Chapter one - The “Date”
“And it wasn’t even enough that she had expected me to do all those frivolous acts of peasantry!” Prince Blueblood exclaimed in utter indignation. “No… She goes and tops it all off by shaking around like some wild beast! I was completely covered in that disgusting attempt at a confection; my suit was left in ruin!”
Blueblood’s date would have preferred to choose a much less dignified response to his rant. If it were an option, she would tell his royal highness that he deserves so much worse than that. She would tell him that he should just shove it. She would even ram a bucking fork down his throat! But alas, through her perseverance and ability to act; she conceded, “That sounds absolutely awful! It’s a shame when a mare with such potential can’t recognize a real gift when she sees it. But… pardon me for changing the topic your highness, wouldn’t it be better to forget her and focus on the here and now? Doesn’t that sound much more preferable?”
“You are absolutely right! Enough about that poor excuse for a mare, would you like to hear more about all the hard work I put into making my estate into the absolutely marvelous masterpiece that it is up to this very day?” The prince had to admit that this date thus far had gone much better than any that he had prior. Unlike the other filth that he had dated before, this mare had done everything exactly as he expected. Like a proper mare, she had pressed forward splendidly and left none of that awful peasant work in her wake.
His “date” for her part was fighting back yet another urge to grimace, amongst many other tempting gestures. Of course he would talk about himself, again. Of course he would ramble and rant on and on about his former dates. It’s not like she wasn’t expecting it by now. After all, she had been the one to pick him up from his estate. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the guards wouldn’t even allow her to get past the front gate, having not even heard that his royal princeliness was expecting somepony.
It was an enormous amount of luck that his highness had decided to take a random stroll out of his house and remembered the date as soon as he saw her. Whether it was good or bad luck was becoming less and less of a question. If questions could reach negative numbers, that is. All the events following grew more and more predictable, whether it be that Blueblood expected her to hold the door to the chariot open for him, or that he was expecting a rose from her, or that he even expected her to fluff out his seating pillow at the diner’s table that they were eating at.
“-I really do think Brussel does the most excellent work out of all my servants. I mean just last week, he moved several of my most valuable statues to the garden with minimal instruction. I must admit that auntie Celestia’s garden was quite the inspiration.” It was obvious that Blueblood had taken it upon himself to pursue his desired topic despite his date’s lack of attention. “Really though Miss Olivine, you certainly don’t seem to be talking much.”
Blueblood’s date raised an eyebrow at that comment. He finally noticed?
“So tell me… what do you think about my absolutely fabulous appearance?” His “date” wanted to scream bloody murder.
But still, even someone as beautiful as her, Olivine Ellva, had to admit that he was a very handsome stallion. His body structure gave him an aura of strength that could demand the attention of every mare. His shining white coat perfectly accented his long straight-combed mane and tail. And his attire just furthered the appearance, the black collar contrasted magnificently from the color of his coat. His blue bowtie stood out equally as much while loosely accenting his deep sky blue eyes. And the flower pinned to his collar was just the cherry on top. It was outrageous that such a horrid stallion could be blessed with such good looks, but Olivine figured that if demons didn’t have to look ugly, then a being such as Blueblood didn’t have to either.
Blueblood had been immediately bewitched by Olivine’s appearance. Her dress was themed a pastel yellow laced with wavy black frills. The dress had thick black lines on both sides that traveled straight until they reached the center of her torso and formed a triple spiral before straightening out and flowing smoothly along the full length of the dress. Just above the spirals, her elegant wings poked through with a subtle finesse. And the hind end of the dress was a multi-layered flow of yellow silk and wavy black frills that traveled the full length of her hooves. And looking past the covering of her dress, you could see her beautiful olivine colored coat, her brilliant brown eyes, and the waves of her deep red mane and tail. One could even say that she looked like a winged green olive attempting to dress up like a bumble bee.
