//------------------------------//
// 35 - Best Night Plans 
// Story: Blueblooded Bluebell 
// by David Silver 
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"And then the music swells." Lemon gestured over her plans. "You'll come down the aisle here." She trailed a hoof along the path.

Fancy nodded softly. "This part is pleasingly standard."

"Right right." Lemon got back to the more interesting parts. "Luna agreed to play the mediator."

Blue's ears twitched atop her head. "In the middle of the day?"

"I mentioned it to her and she was quite eager." Lemon pointed at Blue. "Something about her duty?"

Blue softly hummed a moment. "Of course..." Faithful Luna, her aunt and sort of mother... "I will have to think a way to repay her for this kindness. I can only imagine she will be quite tired."

Fancy chuckled softly. "Are lunar coffee beans at the ready?"

Lemon snorted softly. "Way ahead of you. We'll have her favorite blend piping hot and ready for her. Now, with Luna serving the role, that means Celestia will not be strictly required. We don't need two mediators."

Fancy raised a hoof to chin at that idea. "A noble marriage without Princess Celestia? That is a departure from the norm."

Lemon nodded. "Yeah, but we have a royal sister. Two is just being greedy in the end. She'd just be a guest if she was there."

Blue sat up a little. "Then we should at least invite her to be just that. We've had... moments, but to spurn her at this point feels impolite. Besides, she is our ruler, at least an invitation. If she declines, that is her decision, but if we don't even offer it, then it is ours."

"And a rude one," agreed Fancy. "She will be invited, even as just a guest."

"You got it." Lemon clopped a hoof down on the plan paper. "Speaking of that; if you give me a list of guests, I'll take care of invitations, or, if you prefer, you can handle that. Different newlyweds, different wants on that. You won't hurt my feelings either way."

Blue and Fancy shared a look before both nodded in unison. "We'll handle it," they spoke in unison.

Lemon burst into a fresh bout of giggles. "You two are already too much!" She reached, a hoof on either of their shoulders. "Glad I can help you two come together. Now..." And she right on outlining how the ceremony would proceed.





"You have the accent down." Fire leaned in towards Fleur, over her a little with a bit of a smirk. Sure, Fleur was physically larger, but that is what a chair was for, displaying proper dominance to students. "But you're tripping over the sentence. Prench is not in the same order as Ponish. Let's do that again."

"Oui." For the chastising, Fleur did not look at all downcrest. "Thank you, mon amie, for taking the time. I feel certain you have so many importante things."

"Stop that." Fire set a hoof on Fleur's lips. "You're cute, but stop that. Until you're done learning Prench, you're not allowed to use it in Ponish sentences. That's just holding you back. Prench for Prench. When you got that down like breathing, you can go back to being creative with it."

"Oi-- Yes." Fleur cleared her throat with a raised hoof. "I will do my best. That will not be easy... I've grown quite used to it."

"I did not promise this would be easy." Fire smirked perhaps a bit cruelly. "But you will get what you want, if you want it enough to work for it."

Fleur nodded firmly though, undeterred. "I will not stop, non!" She colored faintly. "No," she repeated, in Ponish.

"Good, now, while I want you to not use little bits of Prench, we are learning Prench, so... let's move on..." She rolled a hoof slowly. "From now on, I will speak only in Prench. You will respond in it, however slowly you have to. If you're stuck, ask for help as a foal would a word they don't know, because that is what you are, a foal learning a language." Heat rolled off of her, perhaps enjoying herself a bit much. "Comprends-tu?"

Not that she waited. "Commençons donc. Quel est ton nom?"

Fleur was quiet a moment, sifting through the words with a little scrunch of concentration. Nom. Nom... Oh! "Fleur de Lis," she pronounced with pride. "Quel est ton nom?"

Fire raised a brow at the question being turned back on her, not that she had a problem understanding it. "Je suis Paradoxe du Feu, votre professeur. Continuons. Quand vous avez soif, que buvez-vous ?"

