The Flame Prince

"Hello you three".

"Hello Ruby, how goes things?" I replied as myself, Lilith, and Blaze trotted into our house.

"Wow, that still feels weird saying".

"Fine, fine. How was Ponyville today?" she asked. The look that Lilith's, Blaze's, and my own suddenly face took on answered that question faster then words would ever be able to.

"That bad huh?" she added.

"You don't even know the half of it" Lilith replied.

"Well you guys are okay, right?" Star Fire asked.

"Yeah we're fine, just... Equestrians..." I said.

"Are they really that bad?" Star responded.

"I wouldn't say that they're bad ponies, just... would excitable be a good term to use?" Lilith asked.

"I'd agree with that, especially when it comes to the stallions" Blaze added.

"How exactly?" Ruby asked.

"They chased us, like madmares, for well over half a day, for a ticket... to a dance" I said. The four of my guards who we're not on duty that day just stared at us.

"That was the reason they chased you into a food cart?" Ruby added.

"Yep" I dryly replied.

"Father of Faust...".

"Wait, you saw them chasing us?" Blaze asked, and at that my curiosity was also peaked. Not at first having registered that Ruby had seen us being chased due to fatigue.

"Mhm, me and Star didn't intervene as it didn't look like you three were in any real danger, and based on how you scolded them I believe my that theory was correct" Ruby replied.

"Well congratulations, as you we're correct. Now then, onto new matters. We bought some furniture today for the house but we couldn't acquire everything we'll need. So that means we'll need to build beds, tables, chairs, and more than likely anything else that we will need furniture wise" I said.

"We could cut down some trees for the wood needed... they are called trees right?" Star suggested.

"Mhm, I was thinking the same thing Star. We'll more than likely need several of them for everything if I'm being honest though" I replied.

"Then again I have literally no experience with carpentry so take everything I say with a grain of salt" I added.

"All right now that that is settled, who's on guard detail for tomorrow?" Ruby asked.

"Well, given that the town has yet to meet you Ruby, and you and Star are technically still next on the roster I would say that it's only fair that you two should take your turn guarding your whimsical prince" I replied.

"Very well" she nodded.

"Brilliant, although we will still need to pick up our new couches tomorrow from Quill's and Sofa's. So it'll be all mares on duty for that. But afterwards we can get started on tree chopping, oh and I also want to see what cuisine the market has too" I said.

"Why the market, we already went the other day and brought food with us?" Fire Strike inquired.

"Yes but that was just your normal everyday food, and as I'm sure Lilith and Blaze saw Equestria has types of food we've never seen nor even heard of before" I explained before an idea formed in my head, a very... funny idea.

"Plus if I'm able to acquire such ingredients then I can make my beautiful little mares the best meals they've ever tasted" I smirked and batted my eyelashes at them. Ruby, having been used to my antics for years simply chuckled and let it be. The others however blushed extremely heavily, to which I burst out laughing.

"Pft, you should see your faces" I smiled.

"S-sire uh... Night I, um..." but Delilah trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence. Meanwhile the others attempted to form words or some sort of response but just weren't able to. Instead they just gaped like fish allegedly did. Eventually however Ruby did speak up.

"Come on you five, a literal prince just offered to cook all of you a nice homemade meal and all you can do to show your gratitude is gape like a filly at her first time seeing a stallion's unmentionables, how shameful" she smirked. That finally managed to snap the girls back to reality, though they still sported quite heavy blushes.

"Night I... t-thank you for offering to do that for us..." Delilah said.

"You are very welcome Delilah, happy to help" I smiled.

"Um yes, now back to the topic at hoof. You said that we need to pick up furniture tomorrow?" Fire Strike asked.

"Mhm, from a store called Quills and Sofas. Which is literally all they sell by the way" I responded.

"I don't know much about Equestria but from what I've seen about their culture that doesn't sound like a good way to do business, profit wise I mean" Star said.

"True, but they seem to get by quite well" I replied.

"Now after that me, Ruby, and Star will go to the market to buy the food while the rest of you can get started on cutting down trees. Though try to do it a little farther away from town, I have a feeling based on how they zone land that Mayor Mare, the local leader of Ponyville. Wouldn't take to kind to us just cutting down random trees, something about property value I think" I added. The girls nodded their understanding.

