It was the wedding of the year; quite possibly even the wedding of the century.

Despite it's rough beginning and subsequent rescheduling to defeat the Changeling army that invaded Equestria at the same time, hundreds of ponies were in attendance for the second chance at the wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor that took place the following day.

Everypony who was anypony was in attendance for this event.

So, say, if a single pony wanted to hide from somepony else at this event, in theory, it would be a simple feat.

That was what Prince Blueblood was counting on.

Princess Cadance's distant cousin specifically attended his cousin's wedding for the sole reason of meeting new mares from all over Equestria. A feat that had become much simpler for him once he had achieved the rating of “Most Eligible Bachelor in Canterlot” once again.

He had always enjoyed his pick of the litter due to his social status, but having well renowned magazines also praise his looks, talents, and charitable endeavors multiple years in a row was highly appreciated.

Especially at events like this one where there were hundreds of mares in attendance that he had never met yet and they were all vying for his attention.

This should have been a marvelous party, he had been looking forward to this event since the day Princess Cadance and Shining Armor announced their engagement. If the changeling attack had been the absolute worst thing that happened to this event, then it still would have been able to redeem itself, but unfortunately, there was a far worse entity that seemed to be lurking at the wedding.

Her.

He hadn't been privy to all of the details of the wedding plan, but he did live in the same castle as the happy couple who were more than likely to tell ponies details at the drop of a hat and he had seen enough ponies come in and out that he thought he had a good idea of who was involved and what their job was. Prince Blueblood even believed that he was on good terms with the bride and groom since he had practically grown up with them, but Shining Armor had made no mention of the one thing Blueblood dreaded most and since they spent time together at Shining Armor's bachelor party the other day, he had plenty of opportunities to at least make a mention of her invite.

Even worse, the groom had not even mentioned to the prince that she was going to be part of the wedding party as Princess Cadance's right hoof mare for the entire ceremony. He felt like that was something Cadance and Shining Armor should have told him, seeing as they knew more about his shaky relationship with her than most ponies knew.

He was able to avoid her line of sight through the whole wedding by stationing himself in the back corner of the room during the ceremony. By the time the reception started, he had tried to perfect the practice of keeping an eye out for her while keeping a keen focus on all the interested mares in the room. It was difficult, but by moving around often and by speaking to mares in large groups, it felt like a viable plan. It wasn't prime for making connections, but in this case it was the best choice to keep him out of trouble.

“Prince Blueblood?”

Or not.

Her voice was melodic and soft like velvet; if they didn't have such a sordid history together, he would have been intrigued, but instead he just felt his heart sink at the very sound of her voice. He hadn't seen her or heard from her in months. It was a record that he was hoping would keep up for a much longer period of time.

The stallion turned away from his captive audience to face his fears. She was a young mare with a slightly off white coat and violet tresses that never seemed to lose their bouncy curls. She was just an average mare from a tiny little town; she was nothing compared to so many of the other gorgeous and interesting ponies he had met in his lifetime, but she was still a lovely mare.

Lovely, but absolutely insufferable.

He glared at her, making his annoyance at her interruption clear; a glare that she quickly returned for a brief second before remembering that they were in a public place and he was part of a much higher station than she was.

He was going to have to talk to her, she still made that absolutely clear.

He made his apologies to the mares he had been talking to and began walking towards her. He desperately wanted to explain to his audience that he didn't want to leave them just yet, but he was obligated to speak to the interloper. Of course that would just open up the floor for a barrage of questions.

Questions that he certainly wasn't ready to answer.

Questions that would lead to admitting a mistake he wasn't ready to talk about just yet.

“Miss Rarity, you look well. How are you?” Blueblood asked cordially.

“Prince Blueblood,” she replied coldly. “I was hoping you and I could chat… in private of course.” She raced straight to the point, ignoring any of the pleasantries the prince was hoping they would start with, if only because it would stave off the conversation that he didn't want to have. He realized long ago that their next interaction would go just as well as their last one and that it would probably include phrases that she used often like “you ruined my life” or “you're despicable” or any other variation of those phrases that made him out to be some sort of villain that tormented her life.

