I'd left the palace early that morning. The prospect of running into Luna, even if she'd only been part of the dream, was not a pleasant one. Without guards, I bought a hat and cloak; I really would have to thank Joe for deciding to pay me. The clothes weren't exactly fashionable, but that was the point. For the time being, I couldn't handle being me.
After much wandering in the pre-dawn hours, I found myself in an unfamiliar, dimly-lit part of town. I lit my horn, casting a blue glow in order to not be recognized as somepony special. The light spell made me realize how hungry I was. I hadn’t eaten since getting up.
Unfortunately, after the outfit I was also not really in a position to buy much food. I'd only grabbed a small hoof-full out of the coin purse in my drawer; now I'd come to regret it. Looking around, I realized my second regret. I was lost.
Why did I think this was a good idea?
Well, at least I wasn't having an unpleasant conversation with my aunt. Would Luna tell Celestia? I could only imagine what Celestia would say when she found out. I finally realized what I wanted though. I just had to find Pony Joe’s donut shop in the dark of early morning. I just picked a direction and started heading that towards the rising sun. It felt as good as any other direction, at least.
"Blue?" A familiar voice called out after a few blocks. Things had started looking familiar, although it was hard to tell in the dark.
I turned around. "Joe?"
Sure enough, it was Pony Joe. He carried a few boxes, presumably full of donuts, in his magic. "You lost?" He asked gruffly, as if he already knew the answer. Well, to be fair, he was right.
Couldn't let him know that. "No, I was just about to go get something to eat. How did you recognize me anyway?"
Did he blush just then? It sure seemed like he was redder than before. "You have a particular...way of walking."
"Way of walking?" I asked.
Joe changed the subject. "So, if you're not doing anything just now, maybe you'd like to come with me to the soup kitchen. I volunteer there every so often. It's worked out well, some of my best bakers were down on their luck ponies."
I hesitated. A soup kitchen filled with poor people? I was trying to suppress those memories. Then again, I wasn't exactly rich myself, especially right now. Besides, I needed to go to work with Joe later today and I had no clue how to get to his shop from here. And maybe I could claim royal privilege and snag some soup.
"I suppose." I said.
"Great!" Joe exclaimed, passing two boxes over to me. I took them in my magic and followed him.
Ten seconds into the soup kitchen and it seemed like regret would follow me around today. The plain wooden décor, the long tables and benches, even the way the soup was served out in a line all reminded me of the orphanage. The muck I came from, I heard Civil say in my head. Shaking myself, I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. It was just my bad luck that Joe stopped in front of me, leading to an awkward rear-ending.
"Sorry!" I said quickly, catching the donuts before they hit the floor.
Joe looked embarrassed, not that I could blame him. "It’s okay, just watch where you're going next time. Good catch, by the way. Can you put them all back in the boxes?"
"Uh, sure." I said, and did just that. I wasn't especially gifted at magic, but I had at least that much down.
The donuts safely taken away from me, Joe handed me an apron and we started cooking. Or, rather, he started cooking and I passed him ingredients. Together, we took the soup over to the ladling station and set out the other assorted foodstuffs. The other volunteers opened up the kitchen to the needy ponies and I watched as they filed by. Mares, stallions, foals and elders, but especially mares and foals, all were served kindly and with a friendly amount of banter. Stories were traded, laughs were shared and, aside from the looks of everything, it couldn’t have been less like the orphanage.
I found myself relaxing.
Until my stomach rumbled. Loudly.
Joe just so happened to be nearby. "Oh! Blue, I'm sorry. I didn’t think to ask if you’d eaten yet. Well, everypony's been served and there's more than enough here. If you don't mind eating something from a soup kitchen..."
My stomach rumbled again. "Uh, no. I-I don't mind, that is. I'll, uh, just go get myself a plate."
After my simple, yet hearty, meal was finished, ponies started leaving to go back to wherever they came from. Joe organized the volunteers and things were clean again in no time. Joe motioned me over to a table. I went and sat, Joe joined me with another pony who'd volunteered.
