10. Just say sorry
Seeing his aunt, Princess Celestia herself, signified to Prince Blueblood that day was about to end and he could say farewell to this crazy town. Or better yet, leave without a word and hope he’ll forget it soon enough. Now the worst that he could hope for was seeing that crazy Wonderbolt on the derbies again and maybe passing his inept bodyguard on the street, this time hopefully learning his lesson and staying away. Who was he kidding? He would probably hit him again, this time harder, and they'll promote him.
His aunt was in a bad mood, which was unusual for sun goddess, especially so close to her favorite day of the year. He grabbed the saddlebags and took the checklist from it.
“Here,” said Blueblood, as he handed her the list “It’s all fine and peachy, can I go home now? I’m getting sick of this place.”
Celestia, however, didn’t bother grabbing the list. She ignored it completely and looked around the messy library. She looked at her nephew and spoke.
“On my way here, I met several ponies in tears, and they all pointed me here,” said Celestia in a very cold tone, so unlike the motherly, kind voice she usually has “could you explain this to me?”
Blueblood snorted and rolled his eyes “This?” he pointed at the mess “This is trespassing and conducting an illegal mass event for a canterlot representative in a public place meant for silence and knowledge. Or as they called it, ‘surprise party’.”
“You know what I mean!” said Celestia loudly. Blueblood sighed.
“Yes, how dare I be so unkind and uncaring to a bunch of flank-kissing low class primitives? Probably because I despise being here, while they do their best to shove their plots under my nose. I could lie and pretend to be delighted, but that could give them ideas.”
“So instead you act around like a selfish snob?”
“Selfish? You have no idea what I’ve been through today! Anypony else on my place would burn this place for half the things I went through!”
“That’s why I don’t send anypony I don’t trust,” answered Celestia, stomping her hoof on the floor with irritation “Although now that I see it, I probably made a mistake on your part.”
“Mistake?” asked Blueblood, once again lifting the list with his magic and levitating it closer to her eyes “You asked me to inspect this town and I did! I took my time and personally checked every-single-point, to a tee, to make sure it holds the standards. So I made a few enemies on my way? Big deal, I'll be out of this town soon and I'm not some sort of spokespony for entire upper crust.”
Celestia kept staring into his eyes. Her anger slowly mellowed and right now was slowly being replaced by sadness. She could not comprehend why somepony, her family especially, would want to make enemies anywhere.
“Is this how you wish to live the rest of your life, nephew?” she asked sadly “Surrounding yourself with enemies?”
“Better then letting anypony close enough to stab me in the back again!” answered Prince Blueblood right into his aunts face. Realizing what he just said, he turned away and walked back, stopping only when reaching a puddle of red liquid on the ground. Only a second later he realized it was just spilled punch, nothing to be concerned about.
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia sighed deeply, slowly walked toward her nephew and put a wing on his back.
“I know it still hurts, after what happened with Lottery Charm...”
Blueblood interrupted her by shaking the wing away “I never want to hear that name again!”
Celestia continued “You can't judge everypony because one let you down. These are good ponies, I asked you to give them a chance!”
“And how are you so sure of it? It's not like you actually...” Blueblood stopped the sentence when he had an epiphany “...know them.”
His eyes widened as his brain put together pieces from several last conversations they had. He turned toward Princess Celestia. She didn't reply, so Prince continued.
“This was your plan all along! You didn't send me here to inspect anything, but to meet those ruffians!"
For a moment, they kept on the silence, as they stared at each others eyes. Finally, Princess gave in and let out a small sigh.
"Yes, I planned all of this."
Prince stood there dumbfounded "Why?" he asked coldly.
"Because you needed it, even if you didn't realize it yourself."
"Needed what? Exercise in patience?"
"Friends!" she announced that very seriously, sprung out her wings to appear more intimidating, as she walked forward. Prince was the last pony to be intimidated by his aunt, but even he couldn't help but step backwards, not even realizing that he stepped in the previously inspected puddle.
"And I'm talking about real friends, not those leeches and flatterers you keep around yourself. Ponies you can trust, those that won't ask for anything in return aside from you being you. This is why I sent you to Ponyville! Why here of all places? Allow me to explain." she took a few more steps, successfully interrupting him from whatever thoughts he was about to share.
