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// Chapter 6: Maid 
// Story: The Menace of Canterlot 
// by The_Darker_Fonts 
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As it had turned out, becoming an employee in the Canterlot Castle was not a very difficult task.  In fact, when it came to female workers, there seemed to be a want for more of them as of late.  All Lavender had to do was sign up for an interview, answer some simple questions about herself, and suddenly she was in.  Of course, for the safety of the Princesses, it would be a years long process before she was able to actually work in any of the areas of the castle they inhabited.  
Currently, she would be working on the more mundane areas of the castle reserved for guests and parties, the more public areas the Princesses only visited on rare occasions.  It was fine by her, because it meant she was able to simply do things she was already good at like take inventory, schedule rooms, and mark up prices.  It was simple, easy work that didn’t take too much thinking or exertion to do, and the environment was surprisingly relaxed and forgiving.  From time to time, she would stumble into the wrong parts of the castle or not realize certain rules of specific rooms, and everytime Mr. Horoscope politely informed her of her mistakes.
Umber Horoscope was another very positive part of her work, the main butler of the lower suites, or the area of the castle she worked.  He had a stereotypically polite and uptight attitude, though that was probably because he had worked for the Princesses for over forty years.  The unicorn, umber as his name suggested, had taken in every employee of the lower suite under his care from day one of their work, whether it be for two weeks, eight months, or several years.  Under his watchful eye, she had found herself enjoying the job more as a job and less as an excuse to investigate.  The ponies were friendly, the pay was good, and the accommodations were exceptional.
For safety concerns, almost every worker who was single must stay in the castle for their employment, though that was hardly a negative restriction.  There was a whole wing dedicated to the care, housing, and entertainment of the maidstaff, most of which was under the castle.  Some areas, such as anywhere the Princesses lived or worked in constantly, were strictly off-limits for her, even on the job.  After two years of working at the castle, she would be allowed to work with the Princesses personally, but for the moment it was all through other, more important and experienced staff members.  
However, she wasn’t here to work for the Princesses, though frustratingly, she seemed much closer to them than the Blue Knight.  Thanks to his behavior, female maid staff weren’t allowed in the same wing as Prince Blueblood, let alone the same room.  She had learned quite quickly that, in fact, he never actually raped any of the mares he had drugged, or at least, none of it had been proven.  The maids had a running joke as to why that might have been, but it only fed into Lavender’s theory of the pompous prince.  After all, if he was one of the most hated stallions in Canterlot, nopony would even think of him as the pony behind the Blue Knight’s mask.
At the very least, she had learned from the male staff that worked around the prince that he was rather reclusive when there wasn’t some sort of party, ball, or festival to attend.  He left the castle for days on end to either some rich friends in Baltimare and Manehattan or to visit the beach towns in and around Griffonstone.  Apparently, during the attack, he had been so frightened he had thrown himself into one of the dungeons, only to complain for days about how he stank.  Frankly, if her theories were right and Blueblood was just acting like a jerk, she’d be thankful nopony would actually be so preposterously empty-headed.
“Lavender, you have the preparations ready for room eight-eleven,” Umber questioned as he suddenly appeared in the main lobby.  The castle had its grand front doorway, the traditional entrance to the castle, but to catch up with the times, a public lobby had been installed as well.
“Everything’s in order, but I haven’t heard back from Jade’s group yet,” she dutifully replied, before checking the clock.  “Given, they were told they had until six to have everything ready.”
“They have twenty minutes, then,” Umber sighed, glancing around.  After the crisis with the attack had shut everything down for a couple days, they were extremely busy, which naturally affected him the most.  Lavender was considered the lucky one since she was new enough not to be run around the castle but barely in enough that she knew how to operate the desk alone.  While everypony else, whether they were meant to or not, was doing some mobile task to cater to the endless conferences and room service.  
Without a word, he left, leaving her to mindlessly manage the front desk.  The twenty minutes came and went, Jade’s group managed to get their work done and move on to their next task, and, in general, there was no longer a backlog of work, just everypony moving about but her.  Halfway to the hour, she managed to finish with the work of securing the schedule for several rooms when she suddenly found a small filly standing in front of her desk.  The little pony had perhaps the biggest, brightest smile Lavender had seen since the attack and eyes just as big to suit.
“Howdya Mis’s, I don’t s’pose ya’d mind given that prick Blueblood a nice note fer me, right,”  she asked with a cheshire grin.  
“Pardon,” Lavender stuttered, overwhelmed by the little filly’s rapidfire question.  