When, in fact, the opposite was true.

“About what?” Blueblood decided to ask, holding on the very rare hope that she wanted to talk about something else.

That tiny sliver of hope was shot down when Rarity's cold and intense glare hit him. He shivered. The last time he had seen that look was right before she splattered him with cake at the Grand Galloping Gala. Thankfully, this time the cake was on the other side of the garden.

That didn't mean that he wasn't still paralyzed with fear. Something that she eagerly picked up on as she used her light blue aura of magic to grab the stallion's bow tie and pulled him into the castle ballroom. The wedding reception had migrated out into the garden and since the clean up crew had already swept through the room immediately after the ceremony ended, the ballroom was completely empty.

He was both relieved and worried about being left alone in an empty room with her. On one hoof, if anypony heard their conversation, the information was heavy enough to ruin both his steadily maintained reputation and any hope at a reputation she could ever wish to have among the Canterlot elite. Not to mention, Bluebood doubted her goody-goody little friends knew anything about this and they probably wouldn't take too kindly to this new information. On the other hoof, nopony was around to see if she hurt him, which had a distinct possibility of happening considering how their last meeting ended.

She let go of his bow tie as soon as she was sure they were alone and even straightened it for him, but the silence hung in the air like fog. Despite her insistence on them talking, she didn't seem to be keen on starting the conversation.

“So what do you want? Are you in need of more money?” Blueblood asked breaking the silence. “If so, that isn't a problem, just tell me how much you need and I will adjourn to my suite to get the bits together for you.”

“I don't need your money, nor do I want it. She and I are doing just fine on our own.” Rarity replied holding her head up high.

“Of course you are,” he replied as he patted her on the back. “I am quite sure that a single mare such as yourself in that backwards little town of yours, does well. I can only imagine the things that you do there and the stallions you do them with. After all, I have seen it all firsthoof.”

“I am not a slut and I do not appreciate your continued efforts to paint me as one!” She paused and took a quick glance around the ballroom, it was still empty. Nevertheless, she made an effort to lower her tone when she added, “I was just hoping you and I could talk about our daughter. I was wondering if you would like to come visit us in Ponyville for a few hours so you could meet her.”

He rolled his eyes. Rarity had always tried to make it seem like visiting her hometown was such a simple task. He was the Prince of Canterlot, he had duties to the ponies in his city and duties to the crown; free time in a tiny little town would raise some eyebrows and the questions would come flooding in. It wouldn't take much detective work for ponies to uncover Prince Blueblood's biggest mistake yet.

He shook his head no, Rarity's head drooped a bit.

“She's starting to look a lot like you...”

“Miss Rarity I am sorry...” He wasn't. “But it is very difficult for me to make it over there... I mean after all we did say that we would keep this a secret. How would it look for me to just walk up to your little home? I mean it's not like you and I are considered to be on good terms so why should we give ponies a reason to wonder? Besides, I know for a fact that your parents have no interest in seeing me anywhere near you ever again. Why would I give your father another chance to ruin my pretty face?”

“I'm sure that...”

“Not to mention, what would your friends say? I know for a fact that you haven't told them the full story yet. There's no way your friends would be able to keep that a secret. Twilight Sparkle likely would have blathered everything to Princess Celestia as soon as she found out and then where would we be?”

“Twilight would never do that!” Rarity argued. “My friends understand that some things are supposed to be kept secret. They are the best friends anypony could ever ask for.”

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “So you told them everything?”

“Well, no,” she admitted. “They know that she exists, of course, but as per our agreement, I never said a word about your involvement.” She straightened out the creases in her bridesmaid dress before looking back up at him. “Look, I know that you and I don't get along with each other, but I just don't want her to grow up without a father in her life.”

“Well I made it most of my life without a father and I have turned out just fine,” Blueblood said as he straightened his posture to appear more princely, but his companion didn't look convinced.

“I'm serious,” Rarity mumbled.

“So am I.”

Rarity rolled her eyes in response and Blueblood smirked. “Of course you are at a wedding, I'm sure you could shop around for a new father for her.”

