Admittingly to herself, Princess Luna was taking a rather bold risk. Despite how much experience she had with this sort of thing, there is always a chance that something might go horribly wrong. Especially when it is her nephew that’s involved that she had to approach this with the mind of a surgeon.
In the dreamscape among the ever-expanding field of stars and the seemingly endless rows of doors, Luna lit up her horn to shuffle the many gateways until she was able to find the two she had been looking for. To her right was a white door with a golden baroque trimming that she knew was Blueblood’s, and to her left was a modest blue door with a silver handle that leads to Fancy Pant’s dream. Over that blue doorway was a hanging ball of light that was glowing blood red which meant one thing: her nephew’s consort was having a very nasty nightmare.
Turning over to Blueblood’s door, she took notice that the light overhead was shining white –which meant that he was having a pleasant dream. Turning the knob on the door, she pushed her way through and found herself on a short plateau of a tall, snowy mountain. It took her a moment from the view to realizing where her nephew’s dream was taken place, on the face of Mt. Everhoof. It was then that her ears picked out the sound of hoof steps and an ice pick clanking. Cranking her neck over the edge, he found Blueblood dressed in a heavy winter coat, a rather heavy saddlebag filled to bursting with supplies and a climbing pick in one hoof.
“You know if you wanted to climb a mountain you might as well take the stairs,” the blue aunt teased, much to her nephew’s surprise.
“Auntie Lu!” Blueblood cried out, “How did you get up here?”
“I cheated, now you get up here before you slip,” her horn lit up and gently picked up the blond unicorn until he was standing on the plateau.
“Aunt Luna, what are you doing up on Mt. Everhoof?”
“I’m not on Mt. Everhoof, you’re dreaming,” the blue alicorn pointed the lone white door, “And not a bad one too if I may add, who knew that you would crave for some adventure.”
The Prince took off his snow goggles, “Why are you here?”
“Ah, right to the point then,” Luna sat down and rubbed her hooves. “First of all, please forgive me for interrupting this dream of yours, but I’m afraid that I may require your help in the matter.”
“My help?” Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “Over what?”
The Princess of the Night pointed a hoof through the open door towards the one across from him. “Do you see that door over there?” she asked. “That there, is the gateway to your consort’s dream. However, from what I can see, he’s having a terrible nightmare at this very moment.”
Blueblood went wide-eyed as he got a better look at what was across from him. “That’s… That’s Fancy’s door? His dream?” Returning his attention to his aunt, he said, “I don’t understand, why you couldn’t do something about it? I don’t know what’s in there.”
“I have a feeling that this case isn’t for me to resolve,” his aunt answered as she got up. “Besides, I do feel that this would be a great opportunity for you two to grow closer.”
“Why?”
Luna craned her neck around, “Witnessing somepony’s nightmares can reveal much about what that pony doesn’t want others to see. In night terrors, you get to see them at their most vulnerable. Not just their fears, but their insecurities, doubts, uncertainties, and the absolute truth about themselves that even they don’t want to face. I often find that the best way to heal those who are at their weakest is when they rely on the ponies they trust the most to help them. Come Blueblood, your consort needs you.”
Even as they walked out of the wintry dream, Blueblood expressed his uncertainty, “I don’t know about this Auntie. What if he’s dreaming of a monster?”
“Don’t worry,” she spread open her wings and lit up her horn, “I’ll be right there behind you. Are you ready to assist Mr. Pants in his time of need?”
Blueblood looked nervously at the door across from his. On the one hoof, he was asked to step into the nightmare of a pony that he had gone out with a few dates now. He doesn’t know him that well asides that he liked being around him. Then again… he was his consort after all. What sort of Prince would he be if he left his coltfriend in what could be in danger of some sort?
The blond unicorn crept up to the door with the malicious red light overhead. Placing his hoof on the handle, he looked behind him at Luna. “Would you please stay close to me?” she nodded. Taking in a deep breath, he turned the handle and pushed open the door.
