Brotherhood and Sisterhood

Chapters

Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33 Draft
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 15

Chapter 3

“Girls! Just what are you doing standing out here?!” Madam Cinch appeared to them.

Twilight spoke for them, “Forgive us, Madam. But we were just checking to see if the rain had stopped so that we may proceed with our chores such as beating the rugs and hanging the laundry.”

The housekeeper made a humph sound but stated, “I see. In that case, make sure you do a good job because as you know our mistresses will be home tomorrow so I expect only the best when they arrive.”

“Yes, Madam.” they all replied and went back into the house.

Throughout the rest of the day, the girls did their maid duties. Twilight was the head housemaid who had to report to Madam Cinch as she observed the others working as well as helping them. Rarity was a parlor maid whose job was to serve Lady Chrysalis and her family and any esteemed guests that came to call. But right now she was tidying the reception rooms and living areas. Applejack was a chamber maid as she had to clean the bedrooms and fireplaces and had to get hot water for baths. Fluttershy was a laundry maid as it was her job to provide the bedding and towels for the rooms as well as washing, drying, and ironing all of the clothes of the household.

Pinkie was a kitchen maid as she had to do the cooking for the entire household, though her orders right now involved preparing a banquet that would welcome back Lady Chrysalis and her daughters. And with her was Rainbow Dash who was a scullery maid has she had to wash the cutlery, crockery, and glassware as well as scrubbing the floors.

It was like this every single day of their lives.

Of course, it wasn’t like this before when they were young girls. They grew up in families that cared for them deeply but were stricken in poverty. It was true they weren’t actual sisters but they might as well have been given their strong sense of friendship. The girls knew how tired their parents were after a long day of manual labor, even Applejack’s and Twilight’s older brothers had to work when they were old enough and they were just exhausted as their parents were. But not all of the families could stay together as tragedy stuck in Applejack’s family with her losing her parents to plague.

It was an emotional time for the young girl but at least her friends were right there to help her through it. Knowing that she couldn’t let her brother work extra hard to keep the money coming, she set out to work as a maid in Lady Chrysalis’s manor. The girls didn’t want her to be alone, so they decided for the good of their families and friend, they went on to become maids too for Lady Chrysalis.

Twilight was inspecting the upstairs rooms when she caught something outside a window to see a grand carriage making its way to the manor. In that instant she knew who it was and called out, “Madam Cinch! They’re back!”

The housekeeper rushed into the room, “That’s impossible! I was told they would be back tomorrow!”

Twilight motioned, “So did I but that’s their carriage!”

Cinch ordered, “Well don’t just stand there, get down there to greet them!”

“Yes, madam.” she ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Rarity caught sight of her and asked, “Darling, what is it?”

“They’re back!”

“What?! But I thought we sent them away why are they coming back?”

“Not those boys, its Lady Chrysalis and her daughters!”

“But they weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow!”

“That’s what I thought! But they’re coming right now!”

“Goodness gracious!”

Twilight kept running to reach the doors. With luck she got there just in time as the carriage pulled up to the house. Once it stopped a couple of footmen open the door for an older woman with six younger women as they stepped out.

Sonata complained, “Oh, my aching back!”

Aria scowled at her, “If you had just kept your feet away from my lap I wouldn’t had to shove you away.”

Adagio told them, “Would you two quit your excessive bickering already?!”

Sunset nastily said, “It is rather annoying.”

Suri added, “Quite so.”

Trixie pointed, “Trixie hates it when you two argue!”

Sonata countered, “Well it’s just as annoying when you speak in third person like that!”

The girls got into a squabble when a loud and commanding voice shouted, “That’s enough!”

They went silent as they faced their mother who looked menacing with her looks.

“I’ll not have the future wives of the princes behave like spoiled children, is that understood?”

Trixie and Sonata muttered, “Yes, Mother…”

Chrysalis eyed her other daughters, “And that goes for the rest of you.”

They said, “Yes, Mother.”

“Good, now I want you head to your rooms to rest because there’s a lot to do before the masquerade ball where you will be introduced to their highnesses.”

Sonata slightly squealed, “I can’t wait to meet my future husband!”

Suri smiled, “Me too.”

Trixie said, “Me three.”

They giggled and started to head inside.

Chrysalis turned to Twilight and commanded, “Take these packages into the house and then I want you to be on beck and call should my girls need anything. Which I’m sure they will.”

Twilight bowed her head, “Yes, your ladyship.”

Cinch greeted her mistress when she entered into the household, “Lady Chrysalis, we weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

“There was a change in plans. While I was with my girls in the next kingdom, I received an important message from His Majesty, the King. He told me that the time had come for my daughters to wed his sons. Naturally we had to drop everything to come home so we can prepare for the ball that’s to take place in three days.”

“My word. That certainly is important.”

“The maids will be needed to sew new dresses for my girls.”

“But of course. Nothing but the finest for our future princesses.” she then shouted, “Girls! Come here at once!”

Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy appeared to her as they curtsied, “Yes, Madam?”

Cinch motioned, “You need to make six new dresses for our noble ladies right away. You’ll have two days to make them.”

While they didn’t like having such a short deadline they complied with their housekeeper’s orders. Once Cinch and Lady Chrysalis moved on, they exchanged a sigh.

The boys made it back to the palace in record time. They were disappointed they couldn’t explore the kingdom more and go into the village but ever since that rain storm they needed to change out of their damp clothes to avoid getting sick. Had illness befall upon them that would have been a huge giveaway that they been outside the castle.

Royals were always taken care of so that something terrible didn’t happen to them and ever since the previous king and queen’s deaths, the princes needed to be well no matter what.

As the boys changed, their thoughts drifted to the girls they just met and the simple touch of their hands.

Discord never thought of himself as romantic and always put on a front when it came to love. But when he touched the rosy-haired girl’s hand something within him was drawn to her. Remembering what she looked like, she was a beauty with her perfect hair and adorable teal eyes, even her face was flawless. But he found himself more drawn to her sweet disposition, how caring she was to him when she heard him sneeze.

Soarin thought of the girl with rainbow hair, she was so blunt with her words and actions that he couldn’t help but admire that. With every girl he had met before was always uptight and submissive so it was a refreshing change of pace to see a girl display brash behavior. But when they touched hands, a strange feeling overcame him and it made him want to get closer to the girl.

It was the same for Capper when he thought of the blue-eyed beauty and how generous she was acting when she sewed up that tear on his sleeve. Flash couldn’t stop thinking of the violet-eyed girl and when they touched hands he couldn’t forget the feeling. Cheese really liked the pink-haired girl with her upbeat personality and sweet gestures. As for Spike, the blonde girl with freckles wouldn’t leave his head and remembered the touch of her hand was rough but gentle and that she was friendly and considerate to no end.

They felt at peace that these girls were their perfect matches and were actually grateful that their father arranged this.

Once they were dressed, they met up in the drawing room and voiced how happy they were to meet the girls.

Discord said, “Well I’m certainly satisfied.”

“Me too.” said Spike.

Capper stated, “I think it’s safe to say that Father did something right with us for once.”

The other three agreed.

Lord Fancy then came into the room and inquired, “Well?”

Flash spoke, “We meet them and well, we actually cannot wait to marry them.”

The noble uttered in disbelief, “Really?”

The other princes concurred with their brother’s statement.

Fancy was beside himself and thought, I guess I was worried for no reason after all. If they really do like Chrysalis’s daughters then I guess marrying them won’t be so bad.

“Ouch!” Rainbow pricked her finger on the sewing needle and stuck it in her mouth to stop the bleeding.

It was late in the evening and the girls were in their shared room of the servant quarters as they were busy sewing dresses.

Rarity told her, “I told you not to rush.” being delicate with her own sewing.

Rainbow stated, “Well you know I don’t have the patience for this why else would I be a scullery maid?”

Applejack commented, “I hear ya, Dash, I’m not exactly the best sewer either.” she winced at the uneven hems on the dress she was working on.

Rarity said, “Don’t worry, darling, I’ll fix those.”

Fluttershy added, “And I’ll help you Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack told them, “You shouldn’t have to.”

The seamstress pointed out, “Nonsense, besides we don’t want you two to get in trouble with Cinch and the mistresses.”

AJ mentioned, “Good point.” and Rainbow nodded in agreement.

Pinkie suddenly asked, “Just out of curiosity but when those boys were here, did anyone of you get a weird tingling sensation in your hand?”

The girls gapped at her before Fluttershy slowly started, “Now that you mention it… I did feel strange after I touched that boy’s hand…”

Rarity uttered, “So did I… Just after I sewed up his sleeve…”

Applejack said, “It was the darnest thing… like I couldn’t get enough of his touch…” she looked at her hand.

Dash motioned, “Yeah! Me too! And I don’t like it when men are near me!”

Twilight was shaking her head in disbelief, “It’s uncanny but I felt the same way too when I reached out for his cup and when we touched… I just don’t understand it…”

Before they could ponder on it further, a bell rang followed by more bell ringing.

They sighed, duty called.

The girls went into the separate rooms of their mistresses.

Fluttershy said, “Yes, Miss Adagio?”

The eldest of Chrysalis’s daughters faced her and replied with a sneer, “It’s about time you showed up,” she held up a worn out dress, “This needs to be mended.” throwing it at her which Fluttershy caught.

The meek girl uttered, “Yes, Miss Adagio…” and left the room.

Rainbow faced Aria as the woman said in a bored tone, “About time you got here, I’ve been waiting forever.”

Dash wanted to roll her eyes but merely replied, “Sorry, my lady, what is it you need?”

“My shoes need polishing, think you can handle that without making it worse?”

Rainbow grinded her teeth from retorting, and muttered, “Yes, my lady…” she picked up the shoes and went out at a fast pace.

Rarity faced Suri while curtsying and inquired, “What does the young miss require of me?”

“Madam Cinch told me you and the other maids were making our dresses. I want you to put on extra ribbon and sequin on my dress, I want to look my best for when I am presented to my future husband at the ball.”

“Of course, miss…” Rarity curtsied again and once she out of the room she let out a sad sigh.

Twilight saw Sunset pacing around the room grumbling under her breath, she didn’t see her until Twilight cleared her throat to get her attention. Sunset stopped and scowled at her, “Now you finally get here! Where were you when I needed your help five minutes ago!”

Twilight tried to calmly reply without her anger getting the better of her, “I came as quickly as I could…”

She humphed, “Well be faster next time! Now I need you to find my hair ribbons so I have them the night of the ball!”

Twilight sighed, “Yes, Miss Sunset…” she started looking around the room.

Pinkie entered Sonata’s room, “Did you need something, your ladyship?”

“Yes, I want you to shine up my jewelry. I need to wear them for the ball.” she handed Pinkie a diamond necklace and ring.

“Ooh! Pretty!”

Sonata smiled, “It is, isn’t it? They were gifts from Mother on my sixteenth birthday. Too bad you won’t have anything like this in your life.”

Pinkie’s hair slightly drooped, “Yeah… too bad…”

Applejack was greeted by a smug Trixie as she said, “Oh, chamber maid, I need more wood for my fireplace, it’s too cold.”

AJ wanted to retort that the room was plenty warm compared to the servants quarters that was hardly warm on cold nights, but she grinned and bear it as she stated, “Yes, Miss Trixie, right away…” and left.

Once the girls were back in their room, Rainbow grunted, “I can’t wait until they move out of the house!”

The others agreed with her.

Rarity added, “At least when they marry the princes we’ll only have to deal with their mother and Madam Cinch.”

Applejack said, “You said it. When I came back with more firewood for Trixie she complained that it was too hot and gave me a whole bunch of other demands.”

Twilight nodded, “Sunset gave me more orders too after I found her hair ribbons to make up for my tardiness.”

They sighed. Life certainly wasn’t easy with Chrysalis’s daughters bossing them around a lot and would sometimes undo all their hard work. Then Lady Chrysalis and Cinch puts the blame on them for not doing their jobs.

Pinkie then said, “Look at it this way, at least we’ll get the night off when they leave for the ball.”

Rarity sighed dreamily, “The ball… I wonder what it would be like… The dancing, the music, the dresses… Oh, if only we could go…”

Fluttershy pointed, “It would be rather interesting to see…”

Rainbow scoffed, “It’ll just be a bunch of boring people talking about boring stuff.”

Rarity countered, “Oh, how would you know? Have you ever been to a ball?”

“Well… no… but I’m sure that it won’t be any fun!”

Applejack said, “Now you’re only sayin’ that because you want to go as much as the rest of us do.”

Dash’s eyes widen, “You too?!”

“Hey, I may not get excited about these things but it sure would be nice to get away from all of this for one night.”

The others agreed with her.

Twilight mentioned, “It would be great to have a chance of experiencing something new like a royal ball especially if it’s a masquerade ball.”

Pinkie gestured, “Plus, those boys will probably be there since they’re noblemen and all.”

For the second time that night, they gawked at Pinkie’s words. It was a compelling argument since they all felt a special moment with each of those strange men that showed up at their door that morning. Now more than ever, the girls wanted to go to that ball.

Chapter 4

Flash played on his lute, letting the music flow through his fingers. It was one of his passions, aside from swordfighting. If he wasn't a prince he would do this all day. He was on his balcony letting the sun shine on him and for all of nature to hear him. He could remember a time when he was very young before he was chosen to be Tirek's son; his mother taught him how to play and to write music for himself. She would tell him it was because of music that his parents met.

His mother performed for the royal court one evening playing the harp and his father was entranced to the sound. He introduced himself to her afterwards and they began their courtship which eventually lead to their marriage and had him.

This lute was their gift to him on the day he was chosen and he made a promise to himself he would never let anything happen to it. As the music kept playing, he closed his eyes as he pictured the girl with violet eyes and straight purple locks. She was so lovely and from what he saw of her personality, she was a natural born leader. The way she was able to guide her sisters on what to do when he and his brothers showed up unexpectedly was impressive. He couldn't wait to see her again at the ball.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, almost plucking a string when he open his eyes and gasped. He ran back into his room and put his instrument down before leaving and went straight to the fitting room where the rest of the boys were.

Discord commented as a tailor was taking his measurements, "Cutting it awfully close, aren't we?"

Flash apologized as he stood between Capper and Cheese, "I'm sorry about that, but I was busy with something."

Spike said, "Well Father's not here yet, so you have nothing to worry about." but he spoke too soon when Tirek came into the room.

"Flash, I expected better from you. Your brothers were here precisely five minutes early so that they can finish with their fittings and proceed with their duties. Instead, you had to show up close to the time frame and now we're going to be behind schedule because of your carelessness."

Flash hung his head, "I'm sorry, Father. I won't let it happen again."

Tirek went up to him and raised his chin rather roughly, "See that you do." he let go and moved to the tailor.

Flash hung his head again as he felt low for disappointing his father. His brothers gave him sympathetic looks. Earning their Father's approval was hard enough as it is without the monarch finding some kind of fault in their doings. They hoped by marrying Chrysalis's daughters it would greatly please him and they would finally have his respect.

The tailor went on to get their measurements but as he was halfway through, Lord Fancy rushed into the room.

"Your Majesty!"

Tirek wearily expressed, "What is it now?"

"Admiral Storm is here to see you regarding an urgent matter."

"Oh, what did that incompetent fool do now?" he addressed his sons, "I'll be back in a moment." he followed Fancy out of the room.

They entered into a study where a tall man with icy blue eyes and shoulder length white hair wore an admiral's uniform and hat was playing around with items on a table until Tirek cleared his throat to get his attention.

The admiral fumbled with the items and held on to them while looking at the king, "Ah! There you are, your majesty."

Tirek scowled as he told him, "Lord Fancy here tells me you have an urgent matter to discuss."

Storm motioned, "I do! It's the pirates again!"

Tirek scowled further and stated, "I thought you were supposed to take care of that problem."

"I did! But they were too quick to stop!"

The king rubbed his temple, "How much did they steal this time?"

The admiral called out, "Grubber!" and a short man ran into the room carrying a list. Storm ordered, "Read it."

Grubber cleared his throat and began, "Three crates of alcohol, six crates of food, a crate of gemstones, eight crates of clothes, and two crates full of pistols."

Tirek gritted his teeth and slowly made his way to a window that oversaw his kingdom. He put his hands behind his back and kept staring out the window making everyone in the room stare at him with questioning looks. Finally he spoke, "For years now I have made sure this kingdom was enforce by my hands and I will not have it slip from my grasp so easily. These pirates undermine my rule by stealing from my ships. If you don't catch them soon… I will personally see to it that you never command my fleet again."

Admiral Storm tittered nervously, "Let's not be hasty, your majesty…" Tirek glared back at him making him gulp and stammered, "But I'll do as you say as always…" he turned to Grubber with a stern look, "Grubber, have my ship and the crew prepared."

The man saluted, "Right away, sir!" he ran out.

The admiral bowed before following after him.

Fancy kept staring at the king who kept looking out the window. Suddenly Tirek spoke.

"How long do you suppose it would be before this kingdom falls at my sons' hands?"

Fancy lifted a brow, "Sire?"

Tirek turned back to him, "My sons have had the proper training since the choosing. And yet none of them seem to have same mind set as me… Discord has the potential but he wastes it on childish notions, Soarin can follow orders but has too much heart in his choices, Capper is too smart for his own good, Flash gets distracted easily, Cheese can't be taken seriously, and Spike… alright, he's not entirely hopeless, his young age from the beginning was able to help me mold his mind. With some more training I'm sure I'll be able to finally have him be the king he was destined to be."

Fancy didn't like the sound of that and voiced in concern, "But aren't all the princes suppose to rule together once you step down?"

"No, because as king I get to choose who the next king should be. Over the years, I observed my sons to see who could replace me. All the more reason why it's important they wed Chrysalis's daughters so that they have a woman of proper breeding and a queen to rule by their side."

The lord was feeling uncertain about this but he remembered that the princes were okay with their betrotheds so there was no cause for alarm.

Discord commented, "Father did say he would be back in a moment, right?"

Cheese nodded, "That's what he said."

Spike questioned, "Do you think he forgot?"

Capper said, "Most likely, since this hasn't been the first time he's done this."

Soarin mentioned, "Personally I'll be glad if he did, I always lose my nerve whenever he's in the room."

There were murmurs of agreement but Flash had kept quiet throughout the exchange. His brothers noticed and decided to cheer him up.

Cheese touched his shoulder, "Don't be so upset by Father's words, Flash, I'm sure he didn't mean to sound so harsh."

Flash shook his head, "He's always harsh. He wants us to be the best princes there are but try as we might he always finds something wrong."

Discord stated, "He's got a point."

Soarin motioned, "I know what will lift your spirits, a duel."

A small smile spread on Flash's lips, "Are you sure you'll be up to it? Because last time we had a duel, I beat you."

His brother smugly replied, "Well I've been practicing and if I do say so myself, I've been getting good."

"Oh really? Well then, let's put that to the test."

"Right now?" Spike asked.

Discord smirked, "Of course right now."

Spike voiced in concern, "But we can't just leave now, we still have to approve of the fabric choices and after that we have to attend to our duties."

Capper gestured, "Look at it this way, little brother, we have make sure we're well prepared to defend our castle home should invaders try to attack and what better way to prepare is by watching our brothers duel it out so we know what to do and what not to do." he mischievously grinned.

Spike felt unsure at first but then smiled and said, "Let's go."

In moments they were on the castle grounds close to the stables where a friend of theirs by the name of Timber Spruce was cleaning them out. He saw the princes and greeted them.

"And what do I owe the honor of this visit, Your Highnesses?" he swiftly bowed.

Cheese chuckled, "Cut the formalities, Timber. You know you don't need to do that with us."

Discord humorously said, "But it is still flattering nevertheless."

Flash took over, "We need your help to set up the field."

Timber guessed, "Another dueling match, I presume?"

Soarin replied, "You guessed right, but this time I'm going to defeat my younger brother."

Flash smirked, "We'll see about that."

Fencing swords clashed as Flash and Soarin wearing fencing uniforms kept their positions in the duel. Their brothers sat on the sidelines cheering them on.

Discord commented, "Soarin has been practicing really hard since their last match, my money's on him."

Spike declared, "But Flash is the reigning champ and he won't give up his title so easily."

Capper and Cheese exchanged amusing looks before going back to watch their brothers.

Soarin manage to push Flash back, making the latter comment, "Not bad, you've improved on your stance."

The older of the two replied, "Well after you humiliated me the last time, I had to make sure it wouldn't happen again."

Their swords clashed again.

"So, if you do defeat me think it'll impress that daughter of Chrysalis you were gawking at?"

"Trying to lower my defenses, uh? By making me think of that wonderful girl…?"

"So she's wonderful, eh? What else is great about her?"

"Well, what about you and the violet eyed girl? Isn't she wonderful to you?"

"Of course she is!" Flash managed to push him back with a grunt, "She's the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

"Eh, she's okay, but my girl… well… she's just so stunning…" he dreamily sighed.

Discord called out, "Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a contest of who the best dueler is! Not who has the best looking girl! Besides, my girl is the fairest of them all!"

Capper retorted, "Now just a minute, brother, my girl is a dazzling beauty compared to her sisters."

Spike countered, "Hey! My girl is naturally beautiful!

Cheese shouted, "Well so is mine!"

Flash and Soarin stopped dueling to join in the squabbling until they heard a loud whistling sound and turned to see Timber as he pointed out.

"Look it obvious that each of Chrysalis's daughters is lovely and each of you is attracted to one of them, so it doesn't really matter who's more beautiful so long as you like them."

The princes felt ashamed now and mumbled out agreements.

"And I kept hearing the word 'girl' a lot. Don't tell me all of you don't know their names…?"

The boys started flushing and some of them rubbed their necks in embarrassment.

Discord nervously chuckled, "Well…"

Timber gave them a 'seriously' look.

Cheese slightly laughed, "I guess we forgot to ask."

Their friend shook his head.

Suddenly Fancy Pants rushed to them and fretted, "Boys! There you are! You have come inside now! Your father is demanding your presence!"

The princes had looks of terror on their faces as Fancy ushered them back inside.

The boys were lined up in their birth order in the throne room with Tirek sitting on his throne fuming. They couldn't look their father in eye, feeling the disappointment hanging over their heads.

Finally Tirek spoke, "You had recklessly abandoned your duties… That is not behavior befitting six young princes who are suppose to take their job seriously. As such, one of you will be king someday and you have to be ready for when that happens. From this day on, your studies will increase until it can get through your heads that you have an important task here and it's not to be taken lightly. Am I understood?"

They quietly uttered out, "Yes, sir…"

"You dismissed to return to your rooms."

They repeated, "Yes, sir…" they somberly left the room.

Author's Note

Happy New Year's Day everyone! I know this is not the best chapter to start the New Year with but at least the next chapter will be about life changing decisions and that counts, right?

Chapter 5

Rarity reached into her trunk that was at the end of her bed and held out an avocado green ballgown and handed it to Fluttershy.

"Oh, Rarity, it's so lovely."

The parlor maid smiled, "I'm glad you think so. I've been working on these on the side all year." she reached for a midnight blue dress and gave it to Rainbow.

"This is so awesome!" Dash marveled.

Rarity handed Twilight a burgundy gown.

"Thank you, Rarity!"

She tittered, "You're quite welcome, darling." then she gave Applejack a sepia brown dress.

"Not bad, Rare." Applejack was impressed.

"I knew you would like it."

Pinkie was given a rose pink gown making her squeal, "Ooh! So pretty!"

"But of course, it was made especially for you, dear." then she reached for the last gown, "And naturally, I have one too." she held up her lavender ballgown. "Once they leave for the ball tonight, we can put these on and go to the ball ourselves!"

They agreed in unison before ringing sound off and they had to put their dresses down on their beds.

After a long day of work, they came back into room only to find…

Rarity screamed, "They're gone! The dresses are gone!"

Cinch suddenly came from behind, "But of course they are gone, I sent them to the mistresses' rooms."

"What?!" they exclaimed.

"They were dresses for our ladies were they not? Why else would they be made?" the housekeeper eyed them suspiciously, "Unless of course you were planning on keeping them for yourselves…? But for what, pray tell?"

The girls exchanged nervous glances.

Cinch caught that and frowned, "Let me be clear on this. You exist only to serve and to serve is all you're good for. You have your place in this world and it would be wise to stay there. You are mere servant girls and that's all you will ever be."

Their eyes widen in shock before hurt overtook them.

Cinch turned to go with her back to them and stated, "The mistresses will be leaving soon and they'll need help getting ready." and left.

Depressed now, the maids helped their mistresses get ready and to add insult to injury, the ladies decided to wear the gowns that were meant for them then the dresses that they were given the night before.

Adagio admired the gown that was supposed to be Rainbow's.

"I must say, this is twice as better as that other one."

Sonata exclaimed while wearing Fluttershy's dress, "They are!"

Sunset wore Applejack's, "They're perfect for when we meet our future husbands."

Trixie was wearing Twilight's gown as Aria wore Rarity's and Suri wore Pinkie's as they agreed with their sisters.

The girls could hardly look at them wearing the dresses that were supposed to be theirs just as Cinch's words came back to them.

The ladies filed out in their birth order and met with their mother who was dressed elegantly and once she spotted her girls, she exclaimed, "Oh darlings, you look beautiful and perfect!"

Her daughters tittered to their mother's compliment and thanked her.

"This is it, my dears, the day your life changes forever. Once you meet with your betrotheds we'll have to prepare for the wedding. But first things first, we have to get you there on time." she lead them out of the house and into their carriage.

The girls and Cinch had watched them go until the housekeeper went back inside.

Emotion finally overwhelmed them and Fluttershy broke down as she ran into the gardens. The others ran after her.

Rarity and Pinkie tried to calm the sensitive girl down over a stone bench.

Rainbow crossed her arms, "This totally reeks!"

Applejack grimly replied, "I know… but there's nothing we can do anymore…"

Twilight sadly said, "I'm afraid you're right, Applejack. Those dresses were our only chance of getting into the ball…"

They sighed.

Not far from where the girls were, two figures were watching them as one whispered.

"There they are, Sister. The maidens that have endure suffering their entire lives."

The taller figure replied, "Yes, my sister. But even when they suffer so they still show kindness to those around them. You and I have witness their deeds firsthand. Take Miss Fluttershy, she takes it upon herself to help any animal that's hurt or starving even if it means she falls behind on her work. Then there's Miss Rarity who is generous as I have seen her give food and clothes to the less fortunate of the village. As for Twilight Sparkle, she teaches young girls to read like she does and any other skills they need."

"Indeed, and as for the other three… Miss Applejack is hardworking and she does it all for her family, making sure they have enough food on the table and anything else they need. Miss Rainbow Dash helps her friends to be the best they can be. And Miss Pinkie Pie loves to spread cheer around when things get gloomy and I know for a fact that she helped Mr. Cranky Doodle reunite with the one he loves."

"Shall we, then?"

"Yes, for time grows short."

Fluttershy was wiping away her tears as Rarity tried to reassure her, "Don't worry, dear, there'll be other balls…" but she sounded unsure.

Pinkie patted Fluttershy's back, she knew Rarity was trying to cheer their friend up but even she knew that this ball was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Suddenly a voice said, "Excuse us."

The girls turned to see two cloaked women approaching them, one of them was taller than the two and she spoke to them, "We couldn't but overhear you. Were you girls planning on going to the masquerade ball taking place at the palace?"

Twilight answered for them, "We did, but our gowns were taken and now we have nothing nice to wear so we can't go."

The others nodded.

The shorter one said, "Well… what if we were to tell you there was a way for all of you to go?"

The girls were pique by this.

"We're listenin'." said Applejack.

The taller woman said, "To put it simply, we're your fairy godmothers."

They blinked in bewilderment by the woman's claim until Rainbow and Applejack started to snicker that eventually turned into full scale laughter and even Twilight couldn't help but release a chuckle or two.

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were in disbelief as they watched the scene unfold as Twilight addressed the women between giggles, "I'm… sorry… but it's hard to believe in fairy godmothers when fairies don't exist."

The women exchanged knowing smirks and suddenly their cloaks fell away revealing the women's sparkling yellow and dark blue gowns but that's not what made the girls gasp in shock. The women had feathered wings that spread out for all to see like that of an angel's. The women also had ethereal hair that flowed on its own.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had gapping mouths, so did Fluttershy and Twilight, but Pinkie and Rarity looked like they about to burst with happiness.

Pinkie shouted, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! You really are our fairy godmothers!"

"It's a dream come true!" Rarity exclaimed.

The shorter woman smiled, "Permit us to introduce ourselves, I am Luna and this is my sister, Celestia."

Celestia took over, "We have been watching you girls for some time now and we feel that you six deserve a special gift for all the good deeds you have done in your life."

Luna added, "And what better way to do that then by helping you girls enjoy a masquerade ball?"

Celestia pointed with smile, "And to give you a chance to see those young men again."

Again Rarity and Pinkie were about to burst with happiness but the others looked like they needed to wrap their heads around this.

Twilight voice out, "I just… I can't believe…"

Applejack agreed, "It's just not possible…"

Luna smirked, "That it's all a bunch of fol-de-rol and fiddle de faddle de foodle?"

The girls but Pinkie went, "Huh?!"

Pinkie just said, "Oh, I know right?!"

Rainbow muttered, "Figures she would be the only one of us to get that."

The godmothers chuckled with Luna saying, "Now we really must hurry, for I'm sure the ball will be starting soon."

"My sister is right, so if you would please, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight come over here so I can perform my magic on you."

Luna turned to Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie, "Same goes for you three." she took out her wand that had a crescent moon at the tip.

While with Celestia her wand had a sun on the tip.

Pinkie could hardly contain herself while Applejack and Rainbow were uncertain about this. It was the same with Twilight and Fluttershy while Rarity was anxious for the magic to happen.

The sisters raised their wands to begin the spell and pointed at the girls. Blue and yellow sparkles shot out as they began to surround them. Then a glow overwhelmed them. Gradually it died down revealing the girls' new off-the-shoulder ballgowns and all of them had a comb accessory with a single jewel in their hair but it was a different shape and color for all of them. And they also had colored masks.

Fluttershy wore a bright pink gown and her jewel was also a pink butterfly. Rarity wore purple while her jewel was a purple diamond. Twilight wore yellow as her jewel was a dark pink five-point star. Applejack wore white with her jewel being an orange apple. Rainbow Dash was wearing dark orange and her jewel was a red lightning bolt. And as for Pinkie she was wearing blue and her jewel was a blue balloon.

They marveled at the change and started to compliment each other on how they look until Luna had to clear her throat.

"As wonderful as you girls look, we really must press on." she moved around the garden, "Next we'll need some kind of carriage to get you there."

Applejack pondered on it until she spotted an apple on the ground and motioned, "How about this here apple?"

Luna beamed, "Perfect." and gestured for Applejack to move back. AJ didn't hesitate in doing so. The fairy waved her wand and pointed at the apple. And just like with the girls, it started to transform into a spectacular apple shape like carriage.

They awed at the sight.

Celestia said, "Well done, Sister. Now it's my turn." she turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, I know that you keep a few mice friends around the manor, will you please get them?"

Fluttershy did as she said as she beckoned her little friends to come forth. Four white mice appeared to them and Rarity tried her hardest not to scream and clung on to Rainbow Dash.

As Celestia held her wand up, Fluttershy asked in concern, "They won't get hurt will they?"

Celestia merely smiled and shook her head, explaining, "It'll just be like how your gown transformed."

"Oh, okay."

Celestia once again held her wand up and started waving it, causing sparks to fly out and surround the mice. In no time they were transformed into horses though they still had some of their mousy facial features.

"Wow!" they ended up saying.

Luna mentioned, "And of course, for the finishing touch… Sister?"

Celestia nodded and the both of them pointed their wands at the girls' shoes. They looked down to see their shoes were replaced with glass slippers.

Concern filled their faces as Applejack voiced, "Uh, I'm not sure it's a good idea to wear these."

Rarity nodded, "I have to agree, they are quite unsafe."

The others agreed with Rainbow taking a couple of steps and began to wobble, "And how can you even walk in these without breaking them?!"

Celestia glowered at Luna, "I told you they wouldn't go for the glass slippers."

She countered, "You did not! In fact, you too thought it was a great idea!"

Fluttershy softly said, "Um, I don't mean to be rude but could we possibly have more comfortable shoes?"

The sisters exchanged looks before waving their wands again and pointed at the slippers only transformed into more comfy and elegant shoes.

Rarity sighed in relief, "Ah, that's much better."

Twilight told the fairies, "Thank you."

The others thanked them as well.

Celestia and Luna smiled before they turned serious and the eldest of the two said, "But you must remember this, with the last echo of the last bell, at the last stroke of midnight the spell will be broken."

Luna finished, "And all will return to what it was before."

"Aw, come on!" Rainbow groaned.

Applejack motioned, "We take what we're given, Dash, we're lucky to have fairy godmothers at all."

Rarity nodded, "Quite so."

Pinkie pointed, "Better to have a little time than no time at all!"

Dash reluctantly agreed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Twilight eyed the carriage and horses and realized something was missing, "Where's the coachman?"

The sisters gawked in realization with Luna saying, "We almost forgot! Sister, I thought you were taking care of that."

"Well I thought you were!"

"Let's make a deal then, you take care of the coachman and I'll take care of the footman."

"Fine."

The fairies searched around area until they came across a chicken and rabbit. With looks of determination, Celestia pointed her wand at the chicken while Luna pointed her wand at the rabbit. They were insistently transformed into humans and teleported to the carriage.

Luna said, "That should be it, now hurry girls or else you'll be very late."

The girls didn't waste a moment as they went straight into the roomy carriage.

Luna added, "Remember, you have to be back by midnight!"

The girls agreed and thanked their godmothers again just as the carriage started to pull away.

Celestia said to her sister, "Think they'll remember?"

"They better unless they want everyone to see their rags and will have to walk all the way back."

Then the fairies magically disappeared.

Chapter 6

The ballroom gleamed from the many chandeliers that were lit up. People-nobles and villagers alike flooded onto the dance floor as a herald announced names from a grand stairway. On a balcony overseeing the entire ballroom, Tirek was sitting on a throne as his sons were lined up in their birth order watching the crowds.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis and her daughters had entered in and she had to tell the herald, "Lady Chrysalis and her daughters."

The herald called out, "The Lady Chrysalis and her daughters!"

Tirek told his sons, "And there they are, boys, your future brides."

The princes carefully tried not to look eager as they saw the six lovely girls next to their mother from afar.

Tirek continued, "And of course you will invite them to dance this evening as it is good form."

"Yes, Father." they said.

The herald then announced, "Their Majesties, King Sombra and Queen Radiant Hope, and Her Royal Highness, Princess Mi Amor Cadenza."

King Tirek commented, "Good, they made it."

Discord questioned, "Didn't King Sombra tried to marry off his daughter to one of us?"

His father replied, "That he did, but I stood my ground stating you were already engaged to six beautiful ladies and that's the way it was going to stay."

Capper mentioned, "And for that we are eternally grateful, Father."

Tirek smirked in approval, "I'm glad to hear you say that." then he got up and said, "Now I must meet with Lady Chrysalis to arrange the announcement. You are allowed to go about the ballroom to mingle."

"Yes, Father." they replied as he went.

Discord suggested, "Let's go find our dear lady loves."

Spike nodded, "I agree, but first I want to get my gift that I got for my betrothed."

Flash agreed, "So do I. I got something special for my love."

Capper mentioned, "I have something for my dazzling beauty too."

Cheese said, "I just know my girl is going to love my present."

Soarin gestured, "I hope mine will like hers. I don't think she's the sentiment type."

"You five are hopeless. And now I'll need to find a gift too for my darling or else it'll look like I'll be a bad husband." he went on as the others followed behind him.

