Chapter Three: Travelling to an Office

The Spellbots had taken Celestia and Lemmy to an elevator, which two had operated silently, leaving the rest to stand in a crowd outside and slowly watch as it ascended. The industrial elevator was fairly standard, with a faded wallpaper that may have been green at some point. There were nine numbers on the control panel, and as Lemmy watched the light moved from the nine to the eight. His curiosity got the better of him, and he spoke. "Uh...Princess? What's going to happen to me?"

The princess smiled at him gently as she replied, "Well, you're going to go home and never be bothered by these robots ever again."

"Oh", Lemmy said. "So I won't see you again?"

"It is unfortunate, but I have many duties back in Equestria that cannot be postponed forever. I wish there was more time to spend in your world, it truly is fascinating." Princess Celestia glanced over at the control panel, noting that the number 1 was lit. "It looks like we're here. Come along." The Spellbots exited first, then the princess and Lemmy stepped out. The room they were in was full of greenery. It was the same dome he had seen from the outside, and tropical plants surrounded the small, rocky path that led away from the elevator. The sound of rushing water emanated from further down the trail. Celestia set off, and a robot hurried to take the lead. Its partner floated along in the back of the group. As they walked through the greenhouse, Lemmy luxuriated in the beautiful plants and their wonderful odors. He stepped past neat lines of tiny ferns. Here and there, hostas and daylilies grew next to stringy plants with red hairs and drops of liquid on their tentacle-like leaves. There were plenty of palm trees as well, and hibiscus carpeted swathes of sunny ground near the greenhouse walls.

The group reached a wooden bridge that crossed an indoor river. The water was seasoned with leaves and petals. After they finished crossing, the robots hummed ahead to an imposing iron door. The Spellbots put their swords inside two locks on either side of it, and when they turned them it slowly began to rise with a mechanical whine. Celestia leaned over to Lemmy. "On the other side of that door is Mr. Olde's office. I must warn you, he does keep several sharks as pets. Don't worry, they're well fed before appointments." She stood upright again, and walked towards the door as the whining came to a halt. The robots turned their swords again, and with a cachunk it locked into place. Lemmy followed the Princess into the dark and cold space beyond.

Author's Note

Yup, it's a cliffhanger. Don't worry, I'm planning to work diligently on the next chapter...quite soon.

Edited 4/11/2021. Little ripples from the changes I made in the first chapter meant that dialogue had to be re-written in this one.

Edited 11/23/2021. I wasn’t happy with how the door was described, and felt that the use of the word path was rather excessive.