Rarity and Blueblood's Adventures in Parenting

Rarity and Fancypants were enjoying their lunch in a secluded booth in the fanciest eatery in the little town they had stopped in. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the trip thus far, which was far from what Rarity had expected. So far, they had been mobbed by ponies whose only agenda was to spend time with Fancypants, and when those ponies were around she never got a word in edgewise. It wasn't just the yes-men though, he had already received dozens of letters asking to discuss business so far, making it harder for the two of them to spend any time together.

When the letter for Rarity arrived she groaned, who could possibly be sending her a letter now? This was the first time in over a day that she had gotten time alone with her stallion. She looked apologetically at her date as she hastily opened the letter up.

Rarity,
You win. I can't do this, she hates me. Nothing I try works and I'm pretty sure she really misses you. I know that you are thousands of miles above Equestria, but it would mean the world to me if you could just get off at your next stop, come to Canterlot and pick her up. I promise that I will pay you double for the rest of my life, if you just do this one thing for me.
-Blueblood

Rarity slipped the letter into her dress trying her best not to let her anger get the better of her. She had no intentions of leaving for Canterlot until her trip was over and couldn't believe he had the gall to ask her to. She was sure the prince was just overreacting anyway, Ivory Lace had never been that fussy of a foal. She made a mental note to send him a letter later when she wasn't spending time with a true gentlecolt.

“Is something wrong my dear?” He asked.

“No, I'm sorry, this is just a letter from a client asking for an ensemble when I return,” Her date nodded.

“We haven't had a chance to spend time together lately, I apologize for that. Even when I am away from Canterlot, work seems to follow me.”

“No I understand, even when I'm away work follows me too...”

Another letter arrived at the table, Rarity frowned. What could be so important that he had to send two letters to her? For a brief second she was worried that perhaps something else had happened to the foal and it was urgent. Images of all the possibilities ran through her head, each one worse than the last.

When the unicorn mare noticed that the letter was addressed to Fancypants she let out a quick sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't another letter from Blueblood, she was happy. Her smile waned when she noticed her companion stand up and start to walk away from the table.

“I'll be right back,” he promised.

Rarity frowned, she should have seen that coming when she noticed the note wasn't for her. Rarity took her letter out of her dress, and asked a passing waiter for a quill. She figured now was as good a time as any to write a response back to him. She watched as her date walked out of the dining area, she was sure that she had seen more of him walking away from her, than of his actual face.

Rarity knew she shouldn't really be complaining. Oftentimes, she had put off visits from him for foolish reasons, but it was different when the shoe was on the other hoof. The only time they had spent together without anypony else was when they were in their little room last night and at that point they were both too exhausted to even acknowledge the others presence.

She was having a good time though, the spa on board was lovely and there were plenty of ponies to engage in good conversation with, but it wasn't what she had been hoping for.

Rarity waved down the closest waiter and handed him the note she had just written up. Glad to have that out of the way she turned back to the salad in front of her. Fancypants returned not long later with smile on his face.

“Sorry it took so long, my dear. I will have you know though that there are two new things in my possession.”

“Oh?” Rarity asked trying to sound interested. While she did enjoy spending time with Fancypants and hearing all about his life, sometimes hearing about his career could be a bit dull. She found that oftentimes when they talked about their lives there was a lot they had in common, but when it came to business, they were on two completely different planes.

“The first is something you might find terribly dull, but the second will be more personal.”

“Personal?” She asked raising an eyebrow. The unicorn stallion levitated a gold necklace over to the mare whose eyes grew wide. “This is for me?”

“I know that it is fairly early into our trip and that we have several more days airborne, but I felt horrible leaving you alone while I have had to work. I couldn't let a lovely mare like yourself handle a week like this without a gift of thanks.”

Rarity sat there absolutely stunned that he would do this for her. Nopony had ever done something like this for her over something important, let alone over something so inane as not spending enough time together.

She loved that he did this for her, she loved that he actually thought about her even when he was working.

She didn't love that her brain was prodding her to tell him about Ivory Lace.

“Thank you so much, Fancypants,” she said as her magic took over the necklace so she could slip it around her neck. “I wish I knew you were getting me something, I feel positively awful that I have nothing to give you in return.”

“Don't worry about it, dear Rarity. Your presence is enough. Sometimes I believe that you are quite possibly the only mare in Canterlot whose thoughts do not belong to another pony. Trust me, after years of living and working in Canterlot, a good conversation is a well-needed break from the norm.”

