“Schooling...”

Krysta's voice echoed off the stone walls of her room, a gracious gift from the Princesses. It had been a mere two weeks since her predicament was explained over tea. All the while Twilight had been slowly teaching her Equestrian. Though it rather pained the educated unicorn to teach in this particular manner, communication was absolutely key. There was literally no other way to reach the human without one of the Princesses, and they could hardly follow Krysta around translating everything.

So, after a few days of explanation and reassurances, the human agreed to try and learn. She wasn't aware it would be quite this stressful however. She was currently laying back on her bed, a heavy open book resting on her chest. Meanwhile, Twilight paced at the foot of her bed going on about the origin of a particularly favorite word they had come across. This meant another half hour of Krysta staring at the ceiling trying to understand what Twilight was going on about while also making an effort not to lose her mind.

“And that is how it can literally change how grammar works around it. Isn't that interesting?” Twilight lifted her eyes towards the girl, lips curled up in an enthusiastic smile. Those same lips fell limp into a frown as she saw Krysta simply laying back on her bed and not rapt with attention. The soft glow of lavender covered her horn at the same time the book resting on top of the girl snapped shut.

“Eek!!!” it had happened so suddenly Krysta almost tumbled off the bed. Groaning loudly and furrowing her brow she sat up, offering the unicorn a glare while pointing at her own ear. “Too fast! Can't listen!!” She stood up in exasperation, the stress of such a heavy workload so suddenly giving her an almost constant headache.

In order to help everyone involved, Twilights schedule had language lessons six hours a day. Though they were in two hour increments with breaks between, it turned it into an all day exercise that was utterly exhausting. Especially to Krysta who had never sat down in a classroom her entire life. She could barely read her own language, much less a whole new one in a matter of weeks.

Twilight watched the frustrated girl and sighed. It had been almost nine straight days of language lessons and they had certainly made some progress. Krysta could at least partially communicate, though she had to fall back to mime whenever she came across words she didn't yet know. Something that happened far more often than the human liked. A smile slowly rose on Twilight's features once more as she thought of something.

“Hey. Let's take the rest of the day off.” She slowly made her way over to Krysta, nudging her in the side. The human in return looked over, facial features blank as she tried to work out what was being said. Twilight's teaching method was very sink or swim. In order to really motivate Krysta to learn Equestrian the studious unicorn never slows her speech unless it really is something the girl doesn't know. There is no benefit to speeding through words she has never even heard before after all.

In this particular case Krysta was able to put enough of the words together to at least guess at her meaning. A spark of excitement ran through the girl's spine, her eyes widening before she uttered a guess of confirmation. “Play day?” A simple response true, but direct and without chance of confusion. The unicorn laughed loudly at that and gave a simple nod.

Rainbow Dash would have been very impressed on how quickly the human jumped over her bed, grabbed her overdress that Rarity insisted she have regardless of the weather, and took off out the door. Twilight wasn't as impressed.

“Krysta! Your shoes! And your study materials! You get back here right now young lady!” The displeased yelling was far too late to reach the running human, the sound of her bare feet slapping against the stone floor of the castle already faded. Fortunately for Twilight, she was a pony. And even a lazy pony had a pretty good chance of outrunning a human.

With a pair of shoes in tow, designed by Rarity of course, Twilight quickly followed. “How many times have I told you that just because you can run around without shoes doesn't mean you should!!” She grumbled loudly as she rocketed through the corridors in pursuit of her student who obviously had something on her mind. Either that or she shared the random gene with Pinkie Pie. The lavender unicorn secretly hoped it wasn't the latter

Krysta was aware Twilight was chasing her but was unconcerned. Being chased was just part of it. In her time everyone chased everyone. Mothers chased children, brother chased sister, bosses chased workers, and leaders chased followers. With so little time available in the life of her era, everyone ran and everyone chased. Why do tomorrow what you could do today?

Today was no different for the human. As soon as she was told no more studying for the day she knew exactly what she wanted. The kitchen. Twilight knew it as well, it being one of the few things Krysta focused on since she arrived. Delicious, untainted food served by ponies who enjoyed seeing their cooking appreciated. With this knowledge the unicorn was not only able to catch up with the running girl, but actually cut her off entirely by taking one of the short cuts she learned about while living in the castle under the guidance of Princess Celestia. Once she was in place Twilight waited for the precise moment to jump out and plant herself.

BAM!!

Krysta ran full speed into Twilight's side, the heavier and planted creature knocking her back onto her rear with a painful thud. Two other ponies who worked in the castle winced as they witnessed the fall, shaking their heads before getting back to work. This was the third time now Twilight has had to hunt the girl down in this manner. It was becoming a routine.

