[Canterlot] One is the Loneliest Number[ENDED]

[Sherlock Hooves]

Sherlock blink in a bit of confusion at Granola's comment, he smiled "Um... Yes I suppose we both are... brown. Granted I'm not sure if we have all that much in common.... Oh I'm sorry that came out wrong.... What I mean by that is, I'm quite eccentric and don't really fit with to many crowds. I drive most ponies nuts with my actions to be honest." He turned his attention back to Luna for the moment as she spoke, then taking note of the lone guard pony with her. "Oh well... didn't see you there mate.... sorry. Well I guess I was wrong.... that doesn't happen that often.... well I suppose everypony has their off days." Hearing Luna excusing herself Sherlock bowed lower than her, "If you insist your highness.... I would like to offer you something in return for my rudeness if I can." He thought for a moment then he had an idea, "Oh I have it! Your Majesty, and miss Granola. If the two of you, and your "escort" are still available later this evening you could stop by my favorite night club. I'm a member of The Speakeasy, its an invite only night club and restaurant. You two shall be my guests." Before either of them could refuse he raised his hoof, "Now before you object please let me insist. It was very careless of me, and I was quite rude to you both. Let me make amends." He pulled out a pencil and card, jotting down the address and hoofing it to Luna. "Please princess, it would mean the world to me if you would allow me to make amends."

[Hippo]

And there it was. An invitation to something else. Of course, Granola wasn't unhappy at all. It was just like her to be easily overwhelmed by another thing to look forward to tonight, not to mention the handsomeness of the pony that gave the invitation. Granola had only hoped that Luna slept in late like the night princess she was. If Granola was going to be out of town, she might as well live it up. "Oh, uh, yeah!" Nola looked up at the night princess and squeed. "We can always go there after a walk through the garden." Granola was showing too many of her cards, she thought. So she pulled back a little by providing an innocent side-stepping comment. "I mean, after all, he did inconvenience us. We should accept this offer." Granola looked back towards Sherlock as he knelt. He was so charming to her, and every time he said her name it was immediately intoxicating, even though she wondered how he knew her name in the first place.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Luna couldn't recall ever being to a “Night Club.” What kind of club met at night? Surely nothing she'd ever heard of... after all, nopony went out after dark. He'd mentioned a restaurant... perhaps the club just met there? Maybe it was some sort of cult... worshipers of the night, perhaps? Or worse... worshipers of Nightmare Moon? Luna stifled a shudder. There were those who dabbled in the dark arts, and while the magic wasn't necessarily bad in itself, that was the sort of pony you had to watch out for, that much Luna knew.

But, if there was something brewing in the underworld of Equestria, Luna ought to know about it. And what better way than to go right to the heart of the problem? Sherlock probably thought that it would be the sort of thing Luna would enjoy... and who was to say she wouldn't?

Luna cleared her throat as well as her thoughts. “Thank you for your offer.” she took the piece of paper and floated it over to her guard companion to carry. She had second thoughts afterward, not wanting him to see the address of her engagement. She planned to try to ditch him later, to try to better fit in with this night crowd. It wouldn't work very well if he knew exactly where she was going. “I believe it would be an... enlightening experience, for myself, at least.”

[Sherlock Hooves]

Sherlock beamed as the two agreed to join him, "Fantastic! Thank you very much, I know you will not be disappointed." Noticing how he was now acting like a school colt he quickly composed himself. Taking a deep breath he smiled warmly and bowed to the two of them. "Then I shall wait your arrival at the address, I'll just go home and clean up. Don't want to go around looking like a bad night at a tavern." He chuckled and rose to head out, stopping for a moment he turned around to the two of them. "Oh and don't let the exterior of the building fool you, the address is correct, it will.... just seam like its wrong." And with one more bow of his head he turned and trotted off home to clean himself up and change. Leaving the two to their previous plans.

((I'm still here but I'll wait until after Luna and Granola have their time in the gardens. Oh and btw Granola I'm sorry I forgot that nopony had mentioned your name See you two at the Speakeasy ^^))

[Hippo]

Granola pranced in place. "Isn't this exciting, Princess! We get to go to the garden and go to a night club later." Granola got over-excited and poked her head into what Luna probably considered her personal space. "I've never been to a Canterlot night club, I bet they're so fancy!"

Granola turned her head and watched Sherlock walk away. She studied every detail in the stallion's movement. She didn't know what it was, but something about that pony made her walk on air. In Granola's sudden burst of excitement, Granola trotted briskly towards the garden entrance, hoping Luna would follow. She squealed uncontrollably.

http://soundcloud.com/riverhippo/ponyexcited

[MyLittlePonyTales]

”Farewell!” Luna said to the rather odd pony. Though he may have seemed a bit strange, a lot of things did to Luna. There were so many new and exciting things to explore and discover, including this “Speakeasy.” Perhaps she would do some research before the engagement, and see if she couldn’t' find out a bit about it so as to be acquainted with its customs.

But Luna was soon distracted by the eager Earth Pony she was with. “It brings me great joy as well.” she smiled. Quickly, and almost as if she'd forgotten the princess altogether, Granola Gracie was off towards the garden. Luna followed after, her concerns about the Night Club set aside for the moment. She had other subjects to attend to, and at the moment, just one in particular.

