//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: Yes, My Lady 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	As the laughter finally passed, Apple Bloom voiced a question.  "Bluebottle-er, I mean, yer Hig-"

"Oh, please call me by name," Bluebottle insisted quickly.  "You are my love's friends, and therefore my friends.  It is only fitting that friends call each other by name, disregarding titles.  Friendship is too important for that."  He sighed theatrically.  "And for one of my station and demeanor, too few and far between to jeopardize just to please that stuffy old Dame Propriety."

Sweetie Belle giggled softly.  "Is he always this over-dramatic, Scoot?  He's making Rarity look like Applejack!"

Apple Bloom shivered.  "Please don't make that comparison.  It gives me bad mental images."  Turning back to Bluebottle, she returned to her question.  "So how many 'tales of adventure' have you managed to tell yer brother?  Cause ah bet they don't top some of our Crusadin' attempts."

"Crusading?" Bluebottle asked curiously.

"It's our club!" Scootaloo explained eagerly.  "The Cutie Mark Crusaders!  We work together to try and discover our Cutie Marks by trying everything we can think of!"

"I just wish we thought of less dangerous activities to try," Sweetie Belle murmured softly.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful!" Bluebottle proclaimed happily.  "What a wonderful way to gather even more tales of adventure to tell Blueblood!  Though I doubt it will be as exciting as some that I've told him so far."

"Share a few!" Apple Bloom asked eagerly.  "We might get some ideas for more Crusadin' attempts!"

Bluebottle grinned widely.  "Well, his favorite has always been the one he's dubbed 'The Tale of Two Pendants'," he explained.  "The one where I first discovered what it meant to be covered in valor and glory!"

"The Tale of Two-" Scootaloo began, only for her eyes to widen as she blushed brightly.  "Oh please, not that one!"

"It's about you and Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle gasped out excitedly.  "Details, details!"  Apparently, she'd picked up her sister's passion for gossip about friends somewhere along the line.

Seeing Apple Bloom also looking eager, Bluebottle grinned widely as he raised up to his full height.  "Ne'er would I hesitate to tell of my tales of bravery for my lady's sake!  I shall regale you with the tale in all its drama and glory!"

"You'll translate, right?" Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo quickly, making the pegasus grin even as her fiance pouted.

Clearing his throat, Bluebottle began his tale.  "It was early in our courtship, and we two did feel that the stuffy airs of Canterlot were unsuitable for a truly enjoyable outing for two such as we, and so we made our way in secret to a distant town with which to seek adventure and glory-"

"It was our first date and my parents sprung for train tickets for us, as long as his guards stuck with us," Scootaloo translated happily.

"-and at that distant settlement, what did we discover but that a grand festival was underway!" Bluebottle continued dramatically.  "The music and dance was the likes of which we had never seen before in our lives, and we were absolutely entranced and swept away!"

"It was the Ponyville Foal and Filly Fair," Scootaloo elaborated, "and Pinkie Pie decided we needed a whirlwind tour of the festivities, much to the guards' frustrations."

"As we were enjoying ourselves, I noticed my love had her eyes on a gorgeous pendant that would surely bring out her beauty!" Bluebottle continued excitedly.  "Of course, I gallantly sought to buy it for her as a gift, but I was informed it was not for sale!  If I wanted it for my lady, I would have to win it in a show of skill!"

"It was a chincy carnival pendant," Scootaloo explained sheepishly.  "Colored glass and bronze wire, worth maybe two bits.  I just thought the lightning bolt design was really cool."

"In an exquisite display of skill and prowess, I took the challenge of that game to win the pendant for my love!" Bluebottle declared eagerly.  "I dazzled all with my display, claiming absolute victory!"

"He spent fifty bits trying to win it, and the stall keeper finally took pity on him," Scootaloo translated, her tone somewhere between rueful and affectionate.  Apple Bloom giggled in response, while Sweetie Belle let out a soft 'daw'.

"Having won the pendant for my love," Bluebottle continued, seeming not to have heard the 'translation', "we continued to explore the festival...but it was not enough excitement for us.  Determined to have a truly unforgettable outing, we ignored warnings and made our way into a treacherous forest at the edge of the town, armed only with our wits and our not unimpressive skills!"

