From Prince to King

The train’s whistle was barely audible over the commotion of a swarm of countless Canterlot citizens going about their daily routine.

“All aboard!” the conductor called out to the masses. Not a second later, a large majority of the crowd filed onto the train, and soon enough, it was on the way to its destination.

Czar stood on the platform, one hand holding a train ticket, the other stuck lazily in his pocket. The concept of a train was foreign to him; such a thing was nonexistent in Marvalia. He recalled Princess Celestia and his father’s discussion about the transit system. Despite Czar himself not knowing about such a thing, he found it amusing to see his father utterly clueless about it.

One thing led to another, and Celestia suggested that Czar were to take a train to visit Ponyville, a neighboring village. Caesar was tentative at first, but after some convincing, he decided that it was acceptable. After all, the point of the visit was for Czar to experience another kingdom. So now, he stood there, feeling completely out of place. His father proposed that Czar should be accompanied by a few guards, but both Celestia and Czar stressed otherwise. Being followed by a couple of buff, armed and dangerous men wouldn’t bode well, as Czar’s royal standing would be revealed to the masses.

As the next train headed to Ponyville arrived and emptied, Czar hopped aboard, only to be stopped by the conductor. It took him a second, but then he realized he was supposed to hand him the ticket. After doing so, he sat down at the first empty seat he came across. Czar leaned his head against the window, and stared at the mass of people. He could hear their cacophony of white noise even from behind metal and three-inch thick glass. Soon, the train whistle blew, and it was off to Ponyville.

Still staring out the window, Czar’s mind wandered. To describe his mind as ‘focused’ would be a hefty lie. Czar’s thoughts went to his mother, Celestia, the mumbling of hushed conversation from the passengers, and even to his lookout point on that abandoned building in the rough part of Canterlot.

After filing through the experiences in Equestria, Czar’s mind touched upon the subject of Tactic. The last time he’d seen the kid was in the Twilight wing while exploring the castle’s halls out of boredom. He hadn’t seen his parents since Tactic had introduced them.  Were they doing alright? Most of all, why would Czar care?

Czar stretched in his seat and shook his head, clearing his head of his previous thoughts. If he couldn’t find something to do, his wandering mind would drive him crazy. Instead, he thought of what Ponyville would look like. Czar could tell from the name that it was going to be a very lively and colorful place, where almost everyone was content with their lives. That wasn’t bad; Czar thought peace and vibrancy was enjoyable, he just could tell the mood of the village through the uncanny name. He was far from excited, but was glad to step foot out of that horrid, uptight town.

Yeesh, stop thinking about that damn town, Czar commanded himself, rubbing his face with his palms, it’s such a killjoy. Turning in his seat, he adjusted himself so he could rest his shoulder against the wall of the train. In a few minutes, his eyelids closed, and a small nap promptly followed afterwards.

***

The whistle of the train and the loud, squealing brakes woke Czar with a start. He groggily glanced out the window, and saw the Ponyville train station right outside. He stood, cracked his back, and measly stepped off of the train. Instead of drab ceramic white and brown wood, the train station held violet and magenta shades.

A welcome change of color scheme, Czar thought to himself with a chuckle. Combing his hair with his fingers so the locks would cover his eyes, he thrust his hands into his pockets and set off to exit the train station.

After leaving the platform and exiting the station, Czar’s eyes and ears were instantly blasted with cheery, colorful, psychedelic town, choc full of citizens, mostly all wearing slight smiles on their faces. The silver-haired adolescent scratched his head in confusion. Depressing brown and gray, violent and dangerous to uptight, drab and boring to colorful, bright and happy. The one word that Czar had in his mind was ‘what?’ Shaking his head and sighed, he left to explore to the town a little bit more.

Not even three steps later, Czar’s stomach suddenly rumbled.

Oh yeah…I haven’t had breakfast…Czar thought. He could’ve done with a companion who’d known the town. After swiveling his head around, his eye caught sight of something…different. He approached the little building, questioning the sanity of the designer.

It was covered in what looked like cake frosting, lollipops and other mainstream candies. Shrugging, he entered the store. He couldn’t complain, for he didn’t feel like searching for a less strange place to eat.

