//------------------------------// // Chapter V - Meetings and Partings // Story: The Early Life of Blueblood // by Macgyver644200 //------------------------------// “So how do you determine what the result is?” “Do I really have to answer this? I was up late last night and I just want to go take a nap before supper.” Cadance and Blueblood were walking down the castle’s front lawn and having a heated discussion. “It shouldn’t be that hard for you,” Cadance pressured, “I already know about combust-” “Shh!” Blueblood stretched out a foreleg and stopped Cadance. Cadance stared at her little brother as he squinted and began sniffing the air. Cadance tried to poke him, Blueblood shoved her hoof away. She tried to ask a question, but Blueblood quickly shoved his hoof into her mouth. For several long moments, the two stood quiet and still. Then, Blueblood breathed a sigh of relief and began walking again. “What was that all about?” Cadance asked. “For the past few weeks, there’s been something in the garden,” Blueblood said. “Every time I step outside it always seems to find me. I keep trying to get it to go away but it just won’t listen to me.” Cadance smiled. “OK. What is this strange beast of which you speak?” Blueblood glared at her. “You are not going to see it. You are going to go inside, open your chemistry book, and finish studying. I will help you if I have to, but under no circumstance are you going to-AHH!” Cadance nearly fell over when Blueblood leapt onto her and climbed up onto her head, obscuring her sight. “Blueblood, get off!” “NO! IT’S HERE! SOMEPONY HELP MEEEEEE!” Cadance stood for a second before she reared up and tossed her head. Blueblood had never been very strong; thus the sudden change in momentum threw Blueblood into the nearby bushes. Cadance fell back to the ground and brushed her mane out of her eyes. That’s when she saw the dog. It was a big thing that sounded like a pig when it breathed. Some of its black, brown, and white fur was coming out, but it otherwise looked perfectly healthy and happy. Cadance rolled her eyes. “Of course you’d be scared of a dog.” Cadance knelt down, but the dog had already made its way over to her and started licking her in the face. Cadance laughed. “C’mon, Blueberry, it’s just a dog.” “It is not just a dog!” the bushes exclaimed. “That animal has been stalking me for days! Every time I step out into the gardens, there he is, waiting to slobber all over me with that tongue that has touched Celestia-knows-what!” Cadance’s eyes widened. “Oh, that explains the loud shriek I heard a few days ago. And why there was no hot water last Thursday.” Cadance started scratching behind the dog’s ears. “You’ll have to forgive him, doggy,” she told the dog, “he’s kind of a baby when it comes to getting dirty.” “Do you know what... you know what, you don’t have to.” Blueblood stepped out of the bushes. “You don’t have to because we are not keeping him.” Blueblood tried to push his sister away from the dog. “Come on, get away from that drooly, mangey mess.” Cadance ignored him as the dog rolled over and she began to rub its belly. “Oh, no, Blueberry,” she said. “You might be a wuss, but I grew up around dogs and-” she stopped. “Blueblood, why are you calling it a him?” Blueblood couldn’t quite hide his natural reaction in time. “P-personal preference concerning pronouns!” “No. You’ve been calling him ‘it’, which I guess is accurate now, but you’ve also been calling it a ‘him’. You’ve put effort into researching this dog.” She smiled. “You probably even have a name for him, don’t you?” Blueblood scowled at Cadance, who just smiled back at him. Finally, he sighed and mumbled something. “What was that, my little brother?” she asked. Blueblood bared his teeth. “Spike,” he growled. “After a particularly irritating classmate who won’t leave me alone. I still hate the dog and-” “I know you do.” Cadance looked back at Spike. “Doesn’t change the fact that I’m keeping him.” “No, you’re not.” “Yes I am, and don’t bother complaining to Celestia, I’m sure she’s on my side.” Cadance heard hoofbeats running up the drive. She didn’t move, there was no way that Celestia would side with him. Still, it would be fun to race him. “Hold on, Spike; I’ll be right back.” Cadance unfurled her wings and sped for the door, easily overtaking Blueblood and entering the main hall of the castle. She zoomed up the stairs and pounced on the door. It was locked. Cadance tried the handle again, but no result. “It’s no use, Princess Cadenza,” one of the