No Regrets
Twilight soared over the east orchard. A mid-morning breeze rustled the leaves of the trees below as she caught sight of her friend. Banking into a spiral descent, she floated in for a landing. Applejack’s back hooves connected with a sturdy tree trunk and the resulting rain of apples filled the strategically placed bushel baskets below.
“Good morning, Applejack,” Twilight began with a smile. “I thought I’d stop by and see how you and Blueblood were doing. I hadn't heard anything for a while and I wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. I hope I’m not intruding.”
“He’s not here,” Applejack said with a grunt as she bucked into a second trunk. “I put him on the train to Canterlot first thing this morning.”
Twilight drew back warily. “Is something wrong? Did you have a fight?”
“Nope.” Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “He’s all reformed, so he went home.”
“He what?!” Twilight squealed in shock. “How did that happen?”
Applejack reached under her hat and pulled out the scroll of instructions which she tossed over to Twilight. “See for yourself.”
Twilight read through the list in the blink of an eye. Pausing at the end, she questioned, “Why is the last line written in black ink and the rest in gold?”
“Because he’s not done takin’ care of that one yet.” Applejack just smiled as Twilight’s brain kicked into rational overdrive.
“So, you lied to me?”
“Never!” Applejack sneered at the notion. “Blueblood’s as flipped around as winter turned summer. He just wanted to get back home and tie off some loose ends. I got a feelin’ that last line’s about to light up like the rest any moment now.”
“I've known Blueblood for years and he’s always been a huge—royal—pain in the flank.” Twilight rubbed at her temple trying to ease the pain of an equation that wasn't adding up. “How did you do it?”
Applejack burst out in full on laughter. “I can’t take all the credit. He was the one making the changes. After a couple days of honest work, he turned out to be one of the best workingponys we’ve ever had on the farm. Actually, I’m kind of sad to see him go. All he wanted this morning was a bucket of carrots and scrawny potatoes he dug up himself plus a little help getting’ on the train.”
“That doesn't make any sense.” Twilight struggled with the idea of a reformed Blueblood given her recent encounter. “Are you sure he’s not faking it?”
“Sure as I’ll ever be. Even wrote a note to the Princess saying as such.” Applejack waved Twilight toward the farmhouse and started walking in that direction. “Don’t believe me, you can ask the family—I even have a letter that he wrote for you saying how sorry he was.”
Twilight followed along still mired in thought. “You've got to tell me everything that happened. I’m going to need to write a paper on this.”
Applejack just smiled and kept on walking.
It took a little coaxing, but Blueblood eventually won over Celestia. Applejack’s letter certainly helped seal the deal. Fresh off the morning train, he had raced to the throne room and begged for a chance to make things right. Hesitantly, she granted his request—if for nothing more than sheer curiosity to see how things would play out.
The time arrived and the anxious Prince stood to the side of the dining hall table. Having made a valiant effort at setting three seats for lunch, he awaited his guests. Celestia watched from the shadows on a balcony overlooking the hall.
From the far doors, a stallion in a royal guard tunic and a mare in a stunning blue-silk gown approached. Sweat began to bead on Blueblood’s forehead. Sir Lighthoof and Bluebell, the junior cook’s assistant, looked nervous as well. Steadily, they inched their way forward.
“Thank you for coming,” Blueblood stammered with the best smile he could muster. “Please, have a seat.” He moved to hold the chair for Bluebell as she slid into place at the head of the table. Her eyes remained fixed on the royal guard hoping that he would come to her rescue at the first sign of trouble. Sir Lighthoof kept watch of Blueblood as he and the Prince each took to their respective chairs.
An awkward silence fell over the trio as the new arrivals sat perplexed, eager and waiting to hear the reason for their summons. The odd pairing of potatoes and carrots resting on their plates added to the general confusion.
Blueblood took a deep breath. “First, I want to say I’m sorry.” The hard part done, he felt some relief as he continued. “I've been asleep, but my eyes are open now. I’m sorry I didn't wake sooner. Can you both find it in your hearts to forgive me—especially you, Miss Bluebell?”
If ever there was a time where the word dumbfounded fit, this was it. Lighthoof and Bluebell couldn't believe what they had just heard. An apology from the Prince was like Twilight failing a test—it never happened. Amid their confusion, a slight nod of the head signaled their joint witness of the miracle.
Blueblood glanced down at the plates and pointed to the food. “Next, I made you lunch. I hope you like it—I dug it up and cooked it all myself.”
Bluebell couldn't contain herself any longer. “Like, from the ground?!” she screeched.
“Straight from the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, fresh this morning,” Blueblood beamed.
“But you never get your hooves dirty…” Bluebell was beside herself in the midst of a minor panic attack. “This is too much; I can’t take anymore. Who are you, and what have you done with Prince Blueblood?”
Blueblood drew back, cowering a bit from the assault. “I hope you like your dress. I paid extra to make sure it matched your coat.”
“You paid? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Bluebell fainted. Sir Lighthoof jumped to her side and kept her from slipping to the ground.
