Canterlot [Canterlot Castle] Fantastic Field Trip for Foals!

[Bellosh]

A special mission from Princess Celestia herself! Somehow, she must have known that after PFC Flash Sentry’s enlistment was up, he planned on becoming a troop leader for the Foal Scouts. The royal guard knew that a tour group consisting mostly of young students would be walking through Canterlot Castle. Evidently, the sudden choice by Princess Blueblood to lead the group personally alarmed Celestia enough to assign a guard to keep an eye out on both the prince and the students.

“It would be my honor to look after the tour group Your Highness,” PFC Sentry graciously affirmed as he and Celestia reached the Front Lawn. After the disaster constituting trying to protect a cage-full of ponies from changelings, the young stallion expected this newest job to be right up his alley. When the princess addressed the group, Flash rigidly froze in place by Celestia’s side as royal guards are trained to do, looking as professionally stern as a mild-mannered pegasus can-

“Wait, you mean Discord wasn’t ‘da only one of ‘dose guys you trapped in stone?”

Evidently, Babs Seed took Princess Celestia’s joke seriously, and the signs of weariness etched themselves on her face. This was actually the the filly’s second visit to Canterlot Castle, although she didn’t get to properly wander through it the first time around. But her parents back in Manehattan signed her up for this trip, wishing their child receive a wonderful experience.

Babs was excited to go to Canterlot at first, but with both Diamond Tiara’s presence and now this warning from Celestia, she now couldn’t be sure. Babs and Diamond had… a weird history between them. Rest assured, their brief friendship ended on less than amicable terms.....

[Slazer]

Memory Lane was pulled from his self-pity by the timely arrival of Princess Celestia and another guardspony, whom she introduced as Private First Class Flash Sentry- a pony he was tentatively familiar with from a couple of previous momentary meetings. Despite that, the Prefect did not know him well enough to judge how much help he would be in taming either the tour group or their princely 'chaperone'.

Momentarily ignoring the little filly he heard asking about other potential entities of Chaos being sealed in the Castle garden, the scholarly pony bowed before the Princess in a proper formal greeting. "As the representative of your School for Gifted Unicorns on this trip, I thank you for giving us this opportunity to tour your home. I assure you, everything will left as it was found," he glanced up and met Flash Sentry's eyes with a pleading gaze, before looking towards Princess Celestia with considerably more- feigned- confidence,"and everypony involved will be in their best behavior."

[Pretzelparty]

A trip to Canterlot castle this was incredible! When Bebop lived with her parents they had a few shows in Canterlot when they were on tour but whenever they came Bebop would only get a short glimpse of the castle. Since she began staying in Ponyville with her grandparents, Bebop's live had been becoming more interesting. There were plenty of colorful characters of both the nice and... not so nice variety. Before she could even ask her grandparent's permission she was ecstatic to learn they had already signed her up.

There were a few familiar faces in this group already popping up in this group it seemed. The face that stood out the most was a little blue pegasus that Bebop recognized from another Field trip; one to the underground Crystal mines where they had quickly become friends. The next familiar visage in the group belonged to a rather tall colt with a fiery mane, she remembered playing the snow with him and her close friend Haywire back in Ponyville on Hearth's warming eve and he seemed like an okay pony. The least welcome pony she saw in the group was none other than Diamond Tiara, the rather bratty filly with a rich dad and a rather annoying tendency to pick on Blankflank fillies and colts in Cheerilee's classroom back in town. While it wasn't a face she recognized there was a certain non-equine individual with Bebop resolved to try and talk to; A young griffin by the name of Glimmer, but first the one she had to say hello too was Wind walker who actually seemed to know Glimmer.

The dark brown filly briskly walked towards Wind, her mind so focused on greeting her friend she failed to notice she had bumped in Diamond Tiara a bit hard before she reached her goal and tapped Wind's shoulder for a moment. Whether the filly turned around to check who had done that or not the tan maned unicorn promptly wrapped her hooves around Wind in Greeting before letting her go and mouthing out the word,"Hi" to her without the vocal accompaniment to go with it.

The filly had to admit this was one well looked after field trip. Princess Celestia had actually taken the time to greet everyone, but then again she made time for a lot of things. She was even in Ponyville During Nightmare night... a night during which Bebop missed out on the action entirely because of a bad case of the flu. Apparently even Prince Blueblood was going to be a chaperon too. There were even a couple guard looking after everyone!

[Blueblood]

While outwardly Prince Blueblood's visage bore an expression of calm authority, inwardly he heaved a sigh of relief. His bold maneuver had paid off, and the pair of night guards would back him up! Now, all he needed to do was conduct a mixed group of possibly rambunctious colts and fillies through a tour of the castle grounds without any of them getting lost, breaking valuable treasures, and wreaking havoc generally. *It can't be that hard, can it?*

Only one way to find out. The alabaster unicorn took a deep breath, prepared to address the assembly, and-

Of course that was the moment that Auntie Celestia would walk in, absolutely! It seemed even she wasn't going to trust him completely with taking on this task by himself, but at least she would spare him the indignity of personal supervision. He glanced over her appointed proxy, trying to get a gauge on this Pvt. Sentry. He looked a bit new, like Midnight; shouldn't be too much trouble then. He smiled, and waved to his Aunt. "Thank you, Auntie." It was probably the most informal greeting that the foals had ever imagined that the Princess could receive, but it wasn't as if their parents and relatives insisted on them using formal titles, right?

The first question came from an earth pony filly, with a rough Manehattan accent.

"Wait, you mean Discord wasn’t ‘da only one of ‘dose guys you trapped in stone?”

The Prince put on a mock-serious expression as he leaned in to answer her with a stage whisper. "Let us just say that... we have methods of dealing with overly rambunctious guests."

He cleared his throat after Memory Lane finished addressing Princess Celestia, having gotten his first introduction ready. "Right. Now, you all know Princess Celestia, and that she lives and works in this Palace. We'll be seeing where exactly later on the tour. As she receives many of her visitors in the front part of the castle, you'll also see the bulk of the Solar Guards there. You can recognize them because they all look, well, pretty much like that." He gestured over towards the stiff-looking Flash Sentry. "They are trained professionals in looking serious. Don't try to make them break expression; I've tried everything from sneezing powder to imitating monkeys. It can't be done." He had too, back in his schoolcolt days. Back when he could come here to get out of parental supervision, he'd often taken the opportunity to run wild. Which was perhaps the source of some of his current apprehension...

