Prince Blueblood walked down the streets of Canterlot, flanked by two royal guards. His expression was set into one of determination as he and his escorts neared their destination, a local noble’s mansion.
After they walked up to the front door, Blueblood knocked three times. Slowly, the door was opened slightly as a nervous looking purple stallion maroon coated stallion looked at the three visitors from the crack of the door.
Blueblood regarded the stallion evenly. “Bounced Cheque, you know who we are.”
“W-what does the Royal Guard want with me?” The stallion quavered. “I-I’m just a simple banker.”
“There are rumours, Mr Cheque, that you have been embezzling your own banks money, not to mention refusing to return anything your customers have put on loan.” Blueblood answered.
“O-outrageous!” Bounced Cheque countered. “L-Lies and slander! Th-there is no proof, they’r ejust idiots trying to cause trouble for honest citizens like me!”
“If that’s so, then surely if we search your home we won’t find any evidence.” Blueblood countered. “It won’t take too long and you can’t just brush off such serious charges.”
“G-give me a few minutes to get ready.”
“Take all the time you need.”
The banker shut the door hurriedly and Blueblood smirked as he heard the stallion run through the house. He smirked in satisfaction as he heard a yelp of surprise and a few moments later another member of the royal guard opened the door, he and a cohort leading a restrained Bounced Cheque in tow.
“Did you really think we’d give you the slightest chance of escape?” Blueblood said. “We had your house surrounded the moment we knocked on your door.”
“Y-you can’t do this to me! I-I have a very important clients!” The banker raged.
“Yes, all of whom you robbed and lied to out of greed. I am sure they’re very willing to help see you get what you deserve.”
“T-the royal guard are supposed to be incompetent and useless! Everypony knows this!”
Blueblood glared, his expression darkening. “That’s in the past. As captain of the royal guard, it is my duty to ensure the law is upheld. We will make sure Canterlot and Equestria have been routed of those who think they’re above the law or above other ponies. We will not tolerate the unequal status quo any further.”
“C-Curse you!”
Blueblood walked with his men and mares as they escorted their prisoner to the jailhouse to await his trial. Blueblood knew exactly who would prosecute the case.
After all, they were best friends.
--------------------------------------------------
Blueblood sat in his desk, the office of the Captain of the Royal Guard, as he worked he remembered the past.
A few years ago, he was not exactly a paragon of the populace. He was a boorish fop who flaunted his tenuous, questionable relation to Princess Celestia and felt that distinction not only gave him a high position of status among the nobles, but that it made him better than everypony else, thus giving him free reign to do whatever he wanted without care for anypony else.
His great aunt, the aforementioned Princess, disagreed heartily.
She had grown exhausted of his caustic, selfish behaviour and invoking her name to avoid any retribution or to even justify his actions, no matter how petty. The last straw was when he abused his status order for himself a large selection of expensive outfits without paying by virtue of being her nephew. She punished him severely: stripped him of his title, his money and his other assets and drafted him into the royal guard, to teach him discipline and honour, in her words.
He hated it. It was tiring, the daily exercises caused his more sensitive physique to experience pain and no one listened to him. His ‘superiors’ singled him out, calling him a disgrace to Celestia’s name and to the nobles of Canterlot. And still he was forced to toil and work, wear heavy, uncomfortable armour and do chores far beneath one such as him.
It was during one of his daily chores, cleaning the halls of Canterlot Castle that he came across a friend from before his draft, a pretty mare whose name he had forgotten. He had called out for her attention, and she rebuked. The more he tried to talk to her, the more aggravated she became, until finally she had a personal bodyguard pummel him while she told him how she as a noble of noble birth did not need to spend her time with a lowly idiot who didn’t even have a title anymore.
He was flabbergasted. She had the nerve of having somepony physically harm him, and the audacity to question his noble roots! He began to search Canterlot for some member of Canterlot’s elite to help him out of the situation and get back that which he deserved.
But nopony cared. Those who didn’t disdain him forgot he existed, and many more simply ignored his pleas outright. He became desperate for somepony, anypony to acknowledge him, at least remember his name if not extend a helping hoof. Anything to show that his title, his life, had some meaning.
But not even the lowly commoners cared. He hurt too many of them, earned the ire of friends and family of those he looked down on, and so he was left with nothing but to go back to barracks to be reprimanded for abandoning his post.
What shoced him was how much this hurt him. Yes, his great aunt removed his title and assets, but he was a member of Canterlot’s elite, he thought he had friends in the most important circles, ponies who were more than just anypony, but above. But no one cared. Not a single pony cared what happened to him.