“Is that a yes?” Blueblood peered over the top of his hooves which had shot up in self-defense on instinct.
Shaking her head, she propped herself up on the arm of the chair. “Just… Give me a minute,” Bluebell huffed as she came around.
Sir Lighthoof gently stroked her mane. “It is a lovely color. Very fine work indeed.”
Following the shock and subsequent processing of the situation, Lighthoof returned to his seat. Bluebell wanted to know more. “How in the hay is this possible?”
Blueblood thought for a moment. He wanted to make sure he could verbalize what he felt in his heart. Looking Bluebell straight in the eyes, he answered, “It all boils down to this—I was a carrot that thought he was too good for the potato. I see now that I was wrong.”
Bluebell stared back in wonder. “I never thought I’d see the day.” Shaking her head, she picked up her fork and stabbed a potato from her plate. Holding out the bite, she waited for the Prince. Blueblood leaned forward and partook of her offering. The not-so-well-cooked potato crunched in his teeth, but he swallowed it anyway. Bluebell smiled. “How about you let me do the cooking next time?”
“How about you teach me how to cook?” Blueblood smiled back.
“How about I leave you two alone?” Sir Lighthoof stood up from the table and turned to walk away.
“Aren't you going to stay for lunch?” Blueblood inquired.
“Sorry, but I already ate—Your Majesty.” Sir Lighthoof bowed to the Prince and made to take his leave.
Blueblood shook his head. “No need to call me that—my friends call me Blue.”
Sir Lighthoof glanced back at the pair. “Works for me—Blue.” He smiled and trotted off toward the door leaving the couple to themselves.
Blueblood called out to the departing guard, “Spread the word. I want the whole castle to join us for lunch from now on. Everypony deserves to be treated like royalty!”
Sir Lighthoof just shook his head as he left the dining hall. The stallions back in the barracks were never going to believe him until they saw it with their own eyes.
Up on the balcony, Luna strode up next to Celestia and yawned. “Art thou going to restore our nephew’s magic now?”
“It can probably wait for later.” Celestia peered down at the happy couple now laughing and daring each other to eat another bite of the ill-prepared meal. “I wouldn't want to interrupt them right now.”
“Then tell me this, why must you make a point of turning the black ink, gold? Why not silver?”
“That’s just silly, sister. Who’s ever heard of the Royal Silver Rules?” Celestia grinned and patted Luna on the head. “And, just so we’re clear, he’s our fourth cousin, fifty-two times removed.”
“I know. Princess Twilight keeps reminding me. Couldn't we change that by royal decree?”
“I don’t think the Royal Family Tree would survive another decree like that, dear sister.” Celestia reached down and rubbed her growling stomach. “I’m hungry. What do you say we go get something to eat?”
“As long as it’s not carrots—the royal cook was serving them for every meal, so I had to banish the little orange beasts from the kitchen last week.”
“Agreed,” Celestia replied. “We may need to do the same thing with the potatoes now too.”
Back on a farm in Ponyville, the words Treat others like you want to be treated burst into flame and consumed the royal instructions.
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Okay, I'll give this a read.
5317065
Step right up. First post award goes to you!
Just curious. What exactly was the prompt for this "Title Drop" WriteOff.
5317248 That was the prompt... Title Drop. It was kind of an inside joke going back to last month's topic "Over the horizon." That prompt got dropped into practically every submission, so as a meta joke, people voted this month's prompt to be just that.
5317468
Gives some context to the character. Can't really fault him if he doesn't know any different.
5317068
Hurray, what do I win?
5317458 What do you mean 'the prompt got dropped in every submission'?
5317565
As is customary, you win the internetz. Please do not confuse this with The Internet as that is a completely different thing.
5317584
Quite literally, it means that the prompt itself was written in some actual form in the story body. It was too quirky a line not to reference directly and in came across pretty thick in some cases.
The actual prompt: "Just over the horizon" became anything from dialog to scene description to directional indication. One story was about a character named "Horizon" that his ex was still trying to get over.
When the prompt voting for November came around, someone submitted "Title Drop" as an option. People voted for it because it was a silly meta reference, and it won. Then we got to write stories about it. I was one of the few which took the prompt at face value. A lot of stories wrote about dropping books or obliterated their own title (or the titles of the other stories in one case) within the submission itself. All in good fun of course. Who knows what we'll get next month.
That's going to be a lot veggies. Food is going to have to be ordered at least once a day at this rate.
Anyway, I liked this story. Then again, I like redemption stories involving Blueblood (and Trixie). Have a like and a fav.
5317731 Thank you kindly sir (ma'am)!
I had fun writing this one. Gave me a nice change of pace from the longer epics I've been working on.
5317737 Sir, please.
I get called ma'am by too many telemarketers.
5317745 Better than, "Is your mom or dad home?"
And now I have the Green Acres intro playing my head.
5317837 At least you aren't seeing the vague comparison to Paris Hilton that I got when I started writing this.
Although, a lot of the readers here probably aren't old enough to appreciate Green Acres or Mr. Ed.
