Alicorn in Canterlot

Chapters

Ch:01 - Arrival in Canterlot
Ch:02 - Found
Ch:03 - Pony Food
Ch04: - Doctors and questions
Ch:06 - Meeting the Princesses
Ch:07 - Tour and Test
Interlude[I]
Ch:08 - Bored Games
Ch:09 - An Afternoon in Canterlot
Ch:10 - Dreams
Ch:11 - Wings
Ch05: - Talks in the Gardens

Ch:01 - Arrival in Canterlot

The first thing I notice, as I come round into the waking world, is how cold I am. I just want to snuggle back into my blankets, but am too tired to do so. The cold isn’t that bad. Mostly. My belly is cold and wet, and I’m laying on something hard. Maybe I fell out of bed? But that doesn’t explain the wetness. And I don’t remember my carpeted floor being this hard, it feels more like concrete. The rest of my body feels only slightly uncomfortably cold, yet I can still feel the sun from above soaking into my skin and a gentle breeze blowing by.

My eyes shoot open as I begin to panic. They dart around as I take in my surroundings. This is not good! I’m in an alleyway somewhere, although I really have no idea how I got here. My first priority is to get up off the ground, laying down is quite a vulnerable position for me to be in. I force myself to take in a deep breath… and slowly let it out. Deep breath. Let it out. Deep Breath. Let it out. Alright, don’t panic. Panicking is the worst thing I can do right now. I need to get up.

I gently unfold my arms from under me, putting them down into a pushup position. Then I push myself upwards. Surprisingly, I’m met with little resistance as I jolt up into a ‘sitting position?’ It feels weird, yet natural at the same time. At least my head is facing forwards comfortably at this angle. Alright, now to get up onto my feet, I didn’t feel any dizziness before so I should be good.

I try to push myself upwards higher, but my arms are already fully extended. So I try pushing up with my legs. Just as before, my legs unfold and straighten with ease, lifting up my back and causing me to lurch forwards onto my face. Ow. Okay, it didn’t really hurt, but it’s still uncomfortable and it feels really weird. Alright, let’s try this again. I repeat the motion of positioning my front legs and pushing myself into a sitting position with ease, now for the hard part. Carefully, I make sure that my feet feel solid against the ground and gently bring myself up. Once more, I feel myself being pushed forwards as my arms and legs are too close together; so I carefully step forwards with my forearms until I’m comfortably on all fours.

Something’s wrong. Humans aren’t supposed to be comfortable on all fours. I can feel my breathing begin to quicken, but I quickly catch myself. No use panicking, remain calm and continue sensory assessment. I keep my eyes locked onto the wall ahead of me as I allow myself to calm. Wait just a second… shouldn’t my head be facing downwards. Alright, deep breaths… What else is different? Despite how cold, hard and wet the floor was, I can’t really feel it anymore under-foot… or under-hand?
I experimentally pick up a foreleg and bring it down. I don’t feel much from it. But I do hear a muffled ‘clomp’ sound. I try to move my fingers, but I get no response; same goes for my toes.

Alright, don’t jump to conclusions and most importantly, don’t panic. Slowly, I pick up my left foreleg and bring it up in front of my face. I am met with a hairy pale-blue leg, although the very tip is missing hair and of a mildly darker colour. It looks almost like a hoof? Of course, I panic. My limbs flail out from under me as I claw randomly at the ground. This in turn, causes me to fall onto my side. I freeze in pain. Carefully, I roll back onto my belly and focus on my breathing exercises. Okay, so I’m now some sort of horse-thing, a horse-thing that is blue. Where have I seen that before? Don’t tell me… I’m one of those ponies. Ugh! Still, I’m here now, so I need to focus and not panic. I guess I should find out which type I am. Turning my head, I glance down at the spot where I had fallen over before. There are a couple blue feathers on the ground. Turning my head further, I look across my back. Wings… yay… I’m so excited… No. Just no. I decide instead to ignore them.

I redirect my attention to the alleyway. The walls here appear to be made out of normal bricks, and the floor is hard pavement. There’s a few puddles here and there, but I don’t think the lighting is good enough for reflections. Not that I want to see my reflection either way. I look down the alley and can see the sun just peeking over the building at the end. It feels darker in here than it did before and judging by the sun’s position, although I can’t see the horizon for proper reference, I assume that it’s probably early-evening.

I carefully turn round, focusing on my hooves, until I am facing the other way. I have to keep my head down to avoid the discomfort against my eyes, but they soon adjust. It appears that the end of the alleyway is in that direction. I slowly make my way in that direction, coming up behind some boxes right up at the entrance. I don’t particularly want to be seen like this, in the case that I’m still on Earth. I can see a slight gap between the boxes which leads to a nice hidey-hole where I can observe without being seen. I carefully duck into the gap, but I can’t seem to fit. Instead, I am met with a pressure against my forehead. It’s a shame I can’t fit in there, it was such a nice looking place. But why not? I carefully bring my ar-hoof up to my head. I can feel my mane. It seems soft, but I can’t properly feel it through my hoof. It’s also quite long, reaching down my thin neck. I can’t quite tell how far it goes, since my foreleg can’t bend back that far, at least not without throwing me off-balance. The coldness is also keeping my skin numb, so I can’t feel it through my fur.

Okay, enough distractions. Bringing my hoof back up to my head, I brush it across. Okay, brushing your hoof over your ears just feels downright weird. Then my hoof bumps against something hard. It’s some kind of long protrusion coming from my head. I can’t feel my hoof against it, but I can feel the pressure applied to my forehead around its base. Okay, so I’m a unicorn now? Oh right, I have wings. What does that make me then? I think it’s called a pegacorn? Although I’m sure there were some in the show. That purple one. What did the show call them… alicorns? That’s not even a real word. What was it about alicorns? Oh yeah, they were… quite rare and they all lived in castles; not that the big blue tree looked anything like a castle. What else? They all called themselves princesses… Oh no… I can’t let them find me like this!

Anyway, I need to find out where I am. Since I can’t fit under the boxes, I decide to peek out from behind the ones piled up against the wall. Ponies… Ponies everywhere. And they’re all dressed up like fancy people. The fronts of the buildings are also a smooth white, which reflect an uncomfortable amount of light around the brightly lit street. The majority of these ponies are unicorns, but I see a couple pegasi gliding just overhead. I shrink back into my boxy hiding place. I’m still exposed from above! I need to find something to hide these wings, I really doubt I can do anything about the head-spike though. It’s just too long, why did it have to be a horn?

My attention is drawn back to the street by a pair of armoured ponies walking past. They are wearing dulled gold armour. I suppose it’s to prevent them from reflecting light right into everyone’s eyes. Both of them look eerily similar to each other, sharing white coats and blue manes. And I think both of them also have wings. They must be some sort of city guard. But which city am I in? Judging by the fancy clothes, fancy armour and fancy buildings; I must be in a major city.

Suddenly, a pair of ponies walk right across my view. I stumble backwards from the uncomfortable closeness, but luckily they don’t seem to notice. I strain my hearing to hear what they were talking about before they pass out of hearing range. I try to ignore the sudden twitching of my ears focusing in on them.
“...excited to visit Canterlot Castle? I heard that the royal gardens are especially…”
I had heard enough. Castle. Royal gardens. If there was a castle here, then there were likely alicorns here too, further reinforced by the mention of royal gardens. They called also the castle Canterlot Castle. Canterlot. I think I’ve heard that name. It was… the capital city… Yep, this is bad. Well, not bad bad I guess. Just I look like an alicorn, in the capital city with alicorns!

Seeing all I need to see, I turn away and head deeper into the comfort of my little alleyway. Okay, the winged ponies… pegasis can fly. Not sure how, with such tiny wings, but let’s just call it magic. Ugh, magic. Of all the places I could be, why did it have to be magical pony land. Anyway, they can fly, and they can see me from above. I don’t want to be seen, doesn’t matter if it’s above, it’s possible that ponies might use this alleyway too; so I need to find cover, or at least something to hide these wings. I also need to find a way to escape this place, I don’t want to be stuck here for any longer than I have to. Maybe I should wait until nightfall so the streets won’t be as crowded. I reach the back end of the alleyway, where it splits in two. To my left, the alleyway continues at a slight diagonal, passing under an archway, before leading to what I assume is a set of stairs, since the path just disappears there.

And on my right. Well it seems that the alleyway doesn’t continue very far in that direction, it just stops. And in that little square sits a bench. I almost panic for a second. What if this is actually a used alleyway, ponies could come in at any time from any direction. But then again, judging by all the boxes in the entrance and the state of this place compared to out on the street… I can’t imagine any of those fancy ponies daring to set foot in here.

I turn my attention back to the bench. It has definitely seen better days, but it looks sturdy enough. There’s a few miscellaneous boxes lying around behind it, and is that a tarp? I hurry forwards, almost tripping over my hooves. Yes, finally, something to hide those feather-things! I hastily stick my face into a crease, only for it to push out of the way. Oh right, horn. How do I get this from the floor, to my back then? I duck my head and gently slide my horn through the gap, then pull my head up. It works! Now I can’t see whatsoever. I bring up a hoof and carefully try to shuffle the tarp backwards over my horn until it settles on my back and after a lot more shuffling, my wings are now sufficiently hidden… yay I suppose. Looking up into the sky, it’s still light, although I can’t see the sun from here. I guess I’ll just lay on this bench and wait for nightfall.

I clamber awkwardly up onto the bench, almost losing my tarp in the process, but I manage to hold onto it by squashing my head down against my back. I shift and settle onto the bench. The wooden boards feel warm and soft against the cold hard pavement I woke up from. I let out an involuntary yawn. A quick nap couldn’t hurt.

Author's Note

Here is a story, please let me know what you think of it so far.
I am still in the process of writing chapter 2, it should be released in a few hours.

~~Also, should the MC be a male or female?~~ This has been decided.

Ch:02 - Found

When I wake up, I just want to go back to sleep. I let out a yawn and snuggle deeper into the covers. No. I need to wake up. I mustn’t let them find me, but this bed is just so warm and cozy… Wait, what am I thinking, I need to get my bearings and make an escape. I push my head out from the blankets and take in my surroundings.
…
This isn’t the alleyway… and this is not my bench. Maybe it was all just a dream and I’ve awoken back in bed at home? I stare at my hoof. Nope, this is real. And what am I doing in a bed? I force myself out from under the covers and stand to get my bearings. Okay, I’m in a room. Definitely a bedroom, since it’s got a bed. And this bed… is absolutely massive. I scramble towards the closest edge, but my flailing limbs get tangled in the covers before I can escape, leaving me with my forelegs dangling over the edge and my back legs stuck in the covers.

Carefully, I shuffle my legs around until I can feel them coming loose. Unfortunately, this also meant that I could begin sliding forwards off the bed. And so I fall off the bed, landing hard on my muzzle. Okay, this time it definitely hurt. I carefully shift myself into a lying position, then bring myself to stand. Front up, back up. Alright, time to explore my surroundings. But first… I glance back at myself, my wings are still there, and they’re uncovered. I quickly brush my hoof against my head to check for my-the horn. And now I feel exposed. I jump up against the golden-ish bed frame and try to reach for one of the covers. I reach over with my hooves and brush them against the edges. Oh right, no hands.

My ears twist to the door. My eyes follow. A green-eyed pony stares back at me. She(?) is a unicorn, with a pinkish-white coat and blue mane. Standing up against the bed, I am just above eye-level, but I can tell that I’d come in shorter than her when on all fours. The worst thing about all this, is the way she is watching me: as if I was the cutest thing in the world… Ugh.
“Hello there, young one. Do you want help getting back into bed?”
No I don’t, I want my blankets to hide under, but there’s no way I’m going back up there now that I'm awake. Unfortunately, she takes my silence as a yes and I find myself floating up and over the bed. Not being used to suddenly floating through the air, I begin to flail my legs. Luckily, it’s not long before they touch down on the mattress. Before she has a chance to try tucking me back into bed, I clamber over the main covers. Upon picking out a suitable-looking blanket, I push my head under it (sideways so that my horn can fit) and crawl through until my head pokes out of the other side.

Of course, she laughs at this, but I just ignore her. Once my blanket is securely draped over my back, I hop back down from the bed and go to investigate the room. The floor is entirely covered in red carpet. It’s soft against my hooves, but thin enough that I can feel the hard floor below it. The walls are mostly white, with a band of gold running around the bottom. This band extends upwards and around the two doors that are in the room. There is also a window on the far wall, also framed in gold, yet it is covered by thin white curtains. I can tell that it must be morning from the light leaking through into the room. I turn my attention back to the doors. The largest one is opposite the end of the bed, although offset at a slight diagonal. It’s still open and the unicorn pony is watching me curiously from it.

The other door is closer to me and also smaller. Upon closer inspection, I see that it has a door knob. I’m not sure how ponies are supposed to be able to open something like this without hands. Although judging by the way that other pony made me float, it’s probably some kind of weird magic. After examining it, I determine that I have no idea how to open it, I choose to ignore it instead in the wake of being watched. I don’t want the ponies to know I can’t open it and feel the need to help me.

Walking around to the other side of the oversized bed, I find a short bookcase. I take a moment to glance over the titles, but it’s in a language I don’t recognise. This confuses me slightly as the unicorn pony was clearly speaking English. I decide not to dwell on this fact and jump up at the window. Nudging the curtains aside, I gaze outside. The sun is still low in the sky, which suggests early morning or late evening. I am inclined to believe the former, although I am slightly annoyed that I slept the entire night. And even that I slept through being relocated. That last part sends a shiver up my spine. I never saw my tarp cover in the room, so whoever had found me must know by now of what I am. Not to mention that pony who just came in, she definitely saw me like this, although she hasn’t brought it up.

Speaking of her, she hasn’t really done much except stand around or put me back in bed. I glance back at her, she’s watching curiously from that same spot by the door. I guess she’s here to check up on me or something. Having seen pretty much everything there was to see in the room, I was starting to get slightly bored. It’s not like I could read any of those books, and I didn’t want to go back to that bed. That leaves me to see what this pony wants and maybe see if I can leave the room.

I cautiously drop back down onto all fours and make my way in her direction. Although instead of walking straight towards her, I circle round her such that I have a clear view of the open door. She doesn’t seem to know quite how to respond to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been ignoring her. I just wait in silence to see if she’ll make a move.
“Oh, uhm… Hello there young one, my name is Snow Blossom. And what might your’s be?”
Oh right, ponies have weird names. I’m not going to bother coming up with a silly name.
“Good morning Snow Blossom, my name is Jonathan.”
“That’s an unusual name, Jonathan. Would you like some breakfast?”

I haven’t eaten at all since waking up as a quadruped yesterday and therefore I am hungry.
“I suppose, thank you for asking.”
“Would you like me to bring it to your room?”
I wasn’t going to sit around in this room if I could help it, and I don’t want these ponies to start doing stuff for me, I’d rather find out where I am and how long I’ll have to be here for. Since I was found asleep on a bench outside, they’ll likely have a lot of questions, especially with my current form and all that.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d rather have a look around, I’d like to better understand where I am.”
“Of course, I’ll accompany you to the kitchens and you can choose something from there.”

I turn away from her and approach the open door. The corridor outside is quite large. Why does it need to be so big, even the ponies are tiny in relation to it. Speaking of ponies, there are ponies standing on either side of my door. They look identical to the city guards I saw the day previous, from their coats and manes right down to their armour. The corridor stops with a dead-end to my left, the same side as the window in my room. To my right, it just continues in a slight curve until I can’t see beyond it. Snow Blossom comes out from behind me and begins to lead me down the corridor. One of the guards falls into step behind us, leaving the other outside the room. Wait a second, those guards are guarding me...?

Author's Note

Here is another chapter.
Of course, a pony foal who falls asleep on a bench in an alleyway is going to get the attention of any royal guard patrols. Don't think he'll escape that easily.
I may or may not start writing chapter 3 today.

Ch:03 - Pony Food

Walking down the corridor with Snow Blossom and the guard, I study the structure around me. It curves slightly inwards as far as I can see, such that I cannot see the end. It seems like nothing I’ve seen in this city has any right angles or sharp geometry. To our right, we pass countless identical doors, the only straight line on them being where they meet the floor. Each one starts to bend inwards slightly right from the bottom, gradually increasing in gradient until the 2 outer edges meet together in a smooth arch.

The floor is made up of hard marble tiles, which subtly bend to follow the curve of the hallway. A soft, yet thin carpet runs along the middle, with segments branching out to join each door. Between every door, there is a large plant pot containing a plant of which I have no experience to comment on. They look like any ordinary generic plants, with only a few bearing flowers. An unlit torch bracket is placed above each of these, although the bright light filtering in through the open archways along the left-walls is more than enough to keep the room pleasantly lit, while also letting in the fresh outdoor air.

I slow to a stop and make my way over to one of the arches to take a proper look outside. The view is absolutely breathtaking. We seem to be really high up, probably in the mountains since I can see a thin cloudlayer below us. Craning my neck over the edge, I look down at the courtyard below. There’s only a thin strip of green between the building and another drop, with only open-air and the ground far below visible beyond. Peering closer, I can make out a number of ponies milling around, smelling flowers and examining statues. I never realised my vision was this good, I shouldn’t be able to see all that detail at this distance.

I tear my eyes away from the view and refocus on the ponies accompanying me. Snow Blossom looks curiously back at me, while the pegasus guard stands impassively to attention. I almost want to ask why there’s a guard with me, but I’m afraid I already know why and don’t want to be reminded. I pass a brief smile over to them before resuming our journey.

It’s not long before we reach a set of shallow steps which Snow Blossom directs me down. Further inside, there seems to be much more activity. For one, there are quite a few guards down here. A pair guarding the bottom of the staircase we emerged from and a few others standing to attention at the ends of corridors. We pass a range of ponies hurrying to-and-thro as we make our way to the cafeteria. Most seem quite busy and run by us without a glance, although a few do stop and wave with a few even casting curious glances at me. I’m a bit nervous with all these ponies about, but a quick glance over my back reassures me that my wings are sufficiently hidden. Not that it matters that much, I’m sure at least some of these ponies will know by now.

It’s not that long before we make it to a cafeteria. I’m already starting to feel quite a bit hungrier from that walk here. I’m sure it wasn’t that far, yet it still feels like I was walking for much longer. Not because I’m hungry, but more because of how surreal this place feels. My stomach growls as I see tables through the open doors. Our guard nods subtly to the guards either side of the cafeteria entrance as we enter, before making his way to stand in a corner somewhere; probably so he can have a good view of the whole room.

As Snow leads me towards the servery, I can’t help but notice how empty the cafe feels. There is still the odd pony sitting around with their meal dotted around the room, but I suspect that they might be keeping the room empty on purpose.

“So… Jonathan(?)… is there anything on this menu which catches your fancy?”

The menu in question is once again written in that language I don’t recognise, I hope this doesn’t become a problem. I stare intently, trying to determine if there are any similarities I could use to piece together its meaning, but still I draw a blank.

What should I do? I don’t want to simply tell them that I can’t read their written language, but I guess I’ll have to do it at some point. Snow Blossom seems to take my extended silence as indecision and luckily saves me from my dilemma.

“Not sure Jonathan? Would you maybe like a daisy sandwich, or maybe a nice hayburger?”

