“What did you say?” Rarity asked incredulously.

“I know where Ivory Lace is. After you left Manehattan I hired my own private investigators to help look for her as well.”

“Yes, that's what I thought I heard you say,” she responded nearly in a whisper, as if in a state of shock.

“Rarity, they found her. She's okay and they are going to do whatever possible to extract her and bring her home safely.”

Her eyes widened, the faintest ghost of a smile started to show up on her face and she slowly, but surely took a few tentative steps closer to Fancypants. From the moment she let him enter her home, she had done her best to distance herself from him, but knowing this, she just couldn't help herself. With every step she became more confident, until she was in his face, until she was right up against him. Her hooves grabbed ahold of the collars of his suit and she pulled his face down to meet hers, the smile that had been on his face turned to shock and fear.

“Why in Celestia's name did you not start with that?!” she demanded.

Fancypants calmly used his golden magic to take Rarity's hooves off his collar and back on the floor, Rarity just stared at him dumbfounded.

“Well, it would be foolish of me to just waltz into your home without apologizing first. You were angry and you seemed very set on your path of calling me out; getting a word in edgewise was rather difficult.”

She took a deep breath to compose herself before looking up at him, trying to hold back the tears that were starting to build up in the corner of her eyes.

“How... how long have you known?” she asked.

He turned away from her. “You always treat me as if I'm your enemy, but I found your daughter and as soon as I found out, I came here to Ponyville as quickly as possible, to tell you,” Fancypants said. “Rarity, I am only trying to help you.”

“This doesn't feel like helping.”

“I know how angry you must be with me and I suppose if I were in your horseshoes, I would feel the same way...”

“Where is she?” Rarity snapped.

“I don't know the full details of it at this current moment, and of course, I don't want you to worry about it...”

“What exactly do you mean by that?” she interrupted. “I'm already worried; I've been a jumble of nerves since the day I found out she went missing.”

“No, I understand and that's why I have my own ponies on the case. They are working on getting her now, but...”

Fancypants sighed and looked at the ground and led Rarity towards a seat. She allowed him to, but she was visibly uncomfortable the entire time.

“Rarity, I'm afraid I have some news that may upset you.”

“Why? What's wrong? Did something happen to Ivory Lace?”

“No, nothing like that,” Fancypants assured her. “Ivory Lace is fine and you will have her back in your capable hooves soon enough and you will never have to worry about losing her like this ever again. I promise you that.”

“But?”

He pursed his lips and his horn lit up with a golden aura and slowly, but surely a small pad of paperwork appeared almost out of thin air and drifted lazily over to Rarity. She grabbed it and her brow furrowed as she browsed the page. By the time she reached the bottom of the page, her face had dropped.

“Is this the same paperwork from Manehattan?”

Fancypants nodded.

“I didn't realize that the plan he came up with was to sign away his rights. When did he do this?”

“I received it from my secretary just the other day. It still needs a judge's signature so it isn't finalized, but it should be enough to get your daughter back. My investigators have a copy and are bringing it to her foalnappers. It should be enough to get her back from them, and since she is no longer his heir they will be unable to go after her again.”

She put the small stack of papers down and tried to hide her disappointment. After the conversation she and Blueblood had in the nursery, she had honestly assumed that she really could trust that he had a real plan to get Ivory Lace back, not to just give up like this. It was especially confusing to her as he had spent so much time and energy defending himself as a parent.

“I understand this is difficult,” Fancypants said as he put a comforting hoof around her. “But this is possibly the smartest move he could have ever made. Once you have Ivory Lace again, it will be like the past month never happened. It will become a distant memory.”

“No, I understand. I see why he would make that choice. I'm just... surprised. When he said he had a plan this just wasn't what I expected.”

“I see... well for what it's worth, I'm sure it was a decision he struggled with.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. He smiled at her and Rarity struggled to return it. She wasn't sure if she felt comforted by that tidbit of knowledge in the slightest, but any response was better than continuing to sit idly by with such an unladylike slack-jawed expression. She glanced down at the paperwork, taking the opportunity to read it over more completely. She pursed her lips, then put it down and looked up at Fancypants quizzically. “So, how long should it take to get Ivory Lace back?”

“Not long at all. I'm sure by the time I return to Canterlot she will be at my home, safe and sound.”

“Then I would like to join you on your trip; it would be silly for you to go all the way to Canterlot to pick her up and then turn around and come back. Besides, it would be much more preferable to spending time here, alone.”

