Bringing Up Blueblood

Chapters

Chapter Two: The Twisted(ly Stupid) Schemes of Blueblood
Chapter Three: Setbacks
Chapter Four: Confrontation
Chapter Five: Show, Don't Tell
Chapter Six: Party Time
Chapter Eight: The Prince, The Bully, The Captain and His Lover
Chapter Nine: Deceiving Cadance
Chapter Ten: Unfinished Business
Chapter Eleven: Peeling the Orange
Chapter Twelve: D-Day
Chapter Thirteen: A New Beginning
Epilogue
Chapter One: New Colt On The Block
Chapter Seven: Dressing Down

Chapter Two: The Twisted(ly Stupid) Schemes of Blueblood

Lofty and Blueblood’s unintentional slack jawed-staring contest had been going on for five minutes before the waving of white legs in front of their eyes finally snapped them back to reality. “Hello! Equestria to ponies!” Gusty shouted.

With a vigorous shake of the heads, the two foals broke out of their hypnotic trances and instead settled for vengeful, blood curling gazes at each other. “What are you doing here?” Lofty hissed.

“Um…going to school, I guess? Why else would I be here?” Blueblood responded.

“H-Hey…you guys know each other?” Buttons stammered.

“Oh, I know him all right!” Lofty pointed an accusing hoof at Blueblood, causing the colt to recoil in surprise. “This colt is the meanest pony who’s ever lived! He’s a jerk, a bully, a…jerkully, and a really rotten pony, too!”

The three filly bystanders just sat there in stunned silence. As for Blueblood, the childish insults simply bounced off him like rubber. He had been called far worse things than whatever a “jerkully” was. There wasn’t even a real need to retaliate, either; Lofty was obviously out of her mind, and none of her friends would give what she said a second thought. It can’t get any better than this…

Panting for dear life, Lofty turned to her nearby companions. “C-Come on, you’ve gotta believe me! He’s an awful pony!”

“Y-You’re sure he’s the worst pony ever?” Ribbon asked.

Lofty’s voice almost reached a scream. “YES! A HUNDRED BAJILLION TIMES, YES! He’s not even a real colt!”

And so it was that, with the flip of a lone filly’s tongue, Blueblood’s confidence in his disguise began to erode. His smug sneer melted into a gaping maw, his eyes receding back so far they threatened to roll down and out the back of his body. He had not planned on running into Lofty again, nor did he have time to fully win her friends over to his side. If she called him out right here and now, he would have no defense whatsoever. And he had been in the Royal Court long enough to know that once everypony knows of your ill-dealing, they would never trust you again.

Gusty rolled her eyes at this, oblivious to Blueblood’s sweating. “So…what, he’s a filly?”

Lofty groaned from her friend’s obliviousness. “I mean he’s a stallion!”

“Um, yeah. Colts become stallions, and fillies become mares,” Buttons pondered. “Well, I mean, she said they sometimes become geldings, too. I have no idea what that is, but she kept wishing she had made her last boss into one.”

The other fillies just shrugged at yet another of Button’s inane ramblings. Blueblood, meanwhile, felt his hind legs subconsciously drift closer together just in case. Lofty, however, took advantage of the momentary lull in the conversation and trotted right up to Blueblood’s face. Her muzzle pressed against his, the tips of their noses crunched together like a rear-ended wagon. “What I mean is, this guy isn’t a real colt! He’s an evil prince who was turned into a colt because of his wicked ways! He’s probably just trying to find a way to get his revenge on Princess Celestia!”

The entire playground fell silent, save for the bouncing of rubber balls and the chirping of crickets. Lofty’s insane rant was loud enough that all the foals had heard it, even as the teachers just excused it as silly play talk. Blueblood just squirmed in his spot, trying to figure which way would get him out of Canterlot the fastest.

Finally, Buttons butted in. “Lofty…what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, that’s REALLY out there,” said Gusty. “Are you sure you haven’t been eating crayon sandwiches again?”

“I only did that once!” Lofty snapped.

Ribbon pointed a hoof at the bug-eyed Blueblood. “Look, you’re scaring our new friend! Sure, he’s a colt, and they can be gross and all, but that doesn’t mean he’s a supervillain.”

Lofty was ready and willing to argue her point further, but such arguments came to a screeching halt as a loud bell rang out throughout the playground. Fillies and colts alike flattened and covered their ears just to keep that horrible noise from deafening them for life. When the clanging and banging finally stopped, the teachers walked onto the grounds to round up their students for class.

“Well…I guess we’ll see you later,” said Buttons.

“Yeah, see ya around,” Gusty said with another hearty slam to Blueblood’s back. She turned back to Lofty, who was currently trying to grind her teeth down into nubs. “And you really need to learn to play nice. Nopony likes a bully.”

Lofty’s eyes popped open, her jaw dropped, and her face went pale. Blueblood recognized the filly’s reaction right away, and quickly did the right thing by running as fast as his legs could carry him away from her. Ribbon thought about saying something to her friend, but then realized she couldn’t risk being late and joined the regressed stallion.

“B-Bully?! But..I…BUT…GAAAAAAAH!”

The first thing Blueblood noticed when he reentered the classroom were the balls.

On each desk sat a small tennis ball, resting still inside a small black holder. One even sat on Miss Brightly’s desk. The other foals all gasped in surprise and bewilderment at the change in scenery, their tiny little brains unaccustomed to such things magically appearing out of thin air. Blueblood, on the other hoof, could recognize the thing from his actual youth, while he was being tutored at his parents’ summer chateau. These were the things used when teaching basic levitation. I never knew commoners used these things, as well. Given they have no appreciation for the intricacies of tennis, it’s no surprise that…

“Come on, Leon,” Miss Brightly coaxed. “It’s time to start class.”

Blueblood snapped out of his usual gloating over the lower classes to find himself still standing next to the door. The rest of the class were already in their seats, absent-mindedly playing with their balls. A few snickered at the sight of the daydreaming colt; in particular, a pair of colts, one orange and one light blue, were laughing their flanks off at the embarrassment. Blueblood quickly trotted over to his desk, not even saying a word to the teacher lest he humiliate himself further.

“Now that we’re all ready, let’s begin.” Even such young foals could sense the dripping sarcasm and hint of malice in that sentence. Such knowledge was lost on the teacher; instead, she settled for walking back and forth at the front of the class like a drill instructor. Blueblood could feel his shivers return as all the warmth and carefree joy of earlier seemed to vanish altogether.

“It seems our new student arrived at just the perfect day, class. Because today, we will be beginning our first actual magic lesson!” The entire classroom erupted into cheers, as every filly and colt eagerly awaited the chance to reclaim their magical power from infancy and turn their older siblings and parents into toads or whatnot. Even Blueblood could feel himself getting caught up in the excitement, if only so he wouldn’t feel left out. The jubilation only ceased when Miss Brightly managed to “tsst” the foals into silence. “Now, does anypony know where magic comes from?”

A pink hoof shot up in excitement, attracting Miss Brightly’s attention. “Yes, Cherry?”

“It comes from our horns!” the filly shouted excitedly.

Yet another chorus of laughs from the foals followed, dying down just in time for the teacher to continue. “Well, that…is true, but what I mean is, where does all magic come from?”

In an instant, all activity in the classroom ceased. The fillies and colts scratched their chins and hummed to themselves as they tried to figure out just what their beloved teacher wanted them to say. Brightly said nothing at all, her only thought being to continue letting the children’s brains simmer while she mentally went over tonight’s homework.

It was right then, just as almost all the foals had given up, that Blueblood saw his opportunity. Standing before him was the chance for greatness he had been seeking ever since he got thrown into this dungeon of a classroom. The intelligent always rise to the top, so I’ll be the smartest foal in class!

Miss Brightly’s jaw dropped as she saw Blueblood’s hoof shoot into the air. “Um…yes, Leon?”

Looking more than a little sure of himself, the fallen prince cleared his throat and clapped both forehooves together. “Magic is a form of energy that resides inside all ponies. Specifically, all races of ponies are physically built to correspond to the kind of magic they can use.”

The classroom was stunned into silence. Miss Brightly’s already slacking jaw was now in danger of dislocating entirely. “V-Very good, Leon. And what makes Unicorn magic different from, say, Pegasus or Earth pony magic?” Blueblood’s hoof was up again in an instant. “Ah, Leon again!”

The prince’s confidence was growing tenfold with each passing moment. “Unicorn magic is controlled through the horn, and can be used in any way as long as the pony knows the right spell. The most common form is telekinesis, or moving things using magic alone, and ponies primarily learn spells that correspond to their cutie marks. Pegasus and Earth pony magic is directed through their entire body. It lets Pegasi stand on clouds and fly, despite their body shape and weight. It also makes Earth ponies stronger and able to grow food.”

Miss Brightly fell back on her haunches in disbelief. All she could manage was a slow clap of her forehooves to show her approval of Blueblood’s answer, and even then she wasn’t sure if that was quite the right response given the level of detail. This level of detail was something ponies were supposed to have memorized by the first or second grades, not Kindergarten. “V-Very good. I…I’m really impressed, Leon.”

Blueblood smiled smugly to himself. Even as the rest of the classroom remained silent, he could still feel the aura of supremacy returning to him.

Gradually, Miss Brightly climbed back to her hooves, shaking her back fur until the hairs stopped standing on end. She had to get back to the teaching plan fast. “Now that we know where magic comes from, it’s time we started learning how to control it.”

“But how are tennis balls gonna do that?” shouted the orange colt.

“A good question, Orange Peel,” Miss Brightly said. “The most important magic any Unicorn can know is the ability to move objects using only their minds. When you’re older, you’ll be able to do just about everything with magic alone. Imagine never having to hold pencils or crayons in your mouth, or being able to talk and hold something at the same time. With enough practice, each and every one of you will be able to do all of that.” Her horn lit up with a white light, accompanied by her own ball floating up to her eye level.

The foals all let out a gasp of wonderment at the spectacle before them. Blueblood, meanwhile, just rolled his eyes and returned to fuming. Parlor tricks, feh. A mere baby could do this.

“Now, we’re just going to practice a little today.” The ball gradually floated back into his holder, landing with a small thud and coming to rest in the exact same position as when the class had entered the room. Miss Brightly then lowered her head downward until her horn was pointing towards the floor. “Lower your head like this. Make sure the tip of your horn is pointed at the ball.”

The class quickly obliged, and again, Blueblood found himself performing the most humiliating of things just to belong. “Next, I want you to think about lifting the ball with your magic. Don’t touch it with your hooves, and don’t try to tap it over with your horn. You want to try and concentrate on the ball. Try to order it to float.”

The foals, ready and eager to prove themselves as future archmages, followed her instructions to the letter, bowing their heads and pointing their horns towards their balls. Each time the ponies tried to actually will their target to move, however, all that happened was a shower of sparks. A few desperate ponies even tried to move the thing with their hooves, only to be caught and reprimanded by Miss Brightly on sight.

Blueblood’s story was no different. He tried calling on every spell and technique he had learned during his real foalhood, but none of them responded to his pleas. His cheeks burned hot as he tried something, anything, to get that blasted ball to hop off its pedestal. Come on. I have to prove I’m better than this. I can’t be a powerless weakling like these commoners! I…I….I CAN’T BE NOR-

*R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-RIIIIIIIIIIIING!*

Blueblood’s eyes flew open as that infernal bell rang through the classroom. Miss Brightly clapped her hooves together and beamed a bright smile at her little ponies. “Alright, everypony! It’s time for lunch! Grab your bags and follow me!”

Celestia was just about finished with the latest revisions to the Conditioned Rainfall Act when she heard three knocks at her door. The Sun Princess smiled as she recognized the secret door knock. “Yes, please come on.”

The door opened, revealing Princess Luna in all her illuminated glory. “I hope I am not interrupting anything, sister.”

Celestia shook her head, barely suppressing a giggle at her awkward little sister’s politeness. “I always have time for you, Luna.”

Smiling sheepishly, Luna stepped into the office. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving the two secluded in the private little chamber. “Now, what can I do for you? It’s awfully late for you to be up, isn’t it?”

“Ever since filling in for you, my internal clock has been having issues,” Luna said. She took a seat on a pillow across from Celestia’s desk, posing herself like she was on an invisible throne. The elder Alicorn valiantly fought back the urge to jump across the furniture and snag her in a cuteness-induced bear hug. “Speaking of which, we have to discuss what to do with our nephew.”

Celestia sighed, her quill still scratching along, as she realized what Luna was about to say. “Sister, please. Blueblood’s punishment is my responsibility, and I will ensure that it is enacted to the fullest extent of the law as I see it. I understand you and he are at odds, but that does not mean you can interfere with my decisions like this.”

“I know,” Luna said through gritted teeth. She unbarred her jaw if only so she could at least put up the appearance of speaking normally. “What I mean is, we have Shining Armor back already, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza…”

“I think she prefers Princess Cadance,” Celestia corrected.

Luna rolled her eyes and looked away from the older sister. “Very well. Princess Cadance will be returning from Stalliongrad within a few days.”

Celestia smiled. “I know. And I thank you for not raising any objections at the marriage. A few nobles, our nephew included, were quite upset that a princess was marrying someone with barely a trace of noble blood.” Her eyes closed slightly out of embarrassment. “And we know how bad it was a thousand years ago.”

Luna scoffed and giggled at the same time. “Yes, I remember that mess. Trust me, things like purity and lineage never made much sense to me back then, either. I’ve seen the two together, and they are a lovely couple. No, the problem right now is, neither of them was here during the recent…event.”

“Oh, you mean that time you turned me into a filly?” Celestia snorted back a laugh, making Luna cringe from the un-royalness of her reaction. “Yes, we all had a good laugh when that was done. I’ve already told Shining Armor what I’m willing to tell him, and I shall do the same when Cadance arrives.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Then…you told Shining Armor about Blueblood’s condition?”

Celestia stopped working and sighed. “To be honest, I think he figured it out himself. I may have volunteered too much information that time. Still, he won’t do anything to hurt him. I’m certain he can be trusted in that regard.”

“What I mean is,” Luna said, “should we not just allow the two to become involved in your scheme?”

Now Celestia knew something was wrong. “Luna, a few hours ago you were shouting at me because of this. Why are you suddenly interested in helping?”

“Oh, I would never involve myself in this,” Luna said. “I was merely offering a suggestion. And consider that the two will be having foals of their own some day, and these foals will be paying their dear Aunts Celestia and Luna visits on a regular basis. I think it would be good for them.”

“Sister, Cadance has plenty of experience as a foalsitter, and Shining Armor’s duties will make him very busy,” Celestia said. She paused in sudden thought. “Then again, it would be nice to have an extra set of eyes on him, and it might help move things along. If you wouldn’t mind, please speak with Shining Armor tonight. I’m sure he would be thrilled.”

Luna rose and bowed. “Thank you for letting me help, big sister. I promise you will not regret this.” Blueblood might, though.

Normally, lunchtime for a pony like Prince Blueblood meant a grand salad, or a sandwich built by some culinary genius. As always, it would be served in his home’s kitchen, rather than the breakfast nook and grand dining room, and he would never sully himself to eating outside. That was the realm of the working class, not a member of the royal family like himself.

And yet here he was, seated outside the school building, digging into a paper bag barely capable of holding the few scrapings Aunt Celestia was willing to give to him.

His entire class was lined up on the sidewalk outside the playground. The other foals were already busying themselves with their own lunches, popping open pails and bags and freely exchanging/stealing rations from one pony to another. The entire line rattled and creased with the munching of potato chips and the chewing of bread. Blueblood shuddered from the cacophony of noises assaulting his once-pristine ear drums, but said nothing. No, he would suffer in silence, like he always did. Once I’m on top, though, I’ll make them pay dearly for this.

“C-Can I sit here?”

Blueblood looked up to find Ribbon standing next to him. In front of her sat a paper bag, almost identical to his own. The pudgy colt he was originally seated next to quickly started shuffling aside, if only to get away from the filly germs that were no doubt being breathed on him this very moment. Sighing, Blueblood motioned down to the empty spot. “I see no problem with that.”

Ribbon quickly plopped herself onto her haunches, pulled her bag towards her with her mouth, and then started shuffling through with her hooves. Blueblood, in turn, returned his attention to his own lunch, which had been feeling very neglected these last few minutes. Moaning in disappointment, he stuck his hooves back in, and after a few seconds of blind fumbling and cursing the lack of any extremities on pony’s hooves, finally pulled out his meal.

It was a sad-looking lettuce-and-cheese sandwich, a few misshapen apple slices wrapped in plastic, and a cup of tapioca pudding. Even worse, there were no plates to eat off of, no silverware to cut his food with, and not even one of those…plastic spoons for his pudding.

Yes, Aunt Celestia really did pack this.

Ribbon peeked over at Blueblood’s lunch. “Wow, your mom really packs a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

Nonplussed at the question, Ribbon reached into her bag and pulled out her own lunch; namely, a bread roll, another bread roll, and a few carrot sticks embedded inside a bread roll. Blueblood’s jaw dropped at the sheer amount of carbohydrate-loaded delicacies shoved into one paper sack, as well as the horrific nutritional value therein. “Th-That’s a lot of bread!”

Ribbon shrugged. “Mom and Dad are bakers. Mom says she doesn’t have a lot of time to cook, so we eat a lot of bread.”

“Huh, I always thought baker kids would prefer to eat things like cakes and pies over dinner rolls.” Blueblood shrugged. “Well, at least it’s something.”

The filly cocked her head. “Has anypony told you that you talk like a big colt?”

Blueblood blushed. She was right, after all. He had been letting his advanced (compared to these fillies) vocabulary out a bit more than he should have. Still, it was something that made him look better than them, so that was a plus. “I-I study a lot, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I have to, too,” Ribbon sighed. “My parents are Earth ponies, so they can’t really help me too good with magic. And they keep saying I have to get really good for some reason.” She leaned her head forward, her eyes catching somepony at the far end of the sidewalk. “And what’s the deal with you and Lofty?”

Blueblood shrugged. “She’s just an angry pony, that’s all. Why?”

“Well, she’s been staring at us all lunch.”

The remains of a half-swallowed chunk of sandwich threatened to jump back up the esophagus at the news. With much pain, Blueblood swallowed his lunch and leaned forward himself. Sure enough, Lofty was staring at them from her own class group. Her eyes were glaring, her wings extended, and her hooves shaking in anticipation of rearranging Blueblood’s face. The threat was slightly dulled by the globs of peanut butter and jelly smeared across her face and hooves, but the intention was perfectly clear.

“Whatever you did, you sure made her mad,” Ribbon said.

“She’ll forget it in time,” Blueblood said with a shrug. “And what about the other two we were with? Where are they?”

“Their class has lunch after ours,” Ribbon said. “We can only play together during recess. By the way, do you want to climb the jungle gym after you’ve finished eating? We get to play a little before we have to go back to class.”

Blueblood swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, its bare taste doing little to captivate his taste buds. He had never liked apples as a colt, and he doubted he would now. His pudding would have to remain trapped for the time being; there was no way he was going to lower himself to eating it with his tongue or by sucking it out like a normal, spoonless foal would. Well, it appears I am done eating, and I do have to start forming some sort of network here…

“Sure. I’d love to.”

It was after about two hours of watching the new recruits run their drills that Shining Armor realized why he hated this part of the job so much.

It hadn’t always been this way. When he was a colt, he would watch the guards outside the palace gates change shifts, mimicking their salutes and gestures as best he could. When that wasn’t an option, he would read old training manuals he got from the library, and then copy everything inside so he could be the best guardpony in all of Equestria. Even when he reached young adulthood and finally got into the Royal Military Academy, he just loved every last movement of the legs, every kink and clang of his rusty trainee armor, and the sweat on his brow from a successful Shield Spell.

But then he became Captain of the Guard. Suddenly, the routine duties of his former positions were considered to be beneath him by his peers. He would run through the usual swordplay and magic practice, but the rest of the time he was expected to “supervise.” And today was no exception.

The guards marched in their usual formations, with each one standing shoulder to shoulder in perfect symmetry. Every hoofstep was executed with absolute adherence to rhythm, to the point that the entire compound shook from the thunderous sounds of their hooves. And all Shining Armor had to do was watch some of the really young Academy students banged on a pair of massive drums. Each guard’s legs lifted and dropped to the banging of the drums, the beat playing over and over again until each pony had it burned into their brains.

Suddenly, the drums stopped completely. Realizing his cue, Shining Armor floated a whistle to his lips and blew. The shrill screech echoed throughout the grounds, but the guards were unfazed. That is, until Armor started pointing northward. “ARROWS!”

The response was quick and professional, as was expected of the Royal Guard. The Pegasus Guard took to the skies, hovering about six feet off the ground and baring their more heavily-armored barrels to the sky. The Unicorn Guard, meanwhile, ducked in beneath their flying compatriots and started charging their horns to deflect the oncoming squall.

Another shrill screech, and Armor’s hoof was pointed westward. “DRAGON!”

The guard wheeled itself around without as much as a single break in their lines. The only difference lay in the brighter glow coming from the horns, and the heavier beats of the wings.

Armor was just about to blow the whistle again when he heard another, much louder pair of wings flap beside him. And then came the voice. The loud, demanding voice that could break a lesser pony’s spirit like it was twine. “Captain Shining Armor. It is good to see you attending to your responsibilities already.”

Slowly, Shining and his stallions turned towards the large, dark blue, winged-and-horned regal pony that had just entered the yard. In a flash, the entire guard unit was on their knees in reverence. “Y-Your Highness?”

“There is no need for such reverence, Shining Armor,” Luna said with a wry smile. “I am sorry to interrupt the day’s training exercises, but I must speak to you in private tonight. We have much to discuss.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at the request. He had only spoken to Luna in private a hoofful of times, and even then it was just so she could complain that he wasn’t following some ancient protocol or how unfitting the new suits of armor looked on his guards. Still, he couldn’t help but notice something decidedly different about her. She seemed far more relaxed than before, her eyes were genuinely warm and welcoming, and her speech was no longer peppered with anachronisms like in the past. “I…I will be there.”

“Very good. I wish for you to speak to me tonight, just before you retire. Meet me in my bedchambers.” The guards immediately gasped, prompting Luna to roll her eyes in disgust. “And no, it’s not for that.” I thought we hired stallions and mares, not foals.

“Of course, your Highness,” Shining Armor said. “I will see you tonight, as ordered.”

Luna nodded her acknowledgment and flew off without another word, heading towards her personal tower to get some rest. Once he was sure she wasn’t going to come screeching back, Shining Armor turned back to his waiting guards. The horde of ponies were glancing about each other in confusion, each not entirely sure what to say to Luna’s sudden appearance and departure.

Then came the shrill screech of the whistle, followed by Shining Armor pointing towards the horizon. “Look out! We’ve stumbled in the path of the Great Dragon Migration! Everypony scramble!” The guards promptly shut their mouths and darted to their predestinated spots in the defensive formation.

Blueblood and Ribbon were almost at the jungle gym when the trouble began.

Orange Peel and his blue-coated crony from before sauntered up to Blueblood so quietly that the cold barely had time to register what was happening until both unicorns were circling around him like vultures. The royal foal seized up immediately, his eyes following the two in confusion. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Orange’s sidekick snickered at Blueblood’s response. “Do ya hear this kid? He talks like a big pony!”

“And he’s a real egghead, too,” Orange Peel added. Blueblood’s eyes drifted downward just enough to notice the extra bits of dirt his attacker was kicking up with each step. “Hey, Snowball! You ever hear of a new pony knowing so much about magic?!”

“I…study?” was Blueblood’s response.

All this earned was another round of riotous laughter from the two bullies. The other fillies and colts simply started walking away from the scene, just in case the two burly youths decided to turn their wrath on them next. Even Ribbon was starting to backpedal away, hiding behind the jungle gym for dear life. “Oh, is that all? I never heard of a foal who actually liked going to school!”

“I…I don’t like it.” Blueblood could feel something tearing up inside. It was a cold, empty feeling, the likes of which he had not experienced in such a long time. He could almost taste his will to live flee from his body. “I…I’m just smart, that’s all.”

The entire playground erupted into a fit of laughter, the foals either laughing because they genuinely enjoyed watching yet another egghead suffer, or because they didn’t want to end up next on the bully’s hit list. Orange Peel was barely able to contain his laughter. “Well, if you’ve got such a big brain, maybe you should share it with the rest of us!”

The raucous laughter only grew in volume. Blueblood could feel a thousand little eyes leering in on him, threatening to crush him beneath the weight of peer disapproval and ridicule. He had felt such things before, usually after he had said something that should have been kept quiet or humiliated another pony before he was supposed to. Even worse, he was hopelessly outnumbered, he couldn’t levitate a weapon to his aid, and his attempts at brandishing even a training sword in his mouth tended to end with chipped teeth and splinters. That left only one way out of this situation.

Run.

Blueblood began to back away from the two, his head bent downward to refrain from any antagonizing eye contact, until he was just next to the sandbox. His steps couldn’t come fast enough, however, and Snowball and Orange Peel were surrounding him. Already the bullies could taste sweet victory. “Ah, what’s the matter?” asked Snowball. “Are you gonna cry like a sissy little filly?”

“Of course not!” Blueblood’s shaky shouting betrayed his growing fear. “I am not afraid of the likes of-”

Whatever boasts the deposed prince could have dug up died as one of his hind legs stepped onto the wooden edge of the sandbox. It didn’t step back far enough, however, and when he tried to place more weight on it to pull himself up it slipped and sent him fumbling forward. At the same moment, Orange Peel had wandered in front of him, ready to unleash yet another round of insults. In his sneering glee, he had failed to notice Blueblood’s current predicament.

Nor did he notice how Blueblood’s trajectory was heading right to his head.

The two crashed into each other like a cart rolling down a hill, tumbling into a massive pile of limbs and hooves. Snowball instinctively dove to his friend’s aid, pushing Blueblood off of Orange Peel’s body and pulling the downed colt back to his hooves. The noise, however, was enough to finally attract the attention of the otherwise indifferent teachers. Miss Brightly galloped up to the other injured student, who was barely able to hold himself back from bawling like an infant.

There was a massive bruise around his eye, no doubt from impacting with Orange Peel’s horn and forehead. Fortunately, the horn hadn’t actually hit his eyeball, so there was no sign of impalement. The shellshocked Miss Brightly could only mutter a few “Oh, dears,” before helping Blueblood onto her back and cantering towards the nurse’s office.

From her vantage point at the sidewalk, Lofty had seen everything. She had watched Blueblood get the bullying and shellacking he so richly deserved, only to have him get carted off like a downed victim. Even worse, she felt nothing in this moment. There was no rush of victory, no cause for celebration, and not even any eternal glory from defeating an evil prince. The bully had really been hurt, and that certainly never happened in the books her mother insisted on reading to her.

He got what he deserved. But he also got really hurt. What am I supposed to do?

The filly let out a resigned sigh as her better nature got the best of her. She slowly turned to her teacher, a violet pegasus mare with a crossed pair of pencils as a cutie mark. “Mrs. Sketch, can I please go to the nurse’s office?”

“What’s wrong, Lofty?” the teacher asked.

“Well…that was a…” Her brain gagged at the word. “Friend of mine, and I really wanted to see if he was okay.”

The teacher contemplated her options for a few minutes, then turned back to the filly with a big smile. “Of course, if you’re willing to give up the rest of your lunch break. I’ll take you down there right away. We can’t keep your little friend waiting, after all.”

“Nope!” the filly said with a fake smile. “We sure can’t keep my…friend waiting.”

“Now does it hurt?”

Blueblood looked up at the nurse with his one open eye. The other was still in working order, but was covered by an ice pack to help prevent any swelling. The nurse, a middle-aged Earth pony mare with a pair of medical crosses on her flank, kept the blue pack pressed firmly against the massive wound with one hoof, while the other front leg balanced on the edge of the cot the colt was now sitting on. Miss Brightly just watched from the doorway, feeling concern both for the hurt little colt and the damage this would do to her pension, assuming she even had a job after today.

Blueblood moved one of his own forehooves to the pack. The nurse pulled her hoof back on reflex, allowing the colt to take over. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” It was a lie. That whole section of his face felt like somepony had taken a hammer to it. Unicorn horns were harder than the rest of their bones, both out of necessity and because of the amount of magic that flowed through even an untrained foal’s pointy cone. He was just lucky gravity hadn’t dragged him just an inch or two to the right, and that a foal’s horn was round at the tip rather than the sharpened point it would eventually become.

“Honestly, is he going to be all right?” asked Miss Brightly.

The nurse smiled and patted Blueblood on the top of the head, causing him to grimace from the patronization of it all. “He doesn’t seem to be too hurt. You can return to class, if you wish. I can take him back when he’s ready.”

Miss Brightly turned to Blueblood. “Is that all right, Leon?” Blueblood responded with a nod. “Very well, then. I’m so sorry this happened on your first day here. Those two have been trouble since the year began, but this is the first time they’ve actually hurt anypony. Trust me, their parents are going to hear all about this.”

There was a knock at the door, followed by another adult’s voice. “Excuse me? Can I come in?”

Miss Brightly raised a confused eye as she recognized the voice. “Oh…of course, Mrs. Sketch.” The teacher’s horn ignited, her magic opening the door to reveal the named teacher and a small filly. Blueblood recoiled slightly as he recognized his visitor: Lofty. “What can we do for you?”

“Well, Lofty here was so worried about that poor colt that she wanted to make sure he was all right. Apparently they’re friends outside of school.” The older Pegasus smiled down at the yellow filly, who gave an equally large smile back. “She is such a caring filly.”

“That is so precious!” cooed the nurse. “Is it all right if she stays a few minutes? I’m sure Leon would appreciate it after what’s happened.”

“I don’t see much of a problem,” Mrs. Sketch shrugged. “Just make sure she’s back soon. We’re going to start Reading Corner soon.” She looked down at Lofty. “Do you want to stay?”

Lofty nodded affirmatively, not daring to speak lest she give away her true intentions. Blueblood, meanwhile, found himself wishing he could just hoist himself out the nearest window. He was in no condition to fight this filly right now, and she was the only one her privy to his true identity. All she had to do was tell the nurse what had happened, and he would not only be exposed to the world at large, but would find himself at the mercy of a pony close to Princess Celestia. He had seen it time and again in the Royal Court; by Celestia, he had pulled the same trick dozens of times himself. It was what was expected of a noble, after all.

“Very well, then,” said Mrs. Sketch. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Allow me to walk with you,” added Miss Brightly. “Lunch period is almost over, and I don’t want to let the aides get overwhelmed corralling the foals.”

The teachers gave their students a final farewell, said their thanks to the nurse, and were gone. The moment they left, the nurse herself started packing together some bandages and disinfectant. “I’m sorry to leave you, but I have to attend to something. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And with that, she, too, was gone, leaving two Kindergarten-aged foals completely unsupervised in the middle of a school.

Once she was sure the nurse was out of earshot, Lofty’s smile changed to a frown. Her eyes locked onto the captive Blueblood, ready and willing to shoot him down for the slightest bit of disobedience or rude behavior. “Okay, what are you really doing here?!”

Blueblood sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to appear any weaker than he already had. “Princess Celestia thought I could learn something by coming here. I fear she was mistaken. There is nothing valuable that can be taught by a school that would allow a troublesome Pegasus like you admittance.”

Lofty gasped, her mouth recoiling open in offended horror at his words. “Y-You think I’m the bad pony here! You’re the one who tried to kidnap the Princess! You were gonna slap me in the face!”

“Because you got in the way,” Blueblood said.

Seeing there was nothing to gain here, the filly gave an “Hmph!” and turned to the door. “Well, if that’s how you’re going to be, I sorry I came. Call me when you stop being a jerk.”

She was about five steps from the door when she heard it. “Stop.”

Lofty was never quite sure what motivated her to actually answer Blueblood’s plea. She had already seen enough of the “colt” to last a lifetime. Her mother had always taught her to forgive and forget, but even she had sent the meanie flying with one swift kick. He had made her out to be a crazy pony to her friends, all so he could steal them from her. She didn’t care if he was related to the Princess anymore; all she wanted was to leave and never see him again.

And yet, by some unfathomable twist in life, she turned around and faced Blueblood again. Her eyes popped open at what she saw. Gone was the infinite levels of smugness radiating from his very complexion. What was before her this time was little more than a scared colt, with no idea where to go or who to turn to. As much as she hated to admit it, she really couldn’t bring herself to walk away.

Sighing in defeat to her blasted morals, the filly walked away from the door and plopped down in front of the cot. “What do you want?”

Blueblood took in a massive gulp of air before continuing. His face was already beginning to beat bright red. There was one thing the Prince was never good at, and that was groveling. “I...I would like to request your services.”

Lofty tilted her head to her right, her eyes already narrowing in a rage. “What does that mean?”

Why must I deal with such foals? “It means I want your help. If I can meet whatever criteria…” He saw the blank, non-understanding feeling in Lofty’s eyes again. “If I can do what she wants, she’ll let me be a big pony again.”

“And what does she want?”

Blueblood shrugged. “That’s what makes it so troublesome. She hasn’t told me anything.”

“So how am I supposed to help you?” Lofty asked. “She might be my friend, but that doesn’t mean I can read her mind. I haven’t even seen her since she became a big pony again.”

“I just want you to promise to help me when I finally figure out what she wants,” Blueblood said. “I doubt it will be anything illegal or too terrible. It’s Princess Celestia, after all. She barely has a bad bone in her body.”

“So…you want me to promise to help you do something, but you don’t know what that is, and if you do whatever it is you have to do, Princess Celestia will turn you back into a mean old pony again?”

Blueblood rubbed the back of his crest with his free forehoof. “I…wouldn’t have included the ‘mean old pony’ part. But yes, that is what I am proposing.”

Lofty tilted her head. “Pro-what now? You’re not trying to marry me, are you?!”

“No, of course not!” The ice back began to slip slightly, dripping its coldness across an ever-increasing portion of Blueblood’s face. “I am simply asking for your help.”

Lofty was silent for several moments, causing Blueblood no small measure of continued distress. He could already feel the hoofscrews twisting in her mind. It had been foolish to ask for her…

“I’ll do it.”

Blueblood’s jaw dropped in surprise. Lofty’s eyes were closed, as if she herself was not believing what she was saying. “Y-You will?”

Her eyes suddenly flew open, revealing a dagger-like set of eyes. Blueblood had see the look before; it was the same thing she tried to use to stop him during his foalnapping attempt. He started shuffling back against the wall as the filly drew closer. “But listen up! I’m only doing this because Princess Celestia’s involved, and I want to help her, not you. You were mean as a stallion, you’re probably still mean, and since you’re a colt now, you’re swimming with cooties. From this point on, if you hurt any of my friends, or do anything that makes us look bad, or act in any way like you used to, I will turn you in! But right before that, I’ll show you what these hooves can do to a jerk’s face! Understood!”

Blueblood gulped back his growing terror. “Y-Yes!”

The nurse’s door suddenly swung open, revealing the room’s owner. The two foals quickly reassumed their normal, childish smiles and chuckles, as if nothing had happened. The nurse smiled as she saw the spectacle. “I’m so glad you two are getting along! There’s nothing that fights a bad day like a good friend, after all! Are you two ready to go back to class?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Lofty said.

“Uh…yes,” said Blueblood. “I…I think I’m ready.” Ready to get away from this future ax murderer as soon as possible!

“That’s wonderful!” said Equestria’s most oblivious medical professional. Come on, I’ll take you two back to class.”

Sky Bloom reached the school gates just as the bell rang. Looking down, the servant could see the tiny pebbles skipping in place as a horde of hooves came storming out of the preschool, their thunderous pounding accompanied by shrill shrieks of joy. The other mothers and fathers eagerly embraced their foals as they darted out, the older ones listening intently as the younger ponies prattled on about their day’s adventures like they were the most fascinating things in the world. Even Bloom couldn’t help but blush as she thought of the stories Blueblood would have to tell.

And then she saw her “son.”

The colt slowly wandered through the gate, looking more than a little disheveled. The big black mark around his eye was certainly nothing that could be glossed over. Standing next to him was Miss Brightly and two fillies: one a yellow Pegasus, the other a blue Unicorn.

Gasping, Sky Bloom galloped over to Blueblood and pulled him in for a hug. The colt struggled at first, but then gave in rather than risk drawing a scene. Her eyes locked in on the teacher. “What happened?”

“I’m afraid some of the foals were playing a little too rough,” Miss Brightly answered. “One of them struck him by accident.”

Sky Bloom’s eyes narrowed. “By accident?”

Miss Brightly nodded. “I’m afraid so. In any case, I have to escort some of the foals home. Their parents are still at work, and they can’t go wandering around Canterlot on their own.” She turned to the waiting two, as well as another small crowd of fillies and colts just past the two little ponies. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

Her goal of remaining willfully indifferent satisfied for the day, Miss Brightly trotted over to the homeward-bound foals. Once they were a safe distance away, the two fillies turned to Sky Bloom. By now, the young mare had dropped Blueblood, who now stood at her side if only for the added protection. “So…was it really an accident?”

The blue filly shook her head. “No. Some stupid ponies were picking on him because he was smarter than them.”

“I figured,” Sky Bloom muttered. She looked down at her false child, who was still rubbing at his bruised eye. “Are you okay? Do we have to stop by a doctor’s office?”

“I’m fine,” Blueblood muttered.

“I-If you’re sure,” Sky Bloom said. “Now come, we have to get going.”

The two ponies spun about and started down the street towards the castle. The mare was trying to look as normal as ever, while the colt hung his head low in shame. He had been bested in a fight, proven wrong in his assertions about what was popular, and had been forced to seek aid from an enemy. All in all, this was not shaping up to be a grand day.

“Hey, Leon!”

Blueblood spun his head back to the two fillies. By now, they had joined the small herd of similar foals, if only to keep from getting left behind. Lofty was still staring at him, albeit more in a curious way rather than the maliciousness of before, but Ribbon was enthusiastically waving her forehoof to get his attention. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

All Blueblood could muster was an, “Um…yes, sure.” His body told another story, however. His cheeks were crimson from a combination of embarrassment and general cluelessness about what to say next. He hadn’t been greeted in such a way for decades, and even then it was only with the few family members that could tolerate his presence. He couldn’t help it if his parents actually told him how a noble was supposed to behave, but they still wouldn’t wave at him on the street.

And Ribbon was a total stranger. She shouldn’t be nice to anypony she didn’t know, especially strange colts that just appeared out of nowhere for no discernible reason and wouldn’t be staying very long.

He was knocked out of his reverie only when he felt a hoof playfully jab at his shoulder. He spun around to find himself facing Sky Bloom once again. This time, the mare seemed to be smiling. “I guess today wasn’t completely terrible, after all?”

Blueblood shrugged. “I suppose. I’m still no closer to being an adult again, though.”

Sky Bloom said nothing more, only rolling her eyes and making sure the two were moving in the right direction.

Shining Armor blushed slightly as he entered Princess Luna’s quarters. He had been in Celestia’s chambers plenty of times, but had never been in his new ruler’s private sanctuary before. Given the stories he had heard of Luna, he was honestly surprised at how remarkably simply the whole place was.

Luna stood impatiently at the center of the room, next to a large wooden trunk. “Captain Armor. I thank you for responding so quickly. The Captain we had a thousand years ago would have taken almost an hour longer just to get up the stairs.”

Armor adjusted his…armor slightly, its metal joints clinking and clanging against each other as he pushed them aside. With a glow of his horn, he closed the door behind him, leaving the two utterly alone. “H-How may I help you, Princess?”

Luna shuffled a few steps closer to the chest. “I trust Princess Celestia has told you of what happened during your absence.”

“Well, yes, but not exactly,” Armor replied. “I understand she was turned into a filly by some spell, and that Twilight was responsible for turning her back.”

Luna nodded in response. “And I take it you have learned what happened to Prince Blueblood.”

Shining Armor grumbled at the name. “From what I can gather, he was hit with the same spell that was used on Princess Celestia. He’s still a colt, I take it?”

“And attending Magic Kindergarten, believe it or not.” Luna turned towards her window, her eyes glancing over the whole of the palace grounds with a forlorn gaze. “When she began this scheme, however, she had not factored that you would be back early, or that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza…”

“Cadance.”

Luna growled. “Princess Cadance would be returning to the palace as well. Since the two of you were well out of Canterlot when this mess began, it was necessary to…reevaluate where you stand in her plan.”

“I’ve already spoken to her about Blueblood,” Shining Armor responded. “I gave her my word I wouldn’t hurt him in any way. And besides, even if he is scum, it wouldn’t be right to pick on a foal, would it?”

Sighing, Luna turned back to the waiting Shining Armor and trotted up to the chest. With a glow of her horn, the chest opened, revealing a small photograph on top. Curious, Shining Armor leaned over to take a closer look. He soon regretted his decision. “I-Is that…?”

“Twilight Sparkle? Yes, I’m afraid it is. This was taken the day Celestia returned to normal and Blueblood became a colt.” Luna floated the picture over to Shining Armor, who grabbed it with his own telekinesis. “You see, when the counterspell was used, the excess energies from the curse exploded around Celestia’s body. Everypony had to put on hazard suits to keep from being affected by the same spell. Twilight had one as well, but Blueblood broke into the room in a mad frenzy. Your sister tried to stop him from attacking Celestia, but his horn ripped a hole in her suit during the struggle, and…”

Shining slowly lowered the picture. His eyes were like daggers, desperately seeking out somepony to stab for this. “He…He got my little sis cursed?!”

“We did manage to restore her to normal,” said Luna. “Had we not been able to, however, she would have been trapped as a filly until she had aged back the natural way. Even worse, he could have seriously hurt her. She’s powerful, but if that horn hadn’t just hit the suit…”

Every fiber of Shining Armor’s being screamed murder. “Just tell me what to do…”

Unbeknownst to the two conspirators, their conversation had not gone unnoticed. Sitting on the rooftop above Luna’s chambers, Celestia had decided to privy herself to all the little details of Luna’s meeting with Shining Armor. And so far, she did not like what she was hearing.

Luna…why are you doing this? Why are you torturing your own nephew?

She stared off at the distant moon, Luna’s former prison and her personal torture device for a thousand years. The night was just beginning, and already things seemed to be falling apart. Perhaps Luna is right. Blueblood may just be irredeemable. But…

She couldn’t help the memory. It struck her like a bolt of lightning and refused to release her until it was done…

Another day, another crisis. That’s how it had felt to Celestia for almost a thousand years. Ever since Nightmare Moon, she had been balancing the entire nation on her back, and she couldn’t help but feel herself starting to shrug. Things were as normal as ever in Equestria, and she still had a little over a decade before Nightmare Moon’s return, but time was running short. Her sister’s inevitable stab at revenge only added to the stress already building on the Princess.

There was one moment of solace in the day, however, and that always came around six o’clock every night. This night was no different.

There was a knock on her chamber door, as usual. Celestia would climb out of bed, trot slowly and gracefully to the doorway, and finally open the entrance herself. She would then have five seconds before the little white colt charged and grabbed onto one of her long limbs.

Again, tonight was no exception.

Celestia laughed at the tiny, super-excited foal. “Welcome back, Blueblood. How is everything?”

“Amazing!” Blueblood answered. “I got an ‘A’ on my spelling test today, and Ponetics said I was one of the best ponies she’s ever tutored!” The colt finally released his aunt’s leg, his tiny little eyes locking onto hers like an overly-enthusiastic puppy. “And now we get to hang out!”

“Yes we do,” Celestia said. “Now, I want you to tell me all about your day today. And tell me everything this time. Yesterday, you didn’t say you had mustard with your salad.”

The two had a small laugh, and the colt began to describe his misadventures in great detail. And Celestia, for her part, laid herself upon the floor and listened to them all. She smiled and nuzzled the colt as he described his daring climbs out of the castle windows, even as she chided him for his carelessness. She cheered him on as he spoke of fighting imaginary dragons and bandits in her name, cried with him when he talked about something terrible his father had done, and comforted him when he wondered if he would ever amount to much as a prince.

Celestia had a lot of relatives, to be sure. None of them were directly linked to her or Luna, of course, but adopted family was still family. She had plenty of nephews and nieces, nearly all of them within spitting distance of the castle. And yet, Blueblood was the only one to regularly visit her, the only one who wasn’t terrified of her presence. And despite her misgivings of his aristocratic parents, she couldn’t help but just hug and love the foal.

He was, after all, her favorite nephew.

Blueblood laid himself upon his bed. His mind was already going over everything that had happened today, if only to find some kind of pattern to this madness. So far, he was coming up blank, save for one thing.

According to Aunt Celestia, the Elements of Harmony are the most powerful form of magic in the land. And at the center of it all is Magic, or rather, Friendship. If I apply the same thinking to the school, then the path to power is clear. I need to make friends. The more friends I have, the more influence I have on the school grounds. If that is what Princess Celestia wants, then that is what she will get.

He scoffed at the simplicity of it all. And I’ve already got three friends. How hard could this be?

Chapter Three: Setbacks

On most mornings, the sight of the sun piercing the horizon was all the satisfaction Celestia needed to get going. That, and her usual cup of tea; or rather, a cup of honey with some tea buried in there so deep that not even a team of dedicated archaeologists could ever hope to find it. On those days, taking in the morning breeze through her nostrils was enough to jog the Sun Princess out of whatever funk she had acquired overnight, and ready her for yet another wonderful day.

This day, however, made no such promises.

She knew that Luna was already sleeping, or at least sequestered in, her quarters. Shining Armor had, as always, awakened an hour before her, and was already supervising the changeover between the graveyard and morning shifts. Celestia sighed, her mind reflecting on the conversation she had overheard between these two just last night. The two are up to something, I just know it. I just can’t understand Luna right now. Why is she so insistent on denying our nephew even one chance at redeeming himself?

Such thoughts were dispelled with a mighty shake of Celestia’s head. Fretting about this will not solve anything. I have to get to the bottom of whatever scheme Luna’s thought up and put an end to it.

“Um…Your Highness?”

Celestia’s eyes widened and lips curled as she turned to her waiting servant. “Good morning, Leafy Greens. It’s certainly a lovely day, is it not?”

Leafy allowed herself one chuckle – two would be improper – and gave a quick bow. “I just wished to inform you that breakfast is ready. Princess Luna has already begun dining.”

Luna…

Celestia’s eyes lit up like the very sun, while a devious smirk crossed her lips. The gears in her ancient mind were already beginning to turn, grinding together until yet another plan came into being. “Thank you, Mrs. Greens. I’m sure breakfast will be lovely.”

And it’s time I started working Luna over.

Blueblood slumped out of bed just moments after the alarm clock began screaming. After resetting the accursed device, he let out a loud yawn and stretched his legs, starting with the front and ending with the rear. Once his muscles were all nice and loose, the colt smiled. This was going to be his best day in a long while.

Today, he was going to be back to normal.

Blueblood stared at the infernal brush for several minutes, his mind trying desperately to wrap itself around how such a thing was supposed to operate. His aunt, in her infinite wisdom, had decided that he should attend to his own grooming, an act that utterly baffled the prince. Ever since he was a colt, he had other ponies to brush his teeth, comb his mane, straighten his coat, and file his hooves. And now she expects me to do all this by myself? Aunt Celestia truly is a monster.

Sighing, Blueblood slipped his hoof into the brush’s strap and, after some clumsy acrobatics, finally got the thing into a position to brush his mane. He winced at the occasional knot or tug, but otherwise his mind was elsewhere. Today, he had to prove himself to be the same, glorious pony he always was. And the only way to do that was to make friends.

There was only one problem. How does a common pony make friends, anyway?

The more the colt tried to piece together an answer, the bigger his migraine got. The court was so much easier. Friends were just temporary allies, there to help you step on the backs of others while you plunged a dagger into their own spines. I could easily buy as many companions as I needed, and my relation to Princess Celestia made me a magnet for foolish nobles desperate to climb up. He shook his head in frustration, and then yelped in pain as his brush caught on another knot. But I don’t have that anymore. All of my money and possessions are being held by Celestia, and I can’t reveal who I am to a bunch of stupid foals. Not that they would know royalty if it struck them in their pudgy little faces.

Then it hit him. Wait…yesterday, Ribbon just walked up to me and asked if I wanted to be friends with her. And it worked. Perhaps these common ponies hold some sort of mystical secret that we nobles have forgotten over time.

That’s when he remembered his unwilling partner in all this. Lofty was able to make friends with Princess Celestia herself. She must be the one that taught Ribbon how to perform such a thing. If I can speak to her before school starts, I might be able to convince her to give me the same lessons!

Blueblood grinned at his victory, despite having to perform manual labor for the first time in his life. Yes, this is it. Once I’m on top of the school, I’ll be a stallion again in no time!

Luna was halfway done with her omelet when Celestia finally arrived for her breakfast/Luna’s dinner. The Night Mare made no motion to acknowledge her sister’s presence aside from a small nod and whispered greeting. The Sun Princess simply sat herself down at the table, lifted her fork (and once again briefly went over her plans for a hoof-friendly device in her head), and started cutting in.

It was right as the tines were piercing the second cheese-and-onion layer that Luna finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “So…I see Blueblood is not joining us?”

Celestia took a bite, swiped the gooey strand of cheese away with her fork, and swallowed loudly before answering. “He eats in his room. He’s allowed outside for school, but when he comes home, he is not allowed to leave his cell.” Her eyes narrowed. “And what of Shining Armor? Will he be assisting in Blueblood’s rehabilitation?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, he said he would be glad to help. I always knew our Captain of the Guard was a dependable stallion, even if he is rather young.” She swallowed another bite. “So, what is on the agenda today?”

Celestia prodded the side of her cheek, staining her coat with fried egg yolk, processed cheeses and pepper as she did so. “Besides a morning meeting with the Canterlot Times and a darling afternoon with the most boring Agriculture Advisor in the last two centuries, the rest of my time will be spent finishing up yesterday’s work. I trust the Night Court has some fresh legislation for me?”

“On your desk, notarized, and ready for your signature.”

The room once again fell deathly silent, save for the scraping of silverware on plates and the occasional rustling of a new guard trying to mater holding his bladder for hours on end. Luna’s breakfast plate had been emptied by this point, and the servants were already hustling the dishes back to the kitchens for cleaning. Celestia, on the other hoof, was taking a very, very long time to finish her meal; in the same period it had taken Luna to finish one omelet, she had barely taken a quarter of her own.

Luna’s right eye twitched slightly and ear twitched slightly as she just sat there and watched her sister eat. “May I be excused, sister? I would like to get some rest before today.”

“And give up this chance for us to speak?” Celestia said. “Luna, things may be better than they were only a week ago, but that doesn’t mean we can just rest on our laurels. The breakfast and dinner tables are still the best time to talk about any plans we may have, don’t you think?”

The twitch mutated into something dangerously approaching a snapped nerve. Luna scowled even as Celestia’s face turned into a knowing, almost mocking smile. “Why, sister, whatever do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing specific.” Celestia took another tiny bite, even as Luna’s scowl transformed into a low, almost animalistic growl. “I just want to know what you have planned for the day. After all, you don’t plan to spend all of the daytime locked in your bedroom again.”

Luna’s nerves relaxed, if only slightly. The mocking tune she had picked up in her sister’s actions seemed to vanish against a screen of sincerity, which was enough to cool the Moon Princess’ easily-ignitable nerves. “Well, it is one of the last long days we shall have this year. I was hoping to get some more rest before winter arrived.”

Celestia’s smile grew. “It sounds wonderful. But there is something I wanted to discuss. It’s about Blueblood.”

Luna froze, her ears pricking up at the name. She could tell something was off about the question before Celestia had even said it. “Yes, what about him?”

“If this plan is going to work, we will need a more structured environment with which to, for lack of a better word, ‘raise’ Blueblood in.” Celestia took yet another slow, labored bite. “So, I was thinking that perhaps we should reorganize our family structure slightly.”

Luna raised an eye at this. “Reorganize what?”

“What I mean is, we should act less like his aunts and more like…well, parents.”

“Parents?” Luna scoffed at the very notion. “As far as I know, he already had a pair of those, and they certainly did not do him any good.”

“But they aren’t as old and wise as we are,” Celestia said. “We can do a lot better for him right now than they ever did. It’s just…something to think about.”

Luna’s eyes drifted down towards the table, her lips sealed tighter than a steel trap. Okay, Luna, weigh your options. On the one hoof, this nephew is a family-betraying monster, and it is your sworn duty to bring him to justice for his crimes. On the other hoof, if you can get closer to him, it will make it easier to ensure his banishment.

The Night Mare raised her head until she was eye level with Celestia. “I…suppose we may give it a chance.”

Celestia grinned. Exactly as planned. “That’s wonderful. I’ll start working on a list of duties as soon as possible. Starting tomorrow, Blueblood will have two mommies!”

Mere seconds after uttering that line, Celestia clapped a hoof over her mouth and blushed in embarrassment. The implications of her sister’s declaration caused Luna to wince. “C-Could you…rephrase that, perhaps?”

“I-I apologize. I was just…swept up in the moment.” The Sun Princess cast her eyes down at her plate, where her omelet was angrily waiting for her to finish eating it. “You are excused, Luna. I’ve discussed all I needed to talk about.”

“Very good, then,” Luna said. “If you will excuse me, I must get some rest. I have to deal with Baron Frazzleberry again. Something about his son getting into fights.”

Luna slowly pulled herself off her purple pillow, pausing only to pat her lips down with a napkin before starting towards the hall. Celestia levitated her fork back down, cutting off a rather large chunk of her breakfast before slowly lifting back towards her lips…

“I believe this shall be quite interesting,” Luna said from the doorway. “Especially if you plan to do this with every criminal that comes through our door.”

Everything in and around Celestia stopped instantaneously. The only thing she managed to move were her eyes and mouth. “I…I’m sorry?”

Luna closed her eyes and smiled, looking as cute as possible while she dug the knife in deeper. “We must treat all our subjects fairly, after all. If Blueblood is going to be given this opportunity, then we must extend it to everypony in Equestria. We would not wish to show Blueblood as our favorite pony, after all.”

Celestia tried to mutter something, some explanation for why she was doing this, but Luna simply turned around and left. Once her sister had gone, she slowly lowered the fork back down, resting it on the plate.

Celestia, you have a lot to think about.

Sky Bloom’s eyes shot wide open when she saw Blueblood. The colt was practically bouncing, a far cry from his defeated demeanor only a day before. The servant couldn’t help but smile a little, even if he had been an egotistical blowhard less than a week ago. “Well, hello. What’s gotten into you today?”

“I have to get to school early!” Blueblood shouted. “There’s somepony I have to talk to!”

Sky snickered, pressing her mouth closed with one hoof. “I see. Could this have something to do with your little friends from yesterday?”

Blueblood’s bouncing stopped, like somepony had cut the metaphorical trampoline out from underneath him. “I-It’s not like that! I just need to be there bright and early today! It’s vitally important!”

“Alright, alright!” Sky Bloom said. She trotted past her young ward and pushed the door open. “Come on, let’s get going. I have a lot to do today.”

“So do I,” Blueblood said while walking past. Sky Bloom waited until he was about halfway down the path, then smiled. “You’re looking better already.”

The colt’s eagerness had paid off, and he was safely tucked away at the school before his target could even get within a few yards. From his spot in the bushes, Blueblood watched as Lofty approached the school grounds, accompanied by her mother, Ruby Dream. The colt’s eyes glazed over slightly as memories of a kick in the tush came rushing back, but a few rolls of the eyes and shimmies of the head was all it took to get him back on track.

Ruby and Lofty halted in front of the school gates. The latter turned to face the former, her saddlebags bouncing slightly as she moved, with a small frown. “Do I have to?”

“Now Lofty, you can’t be mean to a new student just because he’s different.” Lofty blushed and lowered her head at her mother’s reprimanding. “Remember when you started going here? It wasn’t easy for you, was it?”

“B-But he’s evil!”

Ruby giggled at her daughter’s bizarre assertions. “I’m sure Leon is a nice little colt, and if you give him a chance, you two can be best friends.”

Lofty pouted like an average foal, but couldn’t bring herself to argue with her mother. Not only was she the entire reason Lofty existed in the first place (even if she didn’t quite get how the stork figured into it), but she was also much bigger than her, and endowed by Princess Luna herself with the power to dispense groundings and spankings as needed. At least, that’s what Ruby had told her in the past. “Oh…okay. I guess I can try.”

Ruby smiled and gave her daughter a quick jab on the shoulder. The nudge was quick, but it was also so soft and gentle that Lofty couldn’t help but smile warmly at the touch. “I’ll see you later, mom.”

The mare gave a wide, slightly toothy grin before pulling her hapless filly into a tight hug. Lofty blushed at making such overt physical contact with her mother, and only the fact that there weren’t any of her friends (or enemies) nearby to watch kept her from freaking out. “Have a good day at school, honey.”

The tender scene continued for several more moments before Lofty managed to break free and brush herself free of any mom germs. Satisfied that her daughter was safe and sound, Ruby turned on her hooves and trotted away towards the palace. The filly sighed, double-checked her bags just to make sure she hadn’t forgotten the sugar cookies she had smuggled out of the kitchen, and started towards the school grounds with her head hanging low. Stupid Prince Blueblood and his stupid curse and his stupid…

“Hello, ‘Honey.’”

The voice travelled through Lofty’s ear canal, down to her brain, and then exploded like a stick of dynamite. Her eyes shrank back into their sockets, her hooves rattled and shook against the cobblestone, and her tongue and mouth suddenly became far less moist. Ever so slowly, she turned towards one of the school garden’s bushes, and the white colt standing in front of it. “Y-You saw that?!”

“Every minute of it,” Blueblood said with a sneer. “Don’t get me wrong, though. I truly wish I hadn’t. I haven’t seen such a disgusting public display of affection in years.”

It was right then that Lofty regretted not pounding Blueblood’s head in like a watermelon the first moment she saw him. “Well, you’re just a…a…stupid idiot! Didn’t your mom ever hug you like that?”

“Of course she did! Why, I can remember…”

“Oh, just forget it!” Lofty snapped. “So, what do you want?”

“I think I have it all figured out,” said Blueblood.

Lofty cocked an eyebrow. “Figured what out?”

“Aunt Celestia wishes for me to make friends! That’s what all this was about! All I have to do is make a bunch of friends, show them to her, and she’ll make me normal again!”

Lofty’s face scrunched as her brain clicked into overtime. “Well…I guess that kinda makes sense.”

“And that’s where I need your help.” Blueblood reared up on his hind legs and placed both of his front hooves on Lofty’s shoulders. “I need to know how a common pony makes friends.”

Lofty sighed and pushed Blueblood’s hooves away. “It’s not that hard, really. All you have to do is talk to some ponies, ask them if they want to be friends, and they’ll say yes or no.”

Needless to say, Blueblood was more than a little dumbfounded by this. “B-But it cannot possibly be that simple! There must be more steps, a formal interview process, SOMETHING besides just asking if they want to do anything with you! If all you have you do is just approach a pony and offer friendship, I would have been swarming with friends already!”

Lofty rolled her eyes. Well, nopony likes a jerk, but that’s another talk. “There’s other things you have to do after that, like spend time with them and make sure they don’t hate you. Mom calls it mainta-maintanining relationships or something.”

Blueblood sighed. “It still sounds far too simple, but I’ll take your word for now.”

The two broke off as they heard an approaching wagon, along with the excited squeals and cheers of the various little ponies inside. “Well, I have to get going,” Lofty said. “Class is going to start soon.” And with that, she galloped away, leaving Blueblood alone with his thoughts yet again.

The clanging of the school bell was barely audible over the pounding of hooves and squealing of foals. The young ponies, their bodies still pumped with sugary breakfasts and a desire not to sit on their rumps another moment more, all charged at the school playground at once. So fast was their escape that more than a few teachers were left dazed and surprised at the onslaught; it was a miracle that they were able to herd the foals to the proper grounds at all, let alone not lose one or two in the confusion.

Blueblood and Ribbon walked to the playground side-by-side, if only so they had anchor in this madness. By the time they finally stepped onto the soft grass, the rest of their schoolmates had begun to fan out and take their usual positions amongst the toys and playsets. “So, you wanna go meet up with everypony else? I heard Gusty got some of the new Daring-Do toys, so we were all going to play by the sandbox.”

Daring-Do? Those books are still around? “Sorry, but there’s something else I wanted to do.”

Ribbon frowned. “Oh. Well, I guess I can keep you company.”

Blueblood sighed, then quickly flashed a smile at the waiting Ribbon. “I’ll be fine by myself. You can go ahead and play with them if you want. I just wanted to take a look around.”

Ribbon wanted to say something, but her mind quickly returned to all the time she was wasting not playing with Daring-Do toys, and she quickly galloped to the sandbox to join the rest of her crew. Blueblood watched as she took her seat next to Gusty, who had just finished sculpting what was probably supposed to be some ancient temple and was eagerly readying the characters of their little play. A part of him wanted to join in, if only to maintain the friendship he had already built, but soon enough his ego reasserted itself, and he soon found himself scanning the entire playground for somepony to befriend.

The grass rustled underneath his hooves with every step he took. The ponies around him barely even noticed he existed, instead focusing far more on their own activities than the colt that was creepily scooping them out. Blueblood himself was eager to not advertise his presence at the moment; if he was going to take over the school this way, then he would need to make sure the friends he used were worthy of his presence.

He looked at a pair of chubby foals chewing on wild weeds. Too unsanitary. I must have my standards, after all.

Next came a trio of fillies jumping rope. I have enough fillies as it is. And besides, rope is a rather pitiful weapon in a battle.

He looked over towards the tree from yesterday, where some fillies and colts were grunting angrily and jumping fruitlessly at the ribbon. He raised an eye at this. I never did get around to asking them what the deal with that ribbon was. Perhaps later, I will…

“Hey! ‘Lie-On!’”

Blueblood froze in place. Even after only a day of knowing that voice, he could tell who it belonged to. And sure enough, Orange Peel emerged from the crowds around him, along with Snowball and a third, dusty-grey coated colt. Before Blueblood could regain control of his movements, the three had already surrounded him in the same manner as yesterday, only with an extra body to help tighten the noose. “So, how’s it going, ‘Lie-On?!’”

Blueblood scratched the side of his face with one hoof, if only to calm his nerves slightly. “Um…my name is Leon.”

“Oh, we know, ‘Lie-On,’” said Snowball. “Does it bug you to have such a stupid name?”

Wait…they were trying to mock me with ‘Lie-On?’ I’ve been called far worse things… Blueblood straightened his body out, raised his head high, and smiled. “It’s all right. I know my name is stupid.”

The three bullies stopped moving. In the few times they had pulled this on other foals, not a single one of them had gotten a response quite like that. Mostly, it ended with lots of crying, some mane pulling, and eventually their parents giving the parents of their victims money to make things stop. The new colt was especially flabbergasted, if his wide-open jaw was any indication. “Wh-What are you talking about?”

As the confusion continued, Blueblood began to realize the situation he was in. Here he was, surrounded by three of the toughest foals in his class. Only a few months ago, he would have been sending agents to speak to such toughs, hiring them on an extra muscle while he schemed and plotted his way to greater and more glorious heights. Now, however, he had a chance to prove himself at an even greater level than before. Now, he had the chance to turn old enemies into friends.

Orange Peel glanced back and forth between his two compatriots. “Guys, we gotta keep focused!”

Blueblood scratched the back of his neck uncertainly. Knowing how to do something was one thing, but actually doing it was an entirely different can of worms. “So, I was thinking, perhaps we got off on the wrong hoof yesterday. Maybe if we give it another chance, we can be, you know…friends?”

Now it was Orange Peel’s turn to make a twisted, confuzzled face. “Wait…you want to be friends?”

Blueblood quickly gave an affirmative nod. “That’s exactly it.”

Orange Peel took a few steps back, his eyes widening with terror. “You mean…the colt who hangs out with fillies and has a big brain wants to be friends with me?”

Small beads of perspiration began to leak down Blueblood’s face. Even a pony as naturally oblivious as he could sense that something was about to go horribly wrong here. Nonetheless, he still had a plan, and he had to stick to it. “Well…yes. I would be honored to consider all three of you my friends.”

By this point, the spectacle had begun to attract the attention of the other foals on the playground. Snowball felt his stomach give way slightly as he felt more and more eyes lock onto him and his friends. “Um…Orange? Smokey? Maybe we should just…”

He didn’t have a chance to say much else. Orange Peel, already incised at the direction his name-calling had gone in, broke into a gallop and slammed straight into Blueblood. The regal colt flew backwards a good ten feet before landing hard on his back, and before he could even figure out what had just transpired, his nemesis was already standing over him. “Now listen, you stupid little shrimp! I am not, and will never be, friends with a filly-loving idiot like you!”

Blueblood’s eyes quivered in terror, his heart pounding like a drum, as all blood slowly drained from his face. Wh-What did I do wrong? Where did I make a mistake? “I-I’m sorry about yesterday. Can we please…?”

“You ran into me!” Orange Peel’s eyes dilated slightly, his voice shaking with every passing moment. “Because of you, the teachers told my parents what happened! I’ve been grounded for two weeks because you were such a klutz that you tripped over your own hooves!”

The grey-coated colt, Smokey, took a few slow steps forward. “Hey, uh, Peel? M-Maybe we should lay off him?”

Snowball backpedaled slightly away from the mess. He could already hear the teachers beginning to approach. “Yeah, I think you made your point!”

Orange Peel looked back up at his terrified friends briefly, before returning his attention to Blueblood. “You…If I ever see you again, I’ll…”

“You’ll do what?”

Everypony’s eyes turned to the newest speaker. Even Blueblood, now on the verge of crying from his bruised ego, managed to look up enough to make out Lofty and Gusty standing next to him. Orange Peel and his cohorts very quickly began to back far, far away from the duo. “O-Oh, Gusty! I-I never thought you’d…”

Gusty’s eyes never moved, and in fact seemed to intensify to the point where they could have probably melted steel if she really, really wanted to. “Are you trying to hurt our friend here? I don’t like ponies that hurt my friends.”

Snowball quickly turned about and galloped away, with Smokey following close behind him. Orange Peel paused briefly, his eyes glancing back and forth for a possible course of action, but the sight of Miss Brightly approaching Blueblood made up his mind for him. With a quick hop, he disappeared into the crowd, already preparing for a much longer sentence in the back of his mind.

By the time his teacher had arrived, Blueblood had already pulled himself back onto his hooves. His eyes were still stinging, but nothing else seemed broken besides his pride. “I-I’m fine.”

Brightly let out a sigh of relief. “I would recommend you stay away from Orange Peel. He seems to have it out for you.” She half-closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I know you’re at a new school, but I’m afraid not everypony here is perfectly nice.”

“I…I understand,” Blueblood said, coughing slightly between words. “I guess he just didn’t want to be friends.”

“You can’t be friends with everypony, sadly,” Miss Brightly said. “Listen, if you need to go see the nurse, just let me know. I have to go find Orange Peel and give him a piece of my mind.”

And with that, Miss Brightly trotted away in search of her elusive misbehaving pupil. Once she was out of earshot, Gusty turned back to her two friends. “Good thing I came when I did, huh? I didn’t expect Orange Peel’s jerks to jump you like that.”

“Y-Yeah, thanks,” Blueblood said.

Lofty sighed and kicked at the ground. “Hey, Gusty? Do you mind if I talk to Leon alone for a minute? I’ll be back at the castle in a minute.”

Gusty paused for a moment, then nodded. “Sure. Just make it fast. Daring’s gotta find the Lost Scepter of Mystery, and we don’t have a lot of recess time left.”

Once Gusty had cantered far enough away, Lofty turned back to Blueblood. “I…I didn’t think you were gonna try to make friends with those guys.”

Blueblood sniffed back a few frustrated droplets. “I didn’t plan on this. It just…happened. I thought having friends like that would help elevate me a little.”

Lofty titled her head. “Trust me, ponies like Orange Peel are not the ones you should be around. That colt’s been picking fights since he started here.” Her head then tilted the opposite direction. “Maybe you should just hold off on making a whole bunch of friends right now.”

Blueblood’s eyes drifted slightly leftward, if only to break any contact he might have with Lofty’s own. “B-But…I…I need…”

He stopped in mid-thought. Indeed, that was the only way to keep his brain from simply exploding. The commoner was right; his attempts at making friends had failed miserably. He could try again, but there wasn’t enough time in the day for him to pull the same trick this recess. And in any case, if the schoolyard was anything like the court, being humiliated like that would make things far more troublesome than he liked. Something like this had only happened a few times before in his entire life, although only one case was his fault as far as he was concerned, and every time it would take weeks before the other nobles stopped snickering whenever he walked into the room or came close to an apple pie.

Nopony was going to be his friend now. Nopony wants to be friends with a weakling.

Lofty, having failed that mail-order psychic course her mom ordered her from an old Pluto comic, wasn’t able to read Blueblood’s mind, but she could still see his face scrunching and eyes watering. Realizing just what was about to happen, she quickly threw a hoof over Blueblood’s neck. A few germs would be worth it if it helped the Princess. “Come on, you can still play with us. You know about Daring-Do?” Blueblood nodded silently, not even being slightly bothered by Lofty’s leg’s position right now. “Well, we’re playing with Gusty’s new figures. You can join us. I’m sure they’ll let you use Ahuizotl. H-He has red lights in his eyes this time.”

Blueblood was silent for a few moments, then finally brought himself to crack a tiny smile. “Okay. I guess that will do.”

Lofty nodded, and the two started walking back to the box. Gusty was already over there, swinging a tiny plastic Daring-Do figure around, while Ribbon was holding one of the incidental characters in the series and Buttons was providing some kind of overly-dramatic narration for whatever adventure the toys were supposed to be on. All three fillies glanced up at Blueblood with sympathetic eyes, having no doubt witnessed his disgrace at Orange Peel’s hooves.

And yet, deep within his heart of hearts, he couldn’t help but feel a little happy. At least he wasn’t completely alone this time.

The rest of the day went by pretty much uneventfully. During lunch, Blueblood and Ribbon simply ate together, while Lofty continued to watch them all from afar. The magic lesson was more or less the same as the previous day, complete with a lot of unlevitated tennis balls at the end of the day.

And then it was time for History, or rather, what constituted History in a Kindergarten class.

Miss Brightly pointed at the easel, on which were photos of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. “And so you can see, there are two Princesses that rule Equestria. Without them, we wouldn’t have the day or night. And without that, we wouldn’t have things like sunny days and full moons. Where would we be, then?”

Blueblood rolled his eyes. We also wouldn’t have a stable climate, seasons, and the ability to live, but I guess you shouldn’t load all that to a bunch of simple foals.

A green colt shot up a hoof. “Oh oh oh! I know, I know! We’d all be dead, right?!”

The entire class laughed at this latest bit of obvious information, and even Blueblood had to chuckle at the simplicity of it all. The colt blushed and sank down in his chair. “Well…yes, Olive, although I wouldn’t say it quite like that.” Another hoof, this time from Cherry, shot up. “Yes, Cherry?”

“The Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant said that Unicorns used to raise the sun and moon,” the filly asked. “Why can’t they just do that again?”

Miss Brightly’s smile grew, if only to cover for her growing unease with this line of inquiry. “Well, it was a very difficult thing to do. It required every Unicorn to use all their power to keep the sun and moon in the right orbit, and they weren’t able to do a lot of the things we can do with magic because of that.” The smile grew another few inches; any larger, and it might have fallen off her face and scurried across the floor to escape. “But anyway, when you were very little fillies and colts, Princess Celestia was the only ruler we still had. It must have been very difficult for her to move both the sun and moon like that for a thousand years, but she did it anyway because she loves us.”

Orange Peel scoffed. “That’s not what dad told me.”

“Now, just last year, Princess Luna finally returned to Equestria. The two sisters have since made up for their fighting, and like all good sisters have become best friends.”

*B-R-R-R-RING!*

The last recess found the group back where they had first met each other: standing under an oak tree, staring at a ribbon.

Blueblood’s eyes stared up at the target. The small bit of pink fabric was still tied around the same branch, its tassels flapping defiantly in the wind, all while the little group watched in awe. “So…what is the point of this?”

Buttons put a hoof to her mouth and coughed loudly, clearing her throat for a long-winded preschool tale. “A long, long time ago, there was a filly here that was really good at magic, but not much else. All of the other ponies used to tease her and call her names, and because of that, she had no friends. One day, she came to school with a big ribbon in her mane. But when she got picked on again, she got so angry that her magic untied the ribbon, floated it up to the tree branch, and then tied it in a knot.”

The other foals all went, “Ohhhhh!” Blueblood, on the other hoof, just went, “Oh.” A Magic Kindergarten student powerful enough to do all that? I would hate to run into a pony that strong, assuming they even existed to begin with.

“Apparently, nopony was ever able to get the knot untied,” Gusty added. “Whatever magic that Unicorn used has made even teachers cry out for mommy!”

“And it hasn’t changed at all,” said Ribbon. “The magic must be keeping it from getting torn up or wet!”

Or, one of the janitors took the original down and some stupid foals put another back up to confuse simple-minded ponies like you. “And what happened to this filly?”

Buttons opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a sudden burst of exuberance from Gusty. “I can tell you that! Turns out that filly had a really tough big brother, and when he found out what was going on, he valiantly stormed into the school yard and beat those bullies to a pulp!” The filly leaned back slightly, and if Blueblood didn’t know any better he would have sworn she was swooning. “I wish I could have seen that! It sounds like the coolest thing ever, right?!”

The other foals, to Gusty’s eternal despair, failed to share in her excitement. “Um…if he really did break into the school, wouldn’t the teachers stop him?” asked Ribbon.

Gusty’s grin drooped down into a frown. “Well…ah…”

“And my mom would have said told me if something like that happened,” said Buttons. “After all, she went to school here, too.”

“ANYWAY!” Lofty said, and in the process called the group’s attention to herself, “it’s a game around the school to try and get the ribbon down off the branch. The teachers give anypony that can actually do it a free cupcake during lunch.” She fell back on her haunches, her teeth barred in frustration at the impossible task before her. “We’re not allowed to use scissors to cut it, and it’s tied so tight that nopony can pull it down just by grabbing it. And none of us can use magic right now, so we can’t just zap it down.”

The fillies all moaned in defeat, their tiny little brains unable to comprehend a solution to this dilemma. Blueblood, on the other hoof, grinned and clicked his hooves together in certain victory. So that’s the key to victory. Even if the whole friendship scheme has failed, I can still prove my superiority over the rest of these foals by pulling that ribbon down!

His eyes drifted over to the tree itself. It was a rather massive thing, and looked positively ancient when compared to much of the surrounding plant life. The branch the ribbon rested on, however, was far too thin for anypony to hang off of; no doubt that was why the school picked that one to hang the ribbon on. Even if he could climb it, there was no way he could crawl over to the ribbon’s resting spot.

He then eyed the rest of his teammates. Lofty was already trying to flutter her way up there, but her wings were far too small and weak to lift the rest of her body high enough. Ribbon and Buttons had tried climbing onto Gusty, but the weight was too much and all three had collapsed into a tangled knot of pony bits. That left him with one obvious solution:

There was no way he was going to get that ribbon down today.

By this point, the Unicorns were trying desperately to use their magic, only to accomplish nothing but showering the place like a fireworks display. Blueblood had to facehoof at the stupidity of it all, but a quick glare from Lofty dissuaded him from that action. “So…you’re really going to do this every day?”

“Until…one of us…gets that pudding!” Buttons gasped.

“Th-Then…we’re gonna…share it!” added Gusty.

Blueblood shrugged. “But what’s the point?! At our strength, it’s not possible!”

Lofty’s response was to point a hoof up at the branch. “A filly got it up there, didn’t she? And if the great Fluttershy can take down a Cockatrice with just a stare, a bunch of fillies can certainly-”

*B-R-R-R-R-RING!*

Fillies and colts alike moaned as the bell rang, signaling them back to class to finish the day. The ribbon would have to wait another day.

The school bell rang out yet again, signaling an end to the day’s festivities. And like the day before, the fillies and foals broke into a stampede the minute the clanging began, all of them in a desperate attempt to get home. A few friends exchanged daily farewells, and a lot of foals boarded the school wagons and carts, but otherwise it was just a regular bunch of children being children.

Sky Bloom’s face was practically buried under her smile as she saw Blueblood approach. The colt, however, appeared to have lost the spring in his step. In fact, he looked more than a little sad. The servant’s smile quickly faded as a result. “Leon? Leon, what’s wrong?”

Blueblood shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

“Well, after how eager you were to get here, Princess Celestia thought something wonderful was going to happen.” She sighed. “It was those bullies from before, wasn’t it?”

The memory, still fresh in Blueblood’s brain, caused the colt’s face to visibly twist for a brief moment before returning to his normal frown. “It was horrible. I wanted to make friends so Princess Celestia would turn me back, so I asked them if they wanted to be friends with me. They could have just said no, but Orange Peel was so…”

“Honey, I think you got it all wrong,” Sky Bloom sighed. “What Princess Celestia wants isn’t just for you to make a lot of friends. How much you have of something isn’t important, especially when it comes to friendships.”

Blueblood’s heart almost stopped. All this time…he was wrong. The whole day was utterly wasted before it had even begun. And now, he was right back where he started: a stupid little colt, wandering through a dumb game his Aunt Celestia had thought up to amuse herself.

“L-Let’s just go home,” he muttered.

The sight of the setting sun brought Celestia even less joy than before. Blueblood had barely eaten anything at dinner, and was insistent on being left alone. Even worse, her sister’s words still rang through her ears. Am I really playing favorites here? I-Is what I’m doing wrong? Should I just had Blueblood banished the minute I returned to power?

There was no answer waiting for her, both in the reality of Equestria and in the back of her mind. She sighed as nostalgia washed over her again…

Princess Celestia trotted down the halls of her palace, her nephew clinging to her back like his life depended on it. All around the two, servants dashed for cover, lest they end up trampled beneath their ruler/employer’s gilded hooves. By the time she had reached the front foyer, nearly every noble within a stone’s throw of Canterlot Castle was already lined up for the momentous occasion.

Celestia paused at the top of the staircase, her eyes facing straight towards the massive double doors. The guards had already lowered the drawbridge, and lookouts were stationed at every conceivable post to keep a close vigil on the surrounding countryside. Blueblood quickly hopped down and stood next to his aunt. As much as he scanned the crowd, however, he could see no sign of a certain pair of ponies. “Aunt Celestia, have you seen mother and father?”

“I’m certain they’re here somewhere,” Celestia whispered back. “Just stay close to me for the time being. I don’t want you to get lost in the crowd.”

“And what are we doing here, anyway?” he whined.

Celestia smiled and winked at the colt. “With luck, adding another pony to our family here.”

Blueblood nodded and smiled, but wasn’t really feeling much better after hearing the news. In all his years, he had never quite been welcome amongst the rest of the royal foals. He never understood why, either. Aunt Celestia had always told him that he was a quick runner and bright thinker, and that anypony would be lucky to have him as a friend, and yet none of the other ponies bothered to give him the time of day. Occasionally, he could catch something from their parents about his own, but he never quite understood what they meant by calling them “Arrogant flankholes.”

Suddenly, the entire chamber became filled with the sound of blaring trumpets. Everypony snapped out of their gossip groups and stood at attention as the doors slowly opened. On the other side stood a pair of nobleponies, one a Unicorn mare and the other a Pegasus stallion. Both walked forward a few steps before bowing in unison.

Another Unicorn, this time looking like a dressed-up member of the servant pool, sidestepped past his masters and unfurled a scroll. “Princess Celestia of Equestria, we are pleased to announce the arrival of…” Blueblood scratched his ears, missing the names entirely in the confusion. “…The Prince and Princess of Roam.”

The nobles bowed in response to the previous bowing, and the royal couple gradually returned to their hooves. Celestia smiled as big a smile her current situation would allow. “It is always a pleasure to meet with members of the nobility from across Equestria. I trust everything in going well in Roam?”

The Princess nodded. She spoke in an accent that Blueblood had never heard before; it was difficult for him to make out anything she said. “Roam is standing strong as ever. Alas, it is not our city we must discuss.”

“As we said before, my wife had a filly just over three years ago,” said the Prince. “It was a wondrous occasion, to be sure.”

Celestia nodded along. “And yet, every time I request to meet this mysterious foal of yours, you claim to be too busy to show her to me. I have no plans to snatch your filly away; I just wish for a little time to know who she is.”

The two visiting royals chuckled nervously before stepping aside. Behind them, hidden beneath a silk cape decorated with smiley faces and miniature suns, was a small pink Unicorn filly. The Canterlot elite whispered amongst each other as the tiny pony, barely old enough to be out of diapers, was prodded forward by her parents. For once, even Celestia was left dumbfounded over how to make the child more at ease; even her gentle smile had no effect on the filly.

The Roaman Princess cleared her throat before announcing, in the loudest voice Blueblood had ever heard, “We are…pleased to announce Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

Blueblood snickered briefly at the name, only to be quickly hushed up by a disapproving glare from his aunt. “She is adorable, but why were you keeping her a secret from me?”

“Well…you see, there’s something about Mi Amore Cadenza…” said the Prince. He leaned over to his daughter and whispered something in her ear. The filly’s face fell, her cheeks blushing as she did so, but she relented and undid the foal-friendly clasps on the front. Her cape soon rolled to the ground, and everypony gasped in shock and amazement at what they saw.

Beneath where the cape had covered were a pair of wings.

The Princess sighed, her eyes starting to water as the inevitable came. “Our daughter is an Alicorn, like Your Royal Highness. And that’s why we…decided it would be best if she…lived here in Canterlot.”

*CLANG!*

Princess Celestia almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of the city’s clock tower. The bells continued another seven times before coming to a stop. She recognized the significance of the hour immediately; it was time for the changing of the guard from her usual daytime Pegasi and Unicorns, to a mix of Unicorns and Luna’s personal Night Guard. She could never understand what Luna saw in things like bats and spiders, but then again, her sister’s idea of a pet was a giant three-headed dog with a bad temperament. Luna was just full of mysteries that just begged to never be discovered, lest they drive a pony to madness.

Still, the changing meant that Shining Armor would soon be retiring for the night. Her Captain of the Guard had his quarters on the castle grounds, next to the regular barracks, and it would be easy for her to find him. There was only problem. Maybe Luna’s right. I should probably lay back, and…

“I wanted to make friends so Princess Celestia would turn me back, so I asked them if they wanted to be friends with me.”

Celestia was practically dumbstruck by the simplicity of it all. Issues about fairness can wait for now. I have a Captain to visit…

The evening was drawing to a close, and so was Shining Armor’s shift. The posts were changed without incident, the Night Guard was dispatched to help safeguard Princess Luna, and the Captain of the Guard was finding himself more than a little exhausted. As for Blueblood, he was safely secured in his room for the time being, seemingly distraught over something that had happened earlier that day. In any case, he was more than ready to crash onto his bed and fall into a six-hour coma.

The first clue that a restful night’s sleep wasn’t in his future was when he saw the lights on inside his private residence, just a short walk away from the barracks the regular guards used. The second clue were Princess Celestia’s personal bodyguards standing in front of his door, eyeing him with a mixture of respect and confusion as to what they were doing here. And finally, there was that special moment where he pushed the door open, only to find Princess Celestia herself standing in his living room.

The Captain’s heart shrank as Celestia’s eyes locked onto his own. There was nothing to suggest any real hostility on her part, and her mouth gave only an inviting smile, but that did not fool Shining Armor for a moment. He had been a member of the Royal Guard for long enough that he knew the truth: when Princess Celestia made a house call, things were about to get very, very bad.

“Ah, Shining Armor!” The Princess called. If she was attempting to fake not noticing him arrive, she had already thrown that chance out the window when she had given him a dagger-filled stare. “I apologize for disturbing you at this late hour, but there is a matter of the upmost importance that we need to discuss.”

“O-Of course, Princess!”

Shining Armor quickly trotted up to the table and seated himself, while the guards behind him pushed the door closed. Celestia smiled, poured him a cup of tea, and leaned back slightly. “I take it you already know about Prince Blueblood’s…condition.”

Shining grunted, both out of frustration with Prince Blueblood’s mere existence and because Princess Celestia had brought him peach tea instead of the normal variety. “I’m afraid so. Why? Have we figured out what his sentence is?”

“Actually, that’s what I wish to discuss.” Celestia took a sip and floated her cup back down. Her sigh was so loud it could be heard over even the rattling of the saucer and cup coming into contact. “I have Prince Blueblood attending Magic Kindergarten, the same one that you and Twilight Sparkle attended when you were foals. I had hoped that his time there would go smoothly, but it seems he has already attracted some…unwelcome attention from a gang of rambunctious foals.”

“In other words, he’s got a bully.” Shining Armor’s hooves clacked against the floor as his mind racked over whether he hated bullies or Blueblood more. “Twiley- I mean…”

Celestia chuckled. “Twiley is fine, although I don’t think she would appreciate me calling her that.”

The tension lifted, if only slightly, and Shining Armor allowed himself a small smile. “If you wish, Your Highness. But as I was saying, Twiley used to get picked on a lot, too. I remember coming home from school to find her crying about some mean pony and how they were teasing her. I take it Blueblood gave you the same story?”

Celestia nodded, then took another sip. “Yes, I’m afraid so. I always knew that Blueblood had difficulty making friends, but this is the first time he’s had a real enemy.”

Shining Armor smirked from behind his teacup. If he thinks they’re bad, just wait until he gets banished forever…

“Which is why I want you to help him.”

The following spit take was certainly impressive. The tea managed to find a perfect trajectory from Shining Armor’s lips right to Princess Celestia’s face, splashing the Alicorn with a healthy puddle of liquid. The guards barely managed to hold back a riotous uproar of laughter as their Captain sank back on his haunches and their ruler wiped herself down with a nearby towel. Surprisingly, she still wore a smile. “I…take it you are surprised?”

Shining Armor coughed and gagged, trying desperately to sooth that unwelcome, painful feeling in the back of his throat. “P-Princess Celestia…what could I possibly do? Do you expect me to march a battalion to a preschool just to keep your nephew from being picked on?”

“Nothing of the sort, Captain.” Celestia set the towel aside and took another sip, pausing only to refill her cup. “Rather, I want you to include him in your training regimen.”

Shining Armor set both forehooves on the table and leaned inwards. “Wait…are you telling me you want your nephew to beat up these foals?”

Celestia shook her head. “Nothing of the sort, my dear Shining Armor. I abhor violence in any form, and I most certainly don’t want my family engaging in stupid and pointless battles. But I am not a naïve mare, and I know that sometimes, as much as we hate to admit it, a pony must be ready to stand for themselves. As you well know, there is more to being a member of the Royal Guard than being physically strong. You want you to instill those values into Blueblood. Perhaps if he had a soul like yours, we wouldn’t be in this position to begin with.”

Shining Armor was struck speechless. Not since he first learned that he was being promoted to Captain of the Guard was he as mystified as he was at this moment. The order came from the Princess, and there was no way he could justify ignoring such a command. But on the other hoof, he couldn’t quite abandon his loyalty to the plan, and such a scheme would require him to actually spend time with his dreaded nemesis.

Then again, she is giving me the foal on a silver platter.

Shining Armor rose and bowed, putting on as many formal airs as he could. “Princess, it is an honor to assist you with this. I promise you that Blueblood will get exactly what he deserves.” He paused as he saw Celestia raise an inquisitive eyebrow at this. “I mean, I promise not to treat him any differently from other recruits.”

Celestia nodded, her smile spreading farther and farther across her lips. “See that you don’t. He needs to understand that being related to me through some arbitrary ancient bloodline does not mean he can simply ride on my tail through life. Just remember, though. He may have the mind of a grown stallion, but when he was a foal, he wasn’t the most athletic colt in Canterlot. If he is seriously hurt in any way, and I find out it was because of you, we shall be having ourselves another lovely chat.”

Every muscle in Shining Armor’s body froze in an instant. His lips trembled, his eyes quivered, and his breathing became slow and labored as he stayed prone against the floor. Her work done, Celestia simply walked out of the small house, her guards following right behind her. By the time the door closed, Shining was barely able to regain control of his mental faculties.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Chapter Four: Confrontation

“Why, yes. I am the most powerful pony anywhere I go. And now that I am High Overlord of the Canterlot Castle Royal Preschool, I demand that you peons…”

Blueblood’s dreams of domination came to a crashing end as a very loud hoof slammed against his door. The colt muttered a small curse before wrestling himself out from beneath his covers, pausing briefly only to look out his window. The sun was not even up yet.

He then turned his attention to the clock, his eyes widening with shock as he saw the time. Four in the morning? What kind of sick, twisted monstrosity would wake a pony at this time of day.

The pounding continued, echoing through the chamber like a sledgehammer pounding against solid stone, and Blueblood could ignore the noise no more. With a grumble and a groan, the foal threw himself off the bed and trotted down to the doorway, his hoof wrapping around the lowered handle before pulling it open. He eyed the hallway with tired eyes. “Yes, yes, what is it?”

His sleepiness washed away as he took in a good, long look at the pony standing before him. Even at this height, he could easily recognize the purple armor and blue mane of Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard and the source of his dear cousin Cadance’s ruin. From this vantage point, however, he might as well have been staring down a tree-swinging ogre, ready and willing to devour his little pony flesh and use his bones as a toothpick.

The sheer horror on Blueblood’s face did not go unnoticed by Shining Armor, either. The Unicorn showed no outwardly signs of joy at his longtime nemesis’ current state of hind legs-wetting terror, but his subconscious was in the middle of setting up the world’s most impressive fiesta. “Princess Celestia has asked me to help you with some early morning training. Starting today, you’re joining the rest of my guards in morning drills.”

“M-Morning drills?” Blueblood’s lips shook as long-repressed memories of his former life came flashing back. His brief stint of military training had given him a love for order, but also left him hateful of the morning twilight, for that was when the morning practice would begin. Every day, he would be thrown out of bed, had a suit of armor slapped on his back, and then sent out to run in the rain or climb up a muddy hill, and all while the meanest pony in Equestria yelled insults that would make wallpaper burst into flames.

And now he was being asked to do it again, while a third of the age and under the tutelage of a pony he despised. All paths seemed to end in his tears.

The colt shook in his little horseshoes, searching desperately for any way out of this. “I…I appreciate my dear Aunt Celestia’s kind offer, Captain, but…as you can see, I am far too small for any uniform. I cannot be expected to train without some kind of protection, can I?”

Shining Armor allowed a very small smile to cross his lips before returning to this cold, business-like stare. “Exactly. That’s why I brought this.”

His horn lit up like a torch, followed by a small flash of light off to his side and out of Blueblood’s field of vision. A few seconds later, a foal-sized suit of golden armor and matching helmet floated into the chamber. Blueblood tried to step away, but Shining’s magic sent the uniform plunging onto the colt’s body. The armor drapped over his back like a cloak before the magic tied it to the underside of his barrel, while the colt’s head seemed to vanish in the enormous size and darkness of the helmet.

From within his metal confines, Blueblood blushed. “Wh-What is all this? How did you find one this small?” Then he realized something that was clearly off with all this. “This isn’t real armor, it’s a children’s costume!”

