“Blue, come here boy.”
Blueblood found himself looking at an off-white Earth Pony with light brown unruly mane and tail. He wore a happy expression on his face behind his spectacles as he motioned the young Prince to approach. Blueblood could only smile back happily as he approached the older pony, affectionately bumping his side, a blank flank touching a lightning cutie mark.
“What is it father?” Blueblood asked.
The young colt followed the older pony until he was led to a room filled with different types of machines, each with different applications, but all were related to one common theme; electricity. His father had shown him at least fifty of them, and their usages. Most were for show, but a few of them showed some practical application. It wasn’t strange for Blueblood to find himself listening to his father as he expressed excitement on about how some of these items would change the world.
And he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
“Oh come on, father, not that thing again!” Blueblood exclaimed as he saw his father lead to a metallic ball with a crank on the side.
“What? It’s fun!” the older pony said as he placed one of his hooves over the crank, and turned it. He placed another hoof over the metallic ball, and slowly his coat, mane and tail hair began to stand on their ends.
Blueblood could only laugh. His father had done this countless of times, but it never ceased to amuse him. He moved his hoof, and raised an eyebrow to his father, who only gave him a nod. The older stallion removed his hoof off the metallic ball, and let the younger colt touch it himself.
He never felt pain, but being a unicorn he could feel the flow of current travel through his hoofs and into his body. He felt his hair begin to stand on their ends.
He looked at his father as he gave him a smile.
His father just smiled back.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Prince Blueblood’s awakening was not as dramatic as the last time. His eyes opened for a second as he felt the dull pulse of pain travelling to his body, and a massive feeling of thirst. His throat wasn’t dry, so it was not water that he was craving.
He had dreamt about his father. It was strange as he had not seen him in his dreams for a good while, and it comforted him to see him again even if it was just momentarily. He moved his hind and forelegs experimentally, relieved that they responded naturally and unrestrained, though somewhat subdued. His captors were extremely confident he would not escape in his condition. He had to agree. His horn had been severed, cutting him off from replenishing his magic. His mind and body would slowly deteriorate until one would give.
If it was his body, he would face death.
If it was his mind, it would be madness instead.
Blueblood wondered which fate would be the lesser of evils. Which one would he succumb to?
“Prince. . . Blueblood?”
The white stallion blinked, and looked towards the direction of the voice. His eyes widened when he saw Gear Match. His neck, right foreleg and left hind leg bandaged, blood evident on the white coat of the pony himself, and at the white cotton of his wrappings. He could see scruff marks on his face, his eyes red from tears.
“They hurt you,” Blueblood said, his voice detached. He looked at his companion again from head to hoof, and slowly, pain began to creep on his face. “They hurt you bad.”
“It’s not as. . .” he twitched, “. . . as bad as it seems. Your Neighpon mare is a sadist. She used her silver stars on my neck and hind leg. She also packs quite a punch. I don’t even want to know how hard she can kick.”
“And your foreleg?”
Gear Match blinked, and looked at his right bandaged foreleg. He then smiled. “A minor scratch thanks to the gryphon lady when she tried to stop me from helping you. She didn’t intend to cut me, but her claws were sharp. She even apologized. Odd.”
Blueblood smiled, a laugh almost escaping his lips. He was tempted to tell his companion that her actions were most likely due to the gryphon’s rigid honor system. If she had apologized, then yes it seemed likely that his wounds were by accident. But if she intended to hurt him, she wouldn’t blink as she would tear out his limb.
“Very odd indeed,” was all Blueblood said.
“They told me to give you this when you woke up,” Gear Match said, lifting a bottle of transparent liquid near him.
It didn’t flow like water and didn’t deflect light properly. Blueblood slowly smelled the liquid, trying to identify it.
Gear Match motioned the bottle to Blueblood, trying to get him to drink it. “It’s clean. Liquid magic. You were knocked out before they could ask you again if you would build that. . . whatever it is they want you building. They said that they’d give you on everyday as a show of good faith.”
“You mean they will give me one everyday as long as I am useful to them,” Blueblood translated. He scoffed. He looked at the bottle for a moment before cringing, and nodded. Gear Match slowly tipped the bottle into Blueblood’s open mouth.
The white stallion felt the liquid magic course through his whole body as he swallowed. His mind sharpened, and his body felt more energized. He tested his limbs again and was glad that the subtle numbness was gone.
