A Foreign Gift

by Wiz Ahmad

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Luna, Raven Inkwell, Random
Length: 4007

Princess Celestia receives an interesting package from a fan.

After a long, tired day of constant paperwork, Princess Celestia receives a large package from a fan in Fillydelphia. Opening it, she discovers an amazing, new item that will change her life.

WARNING - this is not a very well-written fic. I was tired as heck when I finished the first chapter at around 12 am one Saturday and wrote the second one early before sunrise on Tuedsay.

Published 2019-09-22 04:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-09-24 12:39:41 UTC

Unboxing

The afternoon sun beamed strongly through the stained glass windows as Celestia lifted her pen and began jotting down a few lines of important information. To the untrained eye, her paperwork might seem excessively repetitive, but it actually was more complex and varied. Not every paper was a form in need of a confirming signature from the Princess herself, but also letters. Some townsfolk put out complaints regarding issues they’d noticed in cities and towns, and others needed to arrange for meetings regarding projects they had in mind. A few, however, sent in letters of love and support for her and her hard work, congratulating her on achievements, offering to have fun at events and galas in Canterlot, and even pleading to meet in person just for a warm hug.

“Just a few more to go, and then I can rest for the night,” she told herself quietly, ensuring that all the words in her letter to Queen Novo were arranged properly. It was then that a knock came on her office door – and it wasn’t a “typical” knock – the soft, subtle ones made by a few royal guards who wanted to ask for early leave or other minor issues. This was a hard, urgent knock.

“Who is it, please?” Celestia asked, walking up to the door and listening with concern.

“It’s me, Inkwell,” a voice came.

“Inkwell?” Celestia replied quizzically, opening the door. There stood her faithful friend, who ran a school in Canterlot, and also had helped her in tough times. Behind her stood a royal guard, who was balancing a large package across his back like circus performer.

“It’s great to see you, Princess,” Inkwell said with a warm smile, greeting her best friend with a loving nuzzle and a wing hug. “Thought I’d drop by to say hello before heading home for the night. Coincidentally, this fella happened to be needing assistance bringing a package to you.”

Inkwell gestured to the guard, who looked up pleadingly, as if hoping for relief of the burden on his back, even though the package wasn’t that heavy. Celestia smiled and beckoned him to enter.

The guard used his unicorn magic to lift the box up and set it down on the floor with a heave of relief and a few brief pants. “Your Highness… I come to you with an important package that was sent in. Its rather large size intrigued many of the other guards, so I asked Inkwell to assist me and allow you to investigate it.”

“Do you know where it came from?” Celestia inquired in a serious tone.

“Yes, your Highness,” the guard quickly replied. “It was addressed to the address of the Royal Palace, and for Princess Celestia herself. Original source of sending was from a well-known pony in Fillydelphia that deals with foreign objects entering Equestria. Might be just a fan who wants to offer something special.”

“Perhaps,” Celestia thought subtly. “Well, thank you very much, you may return to your duties. I’ll be seeing you later this evening during the shift change. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

“You’re most welcome, your Highness,” the guard replied with a smile, giving a slight bow before turning tail and heading down the hall.

Inkwell smiled with awe at the package. “I wonder…”

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Celestia said quickly. “I’ll take a look at it later. For now, these papers demand my attention. Thanks for stopping by. Maybe tomorrow, I can find some time to take a look at it.”

“No problem. Good luck with those papers!”

“And you have a fantastic evening, dear Inkwell.”

With her friend gone, Celestia gently pushed the box to a corner of the room, settled back into her chair, and resumed her paperwork. Yet, ever so often, she’d find herself peering over at it ever so often. She assumed it to be just the large sticker that adorned the top of it, with its big letters “FOR THE BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING PRINCESS CELESTIA” sticking out with brightness, much like the moon in the dark night sky would be soon.

“Who even makes a sticker that big?” she wondered, quickly scribbling a signature for an architectural approval permit slip. “It certainly has to be designed for the unique purpose it was used for.”

