9: Rivalries

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Beginning of Chapter 9

"Come, you must be hungry. The dining hall is not far."

After introducing herself to the hospital's staff, making new friends and helping out here and there, Luna checked the time and found that is was 16:41. So with a quick goodbye, she led her firran friend out of the hospital wing and down the many long corridors of the Canterlot palace. Cadence had already left before them to speak with someone called 'Shiny', whoever that was.

Georgina obliged Luna's command and followed close behind her. The instant they left the hospital, she found herself in a big, long corridor, decorated with many pillars along the side to create a walkway through the middle - a long red carpet. Stained glass windows were everywhere on the walls, adorned with many colours, giving the already breathtaking looks of the corridor a powerful shine.

Georgina was truly hypnotized from the scene around her, she had never seen or been in a castle (besides ruined ones) like this before. The closest she could compare would be the towers in the City of Towers back home in Mahadevi, but they were still nothing in comparison to this.

Luna paused her march and turned around to find her friend slowing down a bit, wearing a (quite funny) look of awe on her face, jaw hanging open, and ears slightly leaning back against her head while looking up and around her. Not long after did she also notice her tail wagging side to side from excitement no doubt.

It was when Georgina finally caught up did she realise that she probably looked silly, if Luna's giggling wasn't proof then she didn't know what was. Recollecting herself, she looked down at the giggling alicorn. Cheeks slightly red, ears folded sideways, and wearing a sheepish smile.

"I guess that you have not seen a castle before, am I right?" Luna asked.

To make it quick and simple, Georgina shook her head - still wearing her embarrassed look. She was not really bothered to go into details about some of the castles that she had heard in books or explored ruined ones. She was indeed hungry and it would be nice to eat before the day ends.

Luna - satisfied enough with the answer she was given, turned back around and continued her march. This time making sure that her friend stays close behind otherwise she would no doubt get lost in this maze, judging from the answer that Georgina had given her about the lack of castles in her life.

They both turned another corner and they found a large door that separated itself from the many other doors that lined the walls.

"We are here." Luna stated.

With a simple nudge, Luna pushed open the door with her magic and what Georgina found inside would probably be the largest table she had ever seen in her life! A long lined wooden table with about 10 chairs on both sides - also a single chair at each end. The table was in the middle of the room so there would be plenty of space to manoeuvre around.

Plates and a wide variety of different types of cutlery were in front of every chair, along with a row of candles crossing though the middle of the table between every two opposite seats and a Large candle right in the centre.

At the end of the table, Georgina noticed four figures. Three of them were familiar - giving her a welcoming smile, but the fourth one was a new face. Judging from the body and facial features, this one seemed to be a white male unicorn with a two tone blue mane. He was too busy staring and inspecting Georgina's features that when Cadence - who was sat besides him, gave him a nudge and a whisper afterwards, he jumped slightly and started whispering back.

Celestia was sat at the end of the table, with an empty space on her left and Twilight on her right. Cadence sat next to Twilight's right with the white unicorn on Cadence's right.

Luna gestured Georgina to sit down in the empty seat, once sat down Celestia was on her right with Luna on her left and Twilight opposite her. An awkward silence reigned the quite large hall, nothing could be heard apart from a few whispers and coughs.

Celestia took this as her queue. "I am glad to see that you are feeling better Georgina."

She smiled in return. "Thanks for your concern. Now that you mention it I do feel allot better than before."

Cadence also gave Georgina a smile. "That's good to hear." She then noticed a certain white unicorn next to her giving Georgina a funny look - which he has been ever since she got here really. "Ahem" She got the attention of both the firran and the unicorn.

"Georgina I would like you to meet my husband Prince Shining Armor-" Cadence then turned to face her husband.  "-Shiny I want you to meet our very special guest, Georgina."

Shining Armor snapped out of his gaze and took a deep breathe. "It is certainly a pleasure to meet you..Georgina. If I may ask, what are you exactly?" He asked, stuttering a little when mentioning her strange name.

Georgina cleared her throat. "Well I'll do my best to summarize. Long story-short we are an evolved species from the cat family known as the Firran. We were originally carnivores a long time ago, but some of us then learned the ways of farming and cooking. This continued on for a while until eventually all firran knew the basics of farming, thus we adapted to an omnivore diet and have been like that ever since."

Shining Armor was caught a little off guard. "I uh...was not expecting an answer that long-" He then smiled. "-but none the less, that was certainly interesting."

