Stories I Almost Wrote, #5

One of my first stories, Like Mending Glass, grew out of my early days on this site, in which I spent most of my time in the Give Blueblood Some Character group forum. I forget how it started, but I pictured Blueblood having to go around being nice to various mares, possibly to make up for the treatment of Rarity at the Gala, and a whole lot of silly shenanigans and shipping fuel ensued. It's been over three years since the first part of that story was written out and published, and I have no intention of picking it up, but here's what I had for the continuation (after Blood Rose's Report, that is) that I put together a few years back. Rest in peace, The Prince's List.

Brief context, because this was three bloody years ago: Like Mending Glass was about Blueblood (a cowardly rendition with a particular fear of bat ponies) being told by Luna to do stuff to prove he's not useless, a ponce, or both, he ended up going on an adventure on his own, meeting a bunch of ponies, making some friends, winding up in Everfree Forest, being traumatized by a face in the dark, getting nightmares from it, meeting Rarity, fleeing back to Canterlot, where she got there first. Rarity revealed that he had fallen in love with her for shallow reasons just like she had with him, then tore out his own memories to escape it when she gently turned him down, having made an indestructible rose while trying to court her. Rarity returns the rose, Blueblood returns her glass slipper, and sets about making a to-do list that I'm just going to copy-paste.

#1. Do something nice for the bat pony community to make up for that thoughtless, possibly offensive song.

#2. Apologize to everypony I can find that I've ever mistreated, especially castle staff.

#3. Fortify my chambers at leisure. (Moreso in case the first two do not go over well)

#4. Talk to Auntie Luna about that nightmare I had back in Ponyville.

#5. Return to Ponyville to attend that welcome party. I Pinkie-Promised, afterall.

#6. Meet with Vinyl Scratch at some point to discuss her particular brand of insanity. I don't feel I demonstrated it as well for those two fillies as she did for me.

#7. Return to Everfree Forest to confront the most frightening 'pony' I've ever seen again.

That was all he came up with, but there might have been more over the course of this story. Then he met one of the bat ponies that had helped him meet Rarity in secret, learning that she had been obsessively stalking him through his whole adventure out of an infatuation with not being seen, I think. He recruits the bat, Blood Rose, and her partner Night Stripe (OCs, because there are still no canon bat ponies with names and therefore even fewer I could actually have used for these roles) to help him return to Ponyville to fulfil the list.

Also; Blueblood's special talent in this story was to always find what he was looking for, one way or another.

Once more, I didn't even get started with this thing, so here are the notes for where it would have picked up. I had most of this thing written out as a big list of names of ponies he'd be interacting with, because that was apparently how I strung a story together back then.

Blueblood still having nightmares now and then until the source is dealt with, and believes it's just his anxiety about ever seeing that face in Everfree again that's doing this to him when it's really her curse. It's possible that, to diminish his fears by however little, he comes up with a silly tongue-twister and ends up biting his lip while saying it too fast. He elects not to do this again. Meanwhile, to others it looks like one more clue that he has a fillyfriend somewhere. And she bites!

"FillyFriend" is also the prevailing theory on why he's visibly acting nicer now, going around apologizing for things some ponies had honestly forgotten about. Some aren't content with words, asking some manner of favor for whatever he did to them, which, while not difficult, manages to take up a few weeks of his time.
He even manages to forgive Photo Finish! That she didn't seem to recognize him at all when he did was considerably irritating, but he immediately forgave her for that, too! No more resentment, no more grudges. He was going to be better than that now. (or so he hoped. I wasn't going to have red miasma spouting from his horn or anything, but there'd have been a lesson later about bottling)

Discord tells Blueblood that he has a list too, a to-don't list given by Celestia/castle staff. (Things Discord Is Not Allowed To Do Anymore)

#32: Tapping somepony on the shoulder will do just as much to make sure they're awake as sneaking up on them and banging two cymbals together.
#33: This goes double when said pony is using a spell that amplifies their hearing.

He adds finding out what Long-Spoon Silver's spell does to his list, practicing it in safety until he can riddle it out. Or ask Twilight.

He'd have met Lightning Dust, talking to her while she was drowning her sorrows at Donut Joe’s, mutual disdain for Wonderbolts, something about the conversation being what spurred him back into action in terms of finishing his list.

It comes up that he might have gained a weakness to crocodile tears since the incident with Fluttershy, though nopony knows just yet. He speculates that it might be all the apologizing he's been doing lately that has him feeling bad about making others feel bad.

I used to be a rock, dammit! ...Then again, maybe that was the problem?

He learned the fire spell he uses in the first story from "a filly that used to hang around the castle library a lot before she up and disappeared one day. What was her name again...?" (Sunset was the best there was with fire magic, even if it was rarely useful.)