Two agonizing hours later, Celestia finally completed the last few papers from her first stack. She ‘d written so much, her pen had broken twice and a whole inkwell jar had been used up. With a sore mind and a pair of tired eyes, she walked out the door and headed straight for the castle kitchen, where she made a quick cup of latte and dumped a pile of cookies that had been baked the day before into a small bowl. Holding both in her magical aura’s grasp, she returned to her office, eager to find out what the package contained.

Sitting down at her desk yet again, Celestia sipped her hot latte and ate a cookie, staring at the box, as a new feeling came over her – one of hope and insight. There was a good possibility that there was something great about this, rather than a scary concept. Surely Queen Chrysalis wouldn’t try a trick like this…

As she gently lowered the sun toward the horizon, Princess Celestia gave a warm, endearing smile at her sister, who was already up on a nearby balcony, ready to do her part of raising the moon. With the day gone and the night beginning, it seemed like the perfect time.

Back in her office, Celestia turned on an overhead light and pulled out a pair of scissors. Harnessing all her magical power, she suspended her mug, bowl of cookies, and the scissors while walking to her bedroom, dragging the large box behind her. The carpeted halls only added to the already difficult task of making this operation as quiet as possible.

After almost breaking decent sweat, Celestia finally reached her bedroom and firmly shut the door. Settling down in the moonlight and accompanying candlelight, she set down the mug and bowl, before popping a cookie into her mouth and holding up the scissors. With a smooth, gentle motion, she slid the tip across the packaging tape right at the meeting point of the flaps, so as not to damage the contents. Cutting the remaining tape off, she tugged at the flaps, opening up the box. Inside was… well, she couldn’t exactly tell, as it was completely covered in brown wrapping paper and supported by small blocks of foam. Accompanying them was a smaller box, also taped shut.

Gathering the foam blocks together, Celestia put them side in a small bundle and carefully cut open the small box, pulling out the contents. Inside lay a small T-shaped piece of metal and two small bottles, one of which had a red circle with a white cross over it and the word “BONES” in black lettering. The other bottle had all sorts of lettering and numbers in different areas on it, but Tia could clearly tell it was isopropyl alcohol – a substance she was familiar with, as castle maids had used it to clean tough stain marks in the kitchen.

“How odd,” Celestia whispered to herself. “Who names an empty bottle ‘Bones’? And what would you need a bottle of cleaning alcohol for?”

Logically, it could only have something to do with the main item. So, Tia turned her attention to that. Pulling off all the wrapping paper, her eyes went wide in awe. Surprised, she scooted over in front of the bed and laid it down flat on the rug, in the middle of the room, bathed in the bright moonlight.

It was unlike anything she’d seen before. Measuring longer than her legs and two hoof-spans wide, it was quite a beast… with a curved shape and narrowed, rounded tips. Sticking out from each one was a low, T-shaped bracket that held an axle. Attached to both were wheels – four, wide white ones with a black-colored outer edging. Reaching out with her hoof, Celestia rubbed one – and it spun smooth and fast.

The underside surface was a smooth, polished deep blue, with a unique graphic art of a screeching chimera in bronze and black, with the words “LANDYACHTZ SWITCHBLADE” in a bold, antique-style design. Below it lay a diamond, and on top, a royal crown. A bronze and blue ornate pattern framed the whole thing. It looked so cool and pretty, Tia was tempted to hang it on her wall as a decoration, but the wheels clearly showed there was much more to it than a work of art. Flipping it over, she found the top surface to be nothing like the underside. It was hard, dark gray, and gritty like sandpaper, with shiny flecks within it and the same logo words “LANDYACHTZ” printed across the center in white. Dragging her hooftip across it hurt, indicating it was meant to hold and maintain grip.

