Hours passed, slowly, and, painfully so. In the end my patience ran out; there were only so long you could look at the same walls and the same view. It mattered little that it was a nice view and no doubt when spring came along it would look stunning, but, right now, white snow sort of made everything blend together. So it was a no brainer to attempt and leave the small confines of my bedroom, and so I did.

I struggled a second with the door handle and then I left. I was actually surprised about the two grey unicorn guards flanking my door, they did nothing more than join up behind me as I passed. The act was so seamless that, if I had not paid attention, I would have never noticed. They kept close to me but still far enough away that they were outside my kicking range. Made sense.

It would seem that my guess about Celestia’s hospitality was merely a formality was right. I was for all intents and purposes a prisoner with very loose shackles, but shackles none the less. At least it seemed I was allowed to move about and not confined to my ‘room’.

My walk went slowly, my shoulder still painfully reminding me about my… accident. But that did not damper my excitement as I explored unhindered. I took my time and I stopped often to inspect tapestries, stained glass art, vases, heck even the carpet was worthy of a closer look. Thanks to my slow gait it was pretty easy to walk even if I had a bit of a problem to keep my movement flow, at least it kept me from making any further advances towards the ground. It might start to get the wrong idea.

I was however surprised over the low amount of ponies I met along the way. I only saw four which only one passed by me. I could see that the stallion must not have been part of the staff, he wore a… tux? Over a tan coat and had a short subdued-blue mane. He held his head high and walked with such self-importance that he did not even bother to look where he was going.

I watched him walk towards me; it almost looked like he was skipping as he bobbed slightly up and down. Must have been in quite the happy mood. The stallion was on a direct collision course with me.

With a devious smile I got an idea, I raised my own head in imitation of what I imagined would strike quite the regal pose and simply waited for the stallion to crash into me. Steeling my hind legs I prepared.

I threw a quick glance at my two guards, both looked unsure of what to do as their eyes quickly shifted between me and the approaching stallion. It was as if they tried to consider if they should step up and stop the collision from happening, but to leave their posts meant go closer to me, something they had been adamantly avoiding this whole trip.

I could not blame them, if my treatment so far was to tell they thought I was dangerous and that seemed to warrant being cautious around me. They looked more and more distressed the closer the stallion came.

Ignoring them I watched the stallion unknowingly disappear under my chin.

I winced as the stallion impacted my front with enough force to lift my hooves just slightly off the ground, jarring my right side a little. I heard a squawk as the stallion bounced back down on his rump and even though I had prepared myself for it I was forced to take a step back to keep my balance. Re composing myself I resumed my royal impersonation, I really hoped it was impressive enough for what I planned. I tilted my head slightly to the side to look down at the stallion, a disapproving scowl set on my lips.

“Watch your…” was all the stallion managed before his words died in his throat in a whimper. A terrible strangled noise that almost made me break my noble act. His eyes wide and all manner of pompous air left him as he took in my visage, my ‘honour’ guard probably helped sell my impersonation.

The stallion silently stammered as he struggled to find the words that had left him. The shrunken pupils screamed of panic. It was clear he did not recognise me and he was probably scrambling to find the correct response to my presence, who knew how I would react to a faux pass? It was damn hard keep a straight face.

“I-I am sorry, your majesty!” he exclaimed suddenly and fell deeply into what I translated into a deep bow before he, with the subtlety grace of a boulder, hurried passed me. I tracked him as he, to the best of his ability, tried to act unruffled by the sudden shock to his system.

When I was sure the stallion had made it far enough away to be out of earshot I let my charade break. The strangled laugh that ensued shook my whole body as I doubled over myself, how I remained standing was a mystery but I did not mind. My amusement must have spread, my guards did a good job hiding smiles, their lips could not fully fall into their normal stoic expressions and their eyes, I don’t really know how to explain it but I think I saw them glimmer in my own amusement.

That was a good sign.

Sadly the rest of my walk was uneventful, pretty, but uneventful. Everything was so… so… fancy that it all simply melted together as nothing really stood out, bland in other words. Everything was so over the top as nothing mediocre or even awful met my eye, only exquisite and marvellous masterpiece after masterpiece.

I returned to my room with the help of my guards who murmured directions behind my back… behind? Meh.

I climbed up on my bed and made myself comfortable; it took me a while to find a position that was comfortable. None really was as it all felt kind off, but I managed to splay myself out on my stomach rather comfily.

“I am sorry Silver Coin, but could you repeat that?” the one and only Blueblood asked the shaken tan stallion in front of him. He subtly attached his magical grip to the small rope that would summon any royal guard within the castle to his aid. The Stallion did not look like he was to his full senses, and about what he spouted sounded like pure fantasies conjured by one or more illegal drug.

“A-an, an A-alicorn!” Silver Coin shouted as he gripped the small glass of wine between his hooves. He had been sipping through half a bottle before the hysterical Earth pony finally calmed down enough to speak coherently.

Blueblood nursed his tender head, he was already tired, and searching for that damned gossip monger was harder than he thought.

“I am sure you are just imagining things.” He dismissed, he really wanted to track down that mare who had besmirched his aunt’s good name with slander and punish whoever was involved in this debacle. It was not only a smirch on his aunt's but also his name and that if anything was not allowed to happen.

“Blueblood, I know what I saw, I-I walked straight into him!” Now that was just madness, if there was any such thing as an Alicorn stallion then he of all ponies would know about it.

“Uh-huh, anyone else that can back your words?” Blueblood sighed, he was really regretting uncorking that bottle now, he should have just kicked his friend out… or called the guards immediately… then at least he would have had the excuse of Silver Coin being out of his mind and not just delusional.

“He had an honour guard, for Celestia’s sake Blueblood,” the stallion was visibly shaking as he cradled the bowl closer to him, “oh, I’m so dead! You should have seen him; it felt like I had walked into the Princess herself! T-those eyes glared at me, ME! No one would be so stupid to do that and you know it!”

Now the stallion was acting like his old self, Blueblood perked up.

“Guards you say? So you had witnesses?”

“Yes!” Silver coin shouted, breaking a note too high for Blueblood’s liking.

“Why did you not say so from the very beginning, you dolt?” This changed everything, now he could ask around the guards to validate Silver Coin’s words. But that worried him… why did he not know of this stallion, why did not everypony know?

“You said you met this stallion on the way here?”

Silver Coin nodded relieved that his words had finally taken hold in the young prince. He took another sip of his beverage to calm his nerves more. It caused the initial panic to fade but a feeling that he had screwed up royally still lingered

“Describe him to me.” Blueblood ordered his companion.

“He was tall, as tall as celesta herself; he was simply towering over me. Orange coat, with grey hair, almost silver. I… Blueblood, you must believe me. He was an Alicorn.”

“You are sure you just did not confuse him with a Pegacorn?”

“Yes, Blueblood,” Silver Coin hissed as he scowled something fierce, “I know the difference, did you not listen? He was tall enough to be compared towards Celestia!”

“I hope for your sake he is,” Blueblood murmured to himself, just loudly enough to be heard, ”but now, onto the other matter I asked you about.”

“Oh, yeah,” Silver Coin threw himself onto the new hook Blueblood had given him to change the subject, “I heard the rumour originated from the council meeting. I could not pinpoint the source but all says a guard came to collect her, saying she had a guest waiting for her… you don’t think…”

“I hope not.” Blueblood’s expression soured as if he tasted an especially sour lemon. It was too great a coincidence; he could only hope the rumour did not have more in common than that.

Author's Note

Boom, bam! *echo* *echo* *echo*

Here you folks have another chapter to enjoy.