//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Blueblood's Blush. // by Sophocoles //------------------------------// Sparks and bangs erupted from where Trixie stood onstage with her fireworks pointed into the sky and her horn glowing brightly with magic. A crowd of about twenty ponies looked up at the sparkles in the sky with bored looks on their faces. It was easy to tell they were not impressed. A wave of yawning began as Trixie set up to do her next trick. The blue mare hopped onto a box and reared up onto her back legs, causing even more fireworks to go off. She strained to keep her smile on her face as she flipped off of the box and took a bow. The only noise that could be heard other than the faint coughing of a stallion in the back was the murmurs of ponies conversing quietly with one another. Trixie could pick up bits and pieces of the conversations. “I hear she’s dating the prince,” said an orange pony near the front who was whispering to somepony who appeared to be her sister. “Yeah,” replied the sister. “I read about it in a magazine the other day. She’s not even that pretty. The Prince must be keeping her around for a reason.” “Ugh. Let’s just go,” said a blue colt from the back. “We’re unicorns anyways. We can do this on our own.” The stallion stood and made his way to the exit. As he trotted away most of the other ponies took the chance to take their leave also. Trixie watched in silent horror before gathering the strength to say something. “W-Wait! Trixie isn’t done yet!” The crowd continued to file out of the stone square and back to their daily lives. “I have more! I promise!” The blue mare hopped off the stage and rose a hoof, as if reaching out to touch the leaving crowd. “... Please.” By now the square was completely empty except for the blue mare hunched over in the center, shaking with both sadness and weakness. She shouldn’t have put on a performance today anyways. She was far too weak from both the lack of food and the cold that she was trying to hold back. She’d been able to disguise the cold near perfectly onstage, except for the occasional sneeze or sniffle. It went the same with her dates with prince Blueblood. Blueblood. She recalled the conversation she overheard on stage. ‘Keeping her around for a reason.’ Could this be true? Was the prince really only just ‘keeping her around’? No, it couldn’t be. She knew the prince was more than that. She knew she could trust him. The blue mare was caught off guard by the sound of hoofsteps on the stone ground. She looked up to see one of the royal Canterlot guards trotting over, his armor gleaming and his nose held high. He stood in front of the sitting mare and looked down. “Ma’am. I’m afraid I’ll have to give you a warning about your use of fireworks.” The stallion looked down at her with cold blue eyes. Trixie let out a slight whimper. “.. W-Why?” She could feel her emotions going for another rollercoaster ride as she sprung to her feet. Who was he to tell her she couldn’t use her fireworks? SHE payed for them. SHE rented the spot. “WHY?!” she yelled this time demanding an answer. The stallion was a bit taken aback at the sudden confrontation. “It violates our policy. Now you have two choices. You can either peacefully decide not to use fireworks in your show anymore or you can pack up and escort yourself out of the gardens.” “Ohhh.” Trixie’s eyes narrowed at the stallion. “It violates your policy. How very rude of me.” She took a threatening step closer. “Trixie is allowed to use WHATEVER SHE WANTS for her shows, and YOU are nopony to stop me.” Now she was only an inch away from the stallion, her eyes narrowed so tightly, she could barely even see him. The stallion kept his cool. “Ma’am. I’m going to ask you to step down.” He stood his ground. Trixie’s face showed a hint of red as her anger boiled. She bit her bottom lip and stepped back. “I don’t give a flying feather about your policy.” The blue mare was quite surprised when the guard took a low bow. Then she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the sound of somepony clearing their throat behind her. She quickly turned to face the mystery pony. Only, it wasn’t so much of a mystery. Behind her stood prince Blueblood. He looked at the guard, taking a step forward. “Is there a problem here?” asked the prince. His voice was harsh and stern. “No, sir. I was just telling this mare that she was violating our policy.” The stallion rose and stood at attention. “Our policy.” He repeated the words, halting in front of the guard. He sighed. “Let this mare be. She never hurt anypony. and I’m sure she has no intention to.” Blueblood looked back at Trixie, who was now sitting behind him and looking at the ground. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t. It violates our policy,” the guard repeated again, a tinge of annoyance creeping into his voice. “You have no choice. Said mare is a good friend of mine and has been granted royal permission.” Blueblood stood slightly taller than the guard, looking him straight in the eye. The guard took a bow. “Yessir.” He trotted away and went to the other side of the castle. Blueblood turned to Trixie and nuzzled her, which caused her to raise her head to look up at the prince. “What happened? Is everything okay?” He sat down so he was eye level with the mare. Trixie sighed, her weakness catching up with her. “Trixie was just finishing up with her spectacular show when the guard came over and demanded her to stop.” She rested her tired head on the prince’s chest and sighed. The prince blushed at their touch and smiled. “Well... I don’t think he’ll be giving you any more problems.” He nuzzled the blue mare and stood. “Come on. I need to talk with you about something.” Trixie struggled a bit to stand up. She even swayed a little when back on all four hooves. She tried to play it off casually, but she saw the prince cock an eyebrow. “Before we get to anything...” The prince looked at Trixie, great concern in his eyes. “Are you.... okay? Just lately you’ve seemed... weak. Can I do something for you? Can I help?” Trixie thought for a moment. She thought about telling him of just how sick and weak she was. Then she’d get all better, then she’d be able to be with the prince without having to worry about herself; but one word stood out in the prince’s question. ‘Weak’. Trixie knew she was not weak, for she was the strongest of mares. She could support herself. She didn’t need help. “No... I’m fine. Really. Just a bit, you know, tired.” Trixie regretted the words the moment they came out of her mouth. She felt disgusting. The thoughts were pushed to the back of her head as she looked up at the prince’s concerned face. Then the guilt hit her again, only ten times worse. She couldn’t stand the feeling. It was then that her heart and head came to a unanimous decision. The mare would tell the prince every aspect of her daily struggles over dinner. It was there when she would apologize for lying and let him know the true reason as to why she looked so sickly. The prince gave her a reassuring nuzzle. “Come on. Let’s go for a bit of a walk. Like I said, I need to talk to you.” He nodded and led the way, but not before signaling a guard to watch over them while they stopped for a bite to eat. The couple made their way to the closest eatery and took a seat near the back. Trixie took the chance to order quite a large lunch to keep her energy level high. She noticed that Blueblood looked nervous about something. He kept biting his lip and opening his mouth, as if about to say something, before closing it again and taking a sip of his water. “You said you had something to tell Trixie?” the mare asked before taking a sip of her own beverage. “Y-yeah... You know the dinner date for tonight?” The prince asked apprehensively. Trixie nodded with her straw in her mouth. “Well.... Turns out we’ll be dining with the princess.” He gave his best ‘I’m sorry’ smile. Trixie’s eyes grew wide as she nearly choked on her water. She pulled back and took a deep breath of air. “With Princess Celestia?” Right about now that food wasn’t feeling so good in the pit of her stomach. “Yeah. She wants to get to know you.” The prince gestured a waitress over to clean up Trixie’s spilt water. Trixie closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. “Well... it’s certainly an honor.” She felt as if she was going to be sick. Her recent meal was churning in her stomach. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll go fine. Auntie is pretty relatable. She won’t really put you on the spot or anything.” Trixie sighed and took another sip of water. “I have nothing to wear.” She spoke the words as they hit her. It was just an idea that popped into her head. “We have a dress at the castle you could wear.” Trixie nodded, keeping her head low. Suddenly the blue mare was very dizzy. “E-Excuse me... I need to use the little filly's room.” She stood and made her way to her destination. Blueblood received a lot of odd looks from the surrounding ponies. Several mares were batting their eyelashes at him as some of the stallions rolled their eyes. He thought on what was to come that very night. Celestia was truly a nice pony, she just didn’t understand how truly awkward she had made the situation. Blueblood somehow knew that it would go well, yet in the very back of his mind, there was that constant reminder of failure. The reminder that something could go catastrophically wrong and the night could end horridly. He did his best to not dwell on those thoughts, though they were persistent. All he could do now was wait for the dinner and see how it goes.