For His Majesty

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter XXII: The Art of Sandcastles

Author's Note:

I honestly don't know if what I just wrote up is any good or not, but with how much distractions that have been thrown at me, I do hope that at least you the reader would enjoy what I've come up with. To be honest, my brain has been fried lately and I'm hoping for some inspiration to come.

On that note, I do feel that I am finally getting close to finishing this story. Perhaps a couple more chapters and you'll see the end of it.

Several hours later on another beach, a bright flash of light illuminated the sands for just a moment before three shadows darted off into the bushes. Seeing that they were alone, the Lunar Princess was the first to poke her head out, “Are you sure this is the right place?”

Two more heads stuck out, “This is the main island, so they should be around somewhere.” Celestia rechecked their supplies. “If I’m correct, our nephew and his consort should be somewhere around here.”

“So what do we do now?” Cadance inquired.

Luna was the first to step out of the bush, if it weren’t for the blue moonlight, it would have been difficult in seeing the alicorn who she, like her sister and niece, wore black spandex clothing. The Night Princess slipped on her black ski mask that not only covered her head, but it stuffed her nocturnal mane as well. “Perhaps we ought to start looking,” she suggested as her horn glowed to slip on the night vision goggles. “Our best bet is to fly high and start circling the island.”

“We should start heading towards Blueblood’s estate,” the elder sister agreed as she too put on her mask and goggles. “It would be a good place to start.”

Cadance followed suit, and with the two sisters, she spread her wings and took off. Against the black sky, they blended into where if anypony were to look up, they wouldn’t notice it so easily. Like ghosts, they glide over the coastline undetected until they spotted the flickering lights on Blueblood’s estate. The three hidden Princesses glided down, not towards the obvious party, but to the bamboo mansion that lay inland. Of course, there were guards that surround the property; however, they didn’t need to go through the front door.

Celestia landed them behind the estate to which she proceeded to stomp on the sandy ground. “Auntie Celie?” Cadance inquired, “What are you doing?”

“This place was built after these islanders made me Empress,” she stomped over to a boulder. “Which means, like all other palaces, there’s a secret passageway that was made in the case for emergencies,” then she stomped closer to a palm tree. “Now if only I could just-” then her hooves hit something hollow. “Here it is!” Her horn glowed to which the sand was dug away until it revealed an ancient trapdoor. With a pull on the rusty chain, it creaks open to a flight of stairs. “After you,” she waved a hoof to her younger sister.

The three alicorns lit up their horns and walked through the passageway underneath the property. Dust and mildew perfumed the dark air while ancient palm posts and wooden planks upheld the earth overhead. They walked on for a minute or two until they came across another flight of stairs that lead upwards. They dimmed their horns as soon they saw thin cracks of light from the floorboards above.

But before Luna could push on the planks, they suddenly heard a door being opened, followed by two sets of hoofsteps. “My Aunt will never believe that we just walked over red hot coals,” they immediately recognized to be the voice of their nephew.

“I can’t believe how amazing it was just to do it,” Fancy’s voice replied as the hoofsteps walked over the Princesses heads. “That really was smashing, brilliant even to know just how to do that. I dare say that has to be the greatest party I’ve been to in years.”

“It easily beats all the galas that I’ve had the miserable privilege of being a part of.” There was the sound of them hopping on a couch. “So, what do you want to do tomorrow?”

There was a pause before the Prince’s consort replied, “I think that for tomorrow, we ought to spend the day at the beach. Just the two of us.”

“But didn’t we already do that?”

“No. We walked on the beach. I was thinking of doing much more like go scuba diving; go water skiing, or perhaps compete for best sand castles.”

“Sandcastles? Really?” Blueblood chuckled.

“I’m serious. It’s not really a day at the beach unless you try to build one, or burry somepony up to their necks in sand.”

“You know for a thirty-eight-year-old, you’ve suddenly gained the mentality of a little colt.”

“What? Have you ever made one when you were younger?”

“Well… no.”