During this time, he shared a bunk bed in the barracks with another low level recruit, Shining Armour. He had made it a point to not peak to any of the other members of the Royal Guard out of pride, but at this moment his pride was shattered and all he felt was loneliness. He needed SOMEPONY to confide in. So, he swallowed his remaining pride and talked to somepony beneath him, only to learn he was actually of fairly noble standing. Not quite Blueblood’s standing, but certainly not a commoner. They found a common link and started to bond.
Over the next few weeks, the twos tallies went from fellow recruits to friends, and Blueblood found it astonishing how such a change helped make his days at the barracks more bearable. He even started enjoying the monthly sparring sessions, and he hated those!
One day, Shining Armour came to him, looking dejected. Normally, Blueblood wouldn’t have cared or noticed, but Shining Armour was his friend, his ONLY friend, so he asked the stallion what had happened.
Shining armour told him, with absolute shock and disbelief, that his family were accused of embezzling funds from Princess Celestia herself as well as several noble houses.
Shining Armour’s father was a trusted banker, so trusted was he that he, a visitor from Germane, was allowed to marry a Noble mare and work as Canterlot’s premier banker with branches all throughout Equestria. Even Princess Celestia herself invested ehr funds to him.
So imagine the shock, the betrayal, the scandal that Canterlot’s greatest banker effectively robbed from his customers, leading several families to lose their homes and titles, like Blueblood had done, but unlike him they were left with nothing and forced into much more squalid conditions. Blueblood had felt sympathy, for once in his life, realising how he at least had a place to live and a good profession in the Guard.
Ponies called for Shining Armour’s fathers head, and the blame also passed along towards his family as well, even his young daughter who had done nothing wrong. Eventually, the courts decided that the family should be exiled, face the same fate as their victims, but away from canterlot. Princess Celestia had managed to at least ensure the family had some funds to start a new life and that the young daughter, Twilight, could at least come home.
Shining Armour, however, was exempt. He was a member of the Royal guard, so he was above reproach, legally speaking. Not even the Canterlot Nobles deemed him as sharing the blame of his parentage and even deigned to SYMPATHISE with him even though they offered no such feelings towards the child that was exiled.
Shining Armour was FURIOUS. He could not stand the hypocrisy of the nobles, of shunning his family while saying that his occupation made him “above the law”. He began furiously studying, shunning his duties, causing Blueblood to take up the slack to ensure his friend didn’t get in trouble with the higher ups. Finally, after five months, Shining Armour quit the Royal Guard, instead studying law in Canterlot’s finest University.
Meanwhile, Blueblood’s connection to Shining Armour had changed him. Where before he would have been indifferent, he felt only moral outrage, that his friend decided to quit what had once been his dream, that it had been tainted by the attitudes and hypocrisy of the elite.
Blueblood resolved then, that things needed to be changed. He worked harder, more diligently, trained at a far higher level than his peers, all so he could do something, to make a difference.
It took years, but he eventually climbed up the ranks, until he himself had become Captain of the Royal Guard, and vowed to root out all the hypocrisy, the apathy and cruelty out of Canterlot and make it decent again.
His hard work had paid off: he had earned the trust of his subordinates, having over the years shown the extent of his redemption, his devotion to fixing Canterlot, not just of crime but of the inherent cruelty of the elite. He had resolved to also turn the Royal Guard from mere ornaments, only serving as another thing that made Canterlot what it was and into an actual, competent force that genuinely did a sterling job in protecting the peace and its citizens, where before they were a joke, they were now something to be reckoned with.
He smiled at the memories, looking up as he heard somepony enter. His smile widened at the sight of his best friend, Canterlot’s premier prosecutor, Shining Armour.
The other stallion had a lanky, thin frame and wore a dark overcoat and vest and round spectacles, a book held in one foreleg, his cutie mark displaying a set of scales over a shield. Blueblood got up from his desk and walked towards his friend and comrade, who fought just as hard to make Canterlot a better place.
“Trial begins in a few hours.” Shining Armour stated.
“Who will lead the defence?” Blueblood asked.
“Who do you think? Only two attorneys dare to even attempt to defend such a scumbag.” The prosecutor glared. “Cease and Desist.”
“Those two again, only taking cases that involve you.”
“They have a grudge, what do you expect?” Shining gazed at his friend levelly. “I trust the evidence you have provided is sufficient.”
“That and my testimony.” Blueblood smirked winsomely. “How about later we go relax, get a bite to eat someplace simple?”
“I don’t do relaxed.”
“Oh come on!” The unicorn chuckled, slapping his friend across the back. “It’ll be fun! You might even meet a mare you like!”
“I don’t have time for mares.” Shining Armour said plainly. “However, I will...consider it.”
“Alright, let’s get to work, partner.”