Rarity and Blueblood's Adventures in Parenting

Fear is a troubling emotion. Sometimes it makes one more rash in their decision making skills and other times it can make ponies overly cautious. The prince of Canterlot, usually fell into the latter of the two categories, but today, was different.

Today the prince was on a mission, and while he had lingering doubts about this mission, he was determined to prove himself to be more than just the pretty face everypony seemed to think he was.

Blueblood took the earliest possible train to Canterlot. The sun was bright in the sky and the early risers of the population were already out and about on their daily routine. By the time he arrived, the streets were already scattered with those first few early risers. He tried to remain calm as he walked through the streets assuring himself that, at this time of day, most ponies were only just waking up. Most ponies had no idea that the prince was skulking around town trying to stay hidden, and he doubted those that were awake and moving about cared about anything other than their routine.

Although, he had to admit that he wished he had a bit more skill in illusionary magic, like some ponies he knew. He wasn't discounting what he could do though, very few ponies knew what made the majority of Canterlot citizens tick, like he did.

Had this been any other day, Blueblood doubted he would have even been out of his bed. It was hardly past eight in the morning and he, like most aristocrats, tended to be out late. Why make the day bad by starting it so early?

His informant was always at work this early though, and he had information that he and Rarity desperately needed to have. What better place to start than with the stallion who was well known throughout Canterlot to be one of the hardest to obtain a meeting with, but was also the best at what he did? From past experience, he knew that this stallion was usually free around this time and would most likely be able to speak with him. At least he hoped so.

Blueblood still had absolutely no idea how somepony could be up AND at work so early in the morning. The very thought of it made him want to curl up and take a nap... come to think of it, when was the last time he got some sleep?

“Best not to think of it now,” he reminded himself as he continued on.

The office building was not too far from the train station, but combined with the threat of the ponies who were after him, those few blocks seemingly took forever. Every pony he passed made him cringe inwardly. He wouldn't have been surprised if the whole point of the notes was to make him paranoid. If that was the case, it was working very well.

By the time he walked into the office building, he breathed a sigh of relief. No longer was he out in the open where anybody could find him, This was a safe place. Or at least he hoped it was.

Blueblood walked up several flights of stairs as fast as he could. It wasn't until he was almost out of breath that he reached the door with the stallion's name and business etched into it. It was now or never. If he missed this open opportunity there would be no others and not even his princely pull could help him there.

“Finally,” he breathed in relief as he pushed open the door with his foreleg.

A golden unicorn with flat white hair and large glasses looked up at him, thoroughly uninterested at first, until she got a good glance at who the stallion that had just walked in really was.

“I'm here to see Fancypants,” he said briskly, before she had a chance to welcome him to the spacious office.

“Absolutely, your highness,” She responded quickly as she quietly opened the office door and slipped in, closing it behind her before Blueblood could get a good look at the important stallion. He stood by the door awkwardly and waited until his secretary trotted back out and nodded him into his office.

Blueblood didn't wait to listen to anything else the mare started to say, nor did he want to. Fancypants and the information he held were his highest priority right now. He barged into Fancypants' office and walked up to his desk.

Unsurprisingly, Fancypants did not look pleased to see him.

“How can I help you Blueblood?” He asked, trying to stay somewhat formal.

“First of all I just want to say Miss Rarity is inconsolable right now...”

“I was afraid of that...” Fancypants interrupted. “I really do care about her, she's beautiful and witty, she is so much different than most mares in Canterlot. Before you say anything, our time apart has nothing to do with her daughter, I am sure that she is a lovely filly. I am more concerned about her relationship with you.”

“I need to stop you right there, Fancypants. There is no relationship between her and I. I assure you, our private relationship is no different from our public one. I'm not here for any reason, but to ask for your assistance.”

Fancypants raised an eyebrow, “I see.”

“You see, while you and Rarity were away on that airship, I was watching my daughter...”

