Forgotten People

Chapter 5 – Meeting the Princess

“Sir, you cannot bring this…device into the castle! It could be dangerous!” A Royal Guard spoke. The trip getting to the castle had not been easy. A lot of people were shocked to see two humans strolling around town and began to heckle them. Now Alec was being stopped because of his iPod in his pocket.

“Please sir,” he replied in a sour tone, “This thing is not dangerous! It’s a phone-sort-of-thing.” The guard gave him a suspicious look, beginning to examine the iPod. Alec stayed calm as the stallion examined it, staying motionless with only his eyes moving around. After a few seconds he gave it back.

“No sign of threat on/in the device. Alright sir, you may keep your…thing. Sorry for stopping you.” The Guard replied apologetically. Alec accepted his apology and moved on with the group. Twilight and Rainbow had been in the castle quite a bit, so it was no surprise to them. For the boys however, it was the complete opposite. They were awed by the magnificence of the interior and its design.

“Wow, it’s like walking into a diamond house!” Hamish said in awe. “I’d love to live here, like a God. Actually, I AM a God, I am the 45th best at MW3 in the entire world! THEY should bow down to…” his shouting was stopped by a finger against his lips.

“Hamish, you’re only human.” Alec said. Hamish grunted and kept silent, he didn’t like being told off. As they walked on they came to the Entrance Doors to the Royal Hall, where the Princess would usually be. Alec started to look shaky.

“What’s wrong Alec?” Twilight asked concerned.

“I’m not so sure now…about going in there.” He stuttered. This was immediately stopped when Dash grew impatient and kicked him through the doors…literally. He landed with a thud as the doors were swung wide open. Princess Celestia was sitting with her sister, Princess Luna, discussing royal business when they both stared at the human sprawled on the floor.

“Dash, what the heck was that for?!” he yelled, picking himself up. First Hamish knocks him back in the train, now Dash kicks him through doors. His day was certainly not injure-free. Suddenly Alec turned round to see the princesses staring at him. His forehead trickled with sweat a little.

“What should I do?” he thought, “If I don’t do something to get on their good side, they’ll throw me in the dungeon!” His thinking was stopped when Luna started laughing randomly. Alec raised an eyebrow, why was she laughing?

“You silly being! Why would thou think that we would lock you up? We are benevolent princesses, not stupid ones!” Alec stared at them in confusion. Had she read his mind? She was an Alicorn princess, but how did she do that?

“OK, sorry, it’s my second day here. And next time, your majesty, stay out of my brain please!” Alec said in a sulky tone. Luna smiled at his ‘comedic’ fashion. Twilight greeted Celestia and began to explain why Alec and Hamish were here in Equestria.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight started, “These two beings we have with us are called ‘humans’. They existed in Ponyville over 2,000 years ago…” she was interrupted by the princess’s bored reply.

“My faithful student, you must surely realize that I have read my fair share of books too And what you are explaining to us, please make it quick, we have royal business to attend to, I’m afraid?” she replied with a smile. Twilight blushed as a trickle came down her face.

“Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, we discovered an old relic linking back to the old ‘Olympics’, events where people would come together and compete to win.” Celestia had obviously not heard this before, and was listening intently. “After looking in one of my old books, we found that the next Olympics were meant to be held in Ponyville before the humans died out. It was Rainbow Dash’s idea to restart them in Ponyville, so we reckoned we should consult you first.”

Both princesses were surprised, they’d never heard of these ‘Olympics’ before and were interested in learning more about them, or even starting them again…

“Twilight Sparkle, how much do you know about the EVENTS of these games?” Luna asked her politely. The answer to that question was easy, the answers were standing in the room!

“I’m glad you asked your highness, these two humans here still hold the Olympics in their own world…”

“Universe Gamma” Alec interrupted. Hamish hit him for interrupting.

“…and they hold a majority of games that they can participate in, like racing, swimming, shooting, archery, fencing, it’s a long list. So I think it would be better if, um…Alec explains.” Ushering Alec forward to her. Alec gulped and paced over to her, worried that he could screw this all up with one lousy word. He began to speak.

“Your highnesses, Twilight has explained what these games are about, but not the system of how they work. After an event, the top three competitors will be selected and will each receive a medal for their effort, bronze for 3rd, silver for 2nd and gold for 1st. But they have not won just yet. 1st place, and sometimes 2nd place, will go through to another round of their sport. They will continue to do this until two or more finalists remain. Then, the 3 top places will receive rewards for winning overall.” Celestia and Luna were immersed in thought. Ever since the Royal Wedding in Canterlot, there had not been much going on in this part of Equestria.

“Your thoughts are well-explained and surprisingly detailed for a new species,” Luna started, while eyeing Hamish in the background, “So my sister and I will discuss what we will say as an answer to your thoughts However, it may take a while as we have an important task to complete as well. Is that ok?” Twilight nodded with a smile, happy to see that the Alicorns had taken their idea onboard.

“Thankyou, your highness.” Hamish piped up in the background, making Luna smile. She thanked them for their time and asked them to leave so the two princesses could get back to royal business.

“There, that wasn’t so hard tough guy?” Dash nudged Alec.

“Oh, shut up!” he smiled back. The two of them were definitely becoming good friends, while Hamish was in the friend-zone. Suddenly, Alec remembered something from the discussion with the Alicorns and walked up to Hamish with a grin.

“Hey, Hamish.” Alec said mischievously.

“What?” he replied dully.

“Notice anything in there?”

“No, why?”

“I saw the way the dark blue Alicorn was looking at you. She likes you!” Hamish, immediately enraged by his true yet annoying comment prepared to punch him, but lowered his fists not wanting to attract bad attention from the surrounding ponies.

“I’ll deal with you later.” He said meaningfully. Alec gulped again, regretting what he had just said. It was about midday now, and with nothing more to do, the four of them decided to head back to the train and return to Ponyville to tell their friends their discoveries.

“Let’s just hope Rarity and Fluttershy don’t over-react at those boys!” Twilight said to Dash in private.