The thing he lacked

Chapters

The unicorn that makes the stupidest decisions (no kidding)
The stallion that fights the wrong battle (or not)
The pony that ought to keep his mouth shut (or not)
The handsome unicorn that should know better (or… no, he should)
The prisoner that should pay attention to details (really)
The pretty slave that cannot let his guard down (She's watching...)
The prince who had it all (or not)
The noble that could have it all (or not)

The unicorn that makes the stupidest decisions (no kidding)

“Why do you tolerate these so-called nobles, sister? I can understand the need for ponies to be invested in their own affairs in one way or another, but these are simply too arrogant. The worst of all seems to be this ‘Prince Blueblood’. I hear he was less than charming to one of the bearer of the Elements of Harmony.”

“I know, sister…”

“What makes him think he is of so great standings? IT IS REVOLTING!”

To that, the goddess of the sun did not reply. She was lost in her memory of a peculiar little colt.

“Hey, you have wings and a horn… Who are you?” The adorable little unicorn had asked, head tilted to the side.

“I am Princess Celestia... your aunt.” She had smiled tenderly.

“Whoa! You’re my aunt?” He had jumped up and down at that.

The alicorn had nodded, amused by his enthusiasm. “I am.”

“This is so great! I have a special pretty aunt.” The young prince had tackled her leg, hugging her with the biggest grin she had seen on a young foal like him.

It had warmed her heart in a way that would not happen again until the very first success of her prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle, and the thousand times blessed return of her sister.

The chariot was uncomfortable. Its wooden planks were hard, unimpressive and crackled. The noble dared not move too much for fear splinters would get incrusted into his delicate skin, but it was not so easy. It kept jumping from bumps in the road.

Truly, Prince Blueblood had been in a darkening mood ever since their procession had left Canterlot.

What was his aunt thinking? For all his qualities, he was not a pony for search parties!

Unfortunately, her reasons made great sense and went hooves in hooves with his pride.

‘We need to show to our subjects that we are invested in their problems, do you understand?’ She had told him.

And considering he was one of the highest dignitaries in all of Equestria, the message it sent was all that much stronger. Simple and elegant, he only had to show himself among the soldiers searching for the missing ponies and the scouts looking out for the griffons.

Yet this was taking far too long for his taste. If he was to take this treatment much longer, he’d go mad.

“How much longer until we arrive?! This chariot is simply dreadful!” The prince made his displeasure known.

“Shouldn’t be too long, your highness,” an earth pony replied simply. “We can see the outlines of the Frozen Mountains.”

At that, Prince Blueblood barely suppressed a grunt of anger. To add insult to the injury, their search had to start near one of the most hostile part of Equestria where weather was harder to control and the griffons were more numerous. It would make sense to go there, as the processions intents were to visit one village where the disappearances had reach a very worrying level.

It did not mean that he would take this ordeal gracefully.

He would have sworn he heard a soldier laugh at his grumpiness, though he had to have been dreaming. No pony would be so foolish as to mock one of the three royal heirs. Deciding that any laugher must have been the results of one crude joke or another unrefined funny story, Prince Blueblood ignored everypony else superbly until they reached town.

“By her incandescent mane…” the stallion muttered, horrified at the sight before him. “Auntie does not truly wish for me to spend weeks here, does she?”

“Ah, well, it all depends on our investigations, your highness,” a muscular Pegasus next to him replied.

Captain Cloudy Sky was a stallion of great reputations amongst the nobility for his long career as defender of the borders between the griffons’ territory and Equestria. Even a unicorn such as Prince Blueblood might feel a twinge of nervousness when conversing with such a grand figure.

That was not to say the unicorn did. To him, Cloudy Sky was a great soldier, but nothing more. In fact, there were precious few distinctions between generals and soldier in his mind. Brutes you aimed at your enemies, unrefined commoners that had the honor to defend the princesses and the royal family.

“If we find out what’s going on, then I reckon you will not need to stay long. If things stay calm though, we’ll have to search somewhere else.”

“Then I suggest we get started right away, Captain.” The unicorn waved dismissively, trying his best not to detail the town.

A charitable soul like Fancy Pants would have described it as “charmingly rustic”.

“I can’t believe she would ask me to spend time in this mud hole,” the unicorn muttered darkly under his breath.

Hoofywood was a village not completely unlike a certain town of pony harboring six very important mares. The extravagance of the most modest house in Canterlot would have humbled every single one of the ponies residing there.

Prince Blueblood hated it.

Still, he put on his most charming smile for the journalists, of the insulting number of two. The unicorn mare holding her notebook let her concentration falter and accidentally dropped it as her blush spread. Internally, he smirked. His physique certainly warranted such a reaction.

The insufferably friendly and unsophisticated mayor put his nerves to the test though, but the prince managed to stay coolly polite to the green stallion.

It would not do to offend the community. After all, his presence was a political move by his aunt and he would never do anything to disappoint her.

Next to him, the armored pegasus started shouting his order. “Alright men, spread out and interrogate the townsfolk. I want all squads to give me a full report by sunset!”

“Captain, why would you waste your time in town instead of searching outside? No house in this town could hold so much as a tenth of the missing ponies.”

To the noble’s indignation, something akin to annoyance danced in the captain’s eyes. “With all due respect, your highness, Princess Celestia put you in charge of the public relationships and me in charge of the actual work. Kindly let me do my job… sir.”

Then, as if he had not performed an act of utter treason – who dared talked back to the heir of the unicorn royal family?! –, Cloudy Sky left with his second-in-command, a bulky earth pony by the name of Grey Bark.

What followed was a moment of complete and total silence as Blueblood blinked slowly with utter fury while the town’s mayor awkwardly danced on his hooves and tried not to aggravate the noble any further.

“Hum… there was a small dinner organized at the town hall to celebrate your arrival, your highness.” The aging stallion attempted to be perfectly nonchalant and ignore the horrible timing of all this. “My cousin has even brought his finest wine, straight from our fields, for the occasion.”

‘Well, perhaps this trip will not be so bad after all’, the prince thought.

Hours later, with a considerable amount of alcohol in his system, the unicorn stumbled outside the town hall.

As offensive as it was, Prince Blueblood had taken the good natured closeness of the commoners in stride once a few glasses of unrefined wine had been ingested. The food had been completely plain, but after a few days of eating military meals with the rest of the search party, its homely quality had won the noble over.

Now, nopony could rightfully accuse him of refusing to mingle with the lower masses.

Of course, he had rejected the advances of that young mare nonetheless. As charming as she was, their different status made any relationship impossible.

No, his task required him to be perfect in the eyes of his aunt’s subjects. A royal scandal in this timeframe would be disastrous. If he was only seen honoring their mayor with his company and even indulged in their regional specialties, then they could not fault him.

This thought process did need for him to appear presentable the next morning however and for that to happen as well, he would need his beauty sleep. Unfortunately, moving in a straight line was unbecomingly difficult at the moment, the cheap wine dulling his senses. Fortunately, there were little to no peasants abound this late in the evening. The only ponies in sights were the pegasi that sometimes flew over the village.

Slowly, the drunken stallion made his way through half the town, vaguely cursing the fact that the only suitable inn had been so far away from the town hall.

His lack of common sense combined with his arrogance and his inebriated state gave him the ill advice to just cut up on the way to trot by going through one of the lesser illuminated streets. If one was to be more charitable, they could say he had stumbled in and got lost.

Prince Blueblood almost tripped on his own hooves at the turn of a corner and harshly collided, shoulder first, into a stone wall and let out an undignified yelp.

A curse nearly escaped his lips, when he heard some scrambling noises and whispers. In seconds, they had quieted, but it left a strong impression on him. A wise stallion would have turned back, reasoning that a longer but less occupied street in the middle of the night was a small price to get his peace of mind back. A noble stallion, on the other hoof, would simply brisk through, comfortable in their knowledge of their own status and the protection it granted them. Who would dare harm the nephew of Princess Celestia herself?

With each hoof he put in front of the other, his hardiness returned more strongly, until he had gotten back his arrogant demeanor, if only slightly worse with the alcohol getting to his head. Oh no, the noble unicorn was not afraid of some stupid noise in a dark alley; those were tales for little fillies a nanny needed to send them to bed. None of the shadows held any power over his mind, even as their claws gripped at the walls and created illusionary monsters waiting to strike…

Prince Blueblood nearly jumped out of his skin when a brief shriek of surprise echoed in the night.

Suddenly, his bravado lost a lot of its intensity.

Shaking like a leaf, the stallion took a few more uneasy steps, shooting terrified glances at his surroundings. He was alone, all alone… in the dark…

He had to be imagining those muffled noises, as if somepony was being restrained… or worse…

This was all the brave prince could take, before running off in a blind panic.

And bumped head first into a deserted stall with a very loud crash. In a combination of luck and misfortune, the pain was dulled by the alcohol in his system, somewhat, though there would have been no need for that without him being drunk in the first place.

Sompony – something – hissed in the dark, nearby. It was not loud, not at all, but in the deep silence of Princess Luna’s night, Blueblood distinctively understood the words.

“You heard that?”

“You think I’m deaf?!” Another voice, raspy and grating, replied. “Of course I did.”

The white unicorn’s heart jumped in his chest, fighting to get himself disentangled from the destroyed mess he had charged into. In his panic, he barely realized he was digging himself deeper.

His thoughts were centered around the soldiers that should have been escorting him right now and what a blatant display of incompetence it was for them to allow him to get into this kind of dangerous situation. He was royalty, for the love of Celestia! Where were they anyway?!

His breathing itched in his throat and an unnatural amount of sheer terror whipped the last reminders of his drunken stupor as a large frame emerged from the shadows of a back alley, one just a few meters away from the white stallion.

Frozen, the noble stared as more dark figures seemed to gather near it, just outside the range of the torches’ light. All he could see were the outlines of their bodies and at least one of those monsters was bipedal.

“It came from around here…” One of them said with a raspy voice.

The larger one shifted on its hooves – paws? – and the top of its body turned in the prince’s direction.

Prince Blueblood shut down altogether, terrified out of his mind.

A second later, a hoof came down on his face and all went black.

The stallion that fights the wrong battle (or not)

He awoke with what must have been the greatest hangover of the century. That or the hit to the head he had taken had been definitely overpowered. The point was that Prince Blueblood’s head felt like it was going to split open due to the sheer amount of pure pain.

The first sound that escaped his mouth was, fittingly, a disgruntled groan of pain. His whole body seemed to be heavy like wet wool, eyelids included as the stallion remained unable to open his eyes for the longest time.

There was this indistinct rumbling noise that surrounded him and that seemed to overshadow his every thoughts. He could simply not form a coherent evaluation of his situation with the mortal combination of his headache and all that noise.
To make things worse, the ground he was on suddenly jolted upward, making him bump his royal head against it.

However, that unexpected event cleared his head, as if the hit had knocked the stupor out of the prince.

He was in a carriage, bound by ropes and yes, he was clearly suffering from a bad hangover. He would have started cursing right away had it not been for the gag that muted his words.

Suddenly, as if his head had been cleared of all distractions, the reality of his situation came crashing down like a speeding pegasus. He had been kidnapped, him, the heir of the unicorn royal family! Granted, he made an extremely precious hostage, considering how loved and important he was, but this proof of his importance did very little to calm him down.

Oh, he would give them a piece of his mind for incommoding him so! As soon as…

…he managed to take off his gag…

Struggling and squirming seemed to do very little against firmly tied knots and ropes. Even some well applied telekinesis had little effect and with every vain attempt, a little bit of his resolve faltered, slowly making place for a terrible feeling of vulnerability.

The righteous fury was soon replaced with mind numbing panic.

He was prisoner! Prisoner of his aunts-know-what kind of terrible brutish monsters that would subject him to every sort of torture like leaving him in a dirty cell!

The bound prince started thrashing blindly, painfully hitting the walls of his moving prison with his legs, then with his shoulder.

A loud bang inches away from his face made him jump away. “BE STILL!”

He bit down a pathetic whimper and tried to summon his regal persona, with very little success. No, the unicorn was simply too afraid of what was to become of him to dare earn the hire of his kidnappers, whoever they were.

“Let him thrash,” a low, suave, voice captured his attention, and, if the sharp intake of breath was any indication, that of his other kidnappers. “After all, what can he possibly do to escape?”

The reply came, more submissive than the prince had expected. “But all that noise-”

“-Is further proof that he is a healthy and strong specimen, which is perfect for our line of business, don’t you think?” He insisted on this question, which, by the tone used, was no question at all.

Blueblood held his breath, absorbing every single piece of information with the hope it could help him.

“O-of course, sir!” Well, it was not very hard for Blueblood to know who the leader of his captors was. Everypony probably knew the minute they witnessed any interactions at all. “We don’t mean to question you.”

There were no more conversations past this point. It did give him plenty of chilling thoughts to expend on.

Just how many… brutes… had participated in his kidnapping? Probably a dozen or more, he speculated, if only by the ease they had taken him and the boldness of their actions. Though that also led him to wonder why in Tartaros had Captain Cloudy Sky not rescued him already?!

That incompetent, arrogant, disrespectful, unrefined…

He was too mad for words. At least, words that fitted his status and not that of lower soldiers, which he had unfortunately spent too many time with as part of his mandatory military service.