“I didn't come all this way to Ponyville just to tell you that we found her. I want you there when the ponies I hired bring her back safely. Nopony else deserves to be there as much as you do.”

Rarity smiled and wrapped her forelegs around him in a hug. “Thank you so much! Let me just get my things together and then we can go.”

“I'm sure that won't be necessary. If you want anything, just say the word and I can get it for you.”

“And while I thank you for that, I have a saddlebag full of Ivory Lace's things that I'm sure she'll want after not seeing them for a few weeks.”

“Then I will meet you in my carriage,” Fancypants responded as he walked out the door of the boutique. “As soon as you have everything you need, just say the word and we will head to Canterlot.”

* * *

Blueblood's eyes fluttered open slowly. Sleep had been something so elusive to him for so long that at first it felt welcoming, like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. He could almost ignore the nightmares. Almost. What had started as a whisper of a reminder while he slept soon lapsed into the constant playbacks of walking into a charred and empty nursery that plagued his dreams recently.

Being awake wasn't much better; it was practically a nightmare in itself. He could not recall the last time he had been completely and utterly alone; there was nopony to talk to, nothing to see, and there was nothing he could do about it.

During his stay in the room he quickly learned that magic was out of the question. Any attempt at any kind of magic, no matter how small, not only ended up not working, but also led to worse headaches than any of his past hangovers had ever provided him.

Every once in a while food would appear, unaccompanied, in front of the dim light that barely peeked into the room from underneath what Prince Blueblood had guessed was a door. And, while he reasoned that it was 'just a door,' no amount of pressure he put into pushing it or kicking it did any damage to it. After a few hours of futile raging against the unmoving obstacle, Blueblood slumped down in defeat.

By the time the door finally opened he wasn't sure if he had been in there for a couple of days or a couple of months.

The bright lights that had been forcibly kept out by the thick door, now free of their bindings, flooded freely into the small room. He shielded his eyes on instinct, though chided himself inwardly for doing so as he had no idea how long this visit would last.

When he uncovered his eyes, he wasn't sure what he had expected to see, but he didn't keep his hopes up. Blueblood knew he had been there long enough that surviving this long should have been a treat in and of itself.

Once his eyes acclimated to the light the once blurry figure that had opened the door became clearer. For a moment Prince Blueblood was ecstatic. He had known this pony for years and never had a reason to doubt her before, but that moment was fleeting as soon as he remembered their interactions from the evening where it all began.

“I suppose I should have realized you had a hoof in this much earlier,” he said, exasperated. “You had never shown any interest in me before that week, why start now?”

Fleur de Lis looked down at the despondent prince with a wry smile on her face.

“And it is so nice to see you as well, Prince Blueblood, especially now that you're awake. You look far more well rested now than you did when you arrived.”

Blueblood opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“Oh chin up, your highness,” she replied curtly. “You had a fun evening and I am sure it was a comforting memory to look back on while the rest of your miserable life went downhill. Wasn't it?”

“Don't flatter yourself, Fleur, you are not as memorable as you think you are. I had almost completely forgotten that we went out that night, but I'm sure you will forgive me, right? After all, you are the one that stole my daughter afterward..”

“You don't really think I'm the bad pony here, do you?” she asked innocently.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Of course I do! You tricked me, and you and your associates stole my daughter in the middle of the night, and you set her room on fire!”

“Yes, perhaps the fire was a little much, but it did get your attention, didn't it?”

“You could have hurt her!”

“Oh but don't worry, I made sure that fire didn't start until after Ivory Lace was safely out of the castle. The Silver Guard wants to help her, not hurt her. In fact, we are doing her a public service! We are giving her what you have refused to give her.”

“And what would that be?”

“Your daughter is a Canterlot bastard, the daughter of the Prince of Canterlot and a lowly seamstress from Ponyville.”

“Yes, but...”

“Most other foals like her would live out their entire life in some small town or in some miserable part of Canterlot where you have to travel more than a few blocks for a decent meal and a good school. We are giving her the opportunity so many others can only dream of: to cash in on her bloodline.”

“That's not...”

“And I'm sure you know how safe Ponyville is,” Fleur continued, ignoring Blueblood's interruption. “After all, they are no strangers to monster attacks since they are so close to the Everfree forest and what not. Had we not stepped in, she would have lived her entire life in that little monster ridden town without ever knowing her father.”

“That isn't true!”

