Wingless ~ Part One

"Amazing!" Princess Cadence gaped in awe as she looked around the foyer of the castle. "I love the color scheme the castle has! And the carpeting," She squealed, "It's so cool!" The princess turned to her sister and punched her on the shoulder lightly. "I'm jealous now! You have so much space, and yet it still feels small and cozy!"

Twilight smiled, "It does feel that way doesn't it?" The alicorn lifted a hoof. "I imagine the empire's castle would feel like that too right?"

"Not at all! Every room in the castle is humongous! Heck, even the bathrooms are big! Honestly, it feels like the castle was built for giants."

"Well the crystal ponies did have an interest in big things. That would be understandable that every room in the castle would be-" Twilight stopped when she noticed her sister-in-law's amused expression. She cleared her throat and she gestured to to the hallway on the right. "Shall we begin the tour with where your bedroom will be?"

"Of course!" Cadence levitated her suitcase. "It'll be great to finally put this thing down."

"You should've let me carry your suitcase then." Twilight teased as she led the way down the hallway.

"Then what kind of a sister would I be?"

"A sister-in-law, that's what."

"But sister-in-laws don't dump their sister to do the hard work!" Cadence smirked at Twilight, then she huffed sarcastically. "Fine! If you insist on carrying my things." The alicorn stopped in her tracks and fell on Twilight's back dramatically. "You can carry me and the suitcase!"

Twilight huffed back as she tried to balance. "I would love to Cadence, but I think carrying you would be a bad idea."

"And why is that?"

"Because," Twilight pretended to quiver under her sister's weight. "I... I don't think I can carry you anywhere! What has Shining Armor been feeding you? Crystals?"

"Oh yes!" Cadence rolled her eyes, "He gives me the best crystals everyday!"  The princess slid off her sister and spread her wings. "As the protector and princess of the Crystal Empire, I must be well-fed everyday in order to perform the daily routines properly for my fellow ponies." She stuck her tongue out, "And to not be taken away by any forces of evil, I must eat crystals everyday to make myself too heavy to carry!"

Now it was Twilight's turn to roll her eyes. "Okay, now you're taking it too far."

"Am I?" Cadence gave her sister a pitiful look. "Aw phooey, I guess I'll tell Shining to stop feeding me crystals then."

"What?" Twilight gave her a look of disbelief.

Cadence laughed, "Don't worry Twilight, I'm not eating any crystals." She scrunched her nose in disgust. "But could you imagine eating them though? Ugh, the taste of rocks in your mouth would be nasty!"

"Actually, rocks are much different from crystals. For one thing, rocks break up into more tiny pieces than crystals do when you bite into them, it's kind of like biting into a flaky crust."

Twilight and Cadence turned their attention down the hall, where a small purple dragon approached them from down the hall. The dragon looked curiously to the crystal walls and raised an eyebrow. "I wonder if these crystals taste the same as the ones from the Crystal Empire."

"Keep dreaming Spike, you're not eating those crystals." Twilight raised her eyebrow as well. "So Spike, how is everything?"

"What?" He tipped his head, after a few seconds he remembered the list and burped it out. The dragon showed Twilight the list, "Everything's been checked off!"

"And the weather?"

"Rainbow Dash just gave me the report a few minutes ago."

"And?"

"And everything's clear for the flight today."

"Great!" Twilight used her magic to make the list disappear. She noticed Cadence's confused expression and realized that she hasn't told her about the plans for the visit. "I've planned a little flight for us to take after dinner."

Cadence smiled brightly, "That sounds fun! For a second I forgot you're one to plan things." The princess then turned to Spike. "And it's nice to see you again Spike, have you grown?"

Spike straightened at the question and smiled smugly. "Of course I have! Every dragon's got to grow sometime!" The dragon began to flex, "Glad to know somepony's noticed." Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head while Cadence began to giggle at the dragon's performance.

Twilight cleared her throat and walked down the hall. "Let's get to your room before you scream for encore." She smirked as Spike glared at her sarcastically. Cadence began to pick up her suitcase when Spike rushed to pick it up. "I'll take it princess."

"No need Spike, I can carry my own things."

"No need to refuse princess! I must honor the dragon code. And to do that, I insist on carrying your things."

"May I remind you that 'Spike the Brave and Glorious' saved the lives of many ponies twice? I do believe Spike, that your dragon code runs like this:" Princess Cadence levitated her suitcase out of his grasp, "If somepony has saved your life, then you are dedicated to serve them forever, correct?"

Spike rubbed his arm shyly. "Somewhere along those lines, yeah."

"Well, since you have saved many lives including mine. I may be dedicated to serve you, but not forever." Cadence followed Twilight, "So, I guess levitating my things is a way of serving you."

"Hm... I guess so." Spike stood there for a moment as Cadence caught up to her sister-in-law, he tapped his chin for a while and then looked in the princess' direction. "Wait... what?"

"Very slick." Twilight remarked to Cadence as she opened a door that led to a room. "I gotta use that trick sometime... Anyways, here's your room." The alicorn pushed the door, revealing the castle's guest room. Twilight lead her sister into the room and opened the curtains with her magic, letting some light inside. "This window reveals the east part of Ponyville, it's a great view especially in the mornings! You're welcome to use any of the dressers. Heck, you're welcome to use anything in this room."

"Really? So I can use this?"

Twilight turned to see Cadence looking at something that was sitting on the mantel. Twilight recognized her childhood doll, Smarty Pants, and immediately blushed. Her ears flopped down in embarrassment. "I forgot Smarty Pants was there... Well, I guess she's only there for... decoration purposes."

"Oh, I see." Cadence put her hooves up, "I won't touch Smarty then." The princess smiled and walked up to the bed, she lifted her suitcase on top of the bed. "So is there anything else you want to show me before I unpack?"

The purple alicorn tapped the floor for a few moments, remembering what else was to be shown to her sister. "There are the necessities to be shown, like the bathroom... I still want to show you the library and the balcony... but we can do all that after lunch. Go ahead and unpack, I'm gonna go see when lunch is."

"Alright."

Twilight exited the room and trotted down the hallway towards the kitchen, humming to herself. The princess began to round a corner when she spotted Rainbow Dash down another hall. She noticed that the pegasus was drenched with water and called to her. "Hey Rainbow!" She said, flying up to her friend. "How's the weather?"

Rainbow Dash pulled her damp forelocks back, revealing her eyes, they seemed to look wary and tired. "Pretty good, the weather will be clear for you and Princess Cadence for that flight."

"Excellent! But... Why are you wet?"

The pegasus looked away from Twilight for a moment. "Uh, I had to help the weather team clear a few storm clouds... One of the rookies hit one of the clouds a little too hard and made it rain."

Twilight tipped her head to the side. "Were they taken care of?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash stood up straight, flicking off a few drops of water. "We got all those storm clouds moved out of your route! So uh, I gotta go take a shower before lunch. Don't want to get sick during Princess Cadence's visit!"

"Good idea Rainbow, don't take too long though!" Twilight turned back to where she rounded the corner and continued trotting towards the kitchen.