On the short flight back to the castle, Dream’s sounds of excitement slowly petered out as exhaustion from the morning’s activities claimed the little filly. She had spent quite some time running around, so it only made sense that an afternoon nap would be in order. As I looked down towards the streets, I made a note to stop by her room first. I spotted Breeze’s form down below, running through the streets in an attempt to keep up with me in the sky. Quietly chuckling, I made certain to keep my pace and altitude low enough so that he could easily keep up with me; it’s not like I was in any real danger flying over Canterlot in the middle of the day, after all.
I carefully landed in front of the castle gates and craned my head around to look at my passenger, a gentle smile coming to my face as I noticed that she had managed to fall asleep, even while on my back mid-flight. Breeze ran up to me a few seconds later, a somewhat irate expression on his face. Bringing a hoof up to my mouth in the universal sign for silence, I motioned to Dream on my back with a twist of my head, and his expression gave way to resignation, a light sigh and a shake of his head his reply.
“Welcome back, Princess Aurora,” one of the guards stationed at the front gate spoke as we passed inside. His voice was low, as he had noticed Dream asleep on my back. “Princess Celestia would like to see you at your earliest convenience.” Turning to my companion, the guard smiled a bit, and I pretended to ignore the suggestive wink. “Welcome back, Breeze.”
Sighing, I simply shook my head a bit. My friendship with Breeze was apparently being seen as potentially something more, as every guard knew the story of how Shining Armor had managed to capture Cadance’s heart. It led a lot to think that the same could repeat itself, even though Breeze had specifically stated his intentions were otherwise. It was simply another thing I was coming to ignore as Breeze was a friend, nothing more. It was a bit reassuring to me having a few stallions as friends though; there were just too many mares around, myself included. Being able to hang out with the guards was a nice reprieve since many of them were stallions.
“Well, I’ll catch you around, Breeze,” I softly spoke as I turned to check if Dream was still asleep as we entered the main foyer, heading towards the private residential area.
Breeze nodded with a light smile on his face. “Take care, Aurora. If you need a guard for escorting, I’m your stallion any time.” He finished his remark with a mock bow, and I repressed the desire to reach over and hit him again. “Really though, I hope you enjoy the rest of the day. And thanks for getting me out of the castle; that definitely beat the standard guard posting duty.” Breeze chuckled and waved before heading off in his own direction, a light bounce in his step.
Sighing again, something I found myself doing a lot of, I made my way to Dream’s room without wasting any more time. I had no idea what Celestia wanted to see me about, but I might as well let Dream enjoy her afternoon nap. Setting her down gently on the bed with my magic, I tucked her in and lightly kissed her on the forehead, smiling as she dug into the mattress and covers a bit.
Quietly closing her door behind me, I followed the hallway back out to the main castle foyer, walking to the first guard. I rolled my eyes at his salute as I stopped in front of him, a wry chuckle escaping him. “Good afternoon, Princess Aurora. How can I help you?”
“I was told Celestia wanted to see me, do you know where I can find her at right now?” An interesting thing of note is that it seemed every Royal Guardspony inside the castle knew the location of Celestia, Luna, and Twilight at all times, regardless of where they were posted. It was another thing I’d simply chalked up to magic and stopped questioning. There seemed to be a lot of things that fell into that category, but I knew better than to ask about it, as word would inevitably lead back to Twilight, and she would dedicate a lovely hour or three block of time during our next lesson to explain in excruciating detail how it worked, who came up with it and when, what other things it was used for, and other things that fried my mind.
While I had been internally running off on a tangent, the guardspony had been using a bit of that magic to talk with other guards to pinpoint Celestia’s location. “It looks like she’s currently in the guest study across from her own. Do you want an—”
Cutting him off with a hoof, I spoke up. “No, thank you. I know where it’s at, and there’s no need for an escort inside of the castle. Thanks though.” I turned around and headed for the closest staircase, thinking on what Celestia could want. There wasn’t anything that stuck out to me, so it was a complete mystery.
