“C’mon sis, I know you’ll love ‘em!”

Loralee followed close behind her brother as they made their way through the streets of their hometown.  The eight-year-old girl had no idea what to expect from this little trip.  She didn’t know where they were going or why they were going there.  All Malcolm had told her was that he wanted her to meet a friend of his.

After almost ten minutes of walking through the empty streets, the two siblings arrived at a large building with a neon sign on the front of it.  The sign read ‘NYR Compound:  Beware, all ye who enter here.’  The sign did nothing to reassure the little girl about their journey, but she never questioned her brother’s decisions.  

Just outside the building, a dark-skinned thug greeted the two of them.  Although she couldn’t understand why, he looked very familiar to her.  She tried to think back to any possible time she might have seen him before, but any memory of him refused to come back to her.

He exchanged greetings with Malcolm before chuckling, “This must be the gal from the market.  She sure has grown up a bit since then.”  He reached out for a handshake, but the girl was hesitant to accept it.

Her older brother placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and whispered, “This is Ben, Lora.  He’s one of the good guys.  You can trust him, okay?”  The older thug smiled as his friend introduced him.

With a nod of understanding, Loralee accepted the thug’s handshake with a gentle smile.  If Malcolm said he was trustworthy, then he had to be.  That’s how it had always been.  That’s how it would always be…

A deep voice cheered from behind the older thug, “Well, if it ain’t the little tyke!  It’s about time you introduced us!”  With an air of welcoming, a tall figure exited from the building and reached a large hand out toward the little girl.

Malcolm chuckled, “This is Boss, Lora.  He’s the guy keeping this town in check.”  With a reassuring smile, the boy guided his sister closer to the large man.

She accepted this new man’s handshake; a sense of safety falling over her as his hand virtually swallowed hers.  She mumbled, “N-Nice to meet you both…”

Boss burst into laughter, “Are you sure this kid is your sister?  She definitely ain’t as vulgar as you!”  He smiled warmly at the girl, trying to leave a good impression.

Her older brother scoffed, “That’s ‘cause she ain’t a thug.  I’ve tried to keep her away from all this shit…”  He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.

Ben jokingly groaned, “You sure ain’t doing it right, bringing her here!”

Both thugs sent him an angry glare.  Loralee found humor in his sudden change of expression.  She burst into a fit of giggles as the three guys exchanged jokes.  After a few minutes of small talk, Boss escorted them into the compound and into his office, where they could talk without risk of being overheard or assaulted.

That day, Loralee gained two new people she could trust.  The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on her…

Loralee’s mind snapped back to the present as a cheer rang out from Twilight Sparkle.  The human girl returned to reality just in time to see the purple unicorn and a tall white stallion doing a small little dance.  She couldn’t help but notice that the two looked absolutely ecstatic.  The stallion’s silver armor led her to believe he was a guard for the castle.

The picture on his flank also led her to believe that he was Shining Armor…  For some reason, even though she would normally be excited to meet someone new, the flashback she’d just returned from kept her from finding the joy in the current situation.  Her brother, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the silly display of sibling companionship that the two ponies were exchanging.

It didn’t take long for the exchange to end and the mood to shift to a more formal scenario.  Shining Armor, being the captain of the Royal Guard, was sent by Princess Celestia to escort the humans to the castle.  Once the topic had been brought up, the guard developed a completely serious attitude.  For some reason, he made it seem as if getting the foreigners to the castle was a life-or-death situation.

Without argument or any attempt to stall, the group set off for the castle.  The general small talk was exchanged on the way.  Armor introduced himself, explained a few things about the town, and told the humans about all the preparations that had been made for their visit.  According to him, Celestia had sent the entire castle’s staff to work the moment Twilight’s letter arrived.  

Loralee couldn’t help but notice how quickly Armor’s attitude shifted from serious to playful.  Although he was no doubt doing his job first, he was still calm and relaxed, and never missed a chance to make a joke or two about something or some pony they passed.  He was definitely serious about his job, but he seemed to enjoy it as well.

He reminded her vaguely of the crime lord she had met years ago.

It didn’t take long for the excited rabble of ponies and humans and baby dragon to reach the castle and enter its welcoming halls.  The sight of the décor alone sent childish chills down both humans’ spines.  The place looked almost identical to the wonderful descriptions told in the storybooks back home.  Banners hung from the walls beside large glass windows.  Doors of different colors dotted the walls periodically.  Portraits and statues were placed at random intervals along the corridors, adding life to the palace.  

Neither human expected something this extravagant from a castle under the control of ponies.  They figured this kind of beauty only existed in the imaginations of the writers of those childish fables.

Loralee was struck hardest by the beauty of the atmosphere.  She couldn’t believe how amazing everything in the palace was.  Even mundane things like tables and chairs had a sense of beauty hidden within.  This type of feeling was never found in the world she had come from.  When she noticed the gleam in her brother’s eyes, she knew that even he had to appreciate the wonder of this place.

Before long, the group was guided into a large open chamber where guards stood at attention.  Behind them, the large door of the throne room closed slowly.  Shining Armor guided the two humans along the red carpet toward the single throne resting at the back of the chamber while the rest of the ponies took a bow to the figure resting on it.