"Sue, this is Blueblood. Blueblood, this is Sue Chef." Joe said by way of introduction.
Sue Chef was a cream colored mare with a deep red mane. Her eyes were a beautiful turquoise and she smiled wide and often. "As in Prince Blueblood?" She asked, her eyebrows up in surprise.
I took off my hat and shook out my mane. The effect was rather spoiled by how sweaty my mane was. "The same."
"Well, I never expected to meet royalty. It truly is a pleasure." She said brightly, extending a hoof.
After a moment's hesitation, I took her hoof and kissed it. She giggled. "Ooh, what a charmer!"
Oops, I hope she didn't think I was interested. Having mares interested in me tended not to work out well for me.
"Sue is going to run the shop for me while I'm away." Joe explained.
"Away?" I asked.
"Yeah, I have to go see the opening of a shop in Las Pegasus. It'll be right on the edge of The Strip, so it'll be a pretty grand opening." Joe said, smiling.
I swallowed my feelings and returned the smile. "Sounds like a lot of fun."
"Should be. Sue already knows about your arrangement, so Luna will still get her death-by-chocolates and other goodies." Joe said, as if to reassure me. I wasn't reassured at all. I barely knew Sue and already this wasn't going well.
An uncomfortable quiet fell over the table. We looked at each other, all seemingly incapable of coming up with a single thing to say. I stood up first. The other two followed. "I just need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." I said, trotting swiftly to the stallion's room.
As I washed my face, Joe came in. "Everything alright? I'm sorry I sprang this on you. The builders surprised me, this building wasn't supposed to be ready this soon."
"I'm fine." I said stiffly, turning to the faucet to douse my face again.
"Blue, look at me." Joe said quietly. He stood beside me.
"What?" I asked, annoyed.
"Blue, I'm sorry." He repeated.
I rolled my eyes. "I know."
He shook his head. "No, I mean, I've got another thing to be sorry for. I'm going to tell you now, because you're already mad with me."
I sighed, annoyed that he would presume to know my feelings. "I'm not—wait what?"
"When you started working for me, I looked up your history. I heard a lot of rumors about you." He began.
"I would imagine so." I said, numbly.
He came clean. "Blue, I know about the orphanage."
"Oh." There wasn't anything else I could think of to say. What did he want?
He went on to explain. "Celestia kept it out of most news, but the Castle Times ran a short stub article about it in a weekday afternoon edition. I should've thought about how this all would make you feel. Looking you up, having you work for me, going to the orphanage in the poor district, and even inviting you here. But I didn't. I'm sorry."
"Why?" I asked.
He sucked in a breath and then let it out. "Because I wanted to get to know you. I wanted you to open up to me. But I’ve been dancing around the subject. The truth is, I was orphaned too."
I stared blankly. That was not the answer I was expecting. “I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know. Sue and I were talking about how I was handling this,” he admitted.
"Add that to the list of things you told her before you told me." I said, pettily.
He winced. "I'm sorry."
"Maybe it's good we have some time apart. I need to think." I said, and exited the bathroom.
***
Sue turned out to be nice enough. Once she realized I knew what I was doing, she left me to my work and concentrated on the front and the ovens. When it came time to leave, I took a deep breath and centered myself.
I was not looking forward to this.
As the cab came to a stop in front of the castle, I steeled myself and took the donuts in my magic and hopped out. Nodding to the guard at the door, I entered the throne room and stopped to bow before Luna.
"We need to talk, Blue." Her voice was firm.
I gulped. "Right now, Your Roy--"
She cut me off. "Luna. Right now I am Luna. In court you can address me formally, but when it's just us, please just call me Luna."
"As you wish, Luna." I replied.
"Good. Blueblood, I must beg your forgiveness. I didn't know what I was pulling up when I triggered that memory. We could have just spoken." Luna said, her voice nearer than before.
I looked up to see her bowing to me. Civil really never prepared me to accept an apology from a ruler. "Uh, I'd rather not talk about it, Luna." I rubbed my neck and looked away. When I turned back, she caught my gaze.
"Are you still angry with me?" She asked quietly.
