//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Blueblood's Blush. // by Sophocoles //------------------------------// Trixie looked into the mirror that was set up for her to look into while she tried on dresses in the castle. She did her best to not look so nervous in front of the green helper pony that was appointed to assist her. The pony was mostly silent, other than her comments on how pretty Trixie looked or how a few particular dresses highlighted her eyes. She’d come out with dress after dress for the blue unicorn to try on for her date with the prince. Trixie looked into the mirror. Now her sickness was really starting to catch up with her. She looked weak and tired, thin and somehow older. She sighed, taking a spin in her dress to see how it looked on her. She would obviously need something that would cover up her sickly form, for she had already decided that tonight would be the night that she would let Blueblood know of her hardships. Maybe she would even let him know of her tragic past. She sighed at the dress. It hugged her legs in the back too much for her to really like. “I like the color. Just not full enough.” She announced to the green pony. Trixie slipped out of the dress and tossed it aside. It was but a few moments before the green pony came back with another dress folded neatly on her back. The pony’s eyes were aimed directly at the ground to avoid any unwanted confrontation. Trixie’s own eyes softened at the sight. “Chin up, now. Something bothering you? Can Trixie help at all?” The blue mare stepped off the stage where she stood and sat next to the quiet servant. The green pony shook her head and handed Trixie the dress. “N-No ma’am. I-I’m just so honored to be serving the prince’s own marefriend. I don’t w-want to mess anything up.” Trixie blushed deeply. Their relationship had never been ‘officially’ announced, but she guessed marefriend was the correct term. “You’re doing a great job,” Trixie smiled reassuringly, slipping into the new dress and examining herself once more. It was a masterpiece to say the least. The front was decorated with sparkles and little balls that twinkled when the light caught it just right. Down the back was a single streak of purple that grew into the ruffles that were the skirt of her dress. It was perfect. Trixie smiled at her reflection before looking down at the helper pony and nodding. “This one. It’s lovely.” The mare allowed a slight smile to brush on her face before she took the dress from Trixie and put it in a bag for later. “H-Head down to the room down the hall w-when y-you want to get your makeup done,” the green pony announced shyly. Trixie nodded absentmindedly, her thoughts traveling to what was to come later tonight. She took the dress and wandered the corridors of the castle. ---- Blueblood sat in his chair, beads of sweat leaking down his forehead. His aunt Celestia sat next to him, her mane twisting and turning as it always did, even with the absence of any wind. Celestia just sat there at the head of the table, a light smile on her face. She was happy to finally be meeting the mare that Blueblood was going on about. Trixie walked into the room and made her way to the seat opposite Blueblood. The prince’s eyes followed her the whole way, a look of awe spreading on his face. He was completely and totally entranced with her amazing beauty. Her dress reflected the light that the chandelier gave off, so little spots of light twinkled about the room. Celestia looked at the mare for a moment with a hint of confusion. She recalled a similar description of this pony from one of her letters from her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. She remembered the silvery-blue mane and sky blue coat being described in one of her student's numerous follow up letters. Trixie was the name as she remembered. Blueblood used his magic to scoot the chair opposite of himself out so that Trixie could sit. The blue mare sat and promptly took a sip of the glass of water that was set out in front of her. She prayed that the Princess had failed to notice just how red her face was. A few moments of silence passed before Blueblood cleared his throat. He cast Trixie a nervous smile before turning to his aunt. “Auntie? This is Trixie.” He gestured with his hoof to the mare opposite him. Celestia smiled at the mare. She noted how nervous the two of them looked. Blueblood with beads of sweat twisting down his face, and Trixie with her red face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Trixie. My nephew speaks awfully fondly of you.” She nodded politely. Blueblood felt his own face develop a red tinge as she mentioned how often he spoke of her. Trixie, on the other hoof, couldn’t suppress her giggles. “ Really?” The mare allowed herself to relax. “How adorable.” Trixie smiled as she imagined the prince going on and