Blueblood and Shining Armour
Prince Blueblood walked down the streets of Canterlot, flanked by two royal guards. His expression was set into one of determination as he and his escorts neared their destination, a local noble’s mansion.
After they walked up to the front door, Blueblood knocked three times. Slowly, the door was opened slightly as a nervous looking purple stallion maroon coated stallion looked at the three visitors from the crack of the door.
Blueblood regarded the stallion evenly. “Bounced Cheque, you know who we are.”
“W-what does the Royal Guard want with me?” The stallion quavered. “I-I’m just a simple banker.”
“There are rumours, Mr Cheque, that you have been embezzling your own banks money, not to mention refusing to return anything your customers have put on loan.” Blueblood answered.
“O-outrageous!” Bounced Cheque countered. “L-Lies and slander! Th-there is no proof, they’r ejust idiots trying to cause trouble for honest citizens like me!”
“If that’s so, then surely if we search your home we won’t find any evidence.” Blueblood countered. “It won’t take too long and you can’t just brush off such serious charges.”
“G-give me a few minutes to get ready.”
“Take all the time you need.”
The banker shut the door hurriedly and Blueblood smirked as he heard the stallion run through the house. He smirked in satisfaction as he heard a yelp of surprise and a few moments later another member of the royal guard opened the door, he and a cohort leading a restrained Bounced Cheque in tow.
“Did you really think we’d give you the slightest chance of escape?” Blueblood said. “We had your house surrounded the moment we knocked on your door.”
“Y-you can’t do this to me! I-I have a very important clients!” The banker raged.
“Yes, all of whom you robbed and lied to out of greed. I am sure they’re very willing to help see you get what you deserve.”
“T-the royal guard are supposed to be incompetent and useless! Everypony knows this!”
Blueblood glared, his expression darkening. “That’s in the past. As captain of the royal guard, it is my duty to ensure the law is upheld. We will make sure Canterlot and Equestria have been routed of those who think they’re above the law or above other ponies. We will not tolerate the unequal status quo any further.”
“C-Curse you!”
Blueblood walked with his men and mares as they escorted their prisoner to the jailhouse to await his trial. Blueblood knew exactly who would prosecute the case.
After all, they were best friends.
Blueblood sat in his desk, the office of the Captain of the Royal Guard, as he worked he remembered the past.
A few years ago, he was not exactly a paragon of the populace. He was a boorish fop who flaunted his tenuous, questionable relation to Princess Celestia and felt that distinction not only gave him a high position of status among the nobles, but that it made him better than everypony else, thus giving him free reign to do whatever he wanted without care for anypony else.
His great aunt, the aforementioned Princess, disagreed heartily.
She had grown exhausted of his caustic, selfish behaviour and invoking her name to avoid any retribution or to even justify his actions, no matter how petty. The last straw was when he abused his status order for himself a large selection of expensive outfits without paying by virtue of being her nephew. She punished him severely: stripped him of his title, his money and his other assets and drafted him into the royal guard, to teach him discipline and honour, in her words.
He hated it. It was tiring, the daily exercises caused his more sensitive physique to experience pain and no one listened to him. His ‘superiors’ singled him out, calling him a disgrace to Celestia’s name and to the nobles of Canterlot. And still he was forced to toil and work, wear heavy, uncomfortable armour and do chores far beneath one such as him.
It was during one of his daily chores, cleaning the halls of Canterlot Castle that he came across a friend from before his draft, a pretty mare whose name he had forgotten. He had called out for her attention, and she rebuked. The more he tried to talk to her, the more aggravated she became, until finally she had a personal bodyguard pummel him while she told him how she as a noble of noble birth did not need to spend her time with a lowly idiot who didn’t even have a title anymore.
He was flabbergasted. She had the nerve of having somepony physically harm him, and the audacity to question his noble roots! He began to search Canterlot for some member of Canterlot’s elite to help him out of the situation and get back that which he deserved.
But nopony cared. Those who didn’t disdain him forgot he existed, and many more simply ignored his pleas outright. He became desperate for somepony, anypony to acknowledge him, at least remember his name if not extend a helping hoof. Anything to show that his title, his life, had some meaning.
But not even the lowly commoners cared. He hurt too many of them, earned the ire of friends and family of those he looked down on, and so he was left with nothing but to go back to barracks to be reprimanded for abandoning his post.
What shoced him was how much this hurt him. Yes, his great aunt removed his title and assets, but he was a member of Canterlot’s elite, he thought he had friends in the most important circles, ponies who were more than just anypony, but above. But no one cared. Not a single pony cared what happened to him.