Letting it swing open and the two Royals stepping through, they found themselves in the streets of Canterlot. Only… This version of the capital seems gloomier. All around them, the proud colors had faded from the buildings to the ponies that passed by were muted to the point where it was almost like walking into a black-and-white film. There was thick fog all around them as well to where they could only see a few yards ahead before the very air became murky.
Blueblood looked up to his aunt, “How are we supposed to find Fancy?”
“Well, we could ask around for clues,” the Night Princess went up to a stallion with a top hat. “Excuse me, good sir?”
“Oh! Your Highness,” the stranger bowed. “What brings you and your nephew out here?”
“We are looking for Mr. Fancy Pants.”
“Who?”
They blinked but Luna continued, “Fancy Pants? White unicorn. Blue mane. Rich. Patron of the Arts?”
The stallion hummed before he answered, “Sorry Princess, I’ve never heard of him,” before he walked away.
Blueblood was perplexed. How can that be? Fancy Pants was one of the most well-known ponies in the city. Where culture sprang from him because of the influence he had. He then spotted an old mare with a feathery heat going by, “Pardon me, ma’am, can I ask you a question?”
“Huh?” she blinked.
“Do you know where Fancy Pants is?”
The elderly mare took several moments to consider, “Are you referring to that patron fellow? Huh… I can barely remember. The name rings a bell, but for the life of me, I can’t recall what he looked like… or what he was a patron of. Must be nothing important.” She shrugged before she trotted off.
The Prince turned to her aunt, “What is going on? It’s like nopony around here has a clue to who he is.” Then he got an idea, “If this dream is laid out like Canterlot, then maybe we should go to his home to see if he’s there.”
“Agreed,” Luna lit up her horn, picking up her nephew, she placed him on his back. “Grab my neck,” she spread her wings. “I’m going to need you to show me where he lives.” And so, the Princess flapped her wings and they started to make their way through the fog. Of course, so thinking, they had to say low at the street level so that they would know where they were going. Blueblood helped navigate their way through the unclear streets until they came to the neighborhood where his consort lived.
Only… when they got to the address, the blue brick house wasn’t there. In its place was rubble. Broken pieces of brick, splinters, and shards of glass stuck out from what remained of its foundation. The Prince got off of Luna and looked on with shock. “What happened here…? Why is his house demolished?” He turned to her, “How are we supposed to find him now?”
“Sometimes,” she replied with a hoof tapping her chin. “In nightmares this vast, the quickest way to find the dreamer is to look for things that seemed out of place. Take notice the feel of the nightmare: it’s bleak, colorless, and if you listened carefully, quiet too. I think we need to keep our eyes and ears open for anything that sticks out from this place.”
“But that doesn’t answer where should we go from…” then his ears picked up. “Do you hear that?”
His aunt listened too. It was barely undetectable at first, almost like a whisper in the wind. However, as they concentrated, they could barely pick up the phantom notes of a piano. The Prince led the way as he listened to the ghostly music that acted as a guide down and around the streets. For several minutes, the song was still undefined, almost without rhythm or melody, but it was still there.
They listened until the music leads them to a theater, or rather, what was left of it. The sign overhead was gone, the glass on the ticket booth was smashed, and the wooden doors were close to falling off their hinges. Yet, the minor keys of the piano, although weak, was still the main source that was coming from inside.
Blueblood felt his aunt’s hoof on his shoulder, “You go ahead. I’ll be right behind you if there’s any danger.”
The blond unicorn looked at the decaying theater with uncertainty, “Come on Blue, you need to be brave.” He said to himself as he took a deep breath and marched towards the entrance where the music had become clearer. Using his magic to swing open the rotting doors, he and Luna walked into the abandoned lobby. It was just as bad as the outside if not worst with its shredded red carpet, termite-ridden counter, and peeling paint. As uneasy as the Prince was to be in this filth, he picked another sound that gave pause. Somepony was crying. So he pushed up the stairs towards the melancholic melody that was playing into the rows of spider webbed, dust-covered seats that faced the stage.