“The ‘My First Guard Duty Playset’ costume, to be exact,” Shining Armor said. “They were selling these things back when I was a colt, and they still make them. Just about everypony serving as a Royal Guard these days had one when they were a kid.”

Blueblood muttered something un-noblelike under his breath, which only delighted Shining Armor even more. “Now come on! We have marching to do!”

Luna’s Night Court had long since completed its duties, and the Princess was now free to peruse the calm night air of Canterlot. Some nights, she would simply fly around the city, taking in the eerie calmness that her night provided with a sense of pride. Othertimes, she would dazzle the populace with spectacular meteor showers and auroras that would make even an artist cry with envy. And still other times, she just mulled about the castle and read some of the books she had missed out on during her banishment.

This night, however, she stopped on the balcony overlooking the grounds next to the barracks. She had always taken a vested interest in the Royal Guard, if only to ensure that Equestria was safe from all future attacks. This night, however, she noticed something peculiar.

Nestled amongst the rank and file ponies was a white colt, in a children’s costume, trying to do push-ups.

Luna grinned as she saw Shining Armor walk alongside the colt, shout something no doubt unflattering, and then trot off like nothing had happened. Shining Armor was living up to his part of the plan quite nicely. And now, to do mine…

By the time the clock rang six times, Shining Armor’s entire squad was already assembled and ready in the courtyard. Shining Armor himself beamed with pride as his eyes scanned the crowd of Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth ponies standing before him, all of them ready and willing to lay down their very lives for the safety of Equestria.

And then there was Blueblood, still wearing the children’s costume and standing in attention along with the rest of the guards. Or rather, he was trying to stand at full attention, but a combination of his exhaustion from running in circles for over half an hour, doing dozens of pushups, and nearly shattering his entire central nervous system with the most evil calisthenics devised by ponykind had left the poor colt close to death-like exhaustion. A few of the surrounding guards, no doubt previous victims of his cruelty, snickered and laughed at the sight before them until Shining Armor stomped for attention.

The crowd of guards immediately responded with a stomp of their own. The force of a hundred hooves smashing the ground simultaneously was enough to send Blueblood hovering about six inches before crashing back to earth. If Shining Armor even noticed this, he appeared to pay it no heed. “Another good workout, ponies. Keep this up, and we’ll be ready for anything.”

The guardponies whinnied and reared up in response, giving the last bit of revelry they could afford before having to be stoic for the rest of the day. Blueblood just tried his best to dodge the swinging legs and crushing hooves. Once the crowd died down, Shining Armor puffed out his chest and continued. “Now, we have a few new ponies standing with us today. On behalf of the Princesses Celestia and Luna, we welcome the mares and stallions that now stand amongst the ranks of Equestria’s bravest ponies.”

Another chorus of cheers followed. Blueblood thought about squirming away, but decided against it; given the size of the crowd around him, he was more likely to end up a pony paste than get out of here in one piece. “I just want you to remember a few things before you begin your normal duties. Being a member of Canterlot’s Royal Guard is not simply a matter of standing next to doors and looking important. Your job is to protect not only the Princesses and the ruling elite, but to provide support and security for Equestria at large. A guardspony is more than a simple bodyguard. They are a representative of Canterlot Castle, and a symbol to ponies everywhere that they are being protected. It’s a great responsibility, and it’s not one you should take lightly.”

Shining Armor clicked his hooves together and spun right face before starting to pace around the courtyard. From his vantage point, Blueblood tried to watch the Captain’s movements, but at his height it was almost impossible to see through the guards around him. “I don’t want to scare any of you, but this is dangerous work. The Royal Guard has faced everything from dragons to cockatrices to evil gods. There are a lot of things out there that wouldn’t think twice before tearing into a pony. I can understand if you’re afraid; I certainly was when I started. I had a family that cared about me, a sister who practically worshipped the ground I walked on, and a Princess I had sworn to protect. During one of my first posts protecting Celestia herself, some teenage dragons decided to attack our procession. I knew we were in trouble. There’s no way anypony walks up to a dragon, stares it right in the face, and doesn’t feel like crying like a schoolfoal.”

Blueblood winced. I just know he was talking about me. Stupid Captain and his stupid…stupid…Captain stuff.

“But I stood my ground, and performed my duty,” Shining Armor finished. He came to a full stop directly in front of the crowd. His armor seemed to glisten in the rising sun, and more than a few guards found their jaws dropping in awe. Blueblood, however, just shrugged. “As you can see, I’m still alive, as are the Princess and the others that helped me that day. The point is, I stood my ground and did everything that was expected of me. And I expect no less from any one of you.”

He shrugged and shifted his breastplate. “Well, that’s all for this morning. If you already know your post, report on the double. Anypony who doesn’t have a scheduled posting today, please wait for me outside the barracks. I will be with you shortly.”

The guards hopped to attention, flashed a salute, and then galloped away. Most of them charged into the castle itself, no doubt to take over for the night crew. A handful of others made their way in the opposite direction, towards the castle’s cold, cramped barracks. Finally, the only ponies left in the courtyard were Shining Armor and a very frustrated Blueblood. “As for you, Junior Cadet, I’ll be taking back your armor for today. Be ready to come right back here tomorrow.”

Blueblood’s tiny jaw came close to plunging right into the earth and drilling all the way to the molten core. He barely even acknowledged Blueblood’s magic loosening his armor straps and removing the pieces. “To-Tomorrow? You mean I gotta keep doing this?!”

“Every day until Celestia says otherwise.” Shining Armor grinned, the sides of his mouth matching up perfectly with the curves of his helmet. “It’s part of a guardspony’s routine. You have to stay in top shape so you can buck a boulder out of the way of Celestia’s carriage if need be.”

“B-But…”

Shining Armor tapped his chin. “Of course, I could just tell her that you’re not willing to put in the effort. And given how she controls your very future at the moment, I’m certain she’ll love how you are disregarding just how much she wants to help you.”

Blueblood opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the right thing to say. He couldn’t quite argue with Shining Armor’s point, either. He really couldn’t afford to anger his all-powerful relative any more than he already had. With a moan, he bowed his head and slowly began to walk towards the kitchen for some breakfast.

He had just reached the side entrance when he heard the shout. “Blueblood!”

The colt sighed and turned around. Shining Armor was now standing just a few steps away from the pony, his smile now gone. He half-closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. “For what it’s worth, you did a pretty good job out there. I know I couldn’t have handled all that when I was a colt. Just stay strong, and you can make it through this.”

Blueblood said nothing in response; he simply pushed the door open and walked on through. Shining Armor, however, could swear he saw a small bit of spring back in his step.

Blueblood’s march to the breakfast table was more akin to a lurch than a triumphant entrance. His brief joy at actually eating outside his room for once was no match for the pain in his joints. Now that the horror from before was finally over, the colt climbed into his seat.

A bowl of plain oatmeal had already been placed out for him, along with a simple metal spoon. Across from him was a pony, their form completely blocked by a floating and unfolded copy of the Manehatten Times. Blueblood hemmed and hawed at the bowl, as if debating whether or not a pony of his pedigree should eat something so simple, but hunger soon won that battle and he began scarfing the oats down.

He was about halfway through the meal when his curiosity about the other pony became too great. Blueblood slowly looked up from his bowl, his lips dripping with liquefied oats. “Excuse me, but do you have the comics?”

“Of course, nephew.”

Blueblood’s blood chilled as he recognized the source of that voice. Even the little driblets around his mouth seemed to freeze into little oat-cicles. The demonic speaker, sensing her prey was ripe and ready for harvesting, slowly folded the newspaper to her side before folding it up neatly and setting it on the table.

Sitting before Blueblood, in all her royal glory, was Princess Luna.

“A-A-Aunt Luna!” Blueblood said, his voice quavering between heart-stopping terror and bladder-emptying fear. “I…I thought you would be asleep by now!”

“When I decide to rest is not your concern, Blueblood,” Luna said. Her voice was devoid of any emotion, save perhaps a twinge of disgust for the creature before her.

“Th-Then what are you doing here?”

“I wished to be the one to tell you the news.” Luna’s frown transformed into a tiny sneer. “Princess Celestia has cordially offered me a chance to assist in your search for redemption, and I have accepted. You may consider me to be your mother figure during your sentence.”

M-Mother figure? “What kind of…I mean…?”

“And like any good parent, I made sure you had a nutritious breakfast.” Luna floated the newspaper back in front of herself. “So eat up, grow up nice and strong, and perhaps you won’t make the same mistake twice.”

Blueblood’s tongue flummoxed itself trying to figure out just what he was supposed to say to something like this. Finally, he just gave up and turned back to his oatmeal, slurping it down as quickly as possible in order to get away from this scene. The longer he stayed, the more likely Luna would turn him into a toad or something…

Then he started to feel rather funny. In fact, his entire mouth felt like it was…on…

“FIRE!”

Blueblood jumped up and ran from the table, his entire face beet red and drenched in sweat. He kept gasping and wheezing for air, water, ANYTHING that could cool the internal temperature of his mouth. He finally disappeared through the kitchen doors, knocking over pans and pots and various chefs in his wake.

From her vantage point, Luna looked at the bowl of oatmeal and smiled. It’s a good thing Celestia left behind that special hot sauce. Just a little manipulation was all it took to make the thing time-sensitive. I just wish I could see the look on his face when he sees his lunch…

“Are you sure you’re all right?” asked Sky Bloom.

“I-I’m fine,” Blueblood wheezed. The poor colt could barely stand by this point, given the sheer amount of things that had just happened to him in the last short while, and for once he was actually glad to be going to school. “I just…I need to…”

Before he could say anything else, his body tripped to the left slightly. His saddlebags, still unfastened, fell off and popped open, sending his lunch sprawling on the floor. The colt could only groan at another fine disaster this morning had brought. Sky Bloom grimaced slightly at the meal on the floor, but otherwise said nothing. “Come on, I’ll get you another lunch. I don’t think the five-second rule applies in this castle.”

Luna stared up at the three-tiered cake standing before her, its marvelous shapely curves and captivating pink frosting making her mouth water, if only just a little. Standing next to her was the castle’s resident pastry chef, her coat and apron stained with all manners of dough, frosting, and the occasional rainbow sprinkle. Her eyes shifted back and forth between the cake and the almighty Princess watching over it. “I-Is this satisfactory?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, of course. I am certain my sister will just love it.”

“Will love what?”

Both ponies yelped and spun around, and in the process came face-to-face with Princess Celestia herself. The Sun Princess’ eyes, however, soon began to naturally drift towards the sugary succubus standing right behind the two. “A-And what is this cake for?”

“Oh…no reason,” Luna stammered.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this. “That is an awfully large cake to bake for no reason. I trust our chefs are not wasting their cut of the royal budget on treats that may not ever get eaten.” Once they turn their backs, you are mine…

Luna rolled her eyes as Celestia licked her lips. “Forgive me, sister, but was there a reason you came?”

Celestia finally snapped back to Equestria at Luna’s prodding. Even then, it took about a dozen or so shakes of the head to break the cake’s hold on her. “I really did have something we needed to discuss, but I would prefer to do it in private.” She turned to the still-cowering pastry chef. “And I don’t know why you baked this cake, but I’m certain it was with good reason. Just keep it in storage until I get back, and make sure there’s a sample waiting for me.” Her eyes and ears drooped. “I have to deal with the ERS again. Every last bit of sugar helps.”

“Wow, what happened to you?” asked Ribbon.

Blueblood didn’t dare move his head from his desk, just in case the slightest movement was enough to snap his spine. Given the day he was having so far, something like that would be no surprise to him. “Oh…nothing. I just live with a bunch of crazy ponies.”

All around them, fillies and colts were slowly pouring into the classroom, their love for academia not yet beaten out of them by the grueling passing of the years. Orange Peel flashed a quick glare in Blueblood’s direction as he passed, but the deposed royal was far too exhausted to even worry about yet another shellacking at his newfound enemy’s hooves. Miss Brightly herself was standing outside, ushering in her youthful pupils for yet another day of edutainment.

Once she was sure they weren’t being watched, Ribbon leaned over into her saddlebags and pulled out a small card with her mouth. She then carefully laid it upon Blueblood’s table, making sure not to accidentally come into contact with any colt diseases he might be carrying. One couldn’t be too careful in this day and age, after all. “Lofty wanted me to give this to you. It’s for this Saturday.”

Blueblood slowly lifted his head, his eyes locking on the card. It was certainly a professional-looking thing, with little pictures of balloons and clowns and everything foal-friendly one could possibly think of stamped around every corner. Even one such as he could tell what this was. “Let me guess. Lofty’s having a birthday party?”

Ribbon nodded. “She said it was for somepony you know, named ‘Princess Sunlight.’ I never heard of her, but there are a lot of princesses.” She shrugged. “She didn’t say you could come, though.”

Blueblood sighed. “Perhaps it’s just as well.” I’ll be too busy getting tortured by the Royal Guard, anyway…

The bell rang, and Miss Brightly finally entered the classroom. “Good morning, class! I know you’re all excited to learn about bees, but we’ve had a last-minute addition to our plans for today! After your last break, we will all be making Royal Guard uniforms out of construction paper!”

Everypony cheered in glee, save for Blueblood. All he could do was slam his head right back on that desk and wish for the Pony of Death to take him away.

With the grace of a thousand princesses, Celestia’s hooves gently touched down on the hard marble balcony. The guards quickly fired a salute before returning to their stoic ways; it took a direct order from Celestia before they were willing to leave their post and have lunch a bit early. Her lonesomeness confirmed, the Princess turned her attention to the distant countryside, waiting patiently for her sister to arrive.

She smiled as the warm wind caressed her mane. With a small yawn, the Princess inevitably drifted off into that warm pit of memories that lay in her mind…

“Princess Celestia, we must protest. You’re filling our son’s head up with some really silly ideas!”

Princess Celestia’s chambers had seen their fair share of angry nobles, diplomats, advisors, and other assorted ponies over the millennia. This time, however, was different. Standing before her were Velvet Cushion and Scarlet Letter, Blueblood’s mother and father respectively. She had seen their kind before, and they were never fun to deal with. “Cushion, I did not mean to…”

Scartlet bowed slightly, even if Celestia could plainly tell the mocking meaning of the gesture. “Princess Celestia, I understand your position. We respect what you are trying to do for our son, and we love how close he is to you, but he is still our foal.”

“All I did was tell him that all ponies should be treated equally, regardless of regal rank,” Celestia said. She sat herself on the edge of her bed, as standing while facing these two made slapping her forehead in frustration a tad dangerous. “I fail to see how teaching a foal equality is a bad thing.”

Velvet Cushion sighed and leaned against the wall. “Princess Celestia, my husband and I are well versed in the history of Canterlot. We know ancient traditions you have apparently forgotten, and we wish for our son to appreciate them like we do. If he is taught that anypony from any rank deserves the same rights as one of our upper bringing…it might cause him to consort with ponies of low repute.”

“We cannot allow our son to become a delinquent!” Scarlet snapped. He quickly remembered who he was talking to, however, and soon backed off. “I…I apologize. It’s just…”

“Um…excuse me, Aunt Celestia?”

Everypony turned around to see Prince Blueblood and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, both of whom had puzzled looks on their faces. While it would be a miracle with Cadenza understood anything that was going on (given her still-developing grasp of the Equestrian Language), it was plain to see that Blueblood had heard everything. “What’s going on? Have I done something wrong?”

Nopony dared to answer that question…

“Sister?”

Celestia snapped back with a start, taking in big gulps of air in her confusion. With a definite shrug, she slowly pulled herself back onto her hooves and turned around. Sure enough, Luna was now standing with her, her translucent mane waving and shimmering through the wind. Even in the sunlight, it failed to lose much of its wondrous properties. Celestia could feel another flashback coming on, but quickly pushed away any memories of a filly Luna ritualistically following every single motion she made. “Thank you so much for coming. I’m sorry to say this, but we must discuss something. This morning, Sky Bloom was helping Blueblood get ready when his saddlebags fell off. His lunch bag opened, and she saw the sandwich you made.”

Luna shrugged. “What of it? I made a very nutritious lunch, totally free of the pudding cups and cookies you would so gladly give him. Our ‘son’ must eat properly if he is to grow up with a strong body and mind.” Second time’s the charm.

Celestia sighed. “Luna, you made it with banana bread. Blueblood hates bananas. In fact, I’m not even sure if that bread was still good. It’s been sitting out there for the last four or five days.”

Again, Luna shrugged the question off. “I was attempting to meet the qualifications for a good parent, and a significant part of that is ensuring that your foal matures into a fine young mare or stallion. Even if he does not care for a fruit, he should still at least make the effort to try and eat one.”

“Like how you tried to make me eat tomatoes and cucumbers?” Celestia growled. Even now, with her taste buds fully restored, she could still feel the bitter, acidic aftertaste of the fruit wash over the back of her throat. Luna shrank back slightly, her ears flattening and wings pulling in even tighter. “And let’s not forget that little incident this morning with the hot sauce and oatmeal?”

Luna put a fetlock to her mouth and giggled slightly, setting off Celestia’s nerves even more. “That was little more than a small joke, sister.” Much like him. “I was merely attempting to make sure he was wide awake and ready for school. We cannot allow our little colt to go to class half-asleep, now can we?”

A few small plumes of smoke began to pop up along the frills of Celestia’s mane, along with a return of the twitches in her eyes and ears. All color drained from Luna’s face as the rage in Celestia’s demeanor grew. And then, just as quickly as it had begun to flare, the Princess’ temper cooled. Before long, she looked less angry than disappointed. “Luna, I have tried everything to prove the value of this to you, but you keep pushing me away. I know Blueblood has done some awful things, but this is an opportunity to set things right. Not just for him, but for all the other ponies I’ve let down.”

The calming of Celestia had a similar affect on Luna. Her confidence reestablished itself as she took a cautious step towards her sister. “Celestia, you have nothing to apologize about. What happened to Blueblood is his responsibility, not yours. And I have agreed to aid you in this charade of a family you are trying to form. But I cannot forgive him for what he has done.”

“Yes, his crimes are many, and he will still face punishment when this is finished. But I want to give him the chance to get back on the right track.” Celestia brushed a hoof through her sister’s mane, causing Luna to shiver slightly. “I forgave you, didn’t I? Shouldn’t Blueblood deserve the same chance?”

Luna’s response was to smack her sister’s leg away. Celestia recoiled in shock, rubbing her stinging fetlock with her other forehoof. “You fail to understand anything, sister! This is not about Nightmare Moon and my own crimes! What Blueblood tried to do is unforgiveable! Nopony should ever harm their family in such a way!”

“Wh-What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

“Blueblood tried to strike you, to foalnap you, and then do Mom-knows-what-else to you!” Luna’s eyes quivered with growing rage. “If he had his way, you would have just been a bargaining chip so he could force me to burn down Ponyville and slaughter everypony within! And you are forgiving him?”

Celestia shook her head and closed her eyes. “I am giving him the opportunity to earn forgiveness. As you have already shown, redemption is not just a matter of apologizing, but instead requires a pony to prove themselves day after day to deserve the chance. Thanks to you, nearly every noble in Equestria is cleaning up their ridiculous acts and are becoming productive members of society again. If Blueblood can…”

“I watched you bleed.”

Everything within Celestia stopped instantaneously. Only the very minimum level of breathing continued, if only to ensure that the Princess would still be alive by the end of all this. Wait…this is about…that?

Luna noticed her sister’s newly-acquired catatonia, and could feel pangs of it coming on herself. “I saw Discord almost kill you, remember? He tore out your wings, burned your flesh, skinned you, broke your legs, gouged out your eye. It was…I…I could never forget that. It’s been thousands of years since then, and I still cannot forget that moment.” She coughed back a few dry sobs.

Coherent thought finally managed to break through the walls of Celestia’s surprise and horror at having that…event mentioned. With great caution, she approached her younger sister and wrapped one wing around her. “Luna…”

Normally, wrapping her wing around a pony and saying their name had a tranquilizing effect. It certainly helped calm Twilight down when she was having one of her panic attacks. But this time, Luna failed to relax. “And what did I do after that? I allowed myself to be taken over by some primordial force and nearly killed you myself.”

“But I understand why it happened,” Celestia said. “You were jealous, and you made a terrible mistake. Sister, we aren’t like normal ponies, but we aren’t infallible either. We make mistakes, and we must learn from them like anypony else.”

The inevitable finally came, as Luna angrily pushed her sister’s wing off her back and stepped away. Celestia tried to move towards her, but froze as she saw the mad glint in her sister’s eyes. “Yes, I learned from my mistakes. I learned that you are the single most important pony in the world to me, and it was my fault you were mutilated by Discord, my fault that you had to suffer alone for a thousand years, and my fault we are in this mess to begin with! And I will be damned before I let another pony harm you in any way!”

Luna’s outburst sent Celestia reeling in shock. “I…I didn’t know…”

“I could forgive Blueblood’s other crimes, but I can NEVER allow a pony that would try to harm you in such a way to roam free!” Luna’s breathing became more erratic, her face more flushed, and her wings more rigid as her anger took hold. If Celestia didn’t know any better, her sister looked more like Nightmare Moon than herself. “I…I would rather see him hang than…”

“ENOUGH!”

The entire castle shook with the sound of Celestia’s own Royal Canterlot Voice. Windows shattered, tiles crumbled, walls cracked, and ponies panicked at the deafening tone. Ponies from as far as Hoofington could swear they heard their ruler’s shouts pierce the very heavens. As for Luna herself, she could feel every single piece of fur on her body stand on end like a cornered cat, and even her mane seemed to lose a few stars here and there. She stared at her sister while wearing the most dumbstruck expression possible.

It took Celestia a moment to calm herself down. “I-I apologize. I have not...reacted in such a way in a long time. But Luna, listen to yourself. Is this the way a princess is supposed to behave?”

Luna kicked at the ground sadly, hanging her head like a school filly being scolded by her mother. “No…No, it’s not.”

Celestia sighed and shook her head sadly. “Luna…I know Blueblood can be difficult. But he was not always this way, and I know he can be good again. Just please, trust me on this.”

Luna said nothing at first. She couldn’t quite find the right words to sum up the raging torrent of emotions working their way through her mind this very moment. Finally, she sighed and hung her head. “I…I will try.”

Celestia let out a gasp of relief and smiled, patting her sister on the head before starting down the stairs. “That’s all I wanted to hear. Now you must excuse me, but I have to calm the ERS down again. Seems giving those extensions to Twilight’s friends proves I’m unfit to rule and must be brought down for the financial future of Equestria.” She froze in mid-step and spun towards her sister, who shied away from her glare. “Tell me again who formed that lovely little branch of Equestria’s government.”

Luna gave a short, yet lively giggle. “Like you said, Celestia, we all make mistakes.”

Celestia smiled and laughed all the way down the stairway, her voice gradually disappearing in the darkness. Luna watched and waited until she was well out of earshot, then took her place on the balcony. She could feel fatigue welling up inside her, but that didn’t matter right now.

You are correct, Celestia. I should not wish death upon Blueblood.

Her lips curled into a cruel smile.

But that does not mean I am going to let him go easily. Like you said, a pony has to earn forgiveness. And I am going to make him WORK for it…

Blueblood’s hooves clumsily worked their way around the scissors, leading him to once again curse his lack of magic. Every cut felt like he was trying to cut through solid steel, and every time he tried to turn the contraption around a curve, he couldn’t help but snag it on the desk or a tough knot in the paper. Whenever he glanced up to check on the rest of the class, he could see they were already miles ahead of where he was; a few even had their whole paper uniforms cut out and put on already. Granted, most were sloppily put together, with plenty of jagged angles, improper sizes, and other assorted gaffes marring their design, but they at least had them done.

Blueblood sighed as he looked down at his half-finished helmet. I suppose Arts and Crafts isn’t my strong suit, either. I have to find some way to make an impression on these…

“Alright, class! Eyes up!” Miss Brightly infectious voice echoed through the classroom, immediately calling everypony’s attention back to the very front. Even Blueblood had to head the instructor’s cry, even as he was continuing to curse the pony that invented scissors. “Now, our day today is almost over. Can anypony tell us what day of the week it is?”

Orange Peel’s hoof shot straight up, prompting a quick acknowledgment from Miss Brightly. “It’s Thursday, right?!”

Miss Brightly smiled and nodded. “Why yes, it is, Orange Peel. And do you know what tomorrow is?”

Another hoof, this time from Cherry, shot up. “Friday!”

“And we all know what Friday is, right?”

The entire class (save Blueblood) broke out in a single loud shout. “SHOW AND TELL DAY!”

“That’s exactly right!” said Miss Brightly. “Remember, you can bring anything from home or school to show the class, as long as it isn’t dangerous or illegal. And please, do be respectful to your fellow students. We don’t want a repeat of what happened to Magnolia, now do we?”

All the ponies quickly shook their heads negatively, with Blueblood doing it just to keep up with the crowd. Besides, he couldn’t help but feel that whatever had happened to Magnolia just might happen to him, and he certainly didn’t need any more horrible things to occur. His fate was terrible enough as it was.

Finally, the bell mercifully rang, and the class was dismissed. Blueblood was the last to leave, if only to make sure the card was safely in his saddlebags. I don’t get what Princess Celestia sees in that commoner, but I might as well stay on her good side. And besides, I could use a good party, even if it is only serving common carnival fare.

Blueblood reached the front pathway almost at the same time as Lofty. The Pegasus’ eyes locked onto the colt with ever-increasing suspicion as he approached. “So what do you want this time? Did Ribbon give you the Princess’ invitation?”

“Yes, she did,” Blueblood said, a few gasps spacing his words. His muscles were still sore from his workout that morning, and he could already feel dread over tomorrow’s inevitable punishments as he continued walking alongside the filly. “Do you really think Princess Celestia will be able to show? She is the ruler of Equestria, after all.”

Lofty shrugged, a small frown on her face. “I hope so. Those couple of days were some of the funnest in my long, long life, even if it did end with you trying to slap me.” She growled at Blueblood, causing the colt’s ears and face to fall on reflex. “And I…guess you’re invited, too.”

Blueblood cocked an eyebrow. “You ‘guess?’”

“Well, it wasn’t my idea,” Lofty continued. “In fact, I didn’t want you there at all. But mom insisted that you come. She said you were probably a lonely little pony that needed friends.” She scoffed and turned away from Blueblood’s direction. “We all know the truth. And if you go there, I don’t want you to embarrass me, or my friends, or anypony else. ESPECIALLY if Princess Celestia comes.”

“Actually…it sounds like fun,” Blueblood chuckled. Lofty snapped her head back to him, half-expecting him to be joking. “Given everything else that’s been happening, I could use a little relaxation.”

Finally, the two reached the front gates. Sky Bloom was already standing at attention, while Lofty’s cart ride awaited her. The two said quick, non-friendly farewells, returned to their respective tickets home, and left the school grounds far behind.

Celestia cocked an eye as Blueblood finished his executive summary of his day. “So…Show-And-Tell?”

Blueblood nodded. “Exactly. I have to find something outstanding to showcase to these foals tomorrow.”

“And by ‘these foals,’ I assume you mean your classmates?”

Blueblood felt a cold shudder run down the length of his spine as the venom in Celestia’s words hit home. Even he could tell he hadn’t quite phrased his words properly. “I mean…I just want them to see something outstanding.”

Celestia sighed and scratched her chin with one hoof. “Well…we can’t show anything that would be linked to the palace. I…do suppose we have some things in the castle basement, if you’re interested in digging through there.”

Blueblood vigorously nodded his head. “Yes, I’d love that.” His eyes then turned to his saddlebags. “By the way, Lofty wanted me to give you something.”

Celestia’s eyes widened with curiosity as Blueblood pulled out the small invitation. She gracefully levitated the card closer to her eyes, taking in the wonderful simplicity of its design like she was eyeing the most wonderful painting in existence. As she read the inside, she could feel something in her heart giving out, threatening to return her to the same longing she felt when she had first changed back.

“So…this is this Saturday?” she asked Blueblood.

“Y-Yes,” the colt answered. He scratched the back of his head with growing nervousness. “She also said I was invited as well, and…I do want to go, so…”

“I’m not so certain about that,” Celestia sighed. “You are still technically under arrest, and I do have so much to do these next few days. I…I don’t know if we can…” Her ears suddenly perked up. “Actually, I think you’d better go find what you were looking for. I’ll talk with Luna tonight and see if we can get something figured out.”

Blueblood was more than a little stunned at this sudden turn, but gradually accepted her orders and trotted off. Once he was gone, Celestia turned her attention to the one great challenge laying before her:

How would she convince Luna to curse her again?

The Canterlot Castle Storage Basement was not just a single room, but rather an elaborate tunnel network running deep inside Canterlot Mountain. Heavy stone and strong pillars held up the earthen walls, while the various passageways were lit only by torches and the occasional lanterns. The section Blueblood needed, however, was fortunately close to the entance; otherwise, a colt like him could easily end up lost forever within the maze of passageways.

The small chamber was filled with metal and cardboard boxes, all safely protected from natural erosion by the magic Celestia wove through the very walls. Each was clearly labeled after a member of the royal family, many of them dead for centuries. To have personal objects entombed here, a pony needed to have had a close connection to Celestia, or had once been her favorite family member. Her students, on the other hoof, tended to have their own works and accomplishments stored in the study.

Obviously, Celestia has her priorities, Blueblood fumed.

His pouting session over, he trotted down to the far end of the chamber, were a simple cardboard box lay undisturbed on the floor. On it were the words, “Prince Blueblood,” written in simple black marker that had almost completely faded. With a mighty heave, Blueblood finally managed to pull the thing out far enough to pop it open. Fortunately, the tape had aged enough that it was easily removed, and soon enough the top was off and he was facing what lay inside.

Buried amongst his baby blanket, an old picture of himself with his parents, and a few other miscellaneous objects was a snow globe. Inside was a miniature representation of Canterlot Castle as it stood almost twenty years ago, along with little floating cutouts of Celestia. On its base was engraved, “Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

Needless to say, it was a simple thing. And yet, as he touched it, Blueblood couldn’t help but remember the circumstances that surrounded how he got it.

It was the same year he had earned his Cutie Mark. The same year he had realized his destiny was to be a Prince.

It was also the last year he and Princess Celestia were truly close.

Pushing aside the bad memories, Blueblood resealed and returned the box, then tossed the snow globe into one of his saddlebags and started back towards his room. If this doesn’t amaze them tomorrow, nothing will.

Chapter Five: Show, Don't Tell

Luna knocked on Celestia’s door at about three o’clock, exactly as her sister had asked. The Nightly Court had already been dismissed, having actually accomplished a great deal for once, and the Night Mare had decided to bring along more than a few scrolls worth of new laws, treaties, and declarations for her sister to look over before signing. In fact, showing her sister this latest batch of paperwork was the only piece of state business she had yet to complete this night. Once this was done, she would be free to pull up a chair on the balcony, pour herself a glass of wine, and watch Blueblood suffer with the guards below.

And that will be nothing compared to what comes next.

After a few more moments, the door finally opened, revealing a slightly sleepy but otherwise normal Princess Celestia. “Good morning, Luna. How was court?” Her eyes widened as she saw a stack of papers almost as tall as Luna herself floating behind the Night Mare. “My goodness, you’ve had a busy night. Do you even still need me anymore?”

“Very funny,” Luna scoffed. “First off, as long as the sun is down and the moon is up, it is still nighttime in Equestria, so please do not refer to this hour as ‘morning.’ And second, you invited me yourself, remember?”

Celestia nodded along and motioned Luna inside. The Moon Princess floated the stack of papers over to Celestia’s nightstand and gently set them down on the wooden surface, lest she drop them too hard like last time and send her hard work smashing down straight through to the Old Canterlot catacombs.

A smile crept across the Sun Princess’ face as she floated over the top of the forms, detailing plans to renovate the Baltimare sewer system. It was an important consideration, especially considering what happened to Celestia the last time the she was down there. It was the most lucrative year in the perfume industry’s history. “I thank you for coming. Now, I know you’ve been very busy lately, and we have a lot of work to do, but I was planning to take a few hours away from the palace this Saturday.”

Luna shrugged. “That does not sound too unreasonable. Pray tell, what is the occasion?”

Celestia pointed to the top of the desk, right next to where Luna had dropped off the latest round of paperwork. There, sitting underneath a copy of Flower Arranging for the Giftedly Ungifted, was a small invitation. The Night Mare’s eyes widened as she realized exactly who this invitation was from. “I see. Sister, I have no objection to you wishing to spend time with a friend, but would this not draw undue attention to your friendship with Miss Dream’s daughter?”

“Actually, that’s why I called you here.” Celestia took a step back, straightened her back, and looked Luna dead in the eyes. “I want you to use the Youth Restoration Spell on me again.”

Luna’s entire body flushed a pale white. The tiny electrical charges in her brain completely stopped, causing her to drool slightly. Her heart began to skip beats like a filly jumping rope, while her throat suddenly became very dry. Fortunately, such things were temporary as far as Luna was concerned, and after years of putting up with her sister’s antics, she was well versed in how to nurse herself out of a coma. “Y-You want me to do WHAT?!”

Celestia smiled sheepishly, or at least as sheepishly as a pony of her (relatively) gargantuan proportions could. “It’ll be for one afternoon, that’s all. I just go to the party as Sunlight, Lofty and I have some fun, and then I come back like nothing happened.”

“Celestia, have you lost your pony mind?!” Luna snapped. “What about your royal duties?”

“I will simply have to attend to my responsibilities earlier than usual,” said Celestia. She smiled and wrapped a foreleg around Luna’s neck. “It’ll be for just one day, little sister. Equestria survived my absence for several days last time. What harm would a few hours do?”

Luna’s eyes narrowed as, once again, Celestia’s attempts at reassuring her sister failed miserably. “The amount of time does not matter. What does matter is that you are trying to avoid responsibility yet again so you can act like a child. Meanwhile, I will be stuck here and cleaning up after your messes once again.”

Before Celestia could say anything else, Luna twisted her neck free of the obstructive leg and started trotting towards the door. Celestia’s eyes opened wide as she raised a desperate leg towards her departing sister. “Luna, please! I wasn’t going to…”

The door slammed shut on her last words, leaving Celestia alone in her bedroom. Sighing in defeat, she trotted over to the nearby window and flung it open. A cool autumn breeze struck her almost immediately, sending her mane flying back in a cascade of colors. The Princess took a deep breath and turned her attention to the gardens below…

It was a fine winter afternoon in Canterlot, and Canterlot Castle was already buried under a nice layer of ice and snow. Princess Celestia herself was sequestered in her own bedroom, looking over new expansion plans for Equestria’s corn production. The land’s population had boomed yet again, and the only way she was going to find a way to produce more food was to find some way to either expand the workable farmland or start a war with their neighbors for more land. And as easy as it would be for her to march her army into some kingdom and vaporize her way to victory, she really did not wish to take any lives if she could avoid it. And besides, everything else on the planet was already leery about having a physical goddess on the throne; there was no need for her to add more fuel to the already raging fire.

From her open window, however, she could hear the rustling of tiny hooves in the gardens below. A smile crept across her face as she took in the wonderful sound of foals at play. Pushing away her assignments for the moment, Celestia rose from her pillow and trotted over to get a closer look.

Sure enough, a number of foals, all of them children of the various noble houses, were busying themselves making snow ponies and throwing snowballs at each other and, if they were feeling especially brave, the passing guards. Even with each filly and colt wearing no less than twelve layers of coats, sweaters, jackets, and snow boots, she could still make out who most of them were.

So naturally, she easily picked out who they were picking on.

Buried beneath a light pink-and-blue jacket was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (or “Cadance” as she was quickly beginning to prefer), staring at a small group of youths that had broken off from the rest of the players. Most of the aggressive ponies were, much like their parents, simple thugs masquerading as the upper crust of Equestrian society, but she could clearly make out who the leader was: Lemon Lime of the House of Frazzleberry.

Oh, not these foals again. Celestia right forehoof rubbed vigorously against her temples in a vain attempt to drive away the migraine demons nesting in her cranium. So far, she was proving unsuccessful. Her horn lit up like a torch briefly before the magic she commanded teleported her to the ground floor, leaving only a brilliant aura of golden light behind. Cloaking her presence was a simple matter as well, with barely the tiny glow of her horn to announce she was even there. The snow lifted and shaped itself around her, until she had an entire army of snowponies standing at her back. Soon, the streets of Canterlot would run white with snow…

Then she saw Blueblood gallop out of the shadows, no doubt coming from where his parents had been scolding him for skipping on his history lessons or some nonsense like that. It was rare that she got to spend any time with her nephew at all anymore, ever since her lovely chat with the oafs that sired him, but he was still allowed to play with the children of the other nobles.

In any case, Blueblood came to a stop right between Cadance and the others. Frazzleberry and her nephew began shouting something, but Celestia wasn’t quite able to pick up on everything. Her magic was still tied up holding her indestructible snow army together, and she didn’t have enough energy to spare to cast an eavesdropping spell.

Not that she ever did that, mind you. Such intrusive magic was only to be used when it was a matter of national security. It wasn’t her fault that there were a lot of matters of national security.

After a few moments of talking, Frazzleberry muttered something that would most likely land a bar of soap in his mouth and sulked off, followed by his cronies. Once they were gone, he turned to Cadance, the two said a few words, and then both walked back inside through the kitchen door.

Once the danger had passed, the Princess dropped her spells, revealing herself to the world once again as her snow army collapsed into piles of mush. She smiled as it seemed that, perhaps, things might finally work out with a member of her extended family.

After all, Blueblood was acting like quite the Prince…

With a shake of the head, Celestia fought off yet another nostalgia assault. I really need to stop doing this. Focusing on the past won’t fix anything. I just need to…

Her ears flicked as a smile grew across her face. Wait…I think the past will help me right here…

Shining Armor’s whistle blew out another shrill cry, signaling the end of yet another morning of exercise and healthy living for Canterlot’s benefit. And yet again, the exhausted Prince Blueblood was in attendance. The Captain’s forewarning that this would be a part of his daily routine was enough to hustle the colt to bed early, but all that accomplished was ensuring he was two steps away from death instead of one.

Fortunately, this morning brought no new inductions into the Royal Guard, so Shining Armor simply recited the same orders as the day before and the band was dispatched to their usual posts. The Captain stayed behind only long enough to undo the straps on Blueblood’s costume before turning to leave, only to stop when he heard Blueblood’s voice shout out from behind. “Hey, you forgot this thing!”

Grumbling, Shining Armor spun around and faced the colt. Lying at Blueblood’s hooves was the guard costume, its gold fabric surface frayed and worn from doing two days of more extensive work than it had been built for. “Aren’t you supposed to take this with you? That’s what you did yesterday, after all!”

Shining Armor slowly trotted up to the foal, a look of determination in his eyes. Blueblood shrank back as the gaze locked onto him like a disappointed father staring at his failure of a son. “Actually, today we’re trying something different. Each guardspony is expected to clean and maintain their armor and equipment, and since I am supposed to give you the whole Royal Guard experience, you need to start pulling your own weight.”

Blueblood cocked his head. “Maintain my… Shining Armor, this is just a stupid dress-up toy! I could buy another one just down the street!”

“And how do you plan to do that? Princess Celestia seized all your assets, remember?” He smiled and patted the colt on the head, drawing a very frustrated glare from Blueblood. “Now remember, the costume doesn’t hold well to magic washing, so you’ll have to clean it by hoof. Don’t use any bleach, either. I want your armor shining and glistening by the time I see you tomorrow.”

Blueblood’s lower lip quivered slightly as he stared at the bottom of his legs. His once pristine hooves were now covered with mud, dirt, and soot. “B-But…cleaning is…”

Shining Armor suddenly spun to his right, raised a hoof to the top of his eyes, and scanned the towers of Canterlot Castle. “Oh my, I think I can see Princess Luna up there. Perhaps I should tell her one of our recruits is refusing to perform his official duties. I just know a pony like her would love that. Wouldn’t you agree, Blueblood?”

The sound of a door slamming was enough to tell him which direction Blueblood had ran towards. His costume was missing as well, and the Captain had little doubt that when it came back, it would look absolutely wretched. One small laugh at his victim’s expense later, Shining Armor turned to leave.

He stopped as two Pegasi members of the Royal Guard approached him. Both ponies flashed their commanding officer a salute, which he quickly returned. “Sergeant Razorwing, Sergeant Flyover, anything I can help you with?”

The one of the left, Razorwing, loudly cleared his throat and rubbed his front fetlocks together. “Actually, sir, we…have a concern about Prince Blueblood.”

“If it’s about having him out here, I know.” Shining Armor let out a small sigh. “The stuff we do really isn’t meant for little ponies. But these orders come from Princess Celestia herself, and as much as I may dislike some of the orders she gives, I am still a member of her Royal Guard, and I am bound by whatever decisions she makes.” He looked about suspiciously, then whispered, “And she’s really scary when she gets mad.”

Flyover tugged at the neckline of his armor as worry spread across his brow. “Actually, a few of us were talking it over in the barracks last night, and…don’t you think you’re being a little rough on the kid?”

Shining’s eyes narrowed, causing his soldiers to sink even deeper into a panic. “May I remind you, sirs, that this ‘kid’ was but two weeks ago the most obnoxious, most vile, most downright sick Unicorn in all of Equestria? Didn’t he call your wife a ‘common turnip farmer,’ Razorwing? And how about you, Flyover? Do I have to remind you of what happened he caught you and Firelight together?”

The two guards looked at each other, nodded, then turned back to the Captain. “Yes, we know, and we were all glad when the Princess took up punishing him. But do you really expect a colt to do every single thing we do and not get hurt?”

“His body is still developing,” added Flyover. “For all we know, we might end up killing him ourselves.”

Shining Armor said nothing at first. He simply pushed his helmet back down and stared at an ant scurrying past his hooves. He could already imagine Blueblood trying to clean that stupid costume; knowing him, he would just fall into the wash bucket, tear the costume in half, and then beg forgiveness. He even already had another packed away, just in case.

They do make a good point, though. Maybe I should…

“Had we not been able to, however, she would have been trapped as a filly until she had aged back the natural way. Even worse, he could have seriously hurt her. She’s powerful, but if that horn hadn’t just hit the suit…”

The Captain’s nerves, as well as his resolve, tightened in an instant. He slowly turned his eyes back to his waiting guards. “Your concern is noted, but Princess Celestia’s orders are absolute. I am going to keep working that colt until he becomes a proper soldier. And I will NOT tolerate any of my guards trying to undermine her authority. Now, gentlecolts, I expect you to be back at your posts and protecting the castle by the time I get back from breakfast.”

He turned to leave, marched five steps, and then spun right back around. “We’re still on for poker night, right?” The stunned scowl on his loyal subordinates’ faces was enough to answer his question.

Blueblood’s muscles may have been sore beyond belief, but his mind stayed as sharp as ever. His bathing finished, he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, his hind legs perched on a silver stool, and scrubbed his face with a towel. By the time he had finished drying his body and combed his coat, he was already beginning to formulate the first steps in another awesome plan.

That snow globe is a gift from Princess Celestia herself, a proof of my superiority over all these little ponies. All I have to do is rework the story a little, perhaps have my fake parents receive it for fighting off a dragon or some nonsense like that, and I can win the esteem of my peers by proxy! Then with them at my back, I can prove myself a changed colt to Aunt Celestia, and she’ll turn me back to normal! Prince Blueblood will be back for good.

A wicked grin spread across his lips, showing a few of his teeth in the process. Yes, this is all too perfect. Prince Blueblood, you are such a genius. Even your parents knew that…

Blueblood stifled back a yawn as the passing sun shined itself upon his face, threatening to blind him if he didn’t move his caboose away from the window. The colt’s limbs slowly slid along the surface of his mattress, entangling themselves with the many, many layers of sheets, blankets, and other assorted coverings his mother had forced the servants to throw on last night. Even with it being colder than the highest peak in Equestria outside, he would rather freeze to death than continue baking like a potato.

After a great amount of difficulty, some grunting and groaning, and muttering a few choice words he had picked up from some of the guards at Canterlot Castle, he finally managed to pull himself out of his snuggly-wuggly restraints, tumble onto the wooden floor, roll around on his back six times, and only then pull himself back onto his hooves.

Letting out another yawn, Blueblood stumbled his way into the washroom, climbed on his wooden still, and reached out to start brushing his teeth. Just as his body began to twist, however, he noticed something that hadn’t been there a day before.

Sitting on his flank was a pair of four-pointed stars, each laid out on top of the other until they resembled a compass. His hooves instinctively scratched at the intrusive thing, but when they felt only discolored fur, his mouth flipped into a smile.

“I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!”

All sleepiness vanished from Blueblood’s mind as he galloped through the household, stomping past and over everypony in his path until he reached the dining room. His parents were already sitting at breakfast, slowly munching on buttered biscuits while pausing occasionally to sip on tea. They barely even acknowledged their son sending both doors flying open, outside of nonchalantly scolding him for running in the house.

“But mom! Dad!” Blueblood shouted. “I just got my Cutie Mark. Isn’t it the best one you’ve ever seen?”

The parents finally broke free of their morning ritual, if only just enough to turn their heads towards Blueblood to see the mark on his flank. Scarlet Letter nodded in appreciation as he sipped his tea. “Interesting. If I recall correctly, I saw that mark but a few days ago in one of the old history books.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Velvet Cushion. “That was the symbol of our very family, was it not? You should be proud, son. Your Cutie Mark traces your ancestry all the way back to the Pre-Classical Era.”

Blueblood’s smile grew. “Great! But…what does it mean, exactly?”

Scarlet shrugged. “Well, Cutie Marks are always a little metaphorical.”

Blueblood cocked his head. “Meta-four-call?”

“It means they don’t mean exactly what they show,” said Velvet. “That symbol, for example, was first used in the Unicorn Kingdom, before the Windigoes invaded. As far as we know, the pony who created it was a powerful pony within the Kingdom, and worked behind the throne to cement their power.”

“But what does it mean?” he whined.

“It means our study sessions have paid off,” said Scarlet. “After breakfast, I want you to meet me in the study. It’s time we began teaching you everything you need to know about being a Prince.”

Blueblood’s smile returned, his joy of spending time with his father easily trumping his hatred of studying. “And tonight, I can still show off to Aunt Celestia, right?”

Both parents looked at each other, sighed, then turned back to the colt. “We will see her in a few weeks time, for the Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration. Until then, however, it would probably be best to keep her from knowing.”

“What?!” The colt felt something terrible wash over him. “Why can’t she know?”

Scarlet leaned back in his chair, feeling more than a little content with himself. “You will see when you’re older, Blueblood.”

To Blueblood’s amazement, he was not alone for breakfast this morning. To his utter befuddlement, he was not only not alone, but he had BOTH of his aunts in attendance. Celestia was chewing a bit of dried toast when the colt entered, while Luna was busying herself with some tea and the Manehatten Express. Both gave the colt an acknowledging nod before returning to their exquisitely complicated tasks.

Blueblood pulled himself onto his seat and grumbled at the simple plate of scrambled eggs sitting before him. Nonetheless, his body’s daily requirements overrode his desire for something that wasn’t fit for a peasant, and he soon began munching away on the runny, yellow pieces of bird embryos. He was halfway through his meager meal when Celestia finally spoke. “I had a nice chat with Luna last night, and it appears I won’t be able to attend Lofty’s party after all.”

From behind her newspaper, Luna’s eyes cocked slightly towards Celestia, as if to silently mock her very attempts to expunge Blueblood of such thoughts. “It would not be proper for a Princess to forsake her duties simply so she can show favoritism to one filly. Not to mention that she would have no way to get back here, nopony to pass off as a parent, and a pair of wings to hide.” She creased down the top of the paper just enough for Blueblood to catch a full glimpse of her hateful gaze. “And you, my dear nephew, are still under arrest. I would never allow you to leave the castle grounds without somepony to make sure you will not run off and become a common highwaypony.”

“Oh,” the colt sighed. “Oh well, it probably wouldn’t have been much anyway. Just a bunch of screaming foals running around and smashing piñatas or whatever it is the little ponies do.”

The room soon returned to the same quiet, virtually lifeless state as when Blueblood had entered. Having finished her toast, Celestia began levitating her teacup to her lips, all the while casting occasional glances towards Luna. Alright, Celestia. If you’re going to do this, then do this now, before you change your mind.

“Speaking of parties, have I ever told you what happened at Luna’s very first birthday party?”

The newspaper tore clean in two as Luna’s face twisted into the same one a condemned killer would wear before being marched to the gallows. Blueblood own look wasn’t that far behind. “What?”

“N-Now, Celly, surely there is no need to tell him such…silly stories!” Luna chuckled.

Celestia took another sip of honey, never once letting her guard drop. “It was thousands of years ago, shortly after the Three Tribes had united under Equestria’s flag. One night, Luna was flying by Old Canterlot and saw that Princess Platinum was having a huge celebration for her and Commander Hurricane’s daughter. So she went down and, like any good filly, landed right in the middle of the celebration and asked what was going on.”

Luna’s smiled nervously, even as she sank closer and closer to the floor. “P-Please, sister!”

If Celestia had noticed her sister’s growing desperation, she paid no visible heed to it. “Well, one of the guards was nice enough to tell little Luna all about birthday parties and how the aristocracy loved to throw big festivals for important ponies. And she thought…” Celestia pushed her eyes out until they were almost as cartoonishly large as an actual foal’s. “‘I’m an important pony. My most wonderful big sister lets me raise the moon by myself. I should have a birthday party!’”

Blueblood’s fear of his Aunt Luna barely managed to beat back his urge to laugh his flank off at her youthful naivety. Luna, on the other hoof, was currently planning her sister’s long, torturous demise. “I never thought like that! I just…just thought it would be fun to have a big party like that once in a while.”

“So then what happened?!” Blueblood asked excitedly.

Celestia giggled under her throat was completely free of mirth, then continued. “She flew right back to me and asked why she never had a birthday party. Now, it was getting late, and I was really tired, so I told her it was because I didn’t remember when her birthday was.” Which is, sadly, the truth. Stupid modern calendars. “So she cried and whined and bit my ears and pulled my tail and threw the most spectacular tantrum ever seen by pony eyes. Finally, my heart could take no more, and I decided to throw her the biggest party Equestria had ever known!”

“Th-That doesn’t sound too bad,” Blueblood said. Even if it was for stupid reasons.

Luna failed to show the same general disposition. Her breath began slow, labored, and punctuated by what looked to be multiple small panic attacks. “Please…don’t…continue…”

“But we were getting to where the cake fell right on top of you!” Celestia pouted. “The Canterlot bakers invented the shortcake just for you, and the least you can do to honor their sacrifice is let me tell our nephew how dear Woona got buried under her own desert and then flooded our home with mead.”

Luna’s face went blank, while a few sounds roughly resembling a screeching guinea pig worked their way from her vocal chords. Her face was so red she looked more like a sunburn victim than a millennia-old princess, while her eyes were dried out like raisins. Blueblood couldn’t help but laugh uproariously at the thought of his cruel, monstrous aunt drenched in…whatever this “mead” thing was.

After a few more inarticulate moans and growls, Luna let out a defeated sigh. “…You win. You always win. I will let you two go to this waste of precious time. But we shall see what horrors await you when you come back. I will have an entire castle to myself, dear sister, and I assure you that…”

Celestia giggled. “You’re invited too, little sister.”

“And when the scorpions…what?” Luna recoiled slightly, her eyes half-cocked in disbelief. “What is this? You made no mention of this last night.”

Celestia barely managed to fight out another outburst of laughter. “You didn’t really think I would leave my little sister all alone here, did you? You can be like a chaperone for the two of us. You walk Blueblood and I to the park, we have fun, you socialize with the other adults there, and then we come back a few hours later like nothing happened.”

Blueblood, sensing that there was no more dirt to dig up on Luna at this time, returned his attention to his breakfast, only to stop as a grandfather clock banged seven times. Sensing that the time of his victory was fast approaching, the colt scarfed down the rest of his meal in an undignified fashion before trotting off to brush his teeth. Once he was well out of range, the Night Mare snapped her face right towards Celestia. “You…I thought you learned something from last time, you…”

The words died in Luna’s throat as she saw her sister’s face. What had once been a mask of sheer triumph now looked like her sister was on her way to a funeral. “I’m sorry. I knew it was wrong before I did it, but…” She sighed. “You were right. I really have my priorities skewed, don’t I?”

Celestia slowly sank down in her seat, looking more humiliated than Luna had only moments before. The younger sister was quiet for a moment, then sighed and poured herself another cup of coffee. “Celestia, I am sorry I called you irresponsible earlier. I was just…so worried back then that I had lost you forever. And besides, it was a funny story, even if I lost what little good name I had after that.”

“Actually, Princess Platinum found it quite humorous.” Celestia perked her head up slightly. “In fact, she and her daughter made it a custom to dump shortcake onto the happy birthday filly or colt every year after that until Discord came. And besides, the old palace didn’t take that long to scrub out.” She pulled herself away from the table and rose onto all four legs. “In any case, I have two days of work to do in one, so I must be going. I shall see you tonight for sunset.”

Luna nodded and sipped her caffeine. “Very well. And tomorrow morning, I shall share the story of how you once went on a days-long cider binge. I am certain our nephew would enjoy learning how Ghastly Gorge was formed.”

Celestia chuckled and feigned blushing in embarrassment before trotting off to work. Well, after the other part of my morning routine, of course.

Blueblood looked around the playground in confusion. His little gathering of friends were already there and accounted for, playing around in the sandbox with Gusty’s beloved dolls. All, that is, save for a certain feathered member of the posse. “Where’s Lofty? I thought she had recess the same time as us.”

“One of the students in her class did something really, really bad,” answered Ribbon. “So now she’s stuck in class all of recess. At least Miss Brightly isn’t mean like that.”

Perfect. Now to start lining up the pieces. “Actually, that’s all right. I have to ask you guys something without her here anyway. What kind of present should I get for her party tomorrow?”

Gusty looked up from her Daring-Do dolls, her face contorted in surprise by Blueblood’s perplexing declaration. “So wait, Lofty is actually inviting you?”

“Of course!” said Blueblood. “I mean, I am her friend…right?”

Buttons shrugged. “It didn’t look like she liked you when you met. And every single time she talked about you when you’re not around, she says you’re just a stupid old colt.” The darling would have continued from that point, had Gusty not given her a hoof-to-barrel reminder not to reveal everything Lofty said about Blueblood. It was already too late, in any case. Blueblood had heard everything he needed to hear.

“Yes, I know. We’ve had our disagreements in the past, but I want to make up for those.” He nodded his head towards Gusty’s toys. “What I need to know is, what is she interested in?”

Ribbon raised an eyebrow. “You mean, like in a present?”

Blueblood clapped his hooves together, spun about on his hind legs, and pointed an excited leg at his classmate. “Exactly! I need something that will amaze her, make her forget everything that’s happened.” He dropped his leg back to the ground. “So, what does she like?”

“Well…she likes Daring-Do,” said Buttons. “I guess you could get her one of the toys.”

No sooner had the words left the filly’s lips than Gusty was right back on her hooves, glowering through Blueblood with her left eye and Buttons with her right. “Hold it right there! In case you’re blind, I already have a bunch of Daring-Do toys! My folks even got me the Griffon’s Goblet Playset!”

Blueblood shrugged. “So?”

“Soooo, you can’t get the same toys one of your friends has!” Gusty shouted. “Especially when I just got a whole bunch of new ones. You have to wait for the paint to chip off mine first!”

“Um…why?” asked Ribbon.

Gusty’s jaw slacked in dumbfounded frustration. “B-Because! Just because! It’s, like, a law or something!”

Blueblood rolled his eyes at this. He had studied just about every law in Equestrian history, and so far he had found nothing on toys and their usage, outside of something forbidding winged unicorns from stealing royal regalia and using it like a costume. “Well, is there anything else?”

“She does like drawing,” added Buttons. “Mom and I got her some colored pencils and a few coloring books.”

“And I got her the Amazing Amethyst board game,” said Ribbon.

Blueblood began to say something, but stopped as the bell rang. In any case, he knew what to get Lofty for her birthday. And once that’s done, her silence will be assured.

The hour was late, and Luna was still working on her scheme. All she had to do was finish this one letter, and Blueblood’s greatest nemesis would be back to finish what the Prince himself had started…

As the class filed back in from lunch, Blueblood’s fetlocks were itching with excitement. He could already feel the love and adoration of his fellow inmates at this pre-correctional facility washing over him like chocolate rain. And once I have that, it’ll be only a matter of time before I’m back to normal.

“Alright, my little ponies!” Miss Brightly said as the last foal plopped themselves down in their seat. She levitated up a piece of chalk and began writing out the words “Show-And-Tell.” “Now, today is Show-And-Tell day, so I hope you all brought something wonderful to share with us. Just remember to be respectful this time. I don’t want to have to drag anypony over to the principal’s office this week. Isn’t that right, Snowball?”

The white cold gulped as a small chorus of laughter echoed through the classroom. “Well, now that we have an understanding, it’s time to get going!” A hat, surrounded by the same magic Miss Brightly always used, floated over to the teacher. “When I call your name, please come up to the front of the class and present your item to the class. I think we’ll start today with…”

A small scrap of paper floated out of the hat, stopping just in front of Brightly’s eyes. “Pier!”

A small grey colt pushed his chair back and hopped down, a ship-in-a-bottle tightly wrapped in one of his forehooves. Blueblood smiled and leaned back in his seat. Yes, this should be easy if that’s the kind of competition I have…

“…And that’s why these scissors are awesome!” finished Orange Peel.

The class politely clapped their hooves together, if only to avoid a scolding from their teacher. Orange Peel, of course, failed to pick up on the sarcasm and just soaked up the applause like a victorious general. With a quick bow, he and his safety-handled scissors were back at his desk.

“Thank you for that…exquisite show,” said Miss Brightly. “And our next presenter will be…” The next name floated up to her eyes. “Ribbon!”

The blue filly jumped out of her chair, crying a high-pitched scream of joy before galloping up to the front. She had reached the presentation spot when she realized she had forgotten her item in her saddlebags, necessitating a run back, some rummaging, and finally her trotting back up like a prize fighter after a victorious bought. Held in her mouth was a large bit of poster paper, on which was drawn a surprisingly decent (for a five-year-old) crayon-generated picture of a small pony and three adults standing amongst what looked like bread.

Ribbon wrapped a fetlock over the picture and removed it from her lips. “This is a picture I drew of my family,” said Ribbon. She pointed her free hoof towards the little Unicorn pony and the two big Earth ponies. “This is me, and these are my mom and dad. They run a bakery in East Canterlot.” She circled the semi-oval brown circles. “That’s why we have lots and lots of bread. We also have pies, cakes, tarts, and other stuff.”

“Then why didn’t you bring any of those?!” shouted Orange Peel. A quick glare from Miss Brightly quickly shut the colt back up.

“That’s a wonderful picture, Ribbon,” said Miss Brightly, “but who is that other pony?”

“Oh, him?” Ribbon’s hoof moved over to the adult Unicorn. “He’s my uncle, and the only Unicorn in my whole family. He helps me study sometimes, even though mom and dad don’t like him. They say he did some bad things, but he doesn’t seem so mean to me.”

Blueblood huffed. It sounds like somepony looking for a prison sentence.

The class gave Ribbon a golf clap, while the teacher made a mental note to have somepony look into her student’s living situation first chance she got. The filly cantered back to her seat with a big smile on her face. “That was a lovely presentation, Ribbon. And now for our last presenter, Leon!”

Blueblood slowly rose from his chair, making sure to take just enough time to keep the required level of dignity for one of his station. He motioned his hooves as if to straighten an invisible bowtie, slicked his mane back, and only then hoisted the snow globe under his leg and hobbled over to the designated spot. With a grunt, he hoisted the object in place and lined up to face the classroom. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I present to you this snow globe. It belongs to my parents, who got it during Hearth’s Warming Eve a long time ago.”

He paused, waiting for the accolades. It took a few moments before he noticed the rest of the class was completely silent. In fact, the entire class appeared to be bored out of their little pony skulls. Miss Brightly started to step forward, both to usher Blueblood off the stage and to comfort him in case the cold reception hurt his feelings, but stopped as the colt began to speak again. “Did I mention it was given to them by Princess Celestia?”

Now everypony’s ears turned towards the presentation space. Cherry turned to Snowball and whispered something, Orange Peel just looked absolutely bewildered, and even Ribbon seemed entranced at the spherical novelty gift now. His audience enthralled, Blueblood moved in for the kill. He grabbed the globe with both hooves and gave it a good shake.

The little flakes swam across the watery interior, finally revealing their true nature in the process. Each image of Celestia was painted a different color, featuring every shade that appeared in a rainbow. Light bounced and reflected off the painted sides, creating a cascade of wondrous shapes and images that seemed to bounce off the walls. Even the tiny castle inside seemed to come into a life of its own as the prisms rebounded off its own surface, making it look larger and animated to the untrained pony’s eyes.

After about a minute, the last piece fell, and the show was over. Blueblood bowed, picked up his treasured globe, and trotted back to his desk. He reached his bags just as the bell rang out, signaling the last recess of the day.

Blueblood began to open the flaps on his saddlebags, but paused as a sinister plot came to his mind. I could use this to secure Buttons and Gusty’s loyalty, as well! No sense keeping something this important lying around…

Buttons grinned like the silly little filly she was as she looked at the globe’s surface. “So this was really given to your parents by Princess Celestia?”

Blueblood smiled and nodded, sticking his nose upwards with pride. The snow globe was set down on the sidewalk for all five to see, admire, and worship. “I don’t know why she gave it to them, but they always said it was one of the best moments of their lives.”

“Oh, please,” Lofty moaned while rolling her eyes.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Everypony froze in terror as Orange Peel’s voice rang in their ears. Behind him were his usual cronies, Snowball and Smokey, and all three had their eyes on one thing: Blueblood’s snow globe. “Did you really think I’d believe that Princess Celestia gave a bunch of noponies something like that?”

Lofty growled and spread her wings. “None of us gave a flank what you stupid poopie-heads thought!”

“Um…Lofty?” whispered Ribbon. “Watch your language.”

Smokey snickered. “Hey, Orange. Why don’t we just take the thing to get checked out. You know, make sure it’s official and all that?”

Orange Peel smiled evilly. Their five targets sprang to their hooves and matched their cold-blooded glares, if only to make the ensuing beatdown less of an embarrassment on the schoolyard. “Why, yes, that’s a great plan. Now how about we…”

“Hold it right there!”

Everything froze in an instant as Miss Brightly walked up to the three bullies. All of them looked up at the teacher in false confusion. “W-Why, Miss Brightly!” said Snowball. “W-What’s going on?”

“Oh, I think you know,” said the teacher. “Now, unless you promise to leave these ponies alone, I will have no choice but to report what’s happened to your parents. And you know what happened the last time I had to do that, don’t you, Orange Peel?”

The orange colt came very close to emptying his bladder right there. He could already remember his father’s belt along his backside. “I-I understand! I’ll be…going then…” And with that, all three bolted off for the swings. Miss Brightly smiled, nodded to the group, and then trotted off to monitor the rest of the grounds.

“Well…at least that’s over,” said Ribbon.

Gusty humphed and turned back to the globe. “Stupid bullies. I hate them so much.”

Lofty sat down on her haunches and turned to her nearby friend. “Why would they even bug us with you here? You creamed Orange Peel the last time he tried to take you.”

“It doesn’t matter why,” Blueblood said. He walked over to the nearby grass, his eyes locked on Orange Peel and his cohorts. The gaze was returned in kind, chilling Blueblood’s very soul. “The point is they won’t be bugging us today. We’re free to do whatever.”

Buttons trotted up next to him, her eyes locked on the flapping ribbon. “I think I figured out a way to finally get that thing down, but it will take all five of us.” Lofty and Ribbon joined the two, their faces twisted in determination. “If we can just get up high enough, one of us can climb on the branch and untie the knot. Gusty, what we need you to do is…”

It was right then that they realized one member of their group was missing. Everypony turned around to see Gusty still sitting next to the now-activated snow globe. Blueblood’s eyes bulged in absolute terror as the filly lifted the thing back up, holding it haphazardly by the spherical top. “What are you doing?”

Gusty sighed and rolled her eyes at Blueblood’s question. “I just want to take another look, that’s all.”

In an instant, Blueblood had galloped right next to the filly. He could already see his precious object’s weight shifting in Gusty’s hooves. “You’re not holding it right! You can’t…”

Before he could say anything else, the snow globe slipped from her hooves…

Luna’s quill stroked the bottom of the page as a cruel smile crossed her lips. With this, my dear Blueblood, your fate is sealed.

Everything on the playground came to a screeching halt at the sound of glass shattering. Every filly and colt, grown and small, slowly walked over to the sight of the scuffle. Orange Peel and his cohorts were savvy enough to start blending away into the crowd, just in case Miss Brightly or one of the other instructors decided to blame them for this mess. Lofty, Buttons and Ribbon could feel the urge to at least try and approach the two, but their own fears of being grounded and punished for something they were innocent of stayed their hooves. That left only a stunned Blueblood and a horrified Gusty standing in the center of the madness.

Blueblood’s jaw hung slack as tiny streams of tears threatened to burst forth and wash down his cheeks. His eyes scanned the wreckage, picking out the tiny flakes of confetti, the crushed remains of the castle, and the broken bits of the base. Gusty slowly walked around the mess and towards him, looking as guilty as a murderer standing over its victim. “I…I’m sorry. It was an accident.”

Blueblood didn’t hear her. He didn’t hear anything. All he could do was think about that globe…

She gave it to me. She…She said she loved me. It was…why…like this…that…you…

Deep within the recesses of Blueblood’s mind, something snapped into place. A rage he had not felt since leaping through a tower window coursed through his very bloodstream. In an instant, the old Blueblood was reborn, and his eyes soon left the wreckage to focus on the wrecker herself.

“I-I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to…it was…”

Blueblood front hooves slammed into the base of Gusty’s neckline and pushed down with full force. The filly, unprepared for such an attack, flew back on her rear legs and slammed hard to the ground, mere inches from the glass pile. Every muscle in her body erupted in pain upon impact. “What are you doing?!”

“YOU…YOU STUPID FOAL!” Blueblood’s voice carried no sense of innocence or guilt, only a growing madness. “That was the one thing I still had, and you took it from me! You are the worst pony I have ever known! I hate you! I hope you die!”

“Now that is quite enough,” said Miss Brightly. She pushed her way up through the crowd until she was standing directly over Blueblood and the downed Gusty. “I think it’s time the both of you took a trip to the…”

Before she could say anything else, Blueblood spat in Gusty’s face, turned about, and ran through the crowd. So great was his rage that he plowed through the other ponies with no difficulty, turned a corner like a trained track star, and was soon back inside the building. The other teachers quickly left in pursuit, leaving only Miss Brightly and a few others to keep a watch on things.

Sighing sadly, Brightly leaned over the shocked and injured filly. “Let’s get you to the nurse’s office. I think you’ve been hurt enough today.”

As she levitated Gusty off the ground and onto her back, the filly’s sobs only grew worse. The bravado and gutsiness she regularly displayed were instead replaced by wracked cries and absolute pain. “I-It was an accident! I-”

“It’s okay, honey,” said Miss Brightly. “We’ll get all this sorted out, don’t worry.”

Her student firmly attached to her back, Miss Brightly galloped towards the nurse’s office. In her haste, she failed to notice a certain pegasus watching her leave, a look of pure hatred on her face…

For once, Blueblood’s early morning training finally paid off, and he was able to slip away from the chasing adults long enough to duck into the colt’s restroom, locking the door behind him. Nevertheless, he could still hear hooves scrapping along outside, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he was found and dragged back for an explanation. He only had a short time to prepare himself.

His eyes were still stinging from crying, but he still managed to catch a glimpse of some nearby sinks, all conveniently at an average colt’s eye level. Closing his eyelids to help fight off the pain, he trotted up to the porcelain tubs and turned on the faucets. His forehooves dived down to scoop up as much water as they could carry before splashing the liquid over his face. Gradually, the agony lessened, only to be replaced by feelings long since repressed.

He thought back to his parents. They were the only ponies who ever cared enough to teach me how to be a true prince. The only ones that thought I could surpass them in the games the court played. And was I not successful?

He thought back to Cadance. I tried to teach her how to be a proper princess, and what does she do? She marries a worthless commoner, with far too little noble blood to even qualify as a Baron, and then calls me a monster when I reveal her treachery to all?

He thought back to Shining Armor. And that excuse for a knight, a pony who cannot even utilize a proper Canterlot accent, is going to be called a prince just because he married somepony that’s far too good for him? Then it is my responsibility to make sure they both understand the price of betraying their station.

He thought back to the Grand Galloping Gala. Those ponies violated our most sacred of festivities, the very celebration of Equestria’s founding, and were given no punishment? If Celestia would allow such dissent, who could tell how far rebellion could spread? I tried to help her. I tried to have the village that harbored these fugitives destroyed, its ponies killed or imprisoned, as an example for everypony else. And she calls me a monster?

He thought back to Celestia and Luna. My Aunt, the pony I once trusted as a wise and just ruler, has allowed a traitor to stand alongside her and rule Equestria in her place. Princess Luna tried to destroy all life everywhere, and she is forgiven without so much as a second thought, while I have to wallow through this misery for that fiend’s amusement?! No! I shall make them all pay! I will expose their little game to the public. Let us see how the Princesses explain this away!

And finally, his thoughts returned to the snow globe and Gusty. I’m not sorry I hurt her! She destroyed something that belonged to me! I don’t care if it was just a stupid globe! I don’t care if the pony who gave it to me has proven herself undeserving of my affections! I will see her family pay! I will have her home burned, her parents sold into indentured servitude, and when she’s tossed into the orphanage, I’ll pay her keepers to trap her there forever! And the rest of my friends will be forced to follow, lest they suffer the same fate!

He snickered evilly. My enemies will all suffer! Prince Blueblood is the only Unicorn fit to rule Equestria, and under my hoof, this land shall return to the old ways! I will finally restore this land to the days of Unicornia! Mother and Father’s work shall be-

Then he opened his eyes.

Blueblood almost fell on his back when he saw the face staring back at him. When he had plotted before, he was always able to keep himself under control. Years of surviving a cabal of backstabbing, affection-hungry aristocrats were a testament to his ability to keep his head cool and plot his schemes. Were it not for that stupid filly and those Gala-destroying curs, he would have been able to keep his charade of civility even longer.

But now, all he saw was a colt staring back at him, teeth barred in rage, eyes dilated and bloodshot, mane unkempt and frazzled from his frustrations, and even a small froth building from the sides of his mouth. He struggled to return his emotions to some semblance of normalcy, but whatever control he once had began to erode against the unstable mindset of a foal and their incredibly low frustration point. His rage soon transformed into absolute terror, his eyes burning with tears. What’s wrong with me? I am Blueblood, Prince of Equestria and nephew of Princess Celestia! I trained myself to specifically avoid embarrassments like this! Why…Why isn’t it working? Why can’t I stop crying?!

Whatever fear his body conveyed was nothing compared to what was going on inside his mind. Already, thoughts were beginning to reshuffle, his vision becoming clearer and more precise with every passing moment, and he did not like what he was seeing. Something cold and unrelenting began to pound away at his consciousness, drilling past the rationalizations and cruel logic until it struck at Blueblood’s very core.

His thoughts returned to his parents. I was just a tool to them. They only wanted me to accomplish their life’s dream, not my own.

His thoughts returned to Cadance. She was a wonderful filly, and even if she did break every rule in the noble court, I should not have done things like I did.

His thoughts returned to Shining Armor. He is not so bad as a Captain, and even if he and Cadance make a poor match, perhaps what I did to him was too much.

His thoughts returned to the Grand Galloping Gala. That mare cared only about her romantic dreams, and I crushed them forever. I could have told her I was uninterested, and yet I used her just like I use everypony else around me. What happened was an accident, not an act of malice. Perhaps I was too hasty to consider their foolishness to be an act of insurrection.

His thoughts returned to Celestia and Luna. Luna has had many opportunities to destroy Equestria, and yet has not taken any of them. Perhaps she is not the foal-devouring monster legend makes her out to be. And perhaps Celestia was right the whole time about her. About everything, in fact.

And finally, his thoughts returned to the snow globe and Gusty. It was an accident. She was just trying to help me, and I pushed her away. She only wanted to be my friend, and I injured a small filly just because I was angry. That globe was precious, but it…it…wasn’t worth doing that.

Blueblood collapsed onto his haunches, all while the storm of emotions raging inside him began to erode whatever ego he had left. No…NO! Snap out of it! Remember, you are Prince Blueblood! You are above all these lowly peons, and unlike Celestia you remember your proper place in Equestria. Who cares if your aunts hate you? Who cares if your dear cousin wants to throw everything she was raised to be away so she can marry some military brat? You shouldn’t! You weren’t raise to feel! The only thing that concerns you is making sure the old ways are upheld! That’s why mom and dad wanted you! That’s why they dragged you away from Celestia and Cadance!

He let out a low squeal. That’s…why nopony…likes you.

In an instant, Blueblood was no more. The proud stallion he once was crumbled to dust against this new, most unwelcome feeling welling up inside him. His emotions broke free completely and horribly, reducing the colt to a sobbing, coughing, crying mess of a pony. All rational thought vanished, instead finding itself replaced by an unrelenting wave of crashing emotions. Indeed, Blueblood was so distraught he didn’t even notice the janitor and Miss Brightly unlock the door and walk inside the restroom.

The teacher knelt next to her student, a look of concern on her face. “Are you all right, Leon?” Blueblood made no verbal response, unless another wrack of sobs counted as such. “I know that snow globe meant a lot to you and your parents, but what you did was still wrong. You’ll still have to answer for it.”

Blueblood sniffed back the wracking pile of mucus trying to worm its way out his nose. “I…I…I didn’t mean to do it. I was just…”

“It’s okay,” Miss Brightly said. “When we’re angry, we do all sorts of stupid things. A part of growing up, though, is learning how to control how you feel. You can’t go around hurting ponies just because they did something wrong.”

“B-But…I…”

Miss Brightly sighed. “We don’t have to go right away. When you’ve calmed down, we can talk this over with the Principal. Just let it all out.”

Blueblood nodded, lowered his head into his hooves, and kept sobbing away. And through it all, his teacher never once left his side.

The principal’s office was just as stiff and imposing as Blueblood had imagined. From the moment he stepped in there, he knew his time on Equestria was coming to an end. When he saw that Gusty was also there, a small bruise still on one of her legs, a cold shiver ran down his entire body. The glare coming from both her and the principal, a stoic stallion with a grayed mane and silvery coat, didn’t help matters.

Miss Brightly closed the door behind them and took a seat next to another Unicorn, no doubt Gusty’s teacher. The Principal cleared his throat, straightened his red necktie, and leaned back on his pillowy chair. “Leon, I trust you understand why we brought you here.”

Blueblood nodded his head. “Yes.”

The Principal turned to the filly in the room. “And Gusty, I take it you also understand what you did.”

Gusty pouted and turned away. “It was an accident.”

“What was that?”

The filly sighed. “Yes, I understand.”

The Principal and teachers nodded, with the principal adding a heavy sigh to the motion. He pushed himself back onto his hooves and approached the two foals, towering overhead like some long-lost titan. “Fortunately, neither one of you was seriously hurt, but that doesn’t excuse what happened. School is a place where ponies learn and expand their minds, not get into fights. Ponies like you should be friends, not enemies.”

He bent down next to Leon. “Now, I understand that the snow globe was very important to you, and I can understand you being angry. But it was an accident. You shouldn’t hurt somepony that was just trying to help you, right?”

Blueblood’s old mind wanted to yell something right back, probably involving shoving and an orifice, but something held his tongue. He couldn’t tell if it was that new thing worming its way through his heart, or just a side-effect of the spell trapping him in this body, but he couldn’t bring himself to rain death and destruction upon the stupid stallion lecturing him like a common kindergartner. “I-I’m sorry,” he said weakly.

The stallion then turned his attention to Gusty. The filly buckled as his eyes locked with hers, a new fear coursing its way through her gut. “And I understand you wanted to help, but you have to be more careful when handling something that belongs to somepony else. Would you like it if one of your friends broke something you cared about?”

Gusty slowly shook her head, even as a few tiny tears began to form in her eyes. “N-No.”

The principal smiled and pulled his head back. In an instant, his very demeanor became much less stern and far more graceful and, for lack of a better word, fatherly. “Now, I want you two to apologize to each other.”

The two foals turned away from the only male adult in the room and locked eyes with each other. Tiny beads of sweat began to course down his forehead and neck as he prepared for the inevitable. Any moment now, a horn would be embedded in his throat, or his liver would be torn out with her bare hooves. There was no telling with these common folk.

Gusty took a deep breath, lowered her head so her horn was pointing straight at his eyes, and…

“I’m sorry. I should have been more careful.”

Wh-What?

Blueblood reared back a few inches in amazement, his eyes widening to the size of saucer plates, while his tail began to frizz and stretch out in amazement. Every sense in his body tried to tell him this was some kind of magnificent scheme to humiliate him in front of the other ponies, or to let him drop his guard so the filly could position her knife just right. But as he regarded the filly more closely, he couldn’t find any of the telltale signs of treachery, and after surviving the Royal Court for much of his life, he was very adept at picking up on all such plots before they could get off the ground.

She was genuine.

She was forgiving him.

He had assaulted and yelled at her, and yet she was still taking blame for breaking his snow globe.

“I…I…” He bit his lip as something he hadn’t felt in decades began to seep its way to the forefront. “I…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you or called you names. I really am a bad pony.”

“Now, I don’t want to hear any of that,” said Miss Brightly. “You did something wrong, but that doesn’t make you a bad pony. You just have to remember that it’s never right to hurt another pony, even if they did something wrong themselves.”

Gusty took a small step forward. “I’m not really hurt. All that crying was just to keep the rest of the foals from being left out, honest.” She blushed and shied away. “L-Look, I know we’re both in trouble and all, and you were kinda mean back there, and you pushed me and…anyway, you still wanna be friends?”

As if to seal the deal, Gusty’s hoof shot out and hung in the air. Blueblood stared at the outstretched limb with more than his fair share of skepticism. After all, less than an hour ago, he had taken the same pony and shoved her down on a slab of concrete. Had his aim been just a little off, she would have landed right on a pile of glass shards.

In the Royal Court, such an action on Prince Blueblood’s part would have brought unimaginable consequences. His home would have been torched, his possessions divided up amongst the other noble houses, and his very name drowned in the mud until nopony could even remember who “Prince What’s-His-Blood” was. He, a grown pony, had struck a filly.

And she was asking him to be friends.

Blueblood’s hoof laboriously lifted itself into the air, pausing for a brief moment before taking hold of Gusty’s own. The tense atmosphere gradually melted away, fading into the ether until a general sense of relaxation took hold. The Principal smiled and nodded towards the two. “Well, I can see you two have learned your lesson. I’m still going to have to talk to your parents, of course, but I’ll make sure the letter tells them to go easy on you.”

“M-My parents?” Gusty gulped down an entire mouthful of oxygen as her pupils dilated in terror. “Couldn’t we just call it even right now? I mean, there’s no reason to get mom and dad involved. I’m sure they can just, you know, hear about it, let’s say, thirty years from now?!”

The non-Miss Brightly teacher shook her head. “No dear, that’s not how it works. We’ll discuss an appropriate punishment when we get home.”

“When you get…” Blueblood snapped around to Gusty, his surprise managing to break through his self-pity and guilt. “You mean your mother’s a teacher here?”

Gusty facehoofed herself and shook her head sadly. “Don’t remind me.”

“And I’ll see to it Leon’s mother gets her notice,” added Miss Brightly. “I’m sure once she knows everything that happened, she’ll…”

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

Everything in the office froze at the sound of the high-pitched squeal coming from the door. There, standing like an avenging superhero, was Lofty. The Principal himself practically spat something out at the sudden shock. “Can I help you, miss?”

“No, but I’m here to help you!” The filly cantered into the office, her tiny wings extended. She pushed aside Blueblood and, after a bit of difficulty, climbed onto one of the nearby chairs. “I saw everything that happened! It was all Leon’s fault!”

The three educators looked amongst each other in confusion. “Wait…what do you mean?” asked Gusty’s mother.

“Leon’s the one that started the fight, not Gusty!” added Lofty. “And there’s more than that! Before he even set foot on this school, he wasn’t…”

Blueblood sighed and hung his head down. He could already feel a prison cell waiting for him, and right now, he didn’t care.

“Stop right there, Lofty!”

The yellow pegasus halted mere seconds from revealing Blueblood’s secret. Confused, she slowly lowered her gaze towards Gusty. “Why are you stopping me? I’m trying to defend you here!”

“And I don’t need any help!” said Gusty. “We already talked it over. I got in trouble, Leon got in trouble, and we’ll be fine! I dropped his snow globe, remember? You don’t need to come charging in here shouting up threats and trying to act tough!”

Lofty’s heart sank in her chest. Her wings folded back against her body as a small whimper emerged from her lips. “I…I was just…”

“I can understand wanting to help, but we have the situation well in hoof,” said Miss Brightly. “Your friends have already forgiven each other, and promised they won’t do anything like that again.”

“B-But…”

“And furthermore,” added the Principal, “you know it’s wrong to break into a room uninvited and interrupt what somepony else is doing, right?”

Lofty whimpered out a few sobs and sank into the chair. I-I’m gonna be grounded. Right before my birthday! Wh-Why did that stupid Blueblood have to…

“Um…I don’t think Lofty meant anything bad.”

Everypony’s eyes turned to Blueblood. The colt’s legs were wobbling from all the attention, as well as his sheer disbelief with what he was doing, but he managed to close his eyes and continue on ahead. “Gusty was her friend before I even got here. She wanted to make sure her friend was all right, after all. When I got hurt on my first day, she gave up recess so she could make sure I was okay. That’s just the kind of pony she is.”

The three adults stared at each other, confused that such a small pony had such a decent sense of empathy, and especially after everything that had occurred. Gusty, meanwhile, found herself fighting back to urge to roll her eyes at her new friend’s eggheadedness. Lofty’s own emotions simply shifted back and forth like a taffy puller, never managing to settle on whether she should be surprised that he wasn’t joining in her denouncement, or angry that he still existed and had contributed to her future grounding.

“Look, we’ll overlook Lofty’s misbehavior this one time,” said the Principal. The lone Pegasus’ ears and head perked up in surprise. “Now, all of you need to get back to class. We still have a lot of educating to do and only a short time to do it. And I expect to see the letters signed and turned in to your teachers on Monday. Am I understood?” The foals nodded. “Good. Miss Brightly, Mrs. Hurricane, please take these ponies back to class.”

The teachers nodded, rounded up their students (plus the one from Flight Kindergarten), and departed. Blueblood tagged behind the rest, his head filled with traitorous thoughts. I actually pulled it off. I managed to salvage my situation and keep Lofty and Gusty as allies. And now that Lofty is indebted to me, she will be far less willing to reveal my secret. I just need to keep the act up, and soon I’ll be right to normal.

He blinked away a frustrated twinge. That’s the only reason you did it, remember. The only…reason…

Luna awoke just as the sun began to drop over the horizon. After letting out the traditional royal yawn, performing the traditional royal stretches, and wiping the traditional royal eye crust, her attention returned to the rest of the day’s scheduled activities. She still had a nephew to torture, after all.

The letter still sat on her desk, rolled up and sealed for quick and easy delivery. All Luna had to do was will the thing to where her new ally lived, and she would soon have Blueblood put back in his place for good. And then she could…

Her scheming came to a halt as she heard a loud pounding on her door. “Luna? Are you awake?”

If I wasn’t, you would have just fixed that problem. Luna rolled her eyes and telekinetically pulled the door open, revealing her sister in mid-yawn. “G-Good evening, Luna. I take it you slept well?”

“Far better than you,” Luna said between giggles. “I take it everything is finished for tomorrow?”

Celestia yawned again, smacking her lips a few times. “Yes, everything. Thanks to this party, we have an entirely new property tax system, we have increased the budget for medical research, and we will have enough wool to make sure everpony has a scarf this winter. Also, I have developed a deep hatred for the pony that invented the quill, and plans are already in motion to travel back in time and remove them and their infernal device from existence.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Wait…was it not you that invented the quill?”

Celestia gave an obviously fake gasp as her eyes popped out. “You’re right. Well, I suppose you shall be an only child, then.”

The room was silent for but a moment, before the two erupted once again into a chorus of laughter. Once the glee had simmered down to a mere chuckle, Celestia cleared her throat and continued. “Still, I’m really glad you changed your mind. I’ve been going through some disguises as well, and I think I found the perfect thing. All we need are some glasses and…”

“Actually, I have a stipulation to make,” said Luna. Celestia raised a worried brow. “Rather than disguise myself, I shall attend this party as I truly am: Princess Luna of Equestria, Steward of the Moon and Co-Ruler of our fair principality.”

Celestia shook her head vigorously. “Absolutely out of the question. How can we possibly spin you being there?”

“Like you said, the party would only be for a couple of hours,” said Luna. She pointed out her window towards the streets below, her hoof forming an invisible path towards the park. “Since Princess Sunlight is ostensibly my niece, it is our responsibility to look out for her. And since Princess Celestia will be so busy ruling her country, it shall be my duty to make sure our visiting niece gets there and back safely. We will then say that we picked up Blueblood on the way to the party, as his parents were sick and couldn’t take him. And with that, we shall all partake in fun together.”

“Little sister, there are so many ways that can go wrong,” said Celestia.

“It’s either that, or we don’t go,” Luna said curtly. “Now, if you shall excuse me, I have a great deal of work to do.” And with that, she cantered off to manage her nation yet again, leaving a stunned and bewildered Celestia.

D-Did Luna just…pull something on me? I really need to stop teaching her that.

Blueblood struggled to sleep, but rest eluded him. Whenever he closed his eyes, he couldn’t help but think back to how everything went wrong.

Gusty had apparently forgiven him, and Buttons and Ribbon seemed to follow suit, but he could still feel something was very wrong. It just seemed off with how easily they forgave somepony that assaulted and spat on their friend. He had barely managed to convince Lofty to let him go, and even then, he could tell she was getting ever closer to revealing his secret.

And yet, the one thing he was worried about was how much this was worrying him. Months ago, he wouldn’t have given a care to losing any friends. Years ago, he wouldn’t have cared that he had assaulted an innocent pony. But now?

His reflections paused as a hoof rattled against his door. A few seconds later, a golden light enveloped the entire wooden entrance and pushed it open, revealing Princess Celestia. She slowly entered the room, doing her best to remain dour. “Blueblood, Sky Bloom told me about the snow globe. I-I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he muttered, his face buried in his pillow.

Celestia took a few more steps forward. “I know things have been rough these last few days, and…”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll make it through. I always have and always will.”

“I see,” Celestia said. She hung her head and turned to leave. “I shall see you in the morning, then.”

“Wait.”

Princess Celestia froze just a step away from the door. For the first time, Blueblood turned his face towards his aunt, and she could see the wear this day had taken on him. “Aunt Celestia, can you be honest with me? Am I…just a bad pony?”

Celestia was quiet at first, her mind shuffling through the right thing to say. Finally, she managed to find something that might, at least, be of a little comfort. “I don’t believe there’s such a thing as an inherently bad pony. You just made a lot of bad decisions, that’s all. But as bad as things got between us, I never really hated you. I was disappointed, upset even, but I never hated you.” And with that, she walked out in the hall and closed the door.

Once again, Blueblood was alone in the world.

Chapter Six: Party Time

Shining Armor knocked on Blueblood’s door yet again, a dark grimace spreading across his face. Five times already had he pounded on the wooden barrier, and each time there was no response from the other side. Needless to say, the Captain’s patience was dissolving more and more with every passing moment. “Blueblood! Come out here and present your arms for inspection!”

Still nothing.

Grumbling, the stallion pushed and pulled on the door, but it was apparently locked. Muttering a few terminable phrases under his breath, Shining Armor’s magic locked onto and lifted his master key from underneath his armor plating. The double-pronged shaft of metal slid into the lock with a perfect click, bypassing the physical and magical mechanisms keeping the door tightly closed, and turned to the right until he heard a loud click.

Now free from its chains, the door pushed open easily under the weight of Shining Armor’s well-muscled foreleg. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness that covered every inch of the room, he was quick to discover why Blueblood had been failing to answer his inquiries.

He wasn’t in the room.

Shining’s eyes widened in panic as he galloped up to Blueblood’s bed. Sure enough, the colt was missing, as were most of his bedsheets. That was when the chill of the night air seeped into the room itself, chilling the Captain to his very bone. As his mane rustled in the breeze, realization slowly crept into his mind.

He slowly moved his attention upwards, towards the one window in Blueblood’s prison. Sure enough, he had somehow managed to force the window open, tie his bedsheets into a rope, and then climbed down. Even after reducing the number of covers allotted after Princess Celestia apparently did the same thing, he had managed to slip out unnoticed.

Cursing to himself, Shining Armor leaned his head out the window…and his lips soon sprouted a smile.

It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out where Blueblood had run off to. His bedsheet rope only stretched down to the balcony of one of the old royal archives. Indeed, it was the only one in the castle proper to have any actual reading material inside; most of the books, charts, and other materials had been moved into the actual Canterlot Archives once it was finished. After verifying with the guards stationed outside that nopony had entered or left from the main entrance, Shining Armor unlocked the doors and pushed them open.

Sure enough, in the far corner of the tiny room, the former Prince Blueblood was sitting at a single table, looking over what looked like a massive book of some kind. The two standing guardponies moved to apprehend the fugitive, but froze as Shining Armor’s forehooves tapped their shoulders. “I’ll handle this. You two return to your post and keep watch in case he tries to slip past.”

“Understood, sir,” they whispered in unison before stepping back into the hall. Once they were out of the way, Shining willed the door to close slowly until it shut itself with a very silent click. Once he was certain Blueblood wasn’t bothering to look at the entrance, he crouched down and slinked through the room with all the grace of a cat. That is, save for the rustling and clanging of his armor, the scuffling of his hooves on the floor, and his heavy breathing from trying to remain balanced while hunched over in all this armor. It was a miracle the colt still didn’t hear what sounded like an entire kitchen’s worth of pots and pans sneaking up on him.

After about twenty seconds of sneaking like a common thief, Shining Armor stood directly behind his prisoner. The colt still wasn’t paying attention, instead seemingly content to scan through a massive text written in indecipherable letters. The Captain paused briefly in confusion at all this; not only did he never take Blueblood for the brainy type (as in, the type with brains to begin with), but he had never even seen this language before. It almost felt like something that Twilight would have smuggled out of one of the royal libraries when she was filly, if only because the book had to be more important than anything else on the shelf. After all, it was bigger.

In any case, however, the pony he was staring at was not Twilight, nor was he any part of his family. (At least, not yet.)

The Captain straightened his posture and gave a big harrumph. “You shouldn’t be down here, Blueblood. This room is strictly forbidden to unauthorized personnel.”