It's mentioned at end of BRR, where the perspective is normal again, that BB wants to do something nice for the bat ponies. BR has no great ideas, barely restraining herself from suggesting something dirty, but instead volunteers herself as one of his bodyguards when he's out doing things. This gives him the idea to hire them again, this time publicly, as a show of good faith? "I trust them with my life, it's a start at least." Bolt Breaker, Wind Chill, and Coin Toss (more OCs, his bodyguards from maybe half a chapter in the first story) are all quietly relieved to not have to join his increasingly insane adventures.
(There's a group huddle when Blood Rose and Night Stripe are talking to them (Bit with Coin Toss being REALLY indecisive, "Do you REALLY want to work for this guy?! Just ONCE, man, make your own decision without flipping a coin!!") before they 'graciously step down' as his primary protectors)

He gives a public speech of apology to the bat ponies, at the end of which he pauses, examines the silent crowd, and face-hoofs.

"There's not a single bat pony present, is there?"

Then he elects to do it again at night, when more might actually be awake. Vinyl shows up to the night announcement, wanting to apologize too, now that she knows what they were singing about. The crowd of night owls and night mares giggle at this. One speaks up, saying that they don't really blame him for getting paranoid when there really was a bat pony shadowing him for quite a while. "That kinda thing can mess with your head, the feeling of being watched? Constantly?"

After the speech, there'd have been a scene of him trying to ask Vinyl Scratch (important character in LMG) out.

---

With a certain sense of deja vu, Vinyl stared back at him, slowly turning red and smiling sheepishly. "Uh, I-I, that," she coughed once, an awkward laugh escaping her mouth before she continued. "I, um... Remember when I said I 'wasn't that kind of mare'...?"

He couldn't help a faint blush himself. "Not, um, promiscuous?"

The DJ reddened brighter, shuffling self-consciously in place. "N-well, yea, I mean no! I'm not really that either, just uh... N-not that kind of mare...?"

There was a pause. "You're a colt? Because that's okay wi-"
(I don't think I ever established Blue to be strictly straight here, but all of the potential ships had been with mares. I half-remember something implied when he talked to Big Macintosh in LMG, but I'm not sure now.)

Despite her embarrassment, Vinyl managed to deadpan a reply. "Think harder, Princey."

Not that kind of mare... I once heard a stallion shun the advances of a pretty young filly, saying he wasn't that kind of-OH! His eyes widened in realization. "I get it, you're only interested in-"

Her face practically glowing, Vinyl stepped forward to put a hoof over his mouth, hissing through clenched teeth. "D-don't say it out loud!!"

Blueblood stepped back, bewildered. "Why? In this day and age, hardly anypony will care if you're hom-"

Hoof met mouth again. "Prince!!"

A long minute passed, Vinyl only stepping back when most of the color in her face had faded. She spoke quietly. "Sorry. I know nopony will ca-well, nopony who matters to me will care, but there's somepony that doesn't know that I want to tell myself, y'know?"

A tad dejected by the inadvertent rejection, the prince accepted it the best way he could think to in that moment: Teasing. He smirked. "A special somepony?"

She lit up again, smiling self-conciously. "Uh, haa, haha, I-"

"Perhaps you could make an announcement akin to tonight's? She's sure to hear it if-"

Vinyl frantically waved her forehooves in an 'X' pattern. "No! No need, no thanks, I'll handle it on my-"

He grinned wider. "Oh, of course! Where did you get the first parade float?"

Still blushing furiously, she pointed a hoof at him, voice deadpan. "I'm not allowed to do that anymore. Court order."

Blueblood chuckled. "Pity. Well, I wish you luck regardless, take care, Vinyl."

She grinned in return, nodding once. "You too, Prin-eek!" Somepony neither of them had noticed tapped Vinyl on the shoulder, tilting her head with a hint of annoyance in her violet eyes at the startled reaction. "Oh, hey Octavia!"

---

(Octy came to collect Vinyl, thinking she was wandering around late at night again. Or they agreed to go see something that night before Vinyl got distracted with the bat pony thing. Blueblood might have noticed the nightmare after Vinyl's rejection that all of the horrors are female. Not amused by the coincidental pun, he'd have wondered if he had developed a fear of mares since the time in Everfree, if only subconciously.

No, no, that's ridiculous! ...Do phobias work that way? I've never been attacked by bat ponies, or even ordinary bats, but their anatomy still creeps me out. My only other real fear up to this point has been direct bodily harm, hasn't it? I'll ask... Somepony. Didn't Miss Rose say her friend dabbled in psychology...? Maybe she can help me.

#(?): Ask Night Stripe about recurring themes in the nightmares.

Night Stripe doesn't know quite enough about fears to answer him, but says it sounds dubious at best.)

Vinyl leaves Canterlot not long later, with heavy implications that Octavia is the special somepony, Vinyl never telling her before she moves. Blueblood wouldn't be around for that sub-plot, but it would have been resolved in the happily-ever-after-ish epilogue.

Before going to Ponyville, he takes the flask he drank from before confronting Fluttershy, filled to the brim with strong liqour.