The herald kept announcing, "The Baron Svengallop and the Baroness Gourmand! The Countess Coloratura! The Duchess Sapphire Shores! The Earl Hoity Toity! The Lord and Lady Rich! The Viscount Trenderhoof! Princess Songbird Serenade! Sir Jet Set and Madam Upper Crust!"

At that point, the girls had arrived at the palace where they were taken in by the sight of it with its majestic hallways and works of art around every corner and once they were on top of the stairway they noticed the herald was announcing names and that caused a slight panic among them.

Rainbow fretted, "What are we going to do?! He's announcing everyone's names!"

Rarity added with worry, "We can't have him announcing our names! Our mistresses will know it's us!"

Pinkie suggested, "Easy! We just give him pretend names!"

Applejack voiced, "Pretend names? I don't know about this…"

Twilight told her, "What choice do we have, Applejack? We can't let them know we're here."

The chamber maid sighed, "Okay…"

The girls made their way to the herald and each whispered their fake name to him.

"Miss Regal Splendor! Miss Paperback! Miss Cottontail! Miss Apple Jewel! Miss Zero Cool! And Miss Feather Brain!"

The five eyed Pinkie with Rainbow questioning, "Feather Brain?"

The pink-haired girl shrugged, "What? It was the only thing I could think of!"

They just sighed.

Fluttershy said, "At least it wasn't your real name."

Rarity pointed, "The important thing is, we're all here now and look at how gorgeous it is!"

They did look and it was amazing. The ballroom was glistening as people mingled with one another. Some were also mingling over at the buffet table as they laughed in merriment.

Sonata was there as well eating away since she couldn't get enough of the delicious treats.

Aria gave a snarky comment, "What a pig."

Sonata glared and found an apple while sticking it in her sister's mouth, "Ha! Who's the pig now?!"

Aria spit the apple out and the two glowered at each other.

Sunset came up to them and said in exasperation, "This again?"

Suri joined in, "You two really need to stop acting childish. We're about to meet our husbands for goodness sakes!"

The two humphed and crossed their arms and turned away from each other. Sonata then asked, "Do you think they'll like us?"

Aria stated, "Who cares if they like us, as long as we get to move into the palace that's all I care about."

Suri nodded, "I have to agree, it doesn't matter if we like them or if they like us. We'll be princesses and that's all that matters."

Sunset however felt unsure about that. Sure she wanted to be a princess and live in the palace like the rest of her sisters, but she couldn't help but feel that she should at least like her husband a little and he should like her. In all the books that she read about, love was an important part in a marriage, of course she knew this was an arranged marriage that her mother set up ever since she was little but she felt a glimmer of hope that she would like her betrothed and he would like her back and maybe they would grow to be something more.

In another part of the ballroom, Lord Fancy Pants and his wife, Lady Fleur-de-lis were greeting old friends with their social standing. Until his wife pointed out the six newcomers and commented, "Now those girls have expensive tastes."

The nobles looked and Viscount Trenderhoof said with a smile, "Oh they do, especially the one wearing the white dress, isn't she beautiful?"

"They're all quite lovely, if you ask me." said Fancy.

Upper Crust questioned, "Do you know who they are?"

Fancy shook his head, "I've never seen them before."

Hoity motioned, "We must introduce ourselves to them." the group agreed and made their way to the girls.

The girls soon found themselves being mobbed by the nobles and were bombarded with questions.

Rarity put on a charming smile and said, "Please, one at a time, we are greatly honored by your interests and we would like to answer all your questions."

The others seemed hesitant about that.

Upper Crust asked, "Where did you get those marvelous gowns?"

Rarity was quick to reply, "Oh, a couple of angels gave them to us a gift."

Rainbow uttered in her ear, "Smooth…"

Upper stated, "I must know where they got them, I would love to have one just like it."

Rarity tittered, "I'm afraid they're custom made and cannot be replicated."

Fleur said, "What a shame. Still, you girls have certainly shown great taste and I would be honored if you would have tea with me and my husband some time."

The girls exchanged unnerving glances, and Twilight started, "We would love to, really, but I'm afraid we won't be able to do so."

Pinkie added, "We're very busy as it is."

Applejack nervously chuckled, "That's true, we are."

Trenderhoof flashed a smile at her, "Well, I hope you won't be busy to share a dance with me right now." he offered his hand.

Applejack looked at it with uncertainty before going, "Um, sure?" she took his hand and they made their way to the dance floor, joining other dancers. She told him, "I should warn ya, I'm not much of a dancer."

Trenderhoof just kept smiling, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you keep up to me."

"Uh, thanks?" they started to get into position of doing the waltz but as they got into it, Applejack kept fumbling with Trenderhoof's feet. She kept saying 'sorry' whenever she hit his foot.

He winced in pain, "Don't worry about it." then he moved his hand slightly below her waist with smirk, "Besides, I know of ways you can make it up to me…"

Applejack caught on his meaning and was appalled and was about to shove him away until a familiar voice asked.

"May I cut in?"

Trenderhoof and Applejack turned to a finely dressed man with bright green hair and a dark green mask holding out his hand.

Trenderhoof frowned and started to say, "No, you cannot-"

But Applejack said, "You certainly may!" and took the mystery man's hand which had a familiar touch to it as he led her away from Trenderhoof.

He inquired, "You alright? I saw the Viscount making an inappropriate gesture with you."

"Yes, but I have to thank you for stepping in like that." she still held his hand and felt the strange sensation all over again, "It's you, isn't it? One of the men that was with his brothers when that storm happened."

He smiled, "It is, and I thought I recognize your locks when I saw you dancing with that wolf."

She chuckled at that, "Wolf is right."

"You're even lovelier then the last time we met."

She blushed, "Thanks… but I'm not that good-lookin', why compared between Fluttershy and Rarity, I'm pretty ordinary."

"Don't say that. Yes, your sisters are pretty, but… you stand out in my eyes…" he locked gazes with her.

She was utterly speechless by his words.

He kept smiling and motioned, "Would you like to dance?"

She nodded in a dumbfounded manner, "Uh-huh…"

He took her back to the dance floor and started to gracefully waltz, like they were meant to dance with each other.

The other girls were still getting questions and compliments that Fluttershy and Twilight were starting to feel overwhelmed by the attention while Rarity and Rainbow were basking in it. Pinkie however was gone.

Fluttershy couldn't take it anymore when suddenly a recognizable voice said, "Now really, that's enough all of you! Can't you see the poor thing is overcome by all of this?"

The crowd parted to reveal a tall man with dark hair and a mask but she knew his voice as it was the man she first met back at the manor during a storm.

She told him, "It's you…"

He smirked, "And it's you… I would know those beautiful eyes anywhere…"

She countered with her own smirk, "But I'm wearing a mask, how could you tell?"

He humorously chuckled, "Alright, it was the luscious rosy pink hair, satisfied?"

She nodded, "Mm-hmm."

He offered his hand and she took it, in instant they both felt the strange sensation they both felt since they first touched hands. He looked at the dance floor and commented, "It would seem my brother and your sister are having a dance, shall we join them?"

She smiled brightly, "Yes, please."

With his own bright smile he escorted her to the dance floor and slowly put his arm around her waist making her slightly gasp. The feeling of his touch was amazing, never had she been so close to a man before. Normally something like this would scare her. But not now, not when it felt so right to be next to him. Then they started to dance.

Twilight looked at her friends and their dancing partners and started to look around, if two of the mysterious men showed up tonight then that meant he had to be here. Luckily she didn't have to look far as a well-dressed blue-haired man made his way to her with a smile.

She started going over to him when suddenly she felt herself tripping. Flash saw this and quickly went to her as he caught her by the waist.

He kept smiling, "We have to stop bumping into each other like this."

A blush crept on her cheeks and when he touched her hand the feeling increased ten-fold. She admitted, "I must confess, I was hoping to see you again…"

"The feeling's mutual." they stared at each other for a bit before he asked, "Would you like to have a dance with me?"

She gave him half-lid eyes, "Yes."

He took her toward to the dance floor joining their companions.

At this point, Rarity was hobnobbing with the nobles while Rainbow had to listen to them in boredom until a voice said.

"It never ends, does it?"

She replied without looking, "I know, right?"

"It would be a lot better if the conservation was about sports, like horse racing."

This time she looked and realized it was the man she touched hands with, stating, "It's you."

He smirked, "You were expecting someone else?"

"Honestly, I was hoping you would be here but I didn't want to get my hopes up."

His smirk grew, "Oh? Just why were you hoping I'd be here?"

She quickly looked away from him as she felt her cheeks going red.

"Come on, you can tell me, I promise I won't laugh. Far from it, because if your answer is what I think it is, then I would tell you that I feel the same way as you do…" he said that last part with sincerity.

She looked back with wide eyes, "Really?"

He smiled tenderly and nodded.

She stammered, "Well, um, if that is my answer, what are you going to do about it?"

"Simple, I would ask you to dance with me." he offered his hand then added with a quirky comment, "Unless you don't think you're up to it…?"

She proclaimed while taking his hand, "Dance floor. Now."

With a chuckle he took her there.

Rarity was just finishing telling a few elite a story, "…And I said, 'Please darling, that isn't a hat you're wearing, that's a natural disaster that somehow landed on top of your head!'"

The aristocrats guffawed on.

One lady said, "My dear, you're an absolute delight!"

Others agreed with her.

Rarity tittered, "Well, thank you, but it is you my friends that deserve the credit for accepting me in the first place."

Murmurs of approval sounded off.

A silky voice suddenly said, "Well, aren't you the belle of the ball."

She turned around and came face to face with the very man she wanted to see, and it pleased her more to see him so stylist with a bright red suit with golden threads around the borders of his coat.

She replied with a smirk, "Well, well, if it isn't the charmer, I was wondering if you were going to appear."

"Well, charming is my game, and what better way to use that charm than at a royal ball especially for a dazzling beauty I can't stop thinking about."

Her eyes lit up at his words.

He bowed to her, "May I please have the honor of dancing with you?"

She softly answered, "You may." and presented her hand to him.

He took it and led her straight to the dance floor, joining their brothers and sisters. As they began to waltz, Rarity noticed the large crowd watching them and commented to him, "They're all looking at you."

He smiled, "Believe me, they're all looking at you…"

Happiness overwhelmed her as he spun her around.

By then Pinkie and Cheese joined the group in the waltz, with Rainbow and Soarin being the closest to them, Dash quickly asked, "Where did you two come from?"

The couple giggled, with Pinkie replying, "Just lifting a couple of party poopers' spirits."

Cheese added, "It's all in good fun!" he lifted his partner and twirled her around.

Soarin furrowed his brow in suspicion, "What kind of good fun?"

Pinkie answered, "A few harmless pranks here and there."

Soarin asked his brother, "That was your gift for her?"

"But of course! And she had a good time didn't you my little prankster?"

She beamed, "I most certainly did!" wrapping her arms around his neck and cuddled close to his chest.

Rainbow muttered under her breath, "They are so made for each other."

Soarin agreed, "They are." and they went back to dancing.

By then everyone in the ballroom watched the six mysterious women with the mysterious men.

Sunset could see pure love radiating from them and she hoped once more she'll have that with her future husband.

When the music ended the dancers stopped but they couldn't keep their eyes off each other.

Discord then pulled out a single pink rose and presented it to his partner, "For you."

Fluttershy gasped.

He sadly admitted, "It's not much but I wasn't sure what else to give you."

She shook her head, "It's wonderful."

His brothers saw this and took this as their cue to do the same, Capper took out a diamond collar necklace making Rarity gasped in excitement, "How beautiful!"

Spike took out a single elegant emerald ring making Applejack speechless again until she uttered out, "I couldn't…"

He smiled, "You must…" he slipped the ring on her finger.

Flash took out a sheet of paper and handed it to Twilight, she looked it and inquired, "It's a song?"

He nodded, "I wrote for you, I hope you'll like it."

She read the words and smiled at him, "I love it."

Soarin took out a white see through crystal and gave it to Rainbow, he blushed in embarrassment, "I know it's not the best gift but when I found it outside shining in the sunlight and it made this rainbow, it reminded me of you."

"Wow…" she held it up to a candleholder and sure enough its light touched the crystal making a rainbow. She declared, "I like it."

He gaped, "Really?"

She smiled at him, "Really."

All six couples lovingly gazed at their partner until trumpets sounded off and the boys knew exactly what that meant.

Discord spoke for them, "Please excuse us, ladies." they bowed and quickly went toward the balcony where their father was waiting for them along with a stylish middle-aged woman, no doubt this was the Lady Chrysalis.

Tirek turned to the princes, "Well, my sons did you find your fiancées?"

They stated, "Yes, Father."

Chrysalis asked in eagerness, "And did you like them?"

Capper answered for them, "That we did, madam."

Tirek said, "Good, then there's only one thing to do…" he turned to the herald and gave a nod.

The herald then called out to the entire ballroom, "Ladies and gentlemen and esteemed guests of faraway lands, His Majesty, King Tirek has an important announcement to make that will surely gladden our hearts!"

The girls looked up to the balcony and were surprised to see the boys next to the king. Before any of them could question it, the king spoke and gestured to the boys.

"Rejoice my people, for on this very night, my sons the princes, are to be married to the daughters of the fair Lady Chrysalis!"

There were gasps and happy murmurs. But the girls were frozen in shock when they realized that the men they had come to like were none other than the princes themselves!

Meanwhile on the balcony, the boys were happy until Chrysalis pointed out, "And there are my lovely girls now."

They turned to see six beautiful women but their smiles faltered when they saw it wasn't the same girls they had recently danced with. The princes exchanged confused glances and until they looked down and saw the girls staring up, looking stun. That's when it hit them they made a mistake.

Spike whispered, "Oh-no… We fell for the wrong girls!"

Cheese shook his head, "Correction, we fell for the right girls." subtly pointing out, "Those are the wrong girls."

The boys realized quickly that their brother was right with Discord saying, "He's right, he's absolutely right. So what if they weren't Chrysalis's daughters, those girls down there are our true soul mates."

Flash said, "Except we got a problem now. We still have to marry these girls here." he looked at the girls next to their mother looking happy as they faced the audience but he couldn't but noticed that one of them was putting on a fake smile like she was on the edge of tears.

Sunset faced the room with her head held high but inside she was crying, once she and her sisters saw these princes up close she could remember how joyful they were dancing with those girls on the dance floor and knew immediately that there was no chance for love in her marriage now.

The girls were still shocked by the revelation till finally they couldn't take it anymore and started to run for the exit.

The boys saw this and they wanted to run after them, but protocol demanded they stay put.

Soarin whispered, "Let them go for now, it's not like we don't know where to find them."

They nodded.

The girls ran out of the palace gates and straight into their carriage as they panted from both the run and the shock overweighing them.

Rainbow shouted when the carriage moved, "The princes?! All this time they were the princes?!"

Applejack declared, "I should have known it was too good to be true! I'm such a fool!"

Rarity sadly added, "You're not alone, darling…"

Fluttershy held her hands to her face, "I'm so embarrassed."

Pinkie hung her head in shame.

Twilight held herself while clutching Flash's gift to her chest. She said, "We should have asked for their names that day then all of this could have been avoided."

They agreed with her.

Rarity pointed, "It makes sense now why they wanted to see Lady Chrysalis, it was so they could meet their betrotheds but instead they met us…"

Pinkie slowly started, "Now… we'll never see them again…"

Applejack stated, "It's better that way, sugar cube, they have to marry our mistresses after all."

"So why are you still wearing his ring?"

She looked down at her hand and grimaced, she wanted to pull it off and throw it out but her heart prevented her to do so.

Rarity touched the necklace she was given and like Applejack she tempted to get rid of it but she didn't want to.

It was the same for the other girls that were given a present by their prince. It hurt to have them but at the same time they were too precious to lose. For the rest of the carriage ride they stayed silent, letting their memories of one extraordinary night play out in their heads.

Chapter 7

When the ball had died down, Tirek and Chrysalis faced each other with their sons and daughters.

Tirek stated, "We'll have the wedding one week from now."

Chrysalis grinned, "Excellent. That gives me plenty of time to help my girls get ready."

Tirek motioned, "Now boys, as it is the proper birth order, the eldest shall marry the eldest and the youngest shall marry the youngest. Is that clear?"

The princes looked at the girls in front of them. Discord was looking at Adagio, Soarin at Aria, Capper at Suri, Flash at Sunset, Cheese at Sonata, and Spike at Trixie.

They said in an emotionless tone, "Yes, Father."

Fancy and Fleur had been nearby and Fancy caught the princes' tone much to his confusion.

I thought they said they liked them?

Chrysalis spoke, "Well, we must be going now, my girls need their beauty rest after all."

Tirek said, "Of course. Good evening."

The ladies curtsied before taking their leave.

Tirek told the boys, "And you should get your rest as well, you have to get up in time so you can get an early start on your studies and duties."

They repeated, "Yes, Father."

The king nodded in approval and turned to go.

Once they were sure he was gone they started to head for the doors leading outside but stopped when they heard Fancy's voice.

"I believe your rooms are the other way."

They turned back to him with cheesy grins.

He went to them and demanded, "What is going on here? I thought you boys were pleased with your betrotheds, but just now I saw how unexcited you were towards them."

They made nervous chuckles and some of them rubbed their necks till Discord spoke up, "Well, um, Fancy… we don't know how to tell you this, but it would seem that we made a mistake and fell for different girls instead…" he made an uneasy smile.

Fancy gaped then face-palmed, "Oh-no…"

Spike added, "Now we're trying to meet with them and find out who they are."

Fancy deeply sighed then there was a long pause before he said, "Go."

With lit up smiles on their faces they ran out of the room.

The girls made it just in time as the clock struck midnight and their beautiful dresses turned back into their servant clothes.

Rarity sighed while touching the hem of her skirt, "It was great while it lasted."

Her friends agreed with her as they entered into the house and went straight to their room.

Twilight said, "They'll be home soon."

Rainbow asked, "Can't we just pretend we're sick? I really don't want to serve them when they get back."

Applejack motioned, "Unfortunately it's part of our job and we'll get fired if we don't do it."

The girls sighed knowing she was right.

The girls had helped their mistresses when they came home but they also demanded a few more things from them. Twilight had noticed that Sunset was particularly crabbier then usual while the other sisters acted like they were queens of the world. When they got back to their room to retire for the evening, they were too tired to change out of their work clothes and just crashed onto their beds.

It was very late in the evening as the boys traveled up the path to Lady Chrysalis's manor holding out lanterns to light their way.

Capper said, "The only conclusion I can come up with is that they're maids for Lady Chrysalis."

Discord mentioned, "That's fairly obvious, brother, since they did say they had lived in that house for awhile now."

Spike asked, "Then why wasn't it obvious to us?"

He replied in annoyance, "Oh be quiet."

Finally they saw the building as Cheese commented, "Man, it's even spookier at night."

Flash added, "We'll have to go about this carefully, since we don't want Lady Chrysalis to know we're here and assume we're here to see their daughters so soon, that'll send the impression that we're really interested in them."

Cheese pointed, "When it's their maids we're really interested in."

Soarin questioned, "So which window do you think is theirs?"

Spike gestured, "Aren't the servant quarters usually on the first floor?"

As they voiced out their theories, two balls of light, one yellow and one blue went floating toward the boys and it caught Capper's eye and he told his brothers, "Hold it you guys, look."

They did and gasped at what they were seeing and then the balls motioned for them to follow. They exchanged unsure looks before Spike, Cheese, and Flash went toward it, then Soarin and Capper.

Discord threw his arms in the air, "Oh sure! We're just going to randomly follow two glowing balls, no danger in that whatsoever!"

Spike said, "It may be crazy but I think these things are trying to help us."

The balls bounced up and down like it was agreeing with him.

Cheese proclaimed, "Follow those bouncing balls!"

The glowing orbs went on and circled around a window that was on the first floor. The boys slowly went up to it and took a peek. The room inside was dark and small but the window gave it enough light for them to see six maidens sleeping on beds.

The princes gushed at how cute they were.

Spike asked in concern, "Do we have to wake them? They look so peaceful."

Capper patted his back, "We have to or else we'll never know who they are."

Flash agreed, "It just may be our only chance."

With a sigh, Spike conceded.

Discord tapped on the window, hoping it would be loud enough to wake them. They could see some of girls stirred but they didn't wake from their slumber. Discord tapped again and this time the noise was louder and it got Rarity to wake, her eyes fluttered open and when she heard the tapping noise she turned to it and let out a shriek upon seeing dark figures at the window.

The caused the other girls to wake up with a startle and Rainbow and Applejack fell off their beds.

Rarity pointed, "There's something at the window!"

Rainbow reached for broom that was underneath her bed and Applejack grabbed for a mop hoping the household objects can pass for weapons. Pinkie even grabbed a frying pan that was beneath her bed. The girls didn't even care at the moment of their friend having a kitchen utensil in their room all they cared about were the creepy shadows that loomed over their windowpane.

Fluttershy whimpered in fear as she stayed behind the others. Rarity and Twilight shielded her as Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie held out their arsenal. One of the figures slowly opened the window and Pinkie took the charge as she gave out a war cry and she smacked the figure with her pan.

"Ouch!" it cried out.

Pinkie declared, "Take that you thief! You're not stealing anything tonight!"

Cheese shouted out, "Girls, wait! It's us!"

Pinkie's eyes widen when she heard his voice, "My prince…?"

Flash then held up a lantern so they could see the scene before them, Discord was laying on the ground rubbing his nose which took a hit to the frying pan. Fluttershy appeared at the window and saw him, making her gasp.

"Oh my goodness!" she jumped out and ran to him, "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry, my dear, it only grazed me."

Fluttershy sighed in relief before she frowned, "But… what are you doing here?"

Rainbow came out and scowled, "That's what I like to know."

Twilight said, "We all do."

Capper replied, "We had to see you girls again, especially since we found out you weren't Chrysalis's daughters after all."

Rarity motioned, "Well what made you think we were?"

Spike commented, "You said you were sisters."

Flash added, "And since there were six of you. It made sense."

The girls exchanged understanding glances as Twilight stated, "We're sorry you got confused, and it's true, we are sisters, in a way."

Rarity said, "We grew up together so we thought of each other as the sisters we never had until some of us actually did get sisters like me and Applejack."

"Applejack?" the boys voiced.

"That would be me." the chamber maid pointed to herself.

Spike gawked, "Your name is Applejack?"

"Right, and which prince are ya?"

"I'm Spike."

"You're Prince Spike? Uh, I thought you would be younger."

"I'm nineteen."

"Oh." she blushed.

Rarity clear her throat, "I think now is a good time as any for us to properly introduce ourselves." she curtsied, "I am Rarity."

Capper smiled, "Rarity? Well, I figured a dazzling beauty like you would have a dazzling name to match."

She tittered, "You're too kind, Prince…?"

"Capper."

"You're Prince Capper? My goodness, I heard you were charming but I didn't think you would be extraordinary at it."

He chuckled.

Soarin went up to Rainbow and bowed, "Prince Soarin."

"Name's Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow Dash? That's an awesome name."

She smirked, "I know. So you're Prince Soarin, I heard that you were just as awesome too."

"Thanks." he smiled.

Fluttershy helped Discord up as he said, "I'm Prince Discord."

"Prince Discord? Oh my goodness! The eldest of the princes… I had no idea." she blushed furiously.

"I know, my magnificence is a lot to take in, but I would love to know your name, my dear, it must be as pretty as you are."

She shyly turned her head away, "It's not that pretty…"

"I'll be the judge of that."

She sighed and meekly said, "It's… Fluttershy…"

"What was that? I didn't catch that."

She was a little louder but it was still hard to hear her, "It's… Fluttershy…"

"One more time, if you please."

She took a deep breath and said outright, "It's Fluttershy."

His eyes widen, "Fluttershy?"

She timidly nodded.

"That's… beautiful! It's perfect for you!"

She felt her cheeks going red again, "Well, thank you…"

He stared at her lovingly.

Twilight inquired, "You're Prince Flash, aren't you?"

He slightly chuckled, "It was that obvious?"

"Well I did hear that you love music and since you wrote me a song, it fits." she smiled, "I'm Twilight Sparkle by the way."

"Twilight? I like it…"

They locked gazes with each other.

Pinkie pointed to the last prince, "That means you're Prince Cheese!"

He laughed, "That's right!"

"I was hoping those rumors about you being a funny guy were true!"

"I didn't disappoint, did I?"

"No siree! And just so you know, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"Wow! What a great name!"

The boys were very excited to finally get the names of their mysterious girls.

The girls were just as excited until they remembered what happen at the ball. They looked at each other sadly then stepped away from the princes making the boys confused.

"What's wrong?" Flash asked.

Twilight frowned, "As flattered as we are for you coming after us, but this is the last time we can meet."

The girls nodded in agreement.

Spike questioned, "But why?"

Rarity motioned, "Need I remind you that all of you are engaged to our mistresses?"

Applejack stated, "It's true."

Rainbow added with crossed arms, "So whatever you think can happen, can't."

The brothers looked at each other and cringed.

Capper told them, "But we don't love them."

Rarity challenged, "What do you know of love? You only met us twice now and don't know anything about us, you didn't even know we were maids until now."

Her friends voiced out random agreements.

The boys were starting to feel upset now and getting determined.

Soarin said, "Then give us a chance to know you."

Pinkie proclaimed, "And raise our hopes for nothing?!"

Twilight mentioned, "Pinkie is right, we know that Lady Chrysalis has made this arrange marriage with the king since we started working for her."

Applejack said, "There's no way you can get out of it."

There was a pause among them until Flash motioned, "You're right. We have no way of escaping this marriage but… if you could give us a chance at happiness just this once; I promise you'll never see us again."

His brothers looked on with hopeful eyes.

The girls felt themselves melting at their gazes.

Discord took over, "Look, the wedding won't be for one week, that gives us each a chance to spend time with you lovely ladies."

Cheese asked, "So whaddya say? Is it a deal?"

The maids exchanged looks and huddled close together.

Rarity suggested, "It wouldn't be so bad if we helped them out, would it? After all, they're going to have to marry six of the worst girls in the world. They deserve a little romance in their life."

Fluttershy said, "That maybe true, but that won't change the fact that we'll never be close to them again after the wedding…"

Pinkie nodded, "We'll end up losing our hearts to them forever."

Twilight added, "Perhaps, but if we remind ourselves not to get attached, it'll be less painful."

"I really hope you're right about that, Twi." Applejack told her.

Rainbow asked, "So we're in agreement then?"

The others nodded their heads and they turned back to the boys.

Twilight spoke for them, "It's a deal."

The princes were overjoyed and wanted to cheer out loud but remembering it was the middle of the night and them being close to the manor they had to keep it down. They bowed to the girls with Capper saying, "Until then, fair ladies."

They bid each other good night as they took their separate ways.

Author's Note

A fair warning to all of you that updates from this point on will be slow and uncertain. Since next week will most likely be the start of my internship and because of that my schedule will be probably keep me busy to no end, giving me little time to write. All I ask is for your patience, thank you.

Chapter 8 Author's Note

Due to nasty weather, I couldn't make it to my internship today so guess what you all get, that's right a brand new chapter! And I look forward to your thoughts on this one! Enjoy!

Chapter 8

It was after breakfast at the palace and the boys were sitting around Spike's room going over their plan, Timber was there as well to help.

Flash said, "Okay, we agreed that we're going to take turns to see the girls since the rest of us need to stay here to cover the missing person. Now the question is… who gets to go first?" he eyed each of them.

Discord motioned, "Well obviously it should be me since I am the oldest, first born, first place I always say."

Spike complained, "That's not fair!"

Cheese agreed, "It isn't."

Soarin suggested, "How about a contest then? Whoever wins gets to go."

Capper shook his head, "There's no time. Our lessons will be starting soon so one of us has to go now."

Timber gestured, "I got it!" he took out six pieces of straw he got from the stables and held them out to the boys, "You draw straws, whoever gets the shortest straw will go."

Discord declared, "Perfect!" and took his straw.

The others did the same and checked their straw.

"Yes! I win!" Soarin held up the shortest and ran to the window and began to climb down the vines surrounding it, he saluted to his brothers with a wink, "See ya later." and went down.

Spike muttered bitterly, "Ugh, he's always so competitive."

His brothers went, "Mm-hmm."

Rainbow was in the kitchen with Pinkie as the maids were making a list of ingredients Pinkie needed.

"Now remember, Dashie, get only these ingredients and no extra goodies."

"I know, Pinkie, Cinch made us work extra hard all because I overdid it with the bits." she tied a handkerchief on her head and grabbed an empty basket. "I'll be back before dinner." she headed out.

As she walked down the road, a certain prince was riding on a horse before stopping in front of her. He gave her a smirk, "I was just coming to see you."

She frowned, "This really isn't a good time. I have to get to the marketplace to run some errands."

"Well then, can I offer the lady a ride?" he held out his hand.

She put her hands on her hips, demanding, "What, you don't think I can handle walking a few miles?"

"I never said that, if anything I think you could handle it, but don't you think it would be better and faster to do your errands by horseback?"

She pondered on his words till finally she gave in and he helped her up. She sat behind him and took hold of his waist. He signaled for his horse to get going and they traveled down the path.

As they were traveling she asked him, "So is it true that you're a champion swordfighter?"

"I wish. That title actually belongs to Flash, but I try my hardest to beat him. What about you? I'm curious to know what you do all day and what you like to do."

"Me? Well, I work in the kitchen with Pinkie Pie as a scullery maid."

"Harsh."

"Eh, it's not so bad, Pinkie actually makes the job kind of fun. It's our housekeeper, Madam Cinch that makes our work a drag."

"I know that feeling. Lord Fancy Pants, he's our tutor and we love him and all but he tends to give out the most boring lectures ever. My brothers and I have to entertain ourselves while he does them." he snorted, "One time we had a pea shooting contest while he was reciting trigonometry problems."

She snickered at that.

He asked, "So how exactly are you and the other girls, "sisters"? How did you all meet?"

She replied, "It all started when we were very young, I was actually friends with Fluttershy first because she and I were neighbors and our parents were great friends. She also has a younger brother who had this big crush on me and he still does to this day, it's so annoying. So one day, Fluttershy and I were avoiding him until we came upon this willow tree where it turn out Twilight was using it as a hiding spot to read books since you know it's frown upon that girls learn to read and write."

"Well I think it's stupid."

"You do?"

"Yes, because I've met many young girls in the court and they're able to read and write, I don't see why it can't be the same for all girls."

Rainbow smiled at his words, "Twilight would be happy to hear you say that."

"Well all of my brothers think the same way, we feel there's nothing wrong with a girl getting an education if it's going to help her in life. Can you read?"

"A little, Twilight taught us but I'm not much of a reader, though there was this one story I read that got me hooked for days."

"What was it?"

"The Odyssey."

"I remember reading that, that was a good story."

"I know, right?!"

They kept talking about the epic until they reached the borders of the village. Soarin noticed and stopped the horse as he gazed upon the town for the first time.

Rainbow questioned, "Why did you stop?"

"I've never seen the village before." he explained.

Her eyes widen at this, "Never?"

He shook his head.

"Well… what do you think?"

"It's not at all I imagine it would be."

"What did you think it would be like?"

"I don't know, people being happy I guess, and thriving. But this… everything's so rundown and depressing and the people don't look so good…"

She furrowed her brow, "What made you think they would be thriving?"

"My father told me and my brothers that the kingdom was flourishing well but this is anything but."

Dash frowned, thinking, Why would the king lie to his own sons like that? All this time I thought the princes were too caught up in their own lives to care about their kingdom but if what Soarin says is true then something rotten is going on here.

Feeling uneasy now, he asked, "So where is the marketplace?"

She pointed to the left, "Go down this street, it'll be easy to spot."

He moved the horse in that direction, and as they went down the street, Soarin saw how bad things were in the small village. Houses and wagons were in need of serious repairs, and on top of that there were people coughing severely and sleeping in alleyways. He couldn't believe it.

Rainbow commented, "It's a lot to take in, isn't it?"

He slowly nodded, unable to comment back.

They soon found themselves in the marketplace with people going about their day looking emotionless.

He stopped his horse and they got off, Soarin tied the reins to a pole and patted the horse's back, "We'll be back soon, Wonderbolt."

"Wonderbolt? That's his name?"

"It was the best I could come up with when I was younger."

She smiled, "I like it."

That made him smile in return before she started looking around.

"Pinkie always insists that I get the freshest fruit and vegetables there are."

Soarin examined the food products that were on display but they didn't look fresh in his eyes. "Are you sure you should be getting any of these? They don't look so good."

"Not everyone can have high quality meals like you, my prince."

He cocked his brow with a smirk, "I'm your prince now?"

"Well I'm supposed to address you like that, aren't I?"

"Not in this case, I want you to call me by my name."

"Soarin?"

"Right."

She turned her head away and blushed at the thought till suddenly her eye caught on two women standing nearby at a tavern. One of them had orange and amber hair with yellow skin and strong orange eyes. The other one had a mix of black and gray streaks in her hair, and she had light brown skin and rose colored eyes. They caught her in their sights and Rainbow quickly turned back to Soarin.

"Um, Soarin? Think you can go ahead and look for these things on this list?" handing him the basket and parchment.

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"It's nothing, I just need to…" she looked around for a good excuse but nothing was coming to her.

Soarin frowned, "What is going on, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow bit her lip before she deeply sighed, "Okay… do you see those girls over there?" she gestured toward the tavern.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I have a history with them and it's important that I talk to them."

"Is that all? Well then I'll just start getting the things you need while you catch up."

Her eyes lit up with a wide smile on her face and before she knew it she embraced him!

Soarin was taken aback by this but he gave in and embraced her back.

Once she realized what she was doing, she quickly backed away from him and blushed, "Uh, okay then, you do that while I… yeah…" she zipped away making him chuckle.

Rainbow was panicking in her head, Oh my gosh! I can't believe I did that! And why did it feel so good?! She recalled how strong his arms were when he wrapped himself around her and he just felt so warm, not to mention he smelled pretty good. Ack! Get a grip on yourself! You're not supposed to get close to him! He's engaged for cryin' out loud! Remember that!

She kept walking toward the tavern where she was greeted by the women.

"Rainbow Dash." the orange hair one stated.

"Spitfire." Dash replied and said to the other, "Daring…"

Daring Do nodded and said, "It's been awhile, Dash."

"I know."

Spitfire questioned, "Still working for those slave drivers?"

"I am."

Daring mentioned, "And it looks like you got yourself a beau."

"He's not my beau. He's getting married in a week."

Daring pointed, "Yet that hug you just gave him says otherwise."

Rainbow blushed again as she admitted, "Its complicated." she shook her head and got to business, "Is she here?"

Spitfire nodded, "She's in the cellar." she led them into the pub where people were already getting drunk in the middle of the day and a few drunks were messing around and throwing objects around and the barkeep had to keep them under control.

Once they were in the back of the saloon, Spitfire went down some stairs with Rainbow and Daring close behind her. They entered into a room where a tall woman with a peg-leg wearing pirate attire along with a captain's hat was going over a map with another tall woman but she was shorter than the other woman and she had a grumpy expression on her face, but when she looked up to see the newcomers, a smile grew on her face.

"Dash." she said.

Rainbow smiled herself, "Gilda." and went over to shake hands with her before turning to the other woman and saluted, "Captain Celaeno."

"At ease, Rainbow Dash." she said while still looking at her map.

Rainbow inquired, "I hear about a pirate attack a couple of days ago, was that you?"

"Who else would it be?" Gilda answered instead, "The king refuses to lower his tax laws and the fact that his guards steal in his name, she has to be a pirate to steal back what is rightfully the people's."

Celaeno looked up and said, "Yes, thank you Gilda, for summing that up but Rainbow is fully aware of my actions."

Gilda scoffed, "Well, a lot has happened since she turned us down."

Rainbow countered, "I told you, I couldn't leave my friends."

Celaeno stated, "And because of that kind of loyalty, I greatly respected your decision. Anyone in my crew who questions that will have to answer to me."