He turned now to indicated Night Watcher and Midnight. "Now, these tow lovely mares are not part of the Solar Guard, but the Lunar Guard. They aren't normally out in the day, given that Auntie Luna has a busy night doing..." He paused, suddenly realizing that he had no idea what Princess Luna actually did. "Night...court...things... Right, so we're not likely to see any of their colleagues."

That took care of that. The Prince was starting to get into a rhythm here. He began to think he might actually pull this off! "Right, so before we start off on the Front Lawn, do you mind giving me your names?"

[tacobob]

“Oh no.”, Wind Walker thought to herself as one of the brothers entered the scene. Like the good little filly that she was, the Pegasus pony loved all her brothers and sister equally, but she wasn’t in the mood for Punk Walker’s silly shenanigans. "I didn't bother telling yah cause I knew you were working today and then you'd go and do something silly like this.", she whispered back as she tried to remain on all four hooves with her older brother's big helmet on, "And what were you just yapping about? You wanna get yourself court-marshaled? Sent to the moon? And yeah, we're all gonna be good, cause my teacher Miss Frizzlemane said if I get in trouble during this thing, I won't be able to go on the next field-trip, which I heard might be on the board of an actual air-ship."

While she wanted her brother to canter on, the little filly wasn't the type to be rude, "And this is Glimmer.", she waved a hoof at the cute little griffon girl that was standing by her, "I told you about her and her big brother Razor. We all met when Swift Squall and Fire took me and Fast Track to the Bridleback beach where we saw the kraken. Oh, and.", a grin crept upon the younger pony's face, "Could you please take your helmet off me? It's really heavy and it smells just like Fire's favorite shampoo. She's gonna whoop you good if she finds out you've been using it."

**

While noticing the pretty tiara-wearing magenta filly as she made her way towards the group, it has dawned on Wind that there were probably a few kids in this group that she met during the 'Grand Galloping Gala'. The little watermelon pony was the first, would there be others? She silently hoped Tourmaline Glass would show up. The little crystal pony seemed to be rather snooty when they first met, but Wind had taken a liken to the brainy filly the longer she hung around together. "Oh yeah.", she grinned a little at Watermelon Gush, "I was with you during that whole thing at the Gee Geee Gee. Didn't get to talk to each other cause I was busy trying to de-grump a crystal pony. I've been in a few rooms of the castle, but this is the first real-tour for me."

**

Wind's right ear perked up as her griffon-friend asked her questions about the prince, "I'm not sure what to make of Prince Blueblood. He's super-handsome and kind of hunky, but he's sort of silly like my brother Punk.", her discussion was quickly cut short when her very favorite princess entered the room. "Princess Celestia.", she gasped as the Alicorn came into view. There she was, the greatest, smartest, friendliest, sweetest, bravest, wisest mare to ever walk Equestria. The little filly made sure to give a proper curtsey as the princess made her way towards the crowd. She frowned a little when Celestia had announced that some guard would be taking her place to help with the tour. It was Flash Sentry, the same guard that was looking after Princess Twilight back in Ponyville. Her griffon friend Zelda had remarked that Flash was too skinny to be a guard, and that he was, but at least he was kind of cute.

Another familiar face quickly entered the scene. It was Apple Bloom's grumpy cousin, an earth pony Wind seemed to habitually run into during every other major event. Wind waved at the filly as she got closer. So distracted by Celestia, Babs and Skinny, it made her an easy target for Bebop Slide and her stealth-hug! "Oh hey Beb.", she whispered as she gave the unicorn a friendly hug in return, "This is my friend Glimmer. Glimmer. Bebop. Glimmer.", she hated to bring up the little mare's 'problem', so she kept quiet about it for a moment, "You looking forward to this? I sure am!"

When asked for her name, the filly spoke up, "Wind Walker of Canterlot.". the filly was part of a rather large family which consisted of R.E.A officers, guards or guards in training, and Wind herself who still had several years to go before she could enter training camp.

[ShadowWalking18]

Glimmer giggled slightly as Windy talked about the prince and wondered if she had a crush on him.

“He seems okay. But not my type.” She said slightly.

When Windy introduced her to Bebop, Glimmer was quick to shake the fillies hoof, “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”

“This is going to be so much fun, having new friends and old friends all together on this trip. This will be so much fun.” She said and grabbed Tiara, Babs, Windy, Bebop and Gush into a group hug. But quickly let them go when she saw their latest surprise.

Princess Celestia!

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” She whispered, “Its Princess Celestia Windy.” She placed her claws on Wind’s shoulders and strated to shake her in excitement.

“Oh do I look okay? What if I do something stupid to make a bad impression? Oh why didn’t I wear my better bow or that dress mommy sent me?” She said as she shook windy faster, her heart beat racing now.

Then she gasped, “Oh no, what if we accidentally free another monster of chaos. Oh that would be really bad.”

As she tried to regain her composure, she realized she was shaking Windy rather fast now and quickly stopped, “Oops….sorry Windy.”

When she heard that Princess Celestia was not joining them she sighed slightly in relief. She wasn’t ready to partake in such major company. Prince Blueblood was one thing, but the Princess of the Sun? Oh she wasn’t properly dressed for that.

When it was time to give out names she raised a claw and said, “I’m Glimmer. Nice to meet ya.”

After that she looked for the Night Guard again then whispered to Windy, “Be right back. Got to do something.”

With that she quickly and quietly as she could, using the other kids for cover, moved her way over to Midnight Blosssom. Once she got close enough she whispered, “Psst. Hey, Miss Night Guard. I gotta ask you something.”

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro kind of just stood around as he had nopony to talk to really. He turned at the mention of Bebop, the mute filly he had met over Hearths Warming's Eve. At least there was somepony here that he recognized, even if she couldn't verbally talk. Though it seemed she was already among a group of friends, and he didn't really want to butt his way in to a group of young fillies. He turned away from them as Blueblood continued talking.

Names were requested, and Wind and Glimmer were the first to respond. He spoke up next. "I'm Pyro Blaze, also from Canterlot." He said, giving a small wave. His eyes followed Glimmer as she snuck through the group, stopping next to one of the night guards. What was Glimmer doing? He kept an eye on her, just in case.

[Shadowbolt0]

Midnight was still humming to herself, the arrival of Princess Celestia wasn't honestly too much of a surprise to the mare, it would be honestly expected that she arrive, if only temporarily. However, the mares humming hadn't been interrupted, after all, there wasn't anything the Lunar Guard could do while waiting for the tour to start.

That's when she hear somepony trying to talk to, her? She stopped her humming and looking around, quickly spotting the..griffon? The Griffon had managed to sneak around near her, Midnight was slightly impressed. She hadn't even noticed it, then again, she wasn't honestly paying much attention.

