Canterlot Academy Trials

Soon enough, our group would arrive in Trotsylvania: A quaint little village city with rather archaic architecture. Angular buildings with wooden doors and stained glass windows, a chapel that rest on a hill, and paved roads of brick that littered every path. The ponies here were dressed in yesteryear style clothing as well. The stallions wore rather well-made suit-jackets while the mares tended to wear short dresses that accentuated their figures.

Captain Marrow made port at the city and the entire group would exit the ship. Given that this was where Grimrose grew up, they decided to let her take point so they could follow her.

“Alright,” she commented as she turned to her team, “Just follow me and try not to get swept up in all the hype. This place has almost a thousand years’ worth of history, but we’re not here to sightsee.” She raised an eyebrow at a certain unicorn stallion, “...that means you, Atomic.”

And she had caught him as he was gazing off into space. The stallion flicked his tail and stuttered, “H-hey! I’m not gonna get distracted! I mean, it’s not like I want to know more about a place with almost as long of a history as Trottingham!”

Grimrose glared at him with a neutral, bored expression, as if she knew full well that Nebula would still find a way to sneak off to study the place regardless. “Ugh…just don’t cause a nuisance while we’re here.”

“So which way are we headed?” Mei asked, “This place has an interesting layout, but we’re here to see your parents, right? Do they have some kind of authority over Trotsylvania, Grim?”

“Something like that,” Grimrose replied as she turned and started walking ahead, leading her team through the open streets of the village, “The Orcus Family--my family, is in charge of many things here, but chiefly of which, the management of their section of the Kobold Canyon which grants this city most of its Power Crystals, or PCs for short.”

Mei sniffed the air as she caught a whiff of what smelt like freshly baked treats layered with honey. Indeed, it was just as they passed a bakery.

“Mmm…what’s that smell?” the kirin asked, “I don’t think I’ve ever smelled something like that before.”

“Baclava,” Rose replied on the dot without missing a beat, “It’s a layered pastry soaked in honey. You might also catch a whiff of chocolate salami.”

“They have salami made of chocolate?” Mei’s jaw nearly hit the ground as they walked, “We totes gotta try some.”

Along the way, they’d notice quite the population of vampire batponies. In fact, the deeper they got into the city, the more of them they’d start to see. Slitted eyes, protruding fang overbites, and bat-like wings too.

“Woah hey,” Blue commented as they entered a town square and walked past a clocktower. “There’s a lot of bats here. Is this where most of ‘em live?”

“Yup,” Grimrose confirmed, “This is where they were born if memory serves. You’ll find the greatest number of batponies here for that reason.”

Just from beyond sight, a bat-like creature with a pair of beady yellow eyes took notice of Grimrose’s presence and immediately flew off to one of the castles in the distance…

Meanwhile, as the group got further into Trotsylvania itself, a few of its citizens started to recognize Grimrose. Some muttered and mumbled, wondering why she was back home when she had supposedly gone off to college. Others were ecstatic, happy to finally see her make her grand return. Of course, they were all too timid to actually approach Duchess Orcus herself.

Nebula was first to notice the murmurs though. “...I think you’ve got quite the fanclub, Rose,” he joked as they continued along the path past an elegant stone water fountain in the middle of the square. “Lots of folks are looking your way--”

“Ignore them,” she shut out such a thing immediately, “We’re not here to engage and fraternize with the citizens. We’re here on a mission.”

Nebula’s expression flattened, but he knew she had a point. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted over frivolous ordeals when the future of multiple nations were at stake.

“Fair enough,” he replied with a roll of his eyes, “In that case, which way to your family’s place?”

“It’s right up there,” she pointed a hoof up to a small castle that looked as if it was untouched by time on a nearby hill deeper within the city itself. Nearby, other castles could be seen, which indicated that the nobility must live separately from the commonfolk down below. “Mother and father live there. As I said before, we’ll need to get their permission to even enter the Kobold Canyon in the first place.”

Blue punched his right fist into his open palm and proclaimed, “Alrighty then. Let’s get on up there and meet the Orcus Family.”

Meanwhile, in the castle itself…

That bat creature from before? As it turned out, it was an imp familiar demon capable of shapeshifting that was bound to serve the Orcus Family. It landed through the window of what appeared to be a study where a pegasus stallion was seated behind a desk. With a quick poof of magic, it turned back into its normal form, a short, stocky individual whose body was covered by mage robes and their face concealed by a rather large witch-like hat.

“They’re here, sire,” it spoke with a low voice and an accent akin to its fellow Trotsylvanians, “What shall we do?”

“Bring my daughter to me,” the stallion replied, “Immediately.”