Oh, if he were to get his hooves on any of those incompetent fools, they would regret the day they decided to neglect their duties!

Thoughts of vengeance swirling in his head, the prince paid no mind to the hushed, whispered, conversation between two surly kidnappers. Words were exchanged about loud and useless ponies.

It was lucky Blueblood had not heard it or he might have tried screaming in indignation.

“Ah, excellent,” the kidnappers’ leader said. “I can see our partner is waiting exactly where we agreed to meet.”

Just as the words started to register, his moving prison came to an abrupt stop, throwing him against its walls again.

Strong of his righteous anger, the white stallion started protesting, loudly fighting against his gag. He would not stand for this ignominious treatment any longer! He was a PRINCE!

The door to his prison opened, well, if it could be described as such. In truth, one whole wall fell down to the ground, creating a footbridge of some sort between his kidnappers and himself.

At their appearances, Blueblood’s eyes widened in shock and he felt himself shiver with fear.

Dogs. They were diamond dogs and ugly ones at that. Upon their deformed faces were hateful snarls, showing their unnatural – sharp – teeth.

“Loud pony will SHUT UP!” The smallest one shouted, looking seconds away from throttling him.

Oh yes he would. He had been captured by savage beasts! They probably could not even understand their blasphemous actions of touching a single strand of his mane!

Even worse, this explained why they had been allowed to get away with it. They were underground!

…The pegasi squad would be utterly useless in finding him.

It started to dawn on the noble, how utterly screwed he was, that is.

He was stuck, tied up and gagged, alone with… six… diamond dogs… in a tunnel… where the sun or the moon never shone.

He had to escape! He had to escape right now!

“You,” the same suave voice from before echoed, distinctively not coming from any of the canines. “Take him out of his cage; we need to show off our merchandise.”

M-merchandise?

What was being referred to here? The ‘cage’, as they had so elegantly put it, was bare of any goods. He was the only…

‘Oh Celestia!’ The prince thought, a cold nausea threatening to overwhelm him.

And things got worse.

From the front of the metallic carriage moved a brutish, thick, muscle only, guard-like dog. It seemed that not even the slightest bit of decency would be offered, as the thing got closer to him, both arms extended toward his tied up form. At that distance, especially as it was shrinking with every passing second, its foul odor was such a crime against aristocracy that no noble stallion would ever contemplate sharing a court room with it.

Blueblood’s reaction was as instinctive as it was blindly fast.

‘Don’t touch me, you filthy beast!’ He screamed mentally, while his telekinesis sent the dog hurling.

It knocked three diamond dogs straight off their feet, making the remaining three yelp in surprise.

A savage satisfaction, very unbecoming of a unicorn of his refinement, washed over him and he fought through his bindings with renewed strength.

Ah! Those stupid dogs may have gotten the upper hooves on him once, while he was in a weakened state, but this would not happen again!

His horn shone with blue light again, a perfect replica of the aura that picked up another dog to throw him out of his royal field of vision.

Hardiness bubbled inside him, as his ego eagerly accepted this enormous boost. Viper tongues be damned, Prince Blueblood was no fool and no useless idiot heir!

One of the remaining dog leaped toward him at full speed, yelling with a grating voice. The sight made him jump and he barely remembered to use his magic in time to-

“NO MAGIC!” The beast screamed, digging his claw into the prince’s royal cheeks.

The pain, so unusual to the noble, distracted him and made the flow of his magic flicker.

“WHITE PONY WILL GO QUIETLY!” The dog practically spat into the unicorn’s face.

Blueblood recoiled, equal part from the pain, the disgust and the fear.

He heard a ripping noise – that of fabric being torn apart – and his gag fell off, right as searing pain spread through his royal face.

Without thinking, the unicorn directed his magic toward his throat. “LET ME GO!” He yelled with the Traditional Canterlot Voice.

It was so powerful that the tunnel even gave a slight tremor from the shockwave. His aunt Luna would have been proud, if she did not have utter contempt for him…

The dogs, on the other hoof, fell face first into the ground, whimpering and covering their sensitive ears with their paws.

“STOP! TOO LOUD!” They all begged him.

Blinking, the noble finally saw the chance to be freed. A grin found its way to his lips and he mentally recovered the noble’s mindset, that of a pony that get what he wants when he wants it.

Before he could speak the smallest word though, a brown and white figure jumped him.

In a second, his face was against the metallic floor, with a heavy weight on his back and some sharp claws against his throat. He fought very hard against the reflex to gulp, fearing the cut that might end his life.

He barely registered that his assailant had the mixed features of a lion and an eagle, as the military had suspected.

“Well well well,” the griffon spoke, his voice identifying him as the leader of this brutish gang. “I must admit that you have more fight in you than I thought possible. You ponies are always so… peace loving.” He spat those last words as if they were a bitter meal, but none of that mattered to the bound stallion.

“Y-you…” Blueblood said slowly, trying not to cut himself. “D-d-do you know w-w-who I a-am?”

It would have been much more impressive had he not been shaking like a leaf.

“No. I do know what kind of pony you are though.” He leaned closer, to the point that the stallion could feel his breath on his neck. “You are a pathetic little noble born into a world of luxury, none of which you earned, with your every whims answered without question. I would bet my dogs that this was the first hardship you ever went through.”

P-pathetic?! HIM?! He was not just a little noble! He was the nephew of Princess Celestia AND Princess Luna, the Royal Pony Sisters, the alicorns that raised the sun and the moon over the world! Of course he was entitled to a little luxury; he was related to the greatest mare ever!

And hardships? Oh, he would like to see that insolent griffon try to survive Canterlot’s court and its population of cutthroat vultures. That ruffian would not last a DAY trying to fit in!

He kept his thought to himself, barely, because his first intake of breath had sent a quick flare of pain at the level of his throat. However, the fire that burned through the prince did not escape the griffon’s attention.

“My, I hit a nerve, didn’t I?” He chuckled. “How amusing. Ponies’ arrogance truly knows no bound. Is your little pride wounded?”

Blueblood did not know he could hate anyone more than that mare, but he was forced to recognized that this new humiliation called for blood!

“I think this is what I like best about this job: the disgrace.” His grip tightened, preventing the prince from moving any further, though he very dearly wanted to. “It’s almost poetic that I, a lowly griffon, gets to take you ponies down from your mighty pedestal, but really, the reality is so much more beautiful…”

Before Blueblood had the time to ponder his words, the griffon placed a blindfold over his eyes.

“I know your race well, pony,” he whispered. “You cannot use magic without at least some visual cues. Or spatial ones, if that blind unicorn was anything like the rest of you.”

A hit of incredible violence made his head spin the very next instant.

“You, get the other grunt. Our partner should not wait any longer.”

There was a brief moment, though, while Blueblood could not gather either his sense of balance or his resistance to pain, that his kidnapper took to gloat some more.

“I think they’ll like you.”

And the prince was visited by an overpowering feeling of dread.

The pony that ought to keep his mouth shut (or not)

“Captain, I have received alarming news!” A young pegasus ran up to Cloudy Sky.

“Yes?” The captain frowned, prepared to the worst.

“Nopony has the slightest idea where the prince is. He hasn’t been sighted this morning. The mayor said he left the town hall late in the night yesterday after gracing the welcoming committee with his presence.”

Captain Cloudy Sky barely suppressed a groan of annoyance, with the help of his years of service under some ponies that really did not know their jobs.

It was a shame that it was royalty that provoked this kind of sentiment more often than not these days.

“Send three of your best ponies on the case. With any luck, this is just a case of miscommunication.” Brought by the noble drinking himself stupid and forgetting he was not in Canterlot. Most likely, he would be discovered nursing a hangover in some bushes near the town.

Just as he contemplated the thought, the pegasus felt a shiver go down his spine.

If he was wrong… he would have to announce to Celestia that her favorite nephew had gone missing under his watch.

Blueblood had fallen into an odd silence the moment his eyes had been covered by the piece of fabric. The complete darkness, already strong in the poorly lit tunnels, had considerably dimmed his fighting spirit. Shameful as it was to admit it, for all his talents, he truly could not practice magic blinded. There was nowhere for him to focus his magic if he tried and, well, that tended to result in magical bursts. Those were usually exactly as dangerous as their name implied.

No, the only thing he could do was keep his mouth shut, which was easy considering his new and improved gag, and find any hint that could help him out of this situation.

Or he could always wait for the rescue team that was sure to come looking for him as soon as his disappearance was noticed.

“I thought you had targeted a mare…” A new voice, most likely that of ‘the partner’, rang to Blueblood’s ears.

“Yes,” the griffon agreed, with a tone that made Blueblood wonder if he was not laughing internally. “This one almost literally stumbled into our paws and, frankly, I believe he would earn you more money than any small town’s mare.”

Rightfully so, he mentally huffed… before remembering exactly what was being discussed here. The unicorn even surprised himself wishing that he wasn’t so perfect for once.

Oh woe is him.

The other slave trader hummed thoughtfully, the crescendo of which told Blueblood that he was moving closer, presumably to examine him.
Seconds later, a hoof was pressed against his side. On reflex, he jolted away from the contact, muffling through the gag.

The grunt’s hold simply tightened to the point he could not move at all.

Blueblood stiffened as the hoof touched his side again and seethed internally. How dare that criminal presume the right to touch his coat?!

…WAS HE LAUGHING?!

Indeed, a quiet chuckle could be heard in the otherwise silent tunnel.

“Would you look at that? You guys kidnapped Prince Blueblood!”

His heart jumped in his chest. He had been recognized! If they had half the sense of a normal pony, then they’d keep him locked away, to be freed against a ransom. If they had the sense of a normal pony, he’d be kept in a cell befitting a noble of his standing. It would be dreadful, but at least he would not be sold into SLAVERY!

…It then dawned upon him, to his ever growing despair, that he had been kidnapped by some diamond dogs and a griffon.

To his greater shock, that savage’s reaction was less than barbaric. “T-the prince of the unicorns?” He asked with a hint of fear.

“Oh? Anything wrong, Grayden?”

Silence followed and, for a few agonizing seconds, Blueblood was completely lost, unable to see anything and stuck in a monster’s grip.

“Nothing!” The griffon replied irritably, with a tone that he recognized as hiding a wounded pride.

He knew all about that tone…

“Good.” The mysterious partner chuckled again. “I know it’s stupid, but, for a second, I imagined you were scared of Celestia’s retaliation.”

Gone was the suave voice from before. The griffon spoke with hissed words laced with pure venom. “Yes. It was indeed very stupid.”

The bound stallion presumed the surrounding shuffling noises around him were the diamond gods shifting nervously on their feet. Surely, they hadn’t expected their prisoner to be that important, nor that their boss would butt head so strongly with his business partner.

“Great. If we let him go, he’d snitch on our little arrangement and Celestia would crush us all like bugs.” He pressed his hoof down on Blueblood’s face, with enough force to make it painful. “I know his type. He’d beg for mercy, promise on the name of his parents, his love for Equestria and his honor, but as soon as you’d turn your back… he will make you pay everything he went through, to the slightest of offense against his so precious person.”

…Blueblood had nothing to say to that. He would have. Without hesitation. They deserved it.

“Besides,” the pony – it had to be one! – continued on a lighter tone, “I doubt a single one of our clients would recognize him or care about his previous identity. No, they will only see the muscles, the stature and the magic.”

Even here, the prince could not help that small bubble of satisfaction growing in his chest with every praise.

His kidnapper apparently noticed, by the change in his body language. It made him snicker, creating the most grating sound Blueblood had heard up to this day and he had heard many mares start wailing uncontrollably when he fired them for their incompetence.

“Are you for real, my prince? Do you really have that big of an ego?” Then the voice lost all appearances of friendliness, growing harsh and cold. “Of course you do! You’re royalty!”

The following hit had Blueblood’s head spinning, completely disorientated.

“Don’t let your bad habit get to you, Rock Carrier,” the griffon – Grayden apparently – hissed. “We got a good pony to sell, but he’ll lose value if you let lose like the last time we got our claws on nobleponies.”

The white stallion really wished he could see what was going on, because he was getting scared out of his mind. That Rock Carrier seemed even worse than the savages and knowing he was at his mercy had him shivering in fear.

“Oh, what’s wrong, my prince? You seem to be shaking,” Rock Carrier chuckled.

There was a ruffle of feathers and some suddenly worried mumbling by the diamond dogs.

“Enough of this,” Grayden ordered. By the sound of his voice, Blueblood did not doubt that he was pissed off. “You have deemed him good enough; now let’s get to the auction before it ends. We have been delayed too much already.”

Rock Carrier did not protest.

With a military efficiency, the group of slavers started moving again – with much more harmony than what Blueblood would have ever expected of those savages –, deeper into the tunnels that hid them from the watchful eyes of Celestia and Luna.

Numb to the cold that was creeping to his bones, the captured prisoner could only wonder what would become of him, alone with brutes that made Lady… Rarity positively charming.

If he ever got out of this mess, he would send her a cake to apologize…

Why did he not think of ‘when’ he was going to get out of this mess?

Oh Celestia…

“He’s… he’s nowhere to be found, Captain.”

That was it, he was doomed. He would never need to ask Princess Luna how lovely the weather on the moon was. He’d experience it firsthoof.