That was perhaps a bit much for Fleur's skill, leaving her lips moving without words a moment. "Je... suis?"

"I am," replied Fire, proving she would still speak some Ponish.

"Fue is fire," continued Fleur, putting it together. "Paradox of fire. Your name in Prench sounds lovely."

"Thank you." She leaned forward with her grin. "Now answer the question."

As Fire had promised, it would not be easy, but once set to a task of instruction, she took it seriously. Drilling Prench into Fleur was her assignment, and one she would see to the end, even if she made that pretty mare squeal in horror at the end.





"So this is it?" Fire slowly walked down the central aisle, one hoof feeling along the marble divider. "Fancy."

"He oversaw it." Blue nodded with confidence. "Isn't it lovely?"

"So we'll meet the ponies there." Fire pointed at the circle in the center. "Give them one last chance to chicken out. If they're still ready, we zap them and invert their sensitive parts."

"You are so very crude at times." Blue rolled her eyes as she moved to take her spot in the circle. "See the pamphlets here?"

Fire advanced, bringing the papers into view. "What are those for?"

"Give one of the ones on the left." Her magic plucked up a lone sheet of paper. "Only after they read that do we ask them if they are certain. It has all the information that will need to know before we proceed any further."

"How many bits are we charging?"

Blue blinked softly. That had not been the question she had expected at all! "I'm doing this out of kindness."

"Dummy." Fire prodded her boss in the side. "If you do it for free, that's what they'll value it as. Your time isn't free. You only have so much of it."

"But the entire purpose." Blue Belle huffed at the idea. "The whole idea is to bring this to those who might not have the means."

"Why are you so much newer to living the mortal life than me?" Fire rolled her eyes dramatically. "You have to set a price, a fair one." She began tapping her hooves with her steps. "Then you can offer a break to those who need it. They'll feel really good, getting something expensive for less, instead of something that was free. And if a noble pony wanders in here, you won't feel bad charging the actual price."

Fire turned in place. "You don't own this place. It's gonna cost bits to keep it, and to keep it looking this shiny. You need bits. I know, alien to you. Me, need bits?! But too bad, welcome to actually getting things done."

This was a bitter pill, creating quite the frown a moment, but it lifted. "You are not wrong. Even Princess Celestia must attend her finances, even if she has trusted ponies for the task." She set a hoof on Fire. "You are well worth having around, Miss Paradox."

"As if there was a doubt." She pointed to the side of the room with the male symbol. "I call dibs on the ones becoming stallions. You can handle the ones going in the direction you went in."

Blue inclined her head faintly. "I don't see much the difference. If it pleases you." She pointed at the other stack. "This is to be given to them afterwards. Direct them towards their proper waiting area for recovery with it. Since you wish to take on the stallions, I will warn that the process makes them energetic. You must insist. No pony leaves until they're recovered. I will be having a nurse on either side to ensure their safety and full recovery."

Fire rolled her eyes. "And you wanted this to be free? Dummy."

Despite her hostile words, Blue's mind was elsewhere. "I would like to do more about their home lives, but that is, in the end, beyond me. I can't press into their personal lives, and I imagine most would not wish me to."

"Good call." Fire sat, eyes sweeping over the outgoing literature. "Huh... You cover some of it in here." She tapped at the floating writing. "Probably as good as you're getting."

"We can thank Fancy for that." Her horn glowed as she took up a leaflet herself to quickly run over. "Are you prepared for this? That spell is no small thing."

"I'm the one that prepared you for it," noted Fire with a wry smile. "I can handle it. In fact, if it's what they... really want, I may get a nice little hit out of it."

"Pardon?" Blue set her paper back down. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Did you forget?" Fire pointed at herself. "I am a demon, of lusts and passions. If some pony wanders in here with an unfulfilled lust that I help make reality, their joy at that kind of thing is what I live for." She ran her tongue over her lips. "You were a tepid meal. You were fulfilling a want, but there was so little of the spicy stuff in there. You're getting better, bit by bit, but it's too late for me to get my share. Meanie."