The walk itself was rather short, as once I got up to the next floor the room in question was almost right there. There were a lot of offices up here, and it seemed that the ones most used were the closest to the stairs. I raised a hoof and knocked on the door loudly, smiling to the two guards stationed in front of it, a clear sign that Celestia was within. “Celestia, it’s me, Aurora. May I come in?”
A click reached my ears, and moments later the door swung inwards. “Ah, Aurora, I’m so glad to see you. Did you enjoy your morning trip?” Celestia looked up from a small table, its surface covered with a few spread out papers.
Walking inside, I took a seat on a couch that she’d motioned a hoof towards. “Yeah, I did. It was extremely relaxing, plus Dream got a chance to play around with all of the foals there for a while. And Shining Armor, well, you should’ve seen it.” I grinned a bit, sinking into the sofa. “Let’s just say that I made sure to include a few extra bits to fix the two Shining-sized holes in the fence as a result of feeding him to the foals.”
Celestia and I both laughed at that, a mischievous smile on her face. “I’m glad to hear that. He’s been a bit high-strung about having foals with Cadance, so I thought a bit of experience with some children would help him out.” She waved a hoof as she straightened out the few papers on the desk. “But, that’s not why I asked to see you. I figured that I’d be a bit more proactive at helping you with your issues with the nobles, get you educated a bit on them.”
I waited for her to continue, a curious look on my face. When it became clear she wasn’t going to, I rolled my eyes at her. “Well, what is it?”
“Oh, give it a few more seconds, Aurora, you’ll see…” Celestia spoke, holding out a hoof as if she had a watch on it. That grin was still on her face, and I just sighed and sank back into the sofa, closing my eyes.
A noise outside drew my attention, the quiet clop of hooves on the marbled floor growing louder, stopping just outside the room. Moments later, a voice called out to greet Celestia, and anger flooded my system. “Good afternoon, Aunt. You wanted to see me?” Blueblood’s voice questioned, my eyes immediately opening as I jumped to my hooves and stared at him. “And, ah… good afternoon, Princess Aurora.” His voice was a bit hesitant, but actually respectful for once.
“Excellent, now that the two of you are here,” Celestia began after clearing her throat to draw our attention, “I can go ahead and address the issue at hoof. Aurora, you’re getting tired of various nobles approaching you for dates and marriage contracts, correct?” I nodded my head at her question, a curious look on my face. “And Nephew, I understand that you’re now looking to find a wife and properly settle down. I figured I’d go ahead and play matchmaker, I’ve got reservations at that fancy Prench restaurant just outside the castle gates for you both for seven o’clock tonight.”
“What?!” I cried out, my words mirroring Blueblood’s. Before I could even begin my line of questioning, Celestia burst out into laughter, pointing at both of us. I growled, walking up to her with an angry look on my face.
Celestia playfully stuck her tongue out at me, blowing a raspberry right into my face. “Oh, Aurora… I did tell you that I would start a prank war with you given time, did I not? Consider this the first move of many to come. As they say, the ball is now in your court.” I just groaned, sitting back on my haunches. A quick glance over showed that Blueblood was still standing there, slack-jawed and a far-off look in his eyes from Celestia’s words.
“In all seriousness, I did call you here for that reason, dealing with the nobles, that is,” Celestia remarked, lightly hitting Blueblood back into the present with her magic. “Please, take a seat, and I’ll explain to the both of you, as Blueblood will be of great aid in this matter.”
Blueblood recovered and took a seat on a sofa well away from my own choice of seat. “I will, Aunt? How?”
I was extremely curious as to that answer as well. Thus far, the only thing that Blueblood had been was a pain in the ass, so for him to be a help, well, that was rather unexpected.
Celestia got one of those smiles on her face, the one that visibly said it was best to not get on her bad side as she launched into her explanation. I visibly gulped, listening.
“Well, I’m not sure if you are aware or not, Aurora, but Blueblood, despite his many character flaws, is quite intelligent and stays up to date on the political currents, so to speak. There may only be one or two ponies with more knowledge of them, and they are most likely some of the ponies seeking to bind you to them. So, my lovely nephew is going to help you navigate those murky waters.