Rarity's eyes narrowed. After the periods of time they had spent together over the last few months, she had gotten used to their constant bickering, it was a given every time they had to spend time together, but even months later, it still hurt that he wanted to just brush the whole situation off as if he were denying that he had ever been a part of the act to begin with.

“Why are you so ashamed of this?”

“Why aren't you more ashamed of this? We got drunk at a party and you got pregnant. What is the upside to this story?” He briefly paused to look around them to make sure nopony had heard him. As soon as he was sure they were still safe, he added in a voice hardly above a whisper, “besides, I'm sure this is exactly what all of your new friends here in Canterlot are going to want to hear all about.”

She looked down at the ground, ashamed at herself to even show him that he had hit a nerve with that statement. The whole reason they were able to reconnect at a party was because she had begun to worm her way into the Canterlot elite; a difficult task to begin with because they didn't let just anypony join their parties and fundraisers. Rarity had caught the attention of a wealthy and influential pony who served as her stepping stool into a world of privilege, but she still stood tall on her own four hooves and became a pony that everypony wanted to know.

Of course, the tides could easily change should the information about her daughter become common knowledge. The ponies who once looked up to her fashion sense could just as easily put her out of business with that tidbit of information. A foal out of wedlock? To the elite, it would just be the proof that some of them needed to show that she wasn't sophisticated or high class, she was just another country mare. It didn't matter if the foal's father was the Prince of Canterlot; a foal out of wedlock negatively affected the image she strove for years to perfect. It was the whole reason that her daughter was a bit of an open secret back in Ponyville.

“I know it seems harsh now.” Blueblood continued, patting her on the back once again, “but I think that we can both agree this is for the best.”

“I don't believe that you of all ponies is thinking about my future with the Canterlot elite,” she spat out.

“It's not just that,” he reminded her. “We couldn't even stand to be in the same room together while the foal was born, your family dislikes me and if my mother ever found out about this, we would be forced into a wedding neither of us wants; anything other than our current deal would be more trouble than it's worth.”

“I'm not asking you to tell ponies. All I ask is that instead of just sending bits every month, you stop by and say hello. You could even just say you're stopping by to get designs by Carousel Boutique or...”

Blueblood let out an un-gentlemanly guffaw. “Are you suggesting I give you free publicity as a cover for seeing your illegitimate child? No. Not in this lifetime. Besides, I think I did enough for you and it. You were well cared for before it was born, I go out of my way to send you a rather large stipend every month, and I was there for the birth. We had a contract drawn up and I have stuck to the terms that applied to me.”

“You never saw her after she was born! As soon as the cord was cut, you made a beeline for the door!”

“I stuck by your side through hours of labor while you tried to pull my hooves off and while your father yelled at me for ruining your life. Why should I have stuck around for anything longer? So you and your backwards family can rope me into doing more? That wasn't part of our agreement.”

“Bu...”

“Rarity! Prince Blueblood!”

The pair was quickly silenced by a familiar voice ringing out through the empty ballroom. Fancypants sauntered over to the duo and Rarity instantly began to make every effort to inconspicuously distance herself from the prince.

“I must say, I was surprised to hear your friends tell me that you had come inside, Miss Rarity, but I think I am doubly surprised to see you're here with the prince. Is everything okay?”

Not even Rarity's meteoric ascension into the Canterlot elite could fully erase the first time the two unicorns had met at the Grand Galloping Gala. They had attempted to patch things up after Fancypants had deemed her his new favorite party guest, but their evening at Fancypants' airship launch party quickly turned publicly sour before ultimately ending with the two of them privately clearing out several bottles during the open bar before scampering off to be together.

It was, without a doubt, a party that they would not soon forget.

“Prince Blueblood caught me as I was coming back from helping Princess Cadance with a dress malfunction. We were just discussing the recent art gallery exhibit we both attended and we must have lost track of time.”

Neither of them were sure if the monocled unicorn believed them, he didn't look convinced, but he didn't press the issue further aside from a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, of course. I hope you two don't mind, but I was hoping that I may speak with Miss Rarity.” He paused for a moment as the other two unicorns in the room stared at him warily without moving. He cleared his throat before adding with a bit more force, “alone.”