“Who’s magic is this, Gear Match? Yours?” Blueblood asked.
“It was. . . that mare’s.”
Blueblood felt the disgust and bile trying to come up his throat. He had just drunk her essence of magic. That sick, disgusting and vile mare. Was she trying to say that she owned him? She was like a bad villainess from those old Pony Tales. He would be the captured stallion, trapped in her hands. Was she to be the evil witch, baroness, or maybe a duchess? Who was going to be the heroine in this tale? His aunts? The Elements of Harmony? Maybe even Daring Do?
He laughed. Hard. Was he getting desperate, dreaming about his dad, now hoping rescue from a fictional pony? If his mother would see him now, she’d give him an earful.
“Prince Blueblood?” Gear Match asked, apprehension touching his voice.
Blueblood stopped laughing, and shook his head. He was wasting time. As long as he had magic, he had his wits. And as long as he had his wits, he could keep them alive.
“I’m sorry Gear Match. You must have thought I’d gone mad, haven’t you?”
“Uh. . . maybe a little bit,” Gear Match replied, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. “After what happened, I don’t think I would blame you. I saw them hurt you. What happened to me doesn’t seem to compare.”
Blueblood frowned. “It doesn’t matter who had it worse. Hurting me I understand. But why did they hurt you? What did they want?”
Gear Match swallowed, his eyebrows rising and crunched together. His eyes moved towards the left, widening slightly as his lips stretched. He touched his bandaged leg for a moment.
“Its fine, Gear Match,” Blueblood replied, nudging his companion on his uninjured foreleg. “If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to.”
Gear Match closed his eyes, and his lips narrowed, pushed together. Slowly, he nodded, motioned his horn. A few seconds later, the Jericho plans came floating. It seems their captors left it in Gear Match’s possessions.
“They wanted to know if I knew anything about this. . . Jericho, they call it. They wanted to know if I could. . . tell them how to build it.”
“But you couldn’t,” Blueblood said, as he grabbed the plans and placed it down. He opened it to reveal the Jericho.
“I told them that. . . but that pegasus,” Gear Match his face scrunched up in disgust. “And that mare. . . she just kept smiling and. . .” He paused for a moment, trying to compose himself. “I told them I have no idea what it is, or even how to build it.”
“No one has,” Blueblood said, sighing. "Not yet, at least."
“Why is that? And what is it, Prince Blueblood? It looks like some large spears on wheels! It doesn’t make sense at all!”
The white stallion looked at Gear Match for a moment, and then shook his head. “It’s a weapon, Gear Match. Plans for a prototype weapon Equestria has never seen before.”
“If it’s a weapon, it’s too bulky to be used as one if the measuring numbers here are correct. What, do you get your strongest unicorn to grab it and throw it as hard as you can?”
“From what I gathered, it uses an advanced propulsion system on the rear,” and he pointed towards the finned end of one of the phallic bodies. “Some type of liquid fuel that burns rapidly, exhausts out pushing the weapon forward. Like those firework rockets.”
Gear Match’s eyes narrowed, and then looked at the plans. His eyes widened when he saw the implication.
“An enlarged firework rocket? If it’s something of that size, and explodes like a firework, the damage--”
“Would be huge, yes. However, look at this,” and Blueblood pointed out a corner, this time indicating a smaller rockets. “These are inside the big rocket, and use a completely different propulsion system. It does not use liquid fuel or any type of fuel at all. Because of that, it keeps the rocket at smaller sizes enough to fit quite a number of them in the bigger one. And each of them has explosives on their noses that would explode out in a wide area on impact.”
Gear Match looked downright horrified as he looked at the numbers around the plans. “That one huge rocket, contain that many smaller rockets, can cause huge widespread damage. But having all three at the same time. . .”
“Massive, massive damage,” Blueblood finished.
“This. . . this is insane!” Gear Match sputtered. “I’ve never heard of this type of technology! It’s like a cross of those firesticks the Free Zebra Nation had invented and the Oreintal fireworks. But this scale of destruction. . . it's unheard of!”
