Chapter 11: canterlot part 2: the courts of disapproval
castle, main halls, floor 2
After delivering the news that her sister wanted to hear, Princess Celestia decided to take her time walking before seeing her once apprentice. The scale of these halls were necessary in order to facilitate the multiple rooms needed for services. The main event of this floor is the room where kingdom level discussions happen. This is shown by this room being guarded by the largest door on the floor. The other 5 rooms, spread out by the only wall in this hall, are all for the different staff in the castle. There is only one wall because the other side is just a banister that allows you to look down from the 2nd floor to the first one. There were large windows, non-stained glass, towering above the walls and giving off natural light during the mornings and night. Being larger than life doesn't change Celestia from having the same worries as any normal pony. Recently she's been having issues with our more well-known alicorn, twilight. "Let's hope spike can pull her out of this rut she's in" Celestia thought. She genuinely has worries about the purple alicorn. Recently, she's never seen a day where twilight had a smile on her face. Celestia made a promise to herself years ago to watch over her, seeing the mare at her absolute worst at times. The potential was there, it was always there and she never disappointed by her work ethic. "She can really give herself a hard time….." her thoughts ran wild while walking these halls. The princess remembers one day during one of her usual tasks of writing down a transcript of a meeting she was having. Twilight finished it, it was almost flawless and had only one spelling error. She knew what twilight meant and it was an easy error to fix before sending it out. Matter of fact, she wanted to correct it herself it was such a minor error. That didn't matter, Twilight held her head down and swiped the paper from her the moment Celestia mentioned this. It was childish, immature and if it was anyone else, she would have fired them. This was twilight though and this kind of thing wasn't normal for her. After talking to her for almost an hour, she managed to get Twilight to calm a little bit. Just talking to her for a minute, the mare loved the job and it was killing her. She was almost to twilight's personal quarters, a room right next to the discussions room. Tia took a deep breath, maybe seeing an old friend would help her see things clearer. Celestia really shared a bond with twilight, almost like a daughter to her. She sees a scary amount of her young self in her and wants to guide her away from anymore unnecessary suffering. She looked at the small door, feet away from the biggest door in the hall. Celestia put on her trademark smile and opened the door to greet twilight.
The space that twilight occupied was small, like really small. There was a mattress on the floor, a light bulb with a pull string and a small desk with slightly unorganized papers on it. There was only a medium sized amount of walking space for the average pony. Of all places, Celestia found her once pupil passed out on the desk alongside these papers. Tia sighed, basically displaying the worries she has for her. Celestia approached her and called out "Twilight…". This immediately had twilight jump from her small nap, almost hitting the princess with the back of her head. "I wasn't…. Well I was, but anyways, I was just double checking my transcripts before sending them out to you…" twilight was talking at a mile a minute. She saw an entire pile of papers right next to Twilight's head on the desk, assuming she didn't think any of her transcripts were any good. "Twilight!" Celestia used the royal base in her voice to calm her down. Twilight immediately silenced herself and nodded, showing her gained attention. "I've told you before that these need to be out quickly, small errors don't matter, you have other jobs…." Celestia was slightly frustrated with her. This has been almost the 3rd talk she's had with her about the transcripts. It's for her own good and yet twilight continues to ignore Celestia's suggestions. "I know, I know…." Twilight tried to passively speed up her up. "Obviously you don't!" Celestia barked out. This was the voice she barely used, a threatening tone and twilight got her to this point in seconds. "I'm... I'm sorry" Twilight said, putting her head down on the desk. Tia immediately felt terrible for her outburst, it was definitely not the way she wanted to sound. "I'm sorry but you need to understand where to put your energy in, you throwing 100% of yourself in small tasks isn't healthy" she immediately lowered her tone into a motherly one, Twilight lifted her head from the desk. What she saw broke the princess's heart, it almost looked like she was forcing back tears. Only one singular tear was on her face and twilight wiped it away immediately, pretending that the princess didn't see it. "Ok…. what did I come here for?" Celestia asked herself, almost forgetting before it immediately came back to mind. "Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you that spike is coming to visit" Celestia said in an excited tone. For the first time in the years she's been here, she heard twilight gasp for the first time. "R..really!" twilight immediately became ecstatic. "Yes, he's arriving by train, should be here in about an hour or two from my knowledge" Celestia replied. Twilight was still excited but that excitement almost immediately dialed down. "But what about…." twilight was about to say, letting her responsibilities get her out of a fun time. "As of this moment, by orders of the princess, I'm giving you a week off!" Celestia replied, mocking her own royal voice. This made Twilight chuckled as she replied "thank you princess". Tia shook her head and said, "no need, take your time, relieve some stress and come back fresh". Twilight then shared her first smile in a while with the princess, showing her capability for change. This made Celestia smile genuinely as well, happy for her pupil showing her color once again. Celestia was making her way out the room before twilight called out her name. "Hey celestia…. Could you send a message for me, it's for…." twilight was flustered, trying to ask a somewhat embarrassing request. "Do you want to send a specific request to a special guard member?" Celestia asked, knowing what she was intending. "Um…. well, yeah, he…. He asked me out yesterday and I ignored him for work…. Could you… um" twilight was becoming shyer, this was adorable to Celestia. "Of course, I'll have flash come up in a couple minutes if he isn't working" Celestia said while walking away, being very aware of twilight's small relationship problems. Twilight blushed furiously and followed tia outside, adding the fact of meeting her in the castle garden. Celestia nodded in acknowledgment before walking away to try and fulfill her request.