“I… see…” Captain Cloudy Sky made good effort not to let his inner turmoil filter through his poker face. He was captain and it would be a shame for a stallion such as him to show worry. “Keep searching, put another two ponies on that team. Let Lieutenant Grey Bark know that he is in charge of the operation until my return.”

“Where are you going, sir?” The pegasus asked.

Cloudy Sky grimaced before answering.

“Explain my failure to the Princesses.”

He could hear voices, none of them similar to those of his kidnappers.

For a moment, he briefly wondered if he had gone mad, but his pride refused to accept such weakness on his part. It had to be something else.

At this distance (how long had they been walking so far?), it was nothing more than indistinct rumble. This alone reminded Blueblood of the countless sportive events he had attended, as a spectator, of course. The sheer excitement in the voices had him shivering even worse than his Aunt Luna on a bad night.

To make matters worse, Rock Carrier started to whistle nonchalantly.

The combination of the two noises created a disturbingly eerie atmosphere that had the prince wishing for this to just be a bad dream and wake up in his comfortable bed in Canterlot.

What was his aunt thinking, sending him out there?! He had had a perfect life before this all started going downhill in that ‘charmingly rustic’ Tartarus on Equestria that was Hoofywoods! Oh, he had gone through terrible events, such as the last Grand Galloping Gala and that visit at the Rainbow Factory in Cloudsdale, but there was a fine matter of scale at play here!

The voices were becoming more distinct now, enough that he could pick up some words. They gave him the chills.

Nothing like “I hope they brought better stock than that stupid family from the last auction” to make your blood turn to ice in horror and give you a good whiplash of adrenaline.

His survival instincts were going into overloard already, but Blueblood just happened to catch this little gem: “Indeed, I need a new slave for my mine. That last one died of asphyxiation”.

His heart leaped in his throat at that. A growing nausea was threatening to overwhelm him.

It might just save him too. If they thought he was a sick stallion, he might not be bought.

But what would Rock Carrier do if he could not get a profit out of him? The images that came to mind were rather off-putting and, frankly, flat out terrifying.

“What do you think, my prince?” Said stallion asked, his breath brushing against the prince’s neck. “Refined, are they not?”

‘BARBARIC BASTARDS! That’s what they are, every single one of them!’

And again came that hateful sound Rock Carrier produced that was supposed to be a laugh. “Reminds me of you, my prince.”
‘How dare he?! How dare he compare me to those… those…?!’

His train of thought was cut off though, by a powerful hit to the chest from the grunt that was carrying him.

“Good boy,” his captor said. “We better make sure the prince is presentable for our clients, right? It won’t do if he tries to fight back too much while he is being groomed.”

…Why did he have the feeling Rock Carrier had meant that as a callback to… something?

Against all odds, it seemed that the grooming really did not involve anything other than that. Oh, it was rightfully awful, obviously done by complete amateurs, not an ounce of finesse, but when his expectations had at least involved a solid underserved hit, it was a nice reprieve.

It was also too suspicious. Those ruffians could not simply have suddenly gained some decency and learnt to show him the respect he was due; they were too brutish to ever understand that. No, he suspected that it simply meant something horrible that he could not see right then.

Blueblood was still blindfolded; he could not see a thing. Yet his other senses could tell him that they never left him with no less than three ‘bodyguards’ at all times. At no point in time did Grayden or Rock Carrier return after leading him to this damp place. They were most likely appealing to whoever was the auction’s owner.

This place… The second he got free, this place would burn for the atrocities it helped perpetrate. No amount of begging would let them get away after incurring his auntie’s wrath. It. Would. Burn.

Thinking of his aunt had lifted his heart. It reminded him that everything would be fine. It couldn’t have been more than a day since his kidnapping. With the fastest courier, it still would take another day for a letter to reach Princess Celestia, but once it would…

Eh, he would be free in no time.

Of course, this also meant that he would need to suffer another day at the hands of those brutes. That perspective was simply awful, but there truly was nothing a gentlecolt like him could do about it.

‘Patience’, the prince repeated in his head. ‘All will be fine in due time. Think of it like that time you got lost in the grand maze in the gardens…’

…Now that he thought about it, Blueblood could not remember what had happened in that maze. He remembered getting lost and earning his cutie mark, but the rest was too hazy…

Movements alerted him. He tensed his legs, fighting the reflex to run. It was the smarter move. He had no idea where he was or even where the exit was.

It took all his regal patience not to yell at the ruffian that dared slap his flank.

“Move along, little pony, it’ll be your turn soon.”

Already?! Wasn’t that… premature? He was royalty after all; shouldn’t they keep him for last? If he had to participate in this shameful display, it should at least be in a manner that would leave no doubt about his true place in this world, barbarians be damned.

From afar, he could tell that he was not the only one unpleased by the arrangement… for completely different reasons.

“I’m telling you, Carrier. We should have bargained for a better ranking. Three of my compatriots have already left after they made their purchases.” Grayden’s voice was harsher than ever, though it hid a hint of worry.

“Well, if they had so little money to spend, then it was not worth showing them in the first place,” his conspirator smoothly replied.

“And those already spent some of that money we could have gotten!”

Blueblood heard a snort, whom, no doubt, had been from Rock Carrier. This behavior was getting worrying. Either that pony was suicidal or he was perfectly able to deal with a griffon and, maybe, half a dozen diamond dogs and their grunts.

By himself.

The prince fought the urge to show his nervousness by loudly swallowing what little saliva he had left. If they knew he was afraid… well, he did not know what they would do, but being barbarians, it would be something bad.

Someone yanked on his chains, pulling him forward. It was so sudden that Blueblood nearly tripped over his own hooves and the noble swore he would get a stiff neck after that (those monsters!).

“WE SAID ‘MOVE’!” Oh, the temper of those dogs was not getting better anytime soon.

Deprived of his sight, he dared not fight back more than with a sneer, through his gag anyway. Nopony noticed. Probably.

He let himself be lead on, repeating a mantra of sweet vengeance enacted by his aunts. Just a little more and he’d be saved.

After a few minutes of walking blind, the white stallion could start hearing the voices from before, those of Carrier’s clients. They became more and more distinct, until it was a rumbling noise, surrounding him from all sides.

However, what truly surrounded him was a mockingly enthusiastic voice that seemed to reverberate in the auction room. He winced when it boomed so close to his ears. “AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMALES, OUR NEXT ITEM!”

‘ITEM?!’ He seethed at the insult. He was royalty! ROYALTY!

Sensing his fury, somepony – a griffon from the shape of its paws – had preemptively pushed him onto his knees. That, and the quiet laugher that followed, made his heart burn.

“STRAIGTH FROM OUR RELIABLE ROCK CARRIER AND HIS ASSOCIATE GRAYEN STRONGWINGS, ITEM NUMBER 27!”

…‘Item number 27’?

They… hadn’t mentioned his name or his identity. This was bad.

His face was half covered with fabric, he had been roughly groomed to something much below his standards, his necks and his legs were restrained with steel chains biting into his flesh and he was being forced to kneel in front of them all.

N-nopony would recognize him! How could they when he was such a magnificent stallion all the time? He probably would have screamed in horror if, just a few days ago, he had been shown exactly how low he had fallen!

It was then, amongst the slavers and the bidders, that the prince really started to sweat. What if somepony bought him for manual labor? O-or that horrible pony from before mentioning mines?! His royal status could not protect if nopony knew about it!

For the shortest of seconds, Blueblood wondered if his title was not just words… but he immediately chased that insolent thought away.

No, he had to make them recognize him. He had to teach all those lower-class peasants just who they were trying to put on sale!

“BIDDING WILL START AT FIVE THOUSAND BITS. DO WE HAVE AN OFFER?”

His heart jumped in his chest. That was too fast! Surely there would be a deluge of offers before he could reveal his identity!

…The room stayed shockingly silent.

It made Blueblood forget the mad hammering of his pulse against his temples and the growing pressure of the claw against his back and the tension of his abused ankles. The prince forgot it all in favor of his indignation.

He had never felt so insulted before in his entire life, Grand Galloping Gala included!

He was not good enough?! HIM?!

The unicorn needed not his eyes to see the careful, reserved disdain in the spectators’ gazes. His whole body seemed stuck under their scrutiny and he could easily imagine the look on their faces. Consideration, maybe, not a lot of interest, something akin to boredom for the rest. He had seen that too many times in Canterlot, but thankfully never directed at him.

It hurt his pride all that much more.

Without thinking, Blueblood buckled the griffon holding him, snarling in anger through his gag.

His teeth bit with rarely seen strength directly into the fabric and he shook his head like a mad beast. It was torn to shred within seconds. He spat it out during the next one.

“HOW DARE YOU?!” Blueblood screamed, the Royal Canterlot Voice booming louder than the announcer could cover it up. “YOU BELIEVE YOURSELVES ABOVE ME?! I AM A PRINCE, YOU FILTHY RUFFIANS! I AM MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO BE! YOU WI-”

His rant was cut short by the frighteningly powerful impact of the griffon tackling him to the ground, soon joined by another guard. They wasted no time covering his mouth and stopping him from delivering another outburst. No matter how much he thrashed and roared, Blueblood could not shake them off.

A few meters away, in front of the stage, the audience, whom Blueblood had accurately imagined, now bore much more interest in the seemingly pathetic stallion. Why, while the lone group of diamond dogs had fled in horrified agony at the unbearable yelling, quite a few mercenaries had started discussing among themselves.

“ERR… A-AS I WAS SAYING, BIDDING STARTS AT FIVE THOUSAND BITS, IS THERE ANY TAKER ON THAT OFFER?” The announcer repeated.

A couple of claws were raised in response and Rock Carrier, waiting in the background, had the faintest of smiles.

The bidding started truly when the Windmill Mercenaries started clashing with the Third Wing of the Griffon Revolutionaries’ Organization. Neither seemed willing to back down, if anything, the stallion could make a very good ransom and no one hated profit.

However, the winner of the auction won with her first bid, four times as much as the second highest bid.

“ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND BITS!”

The announcer declared that the bidding was over right then.

Through it, Blueblood had not stopped struggling, coming to hits with the griffin, who seemed ready to forget their contract and finish him off already. However, the next announcement stunned him enough to stop.

“NOW, IF MISS MARE INCOGNITO WOULD COME TO THE BACK TO CLAIM HER SLAVE…”

‘A mare?’ Blueblood blinked.

The handsome unicorn that should know better (or… no, he should)

“C-Cadence?” He had asked, stunned.

“Cousin Blueblood!” She jumped forward and, protocol be damned, gave him a solid hug.

That behavior, on the other hoof, did not actually surprise the prince. His kind hearted cousin had always been one for display of affection. It made sense, considering her special talent.

“It is so good to see you again!” She smiled. “It has been a while.”

At that, Blueblood let out a feeble, embarrassed, laugh. “Father forbade me from coming back before my military service was finished.”

She punched his shoulder teasingly. “It is a good thing that I was traveling nearby then. Knowing you, at least another year will have passed before you are released from duty.”

He gave her a flat look, which, combined with his overly intricate uniform, failed to impress the alicorn. In fact, she turned around, her mouth hidden behind one hoof. He could only surmise as to why she had suddenly snorted instead of repenting.

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, cousin.” She rolled her eyes. “I am certain military school is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be.”

“Cadence, it is positively dreadful! The instructor is a complete brute, with all the grace of a cheesecake and the intelligence of a tea pot,” he started ranting in a whiny voice. “Can you believe he does not even allow us to take a shower before the morning routine?! How am I supposed to look regal in these conditions?”

“I am fairly certain that is not what you came here for.”

“…doesn’t mean I shouldn’t look the best…” he grumbled under his breath.

Feeling another rant coming and fearing for her ears’ well-being, Cadence promptly enticed her cousin’s assistance, in the form of giving her a tour of the campus.

To this day, he still regrets agreeing to her demand. After all, she met Shining Armor during that tour.

He entered the room without knocking, making her jump a few feet in the air, wings spread and dress effectively wrinkled.

“Blueblood!” She yelled, throwing him a dirty look as she hovered to the ground. “Knock before entering!”

Instead of replying, the prince eyed her dress with disdain. The beautiful design did not sway him over. In fact, it made him grimace.

“So it is true...?” He said so quietly Cadence almost did not pick it up.

“Hum… sorry. What are you talking about?” She frowned, obviously still displeased with his unpleasant behavior.

He congratulated himself for his self-control. His blood was boiling so much that he had surprised himself for not yelling at all.

“Your wedding…”

She looked taken aback, eyes widened and a hesitant tone to her voice. “Oh… Yes, it is true.”

“Why him? Why did you choose someone like Shining Armor?”

“What do you mean ‘someone like Shining Armor’?!” She stepped forward, an angry look on her face.

The prince backed down almost instantly. He knew what she was capable of.

Not to mention Shining Armor actually was a decent enough fellow, but he simply was not good enough for his cousin. He wasn’t even a lesser noble!

“I mean, you could have literally anyone in the world. Why him instead of another?”

“Because I love him?” She pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Because Shining Armor is loyal, kind, caring, hardworking, skilled… handsome.”

Blueblood’s mouth fell at the last one and Cadence blushed shyly.

“What? It’s true.”

His eye twitched, but he said nothing. Yet. Before saying something that might alienate her, he had to calm down.

