair. The unicorn seemed nice, and he was able to deduce that she wasn’t mocking him earlier; she just spoke with a strange flourish. But Spry decided a long time ago that strange was good. However, she was rather winey and nosey. He had no opinion of her.

The boisterous, pink-haired girl was just as loud and obnoxious as the girl sitting across from her, if not more so, but she minded her manners at the table, and didn’t seem to have even the smallest bit of malicious intent. The prince didn’t really have an opinion of her either.

Lastly was the shy, pink-haired girl. He glanced over to her for a second and then looked down at the table, not wanting to make her uncomfortable by staring as he thought. Fluttershy was her name, and she was very much like Spry in many ways. There wasn’t much he knew to judge her by, but from what he could deduce, she wouldn’t be a bad friend. He could hang around her for a long time without the fear of her being talkative or annoying. She had some potential.

Spry started paying attention again when all six girls started laughing, somewhat accurately marking the end of their conversation. The prince stared at the girls until they finished. Rainbow Dash turned to address him, and he stared at her expectantly as she waited for the laughter to die down.

“So, can you tell me how you moved that fast yet?” she asked hopefully.

“It’s not something I can simply tell you…” the prince replied softly. “But…”

Rainbow Dash leaned towards him excitedly. He responded with an emotionless stare.

“…I’ll be practicing tonight if you want me to try to teach you,” he finished unenthusiastically.

“Really, you mean it? I mean, yeah! I’ll be there!” she replied excitedly.

“So Spry, how did you become so skilled in something like fighting? It seems rather… out of character for you,” Rarity said carefully.

“I suppose it could be considered unfitting for me,” he replied after a bit of thought. “It was merely a coincidence that I was a natural at fighting. Admittedly, I’m a bit lacking in physical strength, and you’ve already noticed my stature is small… but I’m all about speed. If no one can touch you, you can’t lose, and when I find an opening large enough, I can gain momentum with my wings and make effective counter attacks.

“That’s what I need to practice tonight. At the moment, I can’t easily go on the offensive. I have to stay defensive for a long time until I get a very large opening. It just happened to come quickly when you watched because the intruder was so inexperienced.”

“I don’t quite understand,” Twilight interrupted during the prince’s small pause. “You hit that man very hard and very quickly. How could you say that you need a large opening when your attack would have been effective in a very small opening?”

“Well, even though it’s extremely unlikely, if I were to miss, or if my opponent were able to dodge my attack, they would have ample time to make a counter attack. I get a lot of momentum when I attack, and it takes a lot of energy to stop mid swing if I miss. Anyway, that’s the problem I’ll be attempting to fix. I’m not yet sure how, but I’ll probably come up with something.”

“That other guy didn’t have time to see it coming, much less dodge it,” Rainbow Dash affirmed, “I don’t think there’s anyone out there fast enough to dodge it! Except maybe me, ‘cause I’m like the fastest flier in Equestria and stuff.”

Spry ignored her last comment and replied in a loud whisper.

“Trust me; there are people out there who are much better than I am.” He clearly spoke from experience, “I’m still completely outmatched by most of the captains of the royal guard in Makuria.”

Captain Shining Armor flicked his eyes over to Spry as he heard some of the words he had said. From that point on, he attempted to inconspicuously listen in on what the prince was revealing.

“Captains?” Twilight asked confusedly. “You mean you have more than one?”

The prince sighed when he realized he was going to have to explain the entirety of the ranking system of Makurian royal guard.

“There are exactly one hundred soldiers in Makuria’s royal guard. There are ten captains, and two lieutenants directly under each captain. Besides the two lieutenants, there are seven other positions under each captain. These positions are placed miscellaneously with no rank until they are promoted to lieutenant.”

Twilight, being the person she was, did the math in her head and found that to be exactly one hundred people. However, she raised an eyebrow at the prince once she thought for long enough.

“Do the ten captains share the responsibility of leadership then? Why does the top rank have ten positions to be filled? What would happen if there’s some sort of disagreement?” she asked as she continued to realize the different possible problems.

“There’s a colonel,” the prince said quickly before Twilight could ask something else. “There is one colonel that presides over all ten captains.”

“But then… would that not make one hundred and one soldiers?” Twilight asked thoughtfully.

Spry stared at her with a deadpan expression for a moment, but no one seemed to notice because it looked almost identical to his usual expression.

“He’s not really a soldier. Over time, the position of colonel has more or less become a position of royalty. It seems that the situation is very similar with your Captain,” Spry said, glancing over to the captain.

Slightly to his surprise, the Captain was looking straight back at him, listening intently. The prince showed no sign of it and turned back to the girls.

“I train directly under the Colonel. Much like the relationship you have with Princess Celestia. I believe he might visit for a short time if he gets the chance.”

“He couldn’t just leave the rest of the royal guard like that, can he? What if he’s needed for something urgent?” Twilight continued.

How can she have so many questions? Spry thought before replying.