Hayburger? I suppose since ponies are vegetarians, they probably don’t eat meat, but hayburger? Really? Neither of the options she gives sound like proper food. I suppose that since I’m a pony now, I’ll probably have to get used to pony food. I raise my nose and take a whiff of the scents wafting out from the servery. Not much of it smells particularly appetising, but I can sense some normal food among the mix. Is that apple? Wow, this pony nose is better than I thought.

“Umm, could I get some apples Miss Blossom?”

“Just apples?”

I nod

“Are you sure you only want apples? Why not a hayburger? How could anypony turn down a hayburger?”

“Sure I guess… but can I also have those apples?”

I mean, there’s no point putting off the inevitable, I guess I should try their food since I am a pony now, but I don’t really know what to expect from it.

“Why don’t you go find yourself a table, Jonathan, and I’ll bring over some breakfast.

I wander off a short distance and find a table in a corner away from the other ponies before climbing carefully into a seat. My pony body is quick to find a comfortable seating position, but my blanket disagrees and piles up at the bottom of the chair. I freeze up, but when nopony takes any notice, I let out my breath. My back is facing a wall and there’s little chance that any pony would notice me here. I don’t know that I can comfortably keep my wings hidden from this position and I don’t want to actively draw attention to them by constantly trying to keep them covered. Although I should probably try to find some way to obtain a cloak that won’t just fall off.

It isn’t long before Snow Blossom comes trotting over with two plates floating alongside her with a faint green aura around them. A sandwich (with white flower sticking out) lands at an empty space opposite me where she easily seats herself. While what looks like a burger filled with dried grass lands in front of me alongside some apples. These are then followed by two glasses of water.

While Snow is quick to float her sandwich up to her mouth, I take some time to examine my food closer. The burger buns look pretty much the same as any regular bun, while the hay kinda looks like… regular hay. I cautiously lean forwards and take a small nibble at the hay. Unsurprisingly, and a bit disappointingly, it tastes disgusting. I resist blanching from the taste and turn my attention to my apples. Tentatively, I prod one with my hoof. How do ponies do this? I notice that Snow has set down her half-eaten flower sandwich to watch me with some curiosity.

Carefully, I wrap my foreleg around the bottom of the apple and, once satisfied that it won’t fall out, I raise it up to my mouth and take an awkward bite. Pony mouths are weird shapes, biting is weird. Luckily, the apple tastes edible. More than that, it tastes delicious, better than any apple I’ve ever tasted. I quickly finish off the apple, using my tongue to twist it round in my hoof to clear the core, before clumsily dropping it over the plate with the uneaten hayburger.

Snow has resumed eating, but continues to watch me with curiosity. Upon noticing me noticing her, she lifts a hoof to point at her faintly glowing horn. Oh right, magical unicorns in magical pony land use magic. And since I’ve also got a horn, I guess that makes me a magical pony too. Uh no. Even if I wanted to touch magic, I have no idea how, and I have no desire to learn either. I assume it’s the horn which they use since that’s the glowy part and not all the other ponies have horns. If they can live without, so can I. I simply give her a non-commital shrug and move onto my next apple.

I manage to finish it in record time, although Snow’s expression is somewhere between worried and confused, but I choose to ignore that.

“Jonathan, are you not going to eat your hayburger?”

I’m still a little hungry, but there’s no way I’m eating that hay. Although… I haven’t tried the bread yet. I bite the bun off the top of the burger and hungry pull it into my mouth. Yay, at least the bread’s good, better than normal bread, but still not on par with the apples. Snow raises an eyebrow when I brush the hay from the burger to reach the bottom bun.

One bun later and my throat is a little dry, so I bring my attention to the glass. Luckily, it’s a slightly conical cylinder so I can wrap my hoof around the bottom without it slipping through my grasp. Setting down the glass with a sigh, I notice Snow glancing between me and the hay.

“Don’t you want to eat your hay?” she asks in a confused tone.

“No thanks, I don’t think I like hay.”

I give another shrug. Snow Blossom remains in a contemplative silence, likely trying to get her head around how a pony could not like hay. I mean sure, I’ve got a pony body now, but it’s not like any of my tastes have actually changed. I wonder what else stayed the same? I haven’t really seen myself in a mirror yet, and neither do I want to. My voice, now that I think about it, does seem the same if not a little higher. But it’s still distinctly my voice and still masculine. Now that I think about it, weren’t all the alicorn ponies females in the show?

Snow Blossom distracts me suddenly from my thoughts.
“Jonathan, the doctor wanted me to bring you to see him after breakfast. It’s important that we get you a checkup to make sure that you’re healthy. Are you fine with that?”

While I’m not particularly interested in going to see a pony doctor, I doubt I’d realistically be allowed to put it off for very long, if at all.

“Sure, I guess I’m fine with that.”

“Good, come along and I’ll take you there. I promise it won’t take too long.”

And with that said, Snow Blossom got up, casually floating our used plates and glasses back over to the servery hatch, before making her way towards the cafe entrance. I made to follow, hopping down from the chair, but stopped when I remembered my blanket. I used my teeth to tug it quickly over my back and once I was confident it was settled, made to follow after Snow. The guard in the corner quietly fell into step behind us as we made our way out.

Author's Note

Here is chapter 3, Jonathan gets to try pony food.
Release of newer chapters from this point are likely to slow down.
As always, let me know what you think of this chapter and feel free to provide your predictions or ideas for what could happen with Jonathan moving forwards.

This story has already gotten twice as many views as my other story and about as many comments in the first day alone.

Ch04: - Doctors and questions

Now with a full-ish belly, we are once again wandering the endless halls of this place. There seems to be barely any variation in the architecture we pass and I’m starting to get a little bored. How big even is this place? I just cannot see how these ponies can navigate their way around somewhere like this. It’s especially boring because there’s no windows to look out of. At least it seems ventilated well enough, neither too hot nor too cold, not that I see any vents or feel any breeze. I guess it could have something to do with these massive corridors and cold marble they’ve used.

After passing through countless hallways and down at least another two floors, I finally get a whiff of fresh air. I can see sunlight streaming through a set of open doors, directly ahead of us. I pick up my pace, invigorated by the promise of something to break the endless monotony. And then I stumble, falling flat on the floor. My wing covers lift off my back, then crumple against the base of my neck. I wasn’t even going that fast, yet I still managed to trip over my hooves. I suppose this is a new body, but I was walking so well…
“Jonathan! Are you alright?”

Snow Blossom comes rushing up to me. The guards standing either side of the exit door also step forwards. Luckily, there were no other ponies in the area to see me fall, or my wings uncovered. As expected, neither the guards, nor Snow Blossom make any comment on them, although I do notice one of the guards sneaking a quick, curious glance that way.
“Don’t worry Snow, I’m fine.”

I make to stand, but Snow beats me to it with her unicorn pony magic, lifting me quickly to my now-slightly-sore feet. I make no comment, mildly annoyed at the act. Of course, there is still the matter of my wings. Twisting my head to face my back, I contemplate how best to cover them. The blanket is suddenly illuminated in that familiar faint green aura and pulls them into position. I glance over at Snow Blossom who is now smiling nervously at me. I allow myself a small smile in return.
“Thank you, Snow Blossom.”

Keen to put that incident behind us, I turn back to the waiting exit and resume my walking, albeit at a slower pace. The door guards quickly return to their posts and salute us as we pass. The guard trailing us comes up closer, taking up position beside me. Stepping out into the warm sunlight, I take in our new location. Unfortunately, it appears that we’re still above ground level, but the outdoor walkway is still a nice break from the maze-like interior of the building we just left.

I veer over to the edge of the path and stop to peer over the wall. I am once again met with a spectacular view from the sky to the horizon. Looking down, we are much closer to the courtyard grounds, maybe about one floor above ground level. The space below appears to be some kind of training ground. Several large dirt patches are spread out across the field, separated by hedge walls; each one for a different activity. I can see crates holding different practice equipment scattered around. In one patch, I can even see some guards doing guard training with wooden swords; I’m impressed with how well they can manipulate them with their mouths.

Beyond the running track, the land becomes quite open, with patches of flowers and the occasional statue; and beyond that, the ground falls away to reveal the open sky. In the distance, I can just make out the form of a little town on the border of a darkened forest. Turning my head slightly, I notice a glimmer of light coming from that town. There’s something large and reflective down there, but the glare it gives off is too bright to see past.

I slowly make my way along, observing the pony guards practicing their guard stuff. Soon, the path bends sharply left and I get a new view to marvel at. From here, I can see a large wall and gatehouse, which is currently locked with a portcullis. And beyond that, is the rest of the city: a mismatch of strange buildings, arches, towers and bridges. So does this mean that I’m in the castle? I guess that explains all the guards. But… isn’t this also where the two big alicorns live? Well, no point trying to escape now, they likely already know I’m here and there is no way I would get past the guards. I don’t really have anywhere else to go regardless and I doubt this land’s rulers would let a random alicorn roam free unchecked. Still, I’d rather not hang around here any longer than I have to.

But now, my attention is brought back by the new set of stairs. And yes, I know that I’ve gone down quite a few stairs already on my way here, but these ones are different. You see, the stairs inside were quite wide and shallow, barely a problem for me. But these stairs, they are steep and narrow!

Coming up right to the edge, my head reaches far over the sudden drop. It’d be a long fall if I misstepped now. Tentatively, I bring one hoof out and down onto the first step. But I have to bend my other foreleg to do so. I bring my other hoof down. One step down, however-many-more-steps-this-staircase-has-left to go. Shuffling forwards, I begin with the next step. Having to bend my forelegs again while already down one step brings me to a near 45˚ angle.

Whilst considering how next to proceed, Snow Blossom comes trotting down beside me. I glance over to her to see how she can manage it with such ease. Okay, she’s pulling her neck right back. Following suit, I find my center of balance shifting to a more comfortable position.

With a bit more careful manoeuvring, I manage to make my way halfway down the stairs. Snow Blossom is watching me from below, looking a cross between worried and bored. And I’m pretty sure that guard is waiting at the top of the stairs. But then I set my foreleg down onto a loose pebble, causing it to roll out from under me. Luckily, I hadn’t yet put my weight onto it. But the sudden movement still caused me to lose balance and begin to tilt sideways.

I quickly pull the hoof back in to catch myself on the next step, but I overshoot slightly, knocking me forwards. Snow is quick to respond, catching me in her magic, but it’s not strong enough to stop my momentum completely. I still fall down the stairs a little further, banging the front of my left foreleg on the edge of a step before I come to a complete stop.

She sets me down at the bottom of the stairs, clearly a bit tired out from having to catch me. So lifting stuff with pony magic still tires the pony… I guess that does make sense.
Snow throws an annoyed expression towards where I think that guard is still waiting at the top of the stairs, before turning her attention back to me.
“Jonathan, are you okay? That’s the second time you’ve fallen now.”

She glances at my banged leg.
“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. But what about you? You look a little… tired from that.”
She waves me off with a hoof.
“Just doing my job.”

I just leave it at that and make to step forwards. However, I can’t help but wince when I switch pressure onto my left leg. Unfortunately, Snow sees this and tries to stop me.
“Relax Snow, I’m fine.”

I push onwards regardless.
“But you’re injured!”

“I’m fine, I was just taken by surprise is all, it’s not that bad.”
Snow Blossom looks like she wants to argue, but thinks better of it, deciding instead to keep a close eye on me incase anything else happens.

Now at ground level, we are on a path running alongside the gardens. As much as I want to make a detour over there, it’ll have to wait because Snow leads us back inside via a grand entranceway. I thought the previous hallways were big, but this just throws all that out of the window. Hanging from the high vaulted ceilings are long tapestries. About half of them are in a dark-ish blue and the other in pale yellow. I can see a large staircase right at the end; but we don’t spend long in there, shortly turning off through a side door.

It’s only a short distance from there until we reach a surprisingly normal rectangle door. Snow knocks on the door with her hoof while the guard takes position beside it. The door opens after only a few seconds and Snow steps part-way in to have a brief whispered conversation with the pony inside. She pops her head back out to face me.
“Jonathan, would you mind waiting outside for a minute while I have a quick chat with the doctor?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

She slips the rest of the way inside, the door closing behind her. I rest against the wall so I can shift my weight off from my leg. The guard by the door stays quiet as always, but keeps one eye trained my way.
A couple of minutes later and I’m allowed in, the guard waits outside. The room is completely white tiled, and reminds me of a hospital room. In the middle is a raised platform with a cushioned upper surface. And along one wall is a wide variety of strange copper instruments. There are two ponies in here, Snow Blossom and another who I can only assume is the doctor; although the fact that he is wearing what looks like a doctor’s uniform kinda gives that away. He is a tan coloured unicorn sporting a green mane and tail with blue streaks through.

“Good morning… Jonathan was it? That’s a rather unusual name… You can call me Doctor Sage. I’m here to give you a medical checkup and make sure that you’re all nice and healthy. Please climb up onto that platform over there and we can begin.”

Climbing up is easier said than done. My injured leg gives me a little difficulty and Snow ends up using her magic again to lift me on. Once I’m up however, Sage removes my wings covers and lays them off to the side.
“Alright Jonathan, we’ll start off with a physical body inspection to check for any superficial injuries you may have. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions while I work?”

“Sure I guess.”

He starts walking around me with his horn lit. I can feel his magic tickling in different areas.
“First off, do you know where you are, Jonathan?”

Yes, in Ponyland. Although why is another matter entirely.
“I overheard some ponies mention the name Canterlot yesterday, I assume that is where we are.”

“Correct, Canterlot Castle to be precise.”

He circles round to my front and begins to inspect my head. His expression remains straight and unreadable.
“You have some slight bruising along the base of your muzzle… Onto the next question, do you know what you are?”

Well, I suppose that these ponies would call me an alicorn… but I think I’ll go with pegacorn.
“I believe that I’m a pegacorn.”

“I’ve not heard that term used before. Teeth all present and healthy… Can you tell me where you are from Jonathan?”

Ahh yes, where I’m from… should I tell them? Eh, why not.
“I’m from a place called Earth.”

“Earth… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a place. Are you familiar with the land of Equestria?”
He moves his attention down towards my forelegs.

“I assume that’s where we are now. No, I’m not really familiar with Equestria, although I have heard a little bit about it.”

“Intriguing. Your foreleg looks injured, and it’s quite fresh. When did this happen?”

“On the way here actually, I tripped going down the stairs.”

His horn suddenly brightens for a moment and I feel the pain recede. So these ponies can heal stuff, just like that?
“Your body is clear of any major injuries, I will now cast a scanning spell to check for any infections or disease. You don’t yet have your cutie mark, which is unusual for a pony of your age, but don’t worry, I’m sure you will find your talent soon. The guard report says they found you asleep on a bench in one of the interconnecting alleyways of Canterlot last night while on their evening patrol. I’m curious, what would a pony like you be doing, sleeping on the streets of Canterlot?”

At this statement, I notice Snow Blossom begin to look slightly worried. And what did Sage just mention… a cutie mark? Oh yeah, those symbols the ponies had, I forgot about those. Snow’s looks like a snowdrop with a clear water droplet hanging from it.

“Well, honestly, I only just got here. I’m not really sure of how or why, but I was only going to have a quick nap before deciding on my next move.”

“Your scan results are all clear. So, you say that you just arrived in Canterlot out of nowhere, are you sure this wasn't some kind of botched long distance teleport spell?”

“I guess it could have been that, although I don’t really remember how exactly it happened. My memories feel a little fuzzy around that point.”

And yes they do, I’d not really been trying to remember anything from then; but now that I am, it’s starting to get me worried.

I let out a sudden gasp of surprise as my wings are pulled open, the sudden sensations feel very weird. This would be the first time that my wings have ever been unfolded like this or that I’d ever truly experienced what they felt like. As the doctor’s magic travels along the length of my wings, pulling on feathers, my mind is overloaded with new sensations.
“Your wings are all good, you don’t have many broken or missing feathers, but it doesn’t look like you’ve been preening your wings recently. The muscles are also in good flight condition, but starting showing signs of disuse.”

His horn flashes brighter for a moment.
“Your mana pool is of a sufficient size, slightly larger than the average unicorn, but that is to be expected from an alicorn, which is what you are. However, your mana pathways seem a slight cause for concern.”
He levitates a small metal disc onto the bench in front of me.
“Finally, I just want you to levitate this weight so I can make sure that your horn is operating normally.”

And now they want me to do magic. I look down at the metal disc, then upwards where I can only just see the tip of what could be my horn.
“Jonathan, is something the matter?” Snow asks.
I wouldn’t even know where to begin with magic, it’s not like it ever existed on Earth. I reach up my hoof and knock it against my horn. I don’t feel anything, except a slight pressure around the base of the horn where it merges with my forehead. The ponies in front of me stand silently watching, even Doctor Sage’s impassive expression is starting to break down.

I close my eyes and try to concentrate, but without anything specific to concentrate on, nothing happens. Not that I was really trying that hard anyway. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Sage speaks up.
“Can’t you do magic? I- I don’t understand, a foal of your age should be able to use magic just fine… I didn’t even think it possible for a unicorn to not learn basic magic. I’ll have to report this development to the princesses!”

And with that, the Doctor rushed out the door, leaving me and Snow Blossom behind.
“Come on Jonathan. Is there anything you would like to do before dinner with the princesses? Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the princesses wanted to see you this evening. They didn’t want to wake you up this morning, and then Princess Celestia wanted Princess Luna to be present when you finally meet them so it had to be arranged for tonight.”

And there we go, the two most powerful beings in Equestria want to see me, and all because we seem to be of the same species. I wonder what they’re going to do with me, but until then, I’ve been dying to see these gardens.

Author's Note

Another chapter. I did want to work on this earlier, but I didn't have much time at the weekend as I went to the city of Bury to see the trams. The ponies learn of Jonathan's lack of magical ability and the royal sisters want to see him over dinner.

As always, I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on this chapter and where you think or hope the story to go from here.

Also, 1.8k views in only a few days? This story is performing much better than I could have anticipated.

Ch:06 - Meeting the Princesses

The rest of the afternoon had progressed nicely. Since I couldn’t read the menu at lunch, I decided to ask Snow for any recommendations. Snow suggested a salad sandwich, so that is what I asked for (minus any flowers). I also requested another apple to go with it. The meal was quite good. Despite her knowing I cannot use horn magic, Snow still seemed to regard my eating methods to be weird. I guess I haven’t seen how non-unicorns eat yet, I can’t quite figure out how they could do much with these hooves. Soft Wing didn’t join us for lunch as he was relieved by another guard for his own lunch break.

After lunch, we regrouped and Snow took us back into the gardens. Soft Wing continued to trail silently behind as before. I’m starting to feel a little bit sorry for him with how his job is to just follow us around silently; he doesn’t really do much.

Anyway, instead of taking us back into the flower garden where we went before, Snow Blossom led us round to another area of the gardens which was filled with statues. There were a lot of statues to see. The majority of the statues were of ponies, standing in a range of poses and holding strange things, although there were a couple depicting other creatures. Snow was more than happy to talk about the stories behind each one.

Of course, the statues weren’t the only thing to see. Right along the back of the garden was a massive hedge wall. Towards the middle of the garden, it extended outwards a bit. Judging by the structure and from what I could see through the singular entranceway, I determined it to be a hedge maze. Well actually more of a labyrinth. Sadly, we never had a chance to go in as Snow didn’t want us to be late for the meeting.

