Blood Rose, Reporting!

by Eyeswirl the Weirded

Chapter 1: Target Acquired!

The bat pony sighed. "Ok, here goes... My name is Blood Rose, and I have a report for you, Boss..."

I should probably start by saying sorry about my voice, I know I sound a little gravelly. Hoarse, even!

...At least the crickets like my jokes! Ok, you remember the night you needed somepony to bring you to Ponyville for a secret, romantic thing that kinda went...? Yea, I've been keeping an eye on you since a little after then. The last thing you said to me, Boss, was "Thank you for your help, I bid you good night, and I never want to see you again."

Well, a little bit after that, it occurred to me that your exact words were that you never wanted to see me again. I'm pretty darn good at staying hidden, y'know? It's my special talent! It's hard to see even if I stood still in good lighting, but my cutie mark's an eye just slightly darker than my fur. I almost look like a blank flank!

...That's gotten me some weird questions from ponies with certain tastes, let me tell you.

Anyway, before you get freaked out, I didn't tail you all the time, just... Um... W-well, I don't get asked to do a whole lot, y'know? Hardly anypony needs somepony that can keep out of sight these days. For anything wholesome, I mean. So, I get a lot of free time, but I don't spend ALL of it following you!

Just the last week or two.

I don't know when it started, exactly, there wasn't really anything that made me want to watch you from one of my 871 hiding places around Canterlot, but, well... Like I said, I don't usually get called to do much, Princess Celestia's guards had things pretty much under control before the Night Watch, the bat pony regiment, was brought back into the fold for-

Huh?

Oh, you already knew that?

Heehee! Ok, I'll skip the history lessons, but suffice to say those of us that answer mainly to Princess Luna aren't terribly busy most of the time. Still, shadowing ponies can be a lot of fun! It's easy for me, and everypony likes doing things they're good at, right? But it's only in the last couple of weeks that I've been doing it all the time, I guess a little before you got that letter about talking to Octavia?

No it wasn't me that dropped it off, I wouldn't have let you see me, silly~!

Anyway, as that's where the interesting stuff started, that's where I'll begin my report. Ahem... Watching you doze off while she was playing was pretty damn funny! Sorry, sorry, but I laughed harder at that than I probably should have. Most of it was the timing of her hitting you, like a real comedy routine! I started that day sitting outside your window to watch the sunrise, a habit I picked up from all the times you were doing the same thing. Did you know almost every room in the castle has windows somewhere? The ones you can't really look out, like those way up high or right in front of a tree or something, are the best ones for looking in. Usually. Stupid stained-glass.

I used to pretty much turn in and get some sleep whenever you started your day, but this was the first time I could remember you doing something other than going around visiting other nobles, attending fancy parties, or something so boring to watch it made me want to swipe something in secret and see how long it took anypony to notice.

...You either, huh?

So, this time I tailed you to the place Octavia and her fellow music lovers were practicing. A little after you went down for good, Celestia came in, everypony bowed, and the conversation went something like this:

Celestia: "Hi everypony, how are all of you?"
Everypony: "We're great, all smiling and peaceful, so please don't banish us to somewhere!"
Celestia: "I'm going to pretend it didn't come out like that. Why's Blueblood sleeping in here?"
Octavia: "I was playing a lullaby, guess it worked?"
Celestia: "Cool, I'll take him elsewhere, unless you plan to incorporate snoring into the performance?"
Music Ponies: "...Did you want us to?"
Celestia: "Bye now!"

And then she brought you out to the bench and left a sticky note. I couldn't get close enough to see what it said, but as I'm not really one to watch ponies sleep, I went to bed myself, picking up a few hours before you and Fleur De Lis met up to break into the cake factory. Sitting on the roof across from the back door, I'd never thought I'd see-

You saw me there? Ha, darnit. Guess that means I really was slipping up.

Anyway, I never thought I'd see you of all ponies breaking the law, but it meant I had to go get back-up and do the actual Guard-pony thing. I'll give you three guesses to who was talking to Night Stripe, my gal-pal (just don't call her that to her face, she's kinda prissy sometimes) and usual partner for that sort of thing, at that moment. So me, her, and the Princess of the Night herself fly out to the factory once I tell what I saw and before she's done magically scanning the interior or whatever, you burst out of the back door like you just escaped Tartarus!

