Trixie stirred in her bed. Prismia was nudging the blue pony with her hoof, and it was very much noticeable, but Trixie did not want to get up. Instead, she buried her face deeper inside her pillow.
Prismia rolled her eyes and levitated an open letter near Trixie's head. Trixie still didn't move.
Being used to Trixie's stubbornness (and wondering if there was a spell that would just get ponies to listen to you), the black mare turned Trixie over. Trixie immediately sent a small zap in the direction of Prismia's jagged horn and turned face-down again.
Prismia dropped the letter and brought a hoof up to her horn, nursing the small headache. Trixie was always tight in the morning, and it was this same song and dance every single day. Prismia justified it to herself that the only reason she put up with this is because there was no other way Trixie would wake up.
The multi-colored-maned pony was turned away by the sharp knocking at the door -- a royal guard, no doubt -- that seemed to cause a rise in Trixie. Prismia left the letter on the ground and went to see what the commotion was about.
She walked through her pristine marble hallway and through the gold doorway that led to her main common room. Opening the door with her recovered magic, she found a royal that didn't look like most. Prismia honestly didn't understand what the point of hiring royal guards that weren't the typical Whitecoats was, but having been spared from being the epicenter of heavy political troubles due to her origins by virtue of both Celestia and Cadance -- and Luna once she returned -- Prismia knew better than to voice these things out loud. Besides, she didn't like it when the nobles forced Celestia to prevent Prismia from gaining any access to the crown or any of its value. Being immortal, she'd have to live with that for the rest of her life. But that didn't mean she was wrong for holding resentment against these uniquely-colored guards for actually agreeing with that decision.
That was why Prince Blueblood served as a quick and easy method of getting these guards away from her.
But before either Prismia or the guard could say anything, Trixie rushed into the room, letter in hoof.
"You didn't tell me it was important!" Trixie exclaimed, holding up the letter.
"Did you read it?" asked Prismia.
"Uh, ma'am?" said the guard. "I'm going to ask you to leave. This is supposed to be private--"
"Speaking of which," said Prismia as she turned back to the guard, "what are you doing here? I specifically asked for Prince Blueblood to deliver any messages to me, and to keep guards OUT of my suite."
"Just because you requested something doesn't mean you are entitled to actually receiving it," said the guard before he found himself teleported elsewhere. Being used to spontaneous teleportation, he came to in a couple of seconds... and found himself in some male guards' barracks where an unfortunate stallion was under going some painful hazing ritual. The rude guard, not wanting to share the stallion's fate of a blistering red butt, tried to leave before finding himself chained to a bunk.
"And that," said Blueblood, walking into Prismia's suite, "is why you don't disobey orders from ME."
He looked like he was going to say something else, but Prismia spoke first. "Look, whatever it is you have to say, can it wait? It's a good thing you're here, actually."
Blueblood made his way into the kitchen. "Something important?"
In response, Prismia turned toward Trixie, who was reading the letter. Shortly, Trixie looked up. "Huh. Wasn't really expecting this."
"Any context?" asked Blueblood absently. He poured himself a mug of cider. The foam spilled out over Prismia's countertop, but he didn't care as he brought the mug to his muzzle. Despite his rather vigorous consumption of cider, he was paying attention to whatever Trixie was going to say.
"Sassy needs me," said Trixie. She turned the letter over for Blueblood to see.
Blueblood scanned it intently before connecting the dots. "Oh... here you go." Blueblood's horn lit up, and a stack of parchment materialized on the nearby desk. "Here's the submission, the summons, everything... All of it is filled out; just take it to Sassy to see if it's exactly what she wants."
Trixie came a little closer to the other two and put up a silencing dome around them. "So... what's the plan?"
"What plan?" asked Prismia.
"Anyone want to know what I came here for?" interjected Blueblood.
"Yeah, about that," said Prismia. "Why ARE you here? I was going to send for you given Sassy's letter, but you came here before that. What for?"
Blueblood cast his own version of the silencing dome spell -- he used it a lot during Celestia's day court to hide from the idiocy that poured out of the mouths of the nobles -- before leaning in.
And he told them.
"So... what IS the plan?"
"What plan?" asked Prismia. "And what's with the silencing dome?"
"I don't want Sugarcoat catching wind of this! Detaining Luna was bad enough, but if Sugarcoat gets in the way of Rarity..."
"So you want us to provide a distraction?"
"Sounds easy enough," said Blueblood. "After all, I am the most distracting thing to every mare here." Prismia gave him a glance, nothing more. "In fact, I'm already coming up with a plan."
"Sweet!" said Trixie, accidentally stepping outside the silencing dome but not really caring.
"Simply make your way to the office," said Blueblood. "Make sure you carry your saddlebag with you. If Sugarcoat finds you, simply say that you are dropping off some fluff paperwork for Indigo Zap. You can conjure something within your saddlebag on the spot.
