Prince Blueblood Platinum. The Most Eligible Bachelor of Equestria. The face of Equestria, with a silver tongue not many has met before, he is one of, if not, the best negotiators in Equestria. An extremely distant nephew to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, making him a relative to his adoptive older cousin Princess Cadenza Mi Amore.

To call him a successful pony would be an understatement. Despite having a rough foalhood that not many know of, he has risen from the position of an orphan wandering the streets of Canterlot without a direction, to one of the biggest influences in the empire of ponies.

From this position, he's in control of most things. Due to the lack of influential stallions, his daily choices affect trends all over the empire. A snack that he seemed to enjoy would become a luxury desert priced at the highest bid possible. A wine that he drank a full glass of would be praised as the most delicious one to exist. A store that he bought a single perfume from would quickly ascend to the most luxurious store in all of Canterlot. Any brand that he's seen wearing would become the epitome of fashion. Although this was partly due to the three Princesses not having a particular interest in these fields, Blueblood's ever beautiful face, and the charming smile would be his biggest asset. For this exact reason, he must never allow for his true face to show, or else everything he had accomplished in his life would crumble.

"Is that still true though?" He asked himself that simple question.

After having gone through his foalhood without much joy in his life, he was a timid and defensive colt. Despite all that, the allure of delicious food had fooled him as he somehow managed to infiltrate what should be, the most secure place in all of Equestria. Despite having a much rougher start to his education, he quickly caught up to his peers and became a businesspony capable of controlling what succeeds, and what fails. Despite having to start training his magic later than most, his knowledge and mastery grew enough to play around with the most magically adept unicorns in Equestria. In all fairness, it was enough to call him not just talented, but a pony that comes once in a billion.

This much effort, this much skill and talent. Yet, he was contemplating on whether he should throw it away or not. Because, despite all his success, he felt something he wouldn't have from continuing on with his life.

He's had fun before. Although not much, he still had a few friends he considered somewhat close. But despite that, he was still missing something. Something fundamental that stopped him from enjoying life. So, he continued to lead a life he considered empty. Then he found it. Like seeing a small spark, and with just enough reason and insistence to follow it, he took an interest. Eventually, he found himself intrigued with the spark, unable to get enough of it. And before he realized, the spark had already grown to a huge flame that engulfed him. And he couldn't be happier with it.

Love.

An emotion strong enough to drive the most calm minded ponies insane, to the point of sacrificing their very being, just to spend even a single more moment with their loved ones. There comes many variations of love, but Blueblood could only focus on one. And that was what had been taking up his mind for the last month or so.

"She's not here." He mumbled as he came to a stop.

The fresh natures scent cleared his hazy mind just a slight bit, but he had realized something. It has barely been two hours since he's become separated from Light, and he was worrying too much. His previous worries that always threatened his position in life suddenly became unimportant.

"What to do."

His choices were laid out. Either go back to Ponyville to try and find Light, or stay here and wait for her to come. Either way, he didn't like that he would be separated for longer.

*Rustle*

"Oh." He didn't care too much.

He was just tired, and he wanted to spend his time with Light.

Instead of standing there in shock, he took a look around the camp. A bow with a bunch of somewhat recognizable runes on it. He couldn't use it. A great sword thrice his size, out of the question. He leaned more on fencing technique and skill rather than brute strength. A rather short looking dagger. Longer than a kitchen knife, but shorter than a weapon.

It'll have to do.

It was magicked over as Blueblood caught it in the air in his hooves. It was something he had learned when the guards recently began to be trained in weaponry by his Aunt Luna. Besides, he wasn't comfortable holding a dirty handle in his mouth.

Without waiting, he turned around, the dagger swinging through the air with a swishing noise. He had planned to temporary stun whatever the beast may be, but he was surprised upon realizing that the dagger had gone through multiple layers of stone. Glancing at the dagger, he gave a sigh as it started to float around him.

"I don't know about being as versatile and skillful as Moon, but you shouldn't be much of a problem." He stated as the dagger's speed picked up, slicing through the air. "I'm a bit busy. So, you'll have to make an appointment for a meeting."

Floral stood wordlessly as he looked around the field slowly. Almost every tree in the vicinity had been cut down, as well as the hundreds of animals through the forest. His face was tense with expression, showing a thousand different sides he hasn't shown before.

"Floral?" Twilight's word echoed out, snapping Floral out of his thoughts.

"You can rest now." His voice was deep, as if he had forcefully shut his emotions down just to answer.

Twilight stared for a few moments, an unexplainable expression. "Alright." She gave an answer as her body went limp.

A single vine caught her falling figure as several more tended to Shining Armor. Floral was staring with an emotionless face, he had become as cold as he possible could, or he might break down. A dim light green glowed from the vines, slowly closing Shining Armor's injuries. Having made sure he wouldn't die, Floral turned to Moon, who was gritting her teeth as she refused to open her eyes.