"Ruling a kingdom, raising sun and moon, teaching students, I take all my duties seriously. But once a year, for a day, I allow myself to take a break, leave everything in hooves of my advisers, while I explore my kingdom in disguise. I visit a random place, meet random ponies, see how they manage their lives, think of a way I could improve their everyday hardships. But more then anything, I enjoy being treated like a normal pony, not a princess of entire kingdom, with everypony bowing at my sight. I enjoy paying for my meals, ordering any unhealthy looking trash on the menu, standing in lines, flirting with low class stallion, shooting down potential dates after accepting their drinks etcetera. Where am I going with this?"
"You see, my nephew, this year I decided to finally visit Ponyville. I still remember when I gave this little plot of land to settlers, but I never had a chance to see it up close. And what did I encounter? Let me count the things that happened to me. First, I entered through the main road, only to realize that in my haste, I didn't pack any bits with me. That’s when I met several descendents of the original ponies, who after hearing my story invited me over for a dinner and offered a place to stay. Then, when I left their household and flew into the skies, I met the members of weather management of Ponyville, who greeted me kindly and gave a tour around the town. Then, a distinct boutique, or rather a gorgeous dress inside, caught my eyes and I had a pleasant, intelligent conversation with its designer. Then, once I got a little tired, I walked to the outskirts of the town, where I met a shy, lonely mare. Once we broke the ice, she invited me for a tea and we had a lovely little chat about animals and trees. And just when I was about to leave and go back to the castle, I was dragged, almost by force, to a local bakery, where a certain pink pony prepared a Welcome Party for me, a lone pegasus just passing by. I spent hours dancing and playing, like I haven't done in, well, never.”
“And you know what the best part of it was?" she smiled widely "Not one pony out there demanded anything in return! None has seen through my disguise as well, and even when I demanded to pay them back somehow, all they asked in return was that I would visit them again."
"Needless to ask, my nephew, I never had this much fun in my life and never before have I seen so much kindness."
"So you chose those specific ponies for me to visit, right?"
"Indeed. I wanted you to experience what I did back then..." her smile weakened "...but, it seems like I failed at that." she sighed deeply.
Prince Blueblood was... conflicted. On one hoof, he appreciated that she tried. He knew that she wanted the best for him. But on that same note, he was still mad for all he went through.
"Maybe you should stop expecting everypony to think like you?" he started, quickly realizing how it was going to sound, but deciding to not go back on anything he said "You thought that these ponies would entertain me, cheer me up, that I would forget about all my life and have a jolly good fun with plebs? I just experienced one of the worst days of my life! THAT'S what your brilliant plan did to me!"
Princess wanted to calm down and just leave this conversation behind her. But she didn't.
"I thought you would at least TRY and stop acting like a complete jerk!" a second passed, before she realized what she just said and was already forming an apology. Prince had none of that.
"And why do you care? Don't you have anything better to do then meddle with my PRIVATE life?"
"I CARE because I love you, no matter how stupid you are, and I want you to be happy!"
"Then why don't you just leave me alone!"
"If you really wish for it, then I will!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
Both huffed and turned away from each other. For few agonizing minutes, they just stood there in complete silence. As far as their relationship goes, they never had a fight like this before. They had their disagreements, they argued over trivial things before, but none of that ever stuck and they made up almost instantly. All they had to do was turn back, apologize and set everything to where it was before. It was that easy. Yet, every time any of them wished to do so, they turned only halfway, then quickly changed their minds. As childish as it seemed, they were much too stubborn to make first move.
"My advisers warned me..." Celestia finally broke the silence, as she quietly spoke without turning back "...that you would be a waste of time. I never listened."
"Maybe you should have. That's why you had them."
"I always wanted to believe that I could fix you. Mend your heart, help you grow..."
"Oh, don't give me that, aunt. We both know what you wanted!" Celestia turned back, looking at her nephew very suspiciously "You just wanted to have another Ceasar.”
Her eyes grew, jaw dropped almost to the ground “...what did you say?” she asked slowly.