During this time, he shared a bunk bed in the barracks with another low level recruit, Shining Armour. He had made it a point to not peak to any of the other members of the Royal Guard out of pride, but at this moment his pride was shattered and all he felt was loneliness. He needed SOMEPONY to confide in. So, he swallowed his remaining pride and talked to somepony beneath him, only to learn he was actually of fairly noble standing. Not quite Blueblood’s standing, but certainly not a commoner. They found a common link and started to bond.
Over the next few weeks, the twos tallies went from fellow recruits to friends, and Blueblood found it astonishing how such a change helped make his days at the barracks more bearable. He even started enjoying the monthly sparring sessions, and he hated those!
One day, Shining Armour came to him, looking dejected. Normally, Blueblood wouldn’t have cared or noticed, but Shining Armour was his friend, his ONLY friend, so he asked the stallion what had happened.
Shining armour told him, with absolute shock and disbelief, that his family were accused of embezzling funds from Princess Celestia herself as well as several noble houses.
Shining Armour’s father was a trusted banker, so trusted was he that he, a visitor from Germane, was allowed to marry a Noble mare and work as Canterlot’s premier banker with branches all throughout Equestria. Even Princess Celestia herself invested ehr funds to him.
So imagine the shock, the betrayal, the scandal that Canterlot’s greatest banker effectively robbed from his customers, leading several families to lose their homes and titles, like Blueblood had done, but unlike him they were left with nothing and forced into much more squalid conditions. Blueblood had felt sympathy, for once in his life, realising how he at least had a place to live and a good profession in the Guard.
Ponies called for Shining Armour’s fathers head, and the blame also passed along towards his family as well, even his young daughter who had done nothing wrong. Eventually, the courts decided that the family should be exiled, face the same fate as their victims, but away from canterlot. Princess Celestia had managed to at least ensure the family had some funds to start a new life and that the young daughter, Twilight, could at least come home.
Shining Armour, however, was exempt. He was a member of the Royal guard, so he was above reproach, legally speaking. Not even the Canterlot Nobles deemed him as sharing the blame of his parentage and even deigned to SYMPATHISE with him even though they offered no such feelings towards the child that was exiled.
Shining Armour was FURIOUS. He could not stand the hypocrisy of the nobles, of shunning his family while saying that his occupation made him “above the law”. He began furiously studying, shunning his duties, causing Blueblood to take up the slack to ensure his friend didn’t get in trouble with the higher ups. Finally, after five months, Shining Armour quit the Royal Guard, instead studying law in Canterlot’s finest University.
Meanwhile, Blueblood’s connection to Shining Armour had changed him. Where before he would have been indifferent, he felt only moral outrage, that his friend decided to quit what had once been his dream, that it had been tainted by the attitudes and hypocrisy of the elite.
Blueblood resolved then, that things needed to be changed. He worked harder, more diligently, trained at a far higher level than his peers, all so he could do something, to make a difference.
It took years, but he eventually climbed up the ranks, until he himself had become Captain of the Royal Guard, and vowed to root out all the hypocrisy, the apathy and cruelty out of Canterlot and make it decent again.
His hard work had paid off: he had earned the trust of his subordinates, having over the years shown the extent of his redemption, his devotion to fixing Canterlot, not just of crime but of the inherent cruelty of the elite. He had resolved to also turn the Royal Guard from mere ornaments, only serving as another thing that made Canterlot what it was and into an actual, competent force that genuinely did a sterling job in protecting the peace and its citizens, where before they were a joke, they were now something to be reckoned with.
He smiled at the memories, looking up as he heard somepony enter. His smile widened at the sight of his best friend, Canterlot’s premier prosecutor, Shining Armour.
The other stallion had a lanky, thin frame and wore a dark overcoat and vest and round spectacles, a book held in one foreleg, his cutie mark displaying a set of scales over a shield. Blueblood got up from his desk and walked towards his friend and comrade, who fought just as hard to make Canterlot a better place.
“Trial begins in a few hours.” Shining Armour stated.
“Who will lead the defence?” Blueblood asked.
“Who do you think? Only two attorneys dare to even attempt to defend such a scumbag.” The prosecutor glared. “Cease and Desist.”
“Those two again, only taking cases that involve you.”
“They have a grudge, what do you expect?” Shining gazed at his friend levelly. “I trust the evidence you have provided is sufficient.”
“That and my testimony.” Blueblood smirked winsomely. “How about later we go relax, get a bite to eat someplace simple?”
“I don’t do relaxed.”
“Oh come on!” The unicorn chuckled, slapping his friend across the back. “It’ll be fun! You might even meet a mare you like!”
“I don’t have time for mares.” Shining Armour said plainly. “However, I will...consider it.”
“Alright, let’s get to work, partner.”
Author's Note
Sorry for the....sudden ending, but I felt it was an appropriate place to end it.
