It had been a beautiful morning in Ponyville when he’d arrived by royal chariot, coming to the town of Earth ponies at the request of his dear cousin Celestia. Apparently she wanted him to meet the common ponies and get to know them if he was going to come to live at Canterlot castle. Reluctantly, he’d acquiesced, and now here he was. Walking on common dirt roads amongst, ugh, commoners.
Prince Blueblood couldn’t help but pout a little bit as he stared down at his feet, already seeing dust starting to sully his perfect white hooves. Spotting a pony pulling a cart nearby, he trotted on over.
“You! Earth Pony! Carry me around town!” Caramel blinked before laughing and hurrying off.
“Sorry mister but I gotta get these deliveries out! Cya!” Blueblood pouted before having a coughing fit thanks to the dust cloud that arrogant little pony had kicked up. Pinning his ears back he moved down the street and deciding to see what he could possibly find that was of any interest to someone such as him in this podunk little pony town.
But alas, all he discovered was a tacky little sweet shop with, ugh, commoner fare, a library run by the Princess’ star pupil, a freakish pink pony that liked to party, and the one called Rarity that he’d met at the Grand Galloping Gala. Needless to say, she’d slammed her door in his face.
Oh, and what was this? The weather pegasi in Cloudsdale had decided to start brewing up a storm. As if things weren’t bad enough already; and Celestia had ordered that he not come home until the following day. As the dark clouds gathered above his head, Prince Blueblood hurried to find shelter, but it would seem he was most unwelcome at every doorstep he came across.
“What is with these ponies?!” He whined to himself as he broke into a canter, still searching for shelter from the imminent rainfall. The only lights he could see were outside of town, on Sweet Apple Acres. He hesitated, but then he felt the first drop of cold rain against his hide, and his mind was made up. Blueblood made a mad dash for the farmhouse even as the rain started to fall in earnest.
It wasn’t long before he was standing in front of the door to the farmhouse, covered in mud and dripping water. He shivered and tried to shake some water from his mane, only for it to promptly be replaced by more of the same icy liquid. Banging his hoof on the door, he silently begged for somebody, anybody, to be home. Just as he was about to rap his hoof against the door again, it was pulled open and he was greeted by a rather large Earth pony, who was chewing on a stalk of wheat. How typical.
“I need shelter.” He said, not even thinking to ask nicely and attempting to demand the help of the other pony; he was merely stared at by the largest member of the Apple family. Prince Blueblood shivered a little more fiercely and tried to shake his wet mane out of his face. “…please can I come in…?” The unicorn whined, ears back against his head in defeat.
“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh stepped aside and allowed Blueblood into the warm house; a fire crackled invitingly in the hearth and the Prince beelined for it, giving a small whicker of delight as the dancing heat reached him. “Ahem.” Big Mac cleared his throat meaningfully as he stared at Prince Blueblood, an eyebrow quirked expectantly. Hesitating, blue eyes watched the worker pony carefully before he sighed.
“I am Prince Blueblood, cousin to Princess Celestia. You’re the only one nice enough to let me in from the storm so…thank you…”
“Big Macintosh.” The eldest Apple sibling grinned as he introduced himself; for a change, he wasn’t wearing his work yoke, and the house was actually quite quiet. Granny Smith and Applebloom had been out shopping when the storm hit and had likely taken shelter in town, and Applejack was at a sleepover at Twilight Sparkle’s. He’d hoped for a quiet night alone, but clearly that was not going to happen.
“Big Macintosh…right.” Prince Blueblood was rather tall himself, but he certainly didn’t have the bulk of the hard-working Big Mac, and as it was he was reluctantly to even take a single step away from that toasty warm fire in front of which he sat. He could hear the soft clop of hooves moving away from him and thought nothing of it until his vision was blurred by a towel atop his head.
“You’ll warm up faster if’n yer dry.” Big Mac said calmly before moving back out of the room again, allowing Prince Blueblood to rather awkward dry his mane, tail, and hide with the towel to the best of his ability. Laying the towel near the fire to dry, he gave a contented sigh as he shifted to lay down on the rug and relax.
‘I guess Earth ponies aren’t so bad…I mean, that Big Macintosh fellow is pretty nice…’ He thought vaguely to himself as he stared into the fire, yelping in surprise as something settled on his shoulders. He heard a chuckle and frowned at Big Mac for a moment before he realized that the pony had merely settled a blanket on him and was now setting down a tray with two mugs of steaming apple cider. Smiling sheepishly, he reached for one of the mugs and blew on it carefully.
“Thanks.” He murmured, sipping from the steaming drink calmly and getting a ‘Eeyup’ in response. Outside, the storm was raging onward, winds howling and rain pounding, and Big Macintosh settled next to the Prince on the rug before the warm fire. They remained in silence for a long while, sipping from hot apple cider, when a loud rumble of thunder and crack of lightning made the prissy prince whinny in fear, jumping and huddling under the blanket, spilling the remnants of his cider in the process.
Big Mac couldn’t help but laugh, more than a little surprised by the other stallion’s fears as he got to his feet with a stretch, grabbing the towel he’d earlier given to Blueblood to clean up the mess, humming quietly. Meanwhile, beneath the blanket, the Prince was blushing and mostly remaining hidden out of embarrassment; how shameful was it for a powerful unicorn such as himself to be scared of a little thunder and lightning?
“It ain’t such a big deal. Lotsa ponies are scared of storms.” Big Mac said in his deep drawl, laying the towel out in front of the fire again to continue drying before he reached down and pulled the blanket back from over Prince Blueblood’s head, a warm smile on his features. The unicorn couldn’t help but offer a sheepish smile in return, using his magic to readjust the blanket over himself with a small sigh.
“I’m truly sorry…there aren’t many storms in Canterlot…” He explained, giving a small snort of distaste; his mane and tail were both a frizzy mess, and the storm made him jumpy and nervous. But the presence of this strong and quiet Earth pony seemed to truly calm his nerves, and after Big Mac settled onto the rug once more, Blueblood found himself shifting closer until he could hesitantly lay his head against a strong shoulder.
The farmer pony was terribly warm, and his coat far softer than he had first expected it to be…and his mane smelled wonderfully of, well, apples. Soothed, the Prince’s eyes fell closed comfortably before he felt eyes on him.
“Uh…” He wasn’t sure what to say, cursing his sudden lack of intelligence as he slowly pulled his head away, blushing rather shyly once more. Despite his age and status, he really was still just a colt at heart.
“S’okay. I just be thinking’…”
“About what?” Prince Blueblood couldn’t help but ask, his ears perking forward as he watched Big Macintosh’s smiling face with brilliant blue eyes. He wasn’t sure what he expected to hear in response, but what he did hear made him feel quite silly for expecting anything, really.
“Thinkin’ ‘bout how much clean-up there’s gunna be tomorrow.” He said calmly enough, shifting a little bit to get more comfortable but making no motion to shoo the Prince away from his side. Sighing, Prince Blueblood nuzzled Big Mac’s shoulder absently before closing his eyes and settling in to sleep through the remnants of the storm, wrapped in the warmth and kindness of the friendly Earth Pony.