maids said. “For some reason, that door doesn’t unlock for another twenty minutes.” Cadance rolled her eyes at the use of her title, then turned to the maid. “What do you mean? It’s always unlocked.” The maid shrugged. “Not recently. For the past week, it’s been locked from about seven in the morning to four in the afternoon.” Cadance’s eyebrow rose, then she smacked herself. “That little hypochondriac,” she hissed. “He’s been locking the door before he leaves for school.” The maid whispered something angrily, then quickly straightened up. “Oh, my apologies, your hi-” “Don’t apologize. I’ll go get him for you.” She lifted herself into the air. Sure enough, Blueblood had vanished, and had probably locked other doors throughout the castle. ‘Whatever’, she thought as she sped towards another door, ‘I have speed on my side.’ <*> Blueblood gave a quick look around before falling out of the just-barely-large-enough dumbwaiter. He hadn’t expected the servant’s hallways to be so busy, so he had to improvise. By this point Cadance had probably found her way through the guest library, which probably gave him just two minutes to convince Celestia not to keep the dog. Just barely enough time. Blueblood quickly oriented himself, found Celestia’s study door, and ran. “BLUEBLOOOOOD!” Blueblood looked behind himself and screamed. A very angry, very inky, very flan-covered Cadance was zooming down the hall towards him. He put on a burst of speed, but Cadance tackled him to the ground. Blueblood immediately tried to push her off, but she wouldn’t let go. “Cadance, get off!” He shouted. “You’re filthy!” “You deserve it, you little snot-rag!” Blueblood managed to roll the two over, but that gave him no progress. “How did you even get up here so fast?” “Two words: billiard room.” Blueblood almost slipped out, but Cadance managed to pin him. “Blueblood, I know you don’t like dogs but this is uncalled for!” “Aunt Celestia locks random doors all the time!” “AND THE EXPLODING FLAN!?” “Perfectly justified!” “You’re insane!” The two rolled around all over the hallway. Blueblood managed to get a hoof on Cadance’s face and almost broke free, but Cadance wriggled her head so that the hoof slipped, causing Blueblood to fall back into her grasp. There was more rolling before the two bumped into something. While wrestling one of Blueblood’s hooves away, Cadance looked up, stopped, and let Blueblood go. Blueblood got up, scraped some of the mess off of him, and walked right into somepony. It was Celestia, but she didn’t seem mad at the two brawlers. She seemed almost indifferent. Her mane had fallen flat and her eyes were red. “Aunt Celestia,” Cadance asked, “what’s wrong?” Celestia closed her eyes and sighed. “Go clean yourselves up. Then I’d like to have some quiet time alone.” Cadance and Blueblood both looked into Celestia’s study, but it seemed empty. “Aunt Celie,” Blueblood asked, “did Sunset do-” “Please?” Celestia asked, “I just don’t want to talk about it right now.” The two looked back at Celestia, but nodded and walked off for their rooms. <*> “What do you think happened?” Blueblood asked over the sound of the shower. Cadance and Blueblood’s rooms were connected by an en-suite bathroom. Cadance was in the shower while Blueblood was in his room toweling off. “I don’t know,” Cadance asked. “I try not to spend a lot of time around her. Your loofah’s turned black now, by the way.” Blueblood ignored that. “Well, I don’t either. Every time that sarcastic troll is in the library, I always make sure I’m on the other side of it.” Blueblood stopped drying himself. “You think Aunt Celestia dismissed her?” “Probably. I think everypony knew it was coming by now.” Cadance turned off the shower. “I have no idea what Aunt Celestia saw in her. Yeah, she’s great with magic, but she’s arrogant, rude, even cruel from time to time. You know she actually put worms in my bed for telling her off?” Blueblood nodded. “Indeed. When Early Edition apologizes for considering me unbearable, something is wrong.” The door opened and Cadance walked out, still several shades blacker than usual. “Well, it’s Aunt Celestia’s decision who she teaches,” she said. “I imagine she saw something in her besides magical potential.” The door knocked. “Children,” Kibitz said. “Are you decent?” “Compared to when?” Blueblood replied. “Yes,” Cadance answered. The door opened and Kibitz stepped in. “Princess Cadance,” he asked, “have you taken in any pets recently? Answer the question.” Cadance stopped and shrugged. “I want