"So..." Blueblood's voice came nonchalantly over the chat. "How did you figure out it was me?"
"Intuition." Luna replied curtly. She watched the screen as the three Element bearers silently listened, and carefully grabbed Resonance's smartphone and activated its recording ability.
"Ah yes. A mare's intuition." Blueblood mumbled. Luna could see him in her mind's eye rubbing his hoof on his chest calmly. "Sadly, that won't be enough to convince anyone of anything."
"I know that you had your servants do thy dirty work, nephew." she stated with a slight air of smugness.
Blueblood went silent. After a moment, he spoke again. "So you did your research. You still can't make anything stick."
While Luna and Blueblood were conversing, Rainbow Dash was setting up a match. She quietly forced the game to have just Blueblood to be on the opposing team.
"See if you can win now." she gloated as the match began.
"Miss... Dash," Blueblood began, "I would appreciate it if you were so kind as to not interrupt Auntie and I's conversation." His voice carried the hint of annoyance.
"I see you made the game Search and Destroy," he continued, chuckling menacingly. "You must realize you don't have a chance."
With that, he somehow forced himself out of the party chat, and the match commenced. The small arena of a couple of houses provided a quick avenue for Blueblood to attack.
Taking command, Dash ordered everyone inside the house nearest to their spawn, and to set up defensive positions. Luna watched one of the entryways into the second floor of the room, but was suddenly killed as Blueblood's character phased through the ceiling of the house. In an instant, he was on the other three ponies and quickly eliminated them.
"Ah, noclip," he sighed as he came back into the chat when the round ended. "So simple, yet it always gets a crack out of me. Three rounds left."
"How are we supposed to beat him, if always cheats?" Rarity grumbled as Blueblood left the chat again.
"We must try our hardest," Luna encouraged. "Verily, there must be a weakness to his 'hacks' as they're called."
Round two commenced similarly to the first. Again, the four ponies holed up in the nearest house. Crouching again in the corner, Luna constantly checked the ceiling and floor, and was ready as Blueblood magically began coming through the floor.
She ordered her character to bolt in the opposite direction, frantically giving warning to her compatriots. Quickly, the three ponies followed her and began firing at Blueblood's character, the bullets passing through it.
Turning around, Luna watched as Blueblood shot down Twilight, followed by Rainbow Dash. She stopped as she saw Rarity throw a grenade at the soldier, which landed by its hooves.
As it hit the floor, Blueblood's character dove away from the grenade a second before it exploded. Getting up from the floor, Blueblood charged Rarity's soldier and stabbed it.
Suddenly Luna realized Blueblood's weakness with his "noclip" hack. With a quick press, she threw her package of C4 at Blueblood, the explosive itself flying through the character, but the blast from after activating the C4 catching him in its radius.
Twilight and the others cheered as the round end-screen flashed across their vision, the killcam showing in slow motion Blueblood's death.
"Beginner's luck." Blueblood scoffed, shrugging off the defeat.
As the next round commenced, Luna took command and ordered her friends to equip C4 for the future. Holing up again in the house, the four ponies sat and waited for Blueblood to inevitably attack.
Suddenly there was an explosion from another part of the house, shaking Luna's vision. "You have got to be kidding me!" she heard Rainbow Dash rage as a notification on the bottom of the screen informed of her demise.
"He shot my C4 from the sky, and my bullets did--" Luna winced as a string of curses from Dash's mic. Before Dash could continue her outrage, another notification popped up telling of Twilight's character's death.
"He hit me before I could even draw on him." she said. "He must be using something to automatically aim for him." she concluded, although it didn't help Luna, who was jumped on by Blueblood and stabbed in the back.
"It's on you, Rarity." Twilight stated as she and the others watched Rarity's view.
Rarity didn't respond. She positioned her soldier to back into a corner where she there was only one entrance, and waited, already looking down her sights. When Blueblood entered her vision, she fired, scoring a headshot, which took him down.
"Rrrgghh!" Blueblood fumed as the score screen came up. "How did you know about that hack?!"
"It wasn't an original idea or anything, darling." Rarity replied haughtily. Luna could hear the satisfaction in her voice. "I merely encountered a similar miscreant who used the same one to force a headshot only rule on him. The automatic aim was an interesting touch, however."
Grinning at the prince's silence, Luna could visualize the glare Rarity was receiving from Blueblood. He remained silent even until the next round began, when he grumbled a curse and forced his way out of the chat again.