Eventually, we had come to a dirt patch near one of the hedge maze’s corners. I could tell that a statue had once been positioned there, but had since been removed. Snow Blossom told me that it once held the statue of Discord, a spirit of chaos whom she claimed had been imprisoned in stone by some magical artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. His statue was no longer here because he had apparently been released on the terms of reformation. So am I to assume that at least some of these garden statues could actually be petrified beings? Although Snow Blossom’s stories around the others didn’t hint at anything like that.

By the time we had to leave for the meeting, the sun had reached a low point in the sky, casting an orange glow over the horizon. The view from the mountains was spectacular, with nothing there to obstruct the view. But we couldn’t stay outside to watch the sunset. Which leads into now. We are now walking through the carpeted marble hallways once more. The wall torches are lit now that the sun is setting and I can see a lot of ponies around us. What intrigues me though, is that there are now two guard uniforms visible. Instead of just wearing gold, there are now some guards wearing a combination of silver and dark indigo. Stranger than that are the appearances of the new guards themselves, most notably, their eyes. Unlike all the other ponies I’ve seen, these guards have slitted eyes, along with other differences such as tufted ears and strange wings.

We make our way up a wide staircase, turning right at the top fork and then continuing through a long hallway. We then ascend up one last set of stairs before we reach our destination. We are now outside a large arched set of double doors. It’s made of a dark blue wood with gold lining forming patterns across its surface. On each door is an insignia, the left door bearing a stylized sun and the other, a crescent moon. The door is flanked by four guards, a pair on each side, with the gold-bearing guards on the left and the indigo guards on the right. Each pair is comprised of a mare and a stallion.

Standing just outside with Snow, I notice Soft Wing going up to the gold-bearing guards and saluting. One salutes back and Soft takes his leave back the way we came. Then a guard from the other side goes to knock on the door.
“Announcing miss Snow Blossom and guest…uhh…Jonathan?”
Suddenly, I feel my bed covers pulled from my back and watch them get flung to the side with a pale green aura. I look over to Snow, who simply smiles back. The golden-clad guards are pretty unfazed by my sudden reveal, but the other pair momentarily lose their composure.

“You may enter!”
The guards are quick to respond to the voice and a unicorn from the left ignites his horn to open the door. As we step over the threshold, I am greeted with the sight of a large round room. In the middle is a circular table, which two ponies are seated at. These ‘ponies’ if you can call them that are a lot bigger than any other pony I’ve seen so far. I guess that might explain the oversized hallways and doors everywhere. Anyway, both of these large ponies are alicorns, based on the fact that they each have both wings and a horn. The white one is the largest of the two and has an ethereal three-tone pastel mane which seems to float in an invisible breeze. The blue one is a lot smaller, but still too large to pass for an average pony. She also possesses a floaty mane, although hers is a two-tone blue filled with lots of white sparkles which make it look like a starry night sky. They both seem to have an aura of power and regality.

I then notice that Snow Blossom is bowing. Oh no, was I meant to bow too? These ponies are royalty. I somewhat hastily and clumsily copy Snow’s position, to the amusement of the blue princess.
“You may rise, Snow Blossom and… Jonathan,” the tallest declares.

The blue one stifles a giggle at this.
“Jonathan… what an unusual name!”

The white one glares at her.
“Luna, you should not laugh at our guests.”

Turning to face ahead, she addresses us, while motioning with her hoof to the table.
“Please, come take a seat.”

I cautiously move forwards towards one of the empty floor cushions, but stop when I notice Snow not following.

“Snow Blossom, would you care to join us?”

“Oh, right, of course your majesties.”
She moves to catch up to me and we both take a seat.

Luna speaks up.
“A warm welcome to thee, Jonathan of the land Earth. It must be a faraway land if we have not heard of it, but a warm welcome all the same. We look forward to hearing of your homeland and we would be happy to teach you of ours in return.”

Celestia continues.
“I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, alongside my sister Princess Luna. While you are here however, you need not address us by our titles. How have you been enjoying your stay at the castle Jonathan?”

“Well, the food is nice, I especially enjoyed the apples served from the cafeteria. I also liked the gardens. Snow Blossom gave me a tour around them and shared some of the stories about the garden statues.”
Snow remains quiet, she seems nervous, likely from being in the presence of the princesses. I have to admit that their size could make them seem quite imposing.

“Our apples are fresh from Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville, I’m glad that you liked them. Whilst in the gardens, did you try any of the flowers? I hear the Twisted Celembolia is excellent this time of year.”
“I did try a flower at Snow Blossom’s suggestion, but I have never been partial to them and I do not plan on trying any more.”

“See sister, not all ponies enjoy eating flowers. Now would you please stop asking me to sample your garden every time we walk there?”
Interesting, so I’m not the only one who doesn’t like flowers.

Celestia rolls her eyes, opting not to respond to Luna’s request.
“Snow Blossom, how has your day been today?”

“Yes, umm, it has been good Princess.”
There is a moment's silence when she did not elaborate.

Luna, who is starting to look a little bored with the conversation, decides to ask her own question.
“Say Jonathan, you wouldn’t happen to know any other alicorns from outside Equestria would you?”

Easy question, I’ve never been anywhere else on this planet and I highly doubt winged unicorns could exist and remain hidden on Earth. I wasn’t an alicorn myself back there, yet I can’t recall much of what I actually was…
“No, I am unaware of any other alicorns.”

Snow finally decides to speak up.
“Jonathan mentioned to me that Earth hasn’t even got unicorns or pegasi, only earth ponies. He knows only of them through mythology books, and that no alicorns were ever mentioned.”
Luna looks disappointed at this.

Celestia continues with the conversation.
“Thank you Snow Blossom. This news is slightly worrying, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for the inhabitants of Earth, yet it is not my place to worry about how other countries operate, unless of course they require assistance. There are more pressing matters at hoof. Jonathan, do you know how old you are?”

“15 years.”

“In accordance with our legal system, you are still a foal and as such, I hope you understand that we cannot allow you to leave the castle without an approved guardian. Only Snow Blossom and a select few palace staff will be approved to take you outside, and even then, you will require prior confirmation and planning of any excursions.”

Well, there goes any hope of leaving this place. I can only hope that the princess won’t keep me confined to the castle too long, I can imagine it'll start to get boring after some time. Still, it would be the same rules as on Earth, even if a little stricter. Maybe after a while, they’ll eventually trust me enough to let me out on my own. Although I kind of doubt that considering my condition.
“I understand. It is similar on Earth.”

“I hope that you also understand that you are obligated to receive schooling. You are new to Equestria and we cannot know how long you will be here for, we feel it is best that you learn a little bit about Equestria’s own history and culture. Of course, you’ll also be required to learn the other base subjects: Ponish, maths and magic.”

Wait, did she say I’d have to learn magic? As in horn magic? But then she said it was a base subject… I guess a lot of things in this world are magic, it can’t be just unicorns. I wonder if they still do regular sciences. Maths seems okay, I think I remember doing well in my old life. And Ponish? That must be the language here, and now they discover I can’t read written Ponish. I guess that means I’ll need to relearn how to read and write. Spoken Ponish seems indistinguishable from spoken English so the written language can’t be that different can it? That is of course, assuming that there’s not some random magic translation effect.

“Your first lesson will be tomorrow afternoon to assess what you already know and help us better understand your own education so we can prepare your syllabus. You will have tomorrow morning free as well as Sunday to help you get accustomed to the castle.”

“Sister, I am hungry, stop stalling and let us feast.”
My stomach agrees with Luna. Snow’s does too, to her embarrassment.

Celestia’s horn glows for a second. A side door that I hadn’t noticed before then opens and a unicorn waiter comes out, levitating an assortment of food out with him. As soon as the table is set, he leaves us.

“Tis about time…”
Celestia stifles a giggle, then uses her magic to remove the silver domes. My nose is hit by a sudden barrage of exotic smells. Luna is quick to levitate an item from each plate onto her own and Snow has gone back to being nervous again. Celestia, upon seeing this, levitates something onto Snow’s plate. Snow smiles nervously and begins to take her own selection.

I peer around at the various food items. Barely anything is anywhere near recognisable to me. I take a sniff from the closest plate. It appears to hold white creamy looking oblongs resting on a layer of pastry and with a blueish flower bud on top. It doesn’t smell too bad, but I have no idea how I would pick it up with hooves so I move on. It had a flower anyway.

“Anything wrong Jonathan? Do you see anything you might like?” Celestia asks.
Then I catch a whiff of apple scent coming from a nearby pie. I carefully clasp a trowel-shaped-pie-collection-thing-that-I-don’t-know-the-name-of between two hooves and manoeuvre it to pry out a slice and awkwardly drop it onto my plate.

I barely notice the other ponies stop to regard my method of pie retrieval as I instead need to figure out how to get this pie slice from my plate and into my mouth. Unlike a sandwich, this isn’t a dry food and my upper-hooves are covered in fur (yeah I don’t know horse terminology). I can’t just pick it up that way since it’d get my fur messy. Why do I even care about keeping my fur clean anyway… this isn’t even my true body!

I glance over at Snow who now appears to be holding a pie slice in one hoof. Her hoof just seems to be almost glued to the back of the pastry. How is that even physically possible? Her horn isn’t even glowing. I twist my hoof round so I can study it. It has a slight indentation in the middle with a few tiny strands of hair. I can feel some muscles, which when tensed, flatten out the indent and straighten the hairs. I blow on them, it tickles.

But anyway, back to the matter at hand- or hoof I guess. Somehow, pony hooves can pick things up, and I need to figure out how to do it too. Hopefully, the answer is not just magic and these things do actually have some physical mechanism. I place my hoof against the pie and of course, nothing happens. I try squeezing the muscles in my hoof, the sensory hairs are tickles as they are pushed against the pie. Unfortunately, no sticking force.

“Tis is worse than we thought sister… Jonathan, do you not know how to use even simple hoof magic? How can a pony not know their own base magic… unless you weren’t exposed to a strong enough thaumic field? No pegasi or unicorns to speak of… yes it all adds up.”

Momentarily distracted from my hoof dilema, I am confused.
“Huh, what adds up?”

“How strong was Earth’s thaumic field?”
“If you’re talking about magic, then I could say Earth doesn’t really have any. At least not that is known of.”
“No magic?! This must be corrected at once! Now Jonathan, thou must concentrate within yourself… and… uhh… one moment please, tis hard for me to explain.”

I turn back to my pie slice and just eat it straight off the plate. I was hungry okay. I go back to scouting out the table. As nice as the apple pie was, I need to find something that isn’t so hard to manage. Those salad buns look good. After quickly checking to make sure they are devoid of flower buds or hay, I pick it up between my hooves and eat it. Luna seems to still be struggling with an explanation. I begin to eat another as Luna leans over and whispers something to Celestia. Ignoring them, I continue eating and after a third bun, I am full. It seems Snow Blossom is too.

“Well, it appears that everypony has had their fill. It is late and I must turn in for the night. It was good meeting with you both,” Celestia announces.
And with that said, we thank the princesses, stand up and leave. Snow gives a quick bow to the princesses before a guard detaches from the door guard. She speaks for a second to Snow Blossom before returning to join princess Celestia who is on her way out.

“Come Jonathan, it is getting late.”
She leads me down the corridor, in the same direction as the princess went, but not the same way we had come before. The hallways are now almost entirely lit by torches, but with a decent amount of moonlight filtering in through the windows. The carpeted floors keep our hoofsteps silent in through the cool corridors.

Snow eventually stops us outside a room. I can tell it wasn’t the same one I had woken up in this morning, but it still has a set of guards outside like my old one; except that these are now the darker variant.
“Jonathan, here is your new room where you will be staying for the rest of your time at the castle.”

“But what about the one where I was before?”

“Oh, that was just a standard guest room. The night guard patrol didn’t want to wake you, so they took you to the most convenient location at the time, which happened to be the guest wing. Good night, let the guards know if you need any assistance, I'm turning in for the night.”

Snow lets out a wide yawn before wandering off up the hallway, leaving me alone with the guards outside my room. I am tired too, so I push through the doors and make my way inside. After passing through another room that I don't bother to examine, I reach my bedroom. Somehow, this room is even bigger than the last one, and so is the bed. How can it be even more oversized? I could probably lay myself fully spread out twice back-to-back, and that’s just the shortest section. The bed is more oval shaped, wider in the middle and longest down its length. Gingerly, I climb on top, my hooves sinking deep into its soft surface. I barely nose under the blankets before sleep claims me.

Author's Note

This chapter took longer to write. Figuring out how to handle the meeting part was the hardest. Well, here is a new chapter anyway, one week after the last update. It's even my longest so far.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this chapter, as well as any ideas you may have for the future of this story.

Clouds hasn't got an update in a while, anyone think I should go back and make a new chapter for that story or should I maintain my focus on this one?

Saturday 3rd September [chapter edited] - edited and expanded on a few conversation paragraphs.

Ch:07 - Tour and Test

That night, I discovered that pony dreams are weird. And I’m not saying that human dreams aren’t weird. What I mean is that pony dreams are different, they just feel so much more detailed and realistic. That is if you can use ‘realistic’ to describe a land of magical ponies in the first place. I cannot remember much of what I dreamt of last night, but I do have some fuzzy recollection of the experience. I also recall the feeling of being watched, not that I noticed at the time. But it’s a little creepy now that I think back on it.

Slowly, I am drawn back into awareness of my surroundings. Another day in pony land I suppose. Letting out a quiet yawn, I blink and open my bleary eyes. The room is softly lit by the sunlight from the window and this bed seems impossibly comfortable… I peer down at the white mass below me. What even is this stuff? It looks bumpy, but doesn’t feel bumpy. It also feels kinda fluffy. It’s weird, yet strangely comfortable. I carefully shift my body upright, before poking the bed with a hoof. The white surface deforms under it.

Pushing harder and at an angle, I carefully wriggle my hoof deeper into the material, before pushing upwards on it. This leads to a puff of white to break free and float away… Wait a second… Is this what I think it is? I push off suddenly with my legs in an attempt to launch myself from the cloud. But trying to jump from a highly deformative surface doesn’t really work. My back legs simply push into it, leading me to flop back down, my wings to flaring out. Pulling my legs from the bed, I crawl towards the edge and drop down onto the carpeted floor.

My ears twitch towards the sound of giggling and I turn to see Snow Blossom with a hoof over her muzzle. “Good morning Jonathan, I see you’re up and eager this morning.”

My ears fold slightly. How long has she been here?
“Good morning Snow…”

“Here, I brought you some breakfast,” she says, magically pushing a trolley into the room. My nose picks up a whiff of apples. I begin to make my way over, but freeze when my wing tips brush against the side of the bed. Glancing over at them, I find them to still be extended from before.

Actually, that’s the first time my wings have moved on their own… Now to make them go back. After simply glaring at them for a few seconds, I find I have to give up. Ignoring them for now, I continue round the bed towards her. I guess Snow took the liberty to bring breakfast up to me this time. She wheels the trolley over to a set of what look like bean bags or large cushions in one corner.

Speaking of which, I haven’t actually had a proper look at my new room. Let’s see… Everything is bigger than my previous one, although the colour scheme is the same. What I thought was a window before is actually a set of double glass doors leading out onto a balcony. There’s a lot more furniture, including a large bookshelf, a desk, a chest and a pony mannequin? Oh and this big pile of cushions. Still feels a little big to me. I’m not even an adult-pony yet, although I guess I’m not that much smaller than one. Regardless, it’s a big room.

Apart from the balcony door, there are two others. One which must be where I came in and another that probably leads to a bathroom. I settle down on a nearby cushion across from Snow. It’s nowhere near as comfortable as that… cloud… bed, but I don’t mind. That thing just goes so hard against the laws of physics that it makes my head hurt thinking about it. I mean seriously, how is that supposed to work? Probably some kind of magic I guess, as everything in this world seems to be. But seriously, why would a cloud even need to magically hold ponies?

Anyway, breakfast. Breakfast was apples, and what looked like a muffin. It turns out that Snow had already had breakfast, but she did want to try to teach me hoof gripping. As intricate as her explanation may be, it didn’t help in the slightest. It’s difficult trying to interact with a mysterious energy you’ve never experienced in your life. She even tried wrapping her magical aura around my hoof, and then my horn. As weird as all that felt, my brain just wasn’t able to process it and I was left no better off than I was before. Still, breakfast was nice, including that muffin. At some point during the meal, my wings had settled back against my side without me noticing.

But now…
“Jonathan, I think you’re going to need a bath.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t look like you’ve had a bath in days!”

“Huh, I thought I was clean yesterday?”
Actually, that does seem strange, I would have thought I’d be dirty from sleeping in that alleyway, and yet I didn’t seem dirty yesterday.

“The staff used some basic hygiene spells since they didn’t want to wake you. But those will have worn off by now and they’re no substitute for a proper bath.”

Hygiene spells?
“Ok, fine, I suppose I’ll have a bath.”

“Do you need any assistance with that?”

“What? No! I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Very well, but I’ll be outside if you call me.”

After that quick discussion, I head over to the door on the other side of the room. Best get this over with. Luckily, these doors actually have usable handles instead of door knobs. Pushing the door open slightly, I slip into the bathroom, then close it behind me. No lock… Oh well, it’s not like ponies have clothes to begin with if anyone were to come in. Letting out a sigh, I turn my attention to the room. Once more, it’s bigger than you would expect, although not really surprising considering the scale of the rest of the room. In one corner is a sink and a small raised platform with a hole which I assume might be a pony toilet. Speaking of which, I feel the need to use it right now. Although it’s strange since I’ve never had to use one of these at all in my time here. Would have thought I’d need it yesterday. Maybe it was those… hygiene spells?

Backing up over the pony toilet, I relieve myself. Although I catch a glimpse of the bath in doing so, and it appears to already be filled with still-steaming water… Did some pony really come into my room while I was asleep to prepare it? Finished with the toilet, I find a small foot pedal to flush it before making my way over to the water filled hole in the corner. As I make my way over, I catch a glimpse of movement in a floor-to-ceiling mirror. I haven’t actually seen my reflection yet… and why the heck is my mane purple?! Turning in the mirror, I can also confirm that my tail is purple too. I’ve even looked at my back multiple times already, how can I have not noticed this? What about my eye colour? Hmm, yellow-gold-ish, at least they’re not pink.

Turning away from the mirror, I step towards the pool and dip my hoof into the warm water. Satisfied with the temperature, I carefully descend the steps. It’s actually quite deep, but thankfully whoever filled it had the sense not to fill it all the way. Feels too big for a pony really.

Now to figure out how to clean myself. Mounted on one wall is what looks like a brush. It’s attached via an adjustable frame, I guess so that a pony can brush themselves without horn magic. I reach up with one hoof to pull it down, barely paying attention to my wing which extends itself outwards slightly to provide counter-balance. I then step under the brush and push forwards against it.

The sensation of the brush, when combined with the warm water, is actually surprisingly relaxing. After rubbing my back and neck against it a few times, I contemplate how to reach the rest of my body. Actually, shouldn’t I have put soap on it first?

Looking around, I spot a bottle which looks like soap. It’s not like I can actually read the label. Or maybe I should use two of them, it could be conditioner and shampoo. Carefully shifting one bottle onto my upturned hoof, I bring the first soap(?) bottle to the brush and, squashing it against the mount-frame, squeeze out a dollop of pink gel. And after repeating that with the second bottle and rubbing it in, I proceed with the brushing processes.

With my head-to-back brushed, I pull the brush to just above water level. I need to somehow get it on my underbelly. Luckily, there’s a stool thing submerged in the pool, for some reason, and I can use it to stand out of the water and over the brush. I then clean each of my hooves.

