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// At the Gala (part 3) 
// Story: Azure Flame 
// by Silver Page 
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	“Are you ready, Blueblood? Not nervous or anything?” Princess Celestia asked her nephew, who gulped loudly but nodded his head. Celestia wore her usual attire of shining gold shoes, special chest plate which was also gold and enchanted to sparkle with sunlight, and of course her royal crown. Luna, on the right of her sister, wore similar attire, but with silver shoes and a dark blue chest piece instead of gold and yellow like Celestias, though it was also enchanted to have a sparkling effect. Their manes flowed ethereally, like always, so no big change there.
“I can do this! It won’t be like last year,” Blueblood declared, though mostly for his own benefit. A deep breath, and he was calm for the moment. At his side, Rarity stood, looking dazzling in her dress.
“You look lovely, Rarity. Simply divine,” Blueblood said, forcing down the Snob he could feel trying to get free.
“Thank you dear, very kind of you,” Rarity replied, giving a small smile at him. It warmed his heart to see, and he felt a blush rising, but with disciplined thoughts, shoved it down as well. 
“Alright, everypony, let’s get into position,” Celestia announced a moment later, and there was a brief bout of shuffling to arrange themselves. Celestia and Luna were at the back of the group, as they were going to be the last to appear. At the front were the Elements of Harmony, with Blueblood smack in the middle, with Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to his right, and Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to the left. Sandwiched between the Diarches and the Prince plus Mane Six were Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, as the new couple and the third in line for the throne.  It was a warming sight to behold, each of them dressed elegantly yet simply, their styles eye catching yet demure. 
Shining Armor’s dress uniform was similar to the one from his wedding, though the sash was pale red, almost pink, to match his wife’s mane, and he had dark purple horseshoes. Cadence was dressed in a pale white flowing dress, with a breeze enchantment on it to make it ripple and appear to be in the wind. Her horseshoes were a flowery pink color, almost like Fluttershy’s mane, and the timid Pegasus had blushed and hidden in her hair when Pinkie pointed it out. ‘Adorable’ was what everypony had thought when they saw the reaction.
Flanking the group was a quartet of armored guards, who clutched their spears tightly and had an extra sharp look in their eyes. They were not taking any chances tonight, not after one terrorist attack and a surprise delivery. 
“Alright, time to go,” Blueblood whispered, and he tensed, waiting to be announced.
“Introducing, Prince Blueblood and the Elements of Harmony,” the herald, Loud Mouth, announced from up ahead and beyond a silk curtain. The queue spoken, Blueblood began to trot forward, mares in his stride, and as they approached, the curtain was pulled apart by magic.
They appeared at the top of the Grand Staircase, and under the gaze of the aristocracy, and a dozen well placed guards, they descended the steps. Fluttershy gave an ‘eep’ of fear, but kept walking down under the countless eyes, which impressed Blueblood, knowing now firsthand how shy she really was and could get.
A lot of the ponies there gazed disbelieving at the sight of the six who had trashed the last Gala, and also that Blueblood was with them, even after being verbally thrashed and using one of them as a shield against a flying cake. Blueblood and Rarity had a feeling that that particular point of their lives would not be forgotten any time soon. 
A smattering of applause greeted them, the loudest from a pair Blueblood had not expected to see, but was heartily glad he did; Fleur de Lys and Fancy Pants stood near an enormous swan-shaped ice statue. Blueblood smiled internally at the sight of his old foalsitter, a resolved to speak with her later.
Once he and the Elements reached the bottom step, Loud Mouth proceeded to announce Cadence and Shining, and their group broke up, and started to mingle. Fluttershy went with Pinkie over to the music stage, where Octavia and the orchestra were playing, again. Blueblood winced in sympathy as a look of pure terror crossed the cellist’s face as she spotted what had ruined the last Gala and her music there-of. 
Applejack and Dash wandered to the food tables, which incidentally had the Wonderbolt Soarin nearby eyeing some pies. Blueblood was convinced that he had a deeply disturbing food fetish, but wasn’t going to ask. Spitfire was also nearby, and Rainbow Dash had started to fangasm. He really hoped nothing would happen on that front. 
He and Rarity began to drift from group to group as he tried to maneuver towards Fleur, and ended up becoming bogged down in conversation. Twilight, as she’d promised, was following the pair from a discreet distance, mingling with a group of University professors for her cover. Blueblood had to hand it to her; when she wanted to, that purple Unicorn could blend in very well.
“I’m surprised that you’d return this year, Miss Rarity, after the debacle last time,” a noble said in a well masked insulting tone, and a few others nodded.
“Well, I wasn’t, but Prince Blueblood was very kind and apologized quite profusely over his actions,” Rarity said, her charming smile hiding her true thoughts. Namely, how she’d like to show that uppity noblemare what she’d do to her if she pissed her off anymore.
Unknown to them, and even Blueblood wasn’t fully aware, but Rarity was stressed. Extremely so. First, spending a few days being rude to Blueblood and wooing over an elusive Azure Flame hadn’t done much good, and then receiving the shocking truth of Bluebloods past, coupled with mind numbing guilt, had made her very stressed. The nice night at the hospital had been shattered by a mix of odd feelings towards Blueblood, seeing Twilight hugging the prince, then having the event crashed by terrorists. It all had brutally beaten her sense of calm and replaced it with five times more stress. Then, As if that wasn’t enough, a mysterious delivery, message from the terrorists, and then having to remake her and her friends dresses for an event they had not wanted to attend, well… let’s just say she was not happy, very stressed, and more than ready to blacken some eyes and bust some heads. 