“Actually, Fancypants, I do mind. Miss Rarity and I are having a very important conversation. Why don't you come back and find her when she isn't busy?”

She ignored him before turning to face Fancypants.

“Of course, this conversation isn't all that important. Prince Blueblood has already made that quite clear, so I don't mind being pulled away.”

The prince didn't move as he watched Fancypants put his hoof out for her and she took it happily. It took every bit of his will power to not make known how annoyed he was that she had pulled him away from his crowd only to ditch him in the middle of their conversation for her own little flirtation. Even worse, she would wander off with Fancypants of all ponies, he was probably the most insufferable pony that he ever met.

As Fancypants led her back out to the courtyard for the reception, Rarity turned back to face the prince and shot him a look behind Fancypants back. Blueblood didn't waste the opportunity to roll his eyes at her and her obvious social climbing under the guise of flirtation.

As soon as the two were out of sight, he shook his head and composed himself before walking back to the celebration, glad to finally be rid of Rarity for what he hoped was forever, but at this point, he would even settle for being rid of her for the rest of the night. Now he was free to do whatever he wanted. Still, he found it absurd that she would even want him to visit her place, he recalled that at the foal's birth they had created the arrangement to be in everypony's best interest.

Specifically his best interest and between the two of them, his best interest was a bit more important.

The cool breeze of the Spring air hit Rarity head on as they entered the courtyard. She tried to keep her composure, but she couldn't help, but feel a bit rattled by her conversation the prince. Not that she would ever admit that to anypony, especially Fancypants. She couldn't imagine telling anypony that when she talked to Prince Blueblood, it was usually never about social niceties and events anymore.

Even her friends, who she loved dearly, hadn't reacted well when she told them the very basic overview of the situation; it involved more questions from nosy neighbors and a Pinkie Pie party that she definitely wasn't prepared for, so she knew that if her well meaning friends and neighbors could cause so much distress, so she couldn't imagine letting anypony know that Prince Blueblood was involved in any way, shape, or form. If her own friends and neighbors didn't takek it well, that meant that telling anypony in Canterlot would be social suicide. It wasn't a ruse that she would be able to keep up forever, but she didn't need forever, she just needed now.

That had practically been her mantra for the past year or so and it had proved its worth so far. It was part of the reason why she would always make excuses whenever one of her Canterlot acquaintances asked to visit her in Ponyville. Especially Fancypants. She had him to thank for her rise among the elite and since the day they had met their relationship had been filled with flirtatious conversations, sweet letters, and well thought out excursions together. She reasoned that it wasn't far off that there might be a potential relationship between the two of them and she had yet to hear about a stallion, especially one of his pedigree, who was interested in dating a mare with a foal.

“Is everything okay, my dear?”

“Yes of course.” She smiled as she brushed one of her violet curls out of her line of vision.

“Is there something wrong between yourself and the prince? He isn't terrorizing you, is he? He has a tendency to be a monumental pain.” For a moment, Rarity panicked. She was worried that he was waiting for a legitimate explanation and wouldn't rest until she told him absolutely everything.

“Oh, it was nothing, really, not quite as nice as a conversation about an art gallery, it was just a rehashing of an old grievance,” she responded. “We wanted to be out of the way as to not ruin the reception for the other guests.”

He seemed to buy that more than their last excuse, and in reality that was already a brief overview of the conversation; the devil was in the details, after all.

To her relief, he didn't press her for details. His attention was quickly diverted when they found an empty table near the dance floor in the middle of the reception area. She smiled widely, sighing inwardly with relief that he didn't question her further on the subject and sat down in the stool that he had specifically pulled out just for her. Once she sat down, he took the seat across from her and for a brief moment they just watched the wedding around them.

It was hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago, Canterlot was being invaded when the entire castle garden had been done up in the most extravagant manner and ponies were really enjoying it. Most importantly, the bride and groom looked exquisitely happy as they danced.

“That certainly was a show of a wedding wasn't it?” Fancypants asked.