"Did you tell Celestia?" I asked in return. I readied myself for the inevitable confirmation. Of course Luna would have—
"No." She replied.
"Are you serious?" I asked, surprised.
Luna shrugged. "Why would I lie to you?"
"Because it's what everypony does to get their way." I blurted without thinking. "What makes a princess any different?"
"A lie would only serve to hurt you. If nothing else, I wouldn't want to hurt you, Blue." She stated calmly. "If and when you decide to make peace with Celestia, I will pledge on my honor as a princess that I will have your side. Celestia may have learned much from her mistakes with her apprentices, but she has much to do to make amends with you."
Remembering the dream, I brought up another question. "You wanted to help me. Why?"
She looked at me curiously. "I suppose telling you that we're family would be insufficient for you. So, let me say that I was also trying to return a favor."
I frowned. "What favor?"
"You have started paying attention at court and even giving me help on some of the newer laws and protocols." She reminded me. "I thought if I could help smooth things out between you and Celestia, we would be happier. It looks like we have a long way to go, though."
"Assuming I want to get there at all." I said, irritably.
"True. I shall leave it up to you. It's your decision from now on." Luna said. She took a step forward and hesitated. "May I?"
I was confused. "May you what?"
Luna looked a little embarrassed. "May I hug you? I don't want to surprise you or force contact on you. And you've backed away from me before."
"Oh." I shifted on my hooves uncomfortably. "Well, yes, I guess."
She pulled me into a warm embrace. I wasn't sure what to do with my hooves. Besides the size difference, was there an etiquette to this? How long did a hug last? It felt nice, if a little odd, and certainly nothing like when Joe touched me. Not as great, but good.
I patted her back, careful to avoid her wings. "This is a little embarrassing." I admitted.
She squeezed me. "Nopony else is here; no reason to be embarrassed."
Fair point.
As she let go, I stepped back and coughed into a hoof politely. "Th-thank you, Luna. For the apology, the hug, and everything."
"Are you still concerned about being kicked out of the noble houses entirely?" Luna asked baldly.
I coughed again. "Um, I suppose I am."
She closed her eyes and opened them slowly, her expression falling. "Is there any way to reassure you?"
I shrugged. "Not that I can think of."
"I shall work on earning your trust, Blueblood. In time, I hope you'll see me in a better light." Luna sighed as she returned to the throne. I followed, sitting at my place beside her.
Before she could start court, I reached out to her hoof. "Luna, what would you do if you found out someone kept a secret from you?"
She whipped her head around at a speed that likely would have snapped the necks of lesser ponies. "Have you never had to deal with this before?"
I waved a hoof. "No, I have, but I don't want to drive the other pony away this time."
Her eyes narrowed, but her expression remained soft. "I suppose that would depend upon why they decided to keep it a secret. What did they keep from you?"
I shrugged. “Joe lived in an orphanage too. He wanted to talk to me about it. He’s been taking me to the one on the other side of town, and to a soup kitchen mid-city. I guess he found out I lived in one when I was a foal, before Celestia adopted me.”
“Didn’t she prove your lineage by birth records? Would it not be more accurate to say, reunited with you?” Luna asked.
"I-I don't know. Ci-, uh, rumors always were that the records were faked,” I said. Luna’s look became sharp.
“I doubt that to be the case but I will look into it. Did you talk to Joe about your time in the orphanage?” She asked.
“I asked for some time to think about it. Was that bad?" I asked, worried.
"If I know Joe, he will be patient." Luna began. "I would not keep him waiting for long, though. You must consider your own feelings and his as well. If you cannot find it in you to return to that time in your head, then you must let him know. It will be hard, especially since he cares for you as a friend."
I removed my hoof from hers. "Thank you for the advice, Aunt Luna."
She turned back to face forward. "Thank you for trusting me to give it."
As the formality and ceremony of opening Night Court began, I had a lot on my mind. Did I care for Joe like he did for me? Would such a common background make us more than just friends? I didn't have many true friends; I wasn't sure I could handle losing one now.
But did I ever want to think of that old place again?