Author's Note

Welp, here goes a new cha~~llenger~~pter, hope you like it!

I went with a different approach with a certain character, because I for one felt that this one character despite having potential as someone pointed before, wouldn't exactly be capable of going all out from minute zero, plus I tried to give a little justification at some of their actions.

Hope you like it!

Chapter 23: Of Lords and Princes.

New Horseleans had better days, a few months ago it was a blooming town, today it was burning mess barely having a thousand souls left, most of them having left for safer places, some moved with their relatives on the other side of the trading route, back in manehattan and Fillydelphia, some others went for the other southerner towns, but a handful kept on the town.

While most saw only the chaos and destruction the pirate onslaught brought, some others saw a new oportunity, poor ponies from all over the South began to move towards the town, following the oportunity wich the crown was giving.

All over the town, there were mares and some hippogriff hens, working to rebuild what was destroyed, their husbands and sons tending to the cotton fields thankful that the enemy seemed to had ignored them, fillies and chicks alike played with some fishing rods under the watch of the royal guard.

The town was a shadow of its former self, and yet, it still was just as lively, if not more, as small groups came from all over the surroundings, escorted by royal guards, the small caravans mostly composed of ponies or hippogriffs, lots of them just carrying with them the bare minimum.

Somewhere a filly cried in pain after a fish bited her hoof, and two chicks laughed before helping her, somewhere else a colt found some tasty fruits and his father was quick to seize some seeds, not too far a mare brought down a burnt wall while her companions used a magical spell to blow up the foundations of what once was a shop, and just a second before the explosion, nothing but a pile of wood, stone and ash.

Most of the beings present were either guards or clearly people with very few possesions, and yet, they worked together with the small middle class minority, most of them being either survivors of the attack, or merchants from other parts of the south.

Amongst them however, there was an stallion, blonde and with a white fur, he stood tall and proud next to an smaller, shorter pegasus, the tall blonde unicorn kept an eye in everything, marching from one place to the other while the pegasus tried to read in a loud and clear voice a checklist.

"Fruit merchants?" The pegasus spoke and the unicorn answered loud and clear "Done"

"New Caravaneers?".

"Done"

"Fishing efforts?"

"In progress"

"Royal guard presence?"

"Around thirthy percent of the expected, more than half of the royal forces stationed here are guiding the caravans"

"Albatross Royal Guard Shipyard foundations?"

"Do not try to trick me, you will have to wait until the town is rebuilt enough"

The tall stallion gave an annoyed glance to the pegasus as the pegasus lowered the checklist, he was Lord Albatross, the blue maned stallion whom Celestia herself had sent to build a shipyard in the name of the crown.

"Honorable Prince Blueblood, you have to understand that I'm following the princess orders, she gave us instructions to start the construction efforts as early as possible" He spoke while Blueblood rolled his eyes and lifted his hoof in a polite manner, gesticulating while he spoke. "And I must warn you, fair Lord Albatross my dear Aunt, The Princess Celestia, is currently dealing with far too many conflicts right now to give the proper details for such an intrincate operation, that is the reason while I volunteered to help you, listen and learn Lord Albatross, for duty calls in these times and us, Fair Stallions are finally allowed to answer her call"

He spoke in a polite manner before landing his hoof and using his horn to lift a wood plank out of the reach of an earth pony, the pony flinched and quickly bowed down, clearly scared, compared to the two nobles, the clearly commoner was tiny.

"Excuse me good sir, for I only need to ilustrate fair Albatross about the dangers of being too hasty in the build up of such a delicate and complicated thing as a town" Blueblood smiled gently and the Pony kept bowed, while in the split of a second the plank broke in a thousand pieces scaring him and making Albatross take an step back. "You see, fair Albatross, while southern Equestria is clearly rich in natural resources, the truth is, most of the building materials around these parts are pretty weak when compared to the building resources used in the big Cities, a single house in Canterlot is way more expensive than half of this town, but, at the same time, way more enduring".

Blueblood said with an smile as he used his magic to lift an entire wagon full of building supplies, leaving it just on the reach of the stallion and the other builders.

"Excuse my... rather nasty approach, keep on the good work, fair colt" He spoke before hiding his face with a bow, hiding a face full of disgust at the townsfolk, something wich Albatross was rather quick to notice. "Say, Honorable prince, shall we discuss the situation over a cup of tea?

"Oh my, many thanks Fair Albatross, let us go to my personal tent, but alas, I do hope the royal guard has some capable mares ready to make sure nothing bad happens to us... " Blueblood said as his face went from disgust to happiness in the split of a second, as he instantly seized the chance to look anywhere but towards the townsfolk, leering straight into Albatross eyes, scaring the smaller pegasus. "Rest assured Prince Blueblood, I shall personally make sure no one even dares look into the direction of your tent"

Blueblood chuckled under his breath, almost letting out a tiny laugh, as the guardsmare captain answered his call, he turned torwards her and took her left hoof, giving it a soft kiss, leaving her speechless...