Gilda made a humph sound.

Suddenly there was a commotion coming upstairs and Spitfire and Daring went to check it out but when they came back they had Soarin in their grasps, making Rainbow gasp.

Spitfire stated, "We caught this guy snooping around."

Soarin defended himself, "I wasn't snooping I was just making sure that Rainbow Dash was okay! When she disappeared into the tavern, I got worried!"

Celaeno asked Dash, "Do you know this man?"

Rainbow sighed, "Yes…" she went to him as Spitfire and Daring let go. She took him to the side and whispered to him, "How much did you hear?"

He whispered back, "Enough to know that my father is stealing from the people too…"

"You can't stay, if they know you're the king's son who knows what'll happen?"

"Or maybe they should know and I can tell them I can help."

"No, they won't trust you. Frankly, I'm not sure I can trust you either since you followed me here instead of doing what you'd promised you'd do."

"Okay, you got me there, but I really do want to help, Rainbow Dash." He scowled, "I was upset to see how everything was in the village that it makes me mad that our people are suffering like this."

Her eyes widen and softly inquired, "You feel that strongly about all of this?"

He nodded.

She bit her lip and thought it over until she turned to the group, "Girls, I like you to meet Prince Soarin."

Their eyes widen in shock.

Glida frowned and questioned, "You're Prince Soarin? As in one of the sons of King Tirek?"

Soarin firmly replied, "I am, but I am not my father in the slightest."

Celaeno glowered as she stated, "I find that hard to believe. Since when have you and the other princes ever shown you've cared about your kingdom? Your people?"

Soarin looked down in shame, "May you're right. If we cared about the kingdom we would have questioned our father of how he was handling things and that we should have put more effort to find out the truth. But I'm willing to help right these wrongs if you give me a chance."

The group exchanged looks before Spitfire pointed to the couple, "How exactly did you two meet? There's no way a prince and a scullery maid could meet on their own."

Dash said, "It's a funny story actually…"

After a moment of recapping recent events (Though Dash didn't say anything about her and the girls' fairy godmothers since no one would believe it anyway), Rainbow finished by taking Soarin's hand, "So now we're spending time together before the princes have to get marry."

Spitfire let out a low whistle, "That's quite the debacle you put yourself in."

Celaeno proclaimed, "Perhaps I was wrong about you and the princes after all, because if His Majesty would be so cruel as to have his own sons marry for advantage rather for love then it seems we have use for you after all."

Soarin smiled, "Name it."

"I need a list of ships and the cargo they're carrying that Admiral Storm will be taking this week, usually I'm able to pillage a few of his ships before the crew and I have to retreat, but if we know where some of the cargo is ahead of time, we can get more and return it to the people."

"That sounds like a great plan, I'll do that. In fact I can get my brothers to help."

Daring suspiciously asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea? There's only so much trust you can give out."

He was quick to reply, "I can trust my brothers. We've been through a lot together and I won't hide this from them. They need to know about what is going on here."

Rainbow felt her heart swelling from his words.

Gilda scoffed, "No wonder you two hit it off, you're just as devoted to sentimental relations as she is."

Spitfire smirked, "You're right, these two are committed to those closest to them, how romantic."

Rainbow blushed uncontrollably but when she felt the squeeze from Soarin's hand and she saw him smiling right her, she smiled back.

Celaeno mentioned, "Since you two don't have much time together, I'll help you with whatever errands you have to do."

Dash exclaimed, "Thanks!" and Soarin handed the captain the list.

Daring said, "In the meantime, we'll go back up to the tavern so you two can enjoy each other's company."

Rainbow grinned mischievously, "Wow, I never thought of you as the romantic type, Daring."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Dash."

Glida stated in a guff tone, "If you had joined us in the first place, you would know more about her."

As they started going up, Soarin asked, "So are all of you like female renegades?"

Glida challenged while giving a deadly stare, "Is that a problem?"

He sweated a little and stammered, "Uh, no, no not at all!"

Rainbow told him, "Good answer, because it's always best to keep on Glida's good side."

He nervously replied, "I'll remember." then he slowly smirked and whispered to her, "I just hope I can keep on your good side too…"

She smirked back, "You better or no romance for you before you get married."

They got into the bar where the two of them sat at a table together while Daring and Spitfire sat at a different table observing from afar.

Some time had passed as the couple talked and Soarin questioned in shock, "So let me get this straight, you don't like pie at all?"

She stated, "Yup."

"Wow. It's the opposite with me, I like pie, any kind of pie really."

"So? Just because we don't agree on the same thing doesn't mean we have to hate each other. If anything, I was finding it eerie that we had so much in common; about time there was something different between us."

He chuckled, "You're right, there's just so many interests we have together. We both like sports especially horse racing, we crave for excitement and thrills, we're loyal to our families, and we wish things could be better for everyone."

"Well now we can make things better, with you on our side, we can make a difference and help everyone."

"Still… the way things got like this in the first place disturbs me… I wasn't born a prince, I got chosen into it. My parents wanted what was best for me so they prepared me and hoped that Tirek would take me as an heir. Luckily, he did, but I remember how much work it took to prove I was capable for the task at hand."

Her eyes widen at this information, "Really?"

He nodded, "Some days I feel like a fraud because I am not good enough to be a prince when it comes to making right decisions and my studies. And it's not just me, Flash, Spike, and Cheese feel the same way. Discord and Capper enjoys it and are able to handle the lessons better than the rest of us but even they admit it gets overwhelming and pressure becomes too much."

"Yikes. I had no idea being a prince was that hard."

"It is." he sadly said.

There was a pause between them as they stared at the other. Then slowly Rainbow reached for his hand on the table and touched it. He grasped it and rubbed her fingers, enjoying her touch so much.

He said, "From the first moment we met and touched hands, I knew… I knew you were supposed be my wife…"

Rainbow hung her head, "Except I won't be…" she felt her chin being raised so she can look at him in the eye.

He firmly said, "Whether or not you were Chrysalis's daughter, Rainbow Dash. I fell in love with you and only you and that will never change."

His words overwhelmed her and she could feel tears rising in her eyes.

No! I won't cry over this! It's just how it is! He has to marry Aria, there's no way around it!

He continued, "I have to know, do you feel the same about me?"

His question took her by surprise and stammered, "W-What do you mean?"

His brow furrowed in suspicion, "Come on, Rainbow Dash, you know." he squeezed her hand again.

Her face sagged, "That's not fair, Soarin, if I tell you that then I lose myself to you forever."

"Then don't tell me. Show me." he slowly cupped her cheeks and moved her head closer to his.

She caught on and closed her eyes. Slowly but surely her lips made contact with his and they kissed in passionate bliss.

Chapter 9

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Chapter 10

Twilight was cleaning outside the music room as the music instructor Chrysalis hired played the piano with all six of her daughters harmonizing to the sound. But only four of them sounded good, being Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and Sunset while Suri and Trixie were singing off-key.

The instructor and Twilight cringed whenever the two would hit a high note and end up screeching.

Adagio couldn't take any more and yelled at her sisters, "Would you two just shut up?! You two are the worst singers ever!"

Suri and Trixie stopped and glowered at her. Then the latter shouted, "How dare you! I'll have you know that Trixie is the greatest singer in world!"

Sunset sarcastically laughed, "Does sounding like a cat count as great singing?"

That got all of them into a squabble, while the instructor tried to hopelessly break it up. Twilight knew she had to tell Lady Chrysalis and rushed to find her and Madam Cinch in the parlor going over wedding preparations.

"Excuse me, my lady, but there's a tiff going on the music room."

Chrysalis sighed, "It never ends." she got up and went out of the room.

"Well done, Miss Sparkle." commented Cinch, "But now you need to resume your duties and be quick about it, you just lost time to complete them before the day is up."

Twilight hung her head, "Yes, Madam…" she went out to the hallway and started to roll up a rug then she went outside to hang it up and found the rug beater and began to beat the dirt out. She coughed a little from the dust.

This was what she hated most about her job. It was tasks like this that make everything go slow when there were more effective ways to get the job done. Unfortunately she couldn't carry out her ideas without Cinch looking down at her and her friends couldn't help her because of their own duties. So she kept to the same dull routine.

When she finished beating the rug she turned around only to bump into something or someone.

He chuckled, "We've really got to stop bumping into each other like this…"

Twilight blushed and giggled, "You know me, always bumping into things…"

Flash smiled then he inquired, "So you're doing chores?"

She sighed, "Yes, so I'm afraid we won't be able to spend as time as we want."

He suggested, "Not if we do them together, would that help?"

She thought about it until her eyes lit up and told him, "Wait here." she rushed back into the house and came back with a notebook. She flipped the pages and showed him the sketches.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Ideas on making household chores go faster."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh, I read a book on inventions and I was fascinated by it so much, I ended up thinking of my own ideas for inventions to help me and my friends around the manor, but I never have the chance to make them and test them."

Flash questioned, "May I?" pointing to the notebook. She nodded and handed it to him. He carefully looked over the pages all the while commenting, "Amazing… Incredible… Wow…" he asked her, "You thought of all these by yourself?"

She nodded while blushing.

"I also see you made some calculations. I didn't know you can do mathematics."

Twilight looked down, "It's something I have to keep to myself, because it's not right for a girl to be educated."

"Soarin did tell me that Rainbow was taught to read because of you, now the question is; who taught you?"

"My brother, Shining Armor."

"Is he older or younger than you?"

"Older. He was my best friend when we were growing up and he hated how a smart girl like me couldn't go to school so he took it upon himself to teach me."

"Wow, he sounds like a great brother."

"He is and he always will be. And he keeps telling me to stop working for Chrysalis because it's not good for me, but I refuse to leave my friends."

"Yeah, Soarin also told me that you met Rainbow and Fluttershy by a willow tree but we still don't know how you met the others."

"Oh, well, there's not much to tell really. Yes, I was by a willow tree when Fluttershy and Rainbow found me since they were avoiding Fluttershy's little brother at the time. I will admit, I wasn't very friendly to them given I just wanted to read my books than make friends, but that changed when Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie showed up. They were exploring around when they came across us and Pinkie suggested playing some games. I was hesitant at first but once I saw how much fun they were having, I decided to join in. We became sisters from that day on."

"That was a really good story."

"Well I would ask how you met your brothers but well everyone already knows that."

He nodded, "It's true. Father chose us because he thought we would make excellent princes, he wasn't wrong but sometimes… we question ourselves of doing everything right as princes. Some of us do better while the rest of us do poorly."

"What are the things you excel in then?"

"Well, I'm great with a sword because I always beat my brothers whenever we duel. Then in our lessons, Lord Fancy is always telling me what a splendid job I do during our math and science lessons, he tells me I'm a natural at it."

"Really?" then she flipped to a page in her journal and pointed, "What do you think of this formula here?"

He took the journal to get a closer look, "Hm…" he thought it over until he stated, "Have you ever thought of using this equation instead?" he took out a pencil and wrote down the formula.

Twilight looked it over and was impressed, "That's remarkable! Why didn't I think of it sooner?"

"I'm sure you were just too busy with your duties to really think about it."

She smiled and pointed to the lute that was strapped to his back, asking, "So do you carry your lute everywhere you go?"

He chuckled again, "No, I brought with me today just for this occasion. By the way, do you still have the song I wrote for you?"

She took out the sheet from her apron pocket, "I never let it out of my sights."

They smiled brightly at each other till he said, "Shall we start working on those inventions of yours?"

Her eyes lit up at the notion and nodded happily.

For the rest of the afternoon, Flash and Twilight went over her journal and brought her ideas to life. They made all sorts of makeshift contraptions and devices to make her job a lot easier. For one the inventions they had to use the watermill behind the manor as a power source to move a line of rug beaters to beat the rugs and tapestries at the same time.

Twilight was so happy to see her inventions working better then she imagined that in one swift move she hugged Flash, exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you so much!" she looked up to him to see his bright smile.

"What was I going to do? Not make your dreams come true? Wouldn't be much of a prince would I?"

She giggled as she felt herself losing into his eyes.

He broke the trance by saying, "You know, as long as the inventions are working, maybe now we can relax and enjoy each other's company."

She tenderly replied, "That would be wonderful…" she took his hand and he grasped hers in return.

They found a large tree in the garden and sat down in its shade. Flash held out his lute and began to play a sweet sound. Twilight closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder. He smiled at the sight.

She commented, "You play so well…"

"Thanks. My father-my real father- taught me while my mother taught how to write and read music."

Her eyes opened and sat up in intrigue, "You knew your parents?"

"Only for a little bit, but shortly after I was chosen they were sent away. Same for the other guys. It was so Tirek could raise us as his own."

"And… are you happy that he's your father now?"

Flash sighed and briefly stopped playing, "Well… we're not exactly close if that's what you're asking… Fancy was there to pick up the pace, if anything he's the father we've always wanted from our adoptive father."

Twilight gave a sympathetic look, "So… he's never really a father to you?"

"We try so hard to gain his approval…"

"But it's never enough?"

"Exactly." he made a small smile to her.

She explained, "The manor's head housekeeper, Madam Cinch always shrives for perfection when it comes to managing the household and the girls and I have to work extra hard to meet her and Lady Chrysalis's standards."

He nodded in understanding.

She sighed, "So… are you ready to get married?"

Her question took him by surprise, and replied, "Well, given I'm marrying a complete stranger… The answer is no."

"But it doesn't have to be…"

He furrowed his brow at her, "What do you mean?"

"You're going to have marry Sunset, right?"

"Right…?"

"Well I know Sunset, in fact, I'm her personal maid."

His eyes widen.

"So I can tell you anything about her but… it might actually be better if you talk to her yourself."

His mouth gapped this time, "You… you serious about this?"

She frowned, "I am."

"But why? This is supposed to be our time together before I do get married."

"Flash, when I was helping Sunset to bed last night, she broke down to me about how her fiancé will never love her because he loves other girl. Luckily, she doesn't know that other girl is me but still… She saw us dancing at the ball, and it greatly upset her… So if you don't try to talk to her now, then you'll both end up being miserable together."

The prince mulled over her words and much to his dismay, they made sense. He turned his head away while Twilight waited for his reply. He looked back and deeply sighed.

"Alright. I'll do it."

She made a sad smile and touched his hand, "I know it's hard, but I want you have some happiness in your arranged marriage."

"Hm… I guess you're right… But you know this doesn't change my feelings for you, right?"

"I know…" she kissed his cheek and he in turn kissed her forehead. She got up and he followed. She led him to a balcony window above them, "There's her room, by now she should be getting ready for dinner, so now's your chance." she went to hide beneath the balcony so Sunset couldn't see her.

Flash gave one last lovingly look to Twilight before he looked up and readied his lute and began to play loudly.

Sunset appeared onto the balcony, looking for the source of the noise until her eyes widen and uttered, "Prince Flash? Is that you?"

Flash bowed, "That it is, my lady. I've come to give you an early wedding gift."

She gapped, "But I thought you… that you were in love with someone else… At the ball, you were dancing with a girl and you looked so in love…"

"I'm sorry you thought that way. But it was a love that never could be…" it pained him to say that but seeing Twilight's head nod sadly told him he was saying the right words. He kept addressing Sunset, "So I wanted to know my future wife more before the wedding."

Sunset blinked in bewilderment.

He continued, "If you'll let me, I would like to sing a song to you…" he told this to both Sunset and Twilight.

Sunset found herself smiling and leaned over the railing, "Please do."

He moved his fingers through the strings, making soft music. Then he began to sing.

Sunset was allured by the sound of his voice and Twilight felt the same. They were lost to the music playing and couldn't get enough of it.

When he was done, he asked Sunset, "What do you think?"

She sighed, "It was beautiful. You play beautifully. If only I could play an instrument so well but my Mother forbids it. She thinks it makes a girl too passionate and therefore it is improper."

He gawked at this, "Really?" he saw Twilight nodding in confirmation. Then he told Sunset, "That's too bad."

She nodded, "She has us taking singing lessons but that's about it."

"I know how that is." he found himself saying, "My father has my brothers and me learn all that there is to be a prince… You know, maybe once we're married I can teach you how to play the lute."

She lit up at the idea, "Would you really?"

He bowed, "On my word of honor."

Sunset kept smiling then she told him, "I have go, but thank you for the gift, I loved it."

"You're welcome, my lady." he smiled back then inquired, "Oh, and you will keep this between us, right? I'm actually not supposed to be here."

"Of course! I won't say a word!" she blew a kiss, "Until then, my prince…" she slowly went back inside.

When she was sure it was safe, Twilight went to Flash.

"I'll have to go too. She'll be calling for me soon." she smiled, "You really made her day."

He just smiled back and cupped her cheek, "You have a good heart, Twilight."

She closed her eyes to his touch and held his hand, telling him, "I'm sorry that we couldn't spend more time together… But this was one the best days of my life…"

"Me too…" he leaned in to kiss her.

She opened her eyes in surprise from the impact but closed them again in bliss. When they moved back, they stood there for a moment before he slowly backed away with a smile on his face.

She slowly moved toward the house with a tiny wave and went on.

Flash was back at the castle and just finished having dinner with his family. Then he and his brothers were in his room going over his time with Twilight. The boys were amazed by Twilight's high intelligence and her big heart since she was willing to make her mistress happy by having Flash woo her.

Flash admitted, "At first I was upset I was losing time with her, but in the end she did me a huge favor. Sunset actually seems like a nice girl I could get along with, so maybe in time I could love her, but Twilight will always remain a special place in my heart because of this day."

Capper took out the straw pieces again and stated, "Okay, let's see whose going to go next."

Discord, Cheese, and Spike grabbed for the straws and were disappointed at how long they were, but when Capper showed off his straw, he grinned.

Discord looked at him suspiciously, "Are you sure you didn't cheat?"

Capper gasped dramatically, "How can you say that?! Would I trick my own brothers just so I can spend more time with Rarity?"

They all gave him exasperated looks and said, "Yes."

"Well, look on the bright side, at least I won't have to do it again tomorrow."

They groaned.

Author's Note

Yup, Caprarity won. Which honestly surprised me, I didn't think it would be a big ship already given how little these two interacted but hey, who am I to complain? Now that just leaves the question of who goes next after them. Your thoughts? Okay, as far as I can tell I'll be able to write on the weekends and day offs because my internship takes me the whole day to do it making me very tired at the end, plus I have to commune from my town and into the city just to get there. So we'll see if these quick updates were a onetime deal or if they can be done some time in the future. For now I make no promises.

Chapter 11

It was after dinner and Sunset was humming Flash's song while she was in the library looking up books on romance. She sat down on in a chair to begin reading when suddenly the book was swipe away from her and she looked back to see Trixie holding it, inquiring, "What's this? Another lovey-dovey story that Mother forbade you from reading?" she flipped the pages.

Sunset reached out for it, "Give it back, Trixie!"

She taunted, "Why should I? Any reason?"

"There's no reason! I just want my book back!" she tried to grab it but Trixie kept it away forcing her sister into ridiculous positions. "You're acting really childish!"

"You know Mother says that love is for peasants, why else would she make this arranged marriage with the king so that we can be elevated to the highest heights of society as princesses?"

"I'm well aware of that!" with a grunt she managed to get the book back and stated, "But I also know that we're going be with the princes for a very long time and we should try to get along with them. Who knows, maybe they'll actually love us for us."

Trixie burst out laughing, "Like that'll happen! The princes only care about how prim and proper their wives will be. After all, we'll be by their side when they take over the kingdom."

By then the other sisters came in with Adagio saying, "But until then, we hide our flaws…"

They recited, "Until after the wedding."

Chrysalis appeared with a smile, "Very good, girls. All these years and your lessons are finally paying off."

Adagio buttered up, "Only because of your brilliant teachings, Mother."

Chrysalis smirked, "Naturally. You girls would have been lost without me."

Suri added, "You also taught us that marriage is a business and a partnership."

"Correct, my dear. As that was with all of my marriages with your fathers."

Sunset slightly frowned, "But surely you had to have to like them a little bit…? For how could you stand them if you couldn't?"

Chrysalis frowned at her fourth child, "I see that you're still letting those books fill your head with thoughts and all sorts of nonsense."

"Well… some of those books make sense…" Sunset timidly defended herself.

Her mother shook her head, "You're just like your father. He was an avid reader, always seeking knowledge…" her face went grim, "But that's what killed him in the end. By knowing too much he paid the price… And I refuse for you to fall into that same fate…"

Sunset slowly lowered her head in shame. She had forgotten her father lost his life for speaking out against the king and nearly disgraced the entire family. Her mother was able to save face by marrying Sonata's father who was popular among the royal court.

Sonata's father and Trixie's father were the only stepfathers she knew before they passed away. She had very little knowledge of her mother's previous husbands. The first husband was Adagio and Aria's father making them full blooded sisters, but they hardly remembered their father since they were too little when he had gone. The second husband was Suri's father, and shortly after Suri was born, her father died from unknown circumstances. The third husband was her father and he lasted longer than the other two until he spoke treasonous words against the king.

It hurt how her father committed treason and was arrested on sight. Then a few days later, she learned he was executed and she cried her eyes out for days because of that. Over time her heart harden and gave into her Mother's teachings preparing for the day she would wed her prince. The only comfort she had was from the books she read in what was her father's old study that turned into the manor's library.

Trixie smugly said, "At least I kept my head from letting thoughts in."

Chrysalis stated, "And you will do well to keep it that way. Remember girls to always empty your mind whenever you're with your husband. For having opinions make you too smart and the princes are the ones who are supposed to rule the kingdom so your only job is to stand there and look pretty. For it would cause destruction and mayhem if the people feel that the princes can't control their wives, is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother." they said.

She proclaimed, "Also, it would do you good to give into the princes' demands whatever they may be… Right, girls?"

They repeated, "Yes, Mother."

"Very good. Now I expect you to be in bed in half an hour. Good night." she turned to go and left.

Trixie pointed to Sunset who was still holding the book, "You heard Mother, you're better off without those books."

Her sister retorted, "I'll do as I want Trixie! If I want to read, I'll read!" she stomped away and left the room in a huff.

Adagio commented, "My, my, someone certainly has a temper."

Suri said, "She always was a brat ever since we were little. And it didn't help our stepfather pampered her to no end."

Aria stated, "Probably because he felt entitled but that sure changed the moment the king…" she made a slicing motion to her neck.

Adagio smirked, "Indeed. That's one of the things I always respect the king about. I certainly can't wait until he's our father-in-law."

Sonata piped up, "Well I just can't wait to be a princess!"

Trixie rolled her eyes, "We all can't wait to be princesses, dodo-head."

"You're the dodo-head!"

"You are!"

This continued on while the older sisters huddled together as Aria said, "If you ask me, they're both dodo-heads."

The other two agreed with her.

Sunset was back in her room and settled on her bed to begin reading, but instead found it hard to focus and ended up looking underneath her bed to grab a small chest and opened it, revealing a journal. She took it out and opened the front cover where an inscription was written out.

There's more in you, Love Papa.

Sunset held the journal close to her chest and released small tears, while uttering, "I love you too, Papa… I miss you…"

The maids sat around in their room after a long day of work and the girls noticed Twilight reading a storybook while humming a song.

Rarity inquired, "Darling, what is that tune you're humming?"

Twilight stopped and blushed, "Oh… it's a song that Flash sang to me today…"

"WHAT?!" they shouted in excitement and quickly surrounded her bed.

Pinkie shrieked, "Details! Now!"

Twilight kept blushing as she timidly said, "Well… he helped me bring my invention ideas to life by showing how smart he was… Then we relaxed under a tree where we talked…"

Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie sighed lovingly with Fluttershy commenting, "That's so romantic."

"Well… it was… until I told him to serenade Sunset…" she made a nervous smile.

"WHAT?!" they said again with a gawk.

"Why would you do that?" Applejack questioned.

Rainbow pointed with a frown, "Yeah! The whole point of meeting with the princes is so they can experience romance before they get married!"

"I know that. But you forget that they'll be stuck with our mistresses for a very long time and if they get married before they know each other, then they'll be miserable…"

Their faces sagged when they realized the truth behind that statement.

"Oh…" started Rarity, "I haven't thought of that."

Fluttershy confessed, "Me too…"

The others just nodded their heads.

Twilight assured them, "Its okay, girls. You just want your time with your prince to be special. I just did what I thought was right. You should be with them in whatever way you want."

They smiled at her words.

Rarity motioned, "And speaking of our princes, now that Prince Soarin and Prince Flash have paid Rainbow Dash and Twilight a visitation, that means that one of us," pointing to herself, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack, "Is going to get a visit next."

Fluttershy asked, "But who will it be?"

Applejack asked Twilight, "Did Flash tell you of who could be next?"

She shook her head, "Sorry, he didn't say."

Pinkie said, "Most likely it's because they have to fight of who gets a turn."

Rarity flipped her hair with a smirk, "Well I certainly can't blame them."

AJ and RD rolled their eyes at her.

Fluttershy suggested, "Perhaps we should prepare by making a picnic basket and whoever the prince is like Prince Cheese or Prince Discord, then either Pinkie or I can take the basket so we can treat our prince to a picnic lunch."

Pinkie excitedly said, "Sounds like a yummy idea to me!"

Rarity agreed, "I must concur!"

Applejack smiled, "Great thinking, Fluttershy."

She blushed, "Thank you…"

Twilight said, "It is a good idea and in the meantime, the rest of us will do missing person's chores giving them more time. Since Rainbow had to do errands and I had to do my chores when Soarin and Flash came we got to make the effort to do that."

"Agreed." they told her.

Twilight held her hand out and they put their hands down with hers, symbolizing the unity of their sisterhood. Outside their window, two fairy godmothers saw this as the younger one commented.

"Their bond is strong and nothing is going to tear that apart…"

The eldest replied, "Yes. And it's a good thing too, for they will need that bond more than ever once they fulfill their destinies…" she waved her wand making a glowing circle and in that circle were moving images of the girls dressed in beautiful gowns and tiaras dancing with their husbands, the princes

Chapter 12

Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack watched from the kitchen window to see which prince was going to show up.

Pinkie said, "Ooh, I really hope it's Prince Cheese!"

Fluttershy blushed, "I hope it's Prince Discord."

Applejack commented, "I wouldn't mind if it was Prince Spike." she looked on in eagerness.

Rarity stated, "Well whoever it is we will greet them with the proper decorum as befitting their royal status." but that all came crashing down the moment she saw Prince Capper riding in. She let out a giant squeal making the other girls fall to the floor as Rarity was acting crazy and bouncing around.

"It's him! It's him! My prince!" she rushed out and ran to him.

He saw her as he disembark his horse with a wide smile and awaited her with open arms. When she landed in them, he nearly fell over but managed to twirl her around.

When he set her down, he smirked, "Someone's anxious to see me…"

She told him, "I'm just so happy to see you." she looked up to his eyes as they stared at each other for awhile until a cough got their attention.

They turned to see Applejack holding the picnic basket out, saying, "You forgot this."

Rarity blushed in embarrassment, "Oh, yes… so I have." she took the basket, "Thank you, Applejack."

The chamber maid made a tiny smile, "Just be sure to enjoy yerself and don't stay out too late." she went back toward the house.

Rarity turned back to Capper as he inquired, "Shall we then?" he gestured toward his horse.

She smiled, "Let's."

He helped her up onto the saddle and he followed after to take the reins. He asked, "And where does the lady wish to go?"

She pointed in a direction toward the forest, stating, "That way."

He questioned, "Any reason?"

She just smiled, "You'll see."

They rode on for a bit until Rarity said, "Stop. We're here."

He stopped his horse and got off, then he helped Rarity down as she took the lead. She led him to a clearing where a willow tree was but what was next tree is what really got his attention as it was a white gazebo with all sorts of flowers growing on it.

Seeing the expression on his face, she explained, "This was the place the girls and I met for the first time." pointing to the willow tree, "Shortly after that fateful meeting, we kept coming here to play that our families decided to build this gazebo for us."

Capper uttered in amazement, "Wow…"

"It is, isn't it?" she took his hand and they approached the gazebo and she set the basket down. They sat down after she took out the picnic blanket, the plates, the flatware, and a tea set. Then she started taking out the food.

"Some finger sandwiches, a salad, and for dessert, tea cakes!"

"Mmm, sounds delicious." he licked his lips.

She giggled, "The girls and I were up early this morning getting this ready. I will admit this picnic would have been for one of your brothers instead if they had showed up today."

"That makes sense. Since we have draw straws anyway just to see who gets a turn next."

"But you won this round, didn't you?"

"Naturally. Though my brothers think I cheated."

"What makes them say that?"

"Well… I tend to be… "too smart" for my own good sometimes…"

"Ah… so you trick them?"

"Pretty much." he made a cheesy grin.

"Well… while I don't approve of deceit I can certainly appreciate a man that's quick witted. It proves he rather uses his brains instead resorting to violence to solve a problem."

He smiled, "It's true. I never did like getting my hands dirty like that."

As they started to eat, she questioned between bites, "What else can you tell me about yourself?"

"Oh, where to begin?" he playfully said then he went serious and replied, "I grew up in the royal court with my parents if only for a short time. I was six-years-old when Tirek chose me to be his son. Since then I grew up with my brothers and was taught how a prince should act. I tutored in just about everything including etiquette, protocol and style."

"My goodness. I knew being royalty wasn't easy but I had no idea just how many rules that went with it."

"There's a lot of them, all right. So what about you? What can you tell me about yourself?"

"Well there isn't much to tell, I grew up in the village with my parents and my little sister, Sweetie Belle. I became a maid with the other girls shortly after Applejack had to start working for Lady Chrysalis."

"So you have a little sister?"

"Yes, that is correct." taking a sip from her tea cup, "Sweetie Belle and I weren't close at first but Applejack helped me see how important my sister was given she was a big sister herself, so it was easy to follow her advice and so Sweetie and I got close after that and I enjoy her company every time I visit the family."

"That's a very sweet sentiment."

"I'm curious, if you weren't chosen as the prince, what would you do instead?"

Her question took him completely by surprise, no one has ever asked him that so he never thought about what his life would be like without his title.

Rarity noticed how quiet he was and asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

Capper broke out of his trance and quickly told her, "No! I just… never thought about it before…"

"Oh… I'm sorry, I suppose when one is used to living a certain way, why would you questioned it?"

"No, it's okay, it's actually a pretty good question. Now that you've brought it up, I'm starting to wonder how different my life would be if I wasn't chosen."

"And what do you think that is?"

"Mostly likely I would still be living in the royal court, I would still know the guys but not in a brotherly way, I would probably work with Lord Fancy Pants as we help the princes prepare themselves to get married. That would actually be the only upside to me not being a prince, I could marry whoever I want." he smiled right at her when he said that last part.

She felt her cheeks going pink from his hint.

He asked, "So what about you? If you weren't a maid, what would you be instead?"

Her eyes lit up and passionately told him, "I would run my own dress shop, making new fashions for everyone to wear, just so they can feel beautiful about themselves."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Something tells me you would be great at that."

She went sad, "Of course… with everyone in the village so poor, they couldn't be able to afford the latest style anyway…"

Capper slightly frowned, "Soarin told us about the village, is it truly that awful?"

She sadly nodded her head.

He shook his own head in disappointment.

She then said, "Well… let's not dwell on what could have been, instead let's discuss how wonderful this day is and how lucky we are to be spending some time together."

A small smile crept on his lips, "I agree." taking another bite from the finger sandwiches. "So do you have a favorite animal?"

She smiled brightly at this and answered, "Oh that's easy. Cats."

This time his eyes lit up and inquired, "Cats? You like cats?"

"Very much so. In fact, on some days if there's plenty of scraps from the mistresses' table, Fluttershy and I then take those scraps to feed the alley cats in the village."

"How very generous of you." he smirked, "I always thought of myself as a cat person, not sure why though, but I find them to be very fascinating creatures and my brothers tend to joke that I'm like a cat in some ways."

Her eyes widen in joy from this information as she exclaimed, "That's wonderful to hear!"

They soon went on an ongoing conversation about felines.

When they had finished with their picnic lunch, Capper helped her put away the dishes in the basket.

She swooned at how well he was helping her clean up.

He noticed this and teasingly said, "You like a man that cleans up after himself, don't you?"

She blushed, "Well… um, it's certainly nice that you're being helpful and not many men would do that for a lady."

"But as you are a lady, it is only fitting I do this for you." he took her hand and planted a kiss on it.

Her heart pounded like crazy and nearly fell over when she felt the kiss.

He then reached over for a rose that was hanging above her and plucked it before presenting it to her.

"For the most beautiful of all beauties."

She playfully replied, "Oh do be quiet and kiss me already."

He released a laugh, "Ha, and my brothers say I move fast."

"Well it just shows you've met your match, darling." she winked.

He cupped her cheek, looking at her with half-lid eyes, "That I have…" he wrapped his other arm around her waist and they moved in for a long passionate kiss.

When they took a breath she genuinely asked in concern, "But is my beauty all that matters to you?"

He made a determined look, "No, it isn't. And you know why? You're generous, loving, smart, and best of all… you're not afraid to speak your mind…"

She smiled brightly at his words as she drew closer for another kiss, uttering, "And you're not just a handsome prince to me, you're also smart, funny, and classy and I enjoy every bit of it."

He smiled back and eagerly accepted her lips. They were just so sweet against his mouth. Rarity was also enjoying the taste of his maw; she just couldn't get enough of it.

The sun was about to set and the couple watched it from the gazebo. They admired the beauty of the orange and red colors that had painted the sky.

Rarity commented in awe, "It's gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous."

He looked at her with a smirk, "Yes, you are…"

She looked at him and smirked back, "Always the charmer."

"Ah, but I'm only charming to you, my lady. No one else deserves my charm."

Those words made her heart fluttered. She declared, "Flattery will get you everywhere." and took his hand to hold.

He grasped it and dared not to let go.

She sighed, "We'll have to go soon."

He lowered his head in sadness, "I'm afraid so… Father would be furious if I don't show up for dinner."

"And I'll need to serve the ladies their dinner…"

They sighed together before facing each other and leaned in for one last kiss.

They got back to the manor and Capper helped Rarity down from the horse. She looked up to him with sad eyes. His eyes were the same way as he looked at her.

"Thank you… I had a wonderful time…" she told him in a heartbreaking tone.

"No. Thank you. You gave me a chance at happiness before it was too late, I shall never forget that as long as I live." he held out for her hand and he planted a long kiss on it.

Tears were beginning to run down her eyes, and she started to say, "I lov-" but she caught herself in time, fearing had the words escaped she would never get them back.

He simply replied with remorse, "I know…" and he quickly moved his horse away from her so she wouldn't be able to see the pain on his face.

"It was the most wondrous thing that had ever happen to me." Capper told his brothers after they met in his room, "Rarity was perfect, the setting was perfect, everything was perfect! That I never wanted it to end!"

Soarin and Flash exchanged knowing looks while the others were gawking.

Discord motioned, "That does it! Give me the straw! I'm dying to know if I'll go next!"

Capper handed the straw pieces over and Discord held them out to Cheese and Spike. The three brothers sucked in their breaths as they drew a piece. They looked and Spike and Discord groaned while Cheese was hopping around in excitement.

"Finally!" he went to an open window in the room and shouted out, "I'm coming, Pinkie!"

Discord quickly slapped his hand over his brother's mouth, and harshly whispered, "Shut up, you idiot! It's supposed to be a secret!"

But Cheese wasn't paying attention; he was too busy daydreaming about the love of his life.

Author's Note

That's right, CheesePie will be next, then it'll be Fluttercord, then finally, AppleSpike. Sorry, if that gives away the element of surprise but considering which ships have been in more demand, I feel there's no need to hide it.

Chapter 13 Author's Note

Sorry if this one is short, but it's a filler chapter since the next chapter will be longer with CheesePie fluff.

