Foot to hoof

Princess Luna was pacing back and forth in Canterlot Tower's main entrance hall.

The hall was filled with rows of marble columns all identical to each other, on the base of each were small plaques.

Inscribed on the plaques were names of very high ranking ponies, ponies who played an important role in Equestria's government

and ponies who had lost their lives during Discord's reign of chaos.

The ceiling was slightly arched with lit candles on chandeliers hanging from it. The floor was made of a pristine

white tile.

In the hall a massive image of Celestia and Luna's cutie marks was on the floor sealed in tiles. The left and

right entrances had similar tiling mosaics.

Paintings of important ponies hung along side the tainted windows, with images of the Elements Of Harmony and their

capabilities.

Luna herself was in a mess, her mane was tossed and messy, her tiara sat awkwardly just above her fore-head.

Her eyes were bloodshot and had purple rings under them, her coat lacked its normal "royal look."

She paced at a steady speed, trotting from one end of the hall to the other. The whole time, her mouth was moving

and she was whispering her thoughts under her breath. Guards who stood at the entrances tried to ask if she

needed anything, but she just told them to return to their places and not interrupt her again.

Being Royal Guards, they did this without a second thought.

This continued repetitively for quite some time until, the large front doors opened, they revealed a tall white

alicorn surrounded but smaller ponies of different races.

        "Tia!"

Luna screamed as she ran towards Celestia and hugged her.

        "What took you so long?"

Question Luna.

        "What do you mean? I never said when I would be back, and infactI was back quicker than I anticipated.

Luna, you need to relax some times, Look you have not slept since the incident."

Said Celestia with a hint of mockery.

         "Well, it is not easy to relax with all this going on!"

A large argument would have erupted if it were not for Twilight coughing, trying to attract the Princess' attention.

        "Oh, I am sorry my little ponies. Sometimes Luna just gets carried away."

Celestia said darting a steely eyed look in Luna's direction.

         "It is probably best we just get this done and over with."

Celestia spoke as she walked towards the stairs.

         "For now I will show you where you will be staying. It is very likely you will be here for a few days, after that

I shall show you what we needed you for."

As soon as Twilight heard the second line, thoughts about Spike shot through her mind.

'Oh no, what if he gets in trouble? Or does something stupid? What if he runs out of food? He often eats so much...'

Her thoughts trailed on and on endlessly, but she knew the Princess had to of had a good reason and hopefully Spike

would be sensible and not do anything stupid.

"Princess, I must inquire, will we be staying in the same kind of rooms that I did when I was here a few weeks

ago?"

Rarity asked, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"Right now, that is not important. What is important is that you follow me. Come on now."

Celestia said, turning to trot up the second flight of stairs.

Celestia led the ponies through the castles intricate hallways and corridors, until they came to a pair of massive steel door.

They all stopped as Celestia halted infront of it. She nodded to the two guards standing beside it, they nodded back and

began to turn two massive valves on the walls.

The sound of metal clashing, gears grinding and locks opening filled the room as the ponies all waited in anticipation to

see what was behind it.

Twilight could feel her heart racing, Pinkie was ready to spring off her spot, Fluttershy was ready to run away, Rainbow Dash

was ready to shoot forward, and Applejack and Rarity were ready to watch it all unfold.

The sound of the locks finally stopped as the doors inched open.

Everypony was tense as Celestia's horn light up, opening the doors fully.

They could see it.

There it was.

Before their very eyes.

Another corridor.

All the ponies let out a sigh of disappointment apart from Fluttershy, who, being her usual self, was afraid.

Celestia looked back after hearing the sighs.

"What?"

She asked.

"It's just another stupid corridor"

Rainbow Dash spoke up in a disappointed tone.

"What did you think would be behind it? I mean come on everypony, I even said earlier I was just showing you to

your rooms."

"But we never came this way before, also I never even knew this part of the castle existed."

Twilight added.

"Yes, but you have never been in a class 5 situation. I need you all in this special part of the castle for a

reason."

"Class 5 situation?"

Fluttershy mumbled, only to have the same thing said by Twilight louder.

  "All your questions will be answered in due time, my little ponies. Now please, if you would follow me."

Without hesitation they followed as Celestia stepped into the darkened metallic corridor.

The lights turned from well light candles on the walls into rectangle shaped elongated electrical bulbs on the ceiling.

This was like the rumors that had been spread around, but none of the ponies had thought them to be true.

After passing many identical black doors on the left and right of the corridor they came to a flight of stairs.

Look down they could not see the end, not any light passed a certain part.

Fluttershy meeped' at the sight and stepped back.

"D-Do w-we have t-to go down there?"

Fluttershy asked, crouched behind Applejack and hiding behind her mane.

  "No,no,no....Just you."

Celestia replied, unable to help herself, it was just in her nature.

Upon hearing this, the yellow Pegasus nearly screamed, well, whatever a scream was to her.

  "I am only playing with you, yes we do have to go down, but do not fret, we shall all be going down."

Celestia said trying to sound sincere.

  "What's down there anyway?"