The bell above the shop’s door rang, alerting the employees of a paying customer. Looking around, Czar took notice of the interior design. The walls were a pink hue, resembling that of cotton candy. Multiple yellow tables for dining indoors were dotted about inside, as expected for a restaurant. The inside look a lot less like it was designed by a six-year-old, and made Czar feel a little less uncomfortable.

Czar caught sight of someone behind the counter. It seemed to be a little kid, maybe around eleven or twelve.

“There’s a customer here!” he called out to an unknown entity somewhere in the back.

“Well what’re you waiting for? Go serve ‘em!” a light, happy yet deep voice responded. The child nodded back and hurried to the counter.

“H-how may I help you?” he stammered out, his voice trembling with hasty excitement.

“Er, can I have a menu first?” Czar asked. Geez, this kid is the definition of eager, he thought to himself.

“Oh, yeah, of course!” In a matter of seconds, the munchkin waiter snatched a menu from the counter and thrust it towards Czar.

“Do you…work here?” Czar asked, confused as to why a child was waiting him.

“Yeah! I’m Carrot Cake, Sweet Tooth’s apprentice! Just call me Carrot,” he cordially responded.

“I’m guessing Sweet Tooth is the owner?”

Carrot nodded a response,

“And why are you an apprentice to a sweet shop owner?” Czar was generally muddled by this situation.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Carrot quipped. No, I just asked because I’m taking a survey on sweet shop owners, Czar thought. “Yeah,” he merely sighed.

“Well, Sweet Tooth runs this place all by himself!” Carrot gushed.

“Okay? I don’t see the big deal.”

“You don’t understand, he runs, cleans, and maintains the store, calculates finances, and bakes everything he sells by himself! How someone could do that and still be sane is a mystery to me. Who wouldn’t want to be his apprentice?”

Despite not sharing Carrot’s feelings in the slightest, Czar could see where he was coming from. The ability to run an apparently famous bakery without help seemed very imposing to Czar.

“Wait…” Czar said as he began to realize something, “how is running this place alone so impressive if no one’s here?” the restaurant had been empty the entire time Czar had been there.

“Just you wait, this place’ll be packed after six o’ clock!” Carrot said with a giddy tone.

The previous voice called out from the back of the store, startling the two.

“You gonna serve the guy or what?” Sweet Tooth yelled.

“Oh yeah, duh!” Carrot smacked his forehead as the realization hit him.

***

The afternoon sun shone down across Ponyville, further increasing the town’s look and feel of a calm, serene place. Pegasi flew through the sky, clearing clouds and having fun, while children, just out of class, ran amok in the streets, happy to be free from school.

However, Czar wasn’t experiencing this. The joy of serenity and peace wasn’t intoxicating him like it had done to all the rest. He was in the hills and plains miles away from the town, enjoying his solitude with a full stomach. Unlike the dirty, rough streets of Canterlot’s darker  streets, the soft breeze created waves in the grass, spreading the sweet smell of nature over the plains. Czar was enjoying his seclusion, like every day.

Until he heard shouting.

“I’m s…idn’t mean to h…” the prince could barely hear the details, but he was sure it was there. He scanned the hills, and couldn’t find the source.

“I have to go, just, give me some time, please,” he heard again from somewhere behind him; except this time, it was a woman. Then, he caught sight of a pegasus flying back towards Ponyville.

“Wait, Serene!...” a sigh came from somewhere to Czar’s left. He looked over to see a pegasus, head held low and an aura of depression hanging about him. Czar could barely make out his features, and all he could see was dark gray hair, and wings of the same colour.

The pegasus, with a sigh, turned around and slowly walked towards the tree Czar had seated himself by. Once he realized where he was heading, Czar pulled his head back behind the tree. The pegasus half sat, half fell to the foot of the tree trunk, and silently sulked.

After what felt like hours, Czar couldn’t stay silent anymore, and decided to reveal his presence.

“So-“ was all Czar could make out before the pegasus screamed in fear.

“Gah!!” he jumped away from the tree, landing on his rear and scooting away slowly. “Wh-where are you!?” he called with a shaky voice.

“Behind the tree,” Czar said in a dead tone. “Yeesh, jumpy, aren’t you?”