“There are many things that are unheard off, yet you will discover Gear Match, if you stick around long enough, that Equestria has its secrets,” Blueblood replied, smiling slightly. “Remember when I started Ponytech years ago? When I tried to recruit you? You gave me a hard time about it too.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“I heard you have a gift in management, able to keep things running smoothly. I’m about to create a new company, and I need you to manage and recruit gifted ponies. I have the name, and even a logo. We can negotiate your starting salary, and I can be very generous.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gear Match broke a slight smile at the memory. The young Prince Blueblood had been throwing around bits and his reputation around when he was starting his company. He had come up to Gear Match, who at that time, found the white stallion annoying and naïve.
First impression didn’t wow Gear Match, nor put any confidence in the Prince. He tactfully told the younger white stallion that it would take more than some fancy name, bits and a cute logo to get him on board. He wanted to know what the Prince would be aiming for, and what would his company be selling.
Prince Blueblood left him, only to return the next day, showing him two black boxes. Each could be opened as if it was folded, made of unknown material, and had a black glass window. At first Gear Match was confused by what the Prince was showing to him, until the Prince pushed something, and the glass window came alive with colors.
He then said the magic words that made Gear Match Ponytech’s first recruit.
“I want everypony having one of these in their homes.”
“Your prototype ‘computer’,” Gear Match said with wonder. The machine had been a wonder of advanced engineering, too advanced for Equestrian standards. It was the main reason why Ponytech was so successful. Their designs and engineering was based on those machines.
He then blinked. “Wait, Prince Blueblood. Are you telling me that the machines you had that time was. . .”
“Yes, I found it together with the Jericho plans, after years of search. They were at Royal Archives, deep in the vaults. Judging from the extent they were hidden, Auntie did not want them seen again.”
“But. . . we based our whole electro-magic engineering on items from that computer machine! The connector prong design, prototype circuitry, and even our planned data storage. . . and you’re telling me you stole them from the Royal Archives!?” Gear Match demanded, his voice with a tinge of panic.
Blueblood scoffed slightly. “Well, not stolen. When Auntie Celestia discovered I had uncovered the Jericho Plans, and was trying to get the Royal Engineers to see if we could build it--”
“You WHAT!?”
Blueblood winced when Gear Match’s voice went up, and shook his head. “Oh come on, Gear Match. Nothing happened. She just told me that she did not want the plans out in the open. Just the plans. She made no mention about the computers, so I kept the computers.”
Gear Match felt a headache coming. “Prince Blueblood, with all due respect: are you insane!?”
Blueblood blinked, and then smiled. “Well, it is not the worst thing I’ve been called, believe me.”
“Have you stopped to think that maybe the reason why Princess Celestia has locked up that machine and those plans were because they were dangerous weapons?”
“I’m not an idiot, Gear Match. The Jericho is definitely a weapon, but the computer is not. Well, unless you throw it hard enough, that is.”
“There must be a reason why the Princess hid those items!”
“Reason? The reason, Gear Match, dates back to The Great Equestrian War,” Blueblood replied.
Gear Match was struck dumbfounded for a moment, and then asked, “What do you mean by that, Prince Blueblood?”
Blueblood looked at him. “How’s your history, Gear Match? What do you remember our victory during our war with the Dragon Empire?”
“Well, we, uh, had allied with the Free Zebra Nation and Gryphon Hegemony. With our numbers, we were able to slowly push the enemy back and launched a magical artifact to disrupt the Empire itself,” Gear Match replied.
“A textbook answer; generally correct, and a lot of missing details. That magical artifact was a weapon. A poor pony’s replacement of this Jericho, in fact,” Blueblood said. “While we were getting victories over the United Dog Clans, the Alliance was not getting much done directly towards the Empire. Dragon scale and its properties made dragon soldiers immune to most offensive magic spells, and resist even the sharpest claws and weapons of the gryphons. The Zebra’s were able to create potions that weakened them temporarily, but without any major victory, it would come to a long and bloody war.
“So plans were drawn. Auntie Celestia called in all her High Unicorns, spellbinders, scientists, and advisors. One plan had combining Zebra alchemists and Equestrian chemists to create a formula to toughen soldiers in battlefields. Some sort of supersoldiers. Something must have gone wrong because another plan had to be drawn out soon afterwards, which in turned to a very secret project they called ‘Manehattan Project’.”
“I heard about that,” Gear Match said. “They were recruiting scientists from all around Equestria. But I thought that was to find a way to create efficient electro-magic power plants?”
