//------------------------------// // Pinky Pie Proposal (Edited by BS) // Story: The Humble Prince // by Lighting Ace //------------------------------// "Are you sure you don't want to lay down and rest a little bit longer? Take it from me. Nothing good ever comes up from pushing yourself too hard," AJ questioned in a worried tone as she saw the prince struggle to keep his eyes open as he attempted to serve himself a slice of cake, holding in a yawn. Twilight was in the same as him, and although they didn't seem all that tired, she could see how they both could use a quick nap. "I'm serious. We are even letting the princesses sleep in a bit longer for how exhausted they were last night. Even princess Luna, for pony's sake! If even she needs to sleep, I don't even know how you can stay up like this" "Don't worry, Ms. Applejack, I'm perfectly…" Blueblood covered his mouth as he yawns and occasionally slipped into his more formal speech patterns "…fine, but I appreciate your concern. I will sleep in the chariot." "I still can't believe you had a sleepover after what we went through," Dash mentioned while chewing on a bit of her breakfast. "Even I think that is too much." "And I say it was mean of you not to invite us Twilight," Pinkie remarked, still irked by the whole ordeal. "We were practically next door!" "I'm with Pinkie on that one," Starlight mentioned, equally irked at her. "And you too, Blueblood. The newest branch of research and cataloging of the newest type of magic in this century. And you exclude me? I was your first magic teacher! I taught you the basics of how to use your horn. Didn't that mean anything?" She bawled, showing how hurt she was as she looked away. "Of course it did. Please miss Starlight; it wasn't like that…and we didn't cover all of it. There is still plenty more to register and catalog, and I would very much like to have the assistance of a lovely maiden such as yourself when I continue that project." "…You promise?" She looked over her shoulder at him as he nodded. "Twilight might be my cousin, and she may be pretty smart, but as you said, you were my first teacher. There is no way I would leave you out." "Well, I suppose I can forgive you this time, but you better include me for the next session!" She warned them both. "Honestly, Twilight, you should be more conscious of your beauty sleep. You will start to gain wrinkles if you are not careful." Rarity added, cleaning her muzzle with a napkin. "Come on, everyone, no need to be so hard on Twilight," Blueblood spoke up. "If anyone was responsible for what happened, it was me. I couldn't sleep last night because of what we went through. Well, Twilight offered to keep me company until I feel better. We talked about it and registered the spells I made that Twilight wanted to know about…" The prince briefly paused when he saw how all the mares in the room, including his guards, rolled their eyes simultaneously with a smirk as if they knew about that little quirk of Twilights. "…and we kind of lost track of time, that is all. It wasn't in any way, a sleepover." "I'd still count it. You two had a moment of bonding and spent the night having fun and learning more from one another. It WAS a sleepover." Pinkie remained adamant and pointed at Twilight. "And you know what that means, don't you, Twilight?" "Huh? I'm…" She blinked a couple of times, not knowing what she was implying. "Since you and Blueblood had a sleepover, then all of us have the right to have an individual sleepover with him too." She states, crossing her hooves and gaining the attention of all the mares and dragon present in the room. "An individual sleepover? How the hay does that even work?" AJ turned to Spike in search of an answer, but he merely shrugged, equally lost. "Easy, we select a day, and Blueblood goes and spends the night in each of our homes where we play and sleep and eat all sorts of candy! Doesn't that sound like fun?" Pinkie elaborated in excitement. "Ah, eh P…Pinkie, wouldn't it be nice if instead, we all had just a regular sleepover with all at us at once?" Fluttershy proposed to her. "Aw, come on, girls, aren't you even a little bit interested in the idea?" Pinkie argued back before placing herself next to Blueblood. "Besides, let's be honest here, we don't exactly have many stallion friends, and I don't want to exclude Bluey from learning more about friendship just because he is a boy." "But a sleepover with only the two of us? Pinkie darling, don't you think that's a bit much?" Rarity tried to negotiate with her. "I know you are a bit sad that they didn't invite you, but what you are saying sounds a bit weird." "How do you know? Have you ever had a sleepover with stallions before?