“To be fair though, I haven’t made one since I was a child, so we’re even.”

“So, just a day on the beach?”

“Pretty much, yes,” Fancy grunted as if he were stretching his legs. “Well now, I think it’s about time we head off to bed… I say Bluey, where am I going to sleep?”

“Anywhere you want,” the sound of two stallions getting up from the couch was heard along with even more hoofsteps. “My usual room is right over there in case you get lonely.”

His coltfriend chuckled, “Actually, I prefer to have my own room for tonight. So shall we head off to the beach, say… after breakfast?”

“Of course. Goodnight Fancy.”

“Goodnight Blue.” After a few more hoofsteps overhead and closing of some more doors, the three princesses retreated out through the underground tunnel and out into the open air.

Celestia pulled off her ski mask, “I think we need to step up for tomorrow.”

“How’s that?” Luna inquired, following her sister’s example.

“Cadance was right if any of us are going to win our bet, we’ll have to get creative to make it as romantic as possible. Perhaps instead of just waiting to do it one date at a time, we should do something different.”

“Like what Auntie?” Cadance asked.

Celestia smirked, “I have an idea, how about we raise the stakes? Now that we know that Bluey is in love with Fancy, how about we create a situation in which gives him the perfect opportunity to have him tell him just that? But,” the solar alicorn raise a hoof, “we’ll have to do it, by midnight tomorrow. And whoever can accomplish that, will be the winner of the bet!”

The pink alicorn was taken aback, “Whoa, whoa there! By tomorrow at midnight? I may be good but that is just pushing it. Besides, what would any of you have Bluey do that would have him do something like that?”

“I have to concur,” said Luna. “It wouldn’t be a challenge if one didn’t have to think on their hooves. Perhaps we should still take turns, in that if one plan fails we switch it to the next princess.”

“In that case,” Celestia sat on her haunches, a hoof to her chin. “I do believe that it’s my turn.”

_*_

The next morning, Blueblood looked out on the deserted beach of his estate. He was impressed in not only how quickly those temporary huts were taken down and removed, but how cleanly the pickup was. No doubt the tide had washed away what remaining evidence of the luau, leaving no trace of ever being one. The mile-long stretch of white sand was smooth in either direction with clear, blue sea approaching and receiving in their waves. Behind the blond unicorn, tropical birds gossiped and the warm breeze gently pushed the thin clouds above them.

“So what would you like to do first?” The Prince looked to his right where Fancy was also admiring the view.

“We just ate breakfast so swimming is out of the question for the time being,” Blueblood thought aloud. “So what was it that you said about last night? About sandcastles?”

“Ah! That’s right, as I recall, you never made one.”

The blond unicorn shrugged, “I don’t know how they’re made, to be honest.”

“How about I show you? Sure, it has been a long time but I do remember how. We just need a shovel, a bucket and plenty of wet sand.”

Blueblood looked behind him at the guards who stood nearby with spears in hoof. “Lads, could one of you go fetch a shovel and a bucket?”

“Right away your highness,” one of the guards saluted before flying off to the estate.

While the three stallions started to walk upon the still cool sand of the morning with Fancy explaining the art of sandcastles to the prince, three mares watched from a distance. Between the foliage of the island and sand of the sea, there was a thin crack that faced the ocean. Celestia was careful to make sure that the glasses of the binoculars weren’t in the sun’s morning light.

“So what’s the plan here sister?” the lunar alicorn asked. “Or are you making this one up as you go?”

The Sun Princess glanced over to Luna and Cadance, “I do have a plan, and it’s a very simple one at best.” She looked out again to see the pegasus guard returning to the beach with some shovels and a few buckets. “Since it looks like they’ll be making sandcastles, I just need to give Bluey a nudge in helping out his coltfriend.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow, “And how would that help either confessing his love or kiss him?”

“Just you watch.”