The last two chapters went noticeably quicker than the rest, as if you wanted to get them over with. Otherwise, I quite liked it.
5318098 The original version skipped over a few sections to fit within the 8k word limit of the contest. I actually liked and kept the sudden shift in the last part as I felt a full write up of a few days doing the same kind of thing would get tedious—both in reading and writing.
Glad you enjoyed the read.
5318147 I see your point.
It might make a little more sense given the positive attitude of the show and the way I hope this turnaround could differ from the typical villain reformation. I don't really see Blueblood as a bad guy - more misunderstood and product of his upbringing than anything. He's not evil, he's just a royal jerk. The point being, he's not trying to be bad. He doesn't know he's been acting poorly until it gets pointed out and he experiences life on the other side.
Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your time in reading the story and giving your input.
Looked
*blueblood bashing*
quick-checked last chapter
*blueblood reformation*
Downvote. On general principle. Both themes are already used ad nauseum, not saying that reformation fics are probably the second worst kind of fics.
Well, despite the tone of my first post, I can see some great potential in this. The main flaw is that it's not fully fleshed out.
There were hints at a strained relationship with Twilight, that would've been interesting to explore more. The entire redemption was way too fast; if you are worried about repetition, you can easily take the story in different directions over each arc. The bonding with Applejack was nice, for example, but a little one-sided. That's not unrealistic, though, since AJ is fairly narrow-minded. Maybe a few more instances of regret, anger, doubt.
And, of course, the elephant in the room (at least for me):
What was Celestia's intention? Humble him? Teach him compassion? How did any of what she did actually translate into what happened? Why did she send someone who can't read away with written instuctions? Did she do it so he had to get help somehow? Did she want him to admit that he couldn't actually complete her task on his own? Was he supposed to learn to like himself, or humility? Why take away his magic, which is, after all, an extremely intrusive action? I don't understand why she did what she did at all.
5322303 Some very good comments.
Reflecting on the show itself, consider how many times Celestia has dumped a problem in Twilight's lap with little or no explanation and just walked away from it. It may seem heavy handed, but I think the appeal falls to the side of being comedic. When I was writing this story, I tried to keep it light and funny. It's not meant to be a completely serious reflection on the inner turmoil and reformation of a seriously flawed individual. It's My Little Pony. It's Friendship is Magic.
To me, the quirks of the show address the concerns you lay out. Why did she take his magic away? She was going to give it back—there's no doubt about that. It's just hard for lessons to be learned when you are sitting in your comfort zone. Issue with the length of the story? Granted, I'm not trying to write a novel here—just sticking to the main theme and letting the reader fill in a few parts as well. It seems you have some ideas of your own where the story went in the gaps—that's awesome! So much better than me telling you everything from my view. Why give him instructions he can't read? Perhaps I did a poor job there—no one knew he couldn't read and it wasn't a big deal to begin with (having servants and all, why would he need to be able to read?). It's a pretty common thing in real life that illiterate adults hide the fact they can't read and most people don't expect that not everyone can. It's somewhat unintentional here, but it fits with the character profile of a spoiled, yet misunderstood pony having his whole life turned upside down.
5322435
Agreed. While not 100% intentional, I try to keep my characters as true to the show as possible. Could I see this as an episode? Sure. That's probably the biggest reason it reads like it does. I wanted to keep it short, mainly since the contest it was written for had a word limit in place. Perhaps it's a bit too short, but I have longer stories you could read if you want to get into that. I debated making it longer, but it didn't feel right to me.
5318924
You, sir, are entitled to your own opinion. Thank you for taking the time to explain your downvote. I seriously appreciate it. Not being sarcastic.
1. Ask for help.
2. Do something nice for somepony else.
3. Be honest with yourself.
4. Treat others like you want to be treated.
I wonder if Diamond Tiara could learn these rules.
5322550
Heh. You know, maybe I am overthinking it. It really was that detail that pushed things from 'very, very tough' to 'cruel' for me, since it made it impossible for him to actually complete her task on his own. A bit like ordering a person who can't swim to dive for the keys to their house. I would've liked if anypony acknowledged that at some point. Maybe if Applejack had written that in her note to Celestia, and the latter admitted to Luna that she hadn't suspected Blueblood wouldn't even be able to read her instructions. Just something to show that she actually does care, which I think is currently lacking.
5327469
Fixed it with a small change in chapter two. Thanks for the input.
That was sweet. Didn't buy it for a second, but sweet nonetheless, and more enjoyable than some other Blueblood redemption fics I've read
5439566
Thanks for the comment!
This could have been a lot longer story, but I tried to stick with keeping it a "show appropriate" length. Just a fun little bit to fill a story idea in my head.
5317842 I remember both of those shows, at least in rerun format.
5323947 Some things, not even Celestia can do. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Emoticons/lolface_Celestia.png
I liked this story. A little too easy on Blueblood I think but a good story. To bad Rarity never noticed him. The fireworks would have been seen from the moon.
5323947 It looks like Diamond Tiara has.
You can has review!
Refusing to eat potatoes reminded me of the prince in The Whipping Boy.