//------------------------------// // Chapter II: The Ballroom // Story: For His Majesty // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// Prince Blueblood looked into the mirror for might as well be the thousandth time – just to make sure that everything about him was perfect for a first impression. He already had everything groomed from mane to hoof and everything in-between from the hour-long bath that made his coat pristine to making sure that his breath only smelled of wintergreen mints. Not even his own costume was being overlooked by his critical eye. ‘I almost look like a museum piece,’ he thought. But in truth, that was the look he was going for. It was modeled off from the baroque Prench courts of Louis XIV three hundred years ago. The overcoat was a sapphire blue that was stitched with gold trimming and real gold buttons that lay over his white blouse. The breaches that fit over his flank held a practical use of hiding his cutie mark. As for the mask that covered his face, it was in the same color as his coat and was in the same style as his costume. ‘Maybe I should have chosen a mask that concealed more of my face?’ he wondered but shook his head. ‘It’s getting too late to change your mind as it is. But maybe I should add something so that they won’t recognize me. Only, what exactly?’ he stared into his reflection, trying to figure out what else he could do until he took notice of his flowing, golden mane. With a stroke of inspiration, his horn lit up to fetch a black, silk ribbon and tied his mane back into a ponytail. ‘It’s not much, but it would do.’ Then there was a knock on his closet door, “Blue, you ready?” it was the voice of his cousin. “In a moment,” turning around and walking towards the door of his walk-in closet he turned to the doorknob and swung it open to reveal Princess Cadance. For a moment, he was taken aback because of what she was wearing. She was wearing a slim, red suit, a white mask that was shaped as a stallion’s muzzle and a scarlet top hat that hid most of her mane. “Hey there, you look great.” Blueblood took a moment to look up and down at her, “A suit cousin? Is there something about yourself that you’re not telling the rest of us?” Through her mask, Cadance rolled her eyes. “What can I say; a suit actually does look good on me, and I can say the same with you. Which, by-the-way, you look great.” “You know; since this ball is full of gay stallions, remind me again why you’ve decided to dress up too?” “Because I know for a fact that there’s a good chance that you may end up needing me – I mean, you said so yourself that when it comes to these things, you don’t have a clue in what you’re doing. I’m just here to act as a wing mare whenever you need some sort of advice about this or that.” The Prince frowned, “You’re only doing this to act as a spy for my aunts, are you?” “…. Maybe…” she mused. To which, Blueblood sighed, “Let’s get this over with.” His cousin smiled, “Right this way… Monsieur,” she lowered her voice at that last word and gave a playful bow. The blond unicorn rolled his eyes as he followed her out of his apartment and down towards the ballroom. Several minutes later, they could hear casual voices of stallions along with the distant sounds of an orchestra playing. As they drew near, majestic strings from the violins and a harpsichord produced a noble theme in which the orchestra played out several variations. Though as calming as the opening baroque tune was, it did little to prepare the Prince for what he was to see. The grand ballroom was only lit by thousands of candles and mirrors, casting the room in a soft, orange glow among a sea of masks in every shade of color and style that Blueblood could name. Simple and elaborate, plain and complex, they waltz, spun and stood for idle chat. Disguised stallions in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and as Blueblood’s ears can pick up, a rainbow of accents. The blond unicorn turned to the Princess of Love, “How many guests did you invite?” “If you included us,” she answered, if not rather sheepishly. “There should be a hundred-and-two guys that I’ve narrowed down from a… very… long…” Cadence was silenced with a wintery gaze from her cousin. “And never, while you were putting all this together, did you happen to think that inventing a hundred guests for the sole reason to get me to date might be a little bit excessive?” he hissed through his teeth. “I hope you’re not angry at me.” The Prince sighed, “No. I’m more… apprehensive to the fact that I’m going to have to meet all these strangers. You’ve just given me too much on my plate.” “Whoever said that you need to interview every single one? This isn’t an international mission Blue; you don’t have to meet every single