“So, have you visited the Canterlot Garden's before?” Luna inquired as she caught up with Granola.

[Hippo]

"Who? Me? Oh! I mean, of course me. Um, actually... No," Granola giggled akwardly. "Nonononononono. No. Everytime I have ever visited Canterlot, which has only been a few times, the garden is always locked to public access for some reason. Probably because they don't want average ponies running and mucking the place up!" Granola did a stand-in-place animation as she spoke to illustrate her thought. She played the part of a careless pony almost too well. "But don't worry, Luna! I am very studious in botany. Hay! Did I ever tell you that my house is lodged in a tree near the Ponyville's edge of Whitetail Wood? Well, actually it isn't lodged into a tree, it is a tree, but still. And I have a pet plant named Precious who is so adorable."

As Granola ranted, she trotted up to the garden's enterance where two guardsponies stood near it's locked gate. At first, the ponies firmed up and angled their eyes at Granola. But as they saw Luna walk up too, their stance was no longer planted to the ground and their facial expressions loosened. Granola smirked at the guardsponies with a 'look what I have' look. "Hai!"

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Luna smiled at Granola's somewhat awkward and rather fast-paced way of speaking. Was it just because she was with a princess, or was this the way she normally spoke? Luna almost wished that everypony didn't treat her with such reverence all the time, so they could just be themselves rather than pretending to be servants trying to please her. There were actual servants for that.

A house that was a tree? That seemed a bit... unusual. Although, times had probably changed in her time away, so a lot of strange things were to be expected. Thinking about it, though, it didn't seem too far off for an Earth pony.

At the reaction from the guards, Luna inwardly laughed. It wouldn't be polite to do so out loud, of course. But they way their demeanor changed was so sudden, from bold to reverent just like that. Well, at least she hadn't lost her authority after all these years.

She nodded her head to them in acknowledgment as she, Granola, and the one guard made their way through the entrance. Luna herself had barely left the castle, much less visited the Royal Gardens. Needless to say, she didn't expect anything to be the same in 1000 years. Not that she remembered any of it, so she couldn't really compare.

“Why is it that you're so eager to visit the Royal Gardens?” Luna inquired of the Earth pony.

[Hippo]

"Because. I. Love. Plantlife!" Granola jumped up to Luna's height to meet her eyes even.

As Granola began prancing around the garden, she would stop to smell a couple flowers, measure the size of broad leaves with her hoof, and knock on the bark of the trees that were said to be the rarest in all of Equestria. But when Granola heard the knocking of one of the trees, she was shocked. "Wait, this sounds like-" Granola knocked on the tree again. "It's acer saccharum." Granola's expression dropped to the look of the uninterested, and then realized spitting off scientific names of the flora probably would make the princess uninterested as well. She turn back to the blue alicorn. "Uh, a maple tree. It's just a maple tree." Granola knew that she probably passed several of the same type of tree on the trek to Canterlot from the wooded area that falls south of the Canterlot peaks.

Granola would look around to reveal to herself that all of the plants were not only recognizable, but commonly grown around her forested home in the Whitetail. In fact, Granola had guessed that there were more types of plants inside her private greenhouse than was in the canterlot gardens. Granola, who had seconds later been beside herself, was now standing in front of one of the biggest disappointments of her life. The royal canterlot garden, a place Granola had sought after ever since she knew about her joy of plantlife, was nothing more than a typical private garden behind a normal pony's back yard.

"You know what, Princess? Maybe we should just head on over to the thing that," Granola blushed, "beautiful brown stallion invited us to."

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Luna was momentarily taken aback by Granola's enthusiasm, and tried to recover with a nervous laugh. Although that was a logical explanation, considering she was an Earth pony. Luna followed along quietly behind, watching the brown pony in amusement as she pranced about.

She was pleasantly surprised when Granola used the Scientific term for tree. “It's actually a Sugar Maple, the kind often used—“ Granola interrupted, going on about that... ruffian from earlier. Though Luna was looking forward checking out the “Night Club,” she wasn't in any particular rush... Although from the sound of it, Granola had some... other intentions in mind.

“—in making syrup.” Luna finished quietly to herself. Her expression was melancholy, but only for a moment. Appease the ponies, Luna. she thought to herself. “Alright then!” she smiled. “If that is your desire, that is where we shall go!”

[Sherlock Hooves]

Sherlock, after quickly returning home and cleaning up, waited outside the listed address to the club. The building looked nothing like what one would think a night club to look like. It looked like an abandoned warehouse; no windows save for the very top and no visible entrance except for one reenforced steel door. Sherlock stood outside the door and waited patiently; he was wearing a nice dark grey suit and dark blue shirt. No tie and he had left his hat at home. He shifted a little nervously, he usually felt that he was a confident stallion. He needed to be, in order to be a private detective. But he was pretty much escorting the princess and her friend around for the evening. He hoped that things would go well.

(I am so sorry for the wait. I just got a promotion at work and my time has been all taken up I promise I'll be more diligent for this.)