Blueblood looked over his shoulder for what might have been the hundredth time that evening. It was getting close to midnight, yet the blond unicorn has yet to see his cousin. Then again, he has been distracted as he slowly waltzed with his new acquaintance. He and the pianist had returned to the ballroom, hoof-in-hoof, standing on their hind legs as the sneer-drum counted time for the orchestra. All the while the two stallions practically swam around and through the mixing and colliding colors of the other guests.
“So do you play an instrument?”
“Huh?” the Prince looked back at his date for tonight and asked him to repeat the question.
“I asked if you play an instrument yourself,” the masked stallion clarified.
“The violin, or at least, I used to.” He said as he kept an ear to the beat of the music and moving his hind legs at the slow melody. “My parents encouraged me to pick it up when I was seven. But as I got older with new responsibilities, I found less and less time to practice on it. It’s probably collecting dust somewhere.”
“When did you stop?”
Blueblood shrugged, “It has been a long time ago. But I think it was… probably eighteen.”
“So that makes eleven years,” the pianist noted as he sways his partner. “Were you ever good at it?”
The masked prince made a sound that was between a laugh and a huff at the same time. “I had to be. Mother and Father had placed a good deal of expectations on me, being an only child; they wanted me to have the best of the best. You may say that I was homeschooled.”
“Really?”
The blond unicorn nodded, “I was taught on a wide range. From math to music, world history to magical science, manners to rhetoric, I had to be well versed in many things if I were to succeed. Or at least, that was my parent’s philosophy. But after they’ve passed on, and I took up more duties, I was forced to drop some subjects out of necessity. The violin was one of them.”
“Well, that’s rather a shame.” The stranger shook his head, “Such a beautiful instrument, the violin. I wish I had the time to learn it myself, but as you can see, I’m a little too old for that.”
“Maybe it’s the mask,” Blueblood pointed it out, “but you don’t seem that old to me.”
The pianist chuckled, “Why thank you kindly. Now a change is subject, just a little. Since I know this ball is for single stallions like us, I have been wondering, have you been married before?”
Blueblood blinked, “Um… no? Why do you ask?”
“I want to be upfront with you if whatever relationship we have does expand. I don’t believe that I’ve given you a proper answer as to why I’m here, have I?”
“Didn’t you say that you’re here because you were pressured into coming like I was?”
“Yes…” the Prince’s dancing partner’s ears fell backward. “Just so you know what you’re in for, I am a stallion that has been divorced for little over a decade now. My friends have persuaded me into accepting the invitation, something about giving my romantic life a second chance.”
“So I assume this is the part where I came in?”
The part of the Pianist’s mask that showed his mouth showed a smirk. “I can tell you that, so far, running into you is like… as cliché as it is, like a breath of fresh air.”
Before the blond unicorn could respond, he could have sworn that he heard a ghost of a giggle coming from behind him. He could have sworn that he saw a flash of red from his cousin, but the crowd had mixed again before he could focus.
“Are you looking for someone?” this snapped the prince’s attention to his dancing partner. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been doing that quite often since we’ve got here.”
“Sorry,” Blueblood took a quick glance away. “I was just wondering about my cousin.”
“Oh?” the masked stranger said with intrigue. “You know someone that’s here?”
“Unfortunately yes,” he frustratingly sighed. “She’s the one that’s been trying to help get me date as soon as I got-”
His dancing partner paused, “She? I thought this was more of a gentlecolt’s party.”
Blueblood blinked, “Oh! Yes, but she… well, was acting as my wingmare to help me with these sorts of things. However, she seemed to have gone missing for whatever reason.”
“So your cousin snuck in here to give you moral support I’m assuming?”
The Prince rolled his eyes, “More or less.”
They resumed dancing, “You know,” the pianist began, “the more I stay around you, the increasingly fascinating you’re becoming. I’ve known plenty of ponies in my lifetime, but never this intriguing.”
To this, the blond unicorn blushed, “How so?”
“To begin with, from what I know so far, you are a recently outed twenty-six-year-old. You’re a stallion that has a government job that requires you to travel to foreign countries. You probably know a good deal of classical music than most ponies your age, as well as a good dancer. Not only that, but your family fully supports you to the point of sending your cousin, in disguise, to act as an advisor in a roomful of stallions. And also… your mannerisms are interesting too.”
“What about them?”