“Now, with that said, I’m sure he has enough of an idea to take things from here. I’m running a bit behind on a few things that need my oversight, so I’ll leave you two alone to discuss the matter.” Celestia got up from the desk, picking up a few pieces of paper while leaving some on the desk. As she passed me she paused, smiling at me while sporting a large grin. “And oh, I was serious about the reservations. Seven o’clock sharp, they’re aware that royalty will be dining with them and they are so looking forward to your company, Aurora, Nephew.” She laughed, walking out the door. “It might turn into a scandal if you don’t show, so I’d suggest you do, and show up in your finest~” Celestia nearly sang before closing the door behind her.
When I finally drew my attention away from the door and towards Blueblood, I noticed how he seemed to be actively trying to hide in the couch, although he was failing miserably at it. “A-Aurora…” he stammered out, trying to string together words. I sighed and sat back, thinking to myself while waiting for him to compose himself.
While it was nice that Blueblood might be able to help me out with this problem, it seemed to create a few more of its own. Primarily that he was a lecherous bastard, figuratively speaking, and then to top it off, Celestia had basically set us up on a dinner date that was public knowledge. As far as pranks go, I think that Celestia set the bar pretty high on her first go, which only made me concerned as to what she might scheme up in the future.
“Aurora?” Blueblood’s hesitant voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I realized that I had a rather nasty grimace on my face, as if I’d just eaten some spoiled produce. I wiped the look away and replaced it with one that didn’t have him thinking I was about to murder him in a messy fashion as if I didn’t care about being caught.
Sighing, I looked towards him. “Yes? Are you happy, now that Celestia has railroaded me into a date with you? I seem to recall quite a few choice phrases you used to describe me, and none of them were very nice.” I spat at him in anger, not very thrilled at the prospect of working with him.
He merely fidgeted in his seat for a few moments, a somewhat crestfallen look on his face. “Aurora, I merely wish to apologize for my… past transgressions. I had fallen into a habit of seeing mares as nothing more than objects to manipulate and use, and I am sorry that I included you in that category as well.” My wings stopped moving in agitation as I heard his words, almost not believing them at first. If it hadn’t been for the fact that a large amount of shame and regret appeared to be splattered all across his features, I wouldn’t have believed him.
“Why?” I asked, the single word filled with curiosity, animosity and disbelief.
Blueblood fidgeted around for a few seconds at first, not even meeting me in the eye. The silence stretched on for what seemed to be an eternity as I awaited an explanation. After a few minutes, he finally spoke, softly and with a bit of sadness in his voice. “My… my mother just passed away, Aurora. She chastised me for my behavior even as she said that she loved me, and dearly hoped that I would grow to be an even better stallion than I am today.”
Needless to say, I found myself rather floored. There’d been quiet whispers here and there, but that was the typical castle life. If one were to believe everything heard within these walls, then I would have been pregnant with triplets sired by half the guard. I’m still not sure how that one got started, but needless to say I hadn’t thought much of those quiet whispers. Blueblood’s father must have kept it an extremely quiet and closed affair for word to not have spread.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Blueblood.” Getting up, I walked over to him, gently lifting his head up to have his eyes meet mine. “I’m guessing you loved her very much, right?” He simply nodded in reply as he cried, and I could see the fresh grief written all over his face. “Well, I’ll gladly accept your help then, Blue,” I replied, lending my shoulder for him to cry on. Losing a family member, especially a parent, was a harsh thing to go through, so I could set aside my dislike of him for the moment.
My mind wandered off, once more thinking back to a conversation I’d held with Celestia last month. Immortality was as much a curse as it was a blessing; I came to find out as she recounted a few of her more promising students that she’d taken over the years. When I’d asked her how she handled the loss, I got the saddest looking smile that I’ve ever seen in my life. She didn’t give me a reply that night, but it was a strong indication that it wasn’t easy.
Ever since that conversation, the mention of death would bring to mind that conversation, making me wonder how I would handle it. As it stood now, it was still rather impossible to even fathom, the notion of living forever. It was a concept that belonged in fantasy fiction novels, not in real life. My musings were cut short as Blueblood finally stopped crying though, looking at me with a look of thanks.