Okay, now I’m absolutely covered in soap… Also, that brushing was really nice, maybe being a pony isn’t that bad. Maybe. So, getting out this soap, how to do this. Looking around, I find what looks like a shower-head-waterfall-faucet-thing. Using the hoof pedals, I turn it on and begin rinsing the soap out of my fur. And it’s not coming out easily… Guess I’ll need the brush’s assistance again.

I come out from the bathroom after a relaxing cleaning session to find Snow Blossom waiting for me. There wasn’t really anything I could do for my mane, tail or wings, so I decided to leave them as is. Snow is looking a little bored(?), although her mood brightens the moment I step out. And the first thing she asks is…

“Would you like any help brushing your mane, Jonathan!?”

Well, I suppose since I can’t do it myself…
“I guess so…”

“Come on!”
Snow drags me with her magic around the bed to the cushion corner where she seems to have set up a little workstation, with various bottles, brushes and other equipment I don’t recognise all lined up. Hopefully she doesn’t plan on styling my hair. The fate of a pony I suppose. She selects a brush with her green aura and sets to work. This is actually not too bad, just as long as she doesn’t go too overboard.

Surprisingly, Snow didn’t actually go overboard with my mane, leaving it in its original style; albeit straighter and less messy. She even had a go at my wings. Being a unicorn herself, she admitted that she didn’t have any experience in the matter of wings, but I think she did a good job; certainly better than what I would be capable of.

“Now you’re all set Jonathan, are you ready for the castle tour?”

Wait, castle tour? Eh well, it’s better than just sitting around all day being bored.
“Sure, let’s go.”
Oops, almost forgot a blanket for my wings. I really don’t want those things drawing attention to me.

After quickly grabbing some sheets to drape over my back, we leave the bedroom, coming into what looks like a large living room. It has a large semi-circular sofa, a row of bookcases (complete with sliding ladder), a large floor-to-ceiling window and a small kitchen. Guess I must have overlooked this on my way in. This is definitely feeling less like a simple guest room, and more like a whole apartment.

“And here is your living room, Jonathan.”

“It’s a bit big isn’t it…”

“Well, uhh, I suppose it might be? Anyway, moving on?”

“Let’s.”

We proceed down the shallow semi-circular steps and follow the wall to the door. Passing the gold-clad guards, one breaks into step with us as before. Although this time, they’re a unicorn male, a different guard from yesterday. It doesn’t take us long to reach our first stop as it’s literally just down the hall from us.

“And this, Jonathan, is the castle library. Don’t mistake it for the Canterlot library, since that’s out in the city. Regardless, we still have one of the best collections in Equestria right here. Would you like to take a look around, maybe you could even borrow a few books to take back to your room?”

As impressive as this library is, I still can’t read Equestrian. But that doesn’t stop this place from being impressive, so I opt to explore with Snow. The bookcases in the library are massive, very long and very tall. The rolling ladders look quite dangerous, I doubt pony bodies are really meant for that kind of thing. Although judging by the way they’re all clustered at the back ends, I doubt they really see much use. I mean, pegasi can simply fly up and the unicorns have magical floaty powers to bring down the books.

The walls, unlike in the rest of the castle, are panelled in dark wood; a welcome change from the intense white marble that the castle seems to be literally everywhere. Probably the most impressive part of the library are the two stained glass windows in the back wall. One depicts Celestia and the other shows Luna, underneath their respective celestial bodies. I wonder what the connection between them is. Celestia of the sun and Luna of the moon. Sure, they’re names match up, but is there maybe something else behind it?

Now walking through the hallways once more, we are on our way to visit the kitchens and then the guard barracks. There doesn’t really seem to be that much to see in the castle, despite its tremendous size. Passing a window, I stop to look outside. I can see the gardens from here, and they’re quite busy at the moment. Weren’t they closed yesterday?

“Snow, when do you think we will be able to go outside?”

“Well, you’ve already seen the gardens yesterday, but we won’t be able to go out until they close for the afternoon, and you have your syllabus assessment then. For now, we’ll just have to stick inside the castle.”

Disappointing… I really don’t like being cooped up inside for long periods of time.
“But why do the gardens close in the afternoon, Snow, and why must I wait for them to close?”

“Well, your presence here kind of complicates matters… Princess Celestia doesn’t really want you out in public just yet, and ponies must have access to the castle in order to attend day-court, which is held in the mornings. It’d be impractical to close the gardens until after day-court finishes.”

I really don’t want to be kept locked up in this castle…
“But how long until I’ll be permitted outside of the castle, and I don’t mean in-the-gardens-outside, I mean actually out in the city? I really don’t like being cooped up inside all day.”

“Well, those details are being sorted out right now. Actually, there’s a surprise waiting for you after the tour, maybe that’ll cheer you up?”

The barracks were only mildly interesting, not much to see. Although I did see some pegasus and earth pony guards holding wooden swords in their mouths during their indoor practice session. So the hornless ponies hold stuff in their mouths? Kinda gross, but maybe the ponies have some kind of adaptations to make it safer… I mean, dogs carry all sorts of stuff in their mouths. And it’s a lot easier for me to get my head around than magic…

After that, we explored the rest of the indoor training gym and there was even a large swimming pool, although Snow explained that it was just for the guards and that there was a different one for guests. We also visited the kitchens, various empty ballrooms and dining halls. I even caught a glimpse of the hedge maze I saw yesterday. And it was a lot bigger than I could ever have imagined, no wonder Snow Blossom didn’t want us to go in it. Snow also said that she really wanted to show me the stained glass windows near the throne room, but since that area was open to the public, we had to stay clear.

“And now, Jonathan, for the first part of your surprise. Come on in!”
The room in question was quite small and had a pedestal surrounded by mirrors in the center, almost like a fitting room. Wait, if alicorns are princesses… Do princesses wear dresses? Hopefully she doesn’t plan on putting me in a dress, at least this body’s still male.

“Up you get Jon.”

Hesitantly, I step up on top as she levitates in a tape measure and starts taking my measurements.
“What’re you looking so nervous for? It’s not like you’re getting a dress.”

She must have noticed my ears were down. Even I didn’t notice my ears were down, although they raise slightly with my fears eased. So it’s not a dress. But then what could it be? I doubt Snow would tell me if I asked, she said it was a surprise after all.

With my measurements passed off to wherever, we headed to lunch. Snow once again recommended from the menu, suggesting apple tarts. They were both tasty and easy for me to pick up. And with lunch finished, we were on our way to my afternoon appointment.

Once again, I find myself waiting outside a large and ornate door. Snow says that I’ll be doing the test inside. Oh and she also flung away my blanket again. But that doesn’t explain why this door needs so many guards. At least they seem to notice the wings clasped tightly against my sides. One guard steps out to knock on the door.

“Let them enter!”

I recognise that voice, from yesterday. The door is bathed in an orange glow as one of the unicorn guards opens it. Resting on a large cushion is the princess, Celestia. Wait, so she’s the one testing my abilities? Well this’ll probably be embarrassing… I give a nervous glance to Snow as we step forwards. Snow looks nervous too. The moment the doors close behind us, Snow dips into a bow and I quickly follow suit.

“Ponies, rise.”

We both move back into a standing position
“Jonathan, please come over here and take a seat. And Snow Blossom, you may decide whether to stay or go.”

Snow looks even more nervous, her eyes darting between the door behind and the princess, but after a few moments, she hesitantly follows us. The room we are in is circular, with a tall ceiling and windows on all sides. Tall bookshelves tower over us from their positions between the windows and littered across the floor is a mass of cushions. The biggest is of course, occupied by the large alicorn, but I assume the ones behind that random desk are where I am supposed to sit. There also appears to be a refreshments trolley up against a wall.

I carefully pick my way through the cushion minefield towards the desk, but then my hoof catches on the edge of a particularly big one and I trip forwards, wings flaring themselves once more. Luckily, all the cushions make it impossible to not cushion my fall. Picking myself up, I complete the short trip and sit behind the desk. And… my wings are still out. Well, I still can’t control them so I’ll just have to wait for them to return themselves… in front of the pony princess.

Where did Snow go? Of course, she’s sat in the farthest corner behind me. Turning back to the desk, I find it is now occupied by a piece of parchment and a pencil. Scrawled on the paper is what looks kinda like maths questions? Actually, it looks quite similar to the maths I know. Maybe the ponies use multiple written languages, or is just their maths which looks recognisable… Anyway, 2 x 12, that’s 24. But how do I write that? I shift my attention to the pencil, I doubt that’d be holdable with a hoof. Weren’t those guards holding stuff using their mouths?

I tentatively bring my mouth to the pencil and clamp lightly onto it. Writing with a pencil in your mouth is very difficult. Especially since you can’t really see what you’re doing easily. But I somehow manage to scrawl out a rough 24.

“Jonathan, use your tongue to manipulate the pencil, I think you’ll find that easier,” Snow calls from the back.

Actually, that might work. 24 - 9. Ah, I never was good at counting in maths. And I don’t have fingers to count with anymore either. Ok, so 9 is made up of 4 and 5, so minus the 4 and then the 5 to get 15. This time, I put my tongue against the butt of the pencil and use it to move it around. Not used to moving my tongue like that, the pencil flicks out of my mouth and across the room. Okay, I definitely need more practice with using my mouth to do stuff.

Princess Celestia did recover my pencil for me so at least I never had to go out looking under all the cushions. Of course she just summoned it with her horn magic so she never had to move either. She’s been quite quiet actually.

But back to maths then. The rest of the questions did get progressively harder and there were a few where I had to use tables to work out the sums. There were also multiple sheets of paper to work through. Where the first one was simple sums, the rest each dealt with a different, but more complex topic. I think I got most of it right, but it did take me a while.

After finishing the last paper and checking over my work, the princess stopped us for a break. She brought the refreshment trolley into the middle of the room while she began to sift through my papers. Somehow, she even managed to cut off a slice of cake for herself without taking her eyes off the maths questions.

From the trolley, I took a single cookie but I think Snow was too nervous to even come close. Would have thought she’d have adjusted by now. Oh well, I returned to my desk and Celestia levitated over the next set of questions. Which leads into the next problem.

This is all in that pony language I can’t read. Looking closer, I once again look for any similarities to clue me in on its meaning. But after staring at it for a few minutes, it's still hopeless. Celestia must notice because…

“Jonathan, is there a problem?”

Sighing, I feel my ears fold back.
“Yes, I can’t actually read your language.”

“I suppose that’s understandable.”

What? I tilt my head at her. I mean, we seem to share the same spoken language…

“There are many different places, both in and out of Equestria. While most species know and can speak Ponish, our written languages vary wildly. That is why Ponish is on the school syllabus, to help foals understand the most commonly used written script within Equestria.”
She levitates over a book, dropping it onto the desk with a loud thump.
“Here is a book covering all the known written languages, including those not used any more. See if you can find your own language in there.”

So, despite there being one unified globally spoken language, there are many different ways to write it? I wonder how that works. Flipping through the book, I look for anything resembling English. The symbols used in here vary wildly. Some are simplistic and linear, where others are stylized and complex, some even appear to use pictograms. But I catch no glimpse of the English alphabet anywhere.

“Don’t worry if your language isn’t in there Jonathan, you come from a far away place that we might not know of yet, there’s a chance that you won’t find anything in there. How about you try writing out your alphabet and I’ll see if I can recognise it.”

That sounds like a good idea. Celestia levitates over a fresh piece of paper and I begin to write out the twenty-six letter English alphabet. Once done, Celestia looks over it.

“Only twenty-six letters? There’s really not that many alphabets that short. I must ask, how do you differentiate between syllables?”

“Well, the rules behind pronunciation can get a little bit complex, and sometimes vague. As such, different places, even nearby, can each end up with their own dialects and pronunciation of words. Although I think most other languages add accents onto certain characters to define their pronunciation.”

“That is rather interesting, maybe you could teach us ponies your language. I know somepony who I’m sure would be very interested in learning about it. But in the mean-time, you’ll have to learn written Ponish here. Since this is Canterlot, you’ll find unicorn script to be most common. Most books are printed in unicorn script so you’ll need to know that if you want to do much reading. Although your lack of magical ability may make it quite difficult since it’s not easy to write it without a horn. As such, we’ll skip Ponish for now and move onto assessing what you do know about magic, and hopefully even get you using that horn of yours.”

Magic practice went about as you’d expect. We made absolutely no progress. I barely knew anything of magic to begin with, and most of what I thought I knew turned out to not apply in this world. First, the princess had Snow run through some exercises with me. Although they just turned out to be the same ones as Snow had already tried that morning.

Celestia tried the tests on me herself. I could feel the strange sensations tingling over me, but my brain just couldn’t seem to process any of it. She then tried describing to me what to do, saying to reach out to my magical reserves or mana pathways. But not having experienced magic before meant that I had no idea what I was looking for.

She eventually had to give up on it. I then remembered what Doctor Sage had said about my pathways being a cause for concern and asked her about it. She responded by suddenly enveloping me with her magic for a moment, although nothing else appeared to happen. She finally answered that my mana pathways were underdeveloped from not having magic flowing through and that my magical output would be quite low. She also concluded that while my mana pool was quite large, it still had quite low mana levels that were still in the process of recharging.

After offering us each some refreshments, to which Snow politely tried to decline (and I say ‘tried to’ since Celestia wasn’t going to let her be left out), we were dismissed for the evening. I had actually underestimated how long we were in there for so it was quite late when we were on our way back to my room. We did stop in an empty cafeteria for a light dinner, where I asked Snow why it was Celestia who was holding the meeting. I mean, surely she must have princess duties, such as that day court she was at in the morning. But Snow cleared that up by explaining that she was a teacher in her spare time and often spent her free afternoons teaching magic at her school: Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns; which despite its name, actually offers a few classes to non-unicorns. Although the majority of the courses still require a horn to take part in.

Standing outside the door to my room, me and Snow part ways for the night. The guards are once again the night-variant. I guess there must be a day-guard and night-guard then. I suppose it makes sense to have two different guard units since there are two different princesses; one of which rules the day and the other the night… Not literally I hope.

Walking through the living room, I stop to admire the night sky through the massive window wall. Night-time, so peaceful and quiet. I stand gazing out over the breathtaking view for a solid five minutes before a yawn reminds me that I’m tired. Turning away from the stars, I step up to my bedroom door and make my way inside, only for a puff of white to squish into my face. Right, that cloud I pulled off the bed. I use my hoof to push it one side where it bounces against one wall before drifting towards the ceiling.

Stepping up to the bed, I prod its surface. Something about it just doesn’t sit right with me. I grab a book off the bookshelf using my mouth and drop it carefully onto the cloud. It sits on the surface with little problem. That is until I push the book down with my hoof. Then whatever surface tension was keeping it up breaks and the book falls straight through with a loud thump. So clouds are definitely only solid through magic. I don’t particularly know how to feel about sleeping on something that supports me only through magic.

Maybe I could sleep on the cushions instead. But then if Snow comes in, then she’ll probably question me on it. This world is full of magic, so much so that it’s practically unavoidable. Best to just go with it I suppose, the cloud is comfier anyway. With a sigh, I climb onto its surface, although I stay as close to the edge as possible. It’s actually quite sparse, with only a few random blankets, but no pillows. Not that it needs any with the way it deforms to fit the body. Although I suppose the pillows would probably just fall through anyway.

Once settled, I begin to feel sleep claim me. Hmm, I wonder if I’d be able to retrieve that book that fell through…

I am pulled out of sleep by a harsh pink light penetrating my eyes. Lifting my head, I try to look for the source. It’s still dark outside, still night time. Where is that light coming from? As my head turns this way and that, the light shifts, causing shadows to dance around the room. Wait a minute… I lift a hoof up to my horn. Ow, hot! The adrenaline rush forces me into full consciousness and I slip out of bed, landing on all fours. My horn is glowing! How do I make it stop?! I try to concentrate on my horn, trying to force the heat away; but it only serves to make the light brighter. How do I get it to extinguish? Right, extinguish! My horn is hot, so maybe water will cool it down!

I rush into the bathroom and thrust the hoof pedal up to start the tap. Dousing my head under the water, there is a loud sizzling before everything is plunged into blackness. Great, how am I supposed to find my way back now?

Author's Note

~~More than a week~~ Two whole weeks since the last chapter. Honestly, I was starting to run out of confidence in this story and started to think quite critically of how it's going so far. This may or may not be why I was lacking in inspiration and motivation to work on it over the weekend. But whether the story is good or bad, I've decided to keep writing it regardless. The best way to improve is just to keep practicing.

I had a small burst of inspiration Monday morning, but didn't have the time to get more than a few notes because College+homework+after-school club. Tuesday, I had some free periods but I couldn't bring myself to get started, plus I had homework.

Started writing on Wednesday. Gone back and reread the previous chapters as well as a applied some minor edits.
Continued Saturday and Sunday. I've spent a lot more time on this chapter, and even made it double length (5k words) to make up for the missed week. Hopefully it's up to quality this chapter. I know the last one seemed a little rushed. Also introduced a few minor plot points or something.

So, what did you think of this new chapter? What might happen next? I don't particularly know since I'm making this up as I go along (mostly).

Interlude[I]

It was late evening, shortly after Jonathan’s first lesson and two large alicorns were sitting together in a room in Canterlot Castle.

“To be honest, Luna, I’m a little worried about our new alicorn. He says he comes from a land of little magic, and as such, he is quite far behind where he should be for a pony of his age. He knows no written Ponish and lacks any magical ability. Not even that which comes instinctual to most ponies.”

“Oh Celestia! Quit your petty worrying! If anypony can get him up to speed, it’s you. Remember, you already run the most prestigious magic school in Equestia. And remember how much you have helped me adjust to modern Equestria!”
Celestia winced slightly at that part.

“I suppose you’re right. But while I can help him adjust to our society, teach him our history and help him learn our written language, I fear that I’m out of my depth when it comes to how to handle his magic. I tried every trick in the book, that lesson, Luna; every trick in the book and nothing has worked! He’s like a newborn foal, he knows nothing of his own powers, or even those that should normally come instinctually to ponies. Luna, he doesn’t even know how to pick things up with his hooves!”

“Sister, remember how low his magical reserves have been. I’m sure it’ll come to him in time, he probably just needs to recharge.”

“But even then, all the ponies I’ve taught magic already had a great magical potential or were already highly proficient in magic from a young age. Jonathan is barely a foal anymore. What will I do when his magic reaches capacity? I fear that I will have to call on outside help for this.”

“Hmm? So who do you have in mind, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Actually, no. Not this time. While Twilight does have near unrivalled knowledge of magic, I fear she may simply run into the same problems as me. You know how she has a tendency to overcomplicate things… I believe our niece, Mi Amore Cadenza will have a better shot at this. If you recall, she was originally a pegasus before she ascended. I know you weren’t there, but seeing her attempts at getting a grasp on her new horn was quite the sight. If anypony knows what it’s like to suddenly have unicorn magic for the first time, it would be her.”

“Of course! She would be perfect for the job, we should write to her at once! Although do you plan on telling Twilight, still?”

“I had already let Cadence know of Jonathan the first time I saw him and confirmed him a true alicorn. She visits next week with Shining and Flurry, although I haven’t yet updated her on the situation as it stands. As for Twilight… I fear what would happen if we were to tell her that an alicorn had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, right here in Canterlot. As much as I trust her, I do not think that Jonthan is quite ready to face the bearers of harmony… Therefore I shall simply inform her that we have a special guest from a foreign country.”