"WAIT!" Everyone jumped to Twilight's sudden shouting, she seemed to have a shocked look on her face. "You eat meat? As in...Animals!?"

The room was then suddenly silent, all previous conversations and thoughts were completely gone. Everyone (even Celestia) just stared at the purple alicorn, giving her a deadpanned look.

"Uhh...Twilght-" Georgina started. "-didn't I tell you this stuff before when you asked your questions this morning?"

"Yes bu-" Tracking though her thoughts, Georgina was right, she just realised how stupid she must of sounded when she asked that silly question. Even if she didn't question her back in the library, it was common sense that she was capable of eating meat due to her canines and the fact that she evolved from the feline family.

Realising the mistake that she had just made, Twilight did her best to try and hide herself - which didn't do much considering the fact that she was sat on a chair, while a clearly embarrassed blush was creeping onto her cheeks.  "Oh I uh..umm, sorry."

In response, Georgina chuckled at this. "It's alright, just remember to think before you act next time okay?"

Finding the courage to finally look back, Twilight nodded several times with a small genuine smile.

Celestia leaned towards Georgina's ear. "Don't worry if Twilight acts similar in future events ,sometimes she tends to....overreact." She whispered.

Before the firran could reply, the doors in the back of the hall swung open, revealing a small swarm of waiters. Some carrying menus, some had several wine glasses balance on a small tray, and a few brought along a bottle of red or white wine.

Placing a menu and a wineglass in front of everyone, along with the two bottles of red and white wine in the centre. The waiters then left the hall and into the room where they came from - no doubt a kitchen, while a few remained incase anyone needed or requested anything.

Looking down at her menu, Georgina picked up the funny paper and carefully opened it. This was the first time in her entire life that she had ever been in a high-class restaurant (or in this case a dining hall). Surprisingly the writing was similar - but not completely the same as her literature. There was the odd letter or word here and there that she did not understand, but the rest were easy enough to read so she understood what each meal was.

Vegetable salad, tomato soup, daisy delight, apple strudel. Where's the- Georgina then mentally facepalmed herself. How did I forget, they are PONIES, herbivores, they're not going to serve meat here. She then physically sighed. Guess I'll just have to try some veggie food then...although it would be nice if-

"Are you alright Georgina?"

The sudden sound of Luna's voice made the firran in question jump slightly. Snapping out of her thoughts and turning to face Luna to her left. She sighed before asking. "Would you um...-"How do I say this?"-would you have any, uhh..."

Luna caught where she was going with this. "If we have any meals that contains meat?"

Georgina (slightly surprised) just nodded in return. She was doing her best not to offend the ponies around her by not choosing anything from their vegetarian menus.

Luna, noticing her shy response just smiled in return. turning to face one of the waiters in the room. "Could you please get an omnivore menu for our guest?" she asked.

The waiter bowed. "Of course your majesty." Before leaving, Georgina handed him her veggie menu with a "thank you". He then trotted towards the kitchen door and disappeared.

Curious as to know why, the firran faced Luna again with a raised brow. "How come you have an omnivore menu here? Aren't you all herbivores?"

The Night Princess just chuckled in response. "Oh no, it's not for us! We store meat in the royal kitchen's refrigerator for when the griffin ambassadors visit." She paused for a second. "I could not imagine any pony attempting to eat meat in the first place, it would be quite a disturbing scene."

Georgina nodded. "Ah okay, that makes more sense." So they have griffins here too. Cant tell if the similarities between our worlds is due to some magical connection, or it's just a massive coincidence.

A minute later, the same pony from before trotted into the dining hall with a menu, but unlike the others, this menu was orange instead of white. He handed (hoofed?) it to Georgina and waited by her side for her choice.

Ahh, now we're talking... She thought with a smirk. In case you haven't noticed yet, our firran friend here does love her meat (I know what you're thinking, so don't get any funny ideas). It's like candy to her, but at the same time it's also healthy for you.

Hydra steak? Never heard that before... She then paused to decide what she'll have. In fact, let's try something new...

"Have you decided miss?"

Georgina turned to face the waiter, she held up the menu in front of him and pointed. "I'll have the hydra steak please." She then handed it back to the waiter - who accepted it in return, nodded and went back to the kitchen.

She then turned back to face her friends. "Are you sure that all of you will be fine if I have an omnivore meal?" She asked with a hint of concern.