Ponyville:

He goes looking for Pinkie, but Rainbow Dash catches him walking through town.

Blood Rose and Night Stripe agree to be his guards, but have night patrols they can't abandon for a few more days or something, as a narrative excuse to get him alone. He leaves on the last one, not wanting to put it off any longer and saying he won't do anything stupid until they get there. And then...

Rainbow Dash –She meets BB and they end up talking about what he saw in Everfree, Rainbow gets cocky and wants to go show she can beat it up, they venture into the forest, fight monsters together, but never see her. Prince might faintly hear her music again before they give up and Dash, smirking, suggests he go help Derpy, if he wants something to do in town, and flies off.

---

He could hear music in the distance.
"Phew," said a voice from directly behind him, "I was starting to worry she'd never leave!"

---
(I'm a little amazed that link still works.)

Here we'd have met the closest thing to a villain the story has: Sand Josieph's own Carnival Cat. I contacted Sand many months before publishing the first story for permission to use the character because it sounded neat (the basis on which everything in the story happened) and got it, and had a few ideas about how to portray the (in his words) "lonely, lustful, somewhat deranged mare."

This would have been their first meeting since that day in Everfree, where she tells Blueblood she's been in love with him ever since he found her. She tells him that she loves him because he was looking for her, (both as a way out of Everfree, and a mare who he knew didn't care about his money and title, even if not in the way he hoped, but his cutie mark really did lead him to her, breaking the curse on Catherine*) and that she'll be part of him forever. While scared, he doesn't flee or have a nervous breakdown, if only as long as she remains calm and amicable. Their talk ends with her pointing him back to town, saying her door's always open, so to speak. Nopony but Blueblood ever sees her.

*I thought up a backstory for Carnival Cat. To be elaborated on later!

On his way out, Dash tackles him, all but screaming "WHERE THE HAY DID YOU GO?! I turn my back for five seconds and you're gone without a trace!"

He has no answer for her, and Rainbow not wanting to get blamed for him getting eaten, she practically drags him back to Ponyville.

"Please, I can walk on my-"

"Not after that vanishing act, pal!"

If you saw the song, you've probably clued in that CC is not an ordinary evil-forest-dwelling pony and some unfriendly magic is at work with her, and everypony she has her eye on.

Derpy –deliveries (may give her confidence boost enough to go to the Equestria games tryout thing in Rainbow Falls?) At some point, Dinky points out Sludge (CC's black ooze monster) hanging over Blueblood, nopony else able to see it, with child-like innocence.

They meet Pinkie, (She might see Sludge as well after she perks up, if only for a second) who looks a little down. She explains that frogs look like they're always frowning, so she tried to dress one like a clown, only the frog-clown couldn't wear the nose on account of having no nose, which is why frog-clowns would just be called 'frowns'. He says something to point out a silver lining, cheering her up.

"And then we can have that party! You can even bring your frie-" She pointed a hoof to his side, but stopped, her face shifting from cheerful to perplexed. "...Huh. I could've sworn I saw somepony there a second ago... Oh, well!"

This probably would have been a creepy running theme, but I just love to sprinkle hints to things throughout a story before revealing them.

Twilight Sparkle –He goes to her to see if CC was just her in disguise. It wasn’t. Cue reshelving day (For maximum adorkability depiction, it'd have been done from Twilight’s perspective, also so as not to have to explain how BB and Spike got to learning about physics by pushing boxes around on the floor) Twilight is awkward around him because she's waiting for him to do the fairytale thing and suggest they get married, which she very much doesn't want to do, but doesn't want to be the one to bring up, either, so she's just constantly nervous around him until it finally bubbles to the surface.

-Also, she was furious when Rarity told her where the book that went missing a few months ago went, but calms down enough to just be a little bit menacing when they meet. If the book is brought up, recounting the panic and chaos that went down in the library will end with her asking if he knows how much sleep she lost over that one book. He replies that he seems to be forming a habit of that, which doesn't help his case.

While he's there, he tries to find out what Long-Spoon Silver's spell is, Twilight asking him to cast it and she'll see if she can figure it out by the arcane signatures and direction of ethereal energy flow. When it's cast, Twilight's wings stand rigidly up, her unable to make them go down again. It's at this moment somepony pops in, comments on it, and presumably goes off to tell everyone. Twilight is pissed, chasing Blueblood and his (it's with a MASSIVELY annoyed sigh that she calls it this) 'wing-boner' spell out of the library.

---

She glared at him, on the fence about whether or not a princess would maintain the maturity not to hex him right back, knowing he did it on accident.

He smiled sheepishly. "Ahh, yes, the uh, joys of... learning?"

She took a deep breath, her voice as calm and collected as Princess Celestia's would be in this situation. "Yes. Congratulations, Blueblood, you found a favorite spell of idiots and perverts." Her face contorted with rage, akin to Rarity's not so long ago. "NOW GET THE BUCK OUT!!"