Blueblood shivered slightly, but still made no motion towards actually turning around. Shining Armor facehoofed himself in frustration, readjusted his helmet, and leaned over the colt. “This is your last warning, Blueblood. Keep going like this, and I’ll have to stick you in the stock-”

The words died in Shining Armor’s throat as his eyes caught a better glimpse of the open pages. The yellowing sheets now bore small water marks across the bottom of the binding. Hmph. Drooling on ancient books is hardly the way to get Celestia to like you. Boy, did I learn that the hard way.

He placed one hoof on Blueblood’s back and gave it a little shake. To his amazement, the response he got was not that of a colt snorting his way back to the waking world, but rather a few coughs and some frustrated moans. “What is it?”

Fighting back his frustrations with his charge’s behavior, Shining Armor cleared his thorat and continued. “Um…Blueblood? Is something wrong?”

“I…I was just…” The colt shivered slightly. “I was just reading something. That’s all.”

Shining Armor sighed in defeat. After spending around two-thirds of his life as the BBBFF of a socially reclusive Unicorn, he had considerable experience with this kind of behavior. In fact, one of Twiley’s favorite ways to rile their parents was to just free stick her nose in a book and not so much as look up for anything. It worked, too…until they decided to call her on the bluff and she went two days without any food besides what her brother snuck out of the pantry.

No, stop! Just…stop! This is not your little sis! This is the monster that tried to kill her!

The Captain took a deep breath. “Former Prince Blueblood, it’s time for your inspection. I want you out there in uniform in the next twenty minutes, or you will…”

“It’s all right,” Blueblood muttered. “I’m a terrible pony. I deserve to be punished.”

Shining’s entire body became as rigid and inflexible as a statue. Of all the comebacks he had expected to hear, this wasn’t one of them. “Wait…you want to be locked up for insubordination? I…I don’t think that’s ever happened before.” Through sheer strength of will, he forced his muscles to unlock and walked up to the colt’s right side. He could see some red around his eyes, but whether this was from crying or sleepiness was beyond him at this point. “Blueblood, is something wrong?”

Blueblood sighed and wiped the bottom of his eyelids, knocking out a few pieces of crust in the process. “Things…happened yesterday. I had a chance to look things over, and…I had to look up something in here. I wasn’t planning to run away from Canterlot or go into hiding somewhere. I just…wanted to see if it was true.”

Armor readjusted his helmet just enough to scratch his head. “If…what is true?”

“If the old ways really were better.”

The entire room went silent, save for the scurrying of the occasional spider. History was never one of Shining Armor’s best subjects in school, and he did have a sad tendency to zone his sister out whenever she went crazy over some minor bit of historical trivia she had just dug up, so he wasn’t quite sure what Blueblood was talking about right there. However, there was something in the way he spoke. That he had heard before, when one of his recruits began to doubt their ability or lose their confidence. If Blueblood was going through the same thing…

The Captain sighed. “I see. In any case, a tired soldier isn’t going to be of any use to me. Besides, Princess Luna told me you’re going to a party, so trust me, you need your sleep.” Blueblood nodded silently. “Now come on, I’ll take you back to your room.”

The colt shrugged and slid out of his seat, his every movement weighed down by a combination of despair and general fatigue. He barely even acknowledged when Shining Armor gave him Luna’s request that he actually dress up for today’s activity.

Mother…father…it was all wrong…

Blueblood sighed as he slipped his tiny bowtie on. It wasn’t because he didn’t like dressing up; far from it, in fact. One of the things he missed the most in his current situation was his fantastically wide wardrobe, including a suit for every day of the year and more than enough ties, bowties, and exquisite overcoats to ensure he was always the fanciest at any party. Just because it was a commoner’s birthday party didn’t mean a dress code shouldn’t be expected.

Nor was it because the order to dress up came from Luna. Formal attire was hardly an invention of the last millennium, and Princess Celestia herself had gone to great lengths in describing the many outfits she had worn during social events of the past. Apparently, they were so exquisitely designed that she swore off clothes for generations after that. There was also something about her feeling like a pincushion whenever she was being measured, and that one time her dressmakers insisted that lime green was the perfect color to go with her mane, but that was probably just her making light of her past again.

No, the problem was much simpler. In but a few moments, I shall be attending my first social function since…this. And right after I insulted the hostess’ best friend and thought of slaughtering her family. I…

He froze mid-tug. The undersides of his eyes were already beginning to burn again. I don’t deserve this. I shouldn’t be allowed to…

His brief moment of soul searching and self-condemnation came to a crashing halt as an unimaginably powerful being pushed his door open, sending the colt jumping in the air and yelping in surprise. At the other side of the room’s entrance stood Princess Luna, a big, fake-looking grin on her face. “Ah, Prince Blueblood. How wonderful to see you are properly preparing yourself for today.”

Blueblood scoffed and rolled his eyes, pushing back all the insecure thoughts for at least this moment. “I’m only doing this because you made me. I don’t see why I have to dress up for a foal’s birthday party. It’s not like they have any sense of fashion at these things.”

“Ah, but that is where you have made a mistake,” Luna said. “You see, my dear nephew, Equestria’s royal family must maintain some standards of appearance whenever they go out in public, and you are no exception. Even if you are technically without a birthright, I am still escorting you to this function, and as such what you do shall reflect on me.”

The colt’s lips curled into that little pout only a foal was truly capable of performing. “So in other words, you’re making me do this so you’ll look better.”

Luna chuckled an evil chuckle and patted Blueblood on the head. “I am so glad your brain failed to shrink with your body. And besides, a good appearance will help you once this sentence of yours is completed.”

Blueblood sighed, his tiny face twisting into a small pout. He kicked at the ground nervously as his face began to blush slightly. “Princess Luna…I have something I must ask you.”

Smiling, Luna sat down on her haunches and leaned closer to Blueblood’s face. The colt yelped and scuffled back in shock. At this angle, she looked less like a pony and more like a foal-consuming beast, the kind his mother used to warn him about to keep him quiet during one of her grown-up headaches. “Yes, my dear nephew?”

“W-Well…” Blueblood tapped his hooves together in an attempt to calm his nerves; all he accomplished was making the ends of his legs hurt. “I…I have been thinking about things and…I feel that…What I mean is…” He harrumphed the invisible ties off his tongue and started over. “Princess Luna, do you…”

“LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNA!”

The heart-to-heart (or whatever it was when it came to these two) stopped dead as a pink-coated Alicorn filly with a strangely highlighted mane came storming into the room, carrying a frou-frou pink dress on her back. Blueblood’s eyes widened in horror as he realized who this was, while Luna barely fought off the urge to giggle. “Y-Yes, my dear sister?”

“You…You fiend!” The filly pulled the end of the dress off with her mouth and tossed it onto the bed. “First you refuse to use a disguise, and now you’re making me wear something like this?!”

Blueblood’s eyes traced the fabric as it fell onto the bedcovers. It was certainly a pink thing, far pinker than anything he had seen even Cadance wear as a filly. There were little bows and fake roses sewn throughout, and there was even a big white bow right where the dress would be covering her tail. As for Celestia herself, she looked…odd. She almost looked like a knock-off of his cousin, save for the shape of her mane and the very different attitude she was carrying.

And then there was the problem that, even at this age, she was quite a big bigger than Blueblood.

“I thought you said we were all done with pranks!” Celestia said. “Why would you make me wear something that stupid?!”

Luna simultaneously giggled and sighed, her magic taking hold of the dress and levitating it over as she did so. “This is not meant as a jest, and I certainly do not wish to humiliate you, Celestia. But you are still a princess, and as such are still bound by our propriety. You must always make sure everything you do leaves the greatest impression possible on your subjects.”

She knelt down until she was eye level with Celestia. The newly-foaled Sun Princess recoiled slightly. “Just please, I want you to remain somewhat proper tonight. I know how much you hate dressing up for anything – and yes, I know about you going to the Grand Galloping Gala naked every year I was not there to force you to wear formal attire – but this is a special occasion. Lofty is your friend, and should you not try to look your best on her special day?”

Celestia sniffed, even as she fought back the urge to roll her eyes at her sister stealing another one of her speeches. “I guess you’re right. Just get it over with.”

Blueblood’s lower jaw almost snapped clean off. He had known his aunt his entire life, and she certainly had a silly and informal side to her, but not once had he ever seen her act as foalish as this. As an adult, she never threw fits or acted like a baby over something like a dress; in fact, she was the one that got him his first tuxedo, back when he wanted to pretend he was getting ready for the Grand Galloping Gala. Then where does this…

That was when he remembered what had happened back in the bathroom. Despite his years of refinement, he had completely lost control of his emotions, destroyed what ego he had remaining, and made a complete foal out of himself in front of his (current) peers. Perhaps that is a part of this spell. If it can remove all of my socialization experience, then it’s possible Aunt Celestia was affected the same way.

Celestia and Luna paid no heed to Blueblood’s hypothesizing; instead, the currently older pony was far too busy trying to get Celestia’s dress in place. As the neckline pulled itself over her head (pausing only to snag itself on her nub of a horn), the shrunken princess grimaced. “It still stinks, though. I doubt any other pony is making their kids wear something like this.”

“Aw, moooooom! Do I have to wear this?!”

Lofty’s hooves picked at the frilly purple dress, pulling at the wing holes and biting at the neckline in a vain attempt to remove the garment. All her struggled earned her was a gentle whap on the head from Ruby Dream. “That’s quite enough, little lady. I don’t want you shredding your clothes this year just because you don’t like your dress.”

“But how am I supposed to do anything in this?!” The filly’s biting and pulling grew ever more desperate as the dress continued to try and consume her dignity. “The stupid sleeves are chocking my front legs, the dumb back keeps getting caught on my back hooves, and why’d you have to make it purple and why are you doing this to me don’t you love me anymore mom mom mom are you…”

Lofty’s whiny cries ceased as a loud crash echoed from the direction of the family wagon. A Pegasus stallion slowly emerged from beneath a dozen metal boxes and barrels, his cream-yellow coat stained from leaking fruit punch. Once she was certain he was alive and relatively uninjured, Ruby facehoofed at her dear husband’s stupidity. “I told you, Vantage! We needed to fix the latch on that gate weeks ago!”

Vantage rubbed his bruised face, failing to even notice his daughter galloping up to him as best she could in this dress. “Daddy, are you all right?!”

The stallion shrugged, his back finally snapping back into place in the process. “Hmph, it’ll take more than a few stupid boxes to take down this old pony!” Lofty’s concerned frown turned into a gleeful smile as her super-strong father’s continued survival. He was even nice enough to fake a pulled muscle as he staggered away from the mess.

Sighing, Ruby walked away from the picnic tables and party decorations she had just set up (which consisted of a single cheap tablecloth, some party flags, and a few blowers and paper hats) and joined her still-groaning husband at the wreck. “I wish you wouldn’t use the same boxes from work, dear. There’s no need to carry chips and gummy worms inside metal boxes.”

“Nonsense!” the stallion shouted. “Wood can break with one bad bump, cardboard isn’t worth anything, and stuff would fall right through a cage! But solid steel is unbreakable, can withstand a fire, and could take out a rampaging manticore if need be!” He shrank back a little. “And besides, they were selling them cheap at work.”

“Hello, there!”

The three ponies spun about towards the oncoming voices, the filly’s smile growing wide as she saw who was coming. A pair of Earth ponies, one a brown stallion and the other a peach mare, were trotting up to the small party area, a massive rectangular object on their backs. Beneath them, however, was the true cause of Lofty’s elation: a bouncing purple package tied with green ribbon.

Lofty barely managed to resist the urge to lick her lips in anticipation. It was the first present of the day.

Oh, and Ribbon was carrying it. That was nice, too.

The advancing family was soon upon the party grounds themselves, the birthday pony’s heart skipping with every clop of their hooves. Vantage quickly motioned the two adults towards one of the far tables, while Ribbon handed her gift over to Ruby for storage. “Happy birthday, Lofty!”

“Oh, it’s so great that you made it!” Lofty leaped onto her friend, grabbing her in an iron-tight hug and holding on for a good ten seconds. Ribbon exhaled a sigh of relief as her friend finally stopped trying to choke her. “So did you see the cake? What’s it look like?”

Ribbon shook her head. “Nah, mom didn’t let me near it. She said I’d spoil the surprise.”

A mischievous smile spread across Lofty’s lips as her eyes turned towards the far table. There, in the preordained “Adult” section of her party, sat what could only be her birthday cake. Her father and Ribbon’s parents, father Pumpernickel and mother Sourdough, were busy setting up metal kegs of some kind, no doubt filled with the mommies-and-dadies-only kind of cider they drank sometimes. Ruby, meanwhile, was taking the present with her to join them, no doubt to keep it well guarded from the filly’s desperate urge to discover what her friends gave her without having to deal with cake and ice cream.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Lofty and Ribbon snapped their heads around to find Buttons and Gusty standing next to them, having snuck across the grass like miniature ninjas. Behind them was Button’s mother Seamstress, a lavender Unicorn levitating a pair of gift bags next to her side. Lofty quickly repeated the same attempted ponyslaughter she had pulled on Ribbon only moments before with her new friends, who felt just as relieved to have survived their Pegasus friend’s judo grip. The filly’s elation soon turned to confusion, however. “Wait, where’s your parents, Gusty?”

“Dad had to go to a rehearsal, and mom decided Mrs. Seamstress could take me.” Gusty huffed. “She said my grounding won’t begin until I get back from here.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Seamstress. She leaned over and gave Buttons an affectionate nuzzle. “Today is a party, and you four should be having fun with your friends. The real world can wait a few hours.” In a flash, the mare’s smile turned into a pained grimace. “That bitter, cruel real world…”

“Um…mom? Y-You’re hurting me.”

Snapping back to reality at her daughter’s words, Seamstress gasped and lifted her hoof away in a hurry. Buttons rubbed the top of her head in aggravation, briefly crossing her eyes at her mother. “Oh…sorry. Well, you four have fun. If you need me, I’ll be sampling the cider.” And with that, she quickly cantered away to booze herself up.

“Well…that was strange,” said Lofty.

“She wasn’t always like that,” Buttons muttered sadly, “but after she lost her last job, she’s been really…different. Whatever her boss did to her must have been real bad.”

Lofty opened her mouth to speak again, but was silenced by the sound of fluttering wings. She peeked up over her friend’s heads just in time to catch a several Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth ponies of all ages coming closer. She could recognize a lot of them from her class, as well as a few ponies she was acquainted with from her neighborhood, but that wasn’t important.

What was important were the big, shiny boxes and bags they were carrying with them.

Lofty’s smile only grew as sweet, sweet greed took over her mind. This is gonna be the best birthday ever!

Blueblood stared at the park in utter confusion. The party was obviously still gathering, with more and more ponies arriving with brightly-colored packages perched on their backs and in their mouths. At the same time, though, there were so many things missing. Where are the announcers and greeters? And what of the servants? Who will show everypony to their seats? How can anypony call this a party?

“Come on, Leon!” Blueblood shook his head vigorously enough for his eyes to rattle for seconds afterwards. Celestia was already standing several steps in front of him, the filly glowering and waving impatiently. They had already lost time thanks to Blueblood having to stop by the toy store to pick up his gift, and she seemed to not want to accommodate any further delays. Luna, meanwhile, was still hidden under her massive cloak in the vain hopes of avoiding a massive rush of curious citizens and bewildered ponies. Given the strange looks she was getting from everypony that passed, she wasn’t succeeding very well.

Celestia stamped her hoof in frustration, once again sending Blueblood’s heart skipping in surprise at her filly behavior. “We’re not gonna get our groove on all the way out here!”

Blueblood cocked an eyebrow, spat out the gift bag that was between his teeth, and groaned. “‘Our groove on?’ Where did a pony like you learn such language?”

Celestia shrugged. “Just something I picked up somewhere.”

Luna sighed and slammed rubbed her temples with one hoof. “Such language is fine right now, but please be careful once you get back to court. I highly doubt our advisors would understand your…modern vernacular. Now let’s get going.”

Blueblood nodded, picked up his gift, and resumed trotting towards the party.

By the time the party’s last attendees had arrived, things were in full swing. A few of the parents, Ruby included, were trotting about the crowd of fillies and colts, keeping an eye on the party’s proceedings. The rest of the adults had sequestered themselves in a corner of the park, sipping on drinks and chatting away about their daily lives, how wonderful their children were, and how hard it was to resist the urge to throttle their little necks from time to time. As for the foals themselves, they were simply running around, playing “Pin The Tale on the Donkey” on a board Lofty’s parents had set up, or just fooling around with their noisemakers.

The sight of so many ponies, many of whom probably hated him on principle, was enough to make Blueblood freeze up again. His eyes darted about, looking for any means of escape, but cold inevitability eventually reared its ugly face again. After what happened yesterday, he had to own up to his mistakes and be the better pony. And besides, Aunt Luna would probably turn me into a slug if I ran.

Lofty looked up from the most intense game of Go Fish ever devised by ponykind at the sound of the new arrivals, and the smile that followed almost broke her entire face. With a scream of pure glee, she jumped to her hooves, leaped over the play area and her friends, and galloped up to the party entrance. Celestia smiled back just as her friend plowed right into her like an out-of-control milk cart, sending both sharp-dressed fillies tumbling to the ground.

“Oh, I can’t believe you really made it!” Lofty said. “I mean, mom said you would probably be very busy and there was no way you could get over here but…” She paused to catch her breath. “Wow!”

The real filly and the temporary filly wrapped their forehooves together in a warm hug. “I wouldn’t have missed this for all the tea in Canterlot,” Celestia whispered.

Ribbon, Gusty and Buttons slowly walked over in confusion. “Hey…Lofty?” asked Ribbon. “Who is this?”

Lofty’s eyes suddenly burst open as she remembered her regular friends were still there. The yellow Pegasus turned about, one leg still wrapped around Celestia’s neck, and gave as big a grin as her two loose baby teeth would allow. “Fillies, this is…um…” She paused as Celestia whispered something in her ear. “Sunlight! And she’s come…all the way here from…far away to…um… Did I mention she’s a princess?!”

Somewhere within the party, a record needle scratched, several dozen ponies gasped in unison, a low-flying bird slammed into a bell after being distracted by shock, and a few million blades of grass seemed to shake in spite of their not being so much as a light breeze. Lofty’s friends in particular just stared at the newcomer, their mouths hanging open like they were in a dentist’s chair.

Celestia blushed and shied away. “Um…hello?”

All three of the stunned fillies had the exact same reaction. “P-P-PRINCESS?!”

“Yeah, we met back when mom took me to the castle!” Lofty finally released her last leg from around Celestia’s head and brought both forehooves up to mouth level. “She’s just about one of the most best ponies out there, and since she was back in town today, I…”

“Um…hello…”

Lofty’s brain snapped at the new, male voice. With a look of pure consternation, she turned to face the utterly downtrodden Blueblood. “Um…hi. I…didn’t know you were gonna make it.”

“I didn’t, either,” he sighed. “But…really, it’s…well…happy birthday.”

“Y-Yeah,” Lofty muttered awkwardly. Ribbon and Buttons trotted up to the colt a bit more warmly, their happy faces and welcoming smiles standing in sharp contrast to the unsure coldness of the birthday filly’s own greeting. As for Gusty, she just looked more than a little ashamed at herself right now. “A-Anyway, I hope you both have fun, and…” She raised an eye at the recently-noticed adult pony standing behind them. “And who is that?!”

“LOFTY!”

Lofty shuddered and spun around towards her mom. Ruby’s hooves were just pulling away from a large bowl of chips. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No, mom!” Lofty shouted back. “Sunlight just got here, and…”

To this day, nopony knows exactly how fast Ruby moved. Some say she could have pulled off another Sonic Rainboom if she had just stayed at it a little longer. Others say she seemed to just vanish for a moment, with only a red blur to note that she even still existed. The more sensible ponies, however, just skipped to the part where she was standing right in front of one of her bosses and shaking her tiny hoof. “Oh, thank you so much for coming! I just knew that you could find time for this party if we just let you know.”

Lofty scratched her chin. “Wait, that’s not what happened. Remember? You said she would be faaar too busy to come to my party and I shouldn’t even bother inviting her?”

“Um…well…” Ruby chuckled nervously as Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “I…I didn’t say it quite like that, but…well, I’m just really glad you made it!” She bowed to her shrunken monarch.

Buttons rolled her eyes towards Ribbon. “Can you believe this? She’s gonna steal the whole party, I just know it.”

Ribbon shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, she did screw up that one stallion’s life, but that really doesn’t count as a party.” She turned towards the still-distraught Blueblood. “Hey, Leon! You wanna go play ‘Duck, duck, goose?’”

“Leon?!” Ruby’s head shot up towards the small colt. “Oh, so you must be the new pony Lofty’s talked about! I have really been looking forward to…meeting…YOU!”

The mare’s eyes receded into the back of her skull as a tiny, almost inaudible squeak slowly ran up and out her larynx. Blueblood just shrank even closer to the ground as he watched Ruby’s coat grow paler from the sheer horror of it all. Apparently, she remembered him, too. “Um…hello?”

“Y-You’re…”

The hooded adult sighed and pulled back her hood, revealing the face of Princess Luna herself. Everything in the party stopped in an instant, as did Ruby’s heart and brain. The Night Mare blushed and rubbed her snout nervously. “Miss Dream, I believe I must explain a few things. If you wouldn’t mind accompanying me…”

Before Ruby could say anything, Luna had already wrapped her entire body with her magic and was escorting her off the grounds. Everypony else just watched the spectacle in silent awe.

“W-Wow…” whispered Gusty. “Two princesses and a fight already? This is the best party ever.”

Fortunately for Luna and her attendant, the Canterlot Central Park was surrounded at all sides by dark alleyways and alcoves, making their escape and angry whispers far easier to pull off. By the time the two had found a suitable alleyway, the rage on Ruby’s face was palpable. “Princess Luna, what is going on here? Are you telling me that…thing that attacked Lofty is the same student she was complaining about?”

Luna shrugged, readjusting the hood of her cloak as she did so. “I am afraid so. Celestia has been sending him to Kindergarten as part of a rehabilitation program. So far, I do not believe it is working as she had hoped.”

Ruby’s breaths became lower and deeper, her coat darkening until it almost took the consistency of dried blood. She bowed her head to the ground as her rage towards Luna, Celestia, and the entirety of the cosmos began to take hold over her mind. “Then I need to start working on getting her out of there! You have a seat on the city’s Board of Education! Just give me the paperwork and I’ll get her in a new school so fast that-”

The mare’s panicked ranting ceased as a single, starry-horseshoed hoof clasped down on her shoulder. Ruby looked up just enough to see her employer’s eyes. “Ruby Dream, I can promise you that your daughter is not in danger. Blueblood might me a fool, but he is almost completely harmless as it is.”

“B-But…” Ruby’s teeth clenched together so hard they resembled pearly white prison bars. “He…He tried to hit my Lofty. And what about when he tried to attack Princess Celestia when we were turning her back to normal. How can you possibly justify leaving my daughter in the same school as him?”

Luna nodded, and then motioned her head towards the party. Ruby slowly followed the invisible hoof to where her daughter was standing. Lofty was still playing with some of her friends and classmates, while Celestia watched excitedly and Blueblood just looked on in silence. “Like I said, Blueblood is harmless right now. He knows he has to remain on Celestia’s good side if he wishes to return to normal. Is it worth forcing your daughter to give up her friendships just so she can get away from a broken pony like my nephew?”

Ruby was silent at first. Then, she snorted and shook her head. “I…I guess not…”

“I already have plans in place to get him banished forever,” Luna said with a wink. “For now, however, please take my word when I say that Lofty is in no danger.” Her smile grew as she removed her hoof from her attendant’s shoulder. “The three of us are only staying until after the cake is served and presents are opened. We shall just keep an eye on him during that time, and should he do something wrong, you and I shall make him pay dearly. What say you to this?”

Luna extended a hoof towards her attendant. Ruby’s eyes locked onto the sparkly ungulate shoe as a thousand different voices burned their way through her mind. It all seemed so easy, and yet felt so wrong. Lofty was her everything, and yet she knew Princess Luna could be trusted. She was still new in Canterlot; all this political backstabbing and maneuvering wasn’t for another five or six pay grades. And yet, Blueblood had tried to attack her daughter, and bad colts deserved to be punished.

Her decision was made. She gently clapped her hoof against Luna’s, being careful not to try and cause the moon’s steward any undue winces. “We’ll see how he acts today. But if he does anything wrong, I will do anything I have to do to protect Lofty. Understood?”

Luna nodded. “Very well. Now, shall we return before they suspect us of wrongdoing? I can only see a wonderful experience from this party.”

“So…Princess Sunlight is your niece?” Sourdough asked while scratching the back of her head.

Luna nodded. “It is a rather lengthy relation, but yes, she and I are of the same blood.”

Seamstress slowly drank down her paper cup of cider, making doubly sure not to spill a drop lest she find herself rotting away in a prison for disturbing the mighty Luna’s sense of propriety. “And Leon?”

Luna sighed and rolled her eyes. “Like I said, his mother works at the castle. She was sick today, so I offered to escort him to the party and back. Just because I brought him here doesn’t mean he’s actually related to us.” She took another sip. “But…surely there is something else we can discuss here? I have answered the same two questions eight times already.”

The adults moaned and looked about each other like a pack of field mice about to be swooped upon by a passing owl. Luna, meanwhile, stretched her lips into a smile as best she could, even if her muscles felt more like thin wooden beams trying to hold up a stone ceiling. “I…suppose that qualifies as a ‘no,’ then.”

One of the Pegasus adults’ heads suddenly perked up. “Say, did any of you hear that one about the donkey and the mule on the desert island? So, a donkey and a mule…”

The joke died as quickly as it began as one of the other adults gave her a hard kick to the hips. The Pegasus recoiled, only to meet with a look of disgust and a zipping motion from the offending parent. Luna floated her drink down and walked up to the two, a look of pure confusion/disdain on her face. “What is going on here?”

The kicker froze in terror, with only the slightest chuckle to hint at the madness swelling within her brain. “Well..I…Ah…You see, that joke is rather…risqué for such an occasion, and with a pony like you attending, well…”

To the pony’s eternal surprise, however, Luna smiled and chuckled. “You have nothing to worry about. Bawdy humor was not invented during my thousand-year banishment. For example, my sister once told me a story about a…” She suddenly paused as a pair of foals came rushing by, blowing noisemakers in each other’s ears to see who could go deaf first. “…Actually, you were right. This really is not the right place for such talk.”

Everypony nodded, agreed, and then returned to the awkward silence. Luna sighed and sipped her fruit punch, but by this point the taste of mangos and strawberries mixed together brought her little joy. Yet again, she was at a party and nopony was willing to talk to her. Just like every other party in my…

“Excuse me, Princess Luna?”

The blue Alicorn’s ears perked up and twisted towards the source of this new voice. It didn’t take long for her invisible sonar to finally pinpoint the brave pony that wished to speak to her. It was a Pegasus stallion, with a coat of a similar color to Lofty’s and a jack-in-the-box for a Cutie Mark. A smile crept across her face. At long last, actual pony contact!

Sensing a willing audience, the stallion grinned and straightened the plaid saddlebags on his back. “I’m Lofty’s uncle, and would you like to hear about my thriving gag business?”

And in an instant, all of Luna’s newfound joy evaporated.

Blueblood stared up at the paper-and-cardboard dragon in bewilderment. “So, what is the point of this again?”

Gusty gave the one reaction she knew for that kind of question: she groaned and slammed her hoof hard into her face. “Are you seriously telling me you have never seen a piñata before? It’s the most important thing at any birthday!” She paused and scratched her chin. “No wait, that’s presents. Well, it’s the second most…no, that’s cake. I…I know it’s important.”

“It’s actually a fun game,” said Buttons. Gusty sighed as her more brainy friend took over the conversation, thereby saving everypony within the vicinity from her oncoming conniption. “We just take a big stick and try to break it open. There’s a whole bunch of candy in there, and once somepony smashes it, it’ll all pour out on the ground.”

Blueblood recoiled a few steps in surprise. “You mean…we’re eating off the ground?”

“I know!” shouted Celestia. “Isn’t it just exciting?!”

Vantage finished tying the piñata’s rope to the stake, double checked to make sure it was low enough for the younger ponies to reach, and then clapped his hooves together in victory. “Alright, kids! Everypony that wants a whack at the dragon line up behind the birthday filly!”

Lofty yelped out in glee and galloped up to her father so fast she left clumps of grass and soil behind in her wake. The other fillies and colts were quick to join in, save for a few that were forbidden from ever handling a club again, with Celestia and Blueblood taking up positions in the middle of the line. The Sun Princess was practically skipping from her excitement, while the fallen prince remained as sullen and withdrawn as he had been all day.

Vantage pulled out a black bandana, rolled it up into a blindfold, and then tied it around his daughter’s eyes. “Now, we all know the rules, right? Once I put the blindfold on and spin you around, everypony gets three whacks at the dragon. Now remember, no swinging at anypony else, no trying to sneak in a fourth hit, and above all else, have fun!”

His opening speech finished, Vantage grabbed Lofty by her sides and spun her three times in a perfect circle before placing the stick in her mouth. The filly, now completely disoriented and running blind, stumbled forward a few steps before jumping up and swinging with all her might three times. Her first blow managed to wing the papier-mâché beast underneath the left foreleg, but the other two attacks went wide and only served to lighten the tree by a few strips of bark. Her failed assault concluded, Lofty took off the fold, set down the stick, and trotted off to the sidelines to wait for the candy to fall.

Next up was a pudgy little Earth pony colt. He took a few swings, missed every time, and then trotted away in shame.

Then it was Ribbon’s turn to bat. She licked her lips, grabbed the stick, and swung like a madpony at that horrid monstrosity. Unfortunately, she was facing the wrong direction in all the confusion, and by the time she had finished her three swings, she had succeeded only in scaring away a few pigeons and causing a picnic table to nudge about one-quarter of an inch to the side.

Celestia barely held back a chuckle as the blue filly removed her blindfold, smiled proudly at her wanton destruction, and then trotted away to join the others. With much gusto in her voice, she leaned her head back until she was able to at least see the top of Blueblood’s head. “At this rate, it’ll be up to us to take this thing down! You up for a little dragon slaying, Leon?”

Blueblood’s only response was to give a disinterested shrug.

Celestia’s exuberance at reliving her days fighting fearsome beasts for the souls of all of ponydom were quickly washed away at the sight of her nephew’s frustration. He used to just walk things like what happened yesterday off like nothing happened. I don’t want to be mean here, but he needs to have a little fun…

“…And so you see, the novelty business is booming all over Equestria.” The Pegasus stallion took another sip of disgustingly non-foamy cider as Luna continued to feign interest. “In fact, I even brought one of my new items with me. I thought I’d give it a try during the party, see how the kids like it.”

“I…see,” Luna muttered. She took another long, slow sip of punch, taking extra care to extend how long it took her to actually swallow. Whatever it took to help send the message that she was not interested in showing favor to somepony’s business without yelling at him. “I suppose a juvenile audience would be the perfect market for such things. What, exactly, is this new item of yours?”

Gusty smiled as she witnessed the damage she had caused. The poor beast’s underbelly had been struck so many times that the cracks were beginning to show. Tiny pieces of candy trickled out like blood from an open wound, all of which she quickly scooped up in a paper bag Ruby and Vantage had provided. At the very least, it would help tide her over during her imprisonment.

Celestia clapped her hooves together as she finally took her place at the front of the line. She marched into position with all the pomp of a mare at her first Gala, tempered by the steel nerve of a master dragon slayer. Vantage gulped down a big ball of fearful air as he carefully tied the blindfold over the Princess’ face. “N-Now, are you sure Princess Luna won’t be upset with you swinging around a bat? It doesn’t really sound like a…princess-y activity.”

The filly grumbled at the sheer…stereotyping of it all. “She’ll be fine. Just spin me around and let me finish this thing off.”

The stallion dug into his saddlebags and pulled out a small, sealed cardboard tube, which he then set down on the Earth below. “It’s safe to assume you’re at least familiar with noise makers and firecrackers?”

Luna nodded as she slowly inched her head closer, if only to smack him with her horn and get him to leave.

“Well, firecrackers are wonderful and all, but they’re incredibly dangerous and, well, illegal in almost every corner of Equestria. So I figured, why not make something that makes the sound of those death sticks without any risk of blowing somepony’s hoof off?”

Luna sipped her punch again, her horn now inches away from his nose. “I see.”

Celestia staggered up to the dragon like a drunk and made her first swing. The bat slammed into the cardboard side of the dragon, widening the crack and causing more candy to start falling. Her second blow struck home yet again, sending even more sugary entrails sprawling on the dirty floor. The foals around her bit their hooves in anticipation, while Lofty bent over, wings extended, for the big rush…

“And now…” The stallion reared up on his hind legs, a scowl of determination on his face. “The sound of the first Thundercracker!”

In the approximately 1.3 seconds it took for his hooves to strike down, Luna had just barely enough time to realize what he had said, what this noise was going to be, and just in how many ways her sister was in trouble.

Celestia reared up for her last swing, pitched her head to the side, and finally began to twist her neck for the fatal blow…

And then she heard it. The one noise she could spend an entire lifetime without.

Thunder.

The sound exploded through her ears, rattling through her brain before nestling deep within the deep, dark recesses of her mind. Thousands upon thousands of years of horrible, terrified memories surged to the forefront of her imagination. She could feel the icy tendrils of cold, unrelenting terror slip over her body and worm its way around every inch of her being, leaving a cold, slimy sweat behind in its wake.

The darkness of the blindfold did not help matters much, either.

Celestia screamed and hunched to the ground, her tiny little forelegs wrapping around her head like a makeshift security helmet. So quick was her shutdown that she was still in the middle of her swing when the disaster struck, sending the bat flying from her opened mouth at a terribly fast speed. The club missed the piñata entirely, glanced its handle against the tree trunk, bounced off the tree trunk, and came right back towards the pony that had dared to toss it aside.

Unfortunately for the bat, its target was still hanging low to the ground. Even more unfortunately for the pony right behind Celestia, Blueblood’s head was still facing downward in his self-pity. Vantage tried to gallop up to catch it, but his initial shock at what sounded like an explosion from the adult’s area slowed him down just enough for the bat to make contact with Blueblood’s forehead.

If nothing else, the sudden jolt was enough to snap Blueblood out of his funk and back into reality. That is, until his hooves felt the massive bump now residing on his noggin. Adult and foal like immediately broke from whatever they were doing and raced to the scene of the assault, where Celestia was still cowering and Blueblood was still stunned from the pain.

“Oh Celestia, are you okay?”

“Leon, you alright?”

“It was an accident!”

Blueblood simply sat there for a few moments more, his features still frozen in catatonia from the sheer surprise of it all. After enough blood had flowed to his brain for him to properly digest what had occurred, he reacted exactly like an injured colt would.

He started bawling.

Blueblood winced from the sheer coldness of the ice pack pressing against his skull, prompting a sigh from Luna. “If you would not fidget so much, this would go much easier.”

The colt sniffled back a few more tears. Even now, with he, Celestia and Luna safely secluded away from the rest of the party, he could still feel the shame from his latest public humiliation. His now-regressed aunt pressed her hoof against the pack, turning her eyes to her sister as she did so. “If you don’t mind, Luna, I’d like a moment alone with Leon. Would you mind keeping an eye out in case anypony else gets too close?”

Luna started to mouth an objection, but finally gave in and trotted far enough away to remain out of earshot, and still close enough to watch for any onlookers and bystanders that might wander by. Once she was sure the coast was clear, Celestia sighed and gaze Blueblood a short nuzzle along the side of his face. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t expect anypony to bring something like…that to a party.”

Blueblood let out a sharp cough. “It’s…all right. I’ve been hit harder than that before.”

“Why didn’t you just try to dodge? It’s not like it was going a thousand miles an hour or anything.”

“Because…” He leaned his head low. “Because it doesn’t matter. I’ve already wasted my whole life. What’s a little more pain on top of that?”

Celestia’s brow creased in worry. “You might want to start at the top.”

“Yesterday, I started thinking…bad things.” Blueblood gulped and chocked back a few tears. “This morning I…I broke into one of the old archive rooms and…looked through some of the tomes you’d left behind.”

“You really shouldn’t have done that.” Celestia shook her head as she sat down on her haunches, her hoof still firmly pressed against Blueblood’s head bump. “You’re already in enough trouble as it is, and I don’t recall giving you permission to enter such forbidden chambers as that.”

Blueblood shook his head, sending Celestia’s leg swinging along with it. “I found something that went over the old Unicornia traditions, the same ones you had gotten rid of centuries ago. My parents told me that they were all wonderful laws and customs meant to make sure that everypony knew their place in society and dissent was punished. They wanted me to bring those same traditions back.”

Celestia looked down at the ground; no matter how hard she tried, she found it harder and harder to look her nephew in the eye. “Yes, I know. And their parents were the exact same. The past always does look romantic when you didn’t have to live through all that muck and mire.” With great effort, she turned back to Blueblood, who was on the verge of tears again. “But what does that have to do with today?”

“Do you know what I saw in that thing?!” He gasped and coughed as hot water streamed down his cheeks. “The book said that an entire village was slaughtered down to a pony because a noble said they owned the land the ponies lived on and he wanted to grow more wheat. It…It described everything! That…thing loved it!” Blueblood let out a low wail and hunched over, sending the ice pack sliding down to the dirty ground. “The land…wasn’t even his. He lied the whole time.”

“I know what you’re talking about,” Celestia said sadly. She leaned over, picked the pack up with her teeth, spat it into her hoof, and then placed it back on Blueblood’s head as best she could. “Baron Starlight was a monster. Were it not for Luna’s investigation, he would have never been found out.”

Blueblood’s sobs only intensified. His eyes were clamped so tight his entire face was in agony. “They didn’t tell me any of that. They didn’t tell me how those stupid laws could be misused! All they did was…was…I wanted to burn a village down! It was fine, because they told me we were free to do whatever was needed to maintain order! I…I…I wanted to kill an entire settlement because of a DANCE!”

At long last, the dam finally burst. Blueblood crumpled onto the ground in a fetal position, his body twisting in a pathetic display of broken tears and crushed spirits. Celestia gasped and bit her bottom lip, her eyes darting back and forth as she desperately tried to think of something, anything, she could do to calm her despairing nephew down again. It was right in the middle of his fifteen rack of sobs that she finally came up with something.

She laid herself next to Blueblood’s back, making sure to stay away from his hooves in case he started kicking. “I want you to listen to me. Just…please, listen to me.”

Blueblood’s tears and cries continued, but his convulsions at least seemed to cease at Celestia’s voice. Even with a much higher pitch in her voice, he could still pick out something calmingly familiar in her words. For the first time almost two decades, there was no sign of disapproval or dismissal. It was all so…comforting.

Seeing the positive feedback from her opening approach, Celestia continued. “Now, I know these last few days have been a shock to you, and it must seem like this was all my plan. But that’s not true. I wanted you to learn from all this, to make yourself a better pony. I never intended to…crush you quite like this.”

Blueblood’s nerves cooled even further, his sobs now reducing down to a few streaks of tears and some chokes. “B-But…if I wasn’t such a…”

“Your parents taught you a lot of half-truths and misinformed beliefs about those old beliefs and ideas they worshipped. And even after I told you they weren’t correct, you refused to break with them and turn yourself away from becoming the same pony they became.” She sighed. “You made a lot of terrible decisions, Blueblood, and you will have to come to terms with that, but that doesn’t mean you have to just close yourself off from the world.”

“Who cares?” Blueblood sniffed. “Nopony would even care that I’m gone. The ponies in court only tolerated me because I was your nephew! The foals out there all think I’m a crybaby! Even your friend Lofty wants to beat on my face because I’m such a monster!”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak again, perhaps even refute his assertions about Lofty and face-beating, but quickly shifted the subject. “Just…please, promise me you’ll…”

“Um…excuse me?”

Blueblood and Celestia both tore their attention away from their private moment just in time to see Gusty emerge from the bushes, one of the candy bags from the piñata smashing clutched in her mouth. She slowly sat herself on her haunches and placed the bag on the ground, looking about as low as Blueblood at this moment. “Hi, Leon. I…thought I’d bring you some of the candy. Buttons…really tore into that dragon.”

Only because I did all the work. Celestia’s ears suddenly went erect with fear. “Wait…how much did you hear? What happened to Aunt Luna?”

“She went back to the other grown-ups,” Gusty said. “And…can I please talk to Leon alone? I really need to do something here.”

Celestia and Blueblood looked down at each other briefly. The colt’s eyes were wide and pleading, and for a moment Celestia almost relented. And then she got another idea. “Actually...I need to talk to Aunt Luna about something. I guess I’ll leave you two alone.” And with that, she galloped away before either pony could say anything else.

Blueblood reared up on his haunches and wiped his eyes. “Wh-What do you want?”

Gusty sighed. “I’m really, really, really sorry I broke your snow globe.”

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “I thought we talked about that yesterday. You said you were sorry, I said I was sorry, and that was it.”

“No, it’s not.” Gusty shook her head sadly. “Mom told me last night that just saying you’re sorry isn’t enough. You have to really, really mean it. And I just wanted you to know that I really, really mean it. So…we’re still friends, right?”

“I…I think we are,” Blueblood said, his voice hushed. “I…I never really had a friend like you, so I don’t know if that’s how it works.”

Gusty gasped. She had never realized just how deep her friend’s problems really ran. “B-But you still sounded so sad all day. It looked like you didn’t even want to have fun. And that’s why Celestia invented birthday parties!”

Blueblood hung his head, just barely fighting off the urge to share the story of Luna’s first birthday party. “It’s…It’s not your fault. I just had a lot of things go wrong, and…”

“And were you crying just now?”

Blueblood’s head shot up so fast it almost became completely dislodged from the rest of his body. “Y-You heard that?”

“Well, not all of it.” Gusty hunched over even further, as if to bury her head in the dirt. “I heard something about you doing some bad things, but I didn’t really hear anything else.” She motioned her nose towards the bag. “Look, I brought some of the candy from the piñata. I even grabbed some of the jawbreakers before Lofty’s mom started hiding them.”

Blueblood just stared at the bag for a few more moments before finally walking over, his head still hunched over to cover as much evidence of his crying as possible. Once he was about a body’s length away, he sat down on his haunches, reached into the bag, and clumsily pulled out a single orange jawbreaker. Gusty did the same, only with a watermelon-flavored hard candy. After a few more tense seconds, both foals tossed their respective treats into their mouths.

In an instant, it all made sense to Blueblood. Sugar flowed through every inch of his blood, sending him off to a state of pure euphoria. Even better, he was with somepony that actually seemed to actually want to be friends with him, and not just so they could use him to pull themselves up the social ladder. For just that moment, his self-doubts and hatred seemed to wash away.

From the other side of the bushes, Celestia smiled. Congratulations, Blueblood. You’re starting to figure it out. Now it’s time I did something to help…

Luna glanced back at the bushes, just in case an angry Alicorn filly discovered a boomerang in the underbrush and lobbed it at her head. Granted, abandoning the two to their fate wasn’t the best thing she could have done, but she was still able to see them. Besides, Celestia is better qualified to console Blueblood. I will let her have her fun, and if need be will just return like nothing had happened and sort this matter out.

“Um…Princess Luna?”

Luna turned slightly to her right to find Ruby standing there, slowly refilling her mug with cider. “Is ‘Leon’ okay?”

“He shall be fine,” Luna replied. “Foals always get scraped and minor injuries. Learning to work through them is just a part of growing up.”

“I know, but…when he was hit like that…” She sighed. “You know, I did kick him once, and I hated myself for it afterwards. I know he tried to hurt Lofty, but right now he really is just a colt.”

Luna shrugged and finished the contents of her drink container. “Nonetheless, he will be brought to justice for his crimes. I have no intentions of doing so while he is in this state, however. Trust me, your daughter shall be safe from monsters like him.”

Ruby’s mouth went slack. She couldn’t believe what was coming out of her princess’ lips. She had seen her unleash her wrath upon Blueblood only a few hours after assuming office, but that was when he was a slimy, manipulative adult. Now as a colt, he seemed…different. Nonetheless, she shrugged, downed her foamy cider, and wandered off to join the rest of the adults.

The Night Mare was just about to refill her cup when she felt something pull on her tail. Despite the sharp pain coming from her hindquarters, however, she still smiled as she thought of the pony that could be brash enough to perform such a thing. No doubt some brave little foal wants to speak to their fair princess, or they wish to prove their courage by confronting the fearsome Mistress of the Night. She took a sip as another tug came. Well, why leave my audience waiting?

She turned about…and her smile soon vanished as she saw Celestia spit out the tip of her tail. The befuddled stares of the other adults certainly failed to brighten Luna’s spirits. “Yes, Sunlight?”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, only to stop briefly to cough out the mouthful of stars she had accidentally swallowed. “Auntie Luna, would you please let me see my present? I think I misspelled something.”

Fillies and colts of all ages and sizes lined up at the table at the siren’s call of cake. Lofty herself took her position at the head, her wings extended and her mouth beaming like a devil at the thought of her oncoming treat. Behind them all, Ruby and Vantage lifted the cake up with heads and began to precariously carry it over, each hoof step being made with the upmost care and consideration. Luna, meanwhile, just sipped her fruit punch in consternation. I could have simply levitated it over. Why must our little ponies insist on doing things the difficult way?

Once they were both in position at the table, the mother and father slowly lowered themselves down until the cake platter was resting on the table itself. With every passing moment, Lofty’s anticipation for the sweet confection swelled, but it had nothing on Celestia’s. Indeed, were it not for Luna preemptively standing right above her and shaking her head, the Little Princess would have been the first one with her plate out.

Blueblood, on the other hoof, simply stared perplexed at the cake. He had seen plenty of such treats in his life, and had even been known to enjoy such sickeningly sweet treats on occasion. And yet, there was something decidedly different about this one. It’s so…square and plain. Where are the multiple layers? Why does this frosting look so flat and simplistic? I’ve never seen a cake like this.

Ruby reached down into her bags and pulled out a large candle shaped into the form of a number “6.” With a fast twist of the head, she plopped the candle into the center of the cake, while Vantage struck a match and lit the wick. After successfully putting out the burning stick in his mouth before he singed his tongue (again), everypony clapped their hooves together and broke into song:

♫ Happy birthday to you! ♫
♫ Happy birthday to you! ♫
♫ Happy birthday, dear Lofty! ♫
♫ Happy birthday to yooooooooou! ♫

Sensing her hidden cue, Lofty took a deep breath and blew hard on the candle. The flame’s brief moment of existence vanished like, for lack of a better term, a candle in the wind, and her successful victory over the stationary candle elected a round of stomps and claps alike. Pumpernickel and Seamstress started cutting away at opposite sides, trimming the cake into perfect squares for Sourdough, Vantage and Ruby to start placing on plates and passing out. Before long, every filly, colt and adult had a slice, with a couple of pieces still left for later.

Blueblood stared at his piece for a few moments, weighing his options for handling this new dessert he was being handed. All it took was the sight of his aunt’s plate, now completely empty of cake save for the massive blob of frosting and crumbs sticking to the fur around her mouth, to finally solidify exactly what he should do. He took in a deep breath, leaned over, and started munching as politely as he could, taking off a small chunk at a time until the whole slice was gone. By the time he was finished, every single other pony had long since swallowed theirs, leaving everypony to stare at the colt as he took his sweet time.

Once he was finally done, the party finally shifted to the most important part: the gifts.

Lofty’s squeal of glee echoed throughout the entire block as the adults slowly ferried the pile of presents over to the table for all to see. By the time Ruby handed her the first brightly-wrapped box, she was almost ready to start flying circles around the park. Her mouth was literally inches away from the box’s papery surface when her mother’s hoof plopped itself right in front of her face. “Not so fast, dear. You have to read who it’s from, first.”

Her greed temporarily stopped, Lofty groaned and turned to the small tag. “It’s from Ribbon.”

The blue Unicorn broke out a big smile at the sound of her name, along with some affectionate nuzzles from her parents. Now free to indulge in her vices, Lofty gripped the wrapping paper in her teeth and shredded every inch of it. Not even a ravenous Timberwolf could match the speed with which she revealed her illustrious, rectangle-shaped gift. She gasped with sheer joy as she stared at the cover. “The Amazing Amethyst Board Game?! This is so AWESOME!” She shook the box a few more times just to make sure it wasn’t a hallucination, then hugged it tightly against her. Everypony let out a stomp, even Blueblood, if only to belong.

And so the process continued. From Gusty, a baseball helmet. From Buttons, some colored pencils and coloring books. A few children’s books. A sweater. A few records. Some action figures. And of course, aviator goggles and jackets. Lots of aviator goggles and jackets. The snickers from the non-Pegasi was testament enough as to who thought that idea was funny.

Finally, the last two gifts remaining were Celestia’s and Blueblood’s. Despite her previous zeal, Lofty scratched her head in confusion as she tried to decide between the two. I can get Princess Celestia’s open first, but then I’d have to end it on stupid Blueblood’s. But if I open his now, I have to suffer through whatever dumb thing he got me.

“Um…Lofty?” asked Vantage. “You still have two presents left.”

Snapping back to reality, Lofty finally made her decision. She reached out and grabbed Celestia’s gift bag. She stuck one hoof into the top, sliding it along until the tape was all undone, and then turned the whole thing over. Once the tissue paper had finally fell out, a collection of various Daring-Do action figures slid onto the table. Lofty’s eyes lit up as she sifted through the various figures, ranging from the Super Action Derring to a few from the short-lived Hockey League series. By the time she turned to Celestia, her face was practically beaming with joy. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you! These are great!”

Blueblood, meanwhile, just watched the scene in total confusion. When he could take no more, he finally leaned towards Celestia and whispered, “Wait, I thought I got that for her.”

“You did,” she whispered back, “but after what happened back there, I switched my present with yours.”

“Why?”

All Celestia did was nod and wink, which usually amounted to, “Shut up and watch. It’ll all work out.” Sighing, Blueblood pulled himself back to his usual sitting position, if only to get a better view of Gusty giving Celestia the evil eye.

“And finally, we have Leon’s,” Lofty said in a low, unenthused voice. With all the muster of a tranquilized pony just about to have a root canal, she pulled the top open and lifted out a small, golden-framed photograph. “Oh look, a picture. How…”

Then she actually saw the photo. It was of a yellow, pink-maned Pegasus surrounded by a cadre of woodland critters, all of whom looked far happier about the picture than she. And there, in the very far corner, behind some wall-eyed pony that was hiding in the chicken coop, was her signature.

Fluttershy.

Every single nerve in Lofty’s brain went crazy instantaneously. She let out the happiest scream a newly-minted six-year-old could muster and fell straight to the ground. Her fanfillyism was so great that she couldn’t even keep her wings tucked in, and her parents’ attempts to calm her down only added fuel to the fire in her soul.

Blueblood’s jaw dropped as he saw the reaction to “his” gift. Celestia, meanwhile, just smiled and leaned back in smug victory. I’m so glad Twilight was able to convince her to do that. It was really wonderful that such a shy pony was willing to let herself be photographed for her princess’ friend.

Finally, after about three minutes of unrestrained insanity, Lofty calmed down enough to canter up to Blueblood and hug him. “Oh…THANK YOU! THIS IS THE GREATEST PRESENT ANYPONY HAS EVER GIVEN ME!”

“H-Happy to…oblidge…” Blueblood croaked.

The entire table exploded into a chorus of cheers, claps and stomps. Even Ruby and Vantage seemed to smile at the colt’s thoughtful gift, even as the mother of the family still regarded him with a small measure of suspicion. In fact, the only pony that wasn’t celebrating was Luna, who just knew that her letting Celestia look at those presents caused this.

Celestia smiled and winked at Blueblood again. Another job well done.

By the time they had reached the palace, Celestia was just barely coming down from all the sugar she had consumed, as she succumbed more and more to the oncoming hangover with every passing step. Luna, meanwhile, was simply happy to be out of that awkward situation and back to far simpler tasks like ruling a country. Blueblood himself was just so tired that he trotted off to his room without even being asked.

The colt let out a small yawn, then climbed onto his bed and stared out the window. He couldn’t make out much of anything from this room, especially after the Pegasus guards had bolted new bars to keep him from escaping again, but through just a tiny corner of the frame he could see the ponies of Canterlot trotting about their merry business like they had not a care in the world. Well, they obviously had something in the world to care about, or they wouldn’t have been out and about like that, but all that was beside the point.

Blueblood leaned down against the windowsill, his thoughts inevitably returning to the day’s events. Well…that wasn’t too bad, besides me losing it again. But what did Aunt Celestia think that picture would…

His eyes widened as realization slinked its way through his brain. Wait…that’s it! I have to abandon the ways of my parents! I must be the EXACT OPPOSITE of the Blueblood of old! THAT will get me back to normal!

He slinked back on his bed. But that won’t solve everything. I need to find something to get me started. Somepony that can show me how to grow beyond the pony I am…

Luna was about halfway through the latest reports from the Royal Treasury when a wisp of smoke slowly made its way through the window. After a few seconds of twirling in front of her, the sparkly construct merged together in a bright flash before transforming into a scroll. Her telekinesis went to work almost immediately, snagging the scroll before it could touch the ground and unfurling it in one swift motion:

“Your Royal Highness Princess Luna,

I simply cannot express how overjoyed I am with your request, and have already finished a whole ensemble for your approval. I know you only ordered one dress, but a royal pony such as you cannot possibly have a wardrobe that does not match perfectly, right? I even managed to procure some wonderful shadowsilk from all the way in Neighpon, and hoofmade the gold silk myself. I have followed your exact measurements to the letter, and I am certain you will love these.

I shall be bringing the dresses to Canterlot by train tonight, and should be at the castle mid-tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to show you everything I have created.

- Rarity,
Carousel Boutique of Ponyville"

An evil grin spread across Luna’s face. She could tell from their last encounter that Rarity and Blueblood had a history, one that she could exploit, and all she had to do was put the two together. I hope you enjoyed the party, Blueblood, because after tomorrow you will be wishing you had never been born.

Chapter Eight: The Prince, The Bully, The Captain and His Lover

Blueblood’s morning routine pretty much trudged on as usual. He performed his morning exercises with the guards, received his usual scolding from Shining Armor, washed away the copious amount of sweat he had accumulated doing said exercises, and finally groomed himself as best he could. He brushed his mane, flattened his coat, and finally scrubbed his teeth. All in all, it was a very typical start to the day, at least since he had been cursed.

And then he reached the breakfast table.

To his amazement, there was no sign of Princess Luna at all. Only his Aunt Celestia was in attendance, munching an egg-filled burrito and humming a merry tune as she went over some paperwork. Blueblood slowly slid into his seat, his eyes darting back and forth in case his evil aunt was waiting to jump him from the shadows. He barely even acknowledged his own tortilla-wrapped meal, sitting on a small plate before him. “G-Good morning, Princess Celestia.”

Celestia gave a very short nod at the sound of Blueblood’s voice, her eyes never leaving the work that lay before her. “Good morning, Leon. Happy Monday!”

Blueblood chuckled nervously and rolled his eyes. After all these years, she’s still making the same joke. “So, where is Princess Luna? She hasn’t missed a breakfast since this started.”

Celestia’s response began with a weighted sigh. Her brow furrowed with what Blueblood could assume was no small bit of anxiety. “She is…indisposed. Last night was especially difficult for her, so I am allowing her to rest a while longer.” She swallowed another bite of her burrito. “You don’t have plans after school, right?”

Blueblood rolled his eyes. “Aunt Celestia, do you really think I’d be stupid enough to run around Canterlot looking like this? I was never that foolish.”

The colt barely had just enough time to comprehend the stupidity of what he had just uttered by the time Celestia’s eyes had met with his. “I don’t know. Which pony decided to try to kidnap me so he could burn down an entire village, hmm? And then, just to prove their point, tried to stop a dangerous spell and almost harmed my protégé?”

Blueblood slunk down in his seat. “I…see your point. No, I don’t plan to go anywhere. I don’t think Sky Bloom would allow it, anyway.”

“And there’s…something else.” Celestia’s horn lit up, her magic taking hold of a small scroll before depositing it on the table. “I just received this in yesterday’s mail. It’s from Cadance.”

The burrito slipped from Blueblood’s hooves and splattered across his plate. Absolute terror gripped every inch of his very being at the name. “C-Cadance? She’s coming here?”

“She was helping Luna and I deal with the situation in Stalliongrad these last few weeks. Now that the relief efforts are under control, she’s returning to Canterlot.” Celestia smiled. “After all, she still has a wedding in a few months. I’m certain she’d love to spend some time with Shining Armor again.”

Blueblood chuckled nervously, his eyes unconsciously rolling to his left. “Yes, yes, lovely. That is…lovely. And what are we going to do about me?”

“I haven’t exactly figured that part out yet.” Celestia let out a sigh, her mane drooping just slightly. “With her being here, though, I would recommend that you be on your very best behavior. Remember what happened the last time you two spoke?” Blueblood nodded, with only a tiny squeak to represent his verbal response. “Still, I don’t expect your cousin to hold too much of a grudge. She is still Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, after all.”

“Y-Yes, of course she is,” Blueblood stammered. He quickly shoved the last few bites of his meal in his mouth and hopped to his hooves so fast the contents of his stomach jumped about. “Well, I really need to get going. I still have school and…um…stuff that…doesn’t involve Cadance in any way…bye!”

Despite his latest fit, Celestia still managed to smile as he darted off to brush his teeth. She levitated her tea to her lips and took a small sip. Don’t worry, Blueblood. Once I explain the situation to her, I’m certain she’ll understand…

The butterfly keeps darting in and out of view, taunting me. This will not stand. Our parents created this planet for us, and we shall not allow your pretty colors to taunt our godly visage!

I strike out with my hooves. The fiend dodges my blows, flying higher and higher to continue the mockery. I pounce as best I can, but I cannot reach. My wings flap at my sides, but I am still not strong enough to fly for more than a few seconds, and I fall right back to the ground. It flies away, faster and faster and faster.

I turn around. My sister is standing there, smiling. She is so beautiful, so powerful. She knows everything there is to know, can defeat any enemy, and loves everypony equally. I want to become just like her. Then when our parents come back, they will be so impressed that they will not abandon us again. I am such a smart pony.

I walk up to my sister. She raises her wing. I walk underneath. Her body is warm and pleasant to the touch. I sink closer to her.

“I love you so much, big sister!”

“I love you too, Luna!”

Everything is happy, content, wonderful. She is so warm. The heat melts down my face, burns my eyes. I feel something sting my eyes. I look up in surprise.

My sister is bleeding.

I panic and withdraw from her. Blood is streaming down her every inch of her body. She looks at me with pure hatred. She stands as her flesh seems to peel away, the blood replaced with a burning inferno. “Luna, why did you do it? Why do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you!”

“Why did you do it?”

I run. I gallop away until I reach a small stream. I can run no more, I need water. So I try to drink.

I see my reflection.

The face that stares back is not me.

It is Nightmare Moon.

“Why did you do it?”

I spin around to face my sister. She is no longer a pony, but a mass of pure hatred and contempt. Her burning eyes stare at me with contempt, tiny yellow beads buried within a swirling mass of blood and orange energy. “Monster. Fiend. Nightmare. Why did you do it?”

“I-I didn’t mean to!”

It grows closer. “WHY DID YOU DO IT?”

“I-I just wanted them to love me!”

It was almost upon me. I tried to run, but my hooves were frozen. “WHY DID YOU DO IT?”

I scream.

Luna’s body catapulted forward so quickly that the bedcovers managed to fly a good ten feet off the bed. The bedspread itself was drenched in a cold sweat, as was her body. She had not had a nightmare like that in months. Feeling guilt over everything that had happened a thousand years ago was nothing new, true, but this was different. There was something in Celestia’s voice, a cold condemnation that she had never heard her elder sister utter before.

Slowly, Luna rolled out of the bed, her brain pounding with the most epic hangover in Equestrian history. The pain in her skull dulled her sense at first, and it was about ten minutes before she could fully comprehend exactly where she was. Even in this state, she could recognize this as Celestia’s bedroom. H-How did I get…?

She took a few steps forward, pausing only when she felt something odd on one of her legs. Sure enough, she could make out a small bandage wrapped in small sections around her leg, tiny splotches on red showing through the fabric. When did these get…?

Her eyes widened as the hazy fog in her mind lifted. She could remember everything that had happened the previous day, from the time she had visited with Rarity to destroying her own room. I-I was in my room…Celestia came in…I spoke to her, and…

Then she saw what was waiting on the dresser. There, sitting in plain view for all but the utterly inebriated, was a silver dome resting atop a platter. Luna cocked her head, trying in vain to at least make out her reflection, but alas, the kitchen staff had not gotten to polishing this piece of dishware yet, and all she could make out was that her face was now a smudged mass of hoofprints. It also didn’t help that there was a folded piece of paper attached to its surface.

Luna slowly made her way forward, her limbs still groggy from her slumber. It took a considerable amount of willpower just to levitate the note free of the tape, float it to her eye level, and finally open it enough to read:

Luna,

I do not know if you will remember exactly what occurred between us yesterday. After I found you yesterday, I had no choice but to use a sleeping spell to smuggle you back to my bedroom for the time being. You were in no shape to perform your royal duties, and I could not risk allowing you to hurt yourself further.

I have already spoken to Twilight Sparkle on the matter. According to her, Rarity is still livid, but so far has told nopony else of what has transpired. I have already asked my student to keep things under control in Ponyville until we have come to a final decision regarding Blueblood. Still, I want you to understand that just because you made a poor choice in judgment does not mean any possibility of a friendship between you and Miss Rarity is impossible. If you wish, I can help you with an apology later tonight.

As for today, I want you to eat your breakfast and then join me near the front castle gates. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is returning to Canterlot today, and it is important that we greet her as a family. I know the two of you did not get off on the right hoof, but that does not mean you should exclude any possibility of a friendship between the two of you.

Lastly, I must ask you not to mention Blueblood to her. He and Cadance have had a very…tense relationship for a while, and while I trust her not to perform anything morally bankrupt, I still want to handle this on my own terms. But for now, I had the castle staff prepare you a breakfast burrito. It should still be sitting on your tray. And don’t pick at your bandage.

- Celly

Luna stopped picking at her bandage and tossed the note aside with a humph. A sleeping spell? Hurting myself? Does she really think so little of me?

Her lips drooped, while her eyes began to quiver slightly. And besides, how can anypony forgive me for that?

Before she could sink completely into self-pity, however, a single thought managed to kick her mind back into happier territory. She managed to force a smile as she levitated the top off her platter. Still, no doubt I shall have a full day at court today. Once I am back on the throne and working for my the good of my subjects again, yesterday’s troubles shall be but a bad memory.

Blueblood was five steps away from the classroom door when he heard Lofty’s voice call out. “Hey, Leon! You got a minute?”

The colt spun about, his eyes meeting up with the Pegasus filly. The sight sent him doubling back in surprise, not only because he hadn’t expected to see her again so soon after the party, but because she was actually smiling at him. “Uh…May I…help you?”

“I just wanted to thank you so, so much for that picture!” Lofty’s tiny wings extended from her uncontrollable glee, which served to only make Blueblood even more nervous. “That was the most awesome gift anypony’s ever given me! I mean, I know I said thank you back then but I really couldn’t tell you just how amazing it was because I was so surprised that a pony like you would give me that but-”

Blueblood raised a hoof, his eyes widening with worry as Lofty appeared to have begun hyperventilating. “Look, it’s all right. I’m just…glad you enjoyed your present.”

If Lofty had detected the small hint of shame in Blueblood’s voice in that comment, she made no effort to show it. In fact, her sense of overflowing glee only seemed to grow. “Look…I know we got off on a bad hoof. I mean, I only knew you when you were a mean adult, but now? You’re actually…not too bad. For a colt, I mean.”

“Um…thanks,” Blueblood muttered.

Any further possibility of a prolonged conversation came to an end as the first bell rang, signaling a last-minute call to class. “Oh crud, I can’t be late today! I-I’ll see you at recess!” Before Blueblood could get another word in, Lofty was already galloping towards her classroom, her tiny wings spread out to try and boost her speed with a good draft.

Blueblood watched her disappear into the distance before opening his own classroom door and wandering to his desk. As he heaved his saddlebags onto the designated spot on the floor, his mind invariably drifted back towards that party. In particular, to the very special gift he never got the birthday pony, and yet was now being praised for. It was obvious who was responsible, and it was especially evident why it was done, but there was just one thing bothering him.

Why do I feel so bad about it?

The moment the lookouts spotted the carriage approaching the castle gates, Celestia and her royal procession trotted down the front steps to greet them. It was as small an affair as she could get away with, consisting of only herself, her sister, Shining Armor, and about half a dozen other guards and servants. Her Captain was already quivering in excitement for the occasion, forcing Celestia to chortle a chuckle. As for Luna, she just seemed as withdrawn as ever.

The carriage slowly pulled around the bend, its wheels squeaking and clapping along before coming to a halt just in front of the first steps. The ponies pulling the vehicle quickly unharnessed themselves and cantered to let their passenger out, only to find the door already opened and a pink forehoof slowly, methodically descending down from the carriage platform to the hard stone floor below.

Seeing that their help was no longer needed, one of the ponies, a burly maroon stallion, turned about and bowed towards his Princesses. “Your Highnesses, may I present Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Roam and Heir to the Crystal Em-”

All while the stallion was echoing the dozen or so titles his charge had accumulated over her life, Mi Amore Cadenza continued to make her way out of the carriage. She set her second forehoof down, just a tad ahead of the first, paused to flip her mane out of her eyes, and continued to make her way out. Just as she was about to step out entirely, however, her right hind hoof caught on the bottom lip of the carriage door. She barely had time to let out a yelp of surprise before tumbling face-first onto the floor.

Everypony in attendance immediately stopped talking and ran up to the fallen princess. Shining Armor in particular pushed himself to the front, lowered his body down enough to slide underneath his fiance’s barrel, and finally helped her back to her hooves before the embarrassment could continue. “Cadance, are you all right?”

Cadance blew a gust of frustrated hot breath, but otherwise just smiled. “I’m fine, Shining Armor. Just decided to let gravity speed me along a little, that’s all.” She deftly let out a small chuckle, her laughter barely managing to cover the intense, searing agony the front of her face was currently experiencing. After a few moments, Shining seemed to finally buy her excuse and released her, allowing the princess the chance to continue her journey up the stairs.

The princess paused as she stepped in front of Princess Celestia. The elder Alicorn gave the younger a quick nod, her lips stern with seeming disapproval. Cadance shuddered in terror from her aunt’s shifting eyes, and in the process, allowed her guard to drop just enough for Celestia to step forward and give her a warm, loving hug. “Welcome back, Cadence.”

Cadance smiled, her body feeling more than a little numb from her exhausting trip and her aunt’s unnaturally warm body. She could hear Shining Armor snorting behind her, obviously to suppress the laughter welling up from seeing his fiancé blush through her pink coat, but chose to ignore him for the moment. “Thank you, Aunt Celestia. Sorry it took so long. You wouldn’t believe how much of a mess Stalliongrad was.”

Celestia giggled. “Trust me, I know. Why do you think I sent you there in the first place?” She gave the still-somewhat nervous mare a small wink. “I do hope the experience was an enlightening one. You won’t be a little princess forever, after all, and assignments like this are just some of the crises you’ll have to deal with on a daily basis. I’m just glad I have had the chance to teach you at least a little about ruling. Just because those deadbeat, good-for-nothing parents of yours abandoned you in Canterlot for almost your life doesn’t mean that…”

The Sun Princess’ ranting came to an end after a rather forceful nudge from Luna woke her back into reality. Cadance was still standing in front of her, but in the time Celestia had broken off on her miniature tirade, her expressions had changed from happy to be home to wishing she could just hop back in the carriage and ride to Roam. “I…I’m sorry, Cadance. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s alright.” Somehow, Cadance managed to fight through the horrible memories her aunt had just dug up and smiled. “Still, I…think I should get some rest. I’ve barely had a full night’s sleep for weeks, and the ride back had a lot more bumps than I thought it would. I’ll see you at dinner, then?”

Celestia’s eyes rolled upwards slightly, just enough to look over Cadance’s head and catch up with Shining Armor. The Captain’s eyes had never left his beloved since her return. With a smile, she returned her attention to her niece. “I agree. A tired princess is hardly any good for anypony, after all.” She snapped back towards the Captain, snapping the stallion out of his gaze with her sudden movement. “Shining Armor, would you be so kind as to escort Princess Cadance?”

“Of course,” he said.

“And it is getting to be about noon. Perhaps you should take your lunch break right after? I’m certain Equestria will wait for your return before collapsing into anarchy again.”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened with excitement. His joy at spending any amount of time with Cadance was so great, his professionalism and training as a soldier was the only thing keeping him from hopping onto Princess Celestia and pronouncing his endless thanks. Instead, he opted for a far more reserved, “Understood, Your Highness,” and then walked off towards his quarters, Cadance never leaving his side even once.

Celestia and Luna watched the two lovebirds walk into the distance, a smile on both their faces. “Young love is a wonderful thing, is it not?” Celestia muttered.

Luna nodded her head. “It certainly is. I do hope they enjoy the dinner plans I have prepared for them.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and turned towards her sister. “Wait…dinner plans?”

The Night Mare simply grinned, an expression that only grew as she explained her intricately evil scheme to give ponies alone time. “This shall be their first night together in some time, so when I spoke to Shining Armor about joining us in this plan of yours, I offered to help him make this moment special. So, while you were running around trying to reform that nephew of ours, I managed to get the two of them dinner reservations at the Black Pearl. I even arranged for them to use our private table.”

Celestia felt a slight twinge in her cerebral cortex. The Black Pearl was one of the most exclusive restaurants in all of Canterlot, let alone Equestria. The food itself was excellent, but the real claim was that Celestia herself had hoofpicked that eatery as a secondary entertainment establishment. That way, if something was wrong with the castle, she would still be able to attend to her guests in a clear, secure zone. So far, she had only used it in that function once, but it was enough for the managers to publicly use her – and eventually, her sister – as a part of its advertisement. Everypony wanted to dine at Celestia’s “favorite restaurant.”

Despite her frustration, however, Celestia somehow managed to keep herself together. “Luna, I know your intentions were good, but I would much rather you did not throw our royal names around to earn extra favors.”

Luna’s face fell. “I see. I apologize for my brashness, then. Still, what is done is done, and they shall have a wonderful time tonight. And now, if you will excuse me, I must resume my duties.”

“Actually, about that…” Celestia rubbed her fetlocks together so quickly she could have potentially started a fire. “After what happened yesterday, don’t you think you should take a few days off?”

Somewhere deep within Luna’s chest, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She could feel a cold sweat brewing underneath her coat as her sister’s words took hold. “B-But I am far better now than I was yesterday! That was just a single incident, nothing more. I promise…”

Celestia shook her head, cutting off her sister in the process. “Luna, I have been down this road before, and so have you. The fact is, there isn’t just one Princess of Equestria anymore, nor shall there ever be again. But these last two weeks have been far too busy for you. You had to hold up Equestria while I was indisposed, and this mess with Blueblood…” She sighed. “Luna, I must ask that you put your duties on hold for at least one more day.”

“B-But…Ruby Dream is already…”

“I spoke with her before we met out here. She will still be performing the same duties, only for me today. Once you are well enough to return to the throne, she can resume her normal tasks.”

A tiny whimper managed to escape from Luna’s throat. She wanted so much to lash out at Celestia right now, to wrap her hooves around her neck and force her to not do this, but her entire body seemed to resist her mind’s commands. “N-No…Y-You cannot do this. I am your sister…”

“And that’s why I’m doing this. I have to make sure my little sister stays healthy.” Celestia trotted up to her sister and nuzzled her along the nape of the neck, the Night Mare’s body remaining completely rigid. “I have something very special planned for tonight. We’ll speak then.”

Before Luna could take any other action, or even voice another protest, Celestia trotted her way back into the castle, no doubt to do the work that rightly belonged to her sister. The young Alicorn watched the door close behind her, waited until she far enough away to hear her, and finally let out a small scream before walking off towards her own room.

The last grains of sand slid down the hourglass’ center before settling in a big pile at the bottom. Miss Brightly smiled and banged her hoof on the desk, calling the class away from their painting supplies. “Alright, my little ponies! It’s time to share your art with the rest of the class!”

Blueblood opened his mouth, letting the small paintbrush tumble out onto the yellow plastic tray. The handle landed in the tiny cup of water, sending some of the clear liquid flying onto the nearby paints. His smock and hat were covered with a rainbow cascade of paint colors, all from the many, many foals that had worn them before. Unlike the rest of his classmates, he had somehow managed to get through the entire activity without getting so much as a bit of brown or red or green on his protective gear, and especially not on his coat.

Miss Brightly pointed a hoof at the class’ pink filly. “Cherry, would you like to share what you drew?”

The filly yelped excitedly and hoisted up a small bit of construction paper. On it was a red blob nestled upon six chubby black sticks. “It’s a ladybug!”

The entire class politely clapped and celebrated the newest piece of art to enter Equestria, even if the foals could tell drawing wasn’t going to be Cherry’s special talent. Miss Brightly gave her usual condescending smile and expression of gratitude before turning to Orange Peel. “And what wonderful thing do you have for us?”

She immediately regretted asking the question once she saw the colt’s “masterpiece.”

Over a dozen small circles with ovals attached, probably ponies, were all turned upside down. Small, red lines overlapped with the circles, stretching down until they came to an end at big blots of paint. And standing over the ponies was another such figure, a big grey block sticking out of his mouth. “I had to draw something I liked, so I drew me taking out everypony I disliked.” His eyes drifted towards the rather disturbed Blueblood and Ribbon. “And I mean everypony.”

Miss Brightly sighed. She could already see the announcement for the upcoming parent-teacher conference. “Orange Peel, there are things that are classroom appropriate, and things that aren’t. Do we need to talk about it again?”

Orange Peel’s smile faded in the face of his teacher’s disapproval. His ears folded downwards as he sank down in his chair. “No, Miss Brightly.”

Miss Brightly shook her head sadly. This was far from the first time she had this problem with Orange Peel, and yet there was precious little she could do about it. Given who his father was, it was a miracle she could even keep him inside during recess without getting fined, or fired, or left in a dirty alley to die. “Just remember your lesson this time. If you do anything like this again, I’m afraid I will have to call your parents.”

Her stern lecture done, the teacher turned about until she was facing Ribbon. She gave the usual call for the filly to share her work with the rest of the class, and she complied. The newest picture showed what looked like three while ovals, outlined in yellow, with what looked like little red flowers adorning the sides and two ponies standing on top. “It’s a wedding cake mom and dad made! They’re delivering it to a wedding today.”

The entire class clapped again, but this time the applause seemed much more genuine this time. Even Blueblood was amazed at how impressive the painting looked, especially when it was created with non-toxic watercolor paints etched out by a young foal. Granted, the cake looked like it was about to tip over, and the ponies on top looked like they had been melted and dipped in butter before being set in place, but still it wasn’t bad.

“Very good, Ribbon!” said Miss Brightly. “What a lovely…”

Before her praise could continue, however, the teacher finally noticed something rather off with the final product. There, tucked away in the far corner with the smallest of strokes, was a few tiny splotches of two figures, probably ponies. One of them had wings and the horn, while the other looked like it was in pain. “Um…Ribbon? What’s this?”

Confused, Ribbon spun the picture back towards her. When her eyes managed to catch the spot she had pointed at, she shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…painted that, I guess.”

A small part of Miss Brightly wanted to continue this line of questioning, but her blood was still running hot from having to deal with Orange Peel’s orgy of death. “Well, it’s still a very lovely picture. Thank you for sharing it with us.” Ribbon’s face sprouted a massive grin, her newborn ego eagerly swallowing up every last bit of praise thrown in her direction.

“And how about your picture, Leon?” Miss Brightly turned towards Blueblood, who slid back in his seat in surprise. “Do you have anything to share?”

Slowly, Blueblood flipped over his own contribution to Equestria’s art galleries: a picture of two big ponies, both Unicorns, standing over a small colt. The images were easy enough to pick out, despite Blueblood losing many of his higher motor skills in the transformation. “It’s a family picture,” he muttered.

The class erupted in a small clap, slow and uneasy. Blueblood grimaced as he slowly set the paper back down. Wonderful. I take Art History for three semesters, and I get outshined by a pony that just barely knows what the color blue is.

Celestia was halfway through the latest recruitment sheets when she heard the knock on her office door. She looked up from her paperwork, her quill still busily signing away beneath her. “Yes?”

A familiar voice answered from the other side. “I-It’s Ruby Dream, Your Highness. You summoned for me?”

A smile spread across Celestia face, while at the same time her horn began to glow with a golden light. A similar aura spread over the door handle and slowly pulled it open, allowing Ruby Dream access to the office. Once the mare was inside, the door was pushed shut, the magical light vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. “Once again, I appreciate your understanding in this whole situation, Miss Dream. I know we all have a lot to accomplish today, so I shall try to be as brief as possible.”

“Understood,” said Ruby. “H-How can I help you?”

Celestia clapped her forehooves together and placed the pair under her chin. “You are a family mare, correct?”

Ruby cocked her head in confusion. “Your Highness?”

Celestia let out a mournful sigh. “Things have not been going so well between Luna, Blueblood and I. I take it you heard about yesterday’s incident.” Ruby nodded. “The problem I see is that the three of us need to grow closer as a family again. That’s why I was hoping to get your input. I want to plan a family activity for this afternoon.”

“Oh,” Ruby muttered. “W-Well, I’ll see if I can help, but something like that is different from one pony to another. I mean, what Lofty, Vantage and I like to do would probably be different from what Your Majesties would find appropriate.”

Celestia lowered her hooves back to the floor and stood up. After stretching a little to get the blood pumping again, she levitated up a small notepad and her quill. “I figured as such. Still, some input on what would be most helpful. Now, what does your family like to do together?”

Ruby tapped her chin, her eyes rolling upwards in thought. “Hmm…well, Lofty loves playing outside. Vantage and I have taken her camping every year since she got over her Premature Flying Syndrome.” She chuckled nervously. “I swear that filly is just crazy about mountains. She just can’t wait until she’s old enough to fly to the top of the Magichorn…alone…probably without her coat…where she’ll freeze to death…”

The mare’s breathing gradually became sharper and more labored the longer she went on; where it not for Celestia immediately recognizing the signs of hyperventilation and levitating her emergency paper bag so she could start blowing it up like a balloon, Ruby would have entered an almost total shutdown. The Princess slowly walked over, her face twisted in worry. “A-Are you all right, Miss Dream?”

“I-I’m fine, now,” the mare gasped. Her features were still puffed and pale from her sudden outburst, her wings appeared to be pointing downward, and the fur along her back was still standing on end like a thousand little pieces of razor wire, but at least she no longer looked like she was about to explode twice. “Anyway, something outdoors might work.”

Now satisfied that her sister’s personal assistant wasn’t going to die in the middle of her office, Celestia let out a sigh of relief and resumed tapping her chin. “A camping trip would be a little excessive. Neither Luna or I could stay away from the office for that long.”

“Well, there’s also sports.” Ruby tapped the ground with her right forehoof. “Vantages loves to watch the Cloudsdale Thunderbolts whenever they come to town.” She grimaced as yet another terrible memory came back. “Of course, he then had to go wandering into the wrong side of the stadium wearing that jersey, and…”

“Yes, yes, I remember that.” Celestia shuddered, her mind retracing the day she almost banned all sports leagues from Equestria. “Still, that would be a rather long-winded event. And besides, Luna was never much of a baseball fan.”

“And then there’s always board games,” Ruby said. “Lofty is a champion at Chutes-And-Ladders.”

“I…think I’ll make that a last resort,” Celestia said. The last thing I need is to get my flank kicked again because dice hate me.

Then the idea hit her. She removed her hoof from her lower lip and smiled towards Ruby. “What about a picnic? It’s a lovely day, after all.”

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck. “Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad. Shall I tell the kitchens to begin preparations?”

“Actually…” Celestia levitated over a large book, its edges yellowed with age. “I have a different idea.”

As the princess slowly turned the aged pages, Ruby slowly walked around her until she could make out the title of the ancient book. The moment she recognized exactly what this forbidden tome was, she recoiled back several steps in complete horror, her wings extended. “Th-That’s a cookbook!”

“Hmm?” Celestia looked up from her reading material, a look of puzzlement on her face. “Why yes, it is. It was given to me by one of my former chefs only a century ago, after she had retired. I used to cook meals for the two of us, but I’ve been so busy for the last thousand years that I haven’t even been able to get into a kitchen. Well, except for that one time, when we hosted the Zebra Delegation.” She grimaced as she remembered that terrible night. “And that’s why I am not making soup again.”

“Heh…yeah,” Ruby muttered. “B-But if you’re cooking, then what about the rest of today’s schedule? We have court in two hours.”

Celestia shook her head. “Believe me when I say I won’t be neglecting my duties. I want you to bring our reports on the upcoming Dragon Migration, the proposal for the irrigation system for the Trottingham province, and the renovation plans for Canterlot’s Old Quarter to the kitchens, and then go prepare the court. I shall be there exactly as needed, and will perform my duties as needed, even if it means I have to rush the dinner a little.”

Ruby wanted to say something else, most likely something about how rushing cooking tended to end in tears and how this entire plan was insane, but her desire to remain employed overshadowed her common sense. “Very well, Your Highness. I shall see you in a few minutes.”

The Pegasus gave one last bow and headed through the door. As the entrance closed behind her, she could just barely hear Celestia mutter something about potato salad…

Lofty leaned against the ribbon-wearing tree, while her friends looked over the birthday acquisitions she had managed to bring to school. “So, what do you think? Pretty cool, huh?”

Buttons lifted up the figure of Darklord Koruby, archnemesis of the Amazing Amethyst and bearer of enough spikes to gouge a hundred eyeballs. “I…guess they’re okay. I mean, we did see you open them up, remember?”

Ribbon fumbled her hooves around Super Cheerleader Daring-Do. “Did this actually happen in the books? I don’t think dad ever got to that chapter.”

“It didn’t,” said Blueblood. “They had a leftover mold from some other line of dolls that weren’t selling, so they just reused it on the Daring-Do toys so they could justify how much it cost.” The colt grinned at his knowledge of the toy market…until he saw the fillies all eyeing him in puzzlement. “I mean, that’s what my mom said when I asked her.”

“Who cares if it did?” Gusty snapped. All the ponies in attendance spun around to the growling, sulking filly. “I just tried counting all these things, and I can’t ! You have too many Daring-Do toys!”

Lofty recoiled in shock. “W-What?”

“You have so many that I can’t even keep track of them all!” Gusty’s lower lips twisted into a ridiculous pout. “Daring-Do was my thing. I was the one that was supposed to have all the toys and sets, not you! Now…now I have nothing…”

Blueblood groaned. He had seen ponies throw fits over everything, from losing a bunch of land grants to families they hated to arguments over pizza toppings, but he had never seen anypony whine about something this…trivial. It certainly didn’t help that the fillies seemed to be buying into her argument; Lofty looked like she had just been accused of murdering Princess Celestia herself, while Ribbon and Buttons looked upon her like she was some kind of glory-hogging monster. “Gusty…she has exactly five Daring-Do toys here.”

Gusty’s lips drooped into a small droll, her eyes slowly shifting back towards the toys. She mouthed her count to herself, tapping her forehooves together to the kind of tune schoolfoals learn to keep track of their letters and numbers. By the time she was finally done, her very eyes quivered with shame. “Oh…um, sorry. I…guess I forgot how to count.”

The confession was all it took to knock Lofty out of her down mood. She shrugged at the offending Unicorn. “No problem. So, you guys still want to play? If so, come on! We gotta get this adventure going!”

The foals looked amongst each other before voicing their agreement to the proposition. One by one, they knelt over and assumed their usual positions. It was right as Blueblood was reaching for Ahuizotl that he heard the sound of six pairs of hooves approaching.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

The five hopped to their hooves and turned towards the source of the noise. Sure enough, standing before them was their old nemesis, Orange Peel. “What do you want, Orange?” asked Gusty.

“Oh, nothing at all.” The colt and his cohorts quickly resumed their usual circling strategy; if Blueblood didn’t know better, he would have assumed that it was the one trick they knew. “We were just wondering how the biggest losers in this school wasted their recess. Seriously, Daring-Do? You actually like those books?”

“Sh-Shut up!” Lofty snapped.

“Um…girls?” Ribbon said shyly. “Perhaps we shouldn’t…”

Smokey feigned shock. “Hey, the orphan’s trying to say something!”

The four fillies and token colt’s eyes popped open, mostly from the sheer stupidity of the insult. “Orphan? Really?” asked Lofty. “Is that the best you can come up with today?”

Orange Peel shook his head at their befuddlement, his grin slowly changing to that of a sadistic executioner about to behead his latest victim. “Haven’t you ponies ever seen her parents? They’re Earth ponies, not Unicorns!”

“So?” Gusty snapped. “Not all ponies have two Unicorns for parents, and they still have horns! Why is Ribbon different?”

“She has two Earth ponies for folks!” said Smokey. “What sense does that make?”

Ribbon’s initial shock gradually gave way to a sinking depression. “Th-That’s not true!”

Orange Peel raised a hoof to his chin briefly, stroking it like somepony would stroke a handlebar moustache. “You know, you’re right. Maybe you aren’t an orphan. Maybe your real parents are still around, and just didn’t want you. So, they threw you in a dumpster outside that stupid bakery.”

Buttons gasped. “Th-That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard!”

Gusty instinctively charged towards the vile fiend, only to be blocked off by Snowball. Every step she made, the colt matched perfectly. Enraged, she spun about to give her opponent a buck.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Smokey shouted. “You wouldn’t want to get in more trouble, Miss Smash-Smashey-Breaks Stuff, do you?”

By the time her foal brain had fully internalized what he had said, her hind legs were already rearing up for a strike. The sudden shock of reality caused her to tumble to the ground, her weight being far too much for her forelegs to hold up for so long. “Aw, what’s the matter?” Snowball taunted. “Is the little filly too much of a pansy to stand up?”

Lofty was the next to charge, taking up a position between the downed Gusty and distraught Ribbon. “Alright, I’ve put up with your stupidity for all of two months now, and I’ve had enough! You are the meanest, smelliest stupid-head in the history of ponydom, and it’s about time somepony put their hoof in your mouth!”

The three bullies feigned a horrified gasp at the prospect. “Oh no, some stupid filly’s gonna beat us up?” said Snowball. “Celestia forbid she ruin her hooficure. Oh wait, that’s right, this is Lofty we’re talking about!” And he would have continued his line of mockery, had Buttons not raced over and, in a maneuver she had no doubt experienced many a time herself, put a hoof over his own mouth to keep him quiet.

Still, Lofty seemed completely unfazed. “Hah! Your words mean nothing to me! I am a student of the great Fluttershy, tamer of beasts and defeater of dragons! Do you think your puny little-”

Orange Peel cocked his head. “Fluttershy? Who in Equestria is that?”

Lofty’s brave sneer slowly slithered downward before resting as a shocked frown. “You know, Fluttershy. The pony who saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord. She defeated a dragon and a cockatrice. You know, her.”

“Hmph, you’d think I’d have heard about her if she was so important.” Orange Peel’s evil grin continued to grow as Lofty’s own confidence gradually eroded. “Then again, I guess a stupid little pony like you would be the perfect hanger-on for another no-name pony like…what’s her name?”

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Lofty’s tiny legs shook, her eyes clammed shut to fight back the frustration welling up inside. Gusty had managed to climb back to her hooves, but she only served to glance about the untouchable beings. And lastly, Ribbon and Buttons were huddled together, the former crying on the latter’s withers. In short, Orange Peel had managed to destroy them all without so much as a buck. Blueblood, meanwhile, could only watch the eerily familiar scene…

Blueblood couldn’t decide what was colder: the snow outside, or the certain doom he faced at his parents’ hooves. The duo had managed to catch him skipping out on another boring history lesson, and by this point in the chase, his tutor had no doubt already left in a huff. He would be back the next day, of course. They always were. But for the time being, he was still safe from the horrors of the Paleopony Period.

Unfortunately, no force on Equestria could protect him from what was to come if either parent caught him. His hinder had already known the switch, the horseshoe, and of course the bare hoof, and he dreaded to ponder what instrument his parents would dig up next. He had to escape before they jumped all the way to axes or swords.

Fortunately, he knew the way into Canterlot Castle like the back of his fetlock. The guards, having no real love for his parents to begin with, gladly allowed him access to the castle’s inner sanctum. From there, he just had to loop around through the kitchens and to the courtyard, where the happier foals would actually be enjoying this wintery day. It had been so long since he had last played in snow that he had forgotten what the white stuff even felt like.

With a final rush of victory, the colt charged through the kitchen doors…

“Winged freak!”

And in an instant, he was glad he arrived when he did.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, his only friend amongst the young nobility and Princess of Roam, was huddled so low to the ground she almost appeared to be melding into the stone itself. Above her stood none other than Lemon Lime, heir of the House of Frazzleberry. Blueblood’s blood ran colder than the snow itself as he thought of all the times that idiot had assaulted either he or his cousin.

The bully and his cohorts, all hoofpicked disciples from the rest of the noble houses, closed in on the frightened and confused filly. She tried to pull her jacket over her head, but the garment was simply too tight to make it all the way up. “I-I’m not a…”

“Why do you think your parents left you?!” Lime shouted. “They knew they couldn’t take care of a pony with wings AND a horn AND run a kingdom!”

“No, that’s not true!” Cadance shouted. Blueblood winced as he saw the amount of fog coming from her mouth; evidently, she was breathing very, very hard. “They said it was because I’m special!”

“And that’s why Princess Celestia wants to get rid of you!” shouted one of the accompanying bullies. Blueblood couldn’t make out who he was, but it didn’t really matter. Lime had most of the foals under his hoof, anyway.

“Sh-She said she was trying to get them to…to…take me back…” Cadance’s voice dropped down to the quietest levels Blueblood had ever heard. It was amazing he could even make out what she was saying from his position.

Lemon Lime turned back to his cohorts. “You know, I think she’s a little too hot with that jacket on. How’s about we cool her off?”

The other foals all cackled with cartoonishly evil glee before turning to the patches of snow around them. Slowly, they began to roll and pat the mounds into tight little balls, a few even slipping in a pebble or two just in case. Cadance tried to break into a gallop, but she still wasn’t used to operating in the kind of cold Canterlot got in the winter and slipped on the frozen ground.

From his vantage point, Blueblood watched and fumed. Something inside him curled with rage at the sight before him, a feeling he had never experienced in his entire life. There was only one way to end Lemon Lime’s reign of terror…

The colt quickly galloped out of the kitchen, his winter horseshoes moving perfectly across the frozen grass. He stopped only when he was standing directly in front of his downed cousin. Lime and his groupies immediately stopped in alarm; none of them had expected Blueblood to show up, nor did they like much what usually followed him.

“And just do you think you’re doing, Lemon?!” Blueblood snapped.

In the moment it took Blueblood to utter those words, the baronet had managed to recover his faculties just enough to form a sneer. The others, however, retained their shocked looks, at least for a while longer. “What, no Celestia to save you, Bluey?”

