King Tirek met with Admiral Storm to discuss the progress of retrieving the stolen goods from the pirates that were imprisoned in the tower to no success.
Storm told him, "She's getting on my nerves! She is very uncooperative! I tried to get her to talk on where she stashed the goods but she refuses to no end!"
Tirek stroked his beard, "Then perhaps we need to try a new method to get her to tell us the whereabouts of my cargo…"
"Except she claims that the cargo wasn't yours to begin with, saying how it belongs to the people and all that nonsense. She says she hates the royal family for what they've done to the kingdom."
Tirek was intrigued by that piece of information, "Did she now? And yet she was willing to let my sons board her ship especially when they had no money on them since I'm the only one with access to the royal treasury so they couldn't pay their way to leaving the kingdom. No, it was an act of mercy to get them away from their arranged marriages which means one of my sons has ties to that pirate captain… The question is how…?" he thought deeper on it remembering how the girls showed up suddenly to turn themselves in to spare the princes, "Those girls… they were there… they were the reason that the boys were about to get away… It's one of them that have an affiliation with the pirate."
"But which one?" Storm questioned.
"Well it can't be the one Discord married; she's much too meek to associate with such a cutthroat group. The one Capper married is too posh, the one Flash married looks too smart, and the one Cheese married is too clueless to know better so that only leaves the ones Soarin and Spike married. Both seem too headstrong for their own good. Well since I have to meet Soarin next anyway perhaps there's a way I'll be able to coax it out of him." he smirked evilly.
Storm praised, "You're so smart, your majesty!"
"Of course I am, idiot, how else do you think I got to be king?"
"How true, sire."
Soarin and Rainbow Dash were in their room having a tender moment when a knock came making them groan and he went to the door where a page was waiting.
"Your Highness, your father requests your presence in his study."
Soarin felt a lump in his throat before turning back to his wife, "Rainbow, I'll be back soon, okay?"
Dash nodded in understanding knowing her husband could not refuse an order from the king.
Soarin left the room with a sad look on his face before it turned to fear as they got closer to the study.
The page then announced, "His Royal Highness, Prince Soarin de Remonter en Fleche."
Soarin came in to see his father emotionless at his desk then the king motioned for him to take a seat in the empty chair. Soarin did so without hesitation.
After a long pause, Tirek finally spoke, "You know why you're here, don't you, my son?"
Soarin nodded and said, "You're going to tell me the reason why I was chosen to be an heir."
"Correct. You see, Soarin, your choosing was that of a unique circumstance. At a young age you showed an interesting display of patriotism that would be important to the kingdom."
"Patriotism?" he uttered, stunned that this was the reason.
"Indeed, you were well verse with the folk songs to our great land that I sense that you would grow up to preserve our nation from invaders that would do harm by imposing their ideals on to us. Admittedly, Flash showed promise in this area too, in fact… I wasn't sure whether or not you were fit to be a prince since you seem to play second fiddle to many things."
Soarin gapped at that as he did not expect to hear such words from his adoptive father.
"Think of it, you have always come in second your entire life. The second heir, the second best swordsman, the second best at academics… Someone is always better than you at something that's its quite disappointing seeing a fine young man such as yourself fall beneath those greater than you."
"I…" Soarin was at a loss given this new revelation.
"I'm surprised you haven't realized sooner. Then it's a good thing I told you, or else you would have been hopelessly naïve for the rest of your life and would not have able to fulfill your role as a prince. With this, I offer you a chance to be the first at something, to prove you're worthy of your title and shall perhaps become king in my stead when my time draws to an end in this world."
Soarin gawked at those words and uttered in disbelief, "Me… king?"
Tirek slowly grinned maliciously, "Yes, my son, for it has occurred to me, that you and I are much alike…"
The prince's eyes widen in terror, No! That can't be true!
Tirek kept talking to add more fear and hate into the prince, "I too was always stuck on the sidelines while hearing the praises that others received. My brother especially was highly regarded by the court and the king himself much like how your brothers are praised more than you. And so I had to take a chance to seize my moment of triumph and now I am king. The same can happen for you, son, if you can help me with a small mystery that has been plaguing me."
He furrowed his brow, "Such as?"
"It has come to my attention that the pirate captain, Celaeno would never associate with you and your brothers given her crimes against our family unless she was given a recommendation by someone you would both know…"
Soarin froze in alarm at what his father was getting at and said with uncertainty, "I… I'm not sure what you mean, Father."
"To put it simply, one of your wives is in alliance with that traitorous pirate and I need your help finding out who."
Soarin felt he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He knew exactly who had ties to the pirates and it was his own wife! Knowing he would need to tread cautiously around this, he voiced, "I am honored you would trust me with such a mission but don't you think it's risky should my brothers suspect something?"
"Not if you do a good job and come up on top for once. Think about it, son, you could be the first in something before your brothers and all you have to do is find that link between the princesses and the pirate."
Soarin squirmed in his seat feeling the pressure and temptation gnawing away at him. The word: second kept floating around in his head. Was his father right? He didn't want to believe it but looking back on all he and his brothers did, he always did come in second. He was the second heir behind Discord, he was the second best swordsman behind Flash, and he was the second best at academics with Capper always being first. Then you have Cheese being better at him when planning royal events and Spike was better at diplomacy given the number of fights he had break up between them and sometimes the castle staff whenever a disagreement rose among them. So it was true. He was the second best in everything. The thought depressed him greatly.
Tirek saw the look on his adopted son's face making a small smirk appear on his face.
Soarin slowly started, "I see your points, Father, and you're right."
"Of course I'm right, I'm always right."
Soarin's head hung in despair.
Tirek got up and patted his shoulder, a rare occurrence to say the least.
"At least you know now and that you can do something about it."
The prince sadly uttered, "Yes… May I… go now, Father?"
"But of course, we're done here anyway, but heed my words of advice."
"Yes, Father…" he got up and made a quick bow before leaving the room not seeing the evil grin on the king's face.
When Soarin got back to the suite, Rainbow saw how upset he was and quickly comforted him.
Soarin knew he would have to keep quiet about his father connecting the dots about Celaeno and the girls not wanting to worry his wife further.
Dash then suggested they play a few games to distract him.
He agreed thinking it would help him feel better but as they played those games, he noticed that Rainbow would always get ahead in them and win. Soarin thought that maybe he was off his game because of the recent talk with his father but he was uncertain. Rainbow was a very good player and reveled in her winnings. While he was happy for her, he felt a little inferior as well remembering how it seems his brothers are better than him in everything and for his wife to possibly be the same way added salt to the wound.
He decided to end the games and instead suggested that they play with Tank who they named for their tortoise since Dash picked him out.
She consented and they were able to have a nice afternoon after that but the seeds of doubt were still buried deep within Soarin's subconscious, whether or not they will sprout was just a matter of time.