Castle garden
The gardens, the most serene and calm place of the entire castle. Most would say that this is the most serene of the entire kingdom. The flowers during the warm summers and even cold winters are fully maintained. Protection spells are used to keep it that way during the more harmful weather for flowers. Today was a bright and sunny day so the smaller animals were out in full display. Birds chirped in the distance, bees flew around fully bloomed sunflowers to pollinate. This was a pure display of nature at its best and twilight barley visited it enough to appreciate it. "This place is gorgeous…." Twilight commented, roaming through the naturally made pathway of bushes. This was the first time she was given time off or maybe the first time she accepted it. She promised not to disappoint the princess and has been working to the bone to keep the said promise. "Maybe I do need to pace myself…" Twilight thought, the princess almost always beat this in her head. Unlike most times, twilight might actually give herself time to reflect on this. The bush path leads to a somewhat rest area, the main attraction of the garden. A giant statue of Celestia in the middle, surrounded by flower covered bush. The area was boxed in with these bushes with a bench at the very end of this area. Since this area was intimately small, this bench wasn't really that far. This area was the best way to relax and take in the visual of this garden. The sweet smell of roses hit twilight's nose as she decided to take a seat on this bench to look at this statue. She up at the statue of Celestia and sighed "I'll never live up to you…." Twilight said to herself, thinking she was alone. "Really…." she heard a voice that sounded distinctly like a colt. "Oh no….." Twilight thought, forgetting that she technically invited someone special over. "For the record, you don't need to, you're great on your own…" this colt speaking was flash sentry. These words weren't foreign to her but coming from the right person, they made her feel differently. "I… I don't know about that" Twilight replied, reverting to a more bookish personality. "Well if you don't, take my word for it" flash replied with a smile. Flash was the first familiar face that twilight met during her first year at the castle. They were already going slowly because of her constant string of adventures. She felt that time wasn't on her side to maintain a serious relationship. Her newfound status at the castle made things even worse for that reason. "Hey flash….." twilight said passively, regretting asking Celestia for that request. "So… what's going on, mind if I sit with you?" flash asked, suddenly feeling a little clammy himself. Twilight shook her head and he took that shake as a no, taking a seat right next to her. "Please tell me I didn't take you away from important work?" Twilight asked, flash sighed and replied "well…. No, it's been dull, I'm replaceable at the moment….". Based on his reply it seemed as if Twilight wasn't the only one dealing with something.