Blueblood found himself going into his own tangent of thought, thinking about how he met Miss Olivine. It was not even two days ago that he was on one of his regular strolls through the castle when he happened to literally bump into her. After receiving a profuse set of apologies from the mare, things just kind of went the way they did and they hit it off. He was about to pull himself out of his brief reverie to continue their conversation where it had left off, but it was at that moment that their waiter had decided to arrive.
Approaching their table with a tray of confections balanced on his back was a young tan colored stallion with a short black mane. He wore a short maroon shirt that extended not much farther than his neck with a black collar and black bowtie. “Your desserts,” he said simply as he arrived and then placed the tasty albeit more sugary cuisine upon the table with a professional swagger.
“Thank you, young gentlecolt,” Olivine said with a smile. Trying to keep to the professionalism that was expected of him, he returned her smile with a small one of his own and a bow before turning around and trotting to the next table. It was then that Olivine decided to give the diner yet another look around. The place wasn’t particularly crowded, only a table here and there was occupied. The floor around them was a sparkling checkerboard of tiles, each table was made of a finely sanded and evenly glossed cherry wood, and the walls and ceiling were a faded shade of copper that was not too bright on the eyes nor too dreary as to bore the customers.
Olivine returned her gaze back to Blueblood who seemed to have dropped all regards to their previous conversation in favor of looking down at his dessert. Eyeing his budyn (pudding) like some professional food critic hired for the kitchens of the Canterlot castle, he glared at every aspect of the pudding that he could. From Olivine’s perspective, the pudding looked perfect. From the light brown coloring of the chocolate flavored pudding to the drizzling of caramel and chocolate syrups to the layer of hazelnuts and thin sprinkles, it looked delicious (if a bit too rich for Olivine’s own taste).
Looking back at her own dessert, Olivine licked her lips at sight of her slice of sekacz (tree cake). With its patterned layers of light and dark breading and its thin glaze of icing, it looked like a carving taken right out of a tree and frosted over with a sugary glaze. It was sweet, but not too sweet, right within Olivine’s preferences.
Using his magic to float a spoonful of his pudding to his muzzle, Blueblood gave it one last critical glance before gracefully taking a swig of the delicious treat from his spoon. He swallowed his pudding with his eyes closed, and after a brief pause, he smiled. “Acceptable,” was the only word that left his lips before floating his spoon back to his bowl for another spoonful of the pudding.
Grasping her fork in her left forehoof, Olivine took a needlessly small bite of her sekacz – if only to look proper for her princely date. She gave an inaudible “Mmm…” at the sweet flavor before swallowing her dainty bite. She smiled even more when she realized that this last course of the meal meant that the horrid “date” was almost over.
Blueblood finally remembered what he had asked before. “So… What do you think?” he asked while gesturing toward himself with a hoof.
“Oh… Yes! I think you look absolutely wonderful. Your attire matches your appearance in several aspects. Your collar has such contrast with your coat and it really stands out. And your bowtie compliments your eyes.”
Blueblood gave a knowing smirk at the praise. “And speaking of which, you look amazing in your dress.” Blueblood complimented. “Where ever did you get it?”
Olivine was both surprised and extremely happy that the attention had finally switched to her, but she handled the change of topic with a controlled grace. “Ah… Thank you for the compliment your highness. My dress is actually of my own design. You see, I am in the fashion industry and occasionally come up with clothing designs, but my real talent is in fragrances and perfumes.”
Blueblood’s eyes had slightly widened at that. “Your own design, really, that’s pretty amazing! And…” He gave the air around him a small curious sniff. “Such a beautiful fragrance, did you make that as well?”
Olivine was honestly not sure where this was suddenly coming from. Did they put something in his pudding? Or is it that sweets put him in a good mood? “Yes! In fact, this is a special blend that I’ve yet to release to the public.”
“Well… it’s a wonderful scent; I detect quite the mixture of fruits in the mix. But, you said that you only design clothes on occasion. Does that mean you only design dresses? Or do you design for stallions as well?”
