Blueblood trotted down the street, waving to the occasional pony that now tolerated, or even expected, his presence. He knocked once, twice, thrice on the door to the library and waited for but a moment. The door opened, revealing the form of a small, purple dragon.
“Hello, Spike,” he said. “Is Twilight ready to continue our work on the robot?”
“She sure is!” he exclaimed. “She’s been talking all day about some sort of breakthrough she found.” He shivered. “I’m honestly getting a little nervous. You remember the violets, right?”
Blueblood joined him in his cringe. “Oh, Glory, do I ever. Let’s proceed before she finds herself creating cyborgs or some such nonsense.”
He brought himself to the basement door, just as he had all those… was it weeks ago that he had traveled to the human world? My word. He trotted carefully down the stairs, leaning a bit on the wall as he did so.
Spike looked up at him sympathetically. “Ribs still hurt, huh?”
“A battle to the death can to that to you, yes,” Blueblood replied.
“That’s rough, buddy.”
They reached the bottom step far too soon. It was at this point that Blueblood could hear the nearly-maniacal laughter issuing from Twilight Sparkle. He quaked in his horseshoes.
“It’s brilliant! Brilliant!” she cackled. “This, Blueblood. This alone blows everything we’ve ever done before out of the water!”
“Before we get to the explosives,” he said, “do you mind sharing your discovery with the rest of the class?”
She froze in thought, her enormous tinted goggles seeming to fog up as the wheels within her head turned. Her wings shifted under her lab coat. “Yeah. Yeah, I can see that.”
She revealed the robot with a flourish. “As you well know, we have been programming my friendship reports into the robot with regularity, excepting spur of the moment trips to alien worlds, of course.”
“Of course,” he said.
“So,” she continued, “we have all but completed our quest to prevent the robot from pillaging, lasering, and otherwise bringing harm to the ponies around it. We have also made it possible for the robot to act as a friend would. To be helpful and supportive!” She raised a hoof into the air. “But that is only the beginning of what we can do with this robot!”
Blueblood took a step backward. “No. No, I actually think that’s exactly what we wanted to do with the robot.”
Twilight giggled, sending shivers down Blueblood’s spine. “No, Blueblood! No! We have one step further to go, one more scientific endeavor before the robot can be truly complete!”
She galloped up to him and stuck her nose in his face. “I see it so clearly, now! We can teach this robot”—she danced on her hind hooves with her forelegs clutched tight to her chest—“to love!”
Any answer Blueblood might have squeaked was drowned out by the furious tapping of Spike’s claws as he dashed up the stairs. With Twilight still preoccupied with visions of electronic nuptials, he backed quickly up the stairs and out of the library.
Twilight stopped twirling and found herself faced with an empty basement. She turned to the robot and sighed. “Was it something I said?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout that, baby,” the robot said in a deep, smooth voice. “We can make our own breakthroughs together.”
Twilight blinked. “Okay, I can see that getting a little creepy.”
Blueblood caught up with Spike quite soon after leaving the library. The dragon seemed to be walking towards the local boutique for some reason. Spike smiled at Blueblood, giving forth a quiet laugh. “Heh, got out of there in a hurry, didn’t you?”
Blueblood smirked lightly. “I was only following your lead, Spike.”
“Yeah, gowan with yah.” Spike continued on in silence for a few beats. “Hey, what’re you up to now that Twilight’s being… Twilight?”
Blueblood thought for a moment. “I suppose I am unattached to any schedule at this time.” He shrugged. “Did you have anything in mind?”
Spike smiled. “I was gonna see if Rarity would wanna come to the coffee shop with me. She usually works pretty late on Thursdays.”
Blueblood looked at the setting sun and nodded. “I fear that my presence would make it difficult for you to convince her. Perhaps it is best if you carry on alone.”
Spike bit his lip. “I wouldn’t wanna—”
“Please, Spike,” Blueblood said. “It’s for the best.”
Spike placed a hand on Blueblood’s shoulder. “Fine, but don’t let it spoil your evening. Come to the Keen Bean. There’s a poetry slam thingy going on tonight, Zecora’s showing off.”
As Spike began to waddle away, Blueblood spoke once more. “Spike? Is… Are they well? Twilight and… and Flash?”
Spike turned with a look of surprise. “Yeah, they’re okay. Flash seems… Flash is a pretty nice guy. I’m keeping an eye on him.”
“Good,” Blueblood said as he walked away. “Good.”
As night fell, the more nocturnal ponies began to make their way onto the streets. Blueblood smiled as magic lit the street lights one by one. He fell into a rhythm as he trotted along, allowing his body to move to autopilot as he travelled to the Keen Bean.
He leaped into the air with a scream as the entirety of his vision was filled with pink.
“Hiyah! Nice to see you again, Blueblood!”
“Now, Pinkie,” Braeburn chuckled. “We didn’t wanna scare the poor guy.”
“Of course not, Honey Bunches,” Pinkie said as she dismounted the street lamp. “This isn’t Nightmare Night! But it is a really, really, really cool prank for Nightmare Night, now that I think of it! Ooh! Ooh! Maybe I can finish with a cream pie to the face! Wouldn’t that be hilarious!? And delicious!?”
Blueblood shook his head and met the eyes of the couple before him. Braeburn wrapped a foreleg around Pinkie’s shoulders and winked. “Sorry ’bout that. It looked like the only way tah get yer attention, the way you were zoning out like that.”
“Just… just enjoying the sights, is all,” Blueblood gasped.
“Well, we just wanted to ask you somethin’,” Braeburn said.
“Something really, really important!” Pinkie added.
Blueblood stood and dusted himself off. “What can I do for you two?”