"All right, in addition I'll see if I can order anything else of use for us tomorrow as well. But in the meantime let's get some sleep" I said.

The next morning all seven of us trotted into Ponyville at around nine am. It also seemed that this was around the time most merchants began to mare their stalls for the day.

"Good morning Night Storm" A familiar voice called out to us.

"Good morning Pinkie, you seem to be quite chipper today" I replied.

"Yepperuni, I've got a bunch of parties planned for a bunch of new ponies, and by the way here's your invitations for your welcome to Ponyville party" she said and held out seven pieces of paper. Which Delilah took via telekinesis.

"Thank you Pinkie, when is the party?" I asked.

"Three... you'll be able to make it right? Because I can move it to another day if you need me to" she said.

"No no, we'll be able to make it" I tittered.

"Okay! Though while I'd love to stay and talk I've got a lot of baking and hoofing out invitations to do so see ya later" she declared and dashed off back the way we had come.

"...So that was Pinkie Pie huh" Ruby said after she had disappeared from sight.

"Yep, like I said she's definitely something" I said.

"She seems... hyperactive, almost aggressively so" Lilith added.

"Yeah... but she means well and her heart's in the right place" I replied.

"All right then, let's get to that shop. What was it called again... Quills and Sofas?" Ruby asked.

"Mhm, it's just up here. Though..." I paused. Looking around at the few stallions roaming about the marketplace. They we're either with their mares or helping them mare their shops or stalls, though the second they noticed me their looks turned from happy or content to ones of what looked like either suspicion or outright resentment.

"What is it Night?" Lilith asked.

"Hah... for some reason or another the stallions here... don't really seem to like me" I explained. Upon hearing this the girls looked around confused.

"What do you mean...?" Blaze asked while looking around. Though once she noticed a red earth pony stallion mareing an apple stand glaring at me she trailed off, understanding now gracing her features.

"It's not just him Blaze, look there" Fire Strike added. Turning her head Blaze noticed two more stallions, a grey one with a black mane and tail standing with a blue stallion with a slightly darker blue mane and tail glaring at us as well.

"Huh... well I'll be. Why don't they like you Night?" Blaze repeated.

"I'm not sure, they've always been kind of cold to me since the moment we arrived here. Though I suppose me yelling at the majority of them yesterday could warrant a bit of the anger, but again they've acted like this since me, Delilah, and Fire first came to Ponyville" I explained.

"Hmph, are you sure you've never done anything that would piss them off?" Ruby asked. "Something that... I don't know... just... anything really" she tried to clarify.

"Nope... er, well there was that time... or times that Delilah yelled at one to half this town's mare population for not leaving us alone but I fail to see why that would make the stallions mad" I said.

"...You don't think they're jealous do you?"

"What do you mean Star?" I asked her. The light orange mare blushed slightly before answering.

"Well... you are a very attractive stallion Night, though in my opinion moreso without the necklace" she said.

"Oh, um... thank you Star. But what does this have to do with the stallions not liking me?" I repeated.

"Well... maybe they might think that you're trying to or will steal their mares from them" she clarified.

"...What... but that's ridiculous, I already have you six and I don't want any new mares. My previous actions should attest to that" I replied.

"Yes, but they don't know that" she explained and gestured to the still glaring stallions.

"Okay but why would they... why would they think... why would they think I would do that?" I stuttered.

"I don't know... but you could always ask them" Star suggested. I thought about that for a second, and while it did seem like a good idea my gut had doubts that it would go off without a hitch, and I had long ago learned to trust my gut.

"But if I do nothing then nothing will change".

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't" I muttered.

"What?" Delilah asked.

"Nothing, I'll try and talk to them after we pick up the furniture" I replied.

"All right, just don't try to hard. If they don't like you then it will be a waste of time trying to get them to like you" Blaze said which while I found odd I ultimately decided to put it to the back of my mind for the time being.

The rest of our short trek was spent in silence, and we soon reached the store from where just a day previously me, Blaze, and Lilith bought two couches. The first, a normal red one and the second, a blue L shaped one that would both go in the main sitting room.

"Oh hello you guys" Silver Spanner greeted us while loading our new couches onto... weird cart looking things?

"This place continues to surprise me".

"Good morning Silver, this is my herd. You've already met Night and Blaze, and behind them is Star Fire, Ruby Firetail, Delilah Evadne, and Fire Strike" Lilith spoke up.