on about her, babbling until Celestia has to shush him. “It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you, Princess,” she continued. “ Trixie..erm... I have always wondered if you were closely connected to Blueblood.” The mare felt the words heavy in her mouth. Speaking was starting to prove a difficult task. Celestia nodded, her gaze turning to the prince. “Yes. I watched closely over him while he grew up.” The prince finally spoke up. ”She was a mother to me.” He looked at the tablecloth nervously, wishing to change topics. Luckily, two waiter ponies came out of the main doors and approached the three of them. They quickly took their orders than left. Celestia took a sip of her own water. “So,” she started, leaning back to get a good view of both ponies. “How exactly did you two meet?” Blueblood’s face automatically flushed as he recalled their first encounter. If he remembered correctly, Trixie first wanted to saw him in half. The blue mare cleared her throat nervously. “W-Well. He came to one of my spectacular shows. I needed a volunteer for a saw-cutting act, and he seemed best suited for the job.” Celestia seemed unphased. “Saw-cutting act? So you’re a performer?” “Oh, yes,” replied Trixie, her eyes lighting up. “I travel across the world, putting on fantastic shows for anypony and everypony.” Celestia was now interested. “So you’ve been around Equestria? Where exactly have you gone?” Blueblood, now eager to be a part of the conversation, jumped right in. “Oh! She’s been all over.” He straightened up so fast he caused the table to shake. “To Baltimare and Hoofington. To Las Pegasus and the Griffin lands. She’s even ventured into the Badlands.” He could have gone on if he wasn’t caught off guard by the huge grin on Trixie’s face. He stared at her blankly for a moment, confused as to what was going on. It melted Trixie’s heart to hear him talk like that. He was really listening when she was going on and on about the places she’s been and seen. She couldn't help but display that huge grin. Celestia observed the interaction and smiled inwardly. She knew what was to come for the both of them. The princess knew exactly what was going on. It touched her so much that she couldn’t help but display a small smile on her face also. For some time, Trixie allowed the prince to tell her own stories for her. He went on and on about how she fought the giant pony-eating snakes, and how she made friends with the wild griffons. By the time the food arrived, Blueblood was heatedly describing a particular moment when Trixie found herself stuck on the edge of a mountain with a wild ox chasing after her. “And then she used her magic to grab a rock that was behind her. She threw it as hard as she could at the ox and it hit him right between the-oh.” The waiter placed his order of caramelized pears and braised apples in front of him. Celestia was slightly leaning back in her chair when her own order of steamed carrots was placed in front of her. She had been allowing the prince to talk continuously. It was almost as if he was confessing his love for the pony sitting across from him. Trixie looked down at her own order of toasted apples with raspberry glaze with a sick look on her face. The last thing that sounded good to her was food. Suddenly she was struck with the memory of the other night. When she told herself that she would tell Blueblood what she had failed to tell him from the beginning. She hesitantly raised her head, her smile disappearing and instead being replaced with a very serious look. “B-Blueblood?” The prince, who currently had a mouthful of pears, spluttered and quickly scrambled to get a drink of water. He took a moment to catch his breath before looking at Trixie. “Y-Yes?” The blue mare was getting dizzy from the smell of food. She looked down at her own to see that the plates had in fact tripled. There were now three plates of apples dancing around one another in circles. Trixie looked down at them in confusion. She tried to turn her head to speak to Blueblood once more, but any movement caused her vision to go blurry. She reached a hoof out to grasp her water glass, which proved to be quite a difficult task with almost no vision. She felt something cold and hard touch her hoof before it fell over and made a clank. She felt around for whatever she had dropped and found her hoof to be wet. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but she felt as if she was going to be sick. She could hear muffled voices circling around her head, but she couldn’t make out what any of them were saying. Finally the mare was able to push herself up so she was on all four hooves. “I-I.. Trixie... I... need... air.” She half-ran half-walked half-stumbled blindly to the exit before propping herself against the hallway wall. ----- Blueblood looked to Celestia, his eyes wide with fear. “Auntie? Do you know what’s wrong with her?” Celestia bit her bottom lip. “I honestly don’t know...let's give her a moment to breathe though; perhaps that’s all she needs.” Blueblood stuttered for a bit before sitting back down and glaring at the door, waiting for Trixie to walk back in. ---- A slight thud could be heard from down the hall. The green helper pony was in the dressing room, putting dresses back away and cleaning up. The thud took her by surprise, so she jumped at first. “H-hello?” said the timid earth pony. “Is anypony there?” She took a few cautious steps out of the room, scanning the perimeter. If she recalled correctly, the noise came from the right hallway, the room that led to the dining hall. She carefully stepped, looking out for any zombie ponies that might have been lurking the halls at this hour in the castle. She was a bit taken aback when she turned the corner and saw a pile of clothes on the ground. “Is th-that it?” She sighed and trotted over to pick up what looked like a dress. “I w-wonder who-AH!” She screamed when she saw that the dress was not only a dress, but it had a pony inside it also. And that pony was none other than the very mare she was tending to earlier in the day. The mare wasn’t moving. She was just asleep on the ground. The green pony looked closer and saw a small stream of red flowing down the blue mare’s forehead. The pony took a step away in fear. “Help! HELP!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. ---- Blueblood shot up once more when he heard a muffled scream. Celestia stood also, her horn glowing, ready for any sort of up and coming combat. “Help! HELP!” Blueblood could hear the muffled cries from behind the double doors that led to the dining hall. The prince did not think twice before charging and ramming into the doors, sending them flying open. He scanned the area, looking for the source of the cries. Blueblood looked to his immediate right and saw the earth pony trembling somewhat near to a fallen pony. Not just any fallen pony. It was Trixie! Blueblood felt his heart drop as he looked at the scene. He saw Trixie laying there, a stream of blood coming from the center of her forehead. He was instantly by her side, nuzzling her to get up, constantly rubbing his face against hers as if to rub life into her. “W-Wake up T-Trix... g-get up...it’s not funny.” His voice caught in his throat. He felt hot tears dripping down his face. He looked up, desperate for help. He saw Celestia running out of the dining hall. “H-Help,” was all he could manage to get out. Celestia took one look at the scene before picking up Trixie’s limp body with her magic and placing her on her own back. “The hospital wing is just around the corner,” Celestia announced as she cantered in that direction. Blueblood followed closely behind, everything was in slow motion for him. He couldn’t hear anything. He couldn’t see anything but his running aunt and the pony on her back. All he knew was that he had to make sure Trixie was okay. She HAD to be okay. Once they arrived to the hospital wing, several white ponies rushed out and put Trixie on a bed with wheels before wheeling her behind some curtains. When he tried to follow, a pony held out a hoof and told him to stop. He tried to push past him, but another two ponies came up and restrained him. By now he was desperate to see her, he was kicking and pushing, trying to see what was behind that curtain. Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder and pulled him back. “Hush. It’ll be alright. Just wait for a bit. They just need to make sure everything is okay.” Celestia whispered to him in the same way she did when she was called into his room at the latest hours of the night to let him know that there were no monsters hiding under his bed. She held him in a hug. “It’ll be okay.” ---- It was an hour or so before they were allowed in. Blueblood was instantaneously by Trixie’s side, hugging her close. Trixie was still out cold. It turned out she fainted due to lack of food and exhaustion. The cut was from when she fell and bumped her head on the ground. The doctors spent some time telling Blueblood that everything was going to be okay and that he had nothing to worry about. For some reason Blueblood couldn’t help but worry. He couldn’t stop worrying until he could talk to Trixie. And even then, he doubted he could ever not worry again. He stayed in the wing into the late hours of the night, either sitting or laying down on the bench. When finally a nurse pony came in and told him it was time to leave, he went back to Trixie and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He left silently to walk to corridors of Canterlot Castle. He couldn’t help but wonder what Trixie had to say before she ran out. He knew it was going to be one of the first things he asked her once everything was cleared up.