In the Presence of Royalty...

In the Presence of Royalty…

I thought the outside of the castle was a sight to see, but the inside just blew me away. The first room we entered, although it was only the foyer, was HUGE! There were very expensive-looking vases with beautiful flowers and mini statues of what seemed to be the rulers of this land lined by the entrance. Looking around, I saw a plethora of corridors and doors wooden stakes hung up in between them. I suppose that they ignited the stakes for light at night. There was also a very large, wide stairwell in front of us that seemed to have multiple floors with even more doors and hallways. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was at least a hundred feet high with the biggest diamond chandelier I’d ever laid eyes on hanging from the center of it.  There were velvet carpets lining the center of each hallway and the stairwell while the floor had a black-and-white checkerboard layout. There was even one giant circular rug placed in the center of the foyer that had a picture of the sun on it. That’s not even half of it. There was so much to see in just that one room. I was mind blown, to say the least.

“Whoa…” I muttered.

“Pretty amazing, right?” Twilight asked nonchalantly.

“Amazing… doesn’t even begin to describe this…” she giggled at my being awestruck.

“Well, if you think THIS is beyond amazing, wait till I show you the rest of this place.”

“But there’s so many hallways an’ doors…! You sure you know ya way around here?”

“Like the back of my hoof. C’mon, I’ll show you around!” I agreed, and she led me through the colossal maze-like castle. After a few twists and turns, we eventually found our way to an extravagant garden with very precisely and shapely trimmed hedges all around with flowers of many a kind budding out of them. At some point, I noticed a peculiar looking statue at the center of the garden… It looked like some kind of snake monster with the head of a goat and a body made up of random animals, frozen in a pose that looked like the creature was about to get hit by a train or something. I got such a sudden, strong creepy vibe from it… like something inside it was alive and trying to escape.  Rather than ask Twilight about it, I averted my gaze from it because of how off-setting it was. I was also pretty sad that I didn't see any water fountain in the area to drink from to get the aftertaste of that dandelion sandwich out of my mouth...

“This place… this is just… wow…” I mumbled in awe as we left the garden to trot down another long corridor.

“You still haven’t seen much,” Twilight informed matter-of-factly. “The library will blow you away for sure!” She seemed to be getting a joy out of showing me around, given my speechless reactions to everything I’d seen. I felt like a child going to a museum for the first time.

“That reminds me… you said you lived here in Canterlot, right?”

“That’s correct. In fact, when I went off to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and became the Princess’s star pupil, I actually lived here in this castle for a while. That’s how I know this place so well.”

“Yea, I thought so…” I said as I shook my head in complete disbelief. “Y’know, I’m… startin’ t’ get the feel that there’s a WHOLE lot more t’ you that I ain’t catchin’ on to…”

“Is that so? What makes you say that?” she asked with a sense of cluelessness I could tell was at least partly false.

“Oh, I dunno,” I answered, playing dumb. “Just a hunch, I guess.”

“A hunch, hm? Well then I hope this little adventure won’t be too shocking for you,” she said as she turned and winked at me. I laughed and left it at that. I liked the surprises, so I figured we’d keep playing this game. Eventually, we reached the library, which looked like it was at least ten times as big as Twilight’s tree-home library. Surely enough, every shelf was filled with books of possibly every subject imaginable in this universe (except intergalactic travel, I assumed). It had a circular shape with a giant hourglass in the center.

“So Ty… What do you think of this place?” Twilight asked as we wandered through the vast assortment of bookshelves.

“I feel like I only seen a small part of it, since everything we came across is so giant!” I answered in awe as I scoured the library with my eyes. Almost immediately after I finished my answer, I heard a *GASP* come from the unicorn as I inattentively bumped into her. “Wha?”

“It’s Princess Cadence…!” whispered a now-giddy Twilight, who was pointing straight ahead. I looked and saw a pink unicorn with a long pink, purple, and blonde mane and tail blissfully perusing through some of the books while humming a sweet little tune. She wore a small gold tiara, a gold necklace, and gold horseshoes. The odd thing about her is that she also had wings… This “Cadence” was the first winged unicorn I’d laid eyes on in this entire world. She was about my size (maybe somewhat smaller, yet still noticeably larger than Twilight), and gorgeous, if I may say so myself. Her Cutie Mark was one of a heart-shaped crystal with two gold wing-shaped things (I had no clue what they were) under each side of it. “Cadence…! Over here…!” Surely enough, the winged unicorn mare turned to face us. Her own face lit up with a similar inflection of joy as Twilight’s.

“Twilight! Spike! Hey, how are you guys!? I haven’t seen you since the wedding reception!” greeted Cadence as we closed the distance between us. Even her voice was majestic. Spike climbed off of Twilight’s back and almost immediately after, the two unicorns began to do some strange, seemingly childish dance together.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” the two quietly chanted as they went through the motions of what I guess was some kind of secret hoof-shake. I was a little confused as I watched, but what REALLY threw me off was the “do a little shake” part, seeing as I was standing right behind Twilight as she stuck her butt up and wiggled it in front of me. Her tail swung haphazardly, hitting me in the face a few times as she finished her little dance. I completely froze as I sharply exhaled and gawked at the purple unicorn.