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, no." "And don't you want to dive into a new fashion challenge? You could try your hoof at making male clothes for royalty~" Pinkie suggested in a sing-song voice catching Rarity's attention. "I didn't think of that" She placed one of her hooves under her chin with a growing smile at the prospect. "I could design a completely new wardrobe line. No…I could even try my hooves at a new world of fashion I have never visualized before in my life!" She exclaimed, getting more and more excited much to the growing concern of the prince. "And Applejack, you always say how proud you are of your farm and how your family grows the best apples in all of Equestria. Wouldn't you like to invite Bluey to your home so he could have a taste of real homemade dinner?" "Of course, I would! We Apples would be happy to host any guests at our home! Blueblood would always be welcome to visit if he wanted. I'm sure that as long as I do my chores and tell her ahead of time, Granny wouldn't mind." She replied with pride, liking the idea. "Are you seriously considering it now?!" Rainbow Dash asked the two in disbelief. "You have to admit, she does raise good points, Rainbow," Spike told her. "But…but we haven't even known him for that long!" Rainbow kept up the pressure as she pointed at Blueblood. "All the more reason why a sleepover could be a great idea!" Pinkie jumped on the table to be in front of her before smirking, "Unless, of course, you are scared." "What!?" Rainbow flew up towards her face, particularly offended by that comment, "I'm not afraid of anything!" "Then why are you so opposed to the idea? Is it because you live on a cloud?" "She lives on a what now?" Blueblood blinked a couple of times, not sure he heard her right. "Of course not!" "Then is it because you don't want him near you? Is that it?" "What? No, of course, I don't mind if he is near or not. He seems like a cool dude. I wouldn't mind hanging out, but still…" "And aren't you even the slightest bit interested in sharing stories on how awesome you are and all of your adventures as well as showing off all of your moves to an audience that has never seen the great Rainbow Dash in action?" That comment left Rainbow Dash silent as she processed what she just heard. "You could show him your rainboom~" Pinkie suggested wiggling her eyebrows. "But…The thing… it's not like…because he is a stallion I…" Rainbow tried to argue back, but she was lost and didn't know how to reply. "Just imagine, leaving the prince with his jaw on the floor as you break the sound barrier." The prince had enough at that point and stood up. "Wait, wait, wait! Let's not…what?" The prince stopped and looked at Pinkie with surprise and confusion before shaking his head and resumes, "…let not jump into anything yet. Listen, I admit I'm flattered by the idea, intrigued even. That homemade meal sounds enticing, and the stars know what you and I could do, Pinkie, even knowing that it will somehow involve cake, but unfortunately, we can't just plan something like that out of the blue, no pun intended. There is still a lot of things I need to do in Canterlot. I'm sure you too with the school, your jobs, not to mention Nightmare Night so close. So maybe it would be better if we put a pin in that idea for the time being." "Y-yeah! You are right, Blueblood!" Fluttershy nodded and stood up as well, "we can't just forget our chores and throw a party at random like that! I would love to have you over, of course, but maybe it will be for the best if we plan it out first, maybe set a date, once our schedules are freer?" "Exactly! I'm not saying no to the idea. I was saying, why don't we calmly think about it and see how we could do it." Blueblood suggested. "Aw, but you and Twilight had a spontaneous sleepover. Why can't we have one too?" "It wasn't a sleepover!" Twilight insisted. "Tell you what? Why don't I pay you a surprise visit? I come to sugar cube corner, unannounced, go into the kitchen, cover your eyes, and after playing 'guess who' we spend the rest of the day together?" Pinkie mull it over, "Can it be at night?" "That would defeat the purpose of spending…" Pinkie knelt in front of him and put her frontal hooves together as her lower lip quivered, and she gave him her puppy eyes look, making him sigh in defeat "…fine, it could be at night for a sleepover." "Could you break in through an open window?" "Pinkie, I'm a prince, not a burglar. I'm not going to do that?" Blueblood sighed, slightly frustrated by her weird request. "Please? It will make things more spontaneous." Once again, he was confronted by the same gaze. He looked up, trying to think of something until an idea arrived as he slowly looked at her with a smirk. "You want a spontaneous sleepover, right?" "Yeah," She agreed in excitement. "I think I have just the thing." "Oh! What is it? What is it?" She bounced in place, but he stopped her by placing his hoof on top of her head. "Ah-ha Pinkie, if I tell you, it would no longer be spontaneous, right?" He patted her head a couple of times. "You will just have to wait and see." "Oh! But now I want to know!" She complained, more intrigued now. "Good, that will make things