The next day, order forms for everything he'd need to turn his chambers into a bunker filled out and waiting to be mailed, Prince Blueblood wrote himself a to-do list. There were some things he wanted to accomplish, for once in his life, that he felt he could actually pull off, albeit in uncertain order.
#1. Do something nice for the bat pony community to make up for that thoughtless, possibly offensive song.
#2. Apologize to everypony I can find that I've ever mistreated, especially castle staff.
#3. Fortify my chambers at leisure. (Moreso in case the first two do not go over well)
#4. Talk to Auntie Luna about that nightmare I had back in Ponyville.
While he doubted she would try such a thing twice, with the likeness of her greatest shame, at that, he still wondered...
#5. Return to Ponyville to attend that welcome party. I Pinkie-Promised, afterall.
#6. Meet with Vinyl Scratch at some point to discuss her particular brand of insanity. I don't feel I demonstrated it as well for those two fillies as she did for me.
#7. Return to Everf
He couldn't...
...Could he?
He knew the moment he saw it that the face of the dull-yellow mare with heterochromic eyes would haunt him forever... So why did he want to see it again? That was the instruction from "Nightmare Moon", return to "her agent", but it made no sense. That thing's approach was the single most horrifying thing he'd ever experienced, but he wasn't sure he could just put it out of his-wait...
Blueblood glanced to his book shelf, remembering that Rarity had brought the tome with the altered memory spell back to Ponyville. Just as well, he supposed, what had they talked about, afterall? Facing problems, not running from them?
He would, some day, have to go back.
#7. Return to Everfree Forest to confront the most frightening 'pony' I've ever seen again.
What he would do if he actually did find her, not just get eaten by a monster or wander the woods forever? He had no idea. It would remain the last thing on his list, he decided. Was there anything else?
"..."
"......"
"........."
"......"
"...?"
He shrugged, if anything else came to him, he'd add it later. For now, the third item on his list seemed most within his reach. He got a start on the second for most of the day, setting off for the throne room when night fell.
---
As ever, the Night Court was less than busy, Luna waving a hoof and smiling when the prince came in, her first visitor of the night, most likely.
"Hail, Nephew! We-err, I, was just about to begin my Nightmare Patrols if there were no audiences. To what do I owe your entry?"
He winced a bit, approaching the throne. "It's funny you should mention nightmares..."
Luna's grin vanished, eyes wide. "...What?"
He nodded, suspecting she'd deduced his line of thinking. "I sincerely doubt you of all ponies would try a thing like this," a second time, is the part he left out, "but not too long ago I experienced a rather unpleasant dream..."
He'd seen her angry before, but this was the first time she'd ever looked... Afraid? Hurt? She shook. "I, I-I would never, n-not after-"
He held up a hoof, already getting Fluttershy flashbacks. "I don't mean to accuse you! It's just, who better to ask, no?"
Luna seemed to calm down a little, speaking quietly. "I see... Tell me of this dream."
Blueblood explained the details to the best of his recollection, Luna's face unreadable throughout.
"That," she eventually said after he'd finished, "is very strange..." She drew a hoof to her chin in thought. "Not only for the implimentation of such an accursed figure, but because I have been watching you, Nephew."
He tilted his head quizzically.
"Your dreams," she clarified, "each night since you left the city, I made it a priority to at least check on you, and have consistantly found that you have not dreampt at all."
He blinked. "W-what?" While it was true he couldn't clearly remember any of his dreams over the last week apart from the scary one, he was pretty sure there were dreams, at least.
Luna shrugged. "Not every night carries a fantasy, some nights one lays down to rest, opens their eyes, and finds it to be morning with nothing taking place in between. That you have had such rests so consistantly is... Strange. Almost troubling." She frowned slightly. "I am sorry, I do not know what this means..." A slow-spreading smirk found it's way onto her muzzle. Blueblood couldn't decide if that was better or worse than the frown as she projected a regal shout. "But fear not, Nephew, as the night is my domain, I shall uncover the root of these strange happenings!"
As he striaghtened his mane, she gave a little smile. "Is there anything else I may help with, Nephew?"