At this point her brain was begging her to tell Fancypants about Blueblood and Ivory Lace. How could she not? With all the compliments she was receiving from him, he obviously cared about her. He cared enough to deserve to know the truth.

“Fancypants.... I...” she paused, the truth was at the tip of her tongue. “I just wanted to thank you again for this, for everything. It has been surreal.”

“Maybe another time.” She assured herself.

* * *

Blueblood received a response from Rarity by dinnertime. He sighed in relief, and put his daughter in her crib to read it without his hair being tugged at. This was it, this is what he had been waiting all day for and not a moment too soon. A day and a half had gone by slowly enough, this letter could be his saving grace.

Blueblood,
Please stop acting like a colt, I will not leave my trip to pick up Ivory Lace. All I ask is that you spend a little bit of time with your daughter, is that really too big of a task for you?
Don't feel that I'm belittling you for having some trouble, I assure you that I had the same problem when I brought her home. I was never good with foals, sometimes even watching my sister is a task in itself. I packed all those bags for that reason, this way you would always find something to keep her occupied.
And no, I'm sure she does not hate you, she just has no idea who you are. Whenever I go somewhere without her, she stays with my parents and my sister, with whom she is comfortable around. This is a strange environment full of strange ponies. Just try harder.
-Rarity

He threw the letter in the trash, annoyed that she would even bother sending him a message if she had no intentions of helping him at all. Even when she was thousands of miles away she always knew how to get to him, it has to be some special talent of hers. The stallion was sure that everything she mentioned was just a way to make him seem inferior, why would she ever have problems taking care of a filly? She's a mare. Mares know all about that stuff.

He sat down on the rocking chair that had been placed in the nursery and levitated the filly over to him and onto his lap. This was something somepony with a baby did, right?

“I can do this,” he whispered to himself as he started rocking. It was oddly soothing to be sitting like this with his daughter, even though she was more interested in looking at the toys on the floor instead of him trying to relax with her. At least this time she wasn't crying, which Blueblood considered a vast improvement over the past day and a half.

At some point, Blueblood nodded off in the rocking chair thinking about the most recent mare who had caught his attention. She had been in his sights for years at this point, but she always seemed to be in the hooves of somepony else. He waited for her, if only to stay away from being coerced into fighting whatever stallion she was currently dating. He had learned once before that while he may have had some training with the royal guard, as per royal tradition, fighting was not something he was particularly skilled in. Thankfully, she was single now and he wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

All through his thoughts, he kept feeling a dull pain on his head, at first he was able to ignore it for the sake of her beauty, but after awhile he jerked awake. Unlike him, the baby unicorn was wide awake and exercising one of her magic bursts by bumping a small, thick leather bound book against the side of his head over and over again. The prince snatched the book from the foal's magic, bracing himself for a flood of tears, but instead the filly looked at him expectantly.

The stallion looked from the filly to the book and back again, curious, Blueblood opened it up and placed it on his lap, immediately his daughter curled up next to it to better see the book. He assumed it must have been one of the many distractions that Rarity had packed Blue Belle for her stay. Maybe this would be something that could keep her from crying for a while.

“To Rarity and Lacey from your bestest friends. Oh Celestia, seriously?” Blueblood groaned, of course her little friends would come up with something so silly to give to a baby. Maybe books like this are considered a normal gift for them?

He didn't know and didn't care to find out, instead he turned to the first page. The book was little more than a scrapbook with compiled pictures of Rarity, her friends, and pictures of Lacey from birth up until what looked like few days ago.

While the foal may have been enjoying it, her father found it to be pure torture. Page after page looking at photos of the one mare he didn't want to see and the silly little phrases that her friends
came up with.

“What the heck is a cherrychanga?”

That was just one of the many little quotes in the booklet that Blueblood didn't understand, but he still read every word out loud to the little filly, who was eager to put her hooves to the pages as if to point at the pictures. She especially enjoyed the one of the six mares standing next to some stained glass window in another part of the castle.

He stopped at the last page, he had been ready to just close it and get it over with, but he had to admit he was surprised that there was any page at all in this book devoted to him. Nothing special just a few paparazzi shots from the gala and the various events that week she visited Canterlot. He focused his attention on the image from the gala, the two of them were smiling for the camera as if they were really enjoying their time together. Perhaps at that point they were having a good time, he wasn't sure, at this point he couldn't remember much of the gala anymore, everything before the cake went flying was a little fuzzy.

At the bottom of the page, in Rarity's distinct cursive were two little lines.

