//------------------------------// // Nifi Offer (RB And BS) // Story: The Humble Prince // by Lighting Ace //------------------------------// After an agreement was reached, the meeting between royals concluded. Each ruler took their leave without much else being said. There was, of course, a series of respectful goodbyes and general relief of seeing Celestia in a good mood once more, until eventually only the King and Prince Atticus remained with the Princess.  "And yet another gathering between rulers comes to a close. Princess Celestia, we must organize additional get-togethers more often, if possible, with better circumstances to talk." King Atticus said, giving the Princess an exaggerated bow. Celestia knew that all he was doing was buttering her up for future favors, but she didn't voice her thoughts and instead played along.  "I share your sentiment, King Atticus, it's a real shame such wishes might be a distant dreams thanks to our positions and duties," she edged closer to him, "Especially when unannounced guests put a halt on said jobs."  "Nonsense! We are the rulers of our kingdoms, are we not? I say that if I wish to spend time between friends and fellow rulers, we should be granted that luxury. Besides, that is a benefit of knowing how to delegate, am I wrong?"  "Oh, if only the stars could hear you," Celestia replied, mentally rolling her eyes as she used their magic to open the doors.  "Regardless of your sudden arrival, I appreciated your visit King and Prince Atticus. Let us hope that next time I can repay the surprise," Celestia tells them with a practiced smile as they approach.  "But of course, the doors of our kingdom shall forever be open for you, Princess, and once my sweet daughter returns, we will stop taking up more of your valued time."  That last sentence caught Celestia off guard as she quickly turned to the king. "Nefertiti is here?"  "Oh? Did I forget to mention that my sweet and beautiful daughter may have arrived after us? My mistake," the king replied, faking surprise as Celestia's blood froze a little when recalling her multiple encounters with the dubious cat growing up.  Like her father, she had a particular flair for the dramatic, but unlike him, she seemed to have a degree of self-awareness of her actions and took joy in "performing" all the time. This made her hard to read and know her true intentions, even for the royal sisters. Which in turns made her into one particularly dangerous Princess to be around Blueblood.  "Of course we didn't mean any harm or offense by no telling you Celestia. We weren't lying or hiding her arrival; she just wanted to explore the city for a bit before joining us in the castle, and there were more pressing matters to attend to. I hope you understand," Atticus informed as he explained why he never mentioned Nefertiti, or why or when she would arrive.  "Not at all, although I would have preferred to have been informed of the arrival of your daughter. There are indeed some areas open to the public within the palace and can't blame her for wishing to visit the garden," Celestia replied with a practiced smile. Yet, she felt a small seed of nervous energy sprout as the idea of Blueblood near that cat dawned upon her.  And indeed just like Atticus said, Flicker approached her soon after they exited the room to inform of the arrival of Nefertiti while the meeting was in session and how she managed to not only to find out where Blueblood was at the moment, but how he was entertaining her while Celestia was busy. How she even found out where Blueblood was in the first place was anyone's guess, but Celestia assumed she managed to trick some guards into telling her by using her skills on them.  And to make matters worse, when asked where they were at the current moment, one of her guards informed her that both prince and princess exited the castle not too long ago.  "Aw, so kind of your nephew, wishing to show the city to my daughter. Quite the gentlestallion, isn't he?" Atticus voiced his thoughts with a smirk. "Indeed," Celestia copied his expression before slowly turning around to look at him and fake wonder. "Buuuuut, the fact that they outside makes me wonder about a tiny little issue."  "Oh? And what issue would that be? Come on, Celestia, kids will be kids, let them have fun," Atticus argued back while keeping his smile. "Do you want to be that kind of aunt?"  "Of course not, but at times one needs to put their hoof or feet down for the ones you love." She quickly replied, growing more and more concerned. "Look me in the eye and tell that I'm wrong, Atticus, not as a ruler but as a parent." She demanded in all seriousness, starting to make the king nervous as he lightly chuckled.  "Je wha…what are you doing?" He asked, confused about her demeanor.  "Look me in the eyes, and remember the very first time you held your daughter in your arms and tell me that you don't mind that she and my nephew are running around. Heavens know were, with minimum security. Where they could be kidnapped easily and then be exchanged for literally a king's ransom? Tell me you are not worried in the slightest, and I'll stop right here."  "Ah..." The king was at a loss of words as Celestia's explanation seemed to have awakened his paternal instinct all of a sudden, like flipping a switch that he didn't know he had.  "Your precious and delicate daughter, alone and scared in some dark cellar, maybe hurt and heavens forbid, bleeding. Her captors looking at her like a piece of meat, arguing about how much to ask for her safe return, maybe even not keeping their word." she kept pressing as their foreheads were nearly touching together. Celestia was careful with her horn; To others, it would seem like she was getting into his head, and even though that was true, She meant what she said. Every word she was saying applied to her as well. Their parental emotions were overriding everything else until Atticus's smile dropped so it could be replaced with one of shock. "We need to bring them back!" he yelled in a complete panic breaking eye contact.  "You think?" she asked sarcastically as they started to issue orders left and right to bring them back as soon as possible using the tracking spell that Luna placed on Blueblood.  "Erm, guys? Isn't Blueblood a skilled fighter? And Nifi's bodyguards are experts on the art of escape. Guys?" the Princes questions fell on deaf ears as the parent's kept ordering everyone around to bring them back, Celestia even going so far as not wanting to waste more time and giving the green light to the 'teleport when found,' protocol — leaving him dumbfounded on how his father freaked out.  What just happened?  Half an hour earlier on a local public park "Here you go, sir, four hay dogs with everything," a hot dog vendor floated four hay dogs to Blueblood while he levitated the bits for all of them and took them with his magic.  Goodbye to balanced food days, then. At least I still have this going for me. Blueblood thought, trying to calm down a little from the night's previous events, before thanking the vendor and returning to his companions, who were waiting on a nearby bench with some beverages. All of them were wearing hoods over their heads to avoid recognition.  "Sir, by the stars at the very least, let me take care of that," Garra tried to grab some of the hay dogs only for the prince to pull them away. "I got this," Blueblood responded coldly, his magic short-circuiting for a moment, forcing him to hold his head, scaring the guards "Sir!" They approached, but Blueblood raised his hoof  "I'm ok, just had…a little headache, probably because I did the spell wrong for a second, take the hot dogs, please?"  Garra took the food away from him but insisted on coming closer, "Are you sure, perhaps we should return to…"  "I said, I'm fine!" Blueblood snapped, his eyes briefly turning red before going back to normal "I'm sorry Garra, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just processing a lot right now, so please, just please let it go."  "But sir..."  "Please!" Blueblood repeated, glaring at her. "Just let me calm down," he said almost as if he was growling, Garra was still unsure of what happened but decided to relent and nodded, keeping quiet and staying behind while taking the treats with one of her wings. "I still don't understand why couldn't we stay in the castle," Daga complained as she took occasional glances over her shoulder. "I don't like being here; we are way too exposed."  "Oh come on, dear, there's no need to be overly dramatic," Nefertiti answered, making the guard looks at her in shock. "I'm overly dramatic?"  "I just told you, didn't I? If Bluey and I are meaning to talk, we are going to need a certain degree of privacy from nosey maids or eavesdropping guards; mainly to avoid interruptions or objections."  "Hey!" Daga voiced her anger toward that comment.  "Look me in the eyes and tell me that your guards don't gossip about what happens behind the walls of the castle."  She tried to argue but ultimately couldn't do anything and lapsed back into silence.  "That is what I thought," she said before taking a bite of her treat. "Besides, after such a huge revelation, some fresh air is just what you needed, right, Bluey?" Nefertiti asked, looking at Blueblood while he remained quiet, staring at his food with a sad face.  Did I rush into things? She sounded just like my dad, but I did run off pretty quickly, His expression turned from seriousness to sadness. Did I do the right thing? All of this seems wrong. But at the same time…familiar somehow, like I'm forgetting something important, but what? Augh! What I'm doing? Why is it so hard to think? He internally monologues, trying to comprehend what was happening.  "Right, still shaken by the news, got it." There was no reply from him as he just kept his head low and closed his eyes while trying in vain to clear his mind, making Nefertiti sigh and shake her head.  "Listen, I know it hurts, and it's not fair for me to be telling you this, but the sooner you accept reality, the sooner I can help, and trust me, stewing in your emotions make things worse. Yeah, we are just pawns in their game, but as I said, there is a way to turn that fact in our favor, and the trick starts by accepting our roles."  "Our roles?" Blueblood finally spoke up as he slowly looked at her. "You think that is as easy as that?! Just put on a happy face and accept that at any point, we can be exchanged for a favor?! My aunt betrayed me! She looked me in the eyes and told me that she wouldn't use me for this, and then she…she used a technicality to place me up as an option! I…" he yelled at her before looking back to the ground, holding back tears.  "I can't believe she would actually do this to me, I don't even know if she really did, maybe running away was a mistake," he finished, not looking at anyone and clearly still affected by the events that happened earlier, his guards took occasional worried glances at one another with how he was behaving. "Ok, I will give you that, at the very least she had the decency of taking the possibility of arranged marriage away!" Nefertiti commented as she started to get legitimately angry from memory. "Do you have any idea of what it feels to be treated like some trophy? To be dismissed and be expected to 'look pretty and play the part of the perfect princess'…to discover your family thinks of you as some project instead of as a living being?" she whispered the last part, her ears folded down to rest on top of her head in depression as she eats. The feline didn't realize how that previous sentence managed to strike a chord with the prince.  "I'm more than a pretty face, you know? I have dreams of goals. I love my kingdom just as much my brother does, and I would do anything to make it flourish and be greater than the last generation of my family! At the very least, you still have a voice, and you had the option of getting out and exploring your city whenever you like. Most of my life was spent inside the castle doing nothing but learning posture and ridiculous manners and costumes! Do you have any idea of how that feels?"  "I do, actually," Blueblood replied with a sigh, catching the Princess by surprise. "Growing up my aunt didn't let me out much, she told me that it was for my protection," he took a bite of his hot dog only for his head to go green and spit the piece out in disgust.  What the hell? I know that I have eaten hay alternative foods before, so why all of a sudden… The prince briefly remembered the words of Dr. Caliber and got scared when he felt his face heating up for a brief moment. Oh boy, that is not a good sign! "You too, eh?" Nefertiti asked while turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow as Blueblood quickly discarded his food and nods. "We are like birds on a cage, begging to fly, am I right?" Nefertiti half-joked, trying to ease the situation a little as Blueblood nodded once more.   "So, how did you escape that destiny? From what you have told me, this isn't the first time they used you for this."  Nefertiti smiled again and leaned back. "Not going to sugar-coat it Bluey, it was hard, but after discovering that my first 'fiance' was precisely in the same boat that I was, we agreed on not wanting to give up even more of our freedom. So we figured out a smart way to avoid being used."  "How?" Blueblood asked, intrigued by this revelation.  "Three words, sweetheart; pretend and counteroffer," she exclaimed in pride while lifting her extended paw in front of him. "Like I did when we met, play the part of a prestigious and proper princess, and then once they are gone drop the act and go about our real business."  "So, that is why your personality changed so fast after Flicker was gone." Blueblood nodded as he slowly figured out what was happening. Nifi was talking like one of his associates on earth.  "Couldn't let that stifler go tell your aunt or my father what we were truly doing, am I right?" she said with a wink. "If they want to use us, then we only need to use them first. By relying on each other, we can figure out how to use our position to our advantage and build a counteroffer to whatever they want us to tie the knot for."  "But we don't have any power over them; any offer we make could be simply ignored." He points out in anger "Not if we trick them into believing that it was their idea in the first place," she replied with a smirk. "A slip of paper here, a whisper there, if necessary a rumor of betrayal, something to build some tension and then, wedding off and crisis averted."  "Like a puppet master, they think they are pulling our strings when in reality it will be the other way around" Blueblood commented, intrigued by that revelation  "Sir, you can't be serious!" Garra snapped his train of thought as he looked at her in alarm. "What you are suggesting is nefarious and dirty," she tried to plead to his heart, trying to reconsider. "And will that be any different than what they were doing just now, dear?" Nefertiti countered feeding in more to the flames of anger in the prince before patting his shoulder. "I know this looks bad, but unfortunately, this tactic is the only card we can play. We can either surrender our freedom or make them play our own game. And from what I heard, you don't seem like the surrendering type, right?"  "Of course not," He stated flatly while glaring at the air  "Then, let show them that we can play dirty just as much if not better than they can." "You would be betraying their trust, your highness!" Garra insisted, trying for Blueblood to see reason.  "You will be fighting for your freedom!" Nefertiti kept talking.  "Please, sir, I understand that you are angry, but don't let that cloud your judgment," Daga pleaded as well.  "Oh, would you give it a rest! What could you two possibly know about us? Do you think this is easy? Do you think we take pleasure in having to fight to have a voice? This what being a royal means," Nefertiti snapped back at the royal guards before looking at Blueblood "Right Bluey?"  The prince remained quiet, replaying everything that had happened over the day ever since he met Nifi; a part of him was still wary of Celestia. He saw merit in what Nefertiti was offering, but the words of Garra and Daga managed to not only clear his mind but also highlighted Nefertiti's hidden intentions. It was the classic trick of fostering distrust between him and his "superior" that was step one. Step two was to then implant the idea of a partnership to archived a common goal, usually involving an act of revenge or even a powerplay. He was more than familiar with that move; it was virtually one of the first ones he mastered. The fact that he was on the other end of the situation was both a form of poetic justice and a repulsive return of his last life.  