“I don’t need my aunt here to deal with you.” Blueblood looked back at his frightened cousin. Cadance’s shivering was already beginning to lessen at the sight of her big cousin; even so, her eyes were still feared with abject fear of the monster before them. Still, Blueblood managed to force a murderous grin as he turned back to his opponent…

Blueblood knew what he had to do. There was only one way to shut down Orange Peel without bloodshed. All he had to do was pray to Celestia that he would be dumb enough to take the bait.

The colt slowly strode towards his adversary, taking extra time to add just the right hint of swagger to every trot. Buttons moved to stop him from perishing as well, but Ribbon’s grip on her was ironclad. Orange Peel and his cohorts were so busy laughing that they didn’t even notice Blueblood getting close to them until their orange leader could feel his hot breath on his nose. “Congratulations. You teased a bunch of little foals. How wonderful for you.”

Orange Peel hopped back a few steps, both from the shock of Blueblood sneaking up on him and from the simple act of being talked back to. Snowball and Smokey quickly folded back alongside him, just in case this stupid pony tried anything funny. Sensing his opening, the prince went on the offensive. “So, do you enjoy being a bully?”

“Well…yeah, I…” The orange colt quickly shook his head and hopped back forward, landing directly in front of Blueblood. “Wait a second! Yeah, of course I love beating stupid fillies like you down! It’ll probably be my special talent!”

“So, your special talent is making foals cry?”

Smokey snickered a little at the jab, stopping only when his boss gave him a little “jab” of his own. The grey colt grimaced and rubbed his right foreleg in shock. “What was that for?”

“You guys are supposed to be helping me here!” said their fearless leader. He pointed a hoof in Blueblood’s direction. “What, do you want the fillies to win?”

“Those ponies weren’t doing anything to you,” said Blueblood. “All we have done is tried to stay out of your way, but you just can’t leave us alone. You know, I actually think you like us. You really do want to be friends, after all.”

Orange Peel let out a low growl, followed by an angry snort. Both Snowball and Smokey quickly began to backpedal just in case he exploded twice. “You’re so wrong. Why would I even want to be friends with a bunch of dorky ponies like you? All you ever do is play with dolls and try to get that ribbon out of the tree.” He paused. “I mean, pudding is nice and all, but why share it with fillies?”

Blueblood rolled his eyes. “I see. Well, if you don’t want to be friends, then why are you bothering us? We all have better things to do with our time than make fun of ponies we don’t like.”

Orange Peel opened his mouth to answer, but found none willing to come out. All he could do was shake even more. The fillies, meanwhile, just stared on in shock. Normally, anypony talking with somepony like Peel would either be running away in tears or beating him upside the head with his own saddlebags by this point, and yet Blueblood actually seemed to be in control of the conversation.

“B-But…I…”

Blueblood lowered his head until their noses were almost touching. Smokey and Snowball pulled themselves back even farther away; even at their age, they could see that bad things were about to go down. “The way I see it, you have only two choices. You can either start treating us nicely, maybe even become friends with us, or you can choose just to leave us alone. You can have all the fun you want, but just stop picking on us. Now, what will you do?”

The stunned colt made no response at first. His body ceased to shake, even as his brow curled up even more in frustration. He looked at the fillies, all of whom now looked far more composed than before, and then turned back to Blueblood. “Now look here, you…you dummies!”

Blueblood grinned. Good, he’s shutting down. Now I can…

“Dummies?” shouted Lofty. “That’s the best you can come up with? Wow, you really are stupid.”

The grin vanished. Oh no…

“I-I’m not…” Orange Peel stammered.

Gusty smiled and walked up next to Blueblood. “You know, I think she’s right. You are just a big, dumb, wimpy, worthless waste of a horse!”

In an instant, the rage within Orange Peel came burning back to the forefront. Smokey galloped forward to pull his boss back, but before he could stop him from lashing out, an orange hind leg bucked him right in the chest, sending the colt rolling to the ground. Lofty charged up to Blueblood’s side, while the white colt couldn’t help but feel but feel a cold shiver run down his spine.

With a primal scream, Orange Peel charged forward and pushed both forehooves towards Gusty. The filly, sensing her opponent’s oncoming assault, leaned down to counter with a forehead to the lower chin, while Lofty prepared to hop over and slam into him once Gusty had made contact. Orange Peel’s hooves closed in…

And slammed right into Blueblood’s side, just as he had succeeded in pushing Gusty out of the way. The white filly stumbled for a few steps, but managed to remain standing. Blueblood, on the other hoof, fell flat on his side and stopped after a few rolls. Lofty was so surprised by the sudden turn that she dared not make her running leap just yet.

Peel huffed and puffed, but still managed a small laugh. He didn’t even notice the sky around him suddenly growing much darker, nor the other ponies huddling in terror. Not even his cohorts fleeing for their very lives could break his gaze away from this glorious moment. “Hah! I knew you were a wuss the whole time, you…”

“ORANGE PEEL!”

The thrill of victory, that glorious feeling that had just moments ago been running through the back of that villainous colt’s brain, quickly shriveled up into the agony of defeat. Slowly, he turned around until he was face-to-face with the being that had spoken his name. Standing above him was Miss Brightly, and she was not happy.

“Um…hello, Miss Brightly,” Orange half-heartedly mumbled. “H-How are you?”

When she spoke next, her voice was heavy with a mixture of judgment and concern. Blueblood shivered as he listened to the words; they were delivered in the same way his own punishment was only a few days prior. “I see our talk last time wasn’t enough. I’m sorry, but if you will not stop bullying these ponies, I have no choice.”

Mortal terror crept across Orange Peel’s face. “N-No…you don’t mean…”

Miss Brightly nodded, sealing the little foal’s fate. “I’m afraid a mere note home will not be enough. This time, we will be having a parent-teacher conference.”

“NOOOOOO!” the colt bellowed. He wrapped his legs around Miss Brightly and clung as tightly as a barnacle to a ship. “Please please please! I’ll be good from now on! I won’t pick on anypony or act mean or anything! Just don’t do thaaaaaaaat!”

Even as her student cried and screamed like a frightened animal, Miss Brightly turned her attention back to her downed pupil. Blueblood had pulled himself back up, seemingly unhurt. “Are you all right, Leon?”

“Y-Yeah,” Blueblood muttered. “I think I’ll be fine.”

Miss Brightly smiled, nodded, and finally levitated Orange Peel off her leg and into the sky. “Now, shall we be going to the Principal’s office?”

And with that, the teacher and her hostage walked away, the foal crying over his doomed future. Once they were well out of earshot, Gusty spun her head towards Blueblood, her lips curled into a pout. “I could have taken him.”

“And gotten in trouble with him?” Blueblood said. “I was trying to avoid a fight, not start one.”

“And you’d just let him walk all over us?!”

“He was almost ready to leave!”

The quarrel would have continued “Hey, Ribbon? Are you all right?”

The filly and the colt turned back to Ribbon and Buttons. The former’s crying had dwindled to a few dry sobs and a runny nose, but she still looked more than a little distraught. “I…I’m not adopted. I’m not.”

“Of course you’re not,” said Buttons. “That’s just Orange Peel being Orange Peel. Two weeks ago he said my mom was a drunk, but that’s impossible. You can’t drink a pony.”

The others chuckled, with Blueblood and Lofty’s laughter being especially nervous. The three standing farthest away trotted forward, stopping only when the whole group formed a complete circle. “Look, it doesn’t matter what he says,” said Gusty. “He’s just a big jerk, that’s all.”

“And I know two Earth ponies can have Unicorn babies,” said Blueblood.

“We’re your friends,” said Lofty. “We’ll be here for you no matter what.”

Ribbon hicked and sobbed, but still forced a smile. “Th-Thanks. You ponies are the best friends I ever had…”

And thus came the inevitable hug, all five coming together in perfect harmony. Well, until Blueblood realized just who he was becoming friends with, which sent him recoiling in shock. The others would have asked about his response, but Gusty and Lofty were now trying to pat down the diseases they had just contracted while Ribbon and Buttons were preparing emergency cutie shots. And then the bell rang, bringing the awkward scene to a close.

Shining Armor and Cadance slowly walked through the gardens and pathways that made up this side of the castle, taking as long as possible before they finally reached the Captain’s private quarters. The two idly chatted about a few minor topics, ranging from the weather to the quality range of different styles of horseshoes. It wasn’t until they were near the main Castle Garden that Cadance finally asked one of the big questions. “So, did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

Shining Armor shrugged. “Not too much. You probably heard about Princess Celestia’s vacation, correct?”

Cadance giggled and rolled her eyes. “It’s about time she took one. In all the years I’ve known her, she refused to even take an hour off. It’s like she thought the whole planet would collapse if she so much as breathed the wrong way.”

“It looks like we both missed Twiley,” Shining sighed. “Apparently she was here to help Luna keep the country running. I think our little filly has a future in politics.”

Cadance snorted. “Don’t even joke about that.”

Shining Armor gave a louder, more raucous laugh, his mind reeling at the very idea of Twilight holding any sort of political office. He gave her two or three minutes, tops, before her head exploded from the sheer amount of stress involved. Still, despite their little jabs at his baby sister, this was one of the most pleasant moments he had experienced in a very long time. It had been so long since he had gotten the chance to spend any time with his fiancé, especially with the seemingly endless chain of disasters that precluded Celestia’s regression.

Now he finally had a chance to…

“I also heard about Blueblood.”

And in an instant, Shining Armor’s romantic thoughts were trampled by his lover’s words. She knows. “I know it’s hard to understand, but…”

Cadance shook her head sadly. “No, I could see it was coming. He had done so much wrong these last few years that something finally had to break. I just want to know where he was banished to.”

“As far as I…” Shining Armor’s face drooped slightly. “Banished?”

“Well, that is the usual punishment for assaulting royalty, isn’t it?”

The two stopped by one of the castle’s ponds. There, a few stone benches had been laid out for visiting guests and the princesses themselves when they needed a break from the usual insanity of running a country. Sighing with a slight case of exhaustion and a great deal of concern for her wayward cousin, Cadance laid herself across the cool rocky surface. Shining Armor just sat on his haunches on the grass next to her; any appreciation he may have had for stone fixtures had dried up since his times sleeping on hard concrete floors at the Academy.

The two stared at the small pond, watching a few ducks fly down and begin pecking at the water. When Cadance spoke next, her voice was hushed with a thousand grievances. “I’m sorry. I know you never got along with him. I’m not even sure if I’m ready to forgive him for what he did to us. I just wish I could have at least seen him again before he left.”

Shining Armor quickly slipped his face back into “stoic guard” mode. It was the only way to keep himself from bursting out laughing. “Well, perhaps you will soon. Princess Celestia’s pretty quick to forgive, after all.”

“It’s not her I’m worried about,” Cadance said. “It’s Princess Luna. I mean, I’ve only known her for a year now, but she’s always come off as rather…scary. If Blueblood did something to make her angry, there’s no telling what horrible thing she might do to him.”

Shining Armor tugged at the collar of his armor, doing his best not to appear openly nervous in the presence of his betrothed. “Well, I’ve worked with Princess Luna these last few nights, and she’s actually been very…nice.” He cleared his throat and shuffled a bit, the joints of his armor clanging together as he did so. “And besides, he’s a traitor to the crown now. Why would you feel so upset if something happened to him?”

Cadance’s eyes widened with shock. Her head snapped around towards her fiancé, even as fatigue slowly wormed its way through her body. “Because he’s my big cousin! As terrible as he can be, I still care for him just like Twilight cares for you. And if anypony were to actually try and, say, torture him over this, I don’t know how I could look at that pony the same way again.”

Armor’s face went flush, in spite of his best efforts to remain stoic. “I…Suppose he really did do something nasty to somepony, and they decided to…you know, teach him a lesson? What would you do then?”

The princess shrugged. “I guess I would have to tell them how poor their behavior is. After a small talking-to, they’ll realize that what they did was wrong and will never do it again.”

Shining Armor whinnied in relief. Sweet, sweet Cadance, so trusting and naïve. I should have known you wouldn’t…

“Of course, if somepony I actually knew and loved tried to do something like that, I don’t think I could ever look at them the same way again. In fact, I would probably have to spend some time away from them for a while, at least until I could look at them again without remembering that incident.”

Shining’s swelling of confidence went pop against the pins of Cadance’s words. “I…see.” Gotta change the subject gotta change the subject “By the way, I hope you don’t have plans for dinner, because Princess Luna managed to secure us dinner reservations at the Black Pearl.”

Cadance’s ears perked right back up at the name. “The Black Pearl? You mean the Black Pearl? The same one you have to reserve a decade in advance?”

“The exact same,” said Shining Armor.

“Th-That’s wonderful.” Cadance leaned over and nuzzled her future hubby on the cheek, causing the mighty Captain of the Guard to blush like a schoolfoal on Hearts and Hooves Day. “I guess Twilight was right about you. You really are the nicest, bestest pony around.”

Shining gave a dry, playful snort. “Oh, it’s nothing like that. I’m just trying to make sure you feel welcome all over again.”

The two ponies rose back to their hooves, their eyes locked in an almost unbreakable passion. The two nuzzled each other on the nose, followed by a few kisses on the mouth and a heavy, powerful hug. After so long apart, they were together again, and nothing was going to ruin this moment for them. Not even Blueblood.

Yet another school day came to an end, and yet another tidal wave of little foals came charging onto the streets of Canterlot, shoving aside any adult not fast enough to escape their tiny hooves. Blueblood himself walked amongst the crowd, his mind still reeling from the day’s events. He was so confused by everything that had happened to him that he didn’t even notice the massive stallion in front of him until he had crashed into his well-chiseled foreleg.

The impact sent Blueblood falling back on his rear. He looked up in surprise, catching the attention of the pony he had just bumped into. It was a miracle he didn’t wet himself once he realized exactly who this was.

“You need to watch where you’re going, little colt.”

He was now sizably larger than him, but he could still recognize him.

“Here, let me help you.”

From within the stallion’s force field, Blueblood managed to connect the color. He had seen this so many times before. This was the worst thing that could have happened to him, at least in this form.

He was now standing in front of Baron “Lemon Lime” Frazzleberry, his old nemesis.

“Leon!”

Blueblood and Frazzleberry looked out towards the street just in time to see Sky Bloom gallop up to the two. “My goodness, are you all right?”

The colt slowly brushed the front of his coat, trying his best to look nonchalant about the whole ordeal. “Y-Yes, mother, I’m fine.”

The mare let out a sigh of relief before turning back to the noblepony. “I am so sorry, sir. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

“No, it’s all right,” said the Baron. “I’m used to being crashed into by now.” He turned his attention back to the still-stunned colt. “And you need to be more careful next time. Somepony could have gotten hurt.”

Blueblood silently nodded and stepped aside, allowing Frazzleberry access to the school grounds themselves. The stallion slowly trotted down the concrete pathway before turning into the Main Office and vanishing inside. “So…do you know who that was?” asked Sky Bloom.

Blueblood nodded his head. “Baron Frazzleberry.”

“And what is he doing at this school?”

Blueblood shrugged. “I have no clue, and I really don’t want to find out. So what say we just head home and forget we even ran into him?”

Blueblood was halfway through one of the few books he had managed to smuggle out of the forbidden archive (why they didn’t just prevent him from climbing down again was a mystery) when he heard somepony knocking at his door. Sighing, he shoved the tome underneath his bed and trotted over to open the door.

Slowly, the colt managed to pull the wooden barrier open. Standing on the other end was one of the guards, a Pegasus, standing at full attention. “Can I help you?”

“Princess Celestia has requested your presence,” the guard said in a monotone. “I am here to escort you to the garden.”

Blueblood cocked an eye. “The garden? Why does she want me out there?”

The guard shifted uneasily, his mind barely able to withstand what Celestia was planning for the fallen prince. “She didn’t say. She just wanted me to make sure that you are out there as soon as possible.”

Blueblood sighed. The whole request still didn’t make much sense to him, but then again, he really wasn’t in a position to argue with Celestia. “Alright, just show me the way.”

Blueblood’s eyes widened as he caught sight of his aunts. Princess Celestia lay on a red-checkered blanket, which was now spread across the grassy garden floor like a downed flag about to be stomped into submission. Princess Luna sat next to her, a large umbrella wrapping her entire body in shadows. Between them sat a wicker basket, its contents covered by a flipping wooden lip. The elder Princess just smiled at her young charge, while the younger appeared to not even notice he was there.

Celestia smiled at the nephew’s approach. “Good afternoon, Blueblood! Welcome home!”

Blueblood dared not move. His mind was completely unable to comprehend the series of events that could drive his aunts to behave in such a way. Surely Equestria was collapsing without either one on the throne? “I…Good afternoon. M-May I ask what is going on, exactly?”

“Oh, nothing.” Celestia’s smile only grew, further intensifying Blueblood’s distrust of her giddiness. “I just thought that the day I brought forth was so wonderful that we should enjoy a nice picnic.”

“A…picnic?” Blueblood cocked his head at the very notion of such a thing. He had been on a few, certainly, but this looked different from any he had seen before. For one thing, there was no bottle of wine resting nearby, ready to woo whatever lady companion Blueblood had deign to honor with his presence that day. And he would never have allowed anything that came in a wicker basket to defile his stomach.

Then again, he had never had one with Aunt Celestia. He could only spend time with her at night, just before she went to bed.

“So…what brought this on?” he asked, his voice barely carrying over his hoofsteps.

Celestia tilted her head and smiled. “Nothing, really. I just thought we could enjoy a nice, leisurely day outside once in a while. Luna and I have been trapped in there for so long that I barely even remembered how wonderful sunlight felt.” She turned to Luna. “Isn’t that right, sister?”

Luna’s lips curled into a pout. “No.”

Even from this distance, Blueblood could feel something radiating from his younger aunt, a sort of primordial power that told him not to approach her, lest he wish to end his miserable life so soon. Still, he couldn’t ignore the commands of Princess Celestia, so he had no choice but to take up a position next to her and pray to her that things would work out. “So, what happened with Cadance?”

“She and Shining Armor decided to have dinner at the Black Pearl.” Celestia laid herself on the ground and stretched out her limbs. All the tension in her lower body quickly evaporated as her muscles pulled and loosened. “It was their first night together again, after all, and they deserve some rest.”

Shining Armor stared at the array of shiny, silvery utensils before him. There was anywhere from six to ten, their numbers seemingly multiplying the longer he stared at them. “So…which one was which again?”

Cadance pointed at the smallest of his forks. “That one is for your salad. The other one is for the main course. Now for your knives, one is your butter knife, one is for your meal, and the other is for…um…” She blushed. “I…can’t really remember.”

All around them, ponies from all walks of life munched away on their meals, chewing through salads, soups, sandwiches, and all other manner of delicacies. Everypony in the dining area was dressed in the finest clothes available, while the waiters and waitresses all wore brilliantly red uniforms. As it turned out, Celestia and Luna’s reserved table happened to be on a raised balcony overlooking the main dinner area, no doubt so they could address their subjects while chewing on tomatoes. Nevertheless, it still provided the two with a lovely view of the rest of the restaurant.

The two lovers looked over the railing, taking in the beautiful golden floor and black banisters decorating the lower level. Only Canterlot Castle could match this level of beautiful radiance, and even then only just. The spectacle was so lovely that the two could feel their hearts fluttering away as they caught their own lovely reflections on the polished surface

“Um…excuse me?”

The two broke away from staring at their own reflections. The waiter that had just intruded on their alone time cleared his throat one more time, and then levitated a pair of large bowls, both filled with a yellow-and-white soup, onto the table. “Your appetizers are ready. I shall be back with your main course shortly.”

“Thank you,” said Cadance. Shining Armor parroted her response a second later, thereby giving the waiter the signal to skedaddle. With the intruder gone from their relationship, the two were free to return to sipping wine, eating soup, and reminiscing about the old days.

Blueblood winced as he bit into the bit of potato salad. His entire mouth burned with the taste of pepper and onions, tempered with the soul-crushing flavor of watery sour cream. “Well, what do you think?” Celestia asked. “This was the first time I’ve cooked in hundreds of years.”

I noticed that. “It’s…decent, I suppose.” Blueblood barely fought back a small gag; he had no desire to vomit in front of his aunt. “So, what else do you have planned for this?”

Celestia shrugged. “Not too much. Is it not enough to simply sit out here and enjoy a nice meal like a family?” She turned towards her sister. “And what about you, Luna? How was your day?”

The Moon Princess didn’t even look up from her untouched meal when she responded. “It was fine. I stared at the wall five hours straight, then contemplated throwing myself at the moon again.”

Celestia sighed and swallowed another bite of her sandwich. “Now come on, Luna. Why don’t you come out from under that umbrella and join the rest of us?”

“I am perfectly content where I am,” Luna grumbled. “But in truth, I would be much happier inside. May I please be excused?”

Celestia gave her head a firm, negative shake. “We’re enjoying a meal as a family, Luna. This is your little nephew, after all.”

“Don’t remind me.”

The Sun Princess sighed and scooped up another spoonful of salad. “Seriously, I don’t understand what’s wrong. I know you’re still angry about yesterday, but what happened has happened. All we can do is try to learn from the experience.”

Luna made no obvious response, her eyes still intently focused on her plate. Blueblood swallowed a bite of his tulip sandwich, his eyes warily locked on Celestia. “Wait, what happened yesterday?”

Celestia shook her head. “Did you know Miss Rarity of Ponyville came here yesterday?”

Blueblood nodded. “Yes, I know. We talked about what happened at the Gala, and…we apologized to each other.”

“Really?” A large smile formed across Celestia’s lips, while her wings arched out slightly in some small semblance of joy. “To be honest, I’m surprised things turned out as well as they did, then. Just a few weeks ago, you were practically begging me to take a torch to their entire town.” Her smile disappeared. “I don’t think I need to remind you just how horrible even suggesting a thing was.”

“Yes…I know,” Blueblood said sadly. “Still, I got a suit out of it. But…what happened to Aunt Luna?”

“She came back.”

Both the colt and the mare snapped their heads towards Princess Luna. Now free of the hypnotic traps of cold sandwiches and potato salad, she had finally managed to raise her eyes enough for everypony to actually see her face. Small tears ran down the corners of her cheeks, while a fiery red blush burned through her fur. “She went into my room, and told me I was a monster. After she left, I destroyed my room.”

Blueblood fell silent, if only because he couldn’t possibly comprehend a response to such a thing. Celestia slowly climbed to her hooves and began to approach her sister, only to recoil as the Night Mare jumped to her own hooves, knocking the umbrella away in the process. In the process, her hoof pulled at the blanket, sending all the foodstuffs tumbling over onto the ground. Gone was the dispassionate, almost completely withdrawn expression on Luna’s face; now, she appeared to be little more than a bundle of rage and adrenaline. “And then my sister, the same pony who said she loved me more than anything else in Equestria, betrayed me!

Celestia’s mouth slowly lowered in shock. “Wh-What are you saying?”

“You know exactly what I mean, sister!” Luna’s own voice dripped with raw hatred towards her bigger, meaner sibling. “This was supposed to be my day!”

“Yes, it was! I didn’t want to take it from you, but you weren’t well! I didn’t want you to go out there unless you could focus completely on your duties! You had a bad day yesterday! I just wanted you to get better!”

“BETTER?!” Blueblood could feel his breath curl as the ground vibrated from Luna’s voice. The colt quickly galloped and ducked for cover in a nearby bush, just in case the entire castle was sent crashing down around them. “Do you truly believe locking me out of my own position and treating me like…like an invalid would make anything better? My duties are all I have left!”

Celestia took a few steps back, her eyes widened with shock. “Luna…this was for your own good.”

“And dragging me out here was for my own good, as well? How about forcing me to spend time with the same nephew that assaulted you and insulted me? I suppose all that was for my ‘own good?!’ I thought you had changed, sister, but you are still the scheming, conniving, abusive troll you always were!”

Deep within Celestia’s heart, something snapped. Perhaps a valve closed the wrong way, or a tiny piece of cholesterol dislodged itself and floated onto her brain. Regardless of the reason, however, the poor Princess could take no more of her sister’s badgering. She backpedaled a few steps, took in a few sharp breaths, leveled her eyes at Luna…

And it was right then, at her absolute lowest moment, that her control broke completely. The first few tears fell, followed by the usual whimpering of the throat. From within his thorny confines, Blueblood’s jaw threatened to dislocate itself; only the threat of a prickly agony convinced him to keep his trap shut. Is she…crying?

“L-Luna,” Celestia whined. “This wasn’t a trick, I swear. I just wanted you to…”

Luna tried to raise her voice again, but any such thoughts died in her throat. No matter what she said, she couldn’t muster the urge to scream anymore, especially not with her sister crying like this. Still, she couldn’t help but remain more than a little enraged. “What did you really expect this to accomplish?”

“Luna…we are all family,” Celestia slowly said. “I only wanted to make sure that…that we could be a family…”

Luna’s pupils gradually vanished into the surrounding whiteness, while her wings slowly stood on end. Blueblood could feel himself growing ever more fearful for his life. “Family? Sister, how many times do I have to make this clear? I want nothing to do with that foal! He is a violent, mindless sociopath! How can you forgive him after he tried…to…?”

“We forgave you, didn’t we?”

As if a switch had been flipped, all the anger and hate Luna had been building up since the day began gradually vanished. Her pupils and wings returned to their proper positions, while her furious glare lessened into a mournful pout. Sensing her sister’s fall, Celestia resumed her slow approach. “Luna...I’m sorry I made you come here against your will. And I didn’t mean to make you feel inferior or isolated. I just wanted to do what was best for you.”

“And I…just wanted to do what was best for us,” Luna said sadly. “I’m sorry I ruined your picnic. You must have spent a lot of time preparing all this, and…you really did have good intentions.”

“And I’m sorry, too.”

The two Alicorns spun about towards the new voice. Beneath them stood Blueblood, his coat and hair covered in sticks, leaves, and splotches of red berries. “I…I mean, it’s probably my fault this all happened, and…sorry. I guess I never realized how much of a screw-up I was until now.”

The entire garden fell completely silent, so much so that a pony could actually hear the ants choking on Celestia’s potato salad. Everypony knew they had to say something – do something – just to raise the mood a little, and yet nopony could figure on just the right move to make. There were so many variables at play here, and with so many mixed emotions and broken hearts, not even the wisest of ponies could settle on the best solution to this mess.

That is, until Celestia finally gave in to total defeat. “Well, since the picnic went nowhere, there is one other family activity we could try…”

Luna let out a great “HUZZAH!” as her little wagon landed on the space, her laughter echoing throughout the entire dining room. She quickly turned in her pile of paper bits to the bank and took her property card in return. At long last, she had every purple property in the game, which perfectly went with her collection of reds and greens. Her hotels and suburban neighborhoods were all thriving with new tenants, and with two ways to bypass the law, no prison could ever hold her. With a hoof in every corner of the board, she would soon rise to complete dominance in this contest of champions.

Sighing at his aunt’s seemingly guaranteed victory, Blueblood rolled the dice, landing on a “7.” He pushed his little thimble along the board, landing on the only railroad he lacked in his collection. Smiling in victory, he paid the fee, took his property card, and leaned back in smug victory. The world’s transportation system was now completely under his hoof, as were both the least and most expensive real estate on the market. His chain of luxury hotels were among the most expensive ever conceived, as just one stay could leave a pony scrambling in the gutters for spare bits. Soon, everything would fall right into place, and he would become the richest, most powerful pony in existence again.

As for Princess Celestia…she had exactly two bits left to her name, her lands all mortgaged or traded to her heartless competitors to pay the bills. She rolled her dice, moved her horseshoe down the appropriate spaces, and then set her pewter piece upon a red lot. Luna grinned and rubbed her forehooves together in glee. “So, it appears you are at an end, Celestia.”

Grumbling, Celestia scooped up the last of her money and handed them over to her younger sister. Once again, her younger sister had knocked her out of the game entirely, leaving her with worthless properties she didn’t even legally own anymore. “Very well, I know when I’m beaten. Good game, you two.”

“I’ve got to say, this was a much better idea than the picnic,” Blueblood said just before letting out a sigh. “Either way, though, I…thank you both for such a wonderful night.”

Celestia smiled and nodded, her eyes slowly sliding in Luna’s direction. The Alicorn was initially too busy counting up her gains to even notice what was going on, but after a few seconds of feeling uneasy she finally realized she was being watched. Slowly, she lifted her head from her money pile and locked eyes with the colt. “Yes?”

“I was wondering,” he asked. “Why did you want Miss Rarity to make me a new suit, anyway? I thought you hated me.”

I DO YOU LITTLE- “I…heard that was the custom these days,” Luna slowly said. “When a prisoner is released, they are given a new suit. I was just trying to save the middle pony and start measuring you for one, since apparently you will be…”

“B-But that’s for colts!” Blueblood said. “How is that going to help me once I’m an adult again?”

Luna’s eyes blinked six times in rapid succession. “W-Well…”

In desperation, she turned towards her older sister. Celestia had begun to lean closer to the table, her eyes as wide as a puppy dog’s as she watched Luna. Even from this distance, however, she could read exactly what Celestia wanted without as much as a single word. Just tell him the truth, little sister. Stop trying to bring him down and try to form a relationship.

Luna sighed and turned back to Blueblood. “Very well. The truth is-”

*KNOCK KNOCK*

All three turned towards the dining room doors. As if on cue, a voice called out from the other end. “Princess Celestia? It’s Shining Armor. Am I interrupting anything?”

Celestia slowly looked about the room, taking in the nonverbal responses of everypony around her. Blueblood and Luna looked confused and frightened; they knew who was with Shining Armor that night, and the former had a pretty clear idea of what awaited him once she found out. Alas, Celestia’s plan won out over her sympathy for her nephew. She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, changing her features back to her “ruling princess” mode. “Of course not. Please, come in.”

The two Alicorns and their Unicorn nephew simply watched helplessly as Cadance and Shining Armor entered the room. Shining’s stomach began to churn as well, his future looking more and more bleak as the night continued. After this, getting my silverware mixed up won’t seem like such a big deal.

Cadance’s jaw hung open slightly as she caught a glimpse of the strangely familiar-looking colt sitting before her. She raised a shaking hoof and pointed at the surprised foal. “A-Aunt Celestia? Who is this?”

Blueblood dared not answer, just in case the story he and his aunt gave didn’t match. Celestia raised a hoof to her chin and began to stroke, her eyes widening as she struggled to come up with just the right words to explain the situation. “W-Well, you see…”

“He’s Blueblood’s son!”

Everypony turned their gaze towards Shining Armor. The stallion scratched his blue mane nervously. “Th-That’s right, Blueblood had a colt before he got banished.”

Both Celestia and Luna glanced at each other for a moment, rolled their eyes at the frustration, and then turned back to the panicking Captain, shocked Princess, and horrified Blueblood. Cadance’s breathing slowed as she tried desperately to calm her jangled nerves. “Y-You mean, Blueblood had a foal? And he never told anypony else? This is just…”

“Actually, that isn’t completely accurate.” Celestia sighed and rose to her hooves, followed by Luna. The Night Mare simply remained silent as ever, watching the whole spectacle and waiting for her moment to strike. “I was trying to find a way to tell you all this, but I suppose it’s time you knew the whole truth. That colt is…”

“SO CUTE!”

Before Blueblood could retreat, Cadance lunged forward and scooped up the colt in her forehooves. The colt tried to break away, but his now-older cousin’s grip was stronger than any reinforced armor. Everypony else in the room wavered between adoration at the cuteness of the whole spectacle, and the horror of knowing just who Cadance was putting in a bear hug. “Um…Cadance, maybe you should set him down.”

The young mare nodded and set him back on the ground. Blueblood immediately rolled onto his back, gasping and wheezing for air, while his forehooves poked his undercarriage for any signs of broken ribs. Cadance smiled and ruffled the still-stunned foal’s hair. “Sorry, but you really do look so much like him.” She turned back to Celestia and Luna. “But, how did he keep him a secret so long?”

Celestia sighed. “Because, he’s not-”

“-Blueblood’s legitimate heir.”

Everypony’s eyes turned to Luna. The Moon Princess cleared her throat and continued. “You see, the colt is the result of an affair Blueblood had with one of the palace’s staff. Since conceiving a child outside of wedlock would hurt his personal reputation, he paid her to keep the affair quiet and raise the child as her own. After he was banished, however, she told us the entire tale and asked us to raise him as our own.”

“He’s really interested in the Royal Guard, so I’ve been training him every morning,” Shining Armor added. “It’s…part of a new program we’re trying out, where fillies and colts can see what it’s like to be a guardpony.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow at her fiancé. “That…sounds rather excessive.”

“B-But he’s amazing out there!” said Shining Armor. He quickly walked over and took a position next to Blueblood. The little colt’s eyes locked onto him with no small amount of contempt. “I don’t make him do any of the really hard stuff yet!”

“And I hope you never do,” said Cadance, “at least not until he’s old enough.” She gave the colt one last pinch on the cheeks before turning back to Princes Luna. “I also wanted to thank you for helping Shining Armor get those seats. Dinner was just wonderful.”

Luna smiled. “If there is anything else I can help you with, please feel free to ask.”

Cadance smiled and bowed to her ruling princess, an act that was quickly returned. She then gave the colt a wave goodnight and walked off into the distance, her knight in shining armor at her side. Once the doors were closed, and they were certain she wasn’t going to be poking her head back through, Celestia snapped her head towards her sister. “Why did you do that?”

“Why did you try to tell her the truth?” Luna responded. “Do you have any idea what she would have done if she found out?”

“Do you have any idea what she will do once she does learn the truth?”

Blueblood, meanwhile, just slowly sauntered off towards the door, pausing a bit before turning around. His eyes were still as wide as dinner plates, as if they had gotten trapped at that size in all the excitement. “If…If it’s all right, I think I’ll be taking a long, LONG bath and then going to bed. Thank you for a lovely dinner and a…nice game, but…I’m feeling a little unclean right now…”

And with that, Blueblood quickly galloped away, heading towards the royal washrooms to scrub this night from all memory. Once he was gone, Luna sighed. “I do not believe either of us won this evening.”

“It was never something to win to begin with,” said Celestia. “But for now, we have to start forming a consensus on Blueblood. We can’t keep him in limbo like this much longer. It wouldn’t be right to keep him like this.”

Chapter Nine: Deceiving Cadance

As it had every morning since its founding, the Canterlot Royal Guard assembled in the Canterlot Castle Courtyard. Shining Armor, once again, stood at the forefront of the formation, eyeing his loyal guardponies with no small measure of pride. And, of course, Blueblood was still buried in the midst of the crowd, doing his best to ignore the overwhelming scent of sweat and tears emitting from every direction.

“That was good work this morning, gentleponies,” the Captain said. “Keep this up, and we’ll be more than ready to defend Canterlot from anything.” A small uproar of cheer emerged from the crowd, as well as the exasperated voice of a tiny colt.

The Captain slowly paced his way around the front of the crowds, his eyes scanning for the next group of ponies he had to speak to. “Now, we have a few new ponies standing with us today. On behalf of the Princesses Celestia and Luna, we welcome the mares and stallions that now stand amongst the ranks of Equestria’s bravest ponies.”

Another chorus of cheers and accolades echoed throughout the gathering, while more than a few ponies blushed unconsciously. Blueblood, however, raised an eyebrow as he examined the words more closely. Wait…is he using the same speech as before? Is he really that uncreative?

If Shining Armor had noticed this repetition, he appeared to make no motion to address it, nor did the guardponies whose lives he was entrusted with. “I just want you to remember a few things before you begin your normal duties. Being a member of Canterlot’s Royal Guard is not simply a matter of standing next to doors and looking important. Your job is to protect not only the Princesses and the ruling elite, but to provide support and security for Equestria at large.”

Blueblood let out a small groan, just barely audible to the ponies around him. A couple of the guards nearest to him glanced downwards at the colt, their eyes silently admonishing him for the interruption, but everypony else otherwise remained focused on Captain Armor. Well, here is comes. His amazing tale of bravery against a…

“Shining Armor!”

Everything in the courtyard ceased as Princess Cadance approached. Even Shining Armor himself reared back in surprise before blushing like a schoolcolt. Blueblood, fearful of another hugging attack, hunched down as low as his stubby little legs would let him, lest he be scooped up in her forehooves to die horribly. The guards, recognizing what was going on, winked and nudged each other, their eyes still at least glancing at the Captain just in case he managed to catch their mockery.

“Um…good morning, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!” Shining Armor’s voice quivered nervously as he spoke, wavering between staunch formalness and foalish goofiness. “What brings you here this…fine morning?”

Cadance came to a stop right in front of her beloved and lifted her wing, allowing the scroll to fall free. A wreath of energy caught the parchment before it could strike the ground, allowing its master to float the message to the Captain. Cadance’s aura soon found itself mixed with Shining’s, before finally fading from sight as its master released her hold on the document. Smiling, Shining Armor unfurled the paper.

Armor’s eyes widened as he read the regal text. “I see. Please tell Princess Celestia that I shall be there on time.”

Cadance smiled and nodded in affirmation. “Got it. Oh, and you forgot something very important this morning.”

Shining opened his mouth, no doubt in the vain hope of figuring out what this missing thing was, but before he could utter so much as the faintest syllable his wife was upon him. Her muzzle rubbed alongside his own a few times, slowly weaving a curse that turned the mighty knight’s head into a tomato. About six or seven guards began to chortle and snort back an uprising tide of laughter at the sight.

Blueblood, meanwhile, just watched with a mixture of frustration and revulsion. Look at those two, acting like a pair of lovesick teenagers. Do they not teach propriety at the Academy anymore? Does my cousin wish for everypony to think of her as a common cuddler? I should…

The colt shook his puny head until the bad thoughts went away. No, no, no! Bad Blueblood, bad! Old traditions bad!

Princess Cadance twisted her head about and pulled back, a friendly smile plastered on her lips. Shining Armor rubbed his nuzzled muzzle sheepishly. “Well…yes. Th-Thank you very much, Your Highness. I...I’ll see to this request as soon as possible.”

Cadance’s smile grew as she gave a nonverbal affirmation. Just as she was turning back towards the door, however, she noticed a very little pony in a guard costume doing his best to blend in. Her eyes widened while her mouth dropped into the kind of gaping maw that usually preempts a diabetic shock. “Leon!”

The real guards spun their heads towards Blueblood, while the colt felt his heart sinking. “Um…hello?”

The mare cocked her head and cooed at the white colt, forcing the colt to duck down even further. He could already hear the mocking laughter of more than a few of the stallions and mares around him. “My goodness, you are such a brave little stallion! Keep at it, and you’ll be the best Royal Guard in all of Canterlot!”

“Um…y-y-yeah….” The colt buried his face in his forehooves, wishing that the moon would crash into Equestria and end his misery. Cadance started to mouth another string of condescending remarks and empty praise, but as she saw the foal transforming into a white soccer ball, her heart winced. With nothing else to accomplish, she slowly left, leaving behind an embarrassed Shining Armor and completely humiliated Blueblood in her wake.

Once she was inside, Armor turned back to his guards and slammed his hoof down. The power of his blow was enough to send a massive crashing sound thundering throughout the courtyard, attracting the attention of everypony in attendance. Blueblood’s eyes peeked out from behind his security hooves, barely making out Shining Armor returning to his former authoritative pose. “Well, everypony, I’m so proud at you. It’s wonderful how you remembered your basic training and didn’t break away from attention, even in the face of a pair of young lovers.”

A hoofful of guards started to chuckle again, but a quick glance at the cold, hard stare of their Captain was enough to impart just how serious his intentions were. Blueblood, meanwhile, just continued to shiver. This day is going to be dreadful, I know it…

Slowly, Celestia knocked on her sister’s door. Her hoof barely tapped against the wooden frame, and yet the power that carried it was enough to cause a loud rattle to echo throughout the entire chamber, bounced through the hallway, and could be heard even from the royal pantries.

Within the bedroom, Luna slowly stirred from her rest, her Royal Canterlot Snoring stopping in a very accurate impersonation of a happy pig. Grunting tiredly, she pulled herself out from under the covers, removed her sleep mask, and telekinetically opened her door without moving from the bed. “Enter.”

Celestia slowly entered the bedroom, finally waking the younger sister with her presence. The sunlight burned at her eyes, but the mere presence of that foul yellow ball’s corporeal master was enough to knock out the last shreds of sleepiness. Luna smiled at her sister as she approached the bedside. “Good morning, Celestia. I take it everything is well?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, it is. The birds are singing, the country is humming along, and Canterlot is still standing so far.” The Princess took a few steps forward, stopping just at the foot of her sister’s bed. “And how are you? I trust a good night’s sleep has done you well.”

“Mm-hm, I must say it has,” Luna said. Granted, putting “night” and “sleep” in the same sentence wasn’t her favorite thing, but she could see through her sister’s slip-up and recognize what she was actually saying. “Both of us must give our compliments to the castle’s custodians. To have rebuilt my chambers so quickly after that incident…” Her eyes began to close slightly as fresh anxiety took hold. “Well, it is an accomplishment worthy of the highest praise. Now, what business do we have today?”

The Sun Alicorn blew a few strands of mane from her eyes and sat herself by the bed. “Well, I’ve already made the preparations for your meeting with the Canterlot Hay Board this morning. Ruby Dream is already picking up the latest plans from the architects for the new library in the North Quarter, and should have them on your desk before lunch. She can fill you in on the rest of the afternoon’s activities.” Celestia’s smile faded. “And…I’ll be conducting Princess Cadance’s debriefing later this morning.”

Luan nodded slowly, her head still groggy from exhaustion. “That sounds fine. I have already read the reports she sent from Stalliongrad. Anything else?”

“Actually, yes.” Celestia sighed. “We have to discuss what happened last night. We have a very delicate situation on our hooves now.”

Luna snapped her head back up. “I assume you are speaking of the falsehood Captain Armor and I gave to Princess Cadenza last night?”

Celestia froze for a second, and then rolled her eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t have used those exact words, but yes. Do you really believe that deceiving our niece can possibly lead to anything positive?”

“It seemed appropriate at the time.” Luna sighed. “Once this plan of yours is finished, we can explain our reasons to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. This is a very delicate situation, after all.”

“Trust me, I know that,” Celestia said. “I was here while you were banished, after all. I saw Blueblood transform into the being you know.” Her frown deepened. “Unfortunately, though, we really can’t keep covering up what happened here forever. We were lucky that nopony else knew what I looked like as a filly. All it would take is one of Blueblood’s enemies to recognize him…”

“And they will assume he’s his own son,” said Luna. The mare slid out of the bed, her hooves gently landing with all the crashing cacophony of a feather landing on a drum set. “And even if they assume it is him, they will be powerless to do anything to harm him. He is under our care, and as such is impervious to their machinations.”

Celestia walked over to her sister’s side, a stern look in her eyes. “It’s not that simple. If they think he’s a real colt, and we turn him back, somepony will become suspicious when ‘Leon’ never appears again. Either they’ll think he threw his son out on the streets, or that we abandoned or banished him as well, but questions will be asked.”

Luna shrugged. “We could always keep him as a foal. He seems to be enjoying himself enough in this form.”

“Then more ponies will start wanting to learn where the foal’s mother came from. Eventually, they will still learn the truth about everything that’s happened. They’ll know he’s weak and helpless, and we’re the ones that have been hiding this from everypony. And what of Cadance?”

“What of her?”

Celestia shook her head. “She and Blueblood have had a troubled relationship for quite a while now, and I highly doubt the current situation will fix any burned bridges.”

“Well, at least she liked him at some point.” Luna slowly walked past her sister, stopping only when she reached her rebuilt dresser. Her horn lit up with the power welling up inside, while her magic pulled open the drawers and lifted out the various combs, brushes, make-up, and other utilities and accessories. “Remember when you introduced us? I terrified the poor mare.”

Celestia gave a reflexive chuckle, and in the process earning herself a cold stare from her little sister. “Well, you did use the Royal Canterlot Voice on her. At least you weren’t at your full power just yet. It didn’t take long to get her coat and mane smoothed out again.”

Luna sighed as she stepped past her sister again, this time heading towards the door. “In any case, sister, I did what seemed right, and as far as I am concerned, the situation will resolve itself just fine. If the situation was truly as difficult as you describe, then it will motivate Blueblood to remain hidden. She will learn the truth only after we have passed our final judgment.”

Having said her piece, Luna opened the door and merrily trotted away to prepare for her busy day. Celestia waited until her humming gradually faded into the nothingness before stepping out herself, her magic closing the door behind her. She and the guards shared an acknowledging nod, a little bow here and there, and then she was free to start trotting back down the hallway. “Well…at least she isn’t wishing death on him anymore,” she muttered to herself. “That’s definitely an improvement.”

She had made it about twenty steps before her brain forced her to pause.

“She will learn the truth only after we have passed our final judgment.”

Celestia sighed. It’s not that simple. Cadance and Blueblood have a long history together. Why, I can remember the day he left…

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Blueblood, suitcase in mouth, struggled to make his way to the waiting carriage. It was not so much the weight of the luggage that was causing him difficulty; all that was inside were the last of his belongings from Canterlot Castle, mostly constituting a few toys, a wooden sword, and a jar of chocolate chip cookies he had smuggled from the pantry. He wouldn’t even need most of the items anymore, now that he was going to be taught how to be a real prince. Well, except for the cookies.

No, the problem was the crying pink creature currently clinging to his tail for dear life. Cadance’s voice cracked and echoed throughout the castle and surrounding area, creating a deafening crescendo that, were it to be amplified, would almost certainly be capable of bringing down Canterlot’s mighty walls. Blueblood grumbled and grunted, every step feeling like he had an anvil tied to his back hairs.

When he was about fifteen steps away from the carriage itself, the colt had had enough. He spat the suitcase out of his mouth, taking extra care not to break anything fragile that was within, and turned back to his cousin. “I’m sorry, Cadance, but I have to go. Mom and dad said I have to start learning how to be a proper prince.”

“But you’re already a prince!” she whined. “You can’t leave me here alone! Everypony here hates me and you’re the only friend I have and-”

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “You mean Aunt Celestia hates you, too?”

“Well…no, I guess not,” the filly replied sheepishly. “B-But I’m a princess! Why can’t I go?”

“They said the school is for colts and stallions only,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t know why, but it’s the Academy tradition, and my parents say we have to follow those. And besides, they said I have to spend some time in the military academy.” He laughed a little at his fussy cousin. “I can’t imagine somepony like you doing well after getting covered in mud and dirt.”

Cadance plopped herself onto her haunches and crossed her forelegs in a little pout. “There’s a lot of mares in the army.”

“But no princesses that I know of.”

Both ponies spun around towards the front gate. Standing over them was Princess Celestia herself, smiling down upon them like the sun on a warm summer day. Both foals backed up in surprise at their aunt’s sudden appearance, their eyes widening in surprise. “A-Aunt Celestia!” Blueblood stammered. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see my favorite nephew off,” Celestia said with a smile. “It’s not every day a colt starts his first day of school, after all.”

The Alicorn mare slowly bent down, her belly almost making contact with the floor. Slowly, she pulled herself towards her nephew, touching the side of his cheek with her own and giving him a nuzzle. Before she could pull away, however, a sudden weight took hold onto her neck. “Don’t let him go! You’re the Princess! Make him stay!”

Celestia sighed and raised her neck back up, taking the struggling Cadance with her. The filly screamed and hollered at her unbeatable opponent lifted her higher and higher. Finally, when her aunt’s neck was at its straightest point, she swung around and plopped herself on the Alicorn’s back before resuming her previous pouting and fuming. “It’s not fair! Why does he have to go away?!”

Celestia sighed and focused her eyes back on Blueblood. “Now, I want you to promise me something. I have seen many fillies and colts come back from these schools as completely different mares and stallions. Places such as these will teach you many things, and not everything they tell you is bad, but I want you to remember one thing.”

Celestia slid her front half downward, stopping only a few inches above the ground. The gradual shift in slope sent Cadance sliding down to the top of the Princess’ head, letting out an involuntary giggle before slipping back into her “serious business” face. “Do you know what your Cutie Mark stands for?”

Blueblood glanced back at his mark, a small smile appearing as he did so. “Mom and dad say that it means I’m a prince.”

“But what does it mean to be a prince?”

In an instant, Blueblood’s grin vanished. He slowly looked back up at his aunt. “I…I don’t know.”

Celestia rose back to her full height. “A true prince uses his power and status to help ponies, not to lord over them. He must be willing to work for the benefit of all of Equestria and not just himself. That is what I want you to learn before anything else. I want you to be somepony that others can look up to with pride.” She smiled. “Also, brush your teeth twice a day, always look both ways before crossing the street, and when you go swimming, make sure you never drink the pool water.”

Blueblood snorted back a laugh, his emotions slowly pulling him apart inside. A tiny part of his young mind knew that this was the last time he would ever see his aunt like this again. When he returned, he would be a proud Prince of Equestria, hopefully with giant muscles and spells that could disintegrate a thousand dragons with just a thought. But then again, all school ever taught him was how to read and write and other boring stuff. If he was stuck at a school for years, then he would probably come back as dull as his dad.

His heart could finally take no more. The colt leaped onto his aunt’s leg and hugged onto it tighter than any bear. “I’m going to miss you so much. Please write me, please…”

The colt winced as something heavy came across his back. He craned his neck up, only to find himself staring at the bottom of Celestia’s own. The Alicorn’s head now rested along his back, pulling him in for a hug of her own. Cadance quickly hopped off her aunt’s backside, her own eyes brimming with tears. Slowly, his aunt’s head lifted up just enough for Cadance to get in one more big hug. “I’ll miss you, cousin!”

“I-I’ll miss you, too.” His voice cracked slightly, while his forelegs quickly took turns brushing the accumulating moisture out of his eyes. He was a big pony, and big ponies weren’t supposed to cry.

The scene remained frozen for a few more uncomfortable seconds, with motion returning only after the three heard a pony clop down their hoof. “Master Blueblood, we must be going! The train will be leaving in less than thirty minutes!”

Blueblood’s nerves tightened as he heard the time. There was nothing more he could do here, so he slowly broke free from his two loving family members, grabbed and tossed his suitcase into the back of the carriage, and climbed inside. The waiting, unseen servant climbed in the other side and motioned to the two hitched to the front to begin.

With a mighty neigh, the two burly ponies in front began to canter off, the carriage following behind them. Blueblood leaned out the window, waving a hoof excitedly at the two. “I’ll see you soon! A-And I’ll be a prince this time, you’ll see!”

Celestia and Cadance slowly waved goodbye, and didn’t stop until the vehicle was well out of view. Sensing another imminent round of tears and wails, Celestia spun on her hooves and leaned over the little Roaman filly. “I know it’s hard, but don’t worry. It’s not like Blueblood’s going away forever.”

Unfortunately for Celestia, her reassurances only served to make Cadance’s apparent heartbreak even greater. Her little face twisted about like a shifting tide. “B-But…he…I…Why, Aunt Celestia?!”

The filly leaped forward and buried her face in her aunt’s chest. “Aunt Celestia! Aunt Celestia!”

“Aunt Celestia?!”

Celestia eyes snapped wide open as Cadance’s voice finally drilled through. With a mighty shake of her divine head, she drove off all those unwanted memories and returned to reality. She was still in the hallway, standing in front of Luna’s bedroom, only this time she had two concerned guards and a startled niece staring at her. Celestia’s cheeks turned bright pink as she gave a nervous chuckle. “G-Good morning.”

“Are you all right?” asked Cadance. “The guards said that you’ve been standing here for ten minutes!”

Celestia’s cheeks darkened even more. “My apologies. I’ve just been…lost in thought these last couple of weeks.” She let out a sigh, thereby allowing her skin to return to its normal hue. “But still, did you deliver the notice to Shining Armor.”

Now it was Cadance’s turn to blush, although given the color of her fur it was a tad difficult to notice. She sheepishly turned her eyes away from her aunt and focused on a few loose strands in the royal carpeting. “Yes, I did, and he was fine with the arrangements. But…then I think I…might have…”

Celestia cocked her head. “Cadance? Is something wrong?”

The mare shook her head quickly, her eyes brimming with more than little embarrassment. “N-No, it’s fine. I’m fine. We’re all fine. I-I really need to get going, I-I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

Before Celestia could get so much as another word in, Cadance spun about on her hooves and galloped away, almost slamming into a vase as she turned a corner. The Sun Princess simply watched as the dust settled, her eyes bursting wide open in surprise. Well…that was weird.

Ribbon winced as, yet again, her new friend entered the classroom looking like Nightmare Moon had just tried to gobble him up. “Are you okay?”

Blueblood slowly slid into his seat, his eyes betraying the nervousness coursing through his body. “I’m fine. My cousin just came to visit last night.”

“Wow,” Ribbon said slowly. “I wish I had cousins. Or brothers. Or sisters.” She sighed. “Or any other Unicorn in my family.”

“Well, you can have mine,” Blueblood muttered. “I’d rather have dough stick to my hooves for all eternity than get another bear hug from her.”

Ribbon giggled at her friend’s misfortune, if only to keep her mind off how much she wanted somepony in her family that didn’t use her to test out their new “spinach loaf.” By that point, the rest of the class had arrived and filed into their seats, ready to begin another fine educational day at this fine institution. In fact, the only ponies so far that didn’t have smiles on their faces were Orange Peel and Snowball; the former just scowled at the two, while the latter refused to make eye contact.

When the last pony was at their seat, Miss Brightly entered the room, a large paper bag floating behind her. The door closed behind her with a heavy thud, not unlike a dungeon door slamming shut behind a helpless horde of miniature prisoners. “Good morning, my little ponies!”

“Good morning, Miss Brightly,” the class responded, their single voice rising echoing throughout the classroom. Even Blueblood couldn’t help but smile at the chiming of the voices.

Miss Brightly set the bag down on her desk, stuck her head inside, and pulled out a large sheet of black poster board. The next item to emerge was a tripod, levitating out of the bag before popping open and settling on the ground next to the desk. Finally, Miss Brightly just placed the board onto the tripod, revealing a simple picture of a horned pony with its parts all clearly marked out. “Now, can anypony tell me what this is?”

A silvery filly excitedly lifted her hoof, her entire desk shuffling about underneath her unbelievable enthusiasm. “Yes, Quicksilver?”

“That’s a pony!”

Everypony laughed and clapped at the answer. The filly, unaware of the “foal’s first sarcasm” surrounding her, beamed as brightly as a candle on a moonless night. Miss Brightly gently tapped her hoof against the floor, calling her students’ attention back to her. “That’s right. This is a pony, just like you and me. Today, we’re going to learn about the parts of the pony body, from your poll to your heels.”

The class looked on in amazement, more than ready to identify those parts that they didn’t even know had names. Blueblood smiled at the familiarity of it all. Oh please, I know all these parts already. I can just relax and…

His smile vanished. Well…I guess I could listen. It wouldn’t exactly be right to let all of Miss Brightly’s work go to waste. I’m certain she has something interesting planned for this lesson…

♪ Head, shoulders, knees and hooves, knees and hooves! ♪
♪ Head, shoulders, knees and hooves, knees and hooves! ♪
♪ Eyes and ears and mouth and nose. ♪
♪ Head, shoulders, knees and hooves, knees and hooves! ♪

The entire class erupted into applause as Miss Brightly set her banjo aside and took a bow, mere moments before the bell for the first recess rang. The teacher floated her instrument back to the corner and started herding the foals out to the yard for another helping of fun.

Blueblood lagged behind the rest of the group, his eyes downcast in disappointment. Over twenty years, and they haven’t changed that bloody song…

“Today’s the day!” shouted Lofty. “We are finally gonna get our pudding!”

The three other fillies and their tagalong colt stared at the overly-enthusiastic yellow Pegasus as she motioned dramatically to the ribbon. “We will bring down that ribbon, even if we have to tear this tree out by the roots!”

“YEAH!” shouted Gusty. Blueblood, Ribbon and Buttons just clapped politely. “And just how are we doing it? Axes? Shovels? Oxen?”

“Pfeh, none of that stuff,” said Lofty. “We’re gonna…um…uh…”

The filly’s confident smirk inverted itself into a defeated pout as she slipped back onto her haunches. “I…don’t know. I just thought that…well, we could think of something.”

Blueblood rolled his eyes at the spectacle. Typical foal behavior. They always get worked up over things without any plan for how they’re going to resolve their problems. Still, some pudding would be more than acceptable after that mess this morning.

Ribbon rose from her seated position and walked over to the tree. “Perhaps we could pull the tree out?”

Blueblood walked over next to her and pushed his hoof against the bark, taking note of the tree’s sturdiness. He may not have known a lot about gardening and plants, but even he could tell that the tree was solidly rooted in place. It would take an entire team of pullers and buckers just to get it wedged out of the earth, let alone lowered enough so they could get the ribbon. “Well, that’s not going to work,” he said. “We’re going to need something a bit smaller in scale.”

Ribbon cocked her head in confusion, followed by everypony (besides Buttons and Blueblood) doing the same thing. The colt moaned in frustration. “I mean, we need a new plan.”

Gusty, meanwhile, had fixed her attention on where the bough intersected with the trunk. It was definitely a sturdy branch, more than strong enough to resist any foal’s attempts at breaking it down. And there was no way to climb it either, especially with only hooves and a mouth. If they had a rope, though…

The filly clapped her hooves together in triumph. “I got it! We’re gonna climb up there!”

Lofty looked up from her pouting position just enough for one eye to meet with Gusty’s. “We’re gonna climb it? Gusty, we’re ponies, not squirrels.”

“Actually, she might have a point,” Buttons said. “From all the stories I’ve heard, if you can get a rope tied around the branch, one of us could use it to pull themselves onto the branch. Once they’re up there, all they have to do is go to the end of the branch, untie the ribbon, and we’ll have our snacks.”

Everypony nodded in agreement…save for Blueblood, who was the only one not foalish or naïve enough to believe this entire scheme would actually work. “Well, how are we supposed to do that to begin with? You really think they’re going to just give me a rope long enough to reach the top? Perhaps we should just tie every jump rope together and see if that reaches, huh?”

Miss Brightly raised an eyebrow. “You want how many jump ropes?”

“All of them,” Blueblood repeated. His voice was low and downbeat. “We want to tie them all together and make a super-long rope.”

The teacher shook her head. “Leon, if you do that, then what will the other foals play with? We only have so many jump ropes to share, and it wouldn’t be fair to deprive everypony else of the chance to use them, right?”

The teacher gave an incredibly forced smile on the last word, causing Blueblood to shiver slightly. So much…friendliness and trust! Gah! He rolled his eyes away. “Yeah, you’re right. B-But do you have a really long jump ropes?”

Miss Brightly’s smile gradually lessened from a tooth-baring, mouth-swallowing portal of cheerful despair to a simple, condescending grin. “Of course we do.” She reached over into the nearby tub and levitated out a massively long rope with two wooden knobs on the end. She coiled the whole mess together before finally lowering it to Blueblood’s mouth level, her magic refusing to face until the colt had cleanly clasped the entire length with his mouth.

“Now, remember that you’ll need two ponies to turn the rope,” said Miss Brightly. “And please, please, please don’t try to whip anypony with these!” She shuddered at her long-neglected memory of the Great Jump Rope War. Not a single foal escaped the playground without some sort of red mark on their body. Sometimes, when she slept, she could still hear the jeers, the screams, the…

“Um…Miss Brightly?”

The teacher shook herself out of her thousand-yard stare and returned her attention to the perplexed colt. “Um…sorry about that. Just an incident from my student teaching days. Anyway, you go have fun with your friends. Just remember to bring the rope back when you’re done!”

“Of course,” said Blueblood. The foal scooped up the rope in his teeth and spun about in a single fast motion, his eyes locked on the distant tree. His friends still had their backs to him, no doubt already planning out the logistics of their perilous journey to acquire a free pudding snack. Alas, he had failed in his preparations thanks to basic niceties, and they had to work with but a single piece of nylon.

He was about halfway to his destination when he heard a familiar voice. “I said no, Orange!”

The colt froze, his left ear tilting towards the source of the sound. It was definitely Snowball, and he was most certainly coming from the other side of some bushes. And from the sound of it, he was talking to his boss, Orange Peel, in about the most unprofessional manner one could muster.

Another voice echoed. “Yeah, I mean…do we still have to do this every day?” Smokey.

Blueblood gave one last glance at his cohorts by the tree, but finally jumped into the bushes, rope still clenched in his teeth. Sure enough, he could see the back end of Orange Peel and the fronts of his two cohorts engaged in a desperate battle of words. Blueblood could not see Orange Peel’s face from his position, but that made little difference. The colt’s voice was like an open book. “Come on, guys! So the teacher got a little mad. That doesn’t mean we still can’t get back at those stupid foals!”

Snowball shook his head, a small scowl forming on his lips as he did so. “Get back at them for what? Yeah, it was fun when we jumped them once a week or so, but ever since Leon got here you’ve been doing this every day!”

“W-Well, he deserves it! That stupid colt thinks he’s smarter than the rest of us! And besides, my dad knows his dad is no good, and that makes him no good, right?” The colt’s front half slinked towards the ground, not unlike a cat about to pounce on a bird. “Look, we’ll just have to be a little more careful from now on, okay? As long as the teachers don’t see…”

“My mom told me not to spend time with you anymore,” said Smokey. He pointed an accusatory hoof in his soon-to-be-former friend’s direction. “She said you’re a bad influence.”

Orange scoffed. “Oh, come on! Do you really think she’s gonna do anything? How can she even know what happens at school?”

Blueblood’s eyes widened as he saw Smokey turn towards him and point a hoof at the bush. He reared up to flee, but froze as he realized that something was clearly off with the scene. In particular, all three of the colts were still completely motionless, their eyes looking over the horizon. “You mean Mr. Snowflame?”

Smokey gulped as he laid witness to the horrifying sight of his own teacher. “He tells my mom if I was even near you during recess. After he told her what happened yesterday, she grounded me for two weeks! I-I can’t risk it anymore!”

Orange Peel’s head snapped back to his friend, and thus was back out of range of Blueblood’s field of vision. “Snowball, what about you?”

The blue colt kicked nervously at the ground, his hard gaze faltering as his young mind began to fathom the truth of the matter. “I…I can’t be your friend, either. Dad was so angry after yesterday that…”

Orange Peel’s body movements suddenly began to change. Blueblood squinted and leaned forward, just barely managing to grasp the full scope of the alterations. The orange colt’s breathing became faster and heavier, while a distinct rumbling echoed through his forelegs. “B-But…we’re friends to the end…right?”

The two other colts looked at each other, then back at their leader. “Um…sorry,” said Snowball. “M-Maybe when things calm down…Well, bye!”

The two quickly galloped away before they got into any more trouble. Orange Peel twisted his body around and reached for the two, but couldn’t move from his spot. Blueblood’s heart froze as he saw Orange Peel’s face. The once-powerful bully of the schoolyard now had tears running down his cheeks, a quivering lip, and more than a little bit of pure rage. It all seemed eerily familiar to the white colt.

A part of Blueblood wanted to bust out there and see what he could do, but then another part chimed in. This can wait. I need to tell the others about this first. I think we have one less problem to worry about.

By the time Blueblood had finished making his way back, all four fillies were regarding him with no small measure of frustration. Well, except for Buttons; she was still looking at the tree branch, trying to figure out the best place to make their connection. So far, she seemed to be meeting with a rather severe lack of success.

Blueblood spat out the jump rope mere moments before Gusty trudged up to him, a little scowl on her face. “And just what took you so long?”

“I had to make a small stop,” Blueblood said. “I still don’t think this is going to work.”

“Of course it’ll work!” said Ribbon. She pointed to her deep-in-introspection friend. “Buttons here is the all-around smartest pony in school! If she can’t figure out how to get our pudding, nopony can!”

The little filly returned to the real world at the sound of her ego being soothed. Jumping back to all fours, she spun around and looked at the rope. “But why do you only have one? I thought we were gonna use them all.”

“This is all Miss Brightly would let me have,” said Blueblood. “She said we have to share the rest with all the other foals.”

Everypony let out a small grumble at that. Yet again, their perfect plan had been completely foiled. Even foals as young as four of them were could see that there was no way they were going to get that rope up there and have it reach down far enough so they could climb it. Even worse, recess was nearing its conclusion. “So, what took you so long?” asked Gusty.

Blueblood tapped his chin. Inside his brain of surprising pedigree, he began to weigh the pros and cons of his many possible choices. I could tell them the truth, but there is no reason for any of us to care. I could lie, but if they find out the truth I might lose their frie…TRUST. Or, I could just ignore the query altogether and go about my life as if nothing had happened. But then, Gusty or Lofty would get it out of me anyway.

Sensing defeat, the colt yielded to the truth. “I saw Orange Peel.”

The four fillies looked about each other cautiously, Ribbon and Buttons shuddering at the name. Even Blueblood could feel a small shiver run up his spine at the mere mention of the name. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Lofty finally broke the silence. “Well? What’s that jerk up to this time?”

Blueblood scratched at his right foreleg and shook his head sadly. “I think he was trying to do something, but his friends didn’t seem to want anything to do with him anymore.”

The five looked about each other again in confusion. Buttons cocked her head, an unsure, catlike smile spreading across her lips. “Wow. I really thought they were gonna do something really bad.”

“Those guys were always together,” said Ribbon. “I think they’re the only friends he had.”

“Who’d want to be friends with him, anyway?” scoffed Gusty. “I asked him if he wanted to hang out once, and he said I was a stupid little filly!”

“He pulled one of my feathers out once!” said Lofty. She quickly unfurled her right wind and looked it over gently. “Do you know how much that hurt!”

Buttons sighed. “I brought a picture book to school once. He tore off a bunch of pages and ran off to the colt’s room.” She sniffed. “When he came back…”

Blueblood winced as he beheld his entire party losing heart. “Wow, I…I never knew all the stuff he did. I’m sorry I even brought it up.” His eyes suddenly lit up with inspiration. “But…perhaps if we…”

*BRIIIIIIING*

All five shuddered at the echoing cries of the bell of doom. Once again, they had met with total failure, not only in getting their precious pudding, but in just leaving their play time without feeling like all five-to-six years of their lives had been utterly wasted. But still, they had a challenge waiting for them.

And someday soon, Blueblood knew, that pudding would finally be his.

Cadance traced a hoof over a small bit of land, covering what amounted to the local tracts of farmland. “With some help from the local government, we were able to replant as many of the lost crops as we possibly could. We had to clear out a lot of the burnt farmland to do so, however, and between all the injured ponies and the complete mismanagement of the early relief efforts, we barely had enough resources to get this much done. And that doesn’t even begin to cover what happened to the rest of the city.”

Celestia nodded sadly. “I’ve already seen the casualty reports. What happened in Stalliongrad is a tragedy of the highest order. Now tell me, what is the current shape of the city?”

Cadance sighed and hunched over the tabletop. “We managed to restore order and aid as much as we could, but it’ll take years at least for the city to get back on its hooves again.” Her slump only increased as the first small traces of worry began to scurry across her brow. “I…I’m sorry. I thought I could fix everything in there, b-but even…even my magic wasn’t…”

The Princess snapped back up as she felt something tap her on the side. She slowly turned about to Shining Armor, catching him just as he was retracting his foreleg. “It’s okay, Cadie. You did the best you could.”

“And that’s what I wanted you to learn,” said Celestia. “Rulership is not something that comes easy. Princess Cadance, even with your living situation, you are still an heir to a throne, and will one day have to leave Canterlot to assume your normal duties. And one of the first things you’ll learn is that you cannot use magic to erase your problems. Your ability to amplify affection and love may be a blessing, but you cannot rely on power alone. And sometimes, you just have to accept that you can’t solve everything, but you nonetheless give it everything you have. From the reports I’ve received, you managed to accomplish a great deal in very trying circumstances, and for that you should be proud. Learn from this experience, and you will prove yourself a great princess.”

Cadance nodded slowly. “I…think I understand.”

Her first payload of motivational speeches dropped, Celestia turned her attention to her next victim. “And Shining Armor, even though you were not born into this position, the time is fast approaching where you will have to assume royal duties of your own. That’s why I wanted you to have this experience.”

Shining Armor bowed in reverence. “Thank you for your trust, Your Highness.”

Celestia smiled and leaned forward slightly. “In any case, you both seem to have done a fine job. If anything else comes up, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

The two soon-to-be-newlyweds smiled at each other and wrapped one of their forehooves with the other. Unfortunately, Celestia chose that moment to ruin the mood. “Unfortunately, there is another matter we must discuss. You see, Leon is…”

“I know.”

Both Celestia and Shining Armor both stared at Cadance in complete shock, the Captain’s mouth hanging open in unrelenting horror and the Alicorn’s eyes blown up like balloons. “Y-You know?” said Armor.

Cadance nodded her head. “Yes, I do. I embarrassed him in front of the half the Royal Guard this morning.”

A moment of pure, unadulterated awkwardness swept over the entire room. Shining Armor slowly pushed himself away from his fiancé until he was in danger of falling off his pillow. Celestia, meanwhile, just felt even more confused than ever. As for Cadance, her entire face reflected deep-seated regret at her actions. “I just met him last night. You told me that he wanted to be a guard. And I made him sound like a little baby out there.”

Shining Armor awkwardly rubbed the back of his crest. “W-Well, he kind of is.”

“But I shouldn’t have done that!” Cadance’s head whirled towards Shining Armor so fast that it was a miracle she didn’t get whiplash. “And I shouldn’t have humiliated you in front of the guards as well. But I-I haven’t seen you in so long, and…”

“Absence does make the heart grow fonder,” Celestia added. “But in any case, there is something else we should…”

Cadance sighed. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just glad to be back in Canterlot. But he reminds me so much of Blueblood. The resemblance is almost exact, like he was actually Blueblood shrunk down and turned into a little colt again through some dark spell.” She chuckled. “But really, that would be ridiculous. Magic like that doesn’t even exist.”

Celestia’s wings crooked open just a tad as she rubbed her right foreleg. “Actually, the truth is…”

“And really, if anypony tried to keep him like that, they would have to be really awful.”

The wings finished their opening pattern. Something inside Celestia turned around fifty or sixty times within the space of half-a-second before finally settling, causing her to feel a little queasy. Thoughts of Luna’s declarations and the moral aptitude of this whole affair only intensified her grief. “I…I see…”

Cadance cocked her head. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No, nothing,” said Celestia. She slowly looked back at Shining Armor; the Captain flashed back a look that screamed “I told you so.” “Well, in any case, I think Leon will be fine. He’s just not used to having a big cousin like you around.”

Before anypony could say anything else and make things worse, Celestia hopped to her hooves, her wings still outstretched. “Well, I think we’ve had a very productive day here. Shining Armor, you are dismissed. Please resume your normal duties. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, feel free to pursue your own projects for the time being. I think I shall…lie down for the rest of the day.”

Blueblood stared down at the tennis ball with no small amount of contempt and resentment. After only a few days’ reprieve, it was right back to the exercise in frustration known as “magic practice.”

The other foals, who only a week ago had been expressing nothing but confidence and wonderment at the mere possibility of performing magic, now appeared to share his sentiments. More than a few fillies and colts had groaned audibly as they had returned from recess, their feelings of joy and merriment crushed under the hooves of cruel reality. If Miss Brightly had even noticed this change in temperament, however, she made no attempt to show so. In fact, her back was still turned to the rest of the class, guiding a floating piece of chalk down the right path to enlightenment.

The teacher’s ears rotated back towards her charges, waiting until she heard every last butt shuffle into its seat. The moment the last desk scrapped against the tile floor, she lowered the chalk and spun around. “Welcome back, my little ponies! Are you ready for another magic lesson?”

The class groaned in response, save for a few enthusiastic shouts from Ribbon and a hoofful of other foals. Miss Brightly sighed as she took in the sudden lack of enthusiasm from her charges. “Now, I understand your frustration. Magic isn’t an easy thing to learn. But that’s why we have practice like this.”

Snowball’s hoof shot up, prompting the usual acknowledgment from Miss Brightly to continue. “My dad said that nopony our age can use magic anyway. So why are we trying to move balls around?”

A few other foals echoed the query, their voices eventually swelling into a crescendo that filled the entire classroom. Ribbon tried to shout out some protests, but her own voice was soon swallowed up by the chorus of anger and frustration bouncing from every corner of the classroom. Blueblood, meanwhile, decided to remain quiet, if only to keep from getting into any more trouble.

Miss Brightly sighed and rubbed her temples. “Alright, I…really didn’t want to explain this to you. These are things you will learn more about when you get older, but I suppose I can tell you now.” She leaned back in her chair, the wooden seat creaking slightly from the pony’s weight. “Do you remember when I asked you what you knew about magic?”

The class murmured amongst itself yet again, until Blueblood raised a hoof. “I…told you how each race uses magic in a different way?”

“Exactly,” said Miss Brightly. “Each pony uses their magic in a different way. A Pegasus’ magic allows them to fly and touch clouds without breaking through. An Earth pony’s magic allows them to have better endurance and the ability to grow food. But for Unicorns, it’s very different. We can channel our magic through our horns to perform tasks. That’s different from using our mouths or hooves to move things and use stuff.”

She climbed back to her hooves and walked to the other side of the desk. She pointed at a yellow tennis ball on her own desk, perfectly matching the ones everpony else had failed miserably to lift. “Do you see this ball? What shape is it?”

A lavender colt slowly lifted his hoof, prompting an acknowledgment from the teacher. “Um…it’s round?”

Miss Brightly clapped her hooves together and smiled. “Exactly. But think about it a little more. In order to lift a ball like this, you have to know exactly how to surround it with magic. You need to know how much it weighs, how wide it is, and just how much power to use. Use too little power, and you won’t be able to lift the ball. Use too much, and you’ll send the ball flying. And if you don’t grab onto it completely, your hold won’t be balanced. Nothing’s worse than dropping something really important.” She shuddered. “Like that time that pony knocked a soccer ball into a cake I was levitating. Stupid Cheer-”

“Um…Miss Brightly?” asked Cherry. “How are we supposed to lift a tennis ball, anyway?”

“It’s just like I told you,” said Miss Brightly. “It always takes a lot of work to lift something the first time you try. This practice is about learning how your magic influences the world around you. Before you can even begin to use your magic, you have to know how it works, how to channel your power, and where and when to use it. When you get older, and your horn grows out more, you’ll be able to use magic much more easily, but if you don’t start working your magic out at a young age, it will become harder to practice magic as you get older.”

Her smile grew. “Magic is a wonderful thing, but it’s also a difficult concept to master. As you become better at your magic, you will start to see the world in a different way from other ponies. There are new angles, new dimensions to everything from a simple pencil to Equestria itself. When you understand magic, you understand the world itself a little better. Do you understand now?”

Not a student moved in the class. Nopony there – not even the regressed prince – had any idea what she was talking about. Miss Brightly sighed and stepped back behind her desk. “Well, the point is, you have to keep practicing. So just focus on your balls and concentrate your magic on levitation.”

Blueblood’s tiny hooves slowly scuttled across the castle floor, completely disregarding the royal rules to never drag one’s extremities across the dirt-covered surface beneath them. A part of his mind screamed out for him to stop, lest he bring about the very end of Canterlot as anypony knew it, but the colt didn’t really care at this moment. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get that spectacle with Orange Peel out of his mind.

Well, it was that or the magic lesson. He just chose the one that hurt his brain less.

Nothing is making sense anymore. Orange Peel deserved what he got. Nopony who does anything like he did doesn’t deserve to have friends at all. By Celestia, I don’t deserve friends anymore, and he is far worse than I ever was!

He let out a mournful sigh before stopping mere steps from his bedroom. This doesn’t make sense. The pony that’s made my life miserable these last few days is now friendless, defenseless, and helpless! This is not some innocent mare I wronged, but a colt who deserves a good slap across the face!

The colt lifted his head upwards, his eyes lining up with the door handle. But…then why am…

His not-so-profound thoughts came to a screeching halt as a pair of appendages wrapped around his body and pulled him in tight. Blueblood let out a small cry of fear, but his tiny squeals only intensified the cuddly adorableness of his current body. And then he heard the voice of his attacker. “Welcome home, Leon!”

C-Cadance?

Blueblood squirmed against his bonds, finally breaking through just enough to slip through her forelegs. Cadance smiled and climbed back to her hooves, her eyes never leaving the panting colt. “I’m sorry if I startled you. I know we haven’t known each other for a long time, but I’m still your big cousin.”

“Yes…I…know,” coughed Blueblood.

“You know, I used to be a foalsitter.” Cadance winked at the colt. “In fact, I looked after Princess Celestia’s own student even before she joined the school. You wouldn’t believe all the mischief that little filly got into. I can remember this one time where she got hold of a vase and…”

Blueblood shuffled back a few steps. “That’s…nice, but I really want to get back to my room, so if it’s okay…”

He managed to make a few steps before he saw the door open, seemingly on its own accord. Confused, he looked back up at Cadance, catching her just in time to see the glow from her horn dissolve. The condescending smile was gone, instead replaced with one a small frown. “I’m sorry. I guess I overreacted again. You just…remind me so much of your father.”

The colt wanted to say something else, to unload all his frustration with her embarrassing him in front of the guards he was trying to win on his side, but any such words vanished as he stared into his cousin’s face. Even from this new vantage point, he could recognize those same features. Even at this age, she was still the same filly he knew from his actual youth. All it did was just make him feel even worse for being angry at her. “I-It’s no problem. S-So…how are you?”

Cadance shrugged, her smile slowly returning. “I’m better now. I’ve just missed Canterlot terribly these last few weeks. And…I miss…” She quickly shook her head. “Say, do you want to spend some time together? I am your big cousin, after all.”

A tiny little voice began to ring yet again.

No, Blueblood! Don’t do it! Don’t Don’t Don’t

“Sure. You want to come in?”

Cadance smiled and pointed at the large, oversized dotted lines. “Now, can you spell your name?”

Blueblood cocked his head and rolled his eyes, doing his best to make sure that his now-bigger cousin didn’t see his endless well of sarcasm. “Yes. I learned in school.”

Cadance gasped happily and clapped her hooves together. “Wow, that’s so amazing! When I was your age, I could barely write out anything! Now, can you mouthwrite your name for me?”

Sighing, Blueblood clasped the pencil between his teeth and began etching out one scratch after another. Every stroke of his writing utensil made a dull scratching noise, not unlike a hoof being dragged across a chalkboard, which sent the hairs on the nape of the colt’s neck to stand on end. Cadance, however, just watched with a strange sense of pride at this minor accomplishment. By the time he was done, the word “Leon” lay across the entire page, its lines uneven and its curves jagged and misconnected.

“Oh my goodness!” Cadance said. “Do you know how few foals can do anything like this? By Celestia, you’re such a bright little pony!”

“Heh…yeah,” Blueblood muttered quickly. “B-But I’m sure my dad was just as smart.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Blueblood regretted his choice in words. Cadance’s overjoyed face slowly transmogrified into the kind of expression a pony would wear at their parents’ funeral. She slowly turned her head towards the colt, her lips trembling as her muscles tried to form a smile. “Well…it’s not like Prince Blueblood was not intelligent. He did skip classes a lot, but he still had good grades on everything he did finish.”

She turned away again. “But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t smart enough to not do something that would get him banished.”

Blueblood gulped and started shuffling away. Unfortunately, his chair scrapped along the floor, alerting Cadance to his movement. She giggled at his movement, if only to cover up how she truly felt. “But anyway, you shouldn’t worry about that. He might be your father, but that doesn’t mean you have to be like him.”

Blueblood wanted to scoot away even further, but alas, he didn’t feel like falling out and introducing his skull to the floor. The entire room became awash in an awkward and unsettling atmosphere, much like a killer speaking to the child of the pony whose life he had just taken. “Heh, you didn’t really like him, did you?”

Cadance’s laughter ceased immediately. Her features darkened, not unlike that bizarre incident where everypony turned grey while Canterlot detached itself from the mountainside, and Blueblood could swear he saw something trying to break free from the bottom corner of her eye socket. “I…Well, it’s complicated. You see, I liked him a lot when we were kids. He was always so…cool and awesome in just about everything. When my parents left me in Canterlot, he was the first pony that ever made friends with me. And even after he came back, he was pretty good for a short while.”

Blueblood face remained stoic, but inside, his ego was swelling. That sound about right. I was most definitely a hero back then.

“But then…I saw the pony he was becoming.” Cadance sniffed. “He…didn’t approve of some of the thing Princess Celestia did…that Shining Armor and I did. He just kept getting worse and worse and…”

The Princess froze up as a hoof tapped her along the side. She looked down until her eyes caught sight with the sympathetic colt. Blueblood choked back a few frustrated groans and tears. His mind was already formulating the right thing to say. I know I did a lot of things wrong. But if this experience has taught me anything, it’s that I can become a better pony. I might not understand it all just yet, but someday soon, I’ll be a prince you can be proud of.

Of course, his mouth didn’t listen. “I’m sorry I brought dad up.”

“I-It’s all right,” she said. She sniffed back the last bits of her welled-up depression. “But to answer your question, I don’t hate him. I don’t think I’ve ever really hated anypony. I just wish things could have turned out differently. And I can’t say I’m really happy he didn’t tell anypony about you.”

“Yeah…yeah,” said Blueblood. “So…do you want to see something I drew in class today?”

Cadance clapped her hooves together excitedly, her old foalsitter skills floating back to the surface. “Of course!”

And so the two passed the afternoon away, sharing stories about each other’s daily activities and just growing to know each other again. Cadance could feel herself growing ever more attached to the little colt before her, and Blueblood could feel his old love for Cadance swelling back to levels he had not known for so long. And for just a short, gleaming moment, the mess everypony had found themselves trapped in was forgotten…

“And then they said they wouldn’t be my friends anymore,” Orange Peel pouted.

His father puffed on his pipe, a few small popcorn kernels popping out like fireworks as he did so. Besides the roaring fireplace, his exploding corn pipe was the only source of light in the entire living room. A servant, quickly realizing that a father-son discussion was imminent, rushed in with a bowl of chocolate-covered almonds, set the tray next to the father’s table, and just as quickly departed.

Another puff, another pop, and the father spoke. “I’m sorry to hear that, son, but you did do something wrong.”

The colt huffed and puffed and fumed. “It’s all that stupid Leon’s fault. He and his stupid friends ruined everything.”

“I…see,” said the father. “Is this the same Leon that you’ve described in the past?”

The colt nodded. “The same one. He and those fillies just cost me my friends.”

The father tapped his chin, his mouth shifting the pipe to the other side. Finally, he dug out a hoofful of almonds and tossed them into his mouth at once, loudly chewing and swallowing them all before speaking again. “Then I suppose it’s time we finished this. It’s time we restored the honor of House Frazzleberry.”

Chapter Ten: Unfinished Business

To Blueblood’s amazement, the morning guard gathering seemed…different. Rather than the usual tightly-knit square formations and perfectly-measured lines Shining Armor expected – neigh, demanded – everypony appeared to be simply hanging loose and mingling, as if at a social gathering rather than attending serious training lessons. The Captain himself stood alongside a few other high-ranking officers, all wearing different-colored sets of armor to denote their ranking amongst the few, the proud, the Royal Guards. Even stranger, however, was clipboard levitating in front of Shining. Normally the guards were all checked off by the quartermaster as they entered the grounds, not by the Captain himself.

After a few more moments, the cadre of officers nodded amongst themselves and dispersed, leaving only Shining Armor and his loyal troops remaining. Blueblood, sensing that the coast was officially clear, trotted ahead towards his CO, who seemed to remain oblivious to his presence until he felt something tapping him in the fetlock. “What’s going on?”

Shining looked down from his clipboard, and upon seeing Blueblood, barely fought back the urge to facehoof himself. Horse apples, I forgot about that. “I…thought somepony had already told you. We’re not doing the usual drills and exercises today. We had to move our combat evaluations up to this morning.”

Blueblood cocked an eyebrow. “Combat…evaluations?”

Shining Armor sighed deeply. “You really have no idea what these are? Didn’t you attend guard training at the Academy?”

The colt scoffed at this insult to his manliness. “Of course I did! I just…I never saw us doing anything combat-related in these drills. It was all exercises and discipline. We never even had weapons all this time.”

“That’s because combat training is usually handled in the afternoon. Even then, everypony’s training schedule is staggered so the castle won’t be left unguarded. The last time we were understaffed, a pair of private investigators apparently broke into the castle and removed some incriminating documents.” Armor sighed. “Apparently all the security breaches happen while I’m away. It was Discord all over again…”

“Um…Captain?”

Armor shook his head vigorously, dispelling his thoughts of inadequacy and failure, and returned his attention to the inadequate, failure of a pony standing before him. “Sorry, old wounds. In any case, we have morning evaluations once every three weeks, but because there’s a major conference in the castle next week, Princess Luna asked that we move things up seven days so we could ensure that enough guards were continuously posted. And so, I have to coordinate with all the guard divisions, along with Luna’s personal guard, and make sure everypony is on the right page. And that doesn’t even include all the paperwork that’ll be waiting after this. It’s going to take days to get this all sorted out.”

About halfway through Shining Armor’s speech, Blueblood’s eyes had dilated, while his head seemed to roll about in an attempt to dislocate itself from his body to escape the boredom. Shining gave the colt one last groan before levitating his clipboard back in front of his face. “In any case, I have a lot to do today. And seeing as how you’re a little too young to take on big ponies right now, there’s really no need for you to be out here this morning.”

The Captain looked up from the colt and faced the crowd. “Alright, everypony, let’s get settled!” The guardponies quickly stopped talking, shuffled into their usual formation of straight lines, and fired off a morning salute, which Shining Armor returned in kind. “Good morning, and welcome to our Combat Readiness Evaluations. When I call your name, I want you to march to the front. Your weapons have already been selected for you. Fight to disarm or disable. And if you have to put anypony in the infirmary, please make sure it’s not for more than a day. Remember that we’re here to defend the Princesses, Canterlot, and all of Equestria, and we can’t do that if we pound each other into paste.”

A small burst of laughter rattled through the crowd, silencing only when Shining Armor clopped his hoof down three times for attention. “Heavyweight, Razorwing, you’re up first. Step forward and collect your weapons.”

Two pegasi emerged from the crowd, saluted the Captain, and then stood at attention facing each other. Shining’s horn lit up like a lamppost before summoning two weapons into existence. Heavyweight, a burly pony with more muscles than there was water in the ocean grabbed a floating sword, while Razorwing, a pony who Blueblood recognized from just a few days earlier, took hold of a polearm.

Shining looked back at Blueblood. “As I told you, you don’t have to be here today. You could get about a half-hour head’s start on your morning.”

Blueblood’s eyes wandered over to the nearby door. It just sat there, so inviting in its woodenness, as if it was pleading for the colt to just go back inside and get his non-hot sauced oatmeal. And besides, there was no reason for a little colt like him to smell like a sweating workhorse after a long day of dragging a rusty plow. He still had a long day of schooling, after all, and he had to be rested to learn how a dish and spoon became sapient and escaped their owners.

But on the other hand, his arch-enemy had just lost his friends, which meant he had nothing to hold him back from doing something incredibly stupid. And he had enough experience with stupid things to know that when someone did them, ponies got hurt. Usually him.

The colt nodded to himself, and then looked back up at Shining Armor. The Captain, figuring that the colt was getting ready to head back, had already returned his attention to his clipboard. The two guards continued to stare each other down, their bodies haunched downward in preparation to strike. “Actually, Shining Armor…I’d like to watch a little, if you don’t mind.”

The Captain’s eyes rolled downward slightly, barely reflecting the sense of confusion. “Well…if you insist, but make sure you leave in time to get ready. I don’t want Princess Celestia coming down here and blaming us all if you’re late.” He moved the clipboard to the side and locked his gaze upon the field of honor. “Gentleponies, you may commence!”

In the flash, the two warriors were upon each other. The sword swung about in Heavyweight’s mouth, striking at the shaft of the halberd. In his haste to disarm his opponent, however, he failed to notice that his hold on his own weapon was slipping, and that his opponent was swinging the pole end out to catch the blow. The sword dislodged from Heavyweight’s mouth on impact, and before he could even tell what was happening, Razorwing had already headbutted him hard enough to send him falling backwards, then jumped up onto his barrel and leveled the polearm at his neck.

Shining Armor’s hooves slammed into the ground. “Hold! Win goes to Razorwing!”

The watching guards quickly began clopping their hooves against the ground in celebration, while Razorwing stepped off his opponent and saluted Shining Armor. Heavyweight slowly rolled over and climbed back to his hooves, his legs wobbling slightly from the sudden shift in weight. “Captain…I must protest. I don’t think the fight was fair.”

In an instant, all cheers, jeers, and general celebratory moods were jettisoned from the courtyard. Blueblood, remembering the cruel lessons that awaited those who dared to challenge the authority of the drillmasters, quickly retreated behind Shining Armor. The other guards, many of them still fresh-faced from the Academy, began whispering prophecies of certain doom and unbearable pain at the hooves of their commanding officer. Even Heavyweight could feel his heart sink as Shining Armor’s gaze locked onto his.

“What do you mean, ‘unfair?’” he asked is as cold a tone as possible.

“What I mean…mean is…sir…” Heavyweight gulped so loudly even Princess Luna could hear the sound from the next tower over. “I was trained in how to use polearms and blunt weapons. How was I supposed to win a fight with a sword?”

Shining Armor took a few steps forward before halting a leg’s length away from his subordinate. Sensing his pony shield was leaving, Blueblood quickly retreated underneath a nearby bench for safety. The Captain’s horn lit up, calling his magic around the discarded blade before fetching it back. The sword came to a stop right between the two, its point facing upwards.

“In the line of duty, you will not always have a choice of what to fight with. You might have to break a branch from a tree, or hurl rocks at a charging manticore. I’ve seen your file, and I know you scored the highest with maces and clubs, but what if you were facing something that could only be defeated using a blade, or you had to fire at it with a bow? That’s why you have to practice with everything, until you are fully capable of holding back a possible threat on somepony’s life. The test was fair, Heavyweight. You just need to keep improving.”

The guard slowly moved a hoof up for a salute, his body shaking like he had just ingested an entire pool filled with every caffeinated beverage known to ponykind. “Y-Yes, sir.”

“Very good.” Shining Armor’s lips curled into a smile as the sword disappeared. “Now, return to formation. And I want you to get in some real practice this time, understand?”

The guard nodded, gave yet another salute, and then marched back to the formation, his eyes betraying his joy at still being alive and gainfully employed. Blueblood emerged from beneath his very limited protection, a look of surprise on his face. “Wait…what just happened? I thought...”

Shining turned his head towards the colt. “You have to be strict, but you can’t break the guys like they do in boot camp. The last Captain taught me that you get a lot better results with honey than vinegar.” He floated his clipboard back over. “Now, do you want to stick around some more? I think we can get a couple more in before it’s time for your breakfast.”

Blueblood glanced back at the crowd. He could see more than a few looking at him almost expectedly, although their actual intentions were impossible to gauge from this distance. After a few more awkward seconds of scanning, he turned back to Shining Armor. “I’d love to.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Alright, then let’s get back on schedule. Brick House, Ironhooves, step forward and prepare to be presented arms.”

