Rockabye Dragon

by L Drkheart


The Prince's Heart

Prince Blueblood sat on his balcony as the sun began to slowly rise for the day. Below him, many ponies would be waking to begin their busy days and above him the princess would be preparing for a dull day of meetings and complaining nobles. Blueblood stared at the sun and let the warmth wash over his messy and unkempt morning mane and fur. This was a rare kind of morning for the prince, only happening once or twice a year. 
Memories flooded his mind as the warmth spread, they were of a young colt with a white coat and yellow mane who would run to the balcony excitedly as his beloved aunt would smile and raise the sun with him doing his best to help her. There was no dragon, no other princess in the world, it was just a boy and the only one that ever cared for him. 
‘Greedy’ Blueblood’s memories were interrupted by his own mind making him sigh.
“I know it is but… I miss those times where it was just her and I.”
‘What? Do you think you’re the only one who needs her? Spike and Cadence don’t?’

“No… they need her more than ever but spending time with her last week made me remember how things used to be and… made me wish for those days. Felt good back then to have a family member who cared…”

‘And your friends? Are they not family?’ Blueblood thought of Spike, Cadence, and Shining and found that he had no answer for the voice. He saw the local mailmare and decided that he might as well get the mail. He groomed himself enough for the morning staff in case they saw him and ended up bumping right into the servant that had the mail. 
“O-oh my apologizes, my prince. I was distracted.” The servant bowed which Blueblood allowed him up. 
“I guess we all are a bit tired this morning. Any letters for me?”
“One.” He passed over a letter that smelled like a perfume shop spilled all its product on it. Blueblood held the letter away with his magic and opened it, reading over the words before a frown appeared on his face and he tore the letter to shreds and threw the pieces to the sky. “M-my prince?”
“Clean this mess and tell the princess that I’m in my room should she ask!” Blueblood growled at the servant before storming back to his room as Spike was coming out of his room with a yawn and rubbing his eyes. 
“Hmm? Is something wrong with Bluey?”
“Prince Spike, we have a new maid joining the staff and you know your mother’s orders!” Spike rolled his eyes.
“No new hire is to meet me until one year of service I know.”
“Yes, so I will have to call for an escort my prince. Aren’t you still grounded also?” Spike smiled trying to look innocent which the servant only smiled at. “Head to the dining room sir and it seems as though Prince Blueblood isn’t joining you all today…” The dragon frowned and then noticed a shred of letter between his toes. 
“Oh I get it, it’s his ‘off day’” Once a day, every year Blueblood would be in a rage and ordered everyone to stay away from him and all his mail to be burned. During that time, he was worst to Cadence should she try to talk to him usually apologizing the next day. “Why does he always hate this day?” Spike asked himself as he arrived at the dining room where his mother and Cadence were already eating some pancakes. 
“Morning Spike!”
“Hello, my little fireball. How was your sleep?” 
“Okay, I dreamt I was in a sea of gems. Umm, so I saw one of the servants earlier and Blue’s not joining us today…” The princesses shared a look and Celestia sighed. 
“I see, I had forgotten what day it was. Cadence you have my permission to leave the castle today but you’ll have to write an essay tomorrow on the changes you feel through the day.”
“Aww, again auntie?”
“Every year dear, you never know and do try to avoid love spells this year.” Cadence blushed in embarrassment and nodded before going to leave the castle, sparing a moment to look in the direction of Blueblood’s room and sighed. Spike took his seat beside Celestia and picked at his jewel pancakes. “What is bothering you, Spike?”
“I was wondering why Blueblood hates this day so much? And why he seems to be angry at Cadence the most.”
“Oh he’s not truly mad at her but he holds a bitterness towards what she is on this day. He’s been like this for years but when Cadence arrived he felt like he had a pony he could blame his troubles on.”
“Troubles?”
“Do you know what day this is dear?”
“Umm… the fourteenth day on the second moon.”
“Yes, but do you know the importance of this day?” Spike racked his brain for the knowledge of holidays that his teachers taught him. 
“Heart and Hooves day!”