Olivine had figured that the conversation would twist back to Blueblood at some point, but she wasn’t all that bothered this time around. In fact, she was quite happy that he would show praise in her work. “Indeed I do, while I have not designed as many as the typical clothes designer, I have designed several different suits in the past few years.”
“Well, that sounds excellent!” Blueblood lowered his spoon once more. “Per chance do you think-“A clink was heard and Blueblood lowered his head to look at his bowl of budyn. “Would you look at that, we’re already finished.”
Olivine looked down to her plate to see that she had indeed finished her sekacz. It was at that moment that the two of them heard a cough at their side. They looked up to see the waiter from earlier holding out his hoof.
He affixed Blueblood with a hard glare, “Your pay.” But Olivine already knew what she would have to do, and – much to her chagrin - pulled out the bits that were required for their meal. The waiter looked at her with wide eyes for a moment, but then grabbed the bag of bits and trotted away.
Turning back to Blueblood with half-lidded eyes, she asked “Your highness… Would you like to accompany me to my home?” Her tone was clear and suggestive.
Blueblood – for his part – was trying to hold back his surprise. He was trying to remember the last time any of his dates had asked him that. He was trying to remember the last time any of his dates had immediately offered to pay for the meal. In fact, he was trying to remember if there was any time where he had a date that had gotten this far. But, he did like where this was going, and there was just something about that look Olivine was giving him. “I think I would like that… Care to lead the way Miss Olivine?”
Olivine’s eyes remained half-lidded and her smile widened a little.
When Blueblood had considered the idea of accompanying his date to her place of residence, he was certainly not expecting some peasant’s shack. And it was to his pleasant surprise when he arrived that it not only wasn’t a peasant’s shack, but it was also a piece of art to truly be marveled.
It was a wonder that he had never spotted this particular establishment in all his time living in Canterlot, because in the midst of hundreds of Canterlot’s finest architecture was a truly unique masterpiece.
It resembled an enormous quad-layered gourd that had a polished gloss to it that could be compared to the surface of a dark green perfume bottle. Through the several darkened windows of his date’s home, he could see a plethora of different colored glints. “Caused by the moon’s silver rays reflecting off an uncountable number of bottles”, one would guess. From the top of the structure, a numerous amount of thin green poles could be seen; artistically depicting the appearance of a scent wafting out and spiraling about the shape of the perfume gourd and beautifully completing the look of Olivine Ellva’s home.
Blueblood’s bottom jaw hung loose as he took all this in and his mind was left abuzz with thought. Trotting forward while staring up at the splendor of his date’s house, he said “Such a unique design. It’s beautiful, breathtaking even…”
Olivine giggled lightly at the praise. “Thank you for the compliment, your highness. The Canterlotian authorities on real estate were quite eager when I made the request for this design. ‘A test on the true ability of equestrian architects’, they had said.”
Blueblood didn’t think his inner soul could be smiling any wider; his date was perfect in almost every way he could imagine. She was beautiful, she had a keen eye for fashion, she had an absolutely splendid home, and she knew exactly how to handle each and every moment that had passed during their date.
With smiles on their faces, the two trotted in through the front doorway. As Blueblood had expected, the inside was very round, but he found it silly that he hadn’t even considered a new found fact; Olivine’s house was also a shop.
The scent of perfumes was heavy in the air, not heavy enough that it would bother the customers, but the mixture was powerful. Blueblood found that his attempts to number the amount of different fragrances dancing through the air would have been as fruitless as the on-going attempts to reach the end of PI, if not for the several fruity scents drifting through his nostrils. The round walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of perfume and cologne bottles. The multitude of glass surfaces reflected the light – which Blueblood hadn’t even noticed being turned on – for an array of glowing sparkles that held more variety than any rainbow.