Rainbow asked.

  "The basement areas."

   "Wait, what!? The castle has a basement? How come I did not know about this?"

Twilight asked. She felt the Princess told her everything and trusted her, but in this moment felt as if she had been

betrayed or lied to in some way.

  "Twilight Sparkle. You are my favorite student and I have my upmost respect for you, but there are somethings

only some ponies should know about. Not many guards know about this place, not many advisers know about it too. You are lucky I am even showing it to you. Right now, I have things I must attend to, so if we could just get to the rooms. I promise you all, I will answer your questions tomorrow."

Princess Celestia spoke, with an obviously more exhausted voice, by now the ponies knew the full extent of the situation.

Even the Princess was tired, and she began to show it more and more. It was all just an act up until now.

Twilight nodded along with the other ponies as they began their decent down the long stairway.

After a hoof wrecking forty minute walk down the stairs they finally reached what looked like the upper floors of the

castle.

Everything was furbished in the same way, the colour scheme was the same, the walls were made from the same material

and even the light bulbs had changed to candles on walls again.

They approached a dead end in the corridor which had 6 doors each with a symbol on them.

The first door had a 6 point purple star on it, it was coloured in gold.

The next door had three butterflies, also in gold.

The third door had 3 diamonds, strangely they were also gold.

The final 3 doors consisted of 3 gold balloons, a gold cloud with a lightning bolt and finally 3 gold apples.

It was obvious to the ponies what they stood for.

   "Here are your rooms. I must apologize for leaving. A Wake up call will be sent in the morning for you all,

any questions should be asked at breakfast. Just one more thing."

Celestia pointed towards a clearly, sealed door to the right of her.

   "Do not. And I mean it. Do not. Open that door. I am trusting you with that simple task. Now. I can only

advise you to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day. Again I apologize for leaving so soon..

With that, Celestia closed her eyes as her horn began to glow. The ponies all stepped back as an aurora of light enveloped

Celestia. With a massive cracking sound and a burst of light the room was now a soul shorter.

The ponies all stared at each other for a few moments.

     "Well, that was exciting! I hope we get to do the wooosh and craaaacking sounds tomorrow, that would be so

amazing! Imagine if Celestia telep--"

Pinkie was the first to break the silence, she was never the one for awkward times. Anything and everything would be used to try and get others to talk. Her rushed and excited thoughts that shot out of her mouth did not last long as Rainbow Dash put a hoof to Pinkie's mouth.

Pinkie finally stopped mumbling, and looked a bit upset.

Another few moments of staring at each other passed and finally Twilight broke the silence.

      "Well...um...I guess we should do what the Princess says, huh girls? I will see you all in the morning."

Twilight spoke as she turned the handle on her door and walked in.

Disobeying the Princess, or not even taking her advice was something Twilight was unable to do by herself, and now was not the time to try it.

       "Uh, Ah am kinda plum-tuckered out after all that travlin' we did today an' that walk down them stairs

was not very kind to ma' hooves. Ah'm gonna catch some shut eye."

This time, Applejack who was surprisingly quite today spoke up and walked into her room, shutting the door behind her.

       "I suppose whatever the situation a mare must look her best and get some beauty sleep, see you all in the

morning."

Rarity said stepped gingerly into her room and closing the door.

        "Whatever is going to happen tomorrow I want to be ready! I wonder if it is a monster we gotta fight! Or

even Discord! I wanna show that thing who is boss, I am going to..."

Rainbow trailed off as show walked into her room, spraying her thoughts aloud and shutting her door.

Without saying anything, Fluttershy opened her door and walked in before closing it.

The same act was preformed by Pinkie who was upset that no pony seemed to be in a good mood.

Twilight turned after closing her door.

The room she stood was of a decent size, larger than the rooms on the upper floors. At the end of the room was a Princess sized bed, a portrait of Celestia, and a small bed-side table with candles on it.

To her left was picture of Canterlot Gardens and a medium sized table with some grooming objects on it. On her left was another door which was open. Inside Twilight could see that the room she stood in was an en-suite.

Finally, in the centre of the room was a massive table, almost extending the full length.

Twilight's eyes lit up as she saw piles of books resting on the table and she let out an excited 'squee' before dashing to the

table and looking at them.

She picked up the nearest one;

'Metamorphosis, a journey'

She examined it and picked up another;

'Myths and legends of Equestria'

And a few more;

'Creatures of the Everfree'

'New species, volume II'

'Universal travel, just a crazy idea?'

'Portal hopping'

'Missing Links'

'Dimensions and You'

She placed the books down.

She was excited that she never read these books before, but the topics were not exactly her kind of reading. She glanced

at the piles of books, that lay scattered across the table, then something caught her eye.

A note, she walked over and looked at it;

Twilight Sparkle,

I have left you these books for a reason, I need you to study them, it will help you alot tomorrow.

I understand I asked to you to catch up on some sleep, and I still do.

Please attempt to read as many as possible, but try get a good amount of sleep.

-Princess Celestia

Twilight began thinking, in an almost paralyzed state.