to. Where did you see him?” “In the downstairs linen closet. You may want to hurry: Princess Celestia does not need anything more on her mind right now.” “What’s the matter with her?” Blueblood asked. Kibitz glared at Blueblood. “That is not for me to reveal. You two have a dog to catch. Yes, Blueblood, you’re going after it too, as I believe you have the master key.” “Besides,” Cadance said, “I’m going to need bait.” <*> No matter how many times Celestia looked at the picture, she still couldn't see it. She sat on the right and her now-former student Sunset Shimmer sat right next to her with a big blue gob of cotton candy stuck in her mane. Celestia found it peculiar that, at the tender age of seventeen, her student had never been to a carnival before. Thus, one Saturday, Celestia got permission to take Sunset on a field trip to the Canterlot Fairgrounds. Sunset wanted to continue magical training, of course, but she patiently walked alongside Celestia for the whole day, playing the games and riding the rides. Eventually she grew to enjoy herself, and just before the fair closed for the night, she and Celestia had their picture taken together. Celestia traced her hoof across the photograph before she picked it up and put it in a box. Hopefully that was the last of everything. Her parents were probably wondering by now where their daughter was. Celestia looked out the window: to her surprise, it was getting dark out. She picked up the box. Everypony assumed that, over the millennia, Princess Celestia had seen everything there was to see, and thus that nothing could really shock her anymore. However, the truth was different. A string of betrayals could certainly numb her sense of shock, but over the centuries, that protection faded away as the associated memories became weaker and eventually faded away. But then it would happen again, and all of her bad memories and personal demons would come rushing back. All the times she had been too trusting or too blind. All the times she’d failed to see the obvious until it was too late. All the way back to the biggest, almost a thousand years ago. Celestia set the box down and began to cry again. Not as severely as before, or for as long, but enough to stop her. After a few moments, she dried her eyes and hoisted the box onto her back. She moved forward again, but jumped as something yelped under her hoof. She looked down. “Oh.” <*> Blueblood locked the billiard room behind himself. “This is impossible!” “Keep talking, Blueblood,” Cadance told her little brother. “I’m sure Kibitz would love to make you clean the rooms as well. You do have the master key.” Blueblood scowled as he pulled a clipboard out of his saddlebags and checked off the billiard room. “I don’t know what I’m dreading more: looking for the dumb dog or actually finding it.” “What’s next?” “The spa.” Cadance rolled her eyes. “Just what we need. The Griffenic Prime Minister getting a literal hot dog with his steam bath.” Blueblood shrugged. “He seemed pretty nice when we saw him.” He smiled. “Maybe he’d keep him.” “Lets not take the chance. Besides, I found Spike before he did.” The two walked down the corridor, then stopped. Right at the end of the corridor was Celestia’s study, the door open a crack. Blueblood looked up at Cadance. “It is the shortest way,” he whispered. Cadance nodded. “No stopping, though.” The two tip-hooved forward towards the end of the hallway. At the intersection, the two had to stop and turn, which they both did more slowly than they should have. Then they started moving again, even more slowly. Then they got slower. Then they shared a glance and crept over to the door, placing their heads on top of each other to peek inside. Celestia was laying on the floor right next to Spike, one foreleg over the dog. Spike had nestled up to her and would reach his head up and lick her face on occasion. All the while, Celestia talked to the dog. “Sunset was just a filly when I first noticed her, trying to practice substitutiary locomotion of all things. She got so close, though, so I wrote to her parents and had her demonstrate the spell again, with me disguised as an ordinary proctor. She was so nervous at being judged but so determined at the same time that, with a little prodding in the right direction, she successfully cast the spell. Then I dropped my disguise and told her that she would be studying magic under me.” She smiled. “The sheer joy on her face, the way she lit up when she told her parents, and especially when she noticed