“Not wholly,” Blueblood sighed. “I had thought that too. . . until years ago, I found my father’s notes he had been hiding. He was part of the Manehattan Project and had been assigned with other scientists and engineers to build a rocket bomb. They based the design around what he wrote as ‘Jericho’, and it took me years before I would even know what that Jericho was.
“The prototype bomb they had used parts and technology available at that time. The gyroscope was easiest to make, but instead of fuel that burned hot and fast, they had used Fire Gems, essence of Magic, and a converter-feeder.”
“Let me guess, the converter-feeder would change the liquid magic to a pure form, and that would feed the Fire Gems at the bottom of the rocket,” Gear Match said.
“Never let it be said that ponies don’t know how to improvise,” Blueblood smiled. “Unfortunately, the design was too bulky to hide make smaller rockets like the Jericho. Instead, they just made more rockets to compensate.”
“But such destruction. . . the Princess wouldn’t stand for it!” Gear Match declared.
“There is some truth in that,” Blueblood replied. “According to my father’s notes, they didn’t use explosives. Auntie Celestia wanted a weapon that was non-lethal, something to incapacitate dragon soldiers to give time for the Alliance to swoop in unopposed. So, instead, they used Magidine.”
Gear Match frowned. Magidine was the main component of the ARM. Its exomagi properties worked by absorbing various types of energy, releasing pure magic energy in return. It would then break down to Anidine, which in turn, transforms into an endomagi material, absorbing magic in return.
But how would they be able to weaponise such material? Blueblood must have read his expression, because he answered.
“Dragon scale blocks offensive magic spells by dispersing the energy the spell nexus held. That means whatever type of spell hits a dragon loses momentum, and becomes useless. However, when the Magidine bombs, thrown far and fast, would impact the ground, would absorb enormous amounts of energy, thus releasing enormous amounts of magic, fast and hard.”
Gear Match’s eyes widened. “What that Neighpon mare did to you, the bomb did the same to those dragons!”
“Exactly. It caused a lot of pain for a short moment, incapacitating them, and thus allowing the Allied Forces come in and capture and subdue the dragons,” Blueblood frowned. “Unfortunately, Magidine properties weren’t fully studied then. The Empire was compensating the losses the United Dog Clans by steadily conquering Zebra and Gryphon lands. It wouldn’t be long before they reached Equestria. So, in desperation, they loaded whatever Magidine they had, and launched it towards the Empire.
“When Anidine concentrations went high, it started absorbing magic at an astounding rate. The air was sterilized of magic, runes from nearby properties were destroyed, and any nearby dragons, which had magical blood coursing in their veins, fell lifeless as the Anidine absorbed what essentially is their life force.”
“Oh Celestia,” Gear Match muttered. “How far was the fallout?”
“Hundreds of leagues. And that was just one bomb. Equestria sent three, to all its major cities. And a whole lot of them were near magical leylines.”
Gear Match felt horrified, and did not want to even imagine how many thousands of lives were lost at such attack. And he felt like this, how the Princess, who had authorized the attack, would feel?
“The unexpected results had killed a lot of Alliance soldiers, mostly Equestrian Pegasi and Unicorns, those that were mostly magical reliant. However, it won the war. The Dragon Empire’s greatest cities were consumed and would not be habitable to dragons for centuries. Most of their soldiers and a good chunk of civilians perished, and the rest spend most of the time migrating from one place to another, waiting until their cities would replenish its lost magic.”
Gear Match swallowed. Details of the war were all fuzzy to them, as most just cared that the fighting was done and over. But Prince Blueblood just told him the price of their victory, and he could understand why it was not said out publicly.
“Auntie Celestia felt that the Jericho, the real one, could be more dangerous. So, she had the plans, and whatever they found with them, the machines, hidden in the vault, never to be seen in her light again,” Blueblood finished.
Gear Match had to ask, “Where do these plans come from? Who developed such dangerous weapons?”
The Prince sighed, and looked down towards the plans again. His left hoof felt the smooth paper on the bottom left corner, and said, “No one knows.”
Gear Match blinked, and looked at Blueblood incredulously. “No one knows?”