---

Night Stripe eventually notices that Blueblood never seems to get angry at anypony, for any reason, like he flat-out refuses to hold a grudge, or even get angry. This is not normal, and she's not sure it's healthy, either, telling Blood Rose as much.

While she's analyzing him, she notices a lot of ponies, mares especially, seem to find themselves annoyed with him pretty often. She speculates that, in addition to his general bone-head behavior (Rose interrupts, asking if 'bone head' is a racial slur for unicorns. Stripe is aghast, apologizing profusely if BB is present. None of them have heard that one, so no offense is taken, but shes's still visibly contrite, rewording it to) obnoxious behavior, this is due to a combination of his attractive features and his frustrating ones, a little sense of disappointment that an attractive pony would also annoy them considerably, adding to ponies' irritation.

BB Talks directly to CC again after riddling out that she's probably the one giving him nightmares, that that was what she did to him the first time they met, (I was helpless, scared out of my wits and unable to even move, and she just vanished? Changed her mind at the last second and left me alone? I don't think so.)

They each eat some cotton candy she offers while sitting in a circus tent, discussing why she thinks he should stay with her in the forest. It's here that she starts preying on his doubts, she asks why he hates gold diggers when lavishing a mare with riches is the only way he has to show affection. ("If you ever find a filly you like, what are you going to do that doesn't involve money? Walk in the park with her? Insist she pay for things?") Not that she cares about money…

Short, silly rant about her hating caramel apples, which BB notes aren't in her selection of Common Carnival Fa-"Yes, yes, I said that once, very funny."

---

"It's like, 'hey! wanna eat something healthy, but not? Take a boring old apple, put it on a stick, and dip it in a thin layer of sugary syrup! Then you can lick it off and throw the stupid thing away, like everypony does the first time they eat one of those disgusting things!'" She deadpanned. "I'm not crazy about apples to begin with, but caramel apples just don't make any sense." There was a long pause as Blueblood stared at her. She pointed a hoof at him. "You're thinking I'm completely bonkers right now, aren't you?"

He smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Perhaps, but I think you're not wrong."

(She smiles)

---

She says that nopony cares about him as much as she does.

Jist of conversation:

"Celestia hardly speaks to you."

"She hardly speaks to a lot of ponies, busy ruling a nation and all."

"Luna blatantly manipulated you."

"Yes, but we're pretty much past that."

"When was the last time Cadence so much as wrote you a letter?"

"It's not like I write to her either."

"Where are those guards of yours?"

"Busy, not their fault."

"Those other guards of yours? They quit pretty easy."

"They, that's because..." For a moment, he's stumped. He might admit that their relationship was more mercenary than anything else, him wanting protection, them wanting to be paid.

(Blueblood wouldn't have noticed the way she's rooting around in his head to get this info, vaguely starting to think she shouldn't know these things before the thought was wiped away by something else.)

Also, she shows him that he isn't being pursued by 'countless' noblemares, it's about a dozen with four or five being especially persistent, and all of them are THAT sure that the title of Princess of Canterlot is worth the hassle of chasing him. This only makes Blue laugh until she points out that it means he's just that bad with ponies.)

Thinking she might invite him to join her permanently by asking if he's afraid of the dark. Her exact words are something like "There's nothing to be afraid of, because that's all the dark is; nothing! Nothing is going to hurt you." (In the sense that Nothing is the antithesis of Something, which ponies are made of)

---

"That's all it is, you know; nothing. Darkness doesn't even really exist, you only know it's there because of what's not there." She shrugged a little. "That goes for a lot of things, actually. Cold is just a lack of warmth, silence is just a lack of sound," She raised an eyebrow, "A lack of harmony, I heard once, is called Discord. See what I mean?"

---

(Shortly after this visit, somepony notices he has something stuck in his teeth. A torn insect wing. Too long to be from a fly, or from any insect they know of... a parasprite wing. Might be Twilight who identifies it, all present but Blueblood, who insists the heterochromic-eyed mare in Everfree Forest gave him cotton candy in a circus tent (he immediately realizes how insane it sounds), share a worried look. Cut to Blueblood looking very annoyed while sitting next to Screw Loose, who happily pants and wags her tail, in the mental ward of the hospital.

Pinkie Pie –The welcome party. Good times are had, BB thanks Pinkie, she hugs him, shenanigans ensue.

Applejack –As he recalls her being one of those he wasn't nice to.

---

"Actually," a little piece of paper floated from his cummerbund pocket, "you're on my list."

Staring at him for several seconds, she flushed red. "Ah'm, uh, flattered an' all, but Ah ain't that kinda mare-"

He scowled, having heard almost exactly this from a few other ponies he'd apologized to, mares and stallions alike. Why do they always think I have those kinds of intentions?! How bad was my reputation before?! "Whatever you're thinking, no, not like that. Do you remember the night of The Gala?"

