//------------------------------// // The Royal 'Talk' (RB and AP) // Story: The Humble Prince // by Lighting Ace //------------------------------// As Princess Celestia kept playing with her food, she took the occasional glance at her nephew who kept looking between both her, and her little sister whilst eagerly waiting in anticipation for the ‘Royal Talk’. Luna, in a fit of sheer panic, had promised him such, once they had arrived to the establishment. "Well?" The prince asked the two expectantly "Can you tell me now?" "Nephew." Princess Luna fiddled with the food on her plate and tried in vain to come up with the right words. "You need to understand, what you are asking us... It's not something so simple, there is a lot to take in, and a lot of history to cover. Didn't you study any of this while you were in Ponyville?" The prince looked at his aunt with a neutral expression. "Aunty Luna, we were kids." "Right" Luna nodded in understanding. "Well you see the subject of a herd is something quite big and beautiful…that my sister is better suited to explain to you!" Luna quickly explains, passing the responsibility and his attention to Celestia, who’s eyes widen in terror before glaring the power of the sun at her sister. "It’s all yours Tia." "Thank you, Luna!" Celestia replies with a cold voice as she magiced up a temporary mental link with her sister. Coward The princess of the sun then turned her attention to her nephew and cleared her throat. “Well Blueblood, you see, a herd is the name we use to describe a romantic relationship with a group of ponies. Due to our unbalanced birth ratio, often times it involves a single stallion and múltiple mares.” She goes into her teacher mode as she pointed to a group of three mares surrounding a  single stallion on the far corner of the restaurant, all of which were laughing and chatting. "That, is a perfect example." The prince turned around to look at them as Celestia continued her lecture "To start a herd, first the stallion courts a single mare, who’ll be known as the Alpha Mare. You can always recognize an Alpha Mare by the pony that stays to the right side of the stallion." The princess explained as Blueblood noticed how the mare on the right of the stallion was the closest to him and was leaning her head against his neck.   "Leaning against the neck of a stallion also proves that she is the alpha; it means that she’s willing to protect him with her life, no matter who she’s faced against. Being an alpha mare is considered a great honor when it comes to the inner circles of a herd." Luna continued as the prince turned to look at her. "To be an alpha mare, is to be an equal with your stallion when it comes time to expand the herd or when discussing decisions that effect the herd." She pointed a hoof  to another group of ponies except this one looked like they were interviewing a mare, with her head kept low and another mare keeping a critical eye on her. "A stallion in a herd is free to court other mares outside his herd, engage in dates and even going so far as to kiss the candidate for the herd, excluding the act of mating or any sort of foreplay however…" Blueblood remembered the incident in the morning at the mention of that. So that’s what they were doing...   "…but when the moment of truth arrives, the decision must be accepted by both the alpha mare and her stallion." Luna explains as the lead mare of the group smile and nodded. The mare that was being interviewed raised her head and cheered for joy, as both mares hugged and the entire restaurant cheered from the outcome, making the princesses smile. "That mare just got accepted into the herd, and now she can truly join in their love, and have the satisfaction of belonging to the group". Celestia commented with a caring smile before looking at her nephew. "Do you understand now Blueblood?A herd is nothing unusual it’s just a part of life here in Equestria"  She wondered with a raised eyebrow. "I think I understand, but what happens if a mare wishes to leave a herd?" "The group would usually give her a goodbye party, to let her know that she’ll always be appreciated and loved as a friend. They would also sometimes give her some bits as a farewell gift, but if the alpha mare is the one that goes, then the herd is dissolved, and the entire group has a waiting period of six months before reforming in honor of the alpha. In that time, the parties involved can join other herds if they please, or the stallion would choose a new alpha from the previously selected mares." Luna explains. "It's a bittersweet thing to happen, but not uncommon. Like herds with the same sex, which are rare when it comes to males herds due to the birth ratio, or a polyandry herd, which are the ones that had more than one stallion in it. Please don't ask us about how the alpha mares work there, even I get confused at times trying to unravel it." Luna begged lifting her hoof before the prince had the chance to ask.   "Ok, so in total there are three types of herds?" The prince wondered as he counted them out loud. "A normal herd of one stallion various mares, a homosexual herd which are all stallions or all mares, and a polyandrous herd which are like a regular one but with more than one stallion." He counts and his aunts nod in agreement.   "And of course there’s also the simple relationships."  Celestia added. "The simple relationships?" The prince raised an eyebrow at that comment . "Not all ponies want or like to be in big groups nephew. So they oftentimes settle with an agreement of faithfulness to their partner and remain as a single couple." Luna answered for her sisters. "Like the Twilight Sparkle family for example." She gives him a reference, "Night Light and Twilight Velvet could have easily picked another mare, to form a group and start their herd, but their love for eachother was so great, that they decided to stay true to only one another." "You’ve also met another couple like that Blueblood, do you recall the owners of sugar cube corner?" Celestia inquired. "Oh yeah, nice couple, their kids were adorable too." Blueblood remembered their meeting with a smile. "Although Pumpkin really liked to put my hoof in her mouth for some reason." The prince chuckled at the memory, something his aunt soon shared.   "Well, they’re a perfect example of a simple couple too. And nowadays it's concept as common as forming a herd afterall, love is free, and it can and does take many forms in our world. So no matter the end result, Equestria will always accept any and all types of relationships on their lands." Celestia proclaimed in pride making the prince smile.  "Be herds, simple or even interspecies, which is for example, a pony and a griffin". That’s so beautiful, there’s no such thing as discrimination or intolerance here! You can truly be whoever you want to be…well perhaps being a gay male, which  could be a bit hard…but that is more because of the birth ratio problem, rather than that of hatred. But overall this world seems really nice and tolerant! "And that pretty much covers it, did you have any other question Blueblood?" Celestia wondered aloud as she looked at him.   "I don’t auntie, thank you explaining."  The prince shook his head, making the sisters smile and internally sign in satisfaction, for not having to tell him the in-depth the 'birds and the bees' talk. Now more relaxed, they picked up their glasses and started to drink in peace.   "So…have you ever been in  a herd or a relationship before?" Once more the prince asked innocently and just like that, their peace was once again shattered as they spat out their drinks and almost choked in the process.   "N-Nephew! T-that’s…kind of personal" Luna exclaimed in alarm and with an extreme blush as she coughed and tried to recover from the shock. "Ah, come on, tell me! Do I have two uncles I’ve yet to meet? Do I have more aunties too? Would I meet them all on the next holiday?" The prince kept adding more questions to the princesses which only served to further increase their discomfort until Celestia came up with an idea, and smirked as she turned to her beloved sister.   "Well Blueblood, I'm afraid that’s another important subject that your aunt Luna is much more qualified to talk about." She offered with a smile as she placed her wing behind Luna’s back.   "Me?!" Luna immediately turned to her sister in shock as Celestia just lightly pushed her forward.   "Don't be so modest Lulu, go ahead. Explain to him how our situation as royals work." She coached with a caring smile. Luna slowly glared as she saw behind her sister disguise, and could clearly distinguish how she was mocking her.   "You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you sister?" Luna mentally scowled before turning to face her nephew and sigh in sadness. "Unfortunately for us royals, the path for romance and companionship is far more complicated and often times sad". The princess’s mood dropped as she explained. "What?" Blueblood looked at both, confused and shocked at that revelation.   "It all started with an old law made during the ruling of Princess Platinum. During that time Equestria was facing all sort of mighty foes who would stop at nothing to achieve their goal to conquer us, including harming our loved ones. So to prevent this, any ruler of Equestria would be forbidden to seek a partner or a herd and instead would be assign something called 'a royal concubine group.'" "Ah, a concubine is…" Celestia started explaining but Blueblood stopped her by raising a hoof. "Don't worry Aunty I know what a concubine is, but that sounds horrible!" He exclaimed in shock, Luna nodded solemnly . "It is. It was cold, methodic and soulless. Yet it delivered its two objectives; keeping our enemies guessing and ultimately dropping the idea of seeking out our loved ones…and preserved through our bloodline." Luna mumbled with a small blush. "As well as laying a trap in case of changeling infiltration" She winks "Giving them such an enticing opportunity to spy put them right on the frog of our hooves, but that is a story for another time"   "By rotating the partners and even placing them in other herds. Our offspring could be saved in case of war. And for my sister and I, offered us a chance to hide as another mares if the worse came to happen, with a solid backstory to present. Luckily for us, we’ve never been forced to execute such plan." Celestia continued. "And rest assured, the moment Equestria found itself in peace and we were in power, we worked really hard in altering that old law." "Alter it? Why not destroy it?" Blueblood pondered with a raised eyebrow.   "As soulless as it was, it was and still has some merit to it, and more important. Keeping those power hungry politician and nobles in their places." Luna rolled her eyes and chuckled at the memory of past love letters. "We changed the part of the government assigning us the concubines and instead; we ourselves are free to choose whoever we please."   "We also made a rule/condition that we can't take a mare or stallion from an already existing relationship, be a herd or a simple couple." Celestia continued. "Mare or stallion?" The prince was confused for a second until he saw both of his aunts smiling with some embarrassment "Oh! I see" He smiled and chuckled. "You were not kidding when you told me that you love all of our subjects, weren’t you?" "Nope." Both sister replied with pride.    "And finally, and this one is something we are particularly proud to add into that old law, 'If a prince or princess address his or her concubine as an alpha mare. That concubine will became a royal and obtain the same power on royalty as their partner, and the other concubines became the royal consorts.' But only after three years has passed, and the concubine has received royal training, education and examination from the guardians or parents of the prince or princess" Luna concluded. "Ah, I get it, like our own version of a herd then?" Blueblood mentioned with a smile.   "Precisely. We might not be able to engage in a traditional relationship, but rest assure. Obtaining it is not out of our grasp." Luna responded. "But that means that Shining Armor started as…" "…A concubine? Technically speaking yes that was the correct term to describe him." Celestia nodded. "Yet it was a title that was short lived. Cadence and him kept their relationship a secret and were very careful when meeting up until their wedding, but it was clear as day that he was almost immediately her fiance. Shining was the love of her life and a pony that earned our respect for it, so when they came out of the shadows, we skipped some of his lessons on royalty behaviour since his time as captain covered most of the subject" "Ah so the education training can be skip?" The prince ask with a raise eyebrow "Only if we say so, and inspect his education levels" Luna responded with Celestia nodding in agreement "Anyway, returning to us, even when we’ve had company in our past, neither Luna or I have found that special pony for us. We simply love all of our subjects too much. Those encounters, have been more of need instead of desire. Like an itch that only gets worse if not scratched, that’s why we’ve had to ask other races to help us with our 'itch'. We simply can't stop looking at our subjects as anything other than…well our subjects. Ponies that entrust their life and safety to us and we are more than willing to provide it." The princess finished with a sigh. "Cadence has the same problem too, perhaps even more with her being the princess of love." Luna continued. "That’s why Shining is someone that surprised us. So far he has been the only pony thats managed to break free of the 'subject zone,' he was the only one that made her look at him as something else, something closer and more intimate. And we weren't fools, we knew our niece would never pick a jerk as a partner, so when it came time to tell us, we welcomed Shining Armor with open hooves." Luna concluded with a smile.   "Wow." That’s the only thing the prince could say to that revelation "And that means that if they wished, they could start a herd now?" The royal sister simply shrugged. "Technically speaking they could, with Shining Armor becoming the 'alpha male' but again, getting out of the subject zone is something almost impossible to achieve. So it's very unlikely; besides I think they prefer to remain as a single couple if you ask me. And I know what you were about to say Blueblood and no, so far in all of our life, neither Luna or I have found that pony that’s made us look at him or her the same way Cadence looks at Shining Armor." Celestia responded in pity.   "Aw, but that’s so sad, are you really telling me that you’ve never once felt that kind of love?" Luna started to chuckle and brought her hoof to her muzzle. "Oh I wouldn't say never, Tia used to had such a big crush for our magic teacher when we were younger." "Lulu!" Celestia turned to her with a blush. "Oh don't try to deny it, Tia, you always drew his face and put a heart around it in your notebook each time we had lessons together with him." Celestia smirked and crossed her front hooves. "That’s rich coming from the mare that kisses a signed poster of Flash Magnus each day before going to bed." Luna’s eyes immediately widened and with a blush glared at her sister. "That poster was a gift from you Tia."   "Which I gave you, so you could stop spying on the poor stallion during his sparring sessions." She argued back with a roll of her eyes. "Honestly Lulu, I was starting to fear you would follow him into the showers." "Oh like you were so innocent back there 'I just thought I dropped my pen under your desk Mr. Starswirl'." Luna mocked her, doing a poor impersonation of her sister. The prince just laughed at their argument until he found his plate was now empty "Well I think I’ll go fill my plate!" He informed them and prepared to leave, until Luna stopped him. "Nephew, before you go there is one more thing we need to tell you. This might sound cold and unfair but the rules of royal partners includes you too. Maybe even stronger since you’re our only direct descendant which means, that other rulers could potentially demand that you marry their offspring as an offering of peace and friendly relationships." "Which I would do all in my power to prevent." Celestia added angerly " I will not whore my family off for a deal, not even if it guarantees peace for Equestria." She said to him with complete determination, before looking to him in worry. "Yet, its not an impossible outcome, unfortunately." "And that is why we need to tell you. No, insist for you to remember. We will not oppose the idea of you seeking romantic partners, we even encourage it, but we ask you to please, if it arises, to be careful and stay alert. A lot of noble mares would love the chance to be a princess and take advantage of you and unfortunately… Celestia and I  just can’t just kill them all." Luna warned to him. The Prince gulped and nervously chuckled at that "Y-you are joking, right?" Luna kept silent with a smile for a bit, before slowly nodding "Yeah…joking" She respond, averting her eyes from him before talking again "You can always break up with them and remove their status, however there are potential dangers that they could create, so be on high alert and remember to keep that in mind, ok nephew? " She finished by giving him a relaxed smile which only served to make things even more scary.    "I-I will aunt Luna, I promise to be extremely careful if I ever find that special mare for me."  He nodded in determination. "Good, that’s calmed me down...now you’re free to go." Luna nodded to let him go as she and Celestia continued to talk. As the prince advanced to the salad bar, he thought very carefully about everything he’d just heard.   Things here are so different from that on earth...It’s almost ironic, that the ones that make the rules are also the ones that have the most difficulty in  finding true love? Will that happen to me? Aght! The prince held his head in pain with one of his hooves. Thinking of all these rules is really making my head hurt. Maybe I should just stay away from the subject altogether, after all, it’s not like I find any mare attractive… I haven't gone full native yet The prince simply chuckled as he reached the bar and was about to grab some mashed potato when his hoof accidentally touched somepony else, reaching for the same.   "Oh sorry I wasn't paying attention, please go…ahead?" The prince apologised as he turned around, until, he got a good look at the mare in front of him, which left him shocked and confused. She looks just like… "My, what a gentlestallion." The mare chirped with a small smile as she served some food onto her plate. "And what a surprise it is finding you here, your highness, the palace food starting to get too dull for your tastes?" She joked around with a smirk on her muzzle.   "Ah, n-no. It’s nothing like that miss, my family and I were just experimenting with some new food, that’s all." The prince commented, now more relaxed, making the mare giggle for a bit. "There’s nothing bad with experimenting a little from time to time, is there?" The mare replied with a wink as she offered her  hoof to the Prince, "And please your highness, just call me Scarlet."