Blood Rose, Reporting!

by Eyeswirl the Weirded

Chapter 4: Resolution Acquired!

"Let me go, let me go!!"

Blueblood levitated Blood Rose out of her hiding spot telekinetically, bringing her face-to-face with him.

She struggled, clenching her eyes shut. "L-let me go, please!!"

He spoke calmly. "Look at me."

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Why not?" From the look on her face, she was about to cry, but he would take that chance this time.

"B-because I, you could have been... How did you find me? Nopony's ever sniffed me out like that."

Trying to ignore the shivers her wings gave him up close, he smiled a little. "If I tell you, will you look at me?"

She still kept her eyes shut, head turned as far from him as possible. "Maybe."

"You told me early on that you could throw your voice, so I knew you wouldn't be where the sound was coming from. Every time you got emotional, it slipped, narrowing down the list of places you could be a little further each time. I managed to pin-point where you were a little while ago."

She snorted, smiling even as she kept her eyes tightly shut. "Figures."

Blueblood smiled amicably. "Well? I've held up my end of the bargain."

"I said maybe!"

"Fair enough, but I never said I'd let you go. I can wait."

Blood Rose was still seized in his magic. From the volume of his voice, he was just a little too far away for her to do anything like what Screw Loose had, even if she'd wanted to. She sighed. "Okay, okay." Slowly, her eyelids parted in a manner akin to somepony awoken by sunlight through a window early in the morning. She hesitantly glanced upward, still very tense, as though Blueblood was a cockatrice just waiting to turn her to stone. Eventually, she made eye-contact. He was still smiling, not a hint of anger, resentment, or even disappointment in his face. Somehow, that made her feel even worse until he spoke.

"Everypony makes mistakes. As you were following me through the entirety of my time in Ponyville, the things you did and didn't do have more to do with my decisions than your own. True, you could have behaved differently, could have just offered help, but if you had, I suspect things may have actually gone worse." Confusion clear in her beautiful, red eyes, he did his best to stay focused. "You're thinking that a lot of trouble could have been avoided if you'd just come out and asked to tag along normally, that you'd have done a better job as a guard if you'd hadn't been hiding?"

She nodded a little, the shame clear in her face.

The prince chuckled. "Did you know I'm afraid of bat ponies? Something of a phobia of mine, actually. I'd have likely turned you away, and either been on my own, or had you following me without knowing it, exactly as it happened."

His heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened in shock. "What?!"

Smiling sheepishly, he nodded. "I told you I knew what it was like being obsessed with something, and I didn't just mean Miss Rarity. For the longest time, looking at bat ponies, your wings, your fangs, your sense of nocturnal otherness, scared the daylights out of me." There was a frown as he glanced away. "Then I met something much more horrifying. Given a little time to reflect, I've come to realize that my fear of your kin was bringing me to dark places, no pun intended, and that I'd been letting this phobia, and fear in general, control my life for quite some time. The parade? In addition to thrill-seeking, it was something of an attempt to conquer that fear by shouting about it in rhyme to the entire city."

Blood Rose stared back at him numbly. "You sang a metal song about something you're scared of. Thinking that somehow you wouldn't be scared anymore. Through the power of music."

"That's the gist of that event, yes. Ever since, you've been strung along trying to keep a paradoxically reckless coward safe, but I don't blame you for anything that befell me. I won't forgive you, Miss Rose, because I don't believe you've done anything wrong."

Now she cried, Blueblood dropping the spell as she sniffled, turning away. To his equal surprise and relief, the tears stopped shortly after they began. She glanced at him again, her fangs visible in a little smile. "It, it means a lot, Boss."

He smiled back. "As it happens, I might have an idea to help with both of our problems, my fear and your habit respectively."

Drying her eyes with a hoof, she gave him a perplexed look.

"Another thing on my list is making up for that song. Would it say anything if I were to allow, no, request that the breed of pony I fear most be the ones to protect me for my next excursion out of the city?"

"W-what?"

"Specifically, I was thinking that, when I return to Ponyville, -it's on the list too- I shouldn't go it alone again." He chuckled. "Or, semi-alone. I've put you through a lot already, Miss Rose, but I'd be honored if I could once more employ the services of you and your partner, Miss Stripe. If constantly accompanied by the two of you, well, I think they call it immersion therapy? And on your end, you'd surely be hard-pressed to follow me in secret if I can see you all the time. What say you?"

It took all of Blueblood's willpower not to scream, recoil, or even flinch as the bat pony beamed her toothiest, fang-filled smile.

Author's Note:

Wheel of Morality, turn, turn, tu-ahh, nuts.

About half the reason for this story was to underline that obsession is generally bad. Not for any particular reason, but I felt like it was an underlying theme of the first story. Underlying story for an underlying theme. I came up with BR's stealth adventure so long ago I don't remember if that was on purpose or not.

The other half was characterization, both for Blood Rose and hints of change in Blueblood's behavior. What happens next, you may reasonably ask? Hopefully I'll find more time for writing the continuation to this story, The Prince's List! (title kinda pending)

Seeya then!

Comments

[Snow123]

It took all of Blueblood's willpower not to scream, recoil, or even flinch as the bat pony beamed her toothiest, fang-filled smile.

Hah. Fears to be worked on.

[The Great Derpsby]

Blood Rose is actually kind of adorable, isn't she?

[howard035]

This works really well as a sequel to Broken Glass, filling in the gaps. When you do write the sequel to this, kind author, I hope you put a romance tag on The Prince's List, because I ship Blue Blood Rose like Fedex.

[Cascadejackal]

5740041 Figured that's what it was.
This was a nice little fic. Blood Rose is cute. Odd, too, but that's her charm.

[Grtgfbll]

Calling it now, Blueblood gives Rose The Rose in List.

[Cheshire_Jackal]

Noooo, I want more! :(

[Shadowshame]

I enjoyed both of these stories it is always interesting to just put one or two random words into the search bar and see what I can find and the story previous to this one and this one are the results of one if those random searchs if you want to find gold you have to start mining after all