“There are many stallions that are just like that among the Canterlot nobles, Cadence. I can introduce you if you want. Or I could arrange a meeting with Mr. Street. I hear his first born son, Wall, is of marrying age and-”

“Blueblood, stop.” She cut him off. “I know what you’re trying to do and it will not work. Those kinds of political alliances are not for me. There would be no love involved in those unions and I cannot spend my life like this. It is not me to do so.”

“There might not be love in the first place, but it could still happen. All you would have to do is cast your spell.”

She closed her eyes wearily, as if she was trying to rein in the pain. Sometimes, her cousin was really a pain. Sometimes, she had no idea why they were still on talking terms.

She wondered that a few times too many these days.

“I already told you, it does not work that way and even if it did, I would not use it like that. Do you really think so little of me?”

Him? Thinking little of Cadence? The first alicorn born in more than a thousand years? The first pony to be adopted in the royal family and completely deserve it? He’d sooner marry that mare than think that!

“Of course not!” He replied, showing just as much indignation as she had, seconds ago. “What I’m saying is that you’re the first of a new alicorn lineage! You have a responsibility toward Equestria!”

She looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

“Yes, I know.”

“Not enough then.” He frowned. “What of our allies that wished us to marry one our nobles to them in a show of good will? Your marriage could have been the biggest proof of the complete sincerity of Aunt Celestia and secure our borders once and for all. Or what about Fancy Pants, a stallion with more money than even me, who rightfully deserves a place among the nobles, even with his unsightly association with commoners? As a princess of Equestria, you are expected to marry someone of high standing for the good of our subjects!”

Through his speech, Cadence had looked saddened, more and more, until she seemed on the verge of tears. She never allowed herself to succumb to this display of emotion, but she came close.

“Blueblood, Shining Armor is Captain of the Royal Guard, brother of Twilight Sparkle, heroine of Equestria, and the strongest barrier mage in recent history. Not only is he the pony that allows you to sleep well at night, he is also a great diplomat that have participate in negotiations with the griffon warlords themselves. Not only will his inclusion in the royal family allow him even more freedom in keeping Equestria safe, it will also strengthen the bonds between us nobles and our subjects, what’s with me marrying someone of ‘lower birth’ as you so eloquently put it.”

He shook his head sadly. “Cadence…”

“Don’t you ‘Cadence’ me, cousin!”

“What will Aunt Celestia say of all this when she hears the news?” There was no way she would allow this to happen. It was simply wrong. He just wanted to save his cousin the heartbreak.

She sneered. “I pleaded my case with her and she gave us her blessings. She even offered to preside the ceremony. Do you really think that I had made that announcement without at least consulting our aunt on this?”

His protest died in his throat. That was impossible!

How could his aunt allow such a thing?!

“W-what?”

“That’s right, cousin. Our aunt does favor love over political interests,” Cadence said, looking exasperated by his obnoxious behavior.

His eyes fell to the ground, who was decorated superbly with the most beautiful piece of rock carvings he could be bothered to notice. Not that he did. His mind was on other things.

What was Princess Celestia thinking?! Couldn’t she see the scandals? The tabloids? The complete disgrace of the nobility when the journalists would be down dragging Cadence’s name through the mud for her rejection of her status?!

He had to talk to her, but… he could not… he couldn’t go against… how could he think of opposing her decision? She had to know what she was doing? Perhaps it was all a plan to make Cadence see the truth?

Yes, that was probably it. She allowed it and would let the media go wild, giving Cadence time to realize her mistake. After that, she would put her hooves down and cancel the whole thing.

Well, he wanted no part in this farce. Cadence may be a stubborn mare, but he did not want to participate in her humiliation, even if it was needed. There was something else he could do.

“I… I don’t think I’ll be present for your wedding.”

He missed the way she recoiled in shock. Had he looked up, he would have seen the pain in the alicorn’s eyes.

“I-is it the day? If it really is that bad, maybe we could have it happen sooner…?”

Blueblood shook his head. That was the last thing they needed. If she moved the ceremony ahead of schedule, then she might not understand how bad her decision was until it was too late.

He looked her in the eyes and he did not need to fake his sadness, or even overplay it. “No, it’s… not that. I simply can’t attend your wedding…”

By showing his disapproval so blatantly, with so little subtlety for a stallion of his standings, then he could have her understand how dangerous it was for her to go through with her stupid impulsive decision. She would not have to go through the trial his aunt had prepared for her. She would be much happier in the long run…

“Trust me, Cadence. It’s for the best.”

Cadence’s sob reached deep inside his chest, causing a cold paw to tighten around his heart, but he steeled his resolve. He had to do this for her…

He had to grit his teeth when he heard her mutter sadly: “Maybe it is for the best…”

The prince did not look back, not realizing he had lost a beloved cousin.

The wedding turned out to be a complete disaster, but not for the reason he had predicted. Even Blueblood had not expected a changeling invasion.

“ ‘Oh, don’t worry, Shining Armor will protect us.’ RIGHT!” He sneered. “I TOLD YOU SO, CADENCE!”

No one answered. He was alone.

Cadence still hadn’t talked to him, even after he was proven right. She had left for the Crystal Empire without exchanging a single word to him.

“A mare?” He repeated dumbly.

What would a mare be doing in such a place? More importantly, did she just buy him?

He almost smirked to himself. He knew he was too devilishly awesome for his own good. Even when taken prisoner, he was a real stud.

Someone pulled on his chain, causing him to stumble forward and letting out the most undignified yelp.

“To the back! We’ve got more business to do, ‘Prince’!” One of the griffon snarled.

Blueblood sniffed, raising his nose high in the air. Mockery or not, they better not stop using his title now that they knew about it. Besides, if they so much as touched him, they would have a lot to answer to, especially after he had been sold.

…He hoped so.

The part he was being led to was not that far from the auction room itself. The noise had been cut rather abruptly and had been followed by the slamming of a door. He would have to be an idiot not to realize that they had simply brought him to a back chamber.

Seconds later, there was a creaking noise – the door, no doubt about that – and a bunch of new scents. One of them was… strongly… reminiscent of Channeling six perfumes. Blueblood could not help but be terribly surprised at detecting such an elegant flagrance in a Tartarus hole like this place.

“Ah, Miss Incognito, it is a pleasure to be doing business with you,” somepony said as they entered.

“Yes… likewise.” That voice, high pitch, honey-like, had to be the mare’s voice.

She moved closer to him, the sound of her footstep considerably lighter than that of any other beings in the small chamber, denoting what Blueblood interpreted as grace and refinement.

His heart leaped in his chest at the perspective. His head was feeling light with hope. She had to have recognized him, her prince, and she had bought his freedom from under the nose of those barbarians. Oh, he would simply kiss her if he could actually see where her lips were.

“As you noticed, milady, item 27 is quite an example of a hardy stallion. I am certain you will be perfectly satisfied with him.” Even those compliments could not make Blueblood happier. He could taste his freedom already.

“Yes, I noticed,” she replied slowly. It seemed that she was pensive and, if he was not dreaming, excited.

A moment of silence passed, during which the unicorn prince stayed uncomfortably still. His imagination had started acting up again, this time bringing him a monstrously dreadful scenario.

She would change her mind. She would declare that he was not worthy of her and, in that obscene rant, she would throw him out back into the timber wolf’s jaw.

As such, Blueblood could not held in a startled jump when she spoke again.

“Leave us, Seller,” she ordered.

“B-but milady…”

“Your payment will be given as soon as I had a moment alone to examine my purchase.” She sneered, dismissing him not unlike he would have a servant back in Canterlot.

“…Yes, we will be waiting outside.”

Blueblood froze. This was not how servants replied, never. There was something much more dangerous underneath the apparent submissiveness of that stallion…

For a few moments, he heard nothing but the sound of the slavers scrambling around and leaving the room, while the mare did not move, nor did two other beings – stallions, if his nose was not fooling him – stayed right in place.

Prince Blueblood, prisoner extraordinaire and superbly arrogant stallion, dared not make the first move. He was once more completely at a stranger’s mercy and even if his heart was singing to him that this was the end of his hardships, he could not translate that into actions.

Finally, it was the mare that acted first. Her new acquisition had to fight the reflex to jump backward when her hooves landed on each side of his face, just under his blindfold.

“My prince…” she said sweetly, with as much crazed hope as he was feeling himself and he knew, through his entire being, that she wanted nothing more than his wellbeing. “It is you…”

Slowly, she removed the piece of fabric that was obscuring his vision and he was treated to the a stunning sight. After hours of treating with monsters and darkness, the prince laid his eyes upon an angel.

She was beautiful, a golden pegasus with a pure white mane, in pure contrast with his own coat and mane. Her eyes were shining brightly, even in the badly lit chamber, glowing with true adoration.

And something completely unexpected happened to him, that he never did experience before. He got tongue-tied, blushing like a schoolfilly.

“Eh…y-ghe…I ow-eee…” He stuttered ridiculously.

She chuckled and her laugh was music to his ears. “Oh, my prince, are you truly so happy to see me?”

With great effort, he managed to push a single word out. “Yes.”

‘What is happening to me?!’ Blueblood thought wildly. ‘My chest feels like it’s burning and that mare is so…’

To add to his trouble, she wrapped her forelegs around his shoulders in pure delight. “I knew you would remember me! I just knew it!”
Stunned, he froze in her embrace and not for the reasons he would have liked her to believe.

He had actually met this angel before? That was not possible. How could she have slipped through his mind if he had?!

“My prince, I am so glad. I could not believe my eyes when I saw you on stage. I know it was fate that I came here today!” She cooed.

Panicked, Blueblood shot a glance toward the stallions – two robust bodyguards with dark brown and blue coat, respectively – but neither reacted in the slightest to the scene before them.

“Y-yes… truly we were destined to be reunited…” He replied, ignoring the growing unease in his stomach. Her close physical contact was making him very nervous.

So much for the infatuation…

“There is no time to lose!” The golden pegasus declared, separating herself from her beautiful prince. “My prince, you will have to pretend to be my slave.”

When she saw the look on his face, she frowned, though it did not make her any less stunning.

“You cannot be-”

“Prince Blueblood,” she hissed seriously. “If they find out about my intentions toward you, they will kill us right now. They know that if you are free, they are through! You are too important.”

His breath hitched and the next intake of air was freezing. He could not be killed after supporting this torture for so long!

“T-tell your bodyguards to-”

“No!” She shook her head. “They are too numerous. Please, I beg you, my prince. Play along…”

Gulping down nervously, Blueblood nodded.

The mare smiled at him and, without knowing why, the prince felt himself shiver. She pointed to the blue stallion as she continued her explanation.

“Raging River will flank you and guide you to the rest of my escort, then, when we’re outside the tunnels, I will bring you to my estate where we’ll be safe.”

He nodded and she took a step forward. However, just as she was going to put his blindfold back in place, his eyes happened to fall on a scripture over the door, one particularly fitting for this place.

‘The scales are burrowed beneath the surface.’

His vision was invaded with darkness again.

The prisoner that should pay attention to details (really)

“Captain… I did not think I would see you so soon,” she said as she looked down from her throne. “Did something go wrong?”

Captain Cloudy Sky remembered. He had felt butterflies in his stomach the day he had asked his first marefriend out. He had shaken in his military boots the first day of his training right in front of his instructor. He had written a tearful apology to his family when things had gone dire in the last conflict with the griffons.

On this day, he could remember and revive the sentiments of those fading memories.

He was kneeling in front of his ruler and he wanted nothing more than disappear out of her sight.

The funny part was that he was not even afraid. He had long since learned of his ruler’s true character. She was the most benevolent mare he knew of, reasonable and just. Even as the truth about the Mare in the Moon came out and fears of banishment had been spread like wildfire by sensationalists, Princess Celestia had continued reigning with a gentle yet firm hoof.

Cloudy Sky was not afraid of what she might do. He simply did not want to disappoint her. To hurt her was unthinkable, but he knew it was inevitable at this point.

He steeled himself to reply to his ruler’s previous question.

“Yes, Princess, there has been a problem.”

“Yes?” She urged him to continue, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“It’s your nephew…” He lowered his head, knowing he was not worthy to gaze her way. “He is missing…”

In all his years of service, he had never seen or heard of his princess breaking decorum.

Yet today she had let out a gasp of horror.

He bit back tears of shame.

He still could not see a thing. The blindness was getting old quickly. When he got back to Canterlot, hopefully as soon as they reached his savior’s property, he would make sure to make a large donation to the Blind Pony Association.

After he had been groomed to perfection and fed the finest of cooking, of course.

Blueblood’s patience was wearing thin. They had walked for a long time now and his hooves had started to hurt. He was not a very physical unicorn. At least the slavers had the decency to carry him…

He shook his head. No, it would be undignified to be ungrateful to that superb lady, especially after she had saved him from that terrible fate. It would have been more appreciated if he could have left without the chains and the restraints, but he would play along for now.

He already had, with great gusto too.

When she had opened the door and asked in curt and snippy terms that her guards escort him out while she paid her friend, Blueblood had almost believed she had had a change of heart. His nervousness had not been faked as he had followed Raging River with his ears alone. The only thing preventing him from making a break for it was the mantra he repeated to himself.

‘Just a little longer… just a little longer…’

Even when he had heard dogs sniffling around him, he had gone on stoically, following the stallion in front of him.