“Oh, uh, sorry,” he replied with a cough. “I didn’t know you were there.”

“No matter. What happened with your friend?” Czar asked. He would’ve been more considerate, but he didn’t have time for that. He’d reserve his kindness for Princess Celestia.

“N-none of your business!” the gray pegasus yelled.

“Well okay, no need to yell. Again.” Czar walked back over to the tree and slumped down. “Go sulk somewhere else, this place is taken.”

The pegasus stood there for a long time, silent and thinking.

“She’s…that pegasus you saw? She’s Serene Breeze,” he paused and blushed, “m-my girlfriend.”

“Well, not for long, with how she sounded.”

“I…I know…” he responded, sounding like he was about to burst into tears.

“What’s your name?” Czar asked.

“Abacus. You?”

He was about to say his name when he faltered. Would it be alright to tell him my real name? Czar debated with himself until the obvious came to him.

Celestia hasn’t even announced my visit. Duh.

“Czar.”

“That’s a…strange name. You from around here?” Abacus asked.

“N-no.” Czar hastily responded.

“Okay.” Abacus sat down a few feet away from Czar.

“So, you gonna tell me what’s up with you and your girlfriend?” Czar asked again.

“Oh yeah, that,” Abacus took a deep breath to explain. “Well, she’s a bit upset because she found out I wasn’t going to graduate next year.”

“And why is she mad about something like that?” Czar inquired, scratching his head in confusion.

“Partly because I was already held back one year- oh, I’m sixteen, and  technically, if you don’t go to Cloudsdale, you’re supposed graduate from standard education school at fifteen. Anyways, she’s mad for that, and she’s also mad because…”

“Because?” Czar asked again.

“I’m not taking school seriously, my grades and my being held back are proof of that, and she thinks if I can’t take school seriously, than I can’t take out relationship seriously!” Abacus stayed quiet for the longest time. His head was held low, studying the grass, not wanting to make eye contact with the silver haired unicorn.

“How…how can she assume that?”

“I thought the same thing, too. She’s…very serious about my education though. She’s told me time and time again to try in my classes, but I always dismiss her.”

“Why don’t you take your classes seriously? It’s not that hard."

“Because, they’re…” Abacus thought for a minute before answering. “They don’t interest me.”

“So?”

“If I’m not interested in it, I can’t care enough to put effort into it. It’s the same thing every day, boring lectures, repetitive studying activities, tests and exams, it’s just so bland.”

“Have you told her that?”

“Well, yeah.” He said as if it were obvious.

It hit Czar in an instant. How is he not getting it? It’s obvious!? Czar rubbed his forehead in frustration. You think school is bland, boring and not interesting, and thus you can’t take it seriously. She thinks that if you find school uninteresting, then you find your relationship uninteresting.

Instead of telling him this, Czar merely sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing.” Czar looked at the sun’s position, and realized how late it was. He needed to get back before the next train left.

“I gotta go, Abacus,” Czar stood and began walking to town.

“Will you be back anytime soon?” Abacus stood quickly and looked to Czar.

“Uh, why?”

“Because, well…” Abacus coughed, “I, uh, I’m afraid Serene might actually call it off if I try to talk to her so soon, so, I didn’t want to be alone for too long…I’m not exactly what you call popular.”

Czar wanted to smack him. He wanted to think he was pitiful and not worth his time. But he couldn’t. Instead, he turned his head towards the pegasus, and said, “Yeah, I’ll be back soon.”

“R-really? Sweet!” Abacus thrust his fist into the air triumphantly.

“Seeya,” Czar turned and jogged to the train station before it was too late.

On the train, Czar held his head in his hand, gasping for breath from his long jog. He thought long and hard about why he didn’t just leave that Abacus guy alone, why he didn’t think negatively about him. Why had he been so considerate to a random stranger?

Author’s Note: Sorry this took so long guys, the only excuse I have is laziness. I hope you can forgive me, I hope I can finish this soon so I can get to work on some other fics I have planned.

If I don’t start Somewhere Out There right away, it’s because I have a lot of other projects I’ve gotten roped into, and I’ve been getting adjusted to school again. (Yay school - _-)