guy in here. You just simply have to go around, pick out who interest you, and go talk to them. If it looks like you need help, I’ll step in to give you advice.” “So I trust that you won’t cast a spell on me to make me fall in love with… whoever they are?” Cadance grunted, “No. Those sorts of spells only work if both parties are in love with each other but at least a little. I can’t enhance love if it isn’t there.” “Good to know,” the Prince looked at the ballroom. Taking in the most calming breath he could muster, he marched forward. He began to circle around the universe of a chamber, walking past the ice sculpture of a gryphon, a bar, the orchestra, the windows, and the clumps of masked stallions. For the longest time, Blueblood couldn’t decide where to start or how. ‘Why is it that even though I prefer these gentlecolts, that I only feel so awkward around them? Surely, they’re like me, are they? So it shouldn’t be hard at all. Come on Blueblood, just pick one, go up to them and say hello. Cadance is right, this should be-’ “Hey there,” a voice derailed the Prince’s train of thought. Jerking his head over to the source of the interruption, he found a yellow Earth Pony that was somewhat shorter than him. This stallion’s costume had a western theme from the Stetson to his tall boots. Much of what he wore was black that included his vest, the overcoat that too covered his cutie mark, and even the mask that only surrounded his eyes like a bandit. The only thing the Prince could see a part of his yellow coat was his grass green eyes and a frazzled blond mane. “Um… hello,” Blueblood replied. “Ah’m guessin’ that you came in late?” “Yes, I just arrived.” “Well welcome to the party then. Ah’ve never been to one of these fancy costume parties mahself, it’s real surprisin’ that Ah got an invitation to this place at all. Guess Ah must be really lucky, huh? Anyways, you’ve jus’ missed Princess Luna welcoming us in whom she said that we’re not allowed to say our names or take off these masks until midnight. It’s kinda dumb if Y'all ask me, what’s the point of gettin’ ta know somepony if you don’t even know their name, am Ah right? Then again, it shouldn’t be a damper of havin’ some fun in a place like this with all the things ta do-” At this point, Blueblood slowly backed away as the yellow stallion rumbled on without him noticing. ‘Well that’s one down and ninety-nine to go,’ he thought as went further into the crowd in order to conceal himself. ‘At least I’ve figured out what I don’t want, a stallion that would rather start a monologue than a conversation.’ Once the rambling stallion was out of sight, the Prince began to explore the ballroom until Cadance in drag showed up, “Any luck?” she asked in the lowest voice she could muster. “No. I’ve just escaped from a westerner that nearly talked my poor ears off.” He glanced around as several colorful stallions passed through them, heading towards the dance floor. “I just don’t know how to start or who to start with.” The disguised Cadance hummed, tapping her chin with a hoof, she looked around for a moment. “Why not start with him, he’s cute.” Blueblood looked over to where she was looking at and spotted a light, lime green Pegasus in Reneighsance robes of bright red and dandelion yellow by the bar. His mask had a checker pattern in the same colors of his costume that was held over his violet eyes. In a way, he looked like an old court jester from his jingle-bell hat that hid most of his straw yellow mane. However, the one concerning thing about this stallion was the near empty glass of champagne in his hoof that’s making him sway from side to side like a tree on a windy day. “I don’t know…” Blueblood began but his cousin nudged him from behind. “Don’t be like that, you go over there and say hello,” Cadance told him in her fake male voice. Taking the hint, the Prince walked over towards the bar towards the court jester, “Good evening,” he began. “H-Hey there,” the pegasus replied and almost immediately rang some alarm bells when Blueblood noticed that his speech was slurred. “You’ve… here often come?” The blond unicorn blinked, he thought about asking if what he asked was Equestrian for a split second but went with: “What?” “Um…” the jester hummed as he lifted the glass to his muzzle. “This stuffs good, I’ve never had thises shampage before. Have yous tried this sexy.” “I beg your pardon!” Blueblood tried to step back but the drunken stallion had already put a hoof around his back. “H-Hey, not so loud,” the Pegasus purred. “Here, try sume, shey’re free. And uh, maybes you and I could finds a room somewhere.” Acting on instinct, the blond unicorn lit up his horn to toss the unwelcomed hoof off of him. “Stop it, you’re drunk.” The other stallion hummed