Soul Ties
Chapter 5-Lance and Luna
A/N: Okay, this chapter will be exploring the new character's personality, and will (hopefully) be the start of the more comedic chapters (next being the possible start, or some of the upcoming anyway). But it will fit in with the plot, so don't worry, it will be serious, unless I've had red bulls that day. Yeah, I have an addiction to energy drinks. Well, enjoy!
We ambled through the huge greenery of the gardens enclosing the entrance to the castle, the variety of plants and wildlife truly showed that this place must be that of some kind of royalty. There were pools of crystalline water, some with fountains composed of busts of fish or other creatures of sorts. Occasionally a peacock or pheasant would cross our path, the fanning tails of the birds blending in with the rich tones of the garden. The soft echo of rippling water from the fountains coupled with the slow brush of the leaves in the breeze set the atmosphere reminiscent of something out of a paradise setting. Man, I need to become a philosopher, I'm getting quite the trend for this stuff. I was so caught up in (yet again) the new surroundings that I hadn't noticed the massive marble wall in front of our path. "Well, welcome to Canterlot Castle, the most impressive creation to the Equine race and home to the rulers of the land!" Lance proudly announced, turning to me. "Luna shall be in her quarters of the castle, just a short walk through this door." Lance had a certain tone to his voice, fitting for a guard. Well, I guess it would, being a much needed cliché after all.
The huge mahogany doors creaked open, revealing a gargantuan corridor with the ceiling many several feet above our heads. The actual roof of which was decorated with a confusion of stars that appeared to glow significantly. The centre of said corridor was lined with a maroon carpet, leading to double doors at the end. As we made our way down the passage I couldn't help but notice what looked like murals on the walls, depicting that of a silhouette of a slender creature with two large wings spread wide with a crescent moon in the background. Another showed an orb divided with a curved line, one side light yellow, similar to the sun, and the other half a slightly bluish white colour. Perhaps the moon? Yeah, I guess. There were several others, ranging from the moon with the shadow of (what I guessed) was some sort of pony curved around the circumference, to a blue orb with the sun and moon orbiting said globe. I noticed that in each the moon appeared more prominent than the sun, if it appeared in any of the art.
After a short while, we had made our way down the hall and had reached our destination. Lance turned to us. "Right, I shall go in and tell her you are here. I won't be long." With that he pushed the entrance open before closing it behind him. My mind began to wander. What was this 'Princess' like? Some kind of prissy thing that would be fitting in a fairy tale? Or a battle maiden with a double headed axe with a forest of red facial hair that would lop your head off if you made the wrong move? If I was quite honest, I would prefer the latter out of the two. Well, I get what I get, Cinderella or Boudicca, I can't change anything. I just have to trust what I've been told and go with the flow.
"Okay, this way. She shall see you now" I was jerked out of my trance by the guards voice. Lance was leaning on the open door, and I made my way over to the gap. I stepped into the room. Well, I say room, but it truly was more of a chamber. Colossal in size, draped in deep silk in areas and adorned with the familiar constellations and lunar patterns. At the centre of it all was a deep blue creature. Drawing closer I could see it was some sort of horse or pony, but it's mane was fluid, gaseous and flowed as if it were being dragged and dispersed by the wind. The Princess, I assume. At the very back of the chamber was an impressive stained glass window of a full moon. We approached Luna, and her deep eyes stared straight into ours, almost feeling like they were penetrating my soul. She smiled. "Ah, yes. You must be the Pegasus Tia told me would come to see me. If I understand correctly, you are here on the case of your amnesia, correct?" Well, I didn't think I was here for just that. Wasn't I here for the case of my history too? If I am honest, I didn't know any more, so I simply nodded. She turned to Lance. "I wish to speak to him in private, Lance. Wait outside and resume your duty." Lance nodded, bowed and exited the area. The door shut with a knock.
Luna faced me. "So, you are here not just because of your amnesia, I can tell." I was shocked she could tell, but I responded. "Yes. That is true." She simply nodded. "You are not from Equestria either, correct?" How did she know? Does...does she know how I got here after all? "Yes... That is also true." She smiled. "You never were a pony too. You are a human, a creature that has not been seen in Equestria for several thousand years. That is true as well." Okay. It would appear I just travelled into a realm were nothing made sense. "Wait a minute. How do you know about all that? Do... do you know about my previous life? How I came here? My name?" The serious expression returned to her face. A short silence ensued. "No. I do not know about your previous life, or your name. I do know that what bought you here was not my doing, or my sisters." I was disheartened. Man, I really wanted to know something, anything that might help to develop my memory. "Do you know why the memory spell Twilight used on me did not work?" She nodded. "Yes. It may not be definite, but it is most likely that you are not from Equestria naturally, so the magic that binds the land does not recognise you." Seems legit. "So what am I supposed to do about my memory?" "I'm afraid all you can do at the moment is stay here, and hope you regain your previous memories through your time here. You will have to start a new life here with new memories for now, and maybe... maybe you will discover who you really are."