The other half of the ground floor was blocked by a wall, and in front of the wall was a shop counter. Behind the counter, the wall was lined with even more of her pleasantly scented wares and on the far right side there was a small variety of brilliantly designed clothes on display. The counter itself was almost bare, lined only with a small variety of different tins containing booklets and fashion magazines, and a cashier’s desk on its far left side.
Seeing Blueblood’s dropped draw, “Do you wish to browse my wares?” Olivine asked with a gesture to the many shelves. “Or would you like a tour?” She gestured to the closed veil behind the counter.
Blueblood took a few seconds to weigh the options. He was curious as to what colognes she had in stock, but her home had already left him in an enchanted state. “I think I would like a tour, Miss Olivine.”
Olivine gave him a knowing look and proceeded to past the counter and parted the wavy black veil that was the doorway to the other half of the ground floor. She turned back to face him and gestured to the doorway invitingly.
Blueblood trotted through the open veil and was immediately greeted with the sight ponniquins displaying suits and dresses. Starting from the far right, he could see small cubicle dressing rooms with closed purple veils. To the left of that and all the way across the middle of the room was the several ponniquins of different shapes and sizes; some of them displaying complete and incomplete suits and dresses. Along the back wall, she had shelved several different fabrics. And the left side of the room was mostly closed off; Blueblood assumed that is where she handled most of the fabric work and clothes fitting. And to the far left, a staircase lined the round wall leading up to the floor above.
Seeing that Blueblood was done examining the room, Olivine gestured him to follow her upstairs. Blueblood nodded and proceeded to follow up on his date’s request. Arriving on the first landing of the staircase – the staircase continuing even farther up along the wall to the next floor up – Blueblood could clearly see that this floor was the living area of her home.
The design of this floor was also quite unique. Stepping off the staircase, Blueblood immediately recognized that he was in the living room. But it wasn’t the living room itself that caught his immediate attention. Looking to his left, he found that the rooms of this floor fanned out in an ovular shape. The kitchen was to the far left and its doorway was fully open, easily revealing the room’s purpose. But in a round sweep, several more rooms lined up alongside the kitchen; consuming the majority of space available to this floor. In the center of the room, 4/5ths of an oval was formed by the conjoining sweep. Each rooms closed doorways’ were made easily available from the center ring.
The living room of Olivine’s house was dotted with various sofas, tables, and chairs. Along the available wall space, shelves containing various knick-knacks could be seen.
As Blueblood looked around, Olivine suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! Before I forget your highness, would you like a drink?”
Blueblood was delighted at this. “Yes, Miss Olivine. A drink sounds quite lovely.”
Olivine smiled, “Any specific kind?”
Blueblood grinned, “Surprise me.” After all, she had been providing him surprises for the entire night thus far, and all had been pleasant.
Olivine took the cue and immediately made her way to the kitchen.
Blueblood took the time to examine the knick knacks lining the walls a little more closely. He found that some of the knick knacks were actually perfumes, all of which had no labels. Her own personal blends, he assumed. He moved on to continue his examination of the knick knacks.
After a couple minutes, Olivine returned to the living room with two glasses of a red colored drink. She hoofed one of the glasses to Blueblood with another smile.
Blueblood took the glass in his magic – giving it one look-over – before taking a curious sip. “Ah… A fruit cocktail, delicious, and very finely made at that.”
As the two began to consume their beverages, Blueblood asked, “Will we be continuing this tour? Your home has proven to be absolutely magnificent from what I’ve seen thus far.”
“I’m afraid not, your highness. The second floor is actually where I stock all my incomplete or experimental creations – along with some more expensive fabrics. The scents that permeate that room take most ponies some time to get used to. And the third – and top – floor is where I work on all my new fragrances, so that room tends to hold residual scents from my past works.”
“Ah… That’s too bad,” Blueblood said with a slight frown. “But it is completely understandable, Miss Olivine.” Blueblood took the last draw from his fruit cocktail and floated it to a nearby table.