“Oh, don’cha worry none, I wasn’t the one who wrote this thing,” she assured with a nod that sent her mane flying.  “Though, if it was me who wrote this thing, I’d be stickin’ it right into his face and sayin’ all the nasty things me and everypony else wanna say but can’t.  But I’m a filly, so I can!”
“Um…”  Lavender struggled to think of an appropriate response to the little filly’s wild and quick words.  Finally, she managed to reply, “I don’t think that’s how it works, honey.”
“Of course that’s how it is,” she fervently insisted.  “Nopony can touch him cuz he’s rich and pathetic, and nopony can touch me cuz I’m a small, young, fast pony.  Even if that meanie did try to get a lick on me, I’d be out and across the city in five minutes flat, and nopony here knows me, so I could get away with it.  Which is why I’m askin’ you ta give ‘im the letter for me.  Cuz otherwise everypony’s gonna have a whole big mess ta deal with and I’ll be feelin’ bad for makin’ you all deal with it.”
“In that case, I’ll be taking that,” Lavender assured her with a smile, reaching for the letter in her hooves.  The little filly gave it up without a problem and promptly took a step back, saluting the mare.
“Best of luck in facing that grimy monster upstairs, Mis’s, and thank you for bein’ so kind,” she praised, turning and literally dashing off before Lavender could speak another word to the curious filly.  
She was left alone and stunned by the vibrant, confusing little one, holding the envelope in her hoof.  Shaking it away, she glanced down at the unmarked, white envelope, an opportunity unforeseen presented to her by an unpredictable twist of fate.  Staring at it, she felt her pulse quicken as her mind raced to find the best way to utilize this personal note to the prince.  She could try to open it now and reseal it in another envelope if she was careful handling it.  Whether from a collaborator, friend, or even just some distressed mare, perhaps it would reveal more about himself that he didn’t reveal to the public.  
The much more risky action was to go to Blueblood’s wing herself to personally deliver the message and hope that he would be there to take it.  That was if she could manage to sneak her way past all of the other staff to break the rules.  If she was caught, more than likely she’d be out of the castle at the end of the night unless she could convince them of her innocent intentions, though her lying skills were frankly awful.  However… if she were able to get face-to-face with him, she had no doubt she would know if he really was the Blue Knight, and that knowledge was worth any risk.  
Determined now, she glanced around, making sure there was nopony on staff who would see her leave her post and question her about it.  With the coast clear, she quickly jotted down a note about needing to desperately use the restroom before zipping off towards one of the servant’s corridors.  The narrow hallways that ran alongside the main hallways were concealed behind a wall, though not in a very secretive way.  Everypony knew the servants used them to get about and prepare rooms or answer room service, it was just a matter of making the trip quicker.  
This one headed to the south wing, conveniently in the direction of the bathrooms in case anypony asked.  However, with everypony else busy rushing about anyways, they didn’t question her fast pace and ignored her as she made her way down several twists and turns before coming to the unfamiliar south wing.  Thankfully, there was nopony around thanks to this being the area of the castle reserved almost exclusively for Prince Blueblood and foreign guests of high distinction.  With a lack of use for the maidstaff in the wing, she was probably in the clear, but just in case, she moved about the halls slower, listening for anypony.  
After several minutes of meandering back and forth through the southern wing, she finally found a door marked with Prince Blueblood’s Cutie Mark.  Pausing with her hoof on the door, she took a stabilizing breath before pushing through, halfway expecting to be shouted at by somepony for breaking the rules.  However, there was just the swish of wind as the door opened too quickly, and in her nervousness, she accidentally hit it against the wall.  Cringing, she quickly and quietly shut the door, eyes darting around the empty hallway in case the noise alerted anypony.  With the hall remaining empty, she let her breath out and rushed to the grand pair of doors.
This was definitely Prince Blueblood’s room.  There was a strange, overcomplicated, and incredibly expensive set of doors to fit the kingly vanity Prince Blueblood was famed for, but she had neither the time nor care to investigate the carvings and paintings for clues.  There wasn’t a moment to spare, and after testing the door and finding it unlocked, she gave it a push and slipped through.  With a smile to herself, she found what she thought she would.  
Behind the doors, a small but extravagant guest room designed perfectly to impress guests and make them expect the most from Prince Blueblood’s personal chambers.  Spectacular paintings, gold embroidering, and a few carvings in the wall all as royal and grand as if this were the Princesses’ chambers itself.  Disregarding it all, she moved to the second, smaller set of doors that would lead into the Prince’s room.  It was only when she felt the door’s handle give, unlocked and ready to open, that she finally hesitated for a second.