The pianist spun the prince around until he held his hooves over his chest and said in his ear, “You’re not like these other guests. Well refined tastes, upright posture, and not to mention you have a costume that my friends could easily tell me that would cost a fortune.” Spinning him around again, Blueblood was now faced to face with the stallion. “Mind if I ask you a question?”
The prince gulped, “O-Of course.”
“Are you an aristocrat underneath that mask?”
“I…” he hesitated, letting the answer die from his lips. The blond unicorn could already feel his ears folding flat against his head. “Forgive me; I don’t want to give too much away just yet. Though, since it’s almost time to take these masks off, have you figured out who I am?”
The pianist hummed in thought, “I have a few theories, but each one is just as unlikely I’m afraid.”
“How so?”
“Well… To be honest, when I’ve first met you, my first guess was that you were Prince Blueblood himself, but I find that rather doubtful.”
This took the Prince by surprise, “Why is that?”
“Because you’re not the only white-coated unicorn that has a blond mane and blue eyes,” he replied. “Just because you might look like His Highness, doesn’t mean that you are. I’ve read in the papers that he isn’t looking for a suiter. And even if the Prince was here at this ball, what would be the chances of me running into him among of these other stallions? I mean, sure, I know that he came out recently too, but I still have my doubts.”
Blueblood raised an eyebrow, “And your other theories?”
“You could be a convincing look-alike. After all, I’ve seen a few where there were some ponies that tried to impersonate me among other celebrities. If you are one, then I say that your portrayal of the prince is quite believable.” He got a flat look from his dancing partner. “Then there’s another theory, perhaps you’re some other aristocrat or wealthy bloke that I may have never heard of before that’s into stallions.”
“Like who?” the Prince questioned, his voice deadpanned.
The Pianist remained silent for a minute as they continued to dance. “Well… there’s the CEO of Moneigh Paints Inc. He’s a white unicorn, blond and blue eyes… only he’s overweight. Then there’s Stage Bright, an actor in Applewood, but he has a wife with children, so of course, that couldn’t be him… Then there’s the Duke of Fillydelphia-”
“Alright, I get your point,” Blueblood interrupted in utter annoyance. After breathing through his nostrils, he asked, “Regardless of who I really am, what do you think of me now?”
“Honestly? I believe that you’re pleasant to be around to the point that I do want to see you more often. For such a young fellow, you have plenty of things that make me intrigued to know what your life is really like. Even if we only end up as friends, nothing would make me prouder then getting to know someone like you.”
It was then that the music stopped and a bell began to chime, “It’s midnight already?” Blueblood asked as he looked over to the clock on the wall. Turning his attention back to his dancing partner, he noticed that all around him, masks and hats were coming off one by one.
“You know old sport,” the Pianist said, “I do think that this is the time that we should properly introduce ourselves.” His horn started to glow a light blue over his mask, but before he could do anything, the blond unicorn interrupted him.
“Wait, before you we do, could you make a promise?” The other stallion tilted his head. “If I show you who I am, would you please try to not be too shocked?”
“As long as you do the same with me,” to this, Blueblood agreed. Both stallions returned to all fours and backed away a little. The horn from the Pianist glowed once again, his aura capturing his mask and hat, and this time he revealed his true face. At once, the Prince almost instantly kicked himself in the flank for not recognizing him earlier. This stallion had a small, blue mustache in the Prench style; a mane that had the resemblance of pouring water; and as a final touch, this unicorn took a monocle from his pocket and put it in his left eye. “Hello, my name is Fancy Pants,” he reached up to shake his hoof, “and you good sir?”
‘Well… here it goes,’ the blond unicorn thought as he too lit up his horn. The first thing he did was to pull on the ribbon until it came undone, unleashing his flowing golden mane before he focused on his mask. But before he pulled it off, he took ahold of Fancy’s hoof and let the mask being pulled off his face. As soon as he did, he saw the other’s stallion’s jaw dropped.
“O-Oh Goddesses!” Fancy stuttered, “A-Are you really?”
He nodded, “I am Prince Blueblood Everfree. Head Chief of the Royal Ambassadors, Guardian of Canterlot, Lord of the Moneigh Islands and the Frothy-fifth generation and fifty-second time removed nephew to their Majesties, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
As he was saying his full title, all around him, ponies were bowing to him – except for the still shocked, slacked-jawed unicorn that he was shaking hooves with.
“T-This is… I-I mean… wow…” was all Fancy could manage to say in his bewilderment.