“Exactly. It’s the day where ponies spent time with and show how much they care about their special somepony. A day of great love throughout Equestria.”
“So why does he hate it?”
“Blueblood hasn’t always been the easiest pony to get along with and while he is better with you and Cadence with him, his position makes true relationships much harder to form.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve taught you that it is our duty to serve and rule the ponies of Equestria with fairness and love but there are some out there who will try to get close to you for your position instead of who you are. Blueblood’s parents have always pushed the fact that their son is single to every noble that they know has a daughter. On this day he receives dozens of letters all from ponies that he sees as trying to use him and this angers him.”
“So why hate on Cadence?”
“Cadence is the Princess of Love and since Blueblood can’t find anypony that loves him for himself he blames Cadence.”
“B-but Cady doesn’t force love!”
“He knows that and that his anger is misplaced but that doesn’t stop it from existing. Sometimes ponies and dragons can’t help their feelings and they take over the better parts of ourselves.”
“Is there a way to help him…”
“Blueblood must be willing to trust in someone first and that is a big step my little fireball. I have morning court to tend to so stay out of trouble and out of sight from the new maid at least for now. Let Blueblood rest best you can dear.” Celestia kissed Spike’s forehead and left for her duties while Spike finished his breakfast and thought about Blueblood. The stallion was a constant in Spike’s life, one of the ponies that he trusted above all else and even if he complained and argued, he had always stood by Spike. 
“If he wants a friend then I’ll make him a friend!” Spike declared and walked out of the dining room where he was surrounded and escorted by the royal guards. He decided that the first part of his plan would be to send somepony to Blueblood. He was escorted to the royal library where he looked up some books on friends and love but concluded on writing a friendship letter but after writing he realized that most of the staff knew his clawwriting so they were out until he looked at the guards around him. 
.   . .
Scarlet Rose sighed as she stretched and popped her back. Maid work was a lot harder than she thought it would be but it would all be worth it in the end. She couldn’t believe how amazing Canterlot was and how expensive it would be but now she was working in the royal castle itself. Her ears twitched when she heard the familiar bell sound that signaled someone was sending down a letter from one of the shoots that were scattered throughout the castle. The letters were usually telling of a mess or job that needed to be done. Scarlet rolled her eyes and grabbed the letter with her magic. It bore the emblem of the princess. 
“Fine let’s see what the duty is now, hmm this letter…” It was different than the rest she had seen as it was crudely written as if the writer was still learning. “The princess must be busier than usual. Let’s see here… Miss Scarlet Rose as the newest member of our staff would you please attend to my nephew?” Scarlet frowned wondering why they would send the newest member of the staff to serve a prince. Shrugging it off she sighed and made her way to the north wing of the castle which was surprisingly empty except for some guards that were walking around as a group. She followed the vague instructions on the letter until she reached a door and knocked before she was answered by a shout. 
“Leave me alone! I’m not hungry!”
“Uhh hello? It’s Scarlet, the maid that the princess sent to attend to you whatever that means.”
“My aunt sent you?” The door opened and Scarlet had to blink as the stallion before her wasn’t the proud prince that the papers had shown from time to time. This stallion had puffy eyes that looked like he had cried while his suit was buttoned wrong and the tie was completely undone. His blond mane was messy and unkempt. He frowned and looked Scarlet over before reaching out a hoof. “Did she give you a letter or was it a verbal command?”
“Letter.” She passed over the letter which Blueblood snatched and read with his frown softening the tiniest bit but his eyes showed he was now much more confused. He recognized Spike’s clawwriting immediately but why had the dragon sent this maid to him?
“Who gave this to you?”
“It came from one of the castle shoots.”