‘Just a little longer…’

Even when the griffon guards had hissed under their breath at his passage, he had affected submission and fear, all the while fighting his inner troubles.

‘Just a little longer…’

Even when his savior had clamped a collar around his neck, he had not protested, but he had shaken with indignation.

‘Just a little longer…’

“Just a little longer, my prince.” She had whispered pleadingly.

The prince took comfort in the idea that at least one being in this mud hole knew of his true place in the world. It even encouraged him to think of new and creative ways he would get his precious aunt to avenge him. Banishment had been too kind of a punishment before he had been even foalnapped!

With thoughts of his revenge filling his head, he had not noticed when they had started going uphill, but not even that had stopped him from noticing the moment the wind had started brushing against his coat.
“Hmmmm hrfhmmm!” Blueblood said, cursing his gag.

Now that they were out of the tunnels, they could stop this farce and get him proper care, for his aunts’ sakes!

Rapidly, almost as if she had anticipated it, his benefactor had placed herself against him.

“Not yet, my prince. They have eyes in this valley.” Her voice was syrupy, but did not hide the thrill she seemed to feel. “I fear that we may need to get to my estate before dropping the act.”

For a moment, the prince seriously considered foregoing all appearances and ordering her to free him that instant. This was no way to treat a royal pony like him! He was used to having his way, for good reasons! This humiliation would be bitterly remembered. Eh, he had half a mind to yell at his Auntie Celestia for putting him through this.

No, not only was that last one completely blasphemous, the rest of his ideas were perfectly impractical. Cutie Mark aside, he had never really relied on himself to take care of his basic needs. Such actions were beneath him. If he was truly in a valley like she had affirmed, then the only course of action was to follow her.

It soon appeared she had been truthful. Blueblood had started feeling the grass under his hooves quickly afterward, then the repulsive odor of wilderness had filled his nostrils. For once, the gag could have been useful, if it had been put over his nose instead of his mouth…

Then again, surely by now, the gentlecolt would have let out a scream of disgust at his treatment and demanded he be freed. Perhaps it was much more in his favor to keep the gag until all danger was put away.

Their march went on uneventfully, if greatly tiring. Twice, their group needed to stop to tend to the white stallion’s needs, whether it was thirst or fatigue.

In those times, the golden pegasus was instantly by his sides, pandering him. Her touch was as delicate as her person and her voice was as soothing as that of his aunt.

It made him wonder, astonished, how he could have forgotten her; it had him questioning his sanity that he had no idea who that noble mare was. She had affirmed they had met before and there would have been no reason for her to lie. But such a gracious mare must have been the talk of all Canterlot from her very first public appearance. Just like that mare.

It mattered not. As soon as he was safe, he would organize a grand ceremony in her honor, decorating her with the highest of ranking and repaying every bit she had spent in the name of his well-being three times over. Then, when his debt had been repaid, he would be free to ask around about her, learning of her until he knew her inside out.

It was a shame he could not seduce her… She would have deserved his attention. At least, he could try to use his influence and persuade Valiant Winds to meet her.

Too quickly though, the need to continue had arisen and Blueblood had been forced to get up. His thoughts had not revolved around much gratitude for a while after that.

For reasons he could not fathom, they seemed adamant on the usage of a blindfold until they had reached their destinations. This had meant that he had tripped and dodged narrowly collisions with trees on a regular basis for the hours their trip had taken.

His crankiness was thus understandable, but her bodyguards seemed not to have an ounce of compassion or respect for his rank. Each demand he made without getting his lady’s attention was met with barely disguised contempt, when they bothered trying to understand his muffled cries.

Those two would discover the dungeon cells of Canterlot inside out by the time he was done with them.

“My prince!” She called. “We are almost there; I can see the outline of my mansion!”

Finally!

His hooves went to his gag and blindfold without opposition from anypony and he fought the urge to laugh. YES! He could taste his freedom on the tip of his tongue. At this point, all he needed to do was send a message to Canterlot and wait amiably with his benefactor. With any luck, he would get to know her better.

The brightness of the day startled him, at first. The surge of pain it had brought had forced him to cover his eyes with his foreleg right away. Through narrow eyelids, he forced himself to look at his surroundings, without much success. As un-princely as it was, Blueblood had not been able to blink back the tears.

The warmth of another’s hoof fell on his shoulder, reassuring in its presence.

“Your ordeal is over, my prince.” She smiled and the prince could not help but smile back at her.

She was a true angel.

“Tropical Night, march ahead and warn the servants that we have returned.” She even spoke with the air of a most noble pony. At that, of course the big earth pony would not dare do anything but nod obediently.

A perfect mare…

“Let’s go, my prince. I cannot wait any longer.” This time, no amount of control could have hidden the thrill in her voice.

The mansion was a great piece of architecture, even in the eyes of a harsh critic like him. The choice of location was unfortunate, namely in the woods a few hours of distance from Hoofywoods, but nothing was perfect (except his aunt and him, not to mention how much of a close second that golden mare was).

In all respect, he thought the statues of pegasi lording over griffons were not imposing enough, but he could understand the difficult logistics that must have been required to build this mansion in the first place.

Hum… this could make an appropriate gift for her… or simply a completely new estate in Canterlot would be suitable to her taste?

Judging by the magnificent paintings hanging on the stone walls, it was a reasonable assumption. Some of them were of course of her noble ancestry, which he now realized was at most three generations old, but there was also a plethora of more modern pieces of art that the golden mare had acquired herself. The most striking painting in her collection was the only one she bothered to stop in front of.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” She sighed longingly.

…From a certain point of view, he supposed it was.

The artist had almost given him a heart attack with the plainly violent usage of blood red all over the canvas. Long and unclean traits of paint were spreading from a central point, creating the troubling impression of being dragged into the bloody battlefield, until they reached a single dot of black, which seeped and bled out onto a mad pony swimming into a mass of that thing. More disturbing even was the fact that the pony seemed to lack a face, blindly trying to fend off the assault of that liquid monstrosity, with little success.

Blueblood’s mind came out with a few terms to describe the sight, but “beautiful” was not amongst them. As such, it became singularly uncomfortable for him to speak when he noticed the expectant eyes of the mare on him.

“It shows great technique.” He nodded, thanking his diplomatic lessons for his poker face and his convincing appreciation.

“Though I must admit not knowing this particular painting; who is the artist?”

“Oh, Veran Crog.”

Ah, that explained it. A crazed pony with delusions of grandeur. He should have known.

“I think it is his best work yet.” She smiled proudly.

The unfortunate truth was that Blueblood agreed with her on that. It was his best painting. No doubt.

On his list was also added a visit to Veran Crog for fraud. No matter how much he had asked for his work, it was clearly not worth the bits spent.

“It represents love.” The mare sighed longingly again, then straightened and winked at him.

His sarcastic remark died in his throat, which surprisingly contracted and remained firmly incapable of producing the smallest of sound. Simultaneously, his knees decided to join in on the treacherous session and shook in unison.
Neglecting to regain his dignified aloofness, Blueblood openly stared at her flanks while she walked. Her demarche was graceful, topped by this sexy wiggle of her hips.

The stone cold mansion started to feel awfully hot for the poor stallion…

At that moment, the prince failed to notice the glint of sadistic amusement in her bodyguards’ eyes. Their lips even twisted the slightest, giving the faint impression of them smiling, in complete opposition to their perfectly stoic behavior of the day.
Blueblood’s first reaction when he snapped out of it was to raise his nose high in the air and look down disdainfully on the two annoying stallions. “Tch, commoners…” He muttered while trying to gather the fragmented remains of his dignity.

He did not hurry after the mare, instead taking time to show that he was not completely depending on her good will – even if he actually was. Politics were complex like that in Canterlot.

This smaller journey through the mansion was informative, to say the least. All servants were working dutifully, without looking up at the new guest, as was proper etiquette. Some looked a little defeated, but Blueblood had seen that behavior in Canterlot too. It usually translated to family troubles whenever one of their employers bothered to ask.

What a shame.

The white stallion went past them without a second glance, even when he heard the smallest clear note of metal rubbing together. It must have come from his own chains. No matter, he would demand a blacksmith as soon as they had reached whatever room the golden mare was leading him to.

Soon, she pushed open beautifully carved wooden doors and slipped into the room ahead of Bueblood. Curious, as he did not recognize the architecture and therefor was unable to determine what function the room was supposed to have, he followed her in.

Blueblood blinked.

Repressing a chill, he forced himself to observe his surroundings. It was a dining hall, doubtlessly, as the long table could attest, but something about the decorations put him on edge. It wasn’t that they were tasteless, though he would have been appalled at that atrocious portrait of a scarred stallion regardless, but the lack of painted windows (and even windows at all) felt terribly out of place.

As such, the darkness was stronger here than in any other part of the mansions he had been beforehand. With great difficulty, he was able to make out his benefactor’s body shape on the other side of the hall, but the stallion felt distinctively less attracted to her in this setting.

If anything, it reminded him of that old changeling horror story.

“Take your seat – by my side –, the meal is almost ready,” she said longingly.

Dear Aunt of his, he really hoped the ‘meal’ in question was not going through his veins at high speed at this very moment.
Trying to remain as regal as possible, the prince made his way to the seat she had pointed to, doing his best to ignore the love struck look in the mare’s gorgeous eyes. Oh, those lovely lips of her were pressed together in a stunning smile and he…

Shaking his head at the thought, Blueblood hurriedly sat down, looking anywhere but at the mare. There were a dozen reasons he should not think about that, the two biggest being : his imminent return to Canterlot and the fact that she was not a unicorn.

He wondered how divine she would be with a horn instead of those angelic wings.

The image brought a smile to his lips.

“Servants, serve our guest first,” the mare ordered, bringing him out of his reverie, but not taking his smile away from him.

Ah, and she, of course, knew proper etiquette dictated the higher the in hierarchy, the sooner you got your plate. Really, Valiant Winds had to meet this lady. He already had ideas on how to make these two meet. With just a few nudge, he would be willing to bet that the brave pegasus would be stricken and his benefactor would rise to the highest rank of pony nobility.

The enticing smell of his meal had his mouth watering and its taste did not disappoint. After the Tartarus he had gone through, this was a taste of heaven, like everything about that mare.

Still, it would not do to forego manners and the prince controlled himself to the best of his abilities. He might have slipped once or twice, but in the state he was, it would be forgiven.

She ate politely, more often than not stopping to look at his perfect physique and openly admire it. It made his ego flare up and he puffed his chest proudly, but otherwise stayed more focused on his stomach.

“Ah,” she sighed, with echoes of excitement in her voice, “now that you have been fed, I would very much like it if you graced my evening with your presence.”

“But of course!” He agreed immediately , slightly confused. She had saved him, how could he refuse? “As soon as you send the letter to Canterlot, we will have two days, maybe three, all to ourselves.”

“The letter to Canterlot…?” She tilted her head to the sides slowly.

“Hum… yes, the… hum…” He swallowed the last of his saliva, his mouth going dry. “The letter…”

“Oh!” She exclaimed, her eyes lighting up, as did Blueblood’s spirit. “Yes, the letter telling her of you abandoning your duties!”

His heart sank and his mouth dropped. So shocked he was that no word would ring to his ears whenever he tried to speak.

“Oh, I can’t wait! We must send it right away!” She squealed like a schoolfilly.

“B-b-but…” What the hay was going on here?! Abandoning his duties? Whatever gave her the idea he would?!

“Oh come, my prince!” She took his hoof and started trying to drag him away. “Let us tell your tyrannical aunt and her oppressive traditions where to stick it and that our love will conquer every single barrier!”

Whoa, she had managed to mortally offend him and declare her love for him in the same sentence. He would be almost impressed, if he wasn’t suddenly dreaming of bashing her head in with a very rusty shovel.

How dare she accuse his auntie of tyranny?! She was the most marvelous mare in Equestria! And traditions were oppressive?! They were the structure that kept their world stable!

“What are you talking about?” He asked quietly, livid beneath his fur.

“M-my prince,” the crazy mare stuttered, as if not believing her ears. “I’m talking about our fated reunion. I knew from the moment I recognized you in that cave that it was fate that I attended that auction. I did not even need the additional servant.”
As her speech went on, her expression became more and more dreamy, as if she was recalling the most marvelous of stories.

“I just knew, after all these years spent trying to speak to you again, that it was fate bringing us together!”

Oh dear, she was another one of his crazy fanmares. Emphasis on the ‘crazy’. Just great.

Though now her frame was starting to ring a bell.

“Our first meeting was cut so short by the call of traditions, but I remember that longing in your eyes and the silent apology you gave me when you left. It was the proof that you love me!”

Oh, yes, that mare. Eh, he almost laughed in her face. He remembered her. She was that pleasant-looking pegasus from the Gala, four years ago. Her looks had, of course, been a very definite plus, but she had kept making those little squealing sounds and apologized every time he had tried to engage a conversation with her.

Needless to say, he had gotten very fed up quickly and had jumped on the first excuse to leave her behind. That “silent apology” she was talking about was him claiming he had promised to see his auntie before the celebration ended.

And it looked like the years had not been kind to her mind. “I hated every seconds away from you, my prince. How immense was my despair when everything conspired against us!”

“Yes, even the butlers did…” He snorted in annoyance.

