There have been times when Fancy had felt an overwhelming sense of regret; times when he has proven himself once again of how big of an idiot he really was. Sure, he had done stupid things when he was a colt, a teenager, and a husband, that he had wished he could go back to fix them. Like getting drunk for the first time, challenging his mother to a hoof fight, and saying “I do” to a spouse that was psychotic. In a sort of holding cell at the near back of the airship, Fancy could do nothing but sit on that hard wooden bench at horror for what he had just done.
He had slapped his coltfriend, the Prince Blueblood in the face. Hard. Essentially, he had done the very thing that his last spouse had done during those awful years of his marriage. What was worst, he had an immediate response of pain in the eyes of the younger stallion. While he won’t deny that what the Prince was doing is wrong, his response to it was inexcusable.
‘Great way to end a relationship idiot!’ Fancy heard his inner critic say as he was hunched over, hooves over his eyes and his monocle hanging out. ‘Just when it looked like he was going to go ahead and explain the madness to you, you’ve hit him so hard that he fell over. Way to go loser! Can’t wait to see how your career, and possibly your life will end. Guess you’ve should have listened to Anti-Mum while you still had a chance!’
In truth, Fancy wasn’t interested in keeping track how long he was being held there. He sighed, knowing that he deserved this. The old stallion thought that the next time he might be able to see Blueblood again might very well be his last.
“Hey you,” the older unicorn looked up to see one of the sailors. “His Highness wants to see you now.” So after he unlocked the barred door of his cell and warned him of “No funny business,” the sailor escorted Fancy through the bowels of the ship. He passed by rooms that held the crew’s quarters with rows of bunk beds, a dining hall that had one long table that was being held by ropes from the ceiling, a kitchen with cooks hard at work, a library, a small projection room, and the quarters of officers of the ship. The further towards the ship’s front he got, the more ornate it became until the sailor stopped at a flight of stairs that lead to a door. “Go on, up you go,” the sailor nudged him up the steps until the unicorn took the hint.
Fancy climbed up the stairs and paused as he was a step away from the door. In all the times of his life, he never felt as nervous as he stood what might be a breakup from the stallion that he got to know. He noticed that it was quiet on the other side and he didn’t hear any weeping, which probably meant that the Prince had probably calmed down. With a shaky hoof, he gave it a few knocks.
“Enter,” said Blueblood, his voice melancholy.
The affluent pony used his magic to turn the knob in which he stepped into the most luxurious room of the whole airship. Windows that made the hull was so large that it not only gave a tremendous view at the sky and the clouds, but it also showed the landscape of a fleeting Equestria below. The open space was almost like a house without walls in which it housed not only a bed with two nightstands that flanked on both sides, but it had a couch, a couple of dark green padded armchairs, a dining table, a grand piano, a bookshelf that held both books and film canisters, a telescope, a bathtub that sank through the floor, a film projector pointed at a white wall, an open closet of various clothing along with a folding screen, and with Blueblood himself that had his back turned, looking forward at the very front of the ship.
Fancy silently approached the Prince, but even as he got close, he could not bring himself to stand side-by-side with him. Sinking to his hunches just behind him, and head sank low; the first thing to come out of his mouth was a soft, “I’m sorry.”
Now for the first time since he entered, Blueblood craned his neck over. The older unicorn cringed at the sight of the bruise on his cheek. “No. I think that between the two of us, I should be the one apologizing.”
“Bluey, stop. I was the one that has hurt you, something that I promised I would never do and I did it.” With ears folded backward, Fancy added, “Look, if you’ve decided to break up with me, I understand and deserve it.”
The Prince was taken aback by this. “Break up wit-” he shook his head, “No! That’s not what I want! If anything, after all the planning that I had made from last night, all the preparations that were made for this literal get-away, I have failed to surprise you with my intentions, so that slap was justified.”
His coltfriend looked on at him baffled, “Justif- Slapping you across the face is never justified Bluey! You didn’t deserve it when I got angry, this is my fault and nopony else’s.” Fancy bowed his head in shame, covering his eyes with a foreleg. “Blueblood… I’m so sorry…”
Silently, the younger unicorn got up from his vantage point to nuzzle his coltfriend before embracing him. “And you thought that I had been hard on myself,” he chuckled. “Fancy, I’m not angry at you, if it's anypony’s to blame it’s my stupidity for overlooking how you would realistically be taken away. While it did hurt,” he raised a hoof to his bruised cheek, “I should have seen this coming. So I forgive you.”
A sniff was heard from the blue-maned pony, “Why did you foalnapped me in the first place?”
“You could say that your father provided some inspiration,” Blueblood rubbed the back of his head. “Do you recall how he told how your mother foalnapped him and taken him to the Bahamares?”
“So you were given an idea from a pony that’s a manic-depressed, schizophrenic?” Fancy deadpanned.
“I thought he said it was a family tradition on your mother’s side?”