Still, she looked at Night Watch, and then moved over to the Griffon.

"It's M.." she paused when she realized there was no way for the chick to know her name "Umm, it's Glimmer, right? I'm Midnight. And if this question about the castle, you'd be better to ask Prince Blueblood then myself" while it wasn't honestly true, she'd probably be able to answer it, but she wanted to watch the Prince handle it, mostly to see if he really could prove her wrong.

[Lux]

Night Watcher noticed that Midnight Blossom had her reservations about having Prince Blueblood be the royal representative and chaperone of the tour, and although she wouldn't admit it even the Staff Sergeant had her reservations. She wondered if Princess Celestia or Luna knew that he was giving this tour or if the Prince decided to just try without their knowing. In reality Night felt like she belonged in this group, not only to make sure the fillies and colts were in line but to watch him as well.

As Princess Celestia made her entrance, Night Watcher snapped to attention. She wondered why the Princess would select a Private to be her proxy and chaperone, but it was not her to question Celestia's decision. Still, Night thought it would be best to watch over Private Flash Sentry as well just to make sure things were in order. The jet black mare couldn't help but shake her head when Prince Blueblood mentioned how the Solar Guards were trained to be stiff and serious and to not try to make them flinch. There was always somepony who would be making faces or dancing around trying to make a guard smile or move, and in reality they weren't such staunch guards that could be mistaken for statues. Thankfully though Blueblood was more lenient when describing Night and Midnight's positions.

"That is correct, Prince Blueblood," Night said to the group, "While Solar Guards protect the castle and Canterlot in the daytime, we protect it at night. That is why our armor is silver rather than gold to tell the difference. So if you are ever out at night and are lost or scared, we can help you at night. Of course I would imagine that many of you are at home with your parents at night."

In waiting for the tour to start, Night noticed a griffon approaching Midnight to ask her a question, something that the new recruit was having trouble doing.

"Hello," Night said to the chick, "If you have a question, I will try my best to answer it. And if I can't I can see if the Prince knows. So, what is your question?"

+++

Watermelon Gush could barely contain herself when Princess Celestia introduced herself. She had of course seen the Princess at events but never this close. Of course Watermelon was a Princess, at least to her parents, the Princess of Watermelons to be exact. Of course she didn't have wings, a horn, or a fancy crown, but she still felt special like a Princess. Looking over at the one pony that had a tiara, she wondered if maybe that pony could help her find one later on to make Watermelon more Princess like.

"I was with you during that whole thing at the Gee Geee Gee. Didn't get to talk to each other cause I was busy trying to de-grump a crystal pony. I've been in a few rooms of the castle, but this is the first real-tour for me."

"Oh, right you do look familiar," Watermelon Gush said thinking back to that magical time. She remembered the fun she had with the pinata and even when a certain red earth pony fired off a few firecrackers! It was a magical time, one that Watermelon wished she didn't have to leave.

"Well, now we can get to know each other," She said to the blue colt with a smile.

The Prince then asked for everypony to introduce themselves.

"I'm Watermelon Gush, Princess of Watermelons," she said with a grin towards the prince.

[Quillhart]

“Oh no.”, Wind Walker thought to herself as one of the brothers entered the scene. Like the good little filly that she was, the Pegasus pony loved all her brothers and sister equally, but she wasn’t in the mood for Punk Walker’s silly shenanigans. "I didn't bother telling yah cause I knew you were working today and then you'd go and do something silly like this.", she whispered back as she tried to remain on all four hooves with her older brother's big helmet on, "And what were you just yapping about? You wanna get yourself court-marshaled? Sent to the moon? And yeah, we're all gonna be good, cause my teacher Miss Frizzlemane said if I get in trouble during this thing, I won't be able to go on the next field-trip, which I heard might be on the board of an actual air-ship."

"Aww, Windy, you know how much I'd hate to make you look bad in front of your friends." Punk said when the filly called his actions 'silly' before he gently poked her side. "And don't worry, I'll make sure to send you a beautiful postcard of myself from the moon. Might even holler at you when you pass by on your fancy-pants airship." He giggled a little at his joke. Punk Walker knew that Wind was a lot like him and tended to get herself in trouble in many occasions for different reasons. Sadly did the filly not have his other gene of getting out from the trouble again and thus was she almost always a little extra gazed upon by her teachers. Which was never a good foundation for her to make the trip interesting.

"Ooooh, I see how it is." Punk said with a smile and rolled his eyes. He inhaled deeply and braced himself to rabble a long sentence "You did something that you shouldn't have done and because you did it, you're stuck to not do things until the teacher choose to pardon your previous behavior and perhaps give you the permission to do fun things instead of being a big snore that can't even speak out loud enough to make herself heard to her beloved and wonderful brother." Punk Walker gasped for air. "Am I correct?" He added with a wink.

?Thank you? Punk Walker...

Punk had to replay that in his head to be entirely sure that he had heard right. Did the lunar guard before him actually thank him for encouraging the foals to think freely? Well, that was great! Punk Walker had thought that his speech wouldn't pass through lightly for other guards. It had actually happened quite a few times that the guards had rejected his beliefs as nothing more than a silly joke. Maybe this was one of those occasions. It honestly wasn't 'common' for a guard to have a rebellious mind so it wasn't surprising in any way. Though that would save Punk from another thing to worry about, so he wouldn't complain.

While she wanted her brother to canter on, the little filly wasn't the type to be rude, "And this is Glimmer.", she waved a hoof at the cute little griffon girl that was standing by her, "I told you about her and her big brother Razor. We all met when Swift Squall and Fire took me and Fast Track to the Bridleback beach where we saw the kraken. Oh, and.", a grin crept upon the younger pony's face, "Could you please take your helmet off me? It's really heavy and it smells just like Fire's favorite shampoo. She's gonna whoop you good if she finds out you've been using it."

Punk Walker tilted his head and glanced past Wind to take a good look at her friend. He waved enthusiastically at the griffon and tried to recall the time when his sister had spoken about her and her brother. "Hello there, Glimmer! It's good to see that Windy here is also making friends instead of enemies." Punk said and grinned at Wind Walker. "I'm Windy's brother. The handsomest, bravest and coolest brother you'll possibly come across." He smiled and gave the griffon a wink.

Punk Walker blushed slightly when the filly took some notice on his recent shampoo usage. It was indeed true that it was Fire's favorite shampoo and Punk had happened to figure out the reasons why it was her favorite. He cleared his throat and took the helmet off Wind's head. Punk Walker felt busted but he couldn't help but to smile at the filly and her malice. "Shhh", he smiled and gave his sister a wink,"the secret to my fabulous hair is a secret worth keeping. You won't tell her, right?" Punk snickered. "You wouldn't want your big brother to get banished to the moon over a bottle of shampoo now, would you?"