For a moment, Blueblood almost gasped as he saw what state Mr. Pants was on stage alone with a rotting piano. At the keyboard, Fancy was crying waterfalls of tears over his wrinkly, aged face. His magnificent mane had become a grayish blue, and his once sharp black suit was now replaced by a torn, patched up shirt. Even his mustache had overgrown over his face like an untamed bush. At his hind hooves were dark green bottles that strew across the stage. But that was not what gave the Prince great concern; it was what was on the piano that his heart stopped in fear. It was a box of matches and a red gallon jug of gasoline.
“Fancy?”
The stallion on stage looked up at him, and even as he froze, his hooves still kept playing his song. “Blueblood…?” he whispered as he turned back to the keyboard. “Leave me alone.”
However, Blueblood disobeyed as he drew closer to the stage. “Fancy, what happened to you? What are you doing here with… those?”
“There’s no hope.”
The younger unicorn blinked. “Excuse me?
“Everything is gone,” his consort’s voice crackled. “I lost my fortune, my home, my reputation, my friends, my parents had disowned me, and now…” he shook his head. “My Prince, please go away.”
“I don’t understand,” the blond unicorn pleaded. “What is going-”
“What do you mean you don’t understand!” Fancy snapped at him. “You were the one that didn’t want to see me again!”
Blueblood blinked, “I… what?”
“You told me yourself. No, no no, that would put it kindly, wouldn’t it? You screamed in my face that you don’t want to have anything to do with me! You were the one that said you hated me! You were the one that ripped out my heart…” it was here that he stopped playing to put his old hooves over his eyes, “Before you took on another younger love, one that I couldn’t compete with. I know there’s no way I can win you back. After all… you’re right. I’m an old, boring failure. Really, why would you want anything to do with a gassier like me?”
The Prince was stunned, “Is that what you really think of yourself?”
“Think?” Fancy laughed bitterly before he reached out for another green bottle. “I know so. Mum was impossible to convince that I would amount to anything. I was forced to divorce my last oh so caring and loving husband because he beat the living crap out of me. And now,” he uncorked the bottle and lifted up to Blueblood, “Now I’ve lost my second chance at any real happiness. I’ve just lost my own literal and metaphorical prince charming so that I can’t ever hope we would get to have a happily ever after. Cheers to the biggest failure of them all, me.”
Before the older unicorn could let the bottle reached his lips, he found an aura that belonged to the Prince held it in place. Confused, Fancy looked over to him. “Now I’m offended,” Blueblood said as he hopped onto the stage. “First thing’s first, do you really think I’m too good for you?”
“It’s true isn’t it?” Fancy questioned, “You have everything that any stallion would kill to have. You’ve got power… a castle… fine food, wines, class, culture. I thought… I had thought for a moment, that maybe that deep down, underneath that royal title is a pony that I could fall in love with and… maybe… he could love me too. But I can’t compete with that now. I’m old. Nopony remembers that I exist. I’ve wasted my life into shaping this fellow that could live up to your expectations as a coltfriend. But since I’ve lost everything… You didn’t want me anymore, like everyone else.”
The aged stallion reached for the box of matches, “In fact,” he continued, “You might say that I’m about to fulfill your wish, Your Majesty.”
“What are you talking about?” Blueblood asked nervously, looking between him and him opening up that box of matches.
“Our last meeting,” he said, “is after you told me that we were no longer coltfirends that you looked at me in the eye and said, ‘I hope that you burn.’”
Blueblood knocked the matches out of his hoof, “No! That’s not what I want and, that’s not what I think of you!”
“But you said-”
“Fancy!” The Prince barked but immediately regretted it as his consort flinched. So in a calmer but stern voice, he began, “Fancy, look at me.” Slowly, the other stallion did. “Don’t believe in any of that nonsensical garbage.”