"Prismia, go near Restaurant Row. Not on it; just near it. And me? I'll go find Sassy Saddles. Sugarcoat can't fault me for wanting to go the the hot new boutique, especially if it's owned by Rarity."
Trixie found herself a short distance from the office. The expected conversation with Sugarcoat had happened, though not much to Trixie's shock. The only pony who could play Sugarcoat like a fiddle was Blueblood.
As she made her way inside, she passed by various ponies with various not-so-nice greetings exchanged. Once she entered her cubicle, Indigo Zap (who was already there) greeted her. "Hey, Trix! What's up?"
Instead of responding, Trixie shoved the fluff paperwork in Indigo's face. "You. Me. Bathroom. Now."
Trixie teleported the pair to their destination, and (with a quick glance at the door), Trixie put up a silencing dome. "Sorry about that. These papers are nothing. I just needed to make sure Sugarcoat doesn't notice any of this."
"Sugarcoat? Notice what?"
Trixie gave a dismissive hoof wave. "I'll explain on the way. Right now, come to Restaurant Row with me, stay IN the dome, and don't draw Sugarcoat's attention."
As Blueblood came to Canterlot's latest boutique, he ignored the crowd of ponies looking at their customized dresses, but he did not ignore the cheerful greeting from Rarity. He answered back with a bright smile, but not wanting to draw attention to himself, he sidled into the backroom where Sassy was wearing what Blueblood guessed were reading glasses and looking at some papers.
Sassy looked up. Before she had the chance to react to the fact that a prince had come to her boutique, Blueblood did exactly what Trixie had done earlier. "You. Me. Bathroom. Now."
What walked out of the bathroom and straight of the boutique towards Restaurant Row was Canterlot's newest celebrity couple.
Expecting the inevitable media frenzy, Trixie and Indigo sat down in a seat at the first restaurant on the street. Looking at the food in front of them, both were hesitant about taking the first bite. Here goes nothing...
Trixie immediately regretted her decision and made a show of spitting out her food. It was no wonder that she and her Pegasus companion were the only patrons there. "What is this place DOING being called a RESTAURANT?! The non-food is utterly TASTELESS! The approval rating is RIGGED! Who the TARTARUS thought that THIS was a place worth investing in?! This is as bland as the waiter's--"
Trixie found herself flying face-first into the road outside. Indigo hovered out and fluttered down. "Yay. You got us banned. You know, getting ourselves banned isn't the ideal way to make a point."
"Whatever! There are a million more identical restaurants for us to get banned from!"
After a long string of even harsher invective, Trixie once again found herself flying face-first into the road outside. Indigo hovered out and fluttered down. "So, is this part of the plan or not?"
Trixie once again found herself flying face-first into the road outside. Indigo hovered out and fluttered down. "Okay, are we done?"
Trixie, whose face was flatter than ever, looked back on the entire row of restaurants they had just gotten banned from. "With step one."
"Step one?"
"Don't you remember what they said?" asked Trixie. "If I step foot within their restaurant again, I'll be banned from the entirety of Restaurant Row."
"You're already banned from the entirety of Restaurant Row (apart from the Tasty Treat), and you never set hoof in the same restaurant twice!"
Trixie smirked. Before Indigo could protest, the two of them teleported inside one of the restaurants. "Your bland food can't the criticism of the Great and Powerful Trixie! What's someone like you doing in a restaurant anyway? Isn't the kitchen too hot for you?" Then Trixie teleported to an identical restaurant with an identical waiter. "The non-existent taste ponies experience from your non-food is NOTHING compared to the experience the get when they taste the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Then, she teleported the two of them again to another restaurant. This is going to be a long day, thought Indigo.
Once Trixie and Indigo were long gone, the new celebrity couple came marching down the street. After pretty much repeating Trixie's words to all of the waiters (except it was impossible to throw them out; they had to choose to leave), they found themselves at the Tasty Treat, the one restaurant that did not have Zesty Gourmand's butt tattoo on the front of everything.
Blueblood ran down the mental list for the plan:
#Meet Sugarcoat just as we go inside.
#Make sure Trixie and Indigo Zap are nowhere near us.
#Send Sugarcoat with food to go.
#Prismia finds Sugarcoat and takes her to her suite.
#I magically summon Trixie to the Tasty Treat and offer the owners of this place an opportunity to completely destroy Zesty's stupid system.
#Once we finish eating, everyone teleports. I teleport to my room. Trixie and Sassy teleport to Trixie's office.
Prismia met Sugarcoat outside. "Hey, Sugarcoat!"
Sugarcoat waved her hoof. "Where were you? What do you need?"
"Let's just say that a certain guard needs your defending from harassment charges."
"I'm pretty sure I would have been notified about that."
"Well, he will need it."