“Yes, I am well aware of this. Miss Rarity has filled me in on the details as well as the deal you struck. Now what is it that you wish to tell me?”

“Yesterday night, my daughter was stolen by some radicals who wish to see the end of the Blueblood line. So, I am sure you can understand why Miss Rarity is so upset right now.”

“While I'm very sorry this is happening to you and Rarity I don't have any kind of power that can fix this. So, as you can understand, I have no idea why you have come to me, asking for help.”

Fancypants leaned over the paperwork that littered his desk to continue his work, but Blueblood put his hooves on top of the unicorn's paperwork and stared at him straight in the eye.

“Everypony in Canterlot knows how well read you are about the history of the elite. I need your insight.”

“As I recall, your aunt is the immortal Princess Celestia. Is it that difficult, pray tell, for you to ask her? I am fairly sure she could tell you exactly what you want to know.”

Blueblood admitted inwardly that he should have seen that coming, of course asking his auntie was the most obvious course of action. Princess Celestia knew all about the noble families and probably knew a plethora of juicy secrets about them as well. Unfortunately, there would be two problems with asking his aunt, the biggest one being explaining why exactly he was asking about this information when he had never shown interest in history of any kind before. With that, he would have to explain to her what he did, and who he did it with.

He had a feeling she wouldn't take it well.

Not only that, but even if he did go through the motions of explaining everything to his auntie, she never did anything straightforward. He had no intentions of going about this as if he were trying to get through the castle maze or whatever other insane way she would suggest, and he believed that Rarity would agree with him on that note.

“Princess Celestia is the Princess of Equestria, naturally she is a very busy pony. She hardly has time for matters such as this when there are national issues to attend to.”

“Ah of course, you are too embarrassed to tell her,” Fancypants nodded as the prince's cheeks reddened slightly.

“O... of course not,” was the prince's response.

“Your highness, you forget that you and I have spent a fair amount of time together at social events for press reasons. I know you much better than you think I do.”

“Right...” Blueblood responded, unconvinced.

“Prince Blueblood, whenever you see a mare you haven't met, you go after her. Once you have obtained her, you show no interest in her until she finds somepony else. This is precisely the reason why I do not want to be with Rarity right now, I know how you can be around mares you are trying to get, and honestly it can be very frustrating for the ponies around you.”

Fancypants paused, letting the words sink in for Blueblood who just stared at him quietly, unsure of what to do or say in response.

“I also know that you are terrified of letting your dear 'auntie' down even though you have no problems sleeping with any mare that crosses your path...”

“This isn't about me,” Blueblood finally interrupted.

“Isn't it? In my personal experience you seem to be very good at making everything all about you. Specifically after that interview you gave to that society magazine about the gala, you sure made it seem like you wanted attention then.”

“Things are different this time, right now all I want to know is what you know about the Merriweather family and the Gamesome family. It is not for my own personal life, I assure you it is to save my daughter.”

“You mean the one you said you would take care of for a week in order to never see her again?” The prince didn't respond, “precisely what I thought. I know it is difficult to hear this about yourself, but perhaps it is what you need right n...”

There was a loud thud and the office went silent. Fancypants had been stopped mid-conversation by a blast of magic that had him pinned against the wall, his eyes were wide in surprise as his monocle hit the ground with a tiny clink. Several feet away, Blueblood's horn glowed with the same silver magic that kept the elite unicorn pinned to the wall.

“I am terribly sorry about this Fancypants, I haven't slept in awhile and between you and well... pretty much every pony I have come in contact with in the past day or so seems to have the same negative attitude towards me. Is it that difficult for even just one pony to be on my side?”

Blueblood let up on his grip on Fancypants until the other stallion slipped to the ground, still in shock from the blast that had just hit him. He picked up his monocle and stood up as the downtrodden and slightly embarrassed prince quietly headed toward the door.

“Neither the Gamesome family nor the Merriweather family, have been in power for generations.”

Blueblood stopped and turned back towards Fancypants, “Excuse me?”