Chapter 13

It was late at night at the palace as five princes quietly move through the dark hallways with only a candleholder that Flash was carrying lighting the way.

Spike was behind his brothers, shaking uncontrollably, he kept muttering out, "This is such a bad idea… A bad idea… We shouldn't be doing this…"

Soarin whispered to him, "I made a promise to Captain Celaeno and I'm going to keep it."

"I wish Cheese was here instead…"

Flash said, "You know he needs his rest for tomorrow and besides if we did get caught then he would be free to leave the castle without being in trouble like the rest of us."

Spike groaned, he couldn't argue with his brother's logic.

Discord smirked, "I think it's rather exciting, sneaking around like this. I never knew going behind your parents' backs could be so much fun!"

Spike harshly added, "It's not fun! It's dangerous and reckless!"

The eldest scoffed, "Please, the worst thing Father can do to us is give us more lessons, nothing new there."

Capper pointed, "He's right, it's not like he can throw us in the dungeon without backlash happening. We're his heirs, after all."

Soarin told them, "If anything, our father should be in the dungeon himself for having our kingdom falling into shambles in the first place."

Flash stated, "We're here." stopping at a door that lead into their Father's study. They knew their father kept his most important documents in this room. So what they were looking for had to be in here. Flash slowly turned the knob and they carefully walked in without making a noise.

They spread out in the room, looking in bookshelves, the desk drawers, Spike even looked behind picture frames and tapestries in the room. Finally, Soarin held up a piece of parchment and softly declared, "Got it!"

Spike said, "Great, now let's get out of here before it's too late." in his haste to get to the door, he tripped and grabbed for the fireplace mantle that was in the room but in doing so he accidently moved a stone bust of their father that triggered the hearth to move up much to the princes' shock.

Flash held the candleholder closer to the fireplace as it revealed a long dark tunnel inside.

"A secret passage?! We have a secret passage?!" Discord exclaimed.

Capper shushed him, "Not so loud…"

"Well I'm sorry but this is a huge discovery!"

Flash said, "Discord's right. How many times have we studied our castle's maps? There's no sign of a passage on them."

Capper mentioned, "Well it wouldn't be much of a secret passage if it wasn't kept secret."

Spike inquired, "I wonder if Father knows about it."

Soarin pointed, "Well since this bust of him is what triggered the passage to open, I say that it's a safe bet."

Flash asked, "Should we go down there and see what's there?"

Discord motioned, "I say we should!"

Capper questioned, "But will there be enough time? If we go down there, it might take us forever to get back."

Flash nodded, "You're right, and for all we know if we all go in there, the passageway will close on us and we'll get trapped with no way out."

Spike agreed, "I'm with you on that, Flash."

Soarin suggested, "We'll just have to do it another time without the risk of Father finding out what we're doing."

After mutually agreeing, the boys went out the same way they came in and as they were going down the hallway to get back to their rooms, they suddenly heard talking and went to investigate.

"Only five days until the royal wedding." came Lady Fleur's voice.

Fancy's voice replied, "A royal wedding it may be but the outcome of it will be a marriage of politics, not love."

"Yes… it is rather unfortunate that the princes couldn't fall in love like we did…"

Discord made a snort and his brothers held a finger to their mouths, gesturing him to keep quiet.

Fleur continued without being aware of the eavesdroppers, "Do you remember how we first met? You were playing the piano in the parlor when I heard you as I was walking by, and I was enthralled by the sound that I couldn't resist keeping away."

Fancy chuckled, "I was too lost in my playing to hear you coming but then there you were, standing right beside me."

"I asked if I could join you and you didn't so much as bat an eye when I did and merely moved over so I could…"

"When our hands touched the keys together, we played a marvelous duet… then just as we were about to end it… our hands touched… That's when I knew you were my true love and my equal forever…"

The princes gawked at that information as they recalled the day they touched their girls' hands. Soarin smirked and uttered, "I knew it…"

Then they heard Fleur sadly sighing, "I just wish I didn't fail you in producing a child for you…"

The boys' eyes widen with Spike whispering, "I had no idea that Lady Fleur was barren, I always thought that she and Fancy didn't want children."

Flash shook his head, "It just goes to show that as much as you know people, there's always something about them that you never know until it has been revealed…"

Capper motioned, "Or in this case, spying."

Spike felt guilty and suggested, "We should go, we've already listen too much as it is."

Soarin nodded, "I agree." and started to go with Spike and Capper following. Discord lingered for a moment but Flash dragged him away.

Fancy held his wife close and softly assured her, "You didn't fail me. If anything I was the one that failed you for making you wait so long, but at the time I was worried about the princes' upbringing and I had to make sure that they weren't going to follow their adoptive father's ideals. In a way, they became the sons I never had. So no, you have given me everything I could want but now it is my fear that my sons won't have the same thing I did."

"Even so, do you think I could consider the new princesses the daughters we never had?"

"I hope you can…" he made a grimace, "But if they're anything like their mother…" he shuddered.

She giggled.

It was the next morning and the brothers told Cheese what they discovered last night making him gawk.

"So… there's a secret passage in Father's study and Fancy and Fleur didn't choose to be childless?"

"That's right." said Capper.

Cheese shook his head in bewilderment.

Soarin took out the parchment, "Make sure you get this to Rainbow Dash."

Cheese took it, "I'll do that." he went toward the window, "Well, I'm off, to meet the love of my life, my one coquette, the answer to my love's duet."

Spike's face scrunched up in confusion, "When did you guys sing?"

Cheese exclaimed as he went out, "At the ball of course!"

Discord told Spike, "Don't think on it, it's usually for the best."

Cheese climbed down the vines and his brothers could see him making a whistle to signal his horse having the energetic prince jump onto the horse's back and galloped right out of the gate.

Chapter 14

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 16

Applejack sat patiently in front of the manor. She thought, Maybe he won’t come? She shook her head, That’s silly, his brothers have already come, so of course he’ll be here. After all, you and the girls made a promise and it’s only fair you keep it…

But then why did she feel nervous to see him?

Spike was hurrying down the road on his horse but because he was going to too fast he didn’t realize he was slipping from the saddle. And just as he was about to reach the manor, he slid off and landed in a mud puddle.

He grunted in pain and saw his horse was still running, he called out, “Jewel, come back!” But the horse was too far away for him to hear and she soon vanished from sight. Spike got up and looked at how messy he had gotten, muttering bitterly, “Great, just great…” he got out of the puddle, “I put on my best shirt and pants just for today but instead I land in a puddle and on top of that, I lost my horse… What a rotten way to start the day.” he started walking and hoped that the rest of the day will go better just like the stars predicted.

Applejack saw a figure walking up to the manor and it took her a moment to realize it was Spike! She ran to him, inquiring, “Your Highness! Are you alright?”

Upon seeing her, a smile spread across his face, “You were waiting for me?”

She slightly blushed, “Well, um, I thought it was best since your brothers already came and that just left only you…” then she frowned in concern at seeing how dirty he was, “What happen to you?”

He sighed, “I fell off my horse and landed in a mud puddle…”

She took a sniff and cringed, “Uh, Your Highness….”

“You can just call me Spike.” he smiled.

“Spike…” she uttered before she said uneasily, “that’s not mud you’re wearing… its manure…”

His eyes widen then he groaned and covered his face.

She quickly reassured him, “But that’s okay! I like the smell of manure!”

He looked at her in disbelief, “Really?”

“I know it’s strange, but I’m used to it. In fact, it reminds me of home…”

He stared at her for the longest time making her feel nervous again, just the way he was looking at her… It made her heart beat faster. She had to distract herself from getting too close and asked, “So… did you walk all the way here?”

He gasped, “I almost forgot! After I fell into the puddle my horse ran off!”

“Land sakes! We better go find him!”

“She. It’s a she and her name is Jewel.”

“Come on then.” she took the lead.

As they walked down the road, they called out for the horse but there was no sign of the mare.

Spike apologized, “I’m really sorry about this, this was supposed to be our time together.”

“It’s alright.”

“It just seems everything is going wrong today.”

“I really don’t mind, Spike.” she sighed, “I have to be honest with ya, but I’m trying my hardest not to get in too close…”

He was taken aback by this and softly asked, “It’s because of the others, isn’t it?”

Her own eyes widen, “Yeah… How did you know?”

“For last five days, every time my brothers would come home from their dates, they would have this longing look on their faces and would be sad afterwards once they admitted how much the girls meant to them.”

“It’s the same thing with my friends… In fact recently, Pinkie was so heartsick about losing Prince Cheese that she had to stay in bed yesterday.”

“Those two really are meant for each other, because Cheese was bawling his eyes out when he came home from his date…”

“So you see, I can’t give myself up to you, not if means we can’t be together…” she looked him with sad eyes.

He returned the sadness, “I understand completely, I would never want you to fall in love with me if I must marry for my father’s sake. Truthfully, I volunteered to go last because that way, the time we do spend together won’t linger on until the wedding.”

“That was good thinkin’.” she complimented.

He smiled, “Thanks.”

Suddenly something caught her eye and pointed to the ground, “Hey, look at this, I found some horse tracks.”

Spike saw this and commented, “I hope they’ll lead us to Jewel.”

They kept on walking while following the tracks until they reached an orchard full of apple trees and Applejack knew exactly where they were at.

“I don’t believe it! The tracks led us to my home!”

“Your home?”

“Sweet Apple Acres, we’re just on the edge of it, if we keep going we’ll see the house and the barn.”

“Well since the tracks go in that direction…”

“Maybe my family has seen your horse.” she went on and he followed.

Soon they were at the farmhouse where a young red-haired girl was doing her chores until she saw who was coming and she ran to them in excitement.

“Applejack! Applejack!”

Applejack held out her arms for the girl and embraced her while chuckling, “Yes, Apple Bloom, I’m happy to see you too.”

“Who’s that with you?”

She let go of her sister, “Apple Bloom, I want you to meet one the princes. This is Prince Spike.”

Spike bowed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Bloom gasped, “Prince Spike?! I can’t believe it! I’m meetin’ an actual prince! This is so amazing!” she bounced in exhilaration.

Applejack and Spike smiled at her elation.

A deep voice said, “What’s goin’ on here? Apple Bloom, I thought you were doin’ your chores and-“ a tall man with bright orange hair came out and once he saw who was there, he uttered, “Applejack?”

His sister smiled at him, “Hello, Big Mac… It’s been awhile, ain’t it?”

“Eeyup, been far too long, little sister.” he held his arms out and she went in them.

Spike chuckled, “You guys sure love hugs, don’t you?”

Apple Bloom exclaimed, “We sure do!” and joined in on the hug.

Mac inquired, “Does this mean that you’ve finally quit workin’ for Lady Chrysalis?”

AB pleaded, “Please say it’s true!”

Applejack sighed, “I wish it was, but… you know I need to stay there to keep the money goin’… especially for Granny…”

Bloom motioned, “But she’s doin’ much better now!”

Mac pointed to Spike, “So I take it this ain’t your beau then?”

Applejack and Spike exchanged a look and she blushed, “Uh… it’s complicated…” Her brother gave her a disapproving look, making her counter, “Now it ain’t nothin’ like that, so don’t worry.”

Apple Bloom was confused from the exchange, “What ain’ nothin’ like that?”

Both her siblings said, “Nothin’, we’ll tell ya when you’re older.”

She groaned.

Applejack continued, “You don’t know it, big brother, but before yer very eyes is a member of the royal family. Meet Prince Spike.”

Mac’s eyes widen and bowed, “Your Highness.”

“Please, you can just call me Spike.”

AB asked, “How did you and the prince even meet, Applejack?”

“Well, um, that’s a long story… And I’m afraid we don’t have time to stick around to tell it, Spike lost his horse and there were horse tracks that led us here…”

“A horse?” Bloom said, “I think I saw one go toward the barn earlier.”

The three adults glanced at each other before they headed to the barn. When they went inside there was a mare next to a stallion’s stall.

Spike declared in joy, “Jewel!” he ran to her and patted her, “I was so afraid I lost you forever, girl!”

The mare whinnied and shook her head.

Applejack chuckled, “No doubt she found refuge in our barn and when she came across Bloomberg here, she didn’t want to leave.”

The mare whinnied again and nodded her head. Bloomberg neighed in agreement.

The duo laughed at this.

Spike mentioned, “Well, since we know Jewel is safe now, we can tell your brother and sister how we met.”

She blushed again, “Uh, right…”

After a few moments of storytelling, Apple Bloom gushed while Mac gave a concern look.

“That is so romantic! In fact, it’s just as romantic as Mama and Papa’s story!”

Applejack frowned, “I wouldn’t know about that, Apple Bloom…”

Spike inquired, “Where are your parents?” Shortly after he said that, there was dead silence and the Apple siblings made painful faces. He bit his lip and questioned, “Did… did I say something wrong?”

Applejack quickly replied with sorrow, “No, sugarcube, it’s just… they’re not with us anymore…”

He looked at her siblings and the look on their faces confirmed it.

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it was a long time ago…”

Mac agreed, “Eeyup…”

Apple Bloom motioned, “Besides, we always have their tree to remember them by…”

“Their… tree?”

Applejack took his hand and for a brief moment they both felt the same feeling they did the first time their hands made contact. She told him, “I’ll show ya…” and led him out of the barn and went across the orchards to a secluded part of the area. She moved back some bush leaves and what came into view made him gawk for the longest time. Two trees, an apple and a pear tree intertwined together in the shape in a heart.

“But… that’s…”

“Impossible?” she slightly giggled, “Yeah, I guess one can say that…”

“How…?”

“Honestly, we don’t really know. It could have been that my Mama and Papa loved each other so much that their love grew this tree. It does seem likely given they actually exchanged their vows right in this very spot.”

“But if your family grows apples, why is there a pear tree?”

“That’s because my mother was part of the Pear family before they moved on.”

“Your mother was a Pear?”

“That’s right. And that was a problem because there was a huge feud between the Apples and the Pears.”

“What?”

“My Granny Smith and Grand Pear were rivals of who can sell their products better. But that didn’t stop my parents from becoming friends and eventually lovers in secret. It was truly amazing of how so much love could come from so much hate…”

“Wow… So what happen?”

“Well… my parents decided to elope but Granny and Grand Pear came across the ceremony and they were force to reveal the truth about their love and Grand Pear demanded for my mother to choose a side.”

“Yikes…”

She nodded, “So… my mother had no choice but to choose my father and Grand Pear just left without another word.”

“That’s very sad…”

“It is…”

They looked up to the tree, letting the peaceful silence take over. Then Applejack asked him, “Did you know your parents?”

He shook his head, “No. I never knew them.”

She gapped at this, “Never…?”

“That’s right, because I was a baby when Tirek chose me.”

“Oh, Spike… Did you ever wonder what they were like?”

“Sometimes… I often questioned of who I really was, and whether or not I was fit to be a prince in the first place.”

“Well, I think you’re fit to be a prince…”

He looked at her in astonishment, “You do?”

“Of course, you’re kind, sweet, and a true gentleman.”

He smiled, “My thanks, my lady…”

They found themselves leaning in closer to each other until a loud screech sounded off. The two quickly went to investigate.

Turn out the screech came from the road as the two hid behind an apple tree to see a young couple getting hold up by bandits!

Applejack recognized them and told Spike, “That’s the town doctor and his wife!”

“What are their names?”

“Dr. Hooves and Derpy Hooves.”

“Well it looks like they’re in trouble.”

They watched as the bandits surrounded the couple and the leader-who was sleazy-looking with his dark hair smoothed back and had a stubble on his face- spoke up in a strange accent, “Hand over all of your valuables and we will let you go.”

Dr. Hooves declared in fear, “All I have of valuable is this golden pocket watch!”

“No, Doc! Not your watch! Your father gave that to you!” his wife begged.

Her husband tried to reassure her, “We have no choice, my love…” and handed over the watch.

Spike knew he had to step in and told Applejack, “Stay here.” and was about to go when she held his arm and stated firmly.

“Not without me, you aren’t.”

“No, it’s too dangerous.” he retorted.

She took out a dagger from her apron pocket, “We need to fight together, it’s the only way we can help them.”

He sighed, “Alright, but stay close to me.” he took out his sword and the two emerged from the tree, revealing themselves. He shouted to the bandits, “Hey! I believe you have something that doesn’t belong to you!”

The leader ordered his group, “Kill them, we can’t have any witnesses!”

The bandits went toward Applejack and Spike, as they braced themselves for battle. The fighting commenced as the duo took on one bandit at a time. Spike was impressed by Applejack’s fighting skills and commented on it as he clashed swords with one of the brigands.

“You’re really good at using that dagger!”

She called back as she pushed back another bandit, “Thanks! When one has to defend their home, one picks up a few tricks!” she kicked the man in the groin making him wheeze in pain and fall to the ground, “Like that for example.” She saw Spike’s duel and mentioned, “And you’re not doin’ so bad with that sword!”

He replied as he kept clashing, “Thanks! But Flash and Soarin are better at it then me!”

“Need some help?” she inquired.

“If you please!”

She held her dagger up and joined in the clash as she and Spike were able to overwhelm the thief and defeated him. Then together, they fought the remaining bandits until they were knocked out. Then they faced the main bandit only to see that he was holding the doctor’s wife hostage by holding a dagger to her throat.

“Drop your weapons, or the woman dies.”

Spike and Applejack exchanged a look and slowly they dropped their blades. Then Spike spoke up, “Sir, there’s no point in you holding the woman hostage when she won’t be worth any money to you. Instead, I like to offer a trade.”

Applejack didn’t like what he was saying, A trade? What he’s goin’ trade for?

He continued, “Standing before you, is one of King Tirek’s sons. I am Prince Spike and I offer myself in exchange for that woman’s freedom.”

Everyone around him gawked especially Applejack who was shocked that he would be willing to give himself up like that for a complete stranger.

That’s just about the noblest thing I have seen anybody do!

The bandit frowned and questioned, “How do I know you are indeed the son of the king?”

“With this.” he held out a ring that had the royal crest on it.

The robber eyed it and with a smirk, he declared, “We have a bargain.” he let go of the woman who ran to her husband in tears and he embraced her to calm her down.

The doctor told the prince, “Thank you, sire… thank you so much…”

Spike gave them a small smile, “It was my honor and my duty.” he bowed to them. “Now it would wise for you to get as far away as possible.”

The couple didn’t hesitant to follow his advice and ran away.

The bandit addressed Applejack, “Well, milady, seeing as you fought a good battle, I would like to reward you for your valiant effort.”

She spat, “I don’t want anything from you!”

“Oh come now there must be something you could want…” he got out a large sack and opened it up, revealing trinkets and all sorts of golden objects, “You may have anything that you can carry.”

Upon hearing those words, her eyes lit up and smirked at the man, “Can I have your word on that?”

Spike was confused on what Applejack was saying and felt concern.

The bandit just smiled and stated, “On my word of honor, whatever you can carry.”

“Alright then.” she said and went up to Spike; there was pause until she started to grab his arms and lifted him onto her back. Making both the prince and the bandit stunned from this sudden development.

The thief sputtered, “Now wait-a-minute! You can’t just- I mean that’s-“

She grinned at him, “You said anythin’ I can carry.”

Spike smirked and said, “That’s right, you did.”

She went on, carrying the prince with her and left the bandit completely speechless.

They were finally back at the manor later that day as they laughed over the bandit’s expression when Applejack carried Spike away.

“The look on his face was so priceless!” he guffawed.

Applejack chuckled until she deeply sighed, “I’m just sorry we couldn’t get back the doctor’s watch or any of the other stuff that those bandits stole.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to tell my guards to be on the lookout for them and arrest them. We’ll get them soon enough.”

“I still can’t believe you were willing to give yourself up like that.”

“I couldn’t just stand by and let him take that woman. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist having a prince that he could ransom off of.”

“I honestly don’t know if that was the most foolish thing to have done or the most bravest thing to have done.”

He chuckled, “I think it’s a bit of both, like when you made that deal with him and carried me off. I had no idea you were that strong!”

“That what happens when you do manual labor yer whole life.”

They ended up staring at each other until Spike broke the trance by clearing his throat, “Well, um… I should probably go…” he headed toward to his horse.

Applejack could feel her heart aching from him going, that with a determined look, she thought, To heck with it! And she ran to him while calling out, “Spike!”

He turned back to face her only to be caught by surprise when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right on the lips! He was shocked at first until he gave in and kissed back fervently. When they took a breath, he slowly got on his horse all the while looking at his beloved.

“I will never forget you.” he told her.

“And I’ll never forget you either…” she sadly replied.

“Do you still have the ring I gave you?”

“Do you want it back?”

“No. That ring is meant for you and only for you. I just hope you’ll use it to remember me by.”

“Of course I will, I’m just sorry I don’t have anythin’ to offer ya.”

He smiled and cupped her cheek, “Our adventure was more than enough.” he leaned down to kiss her again and she gladly returned it. When they broke apart, he said to his horse, “Let’s go, Jewel.” and he galloped away.

As Applejack watched him go, she found herself not regretting her growing feelings toward the prince. She had fallen and she didn’t care if she never got back up again.

Author's Note

In case you were wondering, Caballeron and his henchmen were the bandits in this.

Chapter 17

The princes looked at their little brother as he sat there in his room quietly.

Capper addressed him, “Well? How it did go?”

Spike looked up to them and slowly started, “It was… okay…”

They furrowed their brows and Soarin asked, “Just okay?”

Spike felt their suspicious gazes on him and he ended blurting out, “Okay! It’s was the most amazing and terrific thing that ever happen to me! Well, except for the part where I had to give myself to a bandit… but other than that it was wonderful!”

“WHAT?!” they gasped out.

Spike sighed as he told them everything that happened.

The boys gawked as Discord uttered in astonishment, “She… carried you? Actually carried you?!”

Spike sighed again, “Yes, she did. But I honestly don’t care about that, if anything it just makes her more remarkable then before.”

Capper added, “Well I commend her on her quick thinking.”

Flash said, “No kidding, if she hadn’t done that we would have lost our little brother.”

Cheese touched Spike’s shoulder and Soarin touched the other.

Spike slightly smiled, “It’s okay, I’m fine.”

Discord questioned, “But are you really?”

He tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

“Think about it, when you had to leave her, how did that make you feel?”

Spike bit his lip and turned his head away, “What does it matter? I’ll never see her again… The wedding is in two days and we have to get ready to get married…”

Capper spoke up, “Not if we do something about that.”

Spike’s eyes widen and looked at his older brother, “What are you talking about?”

Capper motioned, “While you were gone, we all decided to make a plan to run away should you feel the same way as we did when spending time with our girls.”

Spike gawked and looked to the others to see they were agreeing with Capper. He stood up and moved to the side, the emotions were overwhelming him, this castle was the only home he’s ever known, to leave it willingly seemed daunting, it was different from when he gave himself to the bandit, he knew then that he would be ransomed and returned to his family but this… Suddenly thoughts of Applejack filled his head especially how courageous she was to stand up to the bandits and just as she was given a choice of objects to have as a prize she choose him out of all of that.

I would be a fool to give her up… He thought and gave off a determined look before he faced his brothers, “Let’s do it.”

They smiled and returned the determination.

The girls were in their room as they sat on the beds, Applejack had finished telling them what happen with her and Spike today.

Rainbow pointed in disbelief, “You actually carried him away?!”

Applejack smugly replied, “Hey, the guy said anythin’ I could carry.”

Pinkie giggled.

Fluttershy asked, “Was he very heavy?”

“Not at all, he was pretty light, of course that might have to do with the fact he’s pretty skinny, not that I’m complainin’ or anything.”

Twilight said, “So that’s it then, they all came and now they have to get married…” her eyes casted down.

The girls had the same look.

Rarity sighed longingly as she held her pillow, “It was wonderful while it lasted. Like a beautiful dream.”

Applejack agreed, “Yeah… But that just means we all have to wake up eventually…”

Pinkie’s hair drooped again as she sadly said, “I’ll miss him…”

Silence went around the room as they thought of each of the princes they’ve come to known. Memories of their first meeting, the ball, and their dates filled their heads.

The boys gathered around a desk with Spike having a quill and parchment at the ready.

“So do we just say goodbye and leave it at that?” he asked.

Discord announced, “I think it should say that we refuse to get marry and we left the kingdom to be happy.”

Flash suggested, “Don’t you think that’s bit vague? We should at least explain why we left because we feel we would have been trapped in a loveless marriage.”

Cheese added, “And we should mention how much we’ll miss Fancy.”

Soarin nodded, “Tirek maybe our adoptive father but Fancy was more of a father to us than anything and he cares about this kingdom. Leaving Fancy is my only regret.”

The other princes sounded out sad agreements.

Flash proclaimed, “But I’m sure he’d want us to be happy… So it’s time we set ourselves free.” he held his hand out and the others put their hands down to join his in unity.

It was dead in the night as the girls were sleeping until a tapping sound came at their window. The tapping grew louder that it made Pinkie-who had been drooling in her sleep- snort out of her slumber and she groggily woke up. She heard the tapping and found shadows outside the window, but this time she wasn’t scared instead she got excited and let out a joyous screech making the others wake with a startle.

Pinkie zipped to the window and opened it up all the while climbing out, “Cheese!”

“Pinkie!” he went up to her and embraced her tightly.

They both said, “I thought I would never see you again!”

The girls saw the other boys and each went to their prince.

“What are all of you doing here?” Twilight asked.

Rarity pointed, “You should be back at the castle getting your rest, you have to get married in less than forty-eight hours!”

Capper told her, “And that’s why we’re here, we’re running away.”

The girls gasped.

Soarin stated with a smile, “And we want you to come with us.”

“WHAT?!” they shouted out.

Suddenly a light came on from the second floor and they were force to scatter away from it as a window opened and Madam Cinch popped her head out, calling out, “Whose there? Is someone there?” when there was nothing but silence she shut the window and the light was turned off.

The girls and the princes sighed in relief before the girls glowered at them. Twilight motioned them to the road where they could talk more freely.

Rainbow said, “That was close!”

Applejack replied, “You said it,” then pointed to the boys, “Now what’s all this nonsense about us goin’ with you.”

“Nonsense?!” the princes gapped.

“How is it nonsense when we have strong feelings for you girls?!” Discord gestured.

“You do?” Fluttershy’s eyes went big.

Discord went to her and took her hands, “But of course, my darling, I had feelings for you before but they increased ten-fold in our time together.”

The other boys did the same taking their girls’ hands.

Soarin told Rainbow, “It was terrible being away from you for the rest of the week…”

Flash said to Twilight, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you…”

Capper addressed Rarity, “I just wanted to see you again…”

Spike held Applejack close, “Not even a day and already I wanted to be back in your arms…”

The girls were stunned by their confessions and quickly looked at each other. Their feelings were strong as ever and more than ever they wanted to go with their princes but they knew the consequences if they did. With gloomy expressions on their faces they slowly moved out of the boys’ touch and stood close together. Making the boys feel very confused and hurt.

Twilight spoke on their behalf, “If things were different, we wouldn’t hesitant to leave with you… But as it is… we can’t… We all have families that we can’t leave behind and the life we made here is important to us…”

The princes were saddened by this news.

Rainbow said, “But if you still want to run away, we can help you with that.”

They looked at her in bewilderment.

Rainbow knocked on the tavern door and it opened a crack, she uttered a word and the door opened all the way as they saw Spitfire standing there.

“Dash, you’re never here this late, what’s going on?”

“I need to see Celaeno,” she moved to the side to show the princes dressed in dark cloaks, “we need to book passage for six royal guests.”

Chapter 18

Celaeno questioned, "So you want me to let the six princes board my ship to get away from their arranged marriages?"

Rainbow told her, "Yes. And… if you do this, I'll start coming by more often to help with the cause."

"Don't be stupid, you've done what you can and there's no need for you to bargain with me, I will help our princes." she bowed to them.

The girls heaved sighs of relief and exchanged loving glances with the boys.

Spitfire and Daring saw this at the back of the room and the latter commented, "Six maids fell in love with six princes at the same time… One could say fate was working in their favor…"

Spitfire agreed, "It does seem that way."

"And yet it seems they are also fated to be apart."

Gilda came in on the conversation and scoffed, "I don't see why they couldn't just run away together."

Spitfire stated, "If you ask me they're being sensible by not running away with the princes."

Daring said, "Perhaps, but it's pretty sad at the same time."

Celaeno addressed the group, "We cast off at dawn so it would be wise for you to get some rest in the inn above us."

Twilight said, "Which means we should get back to the manor before they discover us gone." she went to Flash and softly told him, "I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your new life."

He cupped her cheek while looking at her with sad eyes, "Thank you… and I hope your life gets better here…" he kissed her forehead.

Rarity looked at Capper in distraught, "There… there are no words to express of how much I'll miss you…"

He cupped both sides of her face and made a sad smile, "I think this will say it all…" he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

Pinkie and Cheese wordlessly said anything and embraced each other.

Rainbow had a hard time looking at Soarin.

"Rainbow… you don't have to put on a brave face for me…" he told her as he touched her shoulder.

"I'm not… I just… don't want to say goodbye to you…"

He slowly wrapped his arms around her and she didn't put up a fight.

Discord held Fluttershy close to his chest and stoked her hair. Tears were on the verge of escaping her.

Spike and Applejack exchanged gloomy expressions before moving in an embrace and shared one last kiss.

Then the girls slowly moved away and left the tavern without looking back.

Fancy was walking down the castle hallway where the boys' chambers were and decided to check on them given there was less than a day of when they would get married. He thought with dismay, This may just be the last moments of them having pleasant dreams of a different life instead of the one they're about to endure…

He slowly went into Discord's room first but was shocked to find the prince wasn't in bed! Then quickly he checked the other rooms and like Discord's, they were empty! He gasped and shouted out, "Guards! Guards!"

The knights heard his call and ran to him and saluted.

"Sir!" the head guard addressed him.

"The princes are not in their rooms!" he told them in distress and ordered, "Search the entire castle until you find them!"

"Yes sir!" they replied and ran on.

Fancy paced back and fore in worry. If the princes weren't in the castle, what was he going to tell the king? Should he even report this to the king, and try to find them on his own before the king found out?

It's obvious they ran away from getting married to women they don't love.

He went into Spike's room and his eye caught on a letter that was sitting on the desk. He grabbed it and opened it to read.

Dear Father and Fancy,

We decided to run away because we felt we couldn't marry for advantage. We want true love and we're going to get it. Fancy, we're sorry but know we'll miss you greatly, because to us you were our true father…

The boys each had their own signatures at the bottom of the letter.

Fancy could feel the tears stinging his eyes from reading the last part of the note. He uttered, "Oh boys…" he clenched the letter to his chest.

The head guard came back, "Sir, I'm sorry but the princes are nowhere inside the castle."

A deep voice suddenly said, "Then you must search the grounds and hurry, we don't have much time!"

Fancy turned to see Tirek towering over the guard to which the knight replied with a gulp, "Yes, Your Majesty, right away!" and he rushed out.

Tirek faced his head advisor just as Fancy hid the letter behind his back.

"How long before you discovered they weren't in their beds?"

"Just a few moments ago."

"This is not good…" Tirek snarled and stroked his beard in thought, "The wedding is only a day away and if they're not found by then, the agreement with Lady Chrysalis is off…"

Fancy frowned, Of course… the wedding's all you care about… never mind that the boys could be serious danger because of this reckless act…

"Did they leave any sort of message?"

"No, sire. They did not." he lied as he clutched the note behind him.

Tirek eyed him suspiciously and commented, "How odd… They're usually so good about leaving notice…"

"Well, if they embarked on something secret, they did not want to leave a trail of some kind so they can be found."

"Perhaps you're right…" but he still gave him a doubtful look.

The guard came back, "Your highness, we've searched the entire grounds and there is still no sign of the princes!"

Tirek grabbed him by the collar and snarled, "Then go out and search the entire kingdom!"

"Yes, sire!" he ran out.

Fancy told him, "I will join the search." and left.

Tirek turned to his personal guard that was standing nearby, "Follow him… He knows more then he's letting on…"

The guard acknowledged the request and went.

Fancy was outside Lady Chrysalis's manor.

This all began when the princes wanted to meet Chrysalis's daughters but instead they found other girls that they assumed were the daughters… They're my best hope of finding the boys…

He went up to the door and pounded on it. A few minutes later, a tall woman with a stern look on her face answered. "Yes? Can I help you?" But he could tell from her tone that she wasn't the helping type.

"Forgive me, madam, but I must be the bearer of bad news."

"Oh? Of what?"

"I am Lord Fancy Pants and it is most urgent I speak with the lady of the household."

"Lord Fancy Pants? By all means, please do come in." she escorted him in as she said, "I shall go wake my lady." and went on.

In moments Chrysalis and Fancy were in the study along with Cinch who asked, "Shall I get some refreshment?"

"Yes, that's an excellent idea, go wake up the maids to help you."

Cinch nodded and went out of the room.

"Maids?" Fancy inquired.

Chrysalis explained, "Normally we would summon one maid but for an important guest such as yourself, you deserve all of them serving you."

"That is unnecessary, because I'm only staying for a short time given what I'm about to tell you."

"Is something amiss with the wedding preparations?"

"It's more than that, I'm afraid…" his face went grim, "The princes are missing…"

Chrysalis stood in shock and screeched, "What?!"

"Yes, they're gone, and we're in process of searching for them."

"Well why are they missing in the first place?!" she demanded.

"We don't know." he fibbed, "They could have been kidnapped or left on their own accord."

She humphed, "It must be the former, for why would they leave just as they're about to get married to the most beautiful girls in the world?"

Just then six maids came into the room and Fancy's eyes widened.

The maids… there are six of them… Suddenly it's very clear by what Discord said about them making a mistake and fell for different girls instead. Well I certainly can't blame them for making such a mistake… Chrysalis's daughters maybe lovely but these girls are exquisite! And… He squinted when getting a closer look at them, that's odd… why is it I know them somehow?

Rarity held out a tray with two glasses on it, "Your refreshments, milady?"

Chrysalis slapped it away, making the tray and glasses fall with a crash, much to the girls' surprise.

The lady yelled, "You idiot, we don't have time for that!" she commanded to them, "Go and wake up my daughters up, I must tell them some very disturbing news!"

The maids quickly went to obey the order.

Fancy frowned at how they were treated and addressed Chrysalis, "Don't you think you were rather harsh with them?"

"If anything, I wasn't harsh enough."

"But why? What wrong have they done you?"

"Is it really any concern of yours, Lord Fancy Pants? They are but lowly maids unworthy of your attention."

He countered, "Even servants deserve to be treated right."

Chrysalis gave him a strange look before seeing her daughters coming into the room, some of them were complaining that their beauty sleep was disrupted mainly Trixie.

"Trixie hates getting lack of sleep! So this better be important!"

Her mother scowled at her and scolded, "That's no way to speak to your mother! And yes, this is important!" she quickly dismissed the help to which the girls were more than willing to obey and left in a hurry.

Fancy then excused himself and left as well but really he did it to catch up to the maids.

He called out to them just as they reached the stairs, "Ladies, a moment please."

They looked at him in confusion.

"I must know, are you the girls that their highnesses, the princes got acquainted with?"

The maids suddenly had looks of terror on their faces and glanced at each other anxiously. The one with rainbow hair asked with sweat beading her forehead, "Why-why would you say that? We're just maids, how would we be acquainted with royalty?"

The others made nervous agreements except for the blond who bit her lip and turned her head away.

Fancy pleaded, "Please my dears, I am in desperate need to find them, now they told me that they met girls that they thought were Chrysalis's daughters and I have reason to believe you're those girls."

They exchanged bewildered looks then the girl with violet eyes and hair slowly asked, "Are you the father figure they admired so much about?"

Fancy sighed in relief, "Yes… Yes, I am."

The girl with rosy hair whimpered like she was about to cry.