“Aurora… thank you. It’s been hard these last few days, and well, I really don’t have anypony to go to outside of family. For obvious reasons, no mare wants to be around me, and I’ve realized that the ponies that I thought were friends were nothing more than tools, whether it was me attempting to use them or them using me.” He wiped off his cheeks and coughed a few times, his gaze settling on my flank for a few moments before he quickly shifted it to the clock in the room with an embarrassed cough.
I set a hoof on his shoulder as I stood up. “Blueblood, everyone deserves a second chance… well, almost everyone. Consider this me giving you that second chance; please make your mother proud. I’d hate to come to like you a bit only to have you turn right back into that douchebag and make me have to set Dream loose on you.” Moving back to give him some space, I glanced over to the clock as well and made a point to ignore the pale look that crossed his face. The time was already rather late, and I wanted a bit of time to myself before this evening, not to mention the fact that the restaurant in question was the ‘up’ of upscale, so I needed to wear something. It was going to be quite the pain in the ass, needless to say.
The muffled sound of hooves on carpet reached my ears as Blueblood got up. “And about this dinner, uh, I’m sorry that Aunt set us up like this. She is completely aware of the fact that I’m trying to change too.” He shuffled his hooves against the carpet as he paced a bit. “I don’t think that there’s enough time to discuss the issue at hoof, so we can do that during dinner and at least make it somewhat useful. I’d also recommend you bring a guard you trust, Aurora. It should help dispel any illusions or misconceptions about us, um, dating, and will also give somepony to help… keep me in check if I slip any.”
“I think I have just the guardspony in mind, Blueblood. When and where should we meet up?” I began moving towards the door, madly grinning at the thought of putting Breeze through this. Plus, I wanted to enlist his help to come up with ideas to prank Celestia back, so it killed two birds with one stone.
Blueblood was humming a bit, looking lost in thought for a few seconds. “If the reservation is for seven, then I’d have to say a quarter till. It’s not that far from the castle’s gates, so that should have us arriving early, but not too much so.” I turned and nodded, ready to open the door and leave as he spoke back up again. “And oh, I’d appreciate it if what I said here stays between us, please? It’s not something that I want everypony to know about yet, my mother’s last words to me that is... I’ll see you later tonight, Aurora.”
Waving a hoof in the air as I opened the door I gave him my response. “Sure thing, Blueblood. Stay strong, and I’ll see ya later,” I finished speaking as I walked out the door, laying out the path back to the guard’s barracks. I wasn’t exactly sure how he’d take it, but Breeze was going to get the chance to eat some fancy food as well…
The hour was late, and I was currently fidgeting on my hooves in front of the mirror in my room. An hour ago, one of Celestia’s aides had shown up to ‘help me prepare’ as she put it. I made a note in my head to ensure that whatever prank I came up with was thoroughly humiliating, and the more ponies it could be in front of, the better. My mane and tail were both a tangled mess of curls that the aid referred to as appealing, somehow. Not only that, but a pale blue dress currently called my body home, the soft fabric a bit snug and covering up most of my body with the exception of my wings. I was beyond uncomfortable, and even with Breeze there I was uncertain if the illusion of this being a date could be shattered with how I looked.
“You can go ahead and leave now, you’ve done plenty,” I growled at the aid, having voiced my protests numerous times during the time she’d been working. Giggling, she finally departed as I sighed and looked at the clock, noticing that it was twenty till seven now. That meant that I still had enough time to mope for another minute or two before I needed to leave.
After the obligatory extra minute or two of moping had passed, I left my room, nearly bumping into Twilight and Luna, both of whom sported massive grins. “Oh wow, Aurora… Looking good!” they spoke in unison, to which I simply stared at them as I imagined boring a hole through their heads. They’d heard about tonight fairly quickly, and I assumed that Celestia had told them both as the cherry on top of everything else.
“Don’t tempt me to include you two in the prank I’m working on to get back at Celestia…” I softly spoke while glaring at them.