as he turned to his glass, “Probably not enough.” He said as he knocked his head back and let the remaining bubbling liquid into his muzzle. As he did so, Blueblood made his escape back to Cadance. “What happened?” she asked in that disguised voice. “Apart of nearly getting molested by a drunk, nothing much.” If his cousin was embarrassed, it was very difficult to tell apart of her folded back ears, “What about… him?” “Where are you looking at? Does he seem sober?” “Him,” she pointed to a unicorn this time, who wore a suit that was completely white from his top hat to his suite. The only real hints as to his identity apart from his silky black mane were his chocolate coat. He seemed to be talking to a charcoal black Pegasus that wore a yellow silk robe, in the fashion of the Neighponiese of the east with a dragon’s mask. ‘At least he looks promising,’ the prince thought as he navigated over towards the unicorn. ‘Hopefully this one would be sane.’ He thought before clearing his throat. “Good evening,” he began. The unicorn craned his neck over to him, “Oh, hello.” “May I ask what is it you two were talking about?” “Well, what we do for a living,” he replied. Blueblood tilted his head in confusion. “Do for a living?” “Yeah,” the stallion in a silk robe nodded. “Like how I’m on the weather team in Ponyville and he was just telling me that he works at a chocolate place in Manehattan.” Then it clicked to the Prince, “Oh! You mean a job.” To this, the two stallions glanced at one another in confusion. “Uh yeah,” said the one in white. “That’s what ‘Doing for a living’ means. Speaking of which, what do you do?” “I…” Blueblood trailed off. He surely didn’t want to give himself away when he just got to the ball. So he had to tread carefully, “I work for the government.” “Do you?” the unicorn tilted his head. “What part?” “I deal in international affairs, some of the time.” “So a desk job? That doesn’t sound interesting.” The Prince frowned, trying not to show that he’s offended. “It’s a lot of hard work.” “I’m sure it is,” the Pegasus said passively. “If you would excuse us sir, but we would like to get back to more interesting things.” Blueblood was both stunned and disgusted that he was being turned away so easily, ‘If either of them had an inkling of who they’re dealing with…’ He huffed and turned around to find his cousin. _*_ Twenty minutes of going up to complete strangers to the point where he’d lost count later, Blueblood stepped outside of the ballroom frustrated. He managed to lose Princess Cadance in the crowd, the same one that has only directed to stallions that were annoying, drunk, uptight, or just plain boring to have so much of a conversation with. ‘I knew this was pointless,’ he thought as he lay his back against a column sighing. ‘What was cousin Cadance thinking when she sent for these ponies? I thought she was a master at these things and instead I got a roomful of barely tolerable commoners.’ The Prince reached up to feel his mask that he had worn for so long that he nearly forgot it was there. ‘So is this it? Is this really the best that I’m given? Of the hundred stallions that she came up with, not one of them has been worthy to have my attention. Am I destined to be alone, without having what so many others do?’ As he pondered over these thoughts, his ears picked up something. While it wasn’t noticeable from the music and the noisy crowds that nearly drown the sound out, he heard from down the hall, a piano playing a ghostly melody. ‘Who could be playing that?’ The Prince wandered, ‘and more importantly, why?’ His curiosity piqued, Blueblood got up and followed through the halls of that haunting melody. The prince already knew that there were several music rooms inside the palace; all of them have at least one piano. Yet, he wasn’t quite sure which room this phantom song was coming from as he listed this way and that, trying to find the source. Still, his curiosity persisted; his ears guided him as the music grew louder until he found which room it came from. With a door ajar, he saw a stallion there at the keyboard with his back turned. Whoever this was, he too was in costume with a dark overcoat with midnight purple lace and a three-corner hat with a feather sticking out. His hide was as white as the Prince’s and a tail as blue as the sky. And the music he played… it was something like in a forgotten dream from long ago, a fantasy that almost sounded like what Moztrot would have composed. But something else stood out of Blueblood’s mind, out of all the costumes that he had seen, this one he was sure that he’d never seen in the ballroom. ‘If he really is one of the guests,’ he thought, ‘then what is he doing here?’ So he slowly pulled the door open and stepped inside.