"I'm not sure what to make of Prince Blueblood. He's super-handsome and kind of hunky, but he's sort of silly like my brother Punk."

"Hooo there! I'm not that sill--"

Celestia cantered up to the group "Welcome to Canterlot Castle everypony," Celestia cheerfully greeted the tour group. "Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule, I am unable to stay with you for very long. However I have selected one of my Royal Guards to act as my proxy, Private first class Flash Sentry, please listen to him as he is well aware of the castle schedule. He will be acting as a chaperon to this group. Please everyone enjoy the tour of the castle, and be sure to not unleash any beings of chaos." Celestia said playfully.

HOLY GUACAMOLE! Shoot! shoot! This was not good, not good at all! Punk Walker quickly made himself as little as possible in the middle of the horde of ponies. This was not what he had in calculation. The princess herself had shown up to greet the foals this time. Shoot. Punk Walker shouldn't actually be there and the princess was the one if there was somepony who could actually bring him to court. Punk tried to hide behind his sister and threw gazes from above her shoulder. There was actually a lot of authority around him now, there had to be somepony around that would know that Punk wasn't supposed to even be there. This wasn't turning out good at all...

[ShadowWalking18]

Midnight was still humming to herself, the arrival of Princess Celestia wasn't honestly too much of a surprise to the mare, it would be honestly expected that she arrive, if only temporarily. However, the mares humming hadn't been interrupted, after all, there wasn't anything the Lunar Guard could do while waiting for the tour to start.

That's when she hear somepony trying to talk to, her? She stopped her humming and looking around, quickly spotting the..griffon? The Griffon had managed to sneak around near her, Midnight was slightly impressed. She hadn't even noticed it, then again, she wasn't honestly paying much attention.

Still, she looked at Night Watch, and then moved over to the Griffon.

"It's M.." she paused when she realized there was no way for the chick to know her name "Umm, it's Glimmer, right? I'm Midnight. And if this question about the castle, you'd be better to ask Prince Blueblood then myself" while it wasn't honestly true, she'd probably be able to answer it, but she wanted to watch the Prince handle it, mostly to see if he really could prove her wrong.

Glimmer motioned the guard to come closer and then took a deep breath and saying all at once.

"Areyouorknowanyponywhoislookingforaneligiblebachelororanywillingtogoonablinddatewithaneligiblebachelorgriffon?" Glimmer said quickly with a smile.

"Cause if you do my brother is the perfect set up. Please say yes. Please." She smilled as best a griffon could and put on her best cute begging eyes as she looked up at Midnight. Oh she hoped she agreed to this. Maybe she could finally match Razor up with somepony nice. After all that's what family did.

[tacobob]

“How can he not be your type, he’s ri...”, Wind Walker let out a little squeak as the griffon dragged her into a group hug. “Er, sorry.”, she gave Diamond Tiara a sheepish grin, “She can be a little gregarious at times, and surprisingly strong for such a little kitty.", the filly managed to avoid falling on her rump once she was released from Glimmer's iron-hug. "I know.", she whispered back to the griffon with a smirk, "I actually got to talk to Princess Celestia during that 'Running Of The Leaves' event back in Ponyville not that long ago. She's by far the best princess we have.", she paused to admire the ever-living monarch as she slowly made her way about the room.

"You look fine. Wait a second. Another monster of chaos? When did you accidently summon the first?", Wind wondered if this actually happened, or if she was just being silly. Speaking of silly, the filly couldn't help but chuckle at Watermelon Gush as she made her way towards the prince. 'Princess Of Watermelons', more like a 'sister of silly seeds'...

She tried her best to look offended as her brother spoke about her teacher and school in general, "Well, I did get into a little trouble when I tied Cinnamon Tart and Red Shirt's tails together when they were too busy making goo-goo eyes at each other, so when one got up, the other fell out of their chair..Eh, you'd had to be there.", she rolled her eyes as Punk Walker referred to himself as 'The handsomest, bravest and coolest brother you'll possibly come across', "Yeah, unless you come across Cordy, Speed, Walk, Moon, Sky, Earth and Johnnie, and even Razor, cause he's really cool. Then maybe you'd be after them. Although Zelda was blathering something about Apple Bloom's big brother being a 'Hunkosaurus Rex'..Oh wait, and there's also Princess Twilight's brother, Captain Shining Armor. He's kind of nifty. Ooh. And also the guy who cuts our yard, he's got a brother too! Also, there's Pressy's brother. He's kind of weird, but he's gonna place over you as well. Sorry.", she winked back at her older brother.

"Say, when is this tour gonna start? My hooves are starting to fall asleep.", she asked the tour guide(s) from where she stood.

[Shadowbolt0]

Midnight frowned, she'd barely been able to work out what the chick had asked her, she was still trying to translate the rapid-fired words that had been shot at her, and after nearly a minute, she finally translated it. Before taking a slight, confused, step backwards. Had the chick just asked her to go out with her older brother?!

She was about to say something, then she looked at her eyes. She'd been trained, had instructors push her, but no training could have prepared her for the chick's eyes.

She started fidgeting with the back of her mane, a nervous reaction she had

"Ummmm, well...Glimmer, i..." Midnight shot a quick look at Night Watcher, before looking back at Glimmer.

"I suppose i could...." Midnight honestly wasn't too sure if she was thinking straight, or if Night was going to step in, but after the eyes, she couldn't just reject her. She wasn't even an adult, and she didn't have the heart to possibly, even accidentally, hurt her.

[Blueblood]

The enormity of the task that Prince Blueblood had so blithely taken upon himself was just beginning to dawn upon him. At first, he thought he could just get away with busing them around the grounds, and giving a few inside stories about life. However, complications began to pile up, not the least of which was the accompaniment of a few extra guards. He was able to overhear Punk Walker talking to what appeared to be his little sister, Wind Walker, and there was something in his manner that made the Prince take a dislike to him. *That one is going to cause trouble.*

Still smiling, however, he did his best to fix each foal's identity in his mind as they introduced themselves. Besides the guard's sister, there was a green-coated filly identifying herself as 'Princess of Watermelons;' commoners assuming royal titles simultaneously amused and annoyed him. With an arch voice, he addressed his 'fellow royal.' "I do hope," He said to her, "That you will not tolerate any more rebellion from your subjects, princess. Bad watermelon has caused me much distress in recent days." It was true that he'd eaten a bad bit of melon recently, after accidentally raiding the kitchen refuse instead of the pantry for a midnight snack, much to the amusement of all the castle staff.