Luna waved her hoof in the air, a humorous look on her face. “Oh, relax, Aurora. We understand that you were set up on this faux date by my sister. She did claim that she would begin pranking you in the future, and this is quite majestic as far as pranks go. Besides, I understand that our bratty nephew will be helping educate you about a certain dilemma, hmm?” she rambled on a bit, finally stopping with a light smile on her face.
Twilight apparently felt the need to chime in as well as I rolled my eyes at Luna. “And, if for whatever reason he isn’t helpful for you, Aurora, then,” she shrugged her shoulders, “just let us know, I’m certain Dream would just love the chance to have some fun with Blueblood again.” Twilight sported a massive grin by the end of her words; I had a feeling that she was still holding a grudge over something that’d happened between one of her friends and Blueblood years ago.
“He seemed sincere enough; it’s simply that I just don’t like the fact that Celestia felt the need to make it into a public affair. I mean, all I did was ride her around the castle. In the middle of the day… during court… Okay, so maybe this is a little bit justified. Still sucks, though.” I finished with a sigh, lightly shaking my head, which caused the curls to bounce around a bit. Uugh, that was going to bug me all night, no doubt about it.
Luna nodded as she chuckled. “Exactly. I figure she wouldn’t have done this to you had Blueblood not been sincere in wanting to turn things around. She’s not that cruel... But, don’t let us hold you up any longer, I’m sure you’re most curious to hear what he has to tell you tonight.” Luna and Twilight waved with small smirks on their face. I rolled my eyes again and made my way to the castle gates, ready to get this long day over with already.
It was a short walk there, and the first thing that caught my attention was an ornate carriage waiting for me. Blueblood and Breeze were nearby, uneasily eying each other as I walked up. Both of them were wearing suits, which still caused me to snicker at the sight. Pants on ponies just seem weird, no matter how you look at it. I smirked at Breeze once they realized I was there, knowing that this was way out of his comfort zone as well.
“Hey, Breezy, looking sharp,” I poked at him with a small smirk. “Seriously though, thanks a lot for agreeing to this. I’m sure that you’d probably prefer to be guarding a pond or something over this.” The smirk fell from my face as I used my magic to straighten myself out. “This is a bloody nightmare…”
He rolled his eyes at me as I stopped walking. “It was an inventory storeroom, actually. Still not sure which one I would’ve preferred, but since you asked me so nicely…” he chuckled, shaking his head. “This is the one and only time though. I hate dressing up, you have no idea.”
I lightly laughed, grinning a bit. “Yeah yeah, I’ll just owe you one for once.” Before I could speak again, Blueblood walked up, a light smile on his face.
“Evening, Aurora. You look quite stunning, I must say. Whoever decided to curl your mane made an excellent decision.” He seemed sincere enough, and his eyes seemed to stay on my face rather than straying as they typically did. I returned his smile, slightly nodding my head.
Sighing, I looked over to the carriage. “Well… let’s get the show on the road then, I guess? Although, is that really necessary? I mean, what’s so wrong with walking the block or two to the restaurant?”
Blueblood immediately nodded. “Yes, it is necessary, Aurora. Appearance is an extremely large part of your overall public image. Since the general public is not aware of your true background and believes you to be a foreign-born alicorn who has moved to Equestria, you cannot give off any illusions of weakness that the nobles can attempt to capitalize on. That means that if you are going to a fancy dinner, an official function, traveling on business, et cetera, you need to fit the part. In this case, with how dressed you are, yes you need a carriage,” he calmly explained as he opened the carriage door, moving to the side. “After you, Princess.”
I shot them both a look of horror before getting inside that carriage, somewhat surprised at how spacious it was. As I took a seat, Blueblood and Breeze both entered, taking a seat across from me. “Hopefully we can get through this without incident…” I muttered under my breath, squirming uncomfortably thanks to the annoying dress I was wearing.
Breeze let out a sigh, looking over at Blueblood for a moment. “So… I was told that you’re going to help Aurora out with the trouble she’s been having with the nobles? They’ve been getting pretty persistent lately, even visiting the orphanage she likes to visit.”