Celestia sipped her morning honey, her horn searching through the various packets of mail that had arrived at the castle the preceding day. So far, she had found seventeen requests for a personal visit, twenty urgent responses from her various agents across Equestria, possibly hundreds of petitions for everything from requests to extend the nighttime by a few hours to some crazy pony wanting to invent a magical horseless carriage. And that didn’t include the hundreds of pizza coupons and department store sale ads.

So busy was she that she barely noticed Princess Luna and Blueblood approach, the two entering the room from different doors at the same time. Neither pony gave more than a quiet grumble as they shuffled into their seats for the kickstart to their day, the former from her quiet frustration with managing both yesterday’s daytime and nighttime courts, and the latter just disappointed that he had to leave the training grounds behind.

Nonetheless, Celestia was her usual, infuriatingly-cheerful self. “Good morning, both of you. How goes this wonderful new day?”

Luna grunted. “Mention ‘fine morning’ again, and I shall have your neck in a vice.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow and smiled. “Why, sister, what is the matter with you? The sun is up, the birds are singing, and Equestria is still standing. What else could you want?”

“An engineer that can actually build a stable bridge would be wonderful,” Luna groaned. Celestia winced as she remembered her own report on that…incident. Those poor ducks.

“So…” Her gaze turned back to her young nephew. “And how about you, Blueblood? I take you watched the combat evaluations?” Blueblood responded with a simple nod of his head and very audible chew of his cud-like oatmeal. “Sooooo, any idea what your lesson will be today?”

The colt shrugged. “We’re supposed to be learning the alphabet or something like that. I dunno.”

Even as the breakfast table shifted back into silence, Celestia’s smile never faded. She just watched as her regressed nephew and grumpy sister slowly eat their morning meal, confident that this would be another day with no regrets, upheavals, or anything else that would make the current situation any worse.

Blueblood was especially quiet and, to her surprise, actually behaving himself quite well. She hadn’t seen that in a long time…

Princess Celestia did her best to remain emotionless and detached, even as her inner selfwas practically bouncing up and down in excitement. She simply proceeded through the rest of her court, passing a judgment here, giving some advice there, and always waiting for the moment when she would finally be reunited with her favorite nephew.

Finally, it happened. Dusty Flint levitated up the scroll, took a deep breath, and made the official introduction. “Prince Blueblood of Equestria, enter and be received by Her Majesty , Princess Celestia.”

The doors opened, allowing a single stallion to enter. Celestia’s face betrayed just the slightest hint of her amazement at the radical change only a few years apart had brought. The little colt who always placed eighth-to-last in every sport was now a large, finely-muscled stallion. His messy blonde mane and tail were now perfectly groomed and shining with the glistening sheen of hair gel. His coat was perfectly straightened, with plenty of bleach and colorings to highlight his Cutie Mark. And then there were his eyes. They burned with the brashness of youth, coupled with the wisdom of a sage.

Celestia’s lips twisted and quivered until she had unconsciously formed a smile. “Welcome, Prince Blueblood. I trust all is well.”

Blueblood bowed, eliciting a silent chuckle from Celestia. He certainly had the routine down, but there was a definite oddness and sense of ill ease with every motion, as if he was afraid she would have him boiled in oil if it wasn’t right. That attitude irritated her with her normal subjects, but seeing it in her favorite nephew never failed to bring a smiled to her aged face.

After a few more moments of awkward supplicating, Blueblood stood back up. “I…Yes, everything is well. I…I’m sorry, I’m…a little flustered, to be honest. I only graduated a few days ago, and…”

Celestia smiled and shook her head. “I understand. And I apologize if I interrupted any of your plans by summoning you here so soon, but I couldn’t wait to see you again. It’s time you started using your education for the benefit of Equestria.”

The room grew unnaturally quiet again, just like with every visitor who ever graced this throne room’s doorway. It wasn’t until Dusty Flint coughed that Blueblood finally dared to smile. “Yes, I…suppose that’s right. And I have learned quite a bit, I promise. And…what of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”

Another undignified giggle tried to break through Celestia’s teeth. “Princess Cadance is quite well. Right now, she’s serving as our liaison to Roam. I thought it would give her some easy lessons in how to rule before she assumed more severe royal duties. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The stallion’s smile seemed to fade slightly, even as his lips barely registered a change in curling. He slowly nodded his head in agreement. “Of course.”

The Princess looked about the room, double-checking for any hidden doorways, dukes tucked away behind curtains, or even any listening devices the nobility may have invented just to toy with her. Once she was certain that her royal dignity was protected from those who would use it against her, Celestia rose from the throne and walked over to the still-shaking Blueblood. The young stallion gasped and started to withdraw, but his aunt’s calm approach gradually cooled his nerves until she was close enough to hug him. And that’s exactly what she did.

“I’m so happy you’re back,” she whispered. “And I’m so proud of you…”

Celestia grumbled at the memories that kept trying to force their way back out. Every time she tried to stuff them back down into her subconscious, something would happen that would force them back up. She hadn’t even noticed Blueblood and Luna leaving the table.

W-Well…I suppose it’s for the best that happened. And besides, he’s learning so much in that school now. He’ll become a better pony, I’m sure of it.

“And that’s why you shouldn’t eat grass that hasn’t been cleaned,” said Miss Brightly. “And now that we know why Stone Mason won’t be joining us today, let’s get back to class, shall we?”

The class very quickly nodded along, both so they could resume their spelling lessons and so they could stop thinking about their classmate in agony. Snowball was still snickering at the word “diarrhea,” but everypony else remained in a state of polite silence. Miss Brightly, sensing that the time for discourse had passed, erased the writing on the board and levitated up a piece of chalk. “Now, letters are actually really fun once you know how to write and spell them. This one here is a…”

Blueblood sighed and shifted back in his desk. Ribbon raised a curious eyebrow at this, but for the most part remained focused on the all-important words of her eternally wise teacher. The rest of the class was following the same procedure, eagerly making chickenscratch interpretations of each letter as Miss Brightly traced it out. The colt made the occasional scratch, if only to make sure that he didn’t get in trouble, but in any case there was nothing else to do but relax.

And then he saw Orange Peel.

The orange foal simply sat there, his eyes locked intently on the little pony he had come to call his nemesis. Beneath his eyes lay a kind of madness and hatred Blueblood had only felt seven times in his life. And whenever it did come along, there were very few ponies left alive in its wake. It was the sign of a pony marking its prey for a quick, inglorious...

“Leon!”

Blueblood snapped his head back around, only to find Miss Brightly standing over him. Her lips were curled into a very disapproving stare, the kind that was usually followed up by a stern talking-to and (on occasion) a pull on the ears. “Have you listened to a word I said?”

Blueblood gulped. He could already hear the low murmurs of the foals giggling at his torment. “N-No…I mean, yes, but…”

Miss Brightly sighed and lowered herself down to the ground, stopping when she was at about eye level. “Leon, I would very much appreciate it if you would keep your attention focused on your schoolwork right now. If you want to play with your friends, you’ll have to wait until recess, okay?”

Blueblood grimaced as the chortles began. He gave a few fidgets, rolled his eyes away, and finally ended with a resigned sigh. “Yes, Miss Brightly.”

“Thank you,” Miss Brightly whispered. She rose back to her hooves, stretched out the kink in her back, and turned her gaze to the rest of the class. “Now, who’s ready for some reading?”

Shining Armor’s quill hovered from one side of the page to the other, if only to help focus his eyes on the sheer amount of information he had to process. The generals had all submitted their findings on each of the guardponies reviewed, which meant a giant stack of paperwork for each and every one of his ponies. That amounted to over eighty ponies in his division, not to mention all the others guards posted at royal estates, city outposts, and just about anywhere not directly within the castle walls.

Alas, he thought, such is the fate of the lonely Captain of the Guard. Only he stands against the ever-incroaching hordes that plot to destroy Equestria. And if he must pour over a thousand parchments by the end of the day, then so be it, for he shall…

“Um…honey? You’re in the strange area again.”

Shining Armor gave his head a healthy shake, shattering the illusions around him and returning to the real world of Equestria. In the time between his blackout and his return, Princess Cadance had made her way into his office, levitating two massive mugs of black coffee with her. Armor blushed through his fur as his magic took hold of one of the steaming cups and floated it to an empty coaster on his desk. “Th-Thanks…”

Cadance smiled and sighed. “Seriously, Shiny, I worry about you sometimes. Just please don’t tell me this was a flashback to the Dragon’s Den.”

The knight quickly shook his head. Even his subconscious thoughts refused to reflect on the disaster in the Dragon’s Den Tavern. All it took was one sip of Griffon’s Tears, and when he came to, he had somehow shoved himself into Blueblood’s mailbox. The prince was none-too-pleased when this allowed him to stop his plan to blockade Ponyville’s oat shipments. “Yeah, I…I’m over that.” He took a sip of the rich black liquid, the caffeine shocking his senses back into alertness. “It’s just I never expected this much paperwork was expected of a Captain of the Guard.”

Cadance rolled her head and took a seat on one of the guest cushions. “Tell me about it. You should see some of the stuff a princess has to sign. Refilling the cookie jar because a certain little sister just stole them all requires about a dozen requisition forms alone. And that’s not to mention the cookie testers?”

Shining groaned. “Yeah, I remember. I have no idea how the Food Safety division could have ever gotten that corrupt.” Another sip. “But I’ve got a good, full day of office duties to finish before Princess Luna comes in and asks where these are.”

“Oh, I promise I won’t be long,” Cadance said between gulps. “You see, I’ve been thinking about the wedding.”

Shining dabbed the quill back into the ink well a few times before drawing it back out, leaving a little trail of sticky black liquid in its wake. “Of course. Is there a problem with the caterers? The band? Please tell me the bridesmaids weren’t just trying to ride on your tail?”

“Well…they were,” Cadance said sheepishly, “but there is actually something else I was wondering. We haven’t found a ring bearer, have we?”

“Well, I was thinking of asking Spike. We’ve known each other since he became Twily’s assistant, and the little guy’s practically part of the family by now.” Shining chuckled as he looked over a guard’s (very) low evaluation scores. “Seriously, Stoutheart, how can a pony so large have so much trouble lifting a dagger?”

Cadance, ignorant of her husband’s continued desire to finish his impossible task, took another sip of her extra-rich coffee and leaned back on the cushion until her backlegs were threatening to start hovering. “Actually, I was thinking of giving the position to Leon.”

Shining Armor’s lips spat out no small amount of spittle, and it was only by the grace of Celestia that he hadn’t been trying to drink more of his coffee at that point. Cadance scooted herself and the cushion back a good eight inches, just barely avoiding the string of spit. The entire room fell silent, save for the dull ticking of an old grandfather clock along the wall, until Cadance finally spoke again. “Is something wrong, Shining?”

“I-It’s nothing,” Shining Armor said between gags. “B-But you barely know him. He’s only been living in the palace for the last couple of weeks, and…”

“But he’s Blueblood’s son,” Cadance said. Her voice was hushed, as if afraid somepony else would hear her. “I know we decided he couldn’t attend even before his banishment, but we knew nothing about his colt. I say we let him become part of the family.”

Shining Armor’s face became as flat as stone for a few seconds, just before his nerves chiseled the block away until it had formed into a smile. Next came the small laugh, the kind that usually accompanied either a really good joke, or somepony making a total donkey out of themselves. Cadance’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her forelegs, transforming from the poised, dignified princess to something not unlike a foal who had just had her favorite toy taken away. “I wasn’t joking, Shining Armor.”

“I-I know,” the Captain said between very un-stallionly giggles. “B-B-But the fact is, he…well…”

With a great deal of aplomb, Shining Armor cleared his throat, climbed to his hooves, and walked his way over next to his bride-to-be. The two blushed slightly as their muzzles touched, sending a wave of euphoria through both participants. It was only Shining’s fear for his job and Cadance’s own frustration with the whole Blueblood mess that kept things from going any farther.

“It’s going to be all right,” he muttered. “We can talk to Leon once he gets out of school. I’m sure he’ll have all sorts of amazing things to tell you…”

“The ca-cat i-is-is…um…” The jet-black filly began to shudder as she tried to intone the words on her page.

Miss Brightly looked up from her own copy of the book and walked up to the filly. Her eyes stared at her with softness and compassion. “Try to sound the word out. What noise do you make when you freeze?”

The class responded with a simultaneous, “Brrrrrrr.” Except for Blueblood, whose noise was more like a dismissive spit.

“And what do you say when something hurts you?”

Again, the class shouted back, “Ow!” Except for Blueblood; his yelp was a genuine plea on behalf of his brain.

“And what’s the last letter?”

And yet again, the foals all responded at once. “N!” Except for Blueblood, who was shouting something like, “End!”

The filly nodded, her mind still reeling from the incredibly advanced concepts presented to her. “So, the words is….Brrrrrr….ow….n?”

Miss Brightly nodded. “That’s right! Now, read the whole sentence again.”

The filly looked back at her copy and started over. “The cat is…brrrrooownnna.”

“That’s wonderful, Night Sky!” the teacher exclaimed. “Keep practicing, and you’ll be able to read whole books by yourself in no time!” The filly grinned proudly; now that she had triumphed over that minor word, it was only a matter of time before she was building magic reactors and ushering in a new golden age of scientific achievement in Equestria.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, Blueblood just groaned. She had trouble reading brown? What kind of… I… I mean…that really is an achievement for somepony this young, I suppose. Not that the tutors ever praised me when I did something right. J-Just think positive, don’t snap…don’t let the anger take you again…

“Hey…you okay?” whispered Ribbon.

Blueblood nodded. “Yes…I am.”

The filly sighed in relief. “Good, ’cause it’s your turn to read.”

The colt’s eyes widened as he finally realized the entire class was now staring at him. Miss Brightly tapped her hooves against his hooves against the floor impatiently, already mulling over what she was going to say next if he held up class again. Sighing, Blueblood leaned over and started reading the book. “She is a good cat…”

Any possibility of continuing the discussion ended as a loud knock echoed throughout the chamber. All four eyes in the room locked on the wooden doorway the sound had echoed from just as another rattle began. Sighing, Shining Armor’s magic willed the entrance open. “Come in.”

Cadance’s eyes narrowed as the bearer of the knocking entered the room: Baron Frazzleberry. He was just as full of himself as ever, swaggering up like a proud stallion out to stud. Were her fiancé not standing at her side, she would have demanded that he leave; with him, she could afford to humor him along just long enough to give Shining Armor a reason to toss him out. “Good morning, Princess Cadance. I had no idea you were back in Canterlot. I trust everything is well?”

“Very,” she said in an icy tone. “Now what do you want, Frazzleberry?”

The Baron gasped and leaned backwards, raising a hoof to his neck as if struck by an invisible arrow. “Your Highness, I apologize. I had assumed that we were all over our petty childhood grudges.”

“According to the reports I got, you attacked Lord Huffy during a dinner party.” Shining grit his teeth and pushed his helmed forward slightly, making his eyes look hidden in the darkness. “It’s a wonder Princess Luna didn’t have you arrested, especially after you tried to assault him right in front of her.”

“It’s a wonder that…” Cadance raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her future hubby. “Wait, he did this in front of Night- Aunt Luna?”

The minute Cadance’s Freudian slip reached Frazzleberry’s ears, his features began to pale noticeably. His breath became as cold as a glacier, his eyes shrank to the size of peas, and his legs began to wobble like a newborn’s. Shining Armor and Cadance quickly took a step back, alarmed at this sudden development. “A-Are you all right, my lord?”

“Y-Y-Yesssss…” the obviously not-all-right stallion muttered. Seizing the last of his courage, he shook loose the paralyzing fear that was overtaking his senses, dulling it down until it was only a low disquiet. “My…My apologies. I’ve just been…well, it’s a long story. In any case, perhaps you can be of assistance. I’m looking for a member of the castle staff.”

Shining Armor sighed, doing his best to retain some level of civility. “Sir, is there anything we can help you with? We were in a very important meeting right now, and we would very much like to get back to business.”

The Baron huffed, puffed out his chest, and blew a snort out his nostrils. “Yes, I would truly hate to interrupt your ‘business.’” Both Shining and Cadance blushed as they caught the implications within his words. “However, I have my own business to attend do, and perhaps you may help. You see, my son has been attending kindergarten at one of the nearby preschools, and it seems he has become an acquaintance of a young colt. It has also come to my attention that his mother was a former employee of the now-deposed Prince Blueblood.”

Cadance’s eyes narrowed. “Are you really saying…”

“I was just…curious,” Frazzleberry said in a bellows-like voice. “It is a very rare treat for anypony to live in Canterlot Castle, especially a pony not born into nobility. Surely somepony such as yourself or your daring knight can see that such a situation is…unusual, and should have a third party interview the colt. How can we be sure he’s not a spy or a political tool?”

Cadance was about to pick some choice words for the Baron, but stopped as Shining Armor stepped between her and Frazzleberry. “Lord Frazzleberry, when I joined the Royal Guard, I took an oath that swore to protect everypony that dwelled within Equestria’s borders. If there even is a colt living in this castle, then his protection is my concern. If the Princesses trust him enough to allow him to live in Canterlot Castle, then I would advise you to drop your charges and give him his peace. Now, if you do not have anything to request that will not lead to me violating my sacred vow, then I suggest you leave, my lord, before I notify Princess Celestia of this intrusion.”

Frazzleberry’s jaw dropped slightly. He had known the Captain for a number of years, ever since he was but a junior officer, but he had never known him to speak in such a tone to anypony in the nobility. He never even talked up to Prince Blueblood, and he was a sick monster by the end. Cadance herself seemed surprise at the sudden turn; then again, his name kind of gave his dedication away. Pony names tended to do that.

The Baron nodded slowly. “Very well, then. I shall take my leave. Have a pleasant day, Captain, Your Highness.”

He gave one final bow, turned about, and quickly scurried away. Once he was safely gone, Shining Armor turned back to Cadance. “Well, how’d I do?”

The mare’s stunned expression slowly melted into a smile as she gave her brave knight a victory nuzzle. After all, how many knights could boldly stand in front of a noblepony and ask him to leave? “You were wonderful, muffin.”

Smiling, Shining leaned in to consummate the kiss…only for Cadance to suddenly pull her head back, sending the Captain tumbling to the floor. “That’s it! Muffins!”

Shining peeked up from his low vantage point, his face twisted in frustration. “What are you talking about?”

Alas, his question fell on deaf ears. Cadance quickly leaped over his downed fiancé’s body and cantered through the door, muttering something under her breath that equated “muffins” with “answer.” He didn’t know what it was, and he was afraid to find out.

Still, he thought as he climbed back to his hooves, it was nice while it lasted. At least it went better than the last time I tried to be brave in front of her…

Shining Armor had barely managed to get to the front steps by the time the carriage had arrived. The other guards eyed the new Lieutenant with no small amount of contempt, as did many of the accompanying nobles. It was no small secret that he was the older brother of Princess Celestia’s personal protégé, a relationship that practically put him on the fast-track to yet another early promotion. The thought bothered Shining something fierce, but if it meant he could get out of having to watch stuffy old ponies try to haul their wrinkled-up bones out of carriages, then he would cheat the system as much as it took.

The carriage slowly rolled into position. Of course, it always took the drivers and the attendants forever to unhitch themselves and begin rolling out the red carpet; as a result, Shining Armor was given a chance to scrutinize the vehicle’s design and features. He may not have been very good in blacksmithing class, but even he could recognize the tell-tale features of a Roaman carriage.

Beneath his stoic, unchanging face, Shining huffed and puffed. He had known only one Roaman pony in his entire life: Princess Cadance, Twiley’s old foalsitter. He could never understand why a princess would be willing to look after his LSBFF; then again, it was the easiest job in all of Equestria, seeing as the filly didn’t so much as move from a spot until she had finished her latest book.

As the carriage door opened, one of the nobles broke free from the ranks and stepped closer to the unfurled carpet. The Lieutenant’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the blonde-maned stallion. Prince Blueblood, one of Princess Celestia’s favorite nobleponies. Ever since he had the misfortune of serving as one of his guards, he had given the noble a wide berth, and even that was rarely enough to satisfy his survival instincts. Neigh, it would be better if he one day exposed Blueblood for who he was…

But that would have to wait. For now, there was another pony to guard.

One of the attendants planted his hooves next to the open carriage door and telekinetically unfurled a scroll. “May I announce the arrival of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza…”

Shining lost interest almost immediately. He had learned that the longer the title, the worse the pony, and this would no doubt be much of the same. He closed his eyes and drifted off into his half-asleep happy area, dreaming of the day he would become the Captain of the Guard after saving a princess from a thousand dragons using only a butter knife.

Still, his ears could pick up the noise. He heard a few dainty, mare-like hooves touch down on the red carpet, pause, and then slowly take a few steps forward before stopping again. There was a sound like two manepieces being rubbed together, followed by Blueblood’s voice. “Welcome home, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

The mare giggled. “We don’t need to be so formal here. Call me Cadance.”

CADANCE?!

Shining Armor’s eyes flung open so quickly his entire helmet almost popped off. Standing in front of Prince Blueblood was a pink winged unicorn, dressed in the usual royal horseshoes and tiara, with a blue heart as her Cutie Mark. There was no doubt that this was the same royal princess who had foalsitted Twiley. And yet...she had changed. Gone was the dorky ponytail, the chubby legs and the round little face he found so hilariously silly. In their place were the elegant curves and beautiful mane of a grown mare.

The mare slowly broke away from Blueblood, a big smile forming across her lips. She next turned to Princess Celestia, hugging her aunt and speaking something in a tongue Shining Armor couldn’t understand. His matriarch slowly gave her a tiny nuzzle, the most allowed in any proper gathering such as this, and Cadance quickly returned the favor.

And then she turned to him.

Shining smiled as best he could as she approached and stopped in front of him. “Good day, Shining Armor. It has…been a long time since we last met.”

Everypony’s eyes, ears, and other visual and audio extremities locked onto the two in an instant. A flash of surprise spread across Blueblood’s face, followed by a grim scowl. Celestia gave a quick wink to the couple. The other guards muttered hushed gossip to each other, all desperate to hear what lead to this chain of events. The other nobles appeared absolutely flabbergasted at the mere notion of a being as rare as a Winged Unicorn speaking to a common guard officer.

Nonetheless, Shining puffed out his chest and bowed to his princess. “Mi Amore Cadenza, it has been such a long time since I have last laid mine eyes upon you. You have grown into a beautiful mare, and my heart pounds at your very presence. If I were not but a mere officer, I would gladly pursue your hoof in holy matrimony, but alas, that shall never be, and I must contend myself with pining for you from afar.”

Unfortunately, his idealized vision did not come to be. In reality, his remarks amounted to, “Blah eadgre fureja orjeos lahfea aaaaaaaa…” followed by a stunned silence and more than a little bit of mocking laughter from his buddies and subordinates. Cadance herself giggled at the stallion’s tongue-tied response, which only served to heighten his embarrassment.

And then he saw Prince Blueblood approach, his eyes burning with rage. Before the hapless Lieutenant could even muster a word in his defense, the most hated nephew of Princess Celestia was upon him, nudging aside his cousin and snorting right into his face. “How dare you speak to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza in such a manner?!”

On any normal day, Shining would have simply stood still and taken the abuse without question. After all, he was a member of the Royal Guard, and the orientation specifically stated that one of their duties was being forced to listen to what every born-lucky overgrown foal had to say. But now, with his nerves already pulsating from meeting Cadance again, he could not help but step back and quiver a little for fear of his life.

Fortunately for him, there was at least one pony here on his side. Cadance poked a hoof at her cousin’s side, her head slightly cocked with worry. “Blueblood? He’s just an old friend. We met back when I was foalsitting his little sister.”

The redness in Blueblood’s face lessened considerably as he turned back to his cousin. The anger gradually gave way to a general sense of confusion, followed by a general sense of relief. After a few awkward seconds, he turned back to the still-terrified Shining Armor. “Very well. Resume your post, Lieutenant, and next time, mind your tongue.”

Around them, time slowly returned to normal. Cadance gave a final bow before heading back to speak with others, Blueblood trotting at her side. Once he was certain he was safe, Shining let out a deep breath and opened his eyes again…

And found himself staring at the foalsitting princess’ backside.

His heart went out again.

Lofty held up the Amazing Amethyst figure, a jeweled staff shoved through the two holes in the sides of its mouth. “You won’t get away with this, Ahuizotl!”

Next came Daring-Do, carried by a very excited Gusty. “That’s right! We’ve defeated your Flying Pushups, and now there’s nothing you can do to stop us!”

Ahuizotl, however, would not allow such meager ponies to foul up his schemes. With the aid of his avatar, Blueblood, he rose up in an act of sheer defiance. “You won’t stop me, little ponies! By combining the Celestial Gems and the Heart of Aurora, I shall be victorious!”

Daring-Do and Amethyst both let out a roar and charged forward, their bodies slamming into the dreaded fiend. Plastic clacked against plastic as the forces of good and evil did battle, with the very fate of the universe in the balance. Ribbon, meanwhile, remained tied to the tree, mere moments away from being sacrificed to the dark powers Ahuizotl sought to control. Buttons, on the other hoof, just provided running commentary of the epic conflict.

“Daring-Do swings from the ceiling and jump bucks Ahuizotl right in the muzzle! Amethyst tries to use the change to strike from behind, but oh no! Ahuizotl’s tail has smacked her across the face! But Amethyst isn’t hurt! And with Daring-Do taking the lead, there is nothing these two can’t do!”

“Um…hey, guys?”

Daring and Amethyst froze mid-kick, their hind legs simply floating in the air at the sound of the familiar, and unwelcome, voice. All five slowly turned towards the nearby Snowball and Smokey, now sans their orange-coated master. The two colts kicked and pawed the ground nervously, while the mares and their token colt friend just regarded them with unwelcoming silence. The spectacle continued for what felt like a small eternity – a whole fifteen seconds – before Smokey spoke again. “So…how are you guys?”

Gusty took a few steps forward, placing herself in front of the others as best she could. “What do you want?”

“W-Well…” Snowball muttered sheepishly.

Ribbon, still tied to the tree, struggled for real against her bonds this time, and soon undid the jump rope holding her to the sacrificial tree. She climbed to her hooves, rubbing her front fetlocks as she stood. “Well, come on! We’re in the middle of something here.”

“A-Actually…” Snowball stammered, “we were wondering if we could…you know…hang out with you guys?”

All five’s jaws popped open at the words, followed by ten eyeballs sinking back in surprise. “Wh-What?” muttered Buttons. “After everything Orange Peel did to us…”

Smokey quickly reared up, waving his forelegs frantically in front of his body before setting back down. “N-No, it’s…well, you see, we…”

“Well, what do we have here?”

All seven heads spun around to the far side of the playground, to where Orange Peel was smirking like the jerk he was. Ribbon and Buttons quickly jumped over to Lofty and Blueblood’s sides, while Gusty simply trotted down towards him. Snowball and Smokey made no attempt to move, instead shifting their eyes back and forth between the two groups.

Orange Peel had barely taken more than a half-dozen steps towards the group before Gusty stepped in his path. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

The colt simply sneered at the filly, not caring whether or not Miss Brightly was watching. “Get out of my way, foal. I have some business with Leon and those traitors.”

Orange attempted to sidestep the filly, only for her to immediately dart back in front of him. Her determined glare only grew in intensity every time he tried to pull that move. “Now you listen, you stupid little snot! If you don’t stop moving around this instant, I am going to show you just how much pain a pony can take before they go down!”

“And I’m telling you, I just want to talk to Leon!” Orange snapped back. “All I want is to say a word or two to him, and we can all leave this place without getting our flanks kicked again!”

Lofty hopped up next to Gusty, her little wings retracting upon landing. “Yeah, your flanks! Or did you forget what happened last time you tried to fight any of us? We kicked your butt! And you got us grounded!”

From behind the crowd, Blueblood watched with no small measure of surprise. Ponies…defending me like this? I…I didn’t… He shook his head. “Um…I can…”

“I did not get you grounded! And besides, you deserved it for being annoying snots!” Peel’s left forehoof pounded into the ground like a hammer. “Now let me-”

Ribbon was the next one up to bat, pushing herself between Gusty and Lofty and looking more confident in herself than ever. “Don’t talk to my friends like that!”

“Then let me get through and I’ll stop!” Orange Peel shifted away from the main body of the shield and tried to circle around the back, only to find the entire group shifting to stop him. He then turned to his left and continued the trend, moving the entire body of enemies with him. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…

After the eighth time, Lofty finally took a step out of time, causing her legs to get caught on Ribbon, who then tripped up Gusty, and all three tumbled to the ground in a mass of limbs, horns and wings. Orange Peel followed it up by running past them, stopping just short of a still-stunned Blueblood. Buttons tried to push the colt out of the way, but tripped on a tree root and slammed into the grass.

With his allies down, there was nopony left to defend Blueblood. Orange Peel slowly approached, his eyes narrowed into tiny slits, his breath slow and forced…

“I’m going to get you, Leon.”

Everything went completely still…as nothing happened. Orange Peel simply turned towards his former associates. “And you guys! Why do you want to hang around with a bunch of dorks like these dweebs? If you come back with me, then we’ll forget this ever happened. There are so many other ponies we have to take down!”

The two colts, still pressed firmly against the ground, looked at each other for a few moments, then turned back to their former friend and responded in unison. “No.”

A tiny twitch formed under Orange Peel’s right eye for a few moments before disappearing. Despite how much it hurt his muscles, he continued to force a smile. “Now come on. I’m more than willing to forget allll about yesterday if you just come along. We can be friends like we used to be.”

“And then what?!”

Orange Peel reared up as Snowball rose back to a standing position. Within his eyes burned a sea of long-buried resentments and frustrations, all of them targeted at the hapless orange colt before him. “I’m tired of being the bad pony, okay? You could jump farther off the swings than anypony, you were a pro at ‘Colt Fighter,’ and you even got us in that pool last summer! But ever since Leon got here, all you’ve cared about is him. I don’t want to do any of this anymore. I just want to have fun.”

Smokey rose up next, his limbs still shaking but otherwise still stable. “And I’m tired of getting in trouble because of you! I don’t know what this ‘Leon’ did to you, but he’s not worth it anymore!”

Orange Peel stood as solid as a statue, his mind unable to wrap around exactly what was happening. Around him, his former targets were returning to life, their own mouths agape at what was transpiring. “Wh-What do you mean? I…I said I’d forgive you…”

“But you never said you’re sorry!” Snowball took a few more steps forward, stopping just a leg’s length away from Orange Peel. “If you say you’re sorry, then maybe we’ll forgive you for costing us recess every day so you can try to get revenge!”

A chill wind blew through the playground, sending a shiver up everypony’s spine. Four fillies and three colts watched with bated breath as Orange Peel’s face scrunched up to the right, then the left, and finally to the center. His hooves trembled as he struggled to speak the next words, the ones that would decide his social future for the rest of his pre-scholastic life. His eyes teared up from the emotions burning within as he opened his mouth.

“NO! I am not sorry, and I will never be sorry! If you want to hang out with losers, fine! That just means I have more ponies I gotta beat down before I’m out of here!” He turned to the stunned fillies and Blueblood. “And you’d better watch out, too. Because once I’m done, there won’t be a single pony left in this school who won’t know the name Orange Peel!”

That was the end of the discussion. The colt galloped away, his eyes still running with clear, salty liquid. The others just watched as he left, their silence ended only when Gusty sighed. “What’s wrong?” asked Lofty.

The Unicorn’s ears flattened as she looked away sheepishly. “I don’t know. I just feel…kind of sick to my stomach. It’s like I’m…”

“You’re feeling sorry for him?” asked Buttons.

Gusty quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not it. That can’t be it. I mean, he’s such a jerk. Jerks don’t deserve anypony feeling sorry for them.”

“Y-Yes,” Blueblood muttered. Jerks don’t…deserve pity.

Celestia’s quill sketched its way across the bottom of the page in but a few quick strokes, then moved straight back into the ink well, allowing Celestia to levitate the scroll to one of her nearby pages. “Deliver this to the Sanitation Department. And tell them that if I find they’ve been burying their trash beneath the palace again, they’ll be getting more than a stern talking-to.”

The page nodded and slipped away, mere moments before Cadance slipped into the room herself. Celestia smiled and nodded as her niece bowed and rose again. “Is there anything I can do for you today, niece?”

Smiling herself, Cadance took a few more steps forward. “Actually, I have a favor to ask. Do you know where I can find Sky Bloom?”

Celestia’s smile twitched slightly. “W-What?”

“You know, Leon’s mother? Shining Armor said she takes him to school before returning to the castle. I wanted to talk to her about picking up Leon today, perhaps take him out for a muffin or something?”

The smile vanished as Celestia cocked her head. “A muffin?”

“Well…we spoke some last night, and I was wondering if I could get another chance to speak with him today. You see, I was…wondering if he would…” She sighed. “Never mind. But I still want the chance to sit down and talk to him without an army of guards hanging outside his windows.”

“Yes, sorry about those,” Celestia sighed. “He tried a little daredevil stunt a while ago, and we’ve had to keep tabs on him ever since.”

The room was silent for a few seconds, before Cadance finally spoke up again. “Well…is it all right with you or Sky Bloom?”

Celestia paused for a moment, her quill tapping against the desktop. On the one hoof, it would be dangerous to have Blueblood out in public for too long. Somepony important might recognize him. On the other hoof, Cadance has some experience with this, and she should be able to take care of him for a little while.

She looked up from her work, a big smile on her face. “All right. I’ll let Sky Bloom know that you’ll be handling things. Just promise you won’t be out too late, and please, wear your cloak.”

Cadance smiled and nodded. “Of course, Aunt Celestia. And thank you so much.”

The school bell rang, and all the little fillies and colts soon marched upon the streets, ready to trample yet another batch of innocent mares and stallions into paste under their little hooves. Lofty, Ribbon and Buttons quickly joined the large herd waiting to be escorted home, while a few school wagons sat waiting to be loaded. Blueblood and Gusty, meanwhile, just stood outside the gate, the former waiting for his “mother” and the latter doing much of the same. “So…your mom’s still your teacher?”

Gusty nodded. “Yeah, and it stinks. I mean, I love mom, but it’s a pain when she knows what your homework is.”

The two returned to just kicking around dirt, at least until one of their parents came to pick them up. “So…where is your mom, anyway?”

“She has to meet with somepony’s parents or something. She said I could hang out here with you until your mom or dad came, and then I have to go inside the office until she gets out.”

The uneasy silence returned, with only the clops of somepony’s hooves to break the silence. It wasn’t until the clops got closer that the two bothered to turn around and identify their source. To their amazement, it was a mare only one had seen before; a tall, pink Unicorn with a heavy purple cloak draped over her body. Blueblood’s jaw dropped in surprise, an expression that Gusty emulated with near-perfect precision. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

The mare smiled. “I’m actually picking you up today. Sorry I’m a little late, but I hadn’t worn this cloak in years and I didn’t realize how dirty it was.” Her eyes drifted over to the filly. “Oh? And who’s your little friend here?”

Blueblood gulped. He knew there was no way out of this now; his cousin would soon know one of his friends. And when this was done, she would never let him hear the end of it. “Th-This is Gusty. Gusty, this is my ‘big’ cousin, Cadance.”

Cadance’s smile grew as she nodded to the stunned foal. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Gusty. So, how did you two meet?”

“Y-Y…” Gusty’s face turned beet red as small noises echoed through her throat and bounced about through the immediate area. Both Blueblood and Cadance leaned over in confusion and worry as she grew even redder. “Y-Y-Y…”

“Is something wrong?” asked Cadance.

“YOU’RE GIGANTIC! ENORMOUS!”

Cadance and Blueblood both reared back, the former almost revealing her wings in the process. The filly, however, looked like she had seen a monster. “I-I didn’t know Leon was related to giants!”

Cadance slowly sank back onto her haunches, nervously tapping her forehooves together. The filly refused to move from her spot, probably in case the giant was a foal-eater like Nightmare Moon. “W-Well…I guess I am a bit bigger than most mares.”

The entire scene grew silent yet again, save for Gusty’s labored breathing, the tiny trickling of tears from Cadance’s eyes, and the stunned gawking coming from Blueblood’s jaw. A chilly wind blew through the streets, clanging shutters and rustling chimes. Even the very sky seemed to darken slightly, as if some great force was pushing down from the very heavens to blanket the world.

Finally, having had time to calm down, Gusty fell back on her haunches. “I-I’m sorry. I’ve just never seen a mare as tall as you before. You’re, like, princess-sized.”

Cadanca wiped the droplets from her eyes, climbed back to her hooves, and walked over to the nervous filly. “There, there. It’s all right. You were right, after all. Just…don’t say things like that from now on, okay? You might hurt somepony’s feelings.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” the filly sighed. “I’m sorry.” She turned to Blueblood, the colt just barely managing to regain his senses. “And I’m sorry, too. I’ve just…never seen a mare that big before.”

Blueblood sighed and walked over to Cadance. “Well, you’re right. She is big. But she’s also really cool!” he said with the largest amount of sarcasm he could muster. “So, should we be getting home before mom gets worried?”

Cadance nodded. “Actually, we have one stop to make. But yes, we really should be going before it gets late.”

The added stop made Blueblood a little nervous, but nonetheless, he waved farewell to Gusty and followed his now-older cousin down the street…

The bakery was, to put it simply, old. While some of the wooden support beams, counters, and tables were obviously shiny and new, the entire outside of the structure screamed of a building several hundred of years in age. By the time Cadance and Blueblood arrived, the place was about half-full, mostly with students from the Canterlot Magic University enjoying a muffin break. Fortunately, there was a table seated far in the back, where nopony would notice them.

Cadance pointed at the chair facing the counter. “You can sit here, Leon. You want some hot chocolate?” Blueblood nodded affirmatively, his mind still confused by all these events. Cadance smiled, adjusted her cloak, and walked up to the counter.

Blueblood, once again alone with his thoughts, glanced looked around the small bakery. Sure enough, it was…a bakery. Very…bready, with every panel, chair, table, and floorboard radiating carbohydrates. It was a far cry from the kitchens in his former home, where the best bakers willing to work on the cheap produced the best bread possible in a perfectly clean kitchen. Here, everything was cramped, wooden, and more than a little irritating to his royal sensibilities.

His chair also faced the back kitchens. There, a hoofful of ponies, including a vaguely familiar stallion, were busy rolling dough, twisting and salting pretzels, patting in the yeast, and finally shoving their soon-to-be creations into a massive oven to finish their formation. When the bread was baked, an Earth pony mare lifted the new products from the back to the main counter, where some were sold immediately and others were placed on the shelves and in the display cases to attract more customers.

Yes, this was just any normal, peasant bakery…save for the blue filly that had just stepped through a back door next to a pair of stairs leading up to what Blueblood assumed to be a living area. She had made it up about two steps by the time she realized she was being watched. Her beady little eyes slowly scanned across the entire bakery, passing over the various ponies before finally centering in and arming friendship missiles on the little white colt in the far corner.

Blueblood’s eyes widened as he finally pegged down the face rushing towards him like a mad bull. “R-Rib-”

“LEON!”

The filly leaped from the floor, slamming Blueblood in a flying tackle maneuver worthy of any professional wrestler. The impact was so great that both of the foals and the stool Blueblood had been seated on went flying to the floor. The little ponies bounced twice before finally stopping next to the wall. “Oh wow, this is so cool! I didn’t know you liked bread!”

Blueblood let out a deep breath, which wasn’t hard considering a filly was currently pressing her hooves down on his lungs. “H-Hello, Ribbon,” he coughed. “I-It is…amazing to…see you here…today and…”

“Oh my goodness, are you two okay?”

The two looked up at the big pink pony standing over them, mere moments before she finished levitating over some hot chocolates and muffins to the table. Blueblood’s face darkened with sheer humiliation, while Ribbon simply stared at the mare in shock. “W-We’re fine, Cadance,” Blueblood coughed.

The “Unicorn” sighed with relief. “Thank goodness.” Her eyes turn to the filly standing next to him. “And who’s your little friend, Leon?

Ribbon, in her stunned state, relaxed her hoof just enough for Blueblood to roll free and climb back up onto his stool. At the very least, it gave him something of a height boost. “This is Ribbon, one of my classmates. Ribbon, this is my cousin, Cadance.”

The blue filly smiled and nodded awkwardly, her eyes locked on the protruding bone in Cadance’s forehead. The mare raised an eye at the foal’s misplaced attention, then quietly yelped as she realized what her eyes were pointed on. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Are you…interested in my horn?”

“I-I’ve never seen a Unicorn with a horn that large,” Ribbon muttered. “What I heard is that if a Unicorn has a large horn, it means they have a lot of magical ability. You must really be a great sorcerer.”

Cadance blushed and shied away, doing her best not to flash her wings. Blueblood just sighed in relief and sipped down a little of his hot chocolate. I can’t say she’s wrong. My cousin’s genetics do give her a rather large amount of capability. She’s certainly better at magic than I ever was.

His eyes suddenly widened, mere moments from his hoof reaching his muffin. Wait…that thing about horns… It wasn’t about magic, it was about…

“And you must have great virility!”

Everything in the bakery became as still as the grave. Every single pony in attendance stared at the sight with slacked jaws, sunken eyes, and gurgles that signified everything from “amusement” to “horror.” Cadance herself had to fall back on her haunches, her eyes locked on the now-ruined point on her head. Blueblood simply sank beneath the table, doing his best to impersonate a prairie dog.

The kitchen doors opened, allowing Sourdough to march out onto the store floor. Ribbon flashed a warm smile to her mother, only for it to cool into a frown as she saw the scowl in place. “Um…is something wrong, mom?”

“Young lady, is that how we talk?” Sourdough’s voice was low and hushed, sending shivers up the backbones of everypony in the room.

“B-But…it’s what I heard!” Ribbon moaned. “One of the big ponies in my study group said that…”

“I-It’s quite all right,” Cadance mumbled, her eyes closed to keep the sweat on her brow from burning her retinas. “She didn’t know what she was saying. I promise, I’m not…”

Sourdough slowly lowered her head until she and her daughter were muzzle-to-muzzle. “You know, one of the bedrooms is quite the pigsty. I think a certain little filly needs to march her flank upstairs and start cleaning.”

“B-But…” Ribbon’s shot a hoof in Blueblood’s direction. “L-Leon’s…”

Sourdough looked up at the colt. He could already feel his will to live shrivel into a dried raisin before blowing away like dust in the wind. “W-Well…I…I just…”

“If you wanted to spend time with your friend, you should have thought about what you were saying.” Sourdough pointed a hoof at the far staircase, her eyes now burning with parental anger. “Now, you march up those stairs and have your room cleaned. Otherwise, you can forget about dinner.”

Small tears began to form in Ribbon’s eyes. “B-But…”

All this earned her was a downward smash of her hoof. “No ‘buts,’ missy!”

Ribbon sniffled and pouted, but finally gave in to her mother’s wishes and began the long, hard trot up the stairs. Sourdough’s eyes traced her every step, locking on the steps until her daughter was well out of view. Once she heard a door close, she finally allowed her face to reset to a less sour expression. “My apologies, everypony. When I find out who taught her such language…”

Cadance chuckled nervously. “W-Well…I guess we should be going…”

“W-WAIT!” Sourdough’s eyes snapped wide open as her customer service skills kicked into gear. She dashed behind the counter, ducked out of sight for a few seconds, and then returned with half-a-dozen muffins on a metal tin. After setting the dish on the table, she turned to face the two customers. “I am sorry you were inconvenienced, so please, accept these on the house.”

The pink mare regarded the pastry treats before her with no small measure of disquiet. On the one hoof, they were free muffins. On the other hoof, she hadn’t done anything to earn them, and it would be a bad example for Leon to follow if she just started gorging on things she hadn’t paid for. Sighing, she turned to face Sourdough. “I thank you very much for your hospitality, but I am afraid we really should be…”

“Phfey! Fi’m eafin’ fhear!”

Cadance and Sourdough both turned to Blueblood. The colt had finished his own muffin by this point, and was already almost finished with his second from the platter’s selection. A series of brief reprimands etched their way through Cadance’s mind, but in the end, she had no choice but to shrug, sit down, and start munching herself. Sourdough smiled at yet another satisfied customer before returning to the back to check on the next round of dinner rolls.

A content smile spread across Blueblood’s lips as he chowed down on his meal. This may not be the right thing to do, and Ribbon might be in trouble, but…I am NOT turning down free muffins!

By the time the two had left the bakery, their bellies were practically bulging from all the sweet breads they had just ingested. Every step felt like they were wearing full plate over a floor made of magnets. “By Celestia, I’ve never eaten so many muffins at once in my life!”

“Tell me about it,” Blueblood said between burps.

Cadance giggled at her “cousin’s” flatulence before stopping at a nearby lamppost, her legs far too exhausted to carry her anymore without rest. “Actually, I had another reason to bring you out here. You see, I’ve been thinking about…”

“Excuse us, but we need some help.”

The two stopped as a cadre of burly stallions emerged from the shadows. Despite their well-pressed suits and expertly-combed manes, it was obvious from their scars and missing eyeballs that these weren’t the friendly ponies one would normally encounter on the streets of Canterlot. Cadance regarded the scene with no small measure of anxiety, but Blueblood’s own fear was much worse. Not only could he see the switchblades hidden in their horseshoes, but he could recognize more than a few of their attackers. These were some of the hired muscle the nobility would bring aboard to intimidate their targets.

Despite her obvious fear, Cadance cleared her throat and tried to sound brave. “Yes? How can I help you?”

“We’re looking for somepony,” said one of the goons. “And I think the little colt here is the one.”

Cadance feigned gasping as she dragged Blueblood closer. All this did, however, was get a few to switch open their weapons. “Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be. Our employer has already sent a carriage for you, and it took us a long time to find where you went. We’re already late for our meeting, so please come quietly…”

“And just who is this ‘employer?’” Cadance asked.

The stallion’s looked about each other, grunted out a few noise phrases, and then turned back to Cadance. “Oh, I believe you know who, Princess.”

From the clouds above the street, a lone Pegasus watched as Cadance and Blueblood were loaded into a black carriage, which then sped off down the city’s back streets before heading towards the roads leading to the outer estates. He quickly motioned to the others behind him, who then fanned out to follow the vehicle…

Luna struck out yet another line from her latest royal proclamation, set her quill aside, and re-read the edited section. “Literacy amongst our younger foals is one of the most important problems facing us as a nation today. A thousand years ago, reading was for the wealthy and nobility. And while it makes me proud to know that our new public school system is teaching our little ponies to appreciate literature, I have found some of the material questionable. Our foals need to learn proper lessons through reading, and stories about talking weevils are hardly…”

A loud knock reverberated through the chamber, its source being the bedroom door. Luna waited a moment for her hearing to return before answering. “Please, come in.”

A golden, pulsating aura surrounded one half of the door briefly before pushing it open, allowing its master, Celestia, the opportunity to enter this forbidden chamber of darkness and despair before dissipating entirely. The younger sister looked up from her desk and smile as her older sibling approached. “Good afternoon, sister. What brings you here?”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about…” Celestia’s eyes slowly wandered over to the parchment. “What are you working on?”

Luna’s face beamed with pride as her horn carefully slid the parchment out of view. “Oh…nothing of importance.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow, her lips curling downwards into a disapproving frown. She knew exactly what Luna was doing. It was the same self-styled crusade she had set out upon ever since her hospital visit. “I see. Well, in any case, I was wondering if you knew where Cadance and Blueblood were.”

“I thought that servant of yours, Sky Bloom, handled our little prisoner?” asked Luna.

Celestia sighed. “Normally, she would have, but Cadance was insistent on picking him up from school today. She said she wanted to take him to a local bakery for a muffin, but they should have been back by now. I’ve already sent out several guard patrols to look for her, but she never even said which bakery it was, just that it was in the Old Quarter.”

Luna groaned. Nearly 48% of the Old Quarter was bakeries, leftover businesses from the Great Donut Boom of 954 CE, and while she wasn’t present due to being reduced to an incorporeal state inside of the moon, she knew more than enough about how much destruction it caused. Nopony ever looked at a bearclaw the same way again. “Do you think Cadance would have done anything?”

“I don’t know,” Celestia muttered. “I…I just don’t know anything anymore.” The Sun Alicorn sighed and began pacing around the room, irritating the still-busy Luna to no end. “We should have told her the truth from the beginning. I wanted to tell her everything yesterday, but…she seemed to know so much already, and…I’ve already…”

Luna turned her chair about until she was facing Celestia. “It’s fine, sister. I’m certain they are all right. Blueblood may be a fool, but he wouldn’t allow Cadance to take him to anywhere he might be in danger. And I think we can trust her as well. After all, you did raise her.”

Celestia’s lips curled into a sneer. “Don’t remind me. I still can’t believe those parents of hers. They honestly thought that stupid tradition was more important than their own daughter? I was lucky to get them to let her visit more than once every five years. At least Blueblood’s parents cared a little for him before they turned him into…that.”

Luna cocked her head and climbed back to her hooves. She slowly trotted her to her sister and rested her head on her back in a small pony hug. Celestia shivered slightly from the sudden contact, but it still served its intended purpose; the elder sister’s nerves cooled back to their normal temperatures. She exhaled a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry. Some…bad memories have been resurfacing the last few weeks. I never should have gone back into that cave.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Luna giggled. “But hey, you got some cake out of it. Sure beats cave moss.”

Celestia pulled herself back a step, barely suppressing a similar gaggle of giggles. “Well, I can’t argue with that assessment. Still, the sooner this is all done, the better I’ll feel. I’m sure they’ll be home any minute…”

Needless to say, the mere sight of the Frazzleberry estate was more than enough to send chills running down the length of Blueblood’s spine. The massive manor house was older than even Blueblood’s ancestral home, having been built and maintained ever since the third century of Celestia’s solo reign. The grounds were decorated with perfectly-trimmed rose bushes, magnificent statues of Celestia and the foremost ancestors of the current Frazzleberry generation, and like all good Canterlot homes, a plastic pink flamingo. Nopony knew why, but ever since Celestia put one in a remote area of the castle grounds, everypony else had to follow suit, lest they be seen as denouncing their ruler’s taste in fashion.

The carriage slowly pulled to a stop in front of a massive stone fountain. Four intricately-carved koi fish sat upon the fountain’s edge, ejecting water from their mouths into a central pool in the center. Meanwhile, standing on a pedestal in the center of the whole mess was a small Unicorn cherub, a gleaming sword held skywards in his mouth. Blueblood shuddered as he recognized the inspiration for this decoration. “The Legend of Celestia’s Seraphim Knight” was certainly well-known amongst the horned members of Canterlot’s elite; the story of a small Unicorn helping Celestia defeat the barbaric lesser races was an ancient story, used to promote Unicorn supremacy amongst ponykind.

Even at his worst, though, Blueblood didn’t buy it. For one thing, a foal would not be able to swing a broadsword. That, and the whole bacon episode in the later sagas was rather bizarre.

Blueblood and Cadance heard the riders out front unhitch themselves, followed by heavy hoofsteps against cobblestone. The doors suddenly opened, revealing two of the burliest stallions either had ever set their eyes upon. Before they could say anything, the ones inside the ride pushed their passengers out, the two landing in the cold, iron-shoed hooves of the bigger ones.

“Now, please be careful. These are our guests, after all.”

Blueblood’s blood ran cold as he heard the voice. He may have been less than half his former height, but he could recognize such a harsh, evil tone anywhere. Slowly, he lifted his head just enough to make out the features of Baron Frazzleberry. And standing to his right was none other than Orange Peel. “Looks like you got them, dad!”

Blueblood’s mouth dropped. “DAD?!”

Cadance’s brow furrowed with rage. “Frazzleberry, what is the meaning of this?”

The Baron tsked the two, while his son’s maniacal grin only grew. “Princess Cadenza, I do not wish you any harm. I just wish to have a nice, pleasant chat with one of my son’s classmates. I apologize for getting you involved as well, but I suppose I should kill two bird with one stone.”

He clapped his hoof against the ground. “Take them into the west parlor. Make sure that their every need is attended to, short of their freedom.” He looked down at his eager son. “And please get Orange Peel his favorite drink. This shall be a long night.”

The Pegasus reached his position just as the door closed. It may have been getting dark, but anypony who had ever served in the Royal Guard knew their way around dark places. Perched on a nearby cloud, he could make out some of the activity inside, but not where the Princess and Blueblood had gone to once inside.

Sighing, he flew down from his position and landed next to a waiting Shining Armor. “They’re inside, sir. I don’t know what’s going on.”

The Captain sighed. “I understand. You tell the rest of our ponies to stay back; we don’t want anything to happen to either pony. I’ll notify the Princesses and give them the update.”

The Pegasus snapped up a salute, spun on his hooves, and took off towards the horizon. Once he was gone, Shining’s horn began to emit a low glow…

Frazzleberry took another sip of brandy, his eyes fixed on his son and two on guests. Orange Peel quietly sucked his juice box down, his triumphant grin never leaving his face even in the face of lima bean-flavored punch. Cadance and Blueblood remained without any kind of liquid, the latter simply subsiding on the massive candy dish full of cone-shaped chocolates, hard-shelled candies, and candy-coated almonds. The electric lights were all off, leaving only the menacing roar of the fireplace to provide light of any kind. Six bodyguards and a hooffull servants watched the group in quiet contemplation, their silhouetted forms growing and shrinking with each flicker of the flame.

Blueblood rolled his eyes at the stillness in the air, even as his cheeks were puffed like a chipmunk from all the comfort treats. The whole setting was typical of those in the nobility. Whenever they needed to address an enemy, or make themselves look more important to a potential ally, they would always dress up their appointments in this kind of gaudy, dark, and unwelcoming atmosphere. Supposedly, it made them look more intimidating, like they were capable of bringing the sky down upon anypony who dared to offend them in some manner.

Of course, the illusion was broken by the orange foal, but nopony bothered to bring it up. Knowing that he was just looking silly right now would have only served to hurt Frazzleberry’s feelings, after all.

The Baron took another sip before addressing the foal. “I assume you know why I brought you here?” Blueblood’s response was a non-indicative shrug. The stallion smiled, took a deeper sip, and floated the glass back to the nearby table before tapping his forehooves together. “It has come to my understanding that you and my son have been attending the same school the past week or so. In that time, I have received two messages informing me of his misbehavior and a parent-teacher conference.”

Cadance glanced over at the still-smug colt. Her eyes briefly flashed with a cool anger before returning to their normal expression. “But what does Leon have to do with any of that?”

The stallion smirked. “I have known of my son’s behavioral problems for some time, but it appears that every time an incident occurred, Leon and his friends were involved in some way. And I certainly know of his heritage. Or does he look exactly like a young Prince Blueblood purely by accident?”

Blueblood’s eyes exploded in horror. His body convulsed so quickly from the shock that he almost got an almond stuck in his throat. Wait…he knows? He…How…Huh?

Orange Peel snorted at the sight of Blueblood’s displeasure, stopping only when his sudden outburst earned him a very stern look from his father. Cadance scooped out a candy and tossed it down her throat, her eyes fixed squarely on the stallion. “Baron Frazzleberry, if you are insinuating that…”

The sifter floated back to the Baron’s lips. He took a big gulp of the brown liquid down before setting it aside, leaving only a tiny puddle of liquid buried beneath four half-melted ice cubes. The stallion coughed for a few seconds as the fire water burned from the inside, then continued. “Princess Cadance, I mean no disrespect to you. However, there is a very important matter that Leon and I must discuss. He has to know where his parentage has landed him.”

“He already knows his father was banished!” Cadance snapped. “What more does he need to…”

Something prodded the mare in the wings. Her eyes followed the source of the impact to Blueblood; the colt was now staring at her in a manner not unlike a puppy begging for a treat. “It’s fine,” he said. “I want to hear this.”

The stallion scoffed. “I must admit, for such a young foal, he had a remarkable level of maturity. Must get it from his mother, whoever she is.”

Orange coughed out his straw and started laughing like a hyena. “Yeah, how’s it feel to be a bas-”

The curse died down as Frazzleberry leaped from his chair, his hooves slamming down hard enough to rattle a few trinkets. Nonetheless, that much force was enough to put the fear of Celestia into his son; he quickly began to crawl backwards on his hindquarters, which was no small feat considering pony physiology. “I thought I had told you to never use such language!”

“B-But…that’s what he…” The colt’s last few words fused together into a single, whining blob of meaningless drivel.

The stallion clapped his hooves together, causing one of the servants to leave the darkness and approach. “Take my son to the washroom. Make sure his mouth is properly cleaned this time.”

The servant quickly bowed grabbed the colt by his back, and slowly left the room, the foal thrashing and screaming in outrage and fear every step of the way. Blueblood and Cadance simply watched the spectacle from their seats, both secretly glad that nopony ever shoved soap down their throats whenever they used vulgar language.

“My apologies,” Frazzleberry muttered as he sank back into his chair. “My son has been very temperamental for quite a while. I honestly don’t know what has gotten into him, but ever since that one filly talked to him, he’s been acting like a delinquent.”

“I…see…” Cadance muttered. She looked back down at the candies Blueblood was packing away. “But still, why are you doing all this?”

“Because we have a score to settle.”

Before Cadance could react, an energy field enveloped her body and floated her up into the air. Blueblood jumped to his hooves in a panic as Cadance’s hooves locked onto the top of a nearby chair, only to have herself be pulled away again by a second burst of magic. Next came a third, then a fourth, and finally two more. Behind her, the six bodyguards’ horns were glowing like candles during Hearth’s Warming Eve, their power focused on holding the (theoretically) most powerful pony in the room in one spot.

Frazzleberry slung his glass up and finished his drink, his mood darkening with every gulp. He then tossed the glass into the fire; the last few drops of alcohol created a small rush of fire as the container shattered. “And that’s why I brought you here. It’s time we settled the matter of your house once and for all.”

Cadance struggled to break free, but the combined power of six stallions was strong enough to keep her pinned down. Blueblood similarly tried to back away, but his poor positioning from earlier had left him directly against the couch. Even then, his overwhelming sense of dread was more than enough to overwhelm his brain’s attempts at promoting escape.

The Baron loomed overhead. His eyes threatened to burn a hole straight through the colt’s skull, while his hooves promised lots and lots of stomping. “Leon, son of Prince Blueblood…”

Blueblood cowered. Cadance gasped and tried to muster one last burst of Love Magic, but the spell couldn’t be weaved in time. Everything seemed to move in slow-motion as Baron Frazzleberry, third-greatest enemy of Prince Blueblood, towered over his helpless “son,” took one step back…

And then bowed down. “I wish to apologize for my son’s actions. And my own.”

Blueblood’s eyes popped open. “Huh?”

Cadance’s eye twitched. “What?”

Every servant and bodyguard gasped and whispered amongst each other, their minds unable to discern exactly what had just happened. A frown spread across the Baron’s face as he stood back up, his horn lighting up in the process. A small aura appeared over a distant switch for a few seconds before flipping it up, turning on all the overhead lights. Now that everypony could see each other more clearly, Frazzleberry trotted back to the fireplace and leaned against the wall. “I suppose I should explain myself more.”

“That…would be very helpful,” Cadance said as she walked past, stopping only when she reached Blueblood’s side.

Frazzleberry loudly cleared his throat, adjusted his suit, and then continued. “As I said, our houses have been at war for a very long time. Ever since Blueblood’s family chose to aid House Huffy, the head of every generation of Frazzleberry has sworn to bring down those who opposed us. Even after Huffy’s sudden but inevitable betrayal, your house was still a constant reminder of how close we came to falling.”

Cadance rolled her eyes at the whole mess. She had tried her best to avoid getting involved in any of the house wars, especially since having a Winged Unicorn on someone’s side could tip the balance of power once and for all. That and most of them were, according to her younger self, “Stupid meanies that deserved to be ran into the Coliseum and fed to the lions.”

Blueblood, however, remained transfixed on Baron Frazzleberry. Now that he was no longer in danger of being crushed like a grape, the scene around him finally had time to filter through his brain a bit better. All that did was make him more confused. “Then…if you hated my dad so much, why are you being so nice to me?”

Frazzleberry let out a deep sigh before rolling his head up. “Ah yes, your father was certainly a lout. He was a spoiled, self-centered, pompous, loudmouthed, small-minded, arrogant, holier-than-thou stallion who more than deserved to have his…” His jaw closed with an audible snap, stayed that way for several seconds, and then reopened. “My apologies. I…am not used to the company of strange foals. My son never brought his friends over.”

His horn lit up, a magic field soon pulling up a nearby pipe stuffed with corn kernels. Another burst of magic, and a match had lit the kernels. The stallion took a puff, sending out a burst of popcorn like miniature fireworks. Blueblood rolled his eyes at the familiar novelty item. Poppers. I never could stand those things.

“You see, my boy, your father was awful. But in a way, so was I.” Another puff, another burst of butter-free goodness. “Ever since I was a colt, I dreamed of the day I would finally destroy Lord Huffy and bring down his pathetic house. Every month, we dueled during the monthly dinner at the palace. Celestia was always busy, we thought, but she never said anything against it, so it seemed fine. We both got some scraps in, and I believe your father once tried to join before Huffy took him out with a baguette. But the last one…”

Blueblood and Cadance’s eyes both shot wide open. Neither one had been at the event, thanks to Blueblood being under house arrest and Cadance in Stalliongrad, but they had both heard tales of that blood-curling night. Frazzleberry’s entire coat paled as he took several desperate puffs on his pipe, shooting off popcorn like a movie theater machine. “I…misjudged Princess Luna. Whenever I heard her name, I could only think of those old legends about a monster that eats foals one night a year. So when she intervened in my destined duel, I…called her what I thought she was.”

Cadance sighed. “You called her Nightmare Moon, didn’t you?”

The entire room fell completely silent, save for the crackling of the fire and the hum of the electric lights. Frazzleberry slowly walked back to his chair and flung himself onto its cushiony surface. “Yes, I did. I called her many things that night, and none of them good. She returned the favor by exposing us all as we truly were: a decadent cabal of backstabbers and social climbers, with nothing to do but humiliate Princess Celestia with our mere existence.”

“I…heard something happened,” Blueblood said quietly, “but I never knew what it was exactly.”

Frazzleberry sighed. “Ever since then, many of us have been examining our lives, trying to find some way to make up for generations of misconduct and abuse. Raisinette, for example, has stopped using slander and lies in her advertising. And as we speak, Lord Huffy and I are in negotiations to settle our families’ dispute. But with your father’s banishment, I was unable to fully close off that part of my old life. Fortunately, with you here, perhaps we can come to some kind of agreement.”

Blueblood cocked his head. “Huh?”

“What I am asking for is your forgiveness.” Frazzleberry clapped his hooves together, summoning a nearby servant to bring him a new glass of alcohol. He took a few sips, and then set the glass back down to pop some more corn. “You are only heir to Blueblood’s that we know of, and were it not for blind fortune, I would have not known of your existence. And that’s why I had you brought here, so you would know that the Frazzleberry line will no longer bear your family any harm.”

“Then why all the kidnapping?” asked Cadance. “You could have just, you know, asked nicely?”

Frazzleberries face remained unchanged for several seconds, as if his brain was having trouble processing what he had just heard. Finally, the surges hit just the right pattern, and he turned to the Princess with eyes wide open. “Wait…that was an option?”

The mare groaned. “What do you mean? Of course that was always an option!”

“I just…I was just told this was how all meetings should go. It was how I scared away the Cider Ponies, purchased the land rights to that zebra tribe’s village, and got that loan for a new yacht out of Manehatten harbor.” Frazzleberry sighed. “Yet another teaching of our ancestors that doesn’t apply anymore.”

Blueblood shrugged. “Trust me, I know.”

The three finally shared a small laugh, which gradually evolved into a full-on, frustrated, uncomfortable chuckle. Cadance was still angry at what had happened, Frazzleberry knew he was doomed once Celestia had learned what he had done, and Blueblood was more than a little nervous about what awaited him in the future, but for now at least, the danger was all behind them…

From atop a dark cloud, a pair of large, winged figures watched an old carriage work its way through the country roads and back towards the city streets. The guards were already galloping away, save for a few Pegasi assigned to keep an eye on the estate grounds. Once Frazzleberry had gone inside, the leftmost figure breathed a sigh of relief. “I suppose that is the end of this madness.”

The other shook her head. “No, not by a long shot. I believe we should be making our way back to the castle before they arrive. There is much me we need to prepare.”

By the time Frazzleberry had reached his son’s perfectly-kept bedroom, the last few suds were still on the sides of the little colt’s mouth. “You didn’t have to do that, dad.”

“Then you shouldn’t have spoken in such a manner,” Frazzleberry replied coldly. “You are my son, and I expect much better behavior of you than what I saw tonight.”

The colt simply shrugged and jumped onto his bed. “So, they’re all gone now? You scared that stupid Leon away forever? I won’t have to see his stupid mug in school again?”

Frazzleberry shook his head as he entered the bedroom. Orange Peel scooted back slightly, if only to protect his rear from a belt, but upon seeing no such instrument sighed in mistimed relief. “My son, the war between the Frazzleberries and the Bluebloods is now over. I thank you for bringing him to my attention, but now I must ask you not to attack him again.”

All the bravado and joy in Orange Peel’s eyes disappeared in an instant. The colt jumped down from his bed and charged up to his father, his eyes livid with anger. “Wh-What do you mean? He’s a stupid little dork! What, do I have to act like he’s a prince or something? Are you trying to ruin school for me?!”

For all his son’s shouting and whining, Frazzleberry’s face never changed. He just looked his son dead in the eyes and blew another batch of popcorn from his pipe. “Actually, I don’t think you’ll be having that problem for much longer…”

The first half of the carriage-ride back was wreathed in an awkward, bewildered silence. Cadance and Blueblood simply stared out the window as the cart left the estate grounds and began circling the streets of Canterlot. The sun was barely visible in the horizon, leaving the entire city wreathed in a dull, shadowy pall for the twilight hour. The streets were almost completely deserted, with only a few straggling ponies hurrying to finish their daily tasks before nightfall.

It wasn’t until the carriage pulled the corner that Cadance spoke. “I…really didn’t expect that.”

“Neither did I,” said Blueblood. “Frazzleberry was- I mean, I was told he hated my dad, but…why didn’t he do anything?”

Cadance tapped a hoof against the carriage’s foreleg rest. “I heard something happened while I was gone. Apparently, something happened at the monthly dinner party, and Aunt Luna lost her temper. Perhaps he’s still scared of what she’ll do if he tried to hurt you.”

Blueblood nodded. “Yes, that…sounds right. Princess Luna can be very scary, after all.”

The two exchanged a nervous laugh, now bonding over their shared despair over what Princess Celestia would do once they got back to the castle. If Frazzleberry wasn’t immediately executed, banished, or executed and then banished, he would still be facing certain punishment for the kidnapping. And then there was one other issue digging at Blueblood’s mind.

Does everypony know about this now?

“And that’s what happened,” Cadance finished.

Celestia let out a mournful sigh as she circled the three for the fiftieth time in the last twenty minutes. Cadance huddled next to Shining Armor, while Blueblood remained between the two of them. If one didn’t know better, they could have assumed they were already a happy couple with a bouncing little colt of their own. In any case, it would be a miracle if they could get that far at this rate.

The pacing finally ceased as Celestia stepped onto her royal throw rug. “So, this is the result of Luna’s little outburst? Kidnapping princesses like something from a foal’s bedtime story?”

Shining Armor took a small step forward. “Princess, Cadance and Leon haven’t been hurt, and as far as we can tell Baron Frazzleberry had no intention of putting either into danger.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, this is…this is serious. We will have to discuss this more thoroughly in the morning. In the meantime, I want a full watch on Frazzleberry’s estate. Nopony goes in or out without either myself or Luna knowing.” Her eyes turned to Cadance and Blueblood. “And as for you two…I’d recommend going to bed. It’s been a long night for all of us.”

“Cadance, I…I don’t think this is necessary.”

Blueblood struggled against the iron-clad confines of his bedsheets. No matter how hard he squirmed or shimmied, nothing could break free. His cousin, however, just laughed at his absolute misery. “Oh come on, Leon. Don’t tell me nopony’s ever tucked you in before.”

“N-Not in a while,” the colt coughed back. “But I’m fine. I don’t need anypony to do this. I can get to sleep on my own.”

Cadance sighed, a smile still fresh on her lips. “So I guess a bedtime story and lullaby are out of the question?”

For the love of Celestia, YES! “I’ll be fine.”

With one last little giggle for the road, Cadance rose from her sitting position and patted the colt on the forehead. Blueblood winced from the sudden contact, especially as her hoof touched the very sensitive skin around his horn. “Well, I guess it’s time for little princes to get some sleep.”

And then it happened.

The single moment that destroyed Blueblood’s very sense of identity and self in one swift motion.

Princess Cadance leaned over and gave him a quick goodnight kiss on the side of his forehead.

By the time Blueblood was capable of pony speech again, his cousin had already left the room. He muttered something unintelligible even to him under his breath, rubbed his face in a desperate attempt to clean away the disgust, but there was no way to scrub his brain. All he could do was sob into his pillow and try to drum up some memory to hate her by…

Blueblood leaned back in his massive recliner, taking in that new-chair smell that he loved so much. His parents, now that they had retired to private life in Manehatten’s social circles, had been nice enough to allow him to take his inheritance early and become the owner of many of their former lands. This was a definite advantage over those who had to downsize after their parents blew away their legacy on dice and foal’s card games. He had no time for such frivolities, of course. He was a prince, and a prince had a duty to his country.

And he had much to do. It had been but a year since his return, and he had seen more than enough to know that his parents were right. Princess Celestia truly had let the country slip too far, and it was his responsibility to bring it back. No matter what, Equestria would prosper.

“Excuse us, sire, but we have something for you.”

Blueblood broke from his inner thoughts at the sound of the green mare’s voice. She was dressed in the same maid’s outfit his father had imposed on them in the past, but it was obvious from the way she carried herself that she was no mere servant. Still, he had to treat the lower classes with at least a little bit of respect; that is, as long as they were useful. “I take it you’re with the detective agency?”

“Of course,” said the mare. “I just started a few weeks ago.”

“Well, I suppose congratulations are in order,” said Blueblood. “Now, what have you found out about that stallion Cadance’s been eyeing?”

The mare reached into her outfit and removed a small dossier, which she then set on the desk. Blueblood handed her the usual bits, plus a tip for the home delivery, and she departed as quickly as she had come. He could never figure out why they insisted on the disguises, but as long as they got him the political clout he needed, he didn’t really care.

Once he was certain he was alone again, Blueblood’s magic went to work, leafing through the various documents, photographs, and other assorted files his agents had managed to dig up. To their credit, they had done a very thorough job; everything from his birth certificate to his dental records was available, as were his performance evaluations, his report cards, and even what side of the bed he slept on and his favorite brand of hoof polish.

Blueblood’s determined frown slowly faded as he took in page after page of biographical data. “Graduated top of his class… Excellent performance evaluations… Takes a marvelous amount of pride in his appearance…” He sighed. “I do suppose there is nothing to object to here. He is a fine officer, obviously with some…hidden intelligence. If he treats my cousin well, then I suppose…”

Then he saw it. Tucked away at the very end of the intel was Captain Shining Armor’s family tree, going back fifteen generations. Blueblood could not help but let out a gasp of horror as he lay witness to his cousin’s lover’s sordid past. In all his life, he had never imagined anypony with this kind of heritage could ever make it past the rank of Private.

Shining Armor’s family had noble blood…but they had broken free of House Sparkle over eight generations prior. According to the supplemental records, the split was over an argument over a dowry, which lead to Shiny Silver severing all ties with the family so she could marry the worst thing imaginable: a writer. The motif was only kept up for appearances, and nothing more.

This was far below the amount of noble blood required to even talk to a princess, much less date one.

Blueblood’s blood ran cold as horrid thoughts rushed through his mind. He had almost fallen for his con. And according to tradition, it was his responsibility to see that things were set right. For his cousin. For his aunt. For Equestria!

Yes… That’s it. She wishes to marry a stallion well below her social level! Such a horrible thing will…no doubt…lead to…

The colt’s thoughts stopped dead in their tracks. Wait…that was my only objection. The only thing I could find fault with was his bloodline. Th-That is hardly a reason to put an end to such a happy couple. I was as wrong as I ever was.

He tossed onto his side, his face twisting with concern. If I go back, I’ll just be the same Prince Blueblood. All everypony will know me for is being a monster. But if I stay here, I’ll have to restart everything. B-But I’ll still have my friends, Cadance will still like me, and Princess Luna won’t try to kill me again.

Another roll, this time ending with the colt’s head pressed firmly against his pillow. Maybe…I shouldn’t go back at all. Perhaps the world would be better off without a Prince Blueblood…

A/N: Special thanks to everypony who helped proofread this one. You guys were a big help.

Chapter Eleven: Peeling the Orange

“Seventy-seven, seventy-eight…” Shining Armor slammed his hoof down, his ponies grunting and sweating beneath him. “Come on now! Am I training royal guards or a bunch of schoolfoals?!” He paused just long enough to catch Blueblood’s less-than-pleased face. “I mean…carry on.”

The push-ups continued, with everypony grunting and groaning underneath the agonizing weight of their heavy armor. The only exceptions to this were Blueblood, whose uniform remained little more than a cheap foal’s costume, and Burly Barley, the gigantic Unicorn that could balance the entirety of Canterlot on his back. Once again, everypony involved could feel their muscles burn and bristle against the massive amount of effort being placed on their bodies, but the training regimen was accomplishing its intended purpose. Everypony involved could feel the exercise bringing them closer together in their desire to murder Shining Armor while he slept.

“Ninety-nine, and…one hundred! Atten-HUT!”

Everypony in attendance quickly jumped back to attention without missing a beat. Even Blueblood managed to get his legs snapped back into position just in time for the usual morning peptalk. And once again, Shining Armor did not fail to disappoint. “Good morning, everypony! Is everypony all rested up after yesterday’s evaluations?”

The entire group groaned in response – in Blueblood’s case, however, it was more because of his aching muscles than any frustration over the evaluations he hadn’t been a part of. Shining Armor simply brushed off the aggravated response. “In any case, I want to say that you all did well. We are the Royal Guard, and we must protect not only the Princesses, but everypony who has ever set a hoof upon Equestria’s soil. To do that, we must be ready for anything and everything, and that’s why we have to check your skills from time to time.”

He cleared his throat before continuing. “Now, I will be attending a meeting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for most of the day. In the meantime, Lieutenant Rolling Thunder will be in command. Report to her for your assignments today. That is all. Dismissed!”

A great sigh of relief echoed throughout the courtyard, followed by the thunderous pounding of armored hooves and beating of razor-sharp wings as ponies took off in all directions to assume their usual posts. Before long, the only ponies remaining were Captain Armor, a nearby Lieutenant, and a few others, including the pony Blueblood needed to talk to…

“Excuse me! Sergeant Flyover?”

The Pegasus stallion broke away from the others he was speaking to and turned to face the colt. Blueblood’s nerves seemed to give way for just a moment, but still he managed to stand his ground and match eyes with the disciplined guardpony. “Well, what is it?” asked Flyover.

“I was just wondering…” Blueblood sucked in a big breath of air, then exhaled it slowly through his mouth. “Well, I’ve been…thinking things over, and…well, I’ve wronged a lot of ponies, and…you’re on the list, so…”

The stallion’s face refused to change, as if its features had been glued into place. “Are you talking about what happened with me and Firelight under the bridge…”

Blueblood nodded. “That’s it. I…wanted to say that I’m sorry I…outted you.”

The guard groaned. “I…”

“And used the photograph as the model for a full-scale mural.”

“Blueblood, I wo…”

“And then put it on display at the palace grounds, inviting your parents over to look at it, and then declaring you a disgrace to the guards because you were too busy indulging in your romantic passions to properly serve the crown.”

The entire courtyard became deftly silent, save for a few leaves rustling in the breeze. The other guards simply stared at the colt in slack-jawed amazement at the colt’s brazen confession. Flyover’s face, however, remained unchanged, even as Blueblood reared back in case of a sudden buck or strike. The fact that it was taking so long for the retribution to begin only intensified the colt’s fear.

The stallion, however, finally just shook his head. “I’m not going to do anything to you, Blueblood. I’m still more than a little pissed off at you, but…it was a while ago.”

The colt slowly looked up from his crouching position, allowing himself just the tiniest smile in the process. “W-Well, I…I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, and…if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, please, do not be afraid to ask.”

And with that, the colt was back up on his hooves and galloping away, just in case the guard changed his mind and decided to put his training to use on his skull. The remaining guards simply watched in silence for several moments after the spectacle had ended, unsure of just what to do. Nothing in their training had prepared them for such a monumental occurrence.

Finally, Razor Wing stepped up alongside his fellow soldier. “D-Did he just…apologize?”

Flyover nodded his head. “I…think so.”

Another guard popped his head up from the back. “B-But…Prince Blueblood don’t feel sorry for nuthin’!”

With that, the guards returned to their morning mumbles and wishes for good luck and peaceful days, as well as praying for the sake of the Equestrian language. Flyover, on the other hoof, simply broke away from the crowd, gave the still-stunned Shining Armor a final salute, and finally flew off towards his posting in Lower Canterlot’s Western Quarter. The Captain was barely able to return the gesture before very slowly walked towards the castle entrance.

To Blueblood’s surprise, only Luna was at the breakfast table, chewing away on some of the hardest flakes ponykind had ever devised. Even when covered in milk, their crunchiness never seemed to vanish. Even worse, an empty bowl was waiting for him, along with a glass bottle of milk and a big box of “Crunchy Crisps.” If he didn’t know better, he would swear that his molars were trembling at the horrible fate in store for them.

Sighing, he climbed into his seat. The moment his derriere made contact with the cushion, a dark aura appeared over the box, levitating it off the table slightly before tilting the box downward just enough for the flakes to tumble out. Once it was satisfactorily filled, the box returned to its former position, while the milk repeated the same process. And thus, Blueblood was ready to eat the breakfast recommended by nine out of ten dentists.

Luna swallowed another spoonful, her mouth twisting in pain as the jagged flakes slid down her throat. “Good morning, Blueblood.”

“Um…good morning,” he muttered back. In an instant, his mind began tracing his aunt’s greeting, scanning it for any inflections or double meanings that could imply his breakfast was poisoned, or that she was getting ready to drop an anvil on his head. To his amazement, however, he could find no real trace of maliciousness; at worst, she was just fiercely apathetic to his presence. All in all, it was even more disconcerting than when she was actively conspiring against him. “So…what plans do you have today?”

Luna swallowed another bite before floating a newspaper in front of her face. “Outside of a morning meeting, nothing of importance. I suppose I can finish my speech, there is something in the kitchens that need attending to, and I need to speak to the Corps of Engineers over...”

Before she could continue, Blueblood loudly coughed and cleared his throat. “What’s this about a meeting, anyway? Shining Armor mentioned it during the morning drills.”

The top of the newspaper folded downward, revealing Luna’s slanted eyes. “That is a confidential manner. If you do not wish to have your memory erased, I would advise you to drop the subject and never speak of it again.”

With that, the duo returned to their respective meals, with only the chewing of flakes and the slurping of milk to break the silence. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they ate, read, and ate some more. Blueblood’s eyes, however, were rolling back and forth between Luna and his bowl at roughly the same rate his brain was working. The pros and cons of pursuing this line listed themselves before his mental faculties, stopping only when the tension became too much to bear. He had no choice left. “Princess Luna, there’s something I must discuss with you.”

The tiny, dignified sounds from the other side of the newspaper gave a very clear indication of Luna’s interest in his words. “Very well.”

Blueblood gulped and leaned his head down just slightly. “I just…wanted to apologize for my wrongdoings.”

The minute the words left his mouth, a very non-princesslike snort emerged from the other side of the paper. The newspaper quickly folded and set itself aside, revealing the tiny trails of milk just outside of Luna’s nostrils. The spoon, which had been levitating just to her side a moment prior, simply fell back into the cereal, while her eyes were wider than the serving trays used at state dinners. The sight was enough to send Blueblood reeling in shock and horror, as if he was staring into the very abyss of darkness. “A-Apologize?”

Slowly, Blueblood regained his senses and nodded in affirmation. “Yes. I have been…thinking, and with things proceeding as they are, it is time I tried to acknowledge all of the ponies I have wronged, including you. I…I am sorry I threatened to turn the court against you just so I could have revenge.”

The dining room was quiet once more, if only so Luna could find the right words to show her disbelief. After a few tiny squeaks and false starts, her vocal chords finally managed to intone actual syllables again. “Wh-What brought along this change?”

Blueblood sighed. “Last night, at Frazzleberry’s estate, he asked me for forgiveness. Despite being at war with my family for generations, he was willing to end the conflict, not just because I had left, but because of what you did during my imprisonment.” He lowered his head even more, until the tip of one of his locks threatened to enter his cereal. “Then when I went to bed, I had a chance to think about my own misdeeds. I’ve had barely a chance to shake any of these thoughts since this began.”

“So…you are trying to make amends.” Luna levitated her tea to her lips and took a small sip, the hot liquid serving to calm her nerves enough for her to resume normal functions. She let out a sigh of hot air and closed her eyes. “Blueblood, I understand what you want, but merely apologizing is not enough. Your threat was tantamount to blackmail and treason, and trying to kidnap my sister did not help your case.”

Blueblood sighed and raised his head back up, his shoulders still slack from his oncoming defeat. “I know. But there must be some way I can make things up.”

“There is,” Luna said, “but…I am not certain if I alone can make that decision.”

Luna exhaled a cold breath and looked down at her teacup. The black liquid rippled within, distorting what little of her reflection she could make out. Slowly, she lifted the drink to her lips, closed her eyes, took one last sip, and finally returned it to the saucer. Blueblood simply watched the long-practiced routine with no small amount of trepidation. Knowing his aunt, any attempt to atone for his misdeeds would involve either great pain or no small amount of humiliation. He could already hear her ordering him to scrub every sewer in Equestria clean.

Still, it’s what I deserve.

“In any case,” Luna finally said, her eyes still gracefully shut, “we are wasting time here. The matter of your final sentencing will not be for some time still, and when we are ready to pass judgment, we shall. Until then, pursue your penance in your own way, and try to avoid any wrongdoings.”

She opened her eyes just slightly, if only to accommodate for the grin on her face. “Like being tardy for your studies, for example.”

Right on cue, the castle began to echo with the heavy dongs and bangs of several clocks going off at once, signaling the beginning of a new hour. Blueblood’s eyes popped open as he quickly chugged down his entire bowl, hopped onto his hooves, and started galloping away to grab his saddlebags and join Sky Bloom. Luna simply sat there, her body unmoving.

Sister…you may be right. Again.

To Blueblood’s amazement, Ribbon was not only already in her seat by the time he arrived, but was practically bouncing like a kangaroo at his approach. A massive paper was furled on top of her desk, held together only by a thin rubber band. Slowly, the colt wandered to his desk, set down his saddlebags, and climbed into the chair. “So, what happened last night?”

“Oh, mom just told me that I should never use that word again, but that’s not what’s important!” The filly’s hooves swiftly undid the band, letting the paper unroll itself until it had almost fallen off the desk entirely. Blueblood lunged forward in response, his own forehoof catching the paper before the hanging portion’s weight could slide the entire thing down. With another mighty hoist, he threw the sheet back onto Ribbon’s desk, and then slid his own seat over so the edges were touching.

Blueblood’s eyes widened as he took note of exactly what this was. Most of the body was taken up with a crudely-drawn image of what looked like seven ponies standing on top of each other, but the actual sheet itself was the kind used for construction projects and factory orders. He had seen plenty of them during the last renovation of his estate; they even bore the imprint of the same company he had hired to perform the labor. “Wait, where did you get this?”

Ribbon shrugged. “I dunno. Lofty said her dad had a bunch, so I guess she took his.” Her hoof tapped on the pile of misshapen ovals with sticks on their sides. “But this is what’s important! We can’t climb the tree, none of us can use magic, and Lofty can’t fly high enough. But in the circus, ponies do stuff like this all the time! They can get about fifty ponies on there at once, and then they grab ropes and bars and swing around and…”

“Um…Ribbon?” Blueblood asked. “We’re not in the circus.”

The filly scoffed. “I know that! But if they can do it, then so can we. All we have to do is get enough ponies to stand on each other, and then the one on top can just pull the ribbon down.”

Blueblood just nodded along, his brain poking out a million holes in this plan at about five miles per hour. “I don’t know. This sounds…really dangerous. I mean, what if somepony gets hurt?”

“Does anypony in the circus get hurt?” A big smile crept across Ribbon’s face. “And besides, wouldn’t it be worth it for free pudding? Free, breadless pudding?”

BRR-I-I-I-I-I-I-NG!

Any further mulling on the viability of pudding snacks as a motivation for performing ridiculous feats ceased with the ringing of the bells. Ribbon quickly rolled her plan back up and shoved it into her bags, doing her best to keep it out of sight of Miss Brightly or any of the class’ tattlers. Blueblood, however, quickly noticed something else horribly amiss about their room’s current status: Miss Brightly herself wasn’t in it. The other students, who had but moments ago been talking loudly amongst themselves, began to murmur in stunned silence at their sudden lack of any adult supervision.

Finally, two minutes after class was supposed to begin, a telekinetic field gripped and rotated the door handle. The entrance slowly swung open, revealing the long-lost teacher and an orange colt nopony had even bothered to check was missing. Even worse, however, their teacher’s normal off-the-walls exuberance was nowhere to be found, instead being replaced with a cold, downtrodden look of defeat. Orange Peel’s own countenance was not that far off, either.

“Good morning, class,” she said, although it was more like a whisper than a shout.

“Good morning, Miss Brightly,” the foals said in response, their little minds simply parroting what had been done before.

The teacher nodded her head slightly, and then continued. “I’m sorry I’m late, but there is something we have to discuss.” She looked down at the nearby colt. “I’m afraid that this will be Orange Peel’s last day with us.”

The news burned through the class like a wildfire. Fillies and colts from every corner of the chamber began to whisper to each other, some merely expressing surprise at the sudden change in the student body, and even more quietly celebrating the soon-to-be exodus of the biggest dispenser of wet willies and crushed spirits in the whole school. Only Blueblood, Ribbon and Snowball seemed to notice Orange Peel’s ears folding downwards as the noise only grew in volume.

Just before the actual words could become fully audible, Miss Brightly banged her hoof against her desk, thus calling everypony’s attention away from Orange Peel and back to her. “Now that’s quite enough. This is Orange Peel’s last day here, and I want it to be as pleasant as possible.” She leaned over to the colt. “Orange, you can go to your seat now. It’s time we started class.”

Orange Peel, his face as dead and emotionless as ever, simply nodded and trotted over to his desk, not even muttering a peep along the way. Once he was well out of range, Ribbon leaned over and whispered to Blueblood, “Orange Peel gone and we get pudding? This is gonna be the best day ever!”

Blueblood simply nodded, his mind barely registering Ribbon’s words. No matter how much he tried to return his attention to the all-important lesson on the differences between triangles and squares, he couldn’t help but feel that he was missing something here…

It was but a short time after Prince Blueblood had been sent to his classes that Celestia appeared, teleporting into the hall outside her study in a brilliant flash of light. Both Princess Luna and Shining Armor quickly averted their eyes, just barely managing to avoid temporary blindness. Princess Celestia took a moment for her reformed lungs to draw in air again before turning to the other two members of her impromptu council. “My apologies for such a dramatic entrance, but there was very little time to do otherwise.”

Slowly, Luna lowered her forelegs. Shining Armor, meanwhile, wisely waited until the Moon Princess’ voice had made it clear all was safe. “I understand. Still, please be careful next time. Must I remind you of the palm tree?”

Celestia shuddered slightly. “Yes, I remember.”

“Um…” The two turned about at the sound of Shining Armor’s voice, their simultaneous gaze only intensifying the Captain’s unease. “I’m sorry, but there is still a lot I must do by the end of the day, and I don’t want to bog my Lieutenant down with my duties for too much longer.”

A tiny part of the stallion twinged, as if in fear of divine retribution, but to his great fortune, no lightning bolts came crashing through the ceiling to strike him dead. “I understand completely,” Luna said before pushing the study doors open, revealing the darkened chamber on the other side. “Now come, we have much to discuss. Sister, would you mind…”

Without so much as a second’s thought, Celestia’s magic lit the fireplace, scooted away the assorted tomes and scrolls, and finally floated out a trio of pillows to go around the low table. When she was done, she turned back to Shining Armor, pausing only to take in her Captain’s slack-jawed expression. “You have a bit of a cavity, Captain. I would recommend having somepony take a look at your teeth once in a while.”

Blushing, the Captain pushed his jaw back into position. “M-My apologies, Your Highness.”

With the gawking session concluded, the three entered the study and took their seats. The door slowly closed behind them, leaving the committee alone to pass their judgment. Six hooves rested themselves on the tabletop, as did Shining Armor’s helmet out of respect for royal traditions regarding such affairs. For almost a minute, nopony said as much as a word, simply allowing themselves to soak in the roaring fire’s afterglow.

Finally, Luna banged a hoof against the table four times, drawing everypony’s attention to her. “The way I understand the problem, we have two issues at hand. The first is that more and more ponies are beginning to misunderstand Blueblood’s identity. The second is Princess Cadance’s affection for the colt.”

Both of the other ponies nodded. “I can see what you mean,” said Celestia. “I must admit, I never foresaw this possibility when this began. I had hoped we would have had a week or two more to see whether or not Blueblood had changed, but time is no longer our ally.” She turned to Shining Armor. “Captain, your report on his progress during the training sessions?”

Shining cleared his throat and coughed before beginning in the most official tone possible. “I’ll admit, I was very uncertain when he joined. Princess Luna had just made me aware of what had happened with Twilight, and I...really wanted to get back at him.” He coughed and cleared his throat again, his vocal chords straining from speaking so formally. “Considering his attitude prior to this, however, he seems to be adapting very well to the morning routine. Despite his reduced stature and physical ability, he has showed some sense of determination in keeping up with the others. He even showcased a willingness to watch the combat evaluations yesterday.”

“Perhaps he was looking to start a fight,” Luna said sharply. Celestia raised an eye at this, silently prompting her sister to expand on her thought. “Perhaps Blueblood has changed in some ways, but the fact remains that he still has enemies. Frazzleberry’s actions alone are a testament to that. Perhaps he wishes to plan some sort of revenge?”

Celestia shook her head. “I doubt it. For all his bluster, Blueblood was far from a physically capable stallion. In fact, he tended to get his flank kicked by anypony he dueled, and that was when he actually bothered to show up.”

“And what I’ve seen doesn’t feel like a physically violent pony at all,” said Shining Armor. “In fact, he actually seems more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him.” He sighed. “And then there’s the matter of what happened this morning. Do you remember Sergeant Flyover?”

The Sun Princess groaned. She hadn’t forgotten about that day, and probably never would. Luna, meanwhile just looked about in bewilderment. “No, I…I am unfamiliar with that pony.”

