Blueblood's Blush.

by Sophocoles


Chapter 6

The next day, Blueblood was standing out by the stone square in Canterlot gardens, waiting for his date to get out from her show. This would be their second date, and boy was Blueblood excited.

For once he had something to care about other then the rare party he was attending or some stupid ceremony. He never quite got the chance to get to know anypony on a personal basis. Yes, he went out on frequent dates with the everyday pretty face or the celebrity that was in town, but he had never really had anything serious enough to the point to where they really knew each other. Ever since he had met the blue mare,Trixie, his outlook on life and ponies had changed for the better.

The stallion could now admit that he was happy. Yes, happy, for that was something he had not been in a long long time. Sure he looked happy on the covers of magazines with two mares on either side of him, but that wasn't happiness. That was... an act, so to speak.

Other than that, life at the castle was dull and boring. Living up there was not all it is cracked up to be. There was next to nothing to do there, other than boss servants around and walk about the grounds; he often abused the former.

He had a reputation of being an all around jerk to the servants. It never really got to the point where he beat them... but he did often dish it out hard on them. If they messed up, they’d be sent home crying, easy as that.

He could hear from backstage, where he was waiting, the last round of fireworks being shot off, signifying the end of Trixie’s magic show. He could hear claps. He looked to the audience and noticed it was significantly smaller than it was when he first attended. He felt somewhat bad.

Somewhere during the feeling bad part an audience member saw him and stood up to point. “It’s Prince Blueblood!” Other inquisitive ponies drew their attention from Trixie to see this shocking revelation. The crowd at once left the stone square and rushed to the prince, swarming him with squeals and touching him. They touched him with their filthy hooves. He nearly gagged as he tried to squirm away but, sadly, his attempts on escaping the crowd were ineffective.

“What is everypony doing?” rung out a clear voice from behind the stage. “ You ponies are here to see Trixie, are you not?” The blue mare hopped off of the stage and stood behind the swarming crowd. “Well, here I am!” She dramatically raised a hoof to show that she indeed was there.

Nopony spared her a glance.

She sighed and walked over to see what the fuss was about. Then she saw a squirming prince Blueblood underneath the pile of crazed Canterlot mares who wanted to get their hooves all over the prince. Her prince.

The prince looked up to see the tuft of silvery blue mane that was visible through the crowd. He unmistakably recognized it as Trixie and pushed ponies out of the way to take sanctuary behind her.

The crowd took no mind in the change of location and started swarming both Trixie and the prince.

Trixie, shocked by the sudden role of leadership she was put in, thought for a moment. “Everypony!” Her voice rung out above the crowd. “Don’t you all realize that the prince has a horrible infectious disease that has no known cure? Trixie doesn’t know why you’d wish to risk your life to touch a colt of his position.” She smirked inwardly.

One of the mares let out a high pitched scream of horror. “I touched his shoulder! Does that mean I’m going to die?!” The crowd ran away, panicked, to their various doctors to see if they had caught the made-up disease.

Blueblood gagged and stood up. “They... touched me.” His coat was messed up. Some hairs stood up in awkward positions while others stood in the total opposite direction of his grooming. His hat he had put on for the occasion was now missing, and his hoof appeared to have some lipstick on it.

Trixie flicked his nose with her tail. “Awww. Did you get dirty? Poor princie.” She put on a pouty face and used her magic to put away her coat and hat. She did her best to look like the great and powerful Trixie she was, but her severe lack of food gave her a bit of a weak appearance. She had spent her last bunch of money on some apples and a bale of hay; the small bale was half gone, along with the apples.

The mare was also a bit upset at the prince for both stealing her attention from the crowd and taking them away from her before she could collect money. She hoped they would go out for lunch, since she was so hungry.

Blueblood scoffed and tried to polish one of his hooves. “I do NOT have an ‘infectious disease’!” He set the hoof down and crossed over to his date. He did happen to notice just how weak she looked and offered the hoof. “Are you okay?”

Trixie put her game face back on and smirked up at the prince. “How else do you think I could have chased them away?” She packed up her bags quickly with magic and put them aside. “And yes, Trixie is just fine.” She put the bags in a place where she could find them once she had to walk home. Then the mare went back to the prince and sat. “ But... you did steal Trixie’s crowd. And for that, I am upset.” She swiftly brought her hoof down in false annoyance, doing her best not to break into a huge grin. No, she couldn’t stay mad at him. She’d find another way to get the money anyways. She had enjoyed herself the other night; it was fun being at the castle and conversing with the prince. She could truly admit that she liked him.

The prince searched for something to say. “ I-I didn’t mean to! It’s not like I wanted them to come over and mess up my coat! Look at me! I’m fil-.” He was cut short as Trixie nuzzled him in the same way she did the other night. He froze up once more in mid-sentence and just stared at her.

“Trixie was only teasing.” She kept her head there for a moment, gently nuzzling the prince’s mane before pulling back and smiling up at him. “Ready?”

“.. Uh... Yeah! oh yeah, Of course!” he snapped out of his trance and shot up. “ D-Does lunch sound alright to you?” He put his smile back on as he tried to remember the manners Celestia had taught him. He’d been following them fairly well with this mare, not that it was too hard. It was as if he had a reason to be gentlycoltly with this one.

The mare nodded, attempting to hold back her enthusiasm from being offered the food, and quickly led the way to a nearby restaurant.

Unfortunately, the couple was once more mobbed by ponies. Blueblood had to call a couple guards to watch over them.

Trixie’s poor health stood out a few more times during their meal. The blue mare often coughed, despite the constant source of water. She looked weaker than the last time they had met. Her purple eyes were not as vibrant and her movements were not as graceful. This caught Blueblood’s eye. A few times he asked her if she was alright, but she would always reply with the usual “I’m fine.”. Blueblood, though thoroughly concerned, took Trixie’s word for it and continued on the date.