Ordinarily, I'd have tried to hide, "I never want to see you again"? But, officially speaking, I was supposed to be following the princess as incredibly ineffective back-up if she needed it, and you didn't really seem to notice anyway. I was a little surprised you didn't recognize us, Nighty and me? She was the one that helped me pull you to Ponyville way back and-

Memory spell? ...That... that explains a lot, Boss. She was the one with the gold eyes, long, black mane, and pretty much the same coat color, cutie mark's a shooting star. She's really serious about stuff most of the time, but I think you two'd get along! Anywho, you probably remember the trip back to the palace from there?

I figured you wouldn't be up to anything exciting twice in one night, so I didn't start watching you again until some time the next morning. When I peeked into your room, you were moving all frantically, like the castle was about to tip over and fall off the mountain. I actually almost lost you a few times trying to figure out which halls you were going down from outside the windows! I stopped for a breath when you stood still out in the gardens, Fluttershy right behind you, and spotted Princess Luna on one of the towers overlooking the area, looking right at you. Keeping out of your line of sight, (an easy task when I can fly and you almost never look up) I made my way to her and asked what was going on. She filled me in about Fluttershy's animal thing and we watched together as you picked her up and ran around like a maniac.

No need to be embarrassed, Boss, I'm sure a lot of colts would like having a pretty mare on their backs~!

Hee-hee-hee! Anyway, once she started crying and Luna started fuming, I was seriously tempted to slink away and silently wish you luck, but... Where did you learn to make toucan noises? I learned to mimic all kinds of sounds to throw ponies off and stay hidden, even to throw my voice, but I don't think I've ever heard of-

You just practiced making the same sounds they did as a colt? Huh. Guess I could try expanding my noisy repertoire a bit...

Anyway, I should probably apologize for what happened a few hours after the toucan thing, I kindof nodded off on the balcony. (Woke up with a blanket on my back, I think Luna's a sweeter pony than most would give her credit for.) In my defense, it can be tough for bat ponies to stay awake during the day and watching somepony pet ferrets and nuzzle birds while somepony else stands near them is really, really boring! Watching you is bad for my sleep schedule.

...You're not mad? But, I could have, I should-

...'less trouble to just let it go once transgressions are over and done with, no good to hold a grudge'? I... I guess that's true. T-thanks, Boss!

Ok, ok, on with the story. I didn't see you again until I saw you frantically putting together a travel bag later that night, thinking the whole thing had started over somehow, but then you went to bed. I asked around a little and learned you'd be heading to the Changeling Hive to invite them for the Summer Sun Celebration. Now, I'm pretty darn good at staying hidden and a pret-ty accomplished master of disguise if I may say so myself, but that I'll never be able to actually shift into other ponies is something I made peace with a long time ago. That, and I knew even I wouldn't be able to go undetected for long in the small, cramped, crowded tunnels the Swarm lives in, but I figured you'd be ok with your usual guards and there'd probably be trouble if they thought I was there as a spy...

Is it racist to think that's a little hypocritical for changelings?

Anyway, rather than risking a political incident, I stayed home... And got to be involved in a magical catastrophe-type incident instead. You really missed the whole thing? It started like, two hours after you left, the spiky vines, the freaky skies, everything? It was nuts, pretty much everypony freaking out until it all went away.

Hahaha! Night Stripe got smacked on the rump by one of the little floor-vines, I wish you could have seen her face!

After that, just about everypony was exhausted from trying to fight the things off until they went 'poof!', doubly so for those of us that were just getting to sleep when it started. Still, I managed to catch your magic show with The Great and Apologetic Trixie. I didn't know you could sword-fight!

Practiced and choreographed? When did you do that?

...Boss? Hello? Hm, well, I guess it's not too important. The next few days were pretty uneventful, so I started doing other stuff in my downtime again, like visiting Club Canterlot. Vinyl's an old friend, sometimes we hang there until sunrise! It was the day after you visited the place at the same time that I learned something, Boss; I learned you could scare me.

Author's Note:

This story, in addition to filling in some blanks from the first one, is a bit of an experiment in writing first/second person, seeing how much of a story I can convey with only one character speaking pretty much the whole time. Not sure whether or not having read Like Mending Glass first makes Blueblood's unheard dialogue and the context of the report any clearer, though.

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

I should probably start by saying sorry about my voice, I know I sound a little gravelly. Hoarse, even!

Corner. Now.

Is it racist to think that's a little hypocritical for changelings?

*shrugs*