Why did his dashing good looks attract nothing but crazed romantics and gold-diggers? There had been a grand total of two mares not fitting in that category and one had been boring him to the point he fell asleep in his soup.

“Oh, but no more, my prince. We are finally reunited!”

He stared at her with disdain. Really? This was pathetic… And to think he considered matching her with Valiant Winds? If he had known, he would have banished the thought as soon as it formed.

Even the egoistical pegasus did not deserve that.

“Nothing will keep us apart.” She jumped onto him, latching on his neck and hugging him strongly. “I love you, my prince!”

Yes, it was all good and all, but he really needed to get away from her and possibly send a letter to his aunt. Though the ‘escaping crazy mare’ part was by far the most urgent.

“Please…” She whispered lovingly, “Say it. Say that you love me. I want to hear my name coming from your royal lips.”

At that, he nearly burst laughing. Oh dear, this was a good one.

“Hum…” The prince said, sounding very confused. “Who are you again?”

As she recoiled in shock, eyes wide with betrayal and anger, Blueblood suddenly remembered an old saying his aunt had told him.

‘The Tartarus hath no fury like a mare scorned.’

It was official. The crowned prince of the unicorns was an idiot.

Author's Note

Haha, I am so easily swayed. For a moment there, writing that last scene, I almost span the whole thing into a changeling trickery, what's with the dark room ala vampire story. x3

But behold, Blueblood just managed to be really idiotic in his way of upholding his values. He's not stopping anytime soon.

The pretty slave that cannot let his guard down (She's watching...)

“Please, your Majesty! Wait!” The mare desperately threw herself at him, only to be blocked by guards.

The prince sighed sadly and shook his head.

Another broken heart by the sad reality. They all thought he was their prince charming, which, he had to say, was a rather accurate definition. Unfortunately, none of those mares ever thought that he had no say in the matter of whom he might one day marry. That choice rested in his parents’ hooves alone, with the exception of his aunts if they had some plans for him.

His marriage would be one of interest, this much had always been clearly laid out to the white stallion.

He was part of the most prestigious family in Equestria; it was his duty to help improve it further with the right alliances. He had accepted that as soon as he was out of colthood and his father had fired his first marefriend’s mother as retaliation for his defiance.

Still, Blueblood was not completely at peace, looking at the guards taking the love struck mare out of the vicinity. In fact, as of a few weeks now, there had been a lingering taste of bitterness in his mouth whenever this had happened.

‘Cadence…’ he thought.

She had been allowed to follow her heart. Her aunt had actually allowed her to marry a commoner.

Why did he have to reject every mare’s advances then? Per her rank, Cadence more than anypony should have been subject to that rule, yet had eloped outside of duty and inherited a whole kingdom as a reward.

‘She’s an alicorn. She is special.’ He repeated mentally.

The bitterness would not leave.

She was more special than him. It was as simple as that. His auntie simply appreciated Cadence more. Why wouldn’t she? His cousin was an alicorn princess, just like their auntie. It was natural for them to relate more. That was all there was to it.

He bit back a growl. It was not fair, but he was a prince. He could take it. He’d work even harder to show the kingdom how great of a pony he was; he’d invest more of his time in his royal duties and get back his auntie’s love and approval again.

In a way, the prince kept his promise. He showed his beloved aunt Celestia exactly what he was like.

It was not good enough, she had all but told him.

He was not special enough.

Blueblood awoke to a world of pain and with not even the slightest idea on how it had happened. Confusion ran wild in his mind. It was as if he was swimming in a whirlpool of mixed-up sensations.

At first, it was simply the aching in his muzzle, but when he coughed blood, his body agitated by spasms, pain surged from his sides and his left hind leg. The noble instantly gave up any attempt at standing up that had crossed his mind.

It also resurrected the memories of the past few hours.

He had been beaten up! Him! This was an outrage!

Not to mention darn painful…

As soon as he had lost the battle of will and openly mocked the mare’s crazy assumptions to his heart, she had let out a shrilled scream and jumped him in blind fury. Seconds later, her two bodyguards had run into the dining hall to protect her.

Not that she needed any help. The ‘lady’ had truly been a demon in sheep’s clothing, hiding a monstrously vicious personality. The prince had had no occasion to defend himself, though his upbringing may have prevented him from trying in the first place. How he sorely regretted being a gentlecolt…

Though now that the moment had passed, he would rather wait for his injuries to heal before moving again. With what appeared to be a chained collar to his neck anyway, he would not be going anywhere anytime soon.

But, woe is him, his ‘host’ had no intention of letting him rest peacefully.

“Ah, I see that the worm is awake,” she spat venomously.

The golden mare trotted up to his body, looking down on him with hatred.

“I cannot believe that you would be making a joke like that, my prince,” she whispered threateningly in his ears. “You know we’re made for each other, don’t you?”

His dignity demanded that he take a stand against this crazed pony, but his fear overwhelmed his judgement and he quickly nodded.

It was… a strategy… He would simply play along for now. Then, when her guard was down, he would…

Wait… why didn’t he use his magic right now?

The mare was slightly intrigued to see her lovely prisoner blink slowly, as if he had remembered something very important just then.

Prince Blueblood’s horn started glowing a blue light, his eyes narrowed on her slender form.

He would have to be delicate, even if she was crazy she still had sa-

A bolt of lightning passed through his body, sending him screaming in agony.

Every nerves of his body went into overload, flooding his brain with pain signals, causing him to thrash loudly without any restraint. His muscles contracted so violently a few of them were torn in the process, increasing his ever growing torment. If any of his wishes could be granted, ever, it would be that this agony stopped.

“No, my prince. You must not be naughty,” the pegasus said slowly, as if scolding a small child.

Her voice went right over his head, as, even if it had lasted only a second, the assault had not only aggravated his injured state, it had broken his determination in half.

When she closed in on him, the stallion whimpered and backed away, to the stony wall behind him, crawling on the ground as he did. He would have disowned himself for this pathetic attitude in a more normal context, but as of a moment, the prince no longer cared about appearances.

“Oh, my foolish love,” she lamented dramatically, “did you not think that I have had many unicorn slaves? Did you not stop to think that I had a way to prevent them from using magic to escape?”

She let out a delicate crystalline giggle, which really computed as insane in Blueblood’s mind, considering the violence she had voluntarily displayed on more than one occasion.

“Take a look, my prince.” The mare turned around slight, exposing her now unclothed flanks and her cutie mark.

A heart struck by lightning.

“My special talent is manipulating storm clouds,” she explained sweetly. “I can control them without any physical contact, unlike my fellow pegasi.”

Following those few words, she raised a hoof to point at a corner of the room, where his chains were linked. As the prince had dreaded, a dark cloud was resting untouched in that corner.

“Bad ponies have to be punished. You understand that, surely.”

Yes, but he was not a bad pony!

“Sister?” The voice was tentative, quiet, so unlike the usual tone favored by Luna, Princess of the Night. “What troubles you?”

Celestia diverted her gaze from the window and the sight of her kingdom, thriving under her sun. It was the same as always, she knew that, so why had it appeared so gray to her?

‘Nephew,’ she thought, guilt tying her throat in a knot.

Celestia knew. It was her fault. She had sent him away and he had been taken by the same thing that had spirited away her subject. Her goal had been to simply have him reconnect with their subjects. This was… unexpected.

“This is my fault, little sister,” she finally said, wavering.

It did not escape Luna that her elder sister was avoiding to make eye contact.

“Tia,” she called and was satisfied to catch a twitch on her sister’s neck, indicating she had fought to urge to look up. “You have already sent reinforcement for the search party. They will find him.”

At that, the white alicorn did look up, but her gaze was not one of relief. Luna found herself uncomfortable under those piercing eyes that seemed to see right through her.

“He looks up to you too, little sister.”

Luna flinched, uncomfortable with this sudden development.

“Did you know that?” Celestia asked, pressing the issue further. “Do you notice his heartbroken eyes every time you look down on him?”

Of course she did. It was why she did it in the first place. Prince Blueblood’s ego needed to be cut down to size. That stallion had nothing to his name to justify his arrogance, just an old lineage and riches passed down to him from his parents.

Why did he believe himself so much above his fellow ponies then?

At first, it had revolted the Princess of the Night to observe how much the nobility had degenerated into a gathering of pompous fools, only good for sucking up to greater ponies than them. If she had followed her first impulse, she would have decreed the cessation of this masquerade immediately.

Yet they had their importance. They kept Equestria stable.

She refused to acknowledge her arrogant nephew however.

Even if it was painful to see, times and times again, winces of fear and hesitations every time he looked at her…

Why, the first time they had met, he had not even screamed ‘Nightmare Moon!’ like quite a few others. His words had been carefully measured, but they had not held fear. For a troubling moment, she had thought he was struggling to keep himself from openly admiring her.

That had been the last time too.

It had not even been a big event, nothing outrageous, at a first glance.

Her nephew had blown off the servants that had prepared the Grand Galloping Gala. Their work had been superb; the darker alicorn had been impressed by such a display of splendor. Perhaps the shock had come from her isolation, but so many riches exposed at the eyes of so many, their castle converted into an immense ballroom…

Her astonishment had been toppled right afterward, when the prince had commented on the tackiness of some decorations, criticizing such hardwork with little consideration, not even looking at the desperate and exhausted servants as he did so. The unicorn had simply ignored them, their obvious physical state and demanded that they redo so many things!

She could have forgiven this. After all, it was a celebration in honor of her elder sister and her nephew clearly adored her, but she had been convinced by the look in his eyes.

There had been nothing in them, not an ounce of empathy.

The second his eyes had met hers, they had lifted up with concern and outrage, asking her confirmation that it was indeed unacceptable to overlook that Lord Longhorn’s family crest was red and as such would contrast horribly with this blue statue. Luna had almost convinced herself she had dreamed the desire to see the servants pay for their mistake.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned ponies were all shaking with apprehension, especially now that one of their princesses was involved.

Her indignation had flared, her nostrils letting out a bout of hot air.

The prince learned to keep his mouth shut that day, a valuable lesson and something that most servants blessed their princess for.

She knew Blueblood had overstepped the line, that he had played with fire in a rather disgusting way, so... why did she feel so much regret now that the young noble could not look at her without fear?

His limbs hurt.

It was a pure outrage, he kept repeating himself darkly. Never before had one insulted him so gravely as to assume right to his body and his heart like that, right to his freedom and his status, right to his health, be it physical or mental.

Put mildly, the prince was positively murderous. If the crazed mare had had access to his thoughts, if she knew him a tenth as well as she claimed to, she might not have dared be left alone with him.

As it stood however, the pegasus was willfully blind to the evidence that her prince charming was wishing her grievous body harm in ways reminiscent of monstrous nobles such as King Regal Importance, better known by history by the title he took later on in his life: King Sombra of the Cristal Empire.

To be entirely fair, Prince Blueblood was unable to deal out any punishment at all. Sprayed over an uncomfortable mattress, he could only listen with ever growing anger to the endless tirades and declarations of love his tormentor submitted him to. Too used to getting his way, he simply hadn’t thought when he had reached a new breaking point and she had punished him again.

The odor of burnt fur had momentarily filled his nostrils, making him almost recoil in shock when he realized it came from his own martyrized flesh.

‘T-this cannot be! My royal coat, ruined!’ He thought in panic, before his brain caught up with the truly important details and a terrible fear assaulted his every sense. ‘W-what damage did the lightning do to me?! What is this cold in my legs?’

Broken? Burnt? Paralyzed?!

For a being as pampered as him, the fear of death was truly foreign. Not even his service in the military had appropriately destroyed his image of being untouchable. As of this instant however, a tiny speck of doubt was slowly crawling into his mind, insidiously, deviously bringing an extinct part of his being into light.

And she was still rambling.

“Oh my prince, I cannot wait for the time we will be as one,” she whispered longingly, looking through an open window. “Then… yes, then the world will have truly become a haven of goodness and love, as it should be.”

Wait… he knew that line. It came from one of Canterlot’s most prolific writer, but not from his only romance novel ‘Till the Dawn’.

Blueblood’s felt ice fill his veins as he realized which book exactly had been quoted, namely ‘Greater than us both’.

A tragedy.

Through a complex and heartbreaking adventure, Lily Belle, poor soldier’s daughter went through the greatest of trials in the clearing of her father’s name, uncovering a conspiracy lead by her long-lost childhood friend and crush, Noble Heart. Adding to her tribulations, it all came in the light of her unhappy marriage with the gentle and mute Hidden Image, whom child she carries.

A perfect load of sentimentalism that Blueblood had hated through his reading experience. Lily Belle had allowed her emotions to come in the way of her duty, chasing desperately after an image that was long gone.

While most readers had been moved to tears, the prince had ended his reading of the book with a satisfied and slightly condescending smile. It had been a perfect expression of the nobility’s values.

A few times, he had fancied himself as a character of this book, a work of art in its subtlety and the wording, he would not deny.

However, the idea of reenacting that tragedy now left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“My prince… I cannot wait for the time you come to reason…” The mare leaned closer to him, a hoof stroking his mane tenderly, even as he shrank back. She did not acknowledge it. “For then Equestria will come to know the names of Blueblood and Love Struck as the cursed lovers, the tragic story of a lifetime wasted before true love could be shared. Foals everywhere will learn about love through us, my prince…”

The touch was burning to him, a constant remember of the pain she had and would inflict on him. As such, he could not help the terrified supplication he let out.