“You asked if I knew anything about the Gamesome family, and the Merriweather family, and I do. Neither family has been in power for generations. The heirs are still fairly wealthy, not to Canterlot standards of course, but they are not exactly middle class.”

“Have you met them?”

“I am well acquainted with Gamesome Gallant, if that is what you are asking.”

“Great, has he ever mentioned wanting to take my daughter?”

“You said you wanted somepony on your side, but if you continue to ask absurd questions such as that, then how do you expect me to be on your side? I can assure you that Gamesome Gallant would never say or do anything like that, he is a gentlecolt.”

“I have reason to believe that your acquaintance Gamesome Gallant is in the Silver Guard, which, according to the wax seals on all the notes that have been popping up around the castle, are the ponies who stole my daughter.”

“I see...”

“So perhaps you could tell me where I can look for this stallion so I can give him a piece of my mind.”

“And then what do you plan on doing?”

“Excuse me?”

“Mr, Gamesome is one of my best clients and I will not have you running around chasing somepony who may very well be innocent just because you have a hunch.”

Fancypants trotted out his office door and over to his secretary, leaving Blueblood confused and somewhat angry. How dare Fancypants, who had claimed to be on his side for once, contradict everything the girls had come up with, it was blatantly obvious to him that Gamesome Gallant had to have some hand in this.

“Dottie, cancel my appointments for the next few days. I have very important business to attend to.”

“Yes sir.”

Fancypants turned back towards his office and flashed the prince a winning smile, “As I said before, I will not have you sullying my business contacts unless you are completely sure. So I will be attending with you.”

“Right... so you aren't just using this as a chance to get closer to Rarity again? I will have you know she is not in a position to fawn all over you right now.”

“If you had been listening, I am uncomfortable pursuing a relationship with her right now. Of course, that doesn't mean that I do not intend to make up my previous 'abandonment' as it were, by being there for her now. Although I am quite sure that with you as a companion, she will want somepony she can actually have a civilized conversation with.”

“I am positive that she has probably already invited along all of her friends at this point,” Blueblood retorted.

“Nonetheless, I would like to join in on your escapades. I have canceled my meetings for the next few days and I intend to use those days to make sure that you do not falsely accuse an innocent stallion.”

“Fine.”

“Splendid! Come then. We will take my personal carriage.”

“Fancypants... at the current moment, I do not exactly feel comfortable walking through Canterlot in plain sight. There is a death threat against me right now, after all.”

“Through Canterlot? Prince Blueblood, we are only walking across the street. It is still fairly early yet, you speak as though everypony in Canterlot will see you.”

Blueblood wanted to believe him, so far he hadn't had a problem walking through Canterlot without any kind of illusion to cover him, but as he walked outside with Fancypants he could tell he was being watched.

Growing up in Canterlot castle, everypony's eyes had always been on him, especially after his father's death. It had come to the point where it was like a sixth sense, knowing when ponies were looking at him. He assumed it was something that had just come with the title of Prince and he found that it usually worked in his favor. Not only was he able to get the word out about for something, it also made it slightly easier to pick out the mares that seemed to be interested in him. Today was not one of those days that he wanted to be looked at though, not even by the mares. In fact, today he was absolutely terrified of ponies looking at him.

They both loaded into Fancypants' carriage, Blueblood breathed a sigh of relief, he was still alive and he hadn't actually seen any ponies acting out of the norm. He assured himself the fear was all in his mind.

“Hello Fancypants sir, whattya need so early?” A younger earth pony stallion asked as he hitched himself up to the carriage.

“Hello chap, I am taking a small vacation to Ponyville with a cohort of mine. Do you mind bringing us now?”

“Of course sir.”

The prince leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. At least he could return to Ponyville with some information, though, he was sure Rarity would probably be more excited that he somehow persuaded Fancypants to come to Ponyville with him.

“Gamesome Gallant is throwing an event tomorrow. I already have an invitation, but I am sure it would not be too difficult to obtain two more tickets for you and Rarity. Perhaps then you can speak with him and have everything out in the open.”