And I almost fell for it like a freaking chump! Blueblood scolded himself from falling for her trap so quickly, though credit where credit was due, he had to praise her acting skill in how well she managed to fool him although he wasn't entirely sure how she achieved it that fast. You little backstabbing minx! I got you now, and I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. Blueblood internally glared at Nefertiti while maintaining his expression of surprise and fear.  So, you want to dance with the wolf, kitty? Bring it!  He was about to give her his answer when suddenly, a squad of royal guards appeared seemingly out of nowhere and quickly approached the prince despite his disguise. Much to his shock, while both of their guards took on a circle formation to defend the royals.  "Prince Blueblood, there you are!" one unicorn guard called out.  "What the…?" Blueblood could only say before his entire group is lifted in the air by the magic of various unicorns.  "Stay still your highnesses, Princess Celestia and King Atticus have been worried sick since your disappearance. We received orders to return you to the castle immediately, so please don't struggle while we teleport you back."  "Teleport? Wait! Don't…!" Before he could complain, they all disappeared in a flash of light. Meanwhile at the school of friendship.  Taking advantage of the end of the lesson and using the labs in the school, Twilight decided to pull an all-nighter, returning to the problem that she hadn't been able to solve even with the help of Shining Armor. There was progress to be sure, but the speed of things was pretty slow, and the commotion of Blueblood's self-exile and Celestia's martial law put a screeching halt to their progress.  The frustration of having to stop in solving the problem when they had been so close to an answer was irritating, to say the least, so to ease her mind a little and fearing that soon another thing would stop her once again, Twilight decided to speed things up and started testing reactions of the infamous sedative rocks against other elements. First was with the periodic table, and when that turned into a dead-end, she decided to apply another approach. The advances she made with her brother determined that the rock was half of the formula, and its only function was to keep the victim asleep, so she concluded that the real killer was the other unknown agent in the poison.  So having a theory, she didn't waste time in testing how the rock would react with different substances that were known to make a pony bleed or open its pores so much that it could make them sweat profusely. Her first attempts failed, and she concluded that whatever the lethal substance was, it wasn't a poison on its own and most likely was something that could be easily obtained. That was an implication that both fascinated and terrified her, mainly of how easy it would be to make such an efficient and silent weapon if that was the case.  Her efforts were about to lead her to yet another dead end until she arrived at the most unlikely of options; formulas and ointments reserved for athletes and royal guards. Having exhausted all other options, she decided to, at the very least, give them a try before calling a day. Diligently working on some chemicals and wearing safety goggles and a lab coat, Twilight stared at a beaker while inch by inch, she levitated a pipet with a blue liquid substance inside, placing it near said beaker which contained a sample of pulverized Dreamer Rock. Once a single drop landed on the dust, a constant white smoke emerged from the beaker, gaining the attention of Twilight as she levitated a recorder next to her.  "Mixing Test #25: Dreamer Rock with Leech Tears, the substances indeed react to one another. When in contact, they change into a gaseous form. More specifically, a consistent, dense type of fog or cloud with white coloration." Using a portable vacuum cleaner, Twilight caught much of the fog before sealing the beaker with a cork. "Now, moving to its reaction against a simulated living organism."  For this experiment, Twilight used one of Rarity's mannequins, hollowed out, and covered it on a gel that simulated muscle, a layer of enchanted paper to function as skin and a fluffy scarf that could be used as fur. Injecting some of her own blood into the dummy and using a spell to recreate a functional skin-level excretory system, Twilight exposed the dummy's hoof to the smoke and started a timer.  To her surprise, after the first-minute mark, the dummy started to sweat. "Yes, YES! Please be it, please be it!" she started to smile and chant while collecting a sample that, to her joy, confirmed her theory. The smoke could indeed make a pony sweat blood. "Finally! I got you!" She took her tape recorder once more while looking at the dummy, which continued to bleed like there was no tomorrow. "My theory was correct; the murder weapon is a gas…" Her happiness suddenly stopped once she remembered the objective of the experiment and the grim reality behind it. "Prince Blue…my cousin was killed by toxic poison gas, created by mixing pulverized Dreamer Rock and the sports ointment known as Leech Tears," she finished the recording and put it away before looking back at the beaker.  Now I know the what, and the when. But the question that remains is this; how did a pony sneak this into his room? Twilight pondered this for a moment before grabbing a feather and parchment and started to write to the Princess and her brother of her discoveries.