//------------------------------//
// Sangueblu il Factotum - Pinkie Pie 
// Story: A Blueblood for Everyone 
// by Macgyver644200 
//------------------------------//

Blueblood suspected he'd been doing this for too long when he stopped rolling out of Saint Fawna's twin-sized beds.  As he stretched, he also realized that his doctors had managed to figure out when he didn't need tranquilizers and restraints anymore.  Thus freed, he got up on his hooves and shambled over to the bathroom.  There was a toothbrush and paste laid out for him, and since his magic probably wasn't working, he brushed with his hooves.

Blueblood looked in the mirror as he washed his face.  The haggard face with deep bags under its eyes did nothing to him anymore.  Over the years, he'd learned spells to cover that up and to change his voice.  He'd also learned to act.  He hadn't figured out how to quell his temper, but he could at least look and sound like he wasn't loopier than a June bug.  At least, he thought he could: he barely remembered anything of last night's Gala, just an animal stampede and some attention-seeking mare he wanted to apologize to for some reason.

He wandered out of the bathroom over to the window.  It was early afternoon; Blueblood was thankful that they didn't make him sleep late.  He looked down and noticed an inkpot and a quill.  Digging into his coat, he pulled out a checkbook and drafted up a 2,000,000 bit donation, which he set on his pillow.  Then he put the checkbook back, pulled out a folder marked 'hospital', opened it, retrieved a stack of papers, and began to write.  "Dear Councilpony Dark Horse:" he narrated to himself, "my apologies if this is late-"

A knock at the door interrupted Blueblood, and he set the quill down.  "I'm decent," Blueblood said.  He rubbed some more sleep out of his eyes as he heard the door open and close.  He turned around.

"Hello, nephew."

Blueblood jumped back against the dresser with a yelp.  Princess Celestia was glaring at him.  "Your highness!" Blueblood said, a nervous grin plastered over his face.  "Hello!  I... wasn't expecting you."

Celestia's frown didn't change a bit.  "Yes, today seems to be full of surprises.  For example, I wasn't expecting to be interrupted in the middle of Parliament by a doctor.  I also didn't expect her to tell me that you were in a hospital instead of on a train to Floridock.  Finally, I didn't expect to hear that this had been going on for the past five years.  Don't say a word!" she snapped at Blueblood as he opened his mouth.  She tried to say something, but no sound came out of her mouth.  Blueblood opened his mouth, but she just shushed him again.  Then she put her hoof to her face with a loud groan.  She took a deep breath.  "Blueblood, I'm worried about you.  How many hours did you sleep last week?"

Blueblood's eyes closed.  "I haven't been-"

"Give me a general estimate."

"...six."

Celestia's eyes widened.  "And this happens every year?"

Blueblood's frown deepened as he nodded.

"What about the rest of the year?"

"...twenty."

"I see."  Celestia sighed.  "Blueblood, I'm relieving you of your office at least until you've used up your vacation days for the year.  Don't," she told Blueblood as he opened his mouth.  "I know that your job is grueling, and I'm glad you work so hard at it.  I just don't want you to work yourself into an early grave."

Blueblood sighed.  "I know."

"So do something about it."  Celestia stopped and swallowed.  "Blueblood, while the doctors were taking your pulse, they found a heart murmur.  They're worried it might be serious."

Blueblood stared at her, but she didn't change expressions.  Unbidden, his eyes tilted down to his chest and a hoof rose over his heart.  It didn't feel any different.  His eyes widened.  "And they still tranquilized me?"

Celestia shook her head.  "Your assistants found you unconscious."  She frowned.  "I'm waiting to see how mad at those two I should be before I punish them, though I will give them credit for getting you to a hospital."

Blueblood said nothing, his eyes and a hoof back on his chest.  His heart felt like it had vanished, much like the rest of his insides.  "They... it wasn't a heart attack, was it?"

Celestia's frown lost its anger.  "They don't know.  They want to run some more tests on you.  It's not set in stone," Celestia said.  "And if you do have heart problems, they can be caught.  You have time."

Blueblood was quiet.  "I'm at that age," he said.  "When-"

"Medicine has improved since then," Celestia told him.  "You can live longer."  Celestia's gaze got stern.  "You have to take better care of yourself, though.  If I have to take away your job to save your life, I will.  Do you understand me?"

Blueblood looked up at Celestia.  Her glare was softer than before, but it was still unyielding.  Blueblood nodded.  "Yes."

"Good."  Her glare faded.  "They're ready for you.  I've already given them your family history, so they'll just want physical examinations."

Blueblood took a deep breath.  "Thank you."  He walked towards the door, but stopped at the threshold.  "Aunt Celestia," he said, "I don't remember much, but I'm sorry about whatever I did last night.  And I'm extremely sorry about everything that went wrong."

He couldn't quite understand Celestia's expression.  She looked... guilty?  But he couldn't imagine why.  "That's alright," she said.  "You were just exhausted.  Besides, the Gala wasn't your fault."

<***>

A week later, Blueblood was still mulling over her expression as he sat on the train scrutinizing his checkbook register.  Did she have something to do with the frenzy at the Gala?  She tended to retire early from the Gala, and she had several polite requests after all but two of them, but she wouldn't take it that far, would she?  So what was going on?

The train stopped and Blueblood put his checkbook back in his coat.  He magically grabbed his luggage and stepped onto the station platform.  Gazing at his surroundings only soured his mood further.  If he had to abandon his underlings, Aunt Celestia could've at least put him on a train to Manehattan.

Well, maybe not first...

"Hello, Blueblood."

Blueblood turned his head and noticed the unicorn walking towards him.  "Hello, Twilight," he said.  Then he looked around.  "Is Spike alright?"

"Yeah.  He's pretty mad and he's also feeling pretty guilty right now."

Blueblood's stern look softened.  "He wasn't responsible for anything.  I just asked him to keep quiet about my sleeping habits.  He had no idea-"

"I know.  Your house is this way."

Twilight tried to magically grab one of the suitcases, but Blueblood put his hoof up.  "I have the luggage in hoof.  Let's just get moving."

Twilight withdrew and the two started walking.  "Have they set a date for your surgery?" she asked.

Blueblood's frown returned.  "Two months from now."  It deepened into a scowl.  "Two long, boring months."

Twilight frowned.  "Well, you get to see your little brother, so there's that."

Blueblood's scowl lightened.  "Well, yes.  Honestly, I've been looking forward to that all week."  His frown returned.  "But what am I supposed to do with the rest of my time?"

"You'll find something," Twilight said.  "If you really need something, I'm always looking for volunteers at the library.  The Cutie Mark Crusaders help me sometimes, but they can get easily distracted."

Blueblood sighed.  "I'll do what I can.  And I suppose I could find another hobby."

"Only one, Blueblood," Twilight said.  "And I have to approve of it before you start."

Blueblood glared at her, but his frown softened after a moment.  "That's fair.  Did my piano arrive?"

Twilight nodded.  "It did.  It's even all tuned up."

"Excellent."  He took a look around.  "I wonder if the mayor's office-"

"Don't even think about it," Twilight told him.  "They're backlogged something fierce right now, but they're not that bad.  Here we are."

The two stopped outside a gated, upscale home with a neatly maintained front garden.  Twilight magicked the gate open and let Blueblood come through with his luggage.  "You should put those down for a moment," Twilight told him.

Blueblood did so.  "I take it there's a surprise party?"

Twilight nodded.  "Princess Celestia couldn't stop it.  Pinkie's toned it down, but she still slips.  Just so you know."

Blueblood rolled his eyes, but put his luggage down.  "Alright," he said, walking to the front door, "here we go."  He pushed open the door and walked in.

There were twenty to thirty ponies sitting there staring at him, on both levels of the split first floor, party hats on their heads and party horns in their mouths.  Blueblood stared back at them, then looked back at Twilight, who had just come in.  She just shrugged at him.  Blueblood turned around and noticed that the party horns were half-extended.  He continued to watch as the horns lengthened until they were fully extended.

Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

Then the horns slowly started shrinking.  Nopony changed facial expressions, they just continued to stare at Blueblood as he stared back at them.  Finally, the horns retracted back into a spiral.  They then proceeded to do nothing else.  Blueblood looked over at Twilight, who smiled at him and shrugged.  Then Blueblood began to rise into the air.

Pinkie rose from the floor with a big smile on her face.  "Suuuuuuuuuur-PRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!"

Blueblood fell backwards off of the now standing on two legs Pinkie Pie as everypony cheered.  Pinkie then pulled him into a side-hug.  "Welcome to your Welcome to Ponyville PARTY!  And welcome.  Toooo.  PONYVIIIIIIILLE!"

Blueblood could feel a set of speakers come on and something on a pipe organ started playing, but he found it hard to focus at the moment.  "I'm sure I'll love it here," Blueblood mumbled.

"Of course you will!  OK, we don't have a villain coming back after a thousand years of banishment... today, but your Aunt Celestia told me what you like in a party, classical music, hors d'oeuvres, dancing, so you'll be all good and welcomed in no time!"

Pinkie wandered off.  Blueblood glared at her, then walked with Twilight to the buffet table.  "Let's see these hors d'oeuvres," Blueblood said to no-one in particular as he looked over the table.  Vegetables and ranch dressing.  Chips and salsa.  And... tomato bruschetta.  Blueblood stared at it for a moment before he lifted a plate and picked it up along with a few grapes.

"You should really try the salsa."

Blueblood's eyes widened as he turned to face the new voice.  "Octavia?"

The grey mare smiled at him.  "Your highness," she said, bowing to him.  "I'll admit, I was surprised to hear that you were moving to Ponyville."

"I'm rather surprised, too.  You live here?"

She shrugged.  "I know it seems a little odd, but the rent is reasonable, it's not far from Canterlot, and the ponies that live here really are very nice."  She glared at the DJ.  "Even if some of them forget their half of the chore list every week."  Her smile returned as she turned back to Blueblood.  "So why are you here?"

Blueblood frowned.  "Enforced vacation.  Princess Celestia wanted me to get out of the city and, I suppose, stay with somepony who could keep me in line.  Since Cadance is still on her honeymoon and all of my friends live in Canterlot, that left Twilight and Spike.  So, here I am.  In this desolate little one-horse town."

"It's not that desolate," Octavia told him.  "Like I said, Canterlot's only an hour away-"

"Aunt Celestia said that if I set hoof in Canterlot, I would be out of a job."  Blueblood groaned  "She knows now how well I can sneak around Canterlot."

Octavia stared at him for a moment.  "...very well.  Well, there's still plenty to do here.  In fact, if you keep your ears open, someone's probably going to come up with something for you to do."

"Rainbow Dash, NO!"

"WHOAH!"

The woozy blue pegasus tumbled from the railing on the split level and landed on the foreleg of Blueblood.  Her drink was in his other hoof, ice, fluid, little umbrella, and all.  "Are you alright?" Blueblood asked her.

Rainbow Dash shoved herself off of him and glared at him.  "Yehp," she slurred.  She took back her glass.  "Thanks fer th'ssist, yeh royal jerkface."

Applejack walked up to Rainbow Dash and guided her away.  It was then Blueblood could notice that everypony was staring at him.  Even Octavia and Twilight were blinking at him from across the room.

"That was AWESOME!"

Blueblood winced as the pink parakeet screamed in his ear again.  "And without any magic!  I thought I was the only pony that could do things like that!  How long have you been able to do that?"

Blueblood turned away from her and started walking towards the bar.  "As long as I can remember," he told her.

The pink one gasped.  "You're kidding!  I didn't learn to do that until I was eleven!  Then again, I lived on a rock farm where nopony was even allowed to smile for several years, so that really isn't very surpri-"

"Don't you have someone else to bother?" Blueblood asked her.

Pinkie pffted.  "I'm not bothering you, silly!  I'm making you more fun!  Just like I made the Gala more fun!"

Blueblood choked back a snarl.  "You didn't make the Gala more fun, you made it a disaster."

Pinkie shrugged.  "That's not what Princess Celestia said.  She actually liked the mess we made."

"PINKIE!"

Blueblood put his hoof up in front of Twilight's face.  "Wait a moment," he said.  "Princess Celestia?"

Pinkie nodded.  "Yep.  Princess Celestia told us right after the Gala.  She said that the Gala was so incredibly boring year after year that she invited me and everyone else to make it fun again."

"PINKIE, STOP!"

Pinkie looked over at Twilight, then back to Blueblood.  Blueblood's annoyed frown was gone.  Now his jaw had dropped and his eyes wouldn't focus.  Occasionally he'd try to speak, but no words came out.  At last, his head dropped, eyes misting over.  "It's true," he muttered to himself.  "She ruined the Gala on purpose."

Pinkie's smile had disappeared.  "What's the matter?" she asked Blueblood.

Blueblood glared into her eyes.  "Allow me to introduce myself more thoroughly," he said coldly.  "I am Prince Blueblood, Lord Mayor of Canterlot, nephew and ward of Princess Celestia, and for the past seven years, I have funded, coordinated, decorated, cooked for, hosted, and helped clean up after the Grand.  Galloping.  Gala.  Effort which is apparently so unappreciated that my dear aunt decided that she preferred dealing with a riot."

Blueblood could feel a teardrop make its way down his cheek.  Pinkie opened her mouth.  "She didn't-"

"No," Blueblood continued, "that's right, she preferred ME dealing with a riot!  She wasn't there, she was just having a grand night on the town with her six little anarchists!  And then, once I've had a heart attack, she sends me here to rub my nose in how useless she thinks I am!"  He glared at Pinkie, tried and failed to say something else, then spun on his hoof and stomped toward the bar.  "Give me what Captain Crash over there had," he told the bartender, "and don't bother me about my health.  I have more pressing concerns."

The bartender didn't even flinch, she just pulled out a tall glass and filled it with apple juice.  When Blueblood glared at her, she just bowed her head and moved away.  Blueblood looked down at the glass, and then pressed his face up against it, trying to press the tears welling up back into his eyes.  At least the racket had died down.  But then, he heard something slide towards him on the bar.  He tried to ignore it, but he soon became aware of eyes burning holes in the back of his head.  His scowl deepened as he slid the thing in front of him so that he could see it.

It was a plate, and he stared at what was on it.  There were two slices of golden delicious apples, the smaller split so that it rested on top of the larger.  The larger wedge was tilted.  On the lower end was a half-wedge of apple big enough to weigh it down.  On the upper end was a toothpick stuck into the apple.  The whole thing resembled a little yellow alicorn, complete with a mane made out of multicolored and multiflavored cream and the apples glazed with honey.  Slowly, he levitated the thing up to his mouth, removed the toothpick, and took a bite.

Sweet Celestia.  Just as he'd devised it for his very first Gala.

Blueblood turned around, his frown now gone.  Pinkie was sitting beside him.  "I'm sorry about everything," she told him.  "I was saving that for dessert, but it looks like you needed it now."

"Where did you get it?" he asked.

"I baked it," Pinkie said.  "I was feeling nervous because I'd never done a high-class sort of welcome-to-Ponyville-party before.  Plus, we don't have very many high-class ponies here in Ponyville, and I wanted the non-high-class ponies to have fun too.  Sooo, I asked Princess Celestia if she had any ideas and she loaned me a box of stuff, saying to use whatever I wanted in it.  It's all here."  She motioned around her.  "And it's all yours, isn't it?"

Blueblood took a second look around the room.  Hanging from the walls were bright green banners from his second Gala.  In the center of the upper level was an abstract, ebony statue he had personally carved for his fourth.  He looked at the glass in his hoof again, and recognized it as one of the glasses he'd crafted for his third Gala.  As he thought about it, War March of the Princesses, the song the DJ had played at the start, was the song he'd played for his aunt last year.  Everywhere around the room was something he'd crafted or invented or played for a Gala.

"My parents have a gi-huge-ic collection of stuff from a bunch of my parties," Pinkie said, "even the one where I accidentally collapsed the rock silo.  Princess Celestia might've hated your Galas overall, but it looks like she still appreciates the effort you put in."

"Then why'd she destroy this one?" Blueblood asked.

Pinkie waved her hoof in the air.  "That's what I was trying to tell you.  The Princess just expected us to do little things like forget what forks we were supposed to use at dinner.  She didn't expect everything to go to Tartarus in a handbasket, but she thought you'd just laugh it off as one of those weird, once-in-a-lifetime catastrophes."  Pinkie started scratching her head.  "Although if you were her nephew, why didn't she just tell you what was wrong with your Galas?"

Blueblood frowned again.  "She made a few polite suggestions and I tried to adhere to them.  Unfortunately, I have a lot of other things to do."  He motioned to his flank.  "That's my talent.  I got it filling in for three ponies on a class project and now I fit in where I'm needed."

"But are you really needed in that many places?" Pinkie asked him.  "Mayor Mare has a hard job, sure, but she doesn't work herself 'wake up in a psych ward once a year' hard.  Maybe you should give up a few jobs.  Just stick to being mayor and have somepony else do the Gala."

"I can do both," Blueblood protested.  "I used to love planning the Gala, and Celestia actually said my first two were some of the only good Galas she'd seen out of the thousand."

"She mentioned those.  She just didn't say you did them."

He rubbed his nose.  "I wouldn't blame her; the rest were awful.  There are many things about the Gala that I can't change, and it's hard to come up with ideas.  I was also elected mayor five years ago and other things took a toll on my time."  He sighed.  "And maybe I only had two good Galas in me."

"Don't be silly," Pinkie told him.  "You're just feeling a little burned out.  It happens to everypony, especially somepony who puts all of their effort into making other ponies happy.  If all you care about is trying to keep everypony satisfied and you don't do anything for you, you're just gonna' disappoint everypony and run yourself into the ground."

There was a pause and Blueblood turned to look at Pinkie.  Her smile had vanished, but it quickly returned, though, as she put a foreleg around his shoulders.  "Just take a vacation, let somepony else do the job for a while, and then come back when you're ready to start working again."

Blueblood said nothing to her.  "OK," she continued, "at least until you remember that a dance floor is supposed to have dancing."

Blueblood glared at Pinkie.  "It was going to, but then something happened."

"What? ... Ooooh."  Pinkie blushed.  "Sorry.  Though I probably would'n't have enjoyed the dancing, anyway."

Blueblood's glare continued.  "Have you tried it?"

Pinkie shook her head.  "No, but it just seems a little too slow for me."

Blueblood smiled at her.  "Trust me, it's not that slow."  He turned to Octavia.  "Miss Octavia, do any of your fellow players live here as well?"

"They're here now."

"Princess Celestia said you liked live music," Pinkie said.

Blueblood stared at her for a moment.  "Hmm.  Very thoughtful of her.  And of you."

"Thanks!"

Blueblood turned back to Octavia.  "Would you mind playing Rondo alla Tokara?"  Octavia nodded, then gathered her players.  "Miss Pie, in the middle of the room, please?"

The ponies cleared a space in the middle of the room that Blueblood and Pinkie walked into.  "Alright," Blueblood said, "now, stand up on your hindlegs."  She did so, and Blueblood stood with her, placing one hoof in her's, bringing it out, and placing his other hoof on her waist.  "Now put your hoof on my shoulder.  Good, now let me lead this time around and just be careful where you step.  Octavia, you may begin when ready."

Octavia nodded, tapped out the beat,  and then the pianist began.  As soon as the music started, Blueblood lurched into motion.  Pinkie yelped a bit, but managed to keep her hooves beneath her.  Blueblood led her around the floor at a quick clip, occasionally guiding her through a dip or a spin, which his partner kept pace with surprisingly well.  "And this is your first dance?" he asked her.

"Yep," Pinkie told him.

"Hmm.  Now on three, put your left hoof next to mine, and push off with your right..."

As the song came to an end, the two spun around each other, then pulled apart.  Blueblood twirled Pinkie to his other side, then the two broke off, falling back on all four hooves.  Finally, Blueblood bowed to Pinkie, which Pinkie quickly copied.  "You're a gifted dancer," Blueblood told Pinkie.

"As are you, milord," Pinkie replied.  Then she looked up at him.  "I gotta' say, that was surprisingly intense.  Are you supposed to do that with your heart full of holes?"

"I was encouraged to exercise, just so long as I didn't overdo it."  Blueblood smirked at her.  "And now you see that just because it isn't wild thrashing doesn't mean ballroom dancing is sedate."

"Hey!" Pinkie said.  "What I did at the Gala is not wild thrashing!"

"I was exaggerating," Blueblood assured her.  "It just always seems a little too wild for my tastes."

"It's not all wild."  Pinkie turned to the DJ.  "DJ, Slow Music, track 46, please."

The white pony with the purple glasses nodded and put a record on the turnstyle.  Pinkie stood in front of Blueblood, but didn't grab on to him.  He raised an eyebrow at her.  "Just do what comes to mind," she told him.

The song started playing and Pinkie started to lightly prance around the floor.  Blueblood quickly started to copy her, warily minding the music.  Then the lyrics started.  "I wonder what made you select this one," Blueblood remarked dryly.

"It seemed like it fit," Pinkie replied.  "I actually heard this song after I'd tried to run five parties at once.  I stretched myself too thin and messed things up and all of the parties wound up awful.  Then, at the end of the day, I was trudging down the street when I heard a pony start playing that song.  I... kind of started bawling my eyes out after that.  Everypony thought I'd gone nuts.  But then somepony asked me if I was OK.  I told them I wasn't and that I'd ruined five parties at once.  She thought that was strange, but she let me talk and let me cry and talked about how she'd messed things up over the years and just like that, Rarity and me were friends.  Even though I did blow my nose on her scarf, but she said it was out of style so it was OK."  The song ended.  "Are you alright?"

Blueblood rapidly shook his head.  "Yes, just a little distracted."  He looked up at the speakers.  "That's it?"

"Yeah, it's a short song."

"It's good."

"Told you."  Pinkie chuckled.  "Looks like we've both learned something today."

Blueblood smiled.  "Indeed.  Now it's my turn again."

The two kept taking turns calling the music that night.  Blueblood called out upbeat classical songs while he sat out and helped other ponies learn to dance, then Pinkie found slower, more modern songs to dance with Blueblood to.  Thus the night went on...

<*>

"OW!"

Blueblood awoke when he rolled off the couch.  He looked blearily around, then looked down to see Spike.  "Shoot!"  Blueblood scrambled off of him.  "Spike, are you alright?"

Spike got onto his feet with a groan.  "I've been better."  He turned to face Blueblood.  "What about you?"

Blueblood shrugged.  "I feel fine."

Spike glared at him.  "You mean that?"

"I mean that.  Honestly, I think I feel more refreshed than I ha... wait a minute."  Blueblood looked at the couch, then around at the mess all over the floor.  "I don't remember... Spike, what happened last night?  How did I get on the-"

Spike waved him down.  "It's OK.  You just started nodding off is all.  Once you fell asleep, everypony went home."  Spike glared around at the mess.  "Wish somepony had stayed to clean up the mess, though."

"I got it!"

Blueblood noticed Pinkie pushing a broom.  "You and Spike were asleep," she explained, "and I didn't want to wake you up."

Blueblood's eyebrow rose.  "You've been in my house all night."

"Well, you couldn't lock the door, being asleep and all, and I didn't want somepony to break into your house, so I stayed up all night and kept watch."

Blueblood stared at her then looked over at Spike.  "You'll get used to it," he said with a smile.  Then he walked over to the door.  "C'mon, Blueblood; there's all kinds of cool stuff I wanna' show you."

Blueblood didn't move and Spike's smile started to fall.  Blueblood turned to Pinkie.  "You can leave that for later if you want, I can clean up."

Pinkie waved a hoof at him.  "That's OK.  I set up the party; it's my job to clean it up."

Blueblood looked back at Spike, whose smile was falling as he beckoned to Blueblood.  Blueblood turned back to Pinkie.  "Well..."

"Tell you what," Pinkie said.  "If I do this, you can buy me dinner."

Blueblood blinked at her.  "What?  I mean, not that I don't want to repay your generosity, but dinner's a little much, isn't it?"

"Not really.  I mean, you're cute, you're a good dancer, and you can be a pretty cool guy when you're not all crabby and shoving-ponies-in-front-of-cakes-y."  As Blueblood blinked at her, she leaned onto her broom, looking at him upside-down.  "So?  How 'bout it?"

Blueblood bit his lip as he looked around the room.  There was still plenty of trash lying around and he didn't feel right leaving Pinkie to clean up all of it on her own.  Also, that stain on the wall would probably need some extra scrubbing power from a unicorn.  The plants probably had stuff shoved into their pots and the umbrella rack was crooked...

And Spike didn't even bother scowling at him.

Blueblood turned to Pinkie.  "Seven?"

Pinkie beamed at him.  "Okey-dokey!  See ya' then, Cutie Pie."  Then she reached over, booped him on the nose, and charged back into sweeping.

Blueblood couldn't help but smile at that.  He turned back to Spike.  "Do you mind if we stop at Rarity's house for a moment?"

Spike smiled.  "Right this way."