Rolling my eyes, I saw Blueblood give a curt nod to Breeze. “Indeed, that I am. If there’s something to know about a noble family, I know it. Even some things that shouldn’t be known. Because of that, I am aware of which ponies she can ignore and those she needs to outplay. Currently, there are only three houses that I consider a true threat to her. While most would love to gain the power of having you, Aurora, they don’t want to tempt making enemies out of the current two most powerful houses. There’s one that’s also so desperate that they simply do not care, as they are most likely on the verge of collapse here within the next year or two without extreme intervention.”
The carriage coming to a stop put a hold to the conversation. “We can continue this discussion in full detail though once we’re seated,” Blueblood remarked, getting out and holding the door open with a hoof extended. “Princess,” he respectfully spoke, strongly hinting that I take his hoof to get out.
A chuckle from Breeze took my attention for a moment, and I caught a tongue extended at me with a mirthful look. With a not too gentle kick backwards that nopony could see, I accepted Blueblood’s hoof and left the carriage, which appeared to have literally stopped right on the doorstep of this fancy restaurant with a foreign name that I couldn’t pronounce. Breeze exited a few seconds later, a slightly pained look on his face which elicited a smirk from me.
As we walked inside, we were greeted by a fine dressed pony in what looked like a tux who also had a weird mustache, making the entire ensemble look a bit ridiculous. “Ah, welcome Prince and Princess… and their guest,” he remarked with an extremely heavy accent, looking over at Breeze with a curious look, “to Le Nourriture Palais! I am the owner, Gilded Plate, and your seats are right this way, if you will follow me.”
Cringing a bit at the heavy accent to his words, I followed Blueblood and Breeze, doing my best to ignore the stares that we were receiving from most of the patrons as we were brought to a private, and quiet, room in the back of the restaurant. “Our head chef will be out here shortly to take your orders, should you need anything simply call and I shall come,” he spoke, pointing out a small button next to the door within hoof’s reach from Blueblood’s seat.
“That was… uncomfortable,” I remarked as I took a seat, looking at Breeze and Blueblood. “Is it typical that the owner of a restaurant comes and seats you in a private room like this? And that the head chef comes out to take the order? It just seems so ridiculous…”
“You’re going to have to get used to that as time passes, sorry to say. I mean, you’re royalty whether you like it or not, Aurora, and it lets them feel better to be able to treat you as such. Does that make sense?” Breeze remarked, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “One of the things they teach us as guards is that even though some of you, alicorns that is, don’t see yourselves as such, the general public sees what you are and respects that, if nothing else. Some ponies are actually uncomfortable treating alicorns as actual ponies… just ask Twilight about it, if you haven’t had that discussion yet. Sure, you can still have your friends and such, but the public sees you as a figure of power and treats you as such.”
Blueblood lightly clapped his hooves together. “Extremely well said, Breeze, I believe it is? This is why you should get used to the royal treatment, Aurora. I understand that you don’t leave the palace too much with the exception of your weekly trips to the orphanage, so you haven’t truly interacted with the public on a wide scale yet. Most ponies do feel quite uncomfortable treating you like any other pony, because you are not any other pony.”
The conversation was once again cut short, this time by the arrival of a large unicorn mare, a white chef’s hat atop her blonde mane and a peach coat mostly hidden by a chef’s uniform. “Good evening everypony, and thank you for visiting our establishment today. I am Chef Doubt Fire, and I will be in charge of cooking your meals this evening.” She kept talking for another minute or two, but I drowned her out as I snuck glances around the room instead, a bit put off by how fancy it looked. It was as if whoever was in charge of decorating this room tried too hard and simply decided to make it look like twenty-four carat explosive diarrhea had occurred.
It seemed that Breeze had noticed my inattention as I heard him order a simple drink and some sort of salad for me. Once the chef finally left, Blueblood cleared his throat. “So, as I was saying earlier, there are only really three families right now that I would be concerned about: The Bladewings, the Shieldwalls, and the Ironbanks. Which of the three would you like to hear about first?”