“It's very selfish, don't you think?” She asked innocently, once again ignoring him. “You have this adorable little filly that you have only recently claimed you care about and yet you would still rather let her live her life as a commoner in Ponyville than live the life of luxury. I think it's selfish. Selfish, but not surprising. Your family is known for its cowardice.”

“Cowardice? I don't know what you mean by that.”

“Of course you don't,” Fleur responded smugly.

“What?”

“At this point, I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you. It's quite a fun little story, for me at least. You probably won't appreciate it. After all, all those years of bad luck seemingly following you around wouldn't have ever happened to you if it weren't for your father.”

“Leave my family out of this,” Blueblood hissed.

“Apparently, when he was captured by us all those years ago, he made a trade. He offered your life to save his own,” Fleur continued, ignoring the Prince's comment.

Prince Blueblood's face went blank, much to his captor's delight.

“Sad, isn't it? Your own father threw you under the carriage to save his own life. Not that it worked out for him in the long run, but still.” She feigned sadness for almost a minute before continuing. “Of course, you've read your family history by now, haven't you? You know that this is only a small part of a long lineage of cowardly moves just like that.”

“Why spend my entire life going out of your way to torture me like this? Why not raise me like your idiotic group plans to raise my daughter?”

Fleur's formerly giggly grin, dissipated. “Well...” she began, unsure. “I'm sure the ponies in charge of our organization believed in the long-term benefits of this plan. I don't know what they had in mind, but I thought this was a much more exciting plan, sowing a few mistakes here and there, an accident that you were in the center of... and now a foal from a one night stand that you tried to make disappear. It all adds up to create... well, you.”

“So I never had a chance. Somepony decided years ago that it would just be more fun to make me out to be some bad stallion.”

“A chance? Your highness, you had hundreds of chances. Did you think we were controlling you somehow? Ha! Some members of the guard set up a few difficult situations that we made sure you landed yourself in, but you ran with it, always choosing the lesser of the two options and now you're dealing with the fallout.”

“So all of this... Rarity and I and... Ivory Lace. This was all just a part of your incredibly fucked up plan?”

“Actually, Rarity was an unexpected deviation from the plan. Your assistant, Jeeves, let slip to some of the other servants in the castle about your little situation almost immediately after you found out about her little bun in the oven. Thankfully, it ended up working in our favor. None of our members would have to go through the awful ordeal of having your foal, and now the new heir to the unicorn line is not only Princess Platinum's descendent, but is also the offspring of an Element of Harmony – a savior of Equestria. The only thing we had to do was sway Rarity against adoption.”

“I don't understand... why are you doing this? For a plot of land? A claim to the throne?”

“Ha, wouldn't you like to know?” she responded smugly.

Blueblood got back up on his hooves, a task that was easier said than done after lying down in the small room for so long. Although his legs teetered as he got used to standing up again, he looked Fleur in the eyes and once again attempted magic, hoping that if it were to work at any time for him, it would be now. He sent up a ripple of magic to his horn, but it was immediately interrupted with a shooting pain that caused him to fall back to the ground in pain.

“I would watch what you say and do in here,” Fleur warned, obviously unafraid of the stallion. “You aren't in any position to fight anypony; you have no magic in here. It may just be for the best for you to think of this room as your tomb. After all, to the ponies who matter, you are already dead. Newspapers have switched from talking about your awful decisions to wondering where you disappeared to. I'm sure they will give you a little article when they find out that you killed yourself, though; you were just so distressed over your mistake and the fallout from it that it seemed like your only option.”

“How many ponies are actually going to fall for that?” Blueblood scoffed.

“Oh Blueblood,” Fleur said with a practiced sigh, as if she had waited for this moment. “We've been feeding articles to the big newspapers for weeks now. After all, our membership has ponies in high places; why would we lie about something as important as the former Prince of the unicorns?”

Fleur didn't wait for a response as she turned around swiftly, stepping out of the room and slamming the heavy door shut before Blueblood had the opportunity to stop it.

* * *

When Rarity joined Fancypants on his trip back to Canterlot, she didn't realize it would be so quiet. It made sense, of course. She wasn't sure what to say to him and he didn't seem willing to break the silence either. It was a far cry to their little vacation together just a few weeks before, where they spent every moment that he wasn't working, talking to each other and just generally enjoying each others presence.