“That's why you keep Bluebloods around, don't you? Not because we're some important clan, but because you can't get over your precious little Ceasar."
"Don't you dare..."
"You must be disappointed, eh auntie? Here's your perfect occasion to have another perfect 'son'..."
SLAP!
Prince stopped talking. He couldn't form a cohesive sentence in his head, let alone speak it out loud. His right cheek burned like crazy. Princess stood there, her hoof was still raised. While she could be loud, intimidating and angry at times, she never, ever yelled.
Until today.
"Don't you DARE talk about him like that! So yes, I treated him like my own, is this a crime? And yes, I wanted you to be like him, because Ceasar was a great pony. I had hopes that his descendents would turn out like him, but instead they grew arrogant, too reliant on their connection to crown and lineage. I couldn't stand watching them drown themselves down, but I couldn't do anything. And then you came along. A lonely colt, blaming himself for a tragedy he didn't cause. A child that needed somepony to take care of him, to raise into a proper stallion. I was too blinded with the idea of reliving some of the best years of my long life to realize that you are not, and never will be, half the stallion he ever was!"
She stopped to take a breather. If there ever was a moment to apologize, that would be the last call. But he didn't. Neither did she.
"So to answer your question, yes, I am disappointed in you. But more then that, I'm disappointed in myself. I had hopes in you. THAT was my mistake!"
After a short pause, she turned around and walked toward the doors. Halfway to the door, she turned away once again and added.
"Once the celebration is over, you are dismissed."
Prince looked at her with anger. He could calm down and still fix it, but if she wasn't going to restrain herself, neither was he.
"Good, I don't need you anyway! I'll be better of without you meddling in my life!" and then, he said something not deemed to be possible, something nopony has said in almost a millennium.
"I HATE YOU!"
Princess stopped for a few seconds, but ultimately ignored it, as she opened the door and left the building.
Prince Blueblood was now alone in a messy library, just like he wanted. He finally had a moment to relax after the one of the worst days in his life. He now had time to digest everything that has happened. And he came to one conclusion- he couldn't see anything in front of him. His eyes were tearing too much.
"...I...I didn't mean it..." he muttered to himself. After all, he was alone. Just like he always wanted.
Once Celestia left the library, she couldn't stop her tears. Her hooves weakened, she just wanted to run away back to her chambers so she could cry herself to sleep. But she was still a ruler of the land and this was the most important day of year, there was no way she could disappoint them. Not because one let HER down. And more to the point, she couldn't show any weakness in front of them. And yet, here she was, outdoors, sobbing like she just faced the biggest tragedy of her life. She was immortal, none of this would matter years later, these were the thoughts she tried to use to calm herself down, but they weren't working.
"Princess Celestia? Is everything alright?" asked Shining Armor worriedly, as he carefully walked closer. He was, thankfully, alone in front of the library, other ponies nowhere in sight.
"Are others gone?" she asked through tears.
"Yes, they went to the festival."
In reality though, he sent them away after first sign of loud noises coming from inside. It was the least he could do.
"Good, I shouldn't be seen like this in public." she answered, wiping her tears with her wing. She looked at Shining Armor. He was very worried and probably wanted to say a few things, but didn't have the courage to ask openly.
"I'm terribly sorry about my nephew. You must have had a very hard day."
"N-no ma'm, it was nothing." he lied.
"Shining Armor,” she started "did you ever felt like you said something stupid and desperately wanted to go back in time, just to stop yourself from it?"
Shining Armor answered shortly "...yes."
Princess' eyes widened as she realized "Right, the whole punch me thing." she remembered their conversation she had yesterday with Twilight. She couldn't help but smile a little bit especially as Shining Armor on his part looked away with a blush, probably thinking of some sort of explanation for himself and quickly realizing that she knows the entire story anyway. He was so predictable. She walked forward and patted him on his head.
"Thank you. I feel a little bit better now." she answered with a weak smile. Shining looked at her confused, but nodded and smiled as well, not sure what he did there.
"What do you think I should do now?" she asked suddenly.