"Took a wrong turn and walked into the Everfree?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.

"No," Scootaloo corrected.  "Went right in with the guards.  No one told us it was dangerous till we came back out."

"Into the dark forest we journeyed, until we came across a beast unlike any we had seen before!" Bluebottle continued, dropping his voice to a hushed tone.  "Like living rock it stalked towards us, baring a long maw filled with razor teeth, and glowing eyes that hungered for pony flesh!"

"Cragodile," all three fillies chorused simultaneously.

"Though it lunged, we were able to evade, but my love's raiment did cause her to slip, and untold tragedy unfolded!"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gasped in fear at that, turning towards Scootaloo in worry.

"I tripped on my gown and broke the chain on my pendant," Scootaloo explained, struggling not to laugh at their faces.  "Wound up in the cragodile's mouth instead of my nose."

"The fell beast had stolen away my love's treasure!" Bluebottle declared fiercely, posing dramatically.  "I could not stand for it!  I dove into the very mouth of the beast in an attempt to retrieve it...only for my love to pull me back for fear of my safety, pleading with me to not worry her so."

"Actually, my exact words were 'Are you nuts?'" Scootaloo corrected.  "Told him it wasn't worth it to get himself killed over a two bit pendant when we could just get another, since there were dozens available-"

"But I declared neigh!" Bluebottle proclaimed loudly.  "The pendant was a symbol of my regard for my love!  How could I simply replace it when it was lost?  Would I just as churlishly replace my love should I lose her?  Neigh, that was not the sort of stallion I would become!  I would retrieve my love's treasure, whatever the cost!"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned to Scootaloo.  "So...?" Sweetie began.

"No, that's actually what he said," Scootaloo pointed out, her cheeks slightly flushed.  "He's always like that."

"As I prepared to dive back into the mouth of the beast, however, my love did remind me of skills I had overlooked that would prove useful," Bluebottle continued.

"I told him to use common sense and magic instead of getting himself eaten," Scootaloo corrected, putting one hoof to her face in resignation.

"And thus I did make my stance against the beast, declaring that if it did not allow me to retrieve my love's pendant, then I would unleash my wrath upon it, and that would not go well for it!" the young Prince continued, fully in his element.  "So cowed was he by my declaration that it gave no fight!"

"One of the guards knew animal behavior, and said the cragodile was so stunned that something that had escaped its jaws wanted to go back in that it held perfectly still with its jaw open, convinced Bluebottle was poisonous and trying to kill it," Scootaloo clarified, startling more giggles.

"And thus I did retrieve the pendant for my love...who was so moved by my glorious endeavor on her behalf that she could not bring herself to wear it!" Bluebottle declared lovingly.

Scootaloo shrugged.  "It was covered in cragodile saliva...and tree sap, for some reason.  I wasn't going to put it against my nice dress, the laundry maids would have had an aneurysm!"

"She did declare to me that it was now too precious to wear where it might be damaged!" Bluebottle continued warmly.  "She did suggest getting a duplicate and - as many mares did - keep the precious one in her jewelry box safe and sound, whilst wearing the less valued copy for display."

Scootaloo blushed brightly as her friends turned to her.  "...not in so many words...but yeah, I did say that..."

"And thus we returned to the festival and told of our tale!" the young colt proclaimed proudly.  "So moved by my bravery and compassion were the people that they did happily provide a second pendant for my love to wear!"

"He held the slimy pendant up to the stallion running the stall and whimpered," Scootaloo corrected.  "He gave us a second one out of either compassion or pity, not sure which."

"And thus, with true pendant safe inside a box and copy adorning my love's neck, we returned safely home!" Bluebottle declared proudly.

"We both conked out from adrenaline exhaustion and the guards carried us home," Scootaloo translated in embarrassment.

"And thus why this, my first adventure, is my most important!" Bluebottle declared.  "For I returned covered in valor and glory!"

"Tree sap and lizard spit," Scootaloo corrected with a giggle.

"And that day I learned that valor is sticky and glory stinks!" Bluebottle declared with a proud grin, causing his listeners to burst into further giggles.