Surprisingly, the lunch went even better than last night’s date. They laughed more and talked more openly to one another as they ignored the looks they got from other couples in the dining area. The Canterlot guards drew as much attention in their dazzling armor as the prince did.

After the meal the couple took a short walk through the gardens. Trixie spoke of the far-off lands she had visited on her travels across the world as Blueblood listened in awe. The prince had never gotten far from Canterlot, and these strange lands that the mare spoke of were like they were something from a fairy tale. Creatures with eagle heads and a lion’s body and a snake so big it could swallow the prince in one bite. Giant three headed dogs and a land full of buffalo. Blueblood listened intently, completely entranced by the tales the blue mare wove.

Trixie didn’t have to lie this time to tell the prince her stories. She had honestly traveled all over Equestria, putting on a show at any city she stopped by. The pony had seen the land where the griffons lived and come in contact with the giant pony-eating snakes. Lying was something that Trixie now felt sorry for doing. She made herself look like somepony she wasn’t, and that was wrong of her. She had made a decision to stop with the fish tales and tell it how it really was.

Unfortunately, the sun started to set as Blueblood and Trixie made their fifth lap around the gardens. Trixie was busy with her stories and Blueblood with his listening. In fact, they wouldn’t have even noticed how late it was if one of the guards hadn’t called Blueblood in for the night.

At first the couple stalled, not ready to leave so soon, but eventually the two ponies nuzzled gently before pulling back and smiling.

“Tomorrow at the same time?” asked a hopeful Blueblood.

“Count on it.” Trixie laughed a bit at his childlike excitement and turned to leave. She felt much better after a good meal and a walk with the prince. Her spirits were high as she made her way back to her stage for a late-night show.

Blueblood smiled widely as he walked back into the castle and trotted to his room. He felt as if he could never be sad again now that he had met Trixie. She was simply wonderful. The prince loved everything about her and he would not be letting her go any time soon.

One thing had concerned him though. He was bothered by how weak and tired she looked prior to their meeting. What could be wrong? Was she sickly? Did she need a doctor?

Blueblood shook his head, pushing the thought to the back of his mind. If it came up again, he’d confront her. Right now, he was happy and he wanted to keep it that way.

As he walked the hallways, he saw Celestia returning from her setting of the sun. She looked tired, and he didn’t blame her; raising and setting the sun each day must take a lot out of somepony.

The prince cared dearly for his aunt. Their relationship had been an odd one at the least. In his life, she had been somewhat of a mother figure to him. She had taken care of the prince and taught him life lessons that nopony else would teach him. In the past he had been quite rude to her; to the point where he could feel his own words cutting into her heart. The thought of hurting her so much made him cringe.

“Auntie!” He decided he would say a few words to the princess and show some respect in place of his usual disrespectful attitude. He trotted up to her side and took a low bow.

“Oh!” She was taken aback by the sudden entrance and display of formality from the prince. “Blueblood. What a pleasant surprise.” She smiled warmly as his head bobbed back up. “How are you today?”

The prince straightened up to face his aunt. “Just great! How was your day?” He beamed brightly up at her. Happiness just seemed to ooze out of him.

Celestia was very much confused by her nephew’s actions. Normally he would brood all day up in his tower. He never smiled, let alone beamed happiness. “It was uneventful.” Celestia thought for a moment before speaking again. “If you don’t mind my asking, what has you in such a mood?” The princess was starting to look a bit concerned. This was just so different. Maybe something was wrong.

“You remember that mare I met up with last night?”

Celestia thought back to when Blueblood told her of his date and nodded.

“Well... we went out again today. And... oh, auntie. She’s the most amazing... And beautiful...” His sentence was cut short with Celestia’s chuckles. He looked up at her, confused. “Why are you laughing?”

The princess shook her head and stopped her chuckles. She had seen this many, many times before. She'd even experienced it herself once or twice. The princess knew love when she saw it, and Blueblood had it bad. “I apologize for laughing, nephew. When do I get to meet this...” She trailed off, reaching out for a name.

“Trixie.” He let the name play on his tongue as he pronounced it as the mare herself did, rolling the R to add emphasis on the name.

“Ah, yes. When do I get to meet this Trixie?” It was Celestia’s job to look over the prince, and she had to make sure she could trust this mare. She couldn’t just allow somepony to hurt her nephew. The princess was concerned that the mare could only be in it for the money and the title. The prince was rather wealthy and the title of ‘prince’s girlfriend’ did probably sound rather inviting.

“Oh!” Blueblood slipped out of his lovestruck state and thought for a moment, bringing his hoof up to his chin. “Err... I guess you could meet her tomorrow. We could have dinner here again.” He looked a bit nervous at this idea. A dinner with the princess would be rather, well, awkward; but he didn’t really have a choice. Celestia gets the final word.

“Sounds delightful. I’ll be in the dining hall after the sun is set.” The princess nodded her head to the prince in a formal manner.

Blueblood suddenly rushed up and nuzzled Celestia. “Love you, auntie.” He hadn’t nuzzled the princess since he was just a foal; but it was true, he really did care about her, he just didn’t always know how to say it.

Celestia paused for a moment, shocked, before gently nuzzling him back. “Love you too, nephew.” She smiled almost motherly at him before continuing her way to her room.

Blueblood watched her go with a smile on his face before going back to his own section of the castle and settling into bed. He lay there for a moment, thinking of the day to come. He couldn’t help but feel that the experience would be utterly different. Whether that would be marvelously good or catastrophically bad was only up to Fate.