“Tia, when do you actually plan on announcing the presence of our new alicorn in Equestria. I hear that rumours have already started to spread throughout the castle staff, it is only so long until word escapes the castle. You’re not going to be keeping him locked up this whole time are you?”

“I had hoped to keep his status secret for as long as possible, or at least until he can get a proper handle on his magic. Although I do not plan on keeping him ‘locked up’ as you say. A solution is already in the works that will allow him to leave the castle without exposing his alicorn status. Although, I still fear what would happen if word of this reached the Canterlot nobility.”

Luna shuddered at the thought.
“Agreed. He is so not ready for that…”

There was a short pause, in which Celestia quietly sipped on her tea. Luna broke the quiet.

“Say, isn’t Jonathan and Flurry around about the same age now? Do you think that they may become friends?”

“Your right Luna! They are the same age. I do hope they get along when they meet. So, Luna, any progress with finding out more about our young alicorn through the dreamscape?”

“Unfortunately, it seems his magical core hasn’t yet stabilised. I was unable to find his dreamscape at all the first night, due to his low magic levels. And last night, his dreams were unstable. I put what magic I could into it to strengthen them, but they just wouldn’t stabilise and were utterly nonsensical. I do hope that tonight will be different and that I’ll finally be able to find out something from his dreams. His magic levels have nearly recovered.”

“Very well. I wish you good luck in your endeavours dear sister.”
Celestia let out a yawn as she got up on her hooves.

“And I, you. Sleep well dear sister! Sleep well.”

And with that, the two sisters separated for the night.

Author's Note

Interlude
Interlusion
Illusion
Spaghetti

The big pony and the not-quite-as-big pony discuss the new pony or something.
Also Cadenza.

Okay, so here is a short bonus chapter I guess. This was written in less than an hour, late in the evening. Therefore, I apologise in advance if anything seems rushed or OOC. If there are any issues, I will make sure to rectify them in post. This chapter should not prevent me from writing a full chapter at the weekend (hopefully). I already have the first scene of the next chapter mostly planned out, as of a few days ago.

Ch:08 - Bored Games

It’s still dark in my room by the time I open my bleary eyes. Although since there’s only just enough light to see by, it must be early morning. I’m still quite tired, but I don’t particularly feel like going back to sleep. Instead, I shift over to the edge of the bed and slip quietly onto the floor. The carpet muffles my hooves as I wander to look out the balcony door. As I stare out over the distant horizon, I think back over the previous night’s events. What happened back there with my horn?

I glare upwards to where I can only just make out the tip of the appendage. I really hope that won’t become a common occurrence… Not wanting to dwell on it further, I let my attention drift back out through the glass. I can just about make out the light of dawn peeking out from the distant mountains. Not sure how to pass the time, I turn back to wander through my new room. My new home. My new life.

I glance over at the bookshelf up against one wall. There’s quite a few books there, but it’s not like I’d be able to read any of them. Heh, I wonder how that book is doing under the bed. The thought keeps me entertained a mere moment before I let my ears droop. I idly wander into the bathroom. The novelty of being here is already starting to wear off, and I’m getting bored. There’s just nothing much to do in this castle. If I’m going to go to a new world, I want to be out there, seeing the sights. Not sitting around relearning how to read.

Glancing into the bathtub’s floor depression, I see that it’s been drained since the day before. No hot bath waiting for me this morning, and I just can’t be bothered to try filling it myself. I re-enter the bedroom. Why am I even here? And why as this? I don’t need wings, I most certainly don’t need magic.

I let out a long sigh and push my way out into the living room. The rush of cold air is refreshing, but it only lasts a moment. I drop down heavily onto the chilled sofa and stare out through the glass wall. The moon hangs lonely in the sky, the stars long since drowned out by the oncoming dawn. In the distance, I can just about make out two small shapes flitting about in the sky.

Squinting, they look like ponies, dark in coloration. I watch as they soar through the air, twisting and turning playfully about one another. As friendly as everyone is here, I can’t help but still feel alone. I miss my old life. I miss my friends, my family. The two ponies disappear behind a lone cloud, they don’t come back out again.

I continue to lay there on the long sofa for a moment longer, before releasing another sigh and getting back to my hooves. Maybe I could explore the mini kitchen or something. Wandering over, the kitchen is not like what I’m used to. There doesn’t appear to be many kitchen appliances. No microwave or toaster. Not even a fridge or freezer. At least there’s an almost normal looking oven; normal if not for the fact that the controls are all inlaid with gemstones. Not sure how I would use any of this with my hooves. I doubt I could even open any of these cupboards.

Bored of the kitchen, I retreat back to my room. Although this time, I head over to the balcony doors. Maybe some fresh air will help, it always has done in the past. I try to push open the doors, but they don’t move. Peering closer, I see a thin latch holding them together. Hmm, maybe I could use my horn. Lowering my head to the latch, I slip my horn into the gap and flick it up. Latch now open, I trot outside.

A cool breeze blows over me once more, but this time, it lasts. Walking to the edge, I rest my head against the railings while slumping down. The wind ruffles my feathers lightly as it passes. The feeling, whilst alien, is still somewhat calming and relaxing. My wings twitch as I straighten back up. Bringing my hooves up onto the railings, I lift my head into the air, relishing in the wind blowing around me. My mane and tail flick this way and that in the subtly changing air currents. And my wings lift softly from my sides.

And then the wind stops, and my mane falls limply into my eye. It was fun while it lasted. I hold my pose for a few more moments, in the hope that the wind might pick back up again, but nothing seems to happen. Either way, it was just what I needed. Hopping back to all fours, I turn and head back inside, half-open wings brushing against the either side of the opening. Eh, they’ll probably sort themselves out or something.

A light pressure suddenly forms against the side of my head. Twisting my head, I find that little puff of cloud once more. Huh, it’s still in here I guess. I pull it to my chest, feeling its softness between my hooves. Then I shift it under one foreleg and return three-legged to the balcony door. Releasing it, I nudge it gently in the direction of the open skies. I watch it for a moment as it idly drifts towards the amber hue in the distance.

Turning my back, I make to go back inside. But a sudden gust of strong wind causes me to hesitate. Turning my head one last time, I am struck in the face by the white fluffiness. But then it bounces up towards the ceiling before I can respond, where it settles just out of reach. I guess it’s here to stay then…

Outside, it appears that the sun might finally be ready to show itself so I wander out onto the balcony one more time. As I wait for the sure spectacle, I glance to the side where I see two large ponies step onto a nearby balcony, side-by-side. Luna’s horn ignites. And just on cue, the moon suddenly accelerates, completing its night-time journey. Then Celestia follows suit, followed by a sudden wave of brightness as the break of first light floods the castle grounds. Somehow, my eyes don’t get blinded, and are able to recover quickly in time to watch the shadows retreating hastily towards the distant mountains.

Wait, so they actually do move the sun and moon? Not really sure how any of that is supposed to work, but now I can see why they’re so well respected I guess. Let’s see what the new day brings to Pony Land this time. Shortly after exchanging moon for sun, the two diarchs make their way back inside. And so do I. Just in time to watch an olive-green unicorn slip silently into my room.

“Oh, you’re already awake, your Highness,” squeaks the pony.

What? I don’t recognise this pony, and why’d she call me that?
“Please don’t call me that. Also, who might you be?.”

“Oh, well, my name is Granola Mist, young prince. I’m a room maid, I was just here to prepare your morning bath. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

“Nah, you’re fine, but I’m not a prince either. Just call me Jonathan, please.”

“Oh, but I assumed you were, with the being an alicorn and such, y’know?”

Oh right, alicorns… princesses… stuff…
“I’m not from Equestria, and neither am I royalty. I would prefer it if you don’t address me as such.”

“Oh, well… umm… okay then, well… I’ll just head into here and prepare your bath then.”

Once again alone in my room, I settle down on one of the floor cushions and wait.

After some time of waiting, the olive pony backs quietly out of the bathroom. She bows at the bedroom door, before slipping out as silently as she’d come in. I suppose I could go for a bath then, I’ve no idea how long it is until Snow comes to get me. The door opens just as I’m standing up, however. A pinkish-white head with ice-blue mane pokes through, swiveling left and right before seeing me. Oh, there she is.

“Good morning, Snow Blossom,” I say.

“Good morning to you too Jon, I see you’re up bright and early today. Here, I brought you some breakfast!”

I guess a bath can wait, let’s see what there is to eat. Snow wheels in the trolley with her green-hued magic. Some salad, two (blueberry?) muffins, an apple and a glass of water. Once again, a good breakfast.

After that, Snow suggests I get a bath. I once more decline her offer to assist, and head inside. Still no lock, I might see about getting one installed in the future, if I end up staying here that is. Not that ponies seem to wear much around here, they all have fur.

After another relaxing bath, me and Snow head out into the castle. Once again, another guard follows us, this time a female earth-pony.

“So what do we do now, Snow?”

“Well, I could take you to visit the castle spa?”

“Spa? You never mentioned a spa during the tour yesterday.”

“Well, I guess I forgot about it. It’s part of the guest pool area. Normally us castle staff aren’t supposed to go there unless accompanying a guest. Princess Celestia does open them for us on off-days, however; it’s quite the commendable experience.”

“I think I’ll pass for now, might there be anything else we could do?”

“Well, nothing is planned until your scheduled fitting just before lunch. But I’ll try to think of something… Anyhow, it’s nice to see that you’ve finally got your wings out.”

Wait what? I twist my head round to find my wings uncovered. Have I really been walking around like this? Thank goodness we haven’t passed anyone.

But just as I think that, I hear a gasp. Turning to the noise, I see a dark-green pony standing next to a plant pot. She’s holding a watering can over it, but doesn’t seem to notice the pot overflowing onto the floor. Seriously, it’s a big pot… How can that watering can have so much water in it? The unicorn is shocked out of her stupor as the growing puddle reaches her hooves. Realising what she’d done, she shoves the watering can down behind the pot in an effort to hide it while displaying a strained smile.

“Good morning Dew Drop, I hope you haven’t been over-watering the plants again,” Snow says.

So these two know each other? I guess it makes sense since they both work here. Dew Drop’s ears drop and she blushes slightly in embarrassment.

“This is the seventeenth time this month, Dew. But don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anypony. Here, let’s get that cleaned up.”

Snow’s horn then lights up, causing the puddle to be surrounded in magic before floating all up into one big glob, which she dumps back into the under-sized watering can. Dew, having recovered, then speaks up quietly.

“So you really are a new alicorn? Wow, that’s just wow… So, ummm, prince what’s-your-name… What exactly are you a prince of again?”

“Nothing, I’m not a prince. Just because I happen to look like this, doesn’t mean that I’m royalty.”

I turn to Snow. “How much exactly do the castle staff know about me?”

“Well, not much really, Jonathan. Only that there might be a new alicorn staying here from somewhere far away and that word of them is not to leave the castle under any circumstances.”

“So, I’m pretty much being kept a secret? Can you at least ask the ponies not to think of me as royalty. Just because I happen to be an alicorn, doesn’t mean I want ponies to treat me differently.”

My ears droop and I sigh once more. Dew’s ears also drop a bit and she sits across from me.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I offended you. Is there something else I should call you? We won’t call you by royal title if you don’t want us too. It’s something some of the younger princesses request us to do quite a bit. Heh, especially Pr– Twilight.”

“Thanks. So, any suggestions for things to do around the castle? I’m kind of bored right now.”

Her ears perk up again.
“In terms of stuff in the castle, not much… But I have a few board games in my room, we could play a game together, if that’s alright with you? I don’t really have any other jobs for today either, so it’s not a problem for me.”

“Well, I guess I have nothing better to do. Snow, is that alright with you?”

“I think it sounds like fun! Me and Dew haven’t played together in a long time, it’d be nice to catch up.”

“Well, I suppose that’s settled then. Dew, lead the way.”

Dew Drop takes the lead. She steers us down the first set of stairs. We keep going down, at least 3 floors before we reach a door. It’s a small door, quite inconspicuous, probably for the castle staff. Dew procures a key from her mane using her teal magic and opens the door for us. The stairs here are once again the steep kind and I have to take my time on them. Snow and Dew make it look so easy.

Reaching the bottom, we come out into a narrow hallway. It isn’t nearly as lavishly decorated down here, but neither is it in any way an uncomfortable place. The floors are carpeted and the place is well lit. In fact, the closeness of the grey walls is kind of a refreshing break from the massiveness of the rest of the castle, everything here feels much more pony sized.

Still, that doesn’t make it any less of a maze than the castle. There’s no windows or signs and every hallway looks identical. Due to the small size of the hallway, we have to walk in single file. Dew and Snow walk ahead and the guard trails behind. I feel kind of exposed with nothing to hide the fact that I’m an alicorn, but luckily the castle staff hurrying back and forth through the tunnels seem too busy to pay us a second glance.

I hear a gasp from behind me. Okay, I definitely spoke too soon. Not that I was speaking… Time seems to come to a standstill as I look behind me. A cherry-red pegasus is stood pointing towards my exposed back. Another pony stops next to her and follows her gaze.

“Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is that an alicorn?” he whispers.

“Can’t you see, he has both a horn and wings,” she replies.

“A male alicorn? I didn’t know those even existed,” a yellow pony contributes.

“Surely it must be some kind of prank,” whispers the unicorn behind them.

“Have you not heard the rumours,” the red pegasus rebukes.

“Hey, what’s with the hold-up, some ponies have jobs to do here!” a voice shouts from the back of the crowd.

More voices start adding to the clamour from the growing crowd behind us. I just stand there, frozen in shock until a green aura starts tugging on me.

“Jonathan, come on, let’s go,”

Pulled from my stupor, I continue after her. I can hear the sound of muffled hooves as the ponies behind begin to follow. The guard tries to hold them back, but they ignore her and push around either side. I barely notice a pink spark flying out in front of me. We speed up into a brisk trot. I stumble slightly, not used to going faster than a walk. Unfortunately, it makes little difference as the other ponies match our pace. We pass a lime earth pony who watches us in confusion, before noticing the mob and breaking into a run back the way we came.

Suddenly, I am yanked round a corner by Snow’s magic and in through the first door. Dew kicks it closed behind us, swinging the latch down with her magic. The rush of hoofsteps outside increases in volume for a moment, before fading into the distance. I simply let myself fall backwards into a sitting position whilst my brain tries to catch up with what just happened. A random spark of pink crackles and fizzles against the wall. Wait what?

I watch as another drifts down in front of my face. Tentatively, I reach my hoof towards my head, but it’s caught in a green aura before it can reach my horn.

“Jonathan, you should never touch a lit horn! Not even your own.”

“What’s happening with my horn?”

Snow opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted as the room is flooded with harsh pink. I shut my eyes in reflex, trying to block out the intense light. Ugh, what is going on with that horn? How do I make it stop? No, I can’t let myself panic. I need to calm down. Deep breaths. In and out. In and out. Gradually, the piercing light fades to a dim glow and I can open my eyes.

“Uh. What just happened?” Dew asks while trying to rub the spots from her eyes.

“I’m not quite sure… it looked, almost like a surge,” replies Snow.

“Umm, what’s a surge?”

Dew is the one to answer.
“It’s what foals have while they’re still trying to get a grasp on their developing magic. It happens when a pony has an excess buildup of mana and hasn’t yet developed a proper connection with their magic. An important part of a foal’s childhood, but very rare for a pony your age.”

“Since when did you know so much about magic, Dew?’ Snow remarks.

“Since we learnt about it in magic school, Snow. Seriously, don’t you remember anything?”

“So, do any of you know why this is happening with me, and more importantly, how to stop it from happening again?”

“I have no idea, water is my speciality. Also, your horn’s still glowing,” Dew answers.

“It is? How do I turn it off?!”

“Just relax, ignore it and it’ll go out on its own, probably. So board games anypony?”

Dew’s quarters are a lot smaller than my own. And her front door has a lock. Why doesn’t my room get any locks? Anyway, the entrance leads straight into a narrow and highly cluttered kitchen area. Passed that is a small crossway with two doors either side, and the living area/bedroom straight through. On one side, there is a small pile of cushions and a mini bookcase. And on the other side is a bed built over some sort of storage. Not a cloud bed, but a normal bed. There are no windows throughout the tiny space, probably since we’re right in the heart of the castle.

Dew keeps her board games in one of the top cupboards in the kitchen. Somehow, she is able to levitate them out without even looking. She drops them from her teal magic right into the center of the living room where we are each sat on a small cushion.

“Alright everypony, choose a box!”

I can’t really read the titles, but I can see the pictures. There are five boxes to choose from. Hmm, that one looks kinda like chess. And that one has a picture of a gaudy, pink steam engine on. Dew picks one which is decorated like a jungle and Snow chooses the train one. Unsure of what any of the games are, I go for the one which looks like chess. It’s the only one I recognise.

“Alright everypony, we have each selected a game. We will play a little of each game. Whoever wins the most rounds wins overall… Also, wasn’t there another pony with us before?”

Snow stands suddenly.
“Oh no, I forgot about our assigned guard, I’ll be back shortly. You two go ahead.”

I watch Snow hurry out the door.

“So, fancy a game of chess? It’s the only two player game here so one of us would have had to sit out either way.”

Dew grabs the box in her magic, dropping the others over her bed, before opening it and laying out the board. It looks mostly like the chess I know, except that all the pieces are different.

“Alright, I’ll play blue and you take pink. You know the rules or do you need a quick run through before we begin?”

“I think I’ve played before, but all the pieces are different, so maybe you could quickly run me through in case any of the rules are different too.”

“Ok then. The goal is to take out the alicorn princess. That’s the large one with the crown by the way, not the small one. We each take turns to move one piece… ”

After explaining the rules of the game, which it turns out were exactly the same as what I’m used to, we have our first game. Being out of practice, Dew is quick to beat me on round one. Round two lasts much longer, but Dew still manages to defeat me. It’s midway through the third round when Snow comes in with the armoured earth pony. But I’m too distracted by the game to pay much attention.

I nudge a unicorn piece 5 spaces diagonal, and my trap is set. Hopefully Dew doesn’t notice. She jumps a pegasus, taking one of my earth ponies. Good, let her take it. I pump my pegasus into position, now she’ll have to move her alicorn out of the way. She wraps it in teal, before realising her predicament. The only place she can move it would put it in front of my unicorn, but not moving it would leave it for my pegasus. Her magical grip releases from the piece as she contemplates her next move. The seconds pass, maybe I’ve won… She smiles, moving a unicorn I had forgotten about to take my pegasus. Noo… Maybe I can still save this…

I push my tower forwards, but accidentally knock it over with my hoof. Oops. I pick it up and place it back in position. Now she’ll still have to move her alicorn. Or she could just slide it out of the way again…

The game continues on, until we’re down to our last few pieces. She has more left over than me, but with less variables to keep track of, I think I can do this. I slide my unicorn in front of her alicorn, hopefully she’ll take the bait. She doesn’t, instead moving it backwards a tile. I line up my tower behind. She moves out of the way once more. I pull my unicorn back a tile to make space for my other tower. She can no longer move her alicorn… Her smile has long since faded for concentration.

“Okay, check-mate, you win. Congratulations!”

We shake hooves. That was fun.

“Now that everypony’s here, who’s up for a game of Temple Temptations?”