"From dummy to meanie? You are full of spirit today." Blue shook her head slowly. "Does this 'feeding' harm the pony involved?"

"Oh, no no no." The demon waved her hoof, her suddenly exposed heart-tipped tail giving a lash. "The games we play have far larger stakes than that. Don't worry your pretty little head."

"Your insistence makes me do precisely that." Blue moved in front of Fire. "Explain."

Fire huffed at that. "Like draws like. We are creatures of unbridled desires, some of them fun, some of them not so fun, but the unbridled part is the important bit. We want things, we reach for those things. There are no brakes, there is no hesitation. Different demons, different focuses. You give an angry demon half an excuse, they will hit you, it's what they want, and they will not hold back. No brakes."

"Right..." Not that Blue entirely grasped that. "But how does that relate to this?"

"Like draws like." Fire leaned in, touching her nose to Blue's in a gross violation of personal space. "I am a creature of lust. Lust for knowledge, lust for power, lust for, hm, lust classic? Let's go with that... Turning mortals towards what I want makes me happy, and tilts the scales of the cosmos, just a tiny little bit." She raised her hooves so close they almost touched. "Just a little."

"Just a little," repeated Blue in slow uncertain tones. "And this tilt, it invigorates you?"

"Now you get it." She bounced to her hooves. "Good to work for a boss that gets it, even when she doesn't get it."

"And if we mortals went the way you wanted and you weren't there?"

Fire shrugged explosively with a roll of her eyes. "Whatever. It'd still tilt, but I'd get nothing out of it. Boring."

Blue nodded with returning confidence. "Then I will do what I feel is right. If you happen to enjoy it, that is no concern of mine. You are not causing this 'tilt' in this case." She pointed at the papers. "The ponies who come here will already know what they want. Doing it in a clean and supportive fashion is better."

"Ugh." Fire prodded the stack of papers. "We are the brakes. I hate it." She huffed out a puff of brimstone. "Whatever. When do we start?"

"Waiting is not your specialty, is it?"

Fire squinted at Blue's question. "I just told you. No brakes. You're lucky, demons like me at least grasp the idea." She clapped her hooves about some imagined thing. "But that doesn't mean I suddenly like it."

"Next week." With a glowing horn, Blue brought over the day's newspaper. "We are running an advertising push to get ponies talking about it."

Fire looked it over quickly. "Better get the real price over to them before people, er, ponies, get ideas."

"The spell will work on other creatures, will it not?"

"You're joking." Fire could see Blue was not joking. "Ponies have very specific things that need to be in very specific places before a girl pony can properly do the girl thing. Those very things makes it different if you're making a girl pony into a boy pony." She threw a hoof up. "The spell to flip a dragon or a griffon's gonna be simpler, but different."

"I see..." Blue considered a quiet moment. "Lucky us, complicated creatures we are." She turned for the exit. "But it would then behoove me to learn the more universal variant of the spell, yes? In case we get a not pony creature in need of our services."

"Already know it," sang Fire. "But you should know it too. This is your thing, right?"

"Too right."





Blue inclined her head. Before him was a familiar pony. Yellow, winged... "Fluttershy." There it was. "Did you... like what you experienced?" She could think of little other reason for the mare to be there.

"It was very educational." Fluttershy nodded firmly. "But I'm alright being me." She brushed down her own front, then turned in place. "It's actually about hi--her." From behind her emerged an olive green stallion with a nervous smile.

"Hey, lady. I like the flow of your dress." Zephyr shot a charming wink at Blue Belle.

Who was far from charmed. "Who is this?"

Fluttershy turned back the other way, realizing Zephyr had snuck around her. "Oh, there they are. This is Zephyr Breeze, my brother, um, sister? We did... some soul searching, together."