“Blueblood revealed that he was a colt cuddler to an entire assembly, including his parents.” Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed, while a pair of crimson burns appeared on his cheeks. “Our dear prince tried to apologize to him earlier. He even offered to make it up to him, although I have no idea how somepony could make up for something like that. He didn’t quite accept it, but…I don’t think Blueblood really expected forgiveness in the first place.”

Luna snorted. “Imagine, Blueblood actually working? That would be most entertaining to watch.”

“In any case,” said Celestia, “the fact remains that we must come to a decision. Our time is running out, and we can no longer abide while Blueblood searches for answers on his own.”

“Then why not just tell him what he’s supposed to do?” Luna snapped. She banged her hoof against the tabletop hard enough to make the entire room shake, loosening tiny shreds of debris from the roof and sending some plaster tumbling onto the three. “Honestly, sister, this evasiveness of yours is unbearable.”

Celestia grinned. “I know, but there’s more to what I’m trying to accomplish than just forcing one bad pony to admit his misdeeds. If I just gave him the answers, he would simply memorize and recite them. He might have skimmed the surface of what he must know and do, but he wouldn’t understand the meaning. I did the same thing with Twilight Sparkle to save you, and it has worked for countless centuries.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. “And what of Kuchen?”

In but a single sentence, all sense of life and joy seemingly vanished from the room. Celestia’s features darkened, her lips curling into a slight grimace while her ears flattened against the sides of her head. Luna simply watched her sister fall from her high top, simultaneously elated at deflating her ego slightly and upset with herself for going for the lowest blow. Shining Armor, on the other hoof, just looked about in confusion. “Ku-what? Is there something I should know about?”

“No,” Celestia whispered. “Kuchen is a…touchy subject. Still, the fault there was mine, and I learned my lesson. I just wish for Blueblood to have the same opportunity.”

Her head dipped forward a bit more, her muzzle coming dangerously close to impacting with the tabletop. “I had a chance to do so once, and I wasted it…”

“And just what is this grand emergency, Blueblood?” Celestia asked.

“It’s Princess Cadance,” Blueblood said mournfully. “I have been looking at this...Captain Armor that she has been eyeing, and I fear he may not be the ideal choice for her.”

Celestia leaned her head downward and sighed. She had already gone through an entire morning of pointless meetings with a host of delegations and special interest groups, followed by an early afternoon in the court that involved every noblepony complaining that everypony else had worn better clothes than them at the last Grand Galloping Gala. And just like every year prior for the last two centuries, court ended with everypony petitioning for a system where everypony would know what everypony else was wearing; that way, a duke would not be shown up by a lowly baron.

This was not helping her day.

“Blueblood, I think your cousin knows what she’s doing. Shining Armor is an exceptional gentlecolt, and he and Cadance have been friends since they were in their teens.”

Blueblood shook his head. “I know he has a solid performance record, and I have seen his character. Were the situation different, I would be shoving the two down the aisle myself. But there is something truly dreadful about him that we must address. You see, I know his dirty, shameful secret.”

Celestia looked up from her paperwork, her face twisted in morbid curiosity. “I’m listening.”

Seeing his chance, Blueblood began to pace around the room, waving his hooves and head theatrically as he spoke. “I have examined his genealogy, and have learned that he is NOT of noble blood!”

A divine nerve twisted on Celestia’s brow. “I…see…”

“Do you not see the sheer level of scandal such a pairing will stir up! Why, I can see the Canterlot Times already! ‘Roaman Princess Dating Common Stallion!’” He performed a mock half-swoon, stopping just short of falling on his pampered flank. “And can you imagine what would happen to his family? They would become the targets of mockery and ridicule across the nation! The other families will make them easy targets! Others will begin to eye his younger sister – and your student – with suspicion! Why, some might even believe they were truly still of a noble house, when their blood is so thin as to be transparent!”

Celestia simply sat there, staring at her nephew in a mixture of disbelief and horror. This was the same kind of talk his…

Her ears perked up as a noise drifted up from outside. To Blueblood’s amazement, she just stood up and walked over to the window. As she witnessed whatever was going on outside, her expression changed to a smile. “Prince Blueblood, please come over here. There’s something you need to see.”

Blueblood cocked his head slightly at the request, but there was no way he could deny the Princess of Equestria anything. He slowly walked up alongside his aunt, just in case she suddenly turned evil and threw him out a window. Through the glass, the two could see the Canterlot Castle courtyard. There, amidst the newly-bloomed spring flowers and Celestia’s Fountain #43, stood Princess Mi Amore Cadenza herself, speaking with two other mares. Blueblood’s eyes widened as he recognized them. “Why…that’s the Lady Moonglow! And…who is that with her?”

“Silver Dust,” Celestia responded. “She’s one of the castle’s best servants.”

A terrible tremor spread across Blueblood’s body. “S-Servant? She’s fraternizing with the common ponies?”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed. While you were gone, Princess Cadance grew up. I don’t just mean that she found her special gift and earned her Cutie Mark, but she became curious about the world around her. She had no friends, her family was too terrified to speak to her, and the nobles seemed set on making her alone and miserable, so she finally asked me to help her meet some ponies from outside Canterlot’s noble circle.”

Blueblood could feel the blood draining from his face. “Y-You mean…you took my cousin to meet with the locals?!”

Despite the unease building inside her, Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle at Blueblood’s outburst. “Nothing of the sort. She chose to see what Canterlot had to offer, so I allowed her to go. Obviously, I had to take precautions, but still, there were plenty of odd jobs out there in Canterlot for a young mare. The one she spoke the most highly of, though, was when she was foalsitting.”

Blueblood’s head wanted to nod along, if only to acknowledge that Cadance truly did have that way amongst the spawns of Nightmare Moon known only as “foals.” At the very least, they didn’t pelt him with rotten fruit when she told them to stop playing their “stick ball” near his estate. However, the propriety of her position, juxtaposed against the sheer banality and lowliness of foalsitting only served to gnaw away at his heart.

“Cadance did tell me of her…position, but I thought she had been supervising one of the court’s foals. Why would she supervise a common pony’s child?”

Celestia grinned. “Because I suggested it. Princess Cadance will one day have to live up to a lot of responsibility, far more than even you ever will, and that means having to relate to the common pony. That was where she met Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, although I’m afraid Cadance’s work schedule and my student’s…reluctance for social activities have kept the two from seeing each other since then.” The Princess shook her head. “She doesn’t even know her full title.”

Blueblood’s eyes slowly narrowed, stopping only when he had just the right cornea-to-eyelid ratio to create an accusing glare. “So…Twilight Sparkle becomes your student, and Shining Armor is suddenly promoted through the ranks until he believes his standing is good enough to bed my cousin?”

Celestia’s response was quick and decisive. Her own head snapped about, her eyes catching with Blueblood’s without so much as missing a beat. In an instant, the stallion’s blood began to boil under the heat of her gaze, as if he was now standing in front of the very sun itself. Her voice, however, remained the same as before. “Prince Blueblood, I am very disappointed in your attitude. Shining Armor has earned his rank, and I am not so low as to give a pony such an important position as Captain without being certain that they’re qualified. As for Cadance, just look.”

Whether it was out of fear of his aunt’s wrath, or simply a desire to keep his eyeballs from exploding, Blueblood slowly spun around until he was facing the courtyard again. The three mares were still talking away, completely oblivious to the figures watching over them. “Those experiences changed Cadance. She is no longer the shy, lonely filly who clung to you for protection. Your cousin is an adult, and is more than capable of making her own decisions regarding her love life. If she believes she can live with whatever the consequences may be, then I wish her well. And you should, too.”

The room fell quiet once again, Blueblood making no obvious move to respond. Instead, he seemed simply content to watch over the small scene beneath him. He could recognize the truth in Celestia’s words by sight alone. The way his cousin seemed to move and handle herself was nothing like how she used to be, back when the other foals stuck her mane into ink wells or called her a feathered freak. She wasn’t even hiding her wings anymore. This was the confident young mare he had always dreamed she would be.

“But that doesn’t change the facts.” Blueblood’s lips curled into a sneer as he turned away from the window and his aunt. “Shining Armor’s bloodline prevents her from even consorting with him, much less a mere servant.”

Celestia opened her mouth to shout out another threat, but it died in her throat. A terrible coldness spread over the mare, seemingly striking at every old injury in her body. She could only squeak out a response. “Y-You do not…”

Her voice was so quiet that it barely rose above a whisper, nowhere near the level needed to reach Blueblood’s ears. Given the stallion’s disposition, however, he would have almost certainly ignored her cries even if she was screaming directly into his ear. “And if need be, I shall see to this myself. Nothing will stand in the way of my cousin and her reputation.”

With one last huff of noble defiance, Prince Blueblood opened the door just in time for a purple pony to slip through, levitating close to a half-dozen books simultaneously. “Good day, Princess Celestia,” he said before giving a half-bow and departing.

“G-Goodbye…”

The pony set the books down on the desk, her mouth forming into a worried frown. “Princess Celestia? Is something wrong?”

Celestia sighed and shook her head at her faithful student’s words. There was, indeed, something wrong. Everything was wrong. The colt she had loved was dead, with only a broken, ruined stallion left in his wake, just like his parents and their parents before them. Before long, he’d be keeping his own foals away from her, lest she poison them with thoughts of kindness and decency, and thus ruin their plans to continue endless feuds for generations to come.

“No, Twilight Sparkle. Now, let’s begin. Have you finished your report on the use of Translocation and Displacement Spells during the Classical Era?”

Shining Armor shook his head, his eyes narrowed in a mixture of disbelief and frustration. “So, this was right before he had goons dump lice on my cot?” He shuddered as he remembered that wonderful time where he was quarantined in the most remote building in Canterlot, doused in the foulest-smelling ointments and medicines every hour of the day, and made the absolute laughingstock of the entire Royal Guard.

Celestia nodded slowly. “Yes, I remember that. I had hoped so much to reason with him, but…”

“Then why is it working now?” asked Luna. “Why would this experience really make him any different? All it did for you was make you cry over your foalhood and break out of the castle.”

Celestia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, I remember. But I also learned a lot, as well. That’s why I took this opportunity, to try and make amends for my own misdeeds as well as Blueblood’s.”

“The question isn’t whether or not he’s learning,” said Luna, “but whether it will matter at all once he’s been returned to his rightful age.”

Celestia adjusted herself in her seat, stretched her tired legs out, and finally ended with a gasp of relief. She really needed to remember to stretch before indulging in any lengthy flashbacks. “And that’s what we’re here to decide. We’ve all been witnesses to his actions, both good and bad, and thus it is our responsibility to decide how he should be handled.”

She looked around the room, her eyes burning with the utmost seriousness. “Remember, what we do here shall decide the rest of his life, however long – or short – that may be. Today, we hold Prince Blueblood’s fate in our hooves.”

A great presence seemed to suddenly wash over the room, making everypony within feel about thirty pounds heavier. Everypony’s hooves trembled as they considered the grave responsibility lay before them. For on this day, they would be finally passing judgment on a pony who had made their lives miserable, disrupted Equestria’s formal functions and government to satisfy his own whims, and turned the nobility into a joke for the tabloids. The same pony who had worked his heart out during the morning drills, despaired over his past wrongs, and now sought atonement.

At the very least, he wasn’t there to do anything stupid…

Snowball grunted as the weight above him kept shifting. “Come on, Gusty! How long does it take to get a stupid ribbon?”

“I’m…trying!” Gusty gasped. Her back legs pressed against Blueblood’s back as she stood up, eliciting a grunt of pain from the colt. She reached out with her hooves, but alas, she was still far too short for this, even when standing on three ponies. “I can’t get it! We need another pony!”

The others looked about each other for a moment, their eyes judging just who should be the next pony up the long ladder to glory. Ribbon and Buttons, both of whom had once been perfectly on board with the plan, quickly shied away to avoid anything that involved climbing onto another pony. Lofty, being the orchestrator of this incredible scheme, took a step forward, her head tilting as she eyed the branch. “No…we need two more ponies.”

She turned to Smokey, who was doing his best to try and retreat from the oncoming disaster. Alas, the other two weren’t willing to die for their snack, leaving only the tiny colt to gulp down his last breath of air before climbing up the pony ladder. Both Snowball and Blueblood groaned as hooves slammed into their ribs, while Gusty simply crouched down as much as she could without tumbling off. Once the colt was on top, Lofty started to stand onto her hind legs to begin climbing...only for her brain to turn on that little idea bulb.

“You know,” she said as she returned to all fours, “if you guys all stand on your hind legs, I think we can reach the branch.”

If there had been a bit in Blueblood’s mouth, he would have spat it out right then. “W-We c-c-can’t do that!”

Buttons shrugged. “Why not? Acrobats, magicians, and superheroes do it all the time, so why can’t we?”

“B-B-Because we ar-r-r-aren’t any of those!” Blueblood snapped. The pressure on his body was so great by now that his face was turning riper than an entire garden of tomatoes.

All this earned him was a dismissive snort from Lofty. “Come on now, do you want that pudding or not? This is our chance for greatness, for glory! And I say we take it!”

Ribbon provided the facehoof, while Buttons supplied the rolled eyes. “Here we go again…”

Unaware of her friends’ reactions, Lofty raised a hoof to the heavens and stretched out her wings. If Blueblood’s sense of hearing wasn’t dulled out from the pain, he would have sworn somepony had started playing Equestria’s national anthem. “Did Super-Mare back down when aliens invaded Manehatten? No! Did Commander Hurricane simply give up when the windigos were freezing everything? No! Did Fluttershy give up when Nightmare Moon came to gobble us up? No! And we shall not quit here, either! Now, stand on your hind legs like ponies…and be proud of your…”

The speech would have no doubt continued to inspire the team had the entire ladder not already decided to do just that. Starting from the top, each pony reared themselves onto their back legs, being careful to keep them firmly planted on the front shoulders of the pony beneath them. The next one down repeated the trick, finally ending with Snowball pulling Blueblood onto his shoulders. The handful of extra inches the trick provided boosted Smokey up just enough that his hooves could touch the ribbon…

Unfortunately, Snowball’s hoof suddenly slipped out of position. He tried to right himself, but all the weight on his shoulders, coupled with standing in a position nopony was ever meant to hold for more than a few seconds, caused him to finally fall over. After that came Blueblood, screaming like a little filly. Smokey, sensing his doom approaching, hopped down from Gusty just as the pony ladder began to collapse, and thus managed hop onto Blueblood’s gut before bouncing down to Equestria. And finally came Gusty, going “Whee whee whee!” all the way down.

In the end, however, the results were the same. All four ponies came crashing to the ground, fortunately missing any rocks, tree roots, or anything else that would have only intensified their agony. The three fillies who hadn’t participated in the excursion immediately trotted over to their downed friends, their little eyes brimming with panic. “Oh my gosh, are you all right?” Ribbon gasped as she laid eyes upon a groaning Smokey.

Buttons, meanwhile, leaned herself over just enough to give Blueblood some support as he rose. “A-Are you okay?” she muttered.

The colt coughed and stretched out his aching legs, but still managed to give a small, rather unconvincing smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little…rustled that’s all.”

Snowball and Smokey slowly got back up as well, barely fighting back pained tears as they felt the small bruises on their bodies and bumps on their foreheads. Even worse, none of the teachers seemed to be paying much attention, at least not until after their morning coffee had been finished. Such were the ways of the morning recess. Gusty, however, simply popped back up, her face aglow with triumph. “That was the most awesome thing ever! We gotta do it again, guys!”

The smile vanished from Blueblood’s lips. “A-Again…?”

He turned to Lofty, hoping for some kind of support. Instead, the filly seemed completely enthralled with the idea. “That’s perfect! Alright, everypony, let’s get back there and try this again! This time, everypony’s gonna climb!”

Blueblood’s hooves shook in terror. His teeth clicked like a set of tap-dancing hooves. His coat grew even whiter in shock, stopping right around the point where he looked less like a colt and more like a forlorn ghost. His head twisted back and forth, searching for any way out of this without losing his friends. Alas, all he could find was a bush in the distance. “A-Actually…why don’t we just tie a bunch of sticks together, make a big pole, and then just, you know, pick it off…or something…”

The other foals all stared at Blueblood like he was speaking in some crazy moon language. The colt shrank back in response, his tiny internal organs already plotting to rebel in case his companions decided to do anything crazy. Buttons looked at the tree trunk, then back at the ribbon, and finally back at her friend. “You know…he might have a point. We’ll need a lot of sticks, though…”

Once the plan had been decided upon, approved by the committee, and Lofty had convinced Gusty that she wasn’t strong enough to fly straight up and drop her again, the ponies had split off to find appropriate sticks. It was for that reason that Blueblood was digging through a bush in a far corner of the playground, shaving off the leaves from a particularly long piece of wood, when it happened. The colt had just barely managed to pick off all but the last few bits of greenery when he heard a familiar, soon-to-be-ex-student’s voice. “DIIIIIIIIE!”

The voice immediately slammed Blueblood’s panic sensors into overdrive. Throwing his stick aside, he jumped out of the way just as Orange Peel’s hoof slammed into the bush. It was by Celestia’s providence that the blow didn’t strike Blueblood, nor did it go wild and send his tormentor down for the count as well. In Orange Peel’s rage, either outcome was a possibility.

Blueblood’s jaw hung open, his mind barely able to comprehend just how close he had come to his face becoming one with a shrubbery. “Wh-What?!”

The orange colt turned on his hooves, his eyes narrowed with blood-curling rage. “Y-You… Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”

Blueblood’s mouth flapped about silently, his eyes scanning for some kind of help. Unfortunately for him, this corner of the playground was so removed from the rest of the field that it would take a while for anypony else to notice he was even gone. Even worse, he could now see what else lurked in this corner. Just a few steps away sat an accursed muddy pool, the kind that most ponies foals dare not approach out of fear of their parents’ disapproval. A mere touch of the gunk against a coat like his would almost certainly depart no small number of permanent stain. With no other recourse available, he turned back to the originator of his predicament. “Wh-What do you mean?”

“Do you know where my father is sending me?” Orange Peel gasped. “He’s throwing me into a boarding school!”

Blueblood’s eyes widened. While he had been a participant of the same system, he had almost never heard of anypony being sent to one of the Academies at such an early age. To do so was seen as an almost criminal offense to the foal, not to mention a sign that you couldn’t control your own children and thus giving one’s rivals something to work with. “B-But you’re in kindergarten! Why would he…”

“Because he doesn’t want me!” Orange Peel’s coat turned a bright red, almost matching the hue of his nerve-shot eyes. “All he cares about is your stupid dad and you! And now that everything’s all happy, why does he need his stupid little colt around?”

The prince took a step back, sweat pooling from his very brow. He was quickly running out of options; with Orange Peel bearing down on him, it was unlikely he would be able to dodge any further attacks without ruining his appearance. Even worse, his stick was still right next to his enemy’s hooves, as much good as that would do him against a crazed colt out for his blood. “L-Look, Orange Peel, we don’t have to do this! I’ll talk with your dad, and-”

All this accomplished was eliciting a howl of frustration from his opponent. “All everypony ever wants to do is talk! I’m done with talking! I’m going to end this once and for all.”

“And just what is going on here?”

Blueblood’s eyes looked up just enough to catch several of the teachers, now freshly invigorated and ready to actually pay attention for once, approach the scene of the upcoming massacre. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his friends trying to break through, but alas, the teachers were holding them back, no doubt out of some vain attempt to limit the bloodshed. Miss Brightly was the only one to take the lead, her eyes locked onto Orange. “What is the meaning of this? Do I have to send you to the principal’s office, young colt?”

Her words seemed to bring with them a small lull in the battlefield, as Orange Peel’s eyes began to flicker just slightly. Blueblood allowed himself a moment to breathe; after all, there was no way…

And then Orange Peel charged forward, grabbed the stick between his teeth, and barreled straight towards Blueblood.

In an instant, time seemed to slow down around Blueblood, allowing him the chance to assess his situation. Miss Brightly’s horn lit up, but the colt knew it was hopeless; by the time she had her aura around Orange Peel, he would already be atop him. If he ran back, he would be in the mud puddle, and Orange Peel would have the humiliation he sought. He could fight back, but the bully was so full of blind rage that it’d be like trying to wrestle down a…

And then he saw the stick, and with it, his opening.

With what little time he had left, Blueblood knelt down, his eyes locked on the wooden instrument. Orange Peel simply barreled on through, heedless to his opponent’s cowering demeanor. Just as he was within striking range, however, Blueblood made his move. With a quick jerk, he spun about on his front hooves and delivered a one-legged buck to the base of the stick, just above where Peel’s lip was. The sudden impact, coupled with just how loosely the colt’s grip of the weapon was to begin with, caused the makeshift club to slip from his grasp and land impotently on the grass.

His opponent had barely enough time to recognize what had happened before his hooves touched the slickened edges of the puddle. In his youth, he was still inexperienced with galloping so hard; the moment one of his hooves touched the muddy ground, the slick surface caused one of his forelegs to kick out from under him, sending the rest of the bully face-first into the slop. Blueblood, meanwhile, quickly seized his chance and made a getaway, jumping back a few leg’s lengths in case things heated up again.

Groaning in agony, Orange Peel slowly pulled himself out of the mud. His once-pristine coat was now drenched in brown and black sludge that slowly dripped off the ends of his fur like morning dew. The torrential outpouring of laughter from the other foals did little to dampen his temper, nor did they persuade him from trying to charge again. Once again, however, his hoof got caught in the munk, and he found himself kissing dirt.

Blueblood simply stood still, unable to believe that it had ended this quickly. The teachers slowly approached, mindful not to set the downed combatant off again. Blueblood’s friends gave each other high-hooves, as once again they had witnessed justice prevail. Even Snowball and Smokey seemed utterly happy that it was over.

Orange Peel’s head slowly lifted from its earthy confines. His eyes laid witness to the various ponies surrounding him. His ears detected the mocking laughter echoing from each and every foal, and he could swear even a few of the adults were extolling in his departure. He saw and heard his former friends, his old adversaries, and worst of all, his arch-nemesis, who had nary a scratch on him and was not so much as sweating.

For just a brief moment, the old anger tried to flare up again, to roast him from the inside and give him the strength for one last attack. But then the fire in his eyes dimmed. His muscles became lax as he began to sob. There was no more denying it. He was beaten.

Miss Brightly looked the colt over, tsked, and finally leaned down to his level. “Orange Peel, I’m sorry your time at our school has to end like this, but I’m afraid we can no longer tolerate such behavior. We’ll have your father…”

“Y-You hate me.”

The sudden accusation caused the teacher to take a step back in shock. Orange Peel slowly climbed back to his hooves, his legs still sliding about in the slick mud. His eyes stayed locked on the ground as he tried to step out of the mucky-muck. “O-Of course I don’t hate you. You’re challenging sometimes, but how could anypony hate…”

The colt’s voice seemed to crack and pop as more clear liquid fought its way from the mud and onto the grass. “I-It’s not fair...”

Before another word could be said, the colt let out a massive scream and began pounding away at the muddy ground in a furious tantrum. Nopony dared approach the enraged foal, nor do anything to stop his rampage; not even the adults had ever encountered something this drastically horrible before. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair! WHY CAN’T I EVER WIN?! WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?!”

The colt’s shrill screams were loud enough to break a pony’s very thoughts. One of the custodians and a few of the teachers, including Miss Brightly, tried to approach, but their every attempt was met with the furious flailing of limbs and the wailing and grinding of teeth. Realizing his life was probably no longer in any serious danger, Blueblood retreated back to the others, who were now all busy huddling together and praying to Celestia for a swift end to this break in their recess.

Finally, the class bell rang, its shrill rattling breaking up the tension in the yard and seemingly shocking Orange Peel enough to finally calm him down just a little. Slowly, the teachers walked over to the sobbing foal, with Miss Brightly still taking point. This time, however, he offered no resistance outside of a few half-hearted lunges, all of which they were able to shrug off with ease. Finally, the colt was lifted onto the back of one of the custodians, who then trotted off in the direction of the school’s main office.

Within moments, order began to return to the schoolyard. Teachers herded their students into groups and marched them back to the classrooms, while the next batch of students scheduled for recess slowly emerged from their own chambers. Miss Brightly’s class was no exception; Blueblood, Ribbon and Snowball bade farewell to their friends and got into the line, their legs marching in unison from the lingering shock of the event. Already, students were whispering to each other in relief at Orange Peel’s departure; after all, it was one less bully in the world.

When Blueblood was just about to pass the threshold, however, he was stopped and gently pulled aside by Miss Brightly’s hoof. Ribbon briefly stopped as well, but was quickly pushed along by the momentum of the line until she was firmly back in the classroom.

“Leon, I know it was Orange Peel who started the fight, but I have to take you to the principal’s office, too.”

Blueblood cocked his head. “Why?”

Miss Brightly bit against the corner of her lip and rolled her eyes away. This was not the subject one enjoyed discussing to a foal. “It’s the school rules. When you’re in a fight, you have to go with everypony else that was involved. That way, we know everything that happened, and will be able to keep things like it from ever happening again. Do you understand?”

Now it was Blueblood’s turn to roll his eyes. “I guess so. Do I have to tell my mom tonight?”

Miss brightly was silent for a moment, although that little overbite thing she did with her mouth did not exactly hide her attempts to sugar coat the truth. “Actually…”

Luna slowly nodded her head. “Then we are in agreement?” The other followed suit, Shining Armor looking like he was just a few hours from death and Celestia appearing absolutely crestfallen. The Night Mare let loose a sigh of relief before climbing back to her hooves. “Then so be it. When Blueblood returns, we shall…”

The rapping of a hoof against wood alerted the three to the nearby door. “P-Princess Celestia, may I speak with you?” said a voice from the other end.

Within seconds, Celestia was back on her hooves, looking like absolutely nothing was wrong. Her magic reached out and pushed the door open even as her lips flipped into the most sincere smile she could manage at this juncture. Standing at the other end was one of the castle’s servants, shivering slightly as she remained chin-to-the-ground. “How can I help you?”

Sensing her monarch’s approval, the servant very slowly rose back up. “W-We just received a notice from the Canterlot Castle Preschool. They said that they needed to see Sky Bloom at once!”

Luna and Shining Armor quickly trotted up alongside Celestia, their eyes wide with worry. Celestia titled her head slightly, her smile fading as she did so. “May I ask what happened?”

“I…I don’t know exactly,” the servant stammered. “But they said it had something to do with fighting.”

The eyes of all three ponies practically exploded in a mixture of shock, horror, and aggravation at yet another stupid Blueblood stunt. Celestia herself couldn’t fight back her brain’s request for a massive groan. “Very well. I’ll find Sky Bloom and…”

Before she could finish that thought, however, one of her Pegasus guards glided up the hall, skidding to a halt just in front of the chamber door. He simply stood there, panting and gasping for air beneath his armor, before finally falling to the ground in a penitent bow. “Princesses, Baron Frazzleberry is gone!”

Luna and Shining Armor both pushed past Celestia, their eyes never wandering from the terrified soldier. “What is the meaning of this, Private?” the Captain asked in a stern, demanding tone. “I thought I ordered you to keep an eye on him at all times!”

“W-We did!” the guard stammered. “B-But then he got this message about his son and some fight and…”

Deep within the dark confines of Luna’s mind, the gears began to turn. The two statements, once separate, began to twist and intertwine with each other until only one possibility could be reached. “It seems the Blueblood-Frazzleberry feud is not quite as dead as Cadance had suggested.”

Shining Armor, however, was far too busy with his other orders of business to care about such things. He looked over the trembling guard like a culinary chef whose kitchen had just been destroyed by one apprentice mishoofling a blender. “I take it somepony is at least tailing him?”

“Y-Yes, sir,” said the guard. “We’ve already traced his possible route, and it all leads to the Canterlot Castle Magic Preschool.”

Celestia’s only response to this madness was a resigned, defeated sigh, which was about as much as she could do without completely breaching any rules of protocol. “Very well, then. I have to return to my duties, in any case.” She turned to the servant. “I will send Sky Bloom to the school at once.” And then to the guard. “Link back up with the units following Frazzleberry. Place guards at every entrance to the school. Once he’s out of there, approach and arrest him, but try to avoid an actual fight, especially in front of the foals.”

The two quickly nodded in acknowledgement, the guard adding a quick salute to the routine, and then departed to perform their duties. Once they were gone, the Sun Princess turned her attention to her younger sister and nephew-to-be. “Once she’s gone, I will be retiring to my chambers until we hold court. I ask that you do not disturb me until then. I have a…lot to think about.”

Before anypony else could say anything, Celestia’s horn lit up with the intensity of a small star. A golden aura enveloped her entire body, and within seconds, she had disappeared from sight. Luna and Shining Armor made no move to leave the spot, instead opting to stare at the spot the Alicorn had been uprooted from only moments before. Finally, after a few more uncomfortable seconds of blank looking ahead, Shining Armor voiced something he knew he would probably regret.

“H-Have you ever seen this Sky Bloom?”

The wait outside the principal’s office was quite possibly the most agonizing torture Blueblood had ever experienced. Not that he ever had a taste for such a vulgar act, of course, but he had read his books and knew some of the mechanics involved. Still, something like the rack had nothing on the level of pain simply waiting for the axe to drop could bring. Orange Peel, for his part, didn’t look much better. He just sighed every now and then, his eyes still red and dried from crying.

Finally, Blueblood could remain quiet no longer. “So…your father is sending you to a boarding school?”

The colt scoffed and looked away. “I bet you’re happy. I won’t be here anymore, and you won’t have to deal with anypony else like me ever again.” He sighed and leaned back in his seat. “It’s not like anypony will miss me.”

Blueblood looked away shyly. “Actually, I talked to the fillies a couple days ago. I…saw the fight you had with Snowball and Smokey. They told me what you did to them when they tried to be friends with you.”

Orange Peel chuckled. “Yeah…that was stupid. And so were they.”

“But what was that stuff about Snowball and Smokey, anyway? The way they were acting, you’d think you were the most marvelous pony to have ever graced Equestria.”

The fallen bully’s eyes scanned Blueblood for a moment, as if unsure whether or not he was a robot or just a nerd who liked big words, but finally settled on the latter. “Well, it doesn’t matter. They said they didn’t want to be friends anymore, so that’s that. And like my dad always said, ‘Anypony who isn’t your friend is your enemy.’” His shrugged. “He used some hard words there, but that’s what he said he said.”

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. A part of him simply wanted to dispose of the disguise right then and there, if only to tell Orange Peel what kind of a pony his father was, but common sense – and his desire not to end up on yet another tabloid – won out. “Your dad wasn’t like that last night. He actually said he was sorry for fighting with my dad all the time.”

Orange Peel’s eyes narrowed as Blueblood spoke. “Of course he did. A while ago, he was going to finally bring down your family and those jerks, the Huffys! I wanted to go, but he said it was past my bedtime and for big ponies only. And when I asked him about it at breakfast, he just...stopped being my dad.”

His voice dropped. “They said he got Princess Luna mad at him, and that’s why he was acting so weird. He started…giving money away, and told me to stop beating up the other ponies. He wouldn’t even let me get those traitors into stuff anymore. He said I was abusing my rank, whatever that means.” He sniffed. “It doesn’t matter. They all hate me just like dad does.”

The tension in the room simply continued to grow more and more stifling, as if the ponies behind the front desk were controlling the tension with a switch. Blueblood slowly shifted about in his seat, his own muscles growing tighter with every passing moment. Orange Peel was silent again, no doubt lost in thought over his upcoming deportation from Canterlot. All the prince had to do was keep quiet a few moments longer, and it would all be over.

“So, do you want to go to boarding school?”

Orange Peel looked at Blueblood as if he had just asked if the sun was hot. “Of course I don’t! I want to stay here with my dad! But nopony wants me…”

“That’s because you’re a jerk to everypony.” Blueblood sighed. “All that stuff the fillies said you did…”

The orange colt’s lips curled into each other slightly. “I just wanted one feather.”

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“One feather,” the colt groaned. “I didn’t care who they were. I even told stupid Gusty I didn’t want to be friends with a filly. But we were playing Buffalos and Settlers and…Smokey had lost the feather in his headband, so we needed another…and that stupid Pegasus had tons of them! She wouldn’t have missed one!”

Now it was Blueblood’s turn to, once again, raise an eye at this. “You mean…you pulled out one of Lofty’s feathers so you could play…whatever?”

The colt nodded. “And then Gusty came running over and…and beat all three of us up, right in front of the rest of the school.” He choked, gagged, and choked again. “After that, everypony thought we were wimps. So we jumped her after school, but then that crazy Unicorn you hang out with came along and called the teachers. And then…”

“So…that’s how it all got started?” Blueblood muttered. “B-But what about me?”

“I just thought you were an egghead at first,” the colt growled. He obviously did not like having his psyche picked apart by a pony his age. “But when I told dad what you looked like, I thought I could make him happy. He couldn’t beat up Lord Huffy because of Princess Luna, but I could take care of you. And once you were gone, everything would be all right again.”

Blueblood said nothing else, instead opting to keep his mouth shut and let things try to simmer down. Orange Peel seemed to entertain the same sentiment, shuffling about in his seat in a vain attempt to make himself comfortable. Before long, the only noises either pony could hear were the loud ticking of a nearby clock and the rustling of papers by the office staff. Sadly for Blueblood, this did little to distract him from those old, broken memories of his…

Blueblood adjusted his bow tie, straightened his jacket, and finally knocked on the door to Princess Cadance’s bedchambers. There was the chance that he was more than a little overdressed for what amounted to a simple visit, but then again this was his cousin he was talking about, and he would not dare to appear slovenly before somepony of her rank. Besides, the jacket was perfect for hiding that ketchup stain. It would be the last time he let his chefs persuade him to try those cubed potato strips.

There was a rustling from the other side, followed by the sound of hooves clopping against the wooden floor that gradually grew louder. Finally, the door opened, revealing the yawning, groggy, makeup-free face of his cousin. She yawned and smacked her chops, her eyes slowly drifting downward as she spoke. “Wh-What is it?”

Blueblood raised an eyebrow at his cousin’s appearance. “Princess Cadenza, it’s almost noon. Why are you still asleep?”

The princess stifled another yawn. “Sorry. Aunt Celestia was so busy with the peace talks that she asked me to take care of the night last night.”

The prince reared back a step in surprise. “Y-You mean you raised the moon? Did you become as powerful as Princess Celestia while I was away?”

It took a few moments for the words to break through the wall of fatigue surrounding Cadance’s brain, but when they did, she couldn’t help but force her mouth into a smile. “No, nothing like that. I just made sure nothing blew up Canterlot, met with some advisors, things like that.” She yawned. “Do you know what happens at night? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“Well, I suppose you had plenty of time to get acquainted with the ‘Mare in the Moon?’”

It didn’t take long for Blueblood to remember his lack of a sense of humor, as well as why that particular topic wasn’t what he should have opened up with. Tiny beads of sweat began to pour down the sides of Cadance’s face as she shivered nervously, both from the cold and from deep-seated memories of Lemon Lime’s prank many Nightmare Nights ago. It was more than enough to turn her off to the holiday entirely, not to mention the legendary Mare in the Moon. And for whatever reason, Princess Celestia actually seemed more than a little saddened by that.

Still, the damage was done. “I…I apologize. I had forgotten that…”

In a flash, Cadance’s demeanor snapped back to her former self. “I-It’s nothing, really. W-Would you like to come in?”

Blueblood stared ahead blankly for a few moments, then nodded and stepped inside. Cadance’s room was almost completely unchanged from their youth; understandable, considering the sheer amount of legal red tape Celestia herself had to jump through just to move a coffee table. A silver serving tray had already been set on a wooden table, no doubt by some kindly servant too afraid to risk their job by awakening one of Celestia’s favorite family members. Even better for Cadance was the big, steaming pitcher of coffee, kept warm via an enchantment from the sun’s physical representation herself.

Cadance fought back another yawn before taking a few groggy steps towards the breakfast display and pouring herself a cup. “Would you like some, Blueblood?”

The stallion shook his head. “No thanks. I’m amazed you’re touching the stuff. I had always thought tea was the proper choice for ponies of our standing.”

“Yes, well, sometimes you just need raw caffeine,” Cadance grumbled in the most undignified way possible. Levitating up her cup, she took a few sips. The hot liquid, coupled with the steam emerging from the dishware holding it, snapped the princess’ senses open in a hurry. “So, what can I help you with?”

Sensing his opening, Blueblood readjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and struck a pose. “In truth, Princess Cadance, it is what I can help you with.” The stallion took a few steps forward, his chest puffed out like a peacock out to roost. Cadance barely managed to suppress a belly laugh at the spectacle. “I understand that you are interested in…finding a companion, as it were?”

Cadance’s face went into shock for just a moment, only to quickly slide down into a fox-like grin. “Really? Blueblood, don’t tell me you’re going into the matchmaking business?”

The stallion whinnied in horror at the mere suggestion. “P-Perish the thought, cousin! I was merely wishing to inquire about…what kind of stallion you prefer to date.”

The Princess’ hoof tapped against the dresser top as her eyes rolled back in deep thought. “Hmm…Well, I like my stallions to be…well, strong and sensitive, as cliché as that sounds. They need to be able to think, to hold their own in a conversation.” She smiled. “And they need to be named after gleaming suits of protective clothing.”

With a quick toss of her mane, Cadance spun around to face her cousin. Strangely enough, he was still smiling – always a good sign given what they were talking about. “So, why do you want to know?”

“Well, I suppose you are not a little filly anymore. No doubt you’ve turned to thinking about ponies you would like to be…involved with.” He cleared his throat. “Given what you’ve said, there are plenty of stallions within the court who would more than…”

Before he could utter another word, Cadance’s hoof came down on his lips. “But I’ve already found somepony. You know Aunt Celestia’s Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor?”

A tiny wave of nausea threatened to leak up from Blueblood’s stomach at the mere mention of the name. It was a credit to his lingering sense of self-control that his face didn’t reflect the twisting of his heart; instead, he opted to just pull back a step. “I am aware of him, yes. And that’s what I needed to speak to you about. Have you ever considered where this relationship will lead?”

Shaking her head, Cadance walked past Blueblood and undid her robe before hanging it back in her wardrobe. “Of course we’ve discussed things. Becoming the Captain of the Royal Guard was a lifelong dream of his, and he knows how important my own work as one of Equestria’s Princesses is to me. We already know each other’s likes and dislikes, our favorite colors, how many foals we’d love to have…”

“F-FOALS?!”

Cadance’s head snapped about in shock. Blueblood’s eyes had inflated to twice their normal size, while his jaw simply hung slack like its bolts had been pulled loose. The mare cocked her head to her left. “Um…Blueblood? Is something wrong?”

“Y-You wish to…have foals with him?” he gasped.

“Um…yes,” Cadance said slowly. “But not right now. We both agreed to abstain until after we’re married.”

“M-MARRIED?!” Blueblood’s brain struggled valiantly to make some kind of logical sense of this situation, but nothing worked. Everything he had ever been taught was being stomped on by the one pony he had thought would understand. He slowly stumbled forward, his limbs bending awkwardly like a zombie, until he was directly in front of Cadance. “H-Has he proposed to you?”

Cadance reared back in fear, but still managed to crack a small smile. “Well…not yet. We’ve only been out a couple of times, but…”

As if by magic, her words seemed to calm Blueblood’s nerves in a flash. His smile returned, with only the slightest glint in his eyes to give away the madness welling within. “Good… Then there’s still time. I can still save you, Cadance!”

“S-Save me?” The mare took a few frightened steps back, doing her best not to make any more eye contact with her scary cousin. “Wh-What are you…?”

In his delirium, however, Blueblood had obviously failed to notice just what was going on with Cadance, and before she could muster something to make him stay and explain himself, he was well out of the door and down the hallway. After all, he had a Captain of the Guard to discredit, and there were only so many places he could procure lice…

“Leon? Leon?”

Blueblood gave his head a vigorous shake, breaking himself free of his foalish past and back to his foalish present. Orange Peel was already standing up, while the principal – the pony who had broken Blueblood from his meditation – was standing overhead with a stern look on his face. “We’re ready for you. Please, come inside.”

A loud gulp emitted from Blueblood’s throat, followed by him dropping down to ground level. The principal simply trotted back to his designated spot in this chamber of horrors, no doubt to apply the mask and ready the axe. The two colts looked at each other in one last exchange of solidarity before walking into the room themselves, neither pony exactly hurrying as they approached their deaths.

It was only the second time he had entered the principal’s office, and already Blueblood could feel his nerves twist on end. The old pony was still sequestered behind his desk, his face twisted in a disappointed frown, but that wasn’t the real source of danger. Rather, it was the very upset Baron Frazzleberry and Sky Bloom, both of whom were sitting at different sides of the principal’s desk. A pair of smaller chairs had been set up between them, no doubt for each pony’s respective spawn. “Colts, please have a seat. There is a lot to talk about.”

The two little ponies looked at each other briefly, gulped, and then did as they were instructed. Both parents looked upon their progeny – one real, one fake – with a look of frustration. The principal cleared his throat and clapped his hooves together in a stock gesture of dominance over his pupils. “I have already spoken to Miss Brightly and the other faculty, and their stories are all the same. Orange Peel, they say that you threw the first buck. Is that true?”

Orange Peel nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He turned to Blueblood. “And you ended the fight by throwing him into a mud puddle, correct?”

Blueblood gulped and nodded. “Well, it was more like I kicked the stick out of his mouth and he ran into the mud himself, but…yes, I did hit back…”

The room fell silent yet again, save for the clock ticking on the wall. The adults simply sat there, allowing the weight of the situation to weigh down on their soon-to-be-grounded little colts. Orange Peel squirmed about in his seat as the tension thickened, his eyes starting to water slightly as all wetness drained from his mouth. Blueblood could feel his heart skip a beat or two, but otherwise managed to just barely keep the fear from making its way outside.

The principal sighed and leaned back in his seat. “Colts, as I’ve told both of you in the past, fighting is something we cannot allow at this school. Now Orange Peel, I know that this is your last day with us, but is this really how you wished to end your time here?”

Orange Peel slowly shook his head. “No…”

Baron Frazzleberry sighed and lowered his head, his eyes turned away from his son. “I apologize for my son’s actions. I have no idea what has gotten into him, but I regret ever having sent him here.”

Sky Bloom slowly turned towards him. “What do you mean, sent him here?”

“His mother suggested that he spend more time among the lower classes of ponies.” Frazzleberry wiped a bit of sweat from his brow. “I had wanted to send him to the same boarding school my forefathers and I had attended, but she…made a persuasive point.”

Blueblood nodded from his chair, his little grey cells putting the facts together. Having a noble in any public school wasn’t entirely unheard of, but the practice was still frowned upon. Sky Bloom, however, appeared to fail to notice any of this. “And just where is your wife?”

Orange Peel’s eyes suddenly widened, while a small whiff of dryness unclogged itself from the back of his throat. Frazzleberry nervously twisted his forehooves together. “S-She’s gone to the frontier. She said it had something to do with…a…project she was working on, and that she wouldn’t be back until she was done.”

Every single pony in the room looked about each other in disbelief of the tale. Orange Peel tried to shy his eyes away, his body hunched over like a twisted lawn ornament. Sensing the growing apprehension in the air, Blueblood quickly relied on the tried-and-true foalhood tactic for such things: change the subject. “But still, I know that fighting is wrong. I shouldn’t have…”

“You fought to defend yourself,” said Sky Bloom. “You didn’t go and pick a fight, you know.”

Frazzleberry raised his eyes from his son, his retinas locked onto the mare across the room. “Excuse me, but are you saying my son should be solely responsible for what happened?”

“Well, my son isn’t a bully, like yours!”

Blueblood chuckled nervously and began to scoot his chair away. “Um…‘mom?’ I…I don’t think that…”

Despite the rising temperature, Frazzleberry’s voice and demeanor remained as chilled as ever. “I tried to be reasonable last night…”

Sky Bloom, on the other hoof, seemed more than willing to go along with the atmosphere. “By having him foalnapped? Really, Baron, you have a very different idea of what’s ‘reasonable’ or not…”

“Um…dad?” Orange Peel muttered. “I…I don’t think she…”

“Listen here, peasant,” Frazzleberry said, his voice hissing like a cornered cat about to strike. “Just because you happened to birth my old rival’s heir does not give you the right to address me in such a way!”

The mare gasped in shock. “By Celestia, I thought we were all over that silly feud! Wasn’t that why you seized my son and had him dragged to your house last night? Or were the Royal Guards simply misinformed about that when they told me you…”

With a thunderous yell, Frazzleberry leaped to his hooves, looking less like a pony than a whirlwind of rage. “I made a mistake in judgment, little more. But you could learn to mind your manners, or need I remind you just how your son came into the world!”

Orange Peel gasped. “Dad!”

Sky Bloom plopped her forehooves down and bucked her own chair aside with one kick. “And maybe I should tell your son that his father is a wanted criminal! They’re already waiting outside the school to arrest you, as if you didn’t notice!”

Blueblood groaned. “Mom!”

“ENOUGH!”

The bickering and fussing ceased at the thundering crash of a pair of aged hooves against a desk. The two grown adults very slowly slid their chairs back into position and sat down, their very wills wilting away beneath the vengeful glare of the school’s principal. “In all my years at this school, I have never seen who I assume are supposed to be mature adults behave in such a manner! Who started the fight and who responded is not what is being discussed here! What is important is that they attacked each other anyway, despite both having already been warned not to do so!”

Sky Bloom’s face turned as red as a firecracker. “I…understand. And I will handle the situation in my own way.”

“As have I,” said Frazzleberry. “Hopefully the Academy will be enough to straighten him out and make somepony respectable out of him.”

The mere mention of that enigmatic boarding school was enough to cause Orange Peel to visibly shiver. He leaned his head in closer to his father, but the elder made no effort to show even any acknowledgment that his son was touching him. Blueblood simply watched the spectacle from his remote vantage point, his mind still trying to figure out just what he was supposed to do here. Sky Bloom was obviously no help; she probably had no idea what a boarding school was. The principal was similarly at a loss, although he most likely didn’t care as long as he got rid of a troublemaker.

That left only one pony who could do anything: Blueblood. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. Besides, the Academy wasn’t that dreadful. The instructors were some of the best in Equestria; only Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns could come close to matching that level of quality. And the mere presence of a military guard on standby would be more than enough to break down any delinquent colt, even before he begins his traditional training. He’ll emerge a strong, confident stallion like his father and…

Something snapped into place. Like his father…

“Um…excuse me, Lord Frazzleberry?” he muttered. “I was wondering about something.”

Frazzleberry didn’t rise from his chair, instead only acknowledging the colt with a short nod. “Yes?”

Blueblood slowly slid out of his chair; he didn’t know if he could make the proper impression sitting on his haunches. “You see…didn’t you go to the Academy?”

Frazzleberry scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I did, dear colt. It’s tradition, after all. I had just hoped I would have more time before Orange Peel had to attend.”

“But last night, you said you were trying to change, to be a better pony, right?”

Both Frazzleberry and Sky Bloom raised an eyebrow at this – the former out of bewilderment, and the latter out of bemused curiosity. “Yes, what of it?”

Blueblood’s hooves tapped nervously against the floor. He knew he was entering dangerous waters with the next few statements, but he had to speak up. He had to take the risk of being discovered. “Well…from what Princess Celestia tells me, my dad used to be a real nice pony until he went to the Academy. After that, he was all about tradition this and protocol that.”

Orange Peel slowly pulled himself away from his father, his eyes never leaving sight with his father’s. The Baron made no attempt to answer at first, simply choosing to follow suit with his son and exchange silent words. “I…I can see your point, but my son…”

“Orange Peel doesn’t want to go to some boarding school,” said Blueblood. “And even if you send him anyway, what good would it do? You’d just be making another noble to keep all the old systems alive. What he needs is a father to try and teach him how to behave, not to be shipped off to some school.”

The orange colt turned his attention to Blueblood, his little mouth curled up in shock. His father, however, remained as imposing as ever. “But I...he needs a proper education.”

“Perhaps, but that’s not what he needs right now.” Blueblood sighed and walked over to his bully. “What he needs is somepony to look up to and admire. He needs friends to help him from making the same mistakes. He needs to learn how to be a good pony first. Sure, I love learning about the alphabet, and I really want to be able to get through a whole book by myself, but school is about more than being smart. It’s about teaching ponies how to play with others without hurting their feelings, and that has to start at home.”

Nopony could draw up the strength to speak. Sky Bloom and Blueblood shuddered nervously at the silence, the latter more than a little afraid that he had overplayed his cards and would be found out. The principal was simply at a loss, his mind trying desperately to trace out where this parent-teacher conference had taken such a dramatic shift. Orange Peel didn’t want to get into any deeper trouble, and thus remained silent. Frazzleberry, meanwhile, just stared at the two colts, his brow wrinkling with deep thought.

Finally, after nearly two minutes of awkward silence, he spoke. “You know…for a foal, you’re pretty well-spoken. Must take after your father that way.” His eyes shifted over to his son. “As for you…we need to talk some things over in private. Is that okay?”

Orange Peel felt cold hesitation wash over him immediately, his mind already drawing up potential scenarios for what could go wrong. All that changed, however, when he saw the actual expression on his father’s face. There was no sign of malice or judgment, only a warm, friendly smile. “I…I…Sure, dad. Whatever you say.”

The principal sighed and rose to his hooves. “Well, I suppose our work is done here. If you two wish, I can leave you alone for a few minutes.” He turned to the other two. “Leon, you can return to class. Miss Bloom, thank you for coming. I do hope our next meeting will be far more positive.”

Blueblood quickly trotted out of the room, eager to give Orange Peel the space he needed to plead his case. The principal and Sky Bloom followed behind him, the former closing the door once the latter was out of position. Blueblood gave the two a last wave before heading back to his lessons, while the principal trotted away to handle some more unfortunate notices to the parents.

Once both groups were well out of visual range, Sky Bloom allowed herself a chance to smile. Well, this changes things quite a bit…

By the time Blueblood had gotten back, lunchtime was already over. Fortunately, Miss Brightly allowed him to finish off his parsley-and-sage sandwich while listening to her rousing banjo recital of the major cities of Equestria. The rest of the school day proceeded in much the same way, with the usual magic training, storybooks, and educational games. By the time the bell for the third recess had rung, the colt was more than ready to go outside and enjoy some sunlight. However, this would soon prove to be the wrong day to wish for such things…

Ribbon leaned against the tree, her eyes focusing on a colony of ants marching nearby. “So, he’s really gone now?”

Blueblood shrugged. “I guess. It doesn’t matter if he goes to the boarding school or not. There’s no way they’d let him stay here.”

The group remained silent for a few moments more. Around them, the air felt lighter than ever before, as if a great evil had been purged from the land. The pony that had made their lives miserable the last few weeks was no longer any threat to them, and for the rest of the school year, they could enjoy an Orange Peel-free environment. And yet, Buttons shuddered as unwelcomed thoughts crossed her mind. “You know…I felt sorry for him.”

Gusty looked up, quickly swallowing the grass she had been grazing on. “What do you mean, ‘sorry?’ This is Orange Peel we’re talking about, remember?”

The filly shook her head. “I know that, but…it’s just sad, that’s all.”

“I know what you mean,” said Snowball. “He used to be such a cool pony, too. A year ago, back when mom couldn’t get me into swimming lessons, his dad made them take me for free.”

Ribbon’s eyes puffed up in shock. “R-Really? That doesn’t sound like Orange Peel at all. That sounds…actually nice.”

Lofty scoffed, her eyes still locked on the sky artists chiseling clouds into shapes overhead. “It doesn’t matter how nice he used to be. He was still a big jerk and I’m glad he’s gone.” She rolled over a few times, the cool grass feeling like pure joy on her skin. “Still, it’ll be different with him gone.”

“Really?”

Everypony’s eyes popped wide open at the voice. Standing on the other side of the playground fence was Orange Peel, a tiny smile on his face. Behind him was his father, chatting rather heatedly with a member of the Royal Guard. Blueblood’s eyes widened as he saw the spectacle, but none of the other foals seemed to notice or recognize what was going on.

Lofty opened her mouth to deliver some kind of witty assault, but was quickly cut off by Gusty. “What are you doing here?”

“My dad’s taking me home,” said Orange Peel. “He said I’m gonna be homeschooled for a while.” He sighed. “If I’m good, I can go back to school for First Grade. I just…wanted to say goodbye.”

“And what makes you think…?”

Blueblood stomped his hoof down, drawing Gusty’s attention away from Orange Peel and towards him. Her gaze broken, he was finally allowed the chance to speak. “I’m glad you got things worked out with your dad…I guess.”

Orange Peel shrugged. “I know. But he said from now on, we’re gonna spend a lot more time together. And hey, this could be fun. I mean, I didn’t have anything else here anymore.” Snowball and Smokey quickly shied away, feeling more than a little depressed over the whole mess of a situation. “S-Still, if you guys ever want to…you know, hang out…”

Before he could say anything else, Frazzleberry walked away from the guard and took a seat next to Orange Peel, giving him a small nuzzle. “Come on, Orange. Princess Celestia’s sent us as escort home.”

The colt’s eyes widened with jubilance at the mere idea of the Princess bestowing anything upon him. “You mean it? Why would she do that?”

Frazzleberry coughed and looked about nervously. “Well…I have to speak to her about something this afternoon. You know, just some important royal stuff.” He gave him another nuzzle. “I just…want you to understand that everything will be all right. It’s going to be so much better from now on, you’ll see.”

From behind, the guard shouted, “Excuse me, My Lord? We really must be going.”

Frazzleberry climbed to his hooves, blinking away the last few drops of water from his eyes before walking off with the guard to a nearby carriage. Orange Peel started to trot after him, but froze after a few steps and turned back to the others. None of the foals spoke to him, with only Blueblood giving him a warm smile. “Well…so long,” he said, giving one last wave before galloping over to the carriage and jumping inside. The guard climbed into the driver’s seat and signaled the pullers to start moving, and within less than a minute, the carriage was gone.

Lofty’s brow remained furrowed for several seconds afterwards, before finally cooling into a general disinterest. “Actually…I kind of feel sorry for him now, too. You ever think we were the closest thing to friends he had by the end?”

Buttons shrugged. “I don’t know. He did have Snowball and Smokey.”

“But he gets a ride from the Princesses?” Ribbon whined. “Why does he get that? Lofty’s the one who’s friends with one!”

The foals simply continued to discuss the situation amongst themselves for the rest of the recess. The two colts joined in as well, offering their own defenses for their former friend’s behavior. Blueblood, however, simply ignored them all in favor of watching the space where his enemy once was. He couldn’t help but smile.

Good luck, Orange Peel.

Chapter Twelve: D-Day

From the moment Sky Bloom and Blueblood entered the castle foyer, the colt could tell that something was off. Even when the castle was at its busiest, there was always a certain air of excitement and exuberance about the halls, as if the mere idea of being in such a grand palace was enough to make a pony feel giddy. Blueblood could feel none of that.

The guards somehow looked colder and sterner than usual, their usual empty frowns more resembling a growling hound about to chomp into its latest meal. Only a hoofful of servants could be seen charging through the hallways, far less than one usually expected this late in the afternoon. Even worse, his ears could detect more than a few voices whispering in the distance, and while it was too far away to make their speech out clearly, it was obvious he was the center of the conversation.

As he turned to inquire about this, Sky Bloom spoke. “The Princesses wish to speak to you immediately.”

The moment the words penetrated his thick skull, Blueblood’s little blue blood vessels froze into chunks of ice. His brow darkened as a chilled sweat began to pour across his body. “Wh-What? D-Did they say why?”

Sky Bloom was silent for a moment, as if afraid to answer that particular line of inquiry. Blueblood simply stood there, his eyes never once leaving the servant. He had been a victim of that same dumbstruck expression – and indeed, delivered it more than once – and knew all he had to do was wait it out. Before long, he would...

“Your sentence has been decided upon.”

Blueblood’s jaw dropped as sudden bolts of electric fear raced across the tiny grey cells of his brain. “Wh-What? B-But I thought I…”

“Things have changed,” Sky Bloom said. In but the span of a few seconds, her entire mood seemed to alter, sliding from a pony who had but hours before threatened excruciating pain upon a noblepony to an executioner waiting to pull the switch on the guillotine. “In any case, report to Princess Celestia’s study immediately. I’ll go on ahead to let her know of your return.”

“B-But wait…!” Blueblood’s voice grew increasingly agitated and horrified as the mare trotted up the stairs and into the deep recesses of the castle’s many hallways. “Wh-What did they say? Do you know what’s going to happen? Should I dress up? Get my own rope?”

The colt finally just rolled onto his back and let out a mournful cry to the ceiling blocking his view of the heavens. “Why doesn’t anypony tell me anything?”

Time seemed to slow as Blueblood stepped across the great expanse of Equestria’s capital residence. Even with his reduced perspective taken into account, everything around him seemed so much larger and more menacing than it had this morning. The many frescos and portraits of famous ponies – not to mention Celestia – seemed to look down on him with everything from pity to disdain. The suits of armor sent shivers down his spine with every pass, as if they would come alive at any moment and haul him back to the dungeons. The guards remained as stoic as ever, but the servants wavered between chuckling and moaning at his approach. No doubt more than a few had been wronged by him in the past, given his track record.

It’s just as well. His ears drooped. I deserve to be hated.

After over half an hour of proceeding at this slow walk, he finally reached the double doors to Celestia’s private study. He could already hear voices on the other side, no doubt the three celebrating his oncoming banishment or whatever additional punishment they had conjured up for their favorite victim. His hoof simply hovered in mid-air for almost a full minute before he could finally muster the strength to knock, and even then it amounted to little more than a few gentle raps on the wooden door.

In an instant, the sounds from the study immediately ceased, save for what sounded like pillows, or at least something else fairly light and amorphous, being dragged about on the ground. Finally, Princess Celestia’s voice emerged. “Enter.”

Despite the shaking in his body, Blueblood complied with his aunt’s wishes and pushed one side of the doors open, stopping just when he could fit his head through the gap. Sure enough, Princess Celestia was already inside, sitting behind what looked like a massive desk from the secretary pool downstairs. Seated next to her was Princess Luna, looking as dour as ever. And out of the corner of his eye, he could make out Shining Armor, still dressed in his full armor and sitting at attention like he was ready to discipline a disobedient grunt.

“Would you mind coming inside?” Luna said in a detached voice. “We have much to discuss, and I tired of talking to doors a thousand years ago.” Shining Armor’s head spun about in confusion, while Celestia looked down at the desk guiltily. Luna simply stared ahead, barely registering her Captain’s change in focus. “You would be amazed what you do when you have nopony to talk to.”

Rather than risk drawing out the tension any longer and unveiling even more tragic secrets, Blueblood finished pushing the door open, allowing it to swing closed behind him. Princess Celestia silently pointed at a simple brown pillow, directly in front of the middle of the desk. Taking the gesture as the order it was intended to be, the colt walked over to the cushion and seated himself.

Celestia looked down on Blueblood, her eyes half-closed with a mixture of concern and relief. “My nephew, we fear that this trial must draw to a close. For almost two weeks now, you have been in the body of a colt, attending school, playing with other foals, and attempting to learn from your past misdeeds.”

“Despite our misgivings, you have shown some semblance of improving yourself,” Luna added. “I was especially surprised to see you growing in such a way, given the monstrous personality you displayed during my brief time as sole ruler.” Blueblood’s ears flattened at the reminder. “However, while you have changed much, you still have much to atone for.”

“Still, just admitting you were wrong and want to make up for it is a first step,” Shining Armor said. “As someone who’s been on the receiving end of your past behavior, I don’t know if I’m ready to really forgive you for what you did to Cadance and myself, and especially for putting Twily…” He blushed as all three ponies cocked eyebrows at his sister’s nickname. “…Twilight into danger, but I don’t want to deprive you of the chance to continue.”

Blueblood’s eyes lit up just slightly. “But…what is my sentence, then?”

Princess Luna cleared her throat before continuing, doing her best to keep looking formal and imposing. “Before the incident with Frazzleberry’s son, we were ready to find you guilty. We would have had the curse broken, followed by your removal from Equestria until such a time that you could have proven yourself worthy of return.”

The colt’s light died. “I…see…” he squeaked.

“However,” said Celestia, “the attitude you displayed during that meeting showed us something we hadn’t noticed. You see, the point of the trial was not just to make you a better pony. Anypony can work to correct faults and mistakes that are theirs alone. But to offer that to others is something not everypony can do. By all accounts, Orange Peel has offered you nothing but scorn and hatred, and yet when you had the chance to leave him to his fate, you stepped in at his defense.”

Blueblood shook his head. “I just…saw so many similarities between us…I mean, how I used to be. He wasn’t a nice pony, but he didn’t deserve to go through everything I had to go through.”

Celestia smiled and winked at the colt. “Yes, I know.”

Blueblood cocked his head slightly to the left, an expression Luna and Shining Armor were quick to share. Celestia simply continued to grin wryly at everypony else, feeling more than a little smug in her scheming and manipulations. “Well…I suppose an explanation is in order,” she said as she rose to her hooves.

“An…explanation…” Shining Armor’s eyes lit up like firecrackers as his brain finally started to work out the secrets. “Wait, do you mean…?”

Celestia smiled at the Captain in that way that also told him to keep quiet and not ruin the surprise. Her horn came alive with a golden glow, her magic pulling off her royal vestments and setting them aside. Luna blushed as she bore witness to her sister’s naked glory; still, it was nowhere near as bad as Shining Armor seemingly turning into a pony-tomato hybrid at the sight of his matriarchal ruler in such a state. Before Blueblood could jump on board the embarrassment train, the magical field began to grow out from the horn’s base and swallow Celestia’s entire body, shielding it from view. Once every inch of her body had been covered, the power contracted in on itself, until finally it was about the size of the average mare.

Its role complete, the magic peeled away like an orange, revealing Sky Bloom.

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped. He had never seen anything like that before, even with Twilight. Blueblood stood up in shock, his left eye twitching slightly from the sudden revelation. “Y-You mean…all this time?”

Sky Bloom – or rather, Celestia – nodded her head. “I needed to keep an eye on you to make sure you were all right, so I did some research, found an old disguise spell, and…masqueraded as a part of my own staff. If I timed things perfectly, I could freely enter and leave the castle without anypony even noticing I was missing.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us?” Luna asked. Her voice dripped with insincerity, as if she already knew the answer before even posing the question.

“Because I wanted to make sure Blueblood wouldn’t know,” Celestia said, just before stepping up to her still-stunned nephew. “The fewer ponies that knew about this, the smaller the chance anypony would accidentally let slip what was going on.”

Celestia knelt next to Blueblood, her gentle eyes locking with his own shivering pupils. “And besides, it gave me a chance to talk to you not as some kind of jailer or warden, but as just another pony. Somepony who cared about you and wanted you to succeed, despite all the horrible things you’ve done. I could be there to offer you advice, to listen to the pain of your day, to offer you a shoulder to cry on, and all without you ever knowing. I apologize for deceiving all of you, but it was the only way that made sense to me.”

“I…I…” Blueblood’s jaw flapped about for a few seconds, creating a sound not unlike a trout floundering about on a pier. Every fiber of his being burned with the fiery aftertaste of betrayal, coupled with the tang of disgust, and finally topped with a little cherry of discontent. Of all the ponies in this room, Princess Celestia was the only one Blueblood knew he could trust; after all, she hadn’t thrown him in a dungeon or forced him to do sit-ups that would snap a normal pony’s spine. But that had all been a lie. She was still spying on him, never letting him have a moment’s rest, just waiting for him to slip up and land right back on the executioner’s block…

“I’m fine.”

The Alicorn smiled and nodded, all the while admonishing herself for perpetuating this scam in the first place. She rose back to her hooves and strode back to the table, plopping her rear down like she had just conquered an entire forest of Ursa Majors. By this point, Shining Armor had had more than enough time to compose himself once again, even if that only amounted to finally being able to close his mouth and stop looking at his ruler, employer and future in-law. Luna just remained as cool as always, if a tad bored of her sister’s tired old tricks.

“And with that lovely bit of business out of the way, it’s time to discuss the true reason we’re here,” Celestia said. She clapped her hooves against the tabletop, trying to look as impressive as possible. “With this new piece of evidence, we can safely say that you have shown yourself more than deserving of a second chance.”

Blueblood’s mood snapped around almost instantaneously. The colt’s jaw practically shattered due to the sudden shift from morose defeatism to absolute ecstasy. “Y-You mean you’re not going to banish me?”

“That’s up to you,” Shining Armor coldly added.

The Captain turned to the two Alicorns, nodding to them to continue explaining the plan. Fortunately, passing judgment just happened to be Luna’s thing the last couple weeks, so she was quick to seize the opportunity to give Blueblood his choice in poisons. “While you have shown great progress, my little pony, there is still much for you to learn. I know how difficult it is to seek atonement, especially when the world seems to be…plotting against you.” She paused briefly, took a breath, and then continued. “Therefore, we will give you a choice.”

“Your first option is to be returned to your rightful age,” said Celestia. “It is a simple matter to undo the enchantments keeping you this way, assuming the counterspell is still accurate. Once this is done, we will assist you in coordinating your community service, provide you with a modest stipend, and promote you as a changed stallion as best we can. However, you must realize that your actions have attracted no small measure of scorn, if the tabloids are to be believed, and you will no doubt be facing a very, very harsh response to those you wish to apologize to.”

Blueblood nodded along, his mind already aching over the implications of this decision. “And the other?”

“The Princesses can keep you this way,” said Shining Armor. “We can arrange a living situation and promote you as an entirely new pony. However, Prince Blueblood will, in effect, be considered caballio non grata for the foreseeable future. You would have to completely abandon your old life.”

The colt shook his head. His entire body shivered under the weight of the options before him. “I-I see…so those are my only options?”

“What we are proposing is not absolution,” Luna said grimly. “No matter what decision you make today, know that your penance is only beginning. You have much to answer for, perhaps far more than most ponies your age, and it will be some time before we could consider you fully atoned for your deeds. There is also the matter of your estate, which we must discuss after the proceedings have been concluded.”

“But no matter what happens, you have my support,” Celestia added. “Now, what will you do?”

Blueblood stared blankly ahead, his eyes practically graying as the enormity of this decision began to weigh upon him. He was out of time, with only enough rope to hang himself with. No matter what choice he made, he would lose something important. As an adult, he would lose the friendships he had built, not to mention having to return to an identity he had come to hate. But as a foal, there was no way to make up for his misdeeds, at least not by himself.

His mind rocked back and forth, weighing and counterweighing both options. Tiny beads of sweat trickled down his coat as he struggled to intone the words that would seal his fate forever.

“I…want to stay a foal.”

And in a moment, it all came crashing down. Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow at her nephew’s decision, Luna glanced at her sister as if to make sure this was a part of her grand plan, and Shining Armor simply looked about in confusion over how he should respond to this. Blueblood’s own nerves, however, seemed to calm themselves now that he had made his decision. His breathing became less labored, the sweat ceasing to pour from his brow, and his limbs seemed less flaccid and more proud and stately than before.

Now that the awkward period had passed, Celestia spoke. “May I ask why you made your decision?”

Blueblood was quiet for a moment, desperately trying to find just the right words to convince his skeptical aunt. “Because I have a second chance. There’s nothing waiting for me if I become an adult again. I have no family left, no friends, nopony whose life I hadn’t ruined with my mere presence. Everypony just seems happier with me like this.”

Celestia opened her mouth to protest, but she could find no words to counter his claim. She tried to talk of the ponies in the court missing him, but that would be a lie. Cadance had been nothing but kind to him…but only because she thought he was Leon. She tried to speak of his family, but they were gone. His employees? All moved on to other nobles or occupations. His friends? As far as she knew, he had none. And as for herself?

“…I can see your point,” she said, her voice little more than a defeated grumble. The other two ponies at the table simply sat as still as statues, their eyes reflecting a combination of disappointment and bewilderment at Blueblood’s decision. “Before we can move on, however, there are some…points that must be addressed.”

“Points?” Blueblood titled his head about eight degrees to the right.

Celestia nodded her head. “Like the matter of your estate. While it has been in state custody since the time of your banishment, there still are a few effects that need to be looked into. I was hoping you would assist Princess Luna in finalizing the details.”

Out of the corner of her eye, the Sun Alicorn could already see the gears spinning about in Luna’s head. Her little sister eyed her with the special kind of mistrust that comes with knowing the same pony for millennia. “Of…course. I would very much appreciate the help…finding things and…doing them…in a proper manner…”

“We shall discuss the rest of your affairs later,” Celestia said just before pulling herself up. “Now, if you will please follow Princess Luna to the chariots, we shall get this matter settled. Captain Armor, I will need to see you in my office within the hour to discuss the upcoming guard rotations.” Shining jumped to his hooves and snapped a salute, his features hardening into the stone-cold exterior of a mighty warrior as he did so.

Her orders complete, the Princess returned her attentions to the pony at the center of all this. Blueblood was about as still as a cornered kitten, his fur bristling at her sight. When she smiled, however, he seemed to calm almost instantaneously. “I fear my schedule will be full the rest of the day, but I look forward to speaking to you tomorrow. By then, we’ll have everything figured out.”

And with that, she walked out the door, turned down the hall, and disappeared. Shining Armor trotted along after her, but stopped as he came alongside Blueblood. Again, the colt bristled slightly at his approach, but instead of ordering him to drop and give him fifty or whatever, the Captain of the Royal Guard merely gave a salute before leaving the scene.

Only two ponies remained in the study: Blueblood and Princess Luna. The mare let out a sigh that would make the very heavens turn cold and rose to her hooves. “Come along, then. It is time you went home.”

Blueblood’s jaw hung open in horror as the two drew up to his estate.

The once proud ancestral home of the Blueblood family was now a decaying ruin. The wrought-iron gate barely hung to its hinges, while vines and overgrowth chipped away at the walls. The path leading up to his front door was in even worse shape, as the runaway weeds and grass has almost completely swallowed it up. Bits and pieces of the chimney barely sat straight upon decaying mortar, with a few red chunks already decorating the outside gardens. The latest layer of paint had long since begun to chip away, leaving what painted surfaces remained looking like somepony had emptied their stomach onto a dollhouse. The windows were so caked with dust and dirt that they were almost entirely opaque.

Luna shrugged as she walked past the colt. “What’s wrong?”

“Wh-What happened to this place?” he asked in a quivering voice. “I-It’s barely been two weeks! Why does it look like nopony’s lived here for centuries?”

“This is far from the first property I have seen end this way. If you do not keep up your house, it can fall apart within moments. And I fear that we…did not find maintaining an abandoned building a major concern.” Luna pointed up to the sky, where a hoofful of guards sat in wait on specialized clouds. “We only used enough security to keep looters from ransacking the estate. Their duties do not include yard work and home repair.”

The words did little to appease Blueblood’s horror. His eyes burned as he walked closer and closer to the front door. My home…my beautiful estate. There will be so much to rebuild, to bury, and…to build and bury simultaneously. No wonder Princess Celestia needed my help with sorting this place out.

Luna’s magic worked its way around the doorknob, undoing the magical locks the sisters had put into place and slowly pulling it open. Fortunately, the door’s hinges weren’t subject to the same rapid passage of time, and flew open without so much as a squeak. The dread feeling in Blueblood’s heart gradually diminished as he stepped within the front foyer of the house he had once called home. To his amazement, all of the furniture remained exactly where it had been, with only the white cloths draped over them serving to remind him that somepony else had been there. A thick layer of dust covered every inch of the room, but that was nothing some furniture polish and elbow grease wouldn’t fix.

Slowly, the big princess and the little prince walked through every inch of the ancient house’s ground floor, their eyes peeled for any signs of cobwebs, rats, or solicitors. Everywhere they went, however, it just looked exactly the same. Even worse, the electricity seemed to be turned off, leaving everything draped in a foreboding grayness. The floorboards squeaked underneath his hooves, far more so than when he had been living there, and the doors squeaked loudly with every push.

The procession continued until they reached the house’s ballroom. Sure enough, the furniture was still here, from the family’s ancient grand piano to the tables and chairs stacked on the side. Were it not for the dust and dirt, it could have even matched the grandiosity of the castle’s own ballroom, if only a bit smaller in size.

Luna barely held back an undignified sneezing fit as she levitated the covers off of the piano. Her hoof traced across the wonderfully grained surface, taking in the exquisite craftsponyship of the instrument. Despite being in the house of a pony she had only just recently moved up to her “Barely Tolerable” list, she still couldn’t help but smile. “This is a…Crestofori design, correct?”

Blueblood simply shrugged before coughing up a few dustballs. “I think so. My grandparents based the design on some of the earliest pianos left in Equestria. They said it was to prove how long our family had stood, not to mention just how powerful and wealthy our house was.” He snickered a bit at the irony of it all. “And now there’s no house left, thanks to me.”

“Correct,” Luna said. Blueblood opened his mouth to offer some sort of retort, but wisely decided against doing so while he was still in Luna’s good graces. Instead, he simply returned to searching through the room, unearthing more priceless treasures and family portraits with every swipe of his hooves. Every inch of the ballroom’s walls were covered with fine representations of the various heads and members of the Blueblood family, highlighting their magnificent triumphs throughout Canterlot history.

On one mural was their triumph over the underclasses during the Great Cake Riots, also known as the day Celestia learned to make sure her speech pages were in the right order and not announce what was on the menu for the celebratory banquet before telling them that she had resolved the bread shortage.

Another was a lovely portrait of Blueblood City, a town his ancestors had planned on building on a lovely patch of land just a few hours away from Canterlot. It would have served as a prosperous farming community, where ponies would feel free to work and play in safety, while also making the family a fortune from the taxes. It would have worked, too, if the Princess hadn’t given the same land to some seed sellers.

And then there was…

“Your Great-Grandfather, General Longsword. Were it not for his command at the Battle of Fetlock Hold, Equestria would have fallen to the Griffon Kingdom long ago.”

Blueblood gulped in fascination. The pony in the picture was so…magnificent in his appearance, so strong, so powerful. And here he was, a colt whose only claim to fame was being Princess Celestia’s favorite family member. “I never knew we had so many amazing ponies in our family.”

Scarlet Letter chuckled and ruffled his son’s mane, albeit only after making sure the room was clear of servants. “Of course. And I have no doubt that you will be even greater.”

The colt snickered and pushed his father’s hoof away, blushing slightly from the sudden parental contact. “Come on, dad. I’m just…”

“Son, our family is one of the oldest in Canterlot. We can trace our heritage all the way back to Princess Celestia herself. I’ve been around long enough to recognize the potential for greatness when I see it, and you have it. You’re already smarter than most of the colts your age. Just remember that…”

“You are a Prince of Equestria, and you must live up to your title.”

Luna looked over from the piano, her hoof tapping on an e-flat as she did so. “Did you say something?” Blueblood quickly shook his head negatively, and despite the slight quivering in his eyes, it was enough to get her off of his back and back to examining the instrument. She didn’t even notice Blueblood sneaking out of the ballroom and back to the front hall.

The colt stopped only when he reached the bottom steps of the staircase leading up to the bedrooms. His own chamber was one of the first doors upon reaching the top, a wonderful gift when one was trying to sneak about during the night. Of course, those stupid Pegasus guards had to keep catching him, even after the most impressive juice box heist in Equestrian history. Those…Pegasus ponies and their wings! How dare they…

“Hey!”

Blueblood’s eyes snapped open as the disembodied voice rang through his ears. He spun about on the spot, surveying every inch of the hall, but not a single other soul could be seen. Still, he could swear he was hearing Lofty…

The colt froze. That’s right…I…need to stop thinking like that. All the ponies are equal, Blueblood. Remember that.

After a few seconds of shaking his head to knock out the bad thoughts, Blueblood was finally ready to begin his epic adventures in stair climbing. The floorboards creaked slightly with every step, reminding the colt of just how lax he had been with his home’s upkeep. Then again, there wasn’t much left in his monthly budgets after he figured out the hoof polish, replacement combs, and other assorted necessities. His appearance was of the upmost importance, after all. And besides, cake frosting wasn’t going to wash itself out of his coat.

The second story was in no better condition than the first. The floor was coated with a thick layer of dust, while spiders danced about in the cobwebs that lined the ceiling. Fortunately, none of the doors were locked, and he was soon able to enter a once-sacred chamber that had been abandoned for all of two weeks: his bedroom. Just like everything else in the house, the room was exactly as he had remembered it, save for the guard he had knocked out missing from his closet.

The colt heaved a great sigh, his breath displacing some of the dust on the ground, and finally stepped towards the small bookshelf he had next to his bed. The wooden furniture piece was still loaded with some of his favorite tomes, from A Brief History of Canterlot Royalty to The Adventures of Mauvebeard the Pirate.

“Honestly, Blueblood,” Velvet Cushion muttered, “what do you see in such drivel?”

The foal looked up from beneath his covers, just in case the Boogey Pony was starting to stir and taking a look around before jumping out. “But it’s fun!”

“It’s a stallion rampaging around the ocean, laying waste to villages and pillaging frigates.”

“But he’s doing it on Celestia’s orders! It’s the only way to stop the Griffons from cutting off Equestria’s sea trade!”

Cushion let out a parental moan and slammed the book closed. “Dear, this is not the kind of material a prince should be enjoying. Swashbuckling pirates, wenches, sailing for months at a time, all of those are for ponies of peasant stock.”

Blueblood gasped in horror. He had heard of peasants before, but had never seen one. Still, they had to be nasty customers if his mother was so worried he would become one. “B-But…Mauvebeard is a Duke, remember? He gave up his title so he could defend Equestria in ways a noblepony never could!” The colt took in a deep breath and puffed out his chest. “And one day, I’m going to be as brave and amazing as he is!”

Velvet rolled her eyes and floated the book back to the shelf. “Right now, it’s time for all the good little ponies to go to sleep. You’ll need that shut-eye if you’re going to grow up into a big, handsome prince, after all.”

Blueblood barely suppressed a giggle, with but the tiniest gasp of a snort escaping his budding propriety settings. The foal wiggled his way deep into the covers, his mother applying the finishing touches with a few tucks of her hooves and a peck on the cheek. The pleasant touch of his mother’s warmth against his cheek caused the gears powering the colt’s motor to rapidly slow, and before long Blueblood let out a yawn and closed his eyes.

A grin spread across Cushion’s lips as her little stallion drifted off to rest. “Sweet dreams, Blueblood.”

The colt gave another great big yawn and fidgeted just slightly. “Good night, mom,” Blueblood muttered to nopony in particular. In the time since he had begun reminiscing, the colt had climbed onto his old bed, not even bothering to remove the white sheets and brush off the dust. He blinked his eyes, but no more visions seemed to come. He was alone until Luna inevitably discovered where he had wandered off to.

Blueblood’s gaze gradually shifted along the floor until he reached the bookshelf again. The books were still all there, not a single one moved. The colt rubbed his eyelids, but nothing changed. B-But it was so real. Mother…and…

Deep within the colt’s heart, a switch seemed to be pulled. This house…these things…my parents…none of them…

The colt chocked and snorted as a familiar burning sensation spread across the bottom of his eyes. “No…No…”

“Is something wrong?”

The only sign that Blueblood had even heard Luna’s question was a tiny flick of his right ear. The Night Mare slowly walked up to the bedside and sat on her haunches. Her close proximity only made Blueblood tense up even more. “Blueblood, I know we have had our…disagreements, but if there is something I can…”

“I’m fine!” the colt shouted, causing the Princess to recoil in surprise. “I…I just…I have to…” From that point on, his attempts at linguistic communication degenerated into a string of nonsensical moans and syllables, accompanied by the occasional hack and sob. Luna simply sat at the spot, her hoof slowly stroking the colt’s back. It was several minutes before Blueblood could speak coherently again. “I’m sorry. I just…can’t spend any time here without remembering…things.”

Luna smiled and sighed. “I can understand. After all, this is your family estate. So much history within these very walls…” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “In any case, I think things are in order here. Shall we return to the castle?”

Nodding his head, the colt jumped down from the bed and slowly walked out the door. If nothing else, returning home had opened his eyes to an unfortunate, unavoidable truth. He knew what he had to do. No more running away. No more shifting the blame onto others. It was time to atone for his mistakes.

And he knew just who he had to talk to.

Cadance groaned as she looked over the latest advertising pamphlet Shining Armor had dispensed on her desk. This time it was for one of the local sandwich shops, advertising their new “Twenty Ponies Long” party meal, perfect for hoofball parties and family gathers, but not so much for weddings. Still, the princess managed to smile a little, even as her fiancé’s tactics became more and more obvious. At least he’s not trying to wear his armor down the aisle anymore. I swear, if he had his way, he wouldn’t even take that off for the wedding night.

A sharp knock emerged from the bottom of her door. She quickly tucked the advertisement into one of her desk drawers and walked up to the door, willing it open as she approached. Standing on the other end was none other than her long-lost nephew, eyeing her with no small sense of failure. “Leon, what’s wrong?”

“C-Cadance,” he muttered, “there’s something I need to tell you.”

The mare smiled warmly, looking more and more like her aunt every day. She quickly stepped aside, allowing the colt access to the room itself. Slowly, Blueblood worked his way in, his head still locked on the floor. Once the door was closed, Cadance climbed into her personal chair and patted the small seat next to her. “Have a seat and tell me all about it.”

Reluctantly, the colt climbed into the seat, still not daring to look at his cousin. “Cadance, it’s…well, it’s about…”

The princess sighed. “It’s about your father, isn’t it?”

The colt was silent for a moment, despite his brain’s desire to blurt out who he truly was. Still, something was holding him back. He didn’t know if it was common sense or fear talking, and he didn’t care anymore. “Yes. You told me you didn’t like him, but…why?”

Cadance turned away while letting out a mournful sigh. “That’s a very, very long story. I mean, we were close for such a long time, but then something happened. We both changed, and he became…something terrible…”

Blueblood nodded along as she told her tale, already knowing what she was going to say.

The Canterlot Garden Party was in full swing, as well it should be. Everypony who was anypony had already received an invitation, prepared their finest vestments to prove their worth, and were already on the castle grounds to feast on tiny appetizers and listen to the prattling of the various gossips and rumor mongers running about. The musical accompaniment was just barely finishing their opening movement, playing the same symphonies that had been performed for centuries straight.

And standing at the center of it all was Princess Cadance. Her jade-colored gown was draped across her body like a green blanket, leaving just enough room for her wings to be on display. Around her stood a host of ponies, most of them mares, and all of them talking freely to the winged pony in their midst. It was just as Celestia had said; one could hardly tell that she had not a friend in the world when she was but a foal.

Captain Shining Armor was also in attendance, albeit overseeing the party’s security rather than actually participating. He wasn’t even allowed so much as a single cracker, whereas before he could gladly sneak out as many of the things as he could get away with. Such was the responsibility of the Captain of the Royal Guard to set the right example for his subordinates, even the ones he had been chugging cider with only a week prior.

Prince Blueblood, meanwhile, watched the scene before him with a grim scowl on his face. His magic shakily moved his cup from the punch as something slowly worked its way through his system, building his rage and causing his head to feel like it had been clobbered by a thousand clubs. The other ponies seemed to pay him no heed; not even Lemon Lime seemed to notice the prince, his attentions instead locked on the princess he once tortured and his teetering old father.

“So, tell me all about it,” asked a mare.

Cadance sipped her punch, coughing a little as a peculiar burning sensation touched her tongue. “About what?”

Another mare gave her a gentle nudge on the shoulder. Blueblood’s cup shook slightly at this affront to royal personal space. “About Shining Armor, of course! Come on, it’s not everypony who gets to take the Captain of the Guard to the Grand Galloping Gala!”

Cadance’s cheeks burned a bright red, which was admittedly hard to notice against her normal coat color. Fortunately, her irises contracting to the size of fleas was a pretty clear indication of her unease, as was her attempts to fight back her natural reflex to extend her wings at such a feeling. Her cup twirled about in a haphazard manner as she seemed to start losing her grip on her magic. “W-Well, he’s a…perfect gentlecolt, if that’s what you mean. He held all the doors open, insisted on paying for the meal, and even walked me back to my quarters.” Her eyelids half-closed. “It was a bit of a pain, I suppose, but he meant well, and we had a lot of fun.”

The mares around her only sighed. “Princess, that’s not what we meant. What happened…after the Gala?”

Cadance shrugged. “I took my dress off, climbed into bed, and went to sleep. Nothing more.”

A collective moan of disbelief, frustration, and futility arose from the mares, driving Cadance’s cheeks even further up the color palette. Even from a distance, Blueblood missed none of this. His cousin’s naiveté about her position in Equestrian society was matched only by her inability to fess up to the true nature of their relationship. After all, Shining Armor was of common birth legally, and he knew what those common ponies were like. Their carnal desires and malicious attitudes would only drag Cadance into shame and scandal.

He looked down at his drink. His vision was getting hazy, but he could still think straight enough. If Princess Celestia was not going to do what was necessary, then he had no choice but to take matters into his own hooves. And if Cadance wasn’t willing to listen…

“Then I have to make her listen.”

The stallion flung the cup aside with a single burst of magic, the glassware losing what remained of its tenth refilling before landing in the bushes. Using what little he remembered from the military classes at the Academy, he marched forward, albeit at a bit of a slant, until he was directly behind the unsuspecting group. “Cadance…we need to talk. Now.”

The mares recognized the voice almost immediately, and quickly made tracks to elsewhere. Only Cadance remained behind, staring at her obviously inebriated cousin with no small measure of concern and frustration. Shining Armor took a few steps forward, but otherwise made no attempt to act, at least not until he knew what was fully going on.

“A-Are you drunk, Blueblood?” Cadance asked.

Blueblood’s face twisted into a bit of a growl. “Of course not. Only peasants can get drunk. You will learn that lesson quite well once you’ve been reduced to one.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Have you considered what would happen to you if you married your beloved Captain?” The Prince scowled. “Do you really wish to spend your life…cleaning lice out of blankets and…scrubbing bird droppings off the sidewalk?”

The Princess facehoofed at her cousin’s stupidity. Around them, the guests began to break away from their usual rounds of carousing and rumor mongering in favor of the upcoming drama. Only the band continued to play on, if only because their contract required them to proceed regardless of any chaos that happened to be occurring around them. It was the only way they ever got through last year’s Garden Party, especially when the baguettes started flying.

“Blueblood, we have been through this time and again. I love Shining Armor, and he loves me back. And as crude as you can be right now, I want nothing more than for you to remain a part of our lives. So please, just let this go.”

The Prince snorted. He had heard this same argument time and again. Whether it was Princess Celestia threatening to remove his name from all upcoming guests lists, or Cadance demanding that he get rid of those ponies who were following her all day, everypony had tried to silence him and his most virtuous cause. But despite his determination, the mare still seemed determined to ruin her life. Nothing seemed to reach her…save perhaps this.

Seeing no more value in wasting time with her cousin, Cadance spun about to rejoin the others by the stage. She had made it exactly three steps by the time he spoke. “Tell me, does Shining Armor know he’s marrying a freak?”

Everything froze, from the highest-and-mightiest noblepony to the smallest blade of grass. The band, contract or no, screeched to a halt; the new cellist’s bow went flying into Shining Armor’s helmet from her hoof’s sudden deceleration. The blow was enough to knock some resin into the Captain’s eye, stunning him just long enough for the spectacle to continue.

Cadance’s jaw dropped just slightly, her eyes shaking with disbelief. “D-Did you just…?”

Blueblood smirked. At last, she was listening. “You heard me. You’re a freak, a mutant, a disgrace to Equestria’s noble bloodlines. Only Princess Celestia is special enough to have both wings and a horn. Somepony like you doesn’t even deserve to be in the same room as the rest of us. If there was any justice in Equestria, you’d be sitting on a street corner somewhere, begging for whatever scraps you can find like other deformed ponies!”

A collective gasp, coupled with the sound of glasses and appetizers hitting the ground, echoed across the party grounds. Cadance coughed up a small sob, her eyes already stinging with tears. Her pained expression was a showcase of the years of memories she had struggled so hard to repress. “W-Why are you…?”

“No wonder your parents never wanted anything to do with you.” Blueblood’s grin continued to spread itself out, gradually morphing into a contemptible sneer. “It wasn’t just because they were good ponies following a sacred tradition. No, they knew their daughter would grow up to be nothing more than another disappointment.”

The pain shot through Cadance’s brain like a bullet. Her ears perked and twitched as she swore she could hear the mocking laughter of foals coming from all sides. She pulled her wings so tightly against her body that it felt like she was wearing a corset, just in case somepony tried to pull out her feathers. Her voice became hushed and raspy, as if she was afraid the wrong ponies would hear. “P-Please…stop…”

Shining Armor finally recovered enough from the resin attack to begin making his way forward, but it was too late to stop Blueblood’s final assault. “No wonder your special talent is making ponies love you. Why else would anypony even want to date a winged freak like you?!”

By the time Shining Armor’s charge had connected with Blueblood’s body, the damage had already been done. The proud, confident mare that had once stood before them was now little more than a broken little filly. She hacked and coughed a few more sobs before galloping out of the garden and into the castle itself. Her cries bounced about the grounds for several more seconds before gradually dissipating into the ether.

Blueblood sat silently as Cadance wiped her eyes clean. Her own view on the events matched up cleanly with his memory. “S-So what did you do after that?”

Cadance let out a deep breath. The very act of exhaling seemed to have a miraculous effect on her composition. “I went right to Princess Celestia and told her everything. Obviously, Shining Armor had Blueblood thrown out for disrupting the party, but there was nothing we could actually charge him with. As far as I know, he went right back home and continued his life like nothing had happened.”

“But he never apologized?” the colt asked. Not that there was any reason to; he already knew the answer well enough.

Cadance shook her head. “No, he didn’t. In fact, he never spoke to me again after that. Even if he had wanted to, Shining wouldn’t have allowed it. He kept a running guard around me whenever Blueblood and I were in the castle at the same time. The Grand Galloping Galas were the worst, though.” A pause. “Fortunately, Shining Armor and I got permission to skip the last one. From what I hear, it was an absolute disaster. I know Blueblood would never let it go.”

Blueblood nodded in agreement. The Gala certainly was a fiasco, thanks to those six ponies. Those six ponies he had tried to kill and whose home he wanted razed because they got cake on his suit. The colt arched his back slightly and let out as mighty a cough as he could raise, if only to break away at the guilt building up inside. “So…that was it, then?”

The Princess nodded her head once. “Yes, I suppose so. I wasn’t here when your father was banished, but for something like that to happen, he must have done something quite terrible.” She sighed. “I…I guess I would like to meet him again, just to see if he was all right. He is an awful pony, Leon, but he’s still my cousin. And as much as I want to just walk away and leave him to die, I can’t do it. Still, I should be lucky that you’re here.”

Blueblood cocked an eye. “What do you mean?”

“You’re a smart, curious little colt from what I’ve seen,” Cadance said with a smile. “I know things have been pretty rough the last couple of weeks, but you have a bright future ahead of you. No matter what Blueblood is responsible for, you do not have to suffer because of his actions.”

