Visiting all amazing places in Equestria was only a pleasure to me. I still remember this burst of joy seeing Las Pegasus, Appleloosa, Manehattan… Oh, how wonderful it was to see live musicals on Bridleway! (I’ve even got an autograph from Silhuester Stallione*). And those wondrous landscapes around the continent – Foal Mountain, Neighara Falls, White Tail Woods, Smokey Mountain… We have been told a story of dragon living in this mountain long ago, sent away by the Element of Kindness, innocent miss Fluttershy.
Unfortunately, all the trip took so long we had finally had to forsake journey to Ponyville, the famous residence of the Elements of Harmony. With little time left we could at least accommodate in Canterlot. It had a lot of dignity, but still might be hard to compare it with Neapolis**, even if far from it’s former glory. Yet we had enjoyed a little of the capital and gone back to get prepared properly for an event.
The ballrooms and whole castle looked amusing with all those decorations around, designed by Lady Rarity herself. In spite of fact they looked great, I remember I was not astonished – I would lie if I said else. The problem was, I didn’t care of any such events at all. I never liked them, loud and boring, whereas my “noble” status obliged me to participate in such events ever since I turned 7. What is more significant, many of them happened during war, when simple ponies were dying and vast territories were turning into wastelands because of dragon raids. And as I couldn’t refuse to attend, it turned me all against those events.
This one was different for me inasmuch that it was supposed to help us defeat these bloody, fire-breathing beasts. It was my duty to represent our nation and show its brightest side. Nevertheless, meeting chic snobbish Equestrians and watching sumptuous decorations all around were far from what I would call “entertainment”.
Finally, the Gala had been started, and all ponies gathered – firstly in front entrance, where they were greeted by princesses and our delegation. It took long and I still had to spend few more hours discussing with guests, who probably wouldn’t find interest in me if I weren’t foreigner and potential heir to the throne. I recall Prince Tarquinius Blueblood*** didn’t appear. I suspect Princess Celestia wanted to avoid any tensions with our delegation – presence of exiled, disinherited prince could have been taken as affront.
During this evening I was honored to be introduced to all 6 Elements of Harmony – Mayor Twilight Sparkle****, Cpt. Rainbow Dash, Lady Rarity, Applejack, Surprise and Fluttershy. They were far different from what I presumed imagining these important and famous ponies. The very few minutes I could spend with each of them were simply a pleasure, especially short discussion I had with miss Sparkle. It was unfortunate I couldn’t have had more time with them, as we have already been scheduled for newly restored airship flight to Neapolis next evening. It is amazing how this treaty brought so much to bring both our countries closer as in good old days. Despite Mayor Twilight invited me to Ponyville if I was about to visit Equestria again, the future felt so uncertain to me, mainly if I would have become a royalty.
As moon had gone high in the sky, I sneaked out into the castle garden. The Gala was still on and subdued noise could be heard outside. But once I crossed a garden gate, the scent of flowers and bird songs surrounded me immediately and I finally felt pleasant calm, good as gold to my tormented mind.
I thought I would be the only pony in the garden, thus I was surprised hearing hoofsteps behind bushes. Therefore, I looked out, and the view has stunned me. I saw a tall glamourous mare, with coat black as the darkest night and a purple, sparkly mane. And she was an alicorn! I haven’t known of other alicorns in Equestria except princesses, thus it surprised me more. She looked so beautiful, in pale light of moonlit night… I was so astonished that I accidentally tripped. She scared out seeing me falling out of bushes and ran away.
I decided to chase her, as I felt that in other case – I might have seen her never again…
* - I know Stallone and Broadway may seem a strange connection, but I felt his name referring good as possible pony actor ^_^
** - Neapolis (greek New City) – the capital of Brightflame’s homeland. It has nothing to do with Naples/Napoli beside the name. It’s rather more like ancient Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Constantinople, Milan, Florence, Verona, London, Washington, St. Petersburg, Cracow and Budapest merged altogether.
*** - Celestia was lying to you calling him her “nephew”. At least in my story :)
**** - The main plot of the story was created pre-Princess of Friendship thing. Before that, I always imagined Twilight as a powerful mage like Starswhirl, who in far future might become a good mayor of Ponyville. But, as I wanted to stay as close to TV episodes as possible, I had to ‘slightly’ modify the concept. That’s how the whole story turned even more marysue-ish than it was…
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