"Well it's very nice to meet you all" Silver replied. With the rest of the mares following suit and once pleasantries we're exchanged we got on to business.

"Right, well everything's been paid for, and as is customary we do offer our customers the use of trolleys to ferry their purchases to their residences. Provided they return them of course" Silver said.

"Oh, well thank you Silver. We'll make sure they'll be back soon" I replied.

"Thank you Night but feel free to take your time with them. We've got three more in the back and as long as they're returned at the end of the day then I'm happy" she replied.

"Not a problem, though we'll be as quick as we can. Have a nice day Miss Silver, and thank you again" Ruby said. Silver in return nodded and trotted off back inside her store while we began the long laborious task of pushing our new couches a good two kilometers back to our home. Or rather the mares did while I, like a true stallion, sat back and let them do all the hard work.

Though with nothing to do I found myself thinking back to those other stallions from earlier, and with the aforementioned mares also doing all of the aforementioned hard work this gave me the time to also think about what Star had said earlier.

"...You don't think they're jealous do you?"

It was an... interesting issue to say the least, though one that I didn't quite understand. I had shown no interest in courting any mare from Ponyville, and actively resisted any attempt by said mares to court me, and yet the town's stallions still seemed to dislike me.

"You okay Night?" Ruby asked me.

"Hm? Oh yes I'm fine Ruby, just thinking about what you said earlier Star" I explained.

"Oh... well again I might just be talking out of my flank but that's what I'd assume anyway" she replied.

"Right" I said, still mostly in thought. It wasn't until we we're passing... some sort of tan, pink, and brown building. Honestly it looked like somepony had combined a bunch of confectionary into one dish and constructed an entire building based off of that.

A sign out front read "Sugarcube Corner" with a picture of a... pink muffin?... adorning it.

"What an odd building" Fire Strike said.

"Indeed, what do you think it's used for?" Star asked.

"Oh that's Sugarcube Corner, the best bakery from here to Canterlot" a passing stallion said. He was in a group with three other colts that all seemed to be heading into Sugarcube Corner.

"A... bakery?" Blaze asked.

"Uh yeah" the stallion said.

"You know, a place to buy baked goods" he continued at Blaze's blank stare.

"Uhm, thank you sir, we appreciate your time" I stepped in, not wanting to have this continue any further.

"Oh not a... problem" he replied. Instantly going from slightly confused to a glaring expression upon noticing me.

"Have a good day" he added before trotting off to rejoin his compatriots inside.

"Well that went well" I sneered after he had trotted a good distance away.

"I'm sorry Night, I was just curious and-"

"No Blaze, it was an accident, okay" I cut her off. "You remember the cover story for situations like this correct?" I asked her.

"Yes, we're from up north and our village is very isolated from the outside world" she replied.

"Good, now then... why don't we go to the market" I said to Ruby and Star.

"Or you, Star, and Ruby could go inside and see if you can't get us lunch and maybe achieve a peace offering with those stallions while you have the chance?" Delilah suggested.

"...Where is this coming from Delilah?" I asked.

"Well... heh, Night... I am sick and tired of having to keep you safe from everypony in this town. You don't deserve this kind of attention, not to mention that it's... quite annoying" she explained.

"Well... I suppose it wouldn't at least hurt to try, and it's not like they'd really be able to hurt me anyway" I replied.

"Well it's your call, me and Star will be right behind you if you decide to do this" Ruby added.

"...All right, I'll give it a shot" I replied after thinking for a moment.

"Very well" Ruby said before turning to the other mares. "We'll see you guys back home later" she added.

They nodded and continued on their way home, couches in tow. While we trotted inside the bakery after the group of stallions.

"Well if this does go south then at least we might get something nice to eat" I thought.

Entering revealed what looked to be a quaint little shop with chairs, tables with tablecloths, rugs, a chandelier in the center of the room, and dozens upon dozens of... baked goods?. Some of which I recognized from events and parties in the royal palace. Only reserved for such occasions due to us having to acquire the ingredients for them from Equestria and sometimes lands even further away. However most foods I had no idea what they we're and even less of an idea of how to make them.

"Oh hiya Night Storm" Pinkie Pie, who I then noticed was sitting behind a countertop at the other end of the room, waving at us. Around her we're the colts from earlier who had passed us, and they did not look happy when they looked back and saw me.