‘Hmm, Spike’s no fool he knows he’s not allowed to be seen so he passed the letter off as coming from Aunt Celestia and sent this girl to me. Heh, I think Cadence’s mischievousness is rubbing off on the boy. He must have been worried about me…’ Blueblood sighed and walked into his room, leaving the door open which Scarlet decided was his way of giving her permission to enter. She found the light off and the room was in shambles with the only source of light being the glow-in-the-dark plastic stars that were on the ceiling. “I apologize for the mess and having to meet me like this… I hate how this day always affects me…”
“Not a big fan of Hearts and Hooves day either huh? Yeah, I know the feeling…” Blueblood glanced at this pony as he sat on his bed. She was a white unicorn with a short mane that was made of different shades of red and pink, her red eyes were kind and understanding with a tinge of sadness. “This day always reminds me of my parents… we used to do everything together…”
“I’m sorry… That can’t be easy especially for somepony so young.” Scarlet giggled which was a sweet sound that echoed through the silent room. 
“No need to make me sound so old prince boy, I’m still college-age what are you? Sixteen?”
“Seventeen.” 
“Then you’re just the age that having a mare in your room should be a big deal~” Blueblood found his voice missing as he blushed and Scarlet laughed at him. “Oh come on, it’s a joke prince boy. What do I have to do to see you laugh?” Blueblood smirked a bit.
“How about telling a good joke?”
“Ooo so the prince does have a sense of humor, hold the presses!” The two glared at each other before bursting into laughter. Blueblood laughed until he felt magic pulling at his hooves. 
“W-whoa whoa what’s going on?” 
“Well as cool as your room is, why not try going out into Canterlot? We can make fun of some of the ponies we see!”
“B-but my mane!” Scarlet rolled her eyes with a small smile. “Once a royal always a royal. Why not wear a disguise so you can walk around with a friend without the presses chasing you down?”
“Walk around… with a friend? We’re friends?”
“Well… yeah. What else would we be? If I didn’t like you I would have left.”
“Didn’t my aunt tell you to take care of me?”
“I’m not your mom if you want to help a pony they need to want to help themselves.” Blueblood bit his lip as he thought of her words, had he been just complaining for these years and pushing away the ones that care because he refused to try?
“Okay, let’s do it!” She smiled and grabbed a few things from his closet.
“First, I get to play dress-up with a prince.”
.   . .
Spike was ecstatic when he saw Scarlet and a strange unicorn dressed in some kind of cloak leave the room and head to the front door of the castle. He wanted desperately to follow but the guards surrounding him shook their heads, reading his mind.
“We’re sorry sir but you know the rules, your mother would send us to the sun if something happened to you.”
“But I’ll be super duper good!” Spike tried his secret weapon that had fell goddesses, the puppy eyes. The guard that spoke took a single step back before trying to look away. “Pleeeeaseeee?”
“Back up!” One of the guards, a tall orange stallion with a blue mane and playful eyes walked over to the helpless guard and gently moved him before looking down at the prince. He smiled softly and took off his helmet, playfully placing it on Spike’s head.
“Nice try, you really are a smart one but I have a son who made me stronger in more ways than one. One of those ways was making the look no longer work on me. You’d like him, his name is Flash.” Spike frowned and fixed the helmet so he could see again but seeing the stallion made him smile and he sighed in defeat. 
“Okay you win, can you all at least escort me go to the astronomy tower?”
“As you wish my prince.” The tower was the second tallest point in the Canterlot, save for the princess’s own bedroom. Its entire dome ceiling could open up and expose the largest telescope in Equestria which was usually only used by scholars and the princess herself when she felt the want to see the moon come to her. Spike was in the room a lot more than the usual creature as his mother insisted that he train and be at least a bit knowledgeable in all that he could be so he’d be able to do whatever he would want. His teacher was the creator of the telescope and a very eccentric pegasus named Star Gazer that Celestia had allowed him to live in the tower. 
“Teach? You here?!” Spike put his hands on his hips as he knew the scatterbrained stallion was probably sleeping after pulling an all-nighter. As the dome was closed, there was little lighting the room except for the ceiling which had been enchanted so it would always be showing a meteor shower night sky. A tiny mountain of pillows was moving ever so slightly making Spike chuckle before he dug his hand into the softness until he reached something a tiny bit less soft. Giving it a slight tug showed the end of a deep blue tail poking out. Spike laid on the pillows and lightly blew a flame on the tail while waiting and he didn’t have to wait long as a screech filled the dome as the pegasus burst from the pillows and flew around in a circle. 