Twilight did not share the staff's sighing acceptance of the phenomena, rather wishing she could somehow break Krysta of the habit. “Krysta! How many times?!” The human girl understood these particular words all too well, especially with the shoes hanging in front of her mid-air. A small grumble left her lips as she gingerly stood up while dusting herself off.

~Eight times.~ She answered with another grumble. Twilight cleared her throat loudly, causing Krysta to wince and remind herself to speak in Equestrian. Slowly and quietly she counted on her fingers until she got to the correct word. “Eight...” She shuffled one of her bare feet across the stone tiles, grumbling all the more at Twilight reacting so heavily to shoes. Couldn't she understand? They were hard to run in and were barely comfortable. Though she was thankful that Rarity went out of her way to provide clothes that actually fit her, the white unicorn knew extremely little of human feet. This made the rather pretty shoes a bane to her poor feet.

“Yes. Eight times. Krysta, this is for your own safety. You can't go around bare foot like we can. “ She clopped her hoof on the tile. She stared at Krysta expectantly, waiting for the girl. Krysta in turn sighed and repeated the motion with her foot, obviously only getting the sound of skin on stone, showing that she lacked protection of any kind really. If she were to step on something, or more likely get stepped on by a passing pony, she could really get hurt. They weren't exactly the lightest creatures to begin with not to mention their hard hooves.

Sighing, Twilight deposited the shoes in front of the now caught girl, sitting in wait. There was very little chance Krysta would get away from her now that Twilight was aware. All she needed was a second or two before that magic of hers would stop the girl dead in her tracks.

Understandingly Krysta accepted them and grudgingly slid them upon each foot. It took only a few moments, a single tie holding them together. As soon as they were on Twilight offered her a smile and stood. “There! Much better right?”

“Hurts.” Krysta replied simplistically, tapping her covered feet upon the ground. They didn't actually hurt of course as much as they were very uncomfortable. She just didn't know how to say it quite like that. Twilight understood where she was coming from and nodded.

“When we have a chance we will go back to Rarity and get them adjusted.” Krysta offered a strange look to that. “Rarity will fix your shoes later.” Twilight corrected herself, forgetting for a moment that Krysta's vocabulary was still rather limited. She was pleased to see that Krysta seemed to understand and decided to finally step aside, allowing the girl through.

“Be safe. And no running.” Twilight warned with a smile, offering the girl a gentle nuzzle before starting back towards the room. She had to tidy up and organize where they had left off so they could get started the next day without confusion.

Krysta couldn't keep a frown as Twilight offered the affection, the nuzzle making her lips twitch upward. Pushing the unicorn away with a slight giggle Krysta continued on her way, walking this time. Though normally she would insist on Twilight coming with her she knew too well that the magician would most likely be wanting to get some work done. It was almost always a fight to get Twilight away from her teacher's journal and progress reports.

With that she pushed on, making it to the double doors of the kitchen rather quickly having already run most of the way there. Extending her arms with the same smile she always wore within these particular walls Krysta pushed forward and entered the bustle of the royal kitchens. Left and right ponies worked and called out, an occasional swear permeating the air. They may cook for royalty, but they were still cooks in a stuffy kitchen filled with loud noises and deadlines. Any pony would loosen their lips a little in here out of survival.

Krysta could tell what was going on with context alone and only laughed whenever the cooks got into it. It was always humorous to the girl as such things were never even heard of in her time. As she sat down at a small table shoved in a corner, often where workers would snag a few minutes breath, she considered the differences.

~This place has castles, villages, carriages, and even swords and spears. There is so little different, yet there is no mistaking them. What did the ponies do different from humans I wonder?~ As she mused to herself one of the cooks was already hard at work putting together what she was after. It was the same almost every day. When lunch came around here she was. Dinner? Again she was at that table. Midnight snack? Absolutely. It was one singular thing that she could not get off her mind about this time and her own.

Milkshakes.

“Here ya go kid. Got a double malt for ya. Vanilla with chocolate whipped cream. Let's see 'em try that in Cloudsdale!” A gruff unicorn stallion with a stained apron and an unlit stub of a cigar in his mouth delivered the treat to the table, a permanent frown painted on his face. Princess Celestia was always trying to get the guy to crack a smile but she failed very single time. He was blunt, short tempered, and smoked those horrible cigars, but goodness could he cook. There was nothing he couldn't put together. Well, almost nothing. Salads seemed to evade his skill, along with some other choice foods that are mostly served raw.