Blueblood opened his mouth to respond to him. Was there any way to make him easily understand what they had researched or would he have to waste the whole trip telling him why this stallion should not be trusted? Before he could say anything, a blast of magic burned through the back of the carriage, right in between the two of them.

“What in the...”

They both turned around to see another carriage following them not too far off in the distance, with two stallions running as fast as they could. Blueblood turned back to face the stallion that was pulling this carriage, he was taking his sweet time. No, this would not do. The other carriage started to gain on them, and it didn't seem like they wanted to have a nice chat and some tea. He was sure that if they got any closer, the whole carriage would be blown to smithereens.

“Run!” Blueblood called out to the stallion pulling the carriage. “Our lives are at stake here!”

The stallion turned around just as another blast of magic was shot through the back of the carriage. The stallion pulling the carriage started to run as fast as he could to try and outrun their pursuers.

“I warned you this might happen, but no, you had to ignore me!” Blueblood yelled to his companion.

“I didn't realize it was so serious!” Fancypants yelled back as another blast of magic burned through the back.

They got down to the floor of the carriage and held on to the top of the seat as best as they could as they got jostled around by the chauffeur. Every once in awhile they would hear blasts of magic shooting through what was left of the wall of the carriage above them.

“I have a plan, we will both probably hate myself for this idea later, but it's either stay on the floor here and eventually get hit or this.” They locked eyes, Fancypants nodded slowly in agreement.

“Whatever it is... I'll do it.”

“When I give the signal, tuck and roll.”

“That is your brilliant plan? How glaringly unoriginal, it's from every Daring Do book in existence!”

“I never said it was brilliant, I just said it was a plan! You could always stay here if you prefer.” This was returned with a blank stare. “I didn't think so.”

“On three then?”

Blueblood nodded, “one.” He glanced at the quickly moving ground and winced. He wasn't really going to go through with this was he? What in Equestria made him think he was as adventurous as Daring Do? He didn't even have wings! Not to mention, the only magic he ever really exercised was telekinesis.

“Two.”

This was it. It was all over now. If they didn't get hit with whatever magic was being thrown at them, he was definitely going to kill himself by jumping out of a carriage. He wasn't really going through with this, was he?

“Three.”

Without another doubt to cloud his mind, he closed his eyes and jumped out of the carriage. For a fleeting moment, he felt like he was flying, but that moment ended quickly as he hit the ground with a hard and painful thud. He rolled himself into the forestry nearest to him as fast as he could.

As soon as he was sure that the other carriage had passed his location without stopping, he got up. Blueblood was acutely aware of how much his head hurt from the fall. His horn seemed to be intact and aside from a few sore spots, he seemed to be relatively unharmed. He looked down at his coat and groaned.

“Great, now, my daughter has been foalnapped by some lunatics, those same ponies are trying to kill me and I am coated in filth. I highly doubt that this day could get any worse.”

* * *

Back in Ponyville, Twilight had invited the rest of their friends over to the library in order to cheer up their distraught friend, who was pacing the wooden floors of the library muttering to herself while her friends looked on, still unsure of how to handle the situation.

"I'm sure everything will be OK, Rarity. Blueblood said he was going to talk to somepony in Canterlot about the heirs. I'm sure he is good to his word," Twilight assured her.

"Right, he's an absolute angel," Rarity snorted.

“Oh Rarity I'm sure whatever he's doin' is helping,” Applejack added.

"Oh, because he's obviously been so helpful to me in the past. I cannot think of a single thing he has ever done for me without fighting me on it. Ever. Do you know what happened when Ivory Lace was born?”

“No, you didn't even tell us anything about him until today!” Rainbow Dash pointed out. Rarity ignored her outburst and continued on with her story.

“He acted so boorish that the nurse asked me what I had been on when I met him. Imagine that, somepony questioning my taste! I had never been so embarrassed in my life."