"I've taken my first break…" Twilight started, this immediately got flash excited. "So does that mean we can actually have a second date?" flash interjected with a question. Twilight thought about it and immediately started blushing. "Well, that's up to you…." twilight replied timidly. This timidness immediately charmed flash with him replying " if it were up to me, we would have gone out months ago". This made both of them chuckle as they continued their conversation. "All we need is time…." Twilight said, almost forgetting about an important visitor today. "Well….. How long are you off?" flash asked her. "Just a week but that's enough time…. Right?" Twilight asked,flash was puzzled this answered. "What do you mean enough time?" flash asked, twilight then decided to clarify her answer. "We spend our time together and then i revert, head back to work…." twilight was saying, it seemed as if she has yet to learn her important lesson. "Twi, do you have any kind of work-life balance?" flash asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "Well….. I don't know, days kinda just happen for me lately, almost like they have no weight anymore" Twilight said, reverting to a state of melancholy. Flash was surprised by this revelation, she never carried herself in a way that would imply she felt this way. "Hmm…." twilight was now in thought, stuck on some event that's supposed to happen today that she can't remember. "Look, princesshood, I get it, it's a busy job….." flash was starting to say but it didn't seem as if she was paying attention at all. Flash sighed and decided to wait for her to break out of thought, which lasted only 5 seconds longer. "Oh yeah! spike is visiting today!" Twilight exclaimed, her excitement returned once again. "Really, just spike, i thought…." flash realizing he might be revealing information he shouldn't. "Thought what?" Twilight asked, hearing flash's slip up. "Well….. Um, how do i put this….." flash was thinking, not wanting spike to get too much heat when he comes. "From what i've heard, he's not the main guest, from time to time, i kinda eavesdrop on conversations…." flash was trying to prolong saying the inevitable. "Come on, spit it out" Twilight said, getting quickly impatient with him. "From the sound of the name, spike brought a mare with him!" flash spat these words out in a rapid pace. Twilight was quiet, dead quiet, unsettlingly quiet. "Uh….. twilight?" flash called out, trying to regain her attention. "Spike has a marefriend…" twilight immediately jumped to the top of the assumption board. She said this softly, almost like she was hurt by this reveal. "And he didn't tell me or write me about her, why?" twilight was really only asking herself this question. "Now wait, don't jump to conclusions, this mare is supposedly the actual main guest…." flash quickly tried to correct her. "Hmm" Twilight replied with a simple noise to signify her attention. "Her name is Trixie and Luna wants to see her…" flash continued, this immediately surprised the lavender mare. "What?!" Twilight exclaimed, having multiple questions on her mind about this. "To answer one question, i have no idea what Luna wants from her, my knowledge of this ends here" flash tried to reassure twilight of some things.
"Trixie is an old foe we fought, what is she doing out of the shadows?" twilight was really only asking herself. She started to worry about her old assistant now knowing this information. "Honestly, do you want a personal opinion?" flash asked, interrupting twilight's train of thought. Twilight shrugged, not really wanting it but not minding the presence of said opinion either. "It's been years, depending on the tier, she's probably not a threat" flash finished, Twilight nodded but then caught something he said. "Tier, what do you mean?" Twilight asked, flash chuckled at her naivety. "Well think about, the mane six have fought smaller things like bears, to the equivalent of gods, so a tier list is necessary" flash explained, Twilight nodded and immediately understood what he said. "She's…. A little egotistical but that ego threatened and enslaved our town…." twilight was taking flash's advice seriously and trying to place Trixie within a tier. Flash regretted even mentioning this, cause it took twilight an additional couple minutes to think of where to place Trixie on this list.
"I got it!" Twilight exclaimed, slightly jump scaring flash after the minutes of silence that he was in. "she's about a 3 without power and a 6 with power" Twilight said, flash was slightly surprised by this rating. "Really now?" flash replied, Twilight nodded and went on to explain her reasoning. "Well from what I recall, her mentality is that she's the best thing since sliced bread but I'll admit she can be quite bright" Twilight said, flash nodded in reply. Flash then yawned and realized something important. "I'm sorry, I think we both need to get back soon" flash said, Twilight nodded but wasn't sure for what. "If time serves us correct, you have 30 minutes to prepare for you long time dragon friend coming to castle" flash said, Twilight gasped fully remembering that fact. Twilight jolted out of her seat and was about rush out before telling flash "I promise well plan said date, I mean it!" Twilight exclaimed, flash chuckled and nodded. As twilight took off, comedically running into a bush before making her way out of the gardens. Flash sat for a second and looked at Celestia's statue. Flash sighed and said, "if you only knew the effect you had on ponies, princess". He then got up and made his way out of the garden as well.