Besides her, there was a colt addressing himself as Pyro Blaze, and-

Blueblood had to catch his breath suddenly, and squeeze his eyes tight against flashbacks. There was one face he recognized there, a Pink Filly by the name of Diamond Tiara, whom he had met before on the disastrous Nightmare Night celebrations in Ponyville. She would, in his mind, be forever associated with what the changelings did to both of them, which was by all accounts traumatic. She probably felt the same way about him, too, though he didn't think of it.

By the time he'd recovered himself, his audience was getting restless. The little griffon chick had a question... not to him, but to his accompanying guard, to see if she would date her brother!

Things were getting out of hoof. The unicorn loudly cleared his throat, bringing himself back to his rightful place as center of attention. "Right, I think I've gotten all your names now. We'll begin the tour in the Castle Lawns. If you will follow me in an orderly fashion, we shall begin the tour now."

The lawns were, by all accounts, a sight well worth seeing, if only because it was the largest collection of outdoor statuary in all of Equestria. Each statue had reference to some aspect either of history, or the governing philosophy of the Princesses. The stonework was exquisite as well, the features of each pony or allegorical beast rendered fully life-like, as if they had been frozen in stone.

Blueblood hated going through this place at night, and daylight wasn't much better, given that at least one of the statues really had come to life recently. The whole atmosphere of the place was just plain creepy to him, but all tours of the castle began here, so here he must begin.

"As you can see, the landscapers are always careful to keep the plants well-trimmed, so as not to distract from the statuary. It was originally laid out before the majority of ponies were literate, as a kind of history lecture in stone. So, if you're bored, you can at least take comfort that your ancestors were, too." Having gone into this little impromptu speech cold, as it were, his tour guide spiel mostly consisted of whatever residue of fact was still clinging to the inside of his skull, alongside whatever else came into there at the time. The Prince stopped before a statue, more or less at random, and racked his brains desperately to remember what exactly it was.

"This.... is a rendering by the great sculptor Quartz... of a flower gardner, with a basket of lilies. She is portrayed in the dynamic act of rearing on her hind hooves and... er... screaming in horror." Oh, Faust, why did it have to be this one that he stopped in front of? It had always creeped him out as a colt, and he could never remember, after the nightmares it gave him, what it was all about.

No way he could admit this in front of a school trip, though. In a moment of inspiration, however, he made a saving throw. "Now, who can remember from your history class whom this is intended to represent?"

[Lux]

Night Watcher stood by as she watched Midnight Blossom address the griffon. Part of being a guard was to assist the public, and not just in protecting. Guards were often asked about the history of Canterlot and even acted as those who could give directions to certain places in the city to a lost pony. Her eyes went wide though when Glimmer asked if the Private wanted to date her brother! The mare looked at Night as if to save her, but Night held back to see how she would handle the challenge. After giving into the griffon's request, Night decided to step in.

"What Midnight is saying that she is happy to meet your brother, although perhaps it would be best if the two met first before committing to going out on a date. Isn't that right, Midnight?"

***

"I do hope," Prince Blueblood said to Watermelon Gush, "That you will not tolerate any more rebellion from your subjects, princess. Bad watermelon has caused me much distress in recent days."

"Well, as Princess I shall banish all bad watermelons to the refuse pile and decree that only ponies shall enjoy the sweet taste of the watermelons I see harvested."

With that the filly tried to resemble a royal pose but looked rather awkward doing do. But a Princess did have to practice any time she could. At last though the tour started as Prince Blueblood and the other ponies made their way through the garden. She looked up at what the Prince was pointing out, of a mare looking in terror at something. A chill ran down the filly's spine seeing such a terrible and lifelike statue as she wondered what could cause the pony so much torment.

"Looks like something is eating her flowers I'd guess from the basket she has. Is she supposed to be scared of the Paraspites? I've never seen one, but my parents tell me they eat everything!"

[Slazer]

As the tour proceeded into the gardens, Memory Lane breathed deeply and took a good look at what was going on around him. The trip was just getting off the ground, but it seemed to be going well enough so far: Prince Blueblood was trying his best to lead the tour group whilst jesting with a young filly calling herself the "Princess of Watermelons"; the gryphlet in the group, Glimmer he recalled her being named, had asked one of the Night Guard mares if she would like to date her brother, and they seemed to be debating something with another mare that Lane could only assume was an officer in the Guard; and now Blueblood had led the tour in-front of a... disturbing work of art that seemed out of place in the bright garden.

The prefect levitated his fez off of his noggin and desperately waved it at his face in an effort to deal with the sweat on his brow. Yep, everything was fine, he just needed to calm down and get into the swing of things. He sorted through the information that his ten years of college schooling had provided him, trying to remember what the statue was just in case he was called to correct an answer. Despite all of that learning, though, he couldn't remember the meaning of the art. Ah, horseapples.

While Lane was stressing over his lapse in memory, he continued to fan himself with his fez while wearing a rather strained facial expression, his social training momentarily forgotten.

[ShadowWalking18]

Midnight frowned, she'd barely been able to work out what the chick had asked her, she was still trying to translate the rapid-fired words that had been shot at her, and after nearly a minute, she finally translated it. Before taking a slight, confused, step backwards. Had the chick just asked her to go out with her older brother?!

She was about to say something, then she looked at her eyes. She'd been trained, had instructors push her, but no training could have prepared her for the chick's eyes.

She started fidgeting with the back of her mane, a nervous reaction she had

"Ummmm, well...Glimmer, i..." Midnight shot a quick look at Night Watcher, before looking back at Glimmer.

"I suppose i could...." Midnight honestly wasn't too sure if she was thinking straight, or if Night was going to step in, but after the eyes, she couldn't just reject her. She wasn't even an adult, and she didn't have the heart to possibly, even accidentally, hurt her.

Glimmer cheered, "Yes. Yesyesyesyesyesyes." She hopped up and down before giving Midnight a big hug. Was that okay to hug a guard? She was sure it was. She squeezed real hard and then let go.

"This is great. I know you will like him. Oh and he can like you. You both seem big and scary. Though I can tell like him, you are a real softy inside."

This was great she had one date set up for her brother. Hmm. The other guard looked pretty. Maybe she would too? Oh maybe this entire castle was a ripe picking ground for blind dates! Well, maybe not the princesses. Oh goodness she would never do that, besides that would gave anyone a heart attack.

Glimmer pulled out a small notebook and quickly wrote down a few things. "Okay then. I need a few details on you. Name. Age. Oh and here is the location of your meeting place. I got it all set up ahead of time." She tore a piece of paper and gave it to Midnight, giving her the details of the location.