Shining Armor's eyes widened. Was he just being asked a very private, life counseling question by Princess Celestia? Was she expecting answer, or was this just rhetoric? From the looks of things, she was serious about it. He looked around for some hints, but saw nothing of sorts, obviously. He could think of things to say, delve deep into her psyche (immortal goddess, no less) and come up with sage advice.
But then he realized that he could do nothing of sorts. Instead, he relied on one thing he was confident in more then anything else in this world. His one and only pride.
His brotherly instinct "I think you know exactly what you must do, Princess" he said confidently. Princess looked at him curiously "If your nephew is so important, that you cry over one fight, then you must do anything it takes to get him back. Or else, you will both regret it forever."
Celestia just stood there, dumbfounded. She looked at her ex-guard with blank, amazed stare, as if he just grew a pair of wings and announced himself a king. Then she snorted and started giggling.
"You said that exact thing to Twilight, when she had a fight with Sunset Shimmer."
"And it worked!" he announced proudly.
Celestia sighed "I guess you are right then. He may be not what I wished for, but he is still my nephew and I love him. I need to apologize!" she said energetically. Shining Armor could finally see his princess back to herself, at least a little bit.
"If I may ask, how will you do this?"
"To be honest..." her ears drooped a bit "...I don't know yet. But I will before the night is over!"
"Can I help?"
Celestia looked brightly at her guard "You already helped me a lot... but, I need to ask you one more thing."
"Anything!" he saluted.
"Make sure my nephew attends the main event. Take him by force if necessary. I'll take it from there."
"Yes ma'm!"
"Good. Untill then, you are dismissed. You had a very stressful day, try to get some rest."
As soon as Celestia left, Shining Armor finally had a time to sigh with relief. This could be a step forward to ending his suspension, but more importantly, he could help mend broken family ties.
He slowly opened the door to the library and looked around for Prince. He found him, lying on the couch with a blanket, quietly sleeping. He could tell that he had a hard day as well, so Shining decided to leave him alone for now. Princess dismissed him for the time being, so he left the library, shut the doors (ignored the broken windows) and left towards the town hall, where the festival took place, hoping that at least there, he will be able to collect himself.
On his way there, he looked up in the clear skies and saw the full moon, as it was shining much brighter then usual. Or at least it seemed like it. He took it as a good sign of things to come.
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Geez, Blueblood, could you at least try to be a less terrible pony? Good thing nopony knows they're about to be depending on him (at least in part) to save the world, there'd be mass panic in the streets.
Love the new cover art!
Remember what you said about having to make Blueblood likeable in later chapters... yeah... good luck.
No, seriously, good luck.
Soon, the moon shall come.
I'm really conflicted, on the one hand Blueblood was being a total jerk that could have easily avoided everything by just being a decent pony, but on the other hand some of those things that Celestia said could emotionally traumatize anyone. It wasn't right of her to try and mold him into what she thought was the ideal, and it certainly wasn't okay to compare ol' Bluey with his ancestor like that. No one likes being compared to others, especially when they are told that they are failures that will never measure up with those they are being compared to.
3002312>>3002269>>3002374 Yeah, I did mention this chapter was hard to write. As in, everything past this will be a piece of cake in comparison.
Also, 1k+ viewers!
I saw the chapter title and thought, "It's official. Blueblood is Miles Edgeworth!"
"Take him by force?" I would love to see Shinning Armor be taken by force to the event like Rainbow Dash forced Pinkie Pie attend her party
3002374
Not true, actually. At least in Ponyville, he couldn't have avoided everything by being a nicer person- the whole allergy-triggering, getting drugged, and making a fool of himself-episode would've happened regardless of his conduct, he only would've been a mean grump instead of channelling his inner Pinkie Pie.
In fact, had he been as paranoid then as he was the rest of the time, he could've avoided a lot of pain. Which is really ironic; he should've told Celestia about that when they were arguing: "You know what letting my guard down got me here?! Did you ever get poisoned, then drugged, then made a fool of for everypony to see?"
Instead, he kept his "worst day of his life" very vague; that pretty much invited Celestia to dismiss it as the usual self-absorbed whining, and blaming-everypony-but himself-spiel.
I really liked this part. Shows very well the disconnect between his true feelings and what he thinks his feelings are.