“Yes,” Rarity giggled. “I don't think it's a wedding I will ever forget.”

He chuckled and made light of his own experience from the crowd during the initial ceremony and Rarity half-listened. While she and her friends had done a lot of work to make sure the wedding ran smoothly, especially after the Changeling invasion, she couldn't help, but silently plead that he didn't want to spend most of their evening talking about the wedding and invasion. She didn't want to have a series of short conversations that basically amounted only amounted to small talk.

Not tonight and certainly not with him.

“And that experience only solidified my reasoning for our little tete-a-tete, today,” Fancy said, interrupting her thoughts. “I wanted to ask you a question.”

“Yes?” She asked leaning toward him in anticipation.

“Would you be interested in joining me on an airship cruise in a few weeks? After all of this, I think I need a vacation and I would be flattered if you would join me. It would be a week long excursion around Southern Equestria and I would pay for all the expenses; you would be my special guest, after all.”

“Yes, of course!” Rarity beamed. Fancypants was the most important pony in Canterlot and he was asking for her to spend a week on a ship alone with him as his special guest. Although, she couldn't help, but wonder what he meant by 'special.' Exactly how special of a guest would she be? Marefriend worthy special? Or just business cohorts special?

Fancypants interrupted her thoughts.

“Splendid! Happy to have you aboard, Rarity.”

She paused for a moment as Fancypants prattled on and on about some of the amenities of the airship and some events that were scheduled on board. At first, she listened with rapt attention, giddy at the thought of spending so much time alone with the stallion of her dreams on a cruise through picture perfect scenery. The attention began to wane though when she realized that her parents likely wouldn't be able to watch Ivory Lace for a full week; they couldn't even watch Sweetie Belle for a whole week sometimes.

She briefly considered her friends, but quickly decided against them. It was far too much work and it would get in the way of all the other things that the girls had to do. Besides a few of her friends could not always trusted to be the most responsible... or watchful for that matter.

She watched Fancypants become more animated about their trip and brushed the worries away. She had time to figure it out, it was a few weeks away and right now she just wanted to bask in the company of Fancypants and the sublime conversation under the starlight. Yes, right now she wanted to be just Rarity, the mare on the foreleg of Fancypants. The one and only mare who would be accompanying him on a cruise for an entire week.

That had to be the most wonderful feeling of all.

* * *

The following morning, Blueblood awoke in a room that was not his own, with a mare he did not recognize. He smiled widely, even after he thought his chances to bed a mare that night were ruined, he still spent the night with one. Score another one for the prince.

As he always did in this situation, he quietly slipped out of the bed being careful not to wake the sleeping mare. After he had rolled out of the bed, he looked at the blue unicorn who was still sleeping quietly, completely ignorant that her companion had left her side. Blueblood smiled, he loved when things happened in his favor.

With that thought in mind, he quickly and quietly slipped out of the room into the cool hallway, being careful not to slam the door. It was still early, too early for most ponies to be up and gallivanting around this wing of the castle, especially after an event with that much alcohol flowing. This worked perfectly for the prince. It meant that nopony could say they could see him come out of... whatever her name's... room that morning.

Most of the guests from the wedding who were either staying in Canterlot for several days or were elevated enough in society, were staying in this wing of the castle. So getting out at this time was perfect for keeping his reputation, and the mare's reputation as well, tidy. After all, what would the press say if they found out?

As he walked back towards his wing of the castle he saw a familiar looking shape walking in the direction opposite of him with shoes dangling in the air, shrouded in shimmering blue magic.

Rarity.

Unfortunately, at this point he could pick her out in a crowd easily. It was a skill he wished that he hadn't gained.

He briefly considered turning around before she noticed him. He didn't need another rehash of last nights conversation this early in the morning. He was just about to turn around, but he realized that aside from carrying her shoes around via magic, she was also still wearing the bridesmaid dress she had worn the night before. The prince laughed quietly to himself and instead of turning around, he made a beeline straight for her.

“Ah, the walk of shame,” he said as soon as she was close enough to him, Rarity glared at him.