---

He wants to make amends and ends up filling in for Macintosh (Fleetfoot seen stalking/trying to take care of Mac). Applejack calls him 'Sugarcube', like anyone else, he thinks it's a derogatory term and tries to impress her, doing chores (with and without magic, he reasons that practical farm ponies would care about results more than methods, TK'ing the apples off the trees) with Super-pony speed.

Applejack, (Who vaguely remembers him from the chase with Rarity) in the mean time, really isn't mad about the Gala... But now that he brings it up, she's thinking her food wasn't good enough, and opts to cook something to impress him; frilly, fruity, soft stuff that he takes as further insult. Seeing the less-than-pleased looks on his face, she tries harder, but doesn't use Zap Apple stuff both because it's too far from ZA season and it seems like cheating. This escalates back and forth until they can be honest with each other, Applejack going Applejewel (Never thought Ah'd do this again, but desp'rate times...) with fanciness trying to appeal to his Canterlot tastes. He finds that she actually looks pretty damn good, some of the indignance at her "mocking him" fading away. Applejack notices. (It's workin'! I've gotcha now, prettyboy!) Maybe the end is where they both just come out with it, laugh, and AJ very politely asks that he not mention her get-up to anypony.)

Granny Smith –(Wanting her grandchildren to settle down, she’ll have him trying to get Applejack’s attention under the guise of several random tasks. Cue flustered AJ when she figures out what Granny’s doing) Probably involves raising the barn again, because this was back when the barn getting destroyed was a running gag. I might have set the montage to a parody of Raise This Barn, the two going back and forth singing about trying to impress each other. The Applejewel thing is brought up in front of Rarity, who smirks knowingly at Applejack.

---

"Innnteresting..."

"N-now hold on just a gosh-darn min-"

A thought occurred to her. "Have you seen any interesting flowers lately?"

The farmer blinked. "Have Ah what now?"

"It's just that you're looking awfully rosy right now..."

She took off her hat and fanned herself with it, looking a little defensive. "Ain't more than the hot sun, Rarity, buckin' apples all day?"

Rarity gave her a long, searching look. "So, no flowers?"

"Uh... Nope?"

In a mixture of annoyance and disappointment, she muttered under her breath. "Phooey." It didn't matter, he would have to give that rose to somepony someday, and when he did, she wanted to hear about it!

---

-Rarity? Maybe, Gala and all, he at least tries to formally apologize to her too? She shushes him.

---

"Please. As far as I'm concerned, everything was sorted out between us the night of your first visit to Ponyville." She glanced around with a hint of redness to her cheeks, thankful nopony was around to take that out of context. "There's nothing you need to make up to me, because if I had any ill will toward you before then, it was thoroughly doused when you suffered almost exactly what I did." She smiled gently. "I'd say we've both moved on, wouldn't you?"

He smiled back.

Her grin grew mischevious. "However... If you really wanted to do me a favor..."

Blueblood blinked twice, feeling a familiar pang of panic building at the back of his head. "Y-yes...?"

She stepped closer, voice dropped to a whisper. "Have you found anypony to give that rose to yet?"

(She really wants some kind of resolution to that, if only because she was at the heart of it when it began)

"You're practically the hero of a romance novel, one that simply cries out for..." Her face grew somber. "Well, you know, an actual romance?"

Feeling a tad uncomfortable, he glanced around the room. "T-that's not quite what I'm here for, I-"

She nodded, eyes closed thoughtfully. "Yes, yes, I won't ask that you go out of your way, can't rush love and all, but if something interesting happens?" One eye opened halfway as she grinned coyly at him. "Well, all I'm asking, just as much for your sake, is that you not let opportunity slip by. Alright?"

---

Flutterbat -(Attacking the orchard at night, Blue keeping watch while AJ checks the Vampire Fruit Bat reservation. She eventually chases him, hissing, while he runs like never before, eventually remembers bravely going after CC alone, turns to face her, grabs her in his magic, and shouts at her like she did to the dragon in Dragon Fluttershy or whatever it was called) (This should be the first time in the story he visibly gets angry, it comes up that just pretending nothing ever bothers you and never reacting probably isn't healthy, that it's okay to feel anger, so long as you don't hurt anyone with it.)
(Turns out Discord heard about Vampire Fluttershy, wanted to see it himself ("Only for a minute, ok?") and changed her, but she slipped away from him and he didn't know where to look.

---

He slapped a claw to his forehead. "Of course, the apple orchard! It's so obvious now that you say it..."
(Short chapter with him pulling open the roofs of ponies' houses, them screaming, him saying sorry and immediately setting it back down when he doesn't see Flutterbat clinging to their ceilings.)

*Rip!*

"Ahhhh!"

"Sorry!"

*Slam*

*Rip!*

"Eeeeek!"

"Sorry!"

*Slam!*

*Rip!*

A purple pegasus fluttered her eyelashes. "...Room for one more~"

"Maybe later."