I was left in emotional confusion. This had gone by way too fast, as if this was some badly written section of some fan story. Half of me wanted to weep, knowing there was no way I could get rid of this amnesia unless fate was on my side, and yet the other half was filled with an odd feeling of curiosity, what would be awaiting me in this new world, whether I would discover who I was, and what it would be like, to start a fresh new life, a clean slate without the smudges that may have been defacing your old one. But where do I start from here? It's not like you can just walk out there and bang, new life served to you on a silver platter. Won't I need a home and all that jazz? "Can you do one thing for me, though. Don't tell any other pony you were once a human. Can you do that for me?" I had no idea why not, perhaps some sort of conspiracy? Well, I no longer know what the heck I'm going on about, so I'll just accept it. I nodded. Luna turned to the door. "Lance! You can come back in now. I need you for something." The grey pegasus re-entered.
"Your majesty? What do you require?" Luna faced me. "Lance, as a personal request, I would like you to share your home with this pegasus. He shall learn from you until he regains his memory, or until him amnesia is no longer a problem and has built up a new storage of memories. And besides, I often wonder whether you need a friend around here. You do seem incredibly solitary. I think it shall be the start of a new friendship." I glanced at Lance. He glanced at me. We both shared the same look: scepticism. I mean, out of the blue I'm being housed with someone I don't know, and we are expected to become some sort of 'Goody Goody Gumdrop Best Buddies'. Lance shook the look off his face. "Uh... yeah, Luna... I mean, your majesty... It would be a pleasure. I'm sure..." Well, looks like my life has just been served rare. I'm stuck here, and I'm just gonna have to grin and bear it. There could be laughs, there could be tears, there could be hallucinations... We could find out we were under the effects of a gas leak. Ahh, so MUCH to look forward to. Okay I may be being unfair, but I can't help but see the future looking grim, or actually kind of zany considering the look of the place. Okay, I'm going to stop right there before I end up becoming overly cynical again. This IS a new start, might as well embrace it.
Lance and I were soon sent to his home, which turned out was inside the actual castle not too far from the chamber we had emerged from. We reached the ornate wooden door, he unlocked it and pushed the door open. The door shut. I heard a sigh and turned to see Lance tossing his armour off. It landed in a matte pile on the floor with an audible metallic clatter. He had a deep red and grey Mohican mane and tail with bright red eyes, which, I will admit, startled me a bit as I hadn't noticed them earlier. He shook his head. "Damn it, that had to be one of the most boring day's duty in the history of bloody Equestria." I was taken aback at his language. Did horses know words like that? If so... all the better! "He looked up at me. "And now I've got to share my home with some colt I don't know... Not that that's a bad thing... but I don't get a say in it. Not one arsing word! I swear, I'll go mad one of these days if I don't get any choices in my life." He grinned. "So, how you doin'?" Wow... that was a quick change of character. One moment a polite guard, the second he's swearing and speaking about self rights. Hmm... I like this guy! "Yeah, I'm doing okay, thanks. Well, as good as I'm going to get."
After a short while, we had gotten into a full blown conversation. He told me about how he was born in Canterlot, his life growing up, and all the simple 'getting to know each other' chat you would naturally come up with when you meet someone. "So, you say you don't remember your name?" He asked me. I nodded in reply. "You have any idea about your past?" I opened my mouth to say what I did know, but I remembered that I was ordered not to. "Well, no. Nothing apart from yesterday." He nodded. "Gosh, must be quite the bugger then." I couldn't help but laugh at his language. Just his seriousness when using it was what was just so amusing. "Well, it can be a bit of a pain, yes." He smiled. "Well, looks like we agree on something, at least that's progress. I think you and me are gonna get on just fine, mate" Yes... I hope that would be the case. It would make things a lot easier. And can I express how relieving it is to know I'm not the only male pony here? I mean... All I've met are female... female... female... For a sec I thought I was the only thing with a deeper voice around here. Well, I'm gonna stop now because I'm blabbing about nothing, so I'll just get this day over with and let my mind have a rest. Let's see what this new life brings!
Well, sorry it's been a while, but my computers been having issues... So yeah, next episode may be a comedy type thing, but yep, expect more of Mike's OC Lance, who will act as a bit more of an ice breaker of overly serious situations. So, yeah... PLEASE REVIEW! I NEED MORE REVIEWS ahem... calm down. Hope you enjoyed!