Once again walking through the castle, having left Dew Drop behind, I think back over the morning. Snow was pretty fun to play against and she seems to have a really good memory. I thought Dew was good at strategy in our chess game, but the guard (who’s name turned out to be Sandy Hooves) was an even greater strategist. I found myself falling behind in most of the games, but it was great fun regardless.

Not sure how I even managed to play those games with hooves… Wasn’t one of them a card game?

“We’re here!”

Distracted from my thoughts, I take my bearings. I know this place, it’s the room where I had my measurements taken.

“Up, up, Jonathan,” Snow says as she nudges me towards the center pedestal. It’s barely been a day, how can they have gotten something made in such a short time? What even is it?

“And for the second half of your surprise…”
I feel something land on my back and straps wrap around my waist (or whatever ponies call it). I look over my shoulders.

“Your new saddlebags. Princess Celestia had them commissioned shortly after you were brought in, they’re designed to help cover your wings out in public.”

Wait, cover my wings in public? Does that mean that I’ll be allowed out of the palace? Looking over the bags, I see that they’re made out of a smooth, brown leathery material. Not quite leather though. It looks durable, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel too heavy. There are two pouches on either side and– wait, are those rubies?

“Made of a durable and hardy bark-based fabric from yak-yakistan. Strong, yet lightweight. Inside lined with soft velvet for comfort and with a wooden frame to keep it off your wings. Four storage compartments across its length and a few rubies for the finishing touch.

“You’ll have to wear this any time you leave the castle, or at least until the princess announces you publicly.”

“Thank you so much. I’ve been dying to leave the castle, do you think we can go out today?”

“Of course, would you rather head to the cafeteria before we go or find lunch outside?”

“I think I’d like to eat out, and see what this city is all about. But I must ask, what’s with the rubies, aren’t those expensive?”

“They are a little, but it’s no matter. Canterlot, being the capital, is quite an elite city. No piece of clothing is complete without its own bit of sparkle. So, are you ready to go?”

“Yes please, I can’t stand being in this castle any longer!”

Hopping down, I follow Snow out.

Author's Note

Well, I under-estimated how long this chapter would end up. Reached 2,702 words at the end of Sunday, and I am not yet at a reasonable stopping point. I've already decided to cut the second-part of the chapter over to Ch:09. Guess I'll have to find the time to continue this on ~~Monday~~Tuesday.

Well, another week late chapter. But at least it's finished now. As always, I'd like to hear what you think of the story so far. Any ideas what should occur while out in the City of Canterlot?

I can't say whether the next chapter will be in one week or two, hopefully one. Well, this story has now exceeded 20k words. That's a lot. I don't know how much longer I can keep going with this, but if people like it, I'll keep pushing on.

datamodel:GetService("ChapterService"):PublishChapter(require(MainDocument)[09])

Also, I might have created a discord server. It's linked somewhere on my profile, I don't expect many people to actually join though.

Ch:09 - An Afternoon in Canterlot

Finally, we reach the main hall. That one with all the big tapestries. Unlike the last time we had passed through here, the area is now filled with ponies; many of whom are dressed in expensive-looking finery. It seems that the vast majority of ponies are wearing some form of dress, suit or jewelery. Although most only cover the front half, leaving their back-ends exposed. Thinking back to my saddlebags, I realise that they’re quite plain in comparison. Much of the dress I am currently witness to seems a bit over-decorated and a little gaudy. Where before, I thought the rubies on my bags were overdoing it, I can now see why they were added. Are gemstones really that common here, it seems like every single dress in this hall has some set of precious stones to adorn it.

As we pass the ponies admiring the massive chamber, a few cast curious glances our way. I suppose we are being escorted by a royal guard afterall. Luckily, they lose interest quite quickly and we don’t get much attention. I don’t think I could deal with all that for a second time today…

Either way, the massive doors to the outside world are drawing closer, and that brings much more excitement than pony-watching. Finally, my first time leaving this stuffy old castle since I’ve got here. And no, the gardens don’t count. It’s a shame that I’ll have to come back when the day is done, as I’m much more of an outdoors person (or should I say pony?)

I gaze out at the clear blue sky, craning my neck as the final few arches loom above us. A cool breeze blows forth from the opening, tugging lightly on my mane, and tickling the bottom of my wings. The quiet tap-tap of hooves on tile is soon replaced by the crunch of gravel as I finally break out into the gardens, Snow and Sandy right behind me. I halt momentarily, to take in a breath of the fresh mountain air. I’m pretty sure that this city is somewhere up in the mountains. And yes, I can see a steep cliff-face reaching up into snowy peaks, extending from behind the castle and curving off into the distance.

Resuming my trot, I gaze around the gardens. Unlike my previous visits, the place now feels so full of life. There’s ponies everywhere, admiring the flowers or chatting amongst each other. The wide gravel path meanders only a short distance before reaching the gatehouse, a block in the long white wall that cuts through the open field. Over the wall, I can just about make out the tops of strange buildings. As much as I like the open outdoors, unique architecture also intrigues me. Don’t get me wrong, the castle is great and all, but it’s just too samey and bland for my tastes. Too big as well.

As we get closer, my excitement grows too. I begin to pick up my pace. Where before the portcullis was tightly closed. It now hangs open, providing a clear view to the city beyond. Every building I see is unique, the only thing shared between them being the white and gold colour-scheme. Ponies bustle through the packed streets, many glancing longingly back towards the massive castle behind me. A large crowd has formed just outside the gates, obstructing a large portion of my view. There are at least eight armoured ponies under the archway, all bearing the golden uniform of what I assume to be the day guard.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve broken into a run now, the exit is so close… Suddenly, I feel one of my hooves strike something in the pebbly path. This, of course, causes me to lose my balance and tumble face first into the rough ground. Before I can pick myself up however, my ears perk to the sound of snickering. Lifting my head, I glance towards the noise. Huh, it’s one of the guards, a unicorn stallion. He stops when the mare beside him knocks into him roughly. Not enough to throw him off balance, but enough to shut him up. Apart from that slight movement, she remains motionless at attention and staring straight ahead with a neutral expression.

A crunching of hoofsteps comes up from behind, before my vision is tinted green and Snow’s magical aura hoists me back onto my feet.

“Jon, are you okay?”

“Yes Snow, I’m fine. Thank you.”

She looks at me with a concerned expression.
“No problem. but please don’t run off like that and actually watch where you’re going.”

I nod my head. Sandy Hooves trots past us into the gate house, nodding to each of the guards as she passes, holding her gaze over the stallion who had laughed for just a moment longer than the rest. Snow trots after her and I follow behind. We have to swerve out and around the throng of ponies gathered at the entrance. A few cast a concerned glance my way, but most ignore us.

Finally outside the castle, I feel my spirits rising once more. My wings shuffle slightly, seemingly in response to my feeling of freedom. Sandy and Snow once more take positions either side of me at a respectful distance as we walk through the street. Looking at the buildings on either side, I find that I can’t identify what they are. The structures on this street seem quite sedated in relation to the ones I can see towered behind them. And I mean, literally towers. Tall cylindrical towers, with winding staircases and arched bridges connecting them. So many stairs… For a quadrupedal species, I can’t see why they’d choose to have so many. I suppose it’s the only logical solution for tall towers, but then why build them as towers in the first place? Maybe stairs are a problem only I have.

The sun is still high in the sky, so we have plenty of time to explore. But where should we go? My stomach grumbles. Oh right, it’s lunch time, so I suppose we should be looking for somewhere to eat. Although it’s not like I can read anything. How am I supposed to know which buildings serve food? Aha, that building there has tables outside. A small roped off area filled with tables, under the shade of large umbrellas. It definately looks to be some kind of restaurant. I wonder what sort of food they serve there. Despite it being a few buildings away, I can still see with crystal-clear clarity when I focus over there. Since when was my eyesight that good? I guess these ponies do seem to have larger than normal eyes. Maybe that has something to do with it. Despite my improved vision, I’m still just a little too far away to make out the tiny specks on the plates of the over-decorated customers.

“Snow, do you know what food they serve over there?”

Snow glances over to me, then comes alongside me.
“Ugh, that place, it sells fancy stuff. The overpriced kind with tiny portions. We could still go there if you want, but that stuff isn’t very filling. Sadly, most places in Canterlot are like that, but I do know a good place we can go!”

“Yeah… I think I’ll take your advice on that, lead the way!”
If this place is one of those rich upper-class cities, then I’m doomed. I can only trust that Snow can steer me through safely. Still, the unique atmosphere has been interesting so far.

I take another bite out the pizza slice balanced on my hoof. It’s like nothing I’ve ever eaten before. Who would have thought a spicy pizza could taste so good? Still, eating with hooves is difficult, especially since I can’t grip anything. The restaurant Snow found is called The Tasty Treat and it’s quite the exotic place. Its colourful interior and exterior and fun atmosphere contrasts sharply with the plain white-and gold of the rest of Canterlot. It’s located quite a bit away from any major street, tucked away in a quiet corner of the city.

Despite all that, it’s still extremely busy and I’m surprised that we could even get a table. Overall, a pleasant surprise of a place. I wonder if we’d be able to order food like this back to the castle. It turns out that the place is highly regarded amongst the castle staff and that both Sandy Hooves and Snow Blossom come here regularly. I hope to be able to too, this place is great. But it’s also very warm in here, and my wings are starting to itch.

Snow is the one to pay the bill, pulling a small bag out of her mane and dropping down three golden coins onto the table. It’s not like I have any money myself, maybe I should start looking to get a job at some point, although my status as a ‘certain species’ could be of hindrance to that.

Once more, we step out into the cool air outside and I sigh in relief. The colder air out here soothes my wings. But the question now is, where to next? Shopping? What, no. I don’t even know why I’d consider that. I hate shopping, and it’s not like I have any money to begin with. Eh, who cares, aimless wandering is what I’ve always done and what I shall do now. Right, down this alleyway I guess. Nevermind, it’s a dead end…

“Snow, Sandy, any suggestions for places we could visit?

Snow is the first to answer.
“We could go shopping?”

“...……Any other ideas?”

Sandy makes her suggestion.
“Maybe you might like to see the Canterlot train station?”

So ponies have trains? Now that is something I’d like to see. And hopefully in the not too distant future, experience.
“Sounds like a plan, Sandy!”

The train station is much further away than the restaurant was. Unfortunately, it seems that the city is in a kind of tiered layout, and as such, there are a number of staircases I have to carefully inch my way down. On the way, there’s plenty of interesting architecture to examine. Soon, we come to a park; a medium-sized strip of field cutting straight through the city, and split by the occasional street. We decide to take a short break there, as I need to rest my legs. The park is filled with activity, much more so than the castle gardens.

I suppose that’s mostly due to the sheer number of foals running around, little tiny ponies with eyes disproportionately large. There’s even a few closer to my size. While I don’t think that I’m technically a foal(?) I’m still not really an adult either and as such, I’m not quite as big as a fully-grown pony.

Wait just a second… Of all the ponies I can see, more than half of them are unicorns. And of the others, the majority are pegasi; meaning that there’s barely any earth ponies. And now that I think about it, it’s a trend that I’ve been seeing across the whole of Canterlot. None of the younger foals running amok are flying or using magic, I suppose they’re a bit too young for that, but it seems that every one of age is doing so at every chance they get. In the distance, an older group of ponies are playing a game with a ball.

It appears that they’ve split into two groups, one spectating and one playing. The playing team has six ponies on it. Two pegasi hover above the field and two unicorns levitate buckets over their heads. There is only one earth pony on the field, mirrored by a pegasus on the ground. I assume that there’s supposed to be two earth ponies, but with how little I’ve seen of them, I guess they don’t have enough to complete the team.

Not really interested in sports, I let my gaze sweep over the field, where I see a group of unicorns resting under a tree. The majority of their group are mares, although there is also a stallion. They’re all holding books in their magic, sharing one between two. Most of the other ponies seem to steer clear of their group. Suddenly, one pony puts down her book and steps out from under the tree. The rest of the group turn their attention to watch her light her horn. She fires a beam of magic towards an apple resting on a stool. When the light fades, the apple is gone… And in its place is what looks like a miniature carriage of the same colour? Did she just turn an apple into a carriage?

Suddenly, the carriage starts to vibrate, before spontaneously exploding in her face. The other ponies appear to laugh at her, although I cannot hear them from this distance. Luckily, she begins to laugh with them too. The stallion walks over to a bag resting against the tree and brings out a new apple. Another mare then walks over to the stool and fires her own spell, successfully recreating a new carriage. To further demonstrate her skill, she then reaches out a hoof, bringing it down onto the miniature model’s roof and pushing herself up off it; demonstrating its strength. However, being a model carriage, with wheels… Well, you can guess what happens. Of course, it suddenly slips out from under her hoof, flinging itself off the stool and into the grass. She, of course, falls onto the stool, knocking it over and tumbling to the ground.

Once more, the rest of the group laughs at her. Picking herself up, she holds her head high, swishing her mane back into place. But it seems that she can’t hold back the giggles for long either. A group of ponies practising turning apples into carriages? Wow, it seems that magic is more potent than I realised.

Suddenly, one of them glances in my direction and our eyes meet. Wait, did she see me? I quickly look to the side and start examining a patch of grass. After a moment, I risk flicking my eyes back towards them. Wait, she’s coming this way?

“Hey there!”
She seems quite chipper; a violet unicorn mare with a silvery mane and yellow-grey eyes.

“Umm, hi.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before. I also couldn’t help but notice how interested you seemed in our little group. Wanna hang?”

I glance nervously towards Snow, she smiles and waves her hoof at me in a ‘go on’ gesture. I can’t see Sandy anywhere though.

“You coming or what?”
The young mare gestures with her head towards the group. Reluctantly, I get up off the grass to follow her.

“Sooo, you new in Canterlot?”

“Umm, yes?”

“Ah. Will you be attending Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns?”

Celestia runs a school? Actually wait, I think Snow has mentioned that before.
“I don’t think so?”

She stops suddenly to look me in the eye and I almost walk into her.
“Seriously? With a horn like that, I can’t see why you wouldn’t.”

“W-what do you mean by that?”

“A horn of that calibre and length isn’t exactly common, you know. I’m surprised. You’re at least going to attempt to enroll there, aren’t you?”
She sets off again at a trot.

Is my horn really that long? I’ve never noticed it being particularly long, although I guess I never gave it much attention in the mirror.
“Well, I wasn’t planning to…”

She cuts me off.
“So where were you planning to go then?”

“Actually, I’m… not sure.”
Yeah, I don’t actually know where Celestia is sending me. I guess I assumed she would have had me taught in the castle, but now I’m not so sure.

She stops once more; I’m not directly behind her this time so I’m not at risk of walking into her again.

“Do me a favour and make sure you at least try! It’s like, only the most prestigious magic school in the whole of Equestria, run by the princess herself! You’ll be seriously missing out if you don’t.”

Magic school? Really?
At this point, we’re only a few paces from the tree, and the whole group has definitely noticed me now.

“Alright girls!... and also stallion. This is… Ugh, I forgot to introduce myself.”
She turns to me.
“My name is Moonlight Melody, and you are…?”

“Jonathan.”

“Jon- a- than? That’s a weird name… Where are you from anyway?”

“Earth.”
The ponies just stare blankly back, uncomprehending.
“It’s outside of Equestria.”

“Oooh,” they all go in unison.

“So, does this mean that you know special magic?” one pony asks.
I tilt my head at that. Special magic, what do they mean?
“Like, you come from a far away place, so you must have a different culture, and therefore different magic,” another, with glasses, supplies.

“I don’t think so? Maybe? I really don’t know.”

“Girls! Introductions first, magic talk later! Alright, Jonathan, whatever that means…. We here, are a magical study group from Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns! And if you decide to change your mind and actually apply as I strongly think you should, then you’ll soon be joining our ranks. For this afternoon however, you can be an honorary member! Now to introduce you to the group.”

The group in question turns out to be about eleven mares strong, plus two stallions; one of whom isn’t actually here today.

“So, you were going to show us some magic from your homeland?” A yellow mare with a purple mane (I think her name was Temporal Wisp?) prompts. They want me to show them magic? But I don’t know how to do that?

“Yeah, show us what you can do!”

“Show us your magic!”

The group begins to fan out, surrounding me from all sides.

“Are you okay?” asks Moonlights. “Is there anything you need for your spell?”

I try to take a step back, but the group keeps closing in. My ears fold down.

The blue stallion, Meta Sample, seems to notice.
“Girls, I think you’re…”
But he is quickly cut off by another mare.

“Hush, he’s starting.”

Why is my forehead feeling so hot right now? The faces around me are now illuminated in pink light. Oh no, my horn? What’s it doing? Suddenly, there’s a crackling sound, followed by a loud pop and a bright flash of light. It takes a moment for my eyes to readjust. But all too soon, the silence is broken.

“So…. what exactly did you do then?”

Huh, it feels like my horn has stopped. The mares glance at each other in confusion.

“Hey, what’s this?”

Collectively, the heads turn to the voice from the back. Curious, I walk round the pony cluster to see what they’re looking at; a small pink-hued lump on the trunk of the tree.

“So, what is it? What exactly did you do?”

I know next to nothing about magic, I’m just as lost as they are, if not moreso.
“Not sure…”

Moonlight reaches a hoof tentatively to poke at the pink stump.

“Feels just like regular wood, but I can’t say much else than that. I’ve never seen anything like it…”

She glances up to the sky, where the sun is a lot lower than it was before. I’d judge there to be at least a few more hours of daylight left. Has the day really passed that quickly? For all I know, this place could have with different length days. Not to mention the possibility of the celestial princess having a hoof in the process…

“Sorry everypony, it looks like we’ll have to leave this mystery for another day as I have to be heading home now. Study session is officially over.”

She turns to me.
“I hope to see you again soon. Please, consider my suggestion, you’re sure to find it to be a worthwhile experience.”

Using her magic, she collects all the books off the grass and levitates them into a neat pile in her sand-coloured aura, before setting off.

Temporal Wisp trots up to me.
“So, you wanna stay and help the rest of us try and figure out this magical lump you left on the tree?”

I’m not exactly sure when I need to be back at the castle, and this situation has been quite uncomfortable already.
“Sorry Temporal, but I’ve got places to be. See you later, I guess.”

She looks a little disappointed, but quickly perks back up.
“Fine, but I still want to study your magic. Until we meet again, Jon.”

She reaches out a hoof. Uhh, am I supposed to shake it or something? I raise a tentative hoof. She knocks her own into it before trotting off, flashing one last grin my way before she’s gone.

“So uh, Jonathan was it? It was nice meeting you. I hope to see you in class. That is if you’re attending the school for gifted unicorns that is.”

“Thank you Meta.”

I begin to make my way back towards Snow, putting a little bit extra speed into my trot. I’m glad that’s finally over…

We’ve finally reached the train station, just in time too it seems, as I just heard a whistle. Sandy has rejoined us now, seeming to have come out of nowhere, once we were clear of the park. I glance along the platform, hoping to catch a glimpse of the train. It seems to be a single-tracked line; so they can’t have that much rail traffic if there’s only space for one train in one direction. One end of the track disappears behind a wall, in the direction of the castle. The other direction, where my ears tell me the whistle came from, leads out over a small stone bridge that crosses a stream.