Night Watcher stood by as she watched Midnight Blossom address the griffon. Part of being a guard was to assist the public, and not just in protecting. Guards were often asked about the history of Canterlot and even acted as those who could give directions to certain places in the city to a lost pony. Her eyes went wide though when Glimmer asked if the Private wanted to date her brother! The mare looked at Night as if to save her, but Night held back to see how she would handle the challenge. After giving into the griffon's request, Night decided to step in.

"What Midnight is saying that she is happy to meet your brother, although perhaps it would be best if the two met first before committing to going out on a date. Isn't that right, Midnight?"

Glimmer blinked and looked at Night Watcher, "Well duh. But that's why its a Blind Date. Usually neither party member knows the other. That's what makes it more interesting and if it doesn't go well no one has to feel awkward after cause the odds of ever seeing each other again are limited."

She nodded as she held up a talon, "Any match maker worth her salt quickly learns the necessity of using blind dates when dealing with outside groups from a close knit number of well known single participents. I got a big list already set up, but before I have my brother go out with others he is more familiar with he has to get into the swing of it. So it is only rational that he start with ponies or griffons or dragons or zebras he doesn't know well."

Oh was the tour moving now. She had to get back with Windy and the others before she lost critical friend time.

"Oh time to go now. Thank you again and we can talk more after the tour. I got to hang with my friends now. Tata." She said with a wink and skipped back to join Windy.

Once back with her friends she looked at the various statues, not really paying much attention to the explanations.

"Hey Windy. What am I?" She whispered to her friend before posing as one of the statues with a giggle.

[Bellosh]

OOC: This'll be a short post sadly, but I'm trying to get back in this RP. I won't bother with Babs for the time being.

So far, this tour appeared to be going fine, even if Prince Blueblood snatched control over it. No signs of disorderly conduct revealed themselves as the group headed into the castle gardens, but PFC Flash Sentry didn't let his guard down regardless. However, the armored stallion did notice the other adult escorting the children acting oddly, as if he was extremely nervous. It may have been nothing, but Flash didn't want to leave things to chance or abandon the other stallion to deal with his own concerns. "Sir," he quietly asked Memory Lane; "Are you alright?"

[Shadowbolt0]

Midnight looked down at the piece of paper Glimmer had given her, almost frozen in place with one huge question on her mind. She looked at Night Watcher, then over to see the group moving, before back to Night Watcher.

None of it made sense to her, she was shocked that she had even been asked, by a griffon, to date her brother, and she'd agreed! Shaking her head, she placed the slip of paper into a pocked on her uniform, before asking her commander the question that was blazing thought her mind.

"What did i just agree on? Did i seriously just agree to go on a date with a po..Girron, i've never met before?" She knew it was the truth, but still, she was amazed in herself it had taken her that long to process that information. She had no doubt Night Watch was probably going to make a few jokes, then within days, half the barracks would find out and for the next week, she'd be the verbal punching bag.

[Pretzelparty]

"Oh hey Beb. This is my friend Glimmer. Glimmer. Bebop. Glimmer. You looking forward to this? I sure am!"

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you. This is going to be so much fun, having new friends and old friends all together on this trip. This will be so much fun.”

Bebop let go of her friend and smiled at the young griffin as she was introduced to her. She was ready to extend her hoof in greeting but the eager griffon was sure to shake it before it was offered (not that she minded). Levitating her notebook over to glimmer's side she quickly wrote down something her and showing her. The notebook read,"It's nice to meet you! How long have you known Windy? I met her on a Field trip to the Crystal mines."

The filly set her notebook down on the floor a moment before she turned to her friend, wind and gave her an enthusiastic nod. Taking her pencil again she wrote down a little statement before sliding it over to Wind to see. "This is going to be so Cool!" it read before floating back to bebop's side.

"Right, so before we start off on the Front Lawn, do you mind giving me your names?"

Hearing what their royal chaperone asked Bebop had to make sure she wrote down her name large enough to see. but realized soon after that with this crowd it was possible her writing might not be easily noticed so she went with another plan. Writing down her name on her notebook she soon telekineticly lobbed the notebook at blueblood, the pad on a direct course to the prince's face!

Whether the stallion caught it or not he'd find it said,"My owner's name is Bebop Slide and she's from Ponyville. She's raising her hoof right now so please give me back to her!" underneath the short sentence was a small smiley face and the filly whom the notebook belonged to was, as promised, raising and waving her hoof.

[Slazer]

Lane was quickly becoming frustrated with himself, unable to recall any details about anything and unable to cool off. A small part of himself was surprised at how badly he was handling this; he had been in far more stressful situations before and kept his cool. He sighed, plopped the fez back on his head, and started reviewing his history courses one by one as he remembered them. In the presence of so many ponies of high social standing, the last thing Lane wanted was to be asked something and not have a clue as to the answer.

So far, this tour appeared to be going fine, even if Prince Blueblood snatched control over it. No signs of disorderly conduct revealed themselves as the group headed into the castle gardens, but PFC Flash Sentry didn't let his guard down regardless. However, the armored stallion did notice the other adult escorting the children acting oddly, as if he was extremely nervous. It may have been nothing, but Flash didn't want to leave things to chance or abandon the other stallion to deal with his own concerns. "Sir," he quietly asked Memory Lane; "Are you alright?"

The highly focused student was halfway through Ancient Equestrian History when a voice jostled him out of his thoughts, scaring the hat right back off his head- and the pony himself about two feet into the air. "Gruwahe!" He yelped, landing flat on his face with his four hooves spread to both sides of him. He grumbled into the dirt for a moment, looking up at the golden-armored guard with his ears folded back and his face bright as a beet. "Uhh, yeah. Just dandy." Lane gave the guard- one whom looked familiar to him but whose name escaped him, like a lot of information today- a long-suffering smile.

He had traded ignorance for public embarrassment. Excellent. Maybe I'll get a laugh out of somepony, at least.

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro walked along with the tour, looking around at the statues. They were very realistic, especially the one Blueblood decided to stop in front of. What was that mare's problem? Why did the statue look so distressed? The prince seemed as if he didn't know either, but he covered it up by asking the group what the statue was supposed to represent. Nopony seemed to know, and he wasn't in a better position. He hadn't really payed attention in history class, he was more concerned with magical control and the like.

He looked over to the chaperone, who seemed to be desperately trying to remember what the statue was about. Or he was, until Flash approached and surprised the chaperone into landing on his face. Pyro smiled and unsuccessfully stifled a laugh. Thankfully, it wasn't a very loud, so he hoped nopony had heard it.