better, know this, stop expecting. Because it might not be tomorrow or next week, but when you least expect it…I will make my move. So, best, you forget all about it, as fast as possible!" He recommended. "But…" "Ah! The more you think about it, the longer you will have to wait" "Oh! It's so frustrating, but so exciting at the same time! All right, fine! I will wait, but please don't take too long!" To his surprise, the prince could see smoke coming from the top of her head at the conundrum as she took a seat in defeat. "Then it decided, minus Pinkie, we will think this over carefully and see how things work out, ok? Maybe starting after Nightmare Night so we don't end up with too many things on top of each other, ok?" Blueblood suggested, and they all nodded in agreement in time to hear the doors of the dining hall opening, and from it, the royal sisters walked inside. "What has been placed on top of each other?" Celestia asked, rubbing one eye while looking at the group in slight confusion. "Good morning, aunties. We were planning some small get-togethers between us." Blueblood was quick to answer before going to them and exchanging pleasantries. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," Celestia mentioned while reminiscing. "It will certainly be nice to visit Ponyville under better circumstances." "Yet, unfortunately, such events will have to be placed on hold." Luna regretfully informed them before addressing Twilight. "We thank you for your hospitality, Miss Sparkle, but I'm afraid it's time for us to take our leave and return to Canterlot, we have been absent for far too long, and our subjects must be worried about our whereabouts." Luna explained. "I understand, princess, the girls and I should also be heading back to school anyway, so this seems like a good place for us to say our goodbyes." She bowed to them before levitating some slices of cake to the princesses. "But before you go, please take at least a slice of cake with you, so you don't return with empty stomachs." "It's my famous breakfast cake!" Pinkie added, "You're gonna love it." They chuckled and nodded, taking the pastries with their magic. "I'm sure we will Pinkie, thank you for the small snack," Celestia stated as she and Luna turn around and headed to the door again, the twins opening the door for them. "Come along, Blueblood. It is time to go home." "Coming," Blueblood called out before looking at the group. "As soon as I get things in order, I will send you a letter to see when we can plan those sleepovers." "We will be awaiting partner." "Just remember not to take too long!" Pinkie insisted, still slightly frustrated, making everyone laugh as they exchanged their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Once in the chariot, both princesses didn't waste time and enjoyed their small treat. Celestia noticing how her nephew seemed tired and was occasionally yawning as he fought to keep his eyes open. "Is everything ok, sweetie? You look kind of tired" She looked at him with some worry as he yawned once more and shook the sleep away. "I'm ok, auntie, it's just that I had a hard time sleeping last night…like at all." He confessed, earning the attention of both alicorns as he leaned against Luna's side while she opened one of her wings and slowly guided his head towards the base of her wing. "There is nothing to worry about. I had a lot in mind after the whole ordeal we had last night. Memories that fake nightmare showed me and the stress of having so many adventures in such a short amount of time. I still have them, but thanks to Twilight, I decided to put them on hold and simply relax for a while" He suppressed another yawn before continuing, "She found me gazing at the stars last night. After we talked, I managed to calm down, and we exchanged stories. She had a similar experience with stress with something about no friendship…no reports…and a bird's nest." He told the royal pair, slipping into and out of consciousness as he was slowly closed his eyes. "For now, I think I will take it easy and stop postponing my duties. There is a lot to do, mistakes to fix…promises to…keep." Smiling in understanding, Luna covers his body with her wing and helps him relax with a bit of magic. "You can tell us the later rest nephew, for now, just sleep." He nodded and closed his eyes, letting himself drift into slumber. Once soundly asleep, Luna regarded Celestia with a raised eyebrow. "Did he said a bird's nest?" "Must be referring to an ordeal Twilight had some years ago, back when she was still struggling with a predetermined schedule and how not to let it control her life." She smiled at the memory and shook her head. "Oh, that Twilight, she used to be so rigid and strict with herself back then." "We have time sister, why don't you tell me about it?" Luna asked, intrigued. "Well, I only know part of the story, but it all began when I got a report about Cerberus leaving his post guarding the underworld gates…"