Blueblood was great. There was no argument to it. He simply was. As he trotted through the streets in some unknown town, the ponies stopped to gawk at him, to bow to him, to submit at the pure power he possessed. And his body reflected this the most.

The prince was plated in the purest of gold. From his muzzle to his haunches, the bright metal shone like the sun. His hoofsteps came down with deafening crashes, weighted down by his coat. Every stallion, mare and foal listened to his noise, and knew that he was their superior, their ruler, their master.

But the influence he had, seemed to dissipate. Disappear. With each second, his rich visage became more and more tarnished. Panicking, searching for any sort of answer or solace, he caught sight of a light on the horizon. A light that would outshine him even before his untimely dulling.

The source approached, flying through the sky towards the confused prince. It seemed to descend, gracefully to the ground in front of him.. The light around it began to fade. It was not a harsh decay like his had been. No, this was a deliberate, soft dimming. The light revealed its source willingly. It was his sister. But not as he knew her.

She had grown taller, greater. Her face one of utmost compassion. But this was not what drew his attention first. It was her body. It was clear, shiny. He could see right through to her heart, a sturdy construct of crystal itself. It seemed to radiate a heat that Blueblood familiar and foreign at the same time. He had been a mere god of beauty before. Now, he bore witness to radiance incarnate.

And the ponies that had once submitted to him, now prayed to her. She took to the air again, her light increasing to its former power, and the ponies followed her light eagerly. Blueblood would have cursed the foals that abandoned him, but he found he could not. He wanted to follow her as well. The silent prayers he uttered wished for the same things the common ponies did. He wanted her to love him, to care for him, to let him shine with her. But he couldn't. His feet refused to move. His body, withered and rusted, kept all his weight, and him from following her.

He wanted to call out to her, to get her to help him, but all that came from his throat as she and the other ponies disappeared from whence she came was...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOM!

Had the noise that awoke the prince from his troubling dream not been so loud, he would have been forced to dwell on it, and try to find meaning in it.

But the deafening roar had caught his attention, and after scrambling out of bed, he ran to his window in time to see a massive, beautiful rainbow outside, crossing the entire sky. He had never seen anything like it, and it struck fear into him. Is the castle under attack? Did Auntie know about it? Is Cadance safe?![

All these thoughts and others drove him as he bolted down the hall as fast as he could. Just when he burst outside, and was crossing a bridge connecting two towers, he heard an odd crackling noise. Looking for the source, he turned towards the tower that he knew was set aside for Auntie to teach little unicorns talented in magic. There seemed to be an array of lights dancing around the inside. What is Auntie doing in there? he wondered.

His answer came in the form of splintering wood emanating from the top of the structure. It even seemed to drown out the sound of pure energy coming from the base. Blueblood's head sprang up to find an enormous, rounded, scaly head had broken through the tower's ceiling. It was a dragon. A purple, green spiked monstrosity. Absentmindedly, it observed its surroundings with a far-too-goofy smile on its face, stopping to stare at Blueblood. He froze, terrified of the beast. Suddenly, as quickly as it had come, it seemed to dart back into the confines of the tower.

For a while, the prince just stood there, mouth agape, at the hole the creature had made. He slowly continued on his way, unsteady on his hooves. It wasn't long before Prince Blueblood's world went dark.

Blueblood soon awoke to unfamiliar prodding and voices.

"Where did you say you found him, Stone?"
"He was on an arch. Near the training tower."
"Heh, little guy must've gotten an eyeful o' the beastie!"
"Oh, that must've been what made him faint, the poor dear."

He opened his eyes. Above him were three adult ponies: Neat Freak, his favorite maid, Hunk Muffin, one of the royal chefs, and a dark furred unicorn he could only assume was named Stone Something-or-Other. Upon seeing him come to, the guard immediately began asking him questions as Hunk helped back onto his still wobbly legs.