It’s not long before the locomotive finally comes round the mountain. And it’s bright pink… covered in heart motifs too. That is the most girly and gaudy locomotive I’ve ever seen. It certainly stands out. It’s coming in quite fast though. Is it even going to stop? The train rushes alongside the platform, before the air is suddenly filled with the harsh squeal of brakes and it comes to a stop in record time. Wow, that stopped quickly. I guess that four legs would make you a bit more resilient to sudden changes in velocity, and it is a short train; but still, it’s still quite a sudden stop.

As steam billows out onto the platform from the pistons, ponies begin to disembark. My wings are starting to itch again… Not many of the ponies coming off the train are wearing clothes. Now that I think about it, this section of Canterlot doesn’t seem to be as richly decorated. Wandering along the platform (careful not to get in the way of passengers) I examine the train length ways. The coaches, like the train, are quite small. I guess, since it has to get all the way up this mountain, it does have to be quite agile.

A pony standing near the end of the platform glances down the length of the train before blowing his whistle. Huh, that was quick. After a few more moments, the train begins to move. A loud clunk is heard as each of the chains holding each coach are pulled taut. The train’s acceleration seems to be a bit slower than it’s stopping, but it’s still out of the station in record time.

“It’s getting late now, we should start heading back,” Snow suggests.

And looking into the sky, the sun is getting quite low.

The walk back to the castle is fairly uneventful. That is until I overheard a pair of ponies discussing some ‘interesting’ rumours.

“Hey Swirl, have you heard the rumours?”

“What rumours?”

“About the alicorn.”

“Alicorn? Oh, you mean those rumours… Really though? A male alicorn, here in Canterlot? Where even in Equestria are ponies getting all this?”

“But Swirl, Cherry works in the castle, and even she says she saw the alicorn!”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait for the coronation then won’t we. As if that’ll ever happen.”

It seems like rumours are already leaking from the castle. Snow looks a little worried after hearing it. And Sandy’s expression has switched to an unreadable neutral…

By the time we reach the castle, my hooves are quite sore and the sun has already passed below the city walls. Being in the mountains means that night time comes much earlier. Maybe that’s why there’s so many towers? Snow seems to pick up on my discomfort as she suggests that we return straight to my room and have dinner brought up. I’m not in much of a state to disagree…

After lifting my saddlebags onto the pony-shaped mannequin in the corner, Snow leaves me to go get the food. Now alone, I check over my body. First of all, I’m covered in dirt; likely from when I tripped over earlier. Secondly, my wings are damp, and they itch. Spreading them out across the floor, I look at them closer. It seems like spending all day in the confines of my saddlebags haven’t been kind to them. Despite it not actually pressing down on them, the feathers are largely in disarray and sticking out at odd angles.

The door opens suddenly and a familiar green unicorn slips in. Granola Mist was it?
“Good evening, Jonathan. Miss Blossom requested me to prepare you a bath. And oh my, it looks like you’ll definitely be needing one. And your wings too! It almost looks as if you haven’t been preening. I may not be a pegasus myself, but do I know the importance of wing care!”

And then she’s into the bathroom. I look over my shoddy wings. Yeah, those don’t look so good. Using my long neck, I bring my head over one wing. Ugh, it stinks too. So, preening, how do I go about doing that? Tentatively, I reach out towards one particularly bad feather and clasp the edge in my teeth. Ugh, why did I just put that thing in my mouth? I tug backwards in my disgust and the feather pulls out without much resistance. Huh, maybe I just need to remove the loose ones? But maybe I should wait until after the bath, this can’t be hygienic.

Still, it’ll probably be some time until it’s ready, and I’ve seen ponies holding things in their mouths plenty already… Maybe they just have good immune systems. Actually, I’m not sure that I want to put that to the test.

It doesn’t actually take too long for Granola to finish preparing the bath and I gratefully make my way to it, thanking Granola as she leaves. Now for the arduous task of self cleaning… The bath is once again, the perfect temperature as I go about my cleaning routine. Once again, there’s nothing I can do about my mane, but I must at least do something with my wings. But not until I’m out of the bath, the water’s soapy.

Quite a few feathers came out on their own while I was in the bath, and even more do so as I get out. The water has soaked into them, and the extra weight has helped in pulling some of them straight, but it’s not done the whole job for me. Snow is waiting with the food trolley as I exit the bathroom. I trail water and feathers across the floor as I make my way over. I feel sorry for whoever has to clean all that up. Maybe I should gather them up myself before I go to bed.

“Evening,” Snow yawns, “I’ve brought up dinner, apple tarts!”

And yes, the meal does mostly consist of miniature pastries. They look delicious, and easy for me to handle too.

“Thanks, Snow.”

“No, *yawn* problem… Jon”

Her yawn makes me yawn. The food is delicious.

“So Snow, how exactly did you have those saddlebags done so quickly? You only took my measurements yesterday.”

“Yes, the final measurements. The bags were actually commissioned much earlier, leaving about a day for the final adjustments to be made.”

“Whoever it was works fast.”

“I’ll make sure to pass on your compliments.”

We eat in silence for a bit.

“So, umm, Snow. Could you maybe tell me, how exactly does one go about ‘preening’ their wings?”

“You don’t know? Uh, well. I think it goes like this… So, sometimes, the feathers on your wings may become misaligned over time. And some even become damaged. I’m not really sure of the facts, but I think you’re supposed to try to nudge the misaligned feathers back into position. And if they’re damaged, they’ll naturally become loose. Yes, they’ll fall off by themselves, but you ideally want to pull them out as soon as you can. Loose feathers rub around inside the wings and can cause them to itch or damage other feathers around them. Not to mention, you’ll start littering feathers all over the floor…”

“Thanks for the advice.”

“You’re welcome? Anyway, I best be going now. It’s late, and I’m tired. Big day tomorrow, y’know?”

Snow stands up and begins to wheel the now empty food cart out of the room. Glancing over her shoulder, she stops upon seeing my feather trail. Rolling her eyes, she envelops the litterred feathers in her magic and levitates them all onto the cart, before finally leaving the room.

Well, I suppose the feathers are taken care of. Maybe I should get the ones out of the bathtub. Another yawn escaped my muzzle. Maybe not, preening'll probably take a while. I make my way back into the bathroom before extending both my wings and making a start.

Well, I think that that’s the best I’ll get them. Not the neatest, but at least they’re no longer itching.

I wander out of the bathroom and climb up onto my soft bed. It’s been a long day and I’m tired. I subconsciously shuffle further into the middle of the cloud and then allow my wings to spread out fully. What did Snow say earlier? A big day tomorrow? Oh right, the start of my pony education. I wonder what that’ll be like.

I don’t follow that train of thought any further as I drift off into sleep.

Author's Note

Wow. It's been a long time! I lost count after the third week, but I'm pretty sure that it's been at least a month. It's taken me a bit longer than I would have hoped to get round to this chapter; it was pretty daunting for me. How exactly would I go about writing a journey through Canterlot? I had actually attempted to start this a couple times previously, but couldn't quite get into the right mindset long enough to get further than the gatehouse. On top of that, college has meant I've not had much time to focus on writing and I've spent at least two full weekends animating a pony rig in blender.

But here it is, a new chapter. It was quite difficult at first, but after a few attempts, I've finally gotten it flowing. 2.8k words in a single writing session! Lately, I've been thinking this story to be slowly burning out. Every new chapter just seems to come out further and further apart and each new chapter seems to get harder to write. Because of this, I am expecting updates for this story to be a bit slower. Although with this more recent chapter, I've had a little bout of inspiration. It kind of wrote itself, and the visit to the park brought me a little insight into where to take the story next.

While I do think that I'm beginning to burn out a little with this story (and have been for the past few chapters) I do plan on continuing this story at least a little bit further. And even once this story finally peters out, I have plenty more story ideas in the backlog, with much more pre-writing planning behind them than this story began with.

But as always, I'd love to hear what you think. Both on this chapter, and on the story as a whole! How do you think I'm handling the protagonist as an alicorn so far? Where do you think I've done well and where do you think needs improvement? What do you think of the slow-burn slice-of-life style of the story? Any suggestions or ideas on where I could take things from here?

Ch:10 - Dreams

Endless fields of pastel greens and rolling hills stretch to the horizon in all directions. The blades of grass lightly tickle my hooves as I traverse the land. Tiny flowers of every hue offer their subtles smells, which all blend together to form a sweet orchestra of fragrance. The flatness of the plains, broken only by the occasional tree or rock, is illuminated silver by the light of the full moon above. Little, fluffy clouds drift slowly across the beautiful, starlit sky.

It could almost be described as picturesque. Almost. But something still feels off. I stop walking, settling down instead in the soft grass; who knew grass could be so comfortable? Yet despite all this tranquillity, I still find myself plagued with a sense of unease: a feeling of being watched. And suddenly this place is not so comforting. I feel exposed in this wide open space, with my wings and horn out in the open air. I shiver slightly as a cool breeze ruffles my fur, mane and feathers.

Where even am I? This place feels strange, liminal, dream-like… Dream like… Am I in a dream? Everything seems so surreal, yet so vivid. But if this is a dream, then why does it feel like I’m being watched? It’s like there’s another presence here, watching me. I stand up and call out.

“Hello?”

My voice echoes strangely through the dreamscape. Silence. But then, my ears pick up a new sound. Distant at first, but steadily approaching: the sound of wingbeats. I twist my head, following my ears. I can just barely make out a speck in the distance, but whatever it is blends too well against the dark sky to see clearly.

“We were hoping thou wouldn’t notice us.”
That voice sounds familiar... And then she is close enough to recognise.

“Princess Luna?”
Why, of all ponies, would the lunar princess be in my dream? For some reason, I get the feeling that this isn’t just a simple creation of my subconscious.

“Yes, Jonathan. It is I.”
She touches down softly upon the grassy ground ahead of me, her great wings coming to rest neatly against her sides.

“What are you doing here? In my dream I mean?”

“Jonathan, you already know me as Princess of the Night, do you not?”

“Yes…, but what does that have to do with you being in my dream?”

“Like the night sky, the dream realm also falls within my domain. It is my responsibility to protect mine little ponies through their dreams!”

Cryptic… But also creepy. So she can see into ponies dreams? But what does she mean by ‘protecting ponies through their dreams?’ Maybe she wards off nightmares, or uses dreams to track down criminals? I don’t really know how I should feel about that… But that does not exactly answer what she is doing watching me in my sleep.

“That still doesn’t tell me exactly what you were doing in my dream, Luna. Why are you in my dream?”

She seems a little hesitant to answer, refusing to look me in the eye.

“We were… studying thy dream, Jonathan.”

Studying my dream? Why would she be doing that? Glancing backwards, I am reminded of my current species. Ah, right… It kinda makes sense that the princesses would want to keep an eye on the ‘mysterious new alicorn.’ I guess she’s trying to find out more about me to see if I am a danger. Still, that shouldn’t give her the right to start invading my mind and my privacy behind my back.

“You know Luna, I’m a little bit annoyed at you now. I may not know exactly how things work around here, around Equestria, but that doesn’t make me any less upset that you’ve been spying on my mind without my consent.” I stop for a moment. “How long has this been going on for?”

Luna’s ears are folded back now and she seems even more reluctant to make eye contact.
“Well, we have been attempting to find out… more about you, since… since you arrived.”

Really, she’s been doing this multiple nights already? Doesn’t make it any better. I raise an eyebrow and continue my stare.

“But.. but, this has been our first successful attempt at contact, we couldn’t find your dream the first night, and the second just wasn’t stable enough! I tried stabilising your dreaming with magic the third night, but then you suddenly cut off… We didn’t know what happened! But you seemed fine the next day…”

I hold up a hoof to cut her off. So, she hasn’t successfully invaded my dreams before tonight… And so she’s been trying to stabilise my dreams with magic? Uh, magic again!? Since when did simple dreaming require magic of all things? Magic this and magic that. Much good it’s done me! Waking me up in the… middle… of… the… night…

“So… it was you?!”

“What?”

“It was you who woke me up last night. You who made my horn go all funny!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

I’m angry. I stop. I take a deep, shuddering breath. Just, breathe… There we go, much better…

“Last night, Luna, I was awoken suddenly from my sleep. And what awoke me from my sleep was this… thing… on my head. It was glowing, bright like the sun, burning my eyes out. And it just would… not… stop! I had to get up and go all the way to use the bathroom sink to put it out. And then I had to make my way all the way back to the bed in complete darkness.”

“We… I… had no idea Jonathan.”

“It’s fine… it’s behind us now… but please Luna… next time you do something like this, please talk to me about it first. And no more casting magic on me behind my back! Please.”

“Very well… we shall leave you in peace. Good night Jonathan.”

“Thank you. And good night, Princess.”

The lunar princess fades out of my view, and out of my dream. I let out a long sigh, allowing myself to collapse back into the comforting grass of the endless plains. I have a lot to think about…

Author's Note

It's been a few months now.
Here's some more words.
Why are you still reading this?
Does Fluttershy still wish to become a tree?

Well, this chapter didn't go quite how I expected. I actually think I gave Jonathan some level of character for once… Oh well, time to release this word-text minutes after completion and hope people like it. A short chapter this time, but hopefully I can get myself to work on the next chapter sooner. Also, since it's only a few hours left: Happy new year everyone!

Ch:11 - Wings

Opening my eyes, I find myself staring up at the plain white ceiling. My room is flooded with light pouring in through the balcony window. Must be morning. Not feeling like going back to sleep, I roll onto my belly. The action triggers all sorts of ticklish sensations in my wing as it is rubbed over the cloud. It only serves as a reminder that I’m still a pony; a flying magical pony thing sure, but it still doesn’t feel right. Even now after all the time I’ve been here, it still feels so surreal. I glance across the room to the main door. So, what am I doing today? Today is… I glance sideways. Right, there’s no calendar in this room. What day even is it? While I’m busy racking my brains, the door opens.

Snow trots in, pushing with her magic, a food trolley.
“Morning Snow.”

“Good morning Jonathan! Do you remember what’s happening today?”

Oh, I remember now. It’s pony school. I wonder what sort of things I’ll be learning. I suppose reading and writing pony-ish is important. Reading will probably come first, since you need to be able to read before you write? I never took language class back home… But, it’s painful to think back there, there’s no way of knowing how long I’ll be stuck here for. To live in a castle, it’s many a little girl’s dream isn’t it. But as in many of the old stories, the princess is trapped in the castle. I feel trapped here too. Trapped in a body not my own, in a world not my own. A world of magic and castles and princesses and ponies. But it’s not my world. I suppose I’ll have to learn about this world’s culture too. I guess that’ll be interesting.

But there’s also magic… I look up towards my horn, hidden behind my mauve mane. I haven’t had much luck with that thing so far. I don’t look forward to that. I realise that I haven’t answered Snow yet, she’s waiting expectantly for my answer. I can’t help but let out another sigh as I slip out of bed.

“School, right?”

“Eh, close enough. Here, I brought us some breakfast!”

She releases the trolley in the usual spot. I move over to lay down on a cushion across from her. She levitates two trays onto the floor and then the food. I look over the selection. We each have an apple, what looks to be some apple tarts, a salad sprinkled with some kind of purple flower and… a cupcake?

Snow levitates her apple to her mouth to take a bite out of it. I’m left eating mine off the tray again, but I don’t mind; it’s what the non-unicorns do and I don’t want to try touching my magic after everything that it’s done. Next is the salad, it looks fairly normal to me, except for the purple flowers on the top. Snow’s chowing her’s down hungrily. Tentatively, I press my snout into the bowl and scoop some into my mouth with my tongue. Eh! It’s bitter, and dry and- I cough loudly, almost choking as the half-chewed mouthful is thrown back into the bowl. Oh come on… I’m a horse, I really should be able to eat this stuff. And now Snow’s giving me a funny look again.

I’m still hungry though. I carefully tap my tongue against one of the purple flowers. It’s bitter and dry, the source of the irritation. Mindful to avoid the flowers, I try the rest of the salad. Without the overpowering bitterness in the way, it’s actually quite nice. Soon, all that’s left is the cupcake. I’m not sure why there’s a cupcake on the breakfast trolley, but Snow’s… already eating hers. I guess we had muffins yesterday, so why not a cupcake? So I take a bite, and that is overpoweringly sweet! First, too bitter and now too sweet? I force myself to swallow. There’s no way I’m eating that, and now Snow’s looking at me weirdly.

“Jonathan, are you okay?”

“Um, yes?”

“Is there something wrong with your food? First, you coughed on your salad, and then you're not eating your cupcake? Not to mention all the other times… Wait, you’re not allergic to flowers? Are you?”

Allergic to flowers, is that even a thing? I don’t think I’ve been having any allergic reactions to them, but I’ve noticed that every flower I’ve eaten has tasted bad. And none of the other ponies seem to have the same experience.

“Snow Blossom, how did those purple flowers taste to you?”

“Oh, you mean the crispy veramints? They taste… slightly minty, but also fruity I think. Why, what did you think of them?”

“Bitter. Overpoweringly bitter. And also dry.”

She frowns at that.
“I don’t think I’ve ever known a pony to find veramints bitter. But what about your cupcake? I’ve noticed you usually only don’t like flowers. But I’m pretty sure there’s none in that.”

“It’s too sweet.”

“I guess they are a little… I’ll make sure to get some less sugary next time. Or muffins, I know you like muffins.”

“Thanks Snow. So, now that breakfast is over, can you tell me what sort of stuff I’ll be learning at school? Reading and writing? Or maybe history and culture?”

She leans forwards and whispers “Actually, that’s a surprise.”
Standing up, Snow begins to clear everything up.
“Go freshen yourself up and then we can go.

After dropping off the breakfast trolley with another pony who was waiting just outside my apartment room, we set off into the endless hallways of ‘the Canterlot maze,’ a pegasus guard falling into step beside us. Once more, I’m wearing my new wing-covering ‘saddlebags.’ As Snow leads me through the castle, I can’t help but wonder how any pony can navigate a place like this. There’s not even anything resembling signs or maps and everything looks the same! I briefly consider trying to work out where we’re heading, but there’s no chance of that. Instead, I take to watching the ponies going about their work around us. For the most part, everypony ignores us. But I think I catch a few curious glances thrown our way out of the corners of my eye.

Eventually, we reach one final stairway that seems somewhat familiar. At the bottom is a rather tall door, flanked by a pair of guards.

“Jonathan, we’re here. Now, are you ready?”

“Isn’t this that gym place you showed me on the tour?”

Snow frowns for a moment.
“Jonathan! I said, are you ready?!”

“I guess?”

“Good, let’s go”

With a quick nod to the guards, she opens the door with her horn magic and walks through. I follow her in, alongside our guard and the door is closed behind us. As the echo reverberates throughout the massive hall, I take in details. It's definitely the same place, although I was kinda expecting to be taken to a classroom. What are we going to be doing here?

The chamber is comprised of some kind of pony gym equipment in one corner. In the middle is a massive sandpit, surrounded by a large eight-lane running track. Snow leads us across the track and into the sandpit towards another pony. As we trek across the sand, I wonder what this room is actually used for. I’d previously assumed this place was for the palace guards and this sandpit was a sparring pit. But they already had those outside and at the barracks. I don’t see anypony else here other than that one pony waiting in the sandpit.

The pony is a male pegasus, wearing some kind of light padding armour and a whistle around his neck. He meets us in the centre.

“Well hello there! Snow Blossom, Jonathan, Feather Brick.”

Ah, so that’s the name of today’s guard, he’s kinda quiet. The new pony holds out a hoof, presumably for me to shake. I hold out my hoof too.