But no, that would be bad! 
‘Calm down, brain! I can’t let this get to me!’ Rarity snarled mentally to herself, and her persona’s wisely stayed very quiet.
“Well, it’s been a charm talking, Duchess Wonder Bright, but I must be moving on to the other guests,” Blueblood interjected smoothly, the carefully cultured Canterlot accent making Rarity look at him for a moment in surprise. 
“Of course, Prince Blueblood,” the duchess simpered, and he carefully guided Rarity away while that particular group went back to its own discussions.
“Your accent…” Rarity began, and Blueblood gave her a sheepish smile.
“I’ve lived my life in the court and high society, so I naturally can use their way of speaking,” Blueblood said in his regular voice, and a slight grin graced the alabaster mare’s face briefly. It was gone so fast, Blueblood wasn’t sure it had ever been there. 
“Any part of the party you want to see in particular?” He asked after a while, and his guest shrugged.
“I know a lot of these ponies by name and reputation, of course, but only a few personally. I’ll let you decide who we see,” Rarity said, generously letting the prince pick the ponies. Nodding, Blueblood steered her towards the ice sculpture, and smiled in genuine happiness at the ponies near it.
Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lys were there, just where he’d seen them from the top of the stairs, and three other fancily dressed ponies waited nearby as well; the popular singer Sapphire Shores, whose music Blueblood enjoyed immensely and had the honor of meeting her at a concert a few years back, Hoity Toity, a well-known fashion critique and darn good chess player who Blueblood had met at a chess tournament a while back, and Photo Finish, ex-model like Fleur and now top fashion photographer and idol promoter, who had once stalked Blueblood for a month trying to get the prince to become a model. He didn’t hold it against her too much.
“Blueblood, how are you?” Fleur asked, breaking away politely from her conversation with Photo Finish to address the young prince. The rest of the group turned and smiled as well, and greeted Blueblood and Rarity with warm voices.
“I’m fine, Fleur, thanks for asking,” Blueblood replied, smiling back, and turned to Rarity. “I’m sure you all know Miss Rarity.”
“Why of course! She had de Magicks in her dresses!” Photo Finish said, loudly and with her Germane accent. Hoity Toity and Sapphire Shores both nodded in agreement.
“Her dresses are the finest I’ve seen for a while,” Hoity commented, and Sapphire grinned her traditional grin.
“Darn straight! Best looking and best fittin’ I’ve worn in years. It’s been a long time, Miss Rarity! How are you?” 
“Oh, well, I’m doing fine, thank you,” Rarity stammered, overwhelmed by not one or two, but five of the most famous ponies in Equestria. 
“I’m surprised to see you out and about, Blueblood. I heard that you were attacked last night at your charity Gala,” Fancy Pants said with a concerned frown as he looked over. The other four turned to Blueblood to hear what he had to say.
“It wasn’t that bad, just some bruises. We were lucky,” he said softly, and they nodded, looking sympathetic. 
“Iz it true that zee ponies were part of Dark Phoenix?” Photo asked in a hushed undertone, leaning in to Blueblood and Rarity. They blinked in surprise.
“How…?” 
“Zee guests at zee hospital. A few were acquainted with their work and their, ahem, mottos, and some rumors have spread. Not too far, though,” Photo explained, and the other four rich socialites nodded.
“Um, yes,” Blueblood said at last. It wasn’t too much of a problem to confirm that they had done so, as the name would be going out to the guard stations across Equestria tomorrow and publically a week after. Plus, he trusted these five, especially Fleur.
“We have quite a problem with them over in Prance,” Fleur said, to Blueblood’s surprise.
“Really?” Blueblood inquired. It seemed odd that there was such activity known to others already.
“Oh yes, for years. Maybe an attack a year on somepony or other. Prance, Germaneigh, Stalliongrad, heck most of Equestria Minor has problems with that group. Mostly because the nobility have a stronger strangle hold on everything over there that they feel the need to lash out more,” Fleur went on.
“I didn’t know that the nobility of Equestria Minor was so powerful,” Rarity said, and Photo nodded.
“Yes, it iz harder to make a living as a model over there than it is here. True, the nobles here have as much power and pull, but it iz easier for one to abuse such gifts an ocean and a continent away from Canterlot,” Photo said sadly.
“I see…” Blueblood murmured, stroking his chin. A number of ideas were popping into his head. If Equestria Minor had such a problem with Dark Phoenix, than it stood to reason somepony would know something. He could use this…
“So how is your boutique coming along?” Sapphire asked Rarity, changing the topic to a more pleasant one.
“It’s been going well, Miss Sapphire Shores! I’ve had a number of excellent orders and my clientele has increased after my show down in Baltimare last season!”
As the fashion ponies chatted, with Fancy Pants looking on and nodding every so often, Fleur caught Blueblood’s eyes, and motioned with her head for him to follow. Confused, Blueblood did, and was lead to the far end of the table, away from the others.
“Blue, we need to talk,” the Prench mare said sternly, and Blueblood felt his face turn pale.