"Sire, are you alright? Do require anything? Did the monster injure you?" His voice seemed stern, but had a tone that belied his worry. Hunk snorted.
"Oh, sod off, Stone Cold. Let the boy get used to breathing again 'fore ya' smother him!"

Neat Freak just shook her head, even as she stuck a hoof towards the prince to help him steady himself, which he gratefully took.

"Is there anything you need, your Highness?"
Blueblood tried to speak slowly, still a little out of sorts.

"Is...ish the dragon gone?"
Stone Cold spoke up. "He has been detained, your Highness."
"What wash that...light in the shky?"
"Some kind of "racin' accident" in Cloudsdale, sir. Not a lot of answers just yet." Hunk answered, rolling his eyes at the thought of anypony believing such a thing.
"Okay...ish Cadanche back yet?"
"Uh, no, your Highness," Neat Freak responded. "She is still out with that colt of hers."

Blueblood winced upon hearing this. He hadn't even met this colt, but that didn't stop his sister from going on and on about him. What a perfect stallion he was. How brave and intelligent. He was even trying to become part of the Royal Guard. She was sure he could even make Captain someday! Whenever she started on him, Blueblood felt a great weight in the pit of his stomach. He'd never felt anything like it before. But one thing was for sure: he hated him.

The news didn't make him feel grand, but at least the castle wasn't under seige. He quickly thanked the servants and made his way down to the castle gardens. At least with Cadance gone, he wouldn't have to worry about suddenly getting pushed into the pond, or slaying any more dragons, or trying to find a bird there big enough for him to ride...

As he entered the normally tranquil, grassy grounds, the prince noticed an unfamiliar air about it. They animals would normally be out and about at the time. But they were all mysteriously absent now. As he walked to the pond in the center, he could notice little movements in the corners of his eyes. A wing there, a fluffy tail there, all of them darting into dark crevices, spaces and holes. It dawned on Blueblood that the explosive light show had scared them just as much as he did.

This caused him some uneasiness as he approached his favorite oak, where his favorite birds, the ducks, would often waddle about. A new batch of ducklings had hatched not too long ago, and he hoped they weren't too spooked by the event to come out of hiding. But one look at their nest destroyed any thoughts of them being scared.

The nest, far from being crowded with yellow, quivering balls of fluff, was in ruins. The twigs and reeds were strewn about carelessly around the area. The ducks must have panicked, and fled the area. All that was left of them was their down. Down that made a trail leading back into the castle.

Blueblood sped along it, hoping they hadn't gone far. How far could six little ducklings go? Just then, he heard a single little quack. He followed it into a royal kitchen. There was a single duckling, in a basket of breads, pecking among the fresh loaves. The prince called out to it. The young bird, startled, fell backwards and landed upside down in a pan of raw dough.

From the opposite side if the room, a door opened. In came a green pony dressed in white clothes and an apron, clearly one of the cooks. Humming a tune, he swept up the pan with the panicked bird and opened a nearby oven, glowing red from having been preheated. The pony slid the pan in and turned made motion to close the door with a back leg.

"No!" Blueblood shouted as he galloped for the pan and wound up getting pushed in the oven himself as the door was closed. The other pony, having heard the call, turned to see the oven rocking violently before opening the machine again. Out hopped Blueblood, lightly singed in spots of his coat and carrying a squirming duckling by the foot. He scrambled out of the hot oven, dancing on his still tender hooves.

The cook would have stammered out an apology, but decided to quickly lift the colt with his teeth and plop him into a nearby sink, filled with dishwater. Blueblood sighed, the water soothing him as the duck he saved paddled about.

"Thanksh," he was able to say to the cook, before turning back to the duck.
"Where are your brothersh and shistersh?"

The young duck leapt out of the sink, and went to a closed window, pecking at it. It took Blueblood a second to look out of it himself. It provided a decent view of the rest of Canterlot. And that's when it hit him.

"They got into the chity!?"

The duckling nodded.

Author's Note

To be continued.

I sure hope "sod off" doesn't require a higher rating.