"Upff." She held herself back from puking.

Floral glanced at her, his eyes were filled with almost every emotion possible. An overconcentration of different feelings had affected him. Still, he forced himself to move as he stopped near Moon.

"Moon." He called out, a hint of guilt in his voice.

"Ngh, fuck. No, just, give me a moment." Her reply was nervous, her breath being labored as there was a distressed look on her face.

Floral took in her words for a few seconds. "Yes." He replied and sat down next to her.

A semblance of silence returned as the two remained on the ground. Moon had shut her eyes hard as saliva seemed to drip through her shut teeth. Her breathing slowly became more controlled, but her roaring mind was still giving unease.

Surprisingly, Floral made no attempts to comfort her. He acted as if even hearing his voice would worsen her condition. Only after she stopped shaking with every second did her finally speak up.

"Sorry, you shouldn't have had to experience that." He gave a simple apology, his guilt slipping through his mask.

"Fucking hell." Moon cussed and held her head. "I wasn't the one that had to, do those things." She tried to speak brazenly, but her words shook without her input.

"I felt those things, over the years of my life. You went through all of it in a matter of minutes." He shut her argument down. "Even if it wasn't real, it's not something I hoped you would ever get to know."

Moon didn't reply to that. Whatever she had seen had deeply disturbed her.

After a few seconds of Moon gathering herself, she eventually gave a sigh.

"Come on, I still need that bagel Z and Gil were supposed to bring." Moon tried to play it off as she took the lead.

Floral stared at her back, few thoughts popped up before he sadly closed his eyes. With a slightly somber aura around him, he picked up both Twilight and Shining before heading towards the camp.

During their walk, Moon kept faltering. Her mind was elsewhere as she shook every now and then. Floral couldn't help but notice. Yet, he didn't make a move except silently follow behind. He couldn't see her face from his position, but he could take an easy guess as to what it must've looked like.

After a silent ten minutes, the two finally reached the camp.

"Well. Shit." Moon stopped in her tracks and stared forward with a frown.

Floral simply glanced around the corpses of monsters. Most were random rocks and parts made of wood. Blueblood was standing in the middle with a cold expression, a long scar that hovered under his eye was shamelessly displayed, but his gaze was slightly cloudy. Like he was thinking about something else.

"The dagger." Floral pointed out, getting a look of recognition from Moon.

The two walked closer as the dagger suddenly turned to them. Going at incredible speeds, Floral was more than ready to knock it away, had it not stopped in front of them.

"Oh, you're here." Blueblood said indifferently.

"Uh, yeah." Moon was a bit creeped out by him. "What the hell is wrong with, you?" Her words fell weak at the end as her eyes couldn't help but glance at a deer.

Its guts were cut open, air could freely pass through its insides. Blood flowed as easily as water, tainting the ground in a reddish hue. The bones were visibly cut off, exposing it, leaving its organs free to fall out.

Moon gulped dry air as she started to feel bile rise from her throat. Her body tensed up as her breathing started to quicken once again. She tried to distract herself and look at Blueblood once again. Yet, the knife floating in front of her with blood dripping from it, it only managed to make her condition worse. In a desperate attempt, before she lost control, she glanced at Floral.

Instantly, in her vision, his strong image was replaced by a colt. Scared and defenseless as he was covered in blood in an attempt to hide himself. The bright daytime forest was replaced by a dungeon. A seemingly infinite amount of corpses seemed to fill the place, all splattered across the stone floor. There was a deep metallic scent filling her nostrils as she started to hear the cries of hundreds of foals. Slowly, the colt reached out a hoof. She started to feel an ache around her body, her hearing was muffled as her heartbeat was the only thing she could hear. Right as the hoof touched her, her hallucination disappeared.

"Moon." Floral whispered to her as she realized her situation.

Blueblood was staring at her with a confused, and a slightly concerned look. The knife had long been discarded as her vision of the dead deer was blocked. Just thinking about the deer made her sick, as it was only added to the memories of the full on slaughters she held in the forest.

"Don't. Stop thinking about it." Floral whispered to her once again.

She slowly regained her senses as she found herself covered by a hug. Two strong hooves held her protectively as she felt warmth taking over. Her senses fully came back to her as she looked around once again. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly as she shut her eyes.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke." She managed to let out.

"It'll pass, with time." Floral told her as he hugged her just a bit tighter.

*Rustle*

*Bang*

A burst of fire rose to the skies inside the barrier, being blocked at the very top.

"What the fuck?" Moon asked and peeled herself off of Floral.

"It's, from a potion." Floral said softly.

"Zecora." Moon instantly realized.

"You two stay here and take care of these two." Floral commanded and pointed at Twilight and Shining on the ground.

"Understood." Blueblood had no issues with it.