“G-go… away…” He whispered weakly.

By a great stroke of luck, the pegasus did not seem bothered by the remark. In fact, she even smiled tenderly.

“My prince, your fever seems to have gone up.” She nodded. “I see, you need your rest.”

‘How… generous of her.’ Blueblood let his head fall against the mattress, though he had to twist around to make sure the chains holding him would not strangle him in his sleep.

“You must be exhausted, my love…” Love Struck stated with great worry. Her voice shaking, she trotted out of the small room. “I will send for a servant to take care of you.”

‘Good heavens…’ the stallion thought with great relief. ‘Her misconception of healing me would probably involve some obscure zebra ritual and an exchange of saliva.’

On that thought, the prince shuddered.

Oh he would sooner kiss a toad than that delusional female. How could anyone fool themselves so thoroughly?

On that, he allowed himself to sink further into a state of rest, waiting for sleep to come and start the road to recovery. How he longed for his rescuer to finally come and save him from this living nightmare…

For a moment, the prince could see the magnificent structure of his aunts’ castle, with all its luxury and its comfort. It was just on the edge of his vision, just outside of reach.

A terrible emptiness took place within Blueblood’s heart. He simply wanted his life back… was that too much to ask for? Why had this all happened to him?

The prince’s eyes were moist. His memory taunted him with the knowledge of what awaited him back home, where he was not at the mercy of a dangerous psychopath, where his legs and his chest did not hurt every second he was awake, where he was safe…

Weakly, the stallion raised a hoof, reaching forward for the life he had lost. He only managed to stumbled off his mattress, pain erupting in his jaw when it hit the stone tiles.

“E-excuse me…” A meek little voice rang to his ear, making the noble blush.

Had he truly shown such a pathetic image of himself to one of his subject?

Scrambling, Blueblood tried to get his body off the ground, but his front legs refused to support any weight.

Before he had any chance to try again, a delicate frame lifted him, with gentleness proper to his rank. In his position, he was unable to see the pony’s face, but pale green coat and mane of a darker shade flashed before his eyes. Unfortunately as it was, he was too injured to be moved without any pain.

Delicately, he was lied down on the hard mattress, with a soft apology in response to his grunts of pain.

Breathing heavily, Blueblood finally got a good look at the helpful pony.

She was a frail, weary earth pony mare. Her mane was tied up and her apron seemed too dirty to be worth wearing anymore. She might have been pretty once, even by the noble’s high standards, but her time here had worn out the more delicate aspect of her person.

Shackles bound her legs together and there was no mistaking the purpose of the collar she wore around her neck, nor the reason she was present. If there had been any doubt before however, then a single look at her brown eyes would have sufficed.

They spoke of a broken creature, with a dwindling will and too little strength left.

Blueblood felt a strange pity at the sight of this mare, lighting up a small flame within him. It tore down something inside his mind, a… reluctance of some sort. Pushed by a newfound desire, he spoke the first words that came to him.

“W-who are you?”

“Mint Spring, your majesty.” She bowed her head, atrociously massacring the protocol, but he had little care for that at the moment.

“You… you know who I am?” He hesitated, recalling how his royal status had not mattered much to quite a few brutes so far.

“Of course,” she said, her eyes briefly shining with amusement. “You are the prince of the unicorns and the biggest playcolt in Equestria since three generations ago.”

“Ah, yes, Gemini Symbol has a legendary reputation,” he chuckled good-naturedly.

A shadow of a smile graced her lips, striking the stallion with the remnant of a once beautiful mare. It caused a hint of pain to imagine how she must have been before this. It made him fear somepony would think the same of him someday.

“Pleasantry asides, your majesty, I am here to help you heal…” She leaned closer, taking out a roll of clean fabric and what seemed to be ointment. At this distance, he could detect the most subtle nuances in her scent. And while she carried the expected earthly and rustic air of all earth ponies, he noticed something odd about it.

Something he could not identify…

A firm grasp on his shoulder made him gasp, loudly.

“By my Aunt’s mane, Mare! Be more careful!” He hissed, still reeling from the shockwave of pain that had erupted in that part of his body.

“My apologies… it has been a while since I helped a stallion, my prince…” Mint Spring pleaded, voice fading quickly.

Blueblood blinked, his mind picking up the crucial detail. “When was the last time you helped a stallion?”

She shrank at the intensity of his stare. “A… a few months back… the last time the mistress chose a lover…”

Oh dear…

“S-she has… a herd, I suppose?” He asked, feeling a vague nausea, knowing the most likely answer.

“N-no, not as it stands…” Mint Spring replied, applying oil over the burnt areas. “She is currently single… was…”

“And the others…?”

“Left.” She deliberately dodged his gaze at those words.

The Blueblood in the past would have assumed there had been a messy divorce. The Blueblood that lied down on the mattress, a collar binding him to a storm cloud, knew better.

He paled beneath his white fur. No words escaped his mouth for the rest of the treatment. Not even as the mare took her leave did he acknowledge it with some sound. She barely received a nod…

“This… this can’t be happening…” Blueblood swallowed with difficulty, anxiety seizing control of his body.

He had to get away fast.

“True love my flanks…” He muttered poisonously, thinking back on Love Struck rambling.

But for all his struggles and his intellect, the prince had no idea how to help himself out of the mess he had stumbled into. Never before had he needed to. It seemed improper to try.

Surely, his aunts’ guards would find him soon.

But the reassurance was weaker than before. Time had already gone by without any sign of help. Little by little, his hope was fading, replaced by an abject terror.

“P-please, Auntie…” He whispered, shaking with tears. “Come and save me… I… I’m scared…”

The stallion curled up on himself, alone in his cell, with nothing but his tortured mind for company.

“I need you… come… please, come and save us…”

He would later fall asleep, his prayers unanswered.

The prince who had it all (or not)

It was a glorious morning in Canterlot, as every other day, was. For it to be qualified anything else would be blasphemy as it was brought upon them by the grace of Celestia, goddess of the sun.

Yet, one stallion was far from appreciative of this display of power. It may have to do with the numerous glasses of the finest wines he had drank the night before, as he attended one mundane event that required his attendance. However, such gossips are better left to others, the many servants of the royal palace for example.

The poor stallion cursed under his breath when the light shone down on his head, painfully awakening him while preventing him from opening his eyes at the same time. His headache was simply spectacular.

To add to this growing list of woefully occurrences, this particular morning was one he could not afford to laze in bed. No, this simply would not bode well with the dignitaries that would soon assemble in the throne room.

Resigned to his dreadful fate, Prince Blueblood rose from his sheets, uncharacteristically unkempt and with a most horrifying case of morning mane.

“Darn it, Auntie!” He grumbled, trying to chase the lingering sleepiness from his head. His eyes could barely stay open as it was. “Why did you have to be so punctual?”

The fact that her punctuality kept the world alive was but secondary to the unicorn’s momentary discomfort. As the eldest of Celestia’s male descendant, he was entitled to everything he ever wanted, or so his titles said.

Peace of mind was not what he wanted though, or else there never would have been polite yet rapid knocks on his beautifully sculpted door.

“My prince?” came the unsure, nervous question of a mare.

Wordlessly, he opened the door with his telekinesis and let her in. Still without a word or the servant, Blueblood stood motionless, waiting for her to groom him, as was her task every morning.

Just as silently, the maid, a light yellow earth pony, got to work. In Canterlot, servants rarely spoke unless directly addressed. It was good protocol after all.

His personality had nothing to do with her silence…

It took a little longer than usual, to the unicorn’s great irritation, as his mane usually was not nearly as unruly as it was. This did nothing to ease the already darkening mood of the prince.

“Would it be too much to ask that you refrain from attacking my mane so viciously?!” He snapped after one too many times tangled golden strands of hair had resisted her brush.

“I-I will be more gentle, my prince.”

As any perceptive and sensible pony would have done in her situation, the maid did her best to finish this ungrateful task, but not without earning herself another angry berating.

“I told you to be more careful! Yet my neck feels sore with all this pulling you have subjected me to!” The white stallion growled. “Are you so useless that a simple order is too much for you?!”

The maid shrank away a few steps, paling under her fur. “N-no, my prince. I promise this will not happen again.” She bowed to him, hoping that he was feeling a little more gentlecolt than he was presented as.

“It better not or you will appreciate first hoof how hard it is for a mare to get a job after crossing her prince.”
As humbly as she could manage, the maid replied a proper word of gratitude for his mercy. Her voice held nothing of her inner panic and fear, as was proper decorum in Canterlot.

Traditions that many nobles, especially from the oldest families, held particularly dear to their hearts. Chivalry and servitude was something to be shown to your superior while politeness and pleasantries were reserved for equals. Inferiors… well, if you treated them just like you did your equals, what message did that send to your business partners?

As much as it abhorred her, Celestia had allowed this attitude to thrive in her own castle. She could not very well intervene into the nobles’ attitudes, when the same tradition was perpetrated by the ponies working for her.

Very few ponies understood the difference between the deference and adoration that fueled Celestia’s servants and the quiet submission of those under Canterlot’s nobles.

Prince Blueblood was not one such stallion.

“Now, tell me, have any of the dignitaries arrived yet?” The unicorn asked acidly.

“No, my prince. The Princesses are waiting for you in the great hall, Sir.”

Blueblood harrumphed in a much undignified way that would make many of his frequentations cringe, for they knew what kind of attitude this promised for the remainder of the day.

A bad one.

When he arrived into the pristine halls, the unicorn quickly noticed that he was amongst the latest to take place at the wooden table. Both alicorn princesses were sitting at the end of the hall, regal and basking the court with the power that seeped through their very being.

A small and slightly forced smile graced Luna’s features at the sight of her nephew, but nothing could be said about Celestia’s excellent poker face.

“Ah, dear nephew, we were starting to get worried,” the sun goddess said neutrally.

“There was no need, Aunt Celestia.” Blueblood shrugged, then bowed. “I am sorry to have troubled you; the servants simply had troubles working efficiently this morning.”

Many mares and stallions must have imagined the cringe she reacted with. It would be unthinkable that the princess could be surprised, pleasantly or not.

As it stood, the casual dismissal of a maid did not bode very well with her. Unfortunately, there was one subject that demanded her attention with much more urgency.

“Very well, please take a seat.” She made a passing motion and leaned closer to her sister.

Blueblood noted the few exchanged words between the two alicorns, but gave no indication he had. Instead, he chose to focus on the servants that had appeared when his presence had been made known.

He held back a glare when the cook placed a stunning piece of fruit crepes decorated with whipped cream. However impressive the design was, this was a far cry from his usual breakfast and this decrease in standards left a bad taste in his mouth. Still, the part of him that was cunning reminded him of his aunt’s aversion to outbursts such as the one he had in mind, as the tradition she helped created dictated.

The unicorn appreciated the moment as well as he could, making small talk with the other heirs of the royal families, namely Duchesse Golden Fields of the earth pony line and Lord Valiant Winds of the pegasi line.

“Rumors have it that this stallion may have met his match, Prince,” the orange mare said with an amused smile. “At least in terms of wine tasting.”

This elicited a snort from the pegasus to her left. “My dear, we all know that Blueblood has no match in that department for sure.”

“Of course, sir Valiant,” Blueblood raised his head with self-importance. “The art of fine wine is only one of the many skills I have developed over years of careful cultivation.”

“As is the art of being caught in completely inappropriate places by journalists, I presumed.” Duchesse Golden Fields replied mischievously.

Under Prince Blueblood’s questioning gaze, the mare found it better to let images speak and called for her servants to show the object of her conversation to her fellow noble.

“The Prince strikes yet again,” Valiant Winds cited, grinning. “I take it the wine was good.”

“Fabulous, as you can imagine.” Prince Blueblood managed to keep his tone delightfully arrogant. Pride was the mark of a noble prince. “As for the journalists, my dear Duchesse, it pains me to be so irresistible to their eyes, but,” he paused for dramatic effect, “such is our lot as the royal heirs of Equestria. The common people must know of their leaders’ lives.”

His heartfelt declaration did little to convince the other two heirs that he was not a party animal, nor did it seem to touch the servants as it was meant to. To his dismay, he could hear eyes rolling in amusement or annoyance.

However, soon, an old unicorn that Blueblood recognized as a lesser noble distantly related to him spoke up, with a soft tone that carried much wisdom and concern.

“While Prince Blueblood’s worries are as noble as his lineage, I find myself rather pushed toward the issues we must attend to today.” The gentlecolt frowned, no doubt by his own reminder of the situation at hands. “These disappearances seem to have multiplied recently.”

An unfortunate occurrence, truly, but the royal heirs were not as concerned as one could be. After all, with the amount of protection they were granted by the royal guard, it would be unthinkable that they were to come into harm’s way.

When they had all express proper indignation at this sad situation, the conversation drifted away once more, going into more pleasant topics.

This small moment of respite from suffering a growing crowd of less than stellar servants did wonder to Blueblood’s mood, though he was not a stallion that would let go of these issues so easily.

Eventually, not long after all plates had been cleared, Celestia announced, her voice ringing with majesty, that they were to accompany her for the audiences today.

