Escape from Canterlot
By dues12

Chapter 1- Invitations

Kaleb Trot was a young pegasus stallion.His fur was a dark yellow and his mane was a vertical mixture of blue and red. It looked like a character from Dragon Stars X, spiked up and wild. He was a natural athlete having a muscular physique, but he was smart as well. He could assess ponies on their strengths and weaknesses to create teams that ensured successful weather control in Ponyville.His skills earned him respect throughout Equestria.

Kaleb’s competitive nature, slightly less aggressive than Rainbow Dash’s or Soarin’s, had made him some very close friends. The latter being two of his closest. They liked to push each other to extremes, which was fun and kept them all at their peak performance, but also got them into a lot of hospitals.

One day Kaleb received an invitation to enjoy a week inside the Royal Canterlot Castle. It was a total surprise as he usually didn’t get an invitation to anything. What also came as a surprise to him was that it was from his good friend Rainbow Dash. Who could say no to that? He was sure it would be interesting if nothing else. He learned that Soarin received one as well. Soarin had accepted of course, but getting his boss Spitfire to let him go was not so easy. With a little begging she finally relented and gave him the time off.

Kaleb and Soarin had their stuff packed in anticipation for the trip.They were going to meet at the train station in the morning. This way they could travel to Canterlot together. Rainbow Dash gave explicit instructions to go straight to Canterlot Castle from the train station as soon as they arrived. This just added to their excitement.

“Woo! One full week of being in the Royal Canterlot Castle. This should be fun, especially being with Rainbow Dash,” Soarin said. He also had his dark blue mane spiked up while his tail swished happily. He wore a bright blue shirt with a tie and black pants accompanied with smart dress shoes. The only out of place item were the goggles he wore on his forehead, but it put Kaleb to shame.

All Kaleb wore was a black leather jacket, a white shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes. He felt under prepared to say the least. Hmmm. Maybe I can change in one of the bathrooms on the way over. Kaleb looked over at Soarin, “Hey, you know, Rainbow Dash will more than likely have an obstacle course set up for us when we arrive.” Kaleb snickered and Soarin laughed. Kaleb continued snickering but was able to get out, “Yup, I’m pretty sure that’ll be happening, but you never know, she may surprise us and be all lady like.” They both howled with laughter at the idea of Rainbow “Danger” Dash going around in a dress and speaking all posh like a pony in Canterlot.

Their ears twitched at the sound of the train horn signaling its arrival. Kaleb and Soarin gathered their things and readied themselves to board. They almost couldn’t wait for the train to come to a complete stop to get on.

Once they were on the train and in their travel car they were surprised to see some familiar faces aboard. One of these was Big Mcintosh, the famous muscular farmer from Ponyville, he was wearing a black t-shirt with blue jeans and brown worker boots. He sat in his seat chewing on a straw in between his teeth.

Beside him was his happy cousin Braeburn talking about how things had improved in Appleloosa. He was wearing his trademark brown hat, brown vest coat, a long pair of brown cowboy pants, and boots to match. Obviously, not shy about showing his hometown ways.

The most shocking of all was Spike the dragon. By pony years he had developed into a young adult about eighteen or nineteen and it showed. Years of helping the elements of harmony had obviously done him good as he was also muscular. In one of his other adventures he had been hit by a stray magical attack from the enemy. This left him with a long scar above and just below his eyebrow. Thankfully he had closed his eye to stop the retina from being damaged. His green spiky hair had grown a bit looking more like a mohawk. He wore a T-shirt with No. 1 assistant stitched on. Probably by the famous alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle. He also wore bright purple pants and white shoes. The poor guy looked like he was going to sleep from Braeburn talking. Though to be fair, he could drone on a bit himself. Braeburn suddenly stopped when he noticed Soarin and Kaleb.

“Well I’ll be a son of a timberwolf, Soarin and Kaleb, how are y’all an wat are yuh doin’ here?” he asked, with a bright smile. Big Mac and Spike looked at them smiling as well.

Well, we got invited to spend the week with Rainbow Dash in the Royal Canterlot Castle. So, here we are,” Kaleb said, he and Soarin smiling.

“Well ain’t that mighty funny. Fluttershy invited me, and Applejack asked Braeburn to come,” Big Mac responded, pointing a finger at the other stallion.

“And Rarity invited me,” Spike said, scratching his chin.

They all had the same thought, Why would each mare request their company? They just shrugged it off. Soarin and Kaleb sat down beside them. Braeburn continued his story until the next stop where another stallion got on. It was a panting Cheese Sandwich with his fake chicken companion boneless.

Everypony looked at him “You okay there bro?” Soarin asked. Cheese nodded. He was trying to catch his breath before walking over to the others. He was wearing his trademark yellow shirt along with khaki cargo shorts and sandals. His companion was draped over his right shoulder like a parrot, well, more like a floppy parrot. He sat on the right hand side of the train looking at the others with a smile. “Well, I will admit this is a bit of a shock. I haven’t seen any of you since Pinkie and I had that goof off,” he said cheerfully, still a little out of breath.

“Yeah, long time,” the others replied in unison.

Cheese started to ask, “So are you guys here for the, um, week long visit to-”

All at once they finished his sentence, “Canterlot Castle.”

This caused them to look at each other. They started searching for their invitations. Once they were in front of them, they noticed that they were all going on the same trip. Cheese Sandwich had been invited by none other than Pinkie Pie. “We were all invited by one of the girls.” Spike pointed out.

Big Mac spoke up pointing to Soarin and Kaleb, “So you two were invited by Rainbow Dash.” He then pointed to Cheese, ”You were invited by Pinkie Pie.” He then pointed to Spike, “You were invited by Rarity.” Finally, he pointed to Braeburn and himself, “And he was invited by mah sister and I was invited by Fluttershy.”

They all thought this was getting suspicious. Five stallions and one dragon, but the train came to a screeching halt once more. Another stallion got on. It was Flash Sentry.

“Um, hi, guys,” Flash said, looking at the gawking faces.

Flash Sentry, a royal guard of Canterlot. He was wearing his gold set of armour to protect him from harm. He was holding up a letter from Twilight Sparkle ordering him to come back from his leave and be her personal bodyguard for the next week.

“I got a bad feeling about this, fellas. I mean, six stallions and one dragon and we’re all headin’ to Canterlot Castle. This is mighty unnervin’,” Braeburn said, his voice no longer happy, but nervous.

The only response he received was a silent nod from each of them. For the rest of the trip to Canterlot they sat in silence. They all were thinking the same thing, What is this all about?

Princess Celestia had been watching the events unfold through the power of a magic mirror. “Hmmmm. They may not be as naive as I initially thought,” she smirked softly. “No matter. Once they arrive it will be too late,” she said, starting to giggle.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading my fic. Please comment, fav, and follow.