//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Crown of Winter // by CartoonNerd12 //------------------------------// Dignity was whistling as he got ready for his date. He faced the mirror in the room he and boys shared and used his magic to tie his bow tie. "Well, how do I look?" "Like a million bits." Whirl smiled. "You look great, cuz." Fire grinned. "Mauve is certainly a lucky mare tonight." Whirl mentioned. "Thanks, guys. That means a lot to me." There was a clearing of the throat and they turned to see Rarity at the door. "Mother. Come in. I was just about to leave to go pick up Lady Mauve." "I know. I just wanted to stop by and wish you luck." She used her magic to redo his tie. "And to make sure my little colt is presentable." "Oh, Mother… You know I'm old enough to present myself in my own way." "I know… I know…" She was on the verge of tears, "But I will always see you as that little colt who used to run into my arms… and would tell me his problems or be begging for something…" she sniffled. "Dad! You better get in here! Mom's crying!" Fancy trotted in and wrapped an arm around his wife. He tried to soothe her, "There now… Nothing to cry about. Our boy's becoming a stallion." Rarity wailed. "Mom… I'm touched that you will always think of me as your little boy, but I can't stay young forever. Besides, didn't you always say you couldn't wait to have grandchildren to spoil?" Fancy chuckled, "You most certainly do. But that can't happen if our eldest doesn't court and marry the young mare he's going out with tonight." he winked to his son. "Thanks, Dad." "Oh…" Rarity wrapped her arms around Dignity and gave him kisses. "Mother, please… The guys are watching…" "Oh, hush. They know what it's like to have their mother smother them with love." "Not my mom, Aunt Rarity." said Whirl Wind. "Well… your mother's not one for too many kisses…" That caused them to laugh. Gemstone then came in the room, "Here, Dignity. I picked this out in the garden for you." She magically put a rose on his tux. Her brother smiled and gave her a hug, "Thanks, sis… And I hope your date goes well tonight, too." "We'll see. I have one more tomorrow and then I'll have that date with Seam. And if I'm being honest, I'm looking forward to our date more than anything." Rarity mentioned to her daughter, "I'm so proud of you for giving this a chance." Fancy added, "And you are being very polite by keeping your dates, even if you're more excited for one of them." "Of course. It would be terribly rude of me to break off the date after I had expressed an interest. And I am trying, Mother, but it's not exactly the way I pictured falling in love…" Rarity gave an understanding look, "I know… But your aunts and I agreed this was the easiest way to find suitors while making sure no pony would want to hurt any of you." "Not that we don't appreciate it, but it's hard to trust your judgment when you can't even trust ours…" She quickly left the room before Rarity could respond. The princes exchanged knowing looks because Gemstone made a great point. The boys started taking their leave with Dignity telling his parents, "She's right, you know… I wasn't against this because I already had made a choice, but forcing us into something before we're ready is not right… I always believe you have the best intentions, but in this case, you're going about it all wrong… I'll be back before midnight. Good evening." Then he left. Rarity and Fancy exchanged sad looks, knowing deep down their children were right. Mauve and Dignity were laughing as they had been conversing throughout the candlelit dinner while a strolling violinist was playing romantic music. "Why was I so afraid to talk to you?" he questioned. "You're an excellent conversationalist." "That's because we have common interests. If we had nothing to talk about, then we would be sitting here in awkward silence." "Thankfully, that's not the case… I always knew there was something amazing about you when I first laid my eyes on you…" "When did you first notice me?" "It was at the Grand Galloping Gala last year. I was making rounds when I spotted you across the room… It was like time had stopped. Since then, I've been working up the nerve to speak to you." "Until you came up with a genius plan to invite me to the palace while other girls were trying for your attention." "I had no choice. My mother and aunts suddenly made this proclamation, so I had to think fast about how to ask you out without disobeying them. And it wasn't just me. Whirl and Fire had girls they wanted to ask out, too." "This I know, because I met them when we had to wait for the line to thin out before we could show the guard our invitations. We were confused about why you would invite us on the day you were meeting with other girl suitors but once you explained everything, well… We were quite impressed that we were your first picks." "I'm just glad you girls were so understanding." "We have to. You're the princes." "That may be so, but we want to act like everybody else." "But why? You can't act special if you don't think you are." He slightly frowned, "What do you mean?" "I'm saying that you were blessed to be born with a high standing. Why would you want to be like everyone else when everyone else wants to be like you? That's what makes you special. But how can you feel special if you don't think you are?" "And do you believe yourself to be special?" "Of course." she made a glamorous pose. "But you don't think anybody else could be?" "I didn't say that. Everyone is special if only they think they are. And you are special, but you don't seem to think so…" "That's because some of us like staying modest, but that doesn't mean we're not special." "But you're above them. Why would you use the word 'we' like they're your equals?" "Maybe because they are." "But they're not. They were not born the way you were. You're still a prince. Your word is law. How can any pony measure up to that?" "Uh…" He realized she made a good point. He could claim that the ponies were equals to the royal family, but the sad truth was they were not. "I was born in a wealthy family, so I see ponies having less than me. If they wanted more, they could have believed themselves to be special and gain what they want." "Some ponies can't have that." he stated. "I hate to say this, Mauve, but you have very little views of how the world works… You believe that someone simply has to act determined to get what they want - which I'm sure would work for some - but there are others who can't afford to be ambitious." "Really?" she questioned, and then said, "I had no idea. Just why? What stops them?" "Oppression. I've seen it with my parents when they handle charity drives." He lowered his head in sadness, "There are so many ponies out there with broken dreams…" Mauve covered her mouth and then spoke, "Oh… my… Dignity, I'm sorry. I didn't know…" "No, I guess you didn't. How could you? You were blessed to have anything and that you could be anything. I was born the same way, but the difference is I was made aware of my surroundings. That's the duty of a royal, after all. We were taught to always look out for our fellow ponies." "I wish I had been taught." "Well… there's no time like the present." he smiled. She smiled as well and they leaned closer to each other when Gemstone suddenly ran up to them and was panting from the run. "Hide me!" She crawled under the table. Dignity poked his head down, "What happened?" "He tried to kiss me! The lousy creep tried to kiss me!" "What?!" "Yes, and we were having a nice time too, but once we started to leave, he decided to make a move and puckered up his lips. I told him I didn't kiss on the first date, but he just said, 'That's what they all say!' and tried to keep kissing me! So I told him I would if he closed his eyes, and once he did, I made a break for it and managed to spot you at the restaurant. Can you walk me home when you're done? I promise I won't get in the way." He had to chuckle at that, "It's going to be hard to be romantic when a little sister is underneath the table listening in…" She blushed, "I suppose so. I certainly wouldn't appreciate it if our positions have been reversed…" Mauve had her head poking in now, "Don't worry, Your Highness. You made the right choice. I've had my share of lousy dates. Believe me, it was a smart move that you went to your brother." She smiled and whispered to her brother, "She's a keeper." "I know…" True, Mauve was on the bit of the high-and-mighty side, but that wasn't her fault. She did express an interest in how the other side lived, so once she was more aware of others, he wouldn't hesitate to propose to her. The night had gone well and he was sure he found his soul mate. He turned to his sister, "Why don't we take you home now and Mauve and I can take a stroll in the palace gardens afterward?" "I would love that." Mauve smiled. "Thanks, big brother, and sorry for cutting your date short." "It's okay. Personally, I would like to get my hooves on the creep that tried to take advantage of you." Both girls smiled. It was late at night when Dignity escorted Mauve back home. "I had a wonderful time." she said. "So did I, even if we had a slight disagreement…" "No, it made me open my eyes. Besides, it wouldn't be a proper relationship if the couple didn't have something to disagree about." "You're right. My parents have some spats, but they also overcome them." "I see couples that have everything, but they end up fighting and they don't solve their problems. It's quite sad, thinking that once they used to be so in love, only for something to happen to drive them apart and they don't overcome it." "Let us vow that we will make the effort to solve our problems like tonight. In fact…Fire Spark is attending one of Dawn Twirl's library study sessions tomorrow. I think that would be a good place for you to start learning. Get it? We'll be in the library and surrounded by books…" He nervously chuckled when he could see she wasn't laughing and cleared his throat, "So… would you like to go?" "I suppose so. I've never been to the library, so it could be fun to see what it's like." He took her hoof and kissed it, "Until then, milady." Dignity got the front castle doors smiling, unaware of a large shadow in the trees. Once the unicorn went in, the shadow flapped toward a balcony and tapped softly on the window. He was tapping in rhythm like Morse code, alerting the pony he wanted to see that he was here. Apple Jewel was pretending to sleep when she heard the tapping and grinned. She quietly got out of bed and made sure the rest of her cousins were asleep before making her way to the balcony. Once she closed the glass doors behind her, she whispered. "Asher?" Slowly, the shadow rose up and the moonlight showed a blue dragon with wings and a horn nose. "Jewel…" he said. She threw her hooves around him as he twirled her midair. Their eyes met as they beamed. "You grew." she said. "So did you." "The last time I saw you was when we had to say goodbye at the Dragon Lands now… You're even more handsome…" "And you had gotten more beautiful… Which is odd, given you're half-pony, but I don't care." She slightly frowned, "But you seem to care that I can't provide you a worthy heir…" He frowned too, "It's not like that… If I wasn't the prince destined to hold the title my family held on for so long, I would gladly make you my mate this very moment." "That's another thing. If I was your mate, would you marry me by pony customs?" "If that was the case. I would." "Then what is the case? That any child I bear for you would be a disgrace?" her eyes glistened. "No! No, of course not!" She shook her head as she went down and turned away from him, "You're worried that they won't be a dragon… That they'll end up a pony that won't be able to compete in the Gauntlet… I remembered what your mother went through. It is the genes." Asher didn't say anything. "So… I'm right. You are worried." He softly said, "I'm worried… that any child we do have will be hurt…" She faced back to him, "I seem to recall you telling me that I needed to show the dragon within me. Why would that be any different with our kid?" He blurted out, "Because I don't know what it would look like!" Silence stood between them for a long time. He then spoke, "Jewel, I really do want you. But I'm torn. The Dragon Lord title means everything to my family… I don't want to have to risk that by genetics that was out of our hands…" "I see." She slowly went to the glass doors and before she opened them, she said to him, "I'm sorry I'm such an abomination all because my parents were in love… I told you their story, but it almost didn't end happily. My father could have died. Which means… I never would have existed. Then maybe you wouldn't have to feel so tortured from meeting me…" She went inside before he could reply. She got to her bed, where she cried in her pillow.