“The captains will take care of anything. They’re usually the ones that make the decisions anyway, as a council. The colonel is there just in case of a tie. The colonel is also the only one who can authorize promotions or changing of positions throughout the royal guard.”

“So the colonel is just the brains behind the operations? Then why is there a need for a colonel when the captains can make decisions on their own?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at her egghead friend’s endless stream of questions. It seemed almost like a good-natured interrogation.

“Usually the ones that fight best on the front lines have a better mind for these kinds of positions. All of the positions are chosen either by the head captain, or if someone of a lower rank proves themselves to be a better fighter than their superior, usually through a battle.”

“So if the higher ranking officer loses in battle, then they switch positions?” she asked. 

“More or less,” Spry said before the conversation was interrupted by several waiters and other kitchen staff suddenly appearing. They quickly took up the dishes that were already spread across the table and replaced it with all kinds of fruits and desserts.

“Yay, dessert!” the obnoxious pink-haired girl cheered. She then proceeded to shove an entire piece of cake in her mouth.

Why is she even here? Where could they have even found a person like this? the prince thought as he watched the pink-haired girl ungracefully devour an entire piece of cake in one bite.

For a few moments, the only noises were people getting and eating food. There was silence as Spry stared disinterestedly at the supposed Equestrian cuisine.

“You’re not going to eat anything?” Pinkie Pie asked curiously, eyeing the prince with suspicion. “It’s really, really good, I promise! All you’ve eaten so far is half a salad, and it doesn’t look like you’re very well fed anyways,” she said, causing almost every head on her end of the table to turn to her. Twilight looked ready to face palm, and everyone else seemed to just be watching curiously. The prince sighed and turned to her slowly.

“I’m not that hungry right now,” he said softly. “I’ll take your word for the excellence of it.”

“Aww, fine. But you’ll have to try some of my cake later. It’s the best in Equestria!”

“It’s a deal, then,” he said softly with no sincerity before taking another bite of his salad. The interest of the onlookers faded as they realized the prince had taken no offense at all to Pinkie’s statement.

The remainder of the meal went similarly; although, most conversations didn’t include Spry. When he wasn’t answering others’ questions, he preferred to sit back and listen to the girls’ conversations. He was even able to accumulate a decent amount of background information on each of them. He was generally pleased with how the dinner went, but still had little interest in the six Equestrian girls.

---

After the dinner, he went straight towards the barracks; although, he went leisurely so it took a little while. There, he found the somewhat familiar room from before. He also noticed an adjoining smaller room, like on office, separated from the barracks with a thick pane of glass. He peered inside and saw the captain sitting at a desk, writing on some documents. Spry dismissed it as paperwork and kept walking.

Next, he found an area that seemed to be for sparring, along with training equipment along the wall. He scanned the equipment, and the first thing that caught his eye was several swords. They were commonplace in any barracks, but there seemed to be two different types here. There were two barrels, one containing standard issue guard swords; a little beat up but in relatively good condition. The other barrel held just as many wooden swords, each of them worn out from use.

He skipped the faux swords and pulled one of the guard’s swords out of the barrel. It was curved, sharp steel, like a scimitar with golden hilt, matching the theme of colors the prince had seen from the Equestrian Royal Guard so far.

He had used a sword before, but was far from a practicing swordsman. He preferred to learn how to protect himself while unarmed, as that would be the case most of the time. Unless he carried a sword around with him all the time, he figured that practicing with one would be useless. However, he did consider it often, mostly due to the advisement from his mentor, Jury. The colonel often tried to convince the prince that it would be a very sensible skill for someone of his position. Spry decided he might take it up soon.

He put the sword back and looked further along the wall, finding some body armor, obviously for training, along with some real suits of armor. He lifted one up a little. He could barely do it; although, he was only using one hand. From the way it felt, he wasn’t sure if he could even move inside of one. Good thing he didn’t need to wear armor.

“So… um… hey Spry,” a voice said softly from the doorway behind the prince. The prince turned around to meet the visitor.

“Hello, miss Rainbow Dash,” he said softly.

“Heh… Just call me Rainbow,” she chuckled nervously.

Strange… she didn’t act this way at dinner…

“Of course,” he replied thoughtfully, in almost a whisper, “So you’d like me to try to teach you, is that right?”

“Yeah,” she responded a little more enthusiastically, “If you don’t mind, of course.”

“I haven’t got anything better to do, so I’ll try my best to help you,” he decided after a moment.

“Cool, so what’s first?” she asked excitedly.

A good question…

The Prince walked up to her in the middle of the room, pondering how to begin. He extended his own wings and looked back at them, remembering everything he did to move in quick, short bursts, like this girl wanted to do.

“You claim to be the fastest flier in Equestria, so I assume you have at least some basis for that claim, whether it’s true or not. You probably aren’t slow, is what I mean. I guess that’s good.”

The prince paused and thought again. Rainbow dash didn’t respond, but listened intently to what he was saying.

