Prince let out a soft sigh. Figures the darn contractors forgot something. In his case, something was a lunch in the icebox. He assumed it was lunch at some point of the past, at least. Right now, the horrific mess of green, yellow and brown looked like it was pondering the merits of declaring its sentience. Gripping the whole box with his magic, Blueblood trotted out briskly, plopping the box down next to the trash bins. Considering the awful stench, he was more inclined to buy a new icebox then bother with decontamination of this one.
Faint buzzing reached his ears just as he turned around to go back into his villa. He had arrived quietly, without showing his face in the town just yet. Peace and quiet were necessary parts of settling down, after all. Still, some passerbys already discovered the new resident of Ponyville. Like those three fillies buzzing past. Correction, buzzing into. An experience of thousands of ballroom dances with clumsy mares came in handy again, as he nimbly spun out of the trajectory, letting fillies crash into the icebox he just dumped out.
"Oh hello there, mister!" - quipped the white one. Well, at least the unicorn of the group knew how to be polite. Blueblood deigned them with a benevolent nod. He rather liked children - their naive honesty was a rare treat for a stallion of a court. "Oh, uh, whoa. What did we crash into?" - groused the orange one, trying in vain to tug the helmet off her head. Yellow filly came to the rescue, yanking the helmet off the pegasus, letting her see at last. She immediately blustered - "Oh wow, an icebox. Are you seriously throwing this away, mister?"
"Why yes, I most certainly do. What of it?" - offered Blueblood imperiously, as he turned around and began the languid trot back to the front door. "That so?... Mistah, would ya mind if we take it, then?" - proffered yellow filly uncertainly. She had rather oversized bow on her head, Blueblood noted with detachment. "I suppose." - he offered lazily, - "I would be remiss not to warn you it`s absolutely rancid inside. Some inconsiderate slob left a food there for over a week, it seems. Still, if you want it, it`s all yours." And with that, he trotted into the house, followed by triple - "Thanks, mister!"
Well, now the malodorous object was out of his house. Which meant he needed to purchase a new icebox post-haste. Giving his possessions a quick once-over, Blueblood considered his options. Obviously, using his real name would be just a magnet for trouble - and so, his house was registered in the name of Civil Act, a tort law expert. It was not the first time Blueblood used this particular name - it was his nom de plume for most of tort law contributions on his part, and as far as most ponies were concerned, Civil Act was a distant relative of Bluebloods and an honest civil servant. Official story fed to the newspapers about Blueblood claimed him to be travelling in exotic countries, recovering from his malaise, leaving him reasonably free to live in Ponyville freely as Civil Act.
Blueblood adjusted the medallion habitually. It was the most crucial part of Civil Act persona - a magical trinket that maintained an illusion of opened book image superimposed over his own cutie mark. He checked himself in the mirror and smirked - "Looking good, Civil." To put some finishing touches on, Blueblood put on a trilby hat and slipped his old tweed jacket on, completing the appearance of a well-off bourgeois. Appraising his looks one last time in the mirror, stallion nodded, and trotted out, locking the door behind him. Time to get reacquainted with Twilight.
___
'Why do I feel so nervous?' - Blueblood simply couldn`t fathom the answer to his question. Yet, there he stood, with hoof raised to knock on the library doors... and yet, he hesitated. Yet, he knew, lingering on the porch any longer would attract attention to him. And so, he steeled himself and knocked on the door twice - firmly, but without excessive clamor. After a few more tense seconds, the door opened. "...Hello?" - Blueblood looked left and right. Then he realised the obvious alternative and looked down, - "...Oh. Hello, Spike."
Dragon`s face went through a quick sequence of expressions, finally settling on guarded surprise - "...Do I know you?" Blueblood facehoofed. "Oh, sorry. I`ve read in newspaper about you. It`s somewhat unreal, meeting you in person. My name`s Civil Act. Can I come in? I need to check out some referential literature." - he offered, glancing into the library. Spike`s presence confirmed he was at the right library, but he could not spy Twilight anywhere. Dragon shrugged. "Oh, yeah, alright. Come on in." - he offered, stepping back from the door. Blueblood wasted no time in stepping through.
"Twilight will be with you shortly." - Spike offered, as he waddled up the stairs - "Twi! There`s a new customer." Although he was most definitely prepared, prince still felt his breath seizing when the familiar voice from upstairs replied - "Coming!" 'Blueblood, old buddy, old pal. You might be in love with this mare.' - his subconsciousness offered helpfully, - 'And by golly, you know you won`t find anypony better in your whole life. Gonna go for it?' Honestly, Blueblood had no answer to this question.