The colt squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. He could already feel a wave of nausea rushing through his body, threatening to make this confession into a spectacle to rival the Grand Galloping Gala. “Cadance…I have to tell you the truth.”

The Princess, ever blind to the patently obvious, cocked her head to the side and grinned in the most guilt-slinging way possible. “About what, dear?”

“A-About…”

The colt’s eyes were shut so tight that they felt like they were on fire. His breathing became sharper and heavier with every passing second. He could no longer control the emotions burning inside of him. “I-I’m Prince Blueblood.”

“Now you shouldn’t say things like that,” Cadance said. Her hoof glided out and tapped the colt on the shoulder, petting him much like a cat. “Like I said, you’re not…”

Before she could say anything else, Blueblood’s hooves shot out and gently smacked her unwelcome hoof away. The impact finally gave him the strength to open his eyes, revealing a pair of retinas that burned with all the heat of a thousand molten volcanoes. “He’s not my father. I am Prince Blueblood.”

For just a moment, it seemed like the entire world stopped spinning. Cadance’s mind tried to laugh off the colt’s ridiculous statement, but before her eyes, everything seemed to start becoming clearer. The colt’s close resemblance to Blueblood, the weight of seriousness in his voice, and the power in his eyes all hinted at something she really, really didn’t want to believe. “Wait…you mean…?”

Blueblood closed his eyes and nodded his head twice. “I’ll explain everything…”

Princess Luna’s hoof gently glided the new roster back to Shining Armor. “Very well, your proposal meets with both our approval. We will implement the new postings during the next rotation.”

“And the increase in training time?” Shining asked. “After the combat evaluations, we really need to teach more than a few of these guys the difference between gripping a claymore and holding a longsword.”

If it weren’t for the fact that these ponies were supposed to be the most elite in all of Equestria, Luna’s response would have most likely risen beyond mere giggling. Celestia shared the same expression, although her own gaze never left her correspondence with the Griffon Kingdom. “Of course. And I think you should attend as well, Captain. We cannot allow the mighty pony leading our forces to start slacking off, now can we?”

Shining Armor blushed a little at Princess Luna’s remarks. “W-Well…with your leave, I think I should be heading back to my quarters. I’m sure Cadance is…”

No sooner had that last sentence left Shining Armor’s lips than an incredibly loud crash echoed throughout the study. All three ponies spun their heads about just in time to catch the first fiery snort to emerge from the very wrathful Princess Cadance’s nostrils. In an instant, all warmth and love was drained from the room entirely, leaving the chamber little more than a cold, dusty tomb. “Um…I-Is something wrong, Cadance?” asked Shining Armor.

The mare slowly stomped her way into the study, her head remaining perfectly level, while her eyes seemed to burn with immeasurable power and intensity. She stopped only when she was at just the right range to poke one of her forehooves into Shining Armor’s chest. “Leon came to my office just a little while ago.”

Celestia shifted about nervously, her hoof pulling at her necklace in a futile attempt to calm her own rankled nerves. “I…see…”

“He had the most interesting story,” Cadance continued. “It seems that Blueblood never had any foals. Instead, the pony you told me was Leon was actually Blueblood the whole time, kept under some kind of spell until he passed a test all of you set up!”

Shining Armor’s face twisted into the most wonderfully awkward smile he could manage. He had seen Cadance upset before, but never truly angry. “W-Well...I…wanted to…”

“And you didn’t think to tell me any of this?” Cadance’s voice became raspier and raspier as she struggled to intone just the right words to express her rage. “I was there with him the entire time, for pony’s sake! By Jove, you’d think my own aunts and fiancé would try to keep me from making an idiot of myself!”

“Y-You did no such thing,” said Shining Armor. “Look, I’m sorry things happened like this, but I-I didn’t know how to tell you about Blueblood’s condition. I didn’t even know what was going on until I got back to the castle.”

Cadance’s eyes turned back to Celestia. “So, your ‘vacation’ was just you getting turned into a filly? Why would you lie to me like that? I’ve seen enough bizarre things in this castle to believe something like that.”

The Sun Princess recoiled in shock. In all the years she had been Cadance’s caretaker, she had never heard the mare raise her voice to her in such a way. “I-It was a delicate situation! I couldn’t allow anypony to…”

“To know it was my fault,” said Luna. Cadance’s dagger-like eyes turned to the Night Mare, somehow managing to scare even the pony who had helped take down Discord. “You see, I was…trying to get back at Princess Celestia for some…rather cruel practical jokes, and I believed that spell would be the perfect chance.”

Shining Armor’s own eyes widened at the admission. “Wait…you mean you did that? I thought it was some evil Unicorn!”

“I should have known.” Cadance shook her head grimly. “But why did you make this all up? Why did you tell me that was Blueblood’s son?”

A dreadful silence overtook the chamber, as nopony dared to open their mouths and incriminate themselves any further. Cadance’s eyes shifted from one pony to the next, just daring them to give her something resembling a justification for this house of lies. Princess Luna twisted her lips inward, her face resembling a pony who had just bit into a raw lemon. Celestia levitated a pile of papers in front of her face, her telekinetic field holding them together in the most awkward manner possible. That left only Shining Armor, also known as the pony who had started this mess to begin with, to answer.

Sensing that his support had eroded, the Captain sighed and stepped forward. “Cadance, this is all my fault. I-I had missed you so much, and…after what you said in the garden…I-I was afraid that…”

Cadance raised one of her eyes, the other remaining perfectly slanted. “Wait…do you mean that…Shining, I was joking! I never thought something so…ludicrous could happen!” She took a few steps forward, her gaze never once breaking in its intensity. “Shining, I know you and Blueblood have had problems in the past, but what could possibly compel you to lie to me about something like this? I would have understood if you had just told me the truth.”

Shining’s cheeks burned like a scolded foal. “Look, Cadance, this doesn’t…”

“I…I can’t handle this right now,” the mare whispered. “I-I need some time to think…”

Before anypony could utter so much as a single word, the mare turned on her hooves and trotted out the door, her head hanging slack and swaying slightly with every step. None of the other ponies in attendance made any effort to stop her. In fact, none of them exactly felt right even talking to her at the moment, especially the pony she was set on marrying. Shining just readjusted his helmet and began walking towards the direction of the barracks.

After tonight, there was no way he would be welcome at home.

Atop one of the castle’s walls, a tiny white colt simply sat and stared at the stars. It might have been well past his bedtime by this point, but he didn’t particularly care. After a day like this, going to sleep would be as much of a dream as anything his unconscious mind could concoct. Besides, Princess Luna had done a wonderful job. Sparkling specks of light danced and shot across the black canopy, while the moon seemed to radiate with an almost unearthly brightness.

Blueblood was so entranced by the beautiful night sky that he didn’t even notice Celestia approaching him until she was directly at his side. “It seems your confession had made a mess of things,” she said with a sigh.

The colt’s face fell. “I know. You could hear it clear through the castle.” He grimaced slightly as that newfound feeling – guilt – gnawed away at his heart. “I’m sorry. I never meant to…”

“The fault is all ours,” said Celestia. “None of us should have deceived Cadance in such a way.” She sighed as she rested her forehooves against the parapets. “Still, with you as a foal…”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Celestia’s ears perked up as she turned her head, just barely catching the colt in her point of view. “Pardon?”

“When we were at my old home, I…had a chance to think about what this would mean for me…my family…everything.” The prince turned his own head, locking eyes with his aunt. “I don’t like the pony I was anymore, but I am still Blueblood. Even if I never hold a title again, I was still raised to be a prince. Back then, it was just a way to get what I wanted without ever working for it, to make ponies desire me without putting forward any effort. But now I know that being a prince means more than just living on a big tract of land and making everypony kiss your hooves.”

He sighed. “It means working for the benefit of everypony, not just yourself. I can’t do that by upholding old traditions and behaving like an inconsiderate dunce to everypony I encounter, but neither can I do anything if I’m playing when I should be working.”

The colt sniffed and wiped his eyes. “I want to stay like this. Here, I have friends who care about me, ponies who respect me without knowing what my rank is, and no responsibilities to speak of. But I must do what is right, even if it isn’t what I want. That’s why…I have to go back. I have to answer for my crimes.”

Celestia stared at the colt with a mixture of silence and sadness. “Just a short time ago, I was in the same position you are in right now. When Luna offered me the same choice, I had to perform a similar examination. I had thought I wanted to stay a filly, but once I realized how much I would be sacrificing, how many ponies I’d be abandoning for my own selfish desires, I knew I wanted to return.”

She leaned over and gave the colt a small nuzzle. Blueblood’s eyes briefly flashed with surprise at the sudden contact, but the smooth rubbing motions soon reduced his tension to something not dissimilar to clay. “I know you don’t want to come back, but I respect your decision. However, you have one more thing you must do. There are some ponies you owe an explanation.”

Blueblood nodded. His back was still facing towards Celestia. “Shouldn’t we tell the school as well?”

“We can…sort that out later,” Celestia murmured. “You don’t want to know what I had to go through just to get the paperwork done the first time. In the meantime, there is something you must do tomorrow, before I can consent to returning you to your former self. You have to tell Lofty and the others what’s going on.”

The colt shuddered and buried his face even deeper into his forelegs. “You’re right. I-I’ll try to figure out something.”

The scene fell quiet soon after, save for the occasional trotting of a passing guard and the clattering window in the cold breeze. The two ponies simply stared up at the night sky, taking in the twinkling spectacle Luna had provided for Equestria this night. Every star seemed to dance to and fro in the night sky, as if celebrating the end to this horrendous ordeal. It was several minutes before Blueblood spoke again. “Do you think I’m making the right decision?”

Celestia sighed, her smile slowly fading away as she answered. “I don’t know. This whole situation is a mess. We still have to figure out how we’ll explain Leon’s disappearance, not to mention what happened to you in the meantime. But…yes, you’re right that you cannot run away from your problems. Just stay strong, and soon, things will be all worked out.”

The colt nodded and yawned. After a whole day of fighting, escaping, being judged, making one decision, backpedaling, and possibly ruining his cousin’s future marriage, fatigue was refusing to let up. His entire body leaned into Celestia’s, taking in the Sun Princess’ warmth and drifting him off to sleep. Things will work out…I hope.

Chapter Thirteen: A New Beginning

To call the atmosphere in the courtyard tense would have been a tremendous understatement. The news that Captain Shining Armor had spent the last night sleeping in the barracks with the non-commissioned soldiers was obviously a topic of great discussion amongst Canterlot’s Royal Guard. By the time the morning bugle had sounded, everypony in the castle had heard of the previous night’s quarrel, the reason Cadance found out, and why Shining had been condemned to the dog house for the time being.

By the time Blueblood had arrived for the morning drills, not a single pony could crack so much as a smile. The younger soldiers were either befuddled by the intricacies of the situation or otherwise confused by the reaction of their superiors. The officers, meanwhile, knew enough to not raise a ruckus and just remain quiet. After all, when the boss wasn’t happy, nopony was happy.

Blueblood shuddered as he looked around the ponies assembled. More than a few gave him the same deathly glares they shot at him as an adult. Against his already diminutive height, it just made everything around him look even larger and more menacing. “Wonderful,” he muttered to nopony. “I’m about to go back to normal, and everypony already hates me again.”

Before he had a chance to keep soaking in his failure, however, the sound of horns bellowed throughout the courtyard, prompting everypony to snap to attention. Their fearless leader, Captain Shining Armor, gallantly strolled into sight with all the grace and dignity that an officer sleeping on the broken spare cot in the barracks could muster. A few tiny white streaks gleamed under his eyes, the face paint just barely masking the worry lines. If somepony didn’t know any better, he would have seemed to have aged about ten years overnight.

Despite his exhausted exterior, the Captain still trotted up to the front of the line and flashed his guards a salute. The gesture was just as swiftly returned, followed by the sound of dozens of hooves crashing into the ground at once. “Good morning,” Shining said. His voice was more than a little hoarse, and no amount of coughing or gulping seemed to calm his jangled vocal chords. “Today is going to be handled a…little differently. I fear I have some…private matters to attend to, so Lieutenant Rolling Thunder will be leading you through this morning’s drills.”

A collective groan echoed across the courtyard, ending only when an armored Pegasus mare broke off from the front of the formation and stomped her right forehoof three times, each pounding sounding like a hammer slamming against a steel plate. Shining Armor gave the steely mare a nod of approval before slinking away towards the officer’s quarters. He was in such a hurry, in fact, that he failed to notice the tiny foal in toy armor taking up the rear…

Deep within the musty confines of her high tower lair, Princess Luna sipped on black tea and dug through the remainder of her nightly court’s workload. So wrapped up in her work was she that her royal ears barely noticed the clopping of hooves on the other side of the doorway until Ruby slammed it open. The sudden impact jostled the Pegasus’ stuffed saddlebags, causing more than a few ink wells, quills, parchment scrolls, and other assorted nick-knacks to tumble onto the carpet. “My…My apologies, Princess Luna! I-I had no idea…”

Luna raised her hoof, her magic still at work sorting the papers and floating the tea cup to her lips. By the time she had finished her latest sip, her attendant had already scooped up most of the discarded goods, leaving only a few tiny spots of ink to mark her accident. “Calm yourself, Miss Dream. You had no way of knowing I would be requiring your services today.”

The mare smiled as best she could, considering how heavily she was panting and gasping for air. “O-Of course, Your Highness. I was just…a little surprised,” she said while walking into the room, the door gently closing behind her. “After all, I thought Princess Celestia was in charge of today’s…day, and…”

“Yes, Equestria is under her watchful eye this day. That does not mean that I must set aside my own obligations, however.” Another sip. “I need your assistance with preparing for tonight’s ritual.”

“Um…yes, of course!” Ruby snapped off another salute, jostling loose another random assortment of objects. “Um…what ritual would that be?”

Luna sighed and reclined in her seat. “Prince Blueblood has been judged, and found worthy of a second chance. He has elected to be returned to his rightful age so that he may pay penance for his crimes.”

Ruby’s awkward smile flipped about into a frown almost instantly. “Y-You mean…But I thought that…”

The youngest of the Royal Pony Sisters rose to her hooves, her wings flapping unconsciously as her muscles tensed. “He was a friend of your daughter’s, was he not?”

The mare sighed and nodded her head. She could already tell where this conversation was headed, and it was not going to be a pleasant one. “She’s going to be devastated, you know? I mean, that picture he gave her might be her favorite birthday present ever. She was talking about it the rest of the night.” Her brow furrowed as another thought made its way to the forefront of her mind. “You don’t think he’ll try to…”

“Keep such a friendship going even after his return?” Luna shook her royal head. “No, I do not think so. He seems quite adamant in his desire to make amends, and a part of that is realizing what kind of impact his…presence would have on Lofty. And besides, does she not already have a friend well outside of her age group?”

The two mares stared silently at each other for a moment more, and then broke into laughter. There truly was nothing like having a good laugh at your sister’s/ruler’s expense to kick off the morning. In but a moment, all of the tension and anxiety hanging in the air seemed to be sucked out entirely, leaving but a gentle and relaxed atmosphere in its wake. “Well, that was invigorating,” Luna said just before sighing. “Now, there is another matter we must discuss. Do you remember the cake I had the chefs begin sculpting?”

“You mean the one Princess Celestia already ate?” Ruby sighed and bowed her head. “Yes, I do.”

Luna’s horn lit up with her magical power, seizing hold of a rolled-up scroll bound together with Equestria’s Royal Seal. The parchment gracefully floated over to the waiting Pegasus, sliding down into a small crack in her stuffed bags. “I need you to deliver this request to the kitchens. They are already working on a second cake for tonight; I need them to change a few details on the frosting.”

Ruby very gradually raised her head, her eyebrows already cocked in surprise. “B-But I thought…”

“This was never fully intended for my sister alone.” Luna rose from her seat, her muscles pulling and tensing from the morning strain. “The original cake was a proof-of-concept, nothing more. I had planned to present this desert to Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, as a celebration for their upcoming nuptials.” She closed her eyes. “After last night, I believe both will be in need of a great deal of sugar.”

“…Yes, I heard,” Ruby muttered half to herself. “The whole castle has been talking about what happened...and speaking of which, what about Prince Blueblood? Will he be…?”

Sensing just what was about to be asked, Luna walked around her desk and took up a position next to her attendant. Any trace of joviality seemed to vanish from her face, accompanied by a general darkening of her already dark face. “This is about him as well. For all his stupidity and faults, I fear I may have erred in my judgment. I would hesitate to call him a good pony, but…he does not deserve banishment or execution as I once thought.”

“I can understand that,” Ruby muttered. “He tried to hurt my Lofty, but…what I saw of him didn’t seem as bad as before. And Lofty seems to really like him…” She shook her head, knocking the unwelcome thoughts out through her ears. “I-If it’s all right, do you mind if I…perhaps leave a little early to…”

Luna nodded her head. “I understand completely. Now, what say we resume running Equestria? The nation will not wait for us to settle our differences with the members of our family, after all.”

Ruby Dream smiled, gave her monarch a quick nod of approval, and cantered off to deliver the all-important notice to the royal kitchens. Luna stood perfectly still as she left, wings still extended, her ears listening carefully for the sound of her hooves to fade into the distance before trotting back to her own desk to resume her regular tasks. Her sister needed all the help she could get if they were going to finish everything by this afternoon. There were still press releases to send out, laws to pass, correspondences to write out…and a nephew’s sentence to consider.

Luna sighed to herself on that last thought. At the very least, this will be true justice, not vengeance…

The knocker on Shining’s door rattled with every strike from his hooves. “Cadance? Are you in there?”

If there was anything else on the other side, it was doing its best not to make itself noticed. The Captain poked his head about the windows, but saw no lights or any sort of motion whatsoever. If his fiancé was still inside, she was either locked away upstairs or hiding far in the back. He couldn’t help but sigh at this small defeat. She’s probably at work already. If I…

“Hey, Shining Armor?” said a voice from the direction of his legs.

The Captain looked about the ground beneath him, and quite quickly identified the source of the vocal intrusion. Standing only ten steps away from him was Blueblood, his little face practically burning from the crimson hue in his cheeks. Shining’s own reaction was not that far off, albeit for what he could only assume were completely different reasons. “Hello, recruit,” he said in a flat tone. “Why aren’t you back with the other guards?”

“You know why,” Blueblood said. “We have to talk about what happened last night. You know, about Cadance getting mad and everything.”

Shining rolled his eyes and sighed. “You mean how you told her everything? Yes, I’m well aware of that. She was very specific about just who gave up the ghost.”

Blueblood nodded his head, his body trembling from a combination of his shame over last night’s events and the typical morning cold. “I just…wanted to apologize. I didn’t know she would react as harshly as she did.”

The Captain cleared his throat and turned his eyes away, his lips curling into a scowl. A thousand memories came rushing back, from the day he had the misfortune of meeting Blueblood to that disastrous party. “If I remember correctly, you were very clear about us getting married. I would have thought you’d be a lot happier about her throwing me out and ignoring me.”

Blueblood sighed, his body shaking even harder than before. There was no use in denying the obvious: Shining Armor was telling the truth. Were he his old self, he would have already ordered champagne and started planning a massive party at his estate at the mere prospect of their holy union being shut down. “But I’m not the same pony I used to be. You even said that yesterday. So please, believe me when I tell you that this was never my intention.”

“Then why did you tell her?” Shining’s eyes gradually turned back to the colt. Blueblood, for all his worry and terror from earlier, seemed to be standing just a tad stronger than before.

The foal’s voice seemed to grow a little stronger with every word, accompanied by a significant drop in his convulsions. “Because she had to know everything that happened. Shining Armor, I am not going to stay a foal. I can’t keep living a lie just because it makes my life so much easier. That’s why I had to tell Cadance. She deserves to know who I really am. And if that means she’ll never want to see me again, then so be it.” His eyes narrowed. “And besides, you’re the one who told her I was my own son! Do you have any idea what that’s put me through the last few days?”

“I was trying to save face, okay?!” Shining snapped, as did something in his heart. “She came in here talking about how much she missed her big cousin despite him being the most obscene flankhole in the history of Equestria! Because for whatever reason, she still cares about you! Not just some foal who happens to look like you, but the actual Prince Blueblood!”

Blueblood reared back a few steps, completely caught off-guard by the Captain of the Guard’s outburst. Shining Armor panted and heaved, his eyes practically trembling from the intensity of his explosive temper. The air around them seemed to grow stale and cold as the two locked eyes, neither pony willing to back down and make themselves out to be the loser of this confrontation. It wasn’t until Shining’s glare dimmed and Blueblood coughed and turned his head aside that anypony dared speak. “Well…I’m sorry,” the colt said. “I-If there’s anything I can do…”

Shining sighed and shook his head. “There’s nothing else you can do. This is something Cadance and I have to work through ourselves.” He shrugged slightly. “Still...I think you made the right choice. A shame, really. You would have actually made a decent guardpony.”

The Captain’s words struck Blueblood like a bolt of invigorating lightning. Slowly, he dared to turn his attention back to the armored figure. The same pony who had just only recently been berating him for possibly ruining his future marriage, was now regarding him with just the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. In an instant, Blueblood’s spirit felt reinvigorated and alive, a far cry from the dumps he was in a moment earlier. “Do you really mean that?”

Shining nodded in affirmation. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a fiancé to grovel in front of, and you have a school to get to.” And with those parting words, Shining galloped away as fast as his finely-toned legs would allow, eventually disappearing through a doorway leading into the castle itself. Once he was out of range, Blueblood finally gave out a mournful sigh.

“I could have actually been somepony,” he muttered to the air molecules dancing around him. “Instead, I’ll probably be locked away for the rest of my life…”

If I survive school first.

Once again, Ribbon seemed to pick up on Blueblood’s downer mood from the moment he stepped through the door. She set her crayons back into her pencil box; her sketching of the greater secrets of the cosmos as pictured by a little filly would have to wait for another day. She had barely stashed her scratched-up paper by the time Blueblood plopped himself in his seat. “Good morning, Leon!”

“Morning,” the colt replied.

The filly tilted her head slightly to her right, causing her smile to resemble a crescent moon. “Is something wrong?”

Blueblood shook his head. Now was definitely not the right time. “No, just…I have to talk to everypony during recess, okay?”

“Well, of course you do!” Ribbon practically shouted. “It’s your turn to come up with an idea for the ribbon!”

The colt’s left eye twitched just slightly. The jostling kicked the gears in his mind back into motion, but for all their grinding and scraping, his brain had only a distinct case of metal poisoning to show for his troubles. “M-My turn? Since when were we taking turns? I thought Gusty and Lofty were in charge of getting that ribbon down!”

Ribbon (the pony, not the article of clothing) rolled her eyes at her friend’s ignorance. “Oh Leon, that’s not how the world works. Everypony has to help each other and work together to make sure nopony gets left out! I mean, that’s what mom and dad always tell me!”

Actually, it doesn’t work that way… “I guess they’re right.”

“Exactly!” the filly chirped. The sudden burst of unregulated mirth slammed into Blueblood like a sledgehammer, breaking down his despair and bitterness over the current situation. The colt’s lips curled into a smile, prompting yet another bout of laughter from the filly. The continuous pumping of merriment into the atmosphere only served to inflate Blueblood’s growing sense of self-confidence and enjoyment, represented by his own giggling and snorting. Fortunately, the rest of the foals were too wrapped up in their own little circles to notice those two and their ridiculous fun-having.

Before long, Blueblood could feel a strange sensation coursing through his body, as if a great stain had been washed from his soul. Such a reprieve was short-lived, however, as in his euphoria the colt couldn’t help but turn his head just enough to catch sight of an empty seat on the other side of the room. The sudden jolt nearly knocked Blueblood off his hind quarters, instead settling on just taking away his smile and rendering him as depressed as when he had first come in.

“Hey, is something’s wrong?” Ribbon asked. Even at her young age, she could sense her friend’s sudden drop in good feelings.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” Blueblood lied. Even as the bell clanged out the start of another wonderful day of early education, he couldn’t help but think about what was to come…

Not to mention figuring out how to get that stupid thing off the stupid tree. If this is to be my last day as a free pony, then I should go out with some pudding…

“So wait… You didn’t come up with a plan?”

Gusty’s face twisted and contorted in rage as she regarded the sad sack of Unicorn before her. Blueblood seemed almost incredulous at the possibility that he might have undone months of work with but a single oversight. “I…I didn’t know I was supposed to have one until school started! How was I supposed to figure something out?”

"You should have just ignored what Miss Brightly's saying!" The filly rolled her eyes at her friend's apparent mindlessness.

"B-But she's a teacher," stammered Buttons. "I-I mean, why would it ever be a good idea to ignore her?"

Snowball snorted and laid down on his barrel, his legs tucked underneath. "Besides, today she was talking about something really cool. Did you know that spiders have eight legs and some can kill you in one bite?"

Gusty opened her mouth to protest again, but the awesomeness of such a deadly creature even existing in boring old Equestria overrode any sort of counterargument she could offer. Buttons, Ribbon and Smokey all shuddered at the mere thought of that horrid beast crawling up their legs, thus creating a perfect imprint for their upcoming nightmares. Blueblood and Lofty just shrugged, neither pony really finding spiders any more distasteful than centipedes or flies.

After a few more seconds of silent admiration and fear, Gusty finally spoke up again. "That may be the best lesson ever, but we have a problem! You were supposed to provide us with a plan for getting that ribbon down. We can't just...whack away at the tree until it drops, you know!"

Blueblood's eyes wandered away from his nearby friends to the trunk of that accursed tree. Sure enough, there were an assortment of worn markings around the base, at just the right level for any of the ponies currently in attendance. "Let me guess, you tried kicking it down?"

"Actually, that was the Earth Ponies," said Ribbon. As if on cue, everypony's eyes drifted off just a bit to the left, centering on a gathering of unhorned, wingless fillies and colts playing volleyball on the other side of the playground. "They learned that they're supposed to be strong and everything, so a couple thought they could just buck the ribbon."

"And the Pegasi tried to fly up there." Lofty shook her head sadly. "Problem is, none of us are strong enough to make it more than a foot or two off the ground."

"And magic's no good," said Buttons. "We've tried to pull down the whole branch, but all anypony can do is just make it shake a little."

Gusty gave the ground a furious stomp. “It’s hopeless! That stupid ribbon won’t ever go down, and we’ll never get our pudding snack!”

The rest of the gang simply rolled their eyes at the filly’s tantrum. “Um…Gusty? We’ve been out here for five minutes,” Buttons said. “I know that’s a long time, but…”

“B-But nothing!” The bottom of Gusty’s eyes began to water. “Every day we come out here, try to get this stupid ribbon down, and for what? A…A pudding cup? It's probably not even good pudding!"

With that, Gusty's speech degenerated into a series of pained wails at yet another day of asparagus and grapes as the midday snack. Blueblood stepped forward to offer some measure of comfort, but froze after only a few clops of his hooves...

"They learned that they're supposed to be strong and everything, so a couple thought they could just buck the ribbon."

"None of us are strong enough to make it more than a foot or two off the ground."

"All anypony can do is just make it shake a little."

The sudden burst of inspiration caused Blueblood's eyes to nearly triple in size. Of course. That's what we had to do all along!

The colt's hooves slammed against the ground like a hammer, calling the attention of the others back in his direction. His very stance and voice radiated with a sense of confidence and cool determination. "I know how to get the ribbon down, but I'm going to need everypony's help." The others looked about each other in confusion for a moment before turning back to their apparent commander. "Ribbon, I want you to gather as many Earth Ponies as you can. We're going to need their muscle. Lofty, do the same thing with the Pegasi. Gusty, the Unicorns. Bring everypony you can find back here."

A brief murmur of discontent flashed within the party, but dreams of getting the ribbon and earning that pudding snack pushed such thoughts aside within seconds. With a quick salute and a hearty "Hi-ho, Silver!" the foals dashed away to gather the rest of their workforce. Once they were far enough away that the others couldn't hear them anymore, Smokey climbed back to his hooves and trotted over to his new friend. "So...what are you gonna do?"

Blueblood smirked in response, his eyes still locked on the branch. "I'm going to bring that ribbon down...for all of us."

Roughly five minutes later, Ribbon returned with over a dozen Earth Pony fillies and colts. They all looked about themselves in sheer confusion, no doubt over why the strange Unicorn was suddenly pulling them into this midst of this game. The filly gave her CO a salute, no doubt to fully immerse herself in whatever game they were playing. "Troops present and accounted for, SIR!"

Blueblood recoiled a step from the filly's excitable outburst, if only because nopony could have expected Ribbon to be quite that loud. "W-Well... Good work."

The filly grinned a goofy smile, secretly happy that all those stories she heard about soldiers and whatnot from her uncle had paid off. At the same time that was going on, however, Lofty had also returned, now accompanied by nine of the best Pegasus ponies she could convince to drop everything and assist a possibly insane colt. "This was all I could get. Sorry."

"That'll do," said Blueblood. "Now, has anypony seen Gusty?"

"RIGHT HERE!" Everypony's heads turned to the direction of the sandbox. Gusty and about six other Unicorns emerged from the dusty wastes like nomads coming across an oasis, their tongues parched for want of manna or pudding, whatever came first. Upon reaching the rest of the party, the boisterous filly gave a triumphant smile and cocked her head back. "I got everypony I could find! Now, let's get that ribbon!"

Blueblood jumped back a few steps, in only to make sure everypony could see and hear him. His loyal army was as disorganized as one could expect of a gathering of young foals, but hopefully it would do. "Very well. Everypony, our goal is to get that ribbon down from that tree." His hoof shot out towards the branch. "In order to pull this off, however, we're going to need everypony to help out. Got it?"

A low murmur was his only answer. Of course they don't believe me. I'm sure Lofty and her...my friends weren't the first ones to try and get that ribbon down. His hoof slid down to the trunk. "Earth Ponies, I need you to buck the tree. Try to make sure everypony's in rhythm with each other." Next, he pointed at the tip of the branch. "Unicorns, we need to concentrate all our magic on that end. We're going to start pulling it down." And last, he pointed at the Pegasi. "Once we have it coming down, you guys need to reach up and grab the ribbon. You remember that pony ladder we made yesterday, Lofty?" The filly nodded. "Make another one, but this time put four on the bottom, then three on top of them, another row of two, and finally one on top."

He clapped his hooved against the ground. "Does everypony understand?" The foals quite obviously didn't for the most part, but their discontent seemed to gradually fade away against a fresh wave of excitement. Apparently, all that time with the Royal Guard had finally begun to pay off. "Then let's start! We only got a few minutes until recess ends!"

Everypony in attendance gave a yelp of support before dashing into position. The Earth Ponies stood in a ring around the tree, their hooves trembling with excitement. The Pegasus Ponies simply stood in position underneath the branch, with Lofty already portioning them off for when the time came. Blueblood joined up with the Unicorns in a single huddle about five feet from the very tip of their target, everypony making sure they had a good shot.

After a few more tense seconds of making sure everything was perfect, Blueblood stomped his hooves, signaling for the operation to begin. The Earth ponies all reared up and once and gave the tree the most powerful buck they could muster. The impact of so many hooves against the stubborn wood caused every branch on top to begin rustling, sending plenty of leaves tumbling to the ground. Even the branch the ribbon sat on seemed to bounce to the groove.

At the same time, every Unicorn's horn began to glow as the foals grunted and groaned to force their magic to cooperate. Despite their youth and the weakness of their general power levels, the combined force of so much magic in one place caused their various forces of will to coalesce, until a small aura about the size of an adult's own telekinetic spell began to form. The sparkly mass weighed heavily upon the wooden outcropping, and with the force of so many little ponies pushing down on it, it had little choice but to descend. The shaking from the Earth Ponies wore away at the resistance at the bough, allowing the fillies and colts the chance to push the oversized stick downward.

Once the target had lowered itself just enough, the Pegasi sprang into action. Following Lofty's specifications, four of the strongest ponies in the class stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a straight row. Three more jumped onto their backs, their wings practically snapping in anticipation, followed by another two. Finally, Lofty herself climbed up the right side of the makeshift pyramid, taking her time to make doubly sure that she didn't overly injure anypony that was beneath her. To her eternal amazement, the added height, coupled with the descending branch, had left the ribbon's tassels just within mouth range.

Spreading her wings, the filly took a mighty leap upwards...

"And that's why Princess Celestia should lower the Tea Tax," Swift Feather finished. The other ponies in attendance all nodded along, only occasionally glancing out to check on the foals. They seemed to be very interested in the ribbon tree, but otherwise nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ever since Orange Peel had been pulled out, the playground had been incredibly quiet.

Miss Brightly sipped her coffee while giving a small hum. "Well, if you ask me, we need to..."

"Um...excuse me?"

The sound of a foal's voice broke the teachers out of their meeting and down towards the ground. The crowd that had been gathered around the tree was now standing right in front of them, led by the same group of foals that had been involved in the Orange Peel incident. And caught between the lips of Lofty was the ribbon, now completely unfurled and ready to go.

A collective gasp echoed throughout the playground. "H-How did you do that?!" asked Mr. Snowflame.

"It was a team effort," said Blueblood. "We all worked together and used our abilities to pull the branch down."

"Now, where are those pudding cups?!" asked Ribbon.

The adults looked about each other in utter horror. Not once since they tied that ribbon to the tree had they ever imagined so many ponies teaming up to get it down. It was just...something they did to keep the foals motivated. But now the little ponies had done their impossible task...

"Mrs. Swift," muttered the principal, "I want you to fly to the nearest grocer and buy every pudding cup you can get your hooves on. Chocolate, vanilla, tapioca, anything."

The foals practically jumped for joy at the news. The crowed was so active in their exhuberance that Mrs. Swift just barely managed to fly high enough to escape the school grounds and begin her epic adventure for the largest dessert order in the Canterlot School System's history. As fillies and colts alike danced about each other happily, Blueblood simply smiled at his hoofwork. He had helped them all finally get their reward...

His heart sank. And now I have to tell them the truth.

Unfortunately for the little foals, the school's faculty refused to halt their education to make room for pudding time, thus forcing them to wait until the last recess period of the day. Needless to say, the next several hours were among the most intensely aggravating moments in the little ponies' short lives. More than a few ponies simply discarded their lunch, lest those accursed bananas and apples interfere with that most splendid of confections. Not a single pony even sang along with Miss Brightly's rendition of this week's spelling lesson, and the Arts-and-Crafts activity simply ended with everypony competing to see who could make the world's slowest rendition of Princess Celestia out of foam and coloring pencils.

Finally, the bell gave a merciful, long overdue cry, and everypony filed out for their last recess. Standing right at the entrance to the playground was Swift Feather and Gusty's mother, alongside several tables full of every manner of pudding imaginable. Chocolate, vanilla, tapioca, raspberry, strawberry, coconut, brussel sprout, avocado, everything. As the crowd of famished students descended like locusts upon the hapless adults, the other teachers joined in to provide backup, forcing the foals into an orderly mob and instituting a one-cup-per-pony system. Fortunately, the store had just enough pudding to go around, and every foal was soon able to enjoy their favorite flavor, or in case they were at the end, whatever one they despised.

After grabbing his spinach-flavored treat, Blueblood's eyes began to wander about the playground in search of his friends. Sure enough, they had all not only managed to get in line before him, but were sitting under the tree they had just conquered. I suppose I couldn't pick a more appropriate place to end this.

Gusty's eyes flew open as Blueblood approached, her lips still stained from sucking up the remaining liquid in the plastic cup. "Hey, Leon! Way to go, buddy!"

Blueblood cocked an eyebrow. "Way to go?"

"You're the one who got us this pudding." Ribbon wiped her mouth and nostril clean with one leg, fighting off her urge to gag. "Just a shame we had to get bread-flavored pudding. And why'd they have to make it look like chocolate?"

"Just to mess with us foals," Snowball said while shrugging.

"Well, I...I'm glad you're enjoying it," the colt said slowly, "because I have to tell you something..." Blueblood could feel his heart beating faster and faster, in turn causing his breathing to accelerate at a breakneck speed. The others looked at him with bemused glances, but otherwise said nothing. “W-When I first came here…do you remember what Lofty said?”

The two colts simply shrugged, while the fillies all seemed to shift into the chin-tapping mannerisms that usually punctuated deep thought. “Well, she didn’t want to be friends with you,” said Ribbon.

“And she said something about you being a big pony turned into a foal,” said Buttons, mere moments before breaking into a snort. “Of course, that was just her be silly!”

Blueblood sighed and let his head droop. “A-Actually, she was telling the truth. I really am a grown pony.”

The prince's audience was silent for a few moments, as if trying to digest his words alongside the pudding in their stomachs. But that awkwardness was just as readily replaced with a chorus of laughs from everypony involved, save for a visibly stunned Lofty. "Oh, please!" said Smokey. "Don't you know grown-ups don't turn back into foals! I don't even think they were foals to begin with!"

Buttons tapped her tapioca-stained chin. "Well, they're always saying 'When I was your age' when I get in trouble. I...don't think they'd lie to us about that..."

Blueblood shook his head. Once again, his friends were rude enough to have the attention spans of foals. "No, it's true. You see..."

And so the prince began to tell the entire tale of his transformation, from the night at the Grand Galloping Gala all the way to the present. He spared no detail, not even when it would have been preferable for the foals not to know. His friends listened as he spoke of his plan to destroy Ponyville, and how he had been changed into a foal when he tried to blackmail and kidnap Princess Celestia herself. Their faces fell as they learned of the true nature of Blueblood's crimes, and why the Princess of the Sun herself had banished him to this school as punishment. The only thing he willingly withheld anything on was Celestia's own time as a filly, both to spare Lofty any further embarrassment and because he really didn't understand everything that was going on at that time. Such is what happens when a pony's under house arrest.

"And that's why I have to go," he finished. "I've done a lot of really, really bad things, and I have to be punished for them."

Slowly, the colt raised his head away from the grass and towards the foals. To his horror, their reactions were just as he had predicted. Lofty picked and kicked at the grass, unable to look her friends in the eyes after perpetuating this lie for so long. Snowball and Smokey eyed him with a look that was somewhere between shunning him and wishing a meteor would cave in his head. Buttons and Gusty exchanged befuddled glances, but made no move towards the false foal.

That left Ribbon. The filly's head hanged low, but it was not enough to hide the obvious sounds of choking. Her frame seemed to be collapsing in on itself, the hairs on her mane and tail were slightly puffed from the emotional trauma, and the less said about the water coming out of her eyes, the better. Blueblood took a step forward, his mouth opening to prepare some sort of apology, but the sound of his hooves against the dry grass was enough to send the filly running away.

The colt froze as the filly vanished into same bushes he had used to spy on Orange Peel a few days prior. Right now, though, that colt was seeming like the better pony to Blueblood. He turned to speak to what remained of his former friends, but the only noise to come from his throat was a dry, hacking sound. None of the others offered to take up the slack, for that matter. With a final defeated moan, the colt turned on his hooves and walked away, leaving his unopened pudding cup behind.

Ribbon wasn't quite sure how much time had passed since she had went into hiding, nor did she particularly care. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the tears to stop falling. Her brain smacked the errant thought processes, admonished her for acting like a baby, but she couldn't help it.

"L-Leon...he wasn't...I...But..."

Her rear hooves finally gave out, sending the filly toppling onto her hind quarters. The sobbing gradually reduced in intensity, save for the sniffling and whimpering, as her brain finally played catch-up. Leon's going away...No, he was never real. B-But...he was my friend. Why would he...?

In a flash, everything changed. The heaves and sobs ceased as a black coldness dripped over every inch of the filly's body and soul. Her eyes gradually narrowed until they were almost completely closed, while a tiny spec of blackness manifested briefly on the tip of her horn.

Celestia...It's her fault. She's the one who made Leon think he was a bad pony. And she's the one who's making him go away.

The filly's mouth folded into a scowl. You were right, uncle. She really is the worst pony who's ever lived. And I have to save him!

To say the last part of class was awkward would be a tremendous understatement. From the moment the littlest ponies returned from their scheduled playtime, Blueblood dared not look at either Ribbon or Snowball for more than a few seconds, just in case their condemnatory glances made him feel even worse. The other colt in this broken relationship seemed more than content just to sit in his chair and fume over this sudden betrayal.

Ribbon, on the other hoof, just seemed utterly lost in her own little world. Every passing moment was spent writing or drawing something on a sheet of white paper, all while using her bravest sniffles to fight back the waves of sadness gnawing at her very being. Once in a while, Miss Brightly would ask her if something was wrong, but all she would get in response was the filly shaking her head.

Mercifully, and after so many hours of torture, the final bell of Blueblood's short-lived scholastic return rang out. In an instant, all of the little ponies began to canter out of the room; the only reason they didn't break into a blind gallop was because Miss Brightly would have held them up for a discussion on running in the classroom. Before Blueblood himself could slip out, however, he felt a grown hoof tap him on the back of the crest. "Leon, may I speak to you?"

Blueblood shuddered at the sound of Miss Brightly's voice. He slowly turned about to see the teacher standing above him, looking at him with a worried expression. Ribbon and Snowball were already gone, no doubt wanting to distance themselves as much from their traitor of a friend as possible. "Um...yes?" he stammered.

"Did something happen between you and Ribbon?" Miss Brightly closed her eyes. "She seemed really upset after the last recess."

Blueblood's eyes shifted back and forth, his brow slowly growing wet from a sudden outburst of sweat. He drilled at the ground with his left forehoof, but unfortunately there was no way he was going to tunnel all the way to Neighpon before his teacher lost her patience. "We had a fight. I...I don't think she wants to be friends anymore."

Miss Brightly sighed and adjusted her balance. "I see. Leon, I want you to know that just because friends have a fight, it doesn't mean they have to stop being friends forever."

Blueblood shook his head sadly. "No, I think she hates me. Really hates me."

Sensing that a heart-to-heart was in order, Miss Brightly walked back to her desk and took a seat, her hoof beckoning the colt to follow. Shrugging in defeat, Blueblood complied for what would be the last time. "Leon...this may be hard to believe, but I was a young pony once, too. When I earned my Cutie Mark, I knew my destiny was to be a teacher. When I got a bit older, I went to school to learn how to teach my little ponies." She shook her head. "While I was there, I made a friend, an Earth Pony from Ponyville named Cheerilee."

Blueblood cocked his head, doing his best to feign ignorance. It probably wouldn't help his case if Miss Brightly knew of his former plans for that village. "Ponyville? Where's that?"

"It's a small town a few hours from Canterlot, but that's not important." Miss Brightly turned her head away, looking more than a little nervous about revealing this long-hidden secret. "We were so close throughout school, but just before we graduated, we got into a fight. She was offered a teaching job in Manehatten, but she wanted to go back to Ponyville to teach at the same school she had attended as a filly. I...didn't understand why she would turn down an opportunity like that, so I told her. We had a few too many grown-up drinks, and...well, she said I was the worst friend ever and refused to speak to me again."

Blueblood shook his head slowly. "Then...there's really no..."

"Oh, this has a happy ending," the teacher very quickly exclaimed. Her face quickly lit back up, and Blueblood's nerves cooled in response. "It took a few years, but after a while, I wrote a letter asking her how things were going and if she was still angry. As it turns out, she had forgiven me the next day, but was afraid I was still angry at her. If I hadn't written that letter, I may have still lost a friend."

"I...I think I understand," the colt muttered. She's right. Perhaps in a few years, when Ribbon has had a chance to calm down, I can check in on her. She wants to learn about magic; perhaps I could sponsor her entrance into Aunt Celestia's magic school. And I could make similar offers to the others.

...No, that would just be buying friends again.

A sudden knock at the door echoed through the room. Both ponies turned around to see Sky Bloom looking through the open doorway. "I'm sorry, but I need to pick up Leon. Is everything all right?"

"Yes, of course," said Miss Brightly. "Blueblood just had a fight with one of his friends, and I was trying to tell him things would be all right."

"A fight?" Sky Bloom asked worringly. She cocked an eyebrow at the colt. Blueblood simply looked away nervously. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," the colt muttered. "C-Can we go home now?"

Sky Bloom nodded in response. Miss Brightly smiled, climbed back to her hooves, and gave Blueblood a slight nudge towards his mother. The colt simply walked towards his mother without another word, following her out of the classroom and then the school grounds. Fortunately, Sky Bloom's body helped block his view of the ponies all lined up outside, just in case he ran into a few he really wanted to avoid right now.

Once they were safely out of range, Sky Bloom turned her eyes towards her fake son/real nephew. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Blueblood shook his head. "No... But I can't do anything about it now."

"Are you ready to go back?" the mare asked. "There's still time to..."

"I have one more thing I have to do," he said, his voice cold and detached. "But after that, we need to get this done with as soon as possible. I have to face my punishment."

The scene at the front of the school was just as hectic and fast-paced as ever, save for six little foals. Blueblood’s former compatriots simply stood by the gate, kicking at the ground and looking absolutely pitiful. None of them could even muster the strength to eat their pudding cup; the snacks simply sat, unopened, in their saddlebags. None of their parents had arrived just yet either, with Gusty’s mom busy in a meeting and the others just being a little behind. Even the sight of a ribbonless tree was but a small comfort to the injured foals.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Gusty said sadly. “First Orange Peel, and now Leon?”

“He was never there to begin with,” muttered Snowball. “He was a grown-up the whole time, remember? We all know they were never little ponies.”

Buttons opened her mouth to correct him, but no noise came out. Instead, she sank to her haunches and let out the deepest sigh she could muster. “I know what you mean,” Lofty said. “I thought he was mean back then, but…he was actually kind of nice. For a colt, I mean.”

“So, what do we do now?” asked Smokey. “He’s probably getting locked up in some tower somewhere until they fix him, right? Or a dungeon. I mean, that’s what they do to ponies the princess gets mad at, right?”

The foals heaved another combined sigh. There was no doubt in their tiny little minds about what sort of fate Blueblood was in for. Princess Celestia would never hurt a filly, of course; their parents had always told them that she was super-nice and super-wonderful. But if Leon became an adult, then she could do anything she wanted. He could be on the moon within the hour, or sold into slavery, or…

“We have to save him.”

Everypony’s eyes turned to Ribbon. The blue filly now stood on all four hooves, her eyes burning with a vigor none of them had seen in their lives. “If she takes Leon away, we’ll never get him back! He’s our friend, and he needs our help!”

“B-But he was always an adult, right?” asked Buttons.

“No, he wasn’t! That was a totally different pony! Leon is one of the coolest colts we know, right? Do any of you think he could have done something bad enough to get punished forever?” Everypony shook their heads. Ribbon’s entire core now overflowed with confidence as she plopped back onto her rear and crossed her forelegs in a show of pure defiance. “I think I know how we can help him, but we have to get into the castle! I think there’s a shortcut through the sewers, so let’s…”

Her gloating session came to a scratching halt underneath the chorus of moans and groans that emitted from the others. "The sewers?" asked Snowball. "Do you know much it smells down there?"

"B-But there's a secret passage into the castle." Ribbon reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a mouth-drawn map of Canterlot's sewer system, along with a rough map of Canterlot Castle. She tossed the paper on the ground, prompting the other ponies to huddle around the blueprints of their break-in. "All we have to do is slip through the sewers, open a door here, and we'll be right underneath Princess Celestia's office. We can then..."

"What are you ponies up to?"

Lofty's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. She spun about to find herself facing her mother, who was eying the juvenile ponies with a mixture of confusion and gentle warmth. The others managed to register the question just as Lofty broke into a gallop, stopping right in front of her mother and nuzzling her on the shoulder. "Mom, did you hear what happened?! Leon's going away!"

"Yes, I know," the mare said slowly. She gave her daughter a nuzzle along the back. "I'm sorry. I know he was a...better pony than any of us had expected."

"That's why we have to save him!" Ribbon shouted.

Ruby Dream cocked an eyebrow. "Save him? Hon, I don't think he's in any danger. He just has to go back to who he really..."

"We don't want him to go away!" Everypony turned their heads towards a suddenly-excited Gusty. "He's one of the coolest ponies I know, and we're not going to let him get punished forever!"

"And he helped us get the ribbon down," said Buttons. "If it weren't for him, we would never have gotten our pudding."

Ruby looked down at her daughter, who gave her a smile with custard-stained teeth. "I see."

Snowball and Smokey looked at each other briefly, their minds teetering back-and-forth over whether or not to join in. "Well...he did help Orange Peel," Smokey added. "I'm not sure anypony would even try to be friends with him after how he was acting, but...Leon did."

"And it's thanks to him that we got new friends," said Snowball. "So yeah, we want him to stay, too."

"It's not that simple," said Dream. She pushed her daughter back and took a step away, if only to keep an eye on all the foals at once. "Blueblood is a grown pony, not a foal. He's done a lot of terrible things, and he has to be punished for them like anypony else. Princess Celestia's not going to throw him into the sun or anything. She'll probably send him to prison for a little bit, make him do charity work, things like that."

"B-But if somepony's really sorry, you should forgive them, right?" asked Lofty. "That's what you're always telling me, right?"

"W-Well..." Every instinct of Ruby Dream's being told her not to look down. She knew exactly what Lofty was planning, and had fallen victim to her ploys more than once, but she had to stand strong. Discipline was important, and she had to temper her daughter's naive belief in how the criminal justice system worked with a dose of harsh reality. It would hurt her for a while, but she would get over it...

And then she let her gaze slip downward just enough to catch the very edge of Lofty's eyes. The filly's little white orbs were practically shaking from the tears forcing their way out, her pupils already the size of tea saucers. The concentrated blast struck the hapless mother right in the forehead, burrowed into the deepest recesses of her brain, and activated all those little motherly synapses of her brain while also shutting down her ability to think logically. Before long, she was but a few moments away from becoming a vegetable in her daughter's hooves.

That was when the other ponies joined in, intensifying the death beam until it threatened to overtake an entire city block. Finally, Ruby Dream could take no more. "W-Well...I can at least take you to the castle...let you say your goodbyes. Just...are your parents all right with this?" Everypony gave a lying nod in unison. "A-Alright, then. Let's go before it's too late."

Lofty squealed and nuzzled Ruby's side. "You're the best mom ever!" And now we don't have to deal with poo gas! "Now come on, everypony! We have a friend to save!"

The foals gave off a deafening shout of support, grabbed their bags, and quickly trotted alongside the hoodwinked adult...save for Ribbon. The filly only looked down at her ingenious plot to toss a pie into Celestia's face and run off with Leon while she was distracted. So much hard work, gone to waste...

The fire may have been roaring, but Cadance’s office was as cold as a tomb. Its sole occupant simply sat hunched over her desk, a stack of papers neatly laid out in front of her for her royal perusal. The room was awash in a sea of silence and disquiet, with only the crackling of the fire and the dull clicking of the grandfather clock serving to provide any sort of backdrop to Cadance’s oh-so-lovely day.

The mare was about halfway through the latest proposal for repairs on the highway connecting Manehatten and Fillydelphia when the knock came. It was a slow, seemingly fearful series of clangs against her doorway, but the inactivity of the room around her only served to amplify the noise until it resembled an entire marching band’s percussion section. Cadance sighed, floated her quill away, and said, “Come in.”

A few seconds passed before the door creaked open. “H-Hello, Cadance,” said a tiny, coltish voice.

Cadance shuddered for just a brief moment at the high-pitched squeak. A quick remembrance of how a princess was supposed to behave was enough to calm her down, but her right ear still gave a twitch every five seconds or so. Her eyes fastened themselves to the paperwork, lest she have to look at her diminutive cousin again. “Hello,” she said in the meanest voice she could manage.

Blueblood took a few steps inside. The door quickly caught the nearest gust of wind and slammed itself closed, causing the colt to jump in shock. Cadance barely fought back a laugh at her former favorite cousin’s expense before returning to her work.

"I-I wanted to talk to you," the colt continued. "H-Have you forgiven Shining Armor yet?"

Cadance scoffed, her eyes never leaving the stacks in front of her. "No, I haven't. And I really don't want to talk about him right now...or you."

A part of Blueblood's brain immediately suggested a tacitcal withdrawal, at least until she had calmed down some more over the whole "lying to her" thing. Such a move would have no doubt been the smartest option given his present situation. Unfortunately, Blueblood was not a particularly clever pony when it came to social interaction. "He...He was scared of what you would think. He was there, he knows what happened between us, and..."

An uncontrolled burst of magic sent the quill slamming into the desk so hard that it chipped through the top layer. While her face was still pointed at the surface in front of her, the scowl on her lips and rage building up inside was more than evident even from a profile perspective. "Did he really think I would do something like that? That I'd hold a grudge for this long? That I'd honestly treat you or him like some kind of monster?"

Blueblood gave a nervous smile and shook his head. "Well...yes. I did kind of deserve it..."

"Yes you did!" The sudden burst of rage was so strong and unexpected that both ponies had to recoil in shock. She jumped back to her hooves, her chair flying back so quickly that it slammed into the wall and snapped off one of its legs. Blueblood's eyes locked on the door, just in case he had to make a sudden escape, but Cadance was upon him before he could muster the strength to flee. "Do you have any idea what happened after that night?! I was humiliated in front of everypony! Not a single one of my friends would talk to me for days!"

"P-Perhaps they just wanted to make sure you were alright before..."

"Princess Celestia and Shining wanted to put me under lock and key just in case you came by again!" The mare prodded the colt in the chest. "But you never bothered to come back! You never even said you were sorry! Did you ever stop and think about what you did to begin with?"

Blueblood shook his head. Fortunately, this was probably the only time he could ever muster the strength to actually talk to her, especially since he was about to turn back into the thing she hated. "Cadance...I hated myself for that. I was drunk and stupid and let the whole idea of being a proper prince run to my head. I...I didn't apologize because I was honestly afraid to see you."

Cadance's eyes shifted away from their "piercing daggers" mode to "switchblade" fairly quickly, even as the rest of her body continued to shake with a previously unimaginable fury. "Do you really think that excuses anything? You were just as much of a bully as Frazzleberry."

"I know that," said Blueblood. "That's why I chose those words. I knew exactly where to strike you, and was cruel enough to do it." He sighed and laid himself on his barrel. "But...before I go back and face whatever Celestia has in store for me, I just wanted you to know...I'm sorry. I don't know if it means anything anymore, but...I still love you, Cadance. And Shining does, too."

The Princess raised her head back upwards and cocked an eyebrow. "You're...apologizing now? Blueblood, it's been far too long for something like that to suffice. This isn't something you can fix with just one conversation."

Blueblood sighed and kicked at the ground. "I know. I...I just wanted you to know that." He looked up nervously, catching her cousin right in the eyes. "Well, I'm going to be turned back to normal in a little bit. Shining Armor is going to be there, and...I was hoping you would join us as well." He gave a slight chuckle. "You could...throw tomatoes at me, if you want. I hear the kitchen staff bought too many for Princess Luna's pizza tonight."

The room fell quiet yet again, save for Cadance's gradually slowing breathing and Blueblood's rapidly palpitating heart. The Princess' eyes gradually drifted over to the pile of work on her desk for a moment before finally returning to the colt. "Well...I..."

Finally, the mare let out a defeated sigh. "Yes, I want to be there. But it's not to throw fruit in your face or anything like that. You're still my cousin, even if you were a total idiot, and I...just want to make sure you get this next stage of your life off on the right hoof."

Blueblood's eyes opened wide with a combination of surprise and unfiltered joy. Not once in all the build-up to this day had he even imagined such a thing being possible. Even better, he had a chance of getting out of this event with not a single trace of fruit. He gave a small gasp of relief, causing his eyes to deflate back to their normal size, before finally ending the display with a loving nuzzle to Cadance's side. "Thank you. I don't know if we'll see each other after today, but...you've grown into a wonderful mare."

Cadance's first reaction to the sudden contact was to freeze up just a bit in horror. She had never been this close physically to Blueblood (at least knowingly) since the party incident. Still, there was a strange sense of...warmth and rightness with the gesture. It was as if her old foalsitter instincts had come to life once again. Sighing, she gave her diminutive cousin a reassuring pat on the head. "And you've...changed a great deal since I last saw you, in a good way."

Shining Armor practically exploded with shock as Cadance and Blueblood entered Luna's bedroom together. The elder Alicorns had just barely finished preparing the circle and procuring enough protection suits for what they hoped would be themselves and two other adults, and Luna's attention was focused on the scroll Twilight had prepared the last time they had ran into this situation. Before anypony could utter a word, the Captain galloped over to his fiancé and almost bowled her over with his passionate embrace. Fortunately, Blueblood was smart enough to leap out of the way, lest he get caught in the middle of their relationship again.

“I'm so sorry, Cadance,” Shining muttered. “I never meant to hurt you.”

Cadance gave a hearty exasperated sigh, her smile never once leaving her lips. “I'm still a little upset, but I should share some of the blame. I guess I did lay it on a bit thick when I first got here.”

Shining pulled back just slightly, despite every part of his brain wishing he could keep the passionate embrace going forever. “Perhaps this is a good thing. We've never really had a fight like this. Maybe we can use this to figure out how to solve other problems we'll face.”

“Of course,” Cadance said softly. “Every couple has to have a few arguments once in a while, after all. And it really wasn't that bad of a problem.” Her eyes suddenly jutted inward as she prodded a hoof onto Shining Armor's breastplate. “But you're still on the couch, mister!”

Shining was briefly stunned by the sudden outburst, but it only took a few seconds for his mind to rectify the situation into something more resembling a joke. “Heh...It still beats the barracks.”

“Now that all this is resolved, may I suggest we get things going?” Everypony's eyes turned to a very impatient Luna on the other side of the room. “We still have to prepare you two for the spell's after-effects. They can be most...unsettling if you are not prepared for them.”

“I think I see it! We're almost there!”

“Everypony, charge forward! BREAK FORMATIONS!”

“Wait, that wasn't part of the deal! Lofty, get back here this instant!”

With the last of the room’s preparations complete, Luna floated the counterspell up to her eye level. Celestia, Cadance and Shining Armor double-checked their containment suits, just in case another mad pony came charging in and tore a hole in their protective clothing. And sitting in the very center of the room was Blueblood, looking absolutely defeated in his last moments as a colt.

“Are you ready to begin?” asked Luna. Blueblood simply nodded his response. “Very well, then. Let us…”

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!”

Everything in the chamber obeyed the screeching command and came to a halt, mere moments before the door came crashing open. On the other side stood a very exhausted Ruby Dream and a collection of foals, four fillies and two colts strong. Blueblood’s eyes nearly popped out of their holes as the cadre of miniature horses descended upon him like adorable little locusts, slamming him so hard that the mass of bodies went rolling for a good quarter-yard.

The adults in the room stared at the foals for but a few moments before returning their gaze to the other intruder. Ruby slowly crawled up to her employers, panting from a combination of breathlessness and terror over losing her job. “I-I am so sorry! Th-They just said they wanted to say goodbye to him! I-I didn’t…”

“Princess Celestia!” shouted the all-too-familiar voice of Lofty. The Pegasus filly pulled herself away from the rest of her gang, her tiny little eyes quivering slightly as she approached her significantly taller friend. “You can’t take Leon away!”

“Take Leon...?” Celestia turned towards her nephew, who was still trying desperately to break free from the dogpile around him. “Blueblood, didn't you tell them what was going on?”

The colt coughed and wheezed as he just barely broke free of Gusty's iron-clad grip. “I-I thought I did! I don't know what's going on, honest!”

“What's going...?” Ribbon was the next to slip out, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at Celestia, causing the mare to recoil in surprise. “We were rescuing her from her! She was going to take you away, make you spend the rest of your life in some dungeon somewhere!” The filly's lips pursed as she regarded the contemptuous Sun Princess. “What, planning to erase him from history, too?”

“Erase from...what are you...?”

“Fillies, there is an explanation for all of this.” Luna pushed her sister aside; Celestia seemingly offered no resistance, if only to keep the situation from getting worse. “Blueblood may be your friend, but he has wronged a great many ponies with his actions. He must be held accountable for his crimes.”

Blueblood nodded in agreement. “That's what I told you earlier. There was never any Leon to begin with. I've just been a bad pony running away from any possible consequences, and now I have to pay. I can't just spend my time playing like a foal...”

“Excuuuuuse me?” Blueblood turned towards the source of the voice, only to earn himself a love tap across the cheek from Gusty. “Do you really think any of us like being foals? Having those parents telling you what to do and where to go? Having to eat the most disgusting foods ever imagined because they're 'good for you?' You ask me, prison's gotta be a whole lot better than this.”

“And besides, you're one of the coolest ponies I know,” added Snowball. “I mean, lying's bad and all, but you're still a nice pony. You don't deserve to be banished.”

Cadance pulled off her helmet and looked over at the older Alicorn. “Aunt Celestia, were you really planning to banish him?”

“W-Well, that was the official story,” said Celestia. “I didn't quite know what we were going to do, but...” She looked at her nephew. The colt's friends were still huddled around him, Ribbon's eyes never once leaving the mare lest she take her friend behind her back. “It seems you've made some very loyal friends.”

Blueblood scratched the nape of his neck nervously. “Well...yes, I guess I did.” He shook his head, trying his best to recapture his previous downer mood. “But that's not important anymore. I still have a lifetime of mistakes to make up for.”

Shining Armor slowly removed his own helmet and walked up to the small gathering. The foals recoiled at the adult's approach, just in case he was one of Celestia's loyal henchmen. To be fair, he kind of was, but that was beside the point. “If you ask me, I've think you've done more than enough. At the very least, I can't say I'm really angry with you anymore.” He looked over at his bride-to-be. “What about you, Cadie?”

“Well, it's Blueblood's choice, but...” The Winged Unicorn walked over to her cousin and gave him a nuzzle on the forehead. The fillies and colts recoiled in disgust, save for Ribbon; such was the way things went when one's eyes were on her enemy and not on what was going on directly behind her. “I think he's shown himself to be deserving of a second chance. Whether he's an adult or not is up to him.”

Blueblood looked about in confusion. Once again, doubt began to creep into his mind. He couldn't easily push his friends away a second time; there was no way they would forgive him a second time. At the same time, he couldn't turn his back on his responsibilities, especially after all the terrible things he had done. Celestia's attention seemed to shift back and forth between the various members of the room; even he seemed unsure of what to do. Luna simply stared at the sight with a sense of bemused fascination. His friends were still firmly at his side, their own faces reflecting more than a little concern and hurt at this abandonment.

Wh-What am I supposed to do? I have to be responsible! I have to be held accountable! The old Blueblood would have...

“Blueblood.”

The colt looked up in surprise at Celestia's voice. His aunt's confusion had ebbed away, revealing her usual motherly smile and look of eternal concern. So magnificent was her tone that the entire room fell completely silent. With everypony's attention firmly fixed on her, Celestia finally began to speak. “Prince Blueblood, you were sentenced to attend Magic Kindergarten to see if you deserved a second chance before I passed judgment. I am pleased to say that you passed, but it was not without much difficulty. As far as I am concerned, you have more than earned the right to have another chance at life.”

“D-Does that mean...?” Buttons began, only to be hushed by Smokey. Everypony's attention returned to Blueblood. The colt was once again sweating enough to fill a swimming pool. Once again, he had to make a decision. No more backing out. No more second thoughts. This had to be definite, final, the last decision of Prince Blueblood of Equestria...

“I...I...I...H-How about I...?” Everypony leaned in to hear better, the foals coming dangerously close to violating Blueblood's personal space. “Well...perhaps...”

Just have to hold out a little longer. Keep to the plan, Blueblood. All you have to do is...

“I...I would like a little more time to think about it.”

The entire room shook from the simultaneous face faults of every single pony in attendance. Only Princess Celestia, being the sure-hoofed mare that she was, refused to join in the disappointed chorus. “I see. How long do you think you'll require?”

Blueblood nervously rubbed at the back of his neck. “Well...I wanted to get started on my punishment right away, but this might take a little while.” His eyes turned to his friends, all of whom were just now returning to their hooves. “Perhaps a...week? Maybe two?”

“Or perhaps we should just keep you this way!” Whether it was the frustration with this turn of events, or just the pain from smashing her face into the floor, Luna wore a particularly vicious scowl when she finished climbing back to a standing position. “Blueblood, you were so adamant about making amends just a short while ago! How can you do that when you are just a...?”

“There's a way.” Celestia's wing folded itself over Luna, serving as a loving and polite way of telling her to shut up and let the big ponies talk. “Now, I understand there's a small reception downstairs?”

Cadance raised an eyebrow. “Reception?”

Luna grimaced from the futility of it all, but finally gave a defeated sigh. “Yes. I had planned for it to mark both the return of Blueblood and to rekindle your upcoming nuptials, but it seems that fate has once again sought to undermine my efforts.” She snorted and turned her head towards the ground. “At least there's a cake. A good one.”

Everypony's eyes lit up at the promise of a savory dessert. Sensing that a royal decree was in order, Princess Celestia turned her attention first to the foals. “Blueblood, I want you to take your friends to the banquet room downstairs. I imagine they're quite hungry after saving 'Leon' from me.”

“Y-You mean he's really gonna stay?” Lofty asked, her voice about as excited as a dog waiting to catch a Frisbee.

Celestia nodded. “For the time being, at least.”

Yet again, Blueblood's entire body shook, but this time not from fear or anxiety for his future, but with a sense of unfiltered bliss. Before the hugging session could resume, he leaped forward and landed in a perfect bow. “Thank you, Princesses. I would have still been the same rotten pony I used to be if both of you hadn't helped me.”

Celestia smiled at the acknowledgment of yet another day's work done. Luna's scowl worked its way up to a frown, but unfortunately wasn't quite able to make the jump all the way to a grin. “You have no need to thank us. We may have set things into motion, but it was you who made the decision to change.” The Princess of the Night rubbed her right leg nervously. “And...I must say I have never been happier to have been proven wrong.”

Blueblood wanted to say something else, perhaps even graduating to giving them the traditional Royal Canterlot Hoof Kiss, but this gracious attitude was broken by the timely arrival of Ribbon's hoof to Blueblood's back. “Come on, we've got to celebrate! It's not every day you get a second chance! At least, that's what the stories say.”

The foals all laughed at the terribly unfunny joke and trotted out the door, no doubt to feast upon as much make-up cake as possible before Celestia got there. Ruby Dream stared at the door after them in absolute bewilderment. “Wh-What just happened?”

“It seems your daughter and her friends are quite persuasive,” said Celestia. “Blueblood's been given a stay of execution...in a manner of speaking.” She turned to Luna. “Sister, I want you and your attendant to prepare a letter for tomorrow's newspaper. Tell them that the disgraced Prince Blueblood has been allowed admittance back into Equestria, under severe supervision and on the condition that he use this chance to earn his redemption.”

Shining Armor's eyes popped open with shock. “W-Wait, are you telling the papers to...lie about Blueblood? B-But how are we supposed to have him come back if he's still a colt?”

“I have my ways,” was her only response.

Sure enough, the banquet hall was exquisitely decorated, with multiple banners depicting various couples kissing each other while a pony in chains was released. At the very center sat a marvelous feast, complete with glazed corn-on-the-cob, finely-chopped salads of all kinds, tomato and broccoli soups, and at the very center, a towering multi-layered cake that would put anything Ribbon's parents ever baked to shame. The foals were only down there alone a brief moment before the other adults joined, all of them more than ready to consume their meals and be done with another busy day.

The Princesses sat next to each other, with Celestia at the head and Luna to her right. The elder sister simply skipped to desert, enjoying a massive slice of cake while her sister gracefully sipped down her soup and spoke of the various ways to resolve the problems this new kink in the road presented. Cadance and Shining Armor sat next to each other, of course, sharing their meal in the way only the most sickening of sweethearts could muster. Ruby sat at Lofty's side, making sure she got plenty of vegetables despite the filly's constant attempts to subside on fatty soups and crackers.

And at the far end, surrounded by his new friends, was Prince Blueblood. Once, he was a heartless monster, but now things would be different. No longer would he seek revenge against villages for getting him dirty, or try to kidnap Princesses to arrange said destruction. He still had a lot to work on, but that could wait for another day. For the time being, he and his friends could forget all about the groundings they were about to receive, the messes they would have to work their way out of, and the fact that Leon still wouldn't be there forever.

For the moment, however, the only thing Blueblood could do was look up at the ceiling. Mom and dad, wherever you are...I'll be a pony everypony can be proud of. Not just a pampered prince, but one that will help his ponies and serve as an example to live by. That will be my addition to the Blueblood line. That will be the legacy of our family.

That will be the legacy of Leon, son of Prince Blueblood.

Epilogue

Two months later...

“Oh, I'll be the toast of the town, the girl on the go. I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony...”

For the fifth time that day, Rarity found herself tripping over the words to her own song. Despite coming up with the lyrics during the last trip to the filly's room during the Wonderbolts Relay, she could never get the temp just right. It just seemed to happen in random bursts. And now that she was getting ready to launch Canterlot's newest airship, not being able to sing a tune about how awesome it was to be popular wasn't working in her favor. How does Pinkie keep doing this? She must have an accordion in her head or something.

Such thoughts ceased, however, as she approached the main platform. Already, a sizable crowd was gathering to watch the launch of this, the most recent addition to the growing air travel industry. Granted, such an event was only possible after Celestia convinced the Mayor of Cloudsdale that she wasn't planning to replace the entire Pegasus race, but still this was a momentous occasion for a pony such as her. After days of rapidly ascending the social ladder, she herself was chosen to christen the ship for its maiden voyage, along with a mystery guest of some sort.

Perhaps he's charming, she thought as she finished up the last few steps. Oh, and sophisticated! A real prince charming out to sweep me off my hooves and carry me onto the airship himself! N-No, focus Rarity! Remember what happened the last time you let such thoughts take over. B-But he might still be...

And then she saw him. Standing on the stage was none other than the deposed Prince Blueblood himself, in all his full-grown glory. His luxurious blonde mane flapped about in the wind, despite there only being a slight breeze at the moment. Once again, he was dressed in his finest tuxedo, its color blending in perfectly with his coat. And then there were those adorable, soul-piercing eyes and...

“So it's true, then. You've been making a name for yourself throughout all of Canterlot with this little trip of yours.”

Rarity could feel her soul being tugged in multiple directions at once. On the one hoof, this was the same royal pain who had crushed her hopes and dreams, and then plotted to burn her home to the ground because he couldn't deal with a little frosting stain. On the other hoof, their reunion a few months prior was still fresh in her mind, and as much as she wanted to wish death upon him, possibly throw him off the balcony with one hoof, she couldn't bring herself to do so.

“Good day to you, Prince Blueblood.” Rarity's face scrunched up as she caught her mistake. “I...mean...what should one call you now these days?”

“If you want, you can keep the title in there,” Blueblood said with a smile. “Granted, I still have no royal rank, but the sentiment is nice.”

“A-hem!”

Both ponies spun about at the sound of Fancy Pants clearing his throat. “I do apologize, but we really must not keep the good captain waiting any longer. Now, there will be plenty of time to reminisce on good times afterwards, but for now, let's get on with the ceremony.”

Rarity silently nodded at her benefactor, the pony who had finally pulled her up where she belonged. Blueblood shrugged and stepped aside, revealing a champagne bottle hanging from a long ribbon. The ship's stern sat in front of her, while an old, one-eyed pony with bulging forelegs tapped his hooves impatiently. Chuckling nervously, Rarity gripped the glass container with her teeth, pulled back, and finally swung the bottle forward. Unfortunately, the current regulations required all bottles used for such christenings to be shatterproof, just in case the liquid or glass caused these newfangled ships to explode or something like that, so all the impact accomplished was giving off a slight tap before the ship went sliding down the slipway. Fortunately, the balloon itself remained sturdy, and the vessel remained hovering in the air for all to see and admire.

A massive roar of support emerged from the crowd, followed by the firing of confetti. Rarity stared at the great airship with a look of fascination and awe, both at the thing before her and the fact that she, a mere dressmaker from Ponyville, was now famous enough to be asked to do such a thing. As the ponies broke away to sample the hors d'ouevres, however, Rarity and Blueblood remained firmly in place, doing their best not to appear horribly awkward in each other's presence. Given the looks they were getting from the others, they were obviously not succeeding in that regard.

“So...I take it your 'rehabilitation' was successful?” she asked.

Blueblood smiled and shook his head. “Yes and no. Princess Celestia has allowed me to return and start working my way back into her good graces, but...”

Rarity's eyes dropped just slightly. “You know what I'm talking about. The last time I saw you, you were much, much shorter.”

“...Yes, I suppose I was.” Blueblood brushed his mane out of his eyes, his face visibly souring as he remembered the exact circumstances surrounding his current situation. “You see, the official word is that I'm little more than a criminal, working off my debt to society at Celestia's discretion. And I think I've been doing a good job so far. She has seen fit to release some of the funds she was holding to repair my family's estate, while the rest has been going to fund various charities across the entire country. I spend three nights a week at Canterlot's soup kitchens, read to foals at the hospital every Sunday, and pick up trash along the mountain highway.”

Rarity giggled at the last comment. “Really? You picking up trash?”

Blueblood opened his mouth to offer a counter-comment, but all he could do was join in the laughter. The two ponies simply stood their and took in the mockery, enjoying every moment of their time together. Of course, such things could never last long, and Blueblood's mind soon returned to something else. “I am so sorry, but I do have another obligation to attend to. I promised to meet some ponies today, and I do not think they'll be pleased if I'm late.”

“I see,” Rarity said, her voice still floaty from the sudden influx of mirth. “Well, I suppose I shouldn't hold you up. It's been...nice seeing you again. P-Perhaps we should do this some other time.”

The suggestion knocked Blueblood for a loop. Not once in all of his daily planning had he considered the possibility of Rarity actually suggesting they spend more time together. When he had hatched this scheme to speak to her to begin with, all he had sought was a sort of closure to the whole debacle. Still, he couldn't help but grin at the possibility. “Perhaps if I find myself in Ponyville, or you in Canterlot again, we can have lunch. I would love to try some of your friends...what did I call it, 'carnival fare?'”

And with that, the two gave a parting nod, and Blueblood slowly walked away. None of the other ponies in attendance seemed to pay him much mind, save for the occasional dirty look one would give a seemingly forgiven traitor. Rarity, meanwhile, stood and watched him leave, waiting until he was out of earshot before she sighed. Any possibility of a romance with the prince was obviously dead and rotting, but perhaps a friendship was still possible...

“Ah, Rarity!” Fancy Pants walked up alongside his favorite party guest, a small platter of stuffed mushrooms hovering alongside him. “You must give these a try! Straight from one of the finest restaurants in all of Canterlot!”

Rarity was momentarily shocked by the sudden intrusion, but the sight of her new friend's genuine excitement and the obviously delicious treats soon overwhelmed her thinking. Blueblood will have to wait for now. I still have Twilight's dress to finish, society events to attend to, and plenty of business contacts to make! Oh, I'll be the toast of the town...

Once back into Canterlot proper, Blueblood worked his way through the busy streets, his eyes peeled for the appropriate dark alley. Sure enough, he finally found the right one sandwiched between Crazy Al's Joke Shop and the Crud 'n Buzz, two of the least-shopped establishments in the entire capital. There, at the very end of the passage, was a glowing glint of light, enchanted in such a way that it was invisible to everypony but himself. Once he was sure he was safe, the stallion slipped into the alley, passing through the illusionary field, and finally approached the ponies waiting for him: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“My apologies for being late,” the fallen prince said. “Rarity and I had quite a bit to talk about.”

“You were cutting it pretty close,” Luna whispered, her voice deep with frustration. “Next time we have to make a change like this, we need to do it in the castle itself. No more witnesses.”

Blueblood shrugged. “I'm sorry, but I had to do this. I owe her that much.”

Luna sighed. “As do I.”

“If we've all finished with the pleasantries,” Celestia said, her voice rushed and at a half-whisper, “we must get going. The others aren't going to be too happy if you're late.”

The Princess' horn lit up with a golden glow, which soon spread to all over Blueblood's body. The stallion closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable fall. Around him, the illusion began to chip away piece by piece, shrinking his frame until it was the size of a foal colt, before finally dissipating completely. The now-tiny Blueblood let out a small yelp as he fell to the ground, his body still unbalanced and nauseous after such a sudden change, but it only took a few minutes for him to fully recover. He gave a final bow and thanks before dashing off towards Canterlot Central Park.

Luna and Celestia looked up once to make sure the Pegasi guards were keeping up with him. Once satisfied that the situation was properly secured, Luna turned towards her sister, her face wrought with worry. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“He has until the Summer, at least,” Celestia replied. “By then, Twilight and Pinkie Pie should be finished going through all the members of the Pie Clan. Once we know Kuchen is gone for good, we can deal with all this in one fell swoop. We'll see where things go from then.”

“You were never worried about him until now. What happened to change your mind?”

Celestia shrugged. “I have my reasons.”

Luna would have argued the point more, but she had known her sister long enough to realize a prolonged debate would not serve them any better. “I suppose...it turned out as well as we could expect. I just hope you know what you're doing.”

Blueblood's little mouth gradually opened as he drew ever closer to his waiting friends. In the midst of the park's busiest day in months, the foals were busy playing about in the sand-covered playground. Gusty and Snowball were seated on top of the jungle gym, the former flashing the approaching colt a smile that showed her missing front tooth. Smokey was busying himself with the slide, barely even acknowledging how much the metal surface was roasting his hind quarters in the sunlight. Ribbon and Buttons were far more satisfied with building a perfect sand fortress/temple for Lofty's Daring-Do toys to explore. And far away from the crowd sat Orange Peel, looking around nervously as if deciding whether he belonged in this scene or not. Ruby Dream and Seamstress, meanwhile, sat on a nearby park bench, snacks and water at the ready, talking over the former's daily tasks back at the castle and the latter's twelve-step-program.

“Fhey!” Gusty shouted, a tiny string of spittle escaping from that gaping hole in her grinders. “Abfout ftime fya phade it!”

“Heh, sorry,” Blueblood replied. “Too many grown-up things I had to deal with. What'd I miss?”

Lofty shrugged. “Not a whole lot. Daring was about to go explore the Tombs of Feather Island. Want to join?”

Blueblood scratched his chin for a little bit, then shook his head. “Nah, I think I'll settle for the slide.” He turned his head towards the orange outcast nearby. “Hey, Orange Peel! Do you want to join?”

The former bully's eyes opened wide at first, while visions of his former pummelings raced through his brain. When he could find no obvious sign of foul play or the like, however, he shrugged and walked over. “What do I have to do?”

Lofty, Ribbon and Buttons looked at each other, their eyes reflecting the deep discomfort they still felt with having their old tormentor around. Orange Peel shrank back a bit, more than expecting to be ejected and left to rot by the wayside. He was about to turn around when he heard Buttons' voice. “Y-You could be The Avian King. You know, if you want.”

Orange Peel froze for a moment, his muscles struggling to articulate the appropriate response. After a tremendous amount of effort and sheer force of will, however, the good parts of his soul finally caved in, and he knelt down to join the others in their epic quest. Sensing that his work was done, Blueblood headed off to join Smokey in the bun-baking contest.

By the time Shining reached his quarters, it was already close to sunset. Every inch of his body ached and groaned with each step, his armor clanging about in a most noisy and disruptive manner. Fortunately, Cadance was already inside, looking over what remaining wedding plans they had to set. “Honey, I'm home,” the stallion chuckled.

Cadance giggled and rolled her eyes. “Shining, you've been saying that every night since we moved in together. I think you need to work on getting a new punchline.”

“What can I say? I'm too much of a soldier.” Shining trotted over to his beloved and gave her a nuzzle along the cheek, followed by a gentle bite on the ear. “They beat everypony's sense of humor out of them during basic training.”

The two chuckled briefly, engaging each other in furious hugging and nuzzling and the general behavior that lights up a poet's heart and makes a cynical pony feel like emptying his digestive system. Cadance barely had enough time to mutter her latest decision. “I've decided not to select Blueblood as my ring bearer.”

Shining pulled his head back, his eyes wide with surprise. “What? B-But I thought you guys were getting along fine! And he's still doing good during the morning drills.”

“We are,” Cadance said. “But it would just be...awkward right now. Besides, don't you think Twilight would want Spike to have a role in all this?”

The Captain of the Guard scratched his chin. “Well, I was going to let him take care of the bachelor party, but...” He froze as his wife-to-be gave him the coldest, most crushing stare he had ever experienced. It took every last fiber of his being to push back the terror welling up in his heart and smile. “I...I suppose he could do both?”

Before the lovely discussion could get any further, however, there was a knock at the bottom of their door. Shining's telekinesis pulled the wooden barrier open, revealing a sweaty, sandy, but otherwise normal colt. “Good evening,” said Blueblood.

Both of the adults looked at the foal with no small measure of happiness. While there was still plenty of uncomfortableness in this whole arrangement, a good amount of it had worn itself out over the last two months. “Looks to me like somepony enjoyed himself,” Shining said as he trotted off to get changed out of his armor.

Once he was out of the room, Blueblood nervously rubbed at the back of his neck. “A-Are you sure it's all right that I stay here? I could just move back into the room in the castle if you want.”

Cadance grinned as she hopped out of her seat. She walked over to the colt and folded one of her wings over his body, wrapping him up like a blanket. Blueblood initially winced, but settled on accepting the gesture for what it was. “It's no problem at all. Now, how about we look over those books? We still have to budget our donations for the next month.”

Blueblood grinned and nodded in agreement. Things seemed to be working out perfectly from his perspective. He had a good home for the time being, friends he cared for, and a chance to mend his broken reputation until he was ready to return. There was still a lot to do, but he could at least see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Ribbon gave a little yawn as she fidgeted under her covers. While her mom was able to get her tucked in safe and sound, the bakery had gotten yet another emergency muffin order, and she had to be denied her bedtime story. Even the kiss felt rushed and not fully personal. It was as if her mommy had never put a foal to bed before in her life.

As she struggled to fall asleep, however, a familiar, comforting voice rang out around her. “You did good, Ribbon. Your friend is going to be very happy.”

“You think so?” she whispered, both out of fear of her parents hearing and because she was just tired.

“Of course. She may have taken all of my friends away, but she won't do the same to yours. And besides, isn't Leon so much happier as a colt?”

“I guess so.”

“Now, I think it's time we went to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow. Just remember, don't put too much sugar in the cookies again. A little makes it sweet, but too much ruins the flavor.”

“I'll remember.”

“Good night, my dear.”

The filly let out one last yawn before finally drifting off to slumberland. “Good night, Uncle Kuchen.”

TO BE CONTINUED...IN ANOTHER STORY

Chapter One: New Colt On The Block

Chapter One

Blueblood awoke not to the cawing of mysterious birds of indeterminable origin, nor the gentle warmth of Aunt Celestia’s sun. Rather, his return to reality came thanks to the shrill pounding of bells in his ears. With a start, the pony rose halfway, rubbing his eyes with both hooves before slamming one leg down and silencing that infernal alarm clock for yet another day. Stifling yet another undignified yawn, Blueblood stepped off the bed.

And immediately tumbled into a pile of sheets on the wooden floor.

Cursing, the pony pulled himself loose from his wrappings. In his exhaustion, he had forgotten how things had changed in the last day or two. It took only a look into his nearby dressing mirror to remember just how the mighty had fallen.

Sure enough, he was still a little colt.

Blueblood stared and blinked at the mirror, as if it would go away if he just wished hard enough. Alas, he was still intelligent enough to realize just how utterly ruined he was. First, his Aunt Celestia refused to defend his honor and stopped him from razing Ponyville to the ground. Then, his Aunt Luna arrested him for making “threats” against her. And finally, after he had unraveled the schemes and lies surrounding Celestia’s disappearance, he was transformed into a foal, and left utterly humiliated at the hooves of the same ponies that had ruined the Grand Galloping Gala a year prior.

He spun his backside around, his eyes tearing up at the sight of his bare flank. His cutie mark, once the pride and joy of his entire family, had been hidden beneath layers of enchantments. It was the one piece of himself that had survived his transformation, and Celestia had seen fit to take even that solace away.

Blueblood sighed. Remember, you are still Prince Blueblood. It doesn’t matter how many titles or rights your aunts can strip away. You are still the dignified pony you always were, and you will rise to the top of this latest bowl of oatmeal.

“BLUEBLOOD!”

The colt snapped to attention at the gruff voice coming from the other side of the door. With trepidation in his every movement, he turned towards the door. “Y-Yes?”

“Princess Celestia requests your presence in her chambers immediately!”

Blueblood sighed. He had little doubt what she wanted to discuss.

After all, this was his first day of school. Again.

The unicorn guard let out a defiant snort as the door creaked open. Blueblood’s head was the first thing to poke out, his eyes scanning the hallway for any sign of a trap. When he found no spike traps or crushing ceilings waiting for him, he finally took a few steps out of the room. The guard’s telekinesis slammed the door shut the moment the colt was out of range, causing Blueblood to jump and yelp in surprise. “By Celestia, why would you do such a thing?”

The guard displayed no emotion whatsoever. “Do what thing?”

“Slamming the door closed, you oaf!”

The unicorn’s eyes jutted inwards as he regarded the foal before him. “I apologize, but Princess Celestia gave me strict orders to bring you to her immediately. And unlike some ponies, I always obey my princess’ orders.”

Blueblood huffed and fumed, eliciting a sly smile from the guard. “I don’t care what your orders are. I know exactly what she is going to say, and I don’t want to hear it again. Just let me pack up my supplies, and walk out the door to the school.”

The guard titled his head, relishing every last ounce of discomfort he could wring out of the little twerp. “Or…I suppose I could take you to Princess Luna instead. I am certain she would loooove to…hang out with you.”

Princess LUNA?

All the righteous defiance Blueblood had been building up melted like butter under the sun. His lower lip trembled as he silently intoned her name. Luna…the most terrible of all ponies. The monster that had tried to destroy Equestria in a fit of jealousy. The beast that had thrown him into obscurity because of his demands for retribution. The fiend that pulled the ears off colts and left them to die in forgotten cellars. The same one that swore that, if he should ever approach her again, she would chain to the center of the world for all eternity.

The guard gave a cruel smile as he saw Blueblood’s entire body start going slack with fear. The former prince’s voice trembled as he spoke. “V-Very well, then. L-L-Lead on…”

The guard loudly cleared his throat, returning his face to “serious business” mode. “Very well, then. Follow me, and do NOT wander off this time.”

Blueblood stared up at Celestia in stunned silence. It had been days since he had last seen her; most of his time had been spent serving the rest of his house arrest in that small guest room, with only the occasional potty break. But now that he was surrounded by his aunt’s godlike splendor once again, he could not help but feel overwhelmed and terrified. She could easily crush him like an ant, and he knew that. It was part of the reason why he went along with her rather unique punishment.

But still, she was his Aunt Celestia. And even better, Princess Luna was nowhere to be seen.

Celestia loudly cleared her throat, her horn glowing slightly as her magic amplified the noise just enough to ensure the colt was paying attention. Her gaze was cold and detached, like a tyrant out of a foal’s story book. “I trust you understand what will be happening today.”

Blueblood nodded. “Today…I go back to Kindergarten.”

“Magic Kindergarten. And why are you going there?”

The fallen noble let out another groan. “Because I have to learn my place.”

“No, that’s not right at all.” Celestia shook her head sadly. “This is about more than punishments or who did what. This is your chance to atone; not just for your misdeeds these last few days, but for the many other times you have circumvented the law, hurt others, and misused your position for your own ends.”

Blueblood finally worked up the nerve to look up. Celestia’s slanted eyes softened slightly at the growing horror etched across his face. “B-But how am I supposed to do that?”

Celestia closed her eyes, trying to look as authoritative as possible. This was always so much easier with Twilight. “When the time comes, you will understand. It’s not something one can easily explain to another. In the meantime, I want you to spend your time in class wisely. This is a learning experience, and I want you to make the most of it.”

Blueblood’s eyes shifted leftward. “B-But…”

“It’s this, or another trip to the dungeon.”

All doubt immediately vanished from the colt’s body. He hopped to attention, trying his best to hide his terror at what could very well be his destruction. “W-Well, I will try my best.”

“That is all anypony can ask of you.” The princess’ horn glowed with a brilliant golden light. The spectacle was soon followed by another glow, this time from a pair of small saddlebags. On each side was a half-heartedly stitched replica of Pluto, the yellow Alicorn that wasted her natural abilities to fight superpowered evil across Equestria. It was quite popular with younger foals, sitting just behind the Daring-Do series as the most popular books amongst early readers.

That is…that’s what I’ve heard, at least, Blueblood thought. His cheeks turned a deep crimson at the thought of “freaking out” over something so juvenile. Celestia did not fail to notice her nephew’s embarrassment, and it took all her royal decorum to hold back the laughing fit she was feeling inside.

The saddle bags floated over and landed snugly on Blueblood’s back. The colt winced at the sudden weight, causing the contents of the bag to shift. He could hear the rolling of pencils, the scrunching of paper, and the rustling of what sounded like a paper bag. All of these clicked against the bronze-coated clips that kept the flaps shut, giving off a metal ring whenever something hard struck them. That wasn’t what had really grabbed his attention, however. Rather, the very design of the saddle bags seemed to set off alarm bells in his head.

The shoddy construction, the way it barely fit his frame, and the terrible appearance was proof enough. This bag was bought off the shelf.

“I tried to find out what was popular with young ponies,” Celestia said. “And according to a young friend of mine, this character will get you a lot of attention.”

The colt kicked nervously at the ground. He could already feel the long, black tendrils of normality slither their way across his body. The only thing that could make it worse was…

“And there is also the matter of your name.”

Blueblood gasped, his heart stopping dead in its tracks. “B-But Aunt Celestia, why do we have to go that far? Surely nopony will mistake this…form for who I really am, right?”

Celestia did not even acknowledge her nephew’s fear. She instead simply walked over to a nearby credenza and floated out some paperwork. “When I registered you at the school, I took the liberty of creating a new name for you.”

Blueblood’s jaw hit the floor. “Wh-What?! What’s wrong with ‘Blueblood?!’”

“For one thing, it’s your real name. Thanks to your…exploits, just about every tabloid in Canterlot has ran at least one story a month on you. The foals might not recognize you, but their parents are another story.” Celestia shuffled through the papers, stopping when she finally stumbled across the right form. “Tell me, how does ‘Leon’ sound to you?”

Blueblood took a few steps away from the princess. “Leon? That sounds like…a common name. What kind of pony would call themselves Leon?”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed as her voice began to fill with growing spite for the colt. “I chose the name in remembrance of Andronicus León, a very special pony from twelve hundred years ago. Were it not for his actions, none of us would be here today.” Her voice seemed to drop an octave or two. “And a certain colt wouldn’t be standing here complaining about his name.”

Sensing that there was nothing but pain to gain from continuing this conversation, Blueblood wisely decided to shut his trap and return to attention. Once she was certain the colt wasn’t going to press the issue, she returned to her usual smile. “Now, would you like to know more about the school?”

Blueblood nodded an affirmative response, if only to get this over with. Celestia lifted up the documents again, turning the pages until she came across the school’s main flyer. “After looking over the test results and observation reports of every Magic Kindergarten in Canterlot, I finally located the perfect one for you. It’s called the Canterlot Castle Royal Preschool.”

Blueblood raised an eye at this. “That sounds...awfully presumptuous of them. Did they really think that would get them more students?”