His given name was McGrub. No one knew his first name. He tells everyone it is a secret and that it would only put others in danger if they knew it. To add to it, whenever someone asked what he was talking about he changes his story around. Rumors spreading between working in a circus to espionage followed him everywhere. It was a royal mystery if ever there was one. In the mean time everyone just calls him Barbeque. An affectionate title given to a cooks. Almost everyone called him that. Almost.

“Barby!” She cried out with excitement, her own lips the anti-thesis to his frown. The gruff unicorn grumbled and shook his head. He never really cared for her nick name to his nick name, but he accepted it. She was young after all. Besides, it was hard to correct someone who both can't understand you and doesn't want to be corrected in the first place.

Still, it was always nice to have her come around.It gives him reasons to experiment and try out new things. When one cooks for royalty and staff there were very few chances to really stretch one's cooking muscles. Krysta's frequent visits gives him those chances. It isn't like she can eat nothing but milkshakes after all.

Accepting the cold treat with an even wider grin, Krysta was well informed about these delicious things. Pinkie Pie was to blame for that particular aspect of Krysta's adopted life style, though the human would prefer to thank the pink pony before blaming her.

With everything set and an approving clap of her hands to Barbeque she dove in, wanting to finish quickly so she could continue to explore the castle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A gray earth pony huffed as she waited at the door to the auditorium, the clock on the wall nearby telling her the guard meant to unlock the doors was almost an hour late. With a mighty heave a large instrument lifted from her back and fell against the wall, expertly landing to avoid damage. With an annoyed flick of her mane and tail Octavia trotted around the nearest corner in search of the guard. It just so happened that the guard in question was walking down that particular hallway just as she took a peek.

“Well it is surely about time! You should know better than most how hard it is to book time in this room. An hour of my time is gone now I will have you know.” Though she was of course upset, her Canterlot manners never allowed her voice to be raised above a scolding.

“My apologies Ma'am. There was a mix up with the schedule. You have this auditorium for the rest of the evening if you wish. The scheduled use for this evening canceled. Instead of simply filling it up we will be happy to provide you with the slot as an apology.” A silver key lifted as the guard's magic came to life.

“Well, in that case, I accept your apology. Thank you for your preemptive consideration of my situation.” The musician waited patiently for the guard to finish unlocking the door, her instrument once more upon her back with another skillful maneuver. Once open the earth pony gave the guard a nod of her head before entering the humble auditorium. Her eyes searched around the room, her thoughts straying to its origins and why she was here in the first place. All the while she worked on setting herself up upon the stage.

The room itself was highly sought after by musicians thanks to the enchantments that permeated the walls. While structurally beautiful, the acoustics were beyond awful. So, by the request of Princess Celestia almost centuries ago, it was enchanted by several powerful unicorns to not only be acoustically beneficial but to add an extra something. Only those extremely well versed in magic theory knew how it worked. Playing in this room just made the music clearer. There was a clarity within these walls that allowed listeners to hear almost every sound and variance.

Thus it was a wonderful practice hall. Here, a listener could find the smallest flaw within a piece and correct it accordingly. While such small things might not mean much when first thought of, it was easy to see how a piece could end up sounding so much better if the precision was almost literally perfect. Once the precision was focused, it was time to add heart and soul. For an artist does their best work with the best tools to build with.

Octavia was here just for that purpose. Her career with her quartet was short lived thanks to a botched Grand Galloping Gala performance. She honestly had no idea why they decided to go along with it. Sure, Pinkie Pie was personally invited by the Princess herself and was an Element of Harmony to boot. But all the titles in the world couldn't account for taste.

With her work there practically gone in Canterlot, Octavia decided to pursue work on her own. There was little love for the larger instruments. They were to provide background noise while the melodies were played by violins and flutes. Octavia grumbled as she thought of it, already through readying her instrument and music upon the stage. She was here to prove that a double bass was just as good.

Outside the auditorium, a certain human girl had already finished her milkshake and was taking a walk through some of the halls she had yet to visit. Holding her shoes in her hands, without Twilight around she decided it was safe enough to remove them, Krysta was about to walk right passed the auditorium door when the first sounds of a bow across strings made her freeze.

~By the gods what is that?~ She had never heard such sounds before, instruments in her village consisting of a tambourines and pan flutes. Looking either side she found herself alone and allowed herself a sly smirk before pressing herself against the door to listen.

Author's Note

Goodness! What a couple months it has been!

Sorry about the delay. Whenever I seem to put together a writing schedule for this someone somewhere decides they want to ruin it.

However! I am not dead and I am still writing! So that's a thing.