Luna's Command: The Wibbly-Wobbly Saga

Once again, Brilliant finds herself ignoring the crotchety pegasus. Is he old enough to be "crotchety"? Not important! "Ah... I should just be able to dispel it once we get close and he can fly over. Theoretically. I mean, I've never exactly tested this particular version of the spell before..."

"Excellent work, Ms. Shimmer! Brilliant work, I might even say." Wandering Eye smiled a little.

"A useful spell, to be sure." He dimly recalled seeing something like it on his travels, but then again many barrier spells could be aesthetically similar. "But, uh... 'This version' of the spell?"

Inside the cube of magic... Was a Hippogriff having quite the panic attack. Scratching at the magic to no avail.

"Oh, yes. It's designed to contain helpless or otherwise restrained targets. I reinforced the metaphysical structure of the cube in order... I made it stronger to stop him from escaping". Brilliant had a tendency to babble on and on about magical theory. When she sees the carriage pull-up next to the floating hippogriff, she attempts to dispel it.

Spoiler:

(\Oh, hey, I'm back. I just usually have to leave kind of early every night. Unless it's friday, friday. Gotta get down on friday./)

Spoiler:

Cobbled is startled awake by lunar's shout.
Woah, hey, Lunar. Don't get your panties in a twist. So... are we there yet? It's cold.

(\Assuming it would be cold, up in the air with no protection, right?/)

The Paniced Wild-Hippogriff... Looked to the magical unicorn with a mix of rage and fear. If somebody didn't calm him down RIGHT NOW, he'd most likely attack without meaning to.

(OOC: sorry... just this is how my character would react to being trapped into a magical cage like that...)

"I don't think it liked that," Scorch whispered to Wandering Eye. The dragon could sympathise; magic barriers are the worst. At least you could see a cage...

Scorch flew out to out to the Hippogriff. "Hey hey hey, come on now, err, Lunar, was it? Wanna talk about it?"

Lunar just roars. "WHAT HAPPEN!?"

"That yell from Luna was fake, to scare the snakes away. But then you flew after them, so the unicorns, erm," Scorch explained, pausing to avoid words such as 'trap', 'cage', and whatnot, "They conjured up a magical barrier to prevent you from running after the snakes alone."

Just hearing the factoid that the Luna statement was a fake... Was enough to knock a good deal of the rage-fear out of Lunar as he quickly realized what that meant... His whole face changed in a blink of an eye to regret. "So... No Goddess of the Moon to impress... So I bucked up, again..."

"Yeah, like the little guy said, it's pretty darn cold out here," Plug noted with all the subtlety of a meteorite, gently flapping in place. "So let's get moving!" Then, with a touch more consideration, he turned his head to Lunar. "As soon as my compadre lowers that barrier of hers, we'll go see the real deal, alright, big guy?"

Spoiler:

Lunar nods and returns to the carriage, still feeling bad about things. "Think we could've taken them..."

Scorch also flies back into the carriage...

"Alright, everypony," Grizzle said, turning the carriage the rest of the way around. "And other species so involved...you may want to hang on, for we have 20 minutes worth of travel to make in 10, and I for one do not intend to keep Her Highness waiting."

"Oh swell," Plug deadpanned, but straightened his wings slightly in preparation anyway. Duties and all.

And a few moments later with a great burst of wind the group went speeding...speedily...into the evening sky, a straight shot towards Canterlot and its famous castle. Somewhere behind and a bit to the right of them, a group of Sunsnakes searched for their quarry in a rather fruitless sort of way.

Spoiler:

---

Even for those for whom it was a common sight, Canterlot was absolutely breathtaking. No, not "breathtaking". That is an understatement.

Breathtaking was the city, to be sure, bright and clean as a brand new bit, and just as representative of affluence. But what was beyond breathtaking was the centerpiece of this great city, what with it being larger than most of the city around it and all. A several-building tall structure with great banners and golden spirals, and deep dark places and echoing sounds nestled in between, Canterlot Castle was a very striking tableau of titanic scale, representing not only alicornian authority but deep yet easily-understood symbolism. The Royal Sisters decidedly did live here, and equally high as the towers loomed was their every action and word's effect upon the populace of ponies below - and considering the mountainside status of the palace, that was quite the large populace indeed.

But even that does not fully capture the grandeur, the sense of awe one is confronted with when seeing the city. Perhaps the feelings is best illustrated through two facts. Consider this fact: travelers from other lands would often return to their homes with tall tales of the length of the shadow the castle cast at sunrise - long enough to reach all the way across Equestria, they would say, oftentimes stretching their arms or the equivalent for sheer force of emphasis.

