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// Challenge 1: The Arranged Marriage $ The Worried Friend 
// Story: A Pair Most Unlikely 
// by The REAL Mister Pkmn 
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The door slammed behind Blueblood as he arrived home in a fluster, calling out to see if his father was around. “Father? Are you home?” He looked around the mansion for a few minutes until he came upon the master bedroom. He opened the door and saw that his father was talking with a dark blue mare. She was a slender unicorn and she was tall, too. Her indigo eyes were full of unease, but Blueblood’s father shoved aside her concerns with nary a thought.

He then noticed Blueblood at the door to his room. “Ah, there you are, my boy! Let me introduce you to your future wife, Lilac Echoes.” The mare attempted to hide her face behind her long white mane, clearly uncomfortable and unsettled about this whole deal. She did not want this any more than Blueblood did, he could see it plastered clearly all over her face. Blueblood’s father Did not seem to care about that fact, however. “Now you two will give me grandchildren! Ah, this will be-!”

Blueblood had had enough, and decided to interrupt his father. He normally wouldn’t do this, in fear of repercussions, but… he felt that had to. “Father!” His father was caught off-guard and his dark blue mane stood on end temporarily as he turned his attention back to Blueblood. “I cannot go through with this arranged marriage. I have… found somepony.”

Surprise lit upon his father’s gray face, and relief came upon Lilac’s. His father couldn’t believe what he had heard, but soon a grimace appeared on his face. He shook his head and spoke with a serious tone. "That doesn’t matter, son. You have an obligation to this family, Blueblood. I am your father, and this arranged marriage will fix relations with the Echoes family. I cannot condone you waiting so long to find somebody on your own. Honestly, I feel slighted because you brought this up now. Our family’s tradition will be followed, whether you like it or not. I will not hear any more arguments on the matter.” Blueblood’s father turned away from his son’s angry face. He glanced back briefly to speak once more. His purple eyes locked with his son’s. “Listen here, my son. This is too important for your choice to be even considered. Whether you like it or not, this arrangement will continue. Tradition will be upheld, and you will pass it down, as I have to you. It will continue for generations to come. This conversation is over, Blueblood.”

As Blueblood’s father was about to leave, Blueblood stopped him with a blocking spell. Irritation could clearly be seen upon his face. For the first time in his life, Blueblood gathered the guts to yell at his father. “No! This tration has only caused misery! Mother always suffered through it, unbeknownst to you! It ends with me! I have finally found somebody that I fancy, and I will NOT be swayed from my decision! You want one of our family to marry her so much? Why not my little brother, Argetblood? He’s only a year younger, so it’ll work out quite well!”

For a moment, Blueblood’s father stood rooted to the spot in stunned silence. He turned to yell at his son, but Lilac spoke up for the first time that night. “Please, listen to him. Blueblood feels quite strongly about this issue, Sir Ichorblood. Bedsides… I’m glad he mentioned Argent.” A blush rose on her face. “He’s the one I want. I’m closer to his age, plus we get along really well. I’m tired of my father’s insistence of ‘Oldest child must marry oldest child’.” She sighed. “Please, let Blueblood go for the girl he’s chosen, and I’ll go for the one that I want. You won’t end up losing anything, really.”

Sir Ichorblood shifted his gaze from Blueblood to Lilac and back again a few times. After the situation had sunk in, he let out a defeated sigh.. “I see. So you both don’t want this. Well, I was going to stubbornly insist before Lilac spoke up. But hearing that both of you have somebody else…” He shook his head with a somber look on his face. “Unfortunately, I can’t call off the arranged marriage without Magnus Echoes’ approval. I’m sorry for being so obstinate earlier son, but that’s the caveat- I can not call this off on my own, even if I wish I could.”

Blueblood seemed a bit irritated, but calmed down soon enough. It was unfortunate, to say the least. If only there was something he could do to sway the decision…  He then had an idea. “Could we all meet with him tomorrow? Dad could bring Argent, and I’d bring Rarity. Maybe if he saw that both of us have prospective partners he might be more willing to change his mind.”

At the mention of that name, Sir Ichorblood raised his eyebrow. “Rarity? As in, the Bearer of Generosity?” His face turned into a wide grin. “Well, if that’s who you’ve met, then I think He’ll understand.” He turned to face Lilac. “Alright, I think that’s a plan, then. I’ll get in contact with him and ask him to meet us tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, it won’t take much convincing for him to reconsider.” he then looked at his watch. “Oh my! Is it already this late? Don’t want you to stay up too late.” He turned to Lilac. “Go on home, and tell your father to meet with us tomorrow afternoon. I’ll bring Argent up to speed.”