The girl with blue eyes and curly purple hair told him, "We're sorry that you couldn't say goodbye to them, but… we can't take you to them if you're just going to force them to go back…"

"But that's far from the truth! I am proud of them for taking this chance! All this time I thought they couldn't stand up to their father but for them fighting for their happiness like this makes me happy, all I want is to tell them goodbye and to wish them luck."

The pink poofy hair girl gawked, "Seriously?"

He nodded.

The rainbow haired one gave a determined look, "Well come on then! We'll take you to them!"

He smiled brightly from this, "Thank you! Thank you ever so much!"

But as the girls rushed out with Fancy they didn't realized they had been overheard all this time.

Cinch came out of a room and said to herself, "I must inform my mistress of this." and went straight to the study where she saw the young mistresses fretting over how their wedding is ruined due to the princes' disappearance. She went up to Chrysalis's ear and whispered.

Chrysalis's eyes widened at her housekeeper's words and sneered, "You're sure?"

"Yes. I heard everything."

Chrysalis snarled and addressed her daughters, "Girls, it appears that our maids have been going behind your backs by enticing your future husbands to be their own…"

"WHAT?!" they screeched in shock.

Sunset yelled in disbelief, "But-but that can't be true!"

Cinch told her, "I'm afraid it is, Miss Sunset, I just listened to them about knowing the princes and where they are now."

Sunset could feel herself going weak in the knees and thought miserably, Have I been mislead?

The sun was about to rise and Celaeno was escorting the boys to her ship in the harbor.

"There it is, your highnesses, your ticket to freedom."

They marveled at the large boat as she told them, "Wait here while I get everything ready." and boarded.

The boys looked at each other then the village behind them, they hated leaving it in this state but they couldn't do anything about it while their father was in power and they absolutely hated leaving their beloveds behind but they knew they had to respect their girls' choice no matter how much it hurt them.

Celaeno called out, "Okay, come aboard mateys!"

With smiles on their faces they started up the plank until suddenly a voice shouted out.

"Boys! Wait!"

They turned in surprise and uttered, "Fancy?!"

Soarin asked, "How did you find us?"

He replied, "That's not important," he slightly looked to where the girls were hiding at a distance in an alleyway. "What is important is why you didn't tell me about this in the first place."

Spike pointed, "Because we knew you would stop us."

His brothers agreed with him.

"Oh boys… I know it seems I side with your father on many matters but I don't enjoy them in the slightest. I've been against this arranged marriage from the start! And… if you want to run from that, I could never hold it against you."

They gapped at his words and Flash slowly said, "So… we have your blessings?"

Fancy smiled, "Absolutely." And held his arms out.

Spike didn't waste a second and hugged him, he was shortly joined by Cheese, Flash, Soarin, Capper, and finally Discord.

The girls were sniffling from the emotional scene, even Rainbow but no one commented on it.

Fancy moved back and declared, "Now go, while you still can."

With a final sad farewell to their mentor and father figure, the boys got on the ship. Celaeno yelled out orders to her crew to begin casting off. But just as she was about to give the final command, a squadron of guards began to surround the dock!

A guard shouted, "Halt! By order of the king, that ship must not leave the harbor!"

The princes gasped and looked down to see Fancy was stunned by this development, making them believe that he had no knowledge of this. The guards boarded the ship and arrested the crew and captain while they surrounded the princes making sure they stayed put.

The girls saw all of this in horror and Dash yelled, "No!" and started to rush over but Applejack held her back with all her strength.

The boys tried to order the guards to release them but were ignored as they were forced back to the dock. There they beheld a sight that made them quiver. Their father.

Tirek was glaring straight at them before turning to Fancy, "Well done, my advisor, you found them before it was too late."

Fancy wanted to object but held his tongue knowing it would only make the situation worse. As he stated with down casted eyes, "Yes, milord…"

Tirek turned back to them with an angry frown, "Do you have any idea of how much damage you could have caused?!"

Flash retorted, "We did what we had to!"

Soarin added, "We cannot marry girls we don't love!"

"How dare you speak that way to me! I should have you punished for that!" he held his hand up like he was going to hit them till an eerie calm came over him, "But… considering you have unknowingly led me to the pirate that's been stealing my trade goods these past few months, I am willing to let this transgression go providing of course you'll come quietly and marry Lady Chrysalis's daughters…"

The boys exchanged looks and looked around. There was no way their father would let them get away so easily, he would force the guards to bring them to the castle whether they want to or not. They knew they had no choice but to accept defeat and hung their heads.

Tirek saw their submission and smirked, "Good… very good…" he told the knights, "Escort them back to the palace and make sure they stay there…"

The guards urged them to move them forward and they started to go until a chorus of voices cried out, "Stop!"

The boys gapped seeing their girls run up to the king.

Twilight addressed him, "Your Majesty, the princes did not run away on their own, it was our fault that they even considered it!"

Flash yelled, "Twilight, what are you doing?!" and tried to move past the guards' spears but was kept back.

Tirek scowled and asked, "Who are you girls?"

Rarity answered, "We are Lady Chrysalis's maids, and because of this, the princes met the wrong girls whom they thought were their betrotheds only to find out the truth later."

Tirek questioned his sons, "Is this true?" The boys looked away and didn't reply. "So… it is…" he faced the maids again.

Pinkie spoke up, "The princes were led astray by us so if anyone deserves punishment, it's us."

Fluttershy pleaded, "So please don't take it out on them…"

Applejack stated, "Take it out on us…"

Rainbow added, "Whatever it is, we'll take it…"

The boys gawked at their words.

Tirek frowned some more before ordering his guards, "Take them away…"

The princes shouted, "NO!" and tried to reach for their beloveds but were held back.

Fancy watched the whole thing in dismay. He admired the girls' courage but was sadden by how they doomed themselves.

As the girls were led away from the boys, they hung their heads in shame while the princes had tears brimming in their eyes from seeing them go.

Discord uttered softly, "What have they done…?"

Capper solemnly replied, "No… what have we done…?"

Chapter 19

Rays of sunlight beamed through the barred window of the dungeon. But not even the sun could lift the spirits of six ex-maids as they sat in the cell in gloom.

Fluttershy broke the silence by timidly uttering out, "What do you think he'll do to us?"

Her friends looked at her before Twilight answered, "I don't know…"

Suddenly two glowing orbs appeared before the girls, and the orbs turned into their fairy godmothers only they were transparent.

Rainbow's eyes lit up from seeing them and exclaimed, "Alright! Now we can get out of here!"

Hope rose in the girls until they saw their godmothers' solemn expressions. Celestia and Luna sighed then Luna spoke.

"We cannot get you out…"

"What?! Why not?!" Dash demanded.

Pinkie pointed, "Yeah, you got the magic, you can just poof us out of here!"

Celestia said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple…"

Luna explained, "There's only so much we can do to intervene."

Celestia added, "You have always been free to make your own choices, and since it was your choice to go to the ball we were able to help. But now…"

Luna said, "You chose to give yourselves up to the king…"

Their eyes widened at this and Rarity stammered, "So… we're stuck here?"

Celestia nodded, "We are truly sorry…" and they faded away, leaving the girls to wallow in misery again.

The princes were outside the dungeons as they faced the guards that were guarding the entrance.

Flash commanded, "I order you to let us pass!"

One of them replied, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but we have orders from the king that you and your brothers are not allowed to see the prisoners."

Spike questioned, "Now what do we do?"

Capper gestured, "I don't think there is anything we can do at this point…"

Discord lowered his head, "He's right. Father is making sure we don't pull a fast one again."

Soarin cringed, "What's worse is Timber is not speaking to us and Fancy is keeping his distance."

Cheese motioned, "I'm sure it's because he's being careful around us and to ease Father's anger."

Flash said, "And on top of all that, Lady Chrysalis and her daughters are here getting ready for the wedding tomorrow."

They dejectedly sighed.

Tirek and Chrysalis were in the king's study going over the final preparations for the wedding and he stated, "Now all that's left is to decide what to do with those little whores that turned my sons' heads away from their duty."

Chrysalis sneered, "Do what you will with them, they mean nothing to me now, in fact I'm appalled this happen in the first place."

"I'm sure you are. And I am shocked at how my sons couldn't realize that they were fakes in the first place when your daughters are much more lady-like."

"Do not blame them. They were overcome by seduction from those tramps."

"Perhaps you're right. I will decide their fate after the wedding."

"Speaking of the wedding, maybe we should move it to tonight instead of tomorrow. After all that's happen we don't want any more surprises popping up suddenly."

"Yes, that is good thinking. I shall see to it that everything is ready tonight."

The daughters of Chrysalis were living in paradise of the many servants waiting on them hand and foot. All except for Sunset who was dreading the upcoming wedding, she was in her own private guest room looking at the wedding dress her mother chose for her. She held it up to her chest while looking in a mirror before scowling and threw it across the room.

"What is the point?! If my soon-to-be husband doesn't smile at me when I'm walking down the aisle to him then there's no hope for us having a happy marriage!" with a determined look she proclaimed, "I have to know…" and ran out of the room.

"TONIGHT?!" the boys shouted when Fancy told them in the library.

Their mentor nodded sadly, "Your father and Lady Chrysalis didn't want to take any chances." and left without another word.

Discord spouted out, "That's it then, we're doomed."

The boys voiced out their own concerns until Sunset walked in and told them, "I need to speak to my fiancé. Alone."

They exchanged looks before Flash nodded and they left leaving the two alone.

Sunset glowered and crossed her arms, "I have to know, were you and Twilight involved?"

Flash sighed and hung his head before solemnly replying, "Yes…"

She could feel her heart cracking but kept a straight face on to say, "So what you told me that day was a lie…"

He quickly replied, "Not all of it! Yes, I wasn't there to see you but I meant what I said about being able to teach you the lute and I was glad that we had common ground. Look… Twilight encouraged me to talk to you so we could know each other before the wedding."

Her eyes widened in shock at this, "She… she did?"

"Yes, it was all her doing that I wooed you and I'm sorry you got hurt because of that. I will say this: if I haven't met Twilight then there would have been a chance for us…"

She placed a hand to her heart, "Do you mean that?"

"Yes."

She mulled over his words. It surprised her greatly that her personal maid would be willing to give up love all so she and Flash would be happy with each other.

Flash continued, "I have to be honest, I love Twilight and it's going to stay that way for a long time, so when we get married I hope we can get better acquainted and be friends at least."

Sunset made a sad look and asked, "Would that make you happy?"

He admitted with a sad smile, "To an extent."

She nodded in understanding and said, "Thank you for being straightforward with me." and left without looking back.

Sunset looked at the two guards in front of the dungeons' entrance and told them with a stern face, "I wish to speak to the prisoners." The guards exchanged unsure looks. "As one of your future princesses, I demand you let me in." Redundantly, they let her by. "Thank you."

She passed the row of cells before stopping at the one that held six sullen maidens. They spotted her and frowned. Dash muttered under her breath, "Great, now we're going to get a gloating…"

Sunset countered, "I'm not here to gloat or scold either of you."

Their eyes widen in intrigue.

Twilight faced her through the bars, "Sunset…"

She held her hand up, "No, let me say this. I know you put Flash up to wooing me and I find that to be very foolish on your part."

Twilight gave a confused look.

Sunset continued, "You were willing to give up true love… All for my sake… Had the truth not come out, I would have been living a lie with the man I love… But let's face it, it would have never been true love given he would never love me in return… None of them will love us in return…"

Twilight could feel tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry… I just wanted to help him and you…"

Sunset turned away from her and went.

Sunset was walking back to her room when she spotted her sisters in the hallway gossiping excitedly. She questioned, "What's going on?"

Sonata answered her, "We're marrying the princes…tonight!"

Her eyes went big, "Tonight?!"

Adagio stated, "Yes, we just received the word from Mother and we need to start getting ready."

"But… That's insane!" Sunset blurted out.

Her sisters gave her bewildered looks from her outburst.

Aria inquired, "Uh, what's so insane about it? We've been preparing for this moment all of our lives."

"But they don't even love us! How can we force them to go through with this! I'll bet if we all refuse get married then they'll off to call off the wedding!"

They gasped at this.

Suri exclaimed, "That's crazy! We can't do that!"

Sunset declared, "But we could. Please, sisters, for once in our lives let's make a decision that isn't our mother's!"

There was a pause like they were considering this until Adagio scowled, "Well my decision is to stick what Mother has done to get us here, there's no way we'll have it better in other places."

Aria and Suri agreed with her, while Sonata and Trixie looked torn. Sunset knew she had to convince them otherwise.

"Think about it, Trixie, if you do marry Prince Spike he's not going to give you the attention you deserve if he's still too hung up on Applejack, not when you deserve someone else who will give you undying devotion."

Trixie gasped, "You're right! It won't matter if I'm a princess, Trixie deserves devotion!" and sided with Sunset.

Suri spat, "Traitor!"

Aria mentioned, "At least Sonata will stay with us, right?" she turned to her scatter-brained sister with a threatening glare.

Sonata had never felt so conflicted in her life! Her sisters were dividing among themselves and she was being forced to choose a side! She could see Adagio, Aria, and Suri glaring at her while Sunset was pleading with her eyes.

Sunset said to her, "I know you're a smart person, Sonata… Do you really like living in Mother's shadow? And do you really like being bossed around by Adagio, Aria, and Suri? I've seen how hurt you get whenever you're being put down…"

Adagio yelled, "Don't listen to her, she's trying to get on your good side! So you'll turn against us!"

Sonata gave Sunset a questionable look.

"I won't force you, Sonata… Because just like the princes, just like us, we have the right to live our own lives… Whatever you decide… I won't hold it against you…"

There was a dramatic pause as they awaited for Sonata's final decision. Then finally, Sonata sided with Sunset.

The trio was shocked before glowering.

Sunset uttered, "Thank you…"

Sonata stated, "I just want respect… and I don't think I'm going to get it with them."

"Understood." then she faced the older sisters, "Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, refuse to marry the princes or we'll be forced to make sure you don't."

Adagio scoffed, "I'd like to see you try."

Pounding came from the hall closet door and muffle shouts said, "Let us out! Let us out!"

Sonata wiped her brow, "Whew! I thought we would never get them in there!"

Sunset said, "We have to hurry, Trixie stay here to make sure they don't get out. Sonata and I will get the girls." she ran on.

Back in the dungeons, the girls could see the sun was lowering in the sky. They have heard from the guards that the princes were getting married tonight making the mood more solemn then before.

Rarity uttered softly, "Oh Capper… I feel so sorry for you…"

Fluttershy prayed, "Be strong, Discord… and it'll be over before you know it…"

Pinkie was drawing Cheese's likeness in the dirt floor and drew a heart around it before a tear dropped from her eye.

Rainbow was sitting while holding her legs, thinking, You can do it, Soarin… Just pretend it's me you're marrying…

Applejack sat close to a wall and put her hand to it, telling herself, "If I could, I would break down this wall and then I would break you out too, Spike…"

Twilight was close to the bars as she thought, Flash, I hope you can find some happiness with Sunset… And Sunset, please make him happy too…

Suddenly the dungeon door opened and Sunset rushed in holding a set of keys! She turned the key to the lock of their cell much to their surprise.

Twilight started, "Sunset, what-" she was cut-off by Sunset's shushing.

"We don't have much time; Sonata is distracting the guards while I get you out."

They gawked till the cell door opened and Sunset motioned for them to follow. They got out of the dungeons and snuck past the guards as they saw Sonata entertaining them with her singing.

Once they were in the clear, Applejack demanded, "Why in tarnation did you help us just now?"

Sunset smirked, "Isn't it obvious? I'm helping you get married to your true loves."

"WHAT?!" they screeched in disbelief.

"Look the way I see it, you have to switch places with us. It's the only way for the princes to be happy, for you to be happy, and frankly for me to be happy…"

"But your sisters…" Twilight pointed.

"Trixie and Sonata sided with me and in doing so we locked Adagio, Aria, and Suri in a broom closet."

They gapped at this info making Rainbow guffaw, "You locked them in a closet?!"

"Yes, but that's why we have to hurry and get you ready, I don't know how much longer they'll stay there."

Twilight suddenly embraced her making her tense for a little bit before relaxing then the other girls joined in having her feel all warm and fuzzy inside before she had to break apart from them and kept going.

The girls gathered together wearing the wedding dresses that were meant for their former mistresses.

Rarity exclaimed, "Can this be truly happening?!" taking hold of a white rose bouquet and looked in a mirror, admiring herself.

Applejack replied, "It is… Though it's hard to believe."

Twilight nodded, "It is very surreal."

Pinkie bounced and excitedly said, "I'm going to marry my prince! I'm going to marry my prince!"

Fluttershy was slightly shaking, "Oh… it's really happening… I'm getting…" she gulped, "married…"

Dash wrapped an arm around her, "It'll be okay, Flutters. Besides, you love Discord, don't you?"

That helped stop Fluttershy from shaking and a calm came over her as she proudly admitted, "Yes, yes, I do!"

Twilight smiled, "I think it's safe to assume we're all in love with our princes, or else why would we be willing to do this?"

Rarity declared, "You're absolutely right, Twilight!"

Sunset then rushed in and told them, "Someone's coming! You better put those veils on so they don't see you're imposters!"

Quickly they used the bridal veils to cover their faces while Sunset hid behind a curtain just as a tall elegant woman came into the room.

"Oh! Don't you all look lovely! As perfect as any brides should be!"

Rarity said, "Thank you, Lady…?"

The woman curtsied, "Lady Fleur-de-lis, at your service. After the wedding we're going to be spending a lot of time together, as you will be the new princesses, it'll be my duty to help you perform your royal duties." They made brief glances at each other before Fleur said, "Now we best be on our way, the wedding procession will be starting soon." she escorted them out.

Sunset watched them go with a smile.

The castle church was crowded with noble guests and visiting dignitaries. King Tirek and Lady Chrysalis sat in the front pew along with Fancy and a few other advisors. The princes were at the altar next to the priest that would be presiding over the ceremony. The boys tried their best to be happy but their depressing mood prevented them from doing so.

Just then the wedding march started, signaling the beginning of the ritual.

The guests looked back to see the doors opening revealing the six brides. Then they came in one at a time and when they reached the altar they stood next to their grooms. Even through the veils the girls could see how upset the boys were.

The march stopped and the priest addressed the congregation, "Dearly beloved, we gather today to join these princes and these ladies in holy matrimony." he told the couples, "Please join hands."

The boys were reluctant to do so but once the girls took their hands, a strange familiar touch overcame them. They were stunned at the touches thinking what they were feeling was impossible.

The priest continued, "On this most holy of nights, we honor a sacred union between these couples that will benefit our entire kingdom. Your Highnesses, when I say do you take these women as your wives, you say, 'we do'. And ladies, when I say do you take these men as your husbands, you say, 'we do'. With that being said… Do you take these women as your wives, to have and to hold, to honor and to cherish, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

The boys didn't know why but they replied without hesitation, "We do."

"And do you take these men as your husbands? To have and to hold, to honor and to cherish, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

The girls replied, "We do."

"I now pronounce you, husbands and wives. You may kiss the bride."

Slowly, the boys lifted the veils of each of their brides and gasped when they saw the loves of their lives. The girls smiled back at them. Joyful tears glossed over the boys' eyes and they leaned down for a heartfelt passionate kiss.

The priest declared, "I give you, your new princesses!"

The couples slowly turned toward the congregation as applause rang out but Tirek and Chrysalis were in unpleasant shock.

Author's Note

I was going to wait to release this on Hearts and Hooves Day but I wasn't sure if I could hold out that long and what? You thought the wedding would be the end of it? Oh no, my dear readers, this is only just the beginning! :ajsmug:

Chapter 20 Author's Note

Now here's a chapter worthy of Hearts and Hooves Day! I must warn you, it borders at the end of the PG-13 rating. Let me know if I went too far.

Chapter 20

The couples paraded out of the chapel followed by Tirek, Chrysalis, and Fancy. Tirek ordered the guards to close the doors and once they were closed behind them, the king went ahead and gestured to a nearby room and commanded with fury in his eyes, "Inside. Now."

They did as he said without question. Fancy stood by the door as he watched in concern of what the king was about to say and do.

There was an ominous pause before Tirek slowly started, "Do you have any idea of what you have done?"

The couples didn't reply.

"You just threw chaos into our perfect order. These wenches forced themselves onto the throne without the proper training that Lady Chrysalis's daughters have since birth."

Chrysalis shouted furiously, "You stole my daughters' birthright!"

"No, Mother! They didn't!"

Everyone turned to see Sunset, Sonata, and Trixie walking in. Sunset kept speaking, "We helped them escape so they could marry the men they loved!"

Chrysalis was shocked beyond belief and uttered, "My own daughters… How could you?!"

Sunset replied firmly, "We did what we had to…" she looked to Flash and Twilight clutching close together and saw the gratitude in their eyes, making her feel stronger to speak out, "I don't want to marry someone who won't love me and I don't want to marry someone I don't love…"

Her mother demanded, "Where are your other sisters?!"

Sonata said, "Oh! I knew we forgot something! They're in a broom closet."

"What?! Show me!"

The four left the room leaving the couples, Tirek, and Fancy.

Fancy spoke up, "My lord, given the circumstances of how the marriages came to be, perhaps we should let it be since every member of nobility has now just seen the new princesses making it binding."

Tirek scowled before he paced around the room and addressed them, "So you think you're up to living the royal standards in which you just married yourself into?"

Flash started, "I'm sure they can if given the chance-"

Tirek held his hand up, silencing him, "I want to hear it from them…" pointing to the girls.

Twilight exchanged glances with her friends and told the king, "Yes, Your Majesty, we are more than willing to live up to the royal standards."

"Hm… We shall see about that…"

Chrysalis came back then with all her daughters as her elder children were glaring dangerously at their younger sisters. The lady stipulated, "Your Highness, I demand that these little tramps be divorced from the princes so that my daughters can properly be married to their rightful husbands."

"Unfortunately, Chrysalis, we can't afford a scandal at the moment. Every noble attended this wedding thinking they were your daughters, if we denounce that then we lose our social standing and whatever trade agreements we have."

Chrysalis sputtered, "You mean to tell me you would have these whores pretend to be my daughters?!"

He casually stated, "That's exactly what I plan to do."

The lady screeched in rage before running out. Adagio, Aria, and Suri followed after her.

Sunset, Sonata, and Trixie glanced at each other before Sunset curtsied and offered, "If we may, Your Majesty, I know we don't deserve it but we would like to stay and be the princesses' handmaidens."

Fancy motioned, "I think that is a reasonable request. And it would help to have actual daughters of Chrysalis living in the palace so that the princesses can answer any questions that involve their previous life."

Tirek replied while stoking his beard, "So it would. No one would then suspect of imposters being married to the princes." he told the three, "Request granted, only it would be best if you are ladies-in-waiting instead."

Trixie muttered under her breath, "That's a relief."

Fancy told the trio, "If you ladies will follow me, I will show you to your new quarters." and they left.

Tirek faced the couples with a dark scowl and said in a dangerous tone, "Just to be clear, I will not let this go so easily… You may have won the battle but you've yet to win the war…" and he went without another word.

When they were sure he was gone, the duos glanced at each other with a small smile.

The boys led the girls down a hallway before stopping at six chamber doors with three on each side. Then suddenly the girls were scooped up by their new husbands.

Applejack said, "Spike, put me down!"

He slyly replied, "Hey, you carried me, it's only fair I return the favor by carrying you over the threshold."

The other princes chuckled at that. Discord said, "He's right, you know." and faced his own bride with a smirk.

Fluttershy blushed and the two started kissing.

Rainbow complained, "Hey! Save that for when you're inside, you two!"

Soarin laughed and kicked the door to his room.

She smirked at him, "Anxious much?"

"Only because you make me feel this way…" he cocked a sly brow.

Her own blush appeared on her face.

Capper made a purr-like noise while nuzzling up to Rarity's neck, she unraveled at the feeling and moaned, "Darling… please… not in public…"

Flash rubbed his head to Twilight's as he slowly turned the doorknob.

Cheese and Pinkie were rubbing noses as she kept a tight grip around his neck and couldn't get enough of this feeling.

Gradually, they all entered into their separate rooms and closed the doors behind them.

Twilight saw her husband's chamber and admired at how organized it was as everything had a place. There was even his lute on a stand in the corner.

"Do you like it?" he asked her.

She looked up to him with a smile, "I love it just like I love you."

With a smile of his own he slowly moved her toward the bed and suddenly he felt herself stiffen. He questioned, "What's wrong?"

"It's just… this whole thing happened so fast… It didn't occur to me that I would have to consummate the marriage until now…"

He assured her, "We don't have to do it now; we can wait until you're ready."

"But isn't it supposed to be tradition that on a wedding night, a couple expresses their everlasting love by consummating?"

"Perhaps, but I'm sure it's only because the couple are in mutual agreement to do it, I don't want to do something that makes you uncomfortable, Twilight…"

"Well… if you're sure…"

He stated, "You've done so much for me, Twilight. You and your sisters have brought joy to me and my brothers and for that I want make sure that you are happy too."

She beamed at him before leaning in for a kiss then she whispered in his ear, "Will you help me get this dress off?"

He smiled, "As you wish."

Discord and Fluttershy kissed passionately close to the bed with their hands exploring each other. Then his hands moved to unbutton the back of her dress and in turn she started unbuttoning his suit jacket exposing his white shirt underneath.

He sighed in bliss, "What have I done to deserve this?"

She softly replied, "I should be the one questioning of how I deserved this."

"That is where you are wrong, my love." he kissed her again then said, "You are an angel, so you do deserve this and more. But I will admit I am surprised of how willing you are. I thought for sure you wouldn't want to right now."

"Truthfully, I thought so too, but… being with you right now… it just feels so right…"

They resuming kissing and fell onto the bed.

"Okay, I'm ready…" Rarity's voice came from the dressing screen.

Capper had finished lighting the candles around the bed and looked to see his new wife's leg dripping from behind the screen, making him perk up in interest. She sauntered from the screen, making lustful eyes at her husband as she revealed her skinny white silk nightgown that showed off her curves. While he was wearing a white shirt and pants.

She came up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt and stroked it, "Oh dear, this won't do at all." she commented with a smirk.

He smirked back and playfully inquired, "What do you think we should do about it?"

"It's very simple, we do this!" she ripped the shirt off of him, "There, that's better…" and admired his bare chiseled chest before touching it.

His hands wrapped around her waist and began rubbing her thighs as they went in for a kiss and ravished each other's mouths while he slowly lifted her up to lay her down on the bed.

Garments were sprawled on the bedroom floor that made a trail to the adjoining bathroom. Pinkie and Cheese were relaxing in a porcelain shell shape bathtub with warm water and bubbles around them.

He wrapped an arm around his beloved and asked with a tender smile, "Comfy?"

Her eyes were closed in bliss and sighed lovingly, "Very…"

He started playing with some of the bubbles and blew on them to go up. Pinkie opened her right eye to see this and got her own bubbles to blow on. Then Cheese gathered up the bubbles in the shape of a hat and put it on his head. His wife giggled at this and joined him by putting on her own bubble hat. After that they made all sorts of bubble shapes and kept at it for awhile.

Applejack's head dropped onto the pillow in a sweat and was panting heavily. Spike was lying on top of her being just as sweaty and panting with the blanket draped over him.

She gasped between breaths, "That… was… amazin'… I didn't think… you would be able to ride on that long…"

He wearily smirked, "I'm tougher then you think…"

"I guess so…" she kissed his cheek, "and I'm fine with that…"

He kissed her on the lips and she returned it. When they broke apart, their saliva was connected and Spike wiped it away to ask, "Ready for round two?"

She slyly grinned, "Like you had to ask." and they went back to kissing fervently.

Rainbow and Soarin laid under the covers keeping close to each other while basking in the afterglow of their intense love-making.

"You're so awesome…" he uttered affectionately.

She gave him a small smile and sighed, "If I was so awesome, I wouldn't have put a friend of mine in danger…"

He gave a concern look and slightly sat up by resting his head with his hand, the top part of his fit chest was showing as he inquired, "Thinking about Celaeno…?"

She sadly nodded and let a few tears drop from her eyes. For some reason, Rainbow felt at ease showing the vulnerable side of her personality to her husband, other than her friends/sisters but she still acted tough around them.

Soarin brought her closer and stroked her hair while assuring her, "That wasn't your fault. If anything, it was our fault for running away in the first place and needed Celaeno's help… I never wanted that to happen to her."

"What will become of her?"

"She'll have a trial to determine her fate."

"When will that be?"

"Not for a while, it takes time to set up a royal hearing."

Her eyes lit up, "Then… maybe we can help her escape!"

He winced, "That's not a good idea… Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting her out of here but now's not a good time, you saw how furious my father was after the wedding and we can't have him knowing you have ties with the prisoner."

"Then I want you to promise me something."

"Anything."

"At the first chance we get, we rescue Celaeno."

"I promise." He leaned in for a kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his head and accepted it.

Chapter 21

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 22 Author's Note

Here's an Easter present for all of you!

Chapter 22

The princes entered the library with concern looks on their faces. They saw the way Lady Fleur looked at their wives before they left.

Capper asked Fancy before the tutoring began, "Did Lady Fleur not get enough sleep or something?"

Discord mentioned, "Yes, she did look rather cranky when we saw her."

Fancy sighed, "I'm afraid she's not overly delighted about your marriages…"

Spike asked, "But why?"

Their mentor explained, "My wife has always been of high class ever since she was born and she tends look down upon those who are low in station. Your wives used to be maids therefore she's upset at how they suddenly became princesses."

The boys frowned at this information.

Fancy saw this and stated, "Just give her time, she'll come around." he held up an astronomy book, "Now please find a book similar to this and begin reading the first few chapters."

Capper raised his hand, "Not that stargazing is a fascinating subject but maybe it's time you taught us more useful things."

Fancy was surprised by that and inquired, "Oh? Like what?"

Capper continued, "Like how we can improve the lives of our people and make sure it stays that way."

His brothers voiced out agreements making Fancy pleasantly surprised by their new attitude toward the kingdom. Before, they didn't think they needed to know the proper procedures of governing given their father handled all of that but if Fancy had to guess it was because of their wives that they were given a new perspective on how things were and now they wanted to change that.

He asked, "Are you sure you boys want that?"

They simultaneously agreed.

"Very well, but I must warn you, it will not be an easy task, nothing can be changed overnight. It takes time and patience as well as being factual and figuring out the proper solutions to a problem. The first thing I'll have to teach you is how to write policies that configure a solid structure to the kingdom."

He saw confusion on their faces, "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it before you know it. Now, get out a quill and piece of parchment and we'll begin."

They did as he said and listen intently to the lesson.

Rarity gracefully walked around the room with her head held high all the while the book stayed on her head. A smile played on her lips as to how naturally she was getting it. Fleur watched on the other side of the room feeling annoyed and impressed at the same time. The girls marveled at how well Rarity was doing.

Rarity curtsied to Fleur without dropping the book making the lady even more impressed and begrudgingly said, "Well done, Your Highness, you are a true master of elegance." She addressed the others, "Now we shall see if the rest of you can do just as well." Taking the book from Rarity and placed it on Fluttershy's head.

Fluttershy was nervous and took it slow but once she walked around the room, she got the hang of it.

Fleur couldn't believe it, how can two simple maids be so graceful? Of course she couldn't deny the fact that they were quite lovely too, one would think because they were born in poverty they could not afford to take care of themselves and yet, their skin was flawless, their lips weren't chapped, and their hair was kept in good condition.

When Fluttershy was done with balancing the book, Fleur moved on to the next princess. Pinkie Pie did have a hard time going straight while walking but the book stayed on her head the whole way.

"Very good, Your Highness," commented Fleur before addressing Twilight, "You're next, princess."

Twilight received the book on her head and took a deep breath, telling herself, "You can do this…" and when she walked around the room she did fine at first until she reached the end where the book fell off.

"Hmm… We'll have to work on that." their tutor said and picked up the book to put on Applejack's head.

The former chamber maid gulped and sweat started to bead her forehead as she took a slow step forward and another, but then she lost her nerve and the book fell down.

Fleur tsked and mentioned, "You'll need lots of practice, Your Highness."

Applejack blushed in embarrassment and went back in line.

Fleur pointed to Rainbow, "And finally…" she put the book on Dash's head.

Rainbow was feeling more tense then she ever been in her life. Simple chores she could handle and she certainly wasn't afraid of getting her hands dirty if she had to but when it came to have perfect posture she was completely at a loss. She started to walk but her shoes were giving her trouble again and she fell forward with the book opening and landing right back on her head but in a more ridiculous position.

The girls started to go to her but Fleur held her hand up and she went to the fallen princess and took the book back as Rainbow got up, then she addressed the princesses, "Your Highnesses, I can safely say that some of you have mastered grace and poise, the rest of you however will need extra sessions."

Applejack and Rainbow exchanged a grimace, they were not looking forward to that.

When it was time for lunch the girls sat at a clothed table while the maids served their meals and set down the silverware. The princesses gawked at the many spoons, forks, and knives next to their plates.

Fleur noticed their looks and explained, "When one must dine with royalty, one must eat like royalty. As you can see there are different types of silverware you must use when eating."

Pinkie grabbed a fork and Fleur quickly said, "No, no, your highness! That is a dessert fork!"

Applejack interjected, "Well how can you tell the difference? A fork is a fork!"

Fleur went up to her and pointed to each of the forks, "This is a salad fork, this is a dinner fork, and this is a dessert fork." then points to the spoons, "This is a soup spoon, a dinner spoon, and a dessert spoon." points to the knives, "This is a butter knife, a dinner knife, and of course the dessert knife."

Pinkie questioned, "But if we're eating lunch why do we have dinner forks, spoons, and knives?"

Fleur sighed, "Because I am helping learn this before you have dinner with his majesty, the king tonight."

Rarity tittered nervously, "That is a very good reason, your ladyship. And I cannot express our gratitude enough for teaching us."

The lady replied, "One can only hope that'll it stick."

The girls weren't sure if they should take that to offense or not.

When lunch was done, Fleur moved on to the next lesson by having the maids holding up white fabrics.

"Next, you must learn color coordination, especially when planning receptions the wrong color choice could offend a guest, thus leading to disagreement and possibly war."

Rainbow whispered to Applejack, "Seriously?"

The once farmer nodded her head in disbelief.

Fleur asked, "Now can any of you name the fabrics?"

Rarity raised her hand and cleared her throat while pointing to each fabric, "That one is toasted oat, this one is eggshell, then it's warm frost, pale nimbus, cream, bone, and lastly vanilla."

Fleur was beside herself as were the girls. The lady got out of her shock and said, "Well, at least one of you is knows proper color coordination… Pray tell, your highness, but remind me again of what your name is?"

"I am Rarity, your ladyship." she curtsied.

"I dare say, Princess Rarity, you have shown much promise to me today. I can't help but think that you were already a lady born despite your humble background."

"Oh, thank you, your ladyship. That means a great deal coming from you."

Fleur slightly smiled, "It does, doesn't it?" then her expression turned stern again and faced the others, "As for the rest of you, I want you to pay extra close attention to Princess Rarity's mannerisms for they will help you immensely in the days to come."

Rainbow uttered under her breath, "Figures she would already be the teacher's pet."

The others nodded their heads.

Fancy was looking over the boys' attempt at policy making and he exclaimed while holding up a paper, "Excellent work, Capper."

The prince smiled while his brothers made annoyed looks.

Soarin muttered, "Figures he would be the one to get it right the first time."

Fancy pointed, "I admire how the rest of you wrote with clarity and precise instruction of how change can be done but they need to be convincing at the same time. Capper's policy swayed me over within the first few sentences! So I want you to try again and this time, follow Capper's example."

The princes glared at their brother as he made a cheesy grin and shrugged.

"And Capper you are excused so you may go about the rest of the day to your own pleasure."

The third prince smiled and thanked their mentor before leaving. He knew exactly what he had to do.