"What?! No, you bastard. I'll go too!" Moon was declining the order.

"Moon." Floral said strictly as he held her from her shoulders, his gaze was firm, but caring. "Please, you've done more than enough today. So, take a rest." He practically pleaded as his eyes held infinite guilt in them.

Moon was about to talk back, but her eyes caught a glimpse of darkness flickering over Floral's chest. His breath felt a bit colder than usual as his eyes seemed to be slightly unstable. He was having a hard time controlling his emotions, ergo, the magic inside him from bursting open. And for a pony like Floral Green, he would be calmer fighting an entire army by himself than worrying over somepony he loved.

"Fine." She let out as her ears dropped down, an instinctual response.

It only ate away at Floral's heart, but her grit through it as he gave a nod. "Thank you." He muttered and let go. "I'll be back soon." He spoke calmly, but it was clear he was unstable as even those who couldn't feel magic could see traces of green and dark magic sparking out of his body.

"Ms.Moon, you should rest. You look rough." Blueblood's voice called out to her.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever." She replied absentmindedly as she tore her gaze away from Floral.

Without talking much, she took a seat at the cold campfire. Her eyes were distant as she was sitting still. Blueblood decided not to intrude as he got a fire going before searching around the camp.

"What do you think you should do after you've bitten into a still beating heart of a pony that was still alive, so you could drink their blood?" Moon suddenly asked a bizarre question.

Blueblood froze as the pan he held in his magic fell to the ground. "What?" He was more than disgusted by her question.

"No, just, forget about it. It's nothing important." Moon dismissed it, but her face clearly betrayed her words.

Blueblood didn't know how to answer that. Something was clearly bothering her, and he had no idea how to approach it. Her question was an obvious clue, but he himself couldn't make heads or tails about it.

"Why did you hide that scar?" She asked to change the subject.

Blueblood took a moment. "Politics." That answer was enough. "What happened here?"

"Meditation." Moon gave back an answer.

"I see. I trust Armor is still alive?"

"He's breathing, no?"

"That should be enough then. Though, you'll likely have to explain to my older cousin as to why her fiancé is injured so much."

"I'll leave that shit to Floral. He's a better talker anyway."

"Yes, he definitely is good." Blueblood kept talking as he noticed her mood slowly getting better, being distracted from something he didn't quite know what.

*Rustle*

Blueblood's eyes widened in hope and anticipation as two ponies walked, his eyes instantly cooled down to just recognition. The two ponies pulled a small carriage of items behind them.

"Oh, you two." Moon said calmly as she put on an act.

"Good afternoon, Moon." Fleur greeted happily first.

"Eesh, did we come at a bad time?" Fancy asked nervously as he looked at the chaos all around the camp.

"You two are just in time." Blueblood spoke up, catching their attention.

"Oh! Prince Blue-" Fancy Pants suddenly stopped speaking as he looked at Blueblood in the face.

"Oh dear." Fleur was equally shocked at the gigantic scar.

It truly did ruin his handsome face, making him look like somepony cruel, and merciless. It somewhat fit him, but he didn't need to be like that for now.

"Um, I-uh. I didn't notice, your presence, your highness. There appears to be quite a lot of, um, dirt on you." Fancy couldn't quite bring himself to mention both the scar and the blood.

Blueblood glanced at himself. "I suppose."

"Stop fucking around." Moon cut in. "You two, try to help him make something edible." She commanded briskly as she warmed herself by the fire.

"Cooking." Fleur whispered to herself. "I guess I could try it, it's been a few decades since I last cooked though." She happily accepted the change in subject.

"I haven't really tried cooking before, so, I'm not sure how much help I'd be." Fancy said with a small cough as he forced his eyes away from Blueblood's face.

"Whatever." Moon dismissed with a wave of her hoof.

"Floral! Moon! We're back! And we're missing a Prince!" Gilda shouted with annoyance clear in her voice. "Oh, he's here." She mumbled and looked around before shrugging and flying up to her nest.

Blueblood's scar was immediately hidden with a flash of light, though, only Moon noticed the light.

"Bluey!?" Light asked excitedly as she ran to him.

"Light?!" Blueblood's mood was lifted by several times as he immediately grew a bright smile and hugged her tightly.

"Oh, wow." Fancy muttered as he watched the scene.

"Aww, that's cute." Fleur commented.

"He was a simp?" Moon talked as if she couldn't believe it.

"Hi Moony!" Pinkie Pie practically broke through the fabric of reality to appear next to Moon.

"What the fuck?!" Moon was, understandably, more than surprised as she jumped in her seat. "You! Pink eldritch beast! I'll find you secret someday!" She declared with a frown.

"Now now, settle down y'all. I can see that we all had a long day, so, let’s keep our noses clean and steer clear o’ any scuffles." Applejack acted as the responsible one. "And what in tarnation happened with these two? They didn’t get banged up too bad, did they?" She asked as she stood over the unconscious siblings.