“Fire! There’s a fire!! My tail is on fire! I’m on fire!” Star Gazer panicked and hit his head on one of the hanging replicas of a planet, falling on his back. Spike wiped his eye and finished his laugh while he walked over to the pegasus and licked his fingers before swiftly destroying the tiny flame. Star opened one of his eyes when he felt the fire vanish and saw the smirking dragon and pouted.
“Not funny my prince, what if I flew into something flammable!?”
“You know my mom fireproofs everything that enters the castle after that time I had a bad case of the hiccups.” Star Gazer cringed at the thought of the bill for all the equipment he lost that day. 
“I try to not remember that, wait why are you here Spike? Is it Saturday already?”
“Nope, I just wanted to use one of your telescopes to look down at Canterlot.”
“Hmm, are we looking for something in particular?”
“Well, I wanted to do a bit of spying… I had set up a new maid to spend some time with Blueblood. I just wanted to see how things turned out” Star tapped his chin thinking if this was anything bad that he should be stopping but shrugged. He commonly ponywatched himself so he didn’t really have the grounds to judge his small ward. 
“Why not, I’ll go get a telescope.”
.   . .
Blueblood felt strange walking the streets of Canterlot with no press or lovestruck fans following him, especially with it being Hearts and Hooves day. Scarlet had discarded her maid outfit at the castle and messed her mane up a bit. 
“You wouldn’t believe how tight a skirt can be, I mean my behind was crying out for release!” Blueblood blushed at how loudly she spoke and how she even gave her rear a rub. “I don’t know how you can live in those suits you seem to wear so much.”
“H-hey they make me look older and more royal!”
“But the princess doesn’t even wear stuff like that just her crown and gold hoof things.”
“Umm shoes?”
“No, they’re more like cuffs. So where should we go? Everything is half-off for couples so just pretend we’re together!”
“W-what?!”
“What? Do you think I have bits growing out of my wallet? Unless you wanna pay for me, I better warn ya though. I can eat a buffet like it’s nothing!” Blueblood glanced through his wallet and bit his lip before turning back to her.
“S-so half-off huh?” Scarlet burst into laughter.
“Oh my Celestia, you’re broke!”
“I-I am not! I’m just… been spending my money on very important items!”
“Like those Power Ponies figurines, I saw in your room?”
“They’re collectibles!! Let’s just eat here!” He hastily pointed at the closest location to change the subject.
“The Donut Palace? Hmm, I could use a good sweet right now, but you sure your delicate hooves can take a donut~?” Blueblood scoffed a bit with his chin up high.
“Please, I can take a bit of commoner food.” A pleasant scent assaulted Blueblood’s nose as he held the door open for Scarlet who rushed in and gazed around at all the dozens of different kinds of donuts with stars in her eyes. “Wow… I must admit that this is all pretty impressive!”
“Impressive? It’s awesome! I don’t know what I want to try!” Blueblood chuckled at the childish nature that Scarlet had when around sweets. She blushed at the sound and rounded on him. “What? Why are you laughing huh?” Blueblood held up his hooves in surrender.
“Just a crazy thought, go ahead and choose whatever you want. My treat.”
“I thought you were broke…”
“Well yeah but I have enough for some donuts.” She looked over the menu when she noticed something which made her smile and she slammed a hoof on the table they were sitting at. The whole shop looked at them as she declared and pointed at the owner of the shop, Pony Joe.
“We want to take on the Donutopia!” The other occupants gasped as Pony Joe walked over.
“Are you sure missy? It’s not a challenge to take lightly. Only one group ever finished.” Pony Joe said while pointing to a picture behind his register where a photo hung of three ponies. 
  “Scarlet what are we doing?” Blueblood whispered as a crowd surrounded them. 
“We’re gonna take on the Donutopia! It’s a platter of every donut in the shop and we get thirty minutes to finish every one or we have to pay for each one.”
“W-we don’t have that many bits!”