*Slam!*

---

Mastering teleportation proves insanely difficult for BB, as the sensation of one thing being somewhere and then immediately somewhere else, for one whose talent is finding things, is too antithetical for him to get a good grip on.

"By Celestia's Beard" a shocked exclamation, began when somepony walked in on her playing with twilight and showing her the moustache spell at an advanced level, giving herself a full, bushy beard as little Twilight giggled. Used mainly when something weird happened with magic)

Another idea: A. K. Yearling (Daring Do) at some point runs into Blueblood while Luna is present, Luna freaks out in silence. BB learns DD really is his mother. Blueblood was taken in by Celestia when DD told her (right after some heroic feat) that she couldn’t look after the child herself and tearfully let go of her baby to combat Ahuitzotl until the day she could come back for him.

Celestia (who promised never to tell him, DD fearing that he'd die like his father did) sends him on short adventures in the hopes he’ll either grow to enjoy such things or end up meeting his mother at last. Thinking that, Blueblood having been out on a few adventures independent of Celestia’s orders by now, he wouldn’t actually mind having been lied to by Celestia, or at the very least he doesn't blame her, since he’s grown to like actually doing something with his life. Then they get ice cream as she shares the flashback.

For Prince Vladimir Blueblood “the 52nd” to work, Daring would likely have to have been married to Blueblood the 51st, a shameless playcolt that found love with her, both preferring adventure to sitting around being snooty. BB the 51st dies in a conflict with Ahuitzotl, hence leaving BB-52 with Celestia as she wrangled with Ahuitzotl, who is completely insane and dedicated to causing trouble with magical artifacts that do that. (“Why would they be here if not to use?! Heeheehoohahahahahaaha!!”) DD figures that, her husband dead, what chance does she have of protecting her child? Who else is going to be there to stop Ahuitzotl, who generally stays out of civilized lands? She has to leave him, asking Celestia to care for him as she abandons hope of starting a family.)

(It ends with her saying she can't stop this altogether, but she knows how to handle Ahuitzotl on her own. (She'll have met Dash by now) Hint that she wouldn't mind if he helped in the next artifact fight? They opt to visit each other when possible.)

I originally had vague glimpses of a future story after CC is dealt with once and for all (hinting more BlueJack here and there) in which they'd stop Ahuitzotl together. That story is even more dead than this one.

Random ideas:

Gilda as a loving bully, messing with Blueblood just to snicker at his reaction?

Before heading back to Ponyville, he's gotten relatively snooty again. No room for Silly in Canterlot, afterall.

Rumor going around that BB was trying to become an alicorn by flying off the parade float. Running gag?

Long ago, Blueblood humiliated Chrysalis by not noticing at all her attempts to seduce him, disguised as a beautiful noblemare. The sort he sees all the time. This was why she didn't want to see him when he visited the hive.

Celestia asks him to go to the Crystal Empire for a bit to take some of the strain off Cadence and Shining, getting a chance to meet them for a bit. Or at least Shining, with whom he gets along better than his sister. They pretend to loathe one another when she's around, bros when she's not? (Shining hears Cadence assuring Blueblood that they never fooled around before the wedding a little before he leaves. When he's gone, Shining leans over, his face expressionless, and whispers. "Ohh, the lies we tell those we love."
She turns red. "Quiet, you."

Flitter and Cloudchaser hooking up with Flim and Flam?

Sapphire Shores –secretly a changeling, uses shifting abilities for great singing voice, needs help contacting her mother(?) It comes up once her secret's out that Chrysalis is really a very nice person, it's just that she doesn't save any love for herself, only keeping the energy to fulfill what she thinks she needs to do as queen. A mother nearly devoid of love, she's nearly a monster, SS wishing she could prove it.
(this was back before the Mother Chrysalis thing was thoroughly extinguished in canon)

Celestia eventually tells him that he ISN'T part of some big scheme like Twilight, (Maybe once they know about Tirek, but it hasn't gotten bad yet?) that the things she asks him to do are favors that she distantly hopes he'll bump into his mother (DD) in the process, nothing more, that she wanted him to be free to do whatever he set out to, like the rest of her subjects. "This way, there's no worry of upsetting any future purpose I, or anypony else, may have had in mind for you, there's nothing you can't do, nowhere you can't go. I love you, Nephew, and I want you to be free."

Equally random, but more plot-relevant ideas:

Blueblood would have been asked by Fancy Pants to help find his long-lost daughter, finding things being Blue's special talent and Blue having probably done something unkind to Fancy over the years.

As Vinyl was repeatedly seen in Ponyville in season 4, I was going to say she moved after her mother died. She isn't happy to leave the Club, but little does she know F-Pain has been pulling strings to keep his club alive even long after retirement.