"Hello again Pinkie Pie" I smiled.

"Hi, and hello to you to Ruby and Star. You aren't here for your party yet right? It's still a couple of hours away after all" she added.

"No no, we just wanted to see what Sugarcube Corner is all about" I replied.

'Oh! Well in that case-"

"Wait, that party is for him and not Twilight?" one of the stallions asked.

"Yeah what gives, I thought it was for her too?" another one agreed.

"It's for the both of them... oh and Night's mares too" Pinkie clarified.

"Oh..." one of them, a light brown earth pony said.

"Actually Pinkie I'm gonna have to cancel, I'm sorry but I just remembered I have something to do later today" he added and began to trot away from the counter and Pinkie Pie. With the others soon following suit.

"But... Caramel..." Pinkie stuttered.

"Sorry Pinkie but I just... remembered that I need to... to help Rainbow Dash with the weather, yeah, I'll see ya later" another colt with black fur and a two tone gray mane said.

"What... but Thunderlane I thought you said you we're off today?" she asked.

"Well... I guess I forgot, sorry" the colt replied before turning and joining Caramel. The last two shrugged before giving Pinkie apologetic looks and then trotted after their compatriots.

"Oh... okay um... no problem then" Pinkie said. However the stallions just continued to glare at me while somewhat shoving their way past us despite there being plenty of room to pass. That combined with Pinkie's outright dejected look made us finally lose our patience.

So just as the lead stallion, Caramel I believe, opened the door to leave Star lit her magic and slammed it in his face. Which caused him to jump backwards and fall onto his flank, and while the other stallions jumped as well due to the sudden noise they we're able to right themselves before falling over.

"Hey! What gives you the right to..." however the third stallion, pretty much an opposite of Thunderlane with light grey fur and a black mane trailed off after snapping his head back at us.

"No I think not, rather what gives you the right, in fact, to pull a stunt like that on Pinkie Pie only after you learn that we are also attending this party!" I rebutted.

"Oh... well I" he stuttered.

"On top of that" I continued, shutting him up. "This isn't the first time that I have seen the way you all look at me. I have seen the resentment, the anger, and the loathing... and I am utterly sick of it!" I paused and looked at the other stallions.

"Well... you're..." Thunderlane tried to speak but ultimately failed.

"I am what, Thunderlane?" I asked.

"You're... striking" the fourth stallion almost whispered.

"I... I'm what?" I asked.

"Ugh, you're striking okay!" he replied.

"...".

"Oh come on, you show up and in ten seconds flat you've got every mare in Ponyville head over hooves for you" Thunderlane added. This time it was my turn to stutter.

"Well y-yes but... it's not like I want the attention" I explained, and at their confused looks I elaborated.

"I already have six beautiful, wonderful mares that I love very much. I don't want nor need any more" I continued, oblivious to Ruby and Star blushing behind me.

"So... you're not going to take our mares away?" the fourth stallion, who I actually recognized as Meadow Song asked.

"Of course not!" I exasperated. "Why would I even want to do that?" I added.

"Well..."

"You're so..."

"Attractive..."

"So why wouldn't you...?" they asked.

At that I just blinked and stared. Contemplating what I had just been told.

"Because that is wrong?" I replied. The stallions just stared.

"Ugh... alright, clearly some misconceptions have been made, so let's start over. Hello, my name is Night Storm and behind me are two of my six mares, Ruby Firetail and Star Fire. Would you like to be friends? I asked and held out my right hoof. The stallions continued to stare, this time at the ground, for a moment before Caramel eventually spoke up.

"It's nice to meet you Night Storm, my name is Caramel and these are my friends, Thunderlane, Lucky Clover, Meadow Song, and there's another stallion apart of our group, Big Macintosh. But he's helping his family on their farm today" he said and bumped his own hoof into mine.

"Thank you Caramel, it is nice to meet you as well" I replied, and slowly but surely the other stallions introduced themselves as well, and once Ruby and Star's introductions we're complete we all decided to sit down at one of the tables.

"So Night, where are you guys from?" Thunderlane asked.

"We're from a small village way up north. It's pretty isolated so I doubt you would've ever heard of it" I answered.

"Well what are you doing this far south then?" Meadow spoke up.