“My name is Wispy Skies,” he continues. “And I’ll be your flight instructor today… and tomorrow, or not tomorrow? Next week? Well, I don’t have the schedule, but for the duration of your stay anyway. Just call me Wispy. Nice to meet you!”

At this point, I’ve already tensed up. Did he just say… flight instructor? Very slowly, I let my gaze drift towards the ceiling, where a massive obstacle course made of clouds looms above us. I barely register Snow’s magic picking the saddlebags from my back.

“Impressive, ain’t it. Took all of yesterday evening to set up. Y’know, I ain’t never taught an alicorn to fly before. In fact, when I heard it was an alicorn I was to be teaching, I couldn’t believe my own ears.”

I shake my head in an attempt to clear it.

“So… flying? I wasn’t expecting that.”

I glance over at my uncovered wings.

“Especially not so soon…”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. You ain’t gonna embarrass yourself in front of nopony right down here. I bet you’ll be a better first time flyer that Princess Twilight Sparkle after she got her wings?

That momentarily throws me for a loop? ‘got her wings?’ So another alicorn who wasn’t always an alicorn… interesting.

“So, why don’t you come and show off those wings of yours, Jonathan?”

“Huh, what, now?”

“Yes now! Why do you think we’re down here?”

“Can’t we do this another time?”

“Nope! Princess wants you up in the air and flapping those wings. Those may be lookin’ healthy now, but they won’t be for long if you don’t use them!”

“Uhh…”

“Come on Jonathan! Open em’ up! I need to see what it is we’re working with here!”

“Right… wings… open…”

I look back at the feathery appendages neatly folding along my back. How do I go about doing this? I try concentrating on them. One twitches slightly, but otherwise I do not get any response. Well, I know they can move. I try thinking back to all the times they’ve opened on their own. Suddenly, my left wing springs open with enough force to throw me sideways into the sandpit. I land heavily on my right wing and a lance of pain shoots through it.

“Oww…”

“What was all that? You’re going to ruin your wings like that! Get up!”

I’m in too much pain to respond. And even if I wasn’t, I don’t know how to get up from this position, so I’m content to just lay awkwardly in the sand with one wing in the air and the other crushed below me. After a moment, Snow’s magic lifts me back onto my hooves. Wispy walks around me to inspect my wing. I wince as he tugs it open and quietly regards the ruffled feathers.

“Eh, it’s not as bad as it could be, but we’ll have to get it preened out before you can take to the air.”

Dropping the limb, which flops limply on the floor, he walks back round to inspect my undamaged wing.

“Hmm. Not the worst I’ve seen. Good feathers, but your preening leaves something to be desired. Muscles look strong, but are starting to show early signs of atrophy. I guess the cloud course can wait, preening’s now first lesson of the day, but we don’t have long left to get you in the air. I have my work cut out for me now, don’t I. Alright, hold your wings out, like this.”

With one wing already extended, all that’s left is my limp wing. Hopefully falling on it didn’t break anything… Focusing on the sensations in the wing, especially where the ache is coming from, I manage to raise it shakily into position. The feathers are quite messy. Thinking back to my earlier preening attempts, I bend my neck round and start nudging the feathers back into place.

Wispy, who is watching me, steps in with his own advice.
“You want to be tugging on the feathers, not pushing them. You might damage the shafts if you do it like that. If they’re healthy, they’ll straighten out. If they’re damaged, they’ll pull out”

Huh. I look closer at the patch I’d been working on. I carefully tug on one, and it pulls straighter before snapping off. It seems I’d been bending the stems by inadvertently squashing the feathers inwards, and also messing up the ones in the surrounding area even more. I start tugging more out. Getting them in my teeth isn’t the easiest thing, but my flexible neck allows me to reach most of my wing.

“Try using your tongue. Using your teeth like that can mess up the feathers underneath. Your feathers are also a little dry-looking, not too bad though. Your tongue will help moisten ‘em and prevent them from becoming brittle. It’s important that you do that often, especially after a good drenching. Plain old water can wash away the oils your wings produce, so you should always preen after a shower. As good as your natural preening oils are, I would suggest using proper conditioner; you should have some in your room. It’ll provide more long-term protection and give your feathers a shinier sheen.”

I pause my feather licking.
“Uh, Wispy. What do you mean by preening oils?”

“Eh, I thought that’d be common knowledge. Not that I was going to leave that part out if you forgot. Now, preening oil is the oily substance produced under your wings to moisten your feathers and keep 'em in top notch condition. It won’t apply itself - that’s your job. After you’re done with straightening your feathers, I want you to lick under the base of your wing to get some oil on your tongue. Eh, that’s where your preening glands are.”

Once I’m finally finished with my wing, it’s looking almost good as new. It’s clear that there’s still room for improvement, but I guess I’ll get better. Following Wisp’s instructions, I bend my neck under my wings and (ewww) stick my tongue into a sensitive spot just underneath. Immediately, an oily substance seeps onto my tongue. It tastes weird, not bad, just weird. Oh well, here goes… I start using my tongue to spread the oil across my wings. It’s absolutely disgusting, but if that’s what pegasi have to put up with, I guess I’ll have to as well.

I look back across both of my outstretched wings. They’re kinda glossy now and the feathers are nice and straight. I cannot say how long it took, and there’s no windows down here either, but I’d assume it was at least 2 hours of licking. And, I feel like it helped. Not just in cleaning my wings, but getting a proper feel for them. Running my tongue carefully over each individual spot with no other sensory inputs has helped me align the tickling sensations of preening to each area of my wings. It won’t have given me instant masterful control, but it’s at least a start.

I carefully flap my wings up and down. Now that I think about it, I’ve been holding them out for quite a while and they don’t feel in the slightest bit tired. I guess pegasi wings have to maintain this position under much more strain when gliding, so I suppose it makes sense.

“I see you’re ready and raring to go, now Jon. Keep flapping. Get a feel for your wings.”

Flapping them slowly like this produces a light breeze which tickles the hairs around the edges of my hooves. I don’t feel any lighter yet, but I’m not flapping them much. I very slowly begin to increase my flapping speed, feeling the motion of my wings bending to slip through the air on the way up and seeming to stretch out to catch it on the way back down. The feeling is kinda therapeutic. And then I feel myself pulled onto the tips of my hooves as I push down a touch too hard. I freeze my wings, my heart suddenly beating rapidly from the shock. It wasn’t enough to leave the ground completely, but it almost got me airborne.

“Good. Good. Don’t stop. You almost had it! Come on, one more try.”

Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart, I raise my wings. I flap them down. Woah! Too hard! I’m suddenly in the air, a couple feet off the ground. Surprised by the sudden takeoff, my next flaps come out of sync and I flip sideways to land in the sand on my back; all the air being driven from my lungs. Oops. I try to rock myself upright, but there’s resistance from my head. A few more rocks and I roll over my wing. This time, my wing is flat out on the ground and doesn’t get crushed. My head however, jolts, as something stops it following. With a few head shakes, I finally get it free, throwing sand into the air where some of it hits Snow in the face.

Standing up, I look at the horn shaped gouge in the sand. Another reason I don’t like having a horn.

“That was quite the crash there weren’t it. Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it, but maybe we should work on wing control a bit first. It’s about lunch time now, so we can finish it here if you want. Although I don’t mind if you wish to practise a little more first.”

Now that I think about it, I am quite hungry now. And that little flight, no matter how brief, had me terrified for a moment. I think I’m ready to stop now. The idea of flight still scares me, but I find myself kinda looking forward to it somewhat. For now though, I’m ready for lunch. I turn towards Snow to ask what she thinks… and her face is covered in sand. She looks a little annoyed actually… Snow Blossom suddenly bursts out laughing, dispelling my fears.

“Well, I’m just about ready for some lunch myself. You ready to go Jonathan?”

“Yeah, I’m ready Snow… Bye Wispy, thank you for teaching me this morning.”

“Eh, it ain’t no problem Jon, have a good day yourself now! Oh, and one last thing. I want you to keep practising controlling your wings. Here, a book on wing exercises. I want at least 20 minutes a day, okay?”

“Okay!”

Snow takes the book with her levitation and slips it into my saddlebags as she floats them over my back.
“Come on then Jonathan, I better get myself cleaned up before lunch. Bye Wispy!”

And so me, Snow and that quiet guard start making our way back towards the exit.

Author's Note

It's been more than 3 months now. The only reason I am continuing this story is because its one I already have started. Starting something new is often much harder than continuing something that already exists. I do know that there are actually a few people who are unironically reading this and enjoying it, which is one of my motivations for continuing. As well as the notion that I need time to improve my writing before my next story. This story isn't great, but neither is it terrible. It's simply mediocre. And the only thing I can do with this story is learn from it and improve for next time.

If you want to know why this particular chapter took so long to come out, it's mostly lack of confidence and motivation in the story. It's not that I dislike it, just that my drive to update it derives a lot from how I view the story. Last chapter was a dream sequence with Luna, and shortly after publishing, I started to have second thoughts and self doubt on the chapter. I worried if I had published it too soon, maybe I should have left it another day to read it over? Did I write Luna too accepting of Jon's reprimanding? And so, instead of focusing on the next chapter, I wanted to prioritise re-reading that chapter and seeing if there was anything I did need to fix. But then I just never got round to rereading it. Finding motivation to reread and edit an already published chapter is quite hard. Although, the chapter was overall well received and probably one of the only (if not the only) chapter not to earn my story some extra dislikes.

Technically, the above happens quite often. Almost every chapter I have, I start off feeling happy and excited as the notification icon ticks up. Then afterwards, when my brain no longer has the chapter details in the forefront, I start to second guess it and whether I handled this or that good or badly. Etc.

Probably, this story will keep getting updates, if not very frequently. Although I do still want to try something new. I have a few ideas waiting, most of which are already more baked than this was when it started. But the hardest part is just getting started with them. Another thing I think I should look into is finding a pre-reader, someone who can give my new chapters a quick run down and another perspective to see if there's anything I could improve on before I release it and also to boost my confidence in the chapter and inspire motivation for more updates.

If anyone does read this, I'd like to know what you think I should do.
Should I start a new story and put this one on hold?
Should I just keep working on this story for the time being as priority?
I'm also looking for pre-readers as I mentioned above. I want to make sure that my next story is even better than mediocre this time around. If you want to know which story ideas are in the pipeline, I have a blog post on my profile talking about three of them that you could look at.

Also, I released a story earlier called "Delivery" and I am interested to know what people think of that one. Although its marked as incomplete, it's not planned for continuation unless enough people are interested in it.

Ch05: - Talks in the Gardens

I take in a deep breath of the fresh mountain air as we make our way outside. Snow Blossom walks beside me while that guard trails behind. We turn off the main path and onto a cobblestone one. The little pebbles are much cleaner than I would have expected, since we are in a garden, with lots of dirt and soil around. I wonder if they have ponies going around cleaning the garden paths.

Up ahead, the path winds in through a gap between two tall flower patches. I’ve never seen flowers this big before, except maybe sunflowers, but these are different. Thick vines curl up around a wooden trestle, extending to just above eye-level. The flowers are yellow like sunflowers, but not the same shape. They have bigger petals which curl inwards to form a kind of giant flower bud. The smell from them is interesting too. I can’t quite say whether it’s good or bad, but it certainly is… unique.

We soon find ourselves in a sort of enclosed space, the cobbled path spreading out into a circle, surrounded by tall bushes and flowers. In the center is a bench, sat facing towards a much lower flowerbed of more normal-looking flowers. We both go closer to inspect them. I’m pleasantly surprised to see a much more recognisable selection of flowers. In the front, there are a few daisies. A bit larger than the tiny ones I know, but I’m pretty sure that there were big ones on earth too. Behind them and to the left are a range of yellow flowers. A few of them I don’t recognise, but I do recognise the tall buttercup plants.

Turning my head to look to my right, I see… Wait, is Snow Blossom eating something?
"Hey Jonathan, you should try these rambolia, they’re really nice you know."
Don’t tell me she’s eating the garden flowers…
“Are you sure you’re meant to be eating those?”
“There’s no rules against it here. As long as you don’t eat an entire display, anypony’s free to have a taste. And as the Princesses’ guest, I’m sure she’ll be happy for you to try some too.”
“Umm, no thanks Snow.”
“Really, they taste great”

She pulls another crimson bud off the plant and waves it in front of my muzzle. I sniff it, it smells nice, but not like the kind of thing you should actually eat.
“I can see you like the smell Jonathan. Come on, just a little nibble?”
I give in and nip a small piece of the petal. Snow looks a little disappointed at my hesitance. And as before, I find I don’t like the taste. I try to hide a grimase at the flavour and proceed to swallow the small sample.

When I don’t take the rest of the flower, Snow looks a little confused, but then she floats it over and finishes it herself.
“Say Jonathan, is it true that you can’t do magic?”

“No, I suppose I can’t.”
After a moment’s silence, I ask my own question.
“When Doctor Sage found out I couldn’t do magic, he said something about it being impossible for a unicorn to not learn basic magic. What’s that about?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t really know the specifics of that… it’s something you would probably need to ask princess Celestia. She’s actually a part-time magic teacher so I’m sure she’ll be able to explain it in more detail. But back to the question at hoof, I personally have never heard of a unicorn who couldn’t do magic… Excluding the younger foals of course, but most get a basic grasp of it at quite the young age. I suppose it’s not so much that they can’t not learn it, but that all unicorns and horned species have an innate connection to their magic.

Whereas you, when Doctor Sage asked you to lift that weight, your horn showed absolutely no signs of use; not a spark, not even a flicker. I could see that you were concentrating, but for your horn to show no reaction is concerning… How long have you not been able to use magic for?”

Of course, when a pony has a horn, they’re expected to be able to use it… I guess I should have realised that. I suppose I’ll need to look into pony magic eventually… I can’t have every pony going around worrying about my lack of magic. But since they know now, no use trying hiding it, at least not here.

“Well, to be honest, that would be my first time attempting to use this horn.”
And Snow gasps, not that surprising considering how magic-centric these ponies are.
“Have you never had a unicorn around to teach you magic? Surely there must be unicorns back in your home land… Earth, was it? You’re a pony yourself after all.”

“I’ve read about unicorns in mythology books, nothing mentioning them casting magic with their horns though, although they were still listed as magical creatures.”
Snow’s eyes widen and she gasps again.
“No unicorns?! But what about pegasi? Surely you must have pegasi?”
“I’ve read about those too, ponies with wings.”

Poor Snow looks like she’s having a panic attack. Is that because where I come from doesn’t have those ponies or because I’m saying they only exist in mythology?
“But pegasi control the weather! How can you control the weather without unicorns or pegasi? Do you have–”

I cut her off.
“We don’t, the weather controls itself. But we have developed equipment which can predict it to a degree of accuracy and we collect water to use in case it decides not to rain.

“So you’re saying that your homeland has only earth ponies? Or do you not have ponies at all.. but how–”

“Yes, we have ponies. I guess they’re similar to your earth ponies in a way, no horns or wings. The place is called Earth after all.”

“Oh…”
She pauses a moment before continuing.
“But earlier, you called yourself a pegacorn. Does that mean you have alicorns– or pegacorns?”

“We don’t, not even in mythology, but people have come up with their own ideas for what the combination of a unicorn or a pegasus might be like. Pegacorn is one of those names used, mixing pega- from pegasus and -corn from unicorn.”

Snow still looks a little sad. I think it’s time we stop discussing this. I stand up.
“Come on Snow, I want to see more of these gardens, you coming?”

Upon hearing this, she perks up again.
“Of course, I can’t wait to show you the statues! Maybe I can teach you some of our own pony history!”
We both stand up and make our way to the opposite side of the circle where a small arch leads the way through into the next section.

Turning my head back, I notice that I cannot see our guard anymore. I wonder where he went off to?
“Ahem– sorry ponies but the royal gardens are closed to visitors until further notice. I have been instructed to escort all ponies away from the castle. Princess’s orders.”
A unicorn guard had come round the corner while I wasn’t looking and now stands in our path. I think I can guess what this is about… and checking my wing covers, they’re still perfectly hidden.

I glance over at Snow and give a mischievous smile. She seems confused, but only for a moment as she is quick to catch on.
“Oh of course, lead the way. Although I must ask, what might this be about?” she asks.

“That’s confidential information.”
He starts walking back the way we came and we follow behind. Snow comes up to his side and then suddenly asks in a conspiratorial tone, “this wouldn’t have anything to do with, say… those rumours of an alicorn colt would it?”
The guard stops suddenly, rounding on both of us.

“Who told you that! I’m afraid I’ll need to take you in for questioning… and are you wearing bedsheets?”
His shout quickly turning to one of confusion. Snow speaks up.

“Oh, this here is Jonathan, I’ve been assigned to look after him until later this evening…”
“What’s your name miss?”

“Snow Blossom, sir.”
She turns to show her cutie mark to the guard. This sparks some recognition.

“Oh… umm… my apologies miss Snow Blossom. Princess Celestia said you would be on duty… with the… alicorn… colt…”
He glances back over to my bedsheets.
“You wouldn’t happen to be that alicorn colt the princess mentioned would you?”
He doesn’t wait for an answer, and instead goes ahead and pulls off my covers with his magic, revealing my wings.

“My deepest and most sincere apologies… You think you could maybe… promise not to tell anypony of this mix up?”

Snow Blossom laughs.
“Oh don’t worry, we were just having a little fun. Nopony need ever know.”
At that point, the guard who had been trailing up until a short time ago finally reappears from around the bushes. His eyes widen slightly when he sees the unicorn guard with us.

The unicorn guard speaks up.
“Patroller Soft Wing... Where have you been? You were meant to be watching over these two.”
“Umm, I’m really sorry commander. I just got a little distracted by the gardens and maybe might have lost them.”
“And I found them right here, right by the entrance. I almost apprehended them because I didn’t recognise them myself. This is your job, patroller. I really need you to step up your game…”

The commander sounds tired. I wonder how long this has been going on between these two.
The pegasus patroller wilts under his disappointment.
“I’m really sorry sir, it won’t happen again.”

“It better not do, but I’ll let you off just this once.”

“Really sir?”

The commander nods.
“But just this once. Well, I best be going now, need to keep up my patrol. Have a nice day everypony.”
And then he leaves. Our guard, Soft Wing, is quick to compose himself and stand to attention.

“Well, I think it’s getting close to lunch, everypony want to head down to the cafeteria?” Snow asks.

And actually, I am beginning to feel hungry again.
“Ye, sure, that sounds nice.”

Soft Wing ignores the question, keeping his face straight and impassive as before. But what about Soft Wing? He probably had breakfast early this morning, but surely he won’t go without lunch. I wonder if he’ll swap out with another guard or stay and eat with us…
“Hey Soft Wing! I asked if you wanted to get some lunch at the cafeteria?”

“Umm, sorry Snow, but protocol won’t permit that. You go on ahead.”
And with that, we all begin to make our way back to the castle.

Author's Note

Writing this chapter was quite difficult. Especially directing the conversations between Snow and Jonathan. It took a couple rewrites of the starting paragraphs, but I managed to get it done in the end.

Other than that, I got my exam results back today.
So should the next chapter skip to the dinner meeting with Princess Celestia or does anyone else have ideas for them to spend the rest of the afternoon doing up to that point?

~~People in the comments have pointed out that roses are edible and taste good. Just pretend it's a type of Equestrian rose that wouldn't taste good to humans for now. I might go back and replace the rose with another flower later.~~ Replaced roses with made up flower.