Rainbow Dash told everyone that this was the last round for this spawn before their sides would switch. As the squad again fortified in the nearby house, Luna hoped that they could take down Blueblood again, as it be would much harder to force him to attack when he was the one planting the bomb in the match, not them.
Waiting expectantly, the four were taken off guard when bullets began flying through the floor of the second floor. Nimbly Luna sprang from her position and dodged the bullets that flew with no penalty through the floor, rushing down to the floor below.
She raised her weapon as she entered the living room, but was suddenly shot down from a single pair of bullets that punched through the adjacent wall. "His bullets kill instantly and are not hindered by walls and floors." she warned her teammates.
Futilely, the team's remaining members tried to charge Blueblood, who was content to just wait outside and take down each one through a wall or when they came out.
Laughing, the prince taunted, "That was like taking candy from a foal!"
"What are we to do now?" Luna asked as the round began, switching spawns and objectives.
"I dunno," Dash replied. "It's not like we can just openly attack."
"I'm coming for you!" they heard Blueblood jeer as he jumped into the chat for a moment.
"Wait, where's Rarity?" Twilight asked, whirling her character from left to right.
Suddenly, the victory screen appeared, followed by the killcam, which showed that Rarity had broke off from the beginning and waited for Blueblood to show himself to attack. On the screen, it merely showed that she took aim and fired when his head appeared for a moment, ending the round.
"No!" Blueblood screamed. "You have got to be joking!"
As the next match began, Luna and the others grew concerned at his inactivity. Seconds later, Twilight and the other Element bears disappeared from the map.
In alarm, Luna tried to sprint towards where Rarity was watching out the window a moment ago. Surprisingly, her character was stuck in a set place, constantly stuttering back and forth in a small area.
"What's happening?" she demanded fearfully.
Through some breaks in communication, Twilight told Luna that they had been booted from the match because of too much lag, yet she was still in it. A moment later, Luna's soldier was on the floor, shot by Blueblood.
The prince let out a small chuckle, which was unhindered by the lag that Luna was enduring. "Tie game, Auntie," he taunted. "Time to finish this!"
Luna glared at the screen. She wouldn't let Blueblood beat her again; not here, not now. "We are not incapable, nephew." she snapped back at Blueblood.
Chuckling again, Blueblood replied, "We'll see..."
Again, the sides swapped, and Luna was left alone in the field against Blueblood. "What is keeping you from joining?!" she demanded at her teammates.
Clearly heard now, Twilight told her that the three ponies were being blocked from joining back in. Blueblood had set up some kind of firewall against them. They couldn't even observe.
Luna focused back on her game. Without her team backing her up, she was left relatively defenseless. Gulping, she set up in the bedroom of the spawn house.
"Oh come on, Auntie," Blueblood sighed. "Let's fight this out pony to pony."
From the other end of the map, Luna heard a gunshot, followed by a red dot appear on her miniature map in the top left corner for a second. "Meet me in the middle if you ever want to finish the game." he told her with a slightly sinister tone.
Resigning herself, Luna crept out from where she was fortified, and went to the middle, a short distance away. She found cover behind a small chariot that was parked in the driveway of the house.
Suddenly, a grenade came sailing over the chariot. Luna dove away a moment before it exploded. Seeing Blueblood as her character rose, she aimed and fired, only for her character to start jittering in an area again.
"Did you really think I'd be that stupid, Auntie?" Blueblood asked, casually sauntering his character to a short distance in front of hers. "Tricking you was almost as easy as fooling the nobility of your friend's guilt."
Luna levitated up Resonance's smartphone, getting it to an angle where it could more easily record Blueblood's voice from the television. "Why wouldst thou do such a thing?" she demanded, faking shock. "Was thy upbringing for not?"
"What? Me, being second fiddle to Celestia the entire time?" Blueblood snapped in reply. Laughing heartily, he continued, "Yes, I had my servants provide false witnesses, and I had that flask of poison planted in that commoner's residence. But you know what? I did it for a good reason!"
No longer faking her surprise, Luna inquired, "What would move you do such a thing?"
His character still observing Luna's soldier's random flailing, Blueblood's tone dropped to a hiss. "I eventually figured that I would have to deal with being the next in line for the rest of my life, always waiting, but never getting to the throne that I deserved due to Auntie Celestia's long life," he growled.