"And it occurred to me why I'm all mixed up." Zephyr twirled a hoof beside their head, eyes swirling as if they had just been struck. "When Fluttershy broke down this sort of thing was possible, I started to... imaging the possibilities. Besides, my favorite pony in the world is a lesbo, so if I even want a chance, this is the only way."

Blue frowned at the would-be mare. "I am here to help ponies who are seeking their true destiny, not improve the odds of tryst. If they were not interested in you before, there are good odds their interest will remain sedate, at best."

"I told him that," agreed Fluttershy. "I told him not to do this if that what this is for."

"But I do want it, even if she keeps rebuffing me." Zephyr took a step forward. "Now, I don't have to change names, do I? Zephyr Breeze works either way, the way I see it."

Blue shook her head quickly. "That is not a requirement, just a thing a lot of ponies feel the urge to do. Another way to place a bookmark the world can see that you have taken a dramatic change of self. What other marker do we have that is more plain and obvious than our name to represent ourselves, do you see?"

Zephyr seemed to muse over that as another pony advanced towards Fire, a mare. She was met with a paper against the face.

"What?" She reached up as her magic drew it away, allowing her to read quickly, eyes sweeping left and right. "Oh..." On and on she went down the page. "Oh! Oh..." She looked past the page at Fire. "There is a lot to consider, isn't there?"

Fire nodded. "But if it's what you want, I'm here to get you to it." She rubbed her hooves together, clearly ready and willing to do just that. "We doing it?"

The mare set the paper down with a slow inhale. "I need to think about this..."

Fire lifted her shoulders. "We'll be here."

Blue reached over to swat at Fire. "What she means is, 'Good on you for taking this serious step seriously. Do consider it and if you have questions, come right back here.'"

"That." Fire inclined her head at the paper. "Take that."

"Oh, thank you." The mare's horn lifted the paper and folded it neatly even as she turned. "I might be back..." And off she went, not entirely ready to take that final step.

Zephyr watched her go by before meeting Blue's eyes again. "I bet I'll make some mares just as sad."

Blue raised a brow. "Pardon?"

"That the old Zeph won't be available, as a stallion. A cruel move, on my part." They nodded with certainty. "But I have to do what feels right to me."

A little smile appeared. "That was..." The most genuine thing she'd heard out of Zephyr so far. She bit that part back. "Fluttershy?" The yellow pegasus perked. "You know your sibling well, I trust?"

"For our whole lives, minus a few years." Fluttershy nodded quickly. "Why?"

"Well, allow me to start by offering my sincere admiration. Not every sister would help their sibling down this path, right beside them. You are--"

"--Oh stop." Fluttershy was blushing brilliantly. "I'm just doing what's right."

"Not every pony does," countered Blue. "And it deserves credit where credit is due, which it is. I hope they appreciate your concern and character."

"Fluttershy's the best." Zephyr threw an arm over her, drawing her closer. "Always has my back. I mean, there was this one time she busted my bottom, but it was for my own good. Wouldn't trade her in for the world."

Blue waited patiently for Fluttershy to get over that moment of praise. "I would like your honest opinion. Now, don't get me wrong. No pony knows themselves like, well, themselves, but as a close relation in good standing, what is your view on this?"

Fluttershy inclined her head. "Well, I know what it's like, to be curious. I was curious... Twilight helped me, um, to see the other side. The grass wasn't greener, just different. I was... happy to have seen it, but was just as pleased where I started. Um, but about Zephyr... I admit, imagining them as a mare is... a challenge. But I want them to be happy."

Blue nodded slowly, soft mmhmms coming from her as Fluttershy spoke. "I see... I will be honest. On one hoof, I am loathe to not proceed. Having anypony tell me to stop only... made me quite upset, really. Delays were... unthinkable. A mare is what I was realizing I should be, and to be held back from it, unthinkable, and... Well, I just didn't care for that at all."

Zephyr bobbed his head quickly. "So we can start?"

"A little patience, please." Blue lowered the hoof she had raised for the stop. "If I were to tell you to explore this a little further beforehoof, how would you feel?"