“Oh come on lighten up Rarity, we all make mistakes when we drink too much. I know I have.” Rainbow Dash said proudly.

“Yea, we know.” The rest of them replied.

“Rarity, forget about the past. I'm sure he is good to his word at least about this. You aren't the only one who is missing a child. He is too.” Twilight said.

Rarity didn't respond, she just stared at the open book that had been left open on the table from the all night study session the night before. Anything else her friends said following that fell on deaf ears, she was in her own little world. So, when the door swung open, she barely flinched until the prince marched inside the library proudly.

"I have returned!" He exclaimed triumphantly, Rarity just shook her head as she continued to stare out the window.

“You smell like you just trudged through Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity sneered not looking up from the book as Blueblood took a few tentative steps into the library.

“I ran into a few technical difficulties on the way back to Ponyville, but I did obtain some useful information while I was in Canterlot.”

"Great, what did you find out?" Twilight asked as Rainbow Dash nudged Rarity as if to prove a point.

“The recent heir to the Gamesome family is Gamesome Gallant. According to my source, he currently resides in Manehattan and he will be hosting a benefit tomorrow for a charity of some sorts. Rarity and I have an invitation.”

“Really? Two invitations to an event we know nothing about. Not that I am questioning you or your techniques, but Blueblood, darling, where exactly are those tickets from?” Rarity asked, looking up at the prince with a raised eyebrow.

Blueblood stepped to the side, allowing Fancypants to step into the library. Rarity's eyes went wide with excitement as soon as she laid eyes on him.

“Fancy!” Rarity exclaimed and jumped up to embrace him.

“Prince Blueblood informed me of your situation, I figured that you might need some extra assistance. So, I contacted my good friend Gamesome Gallant and asked him if he would not mind sparing a few extra invitations for some special guests of mine,” the businesspony explained.

“Oh my, that's absolutely fabulous!”

The conversation was quickly quieted by the sound of a door creaking open. Twilight turned around to see her assistant Spike running into the room waving a letter in the air. He stopped short when he noticed the group of ponies gathered in the room.

“What's with all the guests? Are you having a party? Aww Twi! You promised to invite me to more of your parties! You could have just woken me up! It wouldn't have been a big deal!” He complained.

“Spike, this isn't exactly a party...” Twilight began.

“We're on a super secret special mission to save Ivory Lace from some meanie pies who took her from the palace! Isn't it exciting?” Pinkie grinned, the rest of the ponies in the room glared at her. “What?” She asked when nopony else in the room responded to her.

“Anyway... I have this note for you Twilight” Spike handed off the scroll to Twilight who examined it carefully before opening it. Her eyes went wide as she quickly scanned the note, then as quickly as she received it, she crumpled it up with her magic and threw it in the nearest trash bin.

“Miss Sparkle... what was that note about?” The prince asked as he stared at the trash bin.

“Oh, it's nothing nothing... no need to worry. Everything is going just swell... but uh it might be a good idea if you guys followed me upstairs,” she responded as she started up the stairs, everypony followed quickly behind her up into her room. Twilight shut the door behind her and scurried around the room as if she were looking for something.

“Miss Sparkle, what did the note say?!” Blueblood asked again, this time more anxious than the last.

“It said that you're out of time and they're coming after you now. So be quiet, I don't know how much time we have right now!” Twilight responded back in a whisper.

Before any of them had time to react, the door to the library swung open with a loud crash and muffled hoofsteps could be heard shufling around from the upstairs.

“How did they find us? We weren't on the carriage!” Fancypants asked.

“Carriage? You sent a carriage to Ponyville?” Twilight asked raising an eyebrow.

“How else would we have gotten back here?” Blueblood retorted.

“So why exactly are these ponies after you?” Applejack asked.

“I have no idea!”

“Oooo! I have an idea! Let's ask them!” Pinkie said as she barrels out of the room, “Oh mister bad guys, why are you after the prince?”

“Oh dear Celestia, this will not end well...” Fancypants murmured.