“Even though he's not around,
Your father thinks about you all the time”

He looked down at Ivory Lace, who didn't react to the last page like she did the other ones. In fact, she seemed more bored than anything. He wondered if she had ever seen this page before, if her mother had ever even mentioned him before. While a small part of him understood why she didn't care, more than anything, he was upset that she didn't care about him, why didn't she understand that he was trying as hard as he could?

“Your mother would send you to me with pictures of herself,” he mumbled, tossing the book off the chair and picking up the filly with his hooves. The filly seemed more interested in the papers that had fallen out of the book when he threw it and started whining to get him to pay attention to her.

To appease the whining unicorn, the prince bent over and picked up the papers that had fallen out of the book. Blue Belle reached out for one of them that had a photograph stuffed inside.

“What are you looking at?” He asked as he levitated the photo, the filly was reaching towards, in front of him.

“Mama.”

The unicorn looked at the photograph, it wasn't anything he hadn't already seen before, it was just Rarity holding their daughter after she was born. He raised an eyebrow, what was the point of that? The picture was already in the book why attach it to one of the loose papers in the back? He grabbed the paper the photo had been attached to, away from the filly's grip.

Blueblood,
My mother wanted me to send you this picture. It was taken just after you left. I know you and I made a deal, but I thought maybe you would like to see her sometime?

He started to go through all the other papers that had been sprawled across the floor, each one was similar to the first one he saw. They all featured a picture or two of Blue Belle through the past few months with a short note attached to it, usually featuring a few rewrites on the same page. Every single note was addressed to him, but none of them had actually ever been sent to him. Despite her usually brash behavior towards him, he was surprised how unsure of herself she was in those letters, always crossing things out and rewriting them.

She shouldn't be blaming him for not trying when she was obviously too afraid to reach out to him. After all, once Blue Belle was born only one letter was ever sent to him. Just a short one sent by Rarity's parents that said that the foal was named Ivory Lace and that she was healthy and both mother and daughter were doing well. True, he had never asked for more, but obviously she had no intentions of reaching out to him any more than she already had. It was bad enough that the only letter that was sent to him wasn't even from her.

He looked into his daughters big bright blue eyes, they looked so hopeful and sweet. How could something so sweet and innocent come from two ponies who couldn't get along?

This is what his servants had been telling him about. This was the warm and fuzzy feeling they had mentioned. The prince sighed, he couldn't blame Rarity for what was partially his fault. Perhaps if he hadn't been so against the idea of doing anything for the filly he would have received these letters and pictures. He picked her up and kissed her on the forehead.

“Blue Belle, I promise you that from now on I will try to be a better father to you.”

For the remainder of the week, Blueblood lived up to that promise the best he could. He tried not to get so frustrated with her and found activities around the castle that could keep her busy when she got bored with the usual routine. He figured it was a far cry from what she probably did when she was at home with her mom, but at least she wasn't crying hysterically like she was for the first day and a half.

He tried to convince himself that he was having a good time, and at times he was. He did generally enjoy being around his daughter and watching her experience new things around the castle. At one point he tracked down the window in the picture she liked so much and brought her there. While he didn't exactly like looking at a giant window with her likeness on it, he would do anything to keep the filly happy, and visiting that window definitely made her happy.

By the end of the week, Blueblood was exhausted, he had no idea how her mother put up with her without going crazy. Blue Belle was either off the walls excited, whining or sleeping. There was no in-between.

When he received an invitation from Fleur de Lis asking for a date that evening he jumped at the opportunity to take a night off from being a father. He figured that after this week he deserved a prize and Fleur de Lis was the ultimate prize.

An hour before Fleur was set to arrive the prince made himself presentable, gone were the dark circles that had appeared under his eyes and any traces that he had spent the week doing something anything less than princely. As soon as he felt that he achieved that, he walked into the nursery.

“Hey sweetie, will you be a good little filly for your daddy? He has a very special guest coming over, he has been waiting for his mare to be single for years.” She looked up at him with a blank expression. “Your silence is music to my ears,” he smiled.

* * *

Rarity stood on the deck of the airship, the week was almost over and soon she would have to go back to facing reality. Back to being up for days at a time taking care of Lacey and orders, back to just being a seamstress in Ponyville.

“Rarity? Is everything OK?” Rarity turned around and faced the stallion.

“Yes, I'm just a little sad that our trip is ending, thank you again for this amazing trip, Fancypants.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Rarity. You are my favorite party guest after all.”

“No really, this is the most amazing trip I have ever been on!” She got up and looked over the edge of the airship. “We're thousands of miles above Equestria!”

“Only the most beautiful views for the most beautiful mare on board.”