"And then you showed up; popping in out of the blue from Celestia-knows-where, and getting restored to your position: something that should have been mine!" he spat in indignation. "And now, I am behind Princess Lovey-Dovey, Mi Amore Cadenza." As he uttered Cadance's full name, he raised his voice's pitch in a mocking tone.
Grinning, Luna egged Blueblood to rant more, still recording the prince's tirade. "This will get him for sure." she congratulated herself.
"Where the hell did she even come from anyhow?" Blueblood complained, still on the topic of Cadance.
In-game, Luna was trying to get her character to fire on Blueblood's soldier, acting as if she was still frantically trying to escape from whatever it was that was causing her to move uselessly.
"Awe... You can't escape a lag switch Auntie," Blueblood cooed sardonically. "Just like you won't be able to stop what I plan to do!" He laughed maniacally.
"And what is that?" Luna asked, genuinely curious, inwardly laughing at Blueblood's foolishness for talking so much. Still recording, she waited for his answer.
"To take what's rightfully mine!" he declared in a matter-of-fact air.
"That is?"
"What do you think? Idiot," he mumbled in contempt. "My throne, that's what!"
"Thou art insane! Our sister would never let you--" Luna protested, although she at the same time wished for him to continue: all the more for Celestia to hear.
"Oh really? You're not in the highest favor with the nobility right now, what with your 'friend' in their eyes committing treason, and your blinding addiction to video games; it wouldn't be that hard to convince them that you wouldn't be suitable for ruling," he countered. "That would just leave dear, old Auntie Celestia to take care of: something I plan on doing soon.
"Oh well," he stated nonchalantly, "It was a fun chat, Auntie. Too bad you won't be believed." With that he shot Luna's character dead, ending the deciding match in his favor.
"Actually, nephew, I have thee to thank," Luna replied in a manner that Blueblood wasn't expecting.
"Wait, what?" Blueblood verbally hesitated.
Now in the party lobby, Luna took the liberty to mute the three Element bearers to keep a distinct conversation with him. "What is the saying nephew? 'I wasn't born yesterday?'" she asked innocently. As Blueblood began sputtering at her casualness at what happened, Luna found the menu on Resonance's phone she was looking for. Levitating the smartphone, she stretched, garnering a few cracks from her joints, and went to her mirror.
When her reflection appeared, she posed, flaunting the smartphone as it snapped a picture. After checking the picture out to make sure it informed Blueblood of his doom, she searched around for a proper cable to attach the smartphone to her PlayStable. Finally finding one from the bits of hardware left from her unpacking of the console's box, she attached the device and soon figured out how upload and send the picture to Blueblood.
"No! You didn't--!" Blueblood whimpered as he received the message with the photo.
"I thank thee for thy confession, Blueblood. Verily I would love to see thy expression as I say this, however, I can imagine it quite well." she cut him off, managing to subdue a few snickers.
"I'll get you yet Aunt--" he screamed before Luna kicked him from the party.
Unmuting Twilight and the others, Luna bid a quick farewell, eagerly wanting to bring her evidence to Celestia. After shutting off her PlayStable, Luna hastily put on her tiara, and considered it good enough. Without a moment of hesitation, she opened her suite's door, and snuck into the hallway.
The castle at night was deathly quiet. Few servants were awake, let alone undergoing a task for their masters. "Okay," Luna thought to herself as she crept down the hall, trying to be as silent as possible. "Our sister's main chambers are only a pair of floors away; it should not be difficult."
As she finished her thought, she heard the scuffling of hooves from the hallway's turn at the opposite end. "There she is!" she heard somepony cry.
Whipping her gaze around, she caught sight of Blueblood's head servant, Silver Platter, jab his hoof in her direction as a couple of other servants rounded the corner. "After the princess! We can't let her get that phone to her sister!" he ordered, dashing towards the startled Luna.
Her brain catching up to what was happening, Luna forwent any semblance of stealth and took to her hooves, dashing up the nearby staircase to the next floor.
From the hall below, she heard a crash followed by a pony cursing. A moment later, she heard Blueblood's voice order, "Forget him: after my Aunt!"
The floor above her suite was dedicated for the servants of ponies directly below. Opening a door down the hallway, Nightshine stuck her head through, wondering at the commotion. She barely had time to duck back as Luna streaked past further down the hall.