Capper made his way to the stables where Timber was tending to the horses. He cautiously approached the stable boy and cleared his throat.

Timber saw him then frowned.

Capper slowly said, "Hey, um, I know you're upset with us about not telling you about our plans to run away…"

Timber said nothing and kept tending to the horses as he brushed Wonderbolt's mane and fur.

Capper continued, "We only did it for your protection so Father didn't have to question our whereabouts and that way, he couldn't punish you for helping us."

Timber suddenly said while he gave Jewel water, "And what if I didn't care if I did get punished for helping you?"

Capper's eyes widen in surprise.

Timber faced him with solemn eyes, "I thought I was your trusted friend… You and the other princes have always shared secrets with me and I've never once squealed. I would have been fine with you running away with your girls because you deserve happiness more than anything after living with such a horrible father that never once cared about either of you. I would have made sure you would have escaped no matter what. I just wish you would have told me…" he went back to the horses and fed Boneless his oats.

Capper's eyes downcast from his friend's words and hung his head shamefully before turning away and went.

Timber glanced at him before going back to work.

A feminine voice suddenly spoke, "That was a bit harsh, don't you think?"

Timber turned to see Lady Sunset Shimmer standing in front of the stables, he scowled at her, "May I ask why you're here?"

Sunset replied with a spiteful undertone, "Oh, I was just taking a walk around the castle grounds when I happen to overhear your delightful conversation with the prince."

Timber frowned and stated, "You know, for someone who was born in a noble household I would think one would learn that eavesdropping is rude and should respect privacy."

Sunset muttered bitterly, "And I can see you're just as charming as you were last night…"

Sunset couldn't sleep and left her new bedroom, in just one day, she renounced her mother and lost the only home she ever known. She knew she did the right thing but still it was hard to adjust to a new life she never thought she would have.

She walked around the hallways and looked around her surroundings seeing royal portraits and tapestries hanging on the wall. While she was distracted by the sights she didn't see a young man walking toward her with his head down looking upset. They didn't see each other until it was too late and ended up bumping into each other. They fell to the floor and groaned from the pain.

Sunset sat up and glared at him, "Don't you know you need to watch where you're going?!"

Timber sat up too and glared back, "Well I could ask you the same thing! Why weren't you watching where you were going?!" He got up.

Sunset held her hand out, "You know, a gentleman always helps a lady up."

Timber rolled his eyes and helped her up.

She muttered out mockingly, "Thank you…"

He sarcastically replied, "You're welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my room."

She crossed her arms, "Fine by me, I was just going back to my room too."

Without another word, they took separate ways.

Timber let out a sigh, "Look, I wasn't really myself last night. I was tired and upset and given the conversation you just heard, you know why."

Sunset suddenly felt guilty and sadly frowned, "Maybe you're right… Now that I think about it, I wasn't acting very good either… I couldn't sleep and I was trying to distract myself from everything that happened, when you bumped into me, I kind-of lashed out. I'm sorry."

Timber was surprised but he made a small smile and told her, "Apology accepted, and… I'm sorry too."

She smiled back, "You're forgiven."

"So… You're a new servant?"

"I'm a lady-in-waiting for the princesses." she smirked as she playfully inquired, "And your job is…?"

He smirked back, "Isn't it obvious?"

She giggled and curtsied, "Lady Sunset Shimmer."

He bowed in return, "Timber Spruce."

She said, "I must go now, but hopefully we'll see each other again very soon."

He looked at her with half-lidded eyes, "I look forward to it."

A small blush crept on her cheeks and she slowly walked away while glancing back at him before going inside.

Timber couldn't stop staring at her even when she was out of his sight.

No doubt about it, cupid had come and stuck the two of them together, one can only hope that it'll stay that way…

Chapter 23

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Chapter 24

When Fancy finished telling his wife what he heard Tirek telling the boys after the dinner, she covered her mouth in shock.

"He insists they will be given private lessons, I can only imagine what that'll be like." he grimly said.

Fleur shook her head, "It was bad enough they had a strict upbringing to begin with."

"And if that isn't enough, he also wants the princesses to call him Father from now on too."

She gapped, "What on earth for?!"

"No doubt it's his way of keeping them on his control… It's odd to admit, but I honestly think he's scared of them…"

"Scared? You really think so?"

"Yes. Because these girls managed to outwit him when the wedding was about to take place."

"But didn't they have help from Lady Chrysalis's daughters?"

"Only three of them were willing to help, because they didn't want to marry without love they had no choice but to lock their sisters up so they could free their maids from the dungeon. All the more reason why he took them in as ladies-in-waiting is so he can keep an extra eye on them. Thus all of the girls involved are threats to his rule."

"I find that so hard to believe that he would be scared of them. Today during my lessons with them only a few of the girls have shown to have the natural ability to be princesses. One in particular was my star pupil and I hate to admit it but she's become my favorite of the lot."

Fancy smiled at this, "Sounds to me she grew on you."

"Well maybe she has, because well… she reminds me of… me…" she slightly blushed.

His smile widened and inquired, "Does this mean you're willing to give the other princesses a chance?"

"Well… we'll see because a couple of them will need more training and with a royal banquet coming up I'm going to need to hurry them along."

"Why not have your star pupil help out? If you say she's as good as she is, then she can be your aid to help her fellow princesses."

"Why darling! That's brilliant!" she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his lips. "I must do that! Because you're right! As far as I'm concern she's already a proper princess and doesn't need more training!"

"That's wonderful to hear!"

She made a small frown, "Are you worried for the boys? I know you are but maybe now they have wives you don't have to worry so much anymore."

"I'll never stop worrying about them. Ever since they were chosen to be the heirs to this kingdom I knew they were in for a long and rough road ahead of them."

*Twenty Years Ago*

A baby cry filled the room as a ten-year-old Discord, an eight-year-old Soarin, a six-year-old Capper, a four-year-old Flash Sentry, and a two-year-old Cheese Sandwich was covering their ears from the wailing.

Fancy rushed in to calm the newborn Prince Spike, "There, there now, everything's going to be all right." he picked up the baby from his bassinet and patted his back. "I know. You must miss your parents terribly." he looked at the other boys to see the baby prince wasn't the only one missing their parents. Flash and Cheese especially were looking miserable.

Fancy figured as much that the younger boys would be more upset since they were too little to understand the importance of all of this. The older boys seemed numb but they knew this is what their parents wanted and were going to make them proud. It was quite sad actually now that Fancy thought about it more.

He introduced himself in a friendly manner, "I am Lord Fancy Pants, I am one of your new father's advisors and I will be your tutor as you live up to your new royal duties as princes to our fair kingdom. If there's anything you need please let me know."

The smaller boys smiled at him while Capper and Soarin were hesitant but also intrigued. Discord seemed suspicious of him.

Fancy inquired, "You doubt my words, Prince Discord?"

Discord bluntly stated, "Yes, I do. My parents told me before they left to never trust the other members of the court as they just want to use me to gain favor with the king."

Soarin and Capper frowned to those words while Cheese and Flash looked unsure toward Fancy now.

Fancy quickly said, "I can assure you, Prince Discord that won't be the case with me, I just want to help you all to become the best princes you can be." The boys still looked unsure, making him say, "It'll take time but you'll see that I am true to my word." he set Spike back down in his bassinet but the baby didn't want to let him go. "Now, now, Prince Spike I need to prepare for your father's arrival." he grumbled under his breath, "Though he is taking an awful long time to do so…" he addressed the other princes, "Perhaps one of you would like to entertain your new brother?"

Cheese and Flash slowly made their way to the bassinet and stared at the baby. The infant stared back and then started giggling.

The toddler demanded, "Hey! What's so funny?!"

Flash asked, "Is he laughing at us?"

Fancy chuckled, "I think he's just happy that you're his new brothers."

Cheese questioned, "Are you sure? Because it feels like he's laughing at us."

Spike continued giggling.

"See! See! He is!" making him glare at the baby.

Fancy had to stifle his laughter finding it adorable that the sibling rivalry has already started. He looked to see Capper and Soarin were watching in amusement while Discord kept his head turned away from the whole thing. It'll take time but he believed these boys will become the best of brothers and friends.

Suddenly a page entered the room, "His Royal Majesty, King Tirek!"

Fancy hastily motioned the boys to line in their birth order. The princes were anxious and nervous at the same time as they watched a tall and masculine man entered the room. Cheese admired the long white beard he sported and was tempted to touch it but kept still. Flash was intimidated by their new father's size and the scowl on his face made him even more wary of him to the point he felt frighten by him. Capper was intrigued but cautious as he knew this was a man he did not want to cross. Soarin was unsure of his adopted father and didn't feel safe with him. Discord was interested by his new brothers' reactions, as for his own reaction it was unclear, he felt there was a certain appeal to his new father but at the same time he felt he couldn't trust him.

To the boys, Tirek was a mysterious person and judging from the expression on his face, he was a very unhappy man. It made them wonder if he's ever smiled once in his life.

Fancy gestured, "Your Majesty, may I present to you your new sons and heirs. Prince Discord, Prince Soarin, Prince Capper, Prince Flash Sentry, Prince Cheese Sandwich, and lastly, Prince Spike." he lifted the baby up and had him face Tirek.

Tirek frowned deeply at the babe making Spike well up tears and he started to wail once again.

Fancy quickly rocked him to calm him down again but he couldn't blame the baby for being scared of the king especially since there were days he was scared of Tirek. And it looked like the other princes were in the same boat.

When Spike had finally stopped crying, Tirek addressed his new sons.

"As of this moment, you are no longer children of the court but my sons and rightful heirs to the kingdom's throne. Because of this, I expect nothing but perfection from you. I expect complete obedience and proper conduct as well. For punctuality is the politeness of princes and it will be expected of you at all times. Expectation is the key to living royal life. Nod your heads if you understand this."

The boys nodded fearfully.

"Good. I was hoping this would happen. You were chosen for this very reason and you will do well to remember that." he turned to his advisor, "Fancy, I leave them to you." with his hands folded behind his back he started to leave the room and said to the princes, "Good day." and left without another word.

When they were sure he was gone, they turned to Fancy, their eyes pleading for guidance.

The tutor took charge, "Come your highnesses, I will show you to your new rooms and then I will tell you all you need to know." with Spike still in his arms he led them out of the room.

It was in that moment that Fancy and the princes had a mutual understanding that would slowly turn into a great bond between them. The noble shall never forget how much the boys relied on him over the years so much so that he thought of the boys as his sons instead of Tirek's and it made him so happy to know the princes considered him their real father in return. That worry once again filled him of what their 'father' had planned for them. He wished that Lord Scorpan was here instead to rule like he was supposed to before running off. It frustrated Fancy to no end as to why Scorpan left, he remembered the noble when he was a boy in fact they were best friends growing up in the royal court. They were playmates and they helped each other with their lessons. All the more reason Fancy wanted Scorpan to be king but his old chum also wanted him to be king.

"I can't, Scorpan." Fancy told him when they were alone in Scorpan's chambers.

"Why ever not? You're kind, wise, smart, well-respected, you're more than qualified to be king."

"Alas, it would be improper."

"Improper? Whatever do you mean?"

Fancy sighed, "There's something you don't know about me… I didn't tell you before because I was forbidden to but given recent events I think it's time I told you…" he hung his head before he stated, "I am the king's son."

Scorpan gawked at this revelation, uttering, "What…? How…?"

Fancy explained solemnly, "My mother, Countess Baroque had an affair with his majesty and together the two of them hid my parentage by declaring my father was always away on business for the king when really he was always there… I just couldn't be near him…"

His friend covered his mouth before gently saying, "I'm sorry…"

Fancy gave a small smile, "It's not your doing."

"How did you find out?"

"One night, the king came to me unannounced and told me himself. He watched me grow after all these years and was pleased at how well I turned out like the son that he wanted me to be. His only wish was that I could be a true heir."

Scorpan's eyes lit up, "But you can be! Don't you see? This is your chance to be king the way your father wanted to. Why else would he have told you? It was so you could claim your birthright!"

Fancy shook his head, "But it was never my birthright, that's the problem. I grew up thinking that I was just a nobleman's son that it never once occurred to me I could be the son of a king instead. It's wrong for illegitimate heirs to exist and that's why I had to keep the truth from you and everyone else. If I did take up the crown I would feel like I would forever be stuck with my lie and hiding my true self. I'm more than fine on where I am now and I would like to stay there. So see? That's why I shouldn't be king and that's why I want you to be king instead, at least you won't have to pretend who you are."

Scorpan made a sad smile, "I think you're more of a king then you realize. The fact that you're making sure that the kingdom receives only the best speaks volumes. So how's this, I will be king as long as I have you as my trusted advisor. Making sure you will be king through me."

Fancy chuckled, "So long as the crown's atop your head, I accept the position."

The two shook on it.

That was the plan until suddenly Scorpan disappeared without a trace. Fancy was so confused and upset on the morning of the coronation after it was discovered that Scorpan left a note saying that his brother shall inherit the throne in his stead. Fancy watched on with great sorrow as the new king was coronated and began to make things miserable for everyone.

His thoughts were disrupted when his wife said, "It's getting late, we should go to sleep."

He consented, "Yes, you're right." he went straight for their bed and pulled the covers back.

Fleur fluffed their pillows before climbing into the bed. Fancy followed after and put the blankets on top of them. He kissed her temple while saying, "Good night, my love."

She smiled and softly replied, "Good night, dearest heart." and blew out the candle next to her.

Chapter 25

Trixie laid on her comfy and plushy mattress and sighed in content, "Trixie can get used to this."

Sonata was sitting on the bed next to her, "I guess it's okay even if we're force to share a room together."

Sunset was trying to read a book she got at the library but her thoughts kept lingering to a certain stable boy she met. If her mother was here and knew about this, heaven knows she would have forbid such a union to take place. But since she wasn't… A smirk spread across her lips.

"Sunny, what are you thinking of?" Sonata inquired.

"Uh? Oh, it's nothing." she held the book closer to her face making sure her sisters didn't see the blush on her face.

Trixie raised her brow, "Nothing? You've been goo-goo eyed all day." with a smirk she slowly asked, "So, who is he?"

Sonata gasped and squealed, "Is he a count or a duke?!"

Sunset kept her book up feeling flustered, countering, "It's not like that!"

Trixie sat up, "Ah, he must be a knight then, one of the lower stations of nobility."

Sonata shrugged, "Oh well, at least it's better than nothing like a stable boy." she giggled.

Sunset nearly dropped her book and nervously said, "Well… would it be so bad if one of us did fall for a stable boy?"

Trixie scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous, Sunset. We were born the best therefore we deserve the best. We may have not have gotten the princes but there's still plenty of noblemen out there that can give us all we want."

"I wouldn't mind marrying a baron because that's what my father was."

Sunset realized something and asked them, "Do you remember your fathers?"

Sonata and Trixie exchanged confusing looks with the former admitting, "A little, but it's been so long I just don't think about him."

Trixie nodded, "Same with Trixie, all I know is that Mother married him because he was wealthy enough before he died in his sleep."

Sunset furrowed her brows, "Don't you find it strange that all our fathers died and Mother remarried without so much giving herself time to grieve?"

Trixie stated, "At least she stopped remarrying after my father passed."

Sunset pointed, "But that's only because she made the marriage agreement with the king. Something tells me if the agreement didn't happen she would have still remarried over and over again."

Sonata questioned, "But why would she do that? What would be the point?"

Her older half-sister pondered on that, "That's… a very good question…"

Trixie sneered, "Oh please, you can't believe that Mother would be so crude as to get rid of her husbands…?" then her face faltered and she gulped, "Would she?"

Sunset frowned, "I don't want to think so, but well… you saw how she was at her breaking point after the wedding so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case…"

Sonata mentioned, "But didn't your father die because he spoke against the king?"

A pang ached in Sunset's heart at the reminder.

Trixie quickly pointed, "There see? There's no way Mother can be some husband killer if your father died from treason."

Sunset sadly sighed, "Maybe you're right." she got up while closing her book, "I need to take a walk." and she left the room.

Sonata voiced out, "Was it something I said?"

Timber had finished up for the evening and headed back inside to go to his room that was located in the servants' quarters. But as he was about to make a turn, he heard crying and decided to investigate. To his surprise he found the Lady Sunset weeping to herself in a parlor. He carefully approached her and softly inquired, "My lady…? Are you okay?"

Sunset made a slight gasp and looked to see Timber standing over her. She quickly wiped her eyes.

"I didn't want you to see that."

"Why?"

"Because… a lady cannot express her emotions no matter how much she wants to…" she hung her head.

"Ah… The rules of society, am I right?"

She looked up and was stun, "How… how did you know?"

"Their royal highnesses have dealt with this kind of thing before. And as a stable boy I have seen and heard so many nobles trying to keep it in. Makes me glad I was born a commoner."

She chuckled, "You have no idea how lucky you are." and slowly started to feel better.

"Well maybe, there are moments where it can be frustrating, like having little to no money, getting enough to eat, wear decent clothes…"

Her eyes widen, "Is it really that bad?"

Timber shrugged, "Depends on your situation. Take me for example, I got this job because someone was nice enough to throw me a bone…"

"Like an actual bone?"

He made a low whistle, "Whoa, you really were born all high class weren't you? No, throwing a bone means they were willing to give me a chance."

"That's very interesting."

He chuckled, "Only you would think so."

She slightly frowned, "Are you implying that I am not smart?"

He quickly said, "Of course not! I'm just saying that you are unaware of other people's surroundings. Like what was the last time you said thank you to your servants or gave them something that could help them?"

Sunset smirked, "Funny you should say that…"

When she explained finishing telling her story about being one of Lady Chrysalis's daughters and how she helped the maids of her household become the new princesses by helping them making their escape from the dungeon, she saw Timber's mouth was wide open in shock.

He ended up sputtering and pointing out, "You- you were the reason they got to switch and marry their true loves?!"

She gave a smug reply, "That's right."

"You- that's- I can't- wow!" he smack his forehead in disbelief.

She giggled.

He uttered, "That's so incredible… You're incredible…" he turned away and blushed.

She felt the redness spreading through her cheeks and looked up to him with hope gleaming in her eyes, "You… you think so…?"

He looked at her with a tint of pink still on his cheeks, "Yes…"

She slowly stood up and addressed him formally, "Sir Timber Spruce, I would like to extend an invitation of courtship to you, I would be most honored if you accept."

He stared at her in bewilderment and didn't say anything for the longest time until he tenderly answered, "Yes…"

She smiled brightly at him.

He bowed, "And with your permission, milady, would you permit me to escort you back to your room?"

She nodded and held her arm out.

He placed his arm around hers and slowly they walked out of the room and went down the hall.

Sunset questioned, "So how do you know their royal highnesses so well?"

Timber replied, "I've known them for a long time now. When I was first starting out as a stable boy I saw them playing them in the gardens. I was ten at the time, the same age as Prince Capper was, and I was fascinated of how well they got along and enjoyed each other's company. It made me wish I had brothers of my own."

"Are you an only child?"

"No, I have a sister. Gloriosa Daisy."

"You don't like her that much?"

"I never said that, I love my sister with all my heart but sometimes she can be… overbearing… She overdoes things and end up getting hurt and stressed because of that. I try to tell her she needs to take it easy but our lifestyle hasn't made that easy."

Sunset made a sympathetic look, "I'm sure…"

"Sometimes… I dream of making a better life for us… to live in splendor… to never have to worry about money or station again."

She sighed, "Having money isn't all that great. As rich and influential my family was, I still felt empty inside. I didn't have my father to help me grow into adulthood, and my mother took control of my and my sisters' upbringing to make sure that we would be the proper young ladies that we would be. After all, we were the future brides of the princes, of course we had to act like that."

"Huh… in a way you were a servant to your mother…"

Her eyes widen at the thought and told him, "Yeah… I guess I kind-of was… We all were."

They kept making small talk as they climbed the stairs until they reached Sunset's chamber. They faced each other by the door with their hands interlocked.

"Well, this is where we must depart, my lady…" looking at her with half-lidded eyes.

"So we must good sir." she beamed.

They slowly let go with him still holding her left hand and brought it close to his lips and kissed it.

"You sir, are incurably romantic."

"But of course! How else is a gentleman supposed to win a fair maiden's heart?"

She teased, "Oh really? What if the gentleman already has the maiden's heart?"

He smirked, "Then he has to spend every day, every hour to make sure that he keeps it."

She giggled for the second time that night.

"Meet me in the gardens tomorrow after lunch."

"I'll be there, I promise."

"Until then, milady…"

"Until then…"

Timber slowly moved away from her and went back down the steps. Sunset slowly opened the door and went inside. The both of them felt unbridle happiness hoping the feeling would never diminish from their hearts. For the rest of the night, they thought only of each other and couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.

Chapter 26

It was another day of lessons for both the princes and their princesses. But the boys had to cease with learning policy and instead were reading books involving astronomy which was useless regarding their position but at least they were having some fun as the princes listed off the constellations they found in their research.

Fancy complimented them, "Good work, boys."

Cheese stated, "On the plus side, if we ever take our wives stargazing we can tell them which stars are which."

His brothers sounded out agreements.

Spike said, "Oh yeah, that's bound to impress them."

Fancy voiced, "Speaking of your marriages, have you considered a wedding present yet?"

There was a large gasp that slowly turned to panic.

Flash declared, "We forgot to give them wedding gifts!"

Discord pointed, "Well to be fair, we weren't planning on giving gifts given we had to be a part of an arranged marriage therefore we didn't have the interest to do so."

Capper motioned, "Not to mention we didn't know the girls would be able to take Chrysalis's daughters' place by the time we said the 'I dos'."

Soarin added, "We should at least find something that would make them feel better about giving up everything they ever known."

Spike inquired to their mentor, "Fancy, do you have any ideas?"

The tutor started, "Well… it should be something special, something that your wives will love for a very long time. When I first got married to Fleur, I gave her a diamond necklace and she still wears it to this day."

Discord mentioned, "The problem with that is, my wife is not a jewelry wearer."

"Neither is mine." voiced Soarin, Spike, Cheese, and Flash.

Capper said, "Mine is but it would feel unimaginative. My Rarity deserves better than that."

Flash gestured, "They all do."

Discord said, "The only thing my wife really loves is animals."

Spike said, "My wife likes animals too."

Capper mentioned, "My wife loves cats."

Their eyes widen in realization with Capper addressing their tutor, "Fancy, think you could…?"

The noble held his hand up, "Say no more, I know just what to do."

Joy overwhelmed the boys until a page came into the room and said, "Apologies, Your Highnesses, but your father wishes for Prince Discord to come to his study immediately."

The brothers exchanged worrisome looks before Discord tried to lighten the mood, "Relax, I'm sure it won't be so bad." but even he doubted his own words and he could tell from his brothers' faces that they did too.

He sighed and followed the page out of the room.

Fleur addressed the girls, "Today we're going to try something different. It isn't enough that you act like a princess but also that you present yourself as one as well. You have the proper attire as it is," eying their gray puffy dresses, "but you must have a face to match."

Applejack voiced, "Say what now?"

Their teacher exasperatedly sighed, "A princess must always keep up with appearances, as in they have to take care of themselves very well by having no blemishes of any sort on their faces. Perfection is the objective. Say it with me."

"Perfection is the objective." Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Twilight repeated clearly while Applejack and Rainbow Dash muttered it.

Fleur noticed the tougher girls' lack of enthusiasm and inquired, "I take it you do not care for perfection?"

Applejack stated, "Well to be honest, I think it's overrated. I mean nothing can be perfect all the time."

Rarity uttered, "Maybe not for you…"

AJ heard but ignored her as she continued, "It's just that people will make mistakes and they have to live with that, no sense in trying to make everything so… so…"

Dash bluntly said, "Spotless."

"Right!"

Twilight spoke while fiddling with her fingers nervously, "Applejack does have a point, Lady Fleur. Is it truly necessary to be perfect when it's just not physically possible?"

For one brief moment Fleur was speechless and a flash of sadness went across her face before she composed herself and said, "Regardless of how questionable the method may be, it is how it is within royal life. You must smile even if you don't feel like it. You have to hide your true emotions from the public's eye at all cost."

Fluttershy mentioned, "Oh, I don't think I like that…"

Fleur stated, "It's something you'll have to get use to. As you are married to the princes, everyone will be looking to you to fulfill your royal duties to your husbands especially bearing royal heirs to the throne."

The girls blushed at the thought even though technically they already went through the process of losing a certain part of themselves on their wedding night it was still embarrassing to talk about it.

Fleur saw this and made a small smile, "But that's something you don't have to worry about right now. For now let's try to make sure you can get through this banquet without a hitch starting with giving you a lesson on using the right cosmetics for certain events."

Both Rainbow and Applejack flinched at the idea as Fleur requested the maids nearby to prepare.

Discord and the page entered the study with the page announcing, "His Royal Highness, Prince Discord de Imbroglio."

Tirek sat at his desk with a stern look on his face and dismissed the page leaving Discord all alone with his father. The eldest of the princes tried to make best of the situation and said with a forced smile, "Hello, Father."

The king resisted the urge to roll his eyes and stood up, "Do you know why you're here, son?"

"To give me private lessons, yes?"

"That's right. You always were a smart lad, my boy."

Discord's eyes widen at the compliment and almost smiled until Tirek continued harshly.

"However, that seems to be the only thing you have going for you right now."

The prince frowned in confusion, "Father?"

Tirek moved around the room looking at various objects instead of Discord as he said, "Tell me, Discord, why do you suppose I chose you to be an heir?"

"I… I don't know. I assumed it was because I could act like a prince like the rest of my brothers."

"That's part of it. But there are different reasons as well. When it came to choosing royal heirs I watched closely of which noble child would have the privilege of becoming a prince. I saw you and thought, 'now there's a boy with great potential.'"

"Really, Father? You thought that?"

"I did. What you had was the potential of becoming powerful. The way you bullied other children by tricking them was precisely what I was looking for."

Discord's face sagged recalling those times he managed to make friends turn against each other and managed to manipulate them around for some time before they wised up. He wasn't proud of those moments and he was grateful that his brothers and Fancy were able to turn him around.

Tirek continued, "But something changed the moment you became a prince. Your brothers have made you weak and softhearted."

"But-but-but-" he tried to defend himself but was cut off when the king finally looked at him and it was frightening.

"As such, I am going to try to get that callous ten-year-old boy back…"

Discord did not like the sound of that.

"Father, please! Be reasonable!" he pleaded.

Suddenly he was grabbed by his shirt and forced to come face to face with his father with his eyes burning straight into his soul.

"DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELF?!"

Discord was thrown to the floor while hearing Tirek say, "You have become so pathetic as to beg for mercy. Never had I been so disappointed in you. I suppose it's just as well you married a spineless twit since you're just like her."

"Don't talk that way about my wife!" he blurted out before covering his mouth in shock and thought, Uh-oh, I've really done it now… And closed his eyes so he didn't see it coming.

Tirek looked like he was going to blow until slowly an evil smirk spread across his lips. He walked back to his desk and had a chess game at the ready and picked up the white queen chess piece and tossed it to his son.

Discord felt the piece hitting his chest and opened his eyes in bewilderment and saw the chessman lying on the ground. He picked it up and dared to look at his father wondering why he gave this to him.

Tirek looked emotionless as he sat there behind the desk and stated, "That queen is your wife," he held up the white king, "This could be you. But that's only if you finally revert back to your old ways. Come, show me that you're still a master manipulator at heart." he gestured to the chess board.

Discord wanted to refuse. He was better than this. His brothers, Fancy, and Fluttershy would be so upset with him if he tried to be what the king wanted him to be.

Tirek frowned at his lack of response and lectured, "Think carefully on this, son." he put down the king and picked up a pawn to fiddle with it, "I seem to recall a certain promise was made that you would obey in order for your wife to be spare from a harsher lesson…"

Discord gulped remembering that from last night and slowly went toward the desk and took a seat. He put the white queen back in it's place.

The king saw his son's cooperation and put back the pawn.

"Very good. You may begin."

Discord looked at the pieces and stared at the queen. In this game she was the most powerful piece of them all but he decided he wasn't going to use her not if it meant losing her. With that in mind he took a pawn and moved it forward.

Chapter 27

The princesses were sitting as the maids started to put makeup on them. Each of them had a different look and style. Rarity's hair was up in curls with foundation to make her skin darker with red blush. Applejack had blue eye shadow and her hair was down but had slight curls framing her face. Rainbow Dash's face was powdered white and had a fake beauty mark on her right cheek. Twilight's hair was put up in a bun and her lips were painted pink. Pinkie was given bright red lips to go with her painted white face. And Fluttershy's hair was put in a crown braid then the maid added light blush to her cheeks.

Fleur exclaimed as she inspected each of them, "Wonderful. You're all looking beautiful and perfect."

Dash questioned, "Then why does it feel so weird and gross?"

The lady sighed before she made for the door, telling them, "I am going to meet with my husband so that we can prepare for tomorrow's lesson. I expect you to cooperate as the maids finish with your looks while I am gone."

"Yes, your ladyship." they said.

On that note, Fleur left leaving the girls to themselves and the maids.

Pinkie took the first step and introduced herself to her maid, "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

The maid was taken aback by the princess's friendliness, and stammered, "It's… it's Derpy, your highness."

"Hi, Derpy! I really like your eyes!"

The golden wall-eyed girl blushed, "Thanks… that means a lot…"

The girls smiled at this making Twilight ask the other maids, "What are your names?"

The other maids were surprised as Derpy was and timidly told their names.

"I'm Coco Pommel, your grace." she curtsied to Rarity.

"Sugar Belle, your highness." she told Applejack.

"My name's Night Gilder, princess." she said to Rainbow Dash.

"I'm Miss Cheerilee, your royal highness." she curtsied as well but to Twilight.

"And… I'm… I'm…" the maid turned away feeling embarrassed now.

Fluttershy touched her arm and softly told her, "Just stay calm and tell me your name."

The maid looked back to see the princess's nice smile making her relax and said, "It's Wallflower Blush, your highness."

"How lovely. It's nice to meet you."

Night Gilder inquired, "If you don't mind my asking your highnesses, but why do you wish to know our names?"

Cheerilee added, "I must be inclined to agree, as we maids are not allowed to socialize with royalty."

Applejack stated, "Let's just say we know how it feels when others work hard to please their employers."

Rarity motioned, "Exactly. Which is why we want you girls to feel comfortable around us no matter what."

The maids glanced at each other in bewilderment wondering if it was possible to do such a thing.

Twilight noticed their hesitation and said, "Perhaps it would help if we told you a little more about us and in turn you can do the same."

Applejack beamed, "Now that sounds like a fine idea," and asked the maids, "don't you think so too?"

The maidservants were still unsure.

Rarity volunteered, "Why don't I go first, that should help get things in motion."

The maids listened intently.

Discord took out his father's king piece and said, "Checkmate."

Tirek raised a brow before amusingly commenting, "Impressive. You managed to take out my king without once moving your queen. Instead you sacrificed half your army; that certainly caught me off guard."

"It's all about misdirection, Father." the eldest prince stated without emotion.

The king smirked and released a small chuckle, "And here I thought you lost all your drive for hurting others. The fact you wanted to protect your queen more tells me that you would do anything to make sure your wife never gets harm by anyone."

Discord didn't say anything.

Tirek smirked further, "I thought so." he stood up and made for the door. He motioned for his son to follow.

The prince obeyed and walked close behind his adopted father.

King Tirek went down the hallway as he said, "Our lessons will continue after I meet with your brothers. Instead of once a week with all of you, I will meet with you one day of the week. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Good. And you will tell them so, correct?"

"Yes."

"Fine then. I shall let you go back to your regular studies, but do not forget what we went over just now and I expect you to follow through in the days to come. Which means you should spend less time with your brothers and focus more on yourself and the one that matters to you the most." he turned back to look at him.

Discord was stunned to say the least, and uttered out, "I… I cannot be near my brothers anymore?"

"You can still be near them, as your image requires it. It's your sentiment of bonding with each other is what I discourage but I forbid you to say that to them. Do you understand?" he glared.

Discord quickly replied, "Very."

"Then I bid you a good day, and I shall see you at dinner tonight." he turned in a different direction.

Discord waited until the king was completely gone before he leaned against the wall and sighed deeply while crouching down. Turmoil raged in his body and mind, not sure of what he should do.

The maids were surprised by how ordinary these princesses were. Their interests were so common that it's hard to imagine these girls were of noble birth.

Ultimately the new princesses decided to hide the fact they were maids themselves before getting married since the king and Lady Fleur wanted to keep that secret, it was important they didn't provoke them especially if it was going to cause more harm than good while they live in the castle.

When Rainbow finished saying what her favorite things to do was, Pinkie asked, "Now what is you like?"

Sugar Belle answered, "I like to spend time in the kitchens and make my own bake good creations."

Derpy said, "I like to help carry packages and letters and deliver them to whoever needs them."

Wallflower smiled, "I like to visit the gardens and help plant some new flora and fauna every spring."

Cheerilee told them, "I go to the library at night and look for new things to teach the children that live here in the castle."

The princesses gawked at this information, with Fluttershy questioning, "There are children here as well?"

Cheerilee replied, "Certainly, their parents work here so they have to live with them until they're old enough to take their place."

Night Gilder said, "That's how it was with us."

Rarity inquired, "But surely you and they have the freedom to go if you do not wish to stay."

The solemn expressions on the maids' faces told the girls otherwise making them feel upset.

Discord finally made it back to the library where his brothers gathered around him and bombarded him with questions of what his lessons with their father was like.

"Did he use the cane on you?" questioned Soarin.

"Did he lecture you on and on?" asked Spike.

"What were his lessons to you?" inquired Capper.

Discord moved away from them and said without looking at them, "He told me the reason why I was chosen to be an heir."

Their eyes widen in surprise.

He continued, "He wants me to revert back to my old ways…"

They gawked with Flash shouting, "You can't be serious!"

Discord turned around with a staid expression on his face, "It's how Father wants it."

Soarin said in concern, "But you won't do it, right?"

The first prince scoffed, "Do you think I want to? But you know I have no choice. None of us have a choice. Just now, he told me that he was meeting with us one day a week instead of once a week."

The brothers made worried looks wondering why their father would change his mind like that.

Discord looked around and realized, "Where's Fancy?"

Capper told him, "Lady Fleur came by and the two of them went off to discuss something."

No sooner had he said that, said couple came back and Fancy stated, "Ah, Discord, good, you're back. My wife and I were just meeting about an important lesson for the princesses that will need to be done in time for the banquet."

Spike asked, "What lesson is that?"

Fleur answered, "Dancing lessons."

The boys glanced at each other in confusion.

Fancy took over, "As such they will need the right partners to dance with, and as you are their husbands, it's only fitting. And if anything, this works very well into your own lessons since married princes need to attend royal events with their spouses by their side."

Fleur added, "Both spouses need the proper conduct of how to do this. Just look at me and Fancy, we've attended every social event at each other's side and not once have we looked bad."

Fancy took her hand as he mentioned, "It's a team effort to make your partner to look good in the eyes of noble society. But in this case, you need to make your wives stand out as they'll be officially introduced to the court and hardly anyone will know anything about them since they think they are Lady Chrysalis's daughters."

"But can't we just let them be themselves?" Flash questioned, "Why force them to pretend to be something they're not?"

His brothers voiced out agreements.

Fancy sighed, "While I see your point, you know your father wants to keep their true backgrounds as quiet as possible."

Fleur spoke, "I will say this as much as some of your wives still need help in learning the basics; they are quite well-behaved and proper just like any princess should be. You should be very proud."

They were stunned to hear Fleur compliment their wives like that. Fancy himself was smiling.

She kept going, "There's great potential in each of them, I've yet to see what their best strengths are in being a princess, but I look forward to knowing. Now if you'll excuse me I must get back to them." she curtsied, "Good day, your highnesses." before leaving the room.