He still didn't know who the statue was supposed to be.

[Quillhart]

She tried her best to look offended as her brother spoke about her teacher and school in general, "Well, I did get into a little trouble when I tied Cinnamon Tart and Red Shirt's tails together when they were too busy making goo-goo eyes at each other, so when one got up, the other fell out of their chair..Eh, you'd had to be there."

"You did what?!" Punk suddenly found it hard to breath due to the laughter puffing out his cheeks. He held a hoof tightly against his mouth to suppress what would otherwise turn into a loud, bursting laughter while the moisture in his eyes increased significantly. Sounds like "Mruhmgluhmhum" escaped their prison and it took some seconds along with some ground slapping before Punk Walker finally got on top of his laughter. "I can't believe you did that!" He said while he chuckled. "No one told me that my little sister was such an awesome prankster!" Punk laughed and gave her sister a wink as he tousled her mane once more. "Haha, I knew you had some of your brother's humor below that cuteness, I knew it!"

she rolled her eyes as Punk Walker referred to himself as 'The handsomest, bravest and coolest brother you'll possibly come across', "Yeah, unless you come across Cordy, Speed, Walk, Moon, Sky, Earth and Johnnie, and even Razor, cause he's really cool. Then maybe you'd be after them. Although Zelda was blathering something about Apple Bloom's big brother being a 'Hunkosaurus Rex'..Oh wait, and there's also Princess Twilight's brother, Captain Shining Armor. He's kind of nifty. Ooh. And also the guy who cuts our yard, he's got a brother too! Also, there's Pressy's brother. He's kind of weird, but he's gonna place over you as well. Sorry.", she winked back at her older brother.

Punk walker couldn't help but to smile widely at Wind's remark. He really loved ponies with a fair sense of humor and his sister was a true master of her age. "Now now, I'd cool down a few grades if I were you." Punk said with a wink, "Or perhaps you'd like me to send your teacher a mail about how you bothered the hulky, handsome guard?" He said and patted Wind Walker's head. "I would by the way beat all of those pones while strapped to a tree using nothing but Fire's shampoo." Punk scratched his neck underneath the helmet and grunted. "That shampoo gets itchy after a while with something on the head."

The lawns were, by all accounts, a sight well worth seeing, if only because it was the largest collection of outdoor statuary in all of Equestria. Each statue had reference to some aspect either of history, or the governing philosophy of the Princesses. The stonework was exquisite as well, the features of each pony or allegorical beast rendered fully life-like, as if they had been frozen in stone.

Blueblood hated going through this place at night, and daylight wasn't much better, given that at least one of the statues really had come to life recently. The whole atmosphere of the place was just plain creepy to him, but all tours of the castle began here, so here he must begin.

"As you can see, the landscapers are always careful to keep the plants well-trimmed, so as not to distract from the statuary. It was originally laid out before the majority of ponies were literate, as a kind of history lecture in stone. So, if you're bored, you can at least take comfort that your ancestors were, too." Having gone into this little impromptu speech cold, as it were, his tour guide spiel mostly consisted of whatever residue of fact was still clinging to the inside of his skull, alongside whatever else came into there at the time. The Prince stopped before a statue, more or less at random, and racked his brains desperately to remember what exactly it was.

"This.... is a rendering by the great sculptor Quartz... of a flower gardner, with a basket of lilies. She is portrayed in the dynamic act of rearing on her hind hooves and... er... screaming in horror." Oh, Faust, why did it have to be this one that he stopped in front of? It had always creeped him out as a colt, and he could never remember, after the nightmares it gave him, what it was all about.

No way he could admit this in front of a school trip, though. In a moment of inspiration, however, he made a saving throw. "Now, who can remember from your history class whom this is intended to represent?"

I asked for permission to do this

There was a very long pause following this question. An awkwardly long pause to that and Punk was honestly surprised that nopony seemed to pick up the thread. A glance at the prince made it quite obvious to him that he had no clue whatsoever about this particular statue. How embarrassing... This was unquestionably Punk's favorite statue, second to the now non-existent chaos statue of discord, of course. He glanced at the pony who had entitled himself a chaperon by the name Memory Lane and realized that neither this pony had any idea what it might represent. Punk Walker felt the disappointment of a foal who had proudly showed their painting to their parents but the parents had failed to see what was drawn. This was not​ appropriate for either one of them! He simply had to step in and educate these poor fools!

"Hrmhrm!" Punk loudly voiced as he stepped out the crowd and trotted towards the prince. Standing next to the prince and turned towards the crowd he began to speak. "As nopony seem to know anything about this statue, I, as an expert, have been dictated to educate you all the way into the pure essence of this statue." This was of course not the case but he was certain that the prince would prefer it to look professional than a pony snatched from thin air. He took off from the ground and flew himself up to the top of the statue where he placed himself in a relaxed position by leaning his back at the statues hind-hoofs and placing his hoofs behind his head. "This is, as Prince Blueblood said, indeed a work of Quartz and it's claimed to be inspired by a drawing of the gardener 'Flower Fever' during a struggle with some particularly ferocious bees. You can see on her facial expression," Punk patted the statue's head with his hind hoof, "the sense of panic and that is exactly what this statue represent. However, it's 'true' origin has a second and less known, but more probable theory. I guess you all are aware that Quartz was active during and just after the fall of discord and that Flower Fever here was from the same time." He flew off the statue and landed on its right with the smile of a knowing pony who spoke about his favorite subject. "If you all lean a little to your right you might see that the base of this statue appears to be cut in a strange, more straight way than on the left side, just as someone has removed a part of the statue. And to add more to the intrigue", Punk Walker jumped up on the column just behind the statue, "there's enough room behind here for another pony to stand. And also if one looks closely, one could see two strange marks as if a statue had been standing on two hoofs but then been removed."

He made a frontflip over the statue and landed just next to the prince. Punk executed a polite bow for the prince in the same movement. "Would your highness care to take part in a little educational demonstration?" Punk Walker was polite enough to wait for something that might, possibly, in another dimension perhaps, could be translated into a yes before he grabbed his hoof and placed him on the right of the statue. "Perfect! Now we'll just nee one more!" He turned around and happened to gaze straight into Memory's eyes and a mischievous smile grew upon his lips. "Lane! Why of course, you look perfect, my friend! Come up, come up!" Punk didn't waste much time waiting for the pony to build the confidence to come up before he snatched him with him. "I hope you don't mind if I borrow him." He said with a smile to Flash Sentry who seemed to have been talking with Lane. Punk brought Memory Lane with him to the back of the statue before he stood up on top of the statue to address the crowd. "Alright! The second theory is that this statue once included three characters which has then been divided into three different statues. Memory Lane here," Punk patted the stallions head, "Will be the statue who should be standing behind the panic-statue."