Stepping out into the hallway in bewilderment, she collided with another of Blueblood's servants who couldn't stop in time.
Blueblood, followed by two other servants, hopped over the two ponies. "Do you know what will happen if you get that to Auntie Celestia, Auntie?" he called.
Briefly looking over her shoulder, Luna made a face and continued speeding towards the now nearby staircase. She turned the corner and dashed up the staircase, into the hallway containing her sister's main chambers.
As Blueblood and his two servants pursued, one of the servants tripped on the landing, falling back down the stairs. Ignoring the pony, Blueblood and the last servant quickened their pace to catch Luna.
Suddenly, a door opened in their wake, Blueblood barely avoiding it as the startled noble in the doorway shook his hoof at the commotion, jumping back in surprise as the other pursuer crashed into the door.
Luna chuckled as she heard the servant crash into the door. They must have been quickly roused by Blueblood to have all crashed into something.
Sighing inwardly, she reached the ornate double doors of her sister's chambers. Hastily she pounded on the doors. "Sister!" she cried. "Open thy door. Let us in! We have--oof!" She gasped as Blueblood dove into her, knocking Resonance's smartphone from her telekinetic grasp.
The device skidded to a halt in between the two ponies. Instantly the unicorn and alicorn tried to nab the phone with their magic, only succeeding to have it rise a few inches before hovering in mid-air.
"Give it to me!" Blueblood growled, tugging as hard as he could with his magic. "You don't know what you'll do!"
"We are not an imbecile: we know exactly what we are doing!" she snapped back, giving just a hard a pull.
Breaking in to their magical tug-of-war, they both heard an exasperated sigh. The two ponies stopped their fighting and turned their attention towards the sound. In the spacious doorway was an annoyed Celestia, her mane frizzled and wearing a robe with a blindfold on her forehead.
"There had better a good reason for this," she mumbled tiredly, but her irritation was evident.
"Uhh..." Luna and Blueblood echoed in tangent, staring blankly at Celestia.
"Inside. Now." Celestia ordered before trudging back in herself.
***
"So," Celestia said after readying herself and putting on her regalia. "Why exactly did you wake up half the castle for this?" She settled down on her bed and waved the smartphone with her magic in front of Luna and Blueblood's eyes.
"That--" Blueblood began before Celestia held up her hoof to silence him.
"Luna first," she stated flatly. "I've had my fill of you and your complaints before, Blueblood."
"May we have it?" Luna asked as Celestia turned her attention towards her.
"Yes." her sister replied, floating the phone over to her.
"This is the evidence that I told thee I would acquire," she stated, shooting a gloating glare at Blueblood before activating the recording from the device.
As the recording went on, Blueblood began to sweat and glance around the room. After it was played through completely, Celestia shot a stern look at her nephew.
"Well," she began, a disappointed undertone in her voice, "this changes things. It appears you were right, Luna."
Beaming, Luna started to say, "What shall--"
"You idiot!" Blueblood snapped, interrupting her thought. "Do you know what this will do?!"
"We know exactly what it will do. Thou shalt receive what thou deserve!" Luna shot back, her peripheral vision catching Celestia smack her hoof to her face.
"Who else helped you?" Celestia asked Blueblood.
"Just Silver Platter, my head servant, and a few others." Blueblood replied. Pleadingly, he begged, "Don't do this Auntie. I swear it will never happen again!"
Staring tiredly at the begging prince, Celestia ordered one of the guards that were now stationed outside to just bring in Silver Platter. A moment later, the guard returned with the servant, who was painfully placing an icepack on his forehead.
"Now that the two of you here, I can sentence you to your punishment," Celestia declared, rising to her hooves as the two ponies shrunk down in fear.
"But you need the court nobles to fairly judge: this is against what is established!" Blueblood protested.
"This is off the record, nephew," she answered. Clearing her throat she began to speak. "You and your servant shall be tasked with one hundred days of community service. And," --she turned slightly and glared directly down at Blueblood-- "because this all started with what you thought was a smart idea on a video game, you're systems will confiscated to Luna. I'm sure she'll find a good use for them."
Blueblood cringed at his aunt's punishment. Beginning to rise, he started to protest again.
"QUIET!" Celestia boomed, startling Luna at her own use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Turning to face Luna, Celestia said, "And you. This was partly your fault as well for shunning your duties and wasting your entire time on video games."
