Prince Darias Cordial sat rather impatiently in the carriage as it took him from the high class inn down in the city proper of the capital of the Kingdom of the Blessed, Star's Rise, to the castle of the kingdom's ruler, Princess Chrysallis the Star Blessed. He was eager to finally meet the legendary beauty, the great alicorn who had defeated the great army of Equestria. The brown-coated unicorn turned to his assistant and friend, Thick Tome, a name the portly pegasus certainly lived up to, and asked, "How do I look Thick, do I look alright?"

Thick chuckled, his stomach bouncing lightly under his waist coat as he said, "For the umpteenth time your highness, you look perfectly fine. There's not a mare alive who could resist the likes of you, my friend. Trust me on that, I'm the one who has to sort your mail. Need an entire bucket just for the letters from damn near every maiden in the realm!"

The two shared a laugh, though the Prince's nervousness was evident as he looked down at himself. He was dressed in golden ceremonial armor, though the blade at his side was a proper one, his own in fact, and he asked, "Still, don't you think this is a bit much? The gold I mean? It's hardly a proper metal for armor. Gold coating over proper steel I can understand, but this is just gold."

Thick rolled his eyes, saying, "Oh, calm down boy, you're going to court the most powerful individual noble known to ponykind renowned for her immortality and beauty, you're not going into a battle!"

Darias stared flatly at Thick, his voice full of sarcasm as he said, "Yes Thick, that makes me feel so much better about the situation."

The pegasus pulled an apple from his saddle bag, giving a cheerily oblivious, "You're welcome," before biting into it. Darias sighed, but he had a smile on his lips as he looked out his window. Thick's behavior likely wouldn't be tolerated by most other high royalty, but Darias wasn't like most other nobility, and Thick wasn't just a friend. The two were actually related, albeit distantly, with the old pegasus having always been like an uncle to the unicorn.

He watched as they slowly approached the massive castle and was impressed by the effort it had taken. The castle wasn’t made of stone, but a living tree magically shaped into a massive structure. From a distance, it wasn’t so apparent, but up close it was amazing. Grinning, he said, “You know Thick, they say that the princess is the one who created the palace, completely on her own, and it didn’t even take a full day for her to make it?”
Thick responded with an interested hum as he continued eating his apple, finishing it up before the carriage pulled to a stop. Brushing some bits of apple from his beard, he got out first, holding the door open for Darias with a smile, asking, “Ready to woo the princess, lad?”

The prince grinned, stepping out as a group of the princess’ royal guard approached to escort them to the grand hall, looking around as he said, “Of course Thick, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.” He gave a nod to the guards as they bowed before following them, Thick a few steps behind and to his left, looking every inch the professional royal aide now that they were out and about in front of the locals.

Princess Chrysallis gave a nod to one of the minor nobles, dismissing him after finishing judging in his favor about some petty trade dispute, Delilah at a desk to the left of her throne making a note of it. As he left, she turned to Delilah, asking, “Duty, is there anything else to do before the mud prince arrives?”

Delilah winced slightly at the term as she said, “No, your highness, he should be arriving any moment now… if I may princess, perhaps you shouldn’t use that kind of terminology when he arrives?”

A glare from Chrysallis caused her to wince and look down, the princess sounding offended as she said, “Do you think we are a fool, Duty? We have been immersed in politics since before your father’s father’s father was even born! Take care to watch your tongue when addressing us, Duty, lest we take action to correct such behaviour!”

Delilah kept her gaze down even after the princess looked away from her and towards the doors to the hall. She sighed softly as the herald stepped inside, sitting up even more rigidly as he cleared his throat before declaring, “Your highness, may I introduce from the Kingdom of Equestria, Prince Darias Cordial, Lord of the Eastern Islands, Judge of the High Equestrian Court, Hero of the Black Wing Raids, and descendent of Chancellor Puddinghead, founder of Equestria.”

The princess rolled her eyes at the mention of one of the Earth Pony founders as Prince Darias stepped in, a polite smile on his face. Her opinion of him only spiraled further down when she saw his attendant was a pegasus, a fat one at that, though she kept a passive look on her face as he approached. He was dressed quite well, the gold seemed to be a tad much for her taste, but the diamonds and silver accents went well with the design.. It was interesting that his blade was obviously a proper one instead of a ceremonial blade like most nobles would when wearing ceremonial armor.

He smiled politely as he approached within a few feet of the stairs leading up to the throne, giving a slight bow which he held until she returned it, though her return bow was shallow to the point that it could barely be considered such. Standing straight, he smiled to her as he said, “Greetings, your highness, I am Prince Cordial.”

She nodded, a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she said, “Yes, we gathered from the herald’s introduction, Prince Cordial.”

Darias chuckled, nodding as he said, “Yes, well, I find it’s more personable to actually introduce myself instead of just going by the shouting of a herald. I must say, it is a pleasure to meet you, your highness. Your beauty is truly amazing, as I’ve heard, and… umm…” He trailed off nervously as he could see the stoic mask fading and could plainly read in her face that she was hearing things she’d heard a million times before. He stood awkwardly, his nerves returning and leaving him completely at a loss.

Delilah felt a bit bad for the Prince’s situation while Princess Chrysallis was beginning to enjoy letting him stew in his own nerves for a full minute before saying, “Well, this has been incredibly fascinating, but we do have a busy day ahead of us, so unless there is anything else, we shall bid thee adieu. Travel safely, Prince-”

“Wait!” He blushed at his outburst while she arched a brow in surprise at him before he cleared his throat, his tone calm as he asked, “Princess, if I may, I would like to dine with you, should you have the time? Dinner, perhaps?”

Chrysallis stared for a moment before looking to Delilah, gesturing for her to approach. The young aide grabbed the schedule and went up to the princess, stopping just before the landing with the throne as she kept her tone low, asking, “Yes, your highness?”

Glancing towards the prince before looking to Delilah, Chrysallis quietly asked, “We know there is a dinner of importance tonight, but when is the next time our schedule is open?”

Delilah was surprised that she was willing to have dinner with the Prince before quickly looking over the schedule, finding a slot the night after next, quietly saying, “You have nothing on the schedule two nights hence, your highness… may I ask why you’re willing to dine with the prince?”

A small, haughty smile came on her lips as she whispered, “Well, it would be rude to refuse seeing as the mud blood is a visiting dignitary… but mainly, we are most amused by his discomfort.” Looking back to Darias while Delilah bowed and went back to her desk, she said, “We will take dinner with you two nights from now, Prince Cordial. We look forward to it. Now, if you will excuse us, we have business to attend to.”

Both Thick and Darias were somewhat surprised at her agreement, though a joyful look came over the unicorn prince while the fat pegasus frowned out of a feeling he knew what the princess felt about the young stallion. Darias gave a slight bow, saying, “Thank you, your highness, I look forward to it.” Her small smile never left as she returned the bow before standing and leaving. Darias turned and started out, whispering to Thick as he passed him, “Looks like you were right, my friend.”

Thick still looked worried as he looked after the alicorn as she left, giving a non-committal grunt before falling into step behind him, Delilah doing the same with the princess.

Author's Note

And, finally, the second chapter. Hopefully I can attract more upvotes and some constructive comments