Now, to fully comprehend what the average pony feels upon seeing such a grandiose scene, consider this: more often than not it was those who had seen Canterlot Castle that believed these tall tales, rather than the ones who hadn't.

It is this Castle (with a capital C) that your group is headed to now, preparing to undertake what seems to be some sort of secret mission to save all of Equestria. For once, it is not Plug who has the sly smile or the smart comment, but Grizzle, who simply looks back, smirking, as the carriage slows, slows, slows towards an inevitable landing at the Castle gates. "Welcome to Canterlot Castle, fillies, gentlecolts, and other well-mannered guests. Please, remember to collect your jaws from the carriage floor before exiting the vehicle."

Spoiler:

wooooooaaaaahhhhh. This. This is. Bu- Canter- gak! IJuhbu this just WOAH. Collect my jaws is right! Even at night, the splendour amazes me, though I'm sure the Princess wouldn't like to hear me say it in such a way. I am glad I stayed up for this.

(\ Oh yeah, When lunar woke him up, he stayed up. Grumpy, but up. /)

Dad always told me about this place. He'd been, once. His biggest commission ever, for a grand sculpture in one of the off-rooms of the castle. I couldn't go, I was just a little colt.

Spoiler:

Wandering Eye chuckled as the colt was reducing to blubbering incoherency at the sight of Canterlot. Smiling, he took in the view - somehow, it was even more beautiful than when he'd last seen it. He'd been there several times - it was a capital of learning and knowledge as well as a capital of ponykind - but he'd never seen it while approaching from above like this. He wondered how much effort went into making the city seem as majestic as the day it was built... but it was well worth it for a view like this... and the city certainly lived up to its appearance.

He was also rather relieved - he'd been somewhat on edge ever since the Sunsnakes, and there was something about Canterlot that gave him a feeling of safety. Surely no harm would come to them here under the auspices of the great princesses. Which made him smile with glee - he was going to see Luna herself! Work directly under her command! He hadn't been this excited in quite some time. He felt like a little colt, really.

It was a nice feeling, a luxury he hadn't had for quite some time.

Brilliant's jaw didn't hit the floor. It had the first few dozen times she saw Canterlot Castle, of course, but even something that grandiose gets old after a while of patrolling it. The Shimmer Mansion was a few blocks away and, growing up so close, she spent quite a bit of time exploring the castle's endless halls as a filly. That was the first time she met a Royal Guard, when he pulled her out of a vase she had been hiding in.

And the first time she ever saw Princess Celestia. All the Princess did was smile at her and that was enough to transfix the little filly. That was a defining moment in Brilliant's life; ever since then she's hoped to one day be half as regal as Princess Celestia. She was still working on that one.

She smiled at the rest of the group. "Welcome to Canterlot! There's nothing like coming home..."

"Looks like a dump to me..."

Lunar growls at the Blind Pegasus and looks as if he's clearly thinking of slashing at the Pegasus with his claws so badly...

Xel Unknown wrote:Lunar growls at the Blind Pegasus and looks as if he's clearly thinking of slashing at the Pegasus with his claws so badly...

Now Lunar, remember what I told you about your panties.
Cobbled pats lunar on the back. Actually trying to help.

(\ Yeah, that didn't help. /)
(\What do I roll for diplomacy or something?/)
(\Oh my god read that line out of context./)
(\does that line even have context?/)

Woah, hey, Lunar. Don't get your panties in a twist.

(\Oh yeah./)

"What are panties?" Lunar said deeply confused, for the moment distracted from his anger as what the Hippogriff viewed as an Great Insult to The Goddess of the Moon herself.

(OOC: Remember... Ponies don't normally wear clothing! )

"And we are here," Plug said in perhaps too loud a voice, eager not to hear the conversation that was apparently going to occur just behind his head. At least he wasn't lying; as he said the last word the carriage landed with a soft thwump.

Unhitching themselves from the carriage was apparently much less of a hassle than the process of hitching themselves up was, as they were done almost before anypony could get out. "If you will please be as quiet as possible whilst following us to the meeting room," Grizzle nodded at the associated group, smiling just a tad. "Even if we were not on a secret mission at the moment, most ponies in the castle are currently asleep."

Wandering Eye glared at the blind Pegasus, a gesture surely lost on him, but Eye was ticked nonetheless. "What would you know-" he started to say, before being interrupted by Plug.

It was just as well. The interruption gave him a moment to think, and in that moment he suddenly remembered his present company... it wouldn't do to displace such... uncouthness around the others. And by "the others" he meant "Brilliant Shimmer." He didn't think it proper to say the wrong things around a pony of her distinction.

And there was also the matter of keeping his darker side in check, especially before a meeting with Luna.

[Grah, once more I am beaten to the punch. At least this time I worked it in fairly well.]