Basically, this is the first in a series of oneshots expanding my Rainbow is Magic verse, focusing on at least one or two characters each, showing the extent of the changes in this verse.
I...am not entirely pleased with this one. I feel I rushed through Blueblood’s backstory, overly simplified/rushed his character development and made a huge jump between him being like canon and him becoming the Ace/paragon that he is supposed to be in this verse. Not to mention that Shining Armour barely gets any screentime.
Originally I was gonna focus on the flashback while intercutting between Blueblood’s day as captain of the guard and his interactions with Shining Armour and an appearance by Cease and Desist, twin unicorns (a mare and a stallion) who are opposed against Shining Armour in the courtroom, but I kind of...forgot and I didn’t exactly have it all planned through well, not to mention it probably would’ve lengthened this a bit too long and I want these one shots to not be too lengthy.
Now, rather than decide which characters come next, I will instead leave it up to readers to decide, and the most popular (or most interesting) requests will be the focus of each succeeding chapter.
Hope you enjoyed and please comment!
The Spirit of Chaos and The Jester of Shadows
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The Spirit of Chaos and The Jester of Shadows
Many, many thousands of thousands of thousands of years ago, before even Ponykind had built a proper civilisation...
Magic ran wild throughout the word, ruins all that was left of the old civilisations, the entire world blanketed by black, shadowy clouds that blocked the sun and moonlight, most creatures trying their best to hide, even predators and nocturnal animals feared to venture into this wild world.
The Spirit of Chaos surveyed his surroundings, pouting huffily. He grumbled as she finally spotted his prey, skating towards him wearing ice skates while travelling along a road of soap.
In front of him, his quarry sat: a figure drenched in darkness, smiling smugly as he rubbed his flat stomach satisfyingly. The Jester was tall and skinny, with long thin arms and legs that ended in curled-toed boots and long flappy fingers, both boots and all fingers having small bells at the tips. The Jester wear a purple, almost skin tight suit with his boots, gloves and head being jet black, a many-pointed Jester’s hat atop his head, the tips of each point also bearing a bell. The Jester’s yellow eyes glared at the Spirit, his yellow teeth snarling in disdain.
“Ooooh Jester it has been TOO long!” Discord cheered, giving a friendly wave as his lower half spun around. “Why I haven’t seen you since our last battle!”
The Jester spat at the ground as he gritted his teeth. “A pleasure I must now be denied.”
The Spirit huffed and crossed his arms...and his legs like they were arms too. “Hmph! Is that any way to greet a friend?”
“How many times shall we go through this farce, you ridiculous moron?” The Jester seethed. “What reason do you have for even wanting to control this world?”
“Well, Jester, I’ll make the world more fun and exciting and CHAOTIC than it is right now!” The Spirit stuck out his tongue mockingly. “It’ll be way more fun than the dreary, dark mess YOU’RE content with ruling.”
“You have no ambition, all you care about is making this world your playground! There is no rhyme or reason to anything you do, it’s all completely pointless!”
“Well at least I’m interesting, not like you, who’s only content with sitting on his rear, gorging himself on anything he can, simply because he can! You have absolutely no style, no pizzazz!” The Spirit exploded into confetti, which then proceeded to transform into winged roller skates that flew up in the air, while the Spirit reappeared behind the Jester, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.
The Jester’s eyes burned with rage as he reached behind himself and grabbed the Spirit’s face, squeezing until his head burst like a balloon, shattered rubber spilling to the ground as the Spirit’s hands turned into boxing gloves and started jabbing the Jester repeatedly across the face as a boxing ring surrounded the pair.
Jester roared in anger as he was pummelled as he reached behind himself to lift up a tree by its roots, impaling it deep into the Spirit’s chest like a blade, only for the Spirit and the boxing ring to melt and flood the forest and everything else in vanilla pudding, drowning the Jester into it’s depths.
The Spirit appeared high in the air, laughing uproariously, only to yelp in surprise as the Jester grabbed him by the horns, dragging him into the pudding, the two swirling and tumbling under the mess as they kicked and clawed and bit at each other.
A storms raged as the clouds darkness swirled alongside clouds of darkness overhead, earthquakes and lightning and tornadoes ravaged the lands alongside storms of darkness and fire spewed out from the ground, ice freezing over ballerina hippos and oceans alike; the two would-be deities battling furiously with each other at the centre of all this.
The Jester screamed in hate as he spewed an unceasing stream of blades into the Spirit, slicing his body to literally ribbons, only for said ribbons to reconstitute instantly into the Spirit’s mismatched form.
“This world is mine to control!” The Jester screeched, waving his hand as a wave of fire and lava spewed from the ground and melted the Spirit’s flesh to the bone.