His older coltfriend let out an annoyed sigh, “To a degree, it kinda is. But when I asked Mum about it, she told me that it was an ancient form of a marriage proposal. In which, in theory, that if you love a pony so much, then you would toss that pony inside a sack and being carried away without anypony else noticing. Of course, the tradition was eventually dropped over time for obvious reasons.”
“Oh…” the Prince flushed. “Well… this is certainly awkward… good thing I didn’t follow the whole tradition to the letter.”
“Huh?”
“Well you see, truth be told I have spent all night between drinking coffee and planning out this scheme, but at the same time, I have sent letters informing your bodyguard to your servants, and even your friend… Hoity I think that you will be gone for a week. It came with the same royal decree that I have given you. So in theory, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything in Canterlot. Of course… the only thing that I couldn’t figure out, was how exactly to break it to you.”
Fancy blinked… then blinked again, “So, you already went ahead, and told them that I was going to be foalnapped in advance – without consulting me on the matter?”
“The point I’m trying to make is that you are already taken care of. I mean, your things are right here, I’ve cleared away your schedule for the week, persuaded whoever you needed to meet to hold off until after this is over. Like I’ve said, I’ve thought of everything… except how to break it to you.”
The Prince’s coltfriend folded his forelegs, “You know, there is a romantic way of foalnapping and there’s doing it the wrong way. I would think to have me in a net and being dragged up here was certainly the wrong way.”
“Hey, cut me some slack, I did say at the very beginning that I’ve never had a coltfriend before. I hardly know what I’m doing; besides, unlike our previous dates, I’m making this up as I go. If anything,” Blueblood stepped away; his attention was towards the large windows. “I’m doing something that I personally wanted to do since I was a teenager, but never gotten the chance to do it until now.”
“What? Foalnapping?”
The blond Prince chuckled, “No. I mean to get away from court life. To get away from the dull procession of ambassadors, paperwork, and Canterlot in general. In a way, I want to for once just run away from it all and go do something spontaneous. And to do it with the very pony that I care about the most,” he craned his neck over, smiling at Fancy. “I hope that even you would understand what I’m proposing here.”
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Fancy Pants actually did. As… discourteous as the Prince’s method actually was, he did sympathize with him. He too had thoughts of escaping the monotonous machine that was Canterlot. He at times daydreamed of getting away from it all and go to someplace new, exotic even, where he could have some fun. As juvenile as Blueblood’s plan actually was, he knows now that it was done out of the best intention. However, one thing did stick out of his mind. “Do the Princesses know?”
Blueblood shook his head, “They know that I’m borrowing this airship, but I left out as to where and when we’ll be back. Of course, I’m going to be in very serious trouble by the time we get back. But as long as you’re here with me, I think it’s going to be worth it.”
The older unicorn sighed and joined the Prince’s side. “I can safely say that we’re both screwed up in our own way. Not to say that it’s a bad thing, if anything, I prefer it.” Fancy looked at his coltfriend, his face turning somber, “Though seriously, the next time you’ve suddenly decided to foalnap me against my will, try to warn me.”
“How would that qualify as foalnapping if I told you ahead of time?” The Prince caught a glimpse of the South Luna Sea in the distance. “So, are you up for a week at the Moneigh Islands?”
“Well… since you’ve already cleared my schedule for the week… and I’ve never set hoof on the Moneigh Islands before…” he smirked, “I guess I got nothing better to do.”
_*_
Celestia marched into her sister’s chambers. In her aura, she held a wooden spoon and the largest soup pot the royal kitchens had. Being past four o’clock in the afternoon, Luna was still asleep; snoring away and completely unaware at the crossed white alicorn. The Sun Princess held the pot upside down over the younger’s head and without ceremony, banged upon the pot until Luna awoke with a jerk.
“Ah! What!” she immediately snapped upright. After blinking a few times, her vision came into view of her older sister who had a scowl on her face. “Cel? What time is it?” she asked groggily.
“It’s nearly a quarter till five and nopony knows where our nephew has gone to.”
“What?” Luna rubbed her eyes. “I thought he was going to use one of the airships for a day.”
“I already know that, but any idea where he went to?”
“Of course I do, he’s…” the blue alicorn’s mind was blank. She certainly recalled the conversation she had with her nephew from last night and asking to borrow one of the airships, certainly. But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember exactly where he was going. “I don’t know. However, I do think that wherever he’s gone to, he had taken his consort along with him. Why? What’s going on?”
Celestia set aside the source of Luna’s rude awakening. “I was told from this morning that Blueblood was going out and won’t be back until three. But since he hasn’t returned, and nopony in the castle has any idea where he is, we’re starting to get rather worried if something has happened to him.”
“Did you try to see if he’s gone to Fancy’s?”
“Cadance already did, but from what she could make it out from the servants is that he just went along with him. But again, even they have no idea where.”
Though Luna’s mind groggily started to turn the gears, she was starting to put the pieces of this particular puzzle together. Blueblood asking to borrow airship plus Fancy has gone with him, plus lied about where he was going to equals, “Are you implying that Bluey has run away?”