“They were found years before my father was born. Auntie said that it was at a center of a huge magical storm that devastated a good portion of the Everfree Forest. I had engineers strip one of the machines down, see if we could make use of their technology. The other one I’ve used, exploring its data for years, trying to find out how it works. The information inside them is limited at best. There is odd yet quite catchy music, some video and pictures of weird hairless diamond dog like beings, but years of searching, I never found anypony, or anything that looked like them.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Blueblood found interesting motions coming from Gear Match’s face. The older stallion was confused, shocked, and somewhat demoralized. It was his fault. He spoke too much, revealed deflected Equestrian history that could potentially harm Gear Match in the long run. And yet, as cruel as it sounded, he needed to tell them. He needed--
He blinked when he heard the faint sound of the anti-magic field powering down. “Gear Match,” he called.
Gear Match blinked, and looked at Blueblood confused.
“There’s a reason why I’m telling you this. I needed you to understand, that way, once the decision would be made, we wouldn’t be working under friction,” Blueblood said. He then heard the sound of sliding metal. “Listen carefully. Follow my lead and trust me. I promise you this, my friend, we are getting out of here!”
Gear Match numbly nodded as the large metallic doors opened, revealing Maelstrom and his group. The pegasus smiled as he cantered towards their captives.
“Glad to see you are awake, Prince Blueblood,” Maelstrom greeted. “I must apologize, my lieutenant here was a bit. . . enthusiastic last time and knocked you out before we could ask you again for your answer.”
Silver Star gave a satisfied grin.
“I decided that since we are civilized ponies--”
Gwendolyn, the gryphon, stifled cough with her claw. Blueblood noticed she was holding some type of gem. He gave it a once-over before turning to see Malestrom’s left eyebrow going up.
“Civilized creatures,” the pegasus amended. “Since we are civilized creatures, I thought that maybe we could do this without anyone getting hurt.”
Blueblood had to get this right. He hunched his shoulders, and let anger wash his face. He took a step forward, only for Silver Star to respond. She slammed her left foreleg hard, her hoofstep sound vibrating across the room. Blueblood flinched, and widened his eyes.
“Now, come on Prince Blueblood. Like I said, there is no need to get hurt,” Maelstrom continued. “Just help us. Help us build the Jericho.”
Blueblood looked left and right, and then bit his lips. He looked at Maelstrom, and softly said, “In return for what?”
Maelstrom cocked his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I said. . .” came the soft reply, before Blueblood coughed. His next words were stronger, louder. “I asked ‘what do I get in return?’”
Maelstrom blinked, smiling, confused. “We’ll stop the pain. Keep you and yours alive and unharmed.”
“You will keep me and mines alive because you need us,” Blueblood declared. “You will provide us with food and water, some commodities to make our stay comfortable. You will do this because you need our help. You will continue to provide essence of magic,” and he looked at Silver Star with disgust, “preferably from someone less unsightly.”
The mare glared at him. Blueblood ignored it.
“You will provide me with the essence because you need my mind. However, that does not motivate me to help you at all.”
Maelstrom nodded. “So you need something then. I can work with that, Prince Blueblood. Name your price, and if I can, I shall grant it to you.”
“Bits. Plenty of bits. Whatever you are planning, it is big, and I want to be in on this,” Blueblood declared.
“What are you doing!?” Gear Match demanded, one of his hooves touching the Prince’s side.
“If we are helping them, then I think it would not be remiss to ask for payment,” the white stallion replied, looking at his confused friend. He turned his face fully, making sure to hide the wink he gave. “Trust me, Gear Match. Just like I said.”
The other unicorn blinked, until understanding dawned to him. He slowly nodded.
“Well, bits I can provide. Name your price, and I will have it done,” Maelstrom replied.
“Not so fast!” Blueblood declared. “We do this job, we get paid, and we are left alive and unharmed. And if this weapon is used against Equestria, I want guarantees that my company, Ponytech Industries, will be left alone. If by chance you. . . replace the Princesses, I want to keep a title as a Baron, along with its rights and protection that go with it.”
Maelstrom blinked, and then smiled. “I see. A guarantee to be left alive now, and in the future. I will be able to deliver on those promises. Now. . . do we have an agreement then?”
Blueblood nodded. “Yes. Now. . . show me what you have.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Blueblood and Gear Match’s heads were covered as they were led outside. The caverns twisted in almost unimaginable ways, and Blueblood was sure that they had retraced their steps to further confuse anypony trying to escape.
Almost anypony. Blueblood’s cutie mark was not just for show.