“You have to tell him” She told herself. “The trip is almost over. It wouldn't hurt to just say it, what have you got to lose?”

“I have something I need to tell you,” she blurted out.

“Is everything alright?”

“I... I'm not sure. This is just something I feel like I should tell you.”

“Go ahead then.”

“I don't know how to put this, and I hope you don't think any less of me when I tell you.”

“Miss Rarity, I assure you there is nothing you can say that will make me think less of you.”

He was so sincere when he said those words that she wanted to cry. He probably thought that she was going to admit a crush or something else that was minuscule compared to the truth. As much as she wished for things to be different she had a grim outlook towards his reaction. “You have to tell him, either the truth gets out now or it gets out later when there is more to lose,” she reminded herself.

“I... have... a daughter...” She closed her eyes and braced herself for the falling out, yelling maybe? Possibly just ignoring her for the last day of the trip?

“Well, Miss Rarity... I can honestly say that was not what I was expecting to hear.”

“I know and I can understand if you have no intention in seeing me anymore,”

“No, it's not that. I feel... bad.”

“Bad? Why would he feel bad? He didn't do anything.”

Out of all the possible responses that he could have said, this one probably hit her the hardest. The last thing she wanted from him, from anypony, was pity. She thought she was handling everything well for somepony her age, especially since before having Ivory Lace, she didn't quite like foals all that much.

“I'm sorry, Miss Rarity, that didn't come out the way I intended. What I meant was that I was ashamed of myself for treating you so badly.”

“Badly? Perish the thought, darling. You have been nothing, but charming.”

“If only that were so... Miss Rarity, have I ever told you about my mother?”

“I don't believe so, no.”

“She was young as well when I was born. My father wasn't around, I never really got to know him. She raised me to respect a lady and I have not respected you in a way that would make anypony proud. I took you away from her and was too busy for half the week to be with you. Not to mention what you and I have done... I just don't want to give you a bad reputation.”

“I assure you that you would never give me a bad reputation, any reputation I receive is because of myself and myself alone.”

Fancypants smiled and put his foreleg around his companion bringing the two of them closer together. Rarity felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, finally she could say that everypony important in her life knew and she wouldn't have to worry about hiding anything anymore.

“So how old is she?”

“She just turned five months old last week. Her name is Ivory Lace.”

There was a long pause, she could feel the stallion's grip around her loosen and she was worried she said something that made him upset.

“The... week you were in Canterlot?” She didn't realize that he would be able to figure out so quickly when Lacey was conceived. Rarity nodded, biting her lip. “Is she my daughter?”

“No, no we hadn't... not at that point.”

“Just making sure, it's been awhile.” Fancypants assured her. “I suppose the true father is one that could cause quite a stir in Canterlot.” he added, with a more whimsical tone in his voice than he had a moment ago. “Many stallions were taken by you, I know for a fact that several events were created so others could get to know you better. May I inquire about her father?”

The words “out of the picture” came to mind, “lout” too. She couldn't think of a single good thing to say about him. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt this week, but with how the week started out she didn't think she could.

“Blueblood,” she said quietly.

* * *

Blueblood woke up to alarms sounding and screams protruding from outside his door, he jumped out of his bed and looked back quickly, it was empty. He assumed Fleur left hours ago. Did he smell smoke? His eyes widened, he pushed open his door and ran down the hall. Ponies from all over the palace had gathered around the nursery, the prince pushed through them all only to have his worst fears realized.

The nursery was charred, everything in it was either in ashes or covered in soot. The whole room was overturned as if somepony had been searching for something and when his eyes landed on the empty crib, he realized what they had been searching for.

“Quick, is my daughter OK?” Blueblood asked the closest servant, the servant didn't respond, he only bowed his head. “She's gone isn't she?” He asked quieter this time, the servant just nodded. The stallion took a deep breath and shooed all the servants out of the room and closed the door behind them. He had no doubt that they were listening at the door, waiting to hear what he would do next, but he didn't plan on giving them a show.

He walked around the room examining what was left, one bag full of Rarity's things was left almost untouched, but the rest seemed almost unsalvageable, much like the rest of the room. Pictures were scattered around the room, most were the ones that were taken this week, but there were a few that had come from the bags. He stopped at a particular picture, when he had taken Blue Belle down to the gardens, it was a simple snapshot of her, but it served as a grim reminder for the prince.

Then, an even more chilling thought came to mind. Her mother would be coming by in a few hours to pick her up, the only problem was the filly wasn't here. Not only did she not like him before she dropped the foal off, but now that he had effectively continued to screw things up...

“Shit, Rarity is going to kill me.”