While looking for Fancy's daughter, he gets the idea that the best one to ask would be an up-and-coming rap artist, Eight-T, who is anticipated to be to rap (relatively new in Equestria) what F-Pain was to rock. (It's Octavia in dreadlocks (even her tail!) and a thick disguise, baggy brown hoodie with a gold chain (ponies think she's hiding her tribe, and likely a pegasus) a fake cutie mark of an 8-ball with a T on it over shiny, fur-tight black pants)

Rappin' hist'ry of the wonderbolts parodied accordingly. Possible that Eight-T speaks in rhythmic rhyme, Blueblood rhyming right back (thinking she must be like Zecora, probably even a zebra) and unwittingly getting into a rap-battle with her. She talks in a loose, punkish kind of way, not unlike Vinyl.

Something in Octy's lyrics should mention him dozing off or sleeping on the job. She hasn't forgotten. Still, just like before, him being there makes her nervous, she thinks he's figured her out and will tell everypony, or blackmail her. (she later might make a mental note that she should probably apologize for assuming the worst) He, in the meantime, is calm and collected, having nothing to lose, so his rhymes end up being a bit wittier before something happens to end the 'battle'. (She later remarks on this, saying it's the only reason he won. He smirks, asking if she'd like to go again, she scowls and blushes, saying it's a little too late now.

---

"Hah, I'm guessing there's a good reason there are no lyrics in your songs?"

She punches his arm.

"Ow! Why are you always so violent?"

"Why are you always so boorish?"

He grins. "Ha-ha! See? That was much snappier, where was that when you were on stage?"

"Idiot."

"Ohh, back to square one, you were doing well for all of one sentence."

"Rrrgh."

---

At the end of that, something happens that her mask comes off in front of Blueblood, and him alone. She can't muster the will to speak right away, nearly crying as she begs him not to say anything. He frowns, saying she shouldn't feel ashamed of something that makes her happy... So long as it doesn't hurt anypony. They talk for a bit, she explains with a blush that the tight, shiny pants are so that they're not likely to fall down and reveal her real cutie mark, not just for flank-shaking. ("D-don't look at me like that, it comes with the genre!") He asks if Octavia knew the mare Fancy told him about. She nods a little. "That... That's Vinyl's mother..."

I wouldn't exactly have been as crafty with this reveal, I think.

While he's talking to Octavia, the announcer dubs the winner as "The stallion that brought the noise, AND the burn, the prince who follows in the hoofsteps of the Master of Metal himself (F-Pain) AND made a splash in the rap arena, give it up forrrrr, "Royaaaaaaal Paaaaaain!"

(He finds this title to be annoying and embarrassing, more-so when Rarity laughs her plot off hearing it. (she whispers to Fluttershy afterward that she very nearly wet her fur) He's occasionally bothered about doing it again until he makes a public announcement that it was very strictly a one-time thing and that he didn't even understand the connotations of what he was doing at the time. Pinkie jokes about him being a prince formerly known as an artist.)

On the way to wherever Vinyl's staying, Octavia offers to share a story or two about her.

---

"...And I quote, 'lull the baby into a false sense of security before playing them a real lullaby.'"

"She tried to lull an infant, lull anything, with minotaur death metal?!"

Octavia nodded once, sighing. "That was her plan, yes. Her reasoning was that if the foal she was supposed to be taking care of wanted to scream and cry, more noise would be the last thing it expected. So when the two-year-old was all 'rocked out' and fatigue set in, she cued me with the cello to play something soothing." She stopped dead in front of the door to (Vinyl's place), her face and tone completely deadpan. "It worked."

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Most ponies might attribute that more to the skill of the second performance, as I can attest to first-hoof."

Smiling a little, she dismissively waved a hoof. "Thank you, but you haven't been around Vinyl as often as I have."

"Too true. Shall we?"

---

During the big, tearful reunion, it comes up that Fancy is 45. Fleur is 58. Blueblood does a spittake.

Final confrontation with CC, right after Equestria Games during Tirek's rampage. He probably faces her alone, whatever happens. Might be here that they discuss the concept of realness, of existence, and some other abstracts that, like her, go gleefully ignored, like reasoning outside convenience.

She rants "I've heard some things, since you rescued me?" a little about ignored epiphanies, things sapient life forms "hear, analyze, maybe even understand, and then forget, like an intellectual and psychological one-night stand!" Her face began to contort with anger. "Oh, I know everypony, every sapient life form is generally taught to behave, to play nice with the other kids, to show kindness and understanding, to love and tolerate, but in practice? Those little lessons are all but forgotten until someone shames them into remembering they were supposed to be better than that." She shook her head. "Maybe that's the sickest part of it, hardly anyone even cares if they're good or not, just if others think they're good. Know what I mean?"

He did. He knew all too well, having behaved in almost exactly that manner himself not terribly long ago. "Yes," he answered somberly, "I think I do."

He couldn't tell if her small, lopsided smile was in appreciation of his understanding, or a certain kind of disgust. "It's insane, it really is. How many times have you heard that things aren't always what they seem? How many times have you made an assumption about something and been wrong?" Her voice dropped to a cold whisper. "And how many times has that made you stop and think 'maybe I'm wrong about something else'?"