Pinkie’s grin grew to cosmic proportions as Braeburn answered. “Would you be willin’ tah be the officiate at our weddin’ ceremony?”
Blueblood’s jaw plummeted past the ground, deep into the Earth’s crust, and into the molten core. Figuratively speaking, of course. “Are-are-are you certain!?”
Pinkie giggled. “They way Braeburn tells it, you really stepped up to the plate in that other world, especially near the end. We couldn’t think of anypony more appropriate…” She licked her lips. “Except maybe Celestia. But that’s besides the point.”
“B’sides,” Braeburn said with a punch to Blueblood’s shoulder. His un-bandaged one, that is. “Us princes of Equestria oughta stick together, right?”
“I would be honored,” Blueblood managed to say.
“Thank you!” Pinkie said, throwing her arms around his neck. He gasped for want of air. “I knew you were really a good guy deep down inside!”
Blueblood smiled.
“You doin’ anything tonight?” Braeburn asked. “We were just ’bout to head on down to the Keen Bean.”
“Ah! That’s where I was headed, as well,” he said. He walked with them as they headed through downtown Ponyville, laughing as they talked.
The Keen Bean was bouncing nearly as much as its owner, Doreen Bean. The hyperactive mare seemed to teleport more than run from table to table, refilling coffees and taking orders.
Pinkie shook her head. “Whoa, I don’t think I’d ever be able to keep up with that girl.”
Braeburn and Blueblood froze in place for an instant, their minds temporarily having trouble processing what had just passed between her lips.
They found a table with a mere three open seats. In the other seats sat the princesses Lyra, Vinyl, and Redheart. “Hey, check it out,” Vinyl said, “It’s the stallion and mare of the hour! How yah doin’, Pinks?”
“Juuust peachy!” Pinkie laughed.
Redheart smiled. “It’s almost like a little reunion of our expedition, with you two princes here.”
Braeburn brushed his vest. “Heh! Sure does bring memories back… of last month, I guess.”
Blueblood looked across the table at Lyra, who had been staring at the floor the entire time she had been there. “Princess Heartstrings?” he said.
She looked up at him. “Thank you for saving my life,” he told her.
She cracked a smile. “No biggy. Glad you’re alive.”
Redheart leaned closer to him. “So what brings you to humble Ponyville?”
“I had a business appointment with Twilight Sparkle.” He chewed his bottom lip, looking up at the ceiling as he did so. “It didn’t quite pan out. Thus, here I am.”
Zecora tapped a hoof on the podium, trying to get everypony’s attention. She nearly succeeded.
Redheart scootched her chair beside Blueblood’s. “You have that appointment scheduled for tomorrow. Are you gonna show up?”
“I always make my appointments,” he assured her. “It’s a personal point of pride for me!”
“Good,” she said. “Your wounds are healing, but I’d hate to see them unattended.”
His smile sparkled in the dim light of the coffee shop. “You, and I as well, Princess of Hospice.”
Redheart got a very sly look on her face indeed. “So, fearless leader, are you going to share something for poetry night?”
Blueblood blanched. It was, as has been said before, a very impressive feat for somepony with a white coat to blanch. “I’m afraid this isn’t quite my—”
“Oh, come on, I’m sure you’ll do fine!” Redheart said. “Aren’t you supposed to be this big, handsome, cultured stallion? Share a poem!”
Blueblood’s blanch fully evolved into a blush. A grin spread across his face. “Well, I don’t suppose it would hurt at all.” He stood and made his way over to Zecora the Zebra and explained to her his intentions.
Lyra placed a hoof on Redheart’s shoulder. “What’s with you?”
Redheart shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Blueblood noticed Spike and Rarity walk in just as he took the podium. He grinned at the crowd of ponies gathered within the Keen Bean, and sent a small wink Redheart’s way. He opened his mouth wide, ready to expel his most perfect poem.
The problem at that point, of course, was that he didn’t actually know any poems by heart.
John sat before his computer as it booted up. There was an entered password, a clicked mouse, and an extended wait for his antiquated laptop to wake from slumber. A double-click brought a word processing program online, and his fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard.
A few minutes later, he sat back, satisfied at the first draft of his story.
“You’re really gonna post that?”
He jumped in his seat as Alma took her place beside him. “‘Good morning, friends.’ Is that really how you’re gonna start it? Sounds kinda dumb.”
John sighed. “It’s about presenting the narrator as his own character. I don’t know if anypony-gah!-anybody’s gonna pick up on it, but whatever.”
She read further down the screen. “What’s inti— intri— inacate mean?”
“Intricate,” he corrected. “It means… eh… ‘really detailed.’”
“Oh.” She fiddled with a small gemstone on her necklace, a gift from Equestria. “Why does it use so many big words?”
John stared at the screen for a moment. “Maybe it’s all that time we spent in Canterlot. Those nobles are rubbing off on me.”
They sat in silence as John proofread the document. Alma gave a “Hmm” as he reached the final page. “So, Daddy says the next season is coming soon.”
“That’s right,” John said without looking up.
“Do you think we’ll see Blueblood?”
John’s eyebrows peaked. He looked over at the sorrowful face of Alma. “I really don’t know.”
“And…”—she swallowed a lump in her throat—“and if he does, will he be like… like our Blueblood?”
John clasped his hands together and placed his chin betwixt them. “I… I really don’t know. I don’t know how the real-life translates to the show. I really don’t.” His eyes swiveled to her. “I do know one thing, though.”
“What?”
“Whatever shows up in the show… We know the real Blueblood,” he said.
He clicked the save icon and a window popped up, prompting him to name his file. He considered it for a moment.
Then he typed.
“Blueblood’s Ascension; or, Alicorns Just Aren’t What They Used to Be”