“This world is mine to play with, you unimaginative bore!” The Spirit retorted, turning the lava into orange jello as he spat a tweeting blue bird at The Jester, said bird then proceeding to cleave the Jester in half with a unicycle.
The Jester’s form wavered and morphed into a many tentacle, many faced and eyed nightmare monster, biting and clawing at the Spirit before swirling the earth around them, encasing the Spirit in a tomb of earth as the Jester reformed himself standing outside of the Spirit’s grave.
“How many times must I fight you before I can be at peace!?”
The Spirit punched out through the top of the newly formed mountain, wearing a blue super hero costume that fit his morhphing body loosely. “This ends here and now, Shadow Jester!”
The Jester roared as a horde of undead rose from the ground, forming a veritable sea of clawing, biting corpses that surged towards and over the spirit. “Just die Discord! I am the only one with a proper order in mind for this place! I NEED MY FILL!”
The area turned into a wild west town, complete with a noon sun, buildings and cacti and cheering people standing on the sidelines as the Spirit stood wearing a white-hatted cowboy costume, pulling out several guns from his chest with his feet that literally shot the word ‘BOOM’ several times into the Jester’s body.
The Jester screamed angrily as he drew a massive red axe, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as he was sucker punched hard in the stomach, a black burst of air from his lungs being shot far north. The Spirit grinned as he tore a claw deep inside, tearing out a black, throbbing heart which he casually tossed far into the horizon.
The Jester gasped for breath as he glared at his foe,swinging his axe down, only to hit a switch that sent a heavy weight climbing up a meter and hittimg him square in the jaw, shattering his teeth and sending his eyes literally popping out of his skull and falling into a great chasm that had opened around the battling titans.
“I....REFUSE....TO L” The Jester was interrupted as the Spirit tore his mouth off, tied into a tight knot and threw it into the ocean.
The now battered form of the Jester wheezed pitifully, still poised to battle however as the Spirit tossed him over with a German suplex, causing the remains of his tongue fall out onto the ground, melting into a puddle of saliva that formed a mirror like pond.
The Spirit laughed as he pulled as he tore his foe’s stomach out, turning it into a swarm of smiling, colourful insects: he knew the Jester would hate that especially. As the creatures flew off to seek food, he turned his attention to his rival.
The Jester’s battered, ruined body twitched, slowly struggling to his feet, hate oozing from his very pores...quite literally, forming a large shadow, only for the Spirit to summon a giant freezer and slam it shut on the shadow, the appliance disappearing and leaving behind a large crystal with a dark, shadowy centre. The spirit grinned as he donned a baseball players costume and swung a golfclub at the object, sending it far north.
The Jester’s body was broken, shattered, oozing black tar as its rib cage was exposed, the remains of it’s ruined face managing to somehow glare at the Spirit.
The Spirit chuckled and stuck a plunger onto the Jester’s head, pulling on it strongly and tightly with strong pumps his many arms, before pulling it off along with the head stuck to it, throwing both into the moon.
The Spirit turned to look at the headless, jittering mess that was the Jester, tapping a finger to his chin. “Hmmm a little avant garde, but abstract is gauche and passé these days! Oh well, into the trash it goes!”
He pulled the Jester by his legs, slamming him repeatedly back and forth onto the ground before, with one final slam, he buried him deep beneath the earth, the Jester’s exposed, shattered ribs protruding outwards as they slowly grow into dark, foreboding trees.
The Spirit looked up at the moon, a swirling black, scowling visage appearing momentarily before oozing towards the backside of the moon, the Spirit stuck out his tongue (in the form of a literal fist sized raspberry at the moment) and then looked at the ruined landscape around him.
“Now with that fuddy duddy out of the way, I can focus on reshaping this world into a perfect hotbed of chaos!” He grinned, and then started to yawn. “Hmm though I suppose with him gone, I can finally get a well deserved rest! Yes that’s the ticket! When I wake up, my mind will be practically SWARMING with ideas!”
With that, the Spirit flopped down onto his back, pulled a mountain range over his form like a literal blanket, and then began to snore.
As he slept, unbeknownst to him, something grew, in the very centre of the great battle: a crystal sapling, it’s roots slowly starting to spread throughout the land, as it was finally able to begin the one thing it couldn’t all these centuries: heal the land and bring harmony.
And thus, the world that would become Equestria, finally started its birth.
Author's Note
I was gonna save this as the ending of Spectrum of the Rainbow, but due to impatience, a desire to put this out before i forget and as an apology for my procrastination, I decided to just get it over with and make it now.
That, AND I wanted to introduce an element I’ve been planning since about near the beginning. I bet you can’t guess what~
Thank you for reading, and please comment.