“So all we do is win.” She winked at him and he walked over to the counter and looked at the picture of the only winners, surprisingly he recognized the winners. Shining Armor, Cadence, and a filly who must have been Shining’s sister. Shining looked sick as the two girls laughed at him. Blueblood felt a want to be beside them on the wall burn in him. He wanted to prove that he could do it too. 
“Okay, I’m ready to try it!” The crowd cheered as the two took their seats and soon Pony Joe brought them their platter. It was the size of a fully grown pony and dozens of colorful donuts teased them. 
“Ready… set…” Scarlet reached over and touched Blueblood’s hoof.
“We can do it.” He smiled and nodded at her.
“Go!” The two dug in instantly with Blueblood chomping down in a very unprincely way that would have made his parents faint. The very thought made him want to laugh and eat more. They had a good pace for the first ten minutes as they finished nearly half of the donuts but they were slowing down quick. Pony Joe provided them with milk to help watch down all the sweets. At the end of twenty minutes, Blueblood was full and groaned as he watched Scarlet eating but even she was taking a minute to finish one donut. 
“Ugh… no… I can’t keep going...”
“Hey come on buddy! Can’t give up yet!” Blueblood turned to see Shining Armor there with a smile. “You two are so close! We believe in you don’t we?” Cadence walked from the crowd and nodded with a cheer.
“Course we do! I say give it all you got.” Blueblood stared at the closest thing he had to a sister and saw Scarlet had finally stopped as she groaned. He reached over and patted her horn making her look at him. 
“I got this, trust me.” Blueblood drunk a glass of milk before shoving donut after donut into his mouth. The crowd was silent to see the stallion just destroying the platter with his speed and ferocity. As the timer neared its end Blueblood slowed down again with only determination pushing him forward. That determination ended as he fell holding his stomach with only one donut left on the platter. He tried to get back in his chair to reach it but couldn’t pull it off. He sighed and laid on his back and whispered an apology to Cadence and Shining. As the ring of the timer rung, Blueblood opened his eyes and found that not one donut was left on the platter. He blinked in shock when he turned to Scarlet who was holding the platter up and swallowed the last bite. The crowd cheered while Cadence and Shining helped Blueblood to his chair.
“Well that was some of the finest teamwork I ever have seen, you two certainly deserve the win! How bout that picture?” Blueblood couldn’t answer as he was afraid to throw up but Scarlet nodded and moved her chair next to his before putting an arm around him. Just as the camera was getting ready, she knocked down his hood and kissed his cheek. The crowd was silent again as it was revealed that the pony they had been watching was the prince. Blueblood finally did give up after the kiss with him fainting after the picture and Scarlet giggling. Seeing that it was getting late she winked at the shocked princess.
“Can you take him back to the castle for me princess? I need to rest after that.” Cadence shook her head getting back to her senses before giggling and nodding at her. 
“Fine but I think later we’ll need to get to know each other better.” 
“Fair deal…” Cadence closed Shining’s mouth as he was shocked that Blueblood had managed to win the challenge. She nuzzled her knight and gifted him with a small kiss on the cheek which brought him back to his senses and he blushed.
“I better take Bluey back to the castle, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“R-right!” She took her cousin in her magic and walked him back. Above them, Spike crossed his arms. 
“Aww man, I missed everything! Well… Blue looks like he had a good time at least.” The young dragon looked up at the setting sun and smiled. “Now to find mom a friend!”
.   . .
Spike finished brushing his teeth and flexed at the mirror with a smile. “Yep, I’m strong!”
“Still could use some work if you ask me~” Spike yelped and turned to see Blueblood there. “Spike I think we need to talk about that letter you gave to Scarlet.” Spike looked down and played with his claws.
“I’m sorry Blue… you just always seemed so sad this day I wanted to… to do something to make you happy…” Spike felt strong hooves wrap around him and pull him close. “B-Blue?”
“Thanks, Spike. I had fun today and I made a new friend. I couldn’t have asked for anything better I’ll try to talk to aunt Celestia to see if she would let you go out soon. You deserve it but keep up with your classes okay?”
“Promise! Thanks, Bluey!” The two hugged again with Cadence walking away from the door with a smile on her face.