They all either nodded, replied with a "yup", "yeah" or "of course". Celestia decided to add an explanation. "Georgina, as much as I appreciate your concern for offending us, you are trying to hard. We have meals with the griffin ambassadors - sometimes the griffin king before, and they always choose the carnivore menu. So you having a hydra steak is nothing in comparison my dear."

"Besides-" Luna added. "-they eat like starving dogs, so they always make a mess of things when it comes to meals." She finished which caused some others to giggle.

Georgina had finally relaxed thanks to their reassured statements. "Yeah I guess I am overreacting a little." Then something popped into her mind. "Hey, what do the griffins look-"

"Auntie!"

Auntie? Wha-

Suddenly, the main entrance to the dining hall bursted open with much force, revealing two silhouettes on the other side. Both (judging by their clothes) were high-class individuals, perhaps they were the 'nobles' that the princesses spoke of earlier. The one on the left was a tale coloured unicorn with a white mane and posh clothes. The one next to him however was also a unicorn, he had a white coat with a blonde mane and he also obtained some posh looking clothing.

She didn't know why, but something about this particular unicorn made Georgina's blood boil. She wasn't one for pre-judging someone else before knowing them, so she just ignored the feeling and kept a neutral look.

The posh looking white unicorn trotted a few steps forward before staring at Celestia. "Auntie, me and Skitty Price need bits, we are going-" He stopped mid sentence when he noticed Georgina, a clear frown appeared on his face. "Auntie! Why is there a filthy cat-monkey at the table!?"

Not a second later, Georgina's expression instantly changed from it's neutral look to one of shocked and anger. Her ears perked up, eyes now glaring back with their on intensity - daring him to even have the nerve to call her that again.

What did he just call me!?

"Blueblood!-" Luna snapped "-that is not how we treat our guest! Apologize immediately!"

Blueblood did nothing though, he just kept silent, eventually turning away with an audible "hmph" - flicking his head sideways up in the air with his eyes closed.

This did nothing to help cease the firran's growing rage though. Breathing through her nose more heavily, heartbeat rate increasing by the second, the rage inside her was begging to be released and just strangle the snob.

While Luna, Cadence and Shining just gave him a death glare for his rudeness, Celestia (also annoyed mind you) just sighed and levitated a small bit bag towards him. Hoping for him to just leave and make it up for her offended guest.

The snob didn't even say thank you or show any signs of it. He immediately grabbed the bag with his own magic and trotted back to the door -  closing it behind him.

A few seconds later, Luna turned to face Celestia with an annoyed expression. "Sister! Why did you give him what he wished for!?"

After thinking to herself, Celestia raised her head and faced her sister. "As much as I wanted to also punish him for his rudeness, it only would of escalated and-" She turned to face a pissed off firran. "-no doubt our friend here doesn't want to cause trouble."

Everyone else in the room also turned to face the firran. If the name calling that Blueblood did to her wasn't clear enough that she was annoyed, then her red face, heavy breathing, perked up ears, and just her all out angry look on her face is certainly enough proof.

Everyone thought that it would be best to just stay silent and wait for Georgina to calm down. Finally after three long silent minutes Georgina closed her eyes, hung her head low and took one last heavy breathe.

Afterwards she reopened her eyes and looked back up and the ponies around her. "I can take insults about ME easily, but if ANYONE ever insults anything about my kind, then I won't take them so lightly next time, no title or reputation will matter. They hurt me, I'll hurt them."

Everyone was certainly shocked for her choice of words. Surprisingly Shining was the first to respond. "I understand, I can see that honour is important to you and that you treat everypony as equals correct?"

She replied with a firm nod and a smile, impressed by the fact that this unicorn knows much about honour just as she does. Georgina was about to ask something else when out of nowhere a specific rumble echoed the room.

She looked down at her stomach and chuckled sheepishly - a slight embarrassed blush creeping onto her face. Everyone else just joined in on the laughter, all glad that they got rid of all tensions in the room and now can have a good laugh.

The kitchen doors opened and a herd of chefs and waiters stormed the room, each carrying everyone's ordered meals and placing it down in front of them.

When Georgina's meal was carefully placed in front of her, an interesting and delicious scent entered her nostrils. Closing her eyes, she took one sniff - imagining what this meal in front of her tasted like before eating it herself.

This is going to be good...

End of Chapter 9