The tall white alicorn stood up from her seat and bowed slightly to the humans that were approaching.  A sense of nervousness flooded into Loralee as she realized that this figure had to be Princess Celestia.  Just before reaching the actual throne, Armor stopped in his tracks and bowed to the princess.  Finding it only polite, the girl bowed as well, encouraging her brother to do the same.

A few seconds were spent in silent formality before the alicorn decided to break it.  She smiled warmly and said, “Allow me to start by welcoming you to Canterlot.  It’s not very often we have visitors from another world.”  She rose up from her bow, every other pony following suit.  

Loralee responded, “It’s an honor to be here, princess.”  The butterflies in her stomach nearly kept her from looking at the royalty, but the pony’s kind gaze calmed her nervousness.

Malcolm asked, “So what’s the point of such a rushed meeting?”  Every other resident of the room gasped at the informal tone in the boy’s voice.

Celestia sighed, “I simply wanted to meet you.  After all, Twilight Sparkle wrote a lot of interesting things about you in her letter.  I was curious to see how accurate her descriptions were.”  She winked at her young student on the far side of the room.  “I’d say she was correct.”  The princess looked the two humans over curiously.

The girl sighed, “You’ll have to forgive Mac’s behavior…  We’re not exactly used to formal meetings…”  She sent an annoyed glare at the older sibling.

“Who said anything about this being a formal meeting?”  Princess Celestia was taken aback by the assumption.

Shining Armor stammered, “W-well…It’s an audience with you.  Why wouldn’t it be formal?”  The guard captain was caught off guard by the assumedly-trick question.

The human boy groaned, “Ain’t all meetings with royalty formal?”

The alicorn giggled, “Oh heavens no!  This isn’t supposed to be formal by any means, I only wanted to meet you and welcome you to the castle.  No, the formal audience will be another time.”  She waved a hoof at the ponies gathered by the door, urging them to approach the throne.  “If this were formal, it would be a private meeting between you and me.  No, I believed you might like a tour of the castle, wouldn’t you?”

The two humans exchanged uncertain looks before nodding in affirmation.  Shining Armor chuckled, “Well then, why don’t we do that?  First thing’s first:  let me show you all to your rooms.”

“I’ll call for you when it’s time for an actual audience.  Until then, enjoy your stay here at the castle!”  Celestia waved a dismissive hoof as the guard captain escorted the guests from the throne room.

Loralee was lost in thought as she followed the stallion through the halls of the castle.  At some point, the ponies left the group and went off on their own little path.  Malcolm and Armor carried on varying conversations as the latter explained the different wings of the castle.  The girl subconsciously followed them through the halls, not taking note of anything being discussed.

That wasn’t anything like I expected.  What kind of informal meeting was that?  Why were there so many guards?  Why were we rushed into the room?  What was with the bow she took to us?  That couldn’t have been an entirely informal audience.  No, there was a reason everything was set up like that…but I don’t know what.

After a few minutes of carrying on the internal debate, she slammed into her brother hard as the two men came to a sudden halt outside a fairly large door.  In her absentmindedness, she had no idea where they were or why they stopped.  As she recovered from the collision, she caught the tail end of Armor’s last statement.

“…if you need anything!”  The stallion turned and started a brisk trot back down the halls they had just taken.

Malcolm chuckled as he pushed the door open, “I like that fella.  He seems cool.”

“Really?  I never guessed you would actually find something to like about this place.”  Loralee grinned smugly as she followed her brother into their room.  

The older sibling sighed, “That’s not funny, Lora.  Sure, I ain’t the most trusting guy, but I think I’m starting to warm up to this place.  Maybe it was the cookies…”  He plopped down on the large bed at the center of the room.  

The girl took in the décor of the room before responding to her brother’s comment.  To no surprise, the room was identical to the halls and throne room, albeit with a few less statues and paintings.  She giggled, “It took you long enough!  Four days?”

The boy scoffed, “Cut me some slack, okay?  I had to kill a fella the day before we got here.  Excuse me for not wanting to be super happy over some talking ponies.”  He closed his eyes tight and let the memory of the old man fill his head.

“The more you think about the past, the harder it’ll be to adjust to our new home.” Loralee sighed.

Her brother groaned, “Why do you always have to be right?”

“Because I’m cool like that!” she giggled.

“Whatever…  Did Shining Armor feel familiar to you?”

The girl was caught off guard by the sudden change of topic.  She thought about it for a second before giggling, “Well, he does sort of remind me of someone back home.”

Malcolm jolted upright and cheered, “Boss, right?!”  His eyes lit up and a smile shot across his face in an instant.

Loralee blinked blankly at her brother’s excited reaction.  She sighed, “Yeah…you too?”

“Yep.”  He fell back on the bed with less excitement.  “I can’t tell you why, but I just get the same vibe from him.  Glad to know I ain’t just goin’ crazy.”

The two siblings continued to discuss the likenesses between Boss and Armor for an hour or so.  After an intense debate over the crime lord’s true intentions with his illegal dealings, the fatigue from the day caught up to the humans.  The stress of meeting the princess wore heavier on them than they expected it to.

An early sleep graced them in the peaceful quiet of their room… Next Chapter: Change of Heart Estimated time remaining: 25 Minutes