“I'll have you know, Fancypants and I shared a lovely breakfast in bed together and he asked me to join him on a vacation in a few weeks,” she retorted as she tried to trot past him. “It was the furthest thing from the one night stand you just came from. After all, I do have standards, unlike some ponies.”

“I see...” he responded flatly, his eyebrow arched in disbelief. “So you didn't just rope another high class stallion into a one night stand? That's nice, you've really grown and I am so glad that it only took an unexpected pregnancy for you to be more careful with your affections. Speaking of unexpected pregnancy, have you told him about your daughter yet? I'm sure that would go over well.”

Rarity stopped dead in her tracks, she was ready to say something to the prince, the words were at the tip of her tongue, but in the end she just decided ignored him.

“Of course you haven't.” A twisted smile grew on his face. “He wouldn't have invited you on a vacation with him if he knew. Unless he wants to do a family vacation with you and the foal, but something tells me that's probably not the kind of cruise either of you want.”

Her cheeks burned red with embarrassment and frustration, but she bit her tongue. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he got under her skin. She took a deep calming breath before she was able to look him in the eyes.

“If you are so concerned about it, then how about you watch Ivory Lace while I'm away? My parents are just too busy and I simply cannot ask my friends to watch her for a whole week.” She blinked in surprise at her own words. Did she really mean to say that? Was she really going to trust that lout with her filly?

“And yet you have the gall to ask me?” Blueblood scoffed.

“Well yes, you are her father,” she responded, ignoring his tone.

“I'm busy.”

“I haven't even told you when I'm going!”

“I'm a very busy stallion, Rarity.”

“Perhaps you can make some time for her or at the very least you could ask your servants to help you.”

“Perhaps they are busy as well, they do have to deal with the aftermath of a wedding and an invasion. They are busy ponies.”

“Blueblood, please,” Rarity huffed. “I have never asked you for anything. Besides you owe her, you've never been there for her.”

“I would think, if anypony owes anypony anything then it would be you who owes me. After all, the only thing I asked of you, was for her name to be Blue Belle. It is a family tradition for the first born in the Royal lineage to have that moniker, illegitimate or not. You named her Ivory Lace, what kind of a name is that?”

“You forfeited the right to have a say in that, you ig...” Rarity bit her lip, trying not to raise her voice and cause a scene in the hallway. It simply wasn't ladylike to be caught in an argument like this. Especially not at this hour. “I refuse to argue with you over this,” she finally said. “All I ask is that you spend one week with her while I go on an extended date with Fancypants. This is in your best interest, you know.”

“How so?” Blueblood asked raising an eyebrow.

“If this date goes well, Fancy and I could get married. At that point, I would no longer have any use for you in Lace's life. She would have a better father than you could ever be, and neither of us would need your money.”

“And when it doesn't go well?”

“Even ifit doesn't go well, I will forfeit any rights to your money and I will stop asking you for any help.” Blueblood went silent in contemplation, Rarity held out her hoof. “One week, that's all I ask. Do we have a deal?”

Blueblood nodded and took her hoof. “If this means that you will stop pestering me, then yes. Yes, we have a deal.”

The two unicorns shook on it and continued back to their respective suites before anypony ever noticed. Before they were completely out of each others sight, Blueblood stopped and turned back around.

“Oh, Miss Rarity!”

She turned around, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

“What now?”

“Oh nothing, I just wanted to say that I'm so glad to see you lost that baby weight. I was worried about you for a little while there.”

She shook her head and turned back around, quickly making her way out of his sight as the wry smile on the princes face blossomed since he was so glad to have had the final word this time around.

Author's Note

January 2018 Note:
I recently found my original notes for this fic after thinking I had lost the last 5 chapters. While going through it, I realized it had been a long time since I reread this story and I was struck by how much improvement it needed.
So, I'm slowly going through and updating some of the earlier chapters so that they read a little bit better and add more to the plot. I admit, back in 2012 when I started this, I was not the strongest writer and while I still don't think I'm great, I like to think I've improved so I am really proud of the changes I've made. If you disagree or if you just want to be reminded of how it used to go, feel free to message me and I'll send you the original. Thanks so much!