Turning back to the T-shaped piece of metal and the bottles, Celestia noticed something she didn’t see before – a letter attached to a booklet. Eagerly, she snatched them, set the booklet aside, and began to read the letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have sent this out to you as a gift from my heart. As much as I loved viewing it and thinking of the great potential it holds, I would prefer you to have it, as I’m sure you can find better use of it than I can. Being a traveler, I happened to spot you and your sister on vacation. It’s evidently clear that you enjoy exciting, thrilling adventurous activities, and I wish for this to be a means for you to continue the pursuit of such thrilling, joyful moments.

I received this item from a facility that had collected items coming from a portal connecting to another world. It is called a longboard, with four large wheels that roll smoothly and a low-profiled deck that allows you to maintain balance better. You simply step on with one foot and push off against the ground with the other, and you’ll be moving. At higher speeds, steering and sliding about is a lot of fun once you figure it out. Also included is a cleaning kit and a metal repair tool. You can read more in the accompanying booklet.

Hope you enjoy having fun with this longboard. Ride it and feel happy, fun, and free. Thank you for all you’ve done for Equestria.

Best wishes,
Hall Hunter

Celestia smiled endearingly at the letter, touched by the effort one pony far away in another city had done for her. Then she set aside the longboard, the cleaning bottles, and the repair tool, before discarding the packaging and dropping it into a waste bin. Finishing her latte and cookies, she slid the booklet under her pillow and wiggled under the covers with an eager yet content smile. Yes, tomorrow was going to be a blast.

Author's Note

*sighs* It's been two months since I wrote anything. I really need to start fixing my schedule and actually sticking to it. Lots of time is passing, but little is getting done - work or play.

Just whipped this up one night. Hope you like it. If so, leave a comment and fave. Thanks. :twilightsmile: :heart:

I cannot promise, but I can try. I need to take my time and slowly catch up - my Smolder dress fic needs to be finished, and Adventures in the 6ix is in need of some polishing-up too.

Test Ride

With a good sleep, Celestia arose at her prescribed time and stretched awake, ready to start the day. Her horn glowed as she slowly and carefully raised the sun above the horizon, bringing on the warmth and light that signaled the start of the new day, while her sister repositioned the moon, indicating the end of the cool night.

“Always a joy to see you performing well, dear sister,” Celestia whispered with a smile, even though she knew Luna couldn’t hear her.

With the sun in place, Celestia returned to her duties, first going over her checklist and attending an early morning meeting, leaving her longboard tucked away under her bed for later.

The second line of paperwork wasn’t too bad, mostly just follow-ups and requests. With decades of experience, Tia ran through them all in just two hours. Glancing over at her schedule, she noticed there was a gap in her schedule that left a staggering three hours of free time between the afternoon and two events before sunset. A perfect opportunity to try out her longboard. Little did she realize what she’d be in for.

As the morning faded into noon, Celestia walked down the hallways to her chariot, with several thoughts deeply imprinted in her mind like burn marks.

Why would somepony send her a shaped wooden board with wheels?

What purpose, truly, did it serve?

Would the ‘longboard’, as it was to be named, be of any danger?

How did Hall Hunter come to pay attention to her vacation in such a manner?

Is Hunter a stalker?

After a brief internal analysis, Celestia quickly pushed that final question away as the doors opened for her. No way he was a stalker – if he really was, he’d be sneaking around the castle trying to snap photos of her and reported by guards already. Her large gold-plated chariot lay before her, with her super-strong pegasus guards ready to transport her to Manehatten, where she was due to attend a council meeting to discuss overcrowding and street crime.

During the long trip there, she pondered over the board and how Hunter had briefly mentioned how to ride it. But… how? How could such an action be related to her love for adrenaline and thrilling activities?

Admitting she had more questions than answers to formulate at the given moment, Celestia sat back and began reviewing her governmental notes. Questions and thoughts about the board would be best answered through practical implementation.

And so, once the meeting was over, Celestia hopped in her chariot and ordered her chariot-pulling guards to hurry back for an “urgent affair” back at the Canterlot castle.

“What’s… got you so…excited?” one of them stuttered through his pants of exertion.