That trip almost felt like a dream at this point; the experience had been very surreal and dream-like, a stallion that gifted her with expensive jewelry and took her on elaborate vacations just because he could. It was almost unbelievable that the entire time he was wining and dining her he was keeping secrets from her.

It was like he was a completely different pony now.

“Could we talk about what happened to us in Manehattan?” Fancypants asked.

“If you wish.”

“I do wish.”

Rarity didn't respond, but she kept her attention focused on him, waiting for him to start. Fancypants cleared his throat. “I want you to understand that I really do care about you. If you think that my asking you to be my marefriend during the party was a lie or that I did it just to create a diversion, then you are mistaken.”

“I know you meant it...” Rarity responded in a voice hardly above a whisper.

“And all I have ever wanted to do was keep you safe. I know ponies out there, cruel ponies, who would go out of their way to hurt you just because they can and all I want to do is spare you from that for as long as I can.”

“I appreciate that, but I want you to understand that I feel as though I have been deceived. You knew so much about my life and I think you... mismanaged the information. If you really wanted to help me and my daughter you should have come forward sooner.”

“I know, I should have spoken with you once I found out, but I didn't know the full story. Rumors travel fast in Canterlot and I had only heard a few scattered things through the grapevine about you and Prince Blueblood. I wanted to wait until I had your side of the story before I took any action, I just wanted to make sure all you covered all your bases, no matter what you and... the father of your foal were doing.”

Rarity, instead of responding, went through her saddlebag, carefully moving things around until she pulled out a little velvet covered jewelry box. She opened it up and pulled out the small gold necklace that he had given to her. Despite being hidden away at the bottom of her saddlebag it had not lost any of the original luster that it had on the day she had received it.

“Isn't this...” He trailed off.

She nodded, inching the necklace closer to him. He glanced at her, unsure of how to respond, until he finally cleared his throat and said, “I bought that for you.”

“I know, but I don't feel comfortable keeping it, not after everything that has happened.”

“Rarity, I think you are overreacting. The past few weeks have been difficult for you; I know that they have because I have been by your side through it all. I have never gone out of my way to lie to you even if that's the way it seems. We can still be the same mare and stallion we were on our trip.”

She shook her head. “Darling, I don't think we ever actually were that couple. I think we thought we were and we played our roles well, but we kept too much from each other. Maybe you could trust me, but with everything you've kept from me... I don't know if I'm comfortable continuing this, especially knowing what I know. I think you should give it to somepony else, somepony you don't feel the need to consistently lie to.”

She let go of the necklace, and they both watched wordlessly as it fell on the seat directly next to Fancypants.

* * *

After the door closed, Prince Blueblood briefly considered what he could have done to get out of the room had he taken the opportunity, but he couldn't concentrate on the what ifs. Not after everything Fleur had told him. The words raced through his mind as they etched into his mind.

Coward.

That was the one word in particular that kept coming back to him, no matter how hard he tried to push it out of his mind.

What if they Fleur was right? He was a coward; he had the track record for it, after all. And knowing now that he was the son of a coward he wouldn't be surprised, if given the chance, that he would likely have raised his daughter to be a coward as well.

He never thought about what would happen when she grew up. He couldn't exactly imagine watching her growing up or teaching her the skills he was once taught. In fact, he hadn't thought about what he and Rarity would do if they got her back; all of their conversations had been about their rocky past, but never about where Ivory Lace would live or where she would go to school.

Or if she would be the heir to his bloodline.

Fleur was right; throughout their search for her he had never once thought about her taking over his position. He knew, in a very general sense, that it was what the Silver Guard wanted for her, but it had never really crossed his mind.

Was that his fault?

He could have raised her to be a Princess, probably not exactly the way that they wanted her to be raised, but a Princess nonetheless. He had just never really considered Ivory Lace as anything other than his and Rarity's foal, the filly whose life he was just starting to get involved in. Perhaps he was the one who had been wrong. He obviously hadn't been bred to do the right thing. His priority for weeks now had been getting Ivory Lace back, but why? Sure, he loved and adored her, but foalsitting her less than a week was very different from actually being her father for the rest of his life, especially since so many other ponies had shouldered a majority of the actual work for the first few days of her visit.

It was becoming less clear by the minute why he had ever bothered in the first place.

Author's Note

This chapter brought to you less than a year after the last one (I know, crazy, right?) thanks to:
Nyerguds fantastic editing
Only having 1 job instead of 3 (Seriously, there's so much free time now!)
And of course, the need to procrastinate on more important things.

Thanks for reading!