Fancy voiced out, "Well, it's good to know that everything is going well with the princesses."

The boys smiled.

"I don't have anything else to teach you today, so you may go now. However I would like to have a word with you, Discord."

The princes exchanged looks before the five younger brothers had to leave the oldest alone with their mentor.

Fancy went straight to the point, "What exactly happen with your lessons with your father?"

Discord took a deep breath, "He told me the real reason I was chosen to be an heir."

"Oh?" the tutor raised a brow.

Discord explained, "He saw a boy that had the potential to become powerful by manipulating others around him. I know I should be flattered he thought that way about me but for some reason it feels wrong…"

Fancy made a small smile, "That's because you understand that power is not something to be played with but rather to use it responsibly."

"But is he right? Have I changed so much that I'm losing a part of myself?"

"Discord… I have watched you grow since you were chosen and while it's true you're not the same as you were then, but you still have a tendency to be mischievous and cunning making you a trickster that your brothers try to put up with."

The prince released a small laugh.

"The point is, you are better now and it should stay that way."

He sighed, "Alas, Father has told me he wants me to act like when I was young."

Fancy frowned at this, "Did he now…?"

"He had me playing chess with him to see if I was still crafty enough to trick my opponent. Suffice to say, I won."

"Interesting…" with him thinking, What is his majesty up to?

"But also… he wants me to spend less time with my brothers… he thinks they're too much of influence on me. But please to don't let him know I told you this. He prohibited me to tell my brothers this but he never said anything about you…"

Fancy was pleased at Discord's astute reasoning and nodded, "I'm glad you told me this. Rest assure, I won't reveal I know, I'm just sorry that we cannot tell your brothers."

Discord admitted, "You know, this just maybe the first time in my life I don't have an idea of what to do next. How can I move on knowing Father wants me to be something I was once was while at the same time I don't lose my bond to my brothers?"

Fancy touched his chin in thought, "How indeed… One suggestion could be I let your brothers know after all but should Tirek catch on to them being aware then that's only going to cause more harm than good… The way I see it, we play your father's game until a proper solution can be found. I know it won't be easy but there's nothing else we can do right now." he put a hand on Discord's shoulder.

The prince was grateful for the touch and put his own hand on his long time mentor and father figure's hand to show it.

Fancy give him a gentle smile before moving back to let the eldest heir go.

Words didn't need to be exchanged knowing what they'll have do next. Discord slowly moved away and gave the kind noble a glance before leaving.

Fancy Pants was left alone and thought to himself.

Something strange is going on here. Why would the king want Discord to return to his old self? He has told me he wants Spike to be king next so why encourage Discord? I must wait and see if the other boys will get the same treatment before I decide what to do about this… But one thing's for sure, I won't let them get hurt from this new development, not if I have anything to say about it… For my sons, I will do anything for them…

With that belief in mind, he left the room hoping that he will succeed in whatever is to come, good or bad.

Chapter 28

Lady Fleur was about to enter the parlor when she overheard the princesses' voices talking to other girls, no doubt they were the maids that were working on the princesses' makeovers when she left. While Fleur would normally disapprove of such an interaction, she was quite interested in what they were talking about.

From inside the room, Twilight questioned, "So you've been here your entire lives?"

Cheerilee replied, "Very much so. Our parents, grandparents, and their ancestors before them have all lived here serving the royal family so most of us have never been outside the palace!"

Night Gilder mentioned, "Besides, the work pays good and we have good living conditions verses the stories we hear from some servants that got hired outside the castle where they had terrible work conditions and poor housing, they tell us that being here is ten times better!"

Sugar Belle added, "So leaving is not a good option."

Pinkie commented, "That's sad…"

Fleur couldn't help but agree, she knew how it felt to live in the castle all her life but even so it was better than what most had which was nothing. So she took it upon herself to always be the proper lady her parents wanted her to be and to not risk getting disowned by them. She felt very lucky to have met Fancy when she did, giving them a chance to properly court and to fall further in love. With him being the Baroness's son, her family approved of the union right away.

When Fancy told her the truth about his parentage, they agreed to forever keep it a secret given it would risk Fancy's life and lower her social status as a lady. Serving on the royal court was both a privilege and a restriction. You were forced to serve no matter what. Something she could strangely relate to with these maids. No matter your station you had to be of service to your king.

She realized that the princesses were maids before the wedding so it made sense they would try to socialize with the maids of the palace.

Deciding she had to get back in, she slowly opened the door and she could hear the hushed voices of the girls with Rarity saying, "She's back, hurry!"

Fleur entered in to see the maids extra hard at work with the princesses sitting extra still.

The lady commented, "Well, I can see that the makeovers all look perfect on our princesses." she told the maids, "Well done, girls."

The maids blushed from the compliment and said with a curtsy, "Thank you, your ladyship."

Fleur then addressed her students, "Now then, that's all the lessons I have for you today, but tomorrow we'll be doing something very different. You will be given dancing lessons and your husbands will be joining us."

She could see the brighten smiles on their faces.

"Yes, I thought that would please you. Not only does this benefit you in your lessons, it will benefit them as well. Now, you are dismissed. Good day." and she walked out of the room, gracefully.

Once the girls exchanged partings with the maids, they went straight back to their rooms to get the makeup off their faces.

Their husbands were already in the rooms when they saw them. They were stun to say the least.

Spike commented while rubbing his neck awkwardly, "Gee, Applejack… um… that's an interesting look on you…"

Applejack didn't say anything and went straight to the bathroom to pour water into the basin and grabbed a towel to wet it then wiped her face clean. She faced her husband.

"It was part of the lesson we had to do today."

"Let me guess, 'perfection is the objective'?"

"Yup."

He chuckled as he held his arms out having her go into them.

"Do you think I'm pretty enough?" she asked.

"Of course I do."

"Then that's good enough for me." she smiled.

He smiled as well and they went into a deep kiss.

Capper said as Rarity was removing the overdone foundation, "I don't know why Fleur thought you needed to have that stuff on, you're perfect just the way you are."

Rarity gave him a seductive look and joined him on the bed, "It's comments like that is what's going to get you an extra special treat tonight." she twirled her fingers on his shirt, bringing him closer to her face.

He smirked himself and the two shared a passionate kiss.

Cheese was laughing and his wife did the same.

"You look so funny!" he said.

"I know right!" she got a towel and wiped the paint off.

He made a heartfelt smile, "There's my Pinkie…"

She faced him and bopped his nose, "You're so cheesy, Cheesy."

They rubbed noses before kissing on the lips.

"So what do you think?" Rainbow asked her husband.

"Uhhh…" Soarin desperately searched for the right words, "It's… um… you?"

"Admit it, it's horrible."

Soarin sighed, "Yeah… I'm sorry, honey but it's really not you in the latest bit."

"Then why did you say it was?"

"I don't know, I guess I was afraid you would hate me if I told you otherwise."

She got a cloth and wiped the white powder off, "Why you would think that? Just because I get mad sometimes doesn't mean I would hate you." she pulled off the fake mole making her remark, "Ow!"

"You're right, from now I'll be more honest."

"Glad to hear it, but you don't have to tell the truth all the time, a little white lie now and then is fine." He smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Just knowing that you're there for me is all I could ask for…" and they went in for a kiss.

"'Perfection is the objective'. I've been there." said Flash as his wife was cleaning her face.

"It's to help us keep up our appearances; at least that's what she told us."

"That's what it means alright." he sat on the bed and held his face in dismay.

Twilight looked at her husband in concern, "Flash…? Is there reason those words are making you sad?"

He scooted over so she could sit next to him. He told her, "It's what Father always told me and my brothers when we were little. More so to me… I was always getting everything wrong in his eyes. So he would make me repeat those words every day until I got it right."

"Oh Flash… I'm sorry…" she wrapped her hands on his arm.

He slightly smiled as he brought her closer to him, putting his arms around her.

"Well, now that you're here… I feel nothing can go wrong ever again."

She smiled at his words and touched his cheek making him move closer and leaned in for a kiss.

Discord helped Fluttershy wipe the makeup off, "There we go, no more blush covering that gorgeous face of yours."

A real blush went over her face from her husband's words.

"Darling, I don't think that'll come off."

She giggled.

Discord sighed in content, hearing her laugh lighten his sullen mood from before. The meeting with his father certainly gave him a scare when it came to his wife's safety.

She said, "I really don't like wearing makeup."

"Like you have to, you're far too beautiful for that kind of thing."

"You always say the kindest things to me."

"I should, shouldn't I? I'm your husband."

She landed her head on his chest while closing her eyes in bliss.

He held her close to the point he was clutching onto her.

"Discord…" she tried to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Oh, sorry, my love." he let go but reluctantly.

"Is everything okay? You seem more clingy than usual."

"I'm not that clingy, am I?"

"Well… maybe a little."

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy but it's hard for me to be apart from you, from anyone I care about really."

"What about your parents?"

"That was different, they wanted me to be a prince and I agreed to it. Besides, it's not like they were the best parents in the world so I don't miss them so much."

"That's very sad…"

"Hey, it all worked out in the end, I got my brothers and I got you. And that's what matters to me the most."

Fluttershy made a small smile, "Well… if you're sure…"

He chuckled as he brought her close again, "My darling, with you, I'm always sure…"

That made her smile widen and she kissed him on his face. He took her face and moved her lips to his where they had a long and fervent kiss.

Fancy met with a traveling animal caretaker that sold exotic pets and escorted him to the castle and into the gardens. He told him, "Please set the animals here, while I go get their majesties."

He went straight into the castle and to the wing where the royal suites were. He knocked on all six doors and the princes answered.

"The gifts have arrived." he told them with a wink.

The boys exchanged a smile and urged their wives to come out.

The girls were confused on what was going on.

Fancy said, "Follow me."

He led them right into gardens where small animals of all kinds like bunnies, cats, dogs, an alligator, owls, a tortoise, and a lizard were in a pen.

Fluttershy let out a huge gasp with her eyes twinkling at the sight.

Discord smiled and told her, "For you, my darling, to choose any pet you like."

Cheese said to his wife, "Same goes for you my Pinkie-Winkie."

Flash said to Twilight, "It's a late wedding gift for you."

Capper said to Rarity, "Go ahead, pick any one you want."

Spike mentioned to his wife, "I hope you'll find a pet you like."

Soarin said to Rainbow, "I know it's not the best gift idea, but maybe a pet would be great to have."

The girls were speechless by the gesture before they went to the animals and gushed over them.

The boys exchanged a smirk knowing they did the right thing.

Fluttershy proclaimed, "There's so many that I can't decide which one I want!"

Rainbow said, "I'm trying to find one that's the best one for me! It has to be amazing just like me!"

Rarity commented, "They're all so adorable!"

Applejack agreed, "They are!"

Suddenly a brown and white collie jumped on to Applejack making her fall on her back with the dog licking her face.

AJ giggled, "Looks like you did the picking for me!" she rubbed the dog's head.

Spike went to her and took the dog in his arms, "Do you want her?"

Applejack looked straight at the dog while the collie barked at her happily. Making her smile and replied, "Yes." Taking the dog into her arms and petted her.

Rarity looked at the felines in the pen and asked her husband, "What do you think, darling?"

Capper looked over the cats before he spotted a white Persian grooming herself, he pointed it out to his wife, "That one kind of reminds me of you."

Rarity saw what he meant and told the caretaker, "I would like that one, please."

The caretaker grabbed for the cat while it hissed at him but when she was given to Rarity, the cat felt at ease and meowed at the princess.

Rarity smiled as she exclaimed, "I love her!"

Pinkie snorted while pointing out, "Cheesy, look at this alligator! It's eyes are so funny!"

Her husband looked and laughed with her, "You're right!"

"Can I have that one, please-pretty please?!"

"But of course, my little dumpling!"

"Yay!"

The couples next to them exchanged a worried look hoping they weren't making a mistake.

Pinkie was given the small alligator with it's eyes blinking in a weird way to her. She took that as, "Aw, he likes me!" then his mouth open and she could see only gums in his mouth. "Look, Cheesy, no teeth!"

"Well I'll be! Hey, how about we name him… Toothless!"

"Hmm… that does sound like the perfect name for him, but he looks more like a Gummy than a Toothless to me."

Cheese rubbed the alligator's head with his finger, "Alright, Gummy it is then."

Discord looked on with a smile at seeing his wife so happy with the animals. Suddenly he saw a white rabbit trying to make a run for it and caught it in time, "Gotcha!" but the rabbit used its feet to kick him making him shout, "Ow!" and was force to let go. He gave chase to the bunny and every time he came close to capturing it again it would always find some way to escape his clutches. The rabbit started to run again but this time it went straight to Fluttershy.

"Oh hello there." she said and picked up the bunny and started to pet it much to its pleasure.

Discord saw this and yelled, "Fluttershy, don't touch that! It's a demon bunny!"

"Oh Discord, how can you say that? He's nothing but a sweetheart, a little angel."

"Darling, I hate to burst your bubble but that thing is a monster, I alone had a hard time trying to get it back here."

"You just need to know how to handle a bunny rabbit right. So I think we should adopt him so you can get along with him better."

"But-but-but Fluttershy!"

"It'll be good for you." she firmly stated.

Discord grumbled under his breath and could see the rabbit having smug look on his face. Making him scowl and thought, Oh, this isn't over… not by a long shot…

Twilight was admiring the owls and one hooted at her. She held her arm out and it landed on her.

"I think you and I are going to get along great."

The owl hooted in agreement before it nuzzled against her face.

Flash watched on in pride.

Rainbow Dash looked at the remaining pets and was having a hard time deciding which one would be great for her.

Soarin saw the dilemma and suggested, "How about that lizard?" pointing to the yellow and black spotted lizard on the ground.

"Weelll… it is an amazing animal but it's pretty small don't you think? If it lived in our room, chances are it'll get lost."

"Hm, you're right. Okay then, how about that tortoise?"

"Hmm…" Dash looked at the reptile, pondering on whether or not she should get it. She ended up looking straight at the tortoise and the tortoise did the same. The two made eye contact and suddenly a bond was formed.

She declared, "I'll take him!"

Shortly afterwards, the girls introduced their pets to the others and thanked their husbands for such a thoughtful gift.

"It's really Fancy we need to thank." said Flash, "He's the one that helped us figured what to get you and was able to arranged this whole thing."

Fancy told them, "No thanks are necessary, I was simply doing my duty." he bowed. "Now we best get back inside, it's almost time for dinner, and as you know we can't have you be late."

They agreed and went back inside the castle with their new pets.

Timber and Sunset had witnessed the whole thing given they had been in the gardens that afternoon for their date. They came out from their hiding place in the stables as they saw the animal caretaker corralling the animals he had left. They decided to help him.

Grateful for the assistance, he told them that they could have an animal for themselves.

Sunset lit up at the prospect and looked over the animals. Finally her eye caught on the lizard and instantly fell in love with him, "Well, aren't you a little ray of sunshine." she held out her finger for him and he crawled on. "Timber, look. Isn't he cute?"

Timber smiled, "He sure is. But honestly I never thought of you as the gecko type. Girls of your station are always disgusted over anything that's slimy or gross."

She playfully wacked at him making him chuckle.

"Well, I don't care for that, this little guy is adorable enough for me and that's all that matters." she nuzzled her face to the leopard gecko as it did the same.

Chapter 29 Author's Note

Here's the reference materiel I got for the dancing in this chapter, since I'm really horrible at describing such beautiful and complex dancing. So here are all the links that you can find on YouTube.

The Allemande: watch?v=cZWDrjLO7r4

The Minuet (Professional Version) : watch?v=4yurw5Cf4HY

The Minuet (Instructor Version) : watch?v=8rnU4WkR4nw

The Tango: watch?v=_XTeorQC3K0

Chapter 29

The next day, the princes and princesses were in the ballroom with Fleur and Fancy while Sunset, Trixie, and Sonata watched on the side.

Fleur expressed to the girls, "There are many dances that one must learn for certain royal events. For the banquet we shall be doing Baroque dancing."

Fancy put on a powder wig making the boys groaned.

Spike complained, "Don't tell me we have to wear that!"

The noble replied, "That you do, your highnesses, as it will be customary."

They groaned again.

Fleur stated, "Now watch as my husband and I demonstrate the proper steps of the Allemande a form of Baroque dance."

Fancy cued the orchestra to play and he and his wife lined against each other and joined hands to begin the dance.

The group watched on in awe as the two moved in sync to the complex dance steps. It was absolutely breathtaking of the couple moving together like they've done this a million times. Fancy and Fleur moved to the flow of the music with style and grace. Then when the music slowed, so did they and stopped just as the cord finished.

Everyone applauded with delight.

Fleur explained, "There are many forms of Baroque dancing. Aside from the Allemande, there's the Bourree, the Canarie, the Chaconne, the courante, the Forlane, the Gavotte, the Gigue, the Loure, the Musette, the Passacaille, the Passepied, the Rigaudon, the Sarabande, the Tambourin, but the one we shall focus on will be the Minuet as it will allow for multiple partners to be in the dance."

Fancy motioned to the middle of the ballroom, "So if your highnesses will please line up in a single line while facing your spouse."

The boys and girls did as he said. They were in the birth order of the princes to keep it all straight. Discord and Fluttershy were in the front while Spike and Applejack were in the back.

Fancy and Fleur then went in front of Discord and Fluttershy with her saying, "Now watch carefully, as we show you the six steps to the Minuet." she and her husband went to each other and properly joined hands. The royal couples watched their feet to make sure they would get it right.

Fleur instructed, "Step forward with the right foot, then point your left foot beside it, bend your knee then straighten it, then move your right foot again followed by your left, then you repeat the process four times. Do you understand?" they looked back.

Their pupils gave unsure looks.

Fancy encouraged, "Just do what we do." as his wife and him continued the rest of the steps then once they finished they let go and moved behind Fluttershy and Discord and rejoined hands to do the steps again. That's when things got confusing for the couples.

Fluttershy and Discord ended up going behind Capper and Rarity and Rainbow Dash and Soarin ended up going behind Spike and Applejack. Their teachers noticed the disorder and stopped the dance.

Fleur mentioned, "It would seem that we have to make sure that you keep yourselves in the right order, better we had caught that now then at the banquet."

As the couples were fixing their mistake, Trixie commented to her sisters, "Remember how Mother made us practice doing all the right dances?"

Sunset moaned, "That was awful!"

Sonata agreed, "It was, and Adagio and Aria always made fun of me for always stepping on the instructors' toes."

Trixie humphed, "A lot of good it did, given we didn't end up marrying the princes after all."

Sunset slightly chuckled, "Yes, that's true. No wonder Mother was furious at us."

Sonata pointed, "Well naturally, we had so many lessons to become princesses for years."

Sunny sighed and looked at their once maids on the dance floor, "I feel so bad for them. They have to do all of this from scratch while we had years of training."

Fleur had overhear that and gestured to them, "All the more reason why you'll need to stick by the princesses all evening during the banquet. It'll be your job to give them information should a question about their previous life arise."

Trixie countered, "Honestly I don't know why, they've been with us long enough to know what we did."

Sunset nodded, "She's not wrong." and inquired to the girls, "You remember don't you? The day you all came to the manor and how Mother had us choosing which maid we wanted."

The princesses cringed with Twilight saying, "It's not a day we like to remember…" and the others agreed.

Sunset winced, "Okay, yes, I can see why that is. We weren't exactly that nice and respectful to you."

Rainbow crossed her arms, "Ya think?"

Sunset added, "But you should know we chose the maid that we felt would help with our needs and that was the best fit for us. I chose you, Twilight because I saw how knowledgeable you were that I knew you were the only one that would understand me…" she smirked, "And I was right, wasn't I?"

Twilight blushed and turned her head away recalling how she wanted to help Sunset be happy in time for the wedding.

Sonata motioned, "Yeah, I chose Pinkie because she looked so funny and I thought she could make me laugh. And she did!" she giggled.

Pinkie giggled as well, "Well you were funny too!"

Rarity cleared her throat, "Yes, well, you two got lucky the rest of us weren't so lucky. Suri was always ordering me around that it was a complete nightmare!"

Sunset said, "But I know why she chose you, you had a keen sense for fashion that she wanted to use to show off to others. In other words you made her look good."

Rarity humphed, "Well I should say so! Some of the dresses I picked out for her were the best!"

Her friends gave her exasperated looks with Applejack saying, "Not really something you should brag about, Rare."

Trixie chuckled, "Yes, you always were so self-effacing; that I knew by choosing you that I would always be able to stand out with your mundane attitude and appearance."

AJ sarcastically replied, "Gee, thanks, that makes me so flattered."

Spike shuddered while looking at Trixie, And to think I almost married her…

Rainbow asked, "Just out of curiosity, but why did Aria choose me?"

Sunset replied, "I'm pretty sure it was to have control over you. I think she sensed you were headstrong and so she took it upon herself to make sure you would obey."

Dash shrugged, "Makes sense to me."

Sunset addressed Fluttershy, "And I think it's pretty obvious why Adagio chose you, you were just that easily submissive to her."

Fluttershy hung her head in shame, uttering, "It's true…"

Her husband wrapped an arm around her for comfort, telling her, "That part of your life is over now. You're free from the cruelty you had to endure and I will never let you suffer that ever again."

Capper told his wife, "The same goes for me."

Soarin stated, "Me too." to Rainbow.

Flash, Cheese, and Spike looked to Sunset and her sisters as Flash spoke on their behalf, "You may have been part of that at first but what you have done for us on our wedding day is more than enough to help us look past the deeds you have done to our wives when they were serving you."

That made the trio smile.

Trixie flipped her hair and boasted, "Yes, well, Trixie thought getting married was ridiculous since I knew nothing of my betrothed and since he was in love with my maid anyway, there was no point in going through with it."

Sunset rolled her eyes knowing full well that's not the reason she decided to side with her about not getting married. But her little sister loved being shown in a more positive light and gain creditability.

Sunset said, "If anything, it all worked out for best. My sisters and I are now free from our mother's grasp and have a much better life than the one we had."

Sonata excitedly said, "Absolutely! Without Mother or our older sisters breathing down our necks it's been the most joyful time of our lives, I know it is for me!"

Thoughts of a certain stable boy filled Sunset's mind, making her say, "It certainly is, Sonata… it certainly is…"

The girls saw their former mistresses' happy faces and it made them both surprised and elated thinking this was what they needed all along.

Sunset made a remorseful face to them, "I know we have a long way to truly be forgiven by you and we're fine with that."

"We are?" Trixie questioned before she got nudged by Sonata, "I mean, we are!" forcing herself to put on a smile.

The girls glanced at each other before they made tiny smiles with Twilight speaking for them, "I think we already have…"

The three sisters were stunned before smiling themselves with Sunset being on the edge of tears, this was more than she could hope for. On impulse she went to Twilight and hugged her followed by Sonata and Trixie. The girls then went into one giant group hug much to the boys' amusement knowing how loving and benevolent their wives were.

Fancy and Fleur had watched the whole thing and were quite touched by the sight before Fleur knew they had to get back to the royals' dance lessons. She cleared her throat getting their attention.

"As sentimental as this moment is, we must return to our lessons or else you'll never be ready for the banquet."

There were small groans from both the boys and girls.

Sunset, Trixie, and Sonata then took their leave while wishing the royals luck and were gone.

The couples resumed with their dance and to their teachers' delight they improved greatly throughout the rest of the afternoon.

Finally when it seem they got all the steps down and didn't go out of order, Fancy and Fleur decided to call it a day much to the relief of their students.

Fancy told them, "You did very well today. I daresay that you're more than ready for the banquet now, wouldn't you agree, dear?"

Fleur replied shrewdly, "Well there still some steps that need to be perfected but other than that, I say they're ready."

That made them grin in happiness.

Rarity commented, "You know, seeing you two perform the Allemande was one of most romantic things I've seen."

Fluttershy and Pinkie agreed with her.

Rarity asked, "So it makes me wonder, are there other dances you know together?"

Fancy answered, "Oh, quite so, Princess Rarity. In fact one of the very first dances we did was the Pas-de-deux given we both had to learn ballet at a young age. Then of course, there's the waltz and we're both good at that. We're also good at the Viennese waltz with polka being our specialty. But there will always be one dance that will always make us the best of the best…" he smirked toward his wife.

Fleur face-palmed, "Dear husband of mine, it's been too long… I don't think I have the strength to do it anymore."

Fancy kept smirking, "I don't believe that in the slightest. You're still the best tango dancer I've ever known."

"Tango?!" the boys voiced out unbelieving that someone as stiff as Lady Fleur could dance such a vicarious dance.

"Ah, do I detect the hint of doubt?" he offered his hand to his wife, "Shall we… prove them wrong?" his smirk never ending.

Fleur released a sigh, "Very well. If only to show that I love my husband to no end even when giving into his idiotic whims."

He kept grinning mischievously, "I was hoping you would say that." he removed his wig and turned to the orchestra, "Maestro, if you will."

The conductor acknowledged his request and the musicians began to play the infamous Spanish tango.

Fancy and Fleur joined hands and moved to the middle of dance floor where he twirled his wife toward him and twirled back.

The princes and their wives watched with wonder of the raw passion being put on display before them.

"Goodness!" Rarity uttered behind her hand.

Throughout the movements they could see the intensity in the dancing couple's eyes full of love and sexual tension.

Then as the music was about to end the couple pulled one last move of Fancy lifting Fleur up and she wrapped her legs around his torso and they touched foreheads with the sweat sticking them together.

Their audience was stun in amazement until they applauded uncontrollably.

Fleur got down from her husband's lap and straighten herself up.

She said, "Well, I would say we made our point very clear."

Fancy was still smiling, "I should say so."

Fleur addressed the couples, "If you'll excuse me I need to freshen up." she curtsied, "Good day." and left.

The princes looked to Fancy in bewilderment as they realized there were still some things that they didn't know about their mentor and true father figure. Making them think they should try to know more about him, after all it was the least they could do after everything Fancy has done for them. But now the question was; how were they going to do that? So all they could do for now was wait for the opportunity to present itself and that they would be ready for it.

Chapter 30

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 31

Fancy had noticed the solemn mood that Soarin was portraying during dinner and as soon as Tirek dismissed himself and the others, Fancy immediately went to the second eldest and requested Rainbow to let him speak to her husband alone. Dash agreed and told Soarin she would be waiting in their room.

When Fancy and Soarin found a secure room where no one would disturb them, Soarin admitted to the noble of what transpired this afternoon much to the older man's dismay.

He inquired, "Do you think your brothers are better than you?"

Soarin stammered, "Yes- no- I don't know! I never really thought any of that until he brought it up."

"Oh Soarin, you and your brothers are always going have different talents that make all of you special in your own way. You cannot take the words of a man whose sole purpose is to make sure everyone follows his orders and does things his way."

"Still though, when I came back to my room and Dashie suggested we play games I noticed that she was being better than I was! I know I shouldn't think otherwise but it is upsetting to think that my wife can one up me just has my own brothers have been doing that my whole life!"

Fancy sighed, "Soarin, your marriage should not be a competition. Your wife maybe better than you at some things but you cannot forget why you love her in the first place, can you do that?"

The prince sighed deeply, "Yes, I suppose can."

The noble smiled and patted his back, "That's a good lad."

Soarin tried to smile back but it was hard to since his doubt was still lingering about.

Capper and Rarity were walking around the hallway as he pointed to her the portraits hanging and he explained which were real and fake until they heard the sound of a ahem and they turned to see Tirek standing there. Immediately the couple bowed in respect as Capper said, "Father."

"Son, a word if you will." he crooked his finger at him.

Rarity told her husband, "I'll wait for you, darling."

He smirked, "I look forward it."

She released a small giggle before curtsying to the king and left.

Capper then got serious and approached his father, "I suppose this is about the truth to me being a chosen heir?"

"In a way, but also that I must congratulate you." Tirek made a sly smile.

The prince was genuinely surprised by this, making him question in confusion, "Congratulate me? For what?"

"What else? For being the perfect prince! Since I hear you have excelled well in your studies and is quite the gentleman as needed. I'm truly astonished that I didn't notice it sooner. Even your choice in a mate is perfect because Lady Fleur tells me she has raised far beyond her expectations and that it only took the first day to do it!"

Capper was suspicious of this friendly manner his father was displaying and carefully replied, "That's my wife, a true lady through and through."

"Indeed… perhaps I misjudged these girls and that they can be useful after all."

The prince didn't say anything as he waited for what else Tirek had to say.

"As for the reason why you became an heir, I knew you would be charismatic enough to appease the court because ever since you were a little boy you would charm your way into people's hearts all the time."

Capper slightly frowned at that, he could remember that and he didn't like it. He could recall his parents stoking the egos of the other nobles whenever they wanted something from them, and they especially used him to their advantage. After all who could say no to such a cute face as his? It was true his charms were able to make him into the prince he was today but half the time he felt like a fool, a puppet, and a stooge all in one. And for the king to compliment him on this, it just made his stomach turn.

"Just think in a few years, you could be the king I always hoped you would be."

His eyes widen, "Me? King?" being utterly taken back by this news.

"But of course, you have what it takes and as long as you keep it up, then you shall have no problem taking over for me. Doesn't that sound appeasing?"

Capper gulped, "It's… it's something alright." feeling his mouth go dry.

"Well, I just thought you would appreciate me telling you this because as far as I am concern you don't need any private lessons from me but I didn't want your brothers to know that, you understand that don't you?"

The prince slowly nodded.

"Good," he started to go, "glad we could have this little chat like a father and son should… Have a good night." he went down the hall and slightly turned back to see the look of devastation on Capper's face making him smirk evilly then went straight to his chambers.

Capper felt like he was on the verge of fainting, he knew he had to do what he had to survive the pressures of being a royal prince that he never once thought he did too good of a job! He needed a few more moments to process this information then he went to his and his brothers' suites were and was about enter his room until he heard shouting coming from Discord and Fluttershy's chamber before the door opened and Discord was shoved out.

"But Fluttershy!" he retorted.

"No Discord!" she countered, "You need to start giving me more space, because I can't handle you smothering me much longer!"

"It's not smothering! It's making sure you're safe and protected!"

"That's just as bad! You can't keep me from bad things happening! That's not how it works!"

"But I love you!"

"If you love me you would stop treating me like a caged bird!"

"Well you can't keep me out of my own bed!"

She humphed and slammed the door on him.

Discord let out a frustrated yell and sat down on the floor with his arms and legs crossed it was then he saw his brother and sighed, "Go ahead and gloat. I know what you're going to say," he mocked his voice, "'Having trouble with the little lady are we?'"

Capper just stood there before sighing, "Even if I wanted to, I know it would just be pointless."

The elder prince grew concern hearing that, "You okay? You're not your usual bothersome self."

"It's nothing, I'm just tired from today. So… you're just going to sleep on the floor then since Fluttershy won't let you back in?"

"No!" he blurted till his face softened and he muttered, "Maybe…"

Capper just shook his head and offered his hand, "Come on, I'll let you sleep on our couch."

"Sure your wife will be fine with that?" he asked as he took his brother's hand and got up.

"Uh… Let me check quick." he opened his door and went, "Honey! Can Discord sleep on our couch tonight?"

Rarity came and questioned, "Why what's going on?"

Discord bitterly replied, "Fluttershy and I had a fight."

"Oh dear! Is she alright?"

"Hey I'm the one that was thrown out! Why are you concern for her?!"

"Sorry darling, but I should at least check on her." she went to the suite door and knocked, "Fluttershy, dear? May I come in?"

The door did open and Rarity was allowed in before it shut behind her. The boys could hear talking going on before the prim and proper girl opened the door again and told them, "I'll be staying here for the rest of the night, so Discord can stay in our room."

Capper inquired, "Um, why does that sound like he's going to be staying longer than intended?"

"Sorry sweetie, but until Discord learns his lesson, I'm afraid I'll be staying with Fluttershy for the time being." She blew a kiss, "Nighty-night." and closed the door.

The brothers slowly looked at each other with Capper glaring, "You so own me for this..." he went into his room as he said, "It's bad enough that Father practically compliment me on my behavior now I can't even sleep with my own wife!"

"Wait… that's why you were down? What did Father do?"

He sighed, "He told me that he was impressed by how princely I can be and that the only reason he chose me was because of my charisma. But it's not like I want to be charismatic all the time! Most of the time I feel like an absolute fraud!"

"Aren't we all theoretically frauds? Since we always need to put on a smile and wave when we feel otherwise?"

"That's exactly my point! But I don't want to be some pawn that father wants to control!"

Discord scoffed, "Join the club, why do you think I've been as she puts it 'smothering' Fluttershy? It's because Father wants me to be as manipulative as him. He knows my wife is my weak spot and he has made it clear that he will hurt her if I don't watch my step. Face it, you know we'll never to be able to escape this role we've been put in. We tried to run away once but that didn't work and we almost lost our loves that if it wasn't for the miracle that was Sunset Shimmer our lives would be so much different right now."

Capper sadly said, "So what you're saying is that we should be grateful for what we do have and just leave it at that."

Discord nodded, "It's only way…"

The third prince sighed again and sat down on his bed with his head hanging wishing there was some way to escape his awful fate. He did not want to be become his adoptive father and quickly thought of ways he could do that.

Soarin was having trouble sleeping and could see on his side of his wife already sleeping away as she made slight snoring sounds. He frowned, thinking, She's even a better sleeper than me! He groaned and turned away. With his father's words still plaguing his mind he ended up having a very rough night.

Chapter 32

The next day, the princes were in the library again with the three younger brothers gawking at how horrible their older brothers look. They had bags under their red eyes and their hair was scuffled up like they didn't bother to comb it.

Spike was the first to ask, "Are you guys alright?"

Cheese said, "Yeah, you look like a herd of horses trampled over you." hoping to add levity to the situation.

The three glared at him before Discord replied with a groan, "I had a fight with my wife."

Capper added, "And I had to let him stay in my room while our wives were in his."

"Oohh…" the younger trio responded.

Flash asked Soarin, "What about you?"

The second prince grunted, "I don't want to talk about it… Especially not to you…"

Flash slack jawed as well as the others and before they could dive deeper into what was going on Fancy walked in seeing the sorry sight of the older princes and concern grew over him.

Capper quickly updated him on his and Discord's situation and the noble let out a sigh, "Looks like it's time I teach you boys the facts of marriage." he reached for the chalk and wrote on the nearby chalkboard as he spoke, "You see boys, marriage has be treated as a foundation of trust, compromise, and communication. Take me and Fleur for example, we trust each other that we will never stray from the other but more importantly that we trust with each other with anything from our most guarded secrets to consent. That is to say we don't have our own fights every now and then and from there we need to compromise make both spouses happy. Then with communication we're open with each other as we tell each other what's upsetting us and we try to make it better.

"So you see boys, marriage isn't simply when two people in love make a commitment to each other and live happily-ever-after, it's so much more than that. It's a partnership between best friends or at least that's how I see it. Fleur is my best friend to be sure because I can share with her this connection that only she would ever understand. Not only that but she loves all of me, flaws and all and I do the same for her. So you see, marriage is not just romance, rather that's a perk and should be treated as such."

The boys were stunned by this lecture and looking back to when they met the girls and went on their dates with them, it's just as Fancy had said it wasn't just romance they were feeling with them but a strong connection that brought them closer.

Soarin remembered how anxious to see Rainbow again after they agreed they would run away and when he did his heart practically burst with joy as he held her in his arms. While still upset on how good she was at certain things he couldn't let that affect the fact that he loved her for who she was. And who she was, was just amazing…

Fancy addressed Discord, "So in the meantime give your wife the space she needs, eventually it'll work out and you two will be back together."

The oldest prince sighed, "I guess…"

The girls were in the parlor waiting for Fleur and as they were Fluttershy and Rarity had told the others about what happened last night.

"I didn't like kicking him out but he was crossing a line and I had to put a stop to it."