Lilac smiled and thanked him, then gave a small bow before leaving. Blueblood sighed. “Well, that has been decided, then… I still feel a bit antsy about showing her to him…”

Placing a hoof on his son’s shoulder, Sir Ichorblood gave a consoling look. “My son, you should Try and calm yourself down a bit. It might seem intimidating, but you just have to put your best hoof forward. And after he relents, take it slow! I know that I seemed a bit… over-eager earlier, but you must understand where I’m coming from. This kind of thing hasn’t happened in our family since before the tradition was implemented. I might have been against it at first, but now… I couldn't be more proud of you, Blueblood. I just wish that I hadn’t been acting so pig-headed. But I’m happy for you now, and that’s what matters the most.”

Surprise lit upon Blueblood’s face at his father’s spiel. Had his dad started to be reasonable? At first glance, Sir Ichorblood was not much different from the previous heads of the house. He had raised Blueblood somewhat like his predecessor had raised their children, but he was kinder to  his children than their ancestors were to their sons for generations. Blueblood gave a smile with a slight nod. “Thanks, dad. I think I’ll go to bed now.”

But as Blueblood was about to ascend the stairs, Sir Ichorblood called out. “Have a good rest, my son. You’ll be needing it for the future that’s ahead of you.”

With a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, Blueblood called back. “Love you too, dad. Have a good night.”





For some time, Rarity had been lying awake in her room, mind buzzing at millions of miles an hour. What happened at the Gala still felt so surreal, like a dream. How had she wound up like this? The Gala had  ended up being just as magical as she had hoped that it would be with Blueblood, even if it had been cut short. She sighed deeply.

She had always admired Blueblood, as many others had. But was it starting to shift into something more? She was somewhat surprised that they had clicked so well at the ball. After all, Twilight had told her in no uncertain terms that Blueblood was a boor- but Rarity just had to find the truth for herself. Thanks to her not being a money grubber like the rest of the menagerie that had tried to woo him, she had found that Blueblood was just looking for something more than what his hangers on could offer him.

Sure, her friends had been a bit surprised with how well things had gone for her- aside from Pinkie and Applejack, who had seen for themselves how Rarity and Blueblood got along. Fluttershy was by far the easiest to convince, enthusiastically supporting her choice to see where things went. Rainbow Dash had been skeptical about it, and took some effort to convince her. But she too ended up relenting. She then started to recall how Twilight had reacted to it.

After the Gala, Rarity spoke to Twilight privately. Apprehension hung in the air as she braced herself for what Twilight would say. “Twilight, why did you call me aside? Does this have something to do with what I told the others about my time with Blueblood?”

 At the sound of that name, Twilight flew into Rage Mode and burst into flames. She was absolutely seething, but she tried to calm down, for Rarity’s sake. She took a few deep breaths, and the fire died down. Even after the flames had abated, she still looked somewhat livid as she spoke her mind on the matter. “He constantly pestered me when I lived back in Canterlot. He just could not or would not take a hint! It took hitting him with the largest book that I could find to finally get him to back off!” She shook her head with irritation and disbelief. “I honestly do not know what you could possibly see in that pest!”

Rarity had expected this reaction, sure. But she still sighed at Twilight’s reaction, and  shook her head at that. “Look, Twilight. You may have had a bad experience with him, but can’t you put that aside and be happy for me? I will ask him to apologize to you if it makes you feel any better. So, will you consider it? Could you please give him a chance? For me?”

After debating with herself for a while, Twilight sighed. With heavy reluctance in her voice, she finally relented. “Alright, alright. I’ll try for your sake, Rarity. But if he ends up breaking your heart-”

Rarity chuckled dismissively at that. “He will not do that, Twilight. I’ve got a good feeling about this. But if he ends up doing so…” She lit her horn and it was sparking with electricity. She had a serious look on her face as she continued. “He will live to regret it for the rest of his days.” She calmed herself and let the magic subside, and smiled. “But I do not expect to have to use that. I trust that he will not do something as stupid as that. Call it a gut feeling.”

Hesitation was clear upon Twilight’s face for a moment, but she decided that she should support Rarity’s choice.  “Very well. If you feel that way, then… Let’s just hope that you’re right about him. I would hate to see you hurt, Rarity.”

Rarity chuckled at that and batted her hoof. “It’ll be alright, Twi. Now, it’s getting late. I should get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.” After that, Rarity went home. Sweetie Belle was asleep, thankfully. Rarity smiled at that. Her little sister always wore herself out before the end of the day, but Rarity had worried that Sweetie would try and stay up to ask her questions about the Gala. She shook her head. What she needed now was a good night’s rest.
Even after reminiscing about how Twilight reacted hadn’t gotten her any closer to falling asleep. She got up to take some sleeping medicine. It always helped her fall asleep whether mind was unsettled. After taking it, She went back up to her room. She got in bed, and she could feel the medicine working already. She soon drifted off to sleep..


To Be Continued In Challenge 2: The Echoes Family