“Bluey I’m so proud of you!” the high pitch voice belonged to Cadance as she rushed over to give her cousin a bone-crushing hug. “I knew you would choose him! I just knew it!”
The prince quickly lit up his horn in order to pry himself free to have oxygen re-entered his lungs. “What are you talking about?” he questioned.
Instead of answering it, the Princess in drag reached over and shook a still shell-shocked unicorn, “And you sir, you’ve just become the luckiest stallion in all of Equestria! Thank you so much for dating him!”
Fancy blinked, “What?”
“Oh! Wait until my aunts hear about this!” before anypony knew it, Cadance let her horn glow to a blinding light before she teleported out of the ballroom.
After rubbing his eyes, Blueblood turned to his date whose look still hasn’t changed except for his monocle has fallen out. “Um… are you alright?”
“I… I uh…” the older stallion shook his head, “I need air.” Immediately fulfilling his request, the Prince led his date out of the room with a hundred staring, gossiping eyes to the cool silence of the royal gardens. The two of them kept on walking until all sounds had faded away, at that point, they stopped at a lit, cascading fountain.
Before Fancy could say a word, the first thing he did was to splash water on his face a few times before turning to the younger unicorn. “You’re him,” he began. “I mean… you’re really… him?”
“Do you want further proof?” Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “After… whatever my cousin just did?”
“I don’t think that would be necessary… Your Highness,” he added with a bow.
When the other unicorn did so, there was something within the Prince that made what he was witnessing seemed rather… wrong. Of course, he was used of having ponies below his station kneeling before him, paying silent tribute to him being a royal. Yet, with the very same pony that he had gotten to know in the past few hours, Blueblood felt somewhat disgusted by the action.
“Rise,” he said while rubbing his temples. “Mr. Pants, I can only imagine how big of a shock this is to you, but would you for just a moment not do any of that?”
“Pardon?”
“After all this time where you didn’t know who I was, to be so… (What’s the word I’m looking for…?) genuinely wonderful to this? Are you going to treat me like this after you played for me, danced and talked to me, not as a royal, but as…” He shook his head. “I knew this wouldn’t work,” he whispered. Taking in a deep breath through his nostrils, he added, “Mr. Pants, what you have given me tonight, I shall be eternally grateful. But if you feel that you are unworthy, you may leave. If you think you can simply take advantage of me because of my position. Then I command you to leave at once. Otherwise… otherwise…” he sighed.
Fancy, after drying his face with a sleeve of his costume, looked on at him. “Now wait a minute, is this what this whole masquerade was really about?” The blond unicorn asked him what he meant. “I mean, this party was meant for you from the start, wasn’t it?”
Blueblood nodded, “It’s funny how… normal ponies treat you when they don’t have a clue who you really are.”
“I see…” there was an uncomfortable pause between them. “So… what do we do now?”
“How should I know? This has never happened to me before.” The blond unicorn rubbed his foreleg. “What about you? Do you want to stop this?”
“I don’t see a reason to.”
At this, the prince looked up wide-eyed before it morphed into suspicion, “Why?”
“Because, if tonight was anything to go off by, I dare say that I enjoyed your company,” Fancy smiled as he put his monocle back in his eye. “You sir are wonderful. If I was being told earlier that my date was the same stallion that’s notorious of breaking dozens of mares’ hearts that would turn out to be an interesting, smart, and fun to talk with – I would never believe it. I somewhat feel that even with that mask on, I think I really have gotten to know you better than anyone, have I?”
Blueblood blushed, “You wouldn’t be far off from the truth.”
“If it would be possible,” he added. “I do hope it would be possible to see you again.”
“R-Really?”
“Well, I still have things that needed to be taken care of but… hopefully soon. That is if Your Majesty permits me.”
“I… I would like that.” The Prince softly smiled, “And before you go, I want to bestow a parting gift,” he took hold of Fancy’s hoof and kissed it. “Consider as my way of saying ‘thank you.’”
Blushing, Fancy chuckled, “Yes, you’re quite welcome, Your Grace.”
“I think I need to go. Knowing Auntie Luna, she probably would like to know how my night went.”
“And I did promise my bodyguard that I would be returning to the carriage soon.” Fancy lit up his horn to put his mask back on. “Once again, thank you for this. This ball has excelled beyond all of my expectations. I bid you goodnight, my Prince.” He bowed once again before he and Blueblood went their separate ways.