Rarity stated, "You did the right thing, dear. And as much as I hate being away from my husband, you needed me more."

Pinkie commented, "Wow, I didn't think we'd have marriage problems this soon! Thank goodness Cheesy and I still have a stable relationship going."

Rainbow made a worried look and rubbed her arm, "Soar did seem a little cranky this morning and when I tried to ask him what was wrong, he just blew me off! Do you think it was something I did?"

Applejack said, "Could be but you won't know for sure until he says what's bothering him."

By then Fleur came in to start the next round of lessons until she saw the troubled looks on her students' faces and inquired, "Is everything going well with you ladies?"

The girls immediately told Fleur the problem to which she responded, "Ah, marrying was easy, young ladies, but now comes the truth of domestic life. Not everything will go as you plan and we must adapt to the situation come what may." she told Fluttershy, "I think you handled the situation as well as you could but you might have been a bit harsh in this case. Prince Discord is not used to being told what to do and he's certainly not used to having a wife. You must ease him into it by giving him some ground rules, of what your boundaries are. Does that help?"

Fluttershy smiled and nodded, while saying, "It does, thank you."

Fleur then told Dash, "As for Prince Soarin, normally he has a better temperament than this so it's possible he could be sick and it needs to be looked into."

Rainbow covered her eyes, "I'm a horrible wife!"

"No, no sweetie." Fleur went to her and crouched down, "You just need to understand his quirks and behavior better and that goes for all of you, after all am I to understand that you only met with them a few times before getting married?"

The girls made sounds of agreement.

"I thought so, so really it's not your fault because normally a courtship would take longer than that, I know it did for me and my husband."

The princesses took comfort in that.

Fleur then got up and suddenly said, "You know what? Let's forget about princess lessons today, instead I am going to give you everything I know about your husbands and hopefully you'll be able to use it for future use."

The girls gawk to that before smiling brightly at the lady.

Fancy had noticed the mood brighten immensely since his talk on marriage. But he still could see the older boys were still troubled by something and if he had to guess that something was their father. It made him scowl thinking that Tirek could hurt these boys by using their emotions against them. He feared the same will happen to the younger boys, especially since they were more sensitive than their big brothers.

Just then a page came in making the boys quake particularly Flash. And when the page called for him the prince slowly got up and looked back to his brothers who tried to often him reassuring smiles but even they knew that he was going to have a hard time if not harder.

Flash took a deep breath and went with the page.

Fancy looked with worry and prayed that everything would be alright.

The page announced, "Prince Flash Sentry de Vigilante, your grace."

Flash walked into his father's study as he saw the steely gaze of the king watching his every move. Until he motioned, "Sit."

The prince did as he was commanded.

There was nothing but silence making Flash more uneasy by the minute.

Finally Tirek spoke, "Tell me, son, why do you suppose I chose you as an heir?"

Flash rose a brow and wavered, "I… I wouldn't know Father, your ways are your ways. I have no right to question that."

"An excellent response. I'm impressed."

"You are?" genuinely shocked by that.

"But of course, you always know how to speak the right words but that also disappointed me since you would only talk instead of taking action like I always hoped you would."

"W-what do you mean?"

"When you were young I saw you playing around with a wooden sword and would imitate the guards. I figured for you as battle worthy and would be fit at commanding our armies only to see this weaker side of you as you grew hence why I tried to make you tough by being harsher to you than your brothers."

His eyes widen to this revelation as it all made sense now. All those years of harsh words and emotional turmoil… it was to mold him into something tougher and stronger. Then anger steeped in and he scowled and perhaps for the first time in his life he felt brave enough to stand up to his father.

He slowly started, "You mean… to tell me…" his voice grew stronger by the word, "that you were forcing me to be something I wasn't?! I may like swordfighting but it does not define who I am!" and ended up standing up to stare his adoptive father down.

Tirek showed no emotion as he stood up, coolly asking, "Oh? Does that upset you?" and slowly made his way to the mantle.

Flash shouted, "Yes that upsets me! How can it not?!"

"You do not wish to be a king that can fight any battle that comes your way?"

"Not like this!"

Tirek then grabbed for the swords on the mantle piece, "Then let us strike a bargain, if you can best me in a duel then I shall reevaluate my methods to you and shall let you be the king you want to be." he tossed a sword to Flash which he caught, "Fair?"

Flash looked at his reflection in the sword, making a determined look, and readied himself, stating, "Fair."

Tirek lifted his own and braced for the fight that was to come.

The swords touched together as the king said, "On the count of three. One… Two… Three!" and the swords clashed.

The battle between father and son commenced as Flash thought of all he had been through in the past. To lose his kind and caring parents and their place was a father that refused to love him back and just wanted him for one thing only. During the fight he almost bump and tripped over things in the room and started wishing they had did this outside.

Tirek saw this and smirked, "Holding back are we? I was told you were the best among your brothers is that wrong?"

"No it's not!" he yelled and clashed his sword more to his.

Lost in his anger he bumped vases and artifacts as they crashed to the ground.

Tirek in the meanwhile was keeping control while letting his son lose it. Flash's rash behavior was destructive and he took that to his whole advantage.

"Such a temper, it's a shame you don't display it more. You could be a fierce warrior, proving my point of how battle worthy you truly are…"

Hearing that made Flash's blood run cold and he looked around to see what he had done.

"No…" he uttered.

While distracted Tirek took the opportunity to disarm him and knocked him to the ground with his foot and held his sword tip to Flash's chest.

The prince looked right into the king's cold stare and fear once again filled him.

Tirek firmly spoke, "You are what I think you are. No more will I see that weakness of yours, from now on I expect you to be tough and hard. Is that clear?"

Flash was on the verge of tears, "Please… Don't make me be something I'm not…"

Out of nowhere a hand struck him in the face making roll to the side. He felt blood coming from his nose. Then he felt his hair getting grabbed with Tirek yelling in his ear.

"Stop acting like a child! It's time for you to grow up!" then he let go but kept him down. "Do you wish to test me further?"

Flash shook his head.

"Good… Now get up and get out of my sight."

The prince didn't waste a second as he cupped his nose and quickly left the room.

Author's Note

I don't have anything to say about this other than… I'm sorry Flash :fluttercry:

Chapter 33 Draft

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1

Six brothers woke up on the dot as the morning sun rose up in the sky. The eldest of them, Discord, was in his late twenties almost thirty, but despite his mature age he tended to act childish around his brothers and the royal court much to his father's annoyance. The second eldest was Soarin who was also in his late twenties, but compared to his older brother he was more responsible and had a sense of duty. The third brother was Capper, he was the cunning one of the group next to Discord that is but his smarts helped him with his studies and managed to find loopholes in everything he did. Next was Flash who liked spending his days in the castle gym with the rest of the royal guard practicing his swordfighting, making him one of the best swordsman of all the land.

Then there was Cheese who liked being a practical joker but he also helps plan most of the castle's important events, making him well respected. Then finally, the youngest, Spike who recently turned nineteen. But just as Discord was immature for his age, Spike was quite mature for his as he tended to act more wisely then the rest of his brothers. That is to say he wasn't without flaws like he gave into his greed every once in a while but he still had a kind and noble heart. In fact, all of the princes were kind and had a sense of honor to them.

One-by-one they filed out their rooms, fully dressed, and they greeted each other.

Flash said to Soarin, "Morning, brother."

Soarin replied back, "Morning, brother."

Spike was rubbing his eyes, "I hate these early risings."

Discord pointed, "Hey, it's not our fault that Father wants us to be on time. After all you know what he says…"

They all said, "Punctuality is the politeness of princes."

A voice suddenly said, "And you will do well to remember that."

They turned to see Lord Fancy Pants walking down to them.

Capper addressed him with a smirk, "Oh we'll remember but can you remember the time that Father was late himself? That wasn't very polite."

Fancy countered, "But as he is the king and for a king, he's never late, everyone else is simply early."

Discord questioned, "Is that what he told you? Sounds like more of an excuse to me."

The lord motioned, "Regardless, you six need get down to the dining hall to have breakfast with his majesty. Then after that, you need to start on your duties and lessons."

With sighs they did as he said.

The boys sat around the table in silence as they ate. On occasion if their father was away on business then they would get into lively chatter with one another but since their father was here, they needed to keep quiet until they were done.

King Tirek then got up to address them.

"Well my sons, since Spike became of proper age, it's time we discuss your futures."

"How so, Father?" Flash asked.

"An excellent question, my son, tell me what are your thoughts on marriage?"

"Marriage?!" they all gasped.

"Yes, marriage. Now pay attention. Discord is almost an old man making him undesirable to eligible ladies of the court."

"Hey! I resent that!"

"Quiet! Now… the rest of you aren't getting any younger either so it's important I have all of you be wed to the most important noble ladies of the land. And fortunately, I have been corresponding with the Lady Chrysalis and she has six lovely daughters to be your wives."

The princes exchanged looks with each other, shock by this announcement.

Lord Fancy Pants who was standing nearby was also surprised by the news.

Tirek continued, "As such we will have a masquerade ball to celebrate your betrothal to them."

The boys were utterly speechless.

Their father smiled, "I see that that you're accepting this gracefully."

Capper cleared his throat, "Well Father, it's wonderful to see that you care for our well-being and that you would choose beautiful women to be our princesses but it does seem rather sudden for us to marry them without proper courtship."

His brothers murmured in agreement.

Tirek held his hand up, "There will be plenty of time for you to do that at the ball and after the wedding." then he started to walk away, "You are dismissed."

For the rest of the day, the princes were distraught by their father's words as they performed their duties and did their studies. Once it was almost time for them to retire they met up in Discord's room to talk about their impending marriages.

"Maybe they won't be so bad…?" Spike tried to sound reassuring.

"But what if they are?" Cheese inquired, "What then?"

Flash suggested, "Maybe we should tell Father we don't want to marry them."

Discord shook his head, "Bad idea. You saw how pleased he was with us for not speaking out."

Soarin frowned, "So that's it then? We'll just accept our fate and marry these girls?"

Capper had been pondering deeply until his eyes lit up and told them, "Or maybe… we don't have to…"

They turned to him with curious expressions with Discord asking, "What is going on in that cat-like mind of yours?"

Capper smiled, "Let's see these daughters of Chrysalis for ourselves to determine if we'll either like them or hate them. If we like them, there's no problem and we make our father happy in the process. But… if we don't, then we can convince them to not marry us and they'll tell their mother to call off the deal."

They gawked at their brother's plan before smiles spread across their faces.

Discord declared, "You are devious and brilliant, oh, brother of mine!"

He mocked a bow, "Just doing my part as being the smartest one of us all."

Soarin said sarcastically, "Ha, ha…" but ended up smirking.

Discord pointed, "As much as I would love to debate who is the smartest one here," he muttered under his breath, "Even though it's obviously me…" he said out loud, "we need to get out from these palace walls first to find our future brides."

Flash motioned, "Capper, think you can trick Lord Fancy to tell you where Lady Chrysalis lives?"

The third brother replied, "I can do one better, I can get us a map of the entire kingdom from him."

Spike asked, "How?"

"Sorry, that's a trade secret."

"Oh, come on! You can tell me! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

Soarin slyly grinned, "That maybe so but you'll always be our baby brother."

Spike crossed his arms and grumbled.

Flash slightly chuckled and wrapped an arm around him, "Don't worry, you may be the youngest but you're still a lot more mature then those three." pointing to Discord, Capper, and Cheese.

"Hey!" they said but ended up laughing instead.

Cheese shrugged, "Well, he is right!"

Discord gestured, "At least we know how to have fun unlike you three."

Soarin retorted, "Hey, we can be fun!"

Capper said, "Prove it then. Tomorrow is our day off so it'll give us the chance we need to escape the palace and journey around the kingdom. After we meet with the ladies of course, then you can show off your fun sides."

Spike declared, "You're on!"

Fancy met with the king before he retired for the evening as he wanted to voice his concerns about the princes' betrothal.

Tirek was at his desk in his study when he saw the noble approach him.

"Something on your mind, Lord Fancy Pants?"

"There is, Your Majesty. It's their highnesses' upcoming marriages."

"What about it?"

"Sire, I'm concern on how this is going to work for them as Prince Capper had said this morning, they haven't properly courted these young ladies."

Tirek stood up and stated, "Marriage is about alliances. My sons are fulfilling their duty by marrying Lady Chrysalis's daughters who holds a large portion of our great kingdom. Besides, the Lady Chrysalis and I have been planning this since I took in my sons and Chrysalis's youngest was born."

Fancy's eyes widen.

"So whatever you think is the proper approach, I've already covered every detail to make this happen."

"But… but surely you care for your sons' happiness and let them fall in love on their own?"

"Love? Love is for the weak and my sons are much stronger than that. Now is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

There were a lot of things Fancy wished he could discuss with his king. Of the poor choices he has afflicted upon the kingdom ever since the old king and queen had passed away without an heir, leaving the entire monarchy in shambles as there was a great debate of who would have the right to succeed. So many of the nobles wanted the crown for themselves but Fancy stood his ground telling them that Lord Scorpan, Lord Tirek's brother was the logical choice to rule. But on the eve of his coronation he disappeared leaving a letter to everyone saying he gave up the title to his brother and thus Tirek was made king.

The nobles were furious by this arrangement but Tirek made a negotiation with them that he would take in six noble sons as his own to be his heirs. That eased the aristocracy as they presented their sons to King Tirek and he made his choice. Discord, Soarin, Capper, Flash, Cheese, and Spike were deemed fit as princes and rightfully so. Fancy had watched the boys grow and he was pleased to see how brotherly they were toward each other. They had indeed shown great skills of how it took to rule a kingdom. Between Discord's cunning, Soarin's responsibility, Capper's charm, Flash's chivalry, Cheese's wit, and Spike's wisdom they would do wonders. Unfortunately they were incredibly naïve to the world around them. Their adoptive father had sheltered them in so they had no experience to what the other half lived like.

Fancy tried his hardest to teach the boys this but they had a hard time grasping it.

He said to the king, "No, Sire." he bowed before leaving the room. He started going down the hall when he saw Prince Capper coming toward him.

"Thought I'd find you here."

"As always your sharp mind is right. Now the question is, why were you looking for me?"

"Because you know better than anyone that Father is forcing us to marry women we absolutely don't know about."

Fancy sighed, "I had hope I could convince him otherwise, but he had this planned for a long time it seems."

"Then you know that my brothers and I want to see these girls before the wedding."

"That is out of the question."

Capper frowned, "Those are our father's words. I want to hear what you would say…"

Fancy sighed again and said, "It's too risky. You cannot meet them until the ball, but… if there's any hope of you six having successful and somewhat happy marriages…" he scowled and stated in a firm tone, "I want all of you to be back before dinner, is that understood?"

Capper smirked, "You have our word."

"I mean it, your highness. I'm risking my neck here and if your father ever found out…"

"We know. And we'll make sure that Father never suspects that you helped us."

Fancy sighed and shook his head, "I hope that you are right."

Chapter 2

"Are you sure you're reading that map right?" Discord asked Capper as they rode on their horses going away from the castle and into some woods.

Capper held the map up, "I'm sure of it! Lady Chrysalis's manor is on this side of the kingdom."

"It feels like we're going nowhere!" said Soarin, pointing to the empty road.

Flash looked up to see dark clouds gathering, commenting, "And I don't like the look of that sky. If it storms and we don't get back before dinner, then we broke our promise to Fancy."

Cheese motioned, "We need to hurry then."

Capper stated, "Give me a little time to figure this out, after all we've never been outside of the palace before."

Spike exclaimed, "It is rather exciting!" he gestured around their surroundings, "The fresh air, the beauty of the world, it's amazing!"

Capper then pointed in a direction, "Okay, we go that way!" he moved his horse and the others followed.

After some time, the brothers were still riding on making Discord complain.

"We're lost!"

Capper countered, "We're not lost!"

Soarin voiced, "But shouldn't we have been there by now?"

His brother shrugged, "It seems that the Lady Chrysalis likes to isolate herself from the rest of the world."

Cheese mentioned, "No wonder Father made this arrangement with her, because if they think alike…"

Spike nodded, "I agree."

Flash looked at the sky again, "Those clouds aren't going away, in fact, they look darker than they were a few moments ago."

Suddenly a rain drop fell onto his head followed by a flash of lightning and crash of thunder. More raindrops fell before it became a downpour.

"Well, that's just great!" Discord shouted out.

"We need to get to the manor, now!" Spike yelled.

Capper bellowed, "This way!" he signaled his horse to run.

The wind and rain beat against them making it hard to see anything and their clothes were getting wetter by the second. Then in the nearby distance they saw lights coming from windows. As they got closer they saw a large neo-gothic house.

They would have marveled at the architecture, were not for the rain making them cold and drenched. They got off their horses and Discord knocked on the dark double doors.

Inside, a young woman with butter-cream skin and rosy pink hair wearing simple garment heard the knock and went over to answer it. Upon opening one of the doors, she came face to face with a young man with dark hair and gray skin. The two made brief eye contact and stood there in wonder. But when Soarin nudged Discord, he came out of the trance and so did the girl. Discord addressed her, "Pardon us for intruding like this, but could we please get out of the rain to warm up?"

She looked at all the boys being wet and made a sympathetic look before saying in a sweet voice, "I wish I could… But I'm not allowed to bring strangers into the house…"

Discord said, "We understand, but it seems this storm isn't letting up anytime soon and we're far from home so we don't have anywhere else to go."

The girl bit her lip and said, "Give me one moment." she went back inside and it seem she was taking forever until she came back, telling them, "Quickly, come inside." she led them in.

"Thank you." Discord told her making her slightly smile.

They got inside where they saw five other girls standing on the side. A girl with straight purple hair and violet eyes spoke up, "We need to hurry; we can't let the housekeeper know you're here."

Flash found himself ogling toward this girl, and the same could be said for the other boys as Capper found himself staring at the blue-eyed girl with purple hair that had curls. Spike looked at a girl with long blonde hair and freckles. Soarin gawked at the girl with rainbow hair. And Cheese was mesmerized by the girl with poofy pink hair, it just looked so lively.

The girls gestured them to follow and they did so. They were lead into the kitchen with the blonde woman using a poker to stoke the fire making the room much warmer.

Then the girl with the rosy hair brought in towels giving them to the men.

The blonde woman told them, "Stand by the fire so you can get your clothes dry."

Spike went up to her with a smile, "Thank you, milady."

The girl felt herself blushing to his kind words, "You're… welcome…"

The blue-eyed girl spoke, "How dreadful that all of you had to be caught out in such dreary weather."

Capper smiled at her, "Perhaps, but then we would not been able to meet such dazzling beauties."

The girl tittered and uttered, "Charmer."

The girl with the violet eyes asked, "Just why were all of you out there, if you don't mind my asking."

Flash told her, "Not at all! We came to see Lady Chrysalis about an important matter."

The girls eyed each other before the violet-eye girl spoke again, "I'm afraid she won't be back until tomorrow. So you'll have to come back then to see her."

Soarin said, "That's okay, it wasn't that important anyway."

Cheese shook his head causing water to drip down, "It isn't."

The girl with the pink hair noticed and grabbed another towel as she approached him, "Your hair is so wet! Let me dry it out!" she wiped his curls making him chuckle.

"That tickles!"

That made her giggle too.

He commented, "That's a cute laugh you have."

"Aw, thanks!" and kept drying.

The rainbow-haired girl went to Soarin, "Do you need anything?"

"No thanks. I'm alright."

She slightly smirked, "Good, because I hate the idea of serving a freeloader."

He smirked back, "Not to worry, I know when to quit when I'm ahead. But we can't thank you girls enough for letting us in."

"Hey, my sisters and I didn't like the idea of you six shivering out in the cold like that."

The boys exchanged looks when hearing the word, 'sisters'.

Spike whispered to Flash, "Do you think…?"

He whispered back, "Well… there are six of them…"

Discord uttered in, "So it's got to be them!" he turned to the rosy-haired girl, "Tell me my dear, how long have you been in this house?"

"Oh goodness, it's been so long that I can't remember how long it's been."

The blue-eyed girl added, "We've all lived here for awhile now, it's understandable."

That confirmed it for the princes. They were Chrysalis's daughters.

The girls watched the boys with intrigue as they kept drying themselves out by the fire. When Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had begun their day they never once thought they would meet six young men half drown from a storm.

Applejack whispered, "Strange lot ain't they?"

Rarity pointed, "Perhaps, but you can tell from their clothes as wet as they are that they are noblemen."

Twilight mentioned, "And they did want to see Lady Chrysalis about something so that confirms it."

Fluttershy suggested, "They could be apprentices working at the palace."

Rainbow uttered, "Whatever they are, they'll have to leave the moment the storm lets up."

Pinkie said, "She's right. Madam Cinch would be furious at us for letting men in here without the proper invitation."

They nodded their heads in agreement.

Just then one of the men suddenly sneezed and Fluttershy realized it came from the man she spoke with at the door.

"Oh my, I hope you're not catching a cold." she commented.

"It's nothing." he replied.

"Still, you should have some tea so you won't get sick." she went to put a kettle on.

Applejack added, "I got some warm apple cider on the stove, do you boys want any?"

The one with damp bright green hair raised his hand, "I would."

"So would I." said the one with blue hair.

"Me too." said the brunette.

She joined Fluttershy and poured the cider in a few mugs. As she served to them the brunette and blue-haired one grabbed for their mugs. The green-haired one was about to grab for his when Applejack tried to hand it to him and they touched hands for a second.

In that one moment, a strange sensation ran through them that they ended up staring at each other.

At the same time Twilight was walking by when she accidently tripped and bumped into the blue-haired man and he dropped his drink. "I'm so sorry!" she said and bended down to pick it up but he bended down too and the two touched hands making them lock gazes, forgetting about the spill entirely.

Rarity saw the looks and smirked knowingly. The dark purple-haired man came up to her with a smirk on his own as they watched their companions make goo-goo eyes.

"It would seem my brothers are smitten with your sisters."

"Indeed…" then she spotted a tear in his sleeve and told him, "Don't move." she quickly grabbed a needle and thread out of her dress pocket and started sewing the fabric. He watched on in bewilderment and when she was done their hands briefly touched but the feeling they got from it was amazing as they eyed each other.

Pinkie offered the brunette man a plate of chocolate chip cookies, "Cookie?"

"Don't mind if I do!" he reached for it just she was about to hand one to him and once their fingers touched, a shock of electricity ran through them and they stared right into their eyes.

Fluttershy had finished making the tea and poured a cup. She brought it to the man. He eyed it with hesitation but once he saw those adorable eyes of the girl's, he took it but in doing so he touched hands with her and they gawked at each other.

Rainbow saw all of them ogling and wanted to retch at the sight, the man with light blue skin and light green eyes saw her grimace, making him slightly chuckle, asking her, "Too mushy for you, uh?"

"Well I should say so!"

"Don't worry, I'm not all that romantic either."

"So if we touched hands too, we wouldn't end up like them, right?"

He held his hand out, "I would think so, wanna try it out?"

She eyed it for a bit before shrugging, "Eh, what do I got to lose?" she reached for his hand and when she touched it, she was about to let go but for some odd reason she couldn't… She looked into the man's eyes and an unusual feeling overcome her. She could tell the man was just as entranced with her as she was with him.

For the longest moment all six duos couldn't stop staring at each other.

Suddenly a loud voice shouted out, "Girls! Where are you?!"

That broke them out of their states and the girls gasped and crippled in fear.

Twilight declared, "You have to go!"

Rarity pointed, "She can't see you here!"

Pinkie motioned toward the window, "But lucky for you the storm has stopped!"

Applejack and Rainbow started to usher the boys out.

The princes were confused by their insistence but concluded that the woman calling for them was their governess and they weren't allow to socialize with men without a chaperone.

They quickly made it outside where the clouds were starting to clear up and the sun was starting to shine through. They got on their horses but not before they exchanged one last look with the girls they touched hands with.

The girls gave back their looks before they heard the woman's voice again and gestured for the boys to get going.

They expressed their thanks and rode on.

Author's Note

A bit of a Cinderella III: A Twist in Time reference there with the whole hand touching.

Chapter 15

Pinkie with her hair completely straight down stayed in her bed looking gloomy. The girls looked at her with sympathy.

Applejack told her, "I take it you won't be up to working today?"

Pinkie shook her head and whimpered.

Rarity assured her while rubbing her back, "That's quite alright, darling. We'll manage just like yesterday."

Twilight said, "Except we might have a problem if Prince Spike or Prince Discord shows up today…" she looked to Applejack and Fluttershy, "Will you be okay with staying close to the manor?"

The two exchanged looks and nodded.

Fluttershy mentioned, "I think it's a good idea, with Pinkie too heartsick we'll need to work extra hard to get our chores done and to make sure the meals still get made and served."

Applejack added, "If anything, I hope it'll be Prince Discord who shows up so I can stay close to the kitchen to help make the meals."

Twilight smiled, "Next to Pinkie you are our best cook."

Fluttershy started gathering sheets from her bed and girls'-sans Pinkie- and said, "I better get these washed before I have to wash the mistresses' blankets, clothes, and towels for the rest of the day."

Twilight pointed, "You know, there is a faster way to get them clean."

Fluttershy and Twilight stood by a fountain that was behind the manor. There was a nearly-submerged wooden barrel close to the edge with a rope and rod attached to both it and a harnessed donkey.

Twilight explained, "Flash and I made this when he was here, but we had his horse to do the pulling, so I had to ask the Doodles down the road if I could borrow their donkey, needless to say, Mr. Doodle was skeptical but his wife was more than willing to help. I promised I would return him by sundown."

Fluttershy patted the donkey's head affectionately making his ears wiggle in response and she inquired with concern, "It won't hurt him, will it, Twilight?"

"Not at all! All he has to do is go around in a circle until the laundry is done. There's nothing to it."

"Oh, okay." she stepped back as she watched Twilight put in a load of laundry into the barrel alongside with soap powder. She motioned for the donkey to go and he did. The soap started to dissolve into bubbles making Fluttershy marvel at the sight.

Twilight stated, "I have to get back inside now, but don't worry, if you leave it be it should get the job done faster."

"Thank you." she hugged her friend and the hug was returned before she went.

Fluttershy watched patiently for the laundry to be done suddenly two bluebirds flew up to her and started to chirp around her almost like they were singing to her. She giggled and decided to join them by vocalizing, "Ahh-ah-ah…"

They whistled back making her vocalize again, "Ahh-ah-ah…"

While that was going on, Discord was riding in on his dark colored steed in front of the manor when he heard the most beautiful sound he ever heard. It was such a haunting melody that he couldn't resist finding out where it was coming from. He got off his horse and started heading to the back of the grand house. To his complete and utter surprise, it was Fluttershy! She didn't see him so he was careful to walk up to her as she continued to sing so melodiously.

When her song had died down, she cooed at the birds before they flew away. She sighed in content until she heard a voice.

"That… was… incredible!"

She gasped and turned to find her prince standing right behind her. She jumped in fright and nearly fell toward the fountain but luckily he caught her in time.

"O-Oh, Prince Discord… I didn't know you were there!" she blushed bright red from embarrassment and from him touching her.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you, my darling, but I couldn't help overhearing your beautiful voice!"

"O-oh, thank you… but my voice isn't that beautiful…"

"I beg to differ! It's gorgeous! Just like an angel's…" he smirked, "so heavenly and divine…"

She felt herself blushing further.

Then he spotted the makeshift washing machine and inquired, "What's this?"

She explained, "Oh, it's one of Twilight's inventions, it's suppose to clean the laundry without having to use your hands."

"Ah, yes, Flash told me about Miss Sparkle's enthusiasm for creating contraptions, very clever." he smiled, "In fact, it gives us a golden opportunity to get to know each other better."

Fluttershy pondered on it, "Well… Twilight did say to leave it alone so it can do the work for me…"

"Excellent! Now then, shall we go some place more private?" he wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her closer to him. "To talk?"

Her cheeks went pink from the closeness and timidly told him, "I-I do know a place that can do that…" she moved out of his grasp and led him to a secluded part of the gardens where a single swing attached to a tree was, she elucidated, "The mistresses haven't been here since they were young girls, so I come here whenever I have the time to feed my animal friends mainly the mice and the birds."

"You love animals?" he asked as they sat down on the ground.

"Very much so." her voice was now stronger and full of passion. She questioned, "Do you like animals?"

He slightly winced and admitted, "Not really…"

"Oh…" she had disappointment in her tone.

He quickly added, "But that does not mean I'm not an animal expert, I've learned about all sorts of creatures in the books I've read at the palace."

That got her hopes rising, "Really?"

"Oh yes! I can tell you about all kinds of animals that live in different parts of the world!"

"Ooh! I would love to know more about them!"

They had a long discussion about exotic animals until he mentioned, "One time I saw an actual tiger when a circus visited the castle when I was twelve-years-old, talk about an animal that was fierce! But after the show Capper and I got a closer look at him and it turned out he was very tame."

Fluttershy gushed.

"That was also around the time I met the magician there and he and I got along great, so much so that he taught me a couple of his tricks."

"Oh really? Like what?"

He took out a golden doubloon and put it in the palm of his hand, "Like this." he rubbed over the coin with his other hand for a bit then when he removed it the coin was gone!

She gasped.

He playfully said, "Now where did that priceless doubloon go? Oh! I know!" he reached over to Fluttershy's right ear and pulled it out, "Here it is!"

She giggled as she exclaimed, "That's amazing! I didn't even know it was there!"

He smirked, "l can show you another trick but I'll need a handkerchief."

She took off the cloth that was on her head and handed over to him, "You can you use this."

"Thank you, my dear." he took it and instructed, "Now watch closely as I make this coin vanish from beneath the cloth." he put the handkerchief over the doubloon and waved his hand over it, than he removed the cloth to show the coin was gone!

She gasped again.

"Now watch as I make it come back." he put the fabric over his hand and waved his other hand over it, and when he pulled up the handkerchief the coin was back!

Fluttershy applauded excitedly.

He mocked a bow, "Thank you, thank you, you're too kind."

She ended up giggling and proclaimed, "Oh Discord, you're so funny!" then she gasped from what she said, and quickly apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry, I mean… Your Highness…"

"Pish-posh, my dear, I want you to call me by my name. I want no formalities between us; frankly I always found my titles to be too stuffy. Regal but stuffy."

"But… you're the prince… Shouldn't I address you as such?"

"Perhaps in public, yes. But since it's just the two of us, I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me."

"Oh… I could never be uncomfortable around you…" she blushed.

That made his eyes widened and inquired, "Really?"

She slightly nodded.

"But just when I came in to hear you sing, you seemed scared that I was there."

"That was because I didn't know you were there and I'm not used to people hearing me sing…" she touched her hair nervously.

"But why should you hide such a lovely voice?"

"I just can't handle the stares…"

"Hmm… maybe if you had some practice with an audience watching you, you won't be so frightened of singing in front of them."

"I guess… but I'm just not ready for that…"

"That's alright, so… have you always been a maid?"

She shook her head, "I grew up in the village with my parents and my little brother…" she chuckled, "You actually remind me of him a little, he can be full of himself but he means well…"

"Well that's interesting, I would like to meet him some day."

"I think you two would get along very well."

There was a pause between them until Discord broke the silence by tenderly saying, "Fluttershy…?"

She softly replied, "Yes, Discord?"

He suddenly felt nervous, "Fluttershy… um, I don't know how to put this… but whenever I'm around you I just feel so serene and calm… I've never felt that way before… ever…"

"How strange… because whenever I'm with you I feel I can be more bold and brave."

He smiled, "Perhaps we're just one of those people whose opposites attract because we desire the other's personality."

She smiled back, "I think you're right."

He gently touched her hand and she grasped it. They stayed there in peaceful silence listening to the wind lightly blowing and the birds tweeting. Then he told her, "I'm so fortunate to have known you… I wish I could stay with you forever…"

"Oh Discord…"

"It just won't be the same after I get married…" he bitterly said.

She looked on in concern, "Can't you tell your father you don't want to marry someone you don't love?"

He sadly chuckled, "I wish… Our father is a very strict man. My brothers and I had to follow his rules ever since we were chosen as his sons. At the time I thought being a prince would be a good thing, but since I was ten-years-old I was rather foolish to believe my parents' words of gaining such power and wealth. Needless to say, I was granted the honor of being the eldest of the royal highnesses. While it's true I saw my brothers as annoyances when we were younger, but in time I became rather attached to them. I value their friendship and I hope it never goes away."

She beamed at his words, "What a lovely thought. I feel the same way about the girls."

"I guess we're not so different after all."

She shook her head, "I think deep down we are truly alike."

In that moment they stared straight into each other's eyes and couldn't look away. Slowly, their faces leaned toward the other's with their lips coming closer together until they felt them. The kiss felt like an eternity before they pulled away. Without uttering a single word, they got up and went toward the swing and sat down together in it. They moved the swing in sync and kept going higher and higher. They both felt light as air and were laughing joyfully at the feeling.

For the rest of the day it was like that. They were lost in their own world and they never wanted to leave it.

When it was close to sunset, Twilight came out to find the donkey was still attached to the device and exhausted from walking in a circle all day. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen making Twilight worried and started to look around until she heard laughter and found a maid and a prince lying on the ground close in each other's embrace.

Twilight made sure they didn't see her and carefully backed away so she could leave the couple alone.

Fluttershy noticed the sun dropping and sighed, "You'll have to leave soon."

Discord held her closer as he said, "I don't want to."

She gently got out of his grasp and sat up, he followed.

"Please, Discord, I don't want this to be any harder than it has to…" tears were brimming in her eyes.

He delicately wiped those tears away as he sighed, "Alright… I'll go, but know that I don't take any pleasure in doing so."

She sorrowfully smiled as the two embraced one last time and he slowly got up and moved away from her. It was painful watching him go and when he vanished from view, she broke down and cried her heart out.

The boys were concern on Discord not saying a word when they gathered in his room that night.

Spike finally had the courage to ask, "Was it that bad?"

Capper and Flash exchanged worried looks since this could disrupt their plans.

Discord made a deep sigh and stated, "No. It was… unbelievable…" his eyes went soft and he had this dreamy look to his face.

They gawked at the sight, their brother was not one for showing emotion toward sentimental things but if Fluttershy could bring out that side of him then it must be love.

Capper whispered under his breath, "I knew it… I knew this would happen."

Flash turned to Spike, "Well, this is it, tomorrow is your chance to meet with your girl."

Cheese was still upset from yesterday but he tried to put on a smile for the sake of his brothers and asked, "Are you nervous?"

Spike proclaimed, "Ha! Me, nervous? Of course not!" he went toward an open window and gazed up to look at the stars while thinking, I mean… there's no reason to be nervous is there? Just because your brothers had great times with their lady fairs doesn't mean I'm going to have the worst time with mine, right?

He pondered on it and softly asked the stars, "Please give me a sign if we will have the best time…"

Fluttershy was feeling guilty about leaving the Doodles' donkey all day that Twilight had to reassure her that it was an understandable mistake.

"I saw how happy you were with him…"

Fluttershy eeped, "You saw us?!" and covered her face in shame.

"Only for a little bit, once I saw you two, I knew it was best to leave you alone."

Fluttershy sighed in relief.

Rarity motioned, "So now that Prince Discord has come, that means there's only one prince left…" she looked to Applejack with a smirk.

The chamber maid blushed and started fiddling with her hair.

Pinkie was feeling better but her hair was drooping and she was going slow verses how fast she usually goes, she said with a small smile, "So… what are you two going to do?"

Applejack went close to the window and said, "I'm… I'm not sure… I guess I'll wait and see until he gets here." she looked out and up to the night sky, she prayed, Mama, Papa… please help me get through this… From what the others have told me, they couldn't stop themselves from falling… Please help me from doin' the same…

Then she saw two shooting stars flying across the cosmos unaware a certain prince saw the same thing.