So, they didn't speak about the impending threat of Nightmare Moon. I still suspect Celestia knows a bit about what's coming, and that's why she wishes for Shining Armor to bring her nephew along to the main event.
3003147
True dat.... That sounded lame, didn't it?
Anyway, I agree. The argument wouldn't have happened if Blueblood did the thing any person would do, and listed what made it the "worst day of his life". Celestia wouldn't have thought he was just baselessly whining, and Blueblood would have gotten a chance to vent, and let it all out.
Wow and here we have the element of cynicism
3004722
Well, he got what he thought he wanted the whole time: to be all alone. However, now that he's truly alone the hurt and regret he pushed away unconsciously come back in full, and he's started crying without having noticed.
Hm... Shining Armor told to get Blueblood to the main event... No Matter what...
Shining Armor, you know what to do...
Shining PUNCH!
Celestia's logic seems faulty. She knows that one of the major problems holding Blueblood back is his inability to trust ponies, courtesy of the as-of-yet-not-elaborated-upon betrayal. She must have at least some inkling that his choice to socialize with obvious hangers-on is because he sees everypony as potential hangers-on, and would rather stick with the ones who don't come with a lot of subtext. She knows that Ponyville is full of friendly, honest, well-meaning ponies.
So what does she do?
She sends him to Ponyville in an openly official capacity, thereby tainting (in his mind) every interaction he has with the town. Bravo, Celestia. I have no idea what this was supposed to accomplish. She knows his lack of true friends is in large part a consequence of a lack of trust, but she goes right ahead with the "make friends" plan without any consideration to repairing his ability to trust. Now, it's possible that the impending Nightmare Moon scenario factors heavily into her original plan, but chapter 10 doesn't make it seem that way. It makes it seem like Nightmare Moon was supposed to be "Phase 2," while "Phase 1" just got run over by a train.
Not that any of this detracts from Blueblood being a jerk. He's pitiable, but a jerk nonetheless.
Ah just the kind of chapter I was hoping for this completely proves me right why I had to favorite it.
I know that Blue Blood Always made a easy throw away villein but I know it would be hard to make him like able.
But i had a feeling I would like this story because Blue Blood seemed like more then just a simple spoiled brat.
There is a back story why he dose not trust ponies, can't wait to see that.
But there is also a reason that Celestia let him get so bad and I can't wait to hear more about that.
(I always guessed that there was some reason she like him that she remind him of a love one she lost) Thought I feel bad for Blue Blood being compared to some one that has long since passed I also think celestia's thinking has been flawed by the memory of Cesar.
I can't wait to see How this is going to turn out. How is Blue Blood and the other stallions going to over come Nightmare moon, as well as each other, to save the day.
Man This could open up a new MLP universe. The Stallionverse, no wait the Blunivers.
I would like to say that I like it so far and I hop you keep writing.
This could be the beginning of some thing greater.
Good luck and best wish.
3010729 My heart just grew three times reading it
My eyes bleed from grammar, but it was worth it anyway 
And yes, Stallionverse is my working name for any other story that might come after that, but I wish I could find a better name anyway. Feel free to suggest some.
I dont like Bluniverse though- this part is highly Blueblood centered, but only because he's the main character. I'll try to put others in the spotlight more later on.
All I have to say about this chapter is:
Awww...your stuff's not crap. Maybe needs a little more spell and grammar check than most stories, but definitely not crap. Heck, I'll bet you could build an alt. universe series with this, like I and several others encouraged LittleJackiePapercut to do with the Manehattanverse.
I gotta hand it to Blueblood. Not many ponies have the moxie to get in a shouting match with Princess freaking Celestia.
"The Moon seemed much brighter, Shining Armor took it as a good omen."
Oh geez, here it comes.
Uh Oh...
Poor everypony here, Celestia, Shining, even Blueblood. My guess, whoever that pony Celestia was talking about was, she was the Dahlia to Blueblood's Phoenix Wright, he loved her, but she used and betrayed him. Probably.
I was unprepared for the depths that this story would go to.
Once again wrong ponies for the wrong stallion. Maybe, she should have sent Twilight instead.