that she’d just gotten her cutie mark...” She sighed. Then Celestia frowned. “I found out later just how arrogant and impatient she was. For the next week, that was all she would talk about, how she was Celestia’s beloved student and how she’d be a wizard without equal. And fool that I was, I thought I could train it out of her. I let myself think that I could trust her to rule alongside me, teach her to raise the sun and rule the country while I trained more students, even give her the element of Magic to free my sister.” She sniffled. “But, I was wrong. And now I have to tell her parents the price of my fantasy.” Celestia curled over the dog, facing away from the door. “You can come in now.” Blueblood and Cadance slowly pushed the door open and made their way in. Blueblood cleared his throat. “We were just-” “-spying on me,” Celestia interrupted, a small bite in the words. “Blueblood, I've told you time and again not to lie to me.” “We’re sorry,” Cadance said. “We’ll just-” “No, you might as well stay, you've already heard too much. Come on, sit down.” Cadance and Blueblood did as they were told. Celestia lifted herself up and turned to face the two. “How much do you think I tell you about what I do?” Blueblood shrugged. “Very little?” Celestia nodded. “Do you know why?” “Because you want to protect us?” Cadance asked. Celestia nodded again. “In a thousand years, I've had to fight many different kinds of creatures that want to conquer or destroy Equestria. Most of the worst could level mountains on a whim or kill millions without even lifting a hoof. These enemies often leave behind objects that could look perfectly normal, but will steal away your very soul if you so much as look at them. Now, most of my enemies are very easily recognizable. For example, Sombra or Discord didn't even bother to disguise their villainy. However, many are not, and there is one that neither I nor anypony else can never defeat for good, and it lives in every sentient being. Can you guess what that is?” The two children looked at each other for several moments. Then they looked back at Celestia. “Pride,” she said. “While some measure of self-confidence is healthy, too much is an illness. It can convince you to ignore the wisdom of others in favor of your own fantasies. It can make you ignore your own shortcomings, like how many injuries you can take before you fall, how much you can do in a short amount of time, and how well you can resist the lure of a false friend. If it gets the right chance, it will ruin your lives. It may even kill you.” Celestia paused to let that sink in. “Children, there are two things I want you to do. The first is to trust me. You do not guard Equestria for a thousand years without becoming very wise and well-learned. If I tell you not to do something, but I do not tell you why, you need to assume that I have a good reason for not telling you. Sunset Shimmer did not do this, and now she’s trapped on another world.” The two children nodded. “And the other thing you want us to do?” Cadance prompted. Celestia swallowed. “To correct me. I may be very old and very powerful, but I am not a deity. I make mistakes like anyone else, the only difference being that my mistakes can have much greater consequences. So if I ask you to do something that you don’t agree with, please ask me about it. I may need you to work without knowing everything, or I may spare you details out of concern for your well-being, but I might also be wrong. Blueblood, you look like you have a question.” “Um, eh, don’t those two contradict each other?” “Not as often as you think. You’ll have to figure out what to do case by case. Just remember what can happen when pride overrides your sense. Remember Sunset Shimmer, whose pride led her into darkness. Remember Nightmare Moon, who sprang from Luna’s wounded pride.” Celestia’s voice cracked a little. “And remember me, who let both of those things happen.” A few small tears trickled down Celestia’s cheek. In response, Cadance and Blueblood rose, walked over to her, and embraced her. For that one time, Blueblood ignored the dog. For a few moments, everyone sat in silence. Finally, Celestia rose. “Well, I’d better go deliver the bad news.” She lifted a box and put it on her back. “Thank you, all of you.” Celestia walked towards the door, but stopped on the threshold. “Oh, Blueblood?” “Yes?” Celestia smiled. “Please stop trying to convince Philomena our new dog is going to eat her. That much repressed laughter really isn't good for her.”