He had gotten the general direction on where he was being taken, but it would probably take a few more trips before he could accurately map the whole labyrinth in his head. And even through the sack, he could see the world brightening, the smell of the forest puncturing his senses.
Someone removed the bag. Roughly.
It took minutes before Blueblood’s eyes would adjust to the brightness. The first thing he saw was a sea of green, which slowly separated into different shades until he could see an expansion of the Everfree Forest. They were elevated, just slightly above in a flat ground on the mountain range.
The flatness was artificial. Heavy work was done to keep it smoothly, which meant they had Earth Ponies. That would account workers and soldiers.
Blueblood looked around, and found himself mildly impressed. He saw a windmill generator, which at their height and wind abundance, kept spinning providing the area with electro-magic. The guards, both ponies and gryphon, were armed with firesticks and spears. They had some powerful looking unicorns, and up above, some pegasi patrolling the area.
“Impressed?” Maelstrom, beside Blueblood, asked.
“Quite,” the Prince replied, his eyes now on the pitched tents, camouflaged to look like the surrounding mountains. While Maelstrom continued talking, Blueblood checked under the tents to find the largest collections of materials he had ever seen. They had metals of differing names, gems of colors and properties, stocks of the newest firesticks and melee weapons and even firework rockets.
What caught his attention the most was armor. They had Royal Guard armor, military apparel, and even gryphon armor as well. An idea appeared in his head.
“We even have tools to help you build the Jericho,” Maelstrom finished. “Whatever you need, we have it. If not, we will find it. And once it’s done, you shall be paid the amount you ask, and be released. What do you say? Will you help us?”
Blueblood blinked, seeing the pegasus offer his hoof. He gave a slight nod, and bumped it with his own, smiling. He saw Maelstrom’s expression. He knew that his willingness to give Blueblood what he had demanded made it clear that there was only one direction the agreement was going.
They were never going to release them.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Now put all the metallic ores on this corner, and gems on the other. Separate them per groups so I won’t have to scrounge the materials and waste our time,” Blueblood ordered.
Gear Match and Blueblood were brought back to their rooms in the cave labyrinth, followed by Earth Ponies carrying all the materials he had requested. A whole lot of them were metals and gems, but he also had them bring firework rockets and building tools as well.
“Where do we put the armor?” one of the Earth Ponies asked, carrying Royal Guard and Gryphon armor.
“On that side,” Blueblood pointed to the corner nearest to the door.
They were still busy when Gear Match came right behind him. “Armor?” he asked.
Blueblood nodded without facing him. He then whispered, inaudible to the rest, “Our key to escape. I got a rough plan on my head, but we’re going to need time.”
“Time you will get by building the Jericho,” Gear Match replied on the same volume.
The Prince’s smile widened. “You are smart, have engineering and pony skills. I could not ask for a better companion than you.”
Gear Match coughed. “They aren’t stupid. They will be looking at us closely for weeks, see if any progress is made.”
“I know,” Blueblood said. “I hate to say this, but we are going to try and build them the Jericho. I’ll try to just make oversized fireworks, and tell them that we need to do this to get more information on how to build the Jericho. Advise them that no one has successfully built it, and we are doing prototypes.”
“If we do end up building such weapons, they must be destroyed before we escape.”
“Of course,” the Prince replied. For a moment, the two looked at the Earth Ponies arranging the materials around the room.
“Prince Blueblood. . . they won’t release us, will they?” Gear Match asked.
Blueblood looked down for a moment, and shook his head. “No. They’ll either keep us here, or kill us.”
“Don’t take offense in this, but I hope your plan is good.”
The Prince sighed, and looked around him. “Me too.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Princess Celestia stood from the observatory balcony, where she could see the whole Kingdom under the sun. She sighed. It had been days since her nephew, Blueblood, was missing. The Royal Military Intelligence was still gathering data, but is suspecting that the Prince and his companion were smuggled up in the Far Eastern North.
Whoever did the ponynapping was very careful. They had covered their tracks, led a few pegasi to a wild goose chase, and paid off a lot of people to hide their passing. However, the Field General and Grand Admiral had pushed through, and they are getting a solid lead.
Prince Blueblood would be rescued soon, so long as there were no distractions.
Celestia broke a smile when she noticed fillies and colts from Ponyville marveling at the Canterlot’s Sculpture Garden. Their teacher, Cherilee was it, was showing them around.
Celestia stood straighter. They will get their Prince back.