Bluebelle

The very next day, the entirety of the castle's complement of maids had been gathered. Honey Oat, Lemon Fresh, Neat Ness, Steel Wool, Shoeshine, Spic, Span, just to name a select few. They'd been told that the Princess wanted to speak to all of them; that it was something very important.

Naturally, they'd never turn Celestia or Luna down like that, so they'd assembled ASAP. They were waiting for a short while, long enough for whispers to go back and forth.

At length, Princess Celestia made her entrance, striding in gracefully with her -recently preened- alabaster wings raised for dramatic effect. Immediately, the maids went into a deep, respectful bow.

"At ease, my little Ponies." she said gently. "You might be wondering why you've all been called here. As it turns out, I was not the Princess that had called for you. But had I not implied so, would you have actually come? I digress. The one who did request this gathering is our newest Princess. I ask that you hear her out before making any judgments."

Then Bluebelle stepped out, a mite nervous, but determined to do this. She took a deep breath, to steel herself a bit. It... kind of helped?

"Hello everypony. Please, hear me out, here. As some of you might know, or have guessed, I was once that self-absorbed, crude, arrogant, ignorant... just plain awful fool, prince Blueblood." she said, self-deprecatingly. "Back then I was unreasonable at best and cruel at my worst. But thanks to my aunts, I've been given a new perspective of things. I've seen how much harm the way I'd acted inflicted upon others. How much my arrogance hurt all of you." she was beginning to tear up, by this point.

"I know that I made all of you miserable -You know, a few times I've heard some of your number saying "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" when coming to my bedroom door?- and you've probably been enjoying this breather for the past few days. Without me around... For the past couple of days, I've been getting a small taste of the mare's life. I know that it's nothing -NOTHING- compared to what I put all of you through, though."

She sniffed once before continuing. "I know that I don't deserve it, and you probably can't forgive me for how I acted, and I can't say that I blame you. But I wanted you all to know... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry!!"

At that, she lost her composure completely and broke down in tears.

Celestia looked on, with a sad smile. After a moment, she went to her niece and lifted her head with one hoof. Opening her eyes, Bluebelle inadvertently gave her a rather impressive puppy-dog-eyed expression.

"I'm proud of you." she said. "It takes a lot of courage to own up to one's wrongs; to have a slice of humble pie, as it were. However things go from here, know that you did what you could to salvage that."

Lemon Fresh stepped up to them with a small smile. "One of my specialties is being able to tell when someone really feels what they say. I'm a really good judge of character. I can tell that you've really turned over a new leaf. In other words, I forgive you."

Bluebelle looked surprised.

Shoeshine stepped up next. "Lemon's right. You've earned yourself a second chance, as far as I'm concerned."

One by one, each of the maids came and forgave her for her wrongdoings. A few just snorted and walked away, but that's to be expected.

Still crying, Bluebelle gave a small smile of her own. "Thank you... all of you. I must make this up to you. Alright; As of now, you'll all be receiving a 60% raise. Out of my own coffers; I can easily afford it. Also..."

Turning to one side, she whistled twice, cuing her bodyguard to enter with a bag. Opening it, he revealed that it had several slips of paper.

Bluebelle explained: "I also decided -this time in advance- to give each of you a coupon for the local spa. A free full treatment of your choice. Goodness knows I used to put you all through the wringer. It's the least I can do."

As the maids cheered and generally celebrated, Celestia said, "That must have cost a small fortune."

"It's a small price to pay for their forgiveness. Besides, no matter what, my accounts will keep accruing wealth. As auntie Luna once said, "Gold is far too soft to do anything practical with. But it's also too hard to swim in. So why let it pool so?"."

Celestia chuckled at that. "Still, that was very generous of you, Bluebelle. It's clear that you've learned from your mistakes. I'm so very proud." she said, nuzzling her niece.

Bluebelle leaned into her aunt's embrace. She was the happiest she'd been since months before she stopped being Blueblood. Things seemed to be looking up, for sure.

"Now, come on." Celestia said, "The ball is tonight. You need to prepare." After a pause, she said, "Also, you'll need to... unload."

Looking down, Bluebelle noticed that she was beginning to fill up again. Her ears drooped. "Right. I forgot that was a thing. Better hurry, then!"

Suiting words to action, she dashed off for her room.

Celestia chuckled lightly before heading for her own room. She had to get ready too.