Princess of His Dreams

Sky Scribbles was rather grateful for the nachos in his stomach as he was approaching his final destination of Canterlot Castle. His mind was still ablaze with all the questions that he had been repeating to himself since getting on the train, but at the very least his stomach had calmed down.

The pegasus knew much of the castle grounds were open to public viewing most of the day, so he was now wondering where he had to go, and at what point would he have to present his credentials for being there. It probably wouldn't be best to wander; the invitation said to present himself at the front gates. He dug it out, and gave it another read-through, and then came to the realization that answers for being here were likely farther off than he would like; it was early afternoon, and Princess Luna likely wouldn't be starting her routines until sundown.

'One step at a time, Sky,' he told himself, returning the invitation to his saddlebags, but kept it ready to pull out at the gates to the castle. The spires of the castle grew more imposing the closer he got, and he was now able to see the outer wall that served as the border of the castle grounds, where guards patrolled. By 'main gates', he figured that the invitation meant the drawbridge, which was currently down and was allowing traffic in both directions. With another deep breath, he turned the last corner, and made his way down the last public street before the castle wall, turning onto the drawbridge, and trotted the entire length, over to the guard on duty on the left side.

"Sir, please state your business," the armored stallion told him. Sky reached into his saddlebags and pulled out the invitation, unfolded it, and presented it to the royal guard.

"I was invited here by Princess Luna, and was told to show this at the front gate," the pegasus replied, digging out the crescent moon royal seal as he spoke. The guard took one look and determined that it was genuine. He quickly read through the invitation, before handing it back to Sky.

"Please proceed, sir. Head through the main doors, and the staff will see to you from there. Good afternoon."

Sky gave the guard a nod and a smile, and continued on into the castle grounds proper. First up, there were shrubs on both sides of the stone path. The first structure on the right was, of course Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, with the Protege's Tower being the tallest part of that structure. Across from that on the other side of the road was the Canterlot Gardens Hedge Maze. After he passed the turn to the school, the path opened up to a common square. A squad of E.U.P. guards in formation marched through the square. Directly ahead was the Royal Airport, a tower that overlooked the airship landing platforms on the east end of the grounds.

Finally, on the far right side of the square was the path right up to the gargantuan front doors of Canterlot Castle. Sky trotted up to them, where another pair of royal guards stood on duty. The one on the right lit up his horn, and the right door opened as the pegasus approached. He gave the guard a nod of gratitude as he passed through, stepping from the smooth concrete walkway to a velvety red carpet.

"Hello, sir. How may I help you?" The nearby stallion hoofpony greeted, coming up to him. Being nearly routine at this point, Sky took out the invitation and royal seal, giving them over to the servant. He read over the invitation quickly.

"I see. Please wait right here, sir, and we'll be right with you," the servant told him, before taking the invitation and seal down the foyer, going through a door on the right.

While he was left alone in the enormous foyer, Sky took the next few moments to take in the extravagance of his surroundings. He could almost hear his hoofsteps on the carpet echo off of the walls, but the impressively long curtains hung in front of the tall windows helped with the hall's sound dampening.

Sky's attention was pulled down the hall again when the door that the hoofpony had entered opened again, and a slightly larger dark grey unicorn stallion stepped out, and trotted towards him. He also wore a servant's jacket, but the cuffs were considerably more ornate. His mane was neatly slicked back, and his expression was somewhat stern, but also welcoming and approachable.

"Mr. Sky Scribbles, I presume?" he asked. The pegasus nodded immediately.

"That's me."

"Welcome to Canterlot Castle, sir. I am Silver Platter, and I am the Head Butler here. Miss Lemon Hearts informed me that Her Royal Highness Princess Luna invited somepony here not even twelve hours ago. You are certainly prompt. As you can understand, Princess Luna is not yet available, so if you would please follow me, and I would be glad to show you to a guest suite."

Sky nodded at Silver Platter, and with that, the butler turned around, and the pegasus followed him up the central staircase, and into the hall on the right.

"First time in the castle, sir?" Silver asked.

"Yeah. I always figured I'd get up here eventually on a guided tour or something, but never something like this... Invited here by one of the Princesses," Sky replied, looking at the various portraits and paintings they passed on their way down the hall.

"And here we are, one of our finest bedroom suites," Silver announced sliding a skeleton key into the door on their left, turned it, opened the door, standing to the side and ushering the pegasus inside.

Sky's eyes widened as he took in the sleeping quarters, quickly concluding that this blew every five-star hotel brochure he had seen out of the water. The bed alone would barely fit in his room back in Ponyville.

"If you should require anything, please pull that string by the nightstand," Silver told him. Sky looked over to see a weighted steel cord that went up and into the wall near the ceiling.

"I hope you don't find the accommodations too overwhelming, sir. You do seem a bit uneasy," Silver commented.

Sky took a breath before turning back to the butler as he set his suitcase on the bed.

"I would have to save my spare bits for years to hope to afford half a night in a place like this, and I have absolutely no idea what Princess Luna wants with me. 'Uneasy' would be putting it lightly, sir."

Silver nodded in understanding.

"Well, I do hope you can relax now that you're here, sir. Whatever the reason Her Royal Highness has invited you here, I can assure you, if she's requested that you be an honored guest, it mustn't be for anything nefarious."