"Let us go, Fair Albatross, this brave guardsmare shall take care of any danger, let us discuss the current predicament"

It didn't took long for both of them to be alone, under the protection of a rather huge and cozy tent, more akin to some sort of travelling five stars hotel room than a simple tent, Albatross felt a bit scared after entering, feeling as if it was way bigger in the inside that it was in the outside.

"I take you are feeling... conflicted, as of why I chose to help you, specially since i'm not so fond of... the vulgar ambiance..."

"The common pony isn't 'Vulgar' this is simply an unlucky town wich got invaded by evil forces, your blatant classism is crystal clear, Prince Blueblood."

"Bold words coming from a ruined noble, Lord Albatross"

"Perhaps you need a little "ruin" to understand Prince Blueblood"

"Dropping all the polite talk... even after I agreed to help you and personally invest into the town wich my aunt decided to put under your care..."

"I don't remember asking for your financial support Prince Blueblood, let alone your presence"

"Oh, your words... they hurt like a dagger deep into my soul! What have I done to be backstabbed in such rabid manner by nothing else but a fellow noble? Let alone a fellow stallion in this world ruled by mares?"

"Drop the drama king act, we both know it won't work, last time you did it the Element of generosity herself stopped courting you, and you did act in a rude manner to the element of honesty even. Worse even I saw how she even broke her glass high heel to make sure you couldn't find her later..."

Blueblood fell face down to the wooden table, his horn sinking deep into the wood as he blushed so furiously he could as well boil an egg with his now pinkish cheeks, while Albatross kept with his legs crossed and a cute pout on his face, before taking a more conflicted look and drawing nearer to Blueblood.

"H...hey... Did I... go... overboard?"

"N...no, You just said the truth, I... I'm just a total mess despite being a prince"

Blueblood spoke as he kept face down to the table, his horn breaking free after tearing a hole in the wood, after a few seconds he rested his chin over the table and looked up at Albatross who seemed really concerned with him.

"Was... was I... rude to everypony here?"

"Not.... 'rude', but neither polite, you were rather... cold, it was clear you felt disgusted by the idea of getting dirty and extremely disgusted with the smell of the commoners, the guardsmares noticed how you were scowling at them constantly, and the colt at the shop felt horrible when you gave me the bread he baked for you.

"I... I know! I know i'm a mess! It is just that... well, you know" Blueblood spoke as he lifted a paper bag with his magic, letting it over the table, Blueblood took a long breath before opening the bag, taking a package wrapped in paper. "Really?, A Manehattan style hayburger?"

"Shining Armor told me it is a really popular dish bewteen commoners, soldiers and minor nobles, I tought it would be something healthy and soft, I didn't expect two slices of greasy bread, with a hooful of deep fried hay full of cheese and almost thirthy sticks of deep fried potatoes with four different sauces, each of them with more fat than the previous one!" Blueblood spoke with despair as Albatross took an step back, his ears folding back as he looked in horror at...

A perfectly normal hayburguer, in fact it was even good-looking, unlike the common hayburguer this one had an uniform shape, a really nice smell of soft cheddar cheese, two slices of a nice fat and plum bread, with some toast and a timid hint of garlic and sweet caramelized onion four sauces all over the set of thirthy fries, the burger had a rather nice ammount of greens, with tomatoes, lettuce, some other greens, and a tiny bit of olive oil.

However Albatross was shaking in fear as he looked at it, taking a few steps back before Blueblood lifted his hoof towards his mouth covering it and taking a few steps back too, fighting the urge to puke.

"So much fat..." Albatross said as he quickly galloped towards the hayburguer, quickly packing it again and running outside the tent, gifting it to a Guardsmare who straight up swallowed it in less than ten seconds, with such a visible glee even Albatross felt a bit scared. "Is your stomach allright?"

"Y...yes... I think I'll stick with sandwiches and soups for now..."

"Logic dictates such a method my friend, years of eating only the finest ingredients really hurted your stomach, I mean, fat aside I could obviously eat that thing... but you? You would be vomiting blood"

"I ruined my date with Rarity because of this... stupid condition..."

"Only because of that?"

"Drop the accusatory attitude Albatross!" Blueblood answered as Albatross Shrugged "I mean, Blueblood, stomaches aside, you really sabotaged your own date, think about it, you were just like that nasty old stallion we met at Fillydelphia, unless you start putting more effort into your studies and attitudes, you will end up as another crazy catlord"

"I know!, I didn't spent a whole year trying to understand economy for nothing!" Blueblood said as he took another paper bag, this one wih a different dish, a rather simple sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, a slice of cheese and nothing more, not even mayonnaise. "While the plan was for me to help you restart your family businnes in Vanhoover... I didn't expect aunt Celestia to send you here, i don't lie when I say we can't start the build up right now, this entire place lacks any significant infrastructure, and the wood here is... so... frail, compared to actual cement and marble."

"Then again, you did succed at your main objective, you managed to outmatch that nasty Hag of Sailing winds, were it not for your legal and financial studies I would have been forced to work with that mare, I'm sure the Princess Celestia was surprised when you brought your "Six weeks plan", I for one i'm still surprised you could write something so... useful.

"Was that an insult or a compliment?"

"That is up to you"