"We're..." I paused, as it was important for this next sentence to try and draw as much sympathy as possible from the stallions and Pinkie, who had joined our little chat once we sat down at one of the tables.

"We're... looking to start a new life here Meadow, a lot of ponies, or rather we, I'll say... disagreed with some things that were happening back home. So we decided to leave and start a new life somewhere else" I said.

"Oh I'm so sorry to hear that" he replied.

"Thanks, but it's nothing that we can't deal with" I said.

"Well if you guys need anything Ponyville will be more than happy to lend a hoof" Thunderlane proclaimed.

"Thank you, we appreciate that" Ruby added, when suddenly our conversation was interrupted by a small growling sound coming from Thunderlane's stomach.

"Oh hehe, excuse me" he blushed.

"Hehehe, come on Thunder, let's get those cupcakes" Lucky Clover laughed.

"Yeah and Pinkie..." Caramel said, to which the pink mare nodded.

"Bring a couple extra for Night and his herd, paid for by us" he finished.

"Oh you guys don't have to do that" I said.

"No, but we want to. As an apology for how we treated you guys at first, especially you Night" he said.

"Oh well thank you" I smiled, he nodded, and we then continued to talk for a little bit longer while waiting for Pinkie to return with our food.

"What do you mean you've never had a cupcake before!?" Meadow screeched.

Or rather they yelled while we talked.

"I meant that we've never had them before..." Star sheepishly replied.

"What! But... how!?" he said before Thunderlane interrupted him.

"Meadow, you're scaring her" he said.

"What... oh no he's fine, I just-" Star attempted to save face, however most unfortunately for her, her dice had been cast.

"Nonsense" he said, just as Pinkie was returning with our food.

"Pinkie!" Meadow jumped out of his seat, "Night and his herd have never had cupcakes, nor really any sort of dessert before" he said as he shook her from side to side.

Why in hindsight I expected Pinkie to act rationally and try to calm Meadow down I don't know. But I most certainly did not expect Pinkie to gasp, run to the back of the shop, and shove a bunch of sweets into our hooves when she returned three seconds later.

"P-pinkie please, if you keep shoving all of this into our hooves we won't be able to carry anything!" I said.

"Oh... hehe oops, sorry Night" she blushed.

"Here let me help you Night" Star said and lit her horn, lifting eight boxes of candy as I had learned it was called into the air via telekinesis.

"Thanks Star" I replied and she smiled.

"You can lift all of that?" Meadow asked.

"Um yes..." Star said. "Sure it's quite a few boxes but they're not that heavy" she added at Meadows confused expression.

"Oh uh... wow" he said, and while it may have been the room's lighting I could of sworn I saw the hint of a blush on his cheeks. But I felt that I was seeing at lot of things these past few weeks and so simply wrote it off.

"Alright, it was nice talking but we should get home before the rest of the girls begin to wonder where we are" I said.

"Okay, but you'll all be at the party right?" Meadow asked.

"Yes Meadow, we will all be there" I smiled and got up, followed by Ruby and then Star.

"Good" he said.

"Have a good day guys" Lucky Clover called, and we waved back before trotting out the door.

"Hehe" Ruby chuckled.

"Care to share with the rest of the troop?" I asked.

"I just thought of this saying is all" she said.

"Well, care to share" I reiterated.

"Hmm... no" she smiled.

"Grr... mare!"

"Oh, and why is that?" I squinted while Star began to look worried.

"Because it has to do with stereotypes associated with Stallions" she answered.

"Ruby, we've known each other for how many years now and how many times have I complained of stallions acting exactly like how the stereotypes make us out" I deadpanned.

"Hmm fine" she said. "I just thought of this saying is all".

"Well what is it then?" I asked.

"Stallions, whether back home or here in Equestria, are all the same" she smirked. I just blankly stared at her, and the longer I did the more the smirk devolved into a worried frown like Star currently wore.

"Um... Night, you okay? I didn't go to far... d-did I?" Ruby asked.

"Oh no my dear Ruby, I in fact wholeheartedly agree with you" I said. For it was now my turn to smirk, and for good measure I also whacked my tail across the lower part of her back left leg.

"Now then, let's go home" I replied started off. Sashaying and springing a little every now and then, just like every single noblecolt would do back home when they wanted to show off.