Celestia shrugged indifferently. “I suppose it has to do with its location. The school is just a short walk from the palace entrance, so a lot of the staff send their children there out of convenience. There’s one other thing you should know, however.” She lowered the bundle of pages deliberately, her eyes locking onto Blueblood in a soul-burning gaze. “It’s not just a Magic Kindergarten.”

Blueblood titled his head. “Y-You mean, I have to go to school with non-unicorns?” The indignity!

“Our education system, like the rest of Equestrian society, does not discriminate because of race, Blueblood.” The Princess shook her head in frustration. “And yes, I have heard of your remarks about our Pegasus Guard. Quite frankly, it disturbs me that anypony in my family can spout such garbage.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Blueblood muttered half heartedly.

“In any case, I don’t want you to cause any trouble. Kindergarten is greatly about socialization, and that includes understanding that you can be friends with anypony, regardless of whether or not they have wings and horns.”

Blueblood fumed like a broken furnace, but said nothing else in response. Taking this as a sign he at least understood what she did not want from him, Celestia continued. “Sky Bloom, one of the castle’s staff, will see you to class and back. Remember, do not reveal yourself to anypony. We can’t have everyone finding out just what happened to you, at least not yet. Any questions?”

“Just one,” Blueblood said. “When exactly is this going to be over?”

Celestia gave a small laugh, halfway between a giggle and a chuckle, and placed a hoof upon her nephew’s shoulder. The colt squirmed slightly on reflex, but once he realized his aunt meant him no harm (yet), he calmed right back down. “Until I am satisfied either way.”

Groaning, Blueblood pushed Celestia’s hoof away. “What does that even mean?”

Yes, this is much easier with Twilight. “It means that I will be keeping an eye on you. Once I’m satisfied, I will pass my final judgment on you.” She smiled and tilted her head. “Now, have a fun day at school, Leon!”

The colt gulped and took a few steps towards the door. His saddle bags felt weighed down with certain doom and failure, all in the form of school supplies. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, and yet Celestia was hedging his entire life on this vague goal. How was a pony supposed to accomplish anything in these circumstances?

I was better off in the dungeon.

As advertised, the Canterlot Castle Royal Preschool sat only a short distance from the palace. The building’s exterior was polished to the point where it actually seemed to glow in the sunlight; the windows especially could probably fry an insect from about a hundred paces. The custodians were still at work on the gardens outside by the time the foals arrived, destroying all their hard-fought accomplishments underneath a stampede of rambunctious hooves.

Nopony noticed the small colt and accompanying parent/aunt’s servant slowly approaching the school grounds. That is, save for the one teacher still standing outside. She was a yellow unicorn, with an orange-and-pink mane and a sun with hearts over it for a Cutie Mark. Her lips were curled into the kind of smile many teachers wore, the kind that simultaneously expressed genuine love for their students and repressed their urge to throttle them for driving them to madness.

Blueblood and Sky Bloom, the white-with-pinkish maned unicorn he had been trapped with, stopped in front of the waiting teacher. The educator unicorn’s smile widened as she glanced back and forth between the two. “Well, good morning! And welcome to your first day at Canterlot Castle Magic Preschool, where the best and brightest learn how to use their natural talents!”

Sky Bloom shrugged in confusion. “Why are you giving the sales pitch to my son?”

“…Oh, I’m sorry.” The teacher lifted her head away from Blueblood and back to the nearby “parent.” “I get carried away with these things sometimes. It’s part of the job description. Well, my name is Miss Brightly, and I will be Leon’s teacher during his time with us.” She raised her right foreleg. “It is a pleasure meeting the both of you.”

Sky Bloom smiled and took the mare’s hoof in a hearty shake. “Thank you for meeting us. I always love to see who will be teaching my special little foal!” She turned to Blueblood, her teeth barred into a smile, and nodded at the little foal. “Isn’t that right, Leon?”

Finally seeing what he was supposed to do, Blueblood smiled and nodded along. “Oh, yes. Mommy just loves talking to big ponies like you!”

Miss Brightly’s grin remained locked in place, as if her jaw had been welded into place. “Well, class will be beginning soon. I’m sure you’ll have all sorts of fun here!” She turned back to Sky Bloom. “I mean the educational kind of fun. The kind that gets foals into universities and earns them PhD’s, not the kind that makes their teachers dump them into rural villages.”

Sky Bloom’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing!” Miss Brightly let out a small chortle. Blueblood and Sky Bloom exchanged confused, almost terrified glances at the pony’s outburst. It was several moments before she regained her composure. “Now, shall we begin?”

Blueblood gave Sky Bloom one last look. His eyes sang of the growing fear and despair in his soul. The servant said nothing; she only gave him a false smile just to sell the “loving mother” role the princess had no doubt given her. Finally, Blueblood lowered his head and slowly marched behind Miss Brightly into the school.

Sky Bloom waited until the doors were closed before heading back to the palace. She had a lot of work to do today, after all…

The classroom’s interior served as a stark contrast to the exterior’s beautiful design. The small room was only slightly larger than the prince’s old bedroom, and even that was on the tiny end of the scale compared to many of the other noble houses. (He had to make room for the hot tub, after all.) Simple wooden desks lined the walls, each of them just big enough to fit a regular-sized foal. The center of the classroom was cluttered with toys, puzzles, torn sheets of paper, and more than a few other piles of debris, all of which had just over a dozen actual foals running through them at any given moment.

Blueblood gulped back the biggest lump his throat had ever seen. His joints shook as Miss Brightly ushered him inside. It took his fear of his aunts to finally get him inside.

All activity in the room ceased the moment the students saw the newcomer. The fillies and colts simply stared up in surprise at Blueblood’s direction, a few shyly turning away at the last moment to avoid making eye contact. Miss Brightly took her place directly on Blueblood’s left and clapped her hooves. The foals reacted like trained mice, scampering to their designated desks before turning back to their teacher.

“Good morning, class!”

“Good morning, Miss Brightly,” answered a chorus of shaky, unsure, high-pitched voices.

The teacher took her own seat behind a metal and wood desk in the corner of the classroom. Blueblood winced at the dozens of hoofpaint and crayon creations littering the front. If this is the extent of their artistic abilities, I won’t have much trouble rising above this clatter.

“Now, I’m sure you all can see we have a new classmate joining us today.” She pointed her right foreleg at Blueblood, sending the foal recoiling slightly and blushing in embarrassment. “Fillies and colts, please say hello to Leon!”

The entire room erupted in a cacophony of cheers and greetings, both genuine and mechanically indoctrinated alike. Blueblood blushed and kicked against the floor absentmindedly. It had been quite a while since his appearance had actually been met with cheers, after all.

The small ego-stroking session ended as Miss Brightly pointed towards an empty desk next to a blue unicorn filly. “Now Leon, would please take your seat?”

Blueblood quickly jumped into the little wooden seat, resting his forelegs on the wooden top. He glanced over at the other fillies and colts, all of whom were staring at either him or Miss Brightly. He returned the welcoming smiles. Yes, this will not be too difficult. With a little work, Prince Blueblood will be right back on top where he belongs! I can only hope the rest of the day goes as well as this.

“And now class,” Miss Brightly said, “we’re going to talk about dogs and cats!”

Blueblood barely resisted the urge to slam his face into the desk. He could tell exactly what most of his day would be filled with.

Boredom.

Celestia’s magic lifted up the massive blueprint of the ballroom’s newest renovations. The old chamber was still in a sorry state, and would still have to be at least presentable before the upcoming Canterlot Garden Party in a few weeks time. Nonetheless, her advisors were adamant that she use the opportunity to make some renovations to the ballroom’s infrastructure. Most of them were fairly sound, such as reinforcing the pillars and ceiling in case another stampede happened to occur on the palace grounds. But then there were the more esoteric ones…

“Why does the ballroom need another statue of me?” Celestia asked.

One of the foreponies, a teal unicorn trying to bury himself inside his hardhat and vest, slowly rose from the floor. “We were told to make sure the ballroom looked as beautiful as you. And since you are the most beautiful thing in Equestria, it only made sense that you would be the cornerstone of the whole construction. I-It was meant as a compliment.”

Celestia’s right foreleg started to move up for a facehoof, but was just as quickly knocked back down with but a mental command. Her lips, on the other hoof, still gave a small scowl. “I appreciate the offer, but don’t you think there’s enough statues around the grounds already?”

“Bu…But they have already been ordered! A-And we were making one of Princess Luna as well,” the forepony said. He hunkered himself right back down, as if Princess Celestia was about to will down a ceiling beam on his head.

The Princess only smiled, her magic furling up the blueprints as she did so. “Perhaps a suggestion is in order? Rather than clutter up the interior with more statues, we can place some more decorations outside. I believe some icons of the Royal Pony Sisters will be more than welcoming?”

The poor forepony’s nerves relaxed a little. “Y-Yes, Your Highness.”

Celestia gently floated the blueprints downward, where another aura intercepted them. The forepony climbed to his hooves, gave a quick nod of the head, and scurried back to work, plans in tow. The Sun Princess congratulated herself on another task done, and turned to go back to her work.

She managed to trot about ten meters before crashing into a rather peeved, dark blue Alicorn. Celestia quickly took a step back, her eyes widened with surprise at the sight. “L-Luna! I thought you were in bed!”

“He’s gone,” she hissed.

Regaining her grip of her emotions for just a moment, Celestia smiled. “You mean Blueblood? Of course he’s gone. It’s the first day of school, after all!”

The older sister let out a small, lighthearted chuckle. Luna simply continued to scowl. “I thought you agreed not to go ahead with this ridiculous plan of yours. Really, Magic Kindergarten? That is the best you could come up with?”

Celestia’s smile vanished. She knew her sister was hesitant about the whole scheme, but she had not imagined she would react this badly. “Little sister, I am not promising that anything will change. I am simply giving Blueblood a chance to make up for his misdeeds.”

“By sending him off to play?!” Luna swung out one hoof so fast that it struck the wall, crushing the marble into tiny, bite-sized chunks. The Night Mare blushed slightly as she pulled her leg out of the hole and set it back beneath her. “Sister, I have doubted your judgment before, but never like this! All you will accomplish is teaching that foal to be an even larger flank than he was before!”

“That remains to be seen,” Celestia said softly. “I went through the same ordeal, and I feel better for it.” Her face became much sterner. “And have you forgotten a certain pony that tried to destroy Equestria, but has redeemed herself time and again this last year alone? Don’t you think your nephew deserves the same opportunity?”

Luna shook her head. “You do not understand at all. You emerged a better pony because you already are a better pony than he is. And as for I-” She closed her eyes, not wishing to quite go back to this rather dark area of her life. “I did not frolic and play during my thousands years of banishment. I did not pick flowers and dance to fifes and lyres while Discord destroyed Equestria. And I certainly did not seek out self-gratification and pleasure while you nearly died saving me. I suffered for my failures every step of the way.”

“Luna…” Celestia took a step forward, her wings extended and ready to embrace her sister in a gentle hug. Before she could get a single feather over, however, Luna had already pulled back out of range, her eyes filled with growing frustration at her sister’s antics. “I agree that this is odd, but there is a method to this. I did not simply send Blueblood away to play. I sent him to learn and better himself.”

Luna rolled her eyes at this. Realizing she wasn’t going to get anywhere with this conversation, the younger of the Royal Pony Sisters turned on her hooves and started walking away. Celestia moved to stop her, but paused herself when she heard her sister’s voice. “Very well then. You may have your fun, Celestia. But I do not care how much that fiend may claim to have changed. Anypony who would try to harm their own family like he did…does not deserve to have one.”

Celestia watched as her sister disappeared into the dark corridors of the palace. She tried to find the right words, the one sentence that would solve everything and make Luna see her side, but her mind fumbled and found nothing. Even she could feel doubt starting to creep into the back of her mind.

Well, at least he’s up to something interesting...

“And that is the difference between dogs and cats!” Miss Brightly, having finished her epic lesson of the day, turned away from the simple screen showing a small brown dog and an equally-sized brown cat. The students stared at her in stunned awe, their tiny little brains eating up all this information with gusto. The only foal not overly enthusiastic about this fascinatingly scientific study was Blueblood; the colt only sat at his chair in frustrated silence. I cannot believe this. How is something as stupid as telling two animals apart going to prove I’ve reformed? How am I supposed to learn anything in a place like this?

Miss Brightly walked back to her desk, shuffled some documents on top, and turned towards the class. “Alright, now it’s time for our math lesson! I hope everypony studied this time!”

The simultaneous groans and moans of over a dozen five-year-olds combined into a single mournful sigh that echoed throughout the classroom. Even Miss Brightly had to join in on the gloom session, clenching her teeth until they looked more like the bars of a jail cell. “I see. Don’t you worry though, fillies and colts, because we’re gonna cover it all anyway!”

The teacher leaned back and levitated over an entire pile of placards. The foals in the front row, Blueblood included, were fortunate enough to catch but a brief glimpse of the things. There were pictures of apple halves, oranges, mice, music notes, and even a donkey or two, all of them arranged in very simplistic mathematical expressions. The cards were halfway onto the stand when the bell over the door let out a shrill ring.

The foals immediately jumped for joy. That bell could mean only one thing.

It was time for recess.

Celestia only looked up from her cluttered desk when a heavy, metal-plated hoof pounded on the door. “Your Majesty, Captain Shining Armor has returned. He wishes to speak with you.”

The princess raised an eyebrow. “He’s back already? But we weren’t expecting him for another two days.”

“He’s already reported that the new troop deployments and garrisons were finished in record time. He only wishes to discuss some of the changes that have occurred while he was away.”

“Ah, I see.” Celestia levitated her quill back into the ink well, the feathered tip smacking against the edge as soon as her magic released the instrument. “I suppose we shouldn’t keep him in the dark, then. Please send him in.”

The guard fired off a quick salute before retreating out. Celestia could hear his armored hooves clop down about fifteen steps before stopping. All noise in the hall vanished, save for some small whispers, until a different set of hooves went clopping along into the room. Sure enough, it was Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard and brother to Celestia’s prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle. His unique armor had been polished to the point that it almost looked like he had just grabbed it out of a showroom.

Shining closed the door behind him and bowed to his knees. “Your Majesty, I have returned.”

Yes, I can see that. “Welcome back, Shining Armor. I trust everything went well with the border patrols?”

Captain Armor slowly rose back up, his mind fighting valiantly against his urge to scratch a particularly annoying itch on the back of his neck. “Everything’s gone exactly as you ordered. Our borders are safe, those highway bandits next to Coltenville have been rounded up, and Baltimare’s mayor wanted me to tell you that the crepes were delicious.”

Celestia nodded along. She already knew exactly how things had turned out; had anything gone wrong, Shining Armor would either not be back here at all, or have returned with a few arrows embedded in his flank. “Good work, then. I am pleased to see that you are getting a hang on more…diplomatic duties. The life of a prince is much more than slaying giant, rampaging dragons to save faire maidens, after all.” Her eyes narrowed. “Not that you would get my niece anywhere near a giant, rampaging dragon, would you?”

Shining Armor, once deemed the bravest guard in all of Canterlot, quickly bowed his hind legs back and sweated like a foal being scolded. “N-N-No, of course not! I love Cadance! There’s no way I’d ever expose her to danger like that.”

“Then we have an understanding.” Celestia slowly turned back to her work. “I also understand that a few of the…events of the last few days have left you baffled?”

Shining shuffled his armor about nervously. He tried his best not to maintain eye contact with his monarch/employer. “Well…I heard Twiley- I mean, my sister was helping cover your vacation.”

Celestia grinned, her eyes still locked on the paperwork before her. “Yes, and she did a marvelous job. I fear a lot of situations propped up over those few days. Without her help, I don’t believe even Princess Luna could have handled all those crises. I’m afraid you just missed her, though. She’s already back in Ponyville, still continuing her studies on friendship. Anything else I can assist you with, Captain?”

“A-And I heard something about Prince Blueblood being arrested?” Shining’s nervousness was growing ever more evident. If his armor could clang any louder, it would have been capable of drowning out an entire army division’s marching.

The act of sighing still wasn’t enough to break Celestia’s concentration, nor stop her horn from moving her quill. “Unfortunately, yes. I fear my nephew has overstepped one bound too many. His case is still under…” She paused, added, “Review,” and then went right back to work.

“And lastly, I heard something about a…filly running around the palace?” Shining Armor’s eyes widened as he dared to speak the next few words. “Was that…really you?”

Celestia’s business proceedings stopped immediately. She floated the quill back into the ink well and looked up from her work, an awkward smile etched across her lips. “I am afraid so, my dear Shining Armor. It was certainly… an unusual situation, and not one I am in a hurry to repeat.” Her hoof casually drifted downwards towards an open drawer, its tip tracing across the figure hidden within. “Yes, in no hurry at all.”

She raised her leg back up, refocusing all her attention on her Captain of the Guard. “In any case, I am perfectly healthy. The spell has been broken, Equestria is still standing, and Luna has never been more popular. All together, I suppose no real harm has been done so far. Have I put your fears at ease, Shining Armor?”

“I…I think so,” Armor said. The tension in the air seemed to gradually melt away, giving the stallion some more room to breathe. He even felt bold enough to smile. “I guess I do miss the most amazing things sometimes. Shame I wasn’t there when you finally threw that jerk Blueblood out on his ear.”

Celestia raised an eye at this. “Excuse me?”

Shining let out a small chortle; in his euphoria, he had failed to notice Princess Celestia’s rather rapid change in mood. “After all the garbage that raging flank put us all through, he more than deserved to be locked away for the rest of eternity! Do you know what he did during my first shift ever? He told me to go get him some fruit punch, grabbed my helmet, dumped the punch in it, and then slammed it back on my head! And then he blamed ME for making him do it!”

The princess’ eyes shifted slightly leftward. “I-I understand he was quite the hoofful at times. I’ve gotten more than enough complaints on that front. But…have they told you what happened to Blueblood exactly?”

Shining Armor shook his head. “Nah…I mean, no! Every one of the guards have said you swore them to secrecy. But whatever it was, I’m sure it’s better than the gelding deserves.” He let out another small chuckle, closing his eyes and scratching the back of his neck at the same time. “You know, I kinda wish he had turned into a colt!”

Tiny drops of perspiration slowly sank down Celestia’s weary brow. “That is a horrible thing to wish on anypony. Why would you say such a thing?”

“By Jove, if I ever found that stallion as a little runt…” He clicked his teeth. “I can’t even begin to think about all the stuff I’d do to him! After putting Cadance and I through Tartarus, it would be nice to finally get some payback on that…”

The imaginary torture session would have continued, had Shining Armor not opened his eyes at just that moment. Celestia was no longer sitting at her desk like a good little monarch; instead, she was standing directly in front of the stallion, a look of pure disappointment on her face. The stallion’s blood froze immediately as the full scale of his threats and declarations came to the forefront of his mind. “I-I mean, it’s not like I would really…”

“Shining Armor, I am very disappointed in you.” Celestia’s lips twisted into a silent snarl, making the stallion feel less like the Captain of the Guard and more like a schmuck about to be struck by a meteor. “No matter what transgressions Blueblood has committed, his punishment shall be my responsibility alone. I assure you, the matter is being handled with the upmost seriousness. But I shall not tolerate any of my guards, let alone who is supposed to be the most responsible member, going on a vengeance-fueled rampage because of things said and done in the past. I am willing to overlook it this time, but should I learn that you have brought any harm to Blueblood, you can forget your position at the palace, let alone your relationship with my niece. Do you understand?”

Shining Armor shook his head with the vigor of a caffeine addict. “I…I swear, I won’t harm that little colt in any way, shape or form.”

The room stayed quiet for several moments more. Finally, Celestia smiled. “Very good. You may resume your duties, Captain. The shift changes have already been sent to your quarters, and we have some new recruits on duty tonight. Oh, and welcome back!”

Relieved to finally be out of there, Shining Armor fired off a salute and galloped out of the office like his life depended on it. Once he was out of range, Celestia willed the doors closed, made sure the window curtains were drawn, and finally allowed herself to sigh in relief. She had never seen Shining Armor so upset at anypony in all the time she had known him. Then again, her nephew had a tendency to bring out the worst in ponies at times. Nevertheless, she still couldn’t allow any of her subjects to come to any real harm when she had the power to prevent it.

Still, this could be a problem. She tapped a hoof to her chin, her mind racing through all the available options at the moment. Shining Armor hated her nephew, that much was certain. Cadance had a more…complicated relationship with Blueblood, but she would not be back for a few more days. The palace was large enough to shuttle him in and out without notice, and the other guards would obey their orders, however much Blueblood had done to them in the past.

That left only Luna to worry about.

Celestia knew her sister was stubborn. She had refused to part with the ancient traditions upon her return, even after Celestia had done everything short of burning “STOP USING THE ROYAL WE” in the grass with very precise Solar Magic. Even before then, she refused to attend formal events because somepony’s great-great-grandmother had said something she didn’t like, refused to lighten up her standards for the Military until the recruitment numbers sank into the negatives, and worst of all, would not listen when her sister kept telling her she really was loved. Whatever Blueblood had done to offend her, it had obviously affected her a great deal more than Celestia felt she could ever understand.

Still, she won’t do anything, Celestia thought to herself. She’s a good pony at heart. I’m certain she’ll give Blueblood all the space he needs. And with Shining Armor on board as well, Blueblood’s chances of success have already grown.

The preschool’s playground was rather small, but still larger than Blueblood had expected. A large, three-seated swing set sat next to a small sandbox, which itself sat next to a surprisingly pristine jungle gym. A field of grass surrounded all three, creating a welcome respite from the paved streets that dominated much of this area of Canterlot. There was already another class out there, this one from one of the Pegasus classes. And sure enough, a few of the foals were already trying to eat away, ignoring their mother’s scolding about not eating what other ponies have walked on.

Miss Brightly led Blueblood’s class to these discount Elysian Fields in a straight line, not unlike a Sergeant leading a squad of cadets in a drill session. Blueblood couldn’t help but smile at the memory of his brief stint in the military academy, back when he was actually somepony important. His reduced stature actually served a purpose for once, as the longer walk gave him more time to admire the change in scenery and savor this small bit of nostalgia.

The procession stopped just in front of a merry-go-round, its metal surface shining with a sticky coat of paint. Miss Brightly spun about and looked down at her little charges. “Have fun, my little ponies! I’ll be here if you need anything, like always!”

The foals weren’t listening anymore; they were already spread out and running across everything on the small patch of ground. The swings were swinging, the sandbox was in the middle of an excavation for ancient gold, and a daring adventure was going on at the jungle gym. And of course, a pair of colts were busy chewing on the grass at the far corner. Miss Brightly quickly sat herself on a nearby bench, her eyes scanning the field before her in case of trouble.

Blueblood, on the other hoof, just stood there for a good while, his mind drawing a blank as to what to do. He looked back for something that he could draw upon to figure out what all this was before him, but he could see nothing. He had played as a foal, certainly, but it wasn’t quite like this. There, he had only a few relatives, the occasional foal of one of the servants, and the guards to mess with. Of those, the latter had a tendency to snap at him after he dumped rotten eggs onto their armor, while the former two just preferred to ignore the colt altogether. Only one of his cousins had ever seemed to like him, but she was nowhere near Canterlot, and in any case was now far older than he.

Once again, the crushing futility of his task seemed to weigh in. With no other recourse, he looked up towards the sun. Aunt Celestia, please give me some kind of sign, a hint, ANYTHING.

“Um…hey, new kid.”

Blueblood snapped out of his silent prayer session and looked downward. Standing about eye level to him was a unicorn filly, the same blue one that he had been seated next to during class. She rubbed her front fetlocks nervously, her eyes focusing on a single spot on the ground. The two were completely silent for several seconds, with only the happy roars and cheers of the other kids breaking the heavy atmosphere. Finally, Blueblood could take no more. “C-Can I help you?”

“Well…I saw you standing there, and you looked kinda lonely, and…” The filly squeaked something inaudible, her right eye twitching slightly. “I talked to my friends, and they said you could come play with us. I mean, if you want.”

Blueblood’s jaw dropped slightly. “Y-You want me to play with you? But I just got here. You don’t even know who I am!”

The filly took a step back. “I…It’s okay. I was just wondering if you needed some friends.”

The colt wanted to say something else, perhaps even chide the filly on her naïve nature, but all such thoughts died in his throat. He couldn’t help but feel more than a little touched at the seemingly sincere offer. And besides, it wasn’t like he had anything else better to do. “I suppose I could. Just show me to these friends of yours.”

The filly smiled and nodded her head quickly. The two then started on their way across the playground, heading towards a large oak tree at the far end. “M-My name’s Ribbon,” she said. “I-It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Blueblood responded.

By the time the two had reached the tree, three other fillies were already standing there waiting. Two of them were unicorns, one white and the other a pink shade of lavender. The third was a yellow pegasus from the other class, her back turned to the others as she tried to flutter up to a ribbon tied to a tree branch. The two more attentive foals smiled and waved at Blueblood, who timidly responded in kind. “H-Hello.”

Ribbon took a step in between Blueblood and the small gathering of friends. She pointed to the white unicorn first. “Leon, this is Gusty.” She then motioned towards the other. “And this is Buttons.”

“Um…Hi,” he said. “My name’s Bl- I mean, Leon. It’s…a pleasure to meet all of you.”

“Welcome to the group, Leon!” said Gusty. Before Blueblood could even breathe, she had already hopped to his side and grabbed him in a neck lock. “It’s always nice to have some new friends, isn’t it?”

“Um…yeah, of course!” said Buttons. “Say, you don’t have a problem with playing with fillies, do you?”

Blueblood managed to break free of his attacker, if only because Gusty finally realized she was strangling the poor kid and let go. “I…I see no problem with it.” In fact, this might be my key to stardom in this school! Just like before, I’ll have a filly on each leg, and…

Ribbon, ignoring her new friend’s sudden twist of imagination, turned to the pegasus. “Um…I got the new guy.”

“Ugh, fine,” the pegasus filly grumbled. She spun about, her eyes locked with the waiting Blueblood’s. “It’s nice to…meet…YOU!”

Both princeling and commoner stared at each other in horror, their mouths slacked down wide enough to fit an entire salad. Ribbon and the others just scratched their heads in confusion. “Um…Lofty? Is something wrong?”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter Seven: Dressing Down

It was another morning of blood, sweat and tears for the Royal Guard, as well as Blueblood. By the time Shining Armor had put everypony through their morning paces, every inch of their bodies were drenched in all manner of foul-smelling liquids, from horse sweat to some sort of icky black tar in the case of Obstruction. The colt’s entire body felt like a tinfoil figure slowly being crushed in a black hole.

Once again, a few new faces had joined the morning crew, prompting Shining Armor to repeat the same story as before. Once he was through how awesome it was to serve in the Royal Guard, he and the ponies in attendance shared a final salute before breaking away for their duties. This time, however, Blueblood knew better than to stick around longer than he had to, and quickly began galloping towards the nearest door back into the castle proper.

He was about five feet from his destination when he ran into a solid wall of flesh and metal. The impact sent the colt flying back on his rump, the straps of his costume coming undone on impact. As he rubbed his stinging snout and forehead, he just barely managed to make out a trio of guards, a Unicorn and two Pegasi, standing over him. Their eyes looked Blueblood over with a great degree of skepticism.

That would have been bad enough, but once Blueblood’s vision completely returned, he was able to recognize the Unicorn.

It was the same pony that had awoken him that first morning. The one that had escorted him to Princess Celestia’s room so she could begin his humiliation. The one he had offended in some way. And as far as he was concerned, he could have horribly wronged all three in some way. “C-Can I help you?”

The three looked amongst each other for a few moments, silently communicating some sort of message before turning back to the frightened colt. “Well, Prince Blueblood,” said the Unicorn, “the guys and I have been talking, and…”

“We…think that Captain Armor is taking things a little bit too far,” said the left Pegasus.

Blueblood slowly hoisted himself back to his hooves, grunting in pain with every move of his muscles, before turning his attention back to the guards. His mouth hung slightly in disbelief, his eyes widening. “What? B-But I thought the guard…”

“Hated you?” said the right Pegasus. His eyes narrowed as he bit on his lower lip. “Yeah, we still don’t like you. You did call my wife a turnip farmer.”

“And you did tell everypony I was a coltcuddler,” said the left Pegasus.

“And…well…” The Unicorn stopped, his face twisting in confusion. “Actually, I don’t think you ever did anything to me, b-but I’ve heard all about the stuff you’ve pulled and, to be frank, you’re a screwed-up pony.”

Blueblood’s mood, which had only just recently been elevated, quickly sank back down. The colt fell back on his haunches, his little eyes quivering with terror. “B-But…I thought you said…”

The three guards, feeling at least a little shame at scaring a small foal, looked about each other with guilt-ridden faces before turning back to face the colt. The right Pegasus cleared his throat before continuing. “What we’re saying is, we don’t agree with what Shining Armor’s been doing. He really seems to have it out for you, more than any of the other guardponies we’ve found.” He scratched at the back of his armor. “I mean, it’s just not like him. Normally he’s actually a pretty nice, easy-going guy.”

“And you’ve managed to put up with the drills and the exercises this long,” said the Unicorn. “A few of the other ponies were there when you attended the Academy, and…well, they said that there was no way anypony could make you do any of the stuff you’re doing now back then. So…I guess what we’re saying is…”

“Atten-HUT!”

All three guards immediately snapped back into attention, their bodies becoming as rigid as the statues that decorated the castle gardens. Blueblood, sensing his approaching doom, quickly turned to run towards the door, but was frozen mid-step by a telekinetic field. To the colt’s horror, Shining Armor trotted up alongside him, shaking his head in disappointment. “Private Blueblood, did you really expect to be excused from the field without an inspection?”

The magic around Blueblood’s jaw dissipated just enough for the pony to talk. “Private? I thought I wasn’t an actual guard.”

“While you’re out here, you are still…technically a guard.” Shining rolled his eyes. “Now, yesterday had extenuating circumstances, but you’re here today, and it’s time for inspection. Now, present yourself!”

Blueblood’s body slid and shifted against his will, his tiny strength being insufficient in the face of the Captain’s magic. Before long, he was propped up in a perfectly rigid stance, his eyes staring blankly ahead. Shining Armor looked his little charge over, shook his head in disapproval at his disheveled armor, and finally released his magic, sending the colt splaying out on the ground. “Disgraceful, Private. This armor is dirtied and damaged beyond repair.”

The colt started to pull himself back up, only to find himself being lifted up from behind once again. “Still, I guess there’s enough in the budget to get you another set. I will have it ready for you tomorrow morning.”

Blueblood’s eyes widened with surprise as his hooves were set back on the ground, gently this time. He slowly turned to the smiling Captain. “Y-You mean you aren’t planning to make me run another hundred laps? Or do push-ups until nightfall?”

Shining Armor chuckled for exactly two-point-six seconds at the colt’s accusation. “I’ll let it slide this time. But I expect you to take better care of this one, okay? Now, you’re dismissed. Go report for breakfast.”

The colt smiled, threw a salute, and then retreated, leaving Shining Armor and his newfound potential allies in the guard behind.

By the time the train rattled and rolled into the station, Rarity was already wide awake and almost hopping in place with anticipation.

Her entire life, she had dreamed of a moment such as this. Ever since her mother had first taught her how to sow, and she had learned about the fashion industry from the other dressmakers and tailors in Equestria, she had dreamed of being noticed and recognized for her talents by ponies as high up as Canterlot’s Royal Court itself. And even better, and despite her parents, teachers and friends constantly telling her that the one princess they knew about at the time never wore clothing, a filly could only dream of a single complimentary comment from somepony as majestic as her. And now, Princess Luna wanted her dresses!

The very moment the doors opened, she darted out onto the platform, boxes upon boxes of clothing and material floating behind her. Ponies from all around dodged for cover as the daydreaming mare pushed and shoved past them without a single care in the world, humming a merry tune. By the time she had made it onto the main streets, there was not a single thing that could ruin her day.

After all, today she was going to make a dream come true…

Despite his pained muscles and morning exhaustion, Blueblood seemed to have a small skip in his step as he made his way to the breakfast table. Not only had he managed to worm his way into the good graces of a hoof full of guards, but he also knew just the right course to take to get back to normal. All I have to do is be the opposite of who you were before! Oh, Princess Celestia will just love this plan!

Once he was a few steps away from his seat, Blueblood leaped up like a frog and landed butt-first on the cushion. Celestia herself was already seated across from him, an adult once again, and Luna was still in the middle of her morning paper. Both had cereal-filled bowls laying in front of them; the elder’s bowl was almost empty, while the latter seemed content to ignore the flakey bits of cornmeal. In any case, both adult ponies looked up in surprise at the sudden noise.

“Good morning, Your Highnesses!” the deposed royal chirped. “I trust that Equestria is still safe and stable this fine morning?”

The sheer exuberance in the colt’s voice was music to Celestia’s illustrious ears. She smiled in between bites of her cereal. “Good morning, nephew. I can promise you, Equestria’s destruction isn’t scheduled for today, so I think we’ll be fine another week. I take it you’re over yesterday’s…incident?”

To the surprise of both Alicorns, Blueblood’s grin only grew. “Why, yes! I now know exactly what I have to do!”

Luna nodded along, if only to keep Celestia’s suspicions to a minimum. “And what, exactly, are you figuring this time?”

“The problem lies with my upbringing! My parents instilled false values into my brain from birth, and I must do everything in my power to pull myself out of this pit they dug me in!”

And in that exact moment, Celestia’s elation deflated like a helium balloon. “Um…things like this aren’t…”

“Actually, I think it is a wonderful plan.” Luna rolled up her newspaper and set it down on the table. “And I do believe I can help you with this.”

Blueblood felt a small tug in his heart at Luna’s words. He gulped down the massive lump in his throat, coughed a bit in pain, and finally muttered an answer. “Wh-Why are you helping me now?”

Luna chuckled slightly, sending the colt even further into despair. “If this is about that oatmeal incident from a few days before, I apologize. Celestia and I have spoken since then, and I have promised to make sure you get all the help you need.” The mare hopped to her hooves. “I shall return momentarily with a complete list of instructions. Just follow what they say, and you will have proven yourself worthy in no time at all.”

Blueblood leaned back in his seat, his eyes never leaving Luna’s. Every synapse of his mind told him not to trust the Alicorn who had seemingly dedicated herself to ruining him completely. At the same time, however, any source of assistance could not be turned down easily. “W-Well…if it’s not too much trouble…”

No sooner had the first half-syllable left his lips than Luna departed, her hooves crackling like thunder against the castle’s marble floor. Celestia opened her mouth to correct her nephew, but before she could mutter a single word, her sister had returned, a parchment scroll levitating behind her. Only the fresh ink still settling on the material made it clear that the words within were written only just recently.

Luna smirked at her nephew’s total befuddlement. “And here you go, dear Blueblood. Take this scroll back to your quarters and study it well, for within it lays the key to your salvation.” Blueblood stared at the scroll stupefied, prompting a groan from the Moon Princess. “Just take it back to your room and read it. Everything will make sense once you do.”

Celestia, on the other hoof, just eyed her sister in suspicion. “Sister, surely you don’t think…”

Alas, her words of caution were soon drowned out by the squeals of a triumphant colt. With a tiny cry of victory, he grabbed the parchment and darted away. Once he was gone, Luna slowly sat back down and grinned evilly. “I knew he would take the easy way out.”

“Luna…what are you doing?” Celestia said with no small bit of a snarl.

The younger sister gasped in mock horror and placed a hoof over her heart. “Celestia! I am simply doing what you requested of me! How could you possibly doubt your little sister’s intentions?”

Before Celestia could whip out a verbal rebuttal, Luna’s face downshifted and melted into that of a sobbing puppy. The elder pony’s eyes watered as she stared into the deepest, cutest parts of her little sister’s face, stopping only when her own countenance threatened to reveal the turmoil spinning about within. “Very well. We shall speak of this later, but for the time being, please don’t disturb Blueblood. I think having some time to reflect will be good for him.”

Luna nodded. “Understood. I promise not to do anything to that little colt.” Not that I was going to do anything, anyway.

“I’m glad.” Celestia raised the bowl to her lips and slurped down the remaining milk, totally ignoring the disgusted attention of her sister. “Now, are you sure you can handle today? Perhaps I should at least handle the negotiations…”

Luna sighed. “Celestia, we agreed to this, remember? I manage the day every now and then, while you take over the night. Today is my first daytime court since…that time, and I promise I shall make it perfect. And what shall you be doing with your free time this morning?”

Celestia shrugged. “I have a few things planned. Nothing really important at the moment, though. Just remember that if you need anything, I’m one summons away.”

Luna nodded. “I shall remember that. Now, if you excuse me, I must finish breakfast. Our advisors have scheduled a morning meeting, and I must not keep them waiting.”

Celestia nodded in agreement, climbed back to her hooves, and slowly trotted away. Luna watched her leave, looked about to make sure nopony else was watching, and telekinetically lifted her spoon out of the bowl. The metal instrument tilted, sending the milk and flakes riding within back into the mixture below. Sighing, the Princess willed the spoon to the side, grabbed the bowl with both hooves, and lifted it up to her mouth. In one quick motion, the entire meal slid down Luna’s throat, draining the bowl completely save for a few stuck-on cereal pieces and dispensing a good deal of white liquid and soggy brown flakes onto Luna’s face and neck.

The Princess lowered the bowl, telekinetically summoned a towel, and began to wipe her countenance…

“A proper princess never slurps.”

Luna’s entire body froze in a panic. From somewhere deep down the hall, she could hear Celestia’s laughter slowly fade…

Luna arrived at the meeting room just as her advisors and visiting representatives entered. The group silently nodded at each other, the non-royals bowing towards their Princess as they did so, and then took their seats. As when Luna had last taken over Celestia’s daytime duties, Ruby Dream sat at attention, quill and parchment ready to take notes.

The Princess’s eyes scanned the room, taking in all of the ponies around her. Most of them were her usual advisors and appointees, including her Finance Minister, Foreign Affairs Secretary, and a hoofful of others. In addition were a few new faces, included a Colonel from the Equestrian military, a dignitary from Roam, and a teacher from Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It was already shaping up to be a nice, full day.

“Gentleponies, I thank you for your prompt attendance,” Luna said. “I understand that we all have other responsibilities today, and I do not wish to hold you here any longer than I have to.” Everypony nodded in acknowledgment. “Now Miss Dream, would you mind reading the notes from Princess Celestia’s meeting yesterday morning?”

Ruby nodded and pulled up one of the nearby piles of paper. “Let’s see… The Finance Minister finally gave his support for the annual budget, which Celestia then sent to your desk for approval. Hoofington petitioned for extended funding for their new concert hall, and has been placed under further review to verify the solvency of the investment. And representatives from Fillydelphia have reported that the flooding has subsided completely, food carts are making it back into the city, and most of the remaining Parasprites have been cleared out completely.”

She flipped a page. “After that, the meeting was excused early so she could prepare for…” The mare paused briefly before lying on the behalf of her bosses. “A very important meeting with an old associate.”

Everypony nodded and whispered acknowledgments towards the attendant. The mare, still unused to all the extra attention her new position brought with it, blushed and shrank into her forehooves. The noise only stopped when Luna tapped her hoof over the table, signaling a return to order. “Very well. I apologize for the abruptness yesterday, but alas, that meeting was…very important.” She sighed. “In any case, we have a lot of business to discuss, so shall we begin?”

The two guards at the front gate watched in stone silence as a single young mare came trotting up, several packages floating behind her. Fortunately, she managed to stop just in time to avoid their razor-sharp wings. “State your business.”

“Good morning, sirs,” said the newcomer. “My name is Rarity, and Princess Luna has graciously placed an order for a few dresses from my boutique in Ponyville. I believe she is expecting me?”

The guards looked at each other, their eyes full of suspicion, before turning back to the unicorn. Rarity’s nerves shook as ever-gnawing terror gradually spread through her central nervous system, but she still stood firm. After all, she had a job to do.

After almost five agonizing minutes, the guards nodded towards each other. The guard on the right spread his wings and took flight towards the main castle…

The Colonel pointed out the last few pages of his report. “And as you can see, enlistment numbers are up, so despite the low retention numbers, we still have more than enough ponies to keep up our standing forces.”

Luna nodded along as she sorted through the five hundred-page report. Even with just an ancillary glance, she could picture more than a few dozen ways to shave the entire thing down to about a hundred pages total; alas, adherence to her royal duties outweighed her desire to not spend three hours reading a report that would not deviate from the last five dozen she had glanced through since her return.

“Thank you, Colonel Thunderstruck.” She gave a quick nod of her head before floating up the next set of documents. “Now, I would like to concede the floor to Gilded Chest, our Financial Advisor, for a report on our country’s exports and…”

A loud knock emerged from the other side of the doorway. The echo bounced from one wall to the next, creating a deafening sound and causing nearly everypony in the room to jump in surprise. Luna in particular could feel the stars in her mane sizzle and frazzle as she almost chocked on her tongue. With a frustrated sneer, she growled, “Enter.”

After a few seconds, the door slowly creaked open, revealing one of the guards from the front gate. “Princess Luna, I apologize for the disturbance, but there is a pony outside waiting for you. She says she’s from...Ponyville, I believe.”

Luna’s ears perked up at the name, prompting a conniving smile to spread across her lips. “Very well. Have her escorted to my chambers at once. I will attend to her once our business here is concluded.”

The guard bowed and turned around, the door slamming loudly behind him. After a few seconds of silently cursing the very concept of acoustics, Luna shuffled the papers yet again and turned back to her advisors and guests. “My apologizes for the interruption, gentleponies. Now, we were discussing our economic situation, correct?”

Luna was astonished by Rarity’s speed and professionalism. By the time she had finished her meeting, sent Ruby Dream to prepare for the court, and returned to her chambers, the dressmaker had managed to pull mirrors into position, levitate dress boxes into place for easy retrieval, float her pincushion to her side, and even position the window blinds to give just the right amount of light for their purposes. And all this without so much as a simple prompt. After so many fashion shows and modeling jobs, these preparations came to the Unicorn as easily as breathing.

Rarity popped open the first box just as Luna reached her spot in front of the full-body mirror. “You know, so few ponies even have mirrors like those anymore. I had to order my own through a catalog, and Celestia knows our mailmare has a tendency to misplace packages from time to time.” Her mood darkened. “It’s been five months, and I’m still waiting for that new bedpost.”

Luna smiled and rolled her eyes. The mirror was one of the few things from that prank that she was willing to keep. It was definitely an improvement over the ones in the bathroom, and she still couldn’t get over how wonderful being able to swivel something around was. When she was donating the costumes, she just couldn’t bear to…

No, Luna! Focus on the task at hoof!

“So…how go things in Ponyville?”

Rarity hemmed and hawed as she levitated out an onyx-colored saddle with purple fringes. “Oh, nothing too out of the usual. Twilight and Rainbow Dash have been busying themselves with organizing the start of winter, especially after all the disastrous ones we’ve had the last few years.” She gave a little laugh as she adjusted the straps. “Now, tell me what you think. And please, don’t hold back. I want the honest truth.”

Luna sighed and took a sideways glance in Rarity’s direction. The poor Unicorn’s face was twisted into a heaving pile of worry and anguish. Her upper lip seemed determined to devour her entire chin, her eyes were practically exploding from her head, and her mane seemed to flatten from the sheer amount of perspiration her stress was producing. Any sign of disapproval, no matter how small, would almost certainly end with Rarity collapsing into a well of despair and self-loathing that she may never pull herself out from again.

Sighing, the Princess began the time-honored political tradition of twisting the truth until it resembled a pretzel caught in a fifteen-cart pile-up. “It’s perfectly fine, Miss Rarity. I have not worn a saddle in a long time, but I believe this will do nicely when I next require one.”

Rarity’s mood perked back up almost immediately. Her voice seemed to perk up a few octaves as she levitated the saddle off and began floating over the next outfit: a cloak. “Now, this one is more formal, something built for a state function or dinner.”

“Like the Grand Galloping Gala?”

The minute the words struck Rarity, a tiny nerve under her eye twitched like it had just been injected with pure caffeine. It quivered for a few moments, as if trying to discharge Rarity’s entire eyeball, before falling still once again. “Why, yes! Surely somepony with your grace and poise would become the ‘Belle of the Ball’ with such a wonderful ensemble!”

The telekinetically-held garment gradually draped itself across Luna’s backside before tying the ends around the Alicorn’s royal neck. The outfit itself was made of purple silk, making it hardly fit for actual protection from the cold, and yet fashionable enough to become part of any number of outfits that matched the color scheme. The hem was embroidered with a gold silk, with several small, red gemstones cut and fashioned across the length of the border. Luna smiled. “It looks lovely, Miss Rarity. You have done a most excellent job with this order.”

Rarity’s joy doubled in magnitude yet again. She had come expecting to be shot down, and the Princess was truly loving her work! “T-Thank you! Princess Luna, you don’t know how much this means to me! Why, I haven’t had so much fun designing a dress since…”

The mare froze, her face contorting slightly from frustration as she held her tongue. Luna, however, knew exactly where to strike. “Since the Gala?”

“Y-Yes…” Rarity squinted her eyes and focused her attention on the ground, all in a desperate bid to keep the Princess from seeing how upset she truly was with that memory. “I took great care in designing outfits for my friends and I, all so we could look our best as we lived our greatest night ever, and what happened? Twilight never got to speak to Princess Celestia, Applejack wasted thousands of bits worth of apples, Fluttershy wrote a letter of apology to every animal in the garden, Pinkie Pie got a very ugly letter from some cousin of hers, Rainbow Dash was banned from all Wonderbolts shows for six months, and…” Her fur seemed to darken as her own humiliation came back to the forefront of her mind. “That nephew of yours behaved like a common brigand and ruined my entire night.”

“And that made you angry?”

The grinding of Rarity’s teeth was answer enough. Luna smirked, her plan coming ever closer to fruition. “I can understand your frustration with Blueblood. Perhaps, if you run into him again, you could have a hoof in straightening him out?”

Rarity said nothing, instead opting to slowly raise her eyes until she could just barely catch Luna’s. There was no need to say anything. “Very well. Now, shall we continue? I cannot wait to see more of these wonderful outfits you designed.”

When he had awoken that morning, Blueblood had assumed that everything was going to be hard work today. After all, he had to itemize and quantify every single characteristic about himself before he could figure out how to invert those qualities into something his aunt would find worthwhile. And now, thanks to Luna’s sudden change of heart, he was in possession of all the answers. Once again, he could avoid some of the messier aspects of work and rise to the occasion.

Now, all he had to do was just follow this checklist.

Alright, let’s start from the top.

He traced his hoof across the first line on his list: “Realize that the ancient traditions you were taught are no longer valid.” I think I already did that.

Step two: “Attempt to eat foods not grown specifically for ponies of your station.” Like that slop from the Gala? I…think I shall do that later.

Step three: “Acknowledge your faults.” I did that. I acknowledged that everything was my parent’s fault. If they hadn’t done what they did…

Step four: “Treat ponies with respect.” But respect should be earned, so…

The colt moaned and slammed his head into the desk. So far, everything on his list seemed to be in perfect order. He had already done everything he would have done…

Wait.

The colt growled and slammed his head up and down repeatedly. I’m still thinking like myself! I can’t do that! I can’t just…assign blame and pass the responsibility to somepony else! I…

He was officially stuck.

Moaning in defeat, the colt slunk down, sliding all the way out of his seat until he was just a mass of white fur and a horn on the floor. It doesn’t matter what I do. I just…don’t know how to do any of these things. I can’t stop being Prince Blueblood!

Growling, the colt held his head between both forehooves. “I…I can’t not be myself!”

Rarity floated the last dress back into the box and set it aside, all while Luna stretched her limbs and began to relax. Once the garment was safely put away, the dressmaker floated every one of her creations onto Luna’s dresser, just barely avoiding a few tiny caramelized apple stains. “I…take it these are all to your liking?”

Luna turned to Rarity and smiled. A shiver ran up the length of the Unicorn’s spine, but she still stayed silent. “Very much so. I apologize if I disrupted any of your regular business with such a demanding order…”

Rarity waved both forehooves in a frantic fashion. “Oh, there was no trouble at all! After all, I am a resident of Equestria, and it is my duty…I mean, privilege…oh, that’s not right. It’s…an honor to work with the royal household, that’s all. I never imagined that I…I mean…”

“It is quite all right.” Luna’s reassurances could not have been timed better; Rarity was within moments of having a Twilight Sparkle-inspired aneurysm. “Now, how much are you asking for these garments?”

Rarity smiled, even as her brain continued to spark and crackle in terror. “Oh, never you mind! Consider them a gift!”

Luna sighed and closed her eyes before trotting over to her dresser. Her magic clung onto one of the drawer handles and pulled it open, revealing, amongst other things, a coin pouch. “I insist on paying, Miss Rarity.” The pouch levitated out of the drawer and opened, revealing a good number of bits. Rarity barely fought off the urge to flip out over the sheer amount of money within.

Out the corner of her eye, Luna saw her guest’s face light up. Perfect. “Actually, if you were interested in making some more bits, I do have another request.”

The dressmaker’s eyes doubled, no, tripled in size at the proposal. “Do you even have to ask? Of course I’d love to!” There was a brief pause as she realized what she had just said, followed by the inevitable panic and desire to save face. “I mean…it’s not about the bits, but…I do love you- I mean, working with you, and…”

A single, glittering horseshoe came down and touched the Unicorn on the nose. Rarity broke from her blind rambling and looked up at the smiling Princess Luna. Her entire face turned beet red as she pulled away. “M-My apologies, Princess Luna. I just…”

“I understand completely,” said Luna. “Still, if it is not too much trouble, would you mind staying a few hours more and tailor another outfit? I want it to be a special gift.”

Once again, Rarity was struck speechless. All she could do was mutter some inarticulate squeaks and nod her head like a foal that had just discovered sugar. Luna just kept on smiling and gave Rarity a little pat on the head in acknowledgment of her service. “I am glad you agree. Now, I must know, how good are you with suits?”

In an instant, the mare was out of her euphoria zone and back in cold, hard Equestria. The light in her eyes dimmed as she shook the foam off her lips. “A suit? As in, for a stallion?”

That would technically be the truth. “It is actually for a colt, a young member of the royal household. He has been having some difficulties lately, and I wanted to surprise him with a new set of clothes. He has…always had an interest in formal gatherings, you understand, and my sister and I agreed that he should have a suit of his own for the next time he attends.”

Rarity tapped her chin, her eyes narrowing and lips curling into a small pout. “Well, I mostly specialize in dresses and mare’s clothing, but…I have tailored a suit from time to time. Never one for a colt, mind you, but it shouldn’t be too different from a filly.” Her eyes widened. “B-But I don’t have all of my supplies! I brought the pins and tape in case we needed to make adjustments, but…”

“Down in on the first floor of the castle, away from where most of our guests visit, there is a small clothing shop. It is closed for the weekend, but I shall order the guards to allow you entry. Inside should be everything you need.”

Rarity grinned. “My goodness, you’ve truly thought of everything.”

Luna’s face suddenly became far more stern. “Now, I must be honest with you. He is a difficult foal, and I would not be saddened if you had to discipline him to keep him still.”

Rarity sighed. “Well…that does make things more troublesome. But still, I am always at the service of my Princesses, and if this is what you ask, then so be it. Just tell me where I can find him, and I’ll get to work right away.”

Luna’s frown turned back into a smile. “I knew I could rely on you. He is currently residing in the Castle. I will have one of the guards escort you to his quarters.”

Okay, let’s go over this again…

Blueblood’s pint-sized hooves scrapped across the floor as he paced from one side of the room to the other. Despite his low height and light weight, the constant clopping was enough to start making a groove in the floor. His brow rustled with ever-growing frustration. I know I have to do the opposite of what made me the pony I used to be. But how do I get to that point? Changing a pony’s personality is so…

His hooves skidded to a halt. Wait, that’s it! I shouldn’t be focusing on my mind right now! All I have to do is change my body! If I was the most attractive pony in Celestia’s court, then I must make myself as ugly as possible! A few boxes of donuts, and I shall…

His incredibly pointless (and stupid) plotting came to a complete halt as he heard a loud knock on his door. Slowly, the colt pulled himself towards the door, only for the entire thing to come crashing open on its own. Screaming in surprise, Blueblood hopped into the air, flailed about in total defiance of gravity for about five seconds, and then finally galloped onto his bed faster than a tiger chasing a frightened rabbit.

“He~llo!”

Blueblood’s ears turned into little spikes. He knew that voice…

And then he saw the Unicorn enter, some sewing supplies floating behind her. “Forgive me for intruding like this, but Princess Luna wanted…me…to…”

Rarity’s jaw went slack as she saw just who was staring back at her…

For approximately fifteen seconds, any and all motion and thought ceased in that tiny chamber. Blueblood could only feel cold terror coarse its way down his spine as he stared at the pony he had offended so many months ago, while seeing the colt served to reopen all of Rarity’s old wounds about that...event. Even the dust mites knew better than to scuttle about at that moment.

Neither pony dared to make the first move, if only to keep up what little advantage they had over their rival. It wasn’t until Blueblood gave a small cough that Rarity finally said something. “So…you’re still a colt?”

Blueblood gave a slow nod. “Y-Yes.”

At this point, Rarity knew she had two ways she could react. The first was to give the colt the benefit of the doubt, perhaps even forgive him a little for what happened. After all, his only crime was utterly ruining a night she had planned down to the finest detail for months, tearing her idealism and dreams of romance to shreds like Opalescence claws the couch, and then ruining a dress she had spent Celestia-knows-how-many bits designing with a cake Applejack made after he insulted her friend’s cooking and made a complete flank of himself and humiliated her in front of the most important ponies in all of Equestria AND THEN TRIED TO ASSAULT PRINCESS CELESTIA AND GOT TWILIGHT TURNED INTO A FILLY AND-

And thus, Rarity went with the second choice: vengeful gloating.

She narrowed her eyes and took a few deliberately slow steps forward. “Well, I can’t say I’m particularly unhappy to see you like this. After the way you treated my friends and I, there is just no sympathy left in me for you.”

Blueblood sighed. “I know.”

Rarity glanced about the room, shaking her head disapprovingly at its untidiness. “And you certainly earned a room like this. No more grand mansions and estates in your future, correct?”

“I guess not.” Blueblood’s head sank even lower.

The mare smiled and scoffed, practically relishing her “victory” over the oafish Prince Blueblood. Nonetheless, she had a job to do, and the sooner it was done, the sooner she could report this happy development to her friends. “Now, despite your demotion in status, Princess Luna has requested that I make you a….fashionable new suit. And I can hardly turn down a royal request, now can I?” She floated up her measuring tape, scissors and pincushion. She especially took her time floating the mass of needles in front of Blueblood’s face. “Now, shall we begin?”

Luna’s hoof traced its way from one end of the parchment to the next, if only to guide her understanding of the whole situation. “And you say the orange tree’s branches extend onto your property.”

An olive Earth pony with a bandaged head stepped forward. “Yes, Your Highness.”

The Princess nodded and turned to the other pony in this case, a teal Unicorn. “And it was about five days ago that you cut off the branch that landed on your neighbor’s head?”

“Absolutely,” said the Unicorn. “He was taking oranges off of my tree…”

“Those oranges were clearly on my property!”

“If you wanted oranges so badly, you should have gone to the market and bought some!”

“And you should have looked before you started chopping like a maniac!”

The pointless arguing would have continued for days had Luna not stomped her hoof at that instant. Both ponies immediately turned about to face their Princess, their heads hung in embarrassment. “Given what I have seen and heard here, there is clearly something going on that stems deeper than some oranges and head trauma. I cannot find any standing to overturn the Civil Court’s ruling on this case, but I would advise you to find a better place to mediate your concerns than at the Royal Court. We have a very full schedule and cannot be expected to handle every minor dispute that happens in Equestria.” She smiled, her grin growing more and more sincere with every chance she had to practice. “Have a good day, sirs. And please, refrain from hurting each other in the future.”

The two ponies grumbled and walked away, but even from her/her sister’s throne, Luna could make out the possible beginning of some kind of reconciliation. Hopefully, they would get the mediation they really needed, and would stop blaming each other. Besides, it was the teal one’s fault anyway. When will ponies learn not to absent-mindedly cut down tree branches?

Still, today had been a very productive day. She had already recorded five new issues for Celestia to discuss that night, blessed a marriage, took in some suggestions from the farmers outside of Canterlot, and even got a few petitioners that just wanted to bask in one of the Princesses’ glory. By this point, Rarity breaking Blueblood would just be the cherry topping of a perfect day.

There was still one thing plaguing her mind, though.

Just what is Celestia doing?

Toola-Roola, art teacher at the Canterlot Community College, blew the bangs out of her eyes and trotted up to a violet stallion’s painting. After a few glances back-and-forth between the canvas and the fruit bowl. “Very good, Arrowhead, but you need to touch up on your orange. Your strokes are bleeding over into the papaya fruits.”

The stallion nodded and smiled. “I will, Mrs. Roola.”

Smiling, the teacher walked over to the next student, a pink filly. Again, she examined her pupil’s painting before passing damning judgment. “Remember to wash your brush between strokes. The last time I checked, it’s a bad sign when bananas have purple spots.”

The filly grinned the grinniest of grins. “Gotcha, Missus Roola!”

And at long last, Toola-Roola reached her most troublesome student. She heaved a labored, tortured sigh as she approached the paint-covered Princess Celestia. Her eyes came close to watering as she bore witness to the most heinous insult to fruit bowl painting since that time her little sister hoofpainted over her Harvest Festival entry. Even worse, however, was that…smile her Princess gave, even when she was utterly failing at a task. “Well? What do you think?”

Toola-Roola’s brain stretched and folded in upon itself as it tried desperately to find some sort of positive compliment for Celestia’s…interesting painting. She had never seen rectangular bananas, or polka-dot pears, or a bunch of grapes shaped into something the size of a grapefruit. “It’s…well…a unique…composition.”

Celestia’s face fell. “You mean it’s terrible, right?”

The Princess’ moody disposition set off the self-preservation protocols in Toola-Roola’s brain. In this case, it was the one designed to keep ponies from being banished or executed for daring to offend their Sun Princess. “N-No…of course not! It just…needs…work.” Her temples felt like tiny hammers were trying to break through from inside. “A lot…of work.”

The entire classroom became silent, save for the scuffling of hind quarters as ponies tried to get away from the soon-to-be-angry Princess Celestia. The royal mare herself felt her cheeks blush from the humiliation of it all. “I appreciate your desire to placate my feelings, but I am not a foal that needs her hoof held. If I am making a mistake, please let me know.”

“B-But…”

“That is a royal command, Toola-Roola.” Celestia levitated her paintbrush and pointed towards the rectangular yellow fruit. “I think I captured the essence of the banana quite well. How about you?”

“Erm…well…” Toola-Roola closed her eyes and coughed up the one possible answer she could give. “It’s…terrible, Your Highness. Just…terrible.”

Everypony in attendance gasped in horror. A few savvy adults even dived for cover, just in case the Princess brought the entire sun down on their heads. Toola-Roola herself could barely muster the strength to keep her bladder from releasing. The oncoming doom seemed inevitable…

Then Celestia smiled. “Very well, then. I never had my sister’s artistic talents, as anypony in the Astronomy Guild could tell you. Perhaps I need to work with pencils again and work my way back up to oil-based paints. Would that be all right?”

“Actually…” Toola-Roola cleared her throat. “Perhaps you should…well, start with…crayons and colored pencils again?”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the trembling pony before her. “I suppose you’re right. I have been over a thousand years out of practice, after all.” And at least I got a picture for Luna out of the class.

Rarity stretched the tape across Blueblood’s back, reaching from his withers to the back of his loin area. “So, what does Princess Celestia do with you all day? Make you clean tables, perhaps? Or how about scrubbing the kitchen floors until they sparkle?”

“Actually, she has me attending school,” Blueblood muttered. “Magic Kindergarten, to be exact.”

The tape flipped about in the air and rolled around the colt’s barrel. “Hmmm…Never heard of school being used like a prison before. I mean, it always did seem that way when we were foals, but…” She sighed. “Still, I suppose Princess Celestia knows what she’s doing. And just how long does she plan to keep you in there?”

Blueblood’s left ear twitched as Rarity looked over his flanks, her mind going over whether or not coattails would work. “I have no idea. All she said is that I have to prove myself worthy of a second chance before she returns me to normal.”

“You would think that she would give you more explicit instructions, being a princess and all.” Rarity looked at her figures, tsked at the findings, and jotted her measurements onto a notepad. “I think I remember why foals are always so much trouble. The proportions are always lopsided.”

Blueblood’s eyes widened in surprise. “L-Lopsided? You mean, that’s different from a grown pony, right?”

“In quite a few cases, yes.” Rarity’s pencil jotted along the page, making adjustments to the design as needed. “It’s just a part of growing up.”

“So…I was perfectly symmetrical at the Gala, correct?”

Rarity sighed. Why does everything today have to relate to that…event? “I suppose so. You were the most eligible bachelor in Equestria, after all.” She smiled wickedly. “Although, I doubt the mares will be lining up to get their hooves on you now.”

Unfortunately for Rarity, her attempt at insulting Blueblood fell on deaf ears. The colt leaped into the air with a loud “YI-PEE!” then crashed back to the hard floor with a big, goofy smile on his face. The mare backpedaled in shock from the sudden explosion of exuberant joy, her magic dropping the pad and pencil as she did so. “B-Blueblood?”

“This is perfect!” the colt exclaimed. “I was worrying so much about being the opposite of who I used to be that I never realized I was already halfway there!”

Rarity cocked an eyebrow at this. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind letting somepony else in on this little…joke of yours?”

“Oh, right. You weren’t here yesterday.” Blueblood spun around and looked up to Rarity. “I finally figured it out last night. All I had to do was act in the exact opposite way from how I behaved as an adult.”

Now Rarity was even more lost than ever. Blueblood’s train of logic was even more confusing than that time Pinkie tried to explain how donuts worked. (It apparently involved elves.) “Um…this is…interesting, but I have everything I need here. Now, perhaps you could show me the castle’s tailoring shop is? I really must get to work on this.”

The Griffin Ambassador simply sat and stared at Luna, his beady little eyes never once leaving hers. The only time he moved his head was to pick at the unsettling meal he had been given: a few rats, skewered and cooked by his own attendants because nopony on the castle’s kitchen staff wanted to touch them. It was a miracle Ruby Dream didn’t pass out on sight.

The Moon Princess just picked at her own salad bowl, trying her best to fight back the anxiety welling up inside her. It wasn’t so much the blood meal that disturbed her; rather, it was just the feeling she got from his eyes. It reminded her of being a small filly, strapped to an oaken table while the Griffin King tried to make her his next meal.

The Ambassador slurped down a tail, swallowed loudly, and spoke in a gruff, almost unnatural voice. “Princess Luna, the agreement the Trade Ministry is proposing is perfectly fair. We are importing more than enough corn and barley to feed our subjects. And besides…” He picked at once of his rats, tearing out its underbelly and a few pieces of intestine. “We find the food ponies are accustomed to…rather tasteless.”

The dam finally broke. Ruby, half the guards, and nearly all of the other ponies in attendance reached for their buckets (which Luna had installed in the room just for such a meeting) and quickly expelled their lunches, parts of their breakfasts, and a few other meals they couldn’t even remember. Princess Luna just grimaced, doing the best to keep the meeting flowing as smoothly as possible. “Ambassador, we need this agreement so we can import wheat from our other neighbors. We lost a substantial portion of our crops during the Parasprite Infestation, and we cannot allow our subjects to starve because some hatchlings didn’t like their creamed corn.”

The Ambassador sneered, then tore off another chunk of roasted guts. Fortunately, it was met with a slightly smaller wave of revulsion this time around. “I understand if this is difficult for a bunch of plant-lovers like you to understand, but my kind prefer their meat to any fruit or vegetable you can provide. Now, if you were to, say, reconsider our offer to take your dead off of your…hooves…”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

Luna’s hooves crashed onto the table, sending shockwaves in every direction. The Ambassador leaned back in shock, but never lost his smug little grin. “Princess Celestia rejected that…barbaric notion of yours, and I will not overturn her decision just to get a few more bits.”

“We would offer much more than a ‘few’ bits,” the Ambassador said. “Still, the griffins need meat. Our own hunting grounds are running low, our lakes are overfished, and there is just not enough to go around. Now, you obviously have too many ponies of your own; otherwise, you would not need to deal with these negotiations. All we are doing is giving you a chance to offload some of your dead and…less desirables. And if you will not take us up on this offer, we may have to start looking at more…aggressive measures.”

Luna slowly sunk back into her seat, her face returning to a neutral position. “You speak of war, do you not? If we do not give you our deceased, the Griffins will actually try to invade?”

The Ambassador shrugged. “That’s up to the High Council. From what I’ve heard, however, they will be more than willing to construe a disagreement on your part as a sign of defiance. And we all know who…would…”

The Ambassador’s gloating session came to a halt as he heard a noise he had not been expecting come from the Princess. He had come to this meeting to impose his nation’s demands on their neighbor’s government, to make the Princesses quake in fear. Instead, all he heard coming from Luna was…laughter. The dark blue Alicorn was giggling like a schoolfilly, in spite of a possible war.

“I…fail to see the humor in this.”

The Princess let out a few more laughs, along with a rather undignified snort, before she could regain enough composure to answer the bewildered Ambassador. “My apologies, but…are you seriously considering going to war against Equestria?”

“If you think you and your sister can intimidate our country, then you are sorely…”

Luna leaned forward slightly, her hooves returning to the table’s surface. “My friend, surely your schools still teaches what happened to Opinicus?”

The Ambassador’s claw dropped the rat stick as tiny pieces of entrails fell from his beak. His eyes almost sank back completely into his skull, while the furry tip of his tail went fluffy with shock. “I…I don’t know what…”

“Forgive me, I did not realize how much of their own past griffins have forgotten in the last millennium.” Luna’s voice dripped with sarcasm and no small amount of loathing. “A few thousand years ago, Opinicus was the ruler of the Griffin Kingdom, the latest of a thousand-year dynasty. He had conquered many of the pony tribes long ago, and the ones that were not enslaved were served as food in his court. Do you know what happened to him?”

“Of course I know!” snapped the Ambassador. “A volcanic eruption destroyed the capital city, causing the entire kingdom to collapse!”

Luna shook her head, an evil smile curled across her lips. “That was not what happened at all. You see, Opinicus learned that my sister and I existed when we tried to help the remaining tribes migrate to safer lands. He thought we would launch a resistance against his rule, so he decided to stop Celestia by kidnapping and serving me as a lunch. Celestia found out.”

The Ambassador’s feathers gradually frilled, until he resembled an angry porcupine more than a half-eagle, half-lion creature. His accompanying staff did much of the same thing. “When my elder sister learned what Opinicus was doing, she became quite upset. And by that time, she had become quite a proficient magic user, so she did the one thing she could do. She marched through the capital, her entire body wreathed in flame, until she reached the palace gates. She demanded that I be released, but Opinicus made the stupid mistake of saying ‘No.’ That was when it happened.”

“Wh-When what happened?”

“When she broke the front gates down, stormed into the dining room, freed me, and then…dethroned Opinicus. Unfortunately, in her rage she forgot to keep her power in check; her power had subconsciously destroyed every weapon, burned down every storehouse, and unlocked every pony’s cages and chains, all without taking a single life. By the time she was done, the Griffin Kingdom was utterly broken.”

The Ambassador felt a twinge of fear at the…thing sitting across from him, but his griffin pride and disbelief of this whole story finally steeled his nerves enough to slam one closed claw on the table. “Listen, you pompous brat! Do you think you can intimidate us into…”

“Oh, you misunderstand me,” Luna gasped. “I was not trying to scare you into an agreement. I am perfectly willing to negotiate for a contract both our nations can agree to. I just thought you should know that Opinicus’ downfall was caused when he tried to hurt Celestia’s little sister. She might not have the free reign she once had now that she is a princess, but she sees all her subjects as her kin. If you wage war, not only will you be endangering her little ponies, but you will have given her a legal opportunity to act.”

The loudest gulp ever heard in Equestria emerged from the griffin’s throat. Luna’s smile only grew as she pulled out and unfurled a large piece of parchment. “Now, given the current market rate, I believe that…”

Nestled in the far corner of Canterlot Castle’s ground floor was the Royal Tailoring and Dressmaking Shop. Despite the name, however, it was far from a general clothing store. The business was opened to suit the needs of everypony but the ones that actually owned the castle, as Princess Celestia generally had little need for clothes and Luna’s arrival had changed that little. Their primary tasks involved repairing dresses and suits before events such as the Grand Galloping Gala and the Canterlot Garden Party, as well as tending to the non-armor needs of guardponies who could not afford to shop elsewhere on their salary.

Today, however, they had a new purpose.

The shop was deserted as Rarity and Blueblood entered; the shop was only opened on weekends before big events, and even then with only a limited staff. Rarity grimaced as she looked over the supplies, machines, and other tools at her disposal. “You would think somepony working for the royal houses would have a better shop than this.”

Blueblood shrugged. “I almost never set hoof in here. I always hired my own private tailors.”

“Oh, well!” Rarity’s mood suddenly perked back up. Her horn glowed, followed by a chain radiating in the dark. One pull later, and the overhead lamps were turned on, bathing the cluttered mess of a shop in a bright sea of light. The Unicorn trotted over to the nearest sewing machine, her magic causing the machine to spring to life. “I should have this suit done in a couple of hours. Why don’t you just…sit over there and wait, or whatever it is colts do.”

Blueblood opened his mouth to give some kind of protest, but it did not take long for him to realize the pointlessness of such an action. Sighing, he trotted over to the corner and laid down, his hoof reaching for a box of crackers that had been thoughtfully left by one of the actual staff.

Ruby struggled to keep pace with Luna’s hoofsteps, especially in the narrow corridor where her wings couldn’t extend without whapping somepony. “And that’s the end of your meetings for tomorrow. Are you sure we aren’t at war?”

“Positive,” Luna said. “The deal we came to was perfectly fair for both nations, and hopefully we have put an end to their demands for our corpses. They were simply playing politics, nothing more. Now, what do I have scheduled next?”

Ruby turned her head towards her open saddlebag, just barely making out the next part of the schedule on the clipboard. “It seems you have some open time before your meeting with the Astronomy Guild. Shall I go ahead and begin preparations?”

Luna nodded. “Very well. I must say, you are adjusting to this quite well. When we first began working together, you could barely give a straight sentence.”

Ruby’s cheeks turned a deep crimson, even against her already red coat. “Well, that was a rather sudden promotion, and…” She snapped back to reality just as they reached the entrance to the room where the meeting would be held. “With your leave, Princess.”

Luna smiled at her attendant. “Make sure everything is perfect. I shall be retiring to my chambers to read over some of the new reports. Inform me when the hall is fully ready.”

Rarity nodded as she floated over another bolt of black cloth. Blueblood simply looked over the designs on the floor, all while munching down on some crackers. The entire room swam in a mixture of barely-contained tension and the sound of mechanical needles plunging into fabric.

Finally, Blueblood spoke up. “Miss Rarity, about the Gala…”

Rarity froze for a half-second before returning to her snipping and measuring, her eyes never leaving her work station. “If you’re planning on apologizing about that night’s…misadventure, I would appreciate it if you would just drop the subject.”

Blueblood winced. Even his foal brain was able to pick up on the sheer amounts of concentrated bile radiating from every word Rarity said. His ears flattened as he returned to his crackers and drawings. “I…I know my behavior was unjustifiable. Nopony should ever be treated in such a crass manner, regardless of social standing.” He winced again as the fabric shifted ever-so-slightly to the right, followed by a hair suddenly springing out of place on the back of Rarity’s mane. “I was just…raised to behave that way.”

“You mean, your parents actually told you that acting like a ruffian was how a prince should be?” Rarity scoffed at the very notion. “I know that if I ever acted in such a way, my father would have at the very least grounded me for a month.”

Blueblood jumped to his hooves and walked up closer to Rarity, making sure he stayed outside of bucking range. “I wouldn’t use the same terms, but yes. My parents were very much members of Canterlot’s gilded elite. In order to keep such ranks, a pony has to ensure that the ponies beneath them know their place in the order of things.” He fell back on his haunches. “I will admit, you were ravishing in that dress. That’s why I was interested in keeping your company. But at the same time, you weren’t of the same class. You weren’t a princess from some neighboring kingdom, or even a duchess for that matter. Sadly, that was about as low as the acceptability scale would go.”

It was fortunate Blueblood could not see Rarity’s eyes that that moment, for he would have most likely melted into a pool of white-and-gold liquid at the sheer amount of hate radiating from her eyes. Nonetheless, the dressmaker continued on, her generous nature fighting off the urge to strangle Blueblood within an inch of his life. “Well, it’s so lovely that your parents itemized everypony’s rank. I’m certain that’s absolutely vital.”

“For a while, I thought it was.” Blueblood lowered his head. “And then this happened. I’ve had time to think, to take a look at the pony I used to be and…well, I realized I wasn’t exactly the wonderful stallion I thought I was. In fact, I…I was a monster. And…I wanted to apologize.”

“Tut tut!” Rarity tsked. “I told you, there is nothing to apologize over.” She pulled the first layer of the suit out of the sewing machine and floated over the next piece of cloth to the table for cutting. “Besides, it’s already far too late for that. The Gala is already over, my best night ever never came to be, and you apparently wanted to burn our village down because you were a crass, brutish, undignified cretin!”

The scissors suddenly slid off the straight line Rarity had previous marked until she had snipped a wavy line in the material itself. The mare sighed, snipped off the ruined piece, and quickly began to measure out a new piece. Blueblood, meanwhile, hunched closer to the ground, a few tiny tears forming along his eyes. “Oh, forgive me! I thought I was all over that night, but…”

Blueblood sniffed and wiped his eyes dry. “I understand. You have every right to hate me. You must have really wanted to spend the night with me.”

Rarity nodded, her magic opening and closing the scissors in a slow, consistent pattern. Measure twice and cut once, after all. “That would be an understatement. You were the stallion of my dreams, after all. The only reason I wanted to attend the Gala was to get close to you.”

Despite his desperate situation, Blueblood gave a small chuckle. “I can see why. A pony of your grace and wit must have known everything there is about me before you attended. My likes and dislikes, how I loved my toast butter-side down, and all that.”

Rarity’s cutting slowed to a snail’s pace as her eyes rolled towards the colt. “I…Of course I knew all that.”

Blueblood stood and turned around, not daring to show his face to the mare he had wronged. “I admit, I once thought you only wanted my attention because of the tabloids and not myself. But now I know it was just me trying to justify treating you like garbage. Nopony that could save Equestria twice over would be attracted to me just because I was a prince.”

The snipping of Rarity’s scissors ceased entirely as the front locks of her mane began to frazzle. “Wh-Why…of course I would never do such…such a thing…”

“It’s not like it matters or anything,” Blueblood said in a low, defeated tone. “I’m never going to be able to make it up to you. At this rate, I shall be stuck as a stupid colt for the rest of my life. How does one act in an opposite way from how they usually behave?”

Sensing that she was off the hook at the moment, Rarity looked back down at her design, double-checked her cutting figures, and finally resumed cutting and sewing the suit. As much as she wanted to avoid answering the colt’s question, however, her mind just could not let it go. “You know, I think you’re thinking about this the wrong way. A leopard can’t change his spots, after all.”

Blueblood looked back up at the mare, his eyes wide with despair. “Y-You mean I’ll be stuck as a horrible, village-burning monster forever?”

“Well…no,” Rarity said. “What I mean is, instead of radically changing who you are, just start making adjustments to your life. Perhaps, instead of rejecting my friend’s apple products as slop, you actually give them an honest try and accept them for what they are. Or, perhaps you use your connections and political savvy to actually do some good for somepony, rather than just advance yourself in the social stratosphere.”

“But that’s not going to get me back to normal!” Blueblood whined. “I have to do something quick and soon!”

With a quick tug, Rarity pulled the other layer of the suit’s jacket from the machine. “Then why are you in such a hurry? If the Princess is really trying to make you a better pony, then perhaps you should take things more slowly. Canterlot wasn’t built in a day.”

The room fell silent once again, save for the frustrated moans of Blueblood. The colt sank down on the floor once again, his eyes half-closed in a vain attempt to hold back the severe pain all this thinking was causing. “I…suppose so. But I really cannot stay like this for much longer. I’m an adult. I haven’t been locked in my room and harassed by bullies daily since I finished boarding school.” He let out a mournful sigh. “At least I know you are a trustworthy, honorable…”

“ALRIGHT, I’M GUILTY!”

The sudden outburst sent Blueblood galloping under a nearby chair for cover, his tiny frame barely fitting in the mess of supports and legs. Rarity’s once-pristine eyes were now bloodshot with self-inflicted rage, her very lips trembling from the frustration of it all. She didn’t even turn to face Blueblood fully, instead opting to just give him a side view of her disheveled face. “I knew nothing about you! NOTHING! All I heard was that Princess Celestia had a gorgeous nephew that I had to meet!”

Blueblood’s face went white(r). “Y-You mean…you were the same as…”

“I always wanted to live in Canterlot, ever since I was a filly.” Rarity choked back a few guilt-ridden sobs. “Ever since my mom taught me how to sew, I’ve dreamed of being able to design clothes for the greatest ponies in all of Equestria! A-And I just…wanted to get closer to her! I…I…” The mare collapsed to the ground, her eyes overflowing with salty tears. “I just wanted a prince charming!”

One part of Blueblood wanted to roll his eyes at the spectacle. He had seen similar reactions, especially during the Great Romance Novel Plague that once threatened to swallow the entire court in a sea of sappiness and melodrama. Even Cadance had caught the bug, begging Blueblood to read her stories she had snuck out of Princess Celestia’s room. Fortunately, neither one was old enough to understand everything that was going on, or why the adults were hugging each other in funny ways and constantly kissing parts other than a mouth. Even more fortunately, Celestia wasn’t into the more extreme ones, so he didn’t have to explain how Cadance had a sudden understanding of pony anatomy.

At the same time, however…

“I’m sorry.”

Rarity’s head perked up mid-sniffle. “Wh-What?”

The colt slowly trotted over, his head hanging low. “I didn’t mean to upset you. In fact, all I’ve done is make ponies mad at me for some reason or another. Princess Luna hates me, some foals at school want me dead, and now I’ve even ruined your life.”

Rarity shook her head. “N-No, you haven’t done anything of the sort. I still have my friends, my family, and my boutique. I just…wished that things could have…”

Blueblood tapped a hoof against his cheek. This whole “thinking” thing was not really part of the skills a member of the Canterlot elite was expected to have; “scheming” and “undermining” were far more desirable disciplines than actually analyzing a situation critically. Still, he did have a conclusion. “Well…I’m here now. Obviously there is no way you would be interested in me the same way, so…perhaps we can talk?”

Rarity’s jaw hung, her eyes quivering like swirling washbasins. “I…I suppose that will be…nice.”

“And t-then Sweetie Belle used all of my Baby Blue Sapphires on this lovely little arts and crafts project of hers!” Rarity barely fought off another round of laughter at her little sister’s expense, even as Blueblood just rolled his eyes at such youthful silliness. “Now, I will admit I was quite upset when I first saw what she had done, but after I took a closer look at her work, I realized how…utterly lovely it was.”

“Yes, well, I never really did make much for my parents,” Blueblood said. “There was that Parent’s Day poem I wrote once, but thankfully it has been purged from Equestria.”

Rarity’s magic pulled at the small bowtie, tugging it until it was just snug enough to be fashionable. That task accomplished, she floated over the black coat. Blueblood, having done this a hundred times in his former life, leaned back on his haunches and raised his forelegs, allowing the fabric to fall into place and look through the appropriate limbs. Once everything was in position, he slid his hooves down and began fumbling with the buttons.

“You know, about your parents…”

Blueblood seized up as the words penetrated his eardrum. “Miss Rarity, I appreciate your company, but…I would rather not speak of them again. After all, they did make me who I was.”

Rarity shook her head sadly. “That’s not how it works at all, Blueblood. Parents are supposed to teach you how to walk, talk, behave, and if they have any sense at all, how to be fashionable. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck following them completely.”

“…Huh?”

“You see, my parents are…” Rarity’s face scrunched up slightly as she mulled over the kindest possible words for this situation. “Somewhat…slightly…in a manner of speaking…completely and utterly uncouth. My mother couldn’t match a pair of sweat pants with a sweater to save her life, and my father…well, I don’t care how great he was at hoofball, but it wasn’t until I moved out that he finally realized I wasn’t going to bring home any trophies.”

She rolled her eyes at the small flood of repressed memories spewing about in her brain. “Point is, I didn’t have to follow everything they did. I mean, I learned a lot from them, and they weren’t bad by any means, but I didn’t have to repeat their life. Am I making sense?”

Blueblood shrugged. “I suppose. Still, this is going to be irritating.” He looked up at Rarity sheepishly, his hooves resuming their epic quest to fit the buttons in the right holes. “But…I’m glad you came here. I’ve thought about the Gala quite a bit, and…I’m sorry. For everything. Can…Can you forgive me?”

Rarity’s mouth closed instantly, her eyes never wandering from Blueblood’s. Standing in front of her was the stallion that had ruined everything and tried to burn her village to the ground. She was in the perfect position to destroy him once and for all, to smash his ego so hard that it would never rebuild.

But no matter how much she reassured herself that it was right, she just couldn’t do it. In all honesty, she had almost completely forgotten about Blueblood until that whole incident with Celestia. And even then, she would have probably pushed it out of her mind had Luna not invited her over and…

Her eyes tripled in size and intensity. Her hooves trembled as realization took hold. That…She…I…

“Um…Miss Rarity?”

The colt’s little voice was enough to snap Rarity back into reality. The mare’s face trembled as her nerves slowly pushed away any obvious signs of discontent, until she was back to just smiling happily with a starry-eyed look in her eyes. Blueblood’s suit, a double-breasted attire with gold-painted buttons, a white shirt, and a little bow tie, was now completely on the former Prince. “This is a very nice suit. Do you make a lot of these?”

Rarity gave a fake smile. “Well, yes, of course. I do run a boutique, after all. I am so glad we had this chance to talk, but I have some pressing business. I’m sure the guard can show you back.”

“Oh…I understand.” The colt sighed as Rarity began walking away, her trot gradually turning into a canter. Before she could leave, however, he managed to cry out once more. “Wait! You never answered my question?”

Rarity froze at the doorway, turning her head just enough for the colt to catch her smile. “Yes, I suppose I do. At least, I don’t despise you like I once did. And given what you did, that is a start.”

Her answering complete, the mare left the small shop, leaving the colt alone again. Why am I always just getting “starts?”

Luna was in the middle of hanging her new dresses in her wardrobe when Rarity returned. Her victory assured, she smiled, closed her eyes, and spun about. “I assume everything is in or-”

“How dare you use me like that!”

Luna’s eyes flung open, only for her to wish they had remained closed. The Rarity that now stood before her was not the same pony that had left her room only a few hours before. Her features had darkened into a black cloud of disgust and frustration, her eyes threatening to fire death beams right through Luna’s skull. The Moon Princess quickly began to take a few steps backwards, just in case the Unicorn decided spending the rest of her life in a dungeon was worth the opportunity to run her horn through the Alicorn’s throat.

“I…I do not understand…”

Rarity took a few stomps forward, her entire body slinking closer to the ground with every step. “You didn’t invite me here for some dresses! You wanted me to sabotage your nephew’s rehabilitation!”

Luna’s head blushed so red, it seemed like a second sun was threatening to form underneath her cranium. Given the amount of sweat pouring down, that was not far from the truth. “Please, Miss Rarity! I…I really was interested in your designs, honest! But this is a matter of the upmost important to the state!”

Rarity’s eyes both winced from the sheer frustration of Luna’s statement. “How is crushing a colt’s spirit somehow the keystone to all of Equestria?”

“Because he tried to assault Celestia!” Luna snapped. She leaned forward, trying to look as imposing and authoritative as possible. “And do you not remember how he ruined the Gala? How he destroyed your ideals because of his boorish behavior? Surely a pony like you can…”

Rarity scoffed and rose back to her natural standing position. “Yes, I was very upset with what he did, but I would never try to do what you’ve done today. I was angry when Twilight was regressed, but the colt I saw today was nothing like the Blueblood I knew. He is changing, Princess Luna. Whatever it is that Princess Celestia is trying to do is working, and you are too blind to notice.”

“He is a monster! Something like that doesn’t deserve to live! Not after what he…”

“We forgave you, didn’t we?”

Every hair on Luna’s body stood on end. Her lips quivered, her eyes widened, and her cheeks burned. “Y-You d…dare to speak to thy Princess…” Luna muttered, her voice barely rising above a whisper.

Rarity stuck up her nose and cantered around the room, pausing only to levitate the empty boxes onto her back. “Remember when we first met? We could hardly speak, mostly because you were busy trying to destroy Equestria. You tried to kill me, my friends, and the most glorious moustache ever known. And do you know what happened? We used the Elements, cleanses you of whatever it was that was controlling you – Twilight always was better at understanding those things – and your sister gave you back your title on the spot.”

“Th-That has nothing to do with…”

The last of the packages landed gracefully on Rarity’s back. “The colt I saw back there wasn’t the same one that held me in front of a cake.”

Having said her piece, Rarity humphed one last time and began trotting out of the chamber. She paused and turned only when she was at the door’s edge. “You can keep the dresses. And perhaps, when you’ve learned your own lesson, you can write me and place another order. I think you will find me to be a most…forgiving pony.”

And with that, she was gone.

Luna watched as the door closed. She was barely able to see the other side of the room from behind the small fires burning in her retinas. H-How dare she? I care not that she is one of the ponies that saved me, nopony speaks to their Princess in such a manner! I invite her to the castle to sell her wares, and she repays my kindness with condemnation? The arrogance!

Her breathing became labored and erratic. I will see her punished for this. She and Blueblood both will suffer greatly for this affront.

A small whimper emerged from the back of her throat. Perhaps I should consult with Twilight and the rest of her friends. They should know of a weakness in Miss Rarity’s character.

Her body shook with growing anxiety. I…I…I will…see…her…I…do not care…if she…thinks I am…a…

The tears fell. Villain.

The Sun Princess knocked on her sister’s door, her affront to the art world leaning on the wall next to her. “Hello? Luna”

No answer.

Shrugging, Celestia tried the doorknob. Fortunately, it turned out to be unlocked, and the door soon opened.

And Celestia found herself wishing it had remained closed.

Her sister’s bedroom was in absolute shambles. Her sister’s dresser and wardrobe were tossed over as if a giant dragon had flipped them with his claws. The bed was stripped bare, while chicken feathers from Luna’s pillows were strewn about. A mirror, the same one used to torture Celestia during Luna’s prank, was now shattered, as if it had been bucked with great force. The entire room was a disheveled, destroyed mess.

And sitting in the far corner was Princess Luna herself. She made no attempt to move from her little area of the room; indeed, she did not even seem to notice that Celestia was there to begin with. The only noise to be heard was the Alicorn’s sob and chokes.

Celestia quickly stepped inside, closing the door behind her lest somepony else see this mess. Still, Luna made no effort to even turn around. “Luna, what’s wrong?”

Nothing.

Fortunately, Celestia’s long limbs soon proved to be an advantage, as she was able to easily sidestep much of the mess and reach Luna’s position without tripping on books or cutting herself on broken glass. Even with somepony directly behind her, however, Luna seemed completely withdrawn from the world. With a mournful sigh, Celestia bent down on all fours and extended a wing over Luna’s back. “Sister, please. Did you do all this?”

Finally, Luna could ignore her no more. She nodded her head, a small whimper emerging from her throat as she did so. Celestia’s eyes widened with the horrific implications this news provided. “What happened, exactly?”

“I-It’s not important,” she whined.

“Whenever it concerns you, it’s always important,” Celestia said. She leaned in closer, nuzzling her sister along the cheek. “Now, tell me everything.”

“I-It was…I invited Rarity from Ponyville over…to buy some dresses.” Luna’s entire body shivered as she realized there was no way Celestia would buy such a lie.

Her fears soon turned true. Celestia narrowed her eyes and pulled her face away in frustration. “You mean, you had her come here to torment Blueblood some more. Luna, I thought we had discussed all this.”

“I…I just wanted to…make him work for his…redemption,” Luna muttered. She snorted back another noseload of snot and wiped her eyes on Celestia’s wing. “At least, that’s what I thought. I…I have no idea anymore…”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed some more, now little more than small slits on her face. “So, what happened with Rarity?”

Luna shook her head furiously. “W-We talked some, I tried the dresses on, and then I asked her…to…to make Blueblood a suit. I-I-I wanted her to push his buttons, make him suffer! B-But when she came back, she was yelling at me! She said I was a…” She choked. “Monster.”

The older sister recoiled at the word. She knew first-hoof about her sister’s mental state, especially after the whole Nightmare Moon incident. She also knew, however, that there was no way Twilight’s friends would ever call her such a thing. Well, save for Spike, but he was a child, after all. “So, you responded by destroying your room? Sister, are you still six hundred years old?”

Luna haunched her entire body to the ground. For the first time, Celestia could see the small cut marks along her legs. “I…They were the ones that saved me! I wanted them to at least respect, if not love me! A-And now she hates me, and she’s going to tell everypony else in Ponyville what a monster I am, and…”

“Luna, I’m sorry things went wrong, but you have to accept that you made a bad decision,” Celestia said in her usual, motherly tone. “You used a pony that trusted you just to get revenge on a pony I told you to leave alone for the time being. Even after I told you to let your hatred go, you just…”

Luna’s head jerked up so fast it almost slammed right into Celestia’s snout. The Princess recoiled in shock as she saw her sister’s eyes, now overflowing with tears of self-hatred and loathing. “I know that! I want to stop so much, b-but I cannot do it! I cannot let him go! Do you really think I want to hate him? Our own nephew? B-But…he is such a…was such a…I…I…”

All the bitterness in Celestia’s heart, all the frustration she had been building up towards her sister since she first proved her intentions for Blueblood, melted away in the sight of her anguish. Even worse, she could remember thinking much the same way only a few months before. “Luna, we have to get past all this hatred. For now, however, I want you to take the rest of the day off. The night, too. We shall speak more of this tomorrow.”

Before the Princess could rise, however, Luna’s forelegs were trapped around her neck and pulling her down. The younger sister’s face became even more twisted in alarm. “N-No! I-I-I’m fine! I can manage the day just…” Her features softened as she let out a yawn. “…Fine…on…my…ooooooown.”

Luna’s body went as limp as a rag doll just as Celestia’s horn stopped glowing. Sighing, the Sun Princess picked herself off the floor, levitating the nearby Moon Princess onto her back for easy travel. I’ll put her in my room for now. That spell should last until sunrise tomorrow.

She sighed. But it won’t solve anything. She and my nephew have to come to some kind of understanding. Perhaps…

Then it hit here. The perfect solution. The thing those flyers she got in the newspapers sometimes told her about. The one way to bring families together, and yet was the thing everypony feared doing.

A family activity.