He grinned in kind. "Not at the moment, Auntie, thank you."
The Night Princess beamed, extending her wings. "Very well! Then I shall seek night terrors elsewhere, fare thee well!" And she shot out a window, which was actually opened this time.
He had taken two steps out of the throne room when Luna's voice sounded from directly behind him.
"By the way!" While waiting for her nephew to compose himself agian, the Night Princess faintly wondered if he jumped higher just now than she had when Discord snuck up on her around two weeks ago. "I wished to pass on a message: Sister says thank you!"
Blueblood, still trying to steady his heartbeat, managed to keep an even tone, despite having Luna scare the daylights out of him for the first time in quite a while. "Thank me for what, pray tell?"
Luna, entirely too jubilant, smiled widely. "I do not fully know, but something about having destroyed a needlessly stuffy and pompous piece of attire, and that she hopes you may one day join us in disregarding modern coverings!"
There was a short moment that felt like an hour as he tried to make sense of that.
"And now," Luna announced, "I must be off! Again!" She flew through a different window this time.
...Destroying a...? Oh! It hadn't even crossed his mind to apologize for getting the most decorated suit ever conceived apparently lost or utterly pulverized, even if it hadn't seen the light of day since Blueblood the 50th. From the sound of things, I won't need to. First that showing-up-naked-to-dinner thing and now this, does Auntie Celestia hate clothing in general...? No matter.
#4. Talk to Auntie Luna about that nightmare I had back in Ponyville.
---
That finished, he was about halfway back to his chambers when he heard a quiet voice that tickled his memory.
"Over here!"
He looked in the direction of the voice, feeling a hoof on his shoulder from the opposite direction the moment he turned. Whipping his head around as it swam with deja vu, the voice was heard again.
"No, over here!"
He stopped, emitting the brightest, most blinding light spell he could conjure from his horn.
"Aaagh!" The voice apparently didn't whisper all of the time.
He looked to the sound of the outcry, a shadowy corner of the ceiling, but couldn't quite make out the shape of the thing before it seemed to slip from his perceptions.
"Identify yourself," he said in as authoritive a tone as he could manage. "trespassing in the Royal Palace is a crime punishable by-"
The penalty was far from serious, all things considered, but he was interrupted before it could be spoken, the voice giggling lightly. "You play dirty, Boss. Still, takes more than a cheap-shot to catch me!"
He raised an eyebrow, speaking to the spot on the ceiling he'd last heard the voice. It sounded like a mare. "'Boss'? Are you under my employ, then?" He couldn't remember hiring anypony recently. Was this somepony he had mistreated once, come for their own apology if it was known he was giving them now? He'd certainly offer it, but why was she hiding?
"Mmmm... Kinda?"
He deadpanned. "Would you care to explain?"
"Not here," she replied from somewhere slightly further away, "this way!"
Ignoring the voice in his head that would normally be telling him this was a trap right about now, he set off in pursuit of the sound.
---
The prince found himself trotting around the back of the castle, the same route he'd been led the night he tried to propose to Rarity. He pushed away the thoughts that this might be a long-awaited retribution, either for something he'd said to the bat ponies that had helped him that night, or for the song the day of the parade as he kept up the pace, coming to a stop near the spot the chariot had been.
It was a pleasant little rest area, some stone benches settled around a fountain, water sparkling in the moonlight, but that wasn't what he'd come for.
"Alright, would you kindly reveal yourself?" Now seemed as good a time as any to determine whether or not he could keep his composure while looking directly at those dark, leathery wings.
"...Don't wanna."
He tried a nicer tone. "Please?"
"I just... I'll explain, but I don't want to be seen right now."
He tried a hunch he'd formed on the way here. "Haven't I seen you once already, the pony with the dark green mane, bright red eyes?" He left out the 'bat' pony and 'messy' green mane parts for diplomatic reasons.
"Yea, but, um..."
Blueblood waited, taking a seat on one of the benches.
The bat pony sighed. "Ok, here goes... My name is Blood Rose, and I have a report for you, Boss..."