(he might argue that there are those who genuinely wish to be good, whether they succeed or not. She doesn't believe him, but notes that she doesn't believe in anything anymore)

Cat reveals that she knows all kinds of things ponies pretend aren't true, like that Screw Loose is just acting crazy because she's trying to get Redheart and the security stallion to hook up by giving them a reason to spend time together.

---

"And biting her on the flank?"

"Oh, gee, why would she do something that drew his attention to Redheart's ass?"

"...Clever girl."

---

If it hadn't been adequately spelled out yet, it would be revealed that Carnival Cat hexed him with Sludge, her ghostly counterpart, to keep a hold on him, his dreams, his thoughts, and his soul, determined to never let go because while desperately fleeing for his life in Everfree in search of a way out, his cutie mark led him to her, a cursed spirit that couldn't be found by anyone that wasn't looking for her. As everpony that ever would have come after her was long dead, they were a way out for each other, and she isn't about to give up the only person she's been able to talk to in many, many years.

She points out that his special talent is what keeps him repeatedly out of big conflicts, because he'd be too afraid to get mixed up in them. He defends, if only to himself, that the time with Nightmare Moon, he was just in a different city, but it's because he doesn't want to get in the way of the real heroes as they do their thing that he always misses climactic battles.

I was thinking of two endings, an ominous one in which he stays with her and is never seen again, slowly forgotten as ever having existed at all, and one in which, in a way, he accepts Cat and all her dark oddities (granting her spirit peace in the process, one candle to banish all the world's darkness and all that), not staying with her, not forgetting her, but not living in fear of her either. He walks out of Everfree with nothing even trying to stop him, the world oddly quiet.

"...Was that crystal palace always there?"

Very last thing in the story: Discord's to-don't list being updated with "Not allowed to help Tirek, or anything else, steal the magic of the entire population of Equestria. You idiot." Addition delivered by Luna for maximum bookendedness

And here is that elaboration I alluded to earlier this post, the Carnival Cat backstory I came up with and might not have found room in the story for:

She was once a member of the Apple family (one of the ones that doesn't live in Ponyville, because we know the Apple clan is all over the place), spent her days bucking trees, working hard, day after day after day. One day, the circus comes to town, young Catherine Apple having the time of her life! Then the circus leaves and she's expected to get back to the old grind.

She didn't want to.

She slacked off more and more often, playing games and recreating treats like those she'd tasted at the colorful booths. Before long, her family get fed up with her and send her to work with Granny Smith and her family, certain the elder will whip her into shape!

Before long, Catherine hates it at Sweet Apple Acres too, and, after an argument with the local Apple family, she runs off, straight into Everfree Forest.

They looked for her every day, getting more desperate with each call, always forced to turn back when the local monsters looked their way. After a few weeks, they gave up hope of ever seeing her again. No one ever did.

They write back to Catherine's main family that they failed her, that she's almost certainly dead because of them, but her old family don't seem to care, convinced she was a good-for-nothing slacker anyway.

At the next family reunion, one seat pointedly empty, the Apple family talk about their missing member. Some wanted to think that she was alive, that she exited Everfree from another side and went on to find happiness in the circus she missed so much. As they're talking and night begins to fall, the Apple family hear music like that of a carnival's. It's coming from Everfree Forest. The Apples all head home or head inside, the music persisting through the night. Catherine's family doesn't show up to the next reunion. When other Apples go to investigate, they're all gone, their farm lifeless and the house abandoned. Nothing was taken, nothing is missing, the ponies that worked those fields are just gone.

They had a new ghost story: Stand at the edge of Everfree Forest as the sun goes down on a Saturday night, listen carefully, and you may hear music from the ghostly circus that spirited poor, young Catherine Apple away. Don't listen too long, though, or Carnival Catherine may come get you!

Her memory became a boogeymare thought to eat bad foals that don't do their chores for about a decade before ponies started to forget about her, along with her missing family. Now, not even Granny Smith can remember any of their names, their faces, their... "Eh, what were we talkin' about again?"

Catherine lived, sort of, finding something dark and terrible in Everfree, and twisting it to suit her wishes. Now she has her own carnival, but she can never escape Everfree Forest, where she's cursed to wander alone for eternity. There is a way out, however; anypony that's specifically looking for her can find her, so long as she's willing to be found. Blueblood found her in a roundabout way, her technically fulfilling his search for safety in the dark, terrifying forest at the time (because, as with the time just after Rainbow leaves him, Cat warps him into a little pocket dimension every time they meet, no one able to find him until she lets him go again), and her knowing this through the dark forces she now controls.

And that is the end of my notes for this thing! So yes, lost interest ages ago, definitely not picking up, but if you see anything here that stuck out to you in terms of something you'd like to use some day, go nuts. Though, if it involves Carnival Cat, please contact Sand Josieph first.