He turned to lane and poked him to make him stand on two hoofs. "Alright, Lanie, stand up on two hoofs. Nonononono, wider. Prouder. You know, just as if you were attacked by an angry parrot, but braver. Alright alright, that's fine, now look like you're about to throw a out stink bomb that's gonna blow and aim it at the prince. DETERMINATION PLEeeEEeASE! There you go! Just one last thing!" Punk took off Lane's hat and replaced it with his heavy guard helmet before he placed the poor stallion's cup-hat on his own head. He turned back to the audience. "Memory Lane is now, as you can see, a brave solar guard and he has promised to take over my duties." He turned back at Lane and gave him a wink. "Well, alright, forget the last part but this is a representation of the statue that used to be here. That statue is placed in the other end and is made as a typical solar guard who is just about to throw his spear towards some foul beast and I would think that it represents bravery nowadays, isn't that correct Mr. Lane?" Punk arched an eyebrow at Lane before he continued. "Now for our prince here!" A cloud of dust raised as he landed near the prince and he bowed deeply while he executed an advanced swirl with his hoof. "My excellence. Would you mind raising up at two hoofs and look like you're about to laugh your guts out? Perhaps it works better if you actually laugh? Right right, now place a hoof on you chest and try to reach the clouds with the other. Just as you've seen in the opera. Perfect! I love the haughtiness you put into it!" Punk turned around to the crowd again and spoke:

"Prince Blueblood here represents discord while he was still trapped inside his shell of stone. As you can see; we have the panicking mare kicking towards 'discord' along with a brave, determined guard who aims a spear at him. In other words: We have Panic, bravery and chaos. And this, my friends, is the statue of rebellion." He paused to let the message sink in. "It makes perfect sense that the ponies in a time of stressed urgency and deep agony did a statue to encourage the ponies to stay strong against Discord and let the strong protect the weak. Though the reason behind why the princesses divided them is beyond me. However, my guess is that they wouldn't want the already edgy ponies to blossom up in another rebellion just because they didn't see the changes come as fast as they wanted. But that, my friends, is just me. Thank you for your time." Punk Walker bowed deeply before the crowd and placed the cup-hat on the head of the mare-statue before he trotted back into the group.

[Blueblood]

If the very ground underneath the hooves of Prince Blueblood had crumbled into the black Abyss of Tartarus, it would have just fallen short of being an adequate physical representation of his emotional state. Having begun the tour with confidence, the unicorn was pretty near being foiled at the first hurdle. He had no one to blame but himself, of course; he'd done absolutely no preparation or studying for this test, so being exposed in ignorance was practically an inevitability.

Not that you could expect such self-awareness from the Prince, oh no! His attention was taken up, and his annoyance roused, by various deficiencies in his audience. For example, that griffon chick, what was her name, Glimmer! *She's not paying attention at all. In fact, she's actually trying to set up one of the Lunar guards on some sort of date! What did she think this place was, a singles bar?*

And Blueblood had ire to spare for the student chaperone. *What right does he have to leave the group in the lurch? He's prefect in the most prestigious school in Canterlot; he ought to know this stuff!* The fact that he himself had gone through the best schools with little discernible effect upon his intelligence naturally failed to register. *And why, in the name of Photo Finish, does he insist upon wearing that hat in public?*

Thus preoccupied with the contemplations of his doom and who to blame for it, Prince Blueblood entirely missed the notebook flung out from the cloud. It, however, did not miss him.

*THWAP* "Yaaahahaaa! Get it off!" It would be hard to say, in his distressed state of mind, what exactly he thought happened. The vague impression of being swooped upon by something flapping had brought back repressed flashbacks of Nightmare Night and the Changeling invasion. Eventually, he did manage to extricate himself, not without a papercut, and read the legend upon the notebook. He stared at it dumbfounded, wondering briefly if the words had written themselves, before realizing the nature of the situation.

"Ah, right, here you are, miss Bebop." It was vain to attempt to keep his dignity after such a display, but you had to give it to the Prince; he gave it the old royal try.

At that moment, just when Prince Blueblood was at the peak of his discombobulation, Punk Walker burst in to the forefront of the scene. The Prince's first emotion was, frankly, relief. True, it was tantamount to an admission of ignorance, but at least he wouldn't have to deal with more questions about a thing he didn't know. Having so exhausted himself, he was willing to let the guard have the floor, even if he started doing his strange dances upon it. Even when he and Memory Lane were being used as props, he could muster no resistance; and he struck the arrogant pose as one born to play the role.

It was only after the spiel was done that he blinked, and actually asked himself what he was doing. "Ah, right." Blueblood got back down on all fours, and brushed himself off. "Thank you for that demonstration of artistic... forensics." Truth be told, he wasn't sure he exactly followed the reasoning near the end, about how the ensemble was supposed to symbolize rebellion. It seemed like a perfectly natural scene to carve, no need to bring in such meta-commentary. "I suppose now would be as good a time as any to remind you that touching or tampering with the displays is strictly forbidden..." He looked up to see Memory Lane, still standing up on the plinth. "So, ah, you may want to come down now."

[Slazer]

What had begun as an awkward situation that Lane was slowly acclimating to had quickly devolved into an outright embarrassment, and Lane could barely process the disasters as they occurred. Being scared two feet out of his fur by one of the Guard after being caught dumbfounded over a history question was bad enough; now he had been used as a living educational aid to explain said statue, and the pony responsible- Punk Walker, if he recalled correctly- had given no quarter to his dignity in the process. Lane was, honestly, quite relieved that Walker had shoved his helmet over his head, as it hid the bright red tinge of embarrassment on his cheeks; the unicorn was less thankful for the horn-ache that accompanied that defense.

Prince Blueblood's comment helped snap Memory Lane out of his shame-and-pain-induced stupor. "Oh, uh, thank you, Prince Blueblood." He said lamely as he stepped down from the plinth, waiting until he was back near the middle of the group to remove the helmet and retrieve his fez with a green telekinetic grip. Turning his gaze towards Punk Walker, he felt a momentary rush of indignation at the Solar Guard and unceremoniously plunked the armored helmet back on the white stallion's noggin. With a small smile and a straightening of his fez, he turned back towards the tour group and the Prince in particular. "Well, I think that about covers this statue, don't you, mi'lord?" Lane none-too-subtly hinted his desire to move along with an extremely forced smile; he was already going to have nightmares about his experience with the statue, and he didn't want to wait for another incident to unfold.