“Perhaps you would like to browse the colognes I have available downstairs?” Olivine asked, not letting her date fall prey to any negative feelings.
Blueblood immediately perked up. “That sounds excellent, Miss Olivine.” And the two proceeded back downstairs.
Arriving back at the front of the shop, Blueblood turned to the suits on display. “Oh! I just remembered, Miss Olivine. I was wondering if you could perhaps design a suit for me.” Blueblood raised a hoof to stifle a yawn.
Olivine gasped, “Oh my… I would be delighted at the chance! Do you have any particulars of the design in mind?”
“Well…” Blueblood turned to look closer at the suits his date had on display. “I,” Blueblood tried to examine the suit nearest him, but had to stifle another yawn. “I’m actually feeling quite t-tired, M-miss Olivine.”
Olivine giggled, “Oh! I know exactly what that’s like; exhaustion has a tendency to sneak up on you. In fact in my… … fatigue tends to creep up after a long days work, and I’ve had… … those.”
“W-what w-was that, M-miss Olivine?” Normally, Blueblood would be scared by what was happening to him, but his sudden exhaustion had left his mind in quite the state, and his vision and hearing were fading in and out.
“Oh dear… Are… … alri- … our high-“ Blueblood could hardly make out what Olivine was saying.
Blueblood tried to speak, but all he could let out was a tired grunt.
Through the fog in his mind, Blueblood could hear his ‘date’ speak in a tone he had not heard her use throughout that entire night, “Sleep tight… Vladimir.” And with that, Blueblood’s body and mind succumbed to the fatigue delved into a deep sleep.
Author's Note
IMPORTANT!!!!!!~~ PLEASE READ!!!!
Okay... So first off, I just want to let you all know that I don't have anyone to help me with editing
or anything like that. In fact, I'm not even sure how that stuff even works.
Second, when I wrote this chapter, well... This was my entire initial plan:
Blueblood goes out on a date with my own original character featured in this story.
Said character offers him a drink that has been drugged to put him to sleep.
So you can obviously see how I totally needed to expand on that particular premise.
Third, I'm rather iffy on how nice I made Blueblood during this chapter. But I keep telling myself
'How much do we really know about him?' I figured that when things are going exactly the way
Blueblood wants, he would be more open to listen to others. I also wanted to try him being nice
as a very vague reference to the fact that Blueblood never got to eat dessert during his date with
Rarity, so what if I made it so sweets put him in a good mood or something like that.
And some of you might be thinking, 'We're only at the beginning and you are already telling us that
this mare has an ulterior motive for this 'date'?' Well, what self-respecting mare would maintain a date with
Blueblood that long without having an ulterior motive? Plus, I wanted to use the mind-set of someone who is hating her current situation for some humor.
I have several other chapters planned out much better than the first. (To be honest, I kinda
just wanted to skip the first.)
NEW CHARACTER ALERT!
Character name: Olivine Ellva (My first thought was Olivia, but I wanted to use a name that didn't sound so common amongst humans. So I searched up similar names, and found that Olivine sounded very pretty and wasn't as common. I also learned that the name 'Olivine' means 'Olive tree' so I figured 'branch' would be a funny last name to go along with that so I googled synonyms for Branch and found that the word 'Ell' is a synonym for 'Annex' which is a synonym for 'Branch' But 'Olivine Ell' sounded incomplete so I added an extra 'va' at the end. Her name does essentially mean 'Olive Tree branch' though.)
Character race: Pegasus (Funny story here, in my search for names for the character, I came across the name 'Alidia' which means 'small winged one' and I'm like... OH MY GOD! So totally gonna make her a pegasus!)
Character appearance: Described earlier in this chapter. However...
Made with Generalzoi's pony creator. Probably about as close to the appearance I imagined as I
possibly could get using the creator. And she does have a cutie mark, I just haven't decided on what
yet.