If she opened the door, regardless of if the stallion was the Blue Knight or not, she had no way to predict how he would react.  If she found Prince Blueblood behind the door, she would be completely done for, probably incapable of living in Canterlot itself if she weren’t imprisoned.  However, her future wasn’t certain either if Prince Blueblood turned out to be the Blue Knight.  He could still play it off to everypony else that he was just the bratty snob Prince Blueblood and make sure she would never be able to reveal who he really was.
However… the knowledge she would gain from this all yet again outweighed any and all risks.  Throwing caution to the wind, she pushed the door open.
The first thing she noticed was, of course, Prince Blueblood, sitting at a desk against the wall to her left.  The second thing she noticed was the terrible scar that covered almost half of his back, mottled skin without any coat, a distinct burn.  Lavender recognized it right away, remembering when the long patch of skin had been cracked and bleeding.  For the briefest moment, she felt a spark of pride.  The help she and the other mare had provided the Blue Knight had kept him alive, and now the fruits of their labor would be knowing the stallion behind the mask.
“Why did you use the door, auntie,” the Blue Knight asked, not looking behind him.  His voice was deep and quiet, but hardened regardless.  She didn’t know if it was out of focus on whatever he was working on or just a general gruff attitude, but it was most decidedly not Prince Blueblood’s high-pitched, nasally whine.“Feeling formal today?”
“I’m not one of the-” Lavender squeaked in surprise as she was suddenly lifted to the air by the unicorn’s magic as he whipped around so fast the chair he had been sitting on flew to the side.  He froze as he glared right into her eyes, his face like nothing she had ever seen before.  Prince Blueblood was a handsome stallion whose good looks were hampered by his foul attitude, while the Blue Knight had been a faceless stallion constantly quipping and cheerful.  This stallion was neither, and the longer he glared into her eyes, the more intimidated she became.  Before she could lose her nerve however, she managed to finish her sentence and squeak out, “Princesses?”
As if her speaking had broken his focus, he suddenly dropped her back to the ground.  Yelping, she landed softly on her hooves, her legs shaking as she tried to stand up straight.  Oh yeah, he was definitely the Blue Knight.
“What are you doing here, maid,” the stallion sneered, suddenly taking on the voice of Prince Blueblood.  Confused for only a moment, Lavender realized the game he was playing.  “I thought mares weren’t allowed in the same room as me.  Did you decide you and I should break that rule?”
“Actually, it’s in the same wing as Prince Blueblood, not the same room as the Blue Knight,” she confidently replied, smirking at the stallion.  Sweet Celestia, she hoped her legs had stopped shaking.  This stallion did not need to know both how excited and frightened she was to finally discover him.
Prince Blueblood simply raised a brow instead before chuckling slightly.  “Well, I was never one for roleplay, but I’ll give it a shot if you want.”
“Oh come on, everypony in the castle knows that you don’t actually do anything to the mares you drug,” she informed him, her confidence building.  If he was going to try to trick her out of what she knew, then she would just have to be more brash, more reckless, and more intelligent than him.  Unfortunately, she only knew how to do one of those things.  
“Hay, I could get on your bed right now, spread my legs, and you wouldn’t do anything about it,” she declared, promptly strutting towards the bed to the right of the room, watching the stallion carefully.
“Oh no, please don’t do that,” he replied with a widening grin, however, his eyes betrayed a flicker of panic.  She had him now.
“Don’t worry yourself, I will,” she answered, jumping right onto the plush bed.  It was soft and almost made her fall over from how much give it had, but managed to keep herself standing.  All the while, Prince Blueblood’s grin faded and his eyes widened as he realized the reckless young mare was indeed committing to her promise.  
A thrill rushed through her as she sat down, and right before she could do anything more, he shouted, “Alright, you made your point you stupid filly!”
“I am not a filly,” she sneered as she began to stand up on the bed, a surge of victorious pride making her grin like she had just won Equestria itself.  It was gone in a moment as suddenly the bedding she was standing on betrayed her, wrapping around her limbs and muffling her before she could react.  Her cry of surprise was cut off when she was suddenly jerked forward, the stallion’s magic lifting her into the air while keeping her bound.  
“You might as well be as clueless as one,” he growled, marching into a room adjacent to the bedroom, dragging her along while gagging her.  “What in Celestia’s Equestria am I supposed to do with you now?”