“Um… Twilight?” Cadence said as she sat up and pointed one hoof at me while putting another one to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“What…?” Twilight asked, perplexed with her rump still poking towards me as she turned her head around. “*GASP* Oh my gosh!” Twilight caught on as she swiftly sat down on her haunches and her face instantly became as flushed with embarrassment as mine was. Spike must’ve been getting quite the gut workout because he fell on the floor cracking up, holding his sides and kicking wildly into the air all the while.

“Uh… *gulp* wow…” I sheepishly muttered, my eyes still wide with shock. “Nice uh… dance…” was all I could think to say as I looked away, rubbing the back of my neck with a hoof.

“I’m so sorry!” Twilight hurriedly said, still facing towards Cadence, yet looking down. I guess she was too embarrassed to look at me. “I-I forgot you were behind me!  I saw Cadence, and Sunshine, Sunshine, and I… Ohh!” She was outright panicked. She crouched to the ground and covered her face in shame.

“Aww, even as a full-grown mare, you’re still the adorable little filly I took care of all those years ago…” said Cadence as she walked over and ran a hoof through Twilight’s mane to console her. The lavender unicorn perked up enough that she was able to stand and turned to face me, although she could hardly look at me.

“I um… I—!”

“N-No, you’re fine,” I shakily interrupted. “I prolly shoulda moved. But uh… at least… at least… um…” I stammered over my own words and froze as I drew a blank.

“Come on, fool! Say somethin’! Anything that’ll make this whole thing wash away!”

“…at least you have a nice figure…?” I finally finished. That only made Twilight blush even more as Cadence giggled a little while Spike continued dying of laughter on the floor. I instantly regretted saying that.

“Oh, that's smooth, you stupid son of a—!”

“Th-thank you…” Twilight murmured as she stood looking at the ground and brushing one fore leg with the other. She seemed to almost become another Fluttershy. I have to say, she was pretty cute with the way she was acting, even if it was my fault.

“Soooo…” Cadence announced, in an attempt to shed the awkward air. “Who are you?” she asked me.

“I’m uh… Ponder Memoir, Mrs. Princess Cadence, ma’am” I politely answered.

“Please, just call me Cadence.” For a Princess, she sure was cool.

“Oh, okay. But yeah, I’m here with Twilight to visit Princess Celestia. We’re waitin’ for her right now.”

“Oh, so you must be the guest Auntie Tia was telling me about!”

“She told you about him?” Twilight asked with small surprise as she turned again to face the royal winged unicorn.

“Oh, yeah, she seemed to be so excited about meeting you two before she was called off to run her errand. She couldn’t stop talking about how her most faithful student of all ponies wound up being the one to cross intergalactic borders— by accident, no less— and even managed to bring proof of her travels… which I’d guess would come in the form of you, Mr. Memoir.” A Princess calling ME Mister? This pony gained my respect instantly, along with a little admiration for her calm, level-headed nature. I saw Twilight’s face brighten up with such a look of ecstatic vigor that I thought she’d spontaneously rocket up through the ceiling with excitement. “I even told Shining Armor! You should’ve seen the look on his face… You’ve made us so proud, Twilight!” the pink princess finished as she hugged the little unicorn.

“Oh, thank you so much!” Twilight said as she returned the hug. “You don’t know the half of how great that makes me feel! But since you’re here, there’s something else I feel I need to talk to you about…”

“Hm? What is it?” Cadence curiously asked as the two unicorns separated.

“I uh… I’d rather not say in front of the boys here… It’s… kind of personal...” I took that as a clue that these two wanted some girl-time. However, I was curious.

“Well, what’s so personal that me an’ Spike can’t—?” I began to ask.

“Do you REALLY wanna know?” Twilight quickly interrupted, giving me a look of suspicion.

“Hm… prolly not… I guess you’ll be wantin’ me to take Spike an’ disappear somewhere so you two can talk?” I asked.

“That depends… Spike, do you know your way around the castle?”

“Almost as well as you do!” Spike enthusiastically answered as he climbed up onto my back. I almost flinched at how sharp his claws were.

“Ouch! Hey! Watch them claws o’ yours,” I complained.

“Why don’t you show Ty around for a little while Cadence and I catch up?” Twilight suggested.

“Ooh, some male-bonding time! How exhilarating!” I said with as good a British accent as I could muster with an intentionally goofy smile. I got a giggle out of Cadence.

“Err, Yes! Male bonding!” Twilight agreed with what seemed to be a little haste. I wondered what was so important that she didn’t want me or Spike there to hear it… but then I decided it wasn’t really important what the reason was, seeing as this was an opportunity to get to know this oh-so mysterious purple dragon a little better. “Now you two go. Let’s meet up back here when you’re ready!”

“Alright. Away we go, trusty steed! Hyah!” Spike joked as he kicked his heels into my sides. I winced and grunted in pain because he kicked me right in my Applejack and Pinkie Pie wounds.

“Dammit boy, I might be a pony, but we ain’t playin’ no game o’ Horseback Hero!” I scolded as I turned to walk out the door. “Besides, I’m still achin’ from those brutal hugs…”

“Have fun, you guys!” Twilight called as she waved at us.

“And it was truly a pleasure meeting you!” added Princess Cadence. I turned and smiled as Spike and I were off to have a little adventure of our own…