After many minutes of contemplating the situation so far, she took the nearest book and sat down on a nearby wooden stool.

"Advanced universal theories, chapter one..."

Twilight said aloud to herself.

Fluttershy stood by the door for a moment and admired the room she now stood in.

It was just like Twilight's;

A good size, table in the centre, big bed, paintings, and a dead dog lying on the table.

"A Dead dog?!"

Fluttershy let out a scream, it was still quite low but for her, it was a shout.

She ran to the table and looked at the dog.

It was a stuffed toy.

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief and then saw a note pinned to the collar of the toy.

It read;

Fluttershy,

Tonight I Need you to practice your medical skills on animals.

The toy on the desk has been made to reconstruct an animal that has suffered major lacerations and a

large electronic pulse shocking its body.

The button on its back begins the reconstruction.

It may seem strange now but tomorrow you will see why I needed you to do this.

Get some sleep aswell, you will need it.

-Princess Celestia

Fluttershy was slightly shocked at this but knew the Princess had good reason. She noticed a small medical bag resting

against one of the legs of the table, she picked up and inside were all her necessary materials and tools for

such an event.

She turned the toy over and pressed the button on its back...

The first thing Rarity did was walk to her bed and lie down, letting out a massive yawn, clearly exhausted from all the

walking they did today.

After laying there for a few minutes she sat up. Once again sitting in a similarly designed room to Twilight and Fluttershy.

A few seconds of looking passed and her eyes lit up.

She got off the bed and walked to the table in the centre of the room, where piles of fabrics of all colours, boxes of gems,

bags of feathers and boxes of needles and thread lay awaiting use.

She could not help but smile, some of the material here was rare, infact it would cost millions of bits just to get it

imported since it is so delicate.

A note sat ontop of one of the piles, it said;

Rarity

Underneath this note is a layout for some clothes I need you to make, it may seem very strange but I need you to do this.

I need you to use subtle colours and make sure it does not stand out too much.

Whatever materials are left over you can keep and use for whatever you want.

Do not get too carried away though, get some sleep.

-Princess Celestia

Rarity lifted the note and underneath was a piece of paper.

It was a template for clothes, but it was not a pony template.

Rarity could not make out what it was of, but she knew the princess needed it done the way she had designed it to be.

Also Rarity was very excited about getting the left over materials, she could make so many new designs.

Applejack was standing in her room, looking at the five barrels of apples on the table.

They were the apples that Luna had ordered three days ago from the farm.

A note was pinned to one of the barrels;

Applejack,

If you remember correctly there are 235 apples in all these barrels.

I need you to make your famous apple-cider, not for me or Luna but for a special cause.

There is a door at the end of your room beside your bed, inside is all the needed materials and machines.

I Understand I made it clear for sleep to be your top priority but if you can atleast make one bottle, that would be

all I need.

-Princess Celestia

Applejack let out a sigh, wanting to rest, but she knew she had to do it.

She grabbed one of the barrels with her teeth and began to pull it towards the door.

She opened it and to her amazement inside was a mini-distillery. Apple crushing machines, juice harvester, even an

automatic bottler, they all had instructions on the front of them so Applejack could easily use them.

She had never seen anything like this before. After a few minutes of examining the room she got to work.

Pinkie was in her room skipping around the table, she loved it.

The colours, the walls, the paintings and the stacks of food ingredients on the table.

"Floursugareggscherriessaspirillafooddyebuttermilkcheeselemonsorangestoppingssaltchocolate!"

She was skipping around saying all the ingredients she could see at a tremendously fast pace.

"Breadeggwhitesyolksraspberriesstrawberriesnote!"

She stopped for a moment.

   "Note?"

She walked over and looked at it;

Pinkie Pie,

Tonight I need you to make some foods, I do not want any foods that are too sugary or too sweet, these foods are not

for me or Luna, although a cupcake would be nice.

Pinkie giggled at that part.

I need you to make just a few, I still want you to go to sleep at a decent time tonight, there are 3 ovens in a small room

behind the door at your bed, do not worry about any mess you make, I can have some pony come and clean it up.

-Princess Celestia

   "Not too sugary or not too sweet? Hmm..."

Pinkie thought for a moment before springing to life and grabbing as much ingredients as she could and running into

the room where the ovens were.

Rainbow Dash closed the door behind her.

She stopped her mumbling and admired the room.

    "Not too bad."

She said to herself.

Looking around the room one thing caught her attention.

Not the bucking bag sitting on her table, or even the note, no.

Instead it was the bed.

In the blink of an eye she was from one side of the room standing, to the other, lying in bed.

All were awaiting the morning...

Some notes for you guys; Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but atleast it is longer than the others so it should keep you going. I will try have the next one out faster. Some people are probably dissapointed I ended this chapter on a small cliffhanger again but I just wanna say that, it is my style. I seem to end most things with cliffhangers but do not worry, most questions and cliffhangers will be resolved in the next chapter. I am trying not to rush things here. Thanks for reading, and comments are appreciated.