“I just… remembered I have an important issue to deal with, and I need to take care of it right away,” Celestia replied quickly, before glancing over at the poor stallion’s sweaty face and burning muscles. Her heart felt awful. All this, over a single gift that so happened to be different from any other? No. She was not wildly eccentric or careless like Twilight Sparkle. She would uphold patience and wait for the right time to deal with it.

“I…I’m sorry,” Celestia said softly, giving a gentle kiss to the chariot-pulling guards and calling for a pair of sweat towels. “I should have been more considerate. It wasn’t even that important. But, to be fair, I did find myself getting a little excited over it.”

“Mmm-hmmm, what’s this?” a teasing voice came from the nearby doors.

Luna… Celestia grumbled under her breath. Aw, horseapples, here we go again.

“Is my big sis getting excited over something small and personal? Much like her faithful student?”

“It’s just something not too relevant,” Celestia replied quickly, trying to shrug it off. “Now, will you please help out these poor guards here? Clearly they’ve tried too hard to bring me back to the castle quickly.”

Please buy it, sister, please…

“Really? So you can attend to your excited “irrelevant” needs?”

Aw, shucks. Failed.

“Are you not considerate for the well-being of the royal guards?!” Celestia retorted aggressively. “Besides, that was an order.”

Luna held back an eye-roll. “Fine. But I will be asking later, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

I’ll be ready for you, then, Celestia thought, heading inside the castle to check for any submitted paperwork and check in on a few staff members. They all were doing fine – finance calculations were on par with purchase dates, and mail was being sent out on time. Rooms were also cleaned properly. Finally, with everything in order and no further obligations, she could check out the board.

Literally bursting into her room, Celestia opened up her curtains and pulled out the booklet from under her pillow. With the board in front of her, she began reading. The book began explaining the different parts of the longboard (trucks, wheels, axles, bushings, bearings, deck) and what purpose those parts served (complete with a few drawings), why it was called a “longboard”, and a general description of what longboarding is.

Celestia’s face lit up with a grin as she peered over the board, examining its components as described in the booklet. It looked like this was going to be fun after all.

“Hmmm, where’s a good place to ride…” she pondered, flying up and looking around the city from high above. It didn’t take long before she noticed a long, windy trail leading from a cluster of a few houses on a small hill to the city’s secondary centre. Most ponies gathered in the main city centre, so it seemed like a good route to avoid causing disruption. Or… what about Ponyville?

Celestia shook her head. Ponyville would cause too much of a disruption, and Twilight would make a big fuss over it. Besides, they had more important matters to deal with.

Flying back down to the castle, she re-entered the room, checked the trucks’ tightness levels, and teleported out of the room with a loud sparkly *poosh*.

Reappearing on a side road that led to the main road that led into the city, she set down the board on its wheels and gazed out to the city, before looking down at the board. Precariously, she stepped onto it with one hoof, then the other, leaving her other two hanging over. Feeling wobbly, she clumsily leaned back… and tumbled over backwards and sideways. The board shot off down the road, and she quickly yanked it back in the grasp of her magic.

“Okay,” Tia whispered to herself. “Okay, all right. I can do this. Just keep balanced.”

Firmly placing one front hoof on the front of the board, she leaned forward a little, placing her back hoof on the board, before kicking off slightly with her other back hoof. The feeling was crazy – just moving without using her legs felt unreal. Crouching slightly, she quickly realized how leaning one way or the other allowed her to turn. With the incline of the road, gravity just kept pulling at the board, making it faster and faster – and harder to control.

“W-w-whoa!” Celestia exclaimed in fright as the world around her started to become a little blurry. If she stayed parallel to the board, she’d just fall over. What about…

Ah! Tia realized, and swiftly shifted her weight, standing sideways. Now her body was perpendicular to the board and thus she had to turn her head sideways to see ahead. As the road levelled out, she extended a hoof out and gently pressed into the road to slow down a little, then returned to pushing with her back hoof. With more experimentation, she figured out a comfortable way to stand, push, and shift her weight. It really was a lot of fun.