Luna gulped, not liking her sister's tone.
"I will personally take away your television, phone, computer, and any other electronics for a month! You are grounded!" Celestia's voice took on an angry mother's tone.
"Guards! Take these two out of my sight, I'll deal with the other servants later." she ordered, the two guards coming back in and dragging the whimpering Blueblood and frightened Silver Platter out.
"I have to interact... with common ponies and... dirt?!" Blueblood mumbled before the guards closed the doors.
"What about Resonance? And why did you not sentence Blueblood to the dungeons?" Luna demanded, shoving her face in Celestia's.
Pushing her irritated sister away, Celestia replied calmly, "You wanted me to take direct action, right? Having Blueblood go through the courts and giving him the same sentence would provide a true scandal for the news companies to get their hooves on. This way we can quietly punish him and release your friend."
"He still deserves worse," Luna huffed, taking back Resonance's smartphone and crossing her hooves as she fell on her sister's bed.
"It isn't as if you didn't cause some disrespect to the monarchy either," Celestia pointed out. "First a commoner supposedly tries to poison you, and then it gets out it was really royalty? The public would be outraged."
Sighing, Luna conceded, "We suppose thou art right."
"Get some rest," Celestia ordered good-naturedly. "You'll have to get up in a couple of hours to lower the moon: I think you're well enough again to manipulate it. I'll make up a pardon for your friend in the meantime."
Grumbling, Luna trudged back to her suite and settled in for a few hours of sleep,
***
"Wake up, your majesty." Luna heard Nightshine yawn through the fog of sleep.
Luna groaned, and slowly got out of her bed. "Why art thou waking me so early?" she asked as Nightshine set down her breakfast tray.
"You're lowering the moon, remember?" her servant replied with another yawn.
Diving into eating the food, Luna ignored the quip. After she had finished, she dressed in her regalia and trotted towards where the morning balcony stood. Celestia was already there, bags under her eyes, but a faint smile on her face.
"Are you ready?" she asked, turning to face the glowing horizon.
Luna nodded and turned in the opposite direction to face towards the waning satellite. Hearing a flash of magic, Luna willed her own to grasp the moon, slowly lowering it as her sister performed her own work. As she finished and Celestia raised the sun, Luna gasped and dropped to her knees. She heard a gasp come from Celestia as well, but her sister kept to her hooves.
Weakly rising to her hooves, Luna said, "We are sorry, sister, for putting so much strain on thee. It was a selfish act."
Smiling, Celestia comforted her sister. "It's all right, Luna."
She gave a quick hug before grabbing a scroll that was resting on the railing. "Go take this to the prison-keeper; it's your friend's pardon." When Luna took the scroll, Celestia sighed, "I think it's time for me to get some sleep. Day Court can be closed for a few days, agreed?"
Luna nodded her agreement. As she left the balcony, she heard her sister order, "And when you're done, get some rest yourself: you need it for tonight."
***
"Right away, your majesty." the prison-keeper said, bowing after he read the pardon. He motioned for her to follow him as he began walking down the dungeon hall.
"This would have been perfect for Blueblood." she thought in contempt as she made her way down the corridor that she dashed down a couple of nights before.
Halting, the prison-keeper unlocked Resonance's cell, saying, "You're free. Vamoose."
"What?" Luna heard him ask from inside.
Slowly, Resonance made his way out of the cell. He stopped as he saw Luna standing in the hall. Shaking his head, he asked, "How did you do it?"
"We convinced our sister with this," she replied, levitating his phone towards him. "We are sorry for thy suffering."
"So was it Blueblood after all?" he asked, grabbing the phone in his mouth before holding it in his hoof.
She nodded.
As the two ponies began to head back out of the dungeon, he chuckled as he heard the recording. "I don't want to know how you got this. Just--Thanks." he said in disbelief.
"I will not be able to speak to thee for some time," Luna informed him. "My sister has taken my devices for partly causing this in the first place."
"Good."
"Good?" she echoed in confusion.
"I need to get away from you and your crazy friends," he elaborated. "That was the most excitement I need for quite a while, even if I said it was worth it."
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Resonance's phone rumbled. Stopping and grabbing it, he said, "Oh hey, they've announced the PlayStable 4! That looks interesting."
Chagrinned, Luna groaned, "No more video games. For now at least!"
FIN