Zephyr's expression was not hard to read, collapsing in a mixture of annoyance and frustration. "But why? I have bits!" They dug out a bag quickly, letting it spill open.

Not a few coins, though far below the price she had set. On the other hoof, Fluttershy was gaping at it like it was true riches. "Where did you get that?!"

Zephyr pointed at the bag and coins. "This month's pay."

Fluttershy circled around her sibling. "Have you paid your rent?! How will you eat? Do you have any savings?"

Zephyr puffed up, not shot down by Fluttershy's concerns. "I will figure it out. I'll move if I have to, but this isn't waiting."

Blue nodded gently. "I see. Take your coins back."

Zephyr sank. "You won't? Why?" Tears began to well in their eyes.

"I won't take your last bits." Blue nudged a coin back towards Zephyr. "It wouldn't do for a mare to be homeless, now would it? Very unladylike."

Oh, how their features brightened. "So you'll--"

Blue's hoof slid over their mouth. "Step forward and we'll begin. I just need you to read something, carefully, all the way through." She floated over the before paperwork for Zephyr to review. "Do you want to stay?"

"Of course." Fluttershy stepped forward. "I'll be here until they're all done and don't need me anymore."

Zephyr chuckled softly at that. "Not sure I'll ever not need my favorite sister, at least a little."

"Aw." Fluttershy leaned in and they met cheek to cheek in a moment of sibling love.

Blue sat back with a little smile. "You're making me jealous that I am an only foal. You are welcome then. Zephyr, do read that." She pointed.

Their eyes were sweeping quickly. "Yuh huh, uh huh... ya... alright... yeah..." they were going quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly, but they were at least reading it. "Nothing too strange, besides the whole thing. Let's do it! Say goodbye to stallion, hello to mare. I'll be the prettiest thing in the room instead of the handsomest." They waggled their brows with a grin. "Hit me."

Blue paused a moment. Zephyr was... a lot to take in.  "When we are finished, you will go there." She pointed the way. "And recover with Fluttershy. When the nurse clears you, then you can leave. Not before then!"

With the sparkle of magic, she began to remake a pony, hopefully into their true, happier, self.





An envelope landed on a pile of others. "And that's the last." Fancy nodded with satisfaction. "Nothing else stands before us."

"Only us." She cantered in place a little. "We have to actually perform our parts. Will you think less of me if I admit a little caution?"

"I would think you were a pony." He smooched her cheek. "With very normal fears. Do I not also seem nervous?"

Truly, he did not. An unflappable pillar of noble etiquette, he showed no signs of worry. "Are you?"

Fancy's left ear skewed off to the side. "Terrified." He didn't look it. "One should only be married once in their life, so it is of the utmost importance that one does it precisely right, as there are no chances to make amends for a failed attempt."

"This much is true," allowed Blue breathlessly. "Lemon Hearts has done her best. The plans are without flaw... It is--"

"--only us that could send it awry." He touched noses with her, looking into her eyes. "We are both a little scared, but we will face it."

"Together." She rubbed at the connection, where noses met. "A botched wedding at your side sounds better than not being with you, truth told."

"That is a romantic, but terrible, consideration," he chuckled out, stepping back. "Let us do our part to have a successful union."

"Let's." Blue nodded. "Have you your oath prepared?"

A scroll appeared beside him in the air. "Done, edited, and proofread."

Blue smiled at that. "Jolly good. How will we address... the kiss?" But Fancy looked confused. "Are we going... to impress on them the fiery passion of our union, or going for a more... proper kiss, to show our decorum?"

Fancy took a step towards her, his breath felt against her face. "In this event, a little passion is proper decorum, my dear. Lady Belle, baroness of more than land, ruler of my heart, I will display to the world exactly how I feel of the mare I have chosen. I hope you are ready for that." He walked away, leaving a deeply blushing Blue Belle behind.

"Fiery passion it is," Blue got out, her skin tingling in a new way. "Miss Paradox will be thrilled to hear of it."