In little time, they had reached Princess Celestia’s throne room, a magnificent example of pony genius. The crystal-like luminescence of the very room seemed to echo their leader’s greater status. Even Luna, the princess of the night, seemed to pale in comparison with her sister, here at this siege of her power.

Quietly, Prince Blueblood admired his great aunt’s regal attitude. It seemed a further proof of his own greatness, that he was related, even remotely, to their beloved leader. One could see the resemblance in their coat, fur of the purest white.

One could say the resemblance was not even skin deep, but they would surely be vipers of the worst sort, spewing poison out of jealousy. Nothing more.

“We hereby decree the beginning of the three thousand twenty seventh public audience of our reign. Script Grave Calligraphy, ” Celestia turned to a little gray earth pony, “we ask that you consign everything to the archives once again. Now, let the first speaker be heard!”

From the masses of pones assembled, a pony emerged and started speaking, relating the events that led to the discovery of his wife’s disappearance.

From his place near the throne, Blueblood frowned. Far from trying to be insensitive, as the poor stallion’s distress was quite evident and understandable, the prince was still unpleased by the sounds of muffled sobbing that he could make out from the crowd.

Such breach of protocol was an insult to his Aunt and all three royal families. Here they were, the greatest nobles of Equestria, gathered to listen to the troubles of the common folk and they lacked this basic etiquette? Did they not understand that with the help of their Princess, there would be nothing to worry about?

As the audience went on however, it became increasingly clear that their despair had damaged their capacity to think rationality. The sobbing had become more distinct over time and many had simply broken into tears.

What was worse perhaps is that the guards remained stoic, probably waiting for a signal to intervene from their princess, one that would not come. Princess Celestia had grown weary, her luminescence dimmed by her own sadness. For someone as trained with her reactions as Blueblood was, it was clear she was suffering greatly from these horrors.

The last straw took the shape of a hysterical yellow mare whose words were distorted by uncontrollable wails. Her foal had been taken from her just the day before and she was unable to explain how she had discovered that fact, even after numerous gentle nudges from his aunts.

“Enough!” He snapped. “Control yourself, mare! You are in Canterlot, embarrassing this court and your princess with this shameful display!”

A cold silence fell upon the assembly, his words having completely seized the whole crowd’s attention. The mare stared in shock, her body shaking and barely restraining another sob.

“Nephew,” Princess Celestia said slowly. “Do not intervene outside of your boundaries like this again.”

Her tone had been carefully measured, but Blueblood had to fight the urge to shiver. Submissive, he bowed and vowed to remain silent as long as she deemed it right.

“Now, please, do not let this affect you, my little pony.” The goddess of the sun gave a warm smile to the poor mare.
She managed to describe it all, as some noticed, her hesitations were always followed by a quick glance at the unicorn prince, then at Princess Celestia. For better or for worse, Blueblood’s intervention had given her the strength to give the details of her story.

From the audiences, the nobles had deduced a common trait: many if not most of the missing ponies had vanished in the regions nearest to the griffon territory. Frankly, few pegasi nobles were surprised, while the others seemed rightfully bothered by this turn of event.

Was this a conspiracy, by the claws of the King of the griffons himself? If so, this would mean war.

Many brows were lowered in displeasure at the thought. The prospect of war, waiting at their doorsteps was unsettling, leaving them with a vague nausea.

Blueblood was immune to such lowly concerns of course. He would attribute it to his greater self-control, if asked, even if the truth lied elsewhere. By virtue of his status, he was too precious to send anywhere near a battlefield. The only danger he might face would be if Equestria lost and that was simply impossible, not with his aunts on their side.

…Prince Tonitrus would not step in… he never did.

The rest of the day remained meaningless, as nobles of Blueblood’s status reveled in idle nonsense. Of course, he had his duties and performed them without fail. Ponies of lower status never assumed much of the royal prince, if only because of the journalists’ apparent affection for his nightly escapades.

As the sun went down and the moon came out, the white stallion surprisingly decided to head to bed early. The return of his other aunt had put a dent in his self-serving habits. He knew she was not fond of him – of few ponies truly – and it bothered him a great deal. The night was a little colder than before and it seemed as if the darkness had lost its ability to keep secrets.

Sometimes he needed a drink, like yesterday. It helped, for a few hours, he had let go of this and had enjoyed a moment of frivolous festivities. Morning had come brutally and the Princess of the Night had been less than enthusiastic about his presence…

But he had been perfectly respectful toward her. It would never cross his mind to go against her in any way. She was the goddess of the moon and one of his ancestors. Less than perfect courtesy toward her would have gone too strongly against his beliefs!

Yet Princess Luna had eyed him with hidden conceit and disgust. Today, during court, the unicorn swore Princess Celestia had been inches from giving the very same look. And after he had spoken on her behalf to! It baffled him.

He dismissed the maids as soon as they had finished cleaning up. He wished for a dreamless night.

The noble that could have it all (or not)

The morning sun was more forgiving than the day before and for that, he was thankful.

However, the white stallion would have much rather awakened with a terrible migraine than with this presentiment that the day would turn into a complete disaster.

It was a rather irrational train of thought, as his morning grooming turned out to be perfect in all regards, with the bath he had taken being simply divine and a solid antidote to his anxiety. Really, Prince Blueblood knew that his physique had been once more carefully refined by expert hooves and magic, pushing it to level of being truly handsome by all standards.

The young lady of the Strong Armor line certainly seemed to agree when he winked at her, blushing terribly just as passed her by.

Everything was in order, everything was fine, Blueblood told himself. What could go wrong? What misfortunate could possibly happen to a unicorn of his status?

The absence of his aunt Luna at the dinner table caused him to involuntarily let out a sigh of relief. Instantly realizing what he had done, the unicorn quickly glanced at every pony assemble in the hopes that none had caught up his misbehavior. It seemed no one had, but his aunt was deliberately not looking up from her reports, contrarily to her habits.

Blueblood settled into his seat and tried his best to fight the growing unease in his stomach. As quickly as he had reclaimed it, his self-confidence was gone and replaced by that same fear. Still, his pride forbade him from letting it be apparent and the usual pleasantries were exchanged.

If either Golden Fields or Valiant Winds noticed his trouble, neither voiced any concern.

Once in a while, he permitted himself to look around for any sign of trouble, but this failed to bear results. Even his aunt seemed calmer as the breakfast went on.

Again, the servants made admirably swift work of the various plates and precious silverwares. As was proper conduct, the three royal heirs left the table last, each directing themselves toward their apartment where they would fulfill their daily duties.
As the white unicorn walked past Princess Celestia though, she briefly coughed, getting his attention.

“Nephew,” she said, prompting him to stop dead in his track and turn to her.

“Yes, Aunt Celestia?” Blueblood replied with more self-control than he felt he had.

But he would have been forgiven a simple mistake like that. The dinner hall was empty, the few lingering servants having quickly taken their leave when they had noticed the situation at hand. One simply does not eavesdrop in their Princess’ conversations.

“I would like to speak to you about your behavior of yesterday.”

Blueblood made a deliberate effort not to gulp out loud, feeling his unease settling down in his guts. Here it goes… “Of course. What did you wish to speak of?”

Improper behavior, talking out of place, making a scene, failing to maintain proper etiquette; he could already hear her sermon.

Still, her voice was still soft when she spoke. “May I ask you why you acted the way you did with that poor mare, nephew?”

He blinked stupidly for a moment there.

What? Wasn’t that obvious?

“B-but… she was disrespectful of you, Auntie!” He took a step forward, fueled by his indignation and his fervor.

To his greater surprise, the regal alicorn looked wary of him. “Was she?”

“Yes! Aunt Celestia, she was wasting your time, time that you so graciously offered to your subjects!” At that, she frowned and Blueblood deflated. “T-that is…”

“Nephew, do you not understand why it was so hard for that poor mare to talk about her experience?” Princess Celestia stood up and urged him to follow her.

The white stallion hastily made his way at her side, looking up to her face, even as she gazed outside through splendid stained glass. “Aunt Celestia, I-”

“Or do you simply value nobility that much?” She cut him off sternly.

He fought not to reel back with shock. He did not succeed.

“Auntie!” He yelled in indignation, momentarily forgetting his place.

“Do not raise your voice at me, Blueblood,” she said sharply.

The stallion yelped and bowed. “I’m sorry! I forgot my standing. It will not happen again, Aunt Celestia.”

If possible, the princess seemed under the assault of even greater fatigue, from his words alone.

“Nephew… it pains me that you act the way you do. It is… unbecoming.”

The insult stung badly, a piercing blow to his pride, to the very core of his personality. He was a proper noble, a stallion of incredible standing and his behavior had always been perfectly aligned with the traditions of the court.

“I… I have always acted as the ways of old dictated…” Prince Blueblood stuttered, unable to quite grasp his beloved aunt’s critic.

She raised an elegant eyebrow at his retort. “Forgetting that your lineage predates ‘the ways of old’ by quite a few centuries, nephew, how would you qualify your actions at the last Grand Galloping Gala?”

The reminder of that disaster brought a great deal of displeasure to the unicorn prince. “The Grand Galloping Gala’s disastrous result was not MY fault! If that crazy mare hadn-”

“Do NOT finish that sentence, nephew.” Celestia looked down and her gaze felt scorching to the distraught noble. “Rarity is a charming unicorn, who ranks high in my esteem.”

Prince Blueblood couldn’t believe his ears. His beloved aunt was taking that… Rarity’s side?! “Charming?! She yelled at me and splattered me with CAKE! In front of all the dignitaries of the gala!”

“After you had used her as a pony shield against that very same cake,” the goddess pointed out.

He cringed. “T-that was a stupid reflex…”

“Which she may have forgiven if not for your attitude,” Celestia insisted. “I was given a rather detailed account of the events of that night, nephew. It does not show you under a flattering night.”

“What?! But I’m the one that had a horrible time with her!” Blueblood protested. “She should have been honored to spend time in my company and yet she kept butting head with me over the simplest details of proper etiquette!”

“Really?” The alicorn tilted her head knowingly.

“As a stallion of very high standing, I was entitled to a more courteous attitude from her part.”

Again, the princess frowned. “And she was not entitled to the very same thing from you?”

“She was just a seamstress from Ponyville, I could not very well lower myself to… in front of the finest ponies in Canterlot… n-no… that would have been unthinkable, Auntie.”

Mentally, Celestia sighed. She had suspected this for a certain time now, but there had been some doubts. From times to times, worrying stories would reach her ears, but there were also reports of very satisfied aristocrats in Canterlot after her nephew had attended an event they had given.

That discrepancy had given her hopes that not all was lost, at first.

If Valor Heart ever saw what had become of his lineage, he would have screamed her head off…

“Nephew, being nice to other ponies, taking their feelings into consideration, should not be a privilege.” If a being such as her could get headache… “Even if Rarity wasn’t the bearer of an Element of Harmony, she would still be just as deserving of niceness than even the greatest of aristocrats, do you understand that?”

“She was one of the heroines that defeated Nightmare Moon?!” The unicorn’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Does it matter?” She asked, predicting what he would say.

And he did not disappoint. “Of course it does! Auntie, why didn’t you inform us that the heroines were attending the Gala?! We should have prepared an incredible introduction in their honor!”

Princess Celestia’s reaction was carefully guarded, slowly closing her eyes.

“Wait…” Prince Blueblood said, slowly realizing something very important. “If she was a bearer… are you saying the six ponies you invited were THE heroines that saved Equestria twice?!”

“Yes.” It pained her, but this reality was one that hit her too hard. As old as she was, she rarely felt it so intensively than in times when she could see the same mistake over and over again. There was no dispute here. Her nephew was an arrogant stallion that held status so importantly that it could make him do a complete turn over about his manners and respect of others.

“W-why?” He asked in a voice so badly shaken that her eyes were forced open with shock.

When she looked at him, Blueblood seemed terribly sad and… disappointed… “Why did you hide that fact, Auntie? They completely ruined the greatest event of the year, something that hundreds of ponies were looking forward, with business deals of the greatest importance being made by some; in part due to those six’s perceived lower status and attitudes. They would have been treated like queens; it would have been the greatest night of their lives, so… why did you do it?”

To say the princess was shocked beyond words would be an understatement. Being questioned was not unprecedented, but rare. Being questioned while trying to make somepony come to realize their fault and having the tables turned on her had not happened in a VERY long time.

While she had underestimated the extent of the disaster they could provoke, Princess Celestia indeed intended them to liven things up. Her age had caught up to her and a whim had leaded to a desire for change.

The alicorn looked straight into her nephew’s blue eyes and sighed.

“You are right. Some of the blame does fall on my shoulders. This will not happen again.”

The smallest of smile returned to the stallion’s expression and it gave her hope. In a twisted way, he did care about his fellow ponies. Those he saw as worthy of his status were shown concern.

In her minds, the image of two very different unicorns superposed themselves. While one was haughty toward those he deemed his inferiors, the other one was a kind noble worthy of his title. With the right push, he might become the prince he was truly meant to be.

Yes, it was for the best.

“Nephew, I have decided.” She hit the ground once and, in a burst of golden magic, a scroll appeared, floating just at the prince’s eyelevel.

He struggled to keep his composure in the face of this brutal change of subject. With an uncharacteristic lack of composure, the stallion was staring at the scroll. “D-decided what?”

“I am sending you on a mission. You will accompany the search party near the griffon’s territory.”