Twilight Sparkle appeared at the top of the stairs exactly at this moment, casting down a quick smile as she descended. "Hello there. I`m Twilight Sparkle. What`s your name?" - she offered amiably. Blueblood opened his mouth to answer... And suddenly found himself staring at the inner surface of protective shield. "...Wha?!" - he exclaimed, too flabbergasted to offer something more coherent. Twilight`s expression changed - now she looked troubled and suspicious. "I don`t rightly know who you are, but I can sense you have an active illusion amulet on your persona." - she offered, - "And I`d like to know whom I`m dealing with. I apologise in advance if you have a legitimate reason to be in disguise, but with the recent changeling scare, I can`t be too careful, you understand."
Blueblood snickered - "Still sharp as a tack, Twi." He pulled the medallion off, dropping his trilby in process. "Recognise me now?" - he offered with a wink and a grin. Forcefield shattered. "...Blueblood?! How, why... Oh, for... I haven`t seen you for years!" - apparently, she was glad enough to see him to bestow him with a hug. Which, Blueblood noted with a measure of detachment, felt better then any physical interaction with a mare he had a chance to experience up to date. "Hello, Twilight. Can you spare some privacy and a bit of time?" - he offered casually, - "We`ve got a lot of catching up to do."
___
"...That`s awful." - offered Twilight thoughtfully, as she stirred some sugar into her third cup of tea. Blueblood snorted dismissively - "I`m getting better, I assure you. Still, auntie insisted on extended vacation. I`m beginning to think she is onto something, too." Twilight`s expression changed slightly as she made a valiant effort to suppress a smile - "I quite agree with her assessment of situation, BB. You`ve been terribly overworked even when I was leaving for Ponyville. You even missed gala, remember?"
"What?... Oh. Oh, for..." - Blueblood facehoofed - "I was at the gala, Twi. Was really looking forward to catching up with you, too. But I was beset by that psychotic mare, and then everything went nuclear." Twilight`s brow creased - "Psychotic mare? Come on, what happened?" Sighing, prince looked upwards on the ceiling, as he collected his thoughts. "Remember the last gala we attended when you lived in palace? When that self-obsessed emptyheaded floozy dumped a glass of wine on you? Well, it was worse then that." - he offered, shuddering involuntarily - "I`ve pulled out all stops, descended to the depths of smarmy prickitude that nearly made me retch with self-revulsion... And she still wouldn`t get the hint. And then columns went toppling, animals went rampaged, cake became ballistic... It literally took no less then complete destruction of gala to get her to leave me alone. Oh, and I may have run away like a coward and hid under the table in all that confusion."
Twilight snickered. "Oh yeah, I remember that. We had an afterparty at Donut Joe`s." - she offered, - "Pretty much every one came to gala expecting some kind of personal dream to happen and not a single one got it right. I got no time at all to catch up neither with Celestia nor with you, Rainbow Dash couldn`t get to Wonderbolts, Applejack didn`t sell a thing, Pinkie Pie found out that gala party is the most boring thing ever, Fluttershy caused the animal stampede, and Rarity met some kind of "uncouth beast in stallion`s clothes", as she puts it..." Twilight trailed off, as the conclusion hit her and Blueblood in just about the same time.
Twilight regained her focus first - "Rarity was the psychotic mare that got you running?" Blueblood closed his mouth with audible snap. "...You`re actually friends with all of them!?" - he exclaimed, - "...I... Twilight, I don`t know what to tell you. I mean, it was actually hilarious to see the gala bombed like this, but... Rarity. How do you even..." Twilight groaned - "I guess you owe her an apology then."
"I think not. I`ve suffered enough at her hooves at the gala. If anyone could expect an apology, it would be me." - he retorted, shivering again involuntarily. Twilight put her hoof down on the table firmly - "Shame on you, BB. Rarity`s one of my best friends, and I absolutely can`t tolerate the fact you treated her like a dish rag. All that she wanted was to... meet a prince at the gala...." Her voice wavered a little, as the implications began to sink in. Stallion groaned - "There, see? She went to gala to hook up with a prince. Not THE prince, but A prince. I think you can see how that is... a little bit denigrating for me."
"OK, I can see that what she did wasn`t exactly well thought out, but it`s still not a reason to mistreat her that badly, BB." - offered Twilight after a moment of thought, - "I`ve known Rarity for a while now, and she`s never been anything less then a lady to everyone around her." Blueblood snorted again, taking a long sip from his cup afterwards. He needed to collect his thoughts a bit. "...Look. I know your friends must mean for you a lot." - he offered finally, - "But I can`t and won`t overlook the fact she had mistreated me in the worst way possible. She refused me the right to be a person. I do NOT want to be anywhere near the mare who wants me because I`m prince. If she can realise this? If she can figure out why I bent over backwards to get rid of her? I`d apologise gladly."
"She can." - answered Twilight with conviction - "She can be a bit vain at times, but her heart is in the right place." Blueblood gave her a tired smile. "I adore your faith in your fellow ponies, Twilight. I really do." - he offered glumly - "But I have plenty of reason to doubt the merits of such conviction... Though, I have to admit, it warms my jaded heart each time your faith is vindicated. So be it."