Canterlot station, minutes away from the main city
Spike was fully awake throughout the rest of the trip. An hour of attention was placed looking out of the window. Trixie, however, didn't do the same, she fell asleep quite quickly after their last conversation. Spike heard the heavy whistling of the brakes, signifying that they have made it to their stop. He sighed, his nerves heading towards the peak of where they could possibly be. Spike looked beside him and saw that Trixie was still sleeping. Obviously, Spike knew that waking her up was the next thing he had to do. Yet, those fears that nervousness eroded away if not for only just a couple seconds looking at her in complete peace. She barely even made the slightest noise when sleeping. Her hair was a half complete frizzled mess with some strands grazing her face. "She actually looks kinda cute" he thought to himself, letting out a small snicker. Spike at first didn't realize how weird that train of thought was until he heard a yawn come from her. "Oh!" spike had a reactionary thought before quickly averting his gaze from her. "Ugh, damn…." those were her first waking words while stretching to reorient herself. "Are we here?" Trixie asked, spike was turned away from her and nodded rapidly. "Huh? what's wrong" Trixie asked genuinely, spike still trying get over his embarrassment. "Uh…. no, not at all!" spike quickly replied, the recovery process was almost complete for him. "You know you're not the best at lying, right?" Trixie replied reading his ruse. Spike sighed, admitting that's the truth but he still had one card behind his back. "It's just….. Were here and my nerves are kicking in" Spike replied in a much more reserved and low voice. Trixie nodded, meaning to spike that she might have bought. "Come on spike, you gotta power through this…" Trixie replied, sounding genuinely concerned about the drake. Spike can sometimes still be taken aback by these bouts of pure kindness she's capable. "O...ok, I got this!" spike replied, putting a shaky fist up in the air. Trixie saw this and sighed, "it's improvement…." she said following that sigh she gave. Spike got up from his seat and realized something interesting. "Never thought you would be the one consoling me" Spike commented. Trixie was silent on this comment, truly taking time to think about it. "Alright, let's get going, we have royalty waiting for us!" Trixie said with full excitement and pride. Spike sighed, not making an attempt to cover up his fears and nonexcitement for this outing.
Canterlot, main city: 30 minutes away from the castle
To spike, the city wasn't anything that special anymore. He used to be amazed by how different the lives of ponies look here compared to ponyville. The fancier clothes, the densely populated streets made from actual concrete. All the shops, mostly clothes or finer dining, all very expensive as well. Canterlot was one of the more city looking places in Equestria, circling around the main attraction. The castle, the pinnacle of pony achievement, a building that can almost touch the sky. However, while spike wasn't mystified by the city, Trixie was almost instantly enamored. "Wow…." Trixie said while both of them were walking on the side of the streets to find a taxi. "You've never been here before?" spike asked, Trixie nodded in reply. "It's just, I've never been somewhere this fancy before" Trixie said, looking around at every individual shop. "You wanna check some stores out before we head to the castle?" spike asked, genuinely asking but also trying to delay the inevitable. "I don't wanna be bankrupt while I'm this young" Trixie quipped in reply, getting a chuckle out of spike. "Fine, just look out for a yellow carriage then" spike said, Trixie nodded in reply and scanned the many carriages riding in the streets. The city was almost completely dependent on carriage travel. It makes sense to spike, while the design of the city is simple. A large city that forms a circle around the castle, keep in mind the large part of that descriptions. There are many houses, alleyways, stores and hotels that give the city density. "What would I even say to her?" spike asked himself, forgetting about the mare right next to her. Trixie sighed, continuing to do the job that she was assigned. "How far is the castle from here?" Trixie asked, making sure there was a need for said carriage. Spike was silent, he didn't want to admit laziness on his part. "Spike…., seriously, how long?" Trixie asked, not letting him slip past her easily. "30 minutes" he admitted along with a sigh of defeat. Trixie had a much lighter reaction then spike thought she would. She chuckled and replied "you act so immature sometimes". Spike couldn't really deny this fact and shared a laugh with her. "Maybe we should check some stores out….. Since we're walking now" Trixie said, emphasizing the walking part of the said sentence with a smile. Trixie took a head start with spike taking a quick sigh and trailing behind her. "Do you even know where you're going?!" Spike called out to Trixie. She turned to look at the drake and replied "that's why we have you, right?". That wicked smile was still on her face and spike was quickly getting used to it. He then thought for a second on how far both of them progressed since they met each other. "Or regressed" spike cynically commented while frozen in thought. "Spike, come on!" Trixie called out, waiting on him to lead her. He then smiled and rushed to her, starting their short journey to the castle high in the sky.
an: hey guys, sorry for the short chapter length agian. i wanted to be able to get something out and not keep you waiting. chapter 12 is gonna be big, like really big. might come sooner then you think :) thanks for reading