"They're alive, aren't they?" Moon's answer to it was simple.

The camp immediately became lively with so many ponies. It always ended up being some kind of party whenever ponies gathered at the camp. So, following the tradition, barrels of whiskey that Fleur and Fancy brought were opened up. Of course, with no alicorns running a contest, the party wasn't just full on drinking. It was more calm, just enough to get tipsy to deal with the stress of the day.

Rarity was present. But she was a bit out of it. She just kept silently staring at Blueblood, wondering what she should say. Her thoughts had become too conflicted when he showed her his scar. Should she take pity, or should she continue to hate him for the way he treated her at the Gala?

And Moon was holding a cup. She was just staring at it as her thoughts were at war with each other. She just couldn't tear her eyes away, but she couldn't bring herself to drink it. Her face was blank canvas of emotions, but her eyes told the truth.

Screams. She hid it from the others well, but all she heard were screams of pain and despair. A barrel of alcohol. Fire spread to the surroundings as explosions rang in her ears. Eventually, she started to shake as she became disconnected from the world. Her heart started to beat wildly as blood and ash started to appear in her eyes.

"Hey." Gilda's claw covered Moon's cup. "You alright?" She asked, putting her own cup down.

Moon took a few moments to gather her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just, thinking about stuff."

"Well, don't. You're the one who told me it looked fucking depressing." Gilda replied and sat down next to her. "You looked like your parents were being stabbed in front of you."

"Was it that obvious?"

"The others haven't spent as much time as I have with you. Where's Floral by the way?"

"There was an explosion, and Floral went to check it out. We guessed it was Z."

"Well, shit." Gilda cussed as she slumped down. "I'm too tired to help." Her eyes were bloodshot as she scanned the party.

"The hell happened in Ponyville?"

"It was a mess. News got out that Princely was in town, and then we had to outrun them. We tried to gather trustable ponies as we went, but there was a teleportation accident or something in the middle because Pinkie Pie fired her cannon." Gilda recounted with an annoyed face. "Eventually, we ended up having to fend off that damn swarm from us, cuz they thought we were hiding Prince Charming with a disguise."

"Fucking hell, that sounds so damn tiring." Moon was slightly astonished.

"Oh, right. Fuck, there were also ponies coming in from other cities and shit."

"Damn. I guess Celly and Luna's got their work cut out for them. Since Blue over here is, well, here."

"True." Gilda chuckled at the small joke as the party went on.

Moon had a small smile as she talked. Her hoof reflexively raised the cup up as her nostrils were greeted by the smell of alcohol. The smell, it caught her off guard as she instantly froze over.

"Hey, don't force yourself to drink. You should know that just fucks you over." Gilda pointed out before taking a swig of her own.

Her words rang through Moon's head for a bit. Though, she was still experiencing that same feeling from earlier. As her head hurt, she slowly set the cup down as she cupped her face and took deep breaths.

"Hey, you alright?" Gilda asked worriedly.

Moon didn't respond as she lurched sideways and puked. Nothing but stomach acid fell out, but the nausea she felt kept making her vomit more. Gilda acted out of reflex as she stood up to pat her back, her one wing extended to completely block the view of Moon.

Once she was done, Moon was left shivering as she stood with shaky legs. Her breathing was labored as Gilda was silently comforting her with a worried face.

"Gil." She suddenly called out.

"Yeah?" She asked back.

"How badly do burnt corpses smell again?" She asked another bizarre question.

"It's." Gilda didn't understand the purpose of the question. "It was just, bad, wasn't it? I think it was just disgusting if it was being burnt with all the fur and the blood."

"Right." Moon acknowledged that answer. "Fuck." She uttered a curse and stood there for a while.

*BOOM!*

A giant explosion of magic took them all by surprise. Coming form the direction it had come before, shadows rose dangerously as it gave off a light green colored glow.

Gilda turned to Moon with a questioning look, but Moon just sighed. "Later, I don't want to ruin the party."

"Hmm, fine." Gilda accepted.

Slowly, Floral came walking out of the forest. His complexion looked a lot better than when he went in, but there was still some silent fury hidden in his eyes. On his back, was Zecora knocked out. Once he reached the camp, he took in all the surprised faces of the guests.

"We'll talk tomorrow morning." With that single sentence, he had pushed everything to a time he would be more in control of himself.

Moon was just looking at him pensively, with Gilda taking plenty enough notice.

Author's Note

So, if you guys do remember the previous chapters. Floral has talked about drinking blood before, and, well, that should be enough hint for you guys to realize that the whole story hadn't been revealed.

I even remember leaving a pretty large hint in the chapter where Luna invaded Floral's dreams without permission.

So, well, see ya next time.