“Well, I guess the first move is to propel yourself as fast as you can with one thrust, and then stopping yourself with another thrust of equal force in the opposite direction.”

She looked bewildered for a moment, so he quickly tried to explain it differently.

“I suppose it might be easier to try it before trying to understand it,” he decided. “Just thrust as hard as you can with one flap and keep your wings back. Then thrust your wings forward when you want to stop.”

“Well, sure,” she replied confidently, “Sounds like a piece of cake.”

Rainbow Dash leaned forward and prepared her wings for a powerful thrust, glancing at the prince for a moment. She went forward faster than Spry imagined she would, but it seemed she had trouble stopping. She slowed down a lot when she flapped forward, but didn’t stop completely, stumbling straight towards the equipment lining the wall. Spry decided to let her try to catch herself, but he realized the swords in one of the barrels could be a potential danger, so he zoomed in front of her and caught her before she could reach them.

“Oof!” Rainbow Dash gasped as she hit the prince.

He flew forward as he caught the girl so he wouldn’t get knocked back as well before letting Rainbow Dash stand up on her own. She looked up with a slightly embarrassed expression. The prince didn’t react to it, as his attention was elsewhere when the light in Captain Shining Armor’s office went out and the captain stepped out and shut the door. When the captain glanced over, the prince looked back to Rainbow Dash and tried to help her with her current problem.

I wonder what they’re doing here, Shining Armor thought to himself as he continued to step out of the barracks.

The captain nearly jumped when he saw King Brisk leaning up against the wall just outside of the room, apparently waiting for him. The captain recovered quickly and walked a few steps towards the king. Brisk barely moved his head, rolling his eyes to the side to watch the captain.

“What’s on your mind, Captain?” he asked gruffly, but quietly enough so neither the prince nor the girl could hear.

“Nothing really, but… would you mind if I asked you something? About your son,” he clarified, slowly walking towards the relaxed king.

“Not at all,” he replied, “Was he bothering you?”

“No, nothing like that,” the captain replied quickly, “I was just wondering, where do those wings and teeth of his come from?” he asked curiously. The king closed his eyes and sighed, taking a moment to think.

“I can’t really say. He’s not related to me by blood, you know. I have no other heirs, I adopted Spry when he was ten or eleven years old. That’s how old he seemed anyways. It was always a mystery to him. We use the day I adopted him as his birthday.”

“I see,” the captain responded thoughtfully, “What made you decide to adopt, instead of marrying and having a child of your own?”

“…I suppose I should start from the beginning,” the king replied.

No more than a second later, a crash resounded through the barracks. The captain moved to get up before he decided that the prince could handle himself. He turned back to listen to the king’s story.

---

What just happened…? The prince thought miserably as he lay underneath a few suits of armor with a girl draped across his midsection.

I can’t keep catching her like this. She’s too stubborn to learn something new.

“That was a little better,” the prince lied, shoving away the piled up pieces of armor from on top of him. Rainbow Dash groaned and lifted her head up to look at the prince.

“How can you stop so well?” she pouted. “Is there some kind of secret or are your wings just that strong?”

The prince thought for a few seconds until something occurred to him. Colonel Jury did have him do a lot of exercises every day, claiming they had something to do with back and wing strength.

“Oh… strength training,” he mumbled.

“Strength training?” she asked curiously. “Like what?”

“Just pushups and pull ups,” he said, remembering the exercises his mentor always made him do.

“Is that what you did?” she asked skeptically.

“Yeah. Three or four hundred of each every day,” he remembered, “It’s not hard if you spread them out, instead of trying to do them all at once.”

“That… would explain it,” Rainbow Dash said softly. “You think I should do that?” she asked unpleasantly.

“You’ll probably have to if you want to move faster, but, umm… Rainbow Dash?” he asked nervously.

“Hmm? What is it?” She cocked her head in confusion.

“Could you, umm… get up, please?” he asked awkwardly, looking to the side and blushing slightly. Rainbow Dash blushed as well and stood up as quickly as she could, nearly tripping over one of the suits of armor. The prince stood up slowly and slid the jumbled armor up against the wall with his foot.

“Okay, let me give this one more shot before we call it a night,” Rainbow dash said determinedly before setting up for another try.

Oh, great…

“W-wait. Let me just stand over here first,” the prince decided before walking straight into her line of sight on the opposite side of the room.

“Geez Spry, you’re making me think I’m gonna crash,” she told him disconcertedly.

“It’s okay, it couldn’t be worse than the last one,” the prince replied candidly.

“Ha ha very funny, now get ready.”

The prince wasn’t joking, but he did as he was told.

She leaned forward and flared up her wings before looking straight into Spry’s eyes. The prince was shocked by her look of determination, but he was terrified by her setup. By the way she was postured, it looked as if she was ready to bust through the wall behind him. If she was having trouble stopping before, this was going to end horribly.

The prince barely had time to get out a syllable before the girl took off in his direction. He knew it was going to end badly when she was only a few feet away from him and still hadn’t slowed down.

Well… it was a good run…