Now a crest was coming up. Celestia, now more confident on her board, pushed harder and harder, increasing speed in hopes of getting over it smoothly – and she did. “This is much faster than walking, and more fun than flying!” she thought excitedly, rolling right into the city streets, not even caring for the million pony faces gawking at her. Feeling bold, she spread her back legs wide apart and rose up bipedally, quickly readjusting her centre of gravity by leaning forward a tiny bit and turning her head to look ahead.

“p-p-Princess?!” one stallion gasped. From his accent, Celestia knew who it was and turned her head in the direction of the voice.

“Oh, good afternoon Fancy Pants!” she called out with a slight wave, not even caring in the slightest to think she was standing on her hind legs, on a wooden plank with wheels, rolling through the streets of Canterlot.

Finding it hard to keep her balance bipedally, Celestia crouched back down on all fours and kept pushing, increasing her speed yet again to a good twelve miles an hour.

“Awww yes, I love this!” she squealed, weaving in and out of crowds, reaching out and giving an estatic filly who spotted her a brief hoof-bump, and hopping off the board and quickly hopping back on. It took just a good lean to shift direction, making it easier to come up with fun prances and even a cheerful dance in between hopping on and off, making the Princess of the Sun look like a joyful filly trapped in a regal adult ruler’s body.

Eventually, Celestia reached the castle, feeling a little out of breath, but joyful and motivated.

“You alright, Princess?” one of the entrance guards inquired.

“And what’s that?” another guard added, pointing to her board.

“Oh, that’s my longboard,” Celestia replied rather sheepishly. “Got it as a gift and loving it so far!”

Now that she was in the castle grounds, Celestia could return to her “regal” and “composed” state. She quickly teleported the board back into her bedroom and happily pranced inside, ready to have a nice snack and resume her royal duties. She burst through the castle kitchen doors… only to find a cross face staring straight at her.

“Oh, hehe, Luna! My dear sister! What brings you here at this hour?”

“Where have you been?” Luna interrogated. “There’s been quite the stir here. Maids, guards, and other staff have been bewildered.”

“I just simply took some time off,” Celestia stated flatly. “Ain’t nothing wrong with de-stressing.”

Just spill it and hope she doesn’t flip on me…

“You… you’ve got me. Let me tell, you, sister,” Celestia sighed, caressing Luna’s back with a wing hug and leading her out of the kitchen, grabbing two muffins as she did so.

“Now, yesterday evening, I received a package from a pony in Fillydelphia. A large one. I unboxed it and it was… something amazing.”

Celestia opened the doors to her bedroom to reveal her longboard, lying in the middle of the room.

“That’s a nice work of art!” Luna exclaimed! “So you, just stand on it and it moves?”

Celestia’s eyes lit up with awe. “Exactly, dear sister! Except you have to push with one foot to drive yourself forward. With more pushes, the faster you go. It feels really fun. And so, I went out and tried it, and I’m in love with it.”

“It’s deep blue, just like my night sky too!” Luna squealed, realizing the connection.

“Indeed it is, Lulu. And you’re welcome to ride it anytime with my permission, once I show you how,” Celestia said with a confident smile.

“Really?!”

“Really, dear sister. We can roll through the land with style. Say, do you have a moment before raising the moon this evening? I can show you then, if you’d like?”

“Absolutely! Yes, yes yes!”

Celestia’s eyes moved from her bubbly sister prancing and hopping down the hall, to the board in her room, and back again. Yes, this was the best gift she could’ve asked for.

Author's Note

And it's done. I find my motivation to write and the joy of writing is just not the same as it was a few years ago. Will I quit?

*shrugs* Hard to say. I rushed this one because I didn't fully plan it out - I could've added so much more vivid detail and made Celestia's longboarding experience so much more wild and funny. Still have Smolder's dress story to finish soon.

Hope you enjoyed this one.