He blinked, “What?”
“You heard me. Fancy, you do remember when we first met at the ball?”
“I do.”
“Then you might recall that I had spent hours going through a room full of stallions, but I didn’t want any of them except for you. Do you know why?” Fancy paused before he shook his head. “Out of all of them, I chose you for a reason. I found you to be intelligent, talented, has a unique taste of culture that I’m becoming more interested in, and what’s more, I can describe you as many things but failure isn’t one of them.”
Fancy looked at him for a good solid minute, “You must be mental! Either you’re completely lost all touch of reality or you’ve gone insane! No, I take that back,” he narrowed his eyes, “You must be crazy!”
“I’m telling the truth!” Blueblood yelled back, leaving an echo in the dusty auditorium. “Fancy, I really do like you! I want to go out with more dates with you because, frankly, I’ve never known anypony that is as interesting as you. I never knew anypony that has a relative that went insane that isn’t my own. I never knew anypony that even when you tease me, I still for some reason want to be with you. What’s more…” he cleared his throat, “I don’t want this relationship to end.”
His consort sniffed, “You… really?”
The Prince put a hoof to his raggedy cheek, “I don’t know what has happened to you before we’ve met, but as of now, I do want this to work out between us. I do want to have a coltfriend that isn’t annoying or a bore. For a long time, I honestly thought I could never have one… until you came. I want to be with somepony that I can be honest with and he with me.”
Fancy placed both of his hooves over the one that held his cheek. “I’m afraid that you’ll go away… like my step-fathers and my husband had. How could you promise me that I won’t lose you too?”
Blueblood paused for a moment, “I can’t,” he said honestly. “But that doesn’t mean that we should stop because of that unknown. After all, we only went out on a few dates, so I presume that it’s still too early to tell. Nevertheless, I do look forward to seeing you every time now.”
With a sniff, the older unicorn wiped the tears from his eyes, “From an old fart like me?”
“No. From an old, fascinating, talented, funny, and understanding pony like you. Even in a dream that I’m still willing to be around with.”
He blinked, “Dream?”
“Long story,” the Prince waved a hoof before looking over to the piano. He set the jug of gasoline far off to the side before asking, “Fancy, since you’re here, could you play something for me?”
“Now?”
“Why not? There’s a piano here, we’re all alone and I want to listen to you for a while.”
With a glint in his eyes and hooves reaching for the keyboard, Fancy replied: “As you wish, Bluey.”
When Fancy began to play an old love song from the beaten up piano, Luna couldn’t help by a smile as his nephew as he put a foreleg around the stallion. Although she was disappointed that they didn’t kiss or say “I love you,” she was rather glad at how Blueblood had handled the situation. She was proud of him, but at the same time wondered if the older unicorn would do the same.
_*_
Fancy’s mind slowly came back to him as he woke up in his bed. He felt that he didn’t want to get out of it and hopes that he could return to that dream again. It started out horribly, sure, but how it ended was worth trying to fall back asleep to. Unfortunately, the ever increasing light from the window forced him to open his eyes.
“What a dream,” he muttered as he pushed the blankets off of him. Before he could roll himself out of bed, he heard a knock on the door. “Hm? Yes?”
His bedroom door cracked open when a maid stuck her face in, “Good morning Mr. Pants. I hope I wasn’t intruding.”
“I was just getting up,” he said as he stretched a foreleg. “Do we have any coffee made at this hour?”
“It’s already made,” the maid replied. “We had to make it for our guest.”
This caught his attention as he put the monocle in his eye, “Guest?”
“His Majesty Blueblood wished to have breakfast here at the house. He’s waiting downstairs for you sir.”
“Oh…” he blinked. “Well, tell him that I’ll be down soon. I still have to make myself presentable at least.”
“Yes sir,” she bowed before she closed the door behind her.