Ms. Peachbottom was lying on her back with her suitcase on the floor in front of her seat. Outside, only a few minutes had passed since Princess Celestia had lowered the sun and Princess Luna had begun to raise the moon. Its luminescent glow made it quite visible in the night sky with only a few clouds obscuring some of the stars and their constellations. Actually, looking out the window at it from her seat was quite relaxing…
The train had just started chugging along and in a few hours, she would be back in Mustangia and after such an exciting vacation, she was exhausted. Of course, it was risky coming to the Crystal Empire in the first place-based on what little she knew of dark magic, the whole thing might have just spontaneously disappeared for another thousand years by the time she got there. An even scarier thought, was the possibility that it may have done so while she was visiting.
Even now, it all seemed so surreal; especially with the welcoming committee greeting her and offering to help carry her suitcase once she had gotten off the train. While she had heard that the Empire itself was beautiful, she truly did not expect the kind of hospitality she had received, while granted-it was by mistake. But after being laughed at by others for her name, she was willing to accept whatever kindness she was offered.
As nice as it was, the yellow Pegasus whom she would later learn was named ‘Fluttershy’ had carried her suitcase for her seemed to have had a fair bit of difficulty with it. In fact, it probably would have made more sense to have the mare with the rainbow mane ‘Rainbow Dash’ to do it instead, since she seemed to have had the more athletic build. Fluttershy didn’t really seem to mind, so she supposed it wasn’t really such a big deal.
Being told that she was expected by Princess Cadance herself had also been an unexpected surprise and to be allowed inside her castle….it was something she never would have expected in her wildest dreams. She had seen pictures of it from the outside through travel guides when she was planning her vacation, though.
While she was enjoying herself, she did want to be able to stretch out her legs. Part of it was the overly long train ride, but the other half of it was her claustrophobia-which didn’t help with the reflective crystalline surfaces making the inside of the castle seem much smaller than it actually was. In retrospect, she probably should have expected such a large castle to have such a high ceiling.
She hated high ceilings, whenever she looked up at them, they made her feel like she was upside down and she would fall towards them at any moment. As silly as she knew it probably sounded to others, the fear was very real for her. A doctor she had seen told her that it was called ‘altoceloraphobia’ and feeling dizzy like she sometimes did was a natural symptom. This was a relief, knowing that it had a medical name-which meant that she wasn’t the only one who suffered from it.
When those five girls offered to show how welcoming the Crystal Empire could be and do their routine so enthusiastically, she was quite impressed. In all of her travels, she had never seen a cheer routine executed so perfectly, enthusiastically, awe-inspiring as that one. As nice as it was, she didn’t want to wait for Princess Cadance to show up personally-not inside, at least. The moment she spotted the balcony overlooking the Empire, she had galloped towards it at top speed.
However, when Rainbow Dash offered to give her an entire tour of the castle-it would have felt pretty rude to decline a once in a lifetime opportunity like that. After the Unicorn that appeared to be in charge left; ‘Twilight Sparkle’, she almost immediately wished that she hadn’t. The energetic pink girl, ‘Pinkie Pie’ who had lead them to a rotunda seemed completely oblivious to her anxiety at the time. Though, Peachbottom couldn’t exactly blame her-her phobias weren’t something she was very eager to tell anyone about-especially, after being made fun of for them as a filly.
Since her father had been an architect who was quite enthusiastic about his work, she was quite knowledgeable about such things. In fact, she had impressed more than a few tour guides who had asked her group if they had any idea what time period certain buildings were constructed and how it had been done. So, the blank stares she had received from the group when pointing out the neo-gothic architecture of the castle’s design was something she had become accustomed to.
Rainbow Dash finally seemed willing to address her growing need to stretch her legs, by offering to show her to the gymnasium. Unfortunately, the castle didn’t seem to have one-in fact, it seemed like she and the rest of those girls hadn’t even been to the castle more than once or twice. However, Rainbow Dash did wind up leading her outside, which was even better-no high ceilings and a wide open area to run around.
Granted, she may have gotten a little carried away after finally being free from the inside of the castle. And getting that pot stuck on her head, probably should have been a sign that she should slow down. Still, it was nice of Rainbow Dash to help get off and the rate she had gotten back to her after how far she had been launched was quite impressive. In fact, in the absence of knowing her name at the time Peachbottom had decided to call her ‘Speedy’, it seemed like a good nickname for her.
Looking back now, she also felt a little guilty about interrupting the athletes’ training routine for the Equestria Games. Still, she had met Prince Shining Armor, or was it Coach Shining Armor? Perhaps it was Coach Prince Shining Armor or Prince Coach Shining Armor-she forgot to ask.
At the time, she had assumed that he was flirting with her and thinking back to it now, she began to blush with embarrassment remembering the way she had flirted back. Especially, since he was a married stallion. But, he was handsome and very nice to her-Princess Cadance was a very lucky girl.
It was slightly disappointing when Twilight asked her if she was Ms. Harshwhinny, who was apparently the Equestria Games inspector they were really expecting and had set everything up for. But, as her mother always said; ‘If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.’ Regardless, she understood their position and resolved to treat herself at the spa.
Of course, given everything that had happened-she was still having a wonderful time. The other mare that she had spoken with actually seemed to be in far greater need of a vacation than she did. Just by listening to her voice it sounded like she hated her job and with what she said about everywhere she visited seeming fake, it wasn’t hard to see why.
In an effort to cheer her up, Peachbottom had gone into detail with how wonderful her first visit to the Crystal Empire had been. As long would have it, the mare she had been speaking to had turned out to be Ms. Harshwhinny herself, and she had been so impressed with the reception she had described that the Crystal Empire had been selected to host this year’s Equestria Games.
As she began drifting off to sleep, Ms. Peachbottom felt satisfied with both her vacation and how good it felt to help out, especially after how crushed Rainbow Dash looked after trying so hard to make sure everything went perfectly. Though, she did still feel a little guilty about not piecing it together sooner-it did seem like an awful lot of work to greet someone like her and she wasn’t really that well known. And she supposed that everything she experienced was really the true Crystal Empire experience-but, as long as everyone was happy, she wasn’t going to make a fuss.
In any case, the decision had officially been made, in just a few hours she would be back home in Mustangia and she couldn’t wait for the Equestria Games.