The two other princesses returned their attention towards the beach in which an argument broke out between the consort and the guards about who should be shoveling the wet sand. It would only take for Blueblood to get fed up and, grabbing one of the shovels, went ahead and did it himself. After some instruction from Fancy about compressing the wet sand, the bucket was quickly filled and carried off towards the drier parts of the beach. After it was dumped upside and thankfully remained solid when it came out, the process was repeated. From one bucket full of sand, a layer emerged, and then another, then another, one stacked on top of the other that the cylinder bricks were stacked upon. Out from the ground, a sort of cube was constructed within an hour.

“Towel,” the blond prince extended a hoof out to one of the guards who immediately gave him one to wipe the sweat off of his brow. “Okay Fancy, you got us building this… now what?”

“Now is where the real fun comes in,” the older unicorn lit up his horn and focused one corner of the sandy cube in which he used his aura to carve out a castle spire. “The key is to be delicate as you sculpt out whatever you want this sandcastle to look like. Otherwise, if you’re not careful, it could fall on itself.”

“So how would I do that?” the Prince looked up at the block of powdery earth. “In fact, where do I start?”

“Just start from the top and work your way down,” Fancy started to walk over onto the other side. “How about this, I’ll work on this half while you do the same with yours. Create what you want with it.”

While his consort began work on his half, carving away at the sand, Blueblood sat in his hunches, putting a hoof to his chin in thought. He stared at it for a minute or two before an idea popped into his head and he began to carve. Out of the still wet material, the younger unicorn’s horn carved out a fantasy in which he saw onion domes and cone-like spires, a roof, walls, sunken archways for windows, balconies, columns, even tiny statues of gryphons that looked down from the rooftops.

The Princesses watched as their fellow royal created a castle that looked like an alternative version of the palace. When Blueblood stood back, satisfied, he walked over to see what his consort had created so far. As soon as he blond unicorn’s back was turned, Celestia sprang into action. Streams of wet sand from the shoreline floated and she quickly sculpted some additional features before placing a series of them in those arched windows.

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Blueblood said as he and Fancy began to round over to the other side.

“No, I messed up,” the blue-maned unicorn shook his head. “I just got carried away with the façade of my side that those balconies collapsed on itself. So then, let’s see what you’ve made.” As they rounded the corner, Fancy’s eyes widen to where his monocle fell out. “My Blueblood… I think you have a gift.” He craned his head closer to the archways, “Look at the detail of these statues in here.”

“Huh?” the Prince took a closer look. There he saw not only miniature figures of himself, but also Fancy Pants as well. Confused, he started to notice that each one in those arches played out like a scene in a story… their story. In the first window, it showed them in the very costumes that they wore at the ball. The next showed them eating pasta at a table with a very thin string of sand that connection between him and his consort’s mouths. The next was at the movies, and in the next showed them sitting at a park bench. “Where did these come from?”

“I think this is rather sweet of you,” Fancy mused.

Blueblood turned to his coltfriend, “But I didn’t make these.” He then noticed at the lowest levels near his hooves, there were more sculptresses in those arches as well. However, they were not figurines of them, but rather symbols. One that had the shape of an eye, another that had a heart, the letter “U” and… The Prince’s face went red as he saw a tiny bust of Fancy Pants in the last arch. Quickly deducing what these symbols were saying, and out of panic, Blueblood slashed his magic across the base of the sand castle in which it tumbled down.

“Blue!” Fancy stepped back from the falling avalanche of sand, “What was that for?”

“It didn’t look right!” the blond prince quickly said, praying to every deity he knows that his coltfriend didn’t notice.

“Well, that didn’t mean you had to destroy it all,” Fancy sighed. “Oh well… At least we still got the whole day. So is there anything else you want to do today? I don’t think it’s quite yet lunchtime.”

While the Prince thought it over, he thought he heard among the crashing waves the sound of Auntie Celestia cursing up a storm. However, a quick look over the beach, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so he dismissed it. “Well… There’s this new fad among the islanders that I’ve heard some time back. But I’m not sure if it’s still in practice. Although, we could go and see.”