Breeze let out a low whistle. “Those are some pretty heavy names right there… I know that the Shieldwalls own and run the companies that manufacture all of our guard armor, as well as the enchantments on them, and they have quite a bit of pull,” he remarked, messing with his water glass a bit.
Sighing, I looked at the two stallions in front of me for a few seconds, thinking. “Blueblood, you mentioned that one of them was desperate… desperation makes individuals do extreme things, so could you fill me in on that family first?”
Nodding his head, he set down his glass and launched into his explanation. “The Bladewing family is a very old noble house, one of the few remaining that was around during the true founding of Equestria. They made their existence off of weapons; until two centuries ago they were a very powerful house as the premier weaponsmiths of Equestria. However, during their efforts to expand their operations beyond Equestria, they reached out to one of the gryphon aeries and supplied them with weapons. Those same weapons were used by that aerie to not only completely destroy three rival aeries, but also the complete destruction of four new towns on the border we shared with them. The head of their family stood by their decision of selling those weapons and didn’t show any remorse, which led to extreme public backlash. Each successive generation seems to have inherited that pony’s stupidity, selling to anything that could provide money, and now they’re at a point that they have just enough bits left to sustain themselves for another year or two before they are completely broke.”
“So… they basically turned the family business into arms dealing, which bit them in the ass once, I would assume, their reputable and repeat customers stopped coming back for more, leaving just those on the fringes of society as their sole customers?” I reasoned out. It sounded like they deserved to disappear if they were that stupid. It still amazed me at how much Celestia let go on under her nose, her only explanation for it all was that micromanaging an entire country would suck ass, and the nobles, even the stupid ones, helped alleviate a lot of those responsibilities.
“Precisely. Aunt refuses to disband any noble house no matter what they might do as far as I know, so the Bladewings were simply left to naturally fall into bankruptcy. Which right now, every house wants to see happen. They’re under the impression, however, that ‘bagging’ you, perhaps by any means necessary, would allow them to make a comeback. I honestly think they’re the most dangerous to you because of that.” Blueblood explained, a bit of a thoughtful look on his face.
A quiet rap at the door redirected everypony’s attention as the owner entered a few moments after the knock. He had a bottle of wine in hoof and a cheery, goofy grin on his face. “Good evening once again, here we have a thirty-year-old chateau from my own personal stock,” he spoke as he uncorked it and began to fill up the glasses at the table. There was an uneasy silence as he flitted about, as our conversation definitely wasn’t something any of us wanted shared beyond ourselves. I quietly thanked him as he filled my glass, resisting the urge to punch him out and shave that damn mustache off his face.
Unfortunately, he seemed to be done as I was about to follow through on my urges. “And again, please remember. Should you need anything, simply let me know. Enjoy!” he cheerily chipped in with that annoying accent before leaving us in peace once again.
“That accent… makes me want to punch a kitten or something every time I hear it,” I grumbled out, staring at the wine in front of me. “So, anyways… Bladewings are desperate and dangerous. Meaning they’re probably going to try stupid things. Fun,” I finished in a deadpan tone, looking at the wine again before taking a sip of it.
“You should be safe from anything they can try, although I’d recommend maybe adding a guard or three for when you visit the orphanage. They’ve been associating more and more with ponies of ill repute the closer to the end they get, but within the castle there’s no way they can attempt anything. Be careful with Grey Blade though, he’s the one you’ll have to watch out for. He’s the current head of what’s left of their house.” Blueblood sniffed his drink before taking a small sip of it and sighing.
The name Grey jostled something that Matron had told me. “Huh, I think that he had actually stopped by the orphanage already. Matron threatened to call the guards and have them arrest him for taking a wrong interest in the children though, he ran off pretty quickly after that.” I chuckled a bit, smiling at the thought.
Breeze and Blueblood chuckled as well, both of them shaking their heads. “It sounds like he might be planning something already then. So, definitely be careful, Aurora,” Blueblood warned, going quiet as the main course came out. Seems I’d spaced out more than I’d thought, but luckily Breeze had ordered me something that, while looking downright ridiculous, still tasted good. Once the chef left the room, Blueblood spoke back up.
“The other two houses will simply be persistent. There’s a fair chance that they’ll hound you for years if need be, if you keep yourself open to it. Things like gifts, invitations to events and visits to the castle to specifically see you are probably going to be common. Both families will probably be looking to send their eldest son after your hoof in marriage, or even just to get you pregnant. A child, even out of wedlock, is a powerful bargaining tool to all three houses.”
“As if I’d let that happen!” I couldn’t help it, I broke down laughing. “Breeze here would have a better chance than they would, and he already knows that’ll never happen!” After I managed to get myself back under control, I looked over to Blueblood. “So, what you’re basically telling me is that they’ll be nuisances, but in the end there’s really nothing too much to worry about. I’m thinking it’ll be easier to just make an example of one of them… too bad Celestia won’t let me. I didn’t even mention killing, just breaking a leg or two…” I joked, a bit relieved. My mind had built this up into a seemingly massive issue when it was something small. I had made a mountain out of a molehill, as they’d say.
I turned my attention towards my food, in a good mood now. I could even overlook the fact that this dinner might be misconstrued as a date by the ponies that saw us enter. Hell, I could almost completely overlook Celestia’s prank at the moment as I focused simply on enjoying my meal.
“That does sound about right, Aurora… although do you think you could have realized that without proverbially trampling all over my balls?” Breeze whined, causing me to just look up and grin at him. He huffed and rolled his eyes even as a smiled crept over his face, and once more I was thankful at how much of a good friend he was.
The meal continued on in relative silence, a bit of small talk here and there now that the main focus had been thrown out there. Blueblood made mention of discussing it again at a later date, but for now we were done, thankfully. The food was gone in a pitifully short amount of time; like every fancy restaurant that thought themselves to be special, in the end one paid way too much for way too little.
With a relaxed sigh I got up at the end of the meal, looking over to Breeze and Blueblood. They’d seemed to get along rather well, and once more I was glad that I nagged him until he agreed to come along. Since he was easily the guard I spent the most time with, having him know all of the information Blueblood had divulged would only help me in the future, and it seemed that the two of them had hit it off rather well. Who knows, perhaps I even managed to facilitate giving Blueblood a friendship that wasn’t aimed at his status for once.
“Well, shall we depart then?” Breeze asked, moving over to the door and getting ready to open it. I nodded and looked to Blueblood, who mimicked the same gesture. Breeze held the door open for me, and the quiet chatter in the main dining room of the restaurant died once again as the three of us left.
It was a short trip back to the castle, and I couldn’t stop yawning the entire way back. It’d been a bit of a busy day for me, moreso than usual anyways, and I was ready for some sleep. As I left the carriage, I yawned again and looked at the two stallions. “For a prank, that dinner wasn’t entirely all that bad,” I tiredly spoke, smiling just a little bit. “Hope you two have a good night, I’m just gonna fly from here. Quicker.”
Without even waiting to hear their response I spread my wings and took to the sky, quickly coming to my balcony and getting into my room. Once again, the nagging thought of how smart it was to have open access to the rooms like this popped into my head for a moment as I quickly shrugged my way out of the dress before dropping onto the bed, sinking into the comfortable mattress. My eyes closed as I welcomed the embrace of sleep, my mind empty for once as my consciousness quickly fled.
I found myself woken up once again by Dream crashing into me. “Uugh, Dream… it’s too early for this,” I groaned out, opening my eyes to find hers staring into mine.
“Explain this, Sis! I thought you hated that annoying Bluey!” Dream angrily exclaimed, holding something up in my face. It took me a few seconds to find my bearing as I swatted at whatever it was that Dream had.
I groaned, blinking a few times to try and clear my vision from having just woken up as I found the object right back in my face. “Okay, okay, give me a few moments, Dream, please?” I sat up and yawned before turning my attention to the thing she’d put right up in my face, which turned out to be the early morning edition of the Canterlot Times.
Turning it around and unfolding it, my heart stopped when I saw the front page and the big, massive bolded letters of the main article.
‘Foreign Princess and Player Prince Forming a Herd with an Unknown Stallion?’
“CELESTIA!”