I sat in Princess Luna's quarters. She'd led me there, dazed from Celestia's decision to give me over to the noble House of the Night. It was a move unprecedented in living memory.
"Sh-she kicked me out." I said, realization slowly dawning on me.
Luna floated a cup of tea over to me. "To be fair, you are still a prince." Luna offered helpfully.
I took the cup and stared down into it. "In the house of a villain."
Luna sighed. "Branches and boulders."
I snorted. "I think you mean, 'sticks and stones.'"
"Those would not break my bones." I looked up at her. She didn't seem to be mocking me or bragging. She was just stating a fact.
I shrugged. "Fair enough."
Taking a sip from her own cup, Luna leaned back. "Celestia's decision was...spectacularly thoughtless."
"At least we can agree on that." I said darkly.
Luna set her cup down and focused on me. "I don't think my sister has done right by you in a long time."
I leaned my head onto a hoof. "Preaching to the choir, Lulu."
Luna smiled. "There's a name I haven't heard in a while. Anyway, she hasn't done right by you, until now."
I scoffed. "How can you say—well, okay I guess I can see that."
"Y-you can?" Luna asked, surprised.
I set my cup down and regarded her fully. "Yeah, this is quite a coup for you, actually. I'm a popular pony. You aren't. If nothing else, the curiosity factor should bring in a few more noble houses to your court. Since I've had the luxury of sitting in on it, don't think I haven't noticed how...sparsely populated it is."
Luna tilted her head and muttered, "Almost as if a lever was pulled."
I leaned back and put my hooves behind my head. "This political stunt is exactly the kind of magic Aunt Celly is good at. I should have seen it coming."
Luna shook her head. "Do you hear yourself when you talk? She loves you but isn't sure how to handle you. A thousand years of ruling alone haven't done anything to improve her familial relations. To tell you the truth, I don't think even now that she fully understands what led me to give into the nightmares."
An unpleasant part of me thought she might have a point. It was silenced by the experiences I'd had with my dear, distant 'aunt.' "How could you understand? You've been banished for a thousand years. Even an alicorn can change in that much time."
Luna's lips pressed into a thin line. She looked ready to yell, but then she took a breath and relaxed her jaw. "My sister does not always do things for political reasons, Blue. She adopted you as a nephew. What did that gain her? To all outward appearances, you are just a spoiled, trouble-making prince."
"It's not just an outward appearance, Luna. I'm the prince who used one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony as a shield against getting splatted with cake. I'm the prince who left a mare of high breeding alone at a bar to go hit on some more visually appealing commoners. I'm the prince who insulted Luna in her own court in front of her sister!"
Luna took a sip of tea before replying. "You are also the prince who falls to pieces around Celestia. A prince who has thus far abided a stiff judgment with grace and humility. A prince who, until recently, even befriended a baker."
"Joe? Let me make this clear, Joe and I are not friends. Not now, not ever. That common, rounded, crass unicorn stallion is beneath my notice." The words felt strange in my mouth. It was certainly how I'd felt about Joe in the beginning.
"Your words lack punch." Luna decided. "Even so, you may want to keep your words sweet. You may have to eat them later. Now, before we argue about your diet, tell me what happened between you two that has you giving him the silent treatment."
I sighed, but relented. Luna listened attentively as I explained the situation at delManeco's. "My reputation preceeds me. Joe isn't a friend. He's a businesspony."
"I think you're wrong." Luna said flatly. "As your Head of House, I am ordering you to resolve your issues. If this is just a misunderstanding, I would like to insist on receiving a dozen death by chocolate donuts."
***
"Well, all it took for you to talk to me again was a special order from Princess Luna, eh?" Joe asked with a nervous smile. We stood in the bakery kitchen, one of his helpers had the front counter.
"And being kicked out of my house." I muttered.
"What was that?" Joe asked, his eyes narrowed.
I blanched, not wanting to have to explain that to him. "Nothing. Look. I'm not mad about you...judging me on my reputation. Plenty of other ponies have done the same."
"No, Blueblood, please let me explain." Joe interrupted. His hoof reached out and landed gently on my shoulder. "I...shouldn't have said those things to Red. I didn't mean them."
"Joe, it’s okay. Nothing I haven't heard before,” I said, waving a hoof.
"Shut up and listen," Joe said, cringing afterwards. "Sorry. I'm not always the nicest pony. I try, but it's tough for me. Especially when I care about somepony."
My ears perked up towards him. "What?"
Joe rolled his eyes and looked at me. "I...care about you, Blue. Like a friend.”
I really hated when one of my aunts was right. "You don't even know me." I countered.
"But I want to know you more." He replied. "I see so much good in you, Blue..."
"Well, you're seeing things. I'm spectacularly thoughtless, hopelessly self-involved, and my attitude toward the common pony is still leagues away from civil."
"I'm a common pony." He pointed out.
"And you think the same way every other common pony does about me. The prince of pleasure!” I threw my hoof wide, barely missing hitting a hanging pan. “A feckless, foppish, foolish member of a failed noble house!"
"Failed noble house?" Oops, he caught that. I hadn't meant to bring up being banished to Luna's House. Twice.
"It-That...I mean." I said eloquently.
Joe looked confused. "You're a member of the House of the Day. Aren’t you?"
"I...was. I've been given to the House of the Night. Luna is my Head of House. Celestia..." I wiped the sweat off my forehead. The kitchen was warm at the best of times, now it felt hot.
He looked down. "I didn't know."
"Nopony does, but everypony will soon. These things have a way of getting out."
Joe shrugged. "Blue, would you like to stay with me until this blows over?"
"Joe, I-" I stopped. I'd been about to turn him down, but something in the way he asked stopped me. It was a tone like the one Luna'd used, but there was something else to it. "If you don't think I'll be a bother."
"No more so than usual." He said, teasingly. The gruffness of his voice didn't match his expression. “Besides, my home might not be a castle, but it isn’t a hovel. You won’t be slumming it with a commoner and sleeping on my couch or a floor. I have guest rooms. You can get drunk and sleep on those floors.”
"Oh ha-ha." I replied drily. “So, friends then? This is what you wanted when you met me?”
Joe nodded. “But I knew that I couldn’t come out and ask you because you’d turn your nose up at me. So I used the system to get you to stick around long enough to get used to the idea of befriending a common pony.”
“And all it took was, what week and a half? Two weeks?” I almost felt like I’d been bewitched.
“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to come around that quickly either,” Joe admitted. “Especially with Erede’s big mouth.”