//------------------------------//
// Royal Pains? 
// Story: My Little Short Stories 3 
// by TheFanficFanPony 
//------------------------------//

The sun was rising on the deserts of Saddle Arabia, glinting off the majestic royal palace walls. A light blue stallion dressed in traditional garb trotted slowly down the hallways, looking at the sunrise calmly, when he was suddenly shoved into by an orange blur.

"Wazier Night Star!" a small orange colt with a short pink and yellow mane smiled, sitting on top of the royal vizier's chest happily. The little prince wore a dark green neckerchief and goggles on top of his head, as opposed to on his eyes. "What're ya doing here?"

"Well, I was going to go get some breakfast..." Night Star sighed, as the energetic colt's little pink tail wagged like a dog's. 

"Wow, you just woke up? I've been up for 3 hours!" Prince Fire smiled, as Night got up and dusted himself off, a little annoyed by the little colt's antics. However, since he lived with the foal and his sister, he was used to these kinds of shenanigans.

Night Star continued down the hallway, his protege jumping up and down next to him, when another little foal approached, wearing regal garb. "Hello, fair brother, and wazier Night Star."

"Heya sis!" Fire smiled, his sister nodding both to him and to Night Star respectfully. 

"Hello, Princess Flame. I see you are awake. We were just heading down to the banquet hall for breakfast." Night smiled. While Prince Fire was practically bursting with energy, his sister was his polar opposite.

"Yeah!" Fire added, bouncing up to his sister. "I'm gonna eat 1 million pancakes!"

"Ah, yes." Night Star sighed less-than-happily as the three ponies made their way toward the dining hall, where elaborate plates of food were st up for both the prince and princess. He would eat later, as he was never very hungry in the mornings anyway. Fire bounded up to the table happily, while Flame seemed to walk slowly and regally. Night Star watched the twins eat, Fire scarfing down his food and Flame taking small, delicate bites. However, due to the excessive amount of food that Fire ate, the two finished at around the same time.





Now came the hardest part of the day: royal meetings. As the only living members of the royal family, Fire and Flame had to take care of all of the royal duties brought upon them. And that included settling matters that would not normally be addressed by foals of their age.

"It wasn't fair!" a white pony with a light blue, pink, and yellow mane complained. "Those two con ponies sold me a fake diamond ring!"

"Now, now," a yellow, taller mare with a bright pink mane said coyly, "we didn't tell you it wasn't real-"

"-and so we weren't lying to you at all." her sister, a light pink mare with a whitish-pink mane finished. The two sisters were Trixiebelle and Moonshine, a duo that had caused more harm than good in their days as salesponies.

"That's not true!" Eve, the other pony, stomped her hoof angrily. "That's the same thing!"

"Uh, well..." Prince Fire said nervously. "Maybe we could give- no, that won't work..." For the first time that day, Fire seemed unsure.

The two sister salesponies stepped closer to the young royals. "Maybe we should sing another song?" Trixiebelle smiled.

"No, that's quite all right." Flame cut in, holding up a hoof to silence the ponies. "Fire, what is your opinion on the matter?"

Fire twitched in his seat, trying not to crack under the pressure upon him. He began to sweat nervously, and his sister trotted over to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

Night Star watched the goings-on with interest. He didn't want to intervene, but he was still a bit on edge. How could the crazy colt and his robotic sister handle a situation like this? But he stood back as the two foals began to talk quietly. Or, at least Flame was.

"I don't know!" Fire shouted, falling over forwards dramatically onto his chubby belly. His sister tried to calm the stressed colt down, while the sisters exchanged a glance and stifled laughs. Eve simply stared at them with confusion. The diamond ring seemed a lot less important now.

"Hush, hush now." Flame said soothingly, turning to the two con mares. "You two are charged guilty of forgery, and will have to give Eve a real diamond ring, verified by myself." 

Trixiebelle and Moonshine looked at each other and frowned. "But, surely you could reconsider?" Trixiebelle stepped forward nervously, her sister nodding vigorously. 

"Nooooooo!" Fire bawled, finally cracking completely under the pressure. "No! Let's jus' be done with this!"

Night Star sighed in annoyance at the colt's whining. This was a daily occurrence, and Night was used to it, but it still managed to annoy him every day. He trotted over to the siblings, finally intervening in their situation. "Trixiebelle, Moonshine, both of you can go home-" The two mares suddenly charged toward the door, but were blocked by the guards. "-but not before giving Eve her due payment."

The two mare sighed in defeat, grudgingly hoofing over the payment (but not before the money was checked over by Night) and trotting out the door. Night sighed once again in exasperation as Fire wailed and Flame looked nervously at him, not sure what to do anymore. 

"All right, now." Night said, exasperated. It was night by now, as the sun set across the horizon. He allowed Prince Fire to climb atop his back, and Flame gave a drowsy yawn. The ponies made their way toward the rooms once more, and soon Fire was asleep on top of his back, Flame barely awake anymore.

Night watched as Flame crawled into her bed, and he carefully set Flame down onto the bed opposite his sister's. Night